That picture burned into my mind.
A cherry sapling grew out of Nati's hand, twisting and turning until it shaped a long shaft, and ended in a half circle. The peculiar blue crystal spun and flew over our heads until it found its place inside that formation as if magnets held it there. The sight felt magical, in every sense.
And she started much later than the others, yet the entire scene lasted only seconds. Thankfully I didn't blink or I would have missed it. The green-skinned orc witch looked even greener from the envy, and the face of the Fire Witch turned red.
"That body is cheating." They claimed almost in unison.
"Nati's affinity to magic seems stronger than what I possess." The Goddess corrected them, inspecting the staff, once it stopped growing. My brother has not stopped practicing casting with it ever since, even though two days have passed. But she became obsessed with magic.
Yes, she. Thanks to this floating snow-white deity as she looked here, this world turned my brother into a sister, and I kept misgendering her in front of the tribesmen.
"Look, my staff is slowly taking shape too. And I can fit the crystal right here." Ember, the cat girl witch announced when her magical instrument neared completion too. She was already two days late, but Omerta's were in a worse shape. Nati at the same time already learned how to summon or make her staff disappear. I was proud of him.
Or her? I didn't want to cause my brother trouble by accidentally using the wrong pronouns. At least half the villagers didn't even know, that she was a boy in her previous life.
I knew how much she hated to be at the center of attention, I bet she didn't want it to become a big deal. She said something about an embarrassing conversation when she arrived in the village.
"I'd rather not go through that again. I'm much more comfortable with them knowing, that I came from a different world than having people chatter about my gender." She explained at one time before we entered the bath. Separately. She went to the private chambers, and I was to use the woman's bath. It didn't seem fair, but I could live with that much.
There was another transgender in the tribe, a huge orc, as Nati described it, who decided to become a woman. The only casualty from the tribe itself who fell during the big battle that happened before I got here.
"The Elder will pay for that with her life!" Omerta occasionally told that to anyone nearby, if she wasn't focusing on growing her staff.
Everyone missed her brother, Hana, and their huge heart was on display in the main square, frozen in ice forever. Well, this gender-swapping or whatever started to be a thing in our old world too, even if the circumstances were different. I didn't mind, as long as my brother seemed content with her life here. It mattered little if I could get used to it or not.
"Your mind is elsewhere, Emily." The chieftain of the tribe noted, chopping my head. She wasn't wrong, but I got tired of training anyway. It was necessary if we wanted to set out for that dungeon.
"Sorry sensei, I'm ready for another round." I raised my hands again, and we started fighting. Alexandra agreed to take us to the capital of the dwarven kingdom, where the bearded smith came from, with his odd-looking horses. But she refused to join us in our quest.
"Lambert remains here too. I'm not taking chances with him. And the Elder might decide to attack us any moment, so I can't leave the village too long." She explained her decision after I was more or less filled in about the events before I arrived. As it seemed, Nati as she was known here, stirred quite the trouble.
"You are still not paying attention," Charlotte complained, but before she scolded me, I effortlessly threw her over my shoulder and pinned her to the ground. I forgot that my body looked the same, but behaved very differently from my original one. I felt like a Terminator or something. Or as the Goddess called it, a homunculus. But Nati turned out to be even tougher than me and she didn't know.
"Ugh, sorry, chieftain, are you hurt?" I asked, offering my hand.
"Just my pride." She smiled, revealing her enormous tusks. While she dusted herself off, I wondered, how many fantasy races populated this world? Orcs looked more or less how I expected, but instead of being those fierce and feral creatures with more muscles than brains, their village seemed quite leisurely. Goblins looked like their children, although they were an entirely different species. "I need a break."
"Okie dokie, I think I'll take one too." I nodded, sitting down at the edge of the main square. From what I gathered, the so-called Lesser Races was a collective term for every sentient species, that wasn't human. And they all originated from those pesky primates, through magical corruptions and mutations. They all lived in slavery under a continent-spanning empire, called Cranta, but that place was gone, thanks to the Goddess.
"Emi, wanna come and play some soccer?" One of the actual orc kids asked, called Mabel. She followed Nati everywhere and acted jealous when I came here first. But now she would follow me around instead since my bro-sis seemed busy with magic.
