Chapter 26: Inspection
[Edited By: Arthur300000 and ArchmageNaoki]
I woke up and saw the familiar moldy concrete ceiling. I’m back to my previous world it seems. It was an incredible week of my life, albeit a little hiccup along the way. Huh? I felt someone else holding my hand, so I turn to look at the owner of that hand. Isn’t that me? I look at myself and what I saw is a big-boobs-little-girl naked body. Confused, I looked around to understand what has happened. But what I saw confused me even further, I saw a picture of my man-self princess carry my girl-self in a wedding dress. At the corner of my eyes, a little girl approaches me.
“Mama, I can’t sleep.”
"FUUUUUUUUUCKKKKK!!!" I screamed my lung out.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* An alarm clock was ringing somewhere. Its sound was louder and louder. It felt like I broke through a layer of thin veil before I woke up again.
“Ha, Hah, haaa” I sprang up with sweats all over my body. What a nightmare.
*WHAM* I jumped off the fluffy bed to get away from whatever that just happened, but I trip on my pajamas pants which rolled down to my ankle. It took a while for me to register my current situation.
Yesterday night, I surfed the internet and hit a lot of jackpots. It turns out that sex toy shop only allows people of 18 or older to enter which both my look and my document failed on that criteria. However, I could order those things online. So, I took a lot of time to browsing their catalog and carefully reading their specification. From my experience, I ordered a backpack and what I got is palm sized one which only my cat can use. Thus, I need to read the reviews of users to ensure that I will get what I imagined. In the end, I spent 968 credits on the assortment of toys. It would be quite a sight when it's delivered, but I want to experience everything. I also found several porn sites on the internet which you should have to know what will happen after that. The fantasy world’s porn site is... fantastic.
I shakily walked down the stairs because I was still affected by the previous shock. The air in the hallway is warmer than my room because I turned off the heater in my room. Since I have high cold resistance, I felt that turning the heater on in my room is wasteful. I tried to wash away my dream with water from the faucet, but it doesn't help much. Maybe, it was my body tried to tell me unconsciously about the duty of female. But why with myself? And that girl in my dream, hah, I can't erase her from my memory.
"G'morning" My sister greeted as I was examining my eyes. Strangely, it doesn't get swollen or have bags under my eyes after a very late night sleep. Well, I wrote it off as being lucky and greeted her back. Because of my mind was still preoccupied, I took a bit longer to finish everything and came out from the bathroom at the same time as my sister.
Everyone was already in the dining room when I arrived. My mom is super energetic today, and my dad took leave from his work. Well, yesterday when he found out about what I could do for my mom he was filled with joy and spun me around then called his workplace for permission to stay with us, family, today.
Surprisingly, the first place my mom wanted to visit was the flea market. From what I found on the internet yesterday, it's the only open space in the city where merchants and adventurers gathered and set up their stalls for selling their goods. It's only open on Sunday from early morning until noon. Some people get a fantastic bargain there, though some get cheated. So having a good understanding of what you're buying and its price are really important if you want to shop there.
As you might've already noticed, I use city and town interchangingly but actually I don't know if the place I am staying in is a city or town. Some signs said it's a town. However, another sign said otherwise. It's quite confusing. If I had to guess, I would say it's a city. Because while it has no skyscrapers, its perimeter is quite large. From what the internet said, this city has a circular shape occupying 628 square kilometers. However, from the population point of view, 17,000 people is just a town.
"Let's go Kuro-Chan." My mom has finished her preparations, then she held my hand and smiled warmly at me. If it's not because of the rate that my magical energy was rapidly sucking away from me, I would say that I'm really happy. It might take me a while to get used to this draining rate. But walking while holding hands with my mom, it makes my heart feel warmer than ever. So this is the warmth of a family. I never felt this in my past life. However, when we were leaving the house, Mr. Bobo, the flying pig, was squealing loudly to follow us. I think he's also attached to mom.
"Will he be alright outside? Isn't it too cold for him?" I worried as my sister picked him up.
"He's a magical creature. This cold shouldn't be a problem for him." My brother answered nonchalantly while my dad was turning off the lights and heater. The outside was still dark, but my mom is glowing. I mean literally glowing. I looked at her curiously.
"It's my condition, Kuro-Chan. My condition is that I'm unable to control my energy. So these implants-" She gestures all over her body. "-vent the bad part of my energy away in the form of dim light." In the light it's unnoticeable, but in the dark, she's quite eye catching.
The flea market is not far from our house, so we decide to walk there. The rhythmical crunching sounds of everyone's footsteps in the snow and seeing my dad and my siblings happily chatting and playing around made me rethink my situation. I think it's because of the fuzzy feeling in my heart and the fact that my mom keeps holding my hand made me confess.
