Chibafu and Elfana are walking through the forest, well, in Chibafu’s case he’s just kinda…sliding across the ground.
“So, what’s the land like here? Is it repeating forest for miles, or are we heading somewhere specific?” Chibafu questions, Elfana looking up to think.
“There’s a town nearby actually! We’re about an hour or so away though…” Elfana replies, looking tired.
“What’s this town like?”
Elfana thinks back to the town, spacing out and stopping in her tracks.
“It’s…a town, that’s for sure”
I mean, that’s a bit obvious. That pause probably means she’s not too fond of the town, or maybe the people in it…
“Is something the matter?” Chibafu asks Elfana, curious about her opinion on the town.
Elfana pauses for a moment, hesitant to say anything just yet, but breaks the silence.
“They don’t really like elves there, but other towns are just too far away to go alone”
So that’s how it is then, huh? Elves were treated as high god-like beings in my old world, albeit fictional.
They continue their track toward the town, finally making it there, Elfana walking a bit ahead of Chibafu, a big and grateful smile on her face.
“As a show of my thanks, would you like me to show you around the town? I know quite a bit about this place, after all”
“That sounds great! You’re pretty helpful, you know that?”
Elfana blushes for a moment, then brushes this comment off, going closer to Chibafu
“C-Consider it repayment, for saving me that is.” Elfana blurts out, her voice cracking while trying to change the subject.
She begins to lead Chibafu around the town, her getting detestable looks from everyone around. Regardless of this, she leads Chibafu with a smile, happy to be his guide in this foreign land (and world, for that matter).
They approach a busy market, with people using some weird type of currency to pay for goods.
“What’s that they’re using to pay?”
“Oh, you mean ounses? Those are pretty common currency everywhere” Elfana replies hastily, trying to be as helpful to him as possible.
Chibafu focuses on a woman, paying for a bag of apples, handing over a large brown-ish coin and a few smaller ones. The shopkeeper thanks her for her patronage.
So if a bag of 12 apples is 1 large ounse and a handful of smaller, give or take 4, then that means that each small one is worth…
Chibafu pauses for a moment in place, stopping his train of thought.
Wait! I’m dead! I don’t care about that currency anymore!
“Is something wrong, Chibafu?” Elfana asks, curious as to why he stopped moving and talking, a concerned look growing on her face.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry! What else does this place have to offer?”
Elfana begins to smile once more, then starts walking toward another store.
“This shop has some pretty well-made ironworks! The smith is very talented, at least I think he is…”
“I’ll take your word for it, Elfana”
She slightly blushes at this sentiment, and speedwalks the remaining 2-3 steps to enter the store, heading in before Chibafu.
Was it something I said?
Elfana walks into the store, the shopkeeper greeting her, and seeing her face bright red.
(switching to the perspective of the Shopkeeper)
“Welcome back, Elfana. What brings you here today? New weapon? New armor? Just a talk? You name it, I might have it”
Elfana takes a few steps in, looking at the doors, when suddenly, the doors fling open. A lawn chair sits in the doorframe. The Shopkeeper is confused at first, rubbing his eyes to make sure he’s seeing correctly, but when he moves his eyes off of this lawn chair, it seemingly disappears, without a trace.
Wha-...I don’t think I got enough sleep last night…*yawn*
“You think this one would be better suited for me?” Elfana says, the shopkeeper thinking it’s directed toward him
“Yeah, the way you fight that one-”
Elfana laughs, saying “you’ve got good taste too, the one you chose is very appealing”
But I didn’t even recommend one…?
The shopkeeper shakes his head, then looks back toward the counter, seeing Elfana standing there waiting for something.
Elfana then sets 2 blades on the counter, still unsure on which to buy of the 2, them being made of different materials, and having different properties.
“If you’re looking for something longer lastin-”
“You make a good point, in that case…” Elfana cuts off the shopkeeper, setting one of the blades back on the rack.
Again? Is she some kind of mind reader or something…?
The shopkeeper then notices the chair again. This time, it is at the counter. He’s startled by the sight of a lawn chair translocating around his store, and falls backwards, landing on the floor.
What’s a chair like this doing in a shop like mine?
Elfana returns to the counter, setting the proper amount of ounses to pay for this sword, then thanking the shopkeeper and making her way out of there.
“Have a pleasant day! Take care of yourself!”
“You too, Shopkeeper!”
He looked to where the lawnchair was, and it once again vanished, as randomly as it appeared.
The shopkeeper rubs his eyes once more, not believing the series of events that just occurred before him.
