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Insania Online
Chapter 86 - Problem with genders

Chapter 86 - Problem with genders

Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Some surprises, fun and promises today!

ANYWAY, firstly, I promised a certain person to add this character quite some time ago. Comments readers might even remember where it’s from, but some of you were probably caught by surprise by this. Oh well...

ALSO, Finally, after so much time and even some people asking for it, I put up a donation button. I won’t ask money to post chapters nor anything like that, but if you feel like giving some money to me so that I can have the occasional snack/game at your expenses, feel free to do it! ^^ Let's just hope I set it up correctly...

Have a good read!

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“... and then they started to work together. You see, this is why you don’t have a choice!” I told hot-head while he stormed through the corridors of the ship.

“For the last effing time! I don’t care about these Gogu or Vegetal of yours!” He said while avoiding looking at me. “I have no idea where the hell you have this idea that I will be your rival. It doesn’t even make sense!” He stopped and turned to me, shoving a thin finger on my chest. “I was trying to kill you, for Cygnas’ sake. Why under the nine hells would I become your friendly riv…”

“But it’s BECAUSE you tried to kill me!” I told him while putting my arm around his shoulder. “You see, the more you hate me, the more we become buddies!”

“AND HOW THE HELL DOES THAT MAKES SENSE?” He shouted at me while ducking away from my arm.

“You don’t have choice, hot head.” I said while smiling teasingly. “It’s your destiny to become my rival!”

“For the love of…” He sighed deeply. “MY NAME ISN’T EVEN HOT-HEAD!”

“Eh, it’s not?” I asked in a fake surprise and could almost hear as a vein popped up in his forehead.

He took deep breath and prepared to shout out at me, but seemingly gave up when I put on my best shocked look, so he shook his head and turned away, storming out of the room. I stayed still for a couple of seconds before smiling and following him.

Seriously, I think I might like teasing him a bit too much. He might SERIOUSLY try to kill me if I keep this up. But who cares? This is fun!

“Shishou…” Yuu called me with a slightly worried tone. “Wouldn’t it be better to be more careful?” She asked me in a whisper.

“Nah, it’s alright.” I told her with a smile. “If hot-head wanted to attack me, he would have already done it.” I told her while pointing to the daggers hanging on his waist.

“Muu…” She mulled a bit, but nodded after some time.

Seeing that I had found something amusing to do in the meantime while we traveled, my mood took a turn for better, as I followed Hot-head on his steps through the inner workings of the ship. With my mood taking a turn for the better, it looked like his took one for the worse, as I soon reached him again and started telling him about manga characters that became rivals from the main characters.

Of course he kept going on and on about how it made absolutely no sense what I was telling him, and while not exactly disagreeing with him, I still kept presenting him the facts. All the while, Yuu, Crys and Co followed us close behind, with Aura keeping herself between me and hot-head almost all the time, almost like an overprotective girlfriend.

For a couple of times I almost made hot-head blow up in anger and attack me, but luckily he held himself back and simply ignored me in the end. It didn’t take me much long to notice what he was actually planning to do, since he was making a beeline straight towards the bedrooms.

If I had to guess, I would say that he wanted to lock himself within his room and then stay there for the remainder of the voyage only so that he wouldn’t need to see me.

Which is a bit sad, since I did want to tease him a bit more before that happened.

Luckily, the god of trickery was in our favor, because just as we arrived in the bedroom’s decks, we found some other people that ended up stopping him, even if unwillingly. Stepping out from one of the rooms were Argento and the others, who came out just as we reached them.

Since the group was fairly large, with four people, they accidentally ended up blocking most of the corridor space, so they stopped hot-head in his tracks, and this one clearly became furious because of that.

“Oh, Gon?” Hanbei said slightly surprised.

“Teacher?” Lily asked as she locked the door and turned to me. “Where were you?” She asked curious, only to land her eyes upon Hot-head. “Who’s he?” She asked me.

“No on…” He started, but I stopped him by passing my arm around his shoulder once again.

