The next couple of weeks, or so, was exhausting, but relaxing, at the same time. From a magical-girl viewpoint, I was constantly exhausting myself. Cleanse a disease. Cleanse a poison. Grow a plant. Soak in the pool. Recover as fast as possible. Repeat and Rinse. Magically, and even physically, I was exhausted from the constant strain of learning to channel the goddess’s magic into this world.
Mentally, however, the whole time was a rather relaxing experience. With a little practice, Alaina got quite good at drawing the creatures to us in the fading twilight, and luring them to the temple grounds. As she got better with bringing the creatures to us, the worry of how to deal with them grew lesser and lesser. After a few dozen times, cleansing the creatures was nothing more than a simple chore; not a life-threatening task for us to fear anymore.
As for the plants that we cleansed, Casper was right: It didn’t take us very long to find something truly edible. The very next boogerman, after the tobacco, was a tall, thin, pole of a plant, which made me think it might become bamboo before cleansing it. After cleansing it, however, it was Laulaia who recognized it almost instantly – sugar cane!
Growing up a wealthy merchant’s daughter, Laulaia recognized the sugar cane as a product which her father bought, sold, and traded in regularly. Though I’d never had raw cane before, its consumption was rather simple – skin the bark, cut off the dried ends, and chew the sweetness from the soft fibrous inside.
It wasn’t the most filling, but it helped keep my stomach from going empty.
The next night, our luck was even better. First, we cleansed another flowering plant; though I have no idea what to call it. Purple blossoms. Strong, fragrantly sharp odor. As best we could all tell, it was either just some ornamental flower, or else a plant whose smell was useful somehow. Maybe it could be manufactured into a perfume, or a pesticide? Honestly, I just don’t know, and Casper didn’t bother to give any insights.
Fortunately, for my poor almost-empty stomach, the next plant was one we all recognized – corn! Ivory white, large kerneled, and of a size which I’d never seen before, but undisputedly corn. Stalks grew nearly three times my man-height, or four times my woman-height, and each ear was easily as long as my arm. One single cob was enough to almost fill my tiny woman’s stomach for a whole day!
With an unlimited amount of corn and sugar cane, thanks to the growth magic Casper shared with me, nearly all of our short term worries were gone. Casper’s blessing protected the temple grounds, only allowing a single corrupted plant upon it at a time. Food was no longer a concern, and the magic water of the pool was perfectly fine to live upon. We had shelter, food, water, and healing, thanks to Casper’s blessings.
Life, on a daily basis, both improved and worsened. Each day, or at least every other day, we purified more varieties of edible food. Potatoes, watermelon, peas, a grape vine – all were added to our ever-growing assortment of cultivated foods.
Unfortunately, every day, the sun rose a little later each morning, and set a little earlier each evening. Temperatures were getting cooler every night, as we header inevitably closer and closer towards winter. No matter how effective my magic might be at growing plants, things are eventually going to turn bad for us. With our lack of clothes, and crude survival supplies, making it through an ice or snow storm would be impossible. If we don’t leave the ruins of Sun City soon, we’re going to end up being stranded here for months!
Yet, no matter how much I wanted to hurry, we were forced to stay in Casper’s sealed temple for over half a month more. Even as we got better at hunting and cleansing the boogermen, we were limited to no more than one for our quest each day. When we’d first arrived at the temple grounds, there weren’t any of the beasts upon the consecrated land, at all — the moment they crossed some invisible threshold, Casper shriveled them into dust. Now that we’d agreed to cleanse the creatures of the temple grounds, one — and only one — of the beasts was allowed to enter; any more would still shrivel away completely.
And not only were we limited by Casper’s protections, but we also had to deal with several nights where Alaina simply couldn’t pull one into the designated area, or keep them from wandering off before darkness descended fully and they went completely inactive. From start to finish, our cleansing task took almost three weeks, and ended with me cleansing over fifty plants, before meeting the requirements to complete our hunt.
“Congratulations,” Casper chuckled, as the last plant was finally cleansed. “You took longer than I thought you would,” she taunted, “but you finally completed your task. I suppose I’ll have to come up with something to reward you.” Casper laughed, sarcastically adding, “I suppose we could always consider the lessons learnt, and the practice you gained, to be your reward.”
“I’ll be damned!” One advantage of the time spent; I’d gotten better with the concept of speaking mind-to-mind. “We’ve worked too hard for you to back out now!”
Laughingly happily, Casper was utterly enjoying riling me up. “Then what would you like as a reward? What do you think you’ve earned?” Casper asked, laughing merrily.
Asking me what I want? What is this? Some sort of test? “I’d like you to send us back to my world,” I thought back to Casper, causing her to chuckle merrily.
“I’ve already told you,” Casper whispered, tauntingly, “I can’t do that. I’m not a voidwalker, nor do I have the power to travel others across the void. You’ll have to try for something else, I’m afraid.”
Well, it was worth asking at least. If we can’t go home, what the hell should I ask for? I don’t imagine cleaning just a few bushes is something that would earn one a huge reward. Then again, from what I’ve seen with this damn goddess so far, she certainly doesn’t value things the same as us humans. Asking for my own damn kingdom might not be a huge reward as far as she’s concerned, whereas asking for a damn acorn might break one of her rules.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
What do I need at least? Safe travel to a human city so we can trade and finally interact with people would be nice. Clothes for the winter seems to be becoming a quick priority. Some type of magic to create food would be nice. Wealth wouldn’t go wrong either, for when we do find our way to civilization, so we’d be able to buy and sell with the peoples there. Of course, we might also need some way to speak the language – there’s no guarantee that either mine, or the girl’s, is a language spoken in this world. There’s so much that we need in this world, that I figured no matter what the goddess gifted us as a reward, we could use it. I’d never once thought about asking for something myself.
