Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The White Dream and the Strange Reality

 

When I came to my senses, I was standing on top of a pure white flower field, having returned to being a boy.

 

Where is this…?

 

Not only the flowers, but the sky, the grass, and the ground—everything was white. It was so completely white that I had to crouch down and touch things just to distinguish one from another.

 

Why am I in a place like this…?

 

The last thing I remember was lying on my bed after hearing that the update would take six hours in total—two hours to start and four hours to complete.

 

So, this must be a dream.

 

As I stood there thinking about how strange this dream was, a girl with pure white hair was dancing and laughing in the flower field. She was wearing a dress as white as her hair, looking like some kind of princess.

 

I wondered if she had experienced something really joyful. The girl, with her beautiful features, was laughing from the bottom of her heart.

 

And when she noticed my presence, she stopped dancing and ran straight towards me.

 

I thought about stepping aside, but something made me catch her instead. She looked up at me and smiled.

 

“Sora-sama, please defeat the Demon Lord and ‘save this world’.”

 

Saying that, the girl showed a creepy smile that made one’s spine chill.

 

………………………

 

Sora was violently shaken awake from his deep sleep.

 

“Big brother, something terrible has happened!”

 

“Huh?”

 

The one shaking her was her little sister, Shiori. For some reason, her face was close to her, and she seemed quite frantic.

 

“Okay, okay, I’m getting up. Just give me a second.”

 

Feeling a bit sluggish, possibly due to a strange dream she had, Sora slowly lifted her head and then gradually raised her upper body, sitting there in a daze.

 

…That was a weird dream.

 

It was her first morning after a gender change.

 

Her body had transformed into that of a silver-haired girl, and there seemed to be no sign of returning to normal. Defeating the Demon Lord was both his top priority and ultimate goal, but still, why did she have such a creepy dream?

 

She had heard that dreams could sometimes reflect a person’s subconscious mind, but did it have to be something so horror-themed?

 

Sighing internally, she tried to shake off the lingering unease. When she glanced at the clock on the wall, it showed 5:30 AM. In about two more hours, the update would be finished, and it would be time to meet up with Aria and Kuro, as planned.

 

“Hmm, maybe I should sleep for another hour.”

 

“No, big brother, this isn’t the time for that!”

 

“Huh? Oh yeah, is something wrong?”

 

Whoops, I completely forgot about my sister.

 

Looking at her closely, I noticed something unusual: Shiori, who always gets dressed before leaving her room, was standing in front of me in her rabbit pajamas. Something must have happened that made her forget to change.

 

When I asked her what was going on, Shiori nodded urgently and pointed at the window, which was covered by curtains.

 

What could possibly be outside?

 

Curious, I got up from the bed, walked over to the window, and pulled open the curtains.

 

But instead of the familiar view of Kamisato City, there was something utterly bizarre.

 

—The sidewalks and roads were covered with unfamiliar trees, growing in a way that defied understanding.

 

“…What?”

 

I couldn’t help but let out a strange sound.

 

From what I could see, the houses seemed to be intact. The trees hadn’t broken through the concrete but appeared as if they had rooted directly on top of it.

 

Well, I might as well give it a try.

 

To make sure I wasn’t seeing things, I closed the curtains and then opened them again. But the unbelievable sight of trees growing in the city hadn’t changed at all.

 

A bad feeling crept over me, so I carefully observed the huge tree near our house. That’s when I noticed something different about it compared to an ordinary tree.

 

The tree was surrounded by faint glowing particles.

 

I’ve seen this before.

 

That’s right, it’s from ?Astral Online?.

 

“This looks like one of those trees from the ?Forest of Spirits?.”

 

“It’s not just *like* one—it is a Spirit Tree!”

 

“So does that mean we’re in the Forest of Spirits?”

 

“Ugh, maybe it really is…”

 

“Hmm… if that’s the case, I might finally have a chance to find that princess I’ve been looking for.”

