Starchild Crusaders

by J. J. Pavlov

  "What?" Perplexed, she only blinks.

  But I don't explain further and undo my transformation, turning into my true form - of course without showing my real face to her. Before she can react, and the kids can turn around to see it, I slip a hand under Hestia's sleeve and spread my body into the myriads of tendrils that form it, crawling across her skin like a wave of worms.

  It's a variant on the application of my one-time transformation into wallpaper back in the academy, when I was almost found out sneaking into the underground vault. My body collapses in seconds and disappears under Hestia's mage robe, where I find that she still wears her see-through nightgown.

  "Ah? N-no, C-Chloe... I... ahh!" Her surprised voice is quite misleading, but I enjoy it quite a bit.

  I cover her entire body like a certain parasite that can turn into a living suit. My tendrils reach her wings and spread over them to the very tips before I apply my physics-defying body to it. Pulling them in a non-digestive space inside my depths, I flatten her them to her back and hide her wings.

  Finally, I'm done and cover most of her skin except for her head, face, and hands. Since I can do body paint just fine, I color myself like a tight white bodysuit reminiscent of another certain silver-haired girl with red eyes. Extending two tendrils up behind her ears and turning their tips into white triangular hairclips on either side of her head, I create eyes through which I'll be seeing. They complete the cosplay of one of my favorite characters in anime, although the chest size is a little too big for the original. I'm hidden under her clothes either way, so this is purely for myself.

  Hestia falls to her knees and twitches all over, and I realize that I may have overdone it. The stimulation of being touched all over and then enveloped by me is too much for her. At her suppressed vocalization of pleasure, the two kids turn around and stare at her with concerned expressions.

  "Ante bikhayrin?" Hanif says in a questioning tone, most definitely asking if the fallen angel is alright. She quickly catches herself, knowing that she shouldn't show such a shameful appearance in front of children. "Ayna ajnihatik?"

  "Qashrad Al-Majnun?" Fayza asks and looks around. That definitely refers to me, but I think this is a good place and time for me to disappear on them. That will make them think I'm some desert spirit or a goddess who has finished guiding them.

  "I'm not here." I whisper into Hestia's ears directly, and she flinches at my voice. "Make it seem like I returned to the heavens or something."

  "B-but..." Looking down at the children before her, she stops herself from protesting. "I am not good with children."

  "Doesn't matter. You only need to lead them to the city, and then we'll go our separate ways." I explain to her. It's not going to be that easy; they're orphans, and I've seen how humans deal with them in cities. Their lives will be filled with hardships if we leave them be, so I'm only saying this to deal with Hestia for now. But to think that she dislikes children, my image of her is evolving - and I may have found the explanation to her ruthless suggestion of killing them when we were about to leave the camp after Hanif gave us directions. "I'll tell you what to do."

  When we approach the closed gates, I realize just how huge they are. And there's a much smaller gate at its center, where a group of guards is standing watch. It seems that the massive one is just ornamental or only opened for ceremonial purposes.

  The guards eye us suspiciously from afar. Although I say us, I mean Hestia and the two kids since I'm well-hidden inside the fallen angel's somewhat loose robes. As long as they don't take her clothes off, they won't even get to glimpse me. And if they do, all they'll see is a bodysuit strangely out of place for this world's level of technology.

  Hanif runs up to one of the men, and a heated discussion starts while we can only listen without understanding a single word. But when he's done, he turns to us and smiles, signaling that we've been granted entry. I don't know what he did, but the men are staring at Hestia in curiosity. As far as I can see, she's the only fair-skinned person in the area, potentially in the entire nation.

  We pass through the gate, and I look around. The city is filled with architecture that resembles those found in the Middle East. At least that's as far as I can tell from comparing them to what I've seen on photos before.

  Judging by the distance we traveled from the rotting camp where we found Hanif and Fayza, this should have been a march of more than a week through a desert wasteland on their short legs. They had already run out of water when we met them, so there was no way they could traverse this distance on their own.

