Origin ARS 3 (Origin A.R.S.) (4 page)

Scott and Neira turned to see that the elf girl had come much closer during their little chat. She wore a slightly annoyed expression, and had her arms crossed.

“Oh, Rhea! Are you like ready for me to give you my blessing?” asked Neira. Her blush deepened further, and a soft gleam appeared in her eyes.

“Totally.” said Rhea, with an amused smirk.

The elf girl leaned forward and puckered her lips cutely. Neira, however, slipped her hands up and gently cupped Rhea’s face.

Rhea blinked when she was drawn forward and passionately kissed on the lips. Neira’s hand slid up to cup the back of her head. Her eyes widened when the mermaid’s tongue slipped between her lips then began to artfully tease her.

Scott tilted his head to the side and watched the surprising maneuver. Was that how it had looked when he was blessed? Somehow, he felt as though he had been given the equivalent of poor customer service.

Neira clasped Rhea’s lower lip between her lips then drew back slowly. “So... Now you’ve been blessed by the sea. Right?”

Rhea’s eyes, still wide due to her surprise, blinked once. She touched her lips. “Totally.”

The mermaid giggled then wafted her tail around in the water. She had met a couple of really nice people.

Ero laughed softly inside of Scott’s mind. “Maybe I should get a blessing after all. They look
interesting
.”

Scott snorted at the fairy and the two girls turned toward him. They looked askance at the man and he shook his head. “Sorry, Ero was making a little social commentary.”

“I bet.” said Rhea. The elf girl shook her head then started to laugh a little.

Scott laughed as well. It was an absurd situation, after all.

Finally, Neira joined in with a nervous laugh of her own. Everyone else was laughing, so it seemed appropriate that she should laugh as well. Mostly, she was happy that no one had been offended.

The sun shined down gently on the bright blue sea. It had born witness to many strange things in its existence, but few were stranger than the sight that existed just below the surface of the water. Two air breathing surface dwellers glided along at a slow, but steady pace. They swam through the water without once rising to the surface.

Scott, one of the two slow but steady swimmers, was on the verge of exhaustion. He was not built for long distance swimming.

Rhea had fared better so far, but even though she had higher agility and strong warrior’s heart she was not built for long distance swimming either.

“Wow, like, you guys are so
slow
.” said Neira with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She was happy to receive help, but if they had to stop and rest every half hour or so, they would not get there in time to do anything.

Scott tried to respond to the mermaid, but he could not talk well through water. He had the blessing of the sea, but that only meant that he would not drown. He did not acquire any epic swimming skills or the ability to talk underwater.

Rhea touched her right temple with two fingers. “Scott, try using the party chat function. It should work underwater.”

Shocked by the clarity of her voice, he turned to look at her. How had she done that?

She picked up on his non-verbal request and sent him another message. “Place two fingers to your right temple and think strongly. You will be able to mentally send messages that way.”

Scott did as she instructed and thought strongly about something. Rhea smiled at him in wry amusement when she received the message, “Smiley Face.”

“We can’t do emoticons or whatever. It is all verbal.” said the elf girl.

He tried again, this time he sent her a message about how pretty she looked when she was wet. The goofy sorcerer grinned when Rhea flailed her arms at him. He had the good sense to look embarrassed, however, when Neira glanced at him then blushed. She had heard the message that he had sent.

“So, everyone hears the party chat and not just the person you think about?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, it’s a party chat, Scott...” said Rhea.

“Good to know. I’ll avoid thinking about certain other interesting things.” he said.

Rhea eyed him with a scrutinizing gaze then shook her head. He was probably kidding, but now she wanted to know what he was thinking about.

Ero easily moved over to him then hovered in place. It was as though she treated the water the same as she treated the air. “Do I look pretty when I’m wet, Scott?” asked Ero. She smiled sweetly at him, but there was a hint of mischief in her eyes.

“Sure, why not.” he said. It was the most neutral response that he could come up with.

Ero pouted at him cutely then folded her tiny arms. “That’s not much of a response, you know.”

Scott attempted to laugh, but realized that he could not do so properly. Instead he placed his fingers to his temple and said, “Ha. Ha. Ha.”