"You see, I love you all, but I found it hard to trust you and my feeling." I summarized my current situation. However, after I had said that, my mom stopped walking and pulled my hand back. Then she sat in front of me.
"Kuro-Chan, I know that you have a good reason to distrust us. However, as an adult who is older than you, please listen to my advice. I wouldn't ask you to trust us. That would be lazy and irresponsible. But if you cut all the people who are less than trustworthy you may find yourself alone." I nodded. That's what happened in my past life. "The drug itself made you jump into the relationship without getting to know us well so when you know the truth it was quite a letdown, and it impacted your trust, right?" I nodded again. She nailed it on the head.
"So here is my advice, don't trust us just yet." She paused. "Many people who have trust issues have a habit of jumping into a relationship without getting to know the other person first. So you think about your feelings for us little by little. Make sure that you can trust yourself first then gradually build trust with others." I nodded again, and she hugged me tightly. My dad and my siblings also noticed this exchange, but they just smiled warmly at me and nodded from time to time. It seems like my mom has the last say in this house. We stay like that for a while until Mr. Bobo landed on my head and stole my mom's attention from me. What a rude pig.
When we arrived at the bazaar, the sun's already up. The square is packed with shoppers and stalls. I saw a lot of strange items on display as we were walking around.
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"Oh my, isn't that Ms. Valvori? Congratulations Mr. Valvori on your wife's recovery!" One of my neighbors greeted us. She also looks like a housewife.
"It's thanks to our new daughter Kuro. She made this possible." My dad smiled and introduced me to her. We talked for awhile, and I learned her name was Julia Othello. She also said that her daughter would be coming back from university next week and invited me to her house.
Although the market was selling a lot of things, my mom only focused on food ingredients. I don't know what other people in my family are buying because I have to hold hands with my mom and a lot of people were blocking my view, but I saw my brother holding a strange pointy object and bargaining with the merchant.
"Tuna belly caught from the Bottomless Depths dungeon. Only two credits per Kilogram!" One salesman caught my attention. Huh? Tuna from a dungeon?
"Hmm? Do you like fatty tuna?" My mom asked when she noticed me staring at it.
"No, yes, I mean I like it. But is this a monster's meat?" I'm confused by the description.
"Are you against eating monster meat, Kuro-Chan?" My mom suddenly asked me.
"No, I'm not against it. It's just I've never eaten them before, so it's quite strange to me." I already made up my mind. Delicious is justice. So as long as it tastes amazing, it's ok if it's monster meat. But if I could choose, I still want something ordinary.
"That's good, Kuro-Chan. You won't grow if you don't eat properly." Huh? So this world considered monsters as nutritious food?
"Also, the tuna is not a monster per se because it doesn't have a monster core inside it. But, I heard it spawned in the dungeon. So it's also technically not a wild animal." My mom tries to explain to me. What a generous dungeon. Is it also an Outsider reborn as a dungeon? Maybe it was trying to make itself useful so no one would want to destroy its core.
"Also, some novice adventurers hunt them for a living as they're practically harmless and are plenty, so it's quite cheap. A long time ago it was considered a low-class food and only used for pet feed, but an Outsider name Ta- Tamotsu or something showed us that the belly part was delicious." My mom continues then proceeded to select a few pieces of fatty tuna meat for me.
I help my mom by storing everything that she bought inside my hair clip. My storage device also has the built-in function for preserving ingredients like the one Vicky has. However, the preserve function doesn't mean I could store food inside it indefinitely. It just keeps them fresh longer. Anyway, it's super convenient. The energy drain from storing them is minimal. However, without my energy regeneration, it became noticeable.
After we had finished shopping, we went to the central park. It's where I arrived in this world. I could still remember it vividly. It was that cave, I think. However, the entrance was blocked by government stripe tape... Oi! Don't treat me like I'm contaminating the area!
We rent two boats and row to the big lake at the center of the park. My dad and mom got one boat, and my siblings got another. Of course, I still need to hold my mom's hand, so it's felt like I'm a third wheel but my mom and dad doesn't seem to mind. He was also singing a song that I never heard before. My mom told me that it's her favorite song. The melody is quite soothing but has a lively atmosphere as well. His voice is nice, as expected of the lady killer. I saw from the corner of my eyes a girl in another boat took the paddle from her boyfriend and tried to row closer to us. However, my dad saw this and rowed away.