  One thing I notice immediately is that while the streets aren't exactly bustling, some people are walking around at this time of the day. And every single man among them has a weapon at their hip, ranging from curved daggers to scimitars. All the women are wearing headscarves, just like Muslims do in the world I come from. But it seems that they don't tie them as tightly, and some hair spills out here and there. Maybe rather than religious garments, they protect against the sun or are simple fashion statements; if they were a rule, the guards would have pointed it out to Hestia because she doesn't wear anything like it.

  Much like the small towns in the kingdom, the roads aren't paved, and some animals walk around freely. I spot goats with lightning-shaped horns that otherwise look the same as those from my world. There are also camels with curved horns like rams, and chickens with visible claws on their wings peck seeds strewn across the ground by their owners.

  If my own existence weren't enough proof already, seeing these would have reminded me of the fact that this is a fantasy world once again.

  "Go to the main square. We'll leave the kids there and search for clues regarding our whereabouts." I whisper in Hestia's ears, and she cheers up noticeably. For now, I'm not going to tell her that I intend to see things through with them to the very end.

  While we walk, I notice that there's a river flowing past the city. Neither Hestia nor I saw it from afar when we were still in the air, most likely because it's not very wide and is located in a depression. But it explains the presence of this human settlement in what would otherwise appear to be a barren wasteland.

  We reach the place that looks most like the central square - an empty plot aside from a few stalls packing up. It seems that this is a market during the day, but not even a statue or a fountain serves as a landmark here. Well, a fountain in the desert would be a colossal waste of precious water, but don't they have any important people they need to honor?

  Ultimately, I tell Hestia to choose the most prominent building with a set of metal gates in front of which we'll leave the kids for the time being. It has no guards, so they most likely won't be chased away for loitering. At least I sincerely hope nothing will happen while we do our path-finding business.

  "Stay here. Goodbye." Hestia points them at the steps in front of the building and turns around without further ado. Even if she doesn't like kids, this is too abrupt. And just as expected, her words and gesture alone weren't enough for them to understand her. Hanif and Fayza naturally follow the angel girl as they did before.

  "Let me take over for a second. Just repeat after me when I talk." Without waiting for an answer, I spread my tendrils, which only covered her up to the wrists to form gloves. She looks down at her hands in surprise, but I try moving her fingers for her, and she flinches in shock.

  "C-Chloe, what are you doing?" Whispering in fear, she asks while trying to fight my movements.

  "Just relax and let me control you. I don't want to come out in person after I disappeared so mysteriously."

  "B-but..."

  "No buts, just do it. I only need your arms, so slacken them." I interrupt her attempt to protest. I'm especially careful in how I move her joints because I don't want to break them from applying too much force accidentally. But this is one more useful thing this body of mine can do.

  I have Hestia turn around and walk back to the spot she told them to wait in earlier. Then I make her squat down to be on eye-level with the
m before I ask her to fake a smile, knowing she has learned to do it pretty well even in front of people she dislikes. Finally, I pat the two kids' heads using the fallen angel's hands and let her repeat a few words.

  "Stay." I point at Hanif and Fayza, and then at the stone steps. Putting Hestia's hand on her chest, I have her do a reassuring smile. "I will be back."

  Luckily, Hestia doesn't protest at my revelation that I want to come back for them. Maybe she thinks I'm just lying and we'll leave them here for good.

  In either case, they listen to my way of handling things and sit down on the steps, watching the angel girl with puppy eyes which suggest they might be expecting that we won't ever come back to get them. I can't betray such eyes, so I make a promise to myself that no matter what I find, I won't forget about them here.

  With this, we leave the city square behind and walk down a side road. The first thing on my agenda is finding clothes so that I no longer need to cling to Hestia's body, no matter how much I like to do so. Her skin is so smooth and soft, so I'm quite conflicted about this. But my priorities are set.

