Dark gold eyes blinked open, looking around the overgrown ruins in confusion for several moments before they widened. "What in the world…?" the owner of the eyes muttered in confusion as they slowly sat up. "Where… is this? Last I remember… I was waiting for the Homesteading of the Novasphere update to finish installing…"
Shaking their head they moved to climb to their feet before freezing as they took in the sight of their body.
It was a slim one, that was unmistakably feminine with the curves of a woman, covered by a dark green sleeveless tunic with a single full arm matte black scale gauntlet on the right arm, missing armor on the pinky and thumb while the index and middle fingers are covered by a thick cloth, with a black miniskirt and a pair of thigh length stockings and a pair of matte black shin guards that led down to a simple pair of shoes.
"Wait…" despite the feminine form, the voice coming out of the body held a masculine lilt to it. "This is…"
Blinking several times her eyes landed on a nearby fountain of water that she quickly scrambled for to look at her reflection, showing a tanned feminine face with deep red hair pulled into a ponytail that fell to her mid back save for a pair of bangs that framed her face, her eyes wide as they took in every detail, including the scar over the left eye.
"EEEHHHH!" the person screamed in shock. "Why am I a girl all of a sudden!? Why am I my Elder Tale's Avatar!? WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"Ugyaaa!" a sharp cry came from nearby as a female elf with long silver hair reaching to her waist dressed in a white cropped blouse with detached sleeves, white hot pants, gauntlets and bladed boots stood up and promptly crashed to the ground face-first.
"H-huh?" the girl(?) replied as her eyes turned to the newcomer, her(?) eyes wide in shock, still reeling from the recent changes that she(?) apparently underwent.
"Ow," a muffled groan of pain as the woman pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her nose and her considerable chest where it had squashed against the ground. "What's… going on?" she breathed, looking around. Her eyes widened as she seemingly realized what her arms were brushing against and looked downwards. "Eeep?"
"Uhhh… please tell me that this is a dream…" the reddette pleaded to the sky. "This is just too… surreal…"
The elf began patting herself down, blushing quite brightly as her hands roamed over her body, lingering a little on breasts and her hips, as well as her crotch. "Pinch me?" she suggested, scanning her surroundings again and catching sight of the fountain the other girl(?) had been looking in and scrambling over to it. "Okay, you pinch me and I'll pinch you back," she offered shakily as she stared at her own reflection.
"Please," the girl(?) nodded in agreement as they approached each other and pinched the other's arm. "Ow," the redhead muttered as she(?) rubbed her arm. "I guess… this is real?"
The silverette stared dumbly at her own arm, before she pinched herself again. "Ow," she flinched. "Umm, I'm not sure what I'm smoking right now. And I don't even smoke."
The redhead looked around the area nervously. "I don't recognize anything here…" she(?) murmured in confusion. "This… looks nothing like my home…"
"I'm certainly not… wherever I was before either, and I certainly don't know anywhere with overgrown buildings like these," the silverette squinted, looking at the overgrown buildings surrounding them. "I mean, this… looks modern enough… but it looks post apocalyptic."
"I highly doubt… I slept through some kind of apocalypse long enough for the plants to overtake everything…" the redheaded girl(?) said. "And slept through an apparent gender change!"
"And I certainly wasn't an elf before…" the silverette blushed as she flicked her long, pointed ears. "I… um… look like my Elder Tale character…"
"Uuuugh…" the redette groaned, rubbing her(?) temples. "Wait…" she(?) blinked. "If this is my game Avatar… are we in the game somehow… and doesn't that mean… the game's rules still apply?"
"That's impossible though, right?" the elf whispered weakly, feeling up her ears. "This isn't some kind of dimension travelling anime we're in, right?"
"Well… technically… I guess anything is possible…" the redette replied with a sigh as she slumped. "But this happening would… well… I can't even understand how let alone explain it…"
"But… now that you mention it, isn't this actually… Akihabara?" the elf took another look around. "Not Akihabara as in real life Japan, but… Elder Tale's Akihabara…"
The redhead blinked a couple of times as she looked around at the surrounding area carefully. "Now that you mention it…" she murmured quietly. "Hmm… maybe…" the golden eyes of the apparently former male widened as the menu appeared before you as soon as she thought about it. "The game menu!"
"I can't see anything… oh," the elf blinked and jumped at thin air. "You can't be serious…" she whispered as she began prodding at thin air.
The girl(?) stared at her menu for a few moments, pressing on a few of the options.
"So… we're actually in Elder Tale now?" the elf gasped. "I'm… actually my character…"
"This… is insane!" the redhead cried out in frustration. "How? Why? WHY MY FEMALE CHARACTER!?"
"Ummm… yeah…" the silverette was blushing pretty brightly as she looked away from the redhead. "This is… ummm… awkward…"
The girl(?) blushed. "Oh man… going to the bathroom and cleaning myself is going to be super awkward…"
"Um, yeah," the elf agreed quietly with a quick glance downwards.
"Urgh…" the redhead groaned. "I'm just glad that I didn't make a character that guys normally make with such exaggerated boobs and butts! At least like this my center of balance isn't too far off…"
"Um, yeah," the elf repeated dumbly as she began to slowly walk away, only to lose her balance and fall over again, although she caught herself this time.
"Are you alright… er… I just realized we never introduced ourselves," the redhead commented with a sweatdrop.
"Yeah, as… alright as I can be…" the elf got back to her get a little unsteadily. "I'm… um… Matsuri, I guess."
"I guess I might as well go with my Avatar name of Akira for the time being," the newly named Akira commented with a sigh. "This… is crazy… just how much of this is a game? How much of this isn't?"
"Feels like an anime kind of storyline…" Matsuri chuckled weakly as she dusted herself down hesitantly. "So… what do we do now?"
"Hrm… I have a couple of 'friends' that are listed as active in the menu… but…" Akira snorted derisively. "Doesn't Akihabara have a training ground?"
"It's been awhile since I last logged on…" Matsuri took several moments to think. "Yeah, it does."
"Maybe we should go there first… because something tells me that fighting won't be anything like the game was…" Akira commented with a frown of concentrated thought.
"Hmmm…" Matsuri reached behind her and pulled out a curved sword with a blade seemingly made of volcanic rock, the edge glowing red hot. "Eeeeyh!" she made an experimental swing… unbalanced herself and fell over again.
Akira sweatdropped in response. "I take it your Avatar is… different from your real body?" she questioned with small wince.
Matsuri sat up with a blush. "Yeah… I was… a lot taller in real life…" she glanced downwards at her significant bust, her awkward gaze telling a slightly different story.