“How about a storage ring,” I finally answered. “One which has some magical ability to store and preserve items in it, and organize them for the wearer.” If we can obtain such an item, we can use it to solve a lot of our problems. Many of the plants I’d purified had to be valuable to people, for the corruption to affect the fertilizer used on them. If we could store, and preserve them, we’d at least have local items to trade with others once we reached some sort of civilization. And, as long as we could preserve some of the seeds of each plant, I could always use the growth magic to produce more of them.
“That sounds like something you could make use of,” Casper laughed, “but it’s not what I’ve prepared for you. Your reward is awaiting in the temple, upon the alter.”
Damn goddess! If she’d already chosen a reward, why ask me what I’d like to have? Was it all just to make me jump through hoops? I swear, I honestly think people are nothing more than amusing things to watch to pass the time for the gods!
“Alaina. Laulaia. Let’s go on down to the pool. Our reward is waiting there, according to Casper,” I told both the girls.
“So, what’d we get? A book of magic?” Laulaia almost bounced with excitement as she rushed towards the steps down from our ever-growing garden area up top.
“Hopefully it’s armor and weapons,” Alaina replied, ever the pragmatic one. “Items we can use to protect ourselves from whatever other dangers are beyond the swamp.”
“Grrrooooo ooooooh woooooo!” Growling happily, Shadow chased after Laulaia. All I can do is hope that his wish is one that doesn’t come true. All we need is an endless pile of bones, or a portable fire hydrant, or a squeaky toy, as a reward!
Arriving down in the pool, things were like always – hot, steamy, and empty. Glancing over past the pool, a small silken bag lay crumpled upon the stone alter which we’d basically been avoiding. Seeing it, Laulaia excitedly skipped around the edge of the pool and grabbed it up.
“Ughhh!” Startled by the weight of the contents of the bag, Laulaia staggered backwards and then sat hard down upon her ass on the stone floor. “It’s rather heavy!” Laughing happily, she began working furiously to untie the small cord wrapped around the top of the sack and open it. By the time Alaina and I casually strolled around the pool to join her, Laulaia had the sack open and was beginning to upturn it to dump out the contents. “Klang a chang ah aching!” The sound of metal reverberating on the stone floor echoed in the small chamber, as she excitedly tossed the sack out of the way and over her shoulder.
“Shackles?” Sounding completely puzzled, Alaina was the first to get a good view of the contents of the emptied sack. “There’s a whole shit-load of shackles!” Shock was obvious in her voice, and as soon as I saw the contents for myself, I understood why – the great and mighty Lady of Life had rewarded us with shackles and chains!
“What the hell is this?!” Bewildered, I almost screamed in Casper’s head.
“Your reward,” she replied, laughing gaily. One again, it seems as if she simply takes joy in our reactions! Sadistic goddess of damn life!
“Why the hell would we want something like this?” I couldn’t contain my shock, or disbelief. What type of damn reward would a pair of shackles be? Who the hell would want something so… so… I don’t even know what the hell to call it! So stupid!
“Those will be quite useful for you,” Casper explained, laughing happily the whole time. “They carry several enchantments upon them, and are top grade quality items. The one who wears a set will be protected from the elements, and not suffer from heat or cold. They shield like armor, protecting one as well as any suit of chained mail. The heels carry an enchantment similar to the lady’s, allowing one to walk freely and easily upon uneven, or unusual surfaces. And, unlike clothing, it’s something which you could wear while in either form – the shackles will change to snuggly fit the one wearing them, so they can’t be removed except by the owner.”
“Well I don’t have a damn owner! Do you honestly expect me to wear these damn things?” I couldn’t believe what the hell I was hearing!
“That’s up to you,” Casper chuckled. “There’re two sets of shackles there. You could always put them on your women, if you wish, and gift them both the protections they provide.”
Goddamn it! Everything I’d ever been taught in my whole life has always said that slavery is the most abhorrent of human crimes – and yet, this damn goddess was gifting my shackles as a form of reward. Using them would make me feel like a complete and utter asshole. Not using them would be completely stupid, if they actually protect and work as she claims – and I have no real reason to doubt that the stinking goddess’s words are true.
“Personally,” Casper chuckled, “I think you and the little scout girl should wear them. As I’d told you before, I truly don’t think you currently hold the heart necessary to deal with the peoples of this realm. The lady Laulaia would do much better as the mistress, and with both of you serving her – unless you can’t trust your own servant-wife to be the one holding the end of your leash?”
“I trust her. I think,” I admitted, reluctantly. The idea of even pretending to be someone’s slave is something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my stomach churn warningly.
“Then allow me to make you an offer,” Casper teased, seductively in my mind. “Wear one of the pairs of shackles until Spring, and I’ll gift you a Ring of Holding, as you desired. I’ll even guide your group to the nearest safe village,” Casper promised, “so you won’t wander blindly throughout the landscape and find yourself some place dark and cold when the first snows fall.”
Goddamn it! Damn it to hell! The way I saw it, I have basically three options: One, I ignore the damn gift and nobody wears the damn things, regretting it forever if someone gets hurt by not wearing a set. Two, I can put them on the two girls, become a true asshole in my own mind, and regret it forever. Or, three, I can put on one set, get a magic ring for the experience, and regret it forever.
What a fucking reward!