Chapter 33: Chapter 31: Companion Selection

We went to bed early. I didn’t really stop blushing until I finally fell asleep, but rest came quick and easy as I was snuggled between Sabine and Kazumi. They’d teased me -- but only a little bit -- about the blushing, but I think the both of them were mostly happy that I was their size for once, and they were more than happy to take turns wrapping themselves around me. 

 

The next morning came, as it always did, too soon, and we spent most of the morning and early afternoon getting ready for the journey. We’d leave the day after; we didn’t want to waste any time and the first light of day was going to be our starting signal. In the evening, we all had dinner together. Apparently the large castle had several separate dining areas and all were opulent and disastrously large, the kind with tables so big you had to yell to understand each other. So we opted to eat near the kitchen, instead. There was a mostly empty room nearby and it was cozy by virtue of its size -- or lack thereof. In the end, there were eleven of us. Elena and John would go to the mountain pass, and the remaining nine would travel to Shereton, where we’d leave Duncan to lead the garrison, and the rest of us would go south incognito, try to slip into Wydonia unnoticed. 

 

From there, Kazumi told me, we’d travel southeast to a city that was primarily populated by elven settlers. Even though they were still considered first class citizens in Wydonia, it seemed they felt sympathetic to the plight of the non-human races, fearful that they’d be next whenever tension rose again. I couldn’t blame them. There we’d meet Morgana, who’d lead us the rest of the way. It wasn’t going to be an easy journey. While I’d be well disguised, most of our party would be considered wanted persons, and all the way we’d be coming into contact with Wydonian troops headed north to the border. 

 

“Who’s the Kobold?” Elena asked. She was sitting next to John, determined to at least get to know the man who was going to be her companion for the foreseeable future, and he was being completely useless to that end. She’d gotten maybe five words out of him, and three of those had been “yes.” I hoped they’d find some common ground, or their time together was going to be a bit of a pain. 

 

“I’m Tilly!” Tilly squeaked, waving a chicken leg for emphasis. Kazumi had found her first one, then two and then a third pillow. It wasn’t the most stable construction, and her tail swished back and forth for balance constantly, slapping people across the back. 

 

“Hello, Tilly,” Elena said. “Have we me--” Elena said, her glass frozen halfway up to her face as she noticed the overly large sword. Her eyes grew a little wider. “You’re not…”

 

“Am!” Tilly said and chomped down on the chicken leg. 

 

“Interesting,” Elena managed and then hid her face behind the glass, and turned to John, clearly trying not to laugh. “How many people were in the companions? The Hero included?”

 

John Mustrum, not expecting a question again so soon, coughed softly and wiped his mouth. He seemed to be having some trouble eating carefully with his beard in the way, and he’d insisted on keeping his hat on at the table. It seemed that his appearance as a WizardTM was very important to him. “Hum,” he said. “There was Daniel, myself, Ty-- Tilly, Lillian, Sabine and Melamira.” 

 

Elena nodded. “Looks like you went from half and half to a pretty large majority of girls, huh?”

 

John nodded, blushing furiously and then proceeded to gracelessly choke on his drink. Duncan slapped John on the back with a hearty chuckle. He was somehow still in full armor and I couldn’t help but wonder if he slept in the damn thing. 

 

“Also,” Elena continued, counting on her fingers for emphasis, “it looks like that makes… half of the original party non-humans, correct?”

 

John managed to pour his drink down his windpipe a second time and Duncan looked a little concerned now, still patting him on the back. Mellie looked at Elena quizzically. 

 

“Well, if we pretend that ‘Daniel’ is the succubus,” she gestured at Sally, who waved because she had her mouth full, “that means that you’ve got just Lillian, John and Melamira as humans. Sabine is, for all intents and purposes, not.”

 

“Two,” Mellie said, holding up the appropriate amount of fingers. “Two humans.”

 

“Oh?”

 

Mellie moved her hair away from her ears. They were ever so subtly pointed. “Half-elf.” Now that she mentioned it, it wasn’t hard to see the subtle curve in her eyebrows. I just hadn’t considered it a possibility.

 

Elena nodded. “Just two humans, then.” She turned to John. “And you’re going to be guarding the pass with me, so it’s just going to be,” she scanned the room and found Lily. “Lillian, correct?”

 

Her target nodded. Lillian was wearing functional but elegant walking clothes, their only decoration a soft fur trim to her collar. She wasn’t going to be able to wear her holy armor on the way to the capital; it would be too recognisable. Most people had heard tales of what the Hero’s Companions looked like, and apparently they were wanted throughout Wydonia. 

 

“You won’t be lonely, being the only human?” Elena asked.

 

“I’ll manage,” Lillian said quietly. Something about the woman’s demeanour was infectious. As soon as she’d given her answer, the room got a bit more quiet and people focused on their meals. 

 

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After dinner, everyone went their separate ways. Well, Sabine and Kazumi went my way. It would be the last time we’d be able to spend the night in a bed of this size and I didn’t think either would want to miss out. 

 

“You’re not going to make me, you know, small?” I looked at Sabine. She shook her head.

 

“This’ll be the last night in a while I’ll get to cuddle up with you in your full length, Liz.”

 

“Besides,” Kazumi piped in with a cheeky smile. “This way we can share better.” The glance she shot Sabine filled me with a feeling that was hard to find a word for. Seeing them clearly caring for each other made me happier in turn. 

 

“So shoo,” Sabine said, and motioned me onto the bed, smiling ear to ear. “I want to fall asleep on my tall lover. I need someone to keep me warm.”

 

Kazumi made room for the both of us, and soon I was wrapped in two loving embraces, and we fell asleep. 