"I… see," Akira sweatdropped in response as she turned away and pulled a bow out of her bag to distract herself from the subject, inspecting the metal longbow carefully, making note of the bladed tips on it for close range defense. "Man… I'm glad I took archery in high school right now…"
"Lucky you," Matsuri sighed, taking another few swings at thin air. She got to three slashes this time before tripping over and falling forward again.
"Well, we should go to the training ground before we end up calling the Royal Guard upon us… I'm not eager to see if we respawn when we die…" Akira commented with another sweatdrop.
"The only person I seem to be hurting is myself though?" Matsuri let out a groan muffled by the ground. "I don't think the Royal Guards will attack me for hurting myself… that kind of defies the whole purpose…"
"I'd still rather not risk an accident," Akira commented dryly. "Who knows that they could constitute an 'attack' as."
"Okay, fine…" Matsuri muttered as she climbed to her feet. "Even walking is completely different with wider hips…"
Akira blushed as she noticed a particular sway to her own hips. "Don't remind me," she pleaded in a light whine. "I'm trying very hard not to think about this… god my voice must sound strange, a masculine voice coming from a girl's body…"
"No, you sound like a girl," Matsuri shook her head, then paused. "Do I… sound like a girl too?"
Akira nodded. "Yes," she nodded. "It just… feels like my voice is several octaves deeper than it should be… well… as I'd imagine a girl's would be anyways."
"Oh," Matsuri blushed slightly. "This is so awkward…"
Akira nodded in agreement. "And I don't have any appearance reset potions… and I dread the thought of trying to buy one from another player," she groaned in depression.
Matsuri mulled over the idea for several moments, then looked at Akira and flinched. "Y-Yeah, it'd be even more awkward…" she whispered weakly.
Akira sighed as they walked. "Why did it force me into my female character's Avatar?" she groaned again. "Just… what is happening?"
Matsuri tripped over again.
"Are you sure you don't have two left feet?" Akira questioned with a sweatdrop.
"I can't help it, my balance is completely out of whack…" Matsuri groaned. "Too… top-heavy."
"I guess so," Akira chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of her head as her reflection caught her attention. "Hm, actually, now that I look at myself… there are some slight differences in my Avatar…" she commented idly. "It's almost like it took some influences of my real body…"
"I think mine was a little too extreme a change," Matsuri gestured at her chest. "I… never thought I'd end up becoming my character…"
"No one did," Akira sighed in agreement as she slumped, continuing to walk towards the training ground. "After all, who expects an anime plot to become real?"
"Ugyaa!"
Akira sweatdropped as she saw Matsuri trip again. "You really need to work on your balance," she commented with a wince.
"I can't help it! I… never had boobs before!" the elf threw her hands in the air in frustration, then froze as she realized what she had let slip. "Ah…"
"Wait… what?" Akira deadpanned as she turned to the elf.
"Ugh fine, I'm a guy, alright? Was one… and I made one of those female characters with exaggerated proportions you were talking about…" Matsuri groaned, gesturing at her/his own body. "I guess you don't like perverts like me, huh…" she sank dejectedly.
"So?" came the response with a raised eyebrow. "Everyone makes characters like that, even I have a few alt. characters like that, it's nothing new."
"Just… suddenly I'm in this body and I feel like I'm doing something illegal," Matsuri shivered, crossing her arms over her chest, freezing and then slowly lowering her arms again. "I hate myself."
Akira sighed as she rubbed her scalp. "Don't know what to say but that you're not alone," she muttered with a frown. "I mean, I'm in the same situation as you, along with who knows how many people."
"I guess so… but your boobs aren't so large that they screw up your balance," Matsuri sighed. "And yet part of me actually likes them like this… ugh."
"How about we just focus on getting your balance back and understanding how everything works first, and maybe looking into appearance changing potions afterwards…" Akira suggested.
"I… don't know if I want to use one…" Matsuri blushed, cradling her arm by her side. "But I guess… we need to take things one step at a time for now…"
Akira nodded in agreement. "Right, come on, let's go to the training ground and get used to these new bodies," she sighed. "Plus, I don't think we can use skills by clicking on them in the menu when our hands are full…"
"Yeah…" the elf nodded and began moving awkwardly again…
*crash*
"Maybe try not to think about it so much," Akira suggested, wincing again. "You might be overthinking it maybe?"
"Ughhh…" Matsuri climbed back to her feet. "I guess…" she muttered, trying to get moving again.
Akira rubbed her forehead as she let out a sigh. "Hopefully we can actually get there today," she commented dryly.
Matsuri did actually get more than five steps this time, though not without a persistent blush. "I'm feeling very conscious of my hips swaying…" she whimpered.
"Don't remind me," Akira groaned painfully. "The one thing I made noticeable about this Avatar was the hips and ass…"
"And my boobs," Matsuri added in a low whisper.
"Just… don't think about it," Akira pressed. "Don't think about it and focus on the destination..."
"Mmm, don't think… don't think…" Matsuri thought out loud, with a very quickly reddening blush.
"This… is going to be a long walk," Akira predicted with a sweatdrop as she continued on her way, doing her very best to follow her own advice.
Breath in/Notch the arrow.
Hold breath/Drawback string
Aim.
Release.
*THUNK*
"Well, at least I have that down," Akira mumbled to herself as she drew out another basic arrow from the large cylindrical quiver hanging from her lower back, a bundle of normal looking arrows appearing as her hand neared the opening to the quiver.
"Eyaaah!" Matsuri yelled out from somewhere nearby, before another crash could be heard. "Get off me!"
"Eh?" Akira blinked before turning to face where the Elf was, and blinking once again in surprise at the sight before her.
Matsuri was wildly swinging her dual kopis at several wolves while on the ground. The wolves were dealing negligible damage, but all the same the elf was flailing in a panic… while her wild attacks were cutting through mobs of them at once all the same. "G-Get off me!" she yelled, eyes closed.
Akira groaned in response as she palmed her face. "Matsuri… you need to calm down!" she called out. "You can't hit them if you close your eyes!"
"Seeing wolves on a screen is different from seeing them in front of your face wanting to take a chunk out of you!" Matsuri continued flailing, her eyes still clenched shut even though there weren't any more wolves gunning for her. "Get them off!"
Akira sighed as she shook her head and pulled out three arrows, nocking them as she took aim. "Triple shot," she intoned as the skill activated, firing three arrows at three different wolves to slay them. "You have to deal with the last one yourself!"
