The next morning was uneventful and what was better I had been able to sleep properly as I had no longer needed the sling. Healing in this world was amazing to say the least.

In an attempt to get a better understanding of the different cultures we might expect to encounter was talking with Orlo, while we continued to travel.

One of the more interesting things I had discovered was the existence of fairy like beings called the Slyph. In fact they were major rivals to the Harpy clans and had been in on again off again wars for decades.

"So territory disputes are quite common between the two nations. What about at an individual level any problems that might be expected there?" I asked.

"Depends… both sides have our speciesist cloacas… the Sylph are militaristic so we might see a wider range. Harpys well… my race can be rather stuck up. We tend to divide along clan lines." They said.

"So what Clan are you from?" I asked.

"Distant cousin from the Falcon household, nothing all that interesting. Just another Harpy trying to make something of themselves." They said.

"So then where are we?" I asked.

"Other side of the known world. We are a bit west of the Pyrowalk Empire, technically we are in their lands but it's treated more like the wilderness it really is." They said.

"So what about the Pyrowalk Empire?" I asked.

"It's far more mixed than some of the other nations, mind you you will likely find nearly any species in any land. Particularly Buns." They said.

"Oh yeah Buns are really bad about that for multiple reasons. When we reach our late teens we tend to wander off into the world in search of adventure." Turnip said.

After a moment I asked "And you said multiple reasons now I have to know."

"... We breed like rabbits…" she said with a deadpan expression daring me to laugh or make a comment or something.

"Umm how does that work? Based on a chat I had with Root, biologically you are very close to humans?" I said.

That actually caught her off guard.

"I umm… what?" She asked in confusion.

"I know rabbits like many prey animals tend to breed quickly but well… human gestation time is a better part of a year compared to maybe a month for a rabbit. Unless…." I started to trail off at the end.

"So umm… how many siblings did you have?" I asked Turnip, trying to shift the topic a little.

"Most Bun communities are sort of raised as a collective. I know who my mother and father and my brothers and sisters are but I see the rest of the community as aunts and uncles and cousins. I had more sisterly connections with some of my cousins more than most of my sisters." She said.

"Sounds like a normal extended family to me if quite a bit bigger than what I am used to." I said.

"It really is… My sister Onion has 6 over the course of 3 years. I remember the first time she had 3 at once. She was huge and I gave her so much crap for it." Turnip said.

"Ah sisterly love…" I said a bit embarrassed.

"What? We Buns like to have fun?" She said with an evil grin.

"What about you Orlo? Any siblings?" I asked.

"I have an older sister, we had a bit of a falling out. It's part of the reason why I am here now." They said.

"Like how does that work raising young Harpys?" I asked.

"Like any other? The egg hatches and a new chick is born. Then the chick is then raised like any other child of any other species I expect." They said.

"Hey at least Harpys don't need to worry about being kicked in the bladder by a growing child. I want some of my own one day but I'm not looking forward to that part." Turnip replied.

"Yes modern incubation techniques do tend to make at least the initial stages of chick rearing more flexible for Harpys. When a family actually uses modern techniques…" they said with exacerbation.

"Umm Orlo? Is there something you would like to vent about? I'm guessing by your umm fervor your family might not be so inclined?" I asked.

"O… no originally they were fine with the idea, that's how my sister and I were born after all. No, they found some group that pushed towards more 'traditional' methods to recapture the 'proper' heritage of a Harpy… My sister was all for it. Me not so much…" they said.

"Umm… oh ouch… sorry to hear that. I could only imagine my parents 'finding' a religion and trying to have the rest of the family adopt it…" I said.

"At least you seem to be aware of the concept… so many people on dirt are confused as to why I would not want to continue to follow my parents to maintain my family connection…" they said.

During our conversation Roots ears had turned into radar dishes. I unfortunately didn't know this until a quick hand signal then Turnips ears shot up as well. If it hadn't indicated possible danger it was actually really cute to see. I then focused on my hearing and started to parse out the irrelevant noises. Bird song, insects, the wind rustling the trees and taller plants.

My intensity must have shown because I got a questioning look from Lluvia. Root silently indicated for the group to hide. Lluvia took that as her queue to find an alternative ambush position in case things ended up going south.

"Hoof beats?" I mouthed in question to Root. He gave me a nod then after a second a surprised look.

"You can hear them?" Turnip asked in the quietest voice I had ever perceived. I nodded then focused for a moment more. I was pretty sure I could make out 4 sets of hooves based on the cadence of each.

After maybe a minute of waiting we were greeted by what I could only describe as a centaur but crossed with more deer like features instead of a horse. There was one of them and three humanoids riding horses. Both the Centaurs for lack of a better description and the three humanoids all seemed to be wearing steel banded leather armor in various quantities.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

They were at what I think was called a trot, faster than a human walking or even a light jog but not a gallop. The group passed our concealed group and continued on the path we had just come from.

After several minutes we pulled ourselves and grouped back up.

"That is not good… they must have been close by already." Iser said.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Seekers for the Pyrowalk Empire, authorized to carry out justice on behalf of the Empire for grievous infractions of the law." Iser continued.

"Honestly compared to some they are quite fair based on the records I have seen." Orlo said.

"Yes but they have skills for discovering the truth. We need to keep Nicole away from them at all costs." Lluvia said protectively of me.

"Maybe I should revisit the age appearance reduction. It might help me keep a lower profile." I said.

"I'm still very nervous about you using that skill… but you might be right… but please be as subtle with the changes and do not experiment…" Root said.

"Also Iser can you please monitor what she is doing?" He added.

"She should do it quickly then. I didn't feel a need to cover our tracks and the Seekers might become suspicious that new tracks just appear." Lluvia said.