  Finally, near the entrance to an alleyway, we find a pile of old and discarded clothes. I look around to make sure nobody's watching before I slip off the fallen angel's body and rematerialize in my human form. She sighs from the sensation of my tendrils crawling across her body once more but looks a little disappointed.

  While she stretches her wings, which were continuously enveloped by the interior of my body, I pull the entire pile inside me and push her into the dark alleyway. Once there, I spill everything back onto the ground to start searching for something usable. A lot of it consists of no more than shredded rags that really won't work as clothes anymore, but I do find a torn red cloak that I pull inside my body to wear later; for now, I'm looking for something specific.

  Finally, I find a pair of baggy pants like those worn by men in this nation. It has a hole on the right inner thigh, most likely caused through constant chafing because of fat legs. It can be hidden by a sash hanging down, which has frayed ends but is otherwise usable. And a vest, which looks perfectly alright aside from being very dusty, completes the look.

  "How is it?" I turn around to Hestia and present myself.

  "Too big." She comments with a wry smile.

  "Yes, but it's not really for me." Replying with a grin, I start transforming and filling out the clothes with most of the mass I can muster. Because of the internal explosion that Aldebrand caused, I was nearly back to my time on the Dark Continent. The pieces of the worm that I could salvage weren't nearly enough to get me back to my full size. But at least this much I can do.

  When I'm done, I've turned into a big-bellied, middle-aged man of this nation, with dark skin and a long beard lacking a mustache. It feels awful to be male, but I'll have to endure it to complete my plan. A plan that I promptly unveil to the flabbergasted Hestia.

  "I'm going to find some slave traders and sell you." I've seen glimpses of the fact that slavery is legal in this nation on the streets.

  "Huh?" Hestia's reaction is just as expected. "... sell me?"

  "Yes, I need money to buy food for the kids, and to continue my journey." Keeping a straight face, I play a little prank on her. "So-"

  "Y-you have grown... tired of me?" Tears roll down the fallen angel's face as her eyes continue to stare at me in disbelief. Then she forces herself to smile, but it's such a heartbroken one that my chest hurts. "A-at least I can still be of use to you in some way..."

  "I'm sorry! It was a joke!" I quickly turn back into my academy appearance before embracing and squeezing her tightly. "I could never grow tired of you. And who would be so sick to sell their beloved to buy some food? I could just take it by force if I wanted to."

  "A joke?" Muttering in surprise, Hestia sniffles.

  "Yes, a very dumb joke. I'm sorry to make you feel that way." Separating from her, I look into her red eyes with a serious expression. "I love you, and I never want you to leave my side."

  Then I spot somebody passing in front of the alleyway and instantly transform into the middle-aged man while quickly pulling off Hestia's clothes. She's too surprised by the suddenness of my actions to fight them and ends up in her revealing nightgown. It's pretty much the perfect outfit for this purpose.

  Her robes disappear into my depths as well, and I grow a fake chain from my palm, at the end of which I recreate a leather collar that I fasten around her neck. It looks a little crude because this is my first time trying this, but people won't notice because their eyes will most definitely be on Hestia.

  What people? Well, as my luck would have it, the men that passed looked like personal bodyguards, and the one in their middle was a man resembling the criminal and sleazy brother of Hovsgaerden's mayor, Mogens. He was wearing a lot of golden trinkets and had a constant smile on his face, a testament to bloated self-esteem. Considering they're walking around in such a shady place, they can't be anything but shady themselves. Never mind misjudging people by their appearances.

  "Come, I've found a potential buyer for you." Pulling on Hestia's collar demonstratively, I wink at her and grin.

  Today I learned that winking isn't as universally understood as I thought it would be.

  Chapter 53 - Slavery Pays

  After reassuring Hestia once more that I'm never going to give her up, I quickly explain my plan to her. She accepts that I'm only acting out a role and shows hints that she seems to like being on a leash. I'll have to stop her before it gets out of hand, but for the time being, I have to keep up appearances.

