Chapter 2

I was standing in front of a crowd of people who flowed in and out of a tavern.

They were all dressed outlandishly and their skin colors varied widely.

Some had pale complexions while others were darker brown, or orange, or even green. Most of them looked similar to each other though: tall, slender figures with long legs and arms, and narrow waists. But what stood out to me, was the variety of fantasy races represented here: Elves, dwarves, ogres, humans, gnomes, goblins, orcs, lizard-men, halflings, cat-men, and more packed the streets.

Some were walking along casually, while others were hurrying past. Many carried weapons and equipment on their backs or belts, while others had items strapped to their heads, chests, waists, thighs—anywhere they could carry stuff.

There were merchants selling goods and services, and travelers coming and going. Everyone moved quickly and efficiently, yet everyone still managed to maintain a polite distance between themselves and the rest. The vast majority of them though, were athletic beyond belief and looked like caricatures straight out of well, anime.

All of them stared at me intently as we passed each other.

"Um..." I began nervously. The body I was in was unbelievably short and to put it nicely, scholarly. I definitely felt it as we passed through the crowd.

"Hm?" Lori whispered, turning towards me.

A lizard man stepped forward. He had a large mustache, dark green robes, and a golden ring around his neck. His eyes were sharp, and he glared at me intensely as he approached.

"Uh," I swallowed hard and tried to gather my thoughts. "Um... hi? Hello?"

He spoke quietly in a gruff tone.

"...Are you new here?"

I nodded hesitantly.

His eyebrows rose in surprise, before he chortled in a rough laugh. "Really? I thought you were someone famous."

"Huh?"

"Like, you're really well known in these parts, right? The genius adolescent daughter of the Liddell family? Potion brewer and former supplier of the Adventurer's Guild? Same house that came crashing down overnight in disgrace? That's why you came here instead of staying home all pampered, yeah?"

A chorus of laughter and raucous whispers echoed through the room.

My heart sank. I didn't even realize how much attention I was drawing until now.

"Err," I stammered, "No. Actually, um—"

"Ahhh, nevermind," the lizardman cut me off. "Sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you miss. Have fun being a celebrity, girlie."

With that, he returned to his friends and continued on.

Lori nudged me playfully, "See? You're doing fiiiiiiiiine."

"Thanks, I guess," I mumbled, embarrassed.

We kept walking through the crowds, before we came up at a bulletin board.

"So, uh, what do you wanna do first?" she asked me.

I paused mid-stride and turned to her with a look of confusion.

"Do... what?"

She smirked at me, "Oh cute little Alice-chan. On her first widdle adventure. Of course, I'm assuming that you're curious."

I glanced down at my weirdly cel-shaded anime hands. They were small, delicate hands with long fingers. My nails were short flawlessly drawn, manicured, and pink.

I raised my gaze back to hers and narrowed my eyes suspiciously, "What are you talking about?"

She laughed lightly, "Cute. You sure you aren't a little kid?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, puffing up my cheeks. I couldn't help but feel a bit offended. I was a grown adult!

I narrowed my eyes, then blinked in confusion as the background turned purple and hazy.

Lori zoomed out to become a scared-looking tiny chibi knight.

What the hell?

"Okay! Okay!," she frantically waved both hands at me placatingly. Lori transformed back from her chibi self and leaned in close, and lowering her voice conspiratorially.

"Here's the deal. When I told you that we were going adventuring, I wasn't kidding. We're gonna start working right away!"

"Work?" Uh oh, I didn't like where this was going.

"Yep. Our party leader wants us to earn some money quick, so we can get you better gear and stuff, ya know? Get you broken in before we meet with the crew officially."

"Umn, I'm really having second doubts about this. Third doubts, in fact."

"Right!" she exclaimed excitedly, "I'm so psyched!"

She didn't hear me at all, did she?

"Ooookay," I said slowly, "so, work is going to be...?"

She held up her fingers, and did an 'eenie meenie miny moe' motion with them, pointing at the bulletin board. "This one. There's a job posted there. Let's check it out."

The board listed several jobs available, ranging from monster hunting to treasure retrieval and even delivery requests. All of them were paid fairly well.

Lori picked out a request that seemed interesting. I furrowed my brows and read it. Somehow, I could understand the script perfectly. The written syntax was a bit different from English and more like German, but it mapped out in my head correctly to the letters of the alphabet.

 Delivery Request: Item for Delivery

Description: A package containing a rare item needs to be delivered to the Royal Palace by tomorrow morning. Please make every effort to ensure its safety during transit. Failure will result in immediate dismissal without pay.

