It was finally the day of our journey. The bath that we took the day prior, and the spicy situation that happened before that, had me feeling well rested and energized.
I changed into one of the outfits I had gotten. The shop didn’t have any outfits fit with enchantments for blocking out the sun, so Enora was wearing her black Victorian dress again. She said it also had an enchantment that prevented it from getting dirty, so there was no problem.
My own outfit was a crimson red skirt like my vampire's eyes. It was cut above my knees, and the shirt was a black long sleeve that ended just before my wrists. I wore black leggings as Enora insisted. None of my outfits were enchanted. The only outfits they had with enchantments were made for the bird people, and all of the tops were too tight for my chest.
We walked outside hand in hand towards the East entrance after grabbing a quick breakfast.
When we arrived at the gate, I saw mean eyes standing there. Nychibi came up to us right away. “You are late!”
“We are right on time aren’t we?” I asked.
“It is normal to be early to these things! Didn’t Bernie tell you that!?”
It was probably true that she told me. However, I didn’t remember anything she said about guild rules. It was hard to pay attention when she went on and on.
“Let’s go, you two. We shouldn’t keep the client waiting.”
She was surprisingly serious about the job, but that was also probably how she was a B-rank. Still… She looked like an exhibitionist.
Her black tank top ended below her non-existent assets, and the gray shorts she wore were cut way too short. The silver claws adorned her talons.
We followed her out of the large wooden gate of the dome. The guards posted were different this time, but they let us out without any trouble once we showed them our guild plates.
“BIRD!” I squealed from the large birds parked outside.
One was black, and the other one was white, but their fluffiness could be said to be divine. I wanted to dive into those feathers.
“Piri.” Piri!”
“Piri?” The sound that came from their long yellow beaks was adorable. The black one had a deep sounding ‘piri’, while the white one’s was high pitched. “What are those!?”
“I can answer that…”
“Belethor?”
Belethor and another Dothnur girl came out from the back of a large covered wood wagon attached to the front carriage. As they came out, I could see boxes of cargo filling it to the brim.
“Those are Piris, a tamed monster that is actually not a native of these parts,” The Female Dothnur said.
“You mean those birds aren’t natives of this bird place?”
The Dothnur girl chuckled. I was sure they had told us her name when we accepted the quest, but I had already forgotten it. “No, they actually come from the Farshaw Planes of the Beastkin kingdoms. By the way, I am Ethora. Pleased to meet you.”
“Oh! I am Melle, and this cu-...”
“I am Enora!”
“Tch”
“I am Nychibi.”
“I remember you from yesterday. My cousin has told me about all of you. I am glad to have you.” She smiled a toothy smile that showed off her small fangs.
Ethora was around the same height as me, and she had the same dark skin as Belethor. They both wore brown linen shirts that didn’t look comfortable at all. The same was true about their thick brown pants. Still, at least her face was good looking, but it would never come close to my vampire’s.
More importantly, I wanted to dive into the divine fluffy birds!
“You want to pet them?” Ethora asked, noticing my gaze.
“Of course I want to pet them!”
“She is so honest, isn’t she?” Ethora asked.
“That’s for sure. Everything is definitely out in the open with this one… Well, I will be off. I have a shop to run. Please have a safe trip, Ethora.”
“Don’t worry, I am sure we will be fine,” Ethora said, giving him a hug.
“I’ll hold you to that. Goodbye everyone.”
“Bye, Belethor!”
“Bye.”
“Goodbye.”
“Bye, cousin. I will be back with those things you asked for.”
He waved as he walked back towards the dome. My attention snapped back to the fluffy birds as soon as he was gone.
“Haha, come…”
I did as she said, following her to the front of the carriage. Enora walked over with me while I held her hand. The Dothnur pulled two handfuls of seeds out of her pocket. “Here, they really like these seeds.”
“What are they?” I asked.
“They are poulpru seeds. They actually like the Farshawn Sunflower seeds better, but I don’t have any of those right now,” she said, giving my girlfriend and I a handful.
“Piri!”
“Piri.”
“Well, don’t be shy.”
I slowly walked up to the giant birds. They were so large I barely reached the bottom of their bellies. Their amazing fluffy bellies! As I got close though, Enora tried to pull me back.
“Are you sure it is safe?” Enora asked Ethora.
She said that, but it was too late. As I reached my hand out to the white piri, it had started to eat the seeds from my hand.
“It seems she likes you!”
“Piri!”
I giggled. “What is her name?”
“This one is called Snowberry. The other one is named Crowberry.”
