Chapter 11 - Fruit can mean anything!

Chapter 11

After cleaning off as much as we could it was decided that it was there to stay… maybe until the end of the dungeon? Zel was examining me closely for a while now, trying to figure out anything about it "I'm not so worried about it being blue, more about the fact that if you look closely, it's made up of tiny hand prints and creepy spirals… like you have literally been touched by a bunch of small hands, yuck, I dont know whats worse, that you were just a pile of mush or that these creepy ass playthings are trying to claim my girlfriend wan!!" She's still pissed, at least it's not all at me.

"I don't have any kind of debuff or information in my display, hopefully it's nothing and just part of the dungeon's creepy factor moo?" She shakes her head, not agreeing with me.

"No, it's going to be something else! You stay away from those things, or use a weapon, we need to keep them away from touching us… you know… I think we are dealing with a fae wan." I nod my head and then look at Keeks, who also nods her head. We look back at Zel together and nod our heads, definitely knowing all about it.

She sighs and shakes hers, "Specifically things like tricksters, like stealing your names, trapping you in the fae realm for a year but it's been a thousand outside, that sort of thing, classic fae stuff. Although I didn't think this game had any fae. Gods and demons and things for sure, but I haven't heard any mention of one, so it's no surprise that these people just call it a god wan."

I nudge keeks and talk to her with the side of my mouth while Zel has started talking to herself, creating conjectures and ruling things out herself, not needing us anymore except to nod and be her soundboard. "You know any of this, or just the usual fairy stuff moo?" She shrugs and collapses onto the floor, "eehh there's plenty of games with fairy stuff, I didn't care about the lore though, I just wanted to be tiny and kill things with my fairy powers pow pow nyehe!"

I feel a rousing from my side, Anna seeming to have woken up, us all waiting for this so we could go back. "Hey little priestess, you okay moo?" I get a groan in response and take that as a yes, she looks around and we watch her warily, Zel having finished her conversation with herself.

"W-where are those kids gone..? They were saying the most horrifying things to me… about my sister… about my mother… n-nya." She vomits, a blue tinge to the orange of it.

"Are you okay moo?!" I pull her up and wipe her mouth with part of my clothing, not unused to vomiting young animal girls now. She nods and looks down at the vomit, tilting her head in confusion. I can't help but ask what she's thinking.

"Why is there blue in my vomit… I'm forbidden from eating any of the caducous fruits, my sister would kill me if she knew nya…" I pat her head and pick her up, trying to calm the shivering cat girl.

"I don't think you should worry about that… let's go back to the village moo." She gasps and looks at what should have been left of the sun.

"Please we need to hurry! We can't miss the festival nya!" We all look at each other, not knowing if we should go back there, still not knowing exactly how it would proceed. We ask Anna but she says her sister is the one that organizes everything.

"Alright, we should be ready for anything when we get back moo!"

…

"THERE'S SO MUCH FOOB NYE!!" Keeks screams, having to be held back from instantly throwing herself on a pile to get started. Upon getting back to the village we are greeted by worried villagers, tables piled with endless food and drink, even more merchants than before all sitting and drinking and passing out their wares and most importantly.

"Ahh welcome sister, being blessed so nyaa!" Endless compliments by the villagers for my new stylish look. Is this why they are all blue? Is there something more to this, the whole village being the playthings of the blue fairy, or just tainted by her? They seem to regard me with more reverence than any of the other people here, except Anna of course.

The old cat woman greets us at the front, asking for our weapons, which Keeks once again seems to store her blade somewhere, with us having to put them away in the box. This time there's a lot more boxes scattered around, it seems lots of others brought weapons and had to stash them as well.

"Should we not eat anything tonight in case we have to worry about poisoning or I don't know, some kind of corruption from eating fae food wan?" Keeks looks at her like she was just told she wasn't allowed to snuggle Nacho anymore. "Ugh, if you eat Fae food in the lore you become part fae, or are trapped, or countless other things wan!" Keek's lips start trembling and her eyes start leaking tears. "Fine, Fine! Eat what you want, get fae trapped for all I care wan!" I can't stop myself from laughing as Keeks's face alights in happiness and she zooms off onto a table, instantly snatching food from the bear merchant's hands, a scream of annoyance coming from her as Keeks devours her meal whole.

"Wow she went for instant troublemaking… if the merchants are eating and are able to leave still every ten years, surely it should be fine moo?" Zel sighs and falls over dramatically into my arms, I sweep her and pull her close, kissing her all over her neck, noises of happiness eliciting from her throat.

"Hehe, ahh I need more of that so badly, but I think we should join Keeks before she starts a real fight over food. As much as I know you're frustrated by Elaintile, it's probably her dad's fault for teaching her to not care wan." I sigh and blow a raspberry on the fur of her check, granting me more perfect noises before I set her upright, putting my hand in hers.

"Lets just think of the party as a date… at least until everything goes to shit moo!" She winks at me and smiles.

"Deal wan!" We find our way to the disaster table, Keeks creating as much chaos as she can as she fights Elaintile for her food, everytime she goes to pick something up Keeks takes it out of her fingers, her super fast moves shocking the mercantile crew around her. As we get closer Keeks gives me the thumbs up, getting me at least a little revenge on the bear girl for her earlier uncaring attitude. I give one back and we sit down with them all.

One by one they nod at us, trying to be polite in our presence. Something feeling off in the way they are acting, not fear, but propriety, as if we are actually people of importance. I can't help but ask. The tall gnoll male from before eyes us nervously, even more so when directly addressed. "Who do you think we are, mister?" he pauses and looks wide at the rest of the crew, Bert shrugs and looks away, as if he didn't hear anything from us, throwing a hyena to the cow.

"Oh uhh… w-well… I wuld imagine yer with the guild right?... I-I mean they don't let anyone in unless they merchants with a pass or have the guild master's seal… like it took us years to get one, and then ye walts in nye!" waiiiitttt a minute.

"Which guild, little gnoll moo?" I look down over him, he is becoming increasingly nervous, seeming to have realized that our questions are more than strange, maybe they had the wrong idea in the first place, not that his position in the crew seemed to be able to do much thinking.

"Uhhh th-tha Golden City Adventurers guild… which… you're definitely from… right? Nyehe…" He's deflated as I stare at him squarely in the eyes, Zel pipes into the conversation, saving me from stumbling over my own thoughts, her voice louder than need be, so that the eave's droppers nearby can hear as well.

"Our cover seems to be blown, it's hard to keep a low profile here with such smart people around… alas it doesn't matter, we are just here to make sure everything goes smoothly, isn't that right wan?" Still staring, unblinking at the gnoll I reply.

"Yeah, smooth moo." I break eye contact and they slump against the table, muttering something about retiring, good plan.

"How much is your company selling the fruits outside for anyway? I'm just curious, it's not something I need to report to the guild wan." The Gnoll perks up at the mention of money and leans in to us.

Whispering they mention an amount, making us scream out in unison. "Two hundred thousand coins per fruit wan-moo?!" we cover each other's mouths in a fit of surprise.

Have we stumbled into a fucking drug ring?!