“He’s my rival!” I told them with my best wide smile, only to see them stare at me in confusion and shock. “What, never seen people getting rivals before?” I asked with a fake confused tone.

“Oi! Weren’t we just talking about that?” He said furious, receiving a few looks of pity from the others. I bet they already knew he was my newest target.

“… Since when do you have a rival?” Argento asked me confused.

“Since ten minutes ago!” I said with a proud nod, only to have them look at me even more weirded out. They turned towards Yuu with a confused look, only for her to shrug confused.

“Then… Is she a good crafter?” Lily asked innocently.

“… Why the hell would I be a crafter?” Hot head asked genuinely confused.

And did he just answer to “she”?

Wait a second… Slim frame, hidden face, ambiguous voice, long hair (or at least I think I saw his hair as long while we were fighting.) As these information came to our selves, I slowly started to look at hot head once again, this time my eyes widening in shock as it all started to make sense.

“All this time… YOU WERE A GIRL?” I asked in shock.

“WHO THE HELL IS A GIRL?” She… He… Hmmm…. Hot head replied while taking off his… Her… GODDAMIT!

“It’s a trap!” Yami said with a shocked voice.

“The illusory third gender!” I said surprised.

“I’m… Am I seeing things?” Argento asked not believing his eyes.

Well, not that we could blame him, after all, what we were seeing right now was downright confusing. The person in front of us had a body made entirely out of fire, with absolutely no flesh in his body. From the long hair to the thin face, everything seemed to be made of solidified flames.

Something that surprised me greatly since the only elemental I met is Lily, who is an Undine, and she clearly had skin on herself, although her hair did have the appearance of being made of water, same for her eyes, but hothead was clearly made out of fire alone!

Oh yeah, he… She… Going by hot-head’s face alone I couldn’t tell what the hell she was. It had a thin and small shape to it, something that was clearly feminine, but she also had a fierce look that wouldn’t be off in a man’s face.

If someone were to tell me that hot-head was a boyish woman, or a girlish man, I would be unable refute.

“Ooh. A pure elemental!” Lily said with mild surprise. “And from the looks of it, you are still in an immature state, huh?”

“Wait a second!” I interrupted her as she let out some strange words, then I turned to Hot-head. “Quoting a famous person from where I come from.” I cleared my throat. “Welcome to this amazing new world of pocket monsters… yadda yadda yadda. Firstly, let me make you a question, but are you a boy or a girl?” I made the question that loomed over everyone’s head.

Some face-palms were had.

“I’m…” Strangely enough, hot head hesitated for a moment, and made a small grimace. “You guys…”

“Teacher!” Lily said while raising her arm. I blinked surprised before turning to her. “You see, since she’s…”

“HE!” Hot head interrupted her with an annoyed tone.

“Since HE is a pure elemental…” She said with a light giggle, as if amusing herself. “It seems that he still have to reach maturity.”

“And what does that have to do with Hot-head being of the third gender?” I asked confused.

“WHO THE HELL IS THIRD GENDER?”

“Well. You see, although pure elementals like him, and personified elementals like myself are technically the same, there is some small difference in our biology!” She told me in a teacher tone. “You see, personified elementals like myself are born completely formed since birth, from physical characteristic to gender. This is because of our more physical traits. Pure elementals like HIM, however, are born without any defined physical trait. Not even gender! They actually get the chance to choose some of their traits while they are still in what they call the maturing age.”

“That… Kind of sounds like they are an entirely different race…” I said while frowning slightly, but Lily shook her head. “It’s not? How so?” I asked confused.

“Well, some mages looked into it, but it just seem like personified elementals reach the end of their maturing age while still within the mother’s womb, so they end up being born already defined” She explained with a wide smile. I nodded slowly while getting an idea of what she meant.

Basically, the more personified the elemental is, the younger they reach their mature age, the opposite being also the truth.

“That… Doesn’t that makes the pure elemental somewhat of an elite? Since they get to choose?” I asked confused.

