Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

Act normal, act normal!

"Heya, I'm back! I learned how to dim the light crystals."

"Mother, you could have asked me."

"I didn't want you to use [soothsayer] on useless things, you know? That would be a waste of mana. Oh yeah, I asked about library. Apparently we don't qualify to enter."

I walked to one of the light crystals and showed her how it was done.

Perfectly normal. Such outstanding performance, sometimes I amaze myself. Why wasn't I in the showbiz? I could have made so much money.

"If there's no library, then there isn't much we can do here."

"That's not true. I can go eat good stuff here! I'll share my tasty memories with you. I promise?" I teased her with a grin.

She cried out, "You're so despicable!"

"Sorry, sorry. By the way, any news on Haelley?"

"Yes. We will see her soon."

"Oh, does she know where we are?"

"I don't know but she should know we're around here."

"Alright, I guess staying in this city is a good call."

There really wasn't much to do around here. Without being able to sleep, life was quite boring in this world. If there were good books or movies or games, I'd compete for the position of number one NEET on the continent. Ah, how I wished I could obtain any type of entertainment around here! I couldn't even go to the library to study despite how much I disliked studying.

However, it wasn't like there was nothing I could do.

"Smoothie, I'm going to train on mana compression. Don't disturb me."

"Okay."

Born from plants, and living alone for the most part, we were quite tolerant to boredom. I remembered there was a time I sat around doing nothing for entire nights. Tonight was no different other than a bit of training included. By the time I had realized, morning had came.

"Smoothie, let's go sightseeing!"

"Okay."

The purpose of sightseeing was not only to gather intelligence but also to search for a job. Money was important in a society. If I wished to stick around, I figured I should earn some pocket changes quickly. There was no guarantee that I wouldn't have to repay for the expenses accrued from using this green pass.

One of the most important places I felt that I needed to see up close was the temple atop the mountain. Smoothie agreed with me in that regards. It was likely a special site for rituals, possibly even related to the city defenses. No matter how I looked at it, no one would building something only for the looks without some kind of purpose, especially that exceedingly tall obelisk which would penetrate into the clouds on some days.

The two of us wandered around the city, checking all the sightseeing spots as we made our way up the mountain. At some point, we were halted from climbing up further. Several beastfolk sentries were stationed far from the entrance. We couldn't even get close to the temple.

I sighed, "I guess that's as far up as we can go," before we turned around and headed back down.

Since we weren't in any rush, we stuck around to watch the sunset together up on the mountain. If I had to give an estimate, we were at least two kilometers above ground level. Yes, it was that high up. To be honest, this entire region was all mountains. The only parts that was somewhat a flat was the regions southwest of this city. To the west and west sides of the city were small hills, and all other directions especially further north were mountainous with steep slopes.

In the event of an invasions from foreign powers, the defenders held the absolute advantage unless the power gap was substantial. To add to the invaders' disadvantages, from what I observed, winged beasts units constantly patrolled the mountains from above leaving no room for unpleasant surprises.

"Smoothie, how soon do you think this city will be invaded?"

This was a genuine question. I didn't know what kind of military technologies either side had nor did I know the types of warfare these folks engaged in. Hopefully, I would have left this city by then.

"Soon and you should participate." She stated flatly.

That came as a surprise. There were no benefits to me any way, shape or form. Not only that, I hated following commands of others. Being free from responsibilities and duties was something I very much enjoyed in this life. It was really the only thing that was good in this life as far as I was concerned. Not to mention, as a side entertainment, one day I wanted to build my own empire.

"Why? Why should I fight for this country? I'm not a citizen and I have no duty to help anyone."

"Haelley wouldn't leave. She'd stay to help out, no?"

"That has nothing to do with me. If it comes down to it, I'll contract someone else to be my bodyguard. I mean, she's already failed her side of the bargain. I'm not obligated to keep her around if she becomes useless even if we meet again."

