...

Place: Rehab House, Wolfsteeth

Time: ~Two weeks later, after the first day in rehab

How did it feel for Sophie to become healthy again? It was a dichotomy, with moments of pure bliss, her smiling the whole time, and moments of desperate misery that made her want to end it. There was no in-between.

The immense support she received was the only thing that helped her control those highs and lows. In addition to what they called therapy, which was just talking, there were also forms of various other distractions—painting, physical exercise, learning to read and write, music, and handicrafts. They were soothing.

When those highs and lows normalized, Sophie could move more freely, even having no schedule on some days.

However, this didn't mean she recovered fully. She would need another two to three weeks of slow healing and observation, but from what she understood, she was 70% done.

All that was left was that they wanted to see more precisely what her pheromone gland did while she recovered, with and without healing. It was a little annoying, but when Sophie thought it was to help others, she would stay far longer, knowing how much of a mess she was initially.

After writing her diary, a part of her recovery, she cringed inwardly at how messy it looked. Not wanting to look at it again, she quickly closed it and began changing clothes.

Today, she didn't have anything scheduled and was allowed to visit someone important to her, if not the most important.

'Hm, is this fat sexy?'

Looking in the mirror the last time before leaving her room, she was almost her old self again; gone were those weird times when she saw only a greyish blur of nothingness.

Sophie even got a little chubby because they had overused the appetite potions, making everyone fat. She chuckled, thinking about it, 'Slaughterhouse.'

There was a morbid insider joke that they all got fat, so they couldn't run away anymore and would become Alexander's experiment subjects. The slaughterhouse's name somehow appeared out of nowhere, making them feel like farm animals—not in a bad way, though.

However, Birbon wasn't too happy about it. He wanted to call it the Turtle House because they were slowly recovering, referencing Alexander's fairy tale about the turtle and the hare.

'I love that book.'

At first, she never understood why some people would pay to learn reading besides making more coins, but now she did. Looking to the side, on her bed, she saw the fairy tale book written by Alexander.

The same story, as the house's name, motivated her immensely. It was fine as long as Sophie felt she had moved forward, even if it was by a little. There was no rush anymore, no nervous restlessness. She just moved at her own pace, knowing it was the right way for her.

It was a race she couldn't do half-heartedly, as it would only worsen if she wanted to reach her goal, 'Little by little.'

After feeling pure joy when she remembered those fairy tales, she started to see herself as the turtle, sarcastically and physically.

'I am at least as wide as one.'

Sophie turned left and right, looking at herself in the mirror, only to frown, not knowing how to dress. She had been muscular before and couldn't wear summer dresses because she would look ridiculous, but what she had worn was easy to choose from as she had a great figure.

Besides her overwhelming chubbyness, her breasts and buttox became plumper, making her try out a summer dress.

'They are too big, hm.'

Everything didn't become larger because she was chubby but also because she tried too many potions, one of which was a feminization potion, which made her grow certain parts.

From what she understood, everything was tried as a cure, not knowing what would ultimately help. Little to say, the test didn't work, and fortunately, the effects would end in a year or so. She really disliked having those swing around when she would be again on-site.

Sophie sighed, resigning to her current condition but still smiling. She felt cheerful about her progress but nervous as she was about to leave to visit someone significant to her, if not the most important.

Clank

Walking out of her room, the first thing she saw was the ant kin boy, whose name was Norm, sitting and drawing happily. When he was like this, one would need to beat him up with a frying pan; otherwise, he wouldn't come out of his trance.

Apparently, he had it even worse than her, with some ant kin woman extorting him to no end, which was quite the sad story. He now would need to stay much longer, for what seemed multiple months, or even go through other procedures since his gland was recovering very slowly.

When she looked around the living room while greeting others, it was full of paintings, drawings, writings, handicrafts, and so much more. The place was alive compared to what was before, feeling much warmer.

She made her way to the exit, gulping down, with her nervousness somewhat heightened, but nonetheless, she was ready.

Clank

Walking out, Sophie was a part of Wolfsteeth again. It felt weird, but it was nonetheless great taking her first step.

'Okay, how do I get to the Temple now?'

...

An hour later

'It's as bad as I remember.'

Sophie needed to get on a carriage, which was as bad as always. They always loaded, and it was harder for her to make space since she got larger.

However, this wasn't the worst thing. The coachman was which was drunk. If she was honest, they were all mostly drugged up, leading the draft animals like morons. They almost hit a kid at one point, with the boar nearly flipping out.

In her opinion, the idea was actually great. They drove on predestined routes the whole day, having carriages five times the size of normal ones. The service would cost a small iron coin to take it—either that or walking, which would take too long since the city was just too grand.

'I get you, though.'

Sophie worked as a coachman for a year to find a job to sustain herself when she arrived in Wolfsteeth. At first, seeing that she could learn skills for free as long as she worked for a year was exciting. Never seen in a small town like hers.