“If it were so easy…”

“What do you mean, Hot-head?” I asked confused by her… His tone.

“Do you have any idea how impactful it is to be able to choose your own physical features? Even more when you are young?” He sighed. “AND I’M NOT CALLED HOT-HEAD! FOR THE LOVE OF CYGNAS!”

At times like these I get really tempted to tell them that Cygnas is the small elemental floating right beside me, but it’s better to stay quiet for their mental sanity. Still, I wasn’t very sure how to take his words, so I felt a bit confused.

“Master.” Crys said lightly. “I think what he means is that, since their decisions on their bodies is a one-time thing, they have to be very careful when deciding for themselves, as it will carry on for the rest of their lives.”

I blinked surprised for a moment before finally nodding, as I saw where this was going. They get to make difficult but important decisions since the beginning of their lives, and if they make a mistake when they are young, it might carry on for the rest of their lives. If you think about it, it’s quite a heavy responsibility.

“I see… But why did you decide to become the third gender if you wanted to become a man so much?” I asked him once again.

“STOP WITH THAT THIRD GENDER THING ALREADY!” He shouted angrily. “It’s almost worse than the rival thing! Besides, I still didn’t get to choose… Yet.” He said with a sigh. I raised an eyebrow, but he looked annoyed at that. “Don’t you know anything about elementals?”

“Hmm… Sorry?” I said wryly.

“Master is a chosen, so he isn’t very knowledgeable on this world’s ecology.” Crys explained to him, and he sighed.

“I kind of guessed that already.” He replied in an angry tone. “Anyway, gender is the last thing we get to pick, so I still didn’t get to pick being a man yet.”

“If you were aiming to become a man, why did you take such skinny body then?” Yami asked bluntly. “Not that I have a problem with traps though…” She smiled teasingly. “Even more if it’s for a bit of BL…”

Hot-head splendidly ignored her teasing tone and simply said.

“I… Made a mistake…” He said while looking away. “When I was entering my old business, I thought that having a slimmer body would be less of a hindrance to my line of job.” He sounded slightly embarrassed while saying that. “That… Wasn’t my best idea…” He sighed.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Then, you who were on the path of becoming a true man, ended up going back to the path of the third gender!” I said with an understanding nod.

“YOU DIMWITTED RETARDED PIECE OF RUBBLE! STOP WITH THE THIRD GENDER ALREADY! IT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE!” He shouted at me, but I couldn’t really feel threatened for some reason. After some time she finally sighed and shook her head. “And why the hell am I even still talking to you?” Hot head asked confused.

“Because I am your rival and you are unconsciously taking on the path of being my buddy!” I said with a wide smile. “And I have that effect on people.” He stared at me in a surprisingly cold way for a salamander, aka fire elemental, before storming through Argento’s group and reaching the door for his room. “HEY! WE ARE NEIGHBORS!” I said cheerfully.

“Did I destroy a statue of the goddess or something to deserve this?” He said before slamming the door shut.

“Until later, Hot-head!” I told him from outside.

The door opened and from inside came a voice shouting.

“MY NAME IS ASHLEY, NOT HOT-HEAD!” And the door slammed shut once again.

The following moments I had to explain to the group what had happened after I left on my tantrum. I was so amused with teasing hot… I mean, Ashley around that I ended up completely forgetting the fact that I should still be throwing a tantrum.

Well, not that it really mattered much anyway. It was just something I did just for fun and for the lolz anyway. Still, they were surprised to learn that he… she... Ashley was a bandit with whom I crossed weapons before, and when I told them of the whole rival thingy they ended up smiling awkwardly.

Except Lily, who widened her eyes in surprise while staring at me.

“Teacher is surprisingly good fighter!” She said in surprise.

“How do you think that I managed to gather material?” I asked back to her. She smiled wryly before replying.

“I thought those stories were mostly exaggeration…” She replied in a slightly embarrassed manner. I felt really tempted to hit her head at that moment, but held myself back somehow.