Enora slowly reached her own hand full of seeds to Crowberry. He seemed more graceful as he slowly lowered his beak. “Piri. Piri.”
“That is rare. I can barely ever get him to eat seeds out of my hand.” Ethora frowned.
“Piri!”
As Snowberry finished eating the seeds, she pushed her beak into my chest gently. I stroked her beak before reaching under her neck and touching the divine feathers of fluff for the first time. They were softer than I could ever imagine as I stroked away.
“Piri!”
“Piri.”
It seemed Enora was doing the same as I was. The smile on her face was so cute and precious.
“It's great isn’t it!? They are so cute!”
“Y-yes, I mean they are quite majestic.”
“Well, isn’t that great for you two. Now can we go? It takes two weeks to reach Kalameet’s domain.” The harpy had to end our fun with the fluffy birds, and much to our disappointment, Ethora agreed.
“You are right. Everyone board the carriage. Awe, don’t look so sad now. You will have ample time to pet them when we stop for breaks.”
Reluctantly, we pulled away from the birds.
“Piri!” “Piri.”
“It seems they are ready to go as well.” Ethora climbed onto the helm of the brown carriage, while we climbed on back.
I choose to sit towards the front next to Enora. There was a wooden sliding window, so I would be able to talk to Ethora if I needed. Nychibi sat across from us, her glare as strong as it had always been. Then the carriage started moving, and finally, we were off.
Our journey began. The carriage bounced along, but thankfully the seats were cushioned. My bottom was feeling very grateful, and the back rests were surprisingly comfy.
Enora’s parasol was put away, and my hand rested in hers for warmth. I stared at the profile of her cute face. Her ears were only slightly pointed, but I loved them. Her long black hair was glistening after last night’s bath.
I looked down at the brown seats of the carriage. I realized they were long enough. “Enora, can you put your head here?”
She looked at me as I tapped my thigh. Her cute face was so perfect. Her eyes were as red as a giant star. Even though we had made love twice now, I still felt butterflies when she looked at me. Her cute button nose was great for booping, and her small cherry lips were calling for me as I leaned closer.
“STOP! Please don’t do that in front of me! If you two are going to be gross, at least wait until we take a break!” Nychibi got red and loud as she yelled at us.
I could heard the carriage driver, Ethora, chuckle.
“Haah… Fine, but Enora will still rest her head in my lap!”
“Don’t mind if I do.” She laid her head down on my lap, facing away from Nychibi.
“Whatever! When this carriage stops I am going to take the seat next to Ethora!”
“Shush it chibi. You are just jealous you don’t have a divine pillow.”
“D-divine pillow?”
“Hmph! I am not! Also it’s Nychibi! Nai-chi-bee!”
I could see the sides of Enora’s mouth raise into a smile when she closed her eyes.
“Don’t get too comfortable over there! You know this is a quest!”
“Don’t even worry about it, chibi…”
I pinched Enora’s cheeks. “That’s rude, you know?”
“R-right, Nychibi, there is no need to worry. If anything comes I will know. I put a magic barrier around us.”
“Huh!? But I didn’t even see you do anything!”
“Be quiet, I can’t enjoy this heavenly sensation with you yelling all the time.”
“Whatever…stupid vampire.”
I laughed at their interaction. They were already getting along great. I started to stroke behind Enora’s ears which twitched from my touch. “So, will you really teach me magic when we stop?”
“Mhmm…”
“Is it really that comfortable?”
She looked so peaceful laying on my lap. “Mhmm… This pillow might be my favorite, or maybe those.” Enora stole a glance at my chest.
“Can you guys seriously get a room?”
“We already had one…And it was sound proof. Ow!”
I pinched her cheek harder after that. “Dummy! Enora, please stop!”
“I agree with Melle. I hate this…”
“Thank you friend!”
“Like I said… Who would want to be your friend?” Nychibi’s cheeks became red as she turned her head out the window.
“Tsundere…”
“Stop saying that! I don’t know what it means, but it pisses me off!”
“Sorry, Nychibi.”
“Whatever… You two do what you want…”
“By the way…” I looked out of the window towards the south. Far off in the distance I could see towering trees standing like giant pillars. “Were those trees always there?”
My girlfriend responded in a low voice. “Those are redwood trees. I can’t believe you didn’t see them when we left that cave.”
“I guess I was too focused on everything else. Still… This place is quite amazing. I have never seen trees that large. Not even on TV”
“Teevee?” The harpy interjected again.
“It is something from my hometown. Basically it lets you see certain things without you being there.”
“Oh! Is that like those magic mirrors? I have seen a few of them before.”