“Hey Honey?”
“Yes, What is it Dear?”
“What kind of mushrooms did you use in that stew earlier?”
“The ones from the garden, why?”
The shopkeeper heads through a curtain, then upstairs to talk more about this with his wife.
…
We resume with Chibafu and Elfana exploring the town, spotting the inn at the end of the street.
“It’s getting a bit late, the inn shouldn’t be too far from here.”
“Yeah, it has been a pretty long day”
The 2 of them walk into the inn, Elfana walking to the counter while being sneered at by the customers in the bottom floor tavern (because of course there is one), none of them uttering a word, but their looks say enough for Chibafu to understand the gist of it; they don’t like elves.
The innkeeper seemingly refuses the money Elfana gives him, then reluctantly accepts once she adds in 2 more large ounses, then he hands a key labeled with the number 202 on it,
“Well then, I’ll be heading in for the night…see you tomorrow?”
“Sounds good, have a good night.”
Chibafu makes his way to the innkeeper, stopping right in front of the counter, which is met by a confused look from the innkeeper.
“Why do you guys hate elves? Did they destroy your race? Did they commit some tragic genocide that I don’t know about? Did they kill for no reason? Why are you ignoring me?”
The innkeeper just stands there, blankly staring at the chair still, as if the words Chibafu was saying went over his head…because they did.
Oh, right. I forgot about the part where they have to sit on me.
Chibafu makes his way behind the counter, to the innkeeper this just looks like he teleported behind him, falling backwards. Chibafu is there, however, and the innkeeper ends up sitting on him, and Chibafu’s words are finally able to reach him.
“*clears non-existent throat* Excuse me, innkeeper… why do you hate elves so much?”
For some reason, this guy is completely okay with the disembodied voice in his head appearing out of nowhere, and gets angry after thinking about the answer while remaining seated.
“Because…”
This is the world-building part! I’ve been looking forward to this exposition! So what is it? The great war? The purging? Just hate? Tell me!
The innkeeper’s face turns red out of embarrassment, looking toward the floor and shyly admitting the reason they all hate elves.
“...it’s because they’re thiiiiis much taller than us humans (indicating a slightly taller height than him with his hand)”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” the innkeeper adamantly replies.
They both freeze in place for a moment, unsure of where to go from here.
…
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Chibafu returns to the front of the counter, the innkeeper returning to his position behind it as if nothing had just happened.
“I’d like a room for a few nights, please”
“That’ll be 4 ounses please”
Just then, 4 ounses materializes in the cupholder of Chibafu, to which he moves it to the counter instantly.
“Thank you, enjoy your stay. Room 201 should be available.”
The innkeeper throws the key onto Chibafu, and Chibafu thanks him for this, and makes his way to his room.
Chibafu makes it to his room safely, realizing that Elfana is in the room next to him, but he pays no mind to it.
Alright…now how do I…
Chibafu moves the key for a moment, then gives up, and we cut to the inside of his room. The bed: empty, the bathroom: empty, then Chibafu is seen in the corner of the room, below an old standing item which produces light, basically a lamp.
….
The next morning arrives, and the inside of Elfana’s room is shown glistening in the morning sun. Elfana remains in bed, then a loud noise is heard
THUNK
This startles her awake, getting dressed to see who “knocked” at her door.
She opens the door, looking around to see who did the knocking, right and left sides appearing clear, but upon looking at the floor notices something there…rather someone, that someone being Chibafu, folded on the floor.
“Uhhh…good morning…?”
Elfana stands there for a moment, before picking up Chibafu from the ground, then smiling
“Good morning, Chibafu! Did you sleep well?”
“Sure did! I’m full of WD-40 and energy now!”
“WD-4..?…that’s good to hear!” Elfana is confused at what WD-40 is, but is happy that Chibafu is feeling good this morning
“So, what should we do today?”
“We could do a quest for some money, what do you think?”
“That sounds great! What do we need to do for that?”
“We just have to head over to the adventurer’s guild and pick one out!”
“Let’s head there now then!”
“That’s the spirit!” Elfana gleefully shouts, a bit embarrassed that she raised her voice by accident.
They enter the main hall of the adventurer’s guild, and Elfana picks out a piece of paper from a bulletin board, and Chibafu accompanies her to the desk.
“We’d like to take this quest, please” Elfana politely requests
“We? Are you referring to your piece of furniture?” the guild receptionist says back, questioning the sanity of Elfana.