“Anyway, wasn’t it a bit dangerous to keep teasing a bandit like that?” Hanbei asked worried, but I shrugged.

“Not really.” I shrugged. “He didn’t want to keep with his old life, so he probably wouldn’t do something like that.”

“I see…” She said while nodding before turning to the Yuu and I. “So, what were the two of you doing all alone before meeting Ashley?” She asked with a teasing tone, and I saw as the other’s ears perked up excitedly.

“We were only walking around the ship taking a look around. Nothing much.” I said with a shrug.

“So, you spent almost two hours, and all you did was walk around?” Hanbei asked me in shock.

“We also talked about monster hunter.” I said with a proud tone, and Yuu nodded cheerfully.

“The game sounds a lot more interesting than what I initially thought!” She said with a smile. “I’m actually really curious about it right now.”

I saw as Hanbei’s eyebrows twitched slightly for a moment before she stomped towards Yuu and grabbed her hand before dragging her out. Watching curiously as they moved away, my attention returned to the others, who had a slight hint of disappointment in their eyes. Looking at them in confusion, Argento approached me while shaking his head and said.

“You’ve been with that girl pretty much alone for the last two hours, and all you did was talk about games? Are you serious moneybag?” He asked me.

“Ermm…” I was caught a bit by surprise at his word, but rescue came from an unexpected direction.

“Mister Argento. Contrary to what you may think, master does not have that kind of relationship with Yuu.” Crys said while resting one of her hands on my shoulder. This made Argento widen his eyes in shock for a moment before staring at me.

I nodded slightly and saw as he looked confused and shocked for a moment. I also didn’t lose the sight of Lily’s whose eyes sparkled slightly at those words. Suddenly feeling that I might have gotten myself into a dangerous position, I felt as cold sweat formed on my stony back.

“You are a disappointing virgin.” Yami said while shaking her head.

“And you aren’t?” I shot back at the slime, who only looked away innocently. Smirking at her for a moment, I sighed after a moment and turned to look at Yuu, but I felt as a hand grabbed mine.

“Hey, teacher… Since you aren’t occupied right now, why don’t you teach me a bit more crafting?” Lily asked me with a strange tone that left me confused on how to react.

“Hmm… I…” Being caught by surprise by her question and sudden touchiness, it took me a moment to understand what was happening. I’m really bad at dealing with this girl… “I don’t have any remaining materials to work with right now, so it will be a bit difficult…” I said with a wry smile.

“I can deal with that.” Argento said from beneath and putting a mischievous smile. I frowned slightly at that while hearing the gnome speak. “You see, I am bringing a few materials over to the new branch so that we can start with a good stock. You thought that I wouldn’t bring some leather with me?” I laughed dryly for a moment, but thought on how to escape that situation.

“Wait, what were you doing while we were away?” I asked confused. “I saw you guys leaving Lily’s room when I arrived…”

“Oh… That…” Lily said with an awkward smile. “I… Accidentally dropped my dagger when I left the bag in there and they were helping me look for it…” She said slightly embarrassed,

Geez, that’s all? I’m kind of disappointed to be honest. After a while, Yuu came back being pulled by Hanbei, her face blushing slightly as she avoided looking at me in the eyes. I guess that Hanbei said something unnecessary to her, didn’t she? Leaving that aside, she pouted angrily once she saw my state, and immediately approached us with a serious face.

“Shishou, did you tell them about what the captain told us?” She asked making me blink surprised before nodding.

“Oh yeah, the captain told me that there was going to be a dinner later tonight at the main deck, so it’s for all the passengers to gather.” I said and saw as they nodded in accordance.

“A dinner provided by the captain? Must be quite fancy…” Yami said with a nod.

“Yeah… Maybe a certain someone should use that as a chance to compensate for earlier, you know?” Hanbei said while looking at Yuu, who lowered her head slightly while stealing a glance at me.

