Chapter Text
"Oh my god....why didn't anyone tell me the desert would be so hot?" Shiori groaned as she held her jacket over her head in a poor attempt to beat the sun's rays bearing down on her. The pale girl turning a shade of lobster red under the unforgiving sunlight as she and her companions trekked across the barren desert road in search of a way home. "It's not too much further, Shiorin!~ Besides, you could use the tan! ehehehe" Gigi cackled as she bounced around the miserable goth, the gremlin's energy seemingly endless as the rest of the girls suffered in some way or another as they stepped towards the gleaming city in the shimmering distance. A several-week-long journey coming close to an end after their departure from the main gathering of Hololive talents. "Ugh..." Shiori could barely muster the strength to roll her eyes at the bouncing girl grinning wildly back at her.
"...remind me to spank you once I get a glass of water and a nap into me." It had been three days since the combined forces of Advent and Justice had taken their first steps toward the desert. Their group was tasked with exploring the far-off lawless city in search of an artifact that would ferry them and the other talents back home to their reality, a task that grew more important by the day as they learned more and more of the lewd world their entire agency had been teleported into.
“Call me when you do so,” Cecilia’s emerald gaze bored into the small gremlin’s side, “I wanna get some of mine in there too.”
“Ooh~” Gigi’s massive tail wagged. “Cece! I knew you liked to get rough, pls hit me, mommy.”
“Ewww~’ ‘Get a room, you two!”
“Alright, girls, settle down.” Elizabeth's deep voice called out from the front of the wagon.”We’re about to reach the city, so be on your best behavior. I won’t bail you out if you get thrown in jail before we even set foot inside.”
“Sure thing, Liz.”
The high walls of Mitshra loomed over the caravan as they lined up for inspection before entering, and just beyond lay the massive port city of the same name. Soon they were let through, parting ways with the generous merchant who allowed them passage, the girls began to look around the city that would be their home for the foreseeable future. Opulent white sandstone structures shone at them from a distance. While the hustle and bustle of the bazaar surrounded them in utter chaos. Stalls and shop owners called out to them, advertising their wares. Shoppers milled around looking for deals and discounts. The more combat-experienced members could feel several gazes on the group from the shadowed alleys and people in the dense crowd, though whether that was curiosity of a group of pretty ladies or because of foul intent was hard to discern.
As they made their way through the city, one thing became evidently apparent: the scars of conflict were everywhere; you just had to know where to look. Several buildings and even the paved roads had soot and charred edges that weren’t so thoroughly cleaned, mismatched tiles or wall paints, noticeable craters in the back alleys, and even the occasional dark red spatter that likely wasn’t paint. Even more noticeable was how wary the people were, considering how this place was described as a bandit city; the girls expected some form of mistrust from the people, but the way their eyes shifted. Children hurriedly pulled into their homes by their mothers or elder siblings, and everyone seemed ready to bolt at the slightest provocation. Shiori and Liz’s gaze met, and they nodded. The group moved faster towards their destination.
It was a decently sized structure, two stories made of stone and compacted mud with multiple rooms that surrounded a small courtyard. A low wall a few feet away surrounded the property, clearly made more to mark the boundaries of the land than actual security.
“This is pretty nice,” Shiori nodded. The goth girl was glad their Dai-senpai was so good at making business deals. Each room was modestly furnished, a window to the outside, a desk and chair, two shelves and a cabinet for belongings, and a wooden low bed with a good enough mattress. It wasn’t luxurious, but at least her back wouldn’t ache from it.
~*~*~*~
The girls spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking their things and settling in, Raora and Nerissa finding the building’s kitchen and filling it with the food they had brought with them.
“Okay,” Shiori put the wooden spoon out of her mouth, “Everyone got settled in?”
Various versions of the word ‘Yes’ came from around the table.
“Good, then we can start looking for this artifact tomorrow. I’ll head to the local library; there should be some info on the artifact there.”
“I’ll join you,” the automata said, raising her hand. “I’ll look for some good books while I’m at it, already read through what I brought with me a few days ago.”
“I’ll head to the bars then,” Nerissa’s sing-song voice piped up next, “There’s gotta be a few people I can talk to about what happened recently.”
“OOh I wanna go, I wanna go too!” Biboo waved her hand like an excited toddler.
“Sure, thing.”
I’ll head to the markets,” Raora spoke up, “We need to fill the pantry, and we’ll keep our ears open while we do so, right, Gigi?”
“Yep!”
“I’ll go around then, see what parts of the city we didn’t see earlier.” Liz offered, “I can handle myself if anything happens.”
“We’ll go with you then,” “Yeah!” The twins cheerfully spoke.
“No need, Fuwamoco, we need you to be on guard duty,” The redheaded leader of Advent shook her head, “I’d rather not leave this place unguarded at any point. At least until we can get some basic home defenses in place.