"The last one?" Matsuri squeaked and opened her eyes, swallowing loudly as she caught sight of the final wolf in the area snarling at her. "Umm, alright… I can do this…" she sucked in a deep breath, picked herself up and charged at the wolf.
Akira closed a single eye as she watched the wolf counter charge the elf, looking to snap its jaws at her.
"Yaaaah!" a cry of exertion preceded a six-slash combo that easily took out the wolf.
The final wolf let out a loud howl before is dispersed into a cloud of bubbles, leaving behind a small pile of coins. "Finally," Akira sighed in relief.
"How did I…" the elf blinked and looked at her own hands. "Feels like something else took over there…"
"Mm, the body's natural instinct," Akira nodded in agreement. "It seems that our bodies remember the adventures they had, even if our minds are unsure."
"I guess that's at least something…" Matsuri mused, studying her kopis before performing a series of spins and flourishes and settling them back into their sheaths on her back. "Cool."
Akira looked around before letting out a sigh of relief. "Alright, I think that's it for the area," she commented, pausing as she looked down at her gauntleted hand, closing and opening it experimentally. "Fighting monsters is so different now," she murmured. "I wonder… what hunting dragons would be like now…"
"Scary?" Matsuri offered hesitantly. "And I'm still feeling more than a little self-conscious here…"
Akira smiled at the elf in a predatory fashion. "Dragons are my prey," she announced with a dark chuckle, sending a shiver down Matsuri's spine. "They fear me."
"Uhhh, you're starting to LARP a little…" Matsuri pointed out awkwardly.
"So? We are essentially living our Avatar's live now, right?" Akira pointed out with a grin. "Besides, I don't think everyone is going to be just sitting around listlessly forever… we need to find enjoyment somehow."
"I guess so…" Matsuri nodded slowly, looking around. "I just… need time to get used to… my new body first."
Akira sighed but nodded before pausing as a loud rumbling sound was heard. "But first… I think we need to eat," she commented with a small flush as one of her hands covered her stomach. "I didn't eat before ending up here either…"
"Neither did I… ah, I've got some food in my inventory," Matsuri reached into the bag hanging on her side on autopilot and withdrew some bags of bread.
"Ah, guess that'll do for now," Akira agreed as she accepted one of the bags, tearing it open. "Thanks for the meal," she announced before biting into the bread. Her entire body froze for several moments as her golden eyes widened, it almost looking like her entire body turned to stone.
Oblivious to the archer's expression, Matsuri took a bite out of a piece of bread too, before her eyes widened and she froze in a similar way.
"Soggy… mush…" Akira sobbed, tears rolling down her face. "Why… does it taste like this?"
"This is bread, isn't it…?" Matsuri coughed as she set down the bread and reached back into her bag. She came back out later with a sandwich and offered it to Akira.
"Thank you," Akira said gratefully as she accepted the sandwich. "Thank you for the meal," she sighed in relief before taking a bite, freezing as she turned to stone once again. "N-no way…"
"Eh?" Matsuri blinked and peered at the sandwich. She opened it up, took out a tomato slice and popped it into her mouth before promptly petrifying like Akira. "I'm… eating… a tomato…" she swallowed it with significant difficulty.
Tears streamed down Akira's face as she let out a sob. "It looks so good, so why does it taste like mush?" she whined. "Wait…" she hastily dug into her Bag of Holding and rooted around for several moments before pulling out an apple. "Please don't taste like mush!" she begged before biting in, chewing for a second before sparkles of relief. "It taste like an apple…" she moaned in contentment. "Thank goodness…"
"Gimme!" Matsuri immediately tackled Akira to the ground, landing on top of her and sneaking a bite of the apple from the surprised archer. "Mmmmm…" she let out a satisfied sigh.
"Get your own apple," Akira groused as she struggled to push the other off of her. "This one is mine!"
"Eeep?" Matsuri gasped and her long pointed ears stood straight as a hand met one of the soft orbs on her chest, and a knee found its way into her crotch.
"Get off!" Akira shouted as she continued to push against the elf. "Why is my strength stat so low!?"
"Nnngh…" a weakened elf rolled off Akira, panting a little. "I'm sorry, I got a little desperate there… but did you have to knee me… there?"
"Eh?" Akira questioned, tiling her head in confusion. "Where did I knee you?"
"Just because I don't have… one anymore doesn't mean it doesn't hurt…" Matsuri blushed as she clutched her abused crotch.
"Eh!?" Akira flushed as she realized where her knee connected. "I… I'm so sorry!"
"And you hit my boob too," Matsuri whispered weakly. "It just felt… weird."
"EH!" Akira flinched in response to the information. "I'M SORRY!"
"Well… I deserved it I guess," Matsuri sighed. "Sorry for jumping you like that and stealing your apple…"
Akira flushed as she dug into her bag to pull out another apple and handed it over to Matsuri, a flush on her face as she turned away.
"Thanks…" the elf beamed and accepted the apple. Within the minute it was reduced to just the core. "So… bread and sandwiches taste like crap but an apple tastes just fine?"
Akira frowned as she considered the options, pulling a head of lettuce out of her bag and ripping a leaf off to eat. "Lettuce tastes like lettuce too…" she commented as she chewed. "Then… the ingredients are fine?"
Matsuri rummaged in her bag for a while and came back out with a cooked chicken drumstick, then bit into it. She promptly petrified again.
Akira sighed as she scratched her head. "I don't even have the chef subclass to test if it would help at all," she commented, shaking her head. "And we can't just survive off of ingredients alone…"
"Maybe we'll figure out something later," Matsuri suggested, standing up. "I should probably get in some more fighting practice so I don't freeze up again like just now."
Akira nodded as she stored the head of lettuce back into her back. "Indeed," she commented in agreement. "Even if I do have 20,000 gold in the bank, that won't last forever, especially if I want to sleep with a roof over my head."
"Speaking of which, now I'm curious how the monsters still drop gold and equipment even though everything feels so real suddenly," Matsuri paused.
"Well… this is a world of magic, right?" Akira commented as she climbed to her feet, stretching her arms. "Of course magic doesn't make logical sense."
"Neither does the change in biology both of us went through," Matsuri giggled, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm giggling. I must be going crazy."
Akira hummed as she held her chin with her thumb and forefinger. "We just don't know enough about what brought us here and why," she commented with a heavy sigh. "Unless we find that out, we'd just be struggling to make sense of nothing."
"It's not like we have any leads though," Matsuri sighed. "All we can really do for now is try and live."
Akira nodded in agreement as she pulled back the string on her bow. "Yes," she stated resolutely. "We won't just survive though, we will live a full life with no regrets."