'What a scam.'

It was a terrible job, with all the passengers being the worst they could be—spitting, cursing, threatening, touching, and even assaulting her. Even the pay was barely enough to live in a vermin-infested apartment in the northern district.

Seeing the young coachman about to burst out in anger because an older woman was constantly nagging him as he drew poorly, he wouldn't be one for longer than two more weeks.

'Oh man, there are stories...'

Before she started to reminisce more when she was working this horrible job, she arrived, jumping off and wishing the young fellow the best, hoping he wouldn't kill some of his passengers, which wasn't as uncommon as one might think.

Ignoring the possible murder, she quickly looked for the fastest way to the Temple grounds. Arriving there after some minutes, she immediately remembered all the etiquette about taking off shoes and waking in line.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

As always, there were dozens of people waiting and looking bored. Nothing changed, except the people were much more peaceful. Even waiting in line was quite the problem in the past.

Usually, they would be rowdy and try to cut the line or something of the sort, but with the Lord holding his speeches in the past and nature-dwellers migrating to them in rows, it became quite dangerous to do such a thing. Nobody wanted to anger zealots.

'Oh, an idiot about to anger some zealots.'

Someone seemingly waited enough. It was some kind of dolphin kin who was constantly scratching his skin. He wore an old, dirty sailor uniform with a weirdly shaped sword strapped to his side and chewed something with his mouth partly open.

"Arrrgh! Blast it! I can't be waitin' any longer! Ye be movin' too slow!"

The guard stopped him when he was before the entrance, "I apologize, but you need to wait in line. Those are the rules."

It was a minotaur, almost 3m (~9.8ft) in size, looking nervously down at the far smaller sailor. It was a funny scene to look at how seemingly young the guard was, with them not knowing what to do.

However, the sailor didn't care, pushing his way through. He was visibly irritated and not in the mood to argue.

"Arrr, get outta me way! I've been waitin' long enough, and I'll pay even more doubloons for that to heal, so move it!"

Sophie wasn't the only one waiting in anticipation of what would happen, as others were chuckling and whispering between each other.

When the dolphin kin was about to open the door, everyone who had been in Wolfsteeth for more than a year started to look up, wondering.

'It was a long time since an injury occurred; what will it be now, though?'

A giant branch from a ~50m (~165ft) tall tree descended on the dolphin kin, though it seemed much angrier than usual.

For some reason, sometimes the Temple was very comforting, not even trying to attack others even if they provoked, and at other times, it became insanely wrathful, almost killing someone for making a small mistake.

Bang!

The giant branch bashed right before the dolphin, leaving a massive crevice. The sailor became confused, looking up and then at them. However, his confusion was about to be resolved when a centaur came out of the Temple, not looking too happy.

The centaur stood still, his frown slowly increasing, only to gesture like swatting away a fly beside his ears. When he looked at the sailor, his tone was not the friendliest.

"If you want, you can try and walk forward, but I would not suggest it."

The dolphin kin didn't move, nodding solemnly and walking back to the back of the line. With that, murmurs and whispers went through the Temple grounds, and it became another story at the bar to tell.

'Okay, be ready!'

While she cackled a little, her nervousness was nonetheless overwhelming, so she concentrated only on the door and imagined thousands of scenarios. Even the meditation she did barely helped; she was too nervous.

'Everything will be fine... I hope...'

...

Two hours later

'I can't believe I waited for so long...'

For the first hour, her nervousness made her giddy, but after that, it slowly disappeared, leaving her with a bizarre feeling of tiredness and restlessness.

The line moved slowly, immensely so. However, with Sophie now inside the Temple, all the pent-up stress came back while she tried to remember where she would need to go.

'It was such a long time ago... ah!'

Sophie remembered when she was there, which could have been one or two decades ago. It had changed a lot. While it was busy back then, it was now crowded with all kinds of nature-dwellers doing whatever they were doing.

Unfortunately, some couldn't move outside, or if they could, only for a short time. They would die or become sick. The same was true for beast kin, like the dolphin ones. If their bloodline were too acclimated to a specific region, they would become unstoppable, but once they were in the opposite climate, they would become irritated or suffer.

Many marine beast kin were like this, so one couldn't see any at Wolfsteeth, as the heat and dryness were too much. The same was likely true for nature-dwellers who could only survive inside the Temple since the miasma was something one needed to get used to.

When she arrived, the miasma made all her actions quite aggressive, making her do things she never would have done. Only after receiving a couple of skills could she somewhat block it out; she got used to it after a couple of decades.

Sophie walked to the treant, bowing down, "Hello, honorable treant, I am here because a fairy named Bisis said that I could visit someone called Fred, my husband. He is now getting treated here."

A branch descended downwards, holding a small leaf. A soothing, woodish voice entered Sophie's ears as it spoke inside her head, "Take this leaf. It will fly toward where you need to go, and may peace and fortune follow you."

