The Yellow Moon started to peek over the horizon, giving scant light to the deserted streets of Valecirse. Peonie strutted forward with confidence, her eyes fixed on the only building with an open door and inviting lanterns hung over the entrance. The local Inn.
Behind her, Min followed on more careful steps. With her cape recently repurposed as a belt, her jester hat hung in front of her crotch while a long leaf covered her buttocks. It was the world´s most ridiculous loincloth, and her only "garment". Even after hours of trying to tie flowers and leaves together, neither she nor Peonie could make a decent plant bra.
Min nervously held a makeshift wreath close to her chest with full knowledge that it would fall apart the second she let go. Some leaves were drifting away already with the chill evening breeze. Min´s nerves were shot anticipating any incident that would make the rest of the flowery arrangement fly away, and the leaves itched as all hell as they scratched their breasts, but she had to admit that attempting to make the flower bra was a fun, if useless, way to spend the afternoon.
Peonie entered the inn, holding the door to let Min inside as well. The place was deserted. No tables had patrons, and not one person was drinking. The only people inside were the two girls and the elderly bartender. Min let herself breathe a sigh of relief, at least there weren´t too many people around to stare at her scandalizing getup.
"Over here, girls!" the bartender waved and beckoned the duo to come closer, which they did. Penonie helped Min to her seat before sitting on her own stool. "Ran afoul of Arai Oca too, huh? Well then, first round on the house. What do you want?"
"Err, just tea, please," Peonie replied.
"Excuse me, what´s that you said about an Arai problem?" Min asked, her adventurer´s senses tingling with a new lead.
"Problem is a light way to put it. No sane merchant wants to pass through here while she guards the mountain pass. The woman has been a scourge to our town, as you two no doubt found the hard way. To think she is now robbing the clothes off people´s backs. That´s a new low, even for her."
"Ah, sounds like a bandit problem then," Min said.
The man placed a couple of teacups on the bar. Peonie took a sip out of hers while Min looked down at her busy hands and then at the cup. "A bandit problem that´s blocking our way out too. That pass is the only road we can take to cross the canyon."
"What do you mean "sounds like"? Didn´t you she rob you?" Peonie looked at Min, who was crouching down over the bar and trying to take a sip out of her cup without using her hands. The naked adventurer looked back at her and shrugged.
"She didn´t. We haven´t even met the outlaw, we just got here."
"Then why is your friend going around naked?!"
"Err, believe it or not, an elven knight tore apart my last outfit, and I hadn´t the chance or money to buy a replacement."
"Eh, I believe it," the bartender shrugged. "Used to get the occasional adventurer here back in the day when we still got caravans passing through…"
"Well, you are in luck! We are adventurers too!" The old man looked at Min up and down and scoffed. "H-hey! I´m serious!"
"Bottom of the barrel adventurers seems like. But, if you are looking to make money, us townsfolk have pooled together a small reward to whoever can capture that bandit. Another adventurer is renting one of my rooms right now and preparing to try and claim the bounty tomorrow. Maybe you can team up? The Sisters know you two don´t stand a chance alone."
"Another adv- err, excuse me a second." Min was nudging her head at Peonie´s shoulder. Once she got her friend´s attention, she pointed at her teacup with her nose. Peonie lifted the cup and placed it near Min´s lips to let her take a sip. "Another adventurer, eh? Is she, perchance, an elf?"
"Why, yes. How do you know?"
-------------------------------------------
"Hmmm," Celeria was sitting on her bed, contemplating the moon outside. "It´s going to be a difficult fight tomorrow. If only I had some back-" Celeria´s ears twitched. Someone was coming. She could hear their footsteps barreling towards her room as if they had ill intent.
The elf grabbed her trusty bow, aimed an arrow forward, and carefully stepped towards the door as it swung open. "Peonie?!"
"Ah, Celeria! Even after all we´ve been through, I still get the old arrow-hello? I see your greetings are as poignant as ever," Peonie pushed the arrow downward with her finger.
"Well, you always said I was quick on the draw."
"Yeah, but next time I would prefer a less sharp welcome."
"Finished your family business then? That was quick, I thought we were going meet in Vineisse?"
"Well, change of plans. I-"
"H-hi there, I´m here too." Min butted into the conversation. "Can we please come in? I think the innkeeper´s son is trying to take a peek under the leaf."
"I see you brought Nim with you. And I see that she still doesn´t have much luck keeping a pair of pants on her legs…"
"It´s Min, not Nim! And there´s a very good explanation for-"
"Well, you can tell me tomorrow. I was preparing for my fight with that Arai bandit. Honestly, I´m glad you are here, I could use the backup." Celeria closed the door and gestured at the table with a crude map of the passing. "You girls are going to help, right?"
"Yes, we have to cross the passing anyhow, so this is perfect for us." Peonie sat on the only chair in the room, with Min sitting on the bed.