 

“Right! If that’s the case, I can finally—wait, why would meeting her in real life matter if we’re supposed to meet in the game?!”

 

“Guh—?!”

 

Shiori’s sharp and heavy backhanded retort hit me square in the stomach, lifting me off the ground and sending me back onto the bed.

 

…Her punches are as strong as ever.

 

If I hadn’t shifted the impact point at the last second, it would have been a critical hit, and I might have passed out.

 

She’s a genius (a monster) who can hold her own against Shino in a no-weapons VR fighting game.

 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to win a sibling fight against her.

 

“Alright, enough joking around. Things are seriously getting out of hand.”

 

“Why has a forest from ?Astral Online? appeared in the real world?”

 

“A forest, huh… Maybe it has something to do with the progress of that shared quest all the players are involved in?”

 

“If we’re talking about the current problem, it’s because we haven’t been able to find the princess, right?”

 

“That’s about the only explanation I can think of in this situation.”

 

“Do you think if we don’t find the princess and complete the quest, things might get even worse?”

 

“That’s something I really can’t say.”

 

From what I could see, other than the forest growing, there weren’t any signs of monsters appearing in reality.

 

Maybe it’s just a map recreation. Or this could just be the beginning, with something even more drastic about to happen.

 

Hmm, I have no idea.

 

We have so little information to go on.

 

Shiori and I are staying pretty calm, but if it weren’t for yesterday’s gender change incident, we probably wouldn’t be this composed.

 

But considering how much of ?Astral Online? has materialized in reality, could it be possible…?

 

“Status, open.”

 

“Big brother, you’re not serious, are you?!”

 

“…Hmm, looks like this doesn’t work.”

 

I tried it out, but there was no response.

 

This is the kind of classic situation where you’d expect to be able to open a status screen, but it looks like that’s not possible here. I felt a mix of relief and disappointment. At least now I know this isn’t the kind of situation where monsters are going to suddenly appear in the city.

 

Time to talk about something more realistic.

 

“If what we’re seeing is just a hallucination, should we be consulting a neurosurgeon or an ophthalmologist?”

 

“Um, hmm. Probably a neurosurgeon rather than an eye doctor… But before that, big brother, you need to get your own body checked out!”

 

“Oh yeah, there was that issue, too.”

 

“Honestly, you’re so forgetful… Oh, I just got a reply from someone in my clan…!?”

 

“Yeah? What’s wrong, Shiori?”

 

Shiori, who had been looking at her smartphone screen, suddenly froze in place. Something was clearly not right.

 

Curious, I leaned over to take a look, knowing it might be rude.

 

“The gender change is a curse. It’s not something for a hospital, so I suggest visiting a ?Guardian? facility.”

 

…What?

 

A curse caused the gender change?

 

What on earth does that mean?

 

This message definitely doesn’t sound like something you’d get from a doctor.

 

Could this be one of those Astral Online jokes? And what is this ?Guardian? they mentioned? I’ve never heard of it. What on earth is this person talking about?

 

“Just to be sure, Shiori, did you mention anything about a Demon Lord’s curse?”

 

“No, I didn’t say anything like that. I only asked about your gender change.”

 

“Yeah, that’s a pretty odd way to ask for help, but even so, what was this person thinking when they sent that message? Even if it’s a joke, this is just…”

 

Suddenly, the doorbell rang from downstairs.

 

A terrible sense of dread washed over me.

 

I jumped out of bed, rushed out of my room, and sprinted downstairs. When I looked at the intercom monitor on the wall next to the landline phone, I saw two eerie girls standing outside, both dressed in white dresses.

 

One had long hair, and the other had shoulder-length hair. They appeared to be about 160 cm tall and looked like they were in their early teens.

 

“Who are you?”

 

I asked cautiously, my voice tense with suspicion.

 

In unison, they replied:

 

“Nice to meet you. You must be Sora Kamijo. We are ?messengers? dispatched from the ?Guardian?. We have brought adventurer license cards for you and your sister, Shiori.”