ALL NOVEL 44. Concern And Realisation
Roxanne gave a hum as she considered Astaria’s words, eventually breaking the slight silence that had fallen over the room.
“But would that not just be delaying the inevitable? You said that in three months we will be changed into our Caelus avatars, right? So would that not mean that you will change anyway?”
Astaria’s mind froze at the revelation, she had not considered the fact that she would be gender swapped anyway since she could not restart her account. She had pushed the entire issue aside and was just treating this like she was in a temporary body while slightly role-playing as a female character. She was broken out of the revelation by Marie who had sat up properly and shared her opinion.
“That’s true, and besides, if there is going to be all that chaos, surely changing into your new body now would be beneficial for establishing yourself? It would be less confusing for everyone since you are somewhat of a public figure in real life, so if you reestablish yourself as Astaria, then would that not be less to worry about later on when everyone suddenly changes?”
Astaria realised that Marie was quite correct. One of her concerns about her apparent gender change was establishing herself as a person, but as Marie said and if Fortuna had not lied, it would not be as big of an issue as she had made it in her mind.
Astaria’s thoughts returned to Marie's earlier comment about her giggling and becoming more carefree. She slowly spoke her mind as she considered the issue.
“You are right, I was mentally freaking out over it. Yes, there will be work to do, and I’m not sure how many or what problems could arise, but yes, it would be better to deal with it now. You are right. As for your earlier comment… I think part of why I have become somewhat carefree is from the pressure and trying to mentally escape from it. Like I have detached myself? I think… And the giggling I feel is a natural reaction from my body? Like you can’t control how you laugh, and this is an aspect of it.”
The other two girls gave a hum in agreement before Roxanne spoke, asking another question.
“Have you let Harold know about the current situation?”
Astaria shook her head, letting out another sigh as she could feel a headache starting to form.
“No, the forums have not been made accessible to those outside of the game yet, so I have not had any outside contact.”
Roxanne gave Astaria a pat on the shoulder as she tried to reassure her and help remove some of the burden.
“Ok, in that case, I will drop by your place tomorrow to explain. I’m not going to be needed in game immediately outside of running a couple of guild events in the afternoon, so I can explain what’s going on and get Harold to prepare. Is there anything you want me to pass on?”
Astaria paused for a while, trying to figure out if she wanted to say anything, eventually speaking up after forcing herself to consider the situation outside of the game given what Fortuna had said.
“Let Harold know to tell the trusted members of the estate know what is going on as well. If the gods have sent me into a car crash, then I’m sure the manor would be in chaos. If they know in advance that things are complicated, it will make my life much easier when I’m finally out of the pod.”
Roxanne gave a nod and squeezed Astaria’s hand as Marie offered to help.
“Do you want me to come along too, Roxanne?”
“It's fine, besides, your schedule is full tomorrow, right?”
Marie let out a defeated sigh as she lay back down again.
“Yeah, you're right. Still, I will come running if you need me to.”
Roxanne gave Marie a smile before standing up.
“Don’t worry, you can rely on us to help out. Let’s get some sleep anyway, it’s been a long day.”
Astaria nodded as she sat up and realised that she needed to strip, and that also applied to the other two. Usually, if they ended up sharing a room like this the girls would get changed into something in the bathroom, but since there was no bathroom attached to the shared bedroom and they didn’t have any sleepwear, they would all be in the game's default underwear.
“I’ll turn around to let you guys get undressed, I’m still a guy on the inside after all.”
Roxanne gave a snort as Astaria could hear her starting to get undressed.
“It’s not like you haven’t seen me in my underwear before, so I don’t care.”
Astaria still turned to face the wall despite Roxanne’s words. She was aware Marie was still self-conscious about her weight and would likely not say anything out of concern that saying something would make Astaria feel uncomfortable.
After a minute the other two were under the covers and Astaria got undressed herself. The clean covers of the bed provided a comfortable feeling on her bare skin as she immediately felt the pull of sleep on her intoxicated and exhausted consciousness. Before fully succumbing, she said goodnight to the other two and promptly fell asleep.
*********
Astaria woke up to the sound of her in-game alarm ringing through her mind, a truly annoying sensation that she would never get used to, no matter how many more years she would continue to experience it.
There was something notably more jarring about having an alarm ring inside your head instead of nearby, but she presumed it was better for those who wanted to go back to sleep as they could mentally shut it off instead of fumbling around trying to find the physical stop button.
Astaria mentally commanded the alarm to turn off and she opened her eyes. Glancing out the window she could tell the time was still just before dawn from the lack of natural light.
Seeing the other two still sleeping, Astaria quietly moved to get dressed, putting on yesterday’s clothes. She was thankful that they didn’t smell too bad, only having a slightly earthy outdoor smell with a hint of smoke from the singed hole.
Mentally confirming that her first stop would be to go to the tailor's shop she visited yesterday for some extra changes of clothes, she carefully walked through the room trying not to disturb the other two sleeping girls.
Unlike the previous day, she managed to find her way downstairs without taking a wrong turn, entering into the main dining room which still held some hints of last night’s reverie that Anna and Jorn had not yet cleaned up. The middle-aged couple were sat down eating their breakfast before they opened up the kitchen to cook for their patrons.
“Good morning, I hope you don’t mind if I sit with you while waiting for you guys to start cooking for the guests?”
Anne was the first to respond, looking around at Astaria with a big smile on her face.
"Of course not, come sit down. Can I get you anything to drink in the meantime?"
Astaria sat down at the table while answering, feeling a little bad for disturbing Anne’s breakfast but still needing something to help ease the uncomfortable dryness of her mouth.
“If you don’t mind, some water will be fine for now.”
While Anna moved off to go and get her some water, Jorn who had just finished his mouthful gave his greetings.
“Good morning, you are up particularly early.”
Astaria gave a light nod as she replied, thankful she was not hungover and could engage in conversation.
“Yes, well I needed to get up early to organise the guild we created yesterday within the system before we start recruiting.”
Jorn looked at Astaria with a clear look of confusion to which she gave an awkward smile, trying to order her thoughts on how she was going to explain.
“Well, you see, the system that allows you to see your personal information, well Immortal Adventures have access to more features than the locals of this world. One such feature is the guild system which allows us to form what is in essence a large-scale organisation. It functions somewhat like parties for adventurers but on a much larger scale and with more features. Since we established our guild last night, I wanted to sort out some of the structure and organisation that we can create within the system before we start open recruitment.”
Anne who had placed her glass of water in front of her halfway through the explanation asked a question.
“Oh, I see. So a special feature like your inventory then? What sorts of things can it do?”
Astaria took a sip of her drink, enjoying the feeling of the cool water against the back of her throat as she swallowed, then turned to look at the woman as she started listing a few things from memory.
“Well, the main things right now would be a limited shared storage like our inventory, the ability to message other members from a distance, and the ability to keep track of members.”