"Even as girls?" Matsuri blushed.
Akira matched her blush. "Even as girls," she muttered in agreement. "But, let's not focus on that."
"Kind of hard not to focus on it given I see… them every time I look down," Matsuri's blush deepened.
"Enough, let's go hunt some more monsters for practice!" Akira shouted firmly, pushing the elf forward. "Then we can go hunt some Wyverns!"
"Isn't that too big a jump?" Matsuri gasped, even as she tripped over once again.
"No! Dragons are my prey! No matter what world or form I am in!" Akira declared empathetically. "I refuse to cower away from them!"
"LARPer," Matsuri commented in a deadpan, climbing back to her feet.
"Dragon Hunting Enthusiast," Akira corrected with a firm look. "I've hunted Dragons in all of the servers! I even hunted the Dragon King 50 times to get his fangs!"
"LARPer."
"Shut up, booby clutz," Akira countered with a put out expression.
"Grk," Matsuri recoiled as if struck. "That as a low blow…"
"So is calling me a LARPer," Akira said with narrowed eyes. "What's wrong with being able to enjoy hunting the Apex of Hunters?"
"Nothing, it's just… after fighting the wolves just now, when I think of looking a dragon in the eyes…" Matsuri trailed off with a shudder. "It's an entirely different story compared to playing in a 3rd person RPG view."
Akira frowned as she puffed out her cheeks. "Then get over your fear, you're a level 90 adventurer," she pointed out. "You are the monster compared to most."
"Point, but you still can't slip up at all fighting a dragon," Matsuri chuckled weakly. "And I'm not sure if I want to find out what happens if we die now, hopefully this isn't like Sword Art Online..."
Akira nodded in agreement. "I guess that's true," she sighed finally. "But we're not stopping our wolf hunting until you stop freezing up!"
"Ugh. Fine," Matsuri slumped.
"Good," Akira nodded with a finality before a dark aura overtook her. "But eventually, I will be hunting my favored prey and craft their bones into arrows to hunt even more of their kind!"
"I'm starting to reconsider hanging out with you," Matsuri took a few steps back in horror.
Akira let out an evil sounding laugh as she turned to the elf who 'eeped' in surprise at the shadows covering the human's face, the only thing visible were two lights representing her eyes and a sinister glowing smile. "You'll find out… the joy of hunting the hunter," she promised ominously.
"Eeep."
"Well, at least we got you to a point where you can fight," Akira commented with a small sigh as she and Matsuri walked into Akihabara. "And not trip over your feet every time you swing a dagger."
"Kopis, not dagger," Matsuri corrected idly. "A type of curved one-handed sword."
Akira shrugged in response. "Fine fine, Kopis it is then," she sighed out as they walked through the gate, looking around at the assorted players as dejection seemed to settle in on many of them. "Talk about a gloomy atmosphere…"
"It's hard not to sink into it…" Matsuri sighed, gazing around at all the information windows that popped up whenever she looked at something intently. "Given what just happened to us - we've left a lot behind."
Akira nodded in agreement, letting out a small sigh. "I know, but without any ideas on what happened, I don't see the use in dwelling on it," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "After all, we don't know how to fix this, so all we can do is make the best of this situation."
"One step at a time," Matsuri agreed, bobbing her head slightly. "I wonder what the other people playing genderbent did…"
"Some of them probably got their hands on the appearance changing potion," Akira mused with a shrug. "Unfortunately, I never was lucky with the drops, and I don't think anyone on my friends list has them either."
"I was more of a solo player, I don't have a lot of people in my friend list," Matsuri sighed, opening up her own friend list to check. "And the drop rate of the potion is ridiculously low anyway."
Akira nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I had one during the event that gave them out, but ended up selling it at the auction," she muttered with a frown. "Got a lot for it though."
"You said you were never lucky with your drops," a defeated Matsuri sank.
"Yeah, that was after killing like… a thousand of those mimics that drop them," Akira replied, slumping heavily. "I spent the day of the event trying to farm them and only got three."
"Three in that day is already really lucky!" Matsuri squawked as she tripped over and unintentionally performed a perfect face fault. "Ow!"
Akira sighed as she held out her hand to assist her friend with standing up. "Smooth," she grunted. "I thought you found your balance."
"You surprised me," Matsuri complained with a pout. "Lucky you… I didn't get any…"
"That's… pretty unlucky," Akira commented with a sweatdrop. "You sure it's not your Greed Factor interfering with your drops?"
"The heck is that?" Matsuri sighed. "That superstition where the things you want the most never drop whenever you want them to and vice versa?"
"Pretty much," Akira nodded with a chuckle. "Probably half the reason I had to do the Dragon King Raid so many times, I wanted his fangs so much."
"It feels like you're just bragging now," Matsuri raised an eyebrow.
"Not really," Akira groaned. "I begged for raids to let me participate, spent days getting mats for my arrows for a single fight, in the end eight months of grinding out the raid I only got 10 fangs in total, and I already used five of them before all this happened."
"Archers have it tough, huh…" Matsuri chuckled weakly. "Can't you charm your arrows so they return to your quiver after hitting the target?"
"Maybe?" Akira shrugged in response. "I heard that there were some enchanted quivers like that, but I personally don't have any magic based skills so I can't make an enchantment like that. My current quiver doesn't have any limits for the amount of arrows it can hold, and it seems like I just have to think about the arrow I want to draw them out."
"Can't you just pick up any old arrows you've fired?" Matsuri suggested.
"Sometimes, but special arrows, like the Dragon King Fang arrows are one use items," Akira replied with a heavy sigh. "Its enchantment allows it to bypass all defenses and has a massive attack bonus, so to balance it, it's one use only."
"Hoehhh…" Matsuri blinked in awe. "I'd much rather make a sword or dagger out of something that rare… that can last for more than one use."
"Hey, early game Archers are weak, but once we get rolling, we can dish out the damage," Akira counted with a chuckle. "Not to mention with my Fletcher subclass, I can make my own arrows, some of which the flavour text describe as being bombs rather than arrows."
"I'm a Dancer myself," Matsuri revealed with a blush. "I figured… I might be able to use it together with my Swashbuckler class."
"I guess that makes sense," Akira nodded in agreement. "Guess we're both going to have to experiment to see how our skills work now that they're… well… real."
"With my balance shot the way it is though…" Matsuri hesitantly looked around, bracing for impact before doing a small twirl, leaning very heavily forward. "Ugyaa!"
*crash*
Akira winced in response. "I guess you're going to need to practice, huh?" she offered weakly.