“I assure you, this is not a piece of furniture, but my travel companion” Elfana retorts defiantly.
The guildworker shrugs off this seemingly crazy elf lady, then begins writing on another piece of paper with a feather and ink.
Woah…they’re really old fashioned here? I mean, a quill and ink? Seriously?
“Since this is a C rank quest, we require your guild card to make sure you’re eligible to take it” the receptionist says to Elfana
“Oh, and a guild card for the piece of furnituren’t beside you” adds the receptionist, a smug smile on her face to see if she can break the insanity of this elf girl who is friends with a lawn chair
Elfana hands over her guild card, and looks to Chibafu to hand his too
“One problem…I don’t have a guild card”
The receptionist looks at Elfana, who’s slightly disappointed while looking at Chibafu, as she thinks she finally ended this game.
“We’d like to apply for a guild card…for him”
The receptionist’s jaw hits the floor, absolutely losing it over this statement.
“Are you being serious?”
“Yes.”
Elfana’s eyes are dead serious, meaning to get Chibafu his guild card so they can adventure together.
“Thanks for helping me, really. I appreciate all you’ve done for me so far…you’re too nice for your own good”
Elfana’s face turns bright red, and looks back at the receptionist. The receptionist reluctantly hands them a piece of paper and explains to meet the other people applying behind the guild.
As the 2 of them leave, the receptionist is still in shock about the crazy woman she just encountered, thinking back to a time before when she’d taken a quest.
She’s lost it…but that’s what adventuring’s all about. The thrill of fighting, joy of exploration, and slowly becoming insane after repeating those for many years. You must’ve hit the express route.
The receptionist sets a sign up on the counter where she was, the sign saying “Returning momentarily”, and she walks to the back, brushing a curtain to the side and walking further, sitting down at an arena, seeing a line of people, and a wizard-looking man in the middle with a crystal ball.
…
Chibafu and Elfana find a staircase with a long line of people waiting to descend, and a few people heading up with tears in their eyes.
I wonder what that’s all about…didn’t pass maybe?
The line slowly shortens, Chibafu nervously waiting until his turn is up, Elfana standing with him the entire way.
They make it to the intended floor, seeing the wizard-man and the crystal ball in the middle of a stadium, people approaching the crystal 1 at a time.
A young woman heads to the crystal, setting her hand on it, the crystal reacting by shining bright green, her looking extremely happy. The wizard points her toward a group of people off to the side, them all awaiting further instruction.
Next, a smug looking rich kid with blonde combed hair approaches the crystal.
This guy has “smug 2nd rate villain with no power” written all over him!
He places his hand on the crystal, and the light glows a violent purple. He looks happy with this, but expresses this in a smug way, scoffing and heading toward the group to the side before the wizard has time to react.
…
More time passes, making it to the last people of the first phase, being Chibafu and Elfana. Elfana steps to the side, having already completed this to obtain her guild license.
The receptionist is seen far in the observation area of the arena, laughing at the lone lawn chair. She laughs so hard she starts crying, and begins rolling over the floor. After calming herself, she realizes the lawn chair had moved beside the crystal.
How’s that thing going to activate the crystal? You need to place your hand on it for it to work?
She scratches her head at the thought, but the crystal suddenly glows pure and radiant white, which completely shocks her.
WHAT THE…?
Chibafu makes his way to the section of people who are entering the next phase of evaluation.
“That’s amazing, Chibafu. White light really suits you!”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
Wait…light magic? Could I possess the godly light magic? I mean it would make sense since I’m from another wo-
“It means you possess no trait that the crystal recognizes”
“Oh.”
Chibafu is disappointed at this, but has no time to weep himself to sleep as the preparations for the 2nd phase have just ended, and the examination is about to begin.
There are 4 diverse people that stand behind an older-looking woman, who clears her throat before speaking
“Welcome to phase 2 of the license trial! For those who don’t know me, I am Cleo Juilius, the guildmaster here. The next trial will consist of a fight between you and one of the heads of the 5 best parties behind me”
“...but there’s only 4 of them…”
Cleo turns to see that one of 5 is missing, and becomes visibly angry. She turns back around to finish explaining.
“...you just have to knock them down, or beat them. I don’t care. Now, if you’ll excuse me”
Cleo storms out of the arena, leaving the examiners and examinees just kind of standing there for a moment before beginning.
One brutish-looking man speaks up from the 4.
“Alright, if everyone wants to make a line in front of who you’d like to fight, please do so now”
The examinees make lines infront of 3 of the 4, with none of them lining up in front of a regular looking blonde man, 2 katanas in their sheath at his waist.
