3 New Adventures

Anna came dashing out of the crypt. The sun had settled on the horizon and dyed the sky a deep red and purple. She looked up and swallowed nervously.

'More time passed than I thought… I better get out of the forest quickly.'

Everyone in the village knew not to enter the forest after sundown. That was when the dangerous beasts would come out of the thicket to hunt. Anna herself had never seen such a beast but the stories she'd been told were enough to make her believe that they were real.

Hugging her bounty to her chest, she piled the bundle of mushrooms she'd left outside the crypt on top and set off with quick steps. The height difference between her original and her new body made coordination a little difficult and she almost stumbled over several roots. However, despite having to take smaller steps, her body was brimming with energy.

"RAWR!"

Anna was nearing the end of the forest when all of a sudden growl resounded from the group of bushes to her left.

Startled by the loud, threatening sound she came to an abrupt halt.

She didn't even breathe.

'It's the beasts!', she thought and, for lack of a better alternative, clung to her baggage tightly.

The one, dark growl was accompanied by many further snarls and hisses. It was like everything in the forest was coming alive and came to say their scary 'hello'.

She heard the first animal's ferocious growl again and then, suddenly, everything turned silent.

Anna didn't move for at least a minute but there were no signs of any animals anymore.

'Huh? D-did they go away?'

She bit down on her lower lip, chewing on it nervously as she scanned the dark outline of the trees and bushes around her.

'I can't hear or see anything. They MUST have gone.'

Anna hurriedly kept moving while thanking all the lucky stars she wasn't eaten alive. By the time she had arrived at the village, she had completely written off this small interlude as a combination of bad and good luck.

She arrived back shortly after and while it was dark, the villagers were still out and about. She decided to wait until nightfall before sneaking in and in the meantime started looking through the remainder of her loot.

In the first bag she had checked, there had been a strange flower, a dagger, a pearl necklace, gold coins and jewels.

She opened the bag once more and pulled out the dagger, weighing it in her hand. From hilt to tip it spanned the length of her child-sized forearm. The grip was curved slightly to fit the form of one's palm and intricate turquoise blue veins snaked along the dark grey blade. The blade itself was jagged on one edge making it look quite savage. Anna stared at it in a daze, flipping it over in her hand a few times.

'This definitely isn't meant to kill farm animals…'

It was a stupidly innocent thought to have but Anna's village was peaceful, any violence or confrontation she had witnessed in her life had been due to excess alcohol consumption. Besides a burst lip there was never any blood spilt.

She put the dagger down and looked over the pearl necklace. An image of her mother appeared in her mind: Long, silk-like brown hair like her own, striking green eyes and a figure Anna still prayed she would develop. She was the most beautiful woman in the village and a very skilled seamstress. She looked as soft and gentle as a breeze but in truth, she was also the scariest person in the village. When she got angry the entire village went into hiding.

Despite her mother's violent outbreaks, Anna loved her dearly.

'I should give her this pearl necklace.'

Anna reached for the second sack and emptied its contents onto the ground. There were more jewels and gold but no other special items. The same applied to the third sack.

'Hm. What a shame, I thought there'd be some more interesting things…'

It was still not dark enough yet to go back into the village so Anna started fiddling with the jewels and counting the gold to pass the time.

———

1,378 gold coins.

Anna broke out into a cold sweat, her hands trembling slightly as she let the gold coins filter through her fingers.

Nevermind the jewels, the coins alone had a worth she had never even dreamed of seeing. People in her village only used copper coins in their daily lives, silver coins were used to store savings. Two copper coins could buy a bun; five copper coins could buy a portion of wild meat, eight copper coins if served cooked. 50 copper coins equalled one silver coin and 100 silver coins equalled one gold coin.

With 1,378 gold coins, she could buy over 3 million buns! She could already see herself swimming in a sea of freshly steamed buns- A slither of drool clung to her lips.

'W-wait no, I can't spend this all on bread... that would be stupid!''

She was quite hungry, however, and as if on command her stomach rumbled loudly.

Anna looked towards the village once more. It was completely quiet now and except for the odd nightlamp shimmering in the various huts and houses, it was pitch black. She gathered the coins, jewels and the rest back into the bags. Only the pearl necklace she intended to give her mother, she put in a pocket of her dress.

Why was she heading back to the village in the first place?

Why did she wait until nightfall?

After being suddenly turned into a boy-cat-child, there was no doubt in her mind that she had to turn back as soon as possible. For her family, her sisters and to save her womanhood. She had not even for a second accepted this new existence of hers.

She had a plan for how to turn back as well. One of the peddlers who had come to their village a few years ago had been selling enchanted scrolls that could get rid of curses, illness and bad states in general. She remembered he had said he'd gotten the scrolls from a big city a few days walk from the village. Anna was going to set off as soon as possible and buy a scroll at the city. Then, with this stupid curse - she assumed it must be one - lifted, she would head back to the village and reclaim her life.

Before she could go, she would need some provisions and if possible new clothes; wearing this dress in her current form made her feel uncomfortable. She no doubt looked like she was wearing a sack of potatoes.

Anna used the silence to sneak along the main street until the familiar walls of a straw hut, her home, appeared. She peeked in through a window and confirmed the main room to be empty. She couldn't see into her parent's bedroom from her side of the hut, but the steady sound of breathing made it clear they were asleep.

She snuck inside and quickly, quietly, started gathering supplies. She put the mushrooms and the pearl necklace on the kitchen table and stuffed the sacks of jewels and gold into an old backpack of her fathers. After roaming through a large chest for a while, she also found old clothes of hers: pants and a shirt. The fit was significantly better than the dress and while she didn't look like a fine young lad, she looked decent.

She also took some of her beloved buns, carefully folded in cloths to protect them, and put them in the backpack. It was quite heavy now but nothing she couldn't handle. As for water, she was sure she could find some along the way so she only took a small bottle and hooked it onto her belt.

Before leaving, Anna took the time to write a short letter to her parents and put it with the mushrooms and the pearl necklace. Her parents surely wouldn't suspect anything with this, even if she would be in for a meeting with mom's wooden ladle when she got back...

[ Mom, Dad!

The village boys aren't handsome enough, so I'm going to the city in search of more eye-candy. Don't worry, I'll be back soon! Until then, I found a pearl necklace while looking for mushrooms... I hope you like it, Mom.

Bye, bye~

P.S. Say hi to our neighbours for me please, I don't want the big sisters to worry about me. ]

Her heart skipped a beat as she wrote about the eye-candy. It was a hidden benefit of this little disaster. Surely with so many people living in one place, there had to be lots of handsome guys as well. She bit down a giggle and set her pen down, her mood suddenly drastically improved.

With this, all the preparations were complete. It was time to go find some eye-candy- and the enchanted scroll, of course.