Neira actually laughed, somehow, after hearing that. Scott looked to her and smiled, but inwardly he was annoyed that he could not move around so freely in the water.

“If you guys need a rest, we can go to the surface.” suggested Neira. Of course, due to her combination valley speak and surfer girl tone it sounded more like she was asking a question. The upward inflection at the end of her sentences was subtle, barely noticeable, most of the time. However, it tended to become more pronounced when she was uncertain of what to do next.

“I’d rather try to figure out a way that we could swim better or move easier like you and Ero.” said Scott.

Neira blinked at him once then her eyes widened. She clapped her hands together and held them in place. “Oh! Right, I do have something that you could use.”

Rhea swam closer to Neira then said, “You do? That would be great.”

The mermaid gestured at the air for a moment then two strange garments appeared in her hands. “We, like, make these in my village. They are super popular in Eizen. I had totally forgotten that I still had a few pairs of them.”

Rhea reached the mermaid before Scott did, and the elf girl wasted no time in responding. “These garments...!”

Scott stared at the unholy thing dangling in the mermaid’s hand. “Seriously?”

“Yah, totally serious. You’ll be able to, like, swim without getting tired and other things, too.” said Neira.

The sorcerer accepted the tiny garment then checked its stats.

<<<
Item
>>>

Fi’Shoo Pantsu

A garment for a gentleman of leisure who lives the life aquatic. They are one-size fits all and meant only for men. These manly bikini briefs are bold fashion statement and popular in many parts of the world.

Defense:
+ 4

Agility:
+ 1

Elemental Water Resistance:
+ 25%

Special

Under Water Movement (Basic)

Swimming Speed Up+

<<< * >>>

Scott stared at the bikini briefs then slowly shook his head. “Seriously?”

Rhea glanced down at the outfit in her hand. It was hot pink and looked like someone had cooked thin pasta then turned it into a swimsuit. It was basically a single wrap around strap! “S-seriously?”

“Yah, totally serious.” said Neira once more.

Scott winced at the man-panties. “It is great that you have something that will help us, but... Do your people make anything a bit more... Well,
more
?”

“Yeah...” said Rhea. She stared at the hot pink strap in her hand and shook her head. It had decent stats for a simple clothing item, but it barely counted as clothing!

“I can, like, check again?” asked Neira.

“Please do.” said Rhea. She was not exactly squeamish about showing off her body, but this thing was ridiculous. She would almost prefer to be naked.

Neira called up her inventory screen, not that the others could see it, and perused her inventory. There were several clothing items available. She noted the shorts, and finely cut swimsuits. She considered the one-piece swimsuit and a set of tasteful swimming trunks for a moment. They all had exactly the same stats and effects that the items she had given to Scott and Rhea had.

Neira glanced at them then looked at the inventory screen once more. A brief thought flickered through her mind. Finally, she revealed a soft pout then sighed loudly. “No, sorry, I don’t have anything else.”

“Oh...” said Rhea. The elf girl sighed in the water and a mass of air bubbles rose lazily to the surface.

“Screw it.” said Scott. If it helped them, it helped them. He did not like the idea of strutting around in form fitting man-panties, but they needed all the help that they could get. The mermaids needed help more than he needed his dignity at the moment.

The man had nowhere to hide while he changed outfits, so he simply equipped the Fi’Shoo Pantsu on the spot. A brief moment of glorious masculine nudity occurred and then his entire appearance changed. Gone were the shoes, jeans, and T-shirt. In their place was a set of rock hard masculine architecture and an absurdly small mankini that barely covered that one special place.

Neira gasped loudly at him, a large air bubble floated to the surface. She had seen something truly interesting.

Rhea stared at Scott for a moment then a slow pink tinge rose upon her cheeks. How bold of him...

Scott stretched then turned in place. “Whoa, this is so much better that it’s almost scary...”

He could move almost like normal and even spoke aloud under water without using the party chat. A thought occurred to him. “Does this mean that I can use my magic now?”

“I would be careful with your type of magic. Elemental energies can have dangerous effects when you are underwater.” said Rhea.

Scott nodded to her. “I should probably test them out before we get into a fight.”

“Good idea.” said Rhea.