"It's football, Mabel, who taught you that word?" I asked, rolling my eyes, but joined in happily. I needed a change of pace since I beat up nearly anyone without breaking a sweat. It seemed fun at first but got old fast. As it turned out, Nati brought a few inventions to this world, including football and the bathhouse, with a laundry attached, that was operated by slimes. Talk about cliches... "Are we playing five on five?"
"No, you are too good, let's play three against eight." Mabel proposed, and I didn't particularly mind. It was true, I barely got tired and was stronger and faster than most. Still, I wouldn't risk the same stunt Alexandra pulled on my brother, shooting her in the stomach with a crossbow. She invented that too, by the way. The only useful thing in my opinion, although the locals were fans of the rest as well.
"Out! It was out!" The orc girl yelled, and I kicked back the ball. They used to play in the main square, but now that was busy with the training. The kids moved behind the embassy's small garden, where they kept a bunch of crows. They worked like carrier pigeons back in my world, like a hundred or so years ago. "That's a goal!"
This place intrigued me, and my brother did her best to fill me in on the history and recent events. But it didn't help that she seemed so dense and slow to assemble the pieces.
I got to stay in her room, which was expanded with a second bed, even though I hoped to sleep together. But she was conscious of her new body, yet wouldn't let the Goddess make another one.
She had a thing for her but didn't have the guts to confess. It looked so obvious, I bet even Alexandra knew. But I had a suspicion about her too. Like, she saved Nati's life, risking being found out in our world, and even gifted my dumbass brother her own body to live in. Not only that, but she brought me over as well.
"Goal! Two zero! You're not doing great today, Emi." Mabel yelled, and I had to laugh. My team had me, and two goblin kids, while hers had eight orc teens, so it wasn't not a fair matchup.
"Sorry, I'm a bit lost in thought." I came up with an excuse, which was true at the very least. I got hold of the ball soon after, and shot it right into the goal, from across the entire field, so I didn't disappoint them. "There, I paid attention this time!"
"That wasn't fair." They complained immediately, and the match soon ended. My tiny team still lost in the end, so Mabel's got to decide, what we'll eat for lunch. Everything the human wizard made tasted heavenly so I didn't care. But seriously, what was his deal?
One thing I found odd was that he kept looking at my brother. Considering she was a girl in this world, it wasn't that strange but it weirded me out. And not just him, the orc shaman was also totally into her.
Nati could easily start a harem, which seemed hilarious, but I doubted my brother would swing that way, always keeping his eyes on the Goddess alone. Such a messed up situation...
"Ah, today's meal tasted splendid too, sir Lambert!" The dwarf never missed a chance to praise our main chef, a capable magician. But he was kept under house arrest within the village, even if he and the other captured humans retained most of their freedom. They helped the tribe in all kinds of stuff and weren't treated as enemies, however, the others did seem suspicious of the Lesser Races at first. The villagers captured them during that battle a few weeks ago, and Lambert healed them with the aid of Gitaut and Nati.
This place they called Nateaser was small, but grew fast and always seemed busy. It gathered a lot of enemies for some reason, yet the tribe itself didn't harbor ill intentions toward anyone. With the sole exception of the Elder, of course, since she wanted to kill my brother too, for whatever reason. I wasn't keen on her existence either, she took the role of some evil wizard or mage and appeared as the bad guy of this world for me.
"All right, we'll be out on patrol." The leader of the hunters announced after lunch. Armed with spears and crossbows, they set out to hunt down wild animals, enemy scouts, or wandering lizardmen. The latter caused a lot of issues for the neighboring tribes. I also learned that not every orc or other member of the Lesser Races had a name.
Some like Mabel picked one for themselves on a whim, while others like Gitaut were named against their will. Charlotte on the other hand got her name from her former master, she used to be enslaved under the Cranta Empire. But most locals wielded names after their tasks or in the village. They would even change their names accordingly, but at least took no offense if someone forgot like me.
"Look, it's the Goddess of Luck!" I heard some newly arrived immigrants whisper behind her. Our guardian deity, Alexandra kept herself busy too. She often disappeared, and as I recently found out, she alone could teleport in the entire world. That's how we were supposed to reach the dwarven capital soon, to cut down on the travel times.
But I needed to train first...
