Two Years to Eternity

[SALARYMAN STATUS SCREEN OVERVIEW]

Reputation overview

Idolized: [The Orphanage] [East Gate Nobility]

Liked: [East Gate Businessmen] [East Gate Commonpeople] [The Guild of Thieves]

Accepted: [Kobold Clan of the East Gate Surrounds]

Mixed: [The Stronghold Rebellion] [The Adventurer's Guild]

Despised: [UNKNOWN] [The Guild of Thieves Rebel Branch] [UNKNOWN]

Gold: 53978

Personal wealth: 2400

Salaryman Grade: B+

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TWO YEARS LATER…

[Standard Frost!]

Two years of grinding later... and I could finally say I had a decent grasp on most standard Standard-level spells.

For some reason, I made it look good while doing it. So much so clients commission me to pose in front of them. The novelty of a Crystal Elf alive and well and living so ‘humbly’ among the common folk helped a lot, I think.

“Have I sufficiently inspired you yet?” I asked the illustrator at the front.

“The image of you conjuring and flexing your muscles for the spell is magnificent!” He tapped his chin. “Mmm, but there’s something missing. Perhaps you could… elaborate on your imaginative tales! Yes, do tell me more to get my creative juices flowing!”

I rolled my eyes. I had the distinct feeling he wasn’t doing this for charity.

He’d made a fortune after I let slip the story of Narry Mutter, the boy wizard. Obviously, he’d adapted it into a “proper” fantasy setting. We’d only even gotten through half of the first book and I was already getting tired of it…

I should be paid additional commission for this, surely.

“Ever since they blacklisted me from the capital—for what, exactly? Being inquisitive? Even if I took creative liberties about my depiction of the royals. As they say, behind every caricature is a nugget of truth.”

“Yes, that’s probably why they kicked you out…”

“So sue me! I shouldn’t be in chains for a bit of fun.”

He waved me off.

“Thank you, Cotter. You may go. Collect your bonus from my secretary, and…” He pressed a rose into my hand. “Do tell Ms. Martha about my proposals.”

“Dude. You’re out of your depth. You’re not her type. Like, at all.”

“Can’t blame a man for trying…”

I left the eccentric man to his devices as I walked back to the orphanage.

My friends called me crazy for taking on this gig on the Big Day.

Well, with money in my hands… Who’s laughing now?

Gotta keep hustling, after all! It never stops!

...

No, I haven't asked Py Pir by what she meant by that I was of 'royal bloodline.' Fat lot of good that will do right now...

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When Piper turned nineteen, it was only hours before the most anticipated day of our lives.

“OWW!! AHH, GODS—SCREW ME SIDEWAYS!!”

“I—I can stop if you’d like!”

When I was just shy of seventeen and a half in this world, I found myself tightening my dear friend’s corset.

Weird task, sure. She could’ve asked another girl, or her retainer. But no—she asked me.

“NO! Keep going, Cotter, lest I strangle the artery out of your wringy neck!” Piper grimaced. “I—I must make my best impression out there! You get sponsorships if you win and look good doing it, don’t you know?!”

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean the ‘Young Talent’ section where Sunlight nobles scout for future prospects to woo into their agencies?”

“But think of the coin. The invitations to lavish ceremonies…”

“The food.”

“Especially the food.” I swore I saw drool run down her lip. “East Gate food is so bland and devoid of spices I feel colonized.”

I pulled the strings tighter, forcing her waist into the hourglass figure she demanded.

To think Piper had squeezed in another growth spurt since our first adventurer’s test boggled the mind.

As she herself once put it: “My genes were the result of centuries of careful planning to create the optimal female body according to Oasis customs and values.”

Those values clearly favored… generosity, in certain regions.

The door creaked open behind us.

“Are you guys done making out yet?” Yuree-El quipped. She was still sore about not having grown much, forever stuck looking bratty.

“YUREE-EL! OUT!!” Piper shrieked.

I glanced at the mirror we’d bought for the room. It reflected something I barely recognised—me. Taller now, sharper lines, something approaching a graceful nobleman. Piper had once said, “The very image of elegance itself.”

Yuree-El soon elaborated that Py Pir's perception of masculinity had been warped by the raunchy novels Py Pir brought from Oasis.

I looked like I’d stepped straight out of one of my sister’s otome games, now that I think about it. What was that title again? Love and Deepwater, where you had to romance mermen?

Didn’t matter.

“I think that’s as far as the corset goes, Piper.”

She turned, admiring herself in the mirror. “I think the look needs more blush. Touching up of the eyelids. You can go now; this will take a while.”

I nodded and stepped outside. The morning sun hit my face, the spring air fresh in my lungs.

And I thought, mimicking scripture: On the second year, I looked upon the creation I had contributed to, and I saw that it was good.

The orphanage now had a play area, a wholly new work-and-education wing, vegetation, refurbishments everywhere.

All thanks to the coin we’d generated over the years from both Calilah’s funding and my salesmanship.

“Cotter?”

I turned.

For a moment, words failed me. Daisy looked… stunning. Cold at first glance, brooding even… but once you saw past the surface, you couldn’t deny the beauty beneath. Her dark lipstick, her carefully lined eyes, the gothic undertone of her makeup—her damn choker.