  Just to be sure, I grow two flaps from the collar around her neck, which swallow her wings and then cling to her back while camouflaged against her skin. It's still part of my body, so when it's connected through the fake chain, the interior is still part of the other dimension that is my stomach.

  When we finally walk out onto the dusty road, I find that the shady man and his bodyguards have already disappeared.

  "Damn." I look around for clues, but there are way too many footsteps in the dirt. I curse myself for being uninterested in learning how to read tracks even though Rolan did try to teach me about it once. Maybe he never did so again precisely because he saw that I didn't show much interest at the time.

  But then I remember that I still have an ace up my sleeve, courtesy of my very first kill in this world. When I grow the vularen olfactory systems in my nostrils, I instantly notice the smell that lingers in the area the strongest. Nobody else passed through here since then, so that must be the group we want to follow. I can even tell the number of people, and that the employer has foul body odor that he tries to mask with copious amounts of perfume.

  "This way." I tug on the angel girl's collar to get myself into the role of a slave owner, and we walk down the narrow street. I suppress the feeling of nausea that rises inside me from continuously smelling that stench in an enhanced state, but it's our only lead right now so I can't switch it off.

  Soon, the trail leads us to an alleyway with a dead end. A heavy steel door with a distinct sliding bar at eye height tells me that this is some secret hideout. Maybe slavery is outlawed in this nation after all, or they wouldn't have to hide like this.

  But that wouldn't explain people with collars and simple clothes walking around openly in the streets while carrying things for far better-dressed men and women walking ahead of them.

  We enter the alleyway and carefully approach the door, where I gesture for Hestia to stand in its blind spot so that I can pull her into view when the person inside looks out. It should make for a grand reveal.

  I knock on the door, not too loudly, but also not too quietly. Even though the appearance and persona I created has never been to this establishment before, I want to make it seem like a regular. The peephole slides open, and a set of brown eyes in a similarly brown face peek out.

  "Kalamma Hosirru." The person announces in a deep male voice, and I realize the hole in my plan. I have the appearance of one of them but don't speak th
eir language, which only makes me more suspicious.

  But I react quickly by pulling Hestia into sight while grinning like an adult dangling candy in front of a child. It helps that the currently wingless angel girl is uncomfortable being seen wearing her nightgown by a total stranger, as she averts her eyes while shivering all over.

  That's one more thing I forgot to do: Tell her to act like a slave would and be fearful of free people because they may do awful things to her. I'm lucky - though not happy - that she's doing it for real right now. She will get some love from me later for being so brave to go along in this poorly thought-out plan of mine.

  "Medha?" The eyes in the viewing window widen at the sight of her beautiful white skin and flawless body. "Men anth?"

  I have no idea what he's saying, but he sounds agitated - and not necessarily in a good way. My other plan would be to break in and kill everybody that resists, and then see if anyone can tell me what I want to know, though that involves the risk of running across somebody who might be able to fight back.

  But then the door unlocks and is pulled open. A broad-chested and powerfully built man with a bald head but a beard similar to the one I have right now stands on the other side. He's the owner of the brown eyes that were peeking out earlier, and he's alone.

  "Men anth? Min ayn hassala daleiha?" It's clear he's asking me something, and judging by him pointing at Hestia and staring at me with an angry expression, he must be asking how I got my hands on her.

  Before anybody else can come out to see why the doorkeeper is raising his voice, I approach him with a smile like I'm trying to appease him. From my stomach, a spike emerges that pierces him through the throat. Gurgling up blood while his eyes stare at me in incomprehension, he goes limp soon after.

  Pulling him inside my body, I transform back into my academy appearance and turn around to look at Hestia. An unhinged smile graces her lips as she was reminded of that time in the dark alleyway in Kongenssoevn when I showed my true appearance to her in my battle against the hired thugs and rogue mages. But rather than being terrified by it, she seems to revel in the murder I just committed.