"Do you wish to level up quickly?"

"Yes. That would be nice..."

Ah, so that's where we're going.

"Then, participate. Mother, you don't need to worry about me. I'll do what I can to stay safe and prepare for my next evolution."

"Fine. If you say so. It's going to be a lot of work."

"I haven't seen which direction they'll come from, but I believe they may have large scale aerial combat forces."

"Do you mean like those who chased us?"

"I'm not sure. It's best to be prepared. And, you should plant lots of clones outside of the city."

"I'll ask Kanoko first. I don't want my actions to be deemed dangerous and hostile. Getting kicked out would not be funny."

I knew exactly what Smoothie expected of me. However, that kind of preparation would require strenuous amounts of time and mana. Given the current dry season, should the invaders notice my clones and set a forest fire just prior to their assault on the city, my clones would be all lost and all my preparations would be in vain. It was a plan with many risks. In any case, no plan survived the battlefield. If I wished to achieve my goal sooner, risks had to be taken.

Anyway, once the sun had set, we returned to the city's main streets.

"Can I watch you work?"

Speaking of work, earlier while we were sightseeing around the city, I asked around to see if anyone needed a hire. But, the sad thing was, my little fairy received more offers than I did. I didn't even know what I did wrong to lose. Was I lacking in the charisma department? No, right? I was the definition of beauty and charisma. Currently, my appearance was that of around 13 year old teenager, in human terms. Sure, the chest department was lacking but I was proper!

There I was, thinking to myself, child labor is not acceptable! Obviously, I denied her the opportunity to work. She was mine to begin with! Age didn't matter, because I was technically underage too. No matters, in the end, I was able to land a job at a tavern as a server without much trouble.

"If you stay behind the counter, I think it's fine?"

In fact, the owner, an eccentric female harefolk, was overjoyed when I asked about it.

"A mascot? That's perfect!"

There was definitely some misunderstanding. But, as long as I could keep Smoothie under my watch, I was fine with the arrangement. I wouldn't want some thugs snatching her away while I wasn't looking. Recently I somehow felt like I was becoming too attached to her. Having a close companion around sure made my life more interesting. Never again would I sit under a strawberry plant all by myself wasting my life away. Those days were of the past.

While I worked, I had to either remove or reduce the size of my wings. I chose the former. They were just inconvenient when moving around with so many customers around.

"Do I look okay in this uniform?" I asked, seeking Smoothie's opinion.

"You look like a peasant," she answered, covering her mouth as if trying to stop her laughter.

"Rude! I'm serious."

"You look okay."

It wasn't some fancy maid uniform or anything. These were black uniform with a white apron to prevent spills from stinking up the server's clothing, or fur for the furry ones. For me, I didn't have any of that concern. I could use [absorption] to destroy any clothing and recreate them with [synthesis] as long as they were biologically based. But alas, a bit of conformity wouldn't hurt, right?

"Girly, what's taking so long? One pint of Black Teir Ale!" A customer shouted.

"Coming!"

It's okay. Bear with it! I just want some personal allowances for myself. One of these days, your money will be as good as mine.

Customers came and went throughout the night.

What I didn't understand was why Smoothie was popular, or even why I was popular with the customers. Clearly, I looked nothing like them. I had yet to see any customers with humanoid faces. Though, I wasn't sure if monkey faces counted. In spite of our differences, they still recognized us as being extremely beautiful? Was there something I was not understanding? During my break, I looked to Smoothie for an explanation.

"Being popular is great, no?" She tilted her head.

Perhaps it was just a foreign experience to me. To be honest, I had never been popular in my life before, never ever.

"Do you know if it has to do with |bewitching| trait?"

"A little bit. [Soothsayer] says it's because of our nature. Did you forget how valued fey beings like us are in this country? Also, smiles are charming. Mother, you should smile more. No more frowning from you!"

"I wasn't!"

"You were! See, even now!"

"Gah."