"My arms are killing me. Would you mind if I let my leaf bra go? You girls have already seen my chest anyhow." Min let her arms rest, the foliage covering her breasts falling on the bedsheets, although a stubborn pair of flowers remained stuck to her nipples to apparently give her the barest minimum decency.
"You could have at least done that on the floor! Now I have to sleep here with your breast-leaves!" Celeria complained.
"We have to sleep here with her breast leaves," Peonie corrected.
"What? No! We are not sharing beds! I paid for the room with my own money and-"
"Sorry, we don´t have any coin to pay for our own room," Peonie explained. "We had to flee the capital in a hurry."
"Can we stay? Please? My legs are killing me after walking all day." Min pleaded. "It will be fun! Like a sleepover!"
"Think of it as our fee for help," Peonie continued. "It´s either this or tomorrow we´ll split the reward from capturing the bandit. Would you rather share a bed or only get one-third of the reward?"
Celeria sighed. Peonie was getting good at knowing which buttons to press with her. "Fine, you can stay, but I´m taking the full prize for defeating the bandit."
"Great! Now that´s settled…"
"Aww… But I wanted a piece of the reward…" Min lamented in a whisper.
"…what have you been up to, Celeria?"
-------------------------------------------
The adventuring party followed the dirt road out of town, entering a canyon etched in the middle of a jagged mountain range. The rocky walls were standing at an almost perfect right angle with nary an imperception cropping out of their rocky face. It was as if the Sisters themselves had personally sculpted the pass. In front of the exit stood a vast forest with sneaking rivers flowing across it.
A single woman was sitting on the path, watching the valley behind her as if it were her kingdom. Her black hair was tied into twin ponytails, the expression on her hazel eyes stern. Her clothing was quite peculiar. She was barefoot, wearing white pants and a loose shirt tied close by a black belt.
"Is that a gi? In my western fantasy world?" Min asked.
"Err, Min, we are on the eastern side of the world," Peonie clarified.
"And yes. As I told you before, Arai likes to present herself as a martial arts master," Celeria clarified.
"So? You are an archer. Can´t you just shoot a couple of surprise arrows from afar and get this over with?"
"No? For starters, she has the high ground. She´ll see any of my attacks coming from a mile away. The element of surprise is out."
"Well, you can still pelt her with arrows, it´s not like she can catch them out of mid-air."
"Yes! Yes, she can! She is not some random punch-happy girl! Didn´t you pay any attention to what I said last night?"
"I kind of zoned out. I was busy combing your hair while you explained her deal."
"That´s why I told you to stop doing that! Why did we start braiding each other´s hair in the middle of the briefing anyhow?"
Celeria glared at Min, who just shrugged back. "It´s what you do on a sleepover."
"She is right, you know," Peonie added. "And besides, you can´t tell me you don´t like what we did with your hair."
Celeria twirled her fingers across her now braided hair. "…yeah, I do. Fine, here´s the abridged version. I don´t know how, but it seems like this girl can do magic. I´ve seen her shoot wind, fire, and even lightning bolts out of her hands and feet."
"But how? I thought you needed an arcane conduit to channel mana and cast magic?" Min asked. She paused as if waiting for the duo to congratulate her on remembering one of the basic tenets of the world. Alas, instead of acting like proud teachers, they just stared at Min. "Err, a-and as far as I can tell, she only has the clothes on her back. No staff or nothing."
"That´s why she is so dangerous. It´s a mystery how-"
"It´s chi," Arai said, standing just behind the party. "I channel my body´s spiritual energy to create spells."
"Ah!" the trio jumped back, Celeria drawing her bow, Peonie brandishing a small dagger she "borrowed" from the inn´s kitchen, and Min… well, Min´s hands were busy trying to hold the wreath of leaves over her chest, so she just scowled menacingly. "How did you?"
"Unlike trite mana that can only affect the external environment, chi can enhance the body. That´s how I could hear you from over my camp over there, and how I made my footfalls silent as a cat´s to come here before any of you noticed."
"But… you can also use mana on yourself. Haven´t you heard of a haste spell, or-?" Celeria grumbled.
"It´s very different! Chi is a hundred times better than your pathetic Eastern Spells! I learned it´s ancient and mystic from a monastery hidden in the Far West. The tradition goes back a hundred-"
"Hey, isn´t that where you come from Min? The Far West?"
"That´s …where I told you I come from, yes."
"So, is this Chi a real thing over there?"
Min and Arai both looked at each other´s eyes with alarm. A single thought was shared between their two minds. "Oh crap, the gig is up."
"Err, I mean, I've never seen it, but maybe I have heard legends of such an ability from ancient masters?" Min replied, her unsure voice cracking.
"Y-yeah, it´s a very rare skill, to control one Chi. S-so I´m not surprised you never seen it in person. Ehem. Anyway, back to business, if you want to cross my road, you´ll have to pay 50 silver coins as a fee."
"We aren´t going to pay. We are here to stop you!"