 

The next day, we all got ready. We’d take the carriage to Shereton but, we’d decided, we’d already be incognito. No Escort. Not about being seen. Queen Eliza would be staying in her castle, so to speak. Some of us would need magical disguises, others would be fine looking like they normally did, albeit with some changes. Sabine, Kazumi and I made it to the courtyard first, at the crack of dawn. Kazumi was a stickler for timing and her biological clock consistently woke her up just a few minutes before first light. 

 

There was something magical about dawn here. I couldn’t tell if it was the world or if the outdoors was the same everywhere, but there was a moment, right before the sun came up, that felt like the world was holding its breath. In just a few minutes, crickets and birds would start singing. But for right now the only sound was the crunch of gravel underfoot, the soft creaking of leather and our breathing. After the shock of waking up before what I considered to be a reasonable hour had worn off, I’d started enjoying these moments before the world began to turn in earnest. When I wasn’t,  you know, spending the morning curled up with Kazumi, Sabine or both, talking about everything and nothing. 

 

The first to come outside were Lillian and Mellie. They were both dressed in similar outfits to the one Lillian had been wearing the night before. We’d decided that Lillian was going to be the “center” of our party, a woman who’d recently made some riches through trade over a river that was now being threatened by war, and who was travelling south to meet with her family. That would hold up under scrutiny, we figured. Mellie was to be a business partner of hers, so they both wore the same clearly-wealthy-but-trying-not-to-look-like-it outfit. 

 

Erza walked out, wearing a full set of armor. I thought she’d been intimidating before. Clearly the others agreed, because I could hear Kazumi audibly gasp. Orc mercenaries hadn’t been unheard of, and people wouldn’t ask too many questions from a noblewoman who’d hired some muscle to protect her on the road. She joined us, and smiled her usual mischievous smile when she saw Kazumi blush. Other than that, she’d completely disappeared in the role. She walked heavy, stood heavy and when she sat down, she sat with her legs wide, sneering at the world in general, looking exactly like you’d expect a mercenary to look. If I hadn’t known it was her, I could’ve been fooled into thinking it was just a random sellsword.

 

A little later, a groggy Tilly walked outside, her eyes small. She had her comically large sword hoisted on her shoulders. She smacked her lips a few times, probably to get the taste of morning out of her mouth. I wondered if sleeping was different for her now. The tail, the small horns, it would take some getting used to. I’d punctured several pillows myself before I figured out how to avoid doing so. She moved over to the three of us, because she’d need John and Sabine’s magic to look inconspicuous.

 

John Mustrum himself had changed from a traditional wizard’s outfit into what was still a traditional wizard’s outfit, but without the blue robe with stars on this time. He wore a black cloak with a large hood, and he looked about as much of an evil wizard-stereotype as you could get. I hoped that people in this world didn’t have the same tropes when it came to magic users as we did back in mine. 

 

That hope was shattered when Elena walked out. She’d barely changed her outfit, but she didn’t have to, after all. That John was traveling south, one of the companions, was news we wanted to avoid spreading. Elena, the Firebrand, was someone we wanted people to know was going to the border. She laughed when she saw John. “Mustrum, you look ridiculous.” He looked shocked and more than a little flustered. “You look like the terrible Black himself,” she laughed, but her voice, her laugh, weren’t sharp, and John seemed to pick up on it, smiling back himself.

 

Sally came down from the walls, using her wings one more time before she’d be able to stretch them in a while, looking over at the laughter but not really asking why. She had an extra bundle of clothes in her hands, but she couldn’t put those on before she’d been humanified. With our resident succubus present, that made our party complete. 

 

That left us non-human ones. Sabine and John rolled up their sleeves and went to work. I was the easiest, apparently. Sabine found the words to change reality quickly, and my vision went black again. Before long, I was once again a small human girl. The clothing I wore reflected that. I was supposed to be one of Lillian’s handmaidens. Thankfully, maid outfits hadn’t found a way to infect this world, and it was mostly sober but finely crafted dresses for me, which suited me fine. They went spinny. 

 

Kazumi was harder, for both herself and John and Sabine, who worked together to give her human legs. She was already wearing a dress to avoid uncomfortable exposure after the change. When she finally plopped down onto her knees, it was obvious that her entire sense of balance was off; her dizziness was readable on her face. I hurried over to help steady her, and she smiled up at me gratefully. I got her up on unsteady legs, and then got her into the carriage to help her with her leggings and boots. She was to be Lillian’s majordomo. Out of all of us, she was the most methodical, and it seemed best to have her in a role that played to her strengths. 

 

Sally wasn’t too difficult to change either, although the wings gave Sabine some pause. Sally looked now like she would have back in the old world, more or less. It was odd to see the resemblance between her and Daniel, and the differences between them. She was definitely more lithe than he was. She was going to be another handmaid. 

 

Finally, and most crucially, Tilly. She had outright refused to be turned into a human again, but also loudly protested the idea that she’d be left behind. In the end, Sabine had offered an alternative. Tilly wasn’t happy with it, but it would have to do. So, after some extensive spellwork from the two mages, Tilly shortened by another foot. Before us stood an as-grumpy-as-ever Tilly, the most adorable, angriest cat you’d ever seen. 

 

“It’s… the best we can do, honestly,” Sabine said between the kind of huffed breaths people take when they’re trying not to laugh. “There’s plenty of mages who have enchanted familiars. A cat wouldn’t be that out of place.”

 

“Wait, does that mean I’d be your…” Tilly began, but Sabine had already begun to cast the illusion on herself. She’d be Lillian’s house-mage, a position most rich households tried to fill. Someone to keep the place clean or the granaries pest-free. 

 

Tilly the Kitty crossed her paws grumpily. I wondered if she’d let me pet her.

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