Chapter 545: Eric Is Beautiful
“Hahaha! So you think yourself a kitten? You wolf?!” Kapil laughed heartily, earning him a pinch and slap from Siberia, her blows landing with enough force to make him wince. “Why do you think I’m different from her? Siberia, if what you said is true about her, then should we not be lending her a hand?”
“A hand…?” Siberia wondered out loud, her brow furrowing in confusion, her eyes searching his face for meaning.
“Yes.” Kapil nodded, his orange eyes steady and sincere, his voice holding the stance of someone who had spent years learning to read people and their hidden pains. “I personally think she’s just happy the way she is. But if she is truly a hurt and traumatized person acting otherwise, you of all people should not hate her. You of all people should understand what it means to wear a mask, to smile when you want to cry, and to pretend everything is fine when everything is falling apart.”
His words were measured and deliberate, each one landing with the precision of a well-aimed arrow. “In summary, I do not want to have issues with Heka, so quit annoying her.”
“You bastard! So that was your true goal!” Siberia caught his hair and began pulling, her fingers tangling in the orange strands.
Her voice was sharp with indignation, but there was a playful edge beneath the anger, a familiarity that spoke of countless similar arguments. “And here I was thinking you were giving me emotional support, that you were actually concerned about my feelings and my wellbeing. But you just don’t want to deal with the Amazonian woman’s wrath! I suppose you could even use me as a sacrifice to keep the peace!”
“You may be right… It could be that I actively mask my pain with cheerfulness. What is your problem with that? Bad things happened to me in the past, yes. But why do the people in my life now have to feel that pain as well? They bring love and care, and I reflect that love and care. I prefer to enjoy life than simply survive life. It might not look that way, Siberia… but I know myself as well. I know what I’m doing…”
“…”
“…”
[Huh? Wait, did I just say that out loud?]
{Answer: Yes, you did.}
Sys’s voice was smug, the kind of tone she used when she was enjoying my discomfort.
You only speak when I’m in deep waters, you obnoxious littl—
“B… Benjamin?” Kapil looked at me, surprised.
His orange eyes were wide, his jaw slightly slack, his entire body frozen in shock.
…Or rather, he was looking at my crotch. His gaze had dropped, fixing on the part of my body that was most definitively male, the part that had been hidden by my towel until the teleportation had dislodged it at some point.
Tsk.
Imaginary Barrier is deeply tied to my emotional and mental state.
Siberia’s words made me unstable a bit, and now I’m exposed.
The veil that had been hiding me had flickered and failed, dropping me into full view of two of the most dangerous people in the guild.
A little warning will do me good once in a while, Sys.
{…}
And you’re silent now. Of course.
“Uhm, yes, I’m Benjamin,” I said, as Siberia was slowly getting ready for a fight, her hands on Kapil’s thighs tightening, her body coiling with tension. “and as you can see from the healthy penis right there, I’m totally male. So please, help me spread the word. I’m getting really tired of everyone thinking I’m a woman.”
“How did you get in here without any of us sensing you… not until you spoke?” Siberia’s voice went cold and sharp again, the warmth from moments before evaporating like mist in the morning sun.
Her eyes were narrowed, her posture shifting from relaxed to combat-ready in the span of a heartbeat. “We have some of the best senses in the guild. No physical entity or living thing can approach us without us knowing.”
Young lady, worry about your exposed body more than me!
The reasoning was hysterical, a desperate attempt to find humor in the situation.
But I knew better than to say it out loud. Siberia did not seem like the kind of person who appreciated jokes when she was in hunter mode.
Damn it, I don’t want to fight them here.
However, I also have no excuse for being here so suddenly, and even evading the sights of these cautious beasts.
My mind raced, grasping for anything that would defuse the situation, anything that would keep me from having to fight two Tree-class adventurers in a hot spring while completely naked.
“It’s because… I am a god.” I was talking nonsense now, the words spilling out in a desperate rush. “And you guys mentioning my name so much summoned me here. You know, like a prayer. When mortals speak the name of a divine being with enough intensity, that being can appear. It’s basic theology.”
“…” Siberia looked at me like a predator for a few seconds, her dark eyes boring into mine with great intensity.
Then her eyes quickly went timid and coy, a strange shift that I hadn’t expected.
“Is… Is that so? Well, if you’re a god, there’s nothing we can do about that,” she mumbled, her voice dropping to a near whisper. “I’m sorry for questioning you, divine one. Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Wait?! You don’t actually believe her, do you?!” Kapil recoiled in shock, at Siberia’s obliviousness. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his jaw hanging open. “Siberia, think about what you’re saying! This is clearly just a person who snuck in to spy on us!”
And it’s “him,” not “her!” Jerk!
When Siberia and Kapil both entered a small argument about how I was, and wasn’t a god, I used the opportunity to teleport myself to Eric’s hot spring.
The world twisted around me, reality folding and unfolding like a piece of paper being crumpled and smoothed out again.
One moment I was in the middle of a heated debate about my divine status, the next I was submerged in warm, crystal-clear water, the steam rising around me in gentle tendrils.
The elven bastard sure was enjoying his time here, when I was entering different sorts of dangerous, though interesting, troubles.
But Eric sure was beautiful.
The thought came unbidden, stealing my breath. His ears were long and elegant, so noble. His green eyes were crystal-like, and beautiful, catching the light and reflecting it back in ways that made them seem almost luminescent.
Such a slender form, such a curvy body, a small patch of green hair gathered at his crotch as his body was nearly transparent in the glowing warm water.
His skin was light and smooth, practically glowing in the soft light of the hot spring, and I could see the delicate lines of his collarbones, the gentle curve of his waist, the way his body flowed with a fluid grace that was intoxicating.
But the most important part of this hot elf boy… was the small perky breast that hung on his chest.
A breast that no “boy” should have.
Hm, it was a nice set of breasts though, and maybe his birth was a strange one.
Perhaps he was born with some hormonal imbalance, or maybe it was a side effect of his elven heritage or something.
However… looking down at his crotch again, I found that IT was missing.
There was no…
“Eric, you’re a woman…?” The words left my mouth before I could stop them, my voice swimming across the water with a stunned and disbelieving tone.