Chapter Text
At least I don’t have a tail.
It said something about the whole impossible situation, that this was currently on Shiroe’s list of Reasons to Keep Getting Up in the Morning. Not nearly as important as the fact that Naotsugu and Akatsuki needed him to keep it together, but....
Some of the Crescent Moon Alliance’s guild-members had tails. He was not going to ask how they were handling it. Heavy doses of Marielle’s industrial-strength glomps along with a few friends in the same boat, probably. All things considered, he was just glad he’d created Shiroe as a race closer to human-
The enchanter took a deliberate breath, and another drink of tastes-like-water. It was a sunny day. They had a rescue to carry out. They had something to do, that mattered.
It didn’t help. A strategist’s mind kept circling back to one inescapable fact.
This body isn’t human.
Which was not a safe thing to think, despite all the evidence that their physical existences were... more malleable than reality. PKers dissolving into a rain of items. Monster-slain players reviving in the Cathedral. Akatsuki’s form shifting in a flood of light and screams - and now he had to get to know the efficient, silent assassin he’d partied with as a girl, and he was not a closet pervert, thanks, Naotsugu....
Anyway. Whatever they looked like, they had to believe they were still human beings. Though strictly speaking, Shiroe wasn’t sure any Adventurer was human in this world. Human beings died when they were killed.
Like the People of the Land. NPCs are mortal, and we’re not. That’s... not good. If we think we’re human, and they’re not, the city isn’t going to be civilized anymore. If we think we’re not human - those PKers might just be the start. If killing other players isn’t enough of a thrill to give them something to do, and they can’t kill inside a town... Shouryuu and the others are right. If the balance of power between the guilds destabilizes, things are going to get much worse. How can we fix that-
No. He was not going to think about the mess behind them in Akihabara right now. Eighteen members of the Crescent Moon Alliance could take care of themselves, and the one who couldn’t needed them to keep it together to come get her. Serara, Naotsugu, Akatsuki; all of them were depending on the legendary strategist, Shiroe.
It’s kind of hard to be legendary when you feel like you need to kick off the platform shoes.
A couple of centimeters shouldn’t make that much of a difference. Really. It wasn’t that much.
...So why did he keep getting hit with, everything is too short?
He flexed the fingers of his avatar’s hand, still unsettled by how smoothly they answered his will. These weren’t the hands he’d grown up with. Fingers and thumb were a little thinner, a little longer. And stronger. This body could grip a staff or hold a horse’s reins for hours, when a grad student wasn’t used to hanging onto more than books and papers. This body knew combat, without conscious thought; and every potential explanation he came up with for why just made the abyss of fear yawn deeper-
And he was avoiding the real problem. Again.
Fifteen minutes. I promised.
Naotsugu had played with him for years; he knew Shiroe needed a little quiet time for a break after a meal. He’d keep himself and Akatsuki busy.
Glancing out of the corner of his eye to make sure the other two weren’t watching, Shiroe reached into concealing hair. And touched a pointed ear.
He hadn’t thought about it until he’d faced down Marielle yesterday. He knew her race was Elf, he could see the ears. But it hadn’t meant anything, beyond a note in his head on likely stat adjustments and potential NPC allies. She was a pretty priestess with a dangerously low cuteness threshold and a glomp that could bend steel bars; just ask Naotsugu’s armor. Gold hair and eyes and pointed ears... back when Elder Tale was just a game anyone could customize their avatars. It wasn’t a big deal.
Until he’d backed her into a verbal corner, and seen Marielle’s Elf ears poke through gold as they flattened in dismay. And almost lost a strategist’s composure in sheer, unadulterated panic, because his flare of annoyance had come with the oddest sense of hair brushing ear-tips.
I will not panic now, he’d thought then. I do not have time for panic, the Crescent Moon Alliance doesn’t have time for panic, I will panic later. For fifteen minutes. After lunch. If we’re not being attacked.
Well. This was later.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic attack.... Oh, hell.
Because at the time, he hadn’t been sure. Not completely sure. Now? He was.
My ears twitched.
He could feel the same thing happening now, a point of skin and cartilage flicking against his fingers as his agitation rose. Not that much longer than a human’s; so long as he kept his hair its current rough-and-ready length, no one would probably even notice.
...Somehow, knowing that didn’t help much.
He traced the odd, upswept shape. Felt the eerie tingle as skin brushed skin, ear-tips sensitive in a way they just shouldn’t be.
Took another breath, and deliberately lowered his hand. Avatar icons don’t change their expression. We had no way of knowing anything would happen with... emotional responses.
Somehow, some way, he felt as if this was his own damn fault. Which was completely illogical. Elder Tale had been a game.
And now it’s reality.
If the world was real, if the monsters were real... then he had to accept that his avatar was real, too. Even if the consequences were terrifying.
I wasn’t joking about the leaves, Naotsugu.
He was an Enchanter, not a Guardian. Yet he’d heard their enemies closing in as fast as Naotsugu had.
Of course I did, Shiroe thought wryly. That’s why I picked Half-Alv to start with. Enchanters have a hard enough time surviving the first few levels as it is. I knew the Hearing bonus would let me detect mobs closing in on the group more quickly. And a few seconds to pick the right spell makes all the difference.
There had been other reasons to pick that race as well. Some game-useful. Some just interesting. He’d liked playing Shiroe.
But that was when it’d been a game.
So now it’s not. The Enchanter tried to let the panic wash over him, hoping it would fade with another breath. So. If someone had warned me - what would I have changed?
Besides not logging on that night in the first place? Shiroe was his best, his most powerful character. When the triffid had thrown him - it hadn’t been luck that he’d rolled with the fall. He knew what Shiroe could do. Even when he was hurt. Even when he was afraid.
Shiroe’s my best chance. Their best chance.
Maybe they would revive at a Cathedral if they died. But something inside him tensed up at the thought. It was too easy. Too simple.
It’s magic. And powerful magic always has a catch.
If he didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want his party to die, then he had to accept reality. Here and now, he was Shiroe, level 90 Half-Alv Enchanter.
So you have twitchy ears. Live with it. He tried for a smile. It could have been worse. Poor Akatsuki.
Oddly, that thought made the smile come easier. If being Shiroe had bothered him that much, he could have used the shapeshifting potion. But if he had, Akatsuki would have been in real trouble. Roleplaying the opposite sex for a few hours could be fun. Being stuck in the wrong gender? That could be life-threatening.
Compared to that, what were a few ear-twitches?
But when we get back to Earth, I’m going to find whoever developed Novasphere Pioneers. You do not mess with level 90 spellcasters....
Except he wouldn’t be level 90. Not on Earth. That was the whole point.
I have a party behind me, and I’ll bet we’ll have the Crescent Moon Alliance right behind us. I’m sure we’ll think of something.
Which was good, because his fifteen minutes were just about up.
I have a plan. I can live with this. For as long as it takes.
...Though maybe he’d better schedule another panic attack tomorrow. Just in case.
Shiroe stood, and took a deep breath of sun-warmed air. Touched his pouch, where his summoning flute waited. After all, being stuck here wasn’t all bad. In the game, your avatar’s expression never changed....
And he had to see the look on Akatsuki’s face.