“Hmm…. Maybe…” She said with a shy tone, which made me smile wryly. I’m almost sure I know what she told Yuu earlier. I’m not THAT dense, after all.

“Then, while we wait, teacher can come to my room and teach me some new things!” Lily said in a cheerful tone.

“No, Shishou has been working for too long and should rest right now!” Yuu said while outing herself between me and the Undine.

“Well, he finds crafting calming, doesn’t he?” Lily rebutted as sparks flared between their eyes.

“But only when he is doing it by himself, teaching can be tiring, so we should let him rest.” Yuu said unmoving.

“He doesn’t look all that tired to me, so wouldn’t it be better if he were to practice a bit meanwhile?”

Sadly, as the two started to debate within the ship, I didn’t get to hear the final words, because after some time I had already ran out.

What? Wimp?

Do you have any idea how it feels to have two girls, two very beautiful girls, having a sparks-flying level discussion when you are right in the middle of it? Both literally and metaphorically? It’s scary, and I doubt that me being there would help solve it.

Maybe with me gone they actually stop discussing so that they can look for me.

At least that’s what I hope.

Anyway, I waded my way through the inner workings of the boat until I reached an unknown place near the kitchen with a single bench. While taking a glance at it, there was a single guy sitting on it, but seeing that it was fairly long, I decided to sit down on it, away enough from the guy so that it wouldn’t look weird.

As I sat down, I saw as Crys came floating towards me with a lightly taunting look on her face.

“Running away from your problems, master?” She said. I pouted lightly.

“Shut up.” I replied childishly as Aura approached the bench and put her head on my knees, asking for a petting. Complying to her, I put my hand on her head and gently rubbed the fur. “If anime taught me anything, is to never stay between two women having a discussion.” I said with a deadpan look.

“Heeh… So you also had problem with women?” The guy besides me asked with a mixed tone of cheerful and weariness.

Blinking surprised, I turned to him while feeling Crys land on my shoulder.

He was a guy around my age, probably a bit younger, having a white hair and red eyes not unlike a vampire. Wearing black leather gear with some white cross motif in a couple of places. In general it looked a bit haggardly to be considered good, but I guess that the status could be actually quite good. Besides that, he also had a black sheathed sword laying on the bench at an arms length and a key shaped necklace.

If I had to say something, I’d guess that he suffers from the infamous eight grade syndrome.

Oddly enough, there was a rabbit laying on his head with a single horn popping from its head. Blinking surprised, I noticed him analyzing me from head to toes just like I was. After smiling wryly, I asked.

“What, you too?” I asked and he laughed.

“Yeah… My friends started discussing something when I wasn’t looking and before I knew it, I was in the middle of the discussion!” He said with a weary tone.

“Well, I was in front of them, but still got caught in the middle anyway.” I said and with that, both of us laughed. “Anyway, it’s somewhat good to see someone sharing the same problem as me.” I said with a smile.

“Right?” The boy asked with a brief laugh.

“I’m Gondorrer, by the way. Nice to meet you!” I said a brief introduction. “These are Rioreia, Crys, Aura and Lieutenant.”

“Lucas. And this small one is Vil.” He said while pointing towards the small rabbit in his head.

“Nice to meet you.” I told him before frowning slightly. “Strange, why do I have this nagging feeling to snatch your keychain?” I said confused

“Why would you do that?” he asked me confused.

“I don’t know?” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s some kind of key that allows you to travel between worlds and I really want to take it and cause mischiefs abound?” I said.

We both stared at each other for some time, a strange tension forming between us. Then we both laughed loudly.

“As if! That’s downright silly!” I said.

“Right?” He asked. “As if this old family heirloom would do such a thing!”

“Geez, master says some silly things sometimes…” Crys said with a sigh.

We both simply decided to ignore her for now.

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Author’s corner (too): NO. THIS IS NOT THE CANNON LUCAS FROM WGO. It’s an NPC (yeah, NPC) I added based on him. Think of him as IO’s Lucas, if you will.