26. The Price of Hospitality (3)

By the time the food was ready, everyone sat at the dining table in awkward silence. Emma played around with her dining knife while staring at me. The new catboy, Sebastian showered the half-elf with praises about her race, but to no answer. Nyeander watched the other Neko’s every move and hissed with frustration whenever he said a word.

Only Heidl behaved normally. I took this as an opportunity to escape Emma’s murderous gaze and ask the orc man-girl instead.

“So, how did you end up like that?”

Heidl looked at me with a questioning gaze.

“You know, green and everything? I mean, from the way they were talking about you in the village, I was expecting to meet a little girl, not a wall of muscle!”

Heidl did not say a thing. She just kept on looking at me, then after a while, she spouted some basic NPC lines.

It was shocking to see she had no voice lines for her current state. I knew she is a little girl, or at least was, before being turned into a huge orc.

Even if her quest was a joke, one made by some less-than-funny developer, she should have had at least something to say about her current situation, but it seems not.

Gren appeared from the kitchen with a huge silver tray. Upon that was meat, but in such amount and variety, my attention immediately shifted away from Heidl.

Bacon, beef, chicken... all prepared with different vegetables and sauces to match.

As the tray was placed, the others fought to be the first to eat. Sebastian was the quickest, grabbing a piece of every kind of meat on the tray.

“Meat, precious meat,” he meowed with gleaming eyes, “I love meat! It’s my favourite food!”

“Very original,” whispered Nyeander under her breath.

“Ah, excuse me Gren, but are there any mice too?”

Nyeander sighed. “Hitting all the stereotypes, I see...”

Emma behaved like a true noble. She held up her fork like a royal scepter, then brought a modest amount of meat and vegetables onto her plate.

“A balanced diet is important for the body,” she noted, I don’t know to whom.

Gren brought two large bottles of wine to the table. Emma immediately took one, then defying any previous grace, drunk from the bottle instead of pouring for herself.

Heidl looked at the other wine and decided she will also drink like the big girls. However, before even a droplet of alcohol could have laid a finger on her mouth, I took the bottle away.

Heidl pouted with disappointment. Seeing this, Gren spoke up with a smile.

“If you fear there won’t be any left for you, Axel, I can assure you, we have enough wine for an entire town.”

“That’s not his problem,” Nyeander spoke before I could, “Heidl is a little girl.”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

I scratched the back of my head. This will be hard to explain.

“So, I know her appearance might fool you, but...”

“Appearance?” asked Emma with surprise.

“You know, I’m a very accepting fella’, but you have to agree she looks pretty... unique.”

Sebastian chuckled. “Ah, it’s always funny to hear how humans find each other different. You look the same, nya! The only difference is she is smaller and a girl.”

“Yeah, but... Wait, did you just say small and girl?”

“Of course, silly! Why, do you think I’m blind?”

At that moment, I felt my heart sink. They did not see Heidl as a muscular male orc, but as a little girl, as she was supposed to look.

Why did she appear differently to me? Was my reality glitched?

No, that could not be right! If she was truly a little girl, she should not have been able to carry that treasure chest filled with all the riches the bandits stole.

What the hell is going on?!

“Oh, excuse me!” Gren turned to Heidl with a smile. “You seemed so mature for your age, I was totally fooled!”

She followed up her words with a gentle laugh, but it did not feel honest. Not at all.

I looked around once more to see how the others react, but they did not care in the slightest. They were too hungry.

The meat had a good aroma, yeah. Eyeing it for a while, I decided I was not hungry. Not with all these questions clouding my mind.

Thus, the dinner continued. In silence.

– – –

Each of us was granted a different guest room. Mine was as dusty and run-down as the others.

I lay on the bed, watching the spiderwebs up above. They were empty. Even the spiders found this place too bland to live in.

Ancient Blades was a fun game about becoming a hero who saves the world from all the big bad evil guys. It was a game about dreams coming true.

Ancient Blades as a reality was wholly different. Every corner hid a new chance of death. Undead terrorised the lands, bandits raped and pillaged, and the few remaining villagers were... well, people with one or two voice lines. Talking to them was on par with talking to a dog, but at least dogs answer with a bark.

Looking back on the Yellow Mountain, I still could not wrap my head around one thing. My brother. Was that really him inside the game? And why was he here?

Ancient Blades was a single-player game, it meant you had to play it alone. So, him being here seemed impossible, following the game’s rules.

Yet... he was.

As I lay there on the bed, contemplating my situation, tears began to flow from my eyes. The incapability of my mind to understand this entire thing, the transmigration, the game world, the undead, the magic, was slowly beginning to catch up to me.

I could not move, just breathe in and out as my mind spiraled further and further into a total breakdown. The room appeared to spin round and round, and my body turned numb. Sounds and visuals met in an incoherent dance.

Slowly, my mind drifted away, into a place of sorrows, into a world of dreams...

...

Axel fell asleep. Yet, the night was far from over.

As one’s consciousness slipped, another’s began to wake.

Nyeander opened her eyes in the other room.