I had never seen a magic mirror, but it sounded like a communication device. Maybe that was the way to facetime people here? I looked back down to the vampire who had fallen asleep in my lap, and ran my hand through her soft hair. “So you have been to a lot of places, Nychibi?”
“Not really. I have been to Scalego before though.”
“Oh, what’s it like?”
“Terrible. It is murky and sticky. Also the snakes there are hard to understand.”
I stared at her blankly. Did she try to speak to snakes? Well if she tried to talk to those slithery guys I wouldn’t make fun of her for it.
“I am talking about snake people, stupid.”
“Huh!? There are snake people?”
Somehow my question seemed to annoy her even more as her glare pierced my soul. “Didn’t you come from the human kingdom? You should have passed through Scalego on the way.”
“Ah, no. I was sort of teleported outside of Fallicri.”
“Hoh? Really, so she can even do that sort of thing?”
I smiled at the cute night creature in my lap. “She is quite amazing isn’t she?” I wanted to know everything about Enora. Just what kind of life had she lived over here?
“Say… How long have you two known each other?”
“I think it’s been three days, or is it four? I can’t tell because of the time diff-”
“What!? You have only known each other for that long? But you are so close.”
“Apparently it is a vampire thing.”
“But you are a human?” She deadpanned.
“Apparently it is a Melle thing too. I don’t really know how to explain it, but in my heart I know I have found the one for me. Actually, she saved me.”
“She saved you?”
“Yes, I didn’t want to keep doing what I was doing, and she took me away from all that. She has brought me so much happiness in only three days. I wanted to be out of that place. It felt like she freed me from my own little prison.”
“Was it really that bad?”
“No, I suppose it wasn’t, but I didn’t like it. There was always something missing. Plus, it has always been my dream to wake a sleeping giant.”
Nychibi actually smiled, to my surprise. “It is great to have a dream. I also have something I want.”
“What is that?”
“I want to get stronger,” she said, glancing at the vampire in my lap. “I can’t get what I want unless I am strong, but I can’t use magic. I have to rely on these.” She looked down at her talons equipped with silver claws.
“Why do you need to be strong? Are you-”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Just forget about it.”
“I actually can’t use magic either…”
“Well, can you fight then?”
“Nope! Not at all!”
“Wait. What? What are you even here for? A dead weight?”
The way she said that hurt. What could I even do? The sleeping princess did promise to teach me magic, but as I was now, I was as good as useless.
The sleeping vampire opened her eyes and grabbed my arm. “Hey, you aren’t useless or a dead weight. You have the same amount of magic power as me, remember? Together we will wake the sleeping giant. Don’t let the chibi get to you.”
“It’s Nai-chi-bee!”
“Little miss Nychibi, you should learn some caution.”
“Who are you calling little? Do you want to…”
“We’ve stopped…”
“Break time!” Ethora called out as she opened the shutter.
Nychibi jumped out before us. “Phew! I am glad to be out of there…”
The sun was still high in the sky, so Enora pulled out her parasol while we got out. I stretched and gestured to Enora. “Come stretch with me.”
“Sure.” After a cute yawn Enora joined me in stretching.
Ethora began to pull things out of the back of the attached wagon. Nychibi helped her while we stretched our limbs on the grass. “I know I asked to be her friend, but I think she hates me. She seems more fond of you.”
“Really? I could tell you guys were talking away, even in my sleep. Plus all we ever do is bicker with each other.”
“Isn’t that what friends do?” I asked
“I don’t know. I watched some things back on Earth, but I never actually had someone I would call a friend… Maybe there was one person, but I don’t know.”
“Who was that person?” I asked.
“She was a maid. I don’t really know if she was my friend or not, but if there was anyone I would call a friend, it was her. She seemed the most distraught about me leaving. It’s funny,” Enora said, her eyes growing distant. “She was the only person besides my parents that I felt like I connected to before.”
“Do you miss her?”
“I do. I won’t lie, but in the end even she…”
“You know, some help would have been nice,” Nychibi said, cutting her off.
“It’s fine isn’t it, miss Nychibi? We were able to get it just fine,” Ethora said.
“Ow! Whash awr you doing?” Enora squeezed my cheeks.
“I won’t let you think poorly about yourself. You saved me, remember?”
I should have been telling her that, but still, it wasn’t like me to be depressed. If I wanted to be useful, I would have to learn magic! I smiled at my girlfriend before hugging her. “Thank you. Please teach me magic.”
“Of course.” She wrapped her own arms around me. “Feel free to lean on me anytime. I did earlier, so now you can too.”
