"What does Isekai mean?"
Huh, so there were some words that didn´t make the automatic translation. "It means I got transported here from another world," Min said, hiding inside a barrel at the side of the road. Her face was framed by her midnight-black hair and half-hidden in the container, only her eyes peeking out.
"Well, now I believe you even less," the wizard replied, stroking his majestic white beard. "I can't help you, but I believe the Sisters of Perpetual Health have a convent that will-"
A fire burned inside Min's chest. Not the wizard too! "I'm not crazy!" Min yelled, her indignation making her legs coil up and jump like a spring. Just as she told the wizard, she wasn't wearing pants, a shirt, or anything that could be considered clothing.
Min's lithe body rose out of the barrel in all its naked glory, her fair skin now exposed to the street. Her legs clenched after the jump, her lovely pink nipples stood up due to the cold breeze. A tiny cape that she had repurposed as a loincloth hid her womanhood and offered Min the tiniest scrap of modesty she could get.
The wizard paused to look at the brazen Min, one of his eyebrows arching in surprise. Two hooded figures accompanied him; they gasped and took a step back. A chicken farmer down the street couldn't help but let out a whistle.
"Evidently, you are the picture of mental health," the wizard finally broke the silence.
With a hot blush on her cheeks, Min crouched down again. Great, what better way to prove she was not crazy than flashing half the street. "L-look, even if you don't believe that I'm from another world, I know that am cursed to lose my clothes! The fairies told me so!"
"Hear that? The lunatic sees fairies as well," one of the hooded figures whispered at the other.
"Wonder what other fantastical creatures she has as imaginary friends."
"Shush, you two," the wizard shut them up before turning his head back towards Min. "Hmm, these fairies… Were they the ones that cursed you?"
"W-well, no, they cursed me with something else. Well, she tried to, anyway, b-but I took care of them before they could do anything serious!" Min said somewhat proudly, her ears burning at the unpleasant memory of her confrontation with the fairy gang.
The wizard reached into his blue robe to pull out a pair of round spectacles. He held them near his eyes and crouch down to take a closer look at Min´s face. "Hmmm, yes, I can see the curse you are speaking of…"
"Really?"
"Yes, there´s a faint trace of fairy magic emanating from your body, but it diluted so much that it no longer has any effect on you. Fairy magic isn't that strong. I don't see any other curses on you, however…" the wizard removed his glasses and put them back into his robe. "…So, I believe you don't need my services. Good day."
The man turned back, intending to enter the great tower in front of him. His hooded assistants followed, one giving Min a curious look before walking away.
Did the fairies lie? Did the lich?! That did not make sense, why would she? Min was sure she was still cursed. The wizard had to help her! The man was her best lead to figure out what was happening to her!
Also, he was the only wizard in the region, apparently. Min didn´t think she could find another helpful lich to teleport her half a country away, and she wasn't too enthusiastic about having a cross-country trek au natural to find another wizard. She could absolutely not let him go like that.
"W-wait!" Min tried to jump out of the barrel, but as she tried to lift her feet over the rim, she tripped and fell right into a barley bag. "Ack! Not again…" The sand-colored grain clung to her skin like paint, a bit of barley finding its way inside her loincloth.
A couple of hungry chickens sprinted down the street, having spotted their next meal. They began pecking the defenseless Min. "Oww, ouch! Seriously, not again!" One of the chickens found itself stuck in the knot tying Min's cape around her waist. As the bird yanked away, the knot came undone, and the garment became free to flow with the wind.
"W-wait! Not the cape! Touly is going to kill me!" Min leaped to her feet. She gave chase to the flying cloth while the chickens gave chase to her. The townsfolk gathered to see Min run after her cape. How could they not? It was the most interesting thing to happen in the quiet hamlet all month.
Min could hear how all the townsfolk were taunting and mocking her as if she was the town´s jester. It was enough to twist her stomach into a knot. Her legs flexed as she pushed herself to run faster, arms rising and falling in quick succession, bare feet slapping the dirt road, grains of barley dripping out of her body.
She stretched one hand forward to try and reach her cape, but it always seemed just out of reach. Mercifully, the branches of a large tree interrupted the cape's flight, but this now presented a taller problem. "Oh, man? How am I going to get the cape down now?" Min grimaced, looking up.
Min touched the tree; the bark was too coarse on her delicate skin to climb up. Maybe if she threw a rock? "Ow!" the chickens had caught up to her and were attempting to resume their meal by pecking her legs. "B-bad birds! P-lease, leave me a-alone!"
The birds were hungry, and no amount of weak kicks could dissuade them from trying to eat their breakfast. Min began screaming her lungs out as she ran circles around the tree to try to avoid the flurry of beaks. Her small breasts jittering in the frantic scape, her slim behind pecked by jumping chickens. The townsfolk were full-on laughing. Even the wizard had returned to see what the commotion was about.
One of the hooded figures whispered something to the wizard. He nodded, and the person began to walk towards the panicking Min. She tossed some more barley to the ground to get the chickens to move away. Then, she reached for the cape with her cane and lowered it to Min, who hugged the garment like it was her teddy bear.
"T-thanks!" Min said between gasps as she struggled to catch her breath. Her chest was heaving, and her face tomato red. Even if she got her loincloth back, the town now saw her as little more than a traveling fool… kind of like all the other towns she visited. It never got any easier. When was she going to start being greeted as the heroine she supposedly was?
"Don't worry about it," the figure lowered her hoodie. She was a beautiful woman. Her face sharp, her apricot skin unblemished, her wine-colored hair smooth as silk. "My name is Acacia, and I got a little proposition for you. But why don't we come back to my place first? I think the streets are a bit cold, aren't they?"
Min could feel her blush getting hotter. She instinctually wrapped a hand around her firm nipples. It was a bit cold to be standing outside wearing exactly nothing on her body."Ehmm, s-sure?"
•──────✦──────•
"Clothes, wonderful clothes!" Min screamed with glee. Acacia had tossed her a robe. The naked woman had been hugging the garment for a few minutes already, relishing the wonderful feeling of silk on her skin.
"Errr, quite. Have you heard anything I said?"
Min put on the robe. Head first, then her arms, then the rest of her body. "Yes, something about wanting me to be your assistant?"
"Precisely. If you agree, we can share my lodgings. I'll even give you some of my old clothes."
"Not to sound ungrateful, but why me? Why pick a naked vagrant?"
Acacia sat on the bed next to Min. "Why, to test your curse, of course!"
"But, didn't your master say that I had no curse?" Min replied mockingly, as if the statement was little more than a bald-faced lie. "He had his magic glasses on and everything!"
"The thing about those glasses is that they can only detect curses created after they were crafted. Since they are a couple of thousands of years old, they can perceive most spells. But, if you got cursed by an ancient being, then they would not be able to detect anything."
"I see…" Min was cursed by some sort of primal demon? An entity older than civilization itself?! That didn't make her feel any better! "Still, why would you bother to help me at all?"
"Because dispelling an ancient curse would be a great graduating thesis! Fica is going to get sooo jealous."
"And what if the wizard is right?" Min fiddled with the collar of her newfound robe. "What If there is no curse, and I'm just that big of a klutz? How can we even know that the curse actually exists?"
"That's the beauty of this arrangement! If the curse is real, you will lose your clothes spectacularly, and we can start working on a way to dispel it from there. If it isn't real, I will gain a brand new assistant. Win-win! So, what do you say?"
Right, win-win for her. There was something off about this woman. However, Min was scarcely in a place to refuse, she could use all the help she was going to get. "Deal."