The sorcerer decided to try his fire spell first. He did not expect much to happen and that was exactly what he received, nothing much.

“Burn!” exclaimed the man. A tiny dart of flame shot from his hand, but it did not detonate. It made it less than an arm’s length away before dissipating.

“Well, fire magic is right out.” said the man.

“Yeah, you would need a very high-tier fire spell for it to work underwater.” said Rhea.

“Any idea what the other spells would do? I suspect my flash spell would be dangerous to use.” asked the man.

“Yeah, do not use a short range electrical spell underwater, Scott!” said Ero. The fairy fluttered around him a little and fussed a bit.

“Long range electrical attacks would be fine?” he asked.

“It depends on the power and range! You could injure yourself. Though, firing off those sorts of spells into the water when you aren’t in it will greatly increase the effect.” explained the tiny girl.

“Thanks, Ero.” said Scott.

The little fairy smiled brightly at him then shook her head. “I just don’t want my BFF to be hurt.”

Scott shared a smile with his tiny little best friend. The fairy girl giggled and released air bubbles of her own.

Rhea looked at the touching scene then smiled briefly for a moment as well. Her expression changed to a slight frown not long after. Why were things so easy between those two? Recently things had been strange between her and Scott.

The issue with those idiots from the Corpse Rat guild had been a source of tension. Why couldn’t they just go back to being close and sweet like before? Honestly, it had made her frustrated and annoyed with the man. She could not decide whether she wanted to slap him around or cuddle with him.

The elf girl looked to the laughing duo then sighed softly. She looked at the hot pink bikini strap thing in her had afterward then nodded. Right, worry about the current task first.

Rhea equipped her Pink Typhoon, the name of the garment. A brief moment of glorious elven nudity occurred then the strap re-appeared. It was now wrapped between her thighs, up across her breasts, and then back over her shoulders. It formed a V-shape in the front and hooked together at the back.

Scott stopped chatting with Ero for a moment after he caught sight of Rhea. In fact, he stopped everything for a moment. His brain had seized up and refused to work. What was this spectacular and amazing vision before him!

The elf girl started to blush after noticing his intense gaze, but her expression shifted to the icy mask that she had worn of late. She refused to let a little thing like being nearly naked, hold her back.

However, she did have to ask one question. “So, what do you think, Scott?”

The sorcerer’s mouth opened then closed and then opened once more. “...I would tell you what I’m thinking, but you would either kill me or marry me.”

Rhea’s frozen expression cracked slightly as another blush attempted to creep onto her features. She controlled the impulse with great effort. “Good. Shall we go to battle then? Follow me...”

The girl did not wait for his response. Instead, she turned and began to swim away in a powerful and graceful manner.

Scott blinked slowly; his eyes went wide like a startled owl. He had not known that curves could be so
curvy
!

The sorcerer swam after her at all possible speed. Soon they left Neira behind and had to turn around to claim her. The mermaid had not moved once since Rhea had changed outfits.

“Neira?” asked the man.

“So pretty...” said the mermaid. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was slack and open.

Scott took her by the wrist then started to swim away with her. It took several seconds before the girl began to swim properly on her own.

The party took off at a decent speed, similar to a moderate jog. The day wore on and soon twilight was upon them. Neira seemed to have no trouble seeing in the underwater gloom, but Scott was having severe trouble. Whatever magic allowed him to breathe, move, and not wrinkle like a prune did not allow him to see in the dark underwater. That would be a problem when it came time to fight the Shar-Shar. At the moment Ero kept random monsters away, but that would not work for the fish men in their own village.

“I can barely see.” said Scott.

“What?” asked Neira. The mermaid stopped swimming and looked around in confusion. She could see just fine.

Rhea swam toward Scott. “Take my hand, OK? I can still see fine for now.”

The sorcerer gently clasped her hand and the girl smiled in response. Scott and Rhea swam slowly toward Neira. The speed of movement had dropped due to having to hold hands.

“You really can’t see? Did you get octopus ink in your eyes?” asked Neira curiously.

“I don’t see very well underwater to begin with, but it’s getting dark too.” said Scott.

“Right? Oh. I guess we need to, like, do something about that.” Neira considered the situation carefully for a moment.