She bowed down again, leaving the treant, who was some big shot in the Temple since all who could control their religious site had some kind of backing. Rumors have it that it was some old friend from the Lord, and it was fun to imagine how they would go to a bar to have a drink.

'Not the time for nonsense.'

Sophie looked at the leaf where it would flow to. It was like their way of navigating through this maze. She walked up the wooden stairs, with plants and roots making way, and the earth became much more flattened and more convenient to walk on. Otherwise, she would probably trip with every third step.

However, when Sophie was somewhat far up, walking through tunnels and crevices, only looking at her leaf, fearing to get lost, she suddenly heard a voice she knew. The young man sounded furious and prideful, but his tone was much more casual than when she had listened to him once or twice.

"Fucking damn shit ass motherfucker! He bit me!"

Beside him was another strange-sounding wooden and flowery voice, giving Sophie peace of mind when listening to it.

"Mr. Alexander, please calm down... woah! Pull that dagger away immediately, and don't threaten my patient, you freak! Frank!"

The tree suddenly shuffled with Sophie needing to hold at something not fall, 'Okay, I now know why it almost killed the sailor!'

Through rumors, Sophie knew that besides Alexander's outer appearance of someone with a generous, honorable, and friendly personality, he was also described as a giant asshole. He never respected anyone, didn't care about manners, and mocked others. Sometimes, he just showed off to spite someone, embarrassing others. It was a bizarre dichotomy of appearing as someone not caring while doing everything to help.

Sophie suddenly remembered a small dragon kin boy in central Mal-Gil with the opposite problem. He was the descendant of Merlin, and rumors in their fief told her that he was too apathetic to care, never showing off and rarely standing in the spotlight even though he was apparently very talented.

However, something terrible happened, and he needed to be frozen in time, as otherwise, he would've died, 'Poor...' It suddenly rumbled much more violently, and she could barely stand, '...what is happening?!'

A grand woodish voice made its way through the whole Temple, almost defeaning her, "My name is not Frank!"

Alexander, though, barely cared, even his voice becoming more mocking, 'Please don't, Mr. Alexander! There are others here, too!'

He didn't care, "Listen, you cheap Ikea shelf. If you don't make way, I will burn you to the ground!"

"My name is also not..." It suddenly stopped with her instincts going crazy when she heard something akin to a sizzling and burning, 'Oh Uh.'

She held onto a branch as hard as possible when the Temple shook violently, with a scream of what felt like boundless irritation traveling past her. Sophie often heard that Alexander was prone to emotional outbursts from servants at the estate and that his behavior worsened the older he got.

'This is unbelievable?! How could anyone tolerate it?!'

Most of the commoners she knew loved him, especially the ones without anything to their name, primarily impoverished or those looking for a home, seeing that Alexander was much more amiable toward everyone.

Others, especially those from the underworld, were less friendly to him. From some casual conversations with her new friends, she was told that because of his charity, the underworld became less active, with some now trying to pivot to more legitimate businesses, seeing the writing on the wall.

Sophie had barely any business acumen and did not understand why. However, she also didn't understand why someone would commit a crime, but this was a discussion she had quite often.

When the rumbling stopped, Sophie looked at her leaf. She quickly wanted to leave the area while the screaming stopped, hopefully with everyone calming down.

'Quickly!'

After another half an hour of trying to find the room, she arrived at a door to which the leaf was aggressively moving.

'Fred...'

Gulping down, Sophie said in her mind that she didn't have any expectations, but it was a lie. She wanted him back with every fiber of her body.

Was she worth his love? She was the one who pulled Fred into this mess, and he also experienced something terrible like her. She was terrible wanting him back, but so what? She couldn't control her emotions and needs.

However, the worst thought appeared in her mind the second she played through every scenario. What if Fred didn't love her anymore? What if he was suicidal? What if she suddenly didn't love him anymore?

She was confused but remembered, breathing intensely to open the door before her, 'Step by step. Step by step. Step by step.'

Clank

Sophie walked inside. Before her was a beautiful but simple room; it looked unadorned, but the air was amazing, and the light coming from the top was soothing.

Fred was lying on the bed reading something. However, what caught her attention was his looks. She had forgotten how she looked, and seeing him made her feel horrible.

'Too thin, too unhealthy.'

She stared, her heart beating fast, knowing she was still in love. Smelling his scent was like Core for her, feeling at home. All she really wanted now was for him to stand up, cock, and have some intimacy. A last wish of sorts.

However, when Fred heard her coming in and standing there, he turned and looked at her, surprised. Her heart stopped momentarily, not knowing what to think, hoping for a miracle.

Sophie didn't need it, though. When she started to cry, so did he, with her now knowing she was back at home, and when he opened his mouth, it was like the happiest moment of her life after all the torture she had to go through.

"Hello, Darling."

She was happy, knowing everything would be okay.