The brutish man, Cornelius Infite, notices this and begins laughing
“I see Kert Ervell’s reputation as a tough fighter proceeds him! Just so you know, I’m not going to take it easy on you, you know!” Cracking his knuckles as he looks upon the line in front of him, making them shudder in fear.
Kert is disappointed, looking down and just about to begin his walk out of the arena, again, when he looks up to Chibafu, in front of him, face planting into the seat.
“I’d like to challenge you, Kert Ervell”
Kert hears Chibafu’s voice, and takes a good look at the lawn chair, then extends a hand to shake.
“Sounds fair to me!” Kert replies with a smile, eyes still closed.
Kert leaves his hand expecting a handshake, but Chibafu is a chair, and has nothing of the sort.
“Uhh…just on the arm is okay”
Kert places his hand on Chibafu’s arm rest, accepting the challenge officially.
Kert exits to the spectating area, his closed eyes twitching with confusing and befuddlement.
I’m losing it, aren’t I?
…
The 2nd phase proceeds, Chibafu and Kert waiting for their duel, and since Kert is only facing 1 person, their fight is reserved as the last one.
A fight between a warrior-teenager and Cornelius begins, with the teen swinging cautiously but still trying to hit Cornelius. Cornelius remains on the defensive, not attacking but dodging and observing his opponent carefully.
“More, SHOW ME MORE!” Cornelius shouts at the boy, finally swinging and knocking him out in one heavy blow to the head.
The teen is slammed into the ground by this, leaving a body-shaped imprint on the ground, to which he then gets up and limps away. More fights ensue between excited and scared examinees, the examiners not holding back a single bit, though they haven’t been bested yet.
The second to last fight is about to begin, when Chibafu and Elfana see the scumbag-looking blonde noble kid up against a female fighter, draped in purple clothing and purple hair.
That woman, she’s wearing the same color as Mr. 2nd-tier-villan’s light color…could that mean anything?
The woman, leader of Serpent Sting, Edina Paltus, wields a shortbow and throwing knives, and is up against that noble kid, Lesiere Eve Ilguy, second son of the Ilguy Dutchy.
Lessiere scoffs at the sight of Edina, as if he’s mocking her prowess of fighting, which to her is an instigation to commence the fight.
Edina begins the fight by reaching for an arrow from the quiver at her hip, this one having 2 intertwined metal arrows woven together. She loads them into the shortbow and silently activates them
“Envenom, Rot, Decay”
She fires the arrow, mid-air changing into 2 serpents which are headed toward Lessier, to which he evades. The arrows slam into the wall behind him, and the wall begins to dissolve into a black mass, to Chibafu’s shock.
“What…did she just do?”
“She gave meaning to the arrows, and by commanding them they gain this word as a property” Elfana replies, the battle raging in front of them.
Lessier rolls out of the way of another arrow, this time freezing the ground, but he evades just in time. He gains footing, then points a finger gun toward Edina, with the same scummy and full-of-himself look he’d worn since the beginning.
“Be ready to taste true Impotence!” Lessier exclaims, a purple sphere glowing at the tips of his fingers.
I don’t think that means what he thinks it means…but what’s that light?
The light rages, becoming violent, and a malicious smile grows on Lessier’s face. The sphere jolts for a moment, then creates a torrent, seemingly unsure of what it’s doing. It then turns red, and before she can react Edina is hit by it, causing her to be knocked back and falling down.
Lessier walks over toward Edina, then spits on her head, laughing to himself and heading back to view the final fight, but trips at the base of the stairs. He hits his head on the bottom step, then angrily gets up and storms to the viewing area.
“Looks like It’s my turn….wish me luck”
“Good luck, Chibafu. Kert is not a weak opponent”
Elfana remains in the stands, watching on as Kert walks into the arena, now being face to face with Chibafu.
“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?” Kert tiredly asks, but having both hands on the blades, ready to strike at any moment.
“Yes, let’s have a good battle!” Chibafu exclaims, also prepared for the battle.
Elfana looks on, seeing the 2 in the arena, looking as if they’re about to fight at any moment.
Her excitement dies down, as after a few seconds, nothing’s happened yet.
After about 30 seconds of standing there, Kert falls to the ground, unconscious. Chibafu slides away, winning this decisive battle cleanly.
Everyone in the stands is in uproar, seeing the mighty Kert fall after a non-existent battle took place before them.