"I was never a dancer in real life…" Matsuri complained as she climbed back to her feet. "Sure I could animate someone dancing in 3D but I'm not really into dancing myself…"
"Well… I think the problem is, you're thinking it's your… um… other body," Akira offered. "I was lucky, I studied archery when I was younger, but, maybe like fighting you need to trust your body's instincts?"
"Hoehhh?" Matsuri blinked. "I guess… if my body remembers how to fight… that might not be too far off to assume it remembers how to dance…"
"It's going to be a rough transition, but… we got to remember this is our new reality for the time being," Akira sighed, scratching her scalp. "And the 'us' in this reality have varied histories."
"I just hope we have some way of making actual food here… I don't want to survive on tasteless mush," Matsuri glanced over at a group of people biting into sandwiches while actually crying.
Akira winced at the reminder. "Tell me about it," she sighed with a heavy slump. "At least ingredients taste like something…"
"I want to eat meat, but I'd rather not eat raw meat though…" Matsuri seemed a little green at the thought.
Akira nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she voiced with a heavy sigh. "Not to mention just eating ingredients isn't exactly suited for long term satiating."
"Unless it's sashimi," Matsuri was smiling particularly widely. "I guess that's one thing we can eat raw."
"Ah, you mean like sushi?" Akira questioned with a tilted head. "I actually never had it before to be honest."
"You… don't know what sashimi is!?" Matsuri did a double take. "It's raw fish, cleaned and thinly sliced! Even sushi sometimes has sashimi on top of it!"
Akira blinked in response. "Yeah… I grew up and live in the west," she informed. "Plus… raw fish?"
"Don't diss it until you try it!" Matsuri chided, her hands on her hips.
Akira raised her hands in a allaying fashion. "Alright alright, but… wouldn't we need the cooking subclass to try?" she questioned.
"It's just raw fish, my sword skills should be able to handle it!" Matsuri grinned.
Akira narrowed her eyes suspiciously before letting out a sigh. "I guess so," she nodded in agreement. "Worst case, we spawn back in the Cathedral."
"If you're so skeptical, I'll just try it myself first to demonstrate!"
"It looks like sludge…"
"..."
"I can't believe you put it in your mouth…"
"It… tastes odd but somehow good… My mouth's prickling all over…"
"I don't think that's good…"
"..."
"Uhh… your health is dropping… do… you have anti-poison items?"
"... Ooops?"
"Your left eye is twitching…"
"Aghyuha…"
"I think you have food poisoning, and it's somehow giving you a stroke."
"..."
*crash*
"Yeah, I don't think I'll be having raw fish any time soon, I'll see you at the Cathedral."
It wasn't too hard to miss the silverette elf crouching outside the Cathedral, facing the wall with a depressed aura hanging around her.
"So, what did we learn from this?" Akira questioned as she stepped up, folding her arms as she raised an eyebrow.
"Nooooo, I want to eat sashimi…" a quiet wail came from the elf. "Maybe add some wasabi? I heard it gets rid of the bad bacteria…"
"Okay, before you get too wild, you're trying to cook without the cooking subclass," Akira pointed out dryly.
The depressed aura thickened dramatically and Matsuri began drawing circles on the ground. She wasn't even trying very hard as they came out more squiggly than circular.
Akira let out a sigh. "I messaged a friend who has a chef subclass," she informed. "He thinks he has a solution for us based on your sashimi idea."
"Really!?" A suddenly much more spirited Matsuri was almost instantly in front of Akira, clasping their hands together even as her eyes sparkled and drool dripped from her mouth. "Yay!"
Akira sighed as she shook her head in response. "Come on, he owns an apartment in the outskirts," she informed as she led them out of the respawn point.
"He owns an apartment!?" Matsuri gasped. "Rich…"
Akira nodded. "Yeah, on top of being a chef, he's a level 90 Sorcerer and participates in a lot of raids," she informed. "But he has the weirdest luck, he'll get rare drops that he has no use for when it comes to his class so he just auctions most of it off, well that and he's been playing since the original launch."
"Food…" It was clear where Matsuri's priorities were.
"Yeah yeah, let's get going," Akira said with a slight teasing tone as she guided Matsuri along. "You glutton."
Matsuri glared at Akira for a moment. "I like eating, what can I say?" she harrumphed.
"Like I said, a glutton," Akira prodded with a wide grin. "Well, hopefully we can find a way to eat that doesn't make things taste like mush, don't want to make you let up on your eating habits after all."
"I'm not a glutton," Matsuri pouted.
"You like eating right?" Akira countered, chuckling. "What would you call that then?"
"A gourmet," Matsuri grinned.
"A gourmet can cook," the archer said with a smirk. "And don't kill themselves with food poisoning."
Cue depressed crouch and depressed circle drawing on the ground.
Akira laughed in response as she pulled her partner to her feet. "Come on, we won't get there just sitting around," she informed as she guided her friend. "You don't want to get left behind, right?"
"Right…" the elf nodded slowly and stood back up with a little less vigor than earlier.
"C'mon, he's on the south side," Akira informed as she stepped out of the Cathedral.
"Hey Korvis, I'm here!" Akira called out as she knocked on an apartment door in a decently sized building in the southern district of Akihabara.
"It's open!" a masculine voice shouted out from inside the apartment, allowing Akira to push the door open to a surprisingly spacious two level apartment. "I'm in the kitchen right now."
"Already testing it out then?" Akira questioned curiously as she easily walked through the apartment.
"Yup, and it looks promising too," a 6'1" man commented cheerfully as he came into view in the kitchen, his neck length black hair pulled into a short ponytail while his heterochromatic eyes glinted merrily, the left one being an deep emerald while his right was an odd shade of purple and several runic glyphs embedded onto his skin. "Here, try these out." he slid out a plate onto the kitchen island, a salad of some kind.
"Please tell me it doesn't taste like mush," Matsuri pleaded as she studied the dish intently. It looked nice but they had long learnt that looking nice didn't mean it couldn't taste like mush.
"Try it for yourself and see," the Race of Ritual man told them. "Only one way to find out."
Akira frowned for a moment, remembering their own attempt at making a salad before picking up a fork and spearing a few of the green leaves that glistened with a sauce of some kind before putting it into her mouth, her entire body freezing up as a glow seemed to surround her entire body. "So good~"
Matsuri stared at Akira for several moments incredulously, then turned to regard the salad again for a moment. She picked up a fork and tested it… and her eyes lit up and she started focusing on eating.