Rank: B

Details: Package contains a magical gemstone Must be dropped off within the royal palace within five days.

Payment details: Upon successful completion, the delivery party receives 200 gold coins. Any damages incurred upon arrival results in loss of payment.

Requirements: Party must have at least two members. At least one B-rank adventurer. Up to eight.

I read through the description again, then looked up at Lori expectantly. She smiled brightly, "Oh boy! Two hundred Crowns for a six hour delivery!? Cmon sis, we'll be having mutton tonight!"

I blanched. Something about the job description didn't sit well with me, "Wait, wait, hold on!"

"Come on!" she urged, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the door.

"No, no, wait listen to me!"

"Hmmph." She rolled her eyes at me and dragged me outside.

I followed after her reluctantly. As soon as we left the building, I spotted someone approaching.

"Hey, isn't that..." Lori started.

It was a man wearing a red cloak and carrying a greatstaff. He walked briskly down the street toward us. He had a thin face and pointed ears, and looked like he was in his early 20s. He had long, shiny and silky green hair, and a pair of piercing bright blue eyes that lanced immediately to my heart.

I flushed red, feeling a rush of teenage girl hormones begin to race through my body as the man stared at me. Thankfully, his gaze was broken as he blinked at us in confusion.

God fucking dammit, this body was already annoying the crap out of me and it hasn't even been a day.

"Hiya, Mr. Elf!" Lori called out cheerfully. "How's your day been?"

He stopped abruptly. His mouth hung open and his eyes widened in shock.

"What are you doing here Lorina?!" he exclaimed incredulously.

"Hello, sir," I bowed respectfully. Who was this guy supposed to be?

"Goodness gracious!" he breathed in amazement. "Is this really you? By the goddess you two have grown big fast! How are things at home? Oh dear I've heard the rumors..." he trailed off, looking flustered. "Where's your mother and father? Did something happen?"

"Nothing's wrong," I assured him. "Everything is fine. Um, I think?"

"It's all good!" Lori beamed. "We're just a little bit bankrupt!"

Everything paused for a second. Suddenly, the elf's head grew massive and the environment faded out again. I could see comically large streams of tears trailing down his face.

"BANKRUPT?!" the elf screamed. "By the heavens. Charles and Helen. What have your parents managed to get into? It has scarcely been shy of two decades since Lord and Lady Liddell ceased adventuring with me. The fortunes we retrieved should have..."

"Welllll," she stuttered. "It's complicated, but don't worry!" Lori added hastily, "I have a plan to save the house!"

She pulled me closer and proclaimed loudly in my ear,

"Mr. Elf!" Lori exclaimed happily, "This is my little sis Alice. With her on the team, we'll go from B-rank adventurers allll the way to S-rank in no time! From taking on hordes of roving troll slavers to honest-to-god dragon slaying! We'll be in the big leagues!"

A record screeched in my head.

...Did she just say roving hordes of troll slavers?

◆◆◆

"Wow," I gasped at the box as we reached the front gate. "That looks pretty expensive."

"Yes," Lori replied proudly, "That's why we need you, Alice-chan!"

"Me?"

"Of course you, silly! This is an order from the king himself. If anyone should take it, a prodigy mage like you would be perfect, wouldn't you?"

"But..."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you everything later," she reassured me. "Now let's get moving, okay?"

"Alright..." I sighed.

I really, really didn't want to do any of this, but what choice did I really have? I had no idea what was going on, this is apparently the original body owner's sister, and I was stll figuring things out.

As if on cue, the guards opened the gates and we left on a cart drawn by two giant birds. Yes, giant birds. No, not those kind of birds. Birds with heads bigger than me. Like, twice the size of any bird I'd ever seen. They were huge, with bald heads, and covered in spiky feathers.

They weren't exactly friendly either. In fact, their faces were terrifying. Their eyes were completely white, and they had thick black beaks with wicked teeth. One of them gave me a menacing glare while the other snorted disdainfully at me.

"Wowwwwww," I whispered under my breath.

"Yeah, that's the idea," Lori giggled. "Look at that! Aren't they beautiful? Don't worry, Struthids won't bite. Well, unless you piss them off or something."

"Hehe," I chuckled nervously. "I'm...I'm sure I'll be fine."

She hopped onto the carriage, then helped me on as I struggled to get my legs up onto it.

"Well then, please hold on tight!" she shouted cheerfully as she cracked their reins.

"Hold on?" I repeated dumbly, "AIEEEEE!"