My siblings are also rowing the boat by while Mr. Bobo is flying around. He doesn't seem afraid of the water. However, the looks on their faces are quite the opposite. My sister smiles, and waves at me when she noticed me looking at her while my brother doesn't seem to be enjoying this much. Maybe my brother was coaxed by my sister to row the boat. I don't know when but the rocking of the boat, my dad's lullaby, and my lack of sleep made me fall asleep on my mom's lap. When I came to again, we were already at the pier.
At noon we walked to a family restaurant a few blocks away. They had so many things on the menu it took me a while to pick something. In the end, I ordered the restaurant special, Meatloaf Delux. I've never had meatloaf before, but it should be good because it's the restaurant special, right? However, my dish came last. The waitress said it needed a long time to cook, so I taste a bit of my mom's Au Gratin and my sister's reindeer steak. Both taste fantastic. If their meals were anything to go on, then I have high expectations for my meal.
Not long after everyone finished, my meatloaf finally came out of the kitchen. It's steaming hot, and I could see vapor still rising from it, the taste worth all the waiting. My single available hand seems too clumsy, so my mom had to help me with the knife. It's quite big so I'm fully satisfied when I finished it. My dad took the bill. He said it's a special occasion, so it's ok to splurge.
In the afternoon, we put Mr. Bobo back to bed and rode dad's car to the flying ship port. This trip is because of me. Yesterday, when we were deciding where to go, I perked up too obviously when it was mentioned as the place where my mom and dad met for the first time. Who wouldn't want to see a flying ship? It's a man's romance, you know? So my parents are going to relive their memories there while I get to see the beauty that is a flying ship.
"Oooh!" I accidentally exclaim out loud because the scenery there is breathtaking. I ignored the giggling of my family members and look everywhere. Because this floating island is huge, I always forget that the land I'm walking on is floating. The scene of flying ships docking is like something out of a fantasy game. The high mountain, river, and snowy white plains moving under us make the scene remarkably surreal. Wait, it's us that is moving, not the landscape under us.
"Do you want to walk around the docks, Kuro-chan?" My mom asked me, and I nodded vigorously. Actually, I want to board the ship right now, but that would mean I would need to go somewhere for a while. So I pulled my mom as close as possible to the flying ship.
"Is that helium or hydrogen?" I pointed at the huge rugby shaped balloon above the ship.
"He-Lium, High-Do-Gen?" My mom said confused.
"It's enchanted air. Helium is too rare, and hydrogen is too dangerous." My brother answered.
"Wouldn't that waste a lot of energy?" Well, using magic to lift the ship all the time would need a lot of energy.
"Nope, the magic changes the distance between the air molecules. The looser the molecule is, the lighter the air. So the energy is only used when they want to adjust the ship's weight." I discussed the scientific and magical theory with my brother for a while. While my mom looked at my dad and he just shrugged, my sister only commented: "Kuro-Chan is a knowledgeable person."
"Little miss do you want to look around on the ship?" An old grandpa who sat on the stool near us spoke with a pipe in his mouth.
"Sorry for your trouble, Captain Gustavo." Huh? How did my dad know his name? Oh, it's on the sign board in front of the ship.
"It's fine. My ship won't leave the port until tomorrow and seeing her this excited about the ship reminds me of my long lost daughter." Wouldn't he be violating FAA regulations? I won't bring it up, though.
The tour is fascinating, and the engine room is quite spacious. It's the biggest room inside the ship, and it uses large monster cores as the power source. Captain said one large red core would let the ship travel round trip between here and the closest elf city. I don't know where that is, though.
I also got to sit in the captain's seat. I thought it would be like a fantasy ship with a single helm. However, it looks more like a sci-fi control scheme, full of levers and buttons. The control room has a stark contrast to the classic flying ship outside. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the buttons could release a photon torpedo.
"Go ahead and press any button. The controls are all locked." Grandpa Gustavo said when he saw me staring at the control board.
"Thank you, but I don't have enough money to compensate for the damage if it accidently works." I answered, and that made him laugh like a madman. He said it's the first time he's seen a responsible kid. For the last time, I'm not a kid!
After the control room, he shows us the passenger cabin which is normal. A small room with a bed, a small table, and a toilet. However, the view outside is breathtakingly beautiful. The sky is clear today so I could see very far with a few small clouds moving under us. Maybe if I had gone on an airplane in my past life, it would be like this. Though now I would never be able to know.
The tour goes on to the deck, the gym, the cafeteria, and ending with the cargo area. Because the storage device cannot store living beings, they were put in the cargo area. There are transparent containers, filled with strange moving... plants. I also saw staff loading a monster filled container with a crane. However, when I passed one of the containers, I smelled Ms. Bluebell's (the celebrity) sisters scent.