"I had initially tried using the menu to cook the meal, but that turned into the mushy taste I'm sure you're familiar with," Korvis explained as he continued to cook a meat dish of some kind as they ate the salad with gusto. "Your friend's idea of making Sashimi got me thinking: "what if I used regular cooking methods?' and that brought about the salad you're enjoying now."
"It's real food…" Matsuri was actually crying tears of joy as she stared at the empty salad plate.
"I'll have more ready in a moment," Korvis assured as he continued to cook. "Never thought my skills as a cook would be of use in game, although, this isn't quite a game anymore…"
"Yeah…" Matsuri sighed, setting down her utensils. "It's quite telling that I can die of food poisoning and then suddenly find myself back at the Cathedral…"
"Oh? That is a rather… unique way to die," Korvis commented idly as he began frying a meat of some kind in oil.
Matsuri clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing in shame. "Speak of it to no one," she pleaded.
"My lips are sealed," Korvis assured with a chuckle as he lifted a cooked piece of meat onto a plate and passed it to Matsuri. "Wyvern steak with roasted potatoes."
Matsuri cut a piece off and stuck it in her mouth. "Best chicken I've ever tasted," she declared. "Or maybe lizard? Hmmm…"
"More lizard than chicken," Korvis informed with a chuckle. "I once cooked iguana on a dare, wasn't completely terrible actually."
Akira snorted in response. "You always have the most interesting stories about dares and challenges," she said in amusement, getting a grin from the Sorcerer.
"What can I say, I like a challenge," Korvis countered as he placed a plate of steak and potatoes in front of her.
Matsuri had already finished her dish again and was staring at Korvis expectantly… with a bit of sauce left over on her cheek that kind of ruined the look.
The Sorcerer chuckled at the expectant stare as he put a new chunk of meat onto the frying pan. "You have some sauce on your face," he informed teasingly.
"Hoehh?" Matsuri hurriedly wiped it off and continued staring at the frying pan.
Akira chuckled along with Korvis. "You seem to be adjusting well," she commented, eating at a much more sedated pace than the silver haired elf.
Korvis shrugged in response as he grilled the wyvern meat. "I admit to being shocked for a while, but, I honestly can't say that I'm upset by this change," he admitted with a wry grin. "I spent most of my time playing this game after all."
Akira snorted in response. "Of course you would enjoy it," she said with a sigh as she shook her head. "We had some awkwardness suddenly waking up female."
"Yeah… Everything's different," Matsuri shifted uncomfortably.
"My sympathies, quite glad I wasn't playing one of my alt accounts when we were transported here," Korvis commented dryly as he flipped the steak onto the opposite side. "Unfortunately, I don't have any appearance changing positions available for you two."
"Thanks anyways," Akira sighed in response as she shook her head.
"It's alright…" Matsuri sagged visibly. "I'm too ashamed to approach anyone who might have one anyway so I guess I'll just have to get used to this… and… I guess this isn't um… too bad a feeling, being a girl?"
Akira nodded in agreement, a small flush on her face.
"Either way, I'm sure you can find a way to live with this, for good or for ill, this is our life now," Korvis said as he placed the wyvern steak on a plate with a few more potatoes and passed it to Matsuri. "I'm sure there are many positives to this world."
Matsuri was too busy eating to respond.
Akira snorted. "Yup, she's definitely a glutton," she commented teasingly.
"I'll grab the cook subclass someday and you'll call me a gourmet," a rather put-out Matsuri glowered at the redheaded archer as she put down her utensils once more.
"And put all that work you put into your dancer subclass to waste?" Akira questioned teasingly, grinning widely.
"Geh," Matsuri flinched. "Umm… uhhh… I place myself in your care, master chef Korvis," she bowed at the cook.
Korvis chuckled in amusement. "Consider yourselves fortunate, I was planning on changing my class tomorrow after the update had come out," he informed
"Please don't ever change it," Matsuri was now doing a dogeza.
Korvis chuckled in amusement as he settled in with his own plate of food. "Considering the story I heard from you guys, I don't believe I will be any time soon," he assured them. "Although, I would like the two of you to keep quiet about this for the time being, information is power after all."
"Of course!" Matsuri gushed, jumping to her feet and hugging Korvis tightly. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Korvis chuckled in amusement. "Thank you for your consideration," he replied good naturedly. "But it is getting hard to eat with you hugging me like that."
Matsuri hurriedly let go and returned to her seat. "Sorry," she whispered.
"Quite alright, although I must admit it was a nice feeling to have breasts pressing up against me," Korvis admitted with a teasing tone as he continued to eat.
Matsuri went bright red and began sputtering unintelligibly as she wrapped an arm around her chest.
Akira snorted in response as she covered her mouth to keep her food in while she laughed. "Smooth," she managed to get out after calming her laughter.
"I'm… I'm a guy!" Matsuri hissed, her brain finally successfully rebooting.
"We sure don't look like guys," Akira countered with a humorous grin. "I'd say we look the exact opposite of guys right now."
"Well, we're guys at heart," Matsuri pouted.
Akira laughed in amusement along with Korvis. "True, but we're going to have to get used to this eventually," she countered with a shrug. "Might as well get started with it."
"It's still more than a little… awkward…" Matsuri blushed, cradling her hand to her chest even as she squirmed in place.
"You were the one who initiated it," Korvis countered with a chuckle as he continued to eat. "Remember?"
The silver-haired elf opened her mouth to say something, before her face turned an even brighter red and she deflated. "Mou…" she grumbled, planting her face on the table although she had to back a good distance away so her massive mammaries weren't pressed against the table.
"Anyways, what should we do?" Akira questioned curiously. "Should we look into doing some quests or something?"
A muffled, "I guess so," came from Matsuri.
"I personally will be remaining here for the time being," Korvis informed, leaning back into his chair. "I have some friends who're online when this all happened and we'll be meeting up later to discuss things, but, I am willing to trade meals for any information you do come along to in your questing."
"Let's go," Matsuri was suddenly at the exit of the apartment.
Akira chuckled in amusement as she stood up at a sedated pace to follow. "Thanks for the meal, Korvis, we'll talk later!" she called out as they stepped out getting a wave from the chef as they left.
"Alright, enjoy yourselves," Korvis called back before the door closed behind them.
"So, let's see what kind of trouble we can get in," Akira announced as they headed to the building exit. "Hm, where do we even find quests to do?"
"Look for NPCs with floating quest icons over their heads?" Matsuri mimed something floating above her head.
"In the game sure, but this isn't really a game anymore, remember?" Akira pointed out with a worried expression.
"I'm still seeing a lot of People of the Land around though," Matsuri gestured out over the area.
"So do I," Akira nodded in agreement. "But… if this is a world… are they NPCs?"