…
A little later, Chibafu and the very few winners who remain linger in silence, Elfana still happy that Chibafu passed the previous test.
“That was amazing! How’d you do that? I mean taking down The Kert Ervell in a duel…That’s quite a feat!”
“I don’t know myself, maybe just luck?”
“Regardless of luck, you still came out victorious, so…congratulations!” Elfana exclaims, her happy and gentle face infectious to Chibafu.
“Thank you…but it’s not over yet. Just one more to go…but after that I have a request”
Elfana is confused at the end of the sentence, tilting her head to try and understand.
“A…request?”
“Yes. If I pass the next trial…would you want to celebrate tonight?”
Elfana blushes at this sentence, her face a bright red.
“...sure”
Chibafu’s name is called, meaning he must head onto the next area.
“Perfect. I’ll be back in just a moment, so don’t go anywhere, alright?”
“Sure!” Elfana happily agrees, waiting for Chibafu to finish the final trial.
Chibafu heads through the door, finding himself onstage, some lights pointed at him and 3 judges sitting at a desk before the stage, each with a button in front of them.
“Show us your talent!” one of the judges exclaims, Chibafu now at center stage.
Alright, Here’s my special talent…take this!!!
Chibafu folds in half, and falls onto the floor.
Silence envelops the room for a moment, before one of the judges begins the cry.
“BEAUTIFUL! AMAZING! HEARTWARMING!”
The judges all stand and give rigorous applause, all pouring with tears.
“You know, we don’t get many people with such a *Sniffle* moving talent like yourself. You’ve got real talent, Chibafu. And for that…”
The judge moves his hand to a golden-looking buzzer in the middle of the 3 judges.
“...congratulations!”
Confetti explodes from the rafters of the stage, and a clerk walks over and hands him his guild card. Elfana runs on stage with tears in her eyes, lifting Chibafu and spinning around with him
“I knew you could do it, Chibafu!” Elfana happily exclaims, holding Chibafu close now.
“Thanks to you, I was able to!”
Chibafu looks at the guild license, it reads as follows:
Chibafu Isu
Magical Piece of Furniture
Age: ??
Sex: Chair
Ability: Fold
Rank: A
Chibafu and Elfana return to the surface, happy he could get his license.
“So, about that quest…”
“We can do it tomorrow! Tonight, we’re going to celebrate! Just allow me to get changed” Elfana rambles, speedily heading back to the inn.
…
Some time passes, with Chibafu having a bowtie wrapped around the back support, waiting in the main lobby of the inn for Elfana to be ready. The sky gets dark as night approaches, and celebration draws near.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Chibafu!”
Chiabfu turns to be facing the stairs down to the lobby, Elfana descending. She’s wearing a dark blue and gold dress, her hair done up in a bun.
“Were you waiting long?” Elfana asks in an apologetic tone, knowing she took quite a bit of time.
“You look great, no I wasn’t” Chibafu retorts, then heading out into the night to find a place to properly celebrate this occasion.
They head into a pub, Elfana sitting down across from Chibafu, who’s moved the chair that was originally there and is in its place.
They begin drinking, with Elfana getting more and more tipsy until basically passed out, and only after 5 mugs of ale.
I thought elves had high liquor tolerance…or was it mana? Eh, who knows.
Elfana is basically out of it, and almost falls onto the ground and off her chair, when Chibafu acts quickly, catching her on his seat.
“Let’s head back now, shall we?”
Elfana mumbles incoherently back, and Chibafu takes this as an indicator that she’s ready to leave. He picks up the bar tab, and he slides back to the inn, her asleep while on him, the moonlight glistening off the rugged metal structure Chibafu calls his body.
They luckily make it back to Elfana’s room, Chibafu dumping her onto her bed and is about to leave her room.
“You know, you could always…” Elfana drunkenly pats the bed next to her, enticing Chibafu to join her.
Chibafu’s arm rest shoots up with a loud CLANG. Bolts fall onto the ground below him, but he turns back to face the door.
“Goodnight, Elfana”
Elfana begins snoring, which is Chibafu’s queue to leave. He folds himself, then slides under the door very slowly, then makes it back to his room.
That was close…any more and I would’ve been…nevermind.
Chibafu goes back to the cuck chair position in his room (more of a cuck lawn chair position now) and clocks out for the night, thinking back to the eventful day he just had.
Wow…who knew a world like this existed! This place is definitely better than my old world, at least. Here, I feel like I’ll truly be able to relax, and live a life of leisure!
Yeah, no way.
