Chapter 2: I Just Want to Drink!

"Uh," Sputtered Loretta.

After drinking the potion in one fell swoop, a white poof of smoke appeared over Aria, and a magical transformation ensued. In the hero's place, was now a woman of similar proportion, yet distinctly more feminine in figure.

"Ahh! ...Haa!" Aria tried out her new voice, airier and lighter than before, filled with an enthusiasm unknown to the previous hero.

"Erm..." Mallow helpfully commented.

"Yeaaahhh! It worked! Oh, yes!"

"You uh, you okay?" The thief-for-hire had become more than a little confused.

"Heck yeah!" Aria practically screamed in Mallow's face. Actually, she did, and felt a bit embarrassed realizing it afterwards. With a blush and a start, she attempted to speak carefully, but her voice wavered with excitement. "A-am I, am I cute? I gotta know!"

"Oh, um..." His eyes darted to the only other person present.

"Aria?" Loretta started, keeping her voice calm and low, fingers clenched together tightly.

"Yeah?!" She could barely contain herself.

"Is this why we came here?" Her gaze slowly lifted from the ground.

"Yup."

"I... I see..." Loretta breathed out, and calmly placed a hand on her forehead to rest her racing heart. "You know, this was quite a dangerous and expensive journey. You said it absolutely had to be done."

"Yup!"

"...You could have died."

"Everything has a risk, right? Besides, isn't this exciting? I get to be myself! I get to be a cute girl! It isn't every day you get to be happy with yourself, right?"

"Actually, about that..."

---

The hero and her party had some catching up to do, so they came to the nearest tavern. Out of the Valley of Bewilderment, past the Tepid Forest, beyond the Swamp of Syrup, and into the Squadlit - the squalid hamlet. The tavern itself was called Beir's Beers.

Beir was a handsome older gentleman with business attire and slick-backed hair. He walked to their table and offered a drink, in his signature sultry tone of voice. "Care for a beer?"

Mallow ordered a rum and cola, for Loretta some wine, and for Aria...

"I'll take a beer, please!" She nearly spit out the words in excitement.

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"Ah... a lovely choice, madam." He then fetched their order, before looking back at Aria. "You seem familiar. Have we met?"

They had in fact been here, on the trip towards the potion. Aria giggled and opened her mouth, but Loretta slammed her palm over it to stifle her sounds.

"Ah, this is her first time here." Loretta squabbled together the words before the bubbly hero could spout anything extra.

"Hmm... Okay. Well, since this is the first time, I'll spare to give you some trivia about happenings around here." He continued, while adjusting his pitch black glasses. "I heard recently that the hero ate an entire string of garlic, in order to burp into an evil vampire's mouth as he was giving a monologue..."

Aria's expression changed to one of shame as she listened to the story. The worst part about the trivia, was that it was true. As the hero, she felt she had some rather big shoes to fill, and would sometimes do drastic things to distract people from looking too closely. At the time, she didn't know any other way to defeat a vampire without putting anyone else at risk, but it was still so embarrassing that word got out how she did it. She needed to fix issues like these quick on the way to the potion, there wasn't time to waste.

If everyone saw her neutral expression, they seemed to just assume she was uncaring, stoic, possibly even angry or judgemental. It was easier to roll with people's expectations of her. It was easier to just be the hero. It was easier not to feel. But it's different now! I can be myself, I can even be cute! Aria encouraged herself in her thoughts, while Beir had already left.

"Aria... what's going to happen if word gets out what you did?" stated Loretta, her eyes staring into Aria's soul.

"Who knows? It's going to happen, one way or another."

"...You need to be a little more serious about this. You're the hero, you know?"

"I know! I'm serious. Seriously cute, right?" Aria jabbed Mallow with her elbow, who had already tuned out to his cocktail beverage. Meanwhile, Loretta gave out a deep sigh.

"I just want to make sure you're okay, alright? I'm getting more worried about you, and I don't want anyone to hurt you either, the church probably won't be as accepting as I am."

"It's fine! It's fine! They're all depending on me to beat the Demon Lord, right? That's still the plan."

"Yeah, but you know... Usually you're not so... this?" Loretta gestured to the girl positively vibrating with energy in front of her.

"I got it, Lorie! Everything is okay - no, better than okay!"

"Okay..." Loretta tried to calm herself down once more. She was getting used to this new level of energy, but it came with a new level of self-care required for herself. "You do seem happy. I... I didn't know you weren't happy before. I think I'm still coming to terms with... With all of this?"

"Lorie! Lorie!" The radiant hero shouted.

"W-what? What is it?" Loretta leaned forward with concern painted across her face.

"I'm a girrlll!"

"...You're drunk."

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