I concentrated on my ability and reduced my physical appearance to that of an 18 year old human. Then after a moment of thought I make another adjustment to give myself slight elf like features.

“Let's say I am a younger cousin of yours, I can say I have half elf and human parents? " I asked Lluvia.

"That… does make things easier to explain why you would be with this group." She said after a pause.

"For someone who said they are not good at social interactions, you were surprisingly quick to come up with the idea." Orlo said.

"I mean I'm just trying to blend in to go unnoticed." I said.

"Ugg this makes having fun with you sound more like one of the trashier 'romance' novels…" Lluvia said.

"Oh no… that's a thing here too? I'm uh referring to the first thing, not the concept of romance novels." I said.

At that part Root's and Turnip's ears perked up and I focused my hearing as well. Yep hooves beats again, only two sets this time.

"O thank dirt… I didn't want to hear anything more about that conversation." I heard Root whisper to Turnip. I then just turned to the two of them doing the universal quiet gesture. That got a very surprised and exasperated look from Root.

One of the deer like Centaurs and one of the Humanoids riding a horse approached.

"Hail travelers." The Humanoid waved as they approached our group.

"Greetings" Root said. There was a bit of a pause as both groups looked the others over and expected the other to speak first.

"Can we ask where you are heading from and what your destination is?" The Humanoid continued, as I got a better look they were clearly covered in thick hair or fur.

"We are coming from the abandoned village a bit south and west from where we currently stand. Our destination is in the capital." Root said.

"Ah, delvers and adventures, may I inquire as to why you visited the abandoned village?" They said, I was going to call the furry humanoid a Bugbear for lack of a better description.

"Certainly, our band here was requested to investigate the ruins of the village to try and better establish the events that caused the evacuation several years ago." Orlo said.

"Ah and did your investigations turn up anything interesting to add to the rumor mill?" The Centaur said with what I thought was honest interest.

"Some but nothing that could be described as Dirt shattering. We can confirm the existence of a very large concentration of Slime. That seems to fit what the evacuees noted on that fateful night." Orlo continued.

"That is actually somewhat reassuring… I have been hearing rumors from the Gnomes and Halflings that they are considering repopulation of the town." The Bugbear said.

"We cleared out what we could at the time, they seemed to be congregating in the sewers built into the mountain. We made an impact I think but I doubt it was significant." Root replied.

"Still good to hear something positive came from it. I heard the first expedition did not return." The Bugbear said.

"We were the third actually and the first was a complete failure with no one returning. The second they lost three people, we could see why too. Individually the slimes were not a problem but they would swarm the group." Root said.

"So how did that end up going? You're still here unless there were more of you." The Centaur asked.

"We knew what to be aware of beforehand and tried to avoid getting into that situation to begin with." Root said.

"And I helped." I said with a big goofy excited smile on my face. I then stepped out from behind my friends. That got me a side eye from Orlo and Turnip both.

"Oh you did now, I have to hear about this." The Bugbear said with a smile.

"Sure!" I said with excitement, I was at least able to feed my nervous energy into my excitement and I was quite proud of what I had accomplished.

"So umm… oh let me show you." I then quickly found a rock on the ground, loaded it with mana then threw it. A moment later we all heard a distant pop and leaves and brush being pelted by fragmented stone.

"So with my new class I discovered I could make things explode! So what I did was set up a bunch of traps for the slimes in the sewers to wander into. It took me several hours to do but it worked. And I didn't even have to fight anything. The larger ones that survived my cousin and her friends took care of." I said a bit breathlessly at the end, I had also pushed up my voice just a little to give it a more girly tone.

"That is both impressive and adorable, you join your cousin after changing your first class?" The Bugbear asked.

"Something like that, yep!, and I love to take things apart and rebuild them. Knowing how things work is a major hobby of mine and something I would love to turn into a proper career one day. Like I could run a small shop fixing people's broken stuff." I continued really fast.

The Bugbear from what I could tell was eating it up, I suspect it was because I gave my appearance both cute and really big boobs. Men were all the same… and even some women.

"Right well it was a pleasure to meet you, sorry I didn't catch your name." The Centaur asked.

"Oh yes my name is Nicole, oh umm what's yours?" I then asked.

"Seeker Alser, and my friend here who clearly can't stop drooling… is Seeker Har'chr." Seeker Alser said, I could clearly tell Alser was now embarrassed by his partner's reaction.

"Sorry what were you saying?" Seeker Har'chr asked.

With a great sigh "Come on, we have to catch up to the other two." Seeker Alser said.

"Again it was good meeting you and please keep yourself safe on the road." Seeker Alser said to us. Then started on the back on the path leading to the west.

After several minutes and ensuring we were not being followed.

"Shit you could have fooled me with that act…" Orlo said.

"What Act?" I asked, that earned me a look from everyone else.

"That just now? That was not an act?" Turnip said.

"I mean I guess it was in some ways. I sort of just asked myself what would a newly skilled younger Nicole do." I said.

"... I can actually see that… you are a very odd individual." Root said as we continued to push westward.

“Hey, it kept one of them distracted… and the other seemed nervous.” I said a bit self consciously.

“That it did…” Root agreed.

"So this is what you would have been like younger?" Lluvia asked.

"Yep… well sort of… I got different reactions when I was a boy… Was it a bit too much?" I asked.

"No but I originally never was into overly bubbly people and you certainly fit. I kind of surprised myself that I enjoyed that." She said.

"No you just enjoy our friend Nicole here, I mean you are still glancing at her chest every once in a while." Turnip said.

"Don't worry Lluvia, you can play with them later this evening." I whispered to her.

"You two are the horniest individuals I have ever met… and I grew up with Buns…" Turnip said as she rolled her eyes.