Chapter 24: Transformation
[Edited by ArchmageNaoki and Arthur300000]
“Is Something bothering you, Kuro-Chan?” My sister noticed my distress. Well, if we were alone, I might've told her the truth. However, Bree and the children are here, so I just told her “It’s nothing.”
When we arrived at platform nine, there were already a few people waiting there. There are a couple of men in black suits surrounding a beautiful girl with platinum hair and wearing sunglasses. I think she might be a celebrity.
"She's Ms. Bluebell!" Newton, the most annoying kid in the group, recognized her first. Then all the kids ran to her. Seeing the situation, I ran after them... to touch her butt. So this is how celebrity ass feels. I also use the confusion that caused by the children to grope several more places. Huh? You said as an adult I should control these kids? Please don't mind the insignificant detail.
Although this took a lot of time to describe, it actually all happened as fast as lightning. Her security guards took the boys away while more mature women in our group took the girls away. Me? I'm pretending to be an uninvolved bystander. While Vicky was apologizing to Ms. Celebrity, the train has arrived.
The train isn't too crowded when we entered. Only a few guys were sitting at the back of bogies. Some children want to sit near Ms. Celebrity's group, so we followed her. I sat one row behind her. This time, I got an aisle seat. Well, Cherry is younger than me, and she wants to see the view. The seating on the train is a triple seat and a double seat in one row, so Bree was sitting in the middle. Actually, I want to sit on another side, but Bree wants us to sit together. I need to practice on how to saying no to a girl. The two annoying boys were sat in the same row as Ms. Celebrity while three mature girls were sat behind us.
"Why aren't the railroad or the streets wrecked by monsters?" I whispered to my sister. The small monster might not course harm, but right now I'm imagining an elephant-sized hamster that I killed in the Black Forest before, chewing the railroad. That would cause a disaster. I don't want to be in a trainwreck because of the giant hamster revenge.
"Well, monsters usually don't wander away from their habitat. When you saw the monsters roaming the empty field, that would mean that their habitat was overpopulated. So, the adventurer guild would send some adventures to thin their population. We also did that for our last assignment." My sister answered my question.
"Huh? Kuro's actually a high school student?" Bree turned to me and ask. She didn't believe me when I told her?
"As expected, it's because our boss is strong!" Shut up! You're the one who calls me a liar when I told you the truth! Ms. Celebrity also shows her interest in me when that big mouth boy said that.
"Little Miss, are you really an adventurer?" Ms. Celebrity turned her head to ask me through the gap between the seat.
"Just high school level." I answered her honestly.
"I'm looking for my missing little sister. If you find her, please contact me." She gave me her business card and showed a picture of her little sister to me while the children were looking at me with envious eyes. Looking for a missing person huh? [Clairvoyance spell] would work perfectly in this situation. However, it doesn't work in this world anymore. Hmm, there is another way.
"Do you have any articles with your sister's scent on it?" I know it's a primitive method, but if a dog can do it, I might be able to pull it off with my enhanced senses. Huh? Why would I help her? She's a beautiful girl, so I don't need another reason to help... Sorry, I was just trying to look cool.
"... I have her purse here." She gave me a small pink bag with a bear pattern on it. I was hoping it would be panties, but oh well. I took a sniff and try to isolate her little sister's scent. Then I try to compare it with what I smelled from last week.
"No, I've never met her, but I'll keep an eye out." I return the purse to her then I laid back in my chair. She looked a bit disappointed. Even so, there's nothing I can do about that. The others are looking at me weirdly... oh well it's normal to be surprised of that.
The trip to the next town took about one hour. The scenery outside the window passed by quickly, faster than the bus. So that means the next city is quite far away. Along the way, an old woman was pushing a cart filled with snacks and refreshments for sale walked past me. She sells the snacks at 1 credit per package. I bought one for each snack that I haven't tried yet and share with everyone. My sister also bought some drinks and gave one to me. It cost me only eight credits, but the happy memories are priceless.
An internet connection seems to be available on the train. Thus, I searched for information on the laws in this country. Well, I won't let my 500 panties go without a fight. However, after a while, I found out that in this case, my 5,000 credits which supposed to be a compensation or reparation for that man "disability" has already belonged to him, so when he got death sentence it not returned to me but transferred to his family as his inheritance instead. That's mean Bree's mother got my money. Hah, at least I can still consider it as helping them.
Another thing I try to look for is the other Outsider situation in this world. To my horror, there is also an anti-outsider faction. Some people go to the extremes like proclaiming in their blogs that they are going to dye a river red with all the Outsiders' blood or they will shoot an Outsider on sight if they had a chance. Luckily, those people are a minority. However, I should try to keep my status as an Outsider a secret otherwise I might end up with a knife in my back if I'm not careful enough. I also put my plan to go on a rampage at the government on the shelf, because it would just make me become the next demon lord... I don't want to live alone anymore.
I searched a bit more, but the train already arrived at our destination. Ms. Celebrity is also leaving with us. It turned out that the last known location of her missing sister is also in this city. We said goodbye to her and took a free shuttle to the amusement park. It took around 15 minutes, which I used to think about my current predicament. When we arrived, children immediately ran to the ticket counter. The building in front of me is a big dome, it's larger than any building I have seen.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
It turned out to be more of a theme park where people are roleplaying as individuals of an old era rather than an amusement park filled with thrilling rides like a roller coaster. Well, in this weather it's understandable. The price for an entrance ticket is 10 credits per person but my sister just paid it for me. "This time it's my treat." She said.