I screamed as only a shrill, teenaged anime girl could as the cart lurched forward, throwing me against Lori's side. She grabbed onto my arm tightly, holding me steady.

As soon as we left the city limits, the scenery changed dramatically.

The trees grew taller and thicker, blocking out most of the sunlight. The road itself became rougher too; the bird creatures struggled to make progress, and occasionally slipped in mud or snow. The air got colder too, and it smelled wetter than ever.

After a few hours of travel, I started getting bored. I wanted something to do! Something to occupy my mind. God, traveling low-tech sucked.

I looked around the carriage for anything I might use. There were blankets piled up on top of each other behind the seats, and some kind of cloth hanging over the sides of the bench.

I turned to Lori, "Do you have a book or something?" I asked Lori hopefully.

She shook her head, "Oh you precious baby. Unfortunately, no. We had to sell most of them after father's catastrophe. Just keep your eyes open. Practice your magic!"

My magic? I had no idea what that meant. Maybe if I concentrated hard enough, maybe I could figure it out myself somehow...

I looked at my hand, and stared at it really hard. I had no idea what I was doing. Why was it so difficult? Could I just summon a spell by thinking about it? Was that how this worked?

Maybe I should try casting something simple first? I closed my eyes and tried to remember anything. Fireball. That sounded easy.

Fire ball. I pictured the flame in my mind, and focused on sending energy into it.

Nothing happened.

Fuck this. I thought angrily, and decided to give up for now.

Lori kept talking to herself though, so I figured I should probably listen.

"...and then the next thing you know, our family was broke," she muttered to herself. "Father always told us never to rely on others, but look where it got him! Now, we're going to have to beg for money from strangers doing odd jobs because he couldn't manage his own finances."

Her voice wavered slightly when she spoke about Alice's father, but she quickly regained composure. "Anyway, that's why I need you, Alice! You can help me make a living, right? Sisters against the world, just like the old days! And then we'll live together foreverrrr!"

I blinked blankly at her, wondering whether I had misheard her. "You really want me to work with you?"

"Yup!" she nodded enthusiastically. "Just like old times. Remember? When we used to run away from home and hide in the forest?"

Unfortunately, I wasn't Alice, and I had absolute. Zero. Recollection of this.

"I guess we did something like that once..." I murmured absentmindedly.

"Haha! So cute!" Lori laughed. "I bet you were scared shitless!"

"Um, yeah, actually I was..."

Her mouth twisted into a triangle, and yet again, her art style changed as she laughed obnoxiously.

"And you cried your eyes out until mom came and found you!"

"Uhh..."

"Ahahahahaaa! Of course you did! Haha, hahaha!"

Suddenly, Lori burst out laughing. Her laughter echoed across the plains for miles. My cheeks burned hot, and I felt embarrassed. But I still didn't understand what was so funny. It was like I knew on some level though, and I was reacting automatically to my sister's antics out of habit.

"Okay, stop it!" I scolded her while my face instinctively twisted into a pout. "Stop making fun of me."

"Ha ha, sorry sis," Lori said sheepishly. "I shouldn't laugh. It's just, I miss our adventures so much. Back before we were famous for graduating the Magic University at a young age, and semi-famous as a credentialed adventurer. Back when we were just normal kids playing in the woods."

"Back when we were children," I mumbled.

"Exactly! Before life made us adults! Ahhhh, these memories are priceless. Can you believe it?" She wiped away a tear and sniffled. "We were such idiots back then, running around without a care in the world!"

"I mean, uhm, yes, I suppose..." I admitted awkwardly.

She smiled warmly at me, and wrapped her arms around me. "Thank god you're here with me, little sis! I missed you so much!"

I blushed deeply at her sudden display of affection. She was acting weird. Why was she being nice to me? What was happening?

"Are you alright, Alice?" Lori asked worriedly. "You haven't been yourself lately, have you?"

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I dunno, I guess I feel kinda strange today..."

"Hmm," Lori hummed softly. "Maybe it's just your imagination. Anyway, I have an idea! Let's go play in the forest!"

Wait, what? No. That's a terrible idea. Please don't suggest that. I thought desperately.

"Nuh-no thanks," I said quickly.

Let's just stay on this nice, bumpy cart with the mean bird-horses.

"Come on, Alice! Playtime! Just like old times!"

"No. Thank you," I repeated firmly.

Lori frowned, and this time she wore the pout, "Aliiiiice-"

Before she could finish speaking, the ground beneath us exploded violently.

Because of course it did.