“I don’t think you need me to tell you you look amazing,” I said.

“R-Really?” she squeaked. “I mean—of course, really. No doubt. I should hit you for engendering doubt within me—guh!!”

The skin all over her body suddenly flared bright red. She doubled over.

“It keeps getting worse! Argh…!”

“Are you sure Malmitres isn’t behind this?” I asked, supporting her.

“It hurts her too, believe me. She complains every second she gets. It’s just… the equivalent of two souls in one body. One day, the power will be too much for either of us to hold.”

This eerily reminded me of that video game where you had a friend and mentor that’d once been a legend and had turned into a voice in your head... 

I nodded. “I swear, first thing after this conspiracy mess—we find the Sakura people. Your people.”

“I’m not fine porcelain, y’know.”

“Does it hurt to have a concerned friend?”

“Sometimes.”

We snickered. 

“Where’s Engel?” I ventured.

“H-Here!” another voice squeaked.

Engel hovered in with an armful of bags.

“What’s with the inventory?” I asked.

“I want to contribute equally! It’s only fair if I—” She stumbled, and everything tumbled to the floor.

She scrambled to pick it up as if her life depended on it.

“Engel, stop beating yourself up. You giving us information in battle is more than enough,” Daisy said.

“That’d make my accreditation fraudulent,” Engel argued. “I won’t be a fraud. I saw people get Accredited back home who couldn’t even design a kettle if they tried.”

“Good, Engel! Good! Let’s see some fire!” Yuree-El cheered.

Engel nodded, puffing up. “That’s right, Yuree. I just have to believe in myself! RAWWWWRRR!”

I nearly had a nosebleed. Even her war cries were adorable.

Engel soon sighed.

“Not that it matters anymore…”

I stepped forward. “Are you sure you don’t want to try appealing your case this week?”

“Do you know just how many taboos I broke just by transmuting my soul in a golem case? Let alone the political implications…”

“But…”

“No. I’m not certain of many things in life, and that’s the one thing I’m certain in. My people are never letting me back in.”

We were talking about the sixth-year anniversary when Engel was kicked out of her home. Every six years, they open their gates to the outside world to take stock of the world around them… and to elect a new leader.

I looked around for a certain retainer.

Yuree-El already had her pack slung. She was cycling through her routine, absurdly reliable despite looking like a brat. Our reputation as a party led by someone so “compact” was going to draw mockery.

Let them laugh. They’d see soon enough.

The door into my room swung open again. Piper stepped out, more radiant than ever.

“Sorry for keeping you all waiting!” she said.

“So we are all ready, rau?!” Yuree-El barked.

Let’s do this.

\\

“We can split half and half for the cost to operate the teleporters, y’know.”

“Are you kidding me?! I am not about to make my subjects pay for the Crown like I’m some filcher and penny-pincher. As a noble, however—” Calilah puffed his chest, “—I am allowed to make a fuss about it.”

Calilah, much like Yuree-El, seemed to have discovered the fountain of eternal youth. Now grown into a Duke, he was taller, yes, but his proportions had hardly changed at all.

We stood at the palace entrance, where East Gate’s only teleporters were housed. And before you ask—“Why doesn’t everyone just use teleporters then?”—let me stop you. If you knew how much coin it took to power even a one-way trip, you’d regret ever doubting me.

Soon, we heard the clacking of heels on the tiles near the teleporters.

“Oh, my girls! And of course… boy.”

Mother Martha swept me into a hug.

“I am so proud of you all. You’re going to do wonderfully, I just know it. And no matter what the Society of Monsterology offers once you graduate, do not accept. No matter the coin. They are cheats, the lot of them. And the Mage’s Society?” She sniffed. “They can kick dirt. They’ve had institutionalized prejudice against Crystal Elves since the very beginning.”

“...Why do you act like we’re leaving forever, like some stay-at-home mom watching her kids run off to war?” I asked. “We’ll be back in a day at most.”

Daisy leaned over. “She has a complex, Cotter. Can’t you tell?”

Before I could answer, one of the servants sprinted up to the good Duke. “Your Majesty, the teleporters are primed!”

Duke Calilah clapped once.

“Well!” he began, “I’d always dreamed of one day finding myself in your shoes somehow. Maybe in the far-off future, when time permits. But with the constant influx of immigrants—well, let’s just say the paperwork is busting my arse.”

I forced a wink. “We’ll be back before you know it.” Then I swallowed hard. “Hopefully.”

“Now that we’re actually here…” Piper whispered, her voice unusually small, “I can’t help but feel unprepared. Some of these initiatives already have backing from adventurer schools! What hope do we have? If the Proctor’s machinations are the minimum expectation of what’s ahead…”

Daisy nodded grimly. “We could always apply to become students at an adventurer’s academy.”

“What is this rotten way of thinking?!” Yuree-El snapped her fingers. “As Cotter put it: never settle!”

The whole group echoed in unison, “Never settle!”

…Well, except for Daisy, for some reason.

And with that, we stepped into the portal.

Sweat trickled down my forehead. My chest tightened.

God. This was it.