"I don't know… I guess we'll have to look at their reactions," Matsuri stared at one of the merchants as one of the obvious adventurers approached him and began screaming and shouting. The merchant seemed visibly distressed and confused. "It seems like they might actually be real people…"
Akira nodded in agreement. "Let's check the guild offices to see if there's still a quest board there," she suggested. "We can get more info about the People of the Land doing some quests for them,"
"And we can trade the info for meal tickets," Matsuri nodded enthusiastically.'
Akira chuckled in response. "Yes yes, to feed the black hole that is your stomach," she agreed teasingly, elbowing her lightly in the rib.
"It's not that much of a black hole, I just like eating nice food," Matsuri grumbled. "Let's just go."
"Yes yes," Akira assented, grinning the entire time.
"Hm, so they still do have quest boards, huh?" Akira hummed as the two looked over the questing board. "What kind of quest should we get?"
"Something simple to stretch our feet for starters, I guess…" Matsuri suggested, looking over the board. There were very few people lingering around the area, which wasn't entirely unexpected given the slump a large majority of the playerbase seemed to be in.
"Hmm," Akira hummed as she folded her arms in contemplation. "How about this delievery one," she suggested, pointing out a package delivery quest to a nearby town. "A duke needs some potions it looks like."
"That'll work," Matsuri agreed. "Let's properly party up first."
Akira nodded as she opened the menu and sent the party invite to the elf. "There we go," she said with a small grin.
"Right," Matsuri smiled, accepting the invite and watching as the additional status window showed up in the corner of her vision.
Akira reached out and took the quest notification off of the board, frowning a bit as no quest notifications popped up on her HUD. "Guess we don't get any indicators anymore," she sighed, shaking her head. "Come on, we need to talk to the item shop owner for the potions to deliver."
"Which one…" Matsuri glanced at the request. "I've never heard of that one before."
Akira hummed for a moment. "Ah, I know this one, by the west gate," she commented with a nod. "They mostly deal with status infliction and curatives."
"Oh, that explains why I never heard of it. I don't need any status infliction potions," Matsuri mused, pulling out one of her kopis to show to Akira.
"Do they inflict statuses on their own?" she questioned curiously.
"One burns and the other paralyses, wherever they cut. Just a mild effect but it compounds over time with the number of attacks," Matsuri revealed, sliding it back into its sheath. "My pride and joy."
"Very helpful," Akira nodded in agreement, pulling out her own bow. "My own is able to pierce through an opponent to hit someone behind them."
"Cool," Matsuri remarked, studying the bow. "Sounds a little hard to use though."
"Hmm, not particularly," Akira admitted with a shrug. "The draw strength is a bit higher than what I expected, but nothing that this body can't handle."
"No, I meant the piercing effect," Matsuri shook her head. "Arrows aren't particularly wide, so the hit zone isn't big. And normally they can't follow targets either. That means the effective hit zone is just a curved line. Elder Tale was played on a 2D plane before, as a top-down RPG rather than a FPS so you'd just hit targets in a straight line in front of you regardless of where the shot penetrates… but as the world is now… you need to aim properly to hit stuff, and on larger monsters you'd send the arrow flying into the air if you aim for the head, thus hitting only one target. Same case if you aim for a small monster, the arrow would hit the ground and you wouldn't get much use out of the piercing effect."
"True, but it was mostly useful for the large mobs that would come piling into a chokepoint," Akira admitted. "Plus I can choose when to use it, although now that this is real, it may be able to travel through the target causing extra damage."
"I guess there's internal damage to consider for the biggest monsters…" Matsuri conceded the point. "But it's going to be a pretty situational ability for anything like a goblin or smaller."
Akira shrugged in acceptance as they walked through the crowds of players. "True, that's why I use my arrows to compensate," she patted her quiver with a grin. "Some are AoE, most have elemental effects, some have secondary effects, I have an arrow for any occasion. Actually, there was one time I used my piercing effect with a fire AoE arrow, went through the first mob and got in the middle of the group… good times!"
"Your arrows sound expensive though…" Matsuri chuckled weakly. "I have enough trouble staying in the green the way I chug potions in a fight."
"Don't worry, I'll warn you if I do use one of the explosive arrows," Akira assured with a wink. "I also have single target arrows to use as well, so no issues there."
"Right, right…" Matsuri smiled back.
"You two girls, how'd you like to join the guild that's growing the fastest in town?" a random, nondescript player in a black cloak popped up beside them.
"Not interested," Akira stated bluntly as she pushed past him. "Bugger off."
"Sorry but no," Matsuri did the same without breaking stride, actually causing him to stagger a little.
"Hey, hey, hear me out here! We players gotta stick together with this shit happening to us, right?" the recruiter followed them doggedly, rubbing his side where he'd been bruised slightly. "We have nice benefits!"
"Fuck off," Akira growled, not even turning to face him.
"Thanks but no thanks, keep your eyes above our breasts if you're really sincere about it," Matsuri turned around to regard the recruiter with an extremely dark and annoyed smile as she flicked one of her kopis out of its sheath just slightly, showing a hint of glowing red unearthly steel. "I'll gladly liberate you of your balls if you keep asking for it."
"Uh," the recruiter faltered as he squeezed his thighs together protectively, before turning around and leaving hurriedly.
"Now I know how the busty girls feel in situations like these…" Matsuri growled, letting her kopis slide back into its sheath.
"Yup," Akira sighed as she shook her head. "Be careful before you actually attack someone though, remember, the Royal Guards will attack us if we do."
"Same goes for them," Matsuri shrugged. "They can't force us to do anything, I just hope being groped will also trigger them."
Akira sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Who knows, well, at least when we leave we can make our point known quite thoroughly," she commented dryly. "Try and talk shit when I've exploded you."
"I can paralyze people while they burn," Matsuri chuckled darkly.
Akira grinned widely in response. "Yup, so I hope the idiots listening in think twice before ambushing us later," she announced loudly.
Loud gulps all around and some rustling as people ducked back into hiding.
Akira smirked as she continued to walk, heading towards a small unassuming shop. "All you need is a little confidence and people think twice," she commented dryly. "This is the shop here."
"Well, we're good enough on our own to handle lower-levelled PKers I suppose," Matsuri agreed as the two entered the shop.
Akira grinned at her in response. "Most of the PKers hang out in the Susukino area," she informed calmly. "Most of the area around here is beginner turf, so not a lot of PKers hang out here due to the lack of challenge."
"I wonder if anything similar is happening anywhere else… this being sucked into the game thing," Matsuri wondered.