The boys want to role-play as a knight while the girls went to the princess section for their costumes. While Vicky dressed up as a witch, and Sophia became some sort of nun. I'm stuck with being a dress up doll for my sister. In the end, my sister dresses up as a nurse, and I am a ... penguin. It's not that we agree on this. But Ms. Staff came in and said that we took too long to change and they need the room for other customers. So I'm stuck with the last costume I put on. And then the adventure of two knights, two princesses, a nun, a witch, a nurse and a penguin has begun... Please don't look at me with those lukewarm eyes kids, I don't want your condolences.
When we exited the changing room, the costume we wore was activated. It's turn out that it was like playing an RPG game. There's a blue screen showing the status of my character in the corner of my vision.
Kuro the penguin
Level: 1 HP: 10/10
Ability: Pecking
Item: None
Money: 9,670 Credits
Why do I feel like a Pokemon? And that money it displayed, isn't that my real money!? So buying anything here will cost me actual money then. Damn that money grabbing business man. The scenery inside is like a tropical forest trail, a stark contrast to the outside. The temperature is also warm and comfortable. I can see why people come here to play in the winter. Experiencing warm climates in the winter might be their selling point. After we walk a bit more and take a group picture here and there, a blue screen appeared in my vision.
You have encountered a slime. Please select your action.
1. Peck
2. Defense
3. Run away
Of course, I selected the defense option. I won't peck, alright? Most people chose to attack while one of the princesses use 'scream for help'... is that a real option for the princess? The pitiful slime was killed on the first turn by two sword strikes, punctured by a needle, smashed by a broomstick, and a slap by the nun.
Congratulation, you have reached level 2
That was quick! I got one level from a single slime. So, I might be level 99 in no time. However, after I dismissed the first window, another one came up.
Congratulation, you got a new ability, [Flapping Wing].
Flapping Wing:
Description: An attack that as precise as a falling leaf, as quick as a sleeping hare and as violent as a hungry husband.
... The game designer must be a troll. "As precise as a falling leaf." Isn't that all over the place!? "As quick as a sleeping hare." Isn't that slower than a turtle? And I have no comments on the last phrase. I believed this skill is only for table flipping. I'll just keep defending for the entire game.
We arrived in the first town after reaching level 10 with 10 more monster kills. I got a lot more useless skills like penguin slide, penguin dance, and laying eggs which I promised myself not to use any of. In the town there was only a shop and a guild building, the rest were just props. The store is selling sodas, popcorn, hot dogs, cupcakes, apple candy and cotton candy. I bought a cotton candy which cost only 1 credit and followed those kids into the guild. They also have a class-up system, boys' Knights became Paladins, Princesses became Queens, a Nurse became a Hospital Director, a Witch became a Sorceress, a Nun became a Mahou Shoujo... and I became an Emperor Penguin. Well, I don't know where to start. I never heard of any country having two queens, but our group did. A Nurse became Hospital Director, isn’t that too fast? For a Nun to become Mahou Shoujo all I could say is, as expected of Sophia. Our costumes also changed shape according to the new classes. Mine doesn't change much but came with a blue screen window saying:
Congratulations you have evolved into EMPEROR PENGUIN.
Isn't that Metamorphosis rather than Evolved? Maybe the developer thinks that 'Metamorphosis' was too big of a word for kids. By the way, I got another skill,
Deadly Thousand Arrows
Shoot three feathers at three different targets with the precision of a falling leaf.
... The name just said thousand but why does the description say three? And how deadly can a penguin's feather even be anyways? And please stop with that falling leaf joke, why don't you just call it useless skill 1 to 10.
Hah, I'm complaining a lot about the system, but actually, it's quite fun to see the children playing with happy faces. My sister also seemed a lot brighter. Vicky is also playing along with those kids. Sophia, well, she always seems to be happy when she saw more than one male NPC walking together. We also took a lot of group pictures, but for some reason they wanted me to stand in front every time. We even took pictures with those fake monsters because if we don't submit actions, they're just friendly staff in a monster suit. The scenery is quite nice, but if I look carefully, I can notice a lot of things around are artificial though it still looks good in a photo.
Two hours later we arrived at the last town, there is a souvenir shop. The reason I knew this is the last town is that sign.
<------- Last boss is here
I'm really want to change what it's writing with a permanent marker. At least change it to Demon Lord's castle or something. So I vented my frustration by trying to sell a holy sword we got along the way to the shop keepers. Of course, they won't buy it using excuses like "O, the mighty hero, ye shalt need that sword to vanquish the demon lord." But seeing them reluctant when I am insistently playing along with "But my Lord told me otherwise." made me feel a lot better. Anyway, I walked around the shop and still didn't know what to buy. Those small trinkets are not my thing.
"Last one there's a rotten egg!" When we finished shopping, Newton, the most annoying brat ran ahead of us to the Demon Lord's castle. The final boss is interesting. Well, it's not that he has multiple forms or anything. It just that he's actually from the demon tribe. Seeing real horns protruding from his forehead made me feel like I was actually in a fantasy world. He’s very tall, about two meters I think. So he has to sit down to take a picture with us. I want to touch his horn, but my hand was stuck inside the penguin costume, so I use my cheek instead. It’s rough and sturdy. His skin is also redder than an average human.
Well, the fighting also ended in a single turn. When the demon lord was defeated, there was a lot of lighting and smoke effects. I think it's because this theme park is for children, so the difficulty is very low. I also got one achievement.
Achievement Unlocked
Peaceful Critter
Description: Ending the game as any kind of critter without attacking once.