Akira hummed as she closed her eye in thought. "It would be best to assume that it has," she commented, opening her menu to look at her friends list. "I have friends on other servers, and my friends list is showing them as online."
"Anywhere else on the Japanese server?" Matsuri asked as she perused the shop's wares.
Akira shook her head. "Nah, I was here for a couple of Japan only dragon mobs," she admitted. "I'm normally in the US and European servers."
"Of course you were here for the Japanese dragon mobs…" Matsuri rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Hey, I'm a dragon hunter after all," Akira defended herself before going up to the shop owner. "We're here about your request to deliver some potions to a duke?"
The Lander looked up at them, relief showing clearly on her worn face. "Thank you, Adventurers," she said gratefully as she lifted a small crate of potions from behind the counter. "These are potions for curing Duke Kurnel's younger brother of his illness, please, get them to the Town of Rawaroru to the North."
"We will get them there in due haste," Akira assured with a smile as she picked up the crate of potions. "You ready, Matsuri?"
"Yeah," the elven Swashbuckler nodded after a quick check of her inventory. "All good on potions and equipment maintenance."
"Alright, let's make some distance from the town," Ryuko said with a grin. "I know a way to make our trip shorter, but I'd rather keep it private."
"What a coincidence, so do I," Matsuri smirked, miming blowing a flute.
"Ah, that's good," Akira nodded in agreement as they left the shop, Akira transferring the potions to her Bag of Holding, the hem opening wide to swallow up the sizable crate. "Good thing our Bags of Holding still work."
"I guess that's magic for you," Matsuri agreed, staring at Akira's Bag of Holding, which didn't look like it had just eaten a large crate of potions. "Weird but cool."
"Agreed," Akira nodded as they made their way to the gate. "Glad most of our items still work, I put a lot of work into my collection."
"I'm sure you put a lot of work into your arrow collection," Matsuri nodded sagely.
Akira snorted. "I've lost count of how many arrows I have to be honest," she admitted sheepishly. "I actually had to organize it every couple of months between buying from the auction and creating with my Fletcher subclass."
"Sounds like a hassle…" Matsuri remarked, scanning around them as they left the city's boundaries.
"It really is, but I keep a mental tally of my more important arrows," Akira replied, looking completely at ease. "It's going to be even more of a hassle now though… I'll have to completely empty everything out to tally it all..."
"I see…" Matsuri nodded, seeming a little distracted as she looked up at the sky.
"Do you see something?" Akira questioned, noticing her partner's state of distraction.
Matsuri stopped for a moment to sniff at the air with her long pointed ears flicking slightly. "Just… sinking in I guess," she sighed, gesturing all around them. "The sensations are all so vivid. Sound, smell, sight, touch… taste… it's… all familiar, yet so different at the same time. It's hard to explain."
Akira hummed in response. "Everything is… cleaner in a way," she commented. "There's no pollution, overpopulation, factories spewing out fumes, just nature."
"That's just part of it," Matsuri sighed, kicking a rock on the ground. "We're… really in a different world. Like a fantasy novel."
Akira sighed as she scratched her scalp. "Yeah, it really is," she agreed. "But… there is a bonus to all of this though…"
"It almost feels like I'm running away from my responsibilities in real life, even though I know it probably isn't my fault," Matsuri grimaced, her ears drooping. "I guess here though, we're free from at least some of them…"
"Well… actually I was talking about riding Griffons," Akira admitted weakly, scratching her cheek. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you think about all that."
"It's quite alright," Matsuri chuckled. "The feeling's been nagging at me inside for a while, I just needed to let it out. I wonder… if we ever had a choice to go back to real life or stay here in the future… which would I pick? I'm not so sure how I feel about being able to revive after death too."
"Who knows, I'm honestly not trying to worry about it, to be completely honest," Akira said with a sigh. "I've always been the type of person to take the hits as they come and roll with them, this one is rough, yes, but hey, there are upsides to everything."
"I… guess…" the buxom silver-haired elf tried not to look downwards at her chest. She failed a little bit.
Akira snorted slightly. "You're actually enjoying it, aren't you?" she questioned teasingly.
"Maybe a little…" Matsuri hurriedly averted her gaze from Akira with a blush. "Let's… just say I've always wondered what things would have been like if I had been born a girl instead of a guy."
Akira grinned. "We've all had thoughts like that at some point," she replied looking around at their surroundings. "It's nothing abnormal really."
"So… um… what do you think?" Matsuri asked the red-haired archer hesitantly. "Do you miss having the… umm… stick and bells?"
Akira was silent in thought for a moment before shrugging a bit. "A bit," she said finally. "Not the way they chafe though, that's for sure."
"I'm still finding it a little hard to accept my current body," Matsuri shook her head, gesturing down at her own body.
"Fair, not sure why I'm adjusting so well to this to be honestly," Akira commented with a small sigh. "Guess I'm just kinda built that way, I've always accepted rather large changes in my life with little fuss…"
"You have smaller boobs, easier to get used to," Matsuri pointed out.
"Point," Akira agreed with a chuckle. "I think we're far enough out to call our rides for the rest of the trip."
"Alright," Matsuri reached into her Bag of Holding, rummaged around for a while and retrieved a flute.
Akira did the same as the two of them put them to their lips and blew into them, a clear sound echoing through the area before a shrill eagle-like call echoed through the area as a pair of griffons appear in the sky. "Hell, they look awesome in the flesh," Akira crowed happily as the two creatures drifted down to land before the two.
"I couldn't agree more…" Matsuri muttered in awe, reaching out to stroke her griffon's head.
Akira grinned as she climbed onto the back of her griffon, gripping the reigns as she settled herself in. "Huh, more comfy than you'd think," she said with a small laugh.
"Okay… okay…" Matsuri breathed slowly as she swung herself onto the griffon's back and took the reins. "We have a quest to do…"
Akira smiled widely as she snapped the reigns to get the griffon to take flight, guiding it into the direction of their destination. "Haha! This is amazing!" she cried out happily as the wind rushed past her face. "I'm flying on a griffon!"
Matsuri shouted something that was lost in the rushing wind.
"I can't hear you!" Akira shouted back, pointing to her ears, laughing the entire time as they flew. "This is awesome!"
Matsuri's following shout was also lost to the wind, though she seemed to be cheering as well.
Akira turned her attention to around them, smiling at the mass of greenery that greeted them, the far off sea visible in the distance as the sun shone down upon the flying pair. "Hell, maybe in the end, I don't want to leave," she murmured to herself. "A new life, is something amazing…"
END CHAPTER