Mature Content Warning: Mild language and DAT ASS

Author's Note: Alrighty, the next mildly exciting chapter of Origin ARS is now live. The set-up for various things is now complete and we can begin the next adventure arc of the story. :)

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Chapter 4: Community Service

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There were any things that could be said about the capital of Eizen. It was big for a city on ARS. There were many people of different cultures and species who eagerly wandered around the area. The shops were numerous and quite varied in the type of wares that they sold. Most of all, the streets were well marked. It did not take long for the group to make it to the government offices that would be able to help them continue their quest to rescue the mermaids.

“So, this is the government building?” asked Scott. He looked at the local courthouse and could not help but note the pillars and other features looked like an attempt to recreate a modern version of ancient roman architecture. Little anachronisms such as this endeared the world to the man. It reminded him that no matter how similar the world was to a medieval style culture, it was still built upon pop-culture foundations derived from his world.

Rhea nodded then pointed to the large glass doors that marked the entrance to the building. “We should be able to find out what we need to do in the lobby. The slave master probably meant for us to check the local quest board.”

“Alright, if that’s what you believe, we should check it out.” Scott smiled at his love interest and she returned the expression with a gentle smile of her own.

Inside the courthouse, they easily discovered the location of the quest board. Rhea looked it over carefully then glanced over a Scott. “We need to increase our levels a bit. We should take quick combat quests for now. Don’t you think?”

“Sounds good. We could pull-off double duty if we performed these quests and did a bit of hunting at the same time.” said Scott.

Rhea looked over the quest board once more then nodded. “Bandit subjugation quests should allow for both things to develop at once. We could also do a few of these package delivery ones since we’ll have to travel all over the kingdom while we train.”

“Good idea. Also, what about these item gathering quests here?” said Scott while he gestured toward high paying quests that ask for specific items to be acquired.

“Definitely! Those don’t seem to have a time limit, so we can do them along the way or after the mermaids are rescued.” she said.

Ero separated from Scott’s mind then fluttered down to one quest in the far right hand corner of the quest board. “This one looks interesting.”

Rhea’s face turned bright red. “Ero, that...”

“You want to be a swim wear model for a bikini competition in White Rock Shoals?” asked Scott.

“Well, do you think we could possibly lose if Rhea and I participated? Plus, the prize money would be great.” said Ero.

Scott looked the information over. “Well, it’s in two months. I suppose if you girls want to do it, we have time to finish up our other business here first.”

Rhea’s blush deepened. “But... Those outfits will be so... lacking in fabric.”

“So? I don’t exactly leave a lot to the imagination normally.” said Ero with a small grin.

“Scott...? Do I have to do this?” asked Rhea.

He laughed then pulled her over for a warm hug. “Why ask me if you have to do it? I don’t own you. Besides that, I’ve already seen you in the best swimsuit ever.”

Her blush deepened and her face began to burn. “T-this is true.... Hey, wait!” she said with excitement.

Rhea pointed at an ignored section of the posting. “Male and female models welcome for separate competitions and events.”

She turned to Scott and a bright gleam appeared in her eyes, followed by a slightly goofy and lecherous grin. “I’ll do it, if you do it.”

Scott shrugged. “Sure, though I bet you have a better chance of winning than I do.”

Ero laughed cutely then fluttered up to her BFF’s face. “No, you can win!”

“You think so?” asked Scott.

Ero nodded and then Rhea spoke up. “You do remember what happened on the beach right?”

“Well, true... But I recall most of the focus was on you and Ero.” said Scott.

Rhea laughed a little then shook her head. “Don’t sell yourself so short. You shine and sparkle a bit if you go fish-man.”

“Are you saying that girls like shiny things, Rhea?” asked Scott.

“Sure, especially if they can wear them on their ring finger.” she replied sweetly. The high elf raised her hand and made a rather obvious gesture.

Scott smiled lightly at her then took her hand and patted it. “I’m sure they do.”

She pouted at him cutely then snorted. “Well... Fine.”

“Yes, yes you are.” Scott leaned in and kissed her lightly on the nose.

She blushed once more, slightly, and then sighed. “Stop doing things that make me want to forgive you.”

“You can do things to me that make me want to forgive you, Scott.” said Ero.

Rhea rolled her eyes then scooped up the cute little fairy. “Allow me.”

Ero’s whole body turned a light shade of pink when Rhea kissed her gently on the tummy. “Wow! I’d forgive anything right about now.”

Scott blinked at the strange little scene then shook his head. It was good to see them get along, but he had begun to wonder if they were getting along a little too well. Time with the mermaids might have had a special sort of effect on their relationship that was just... great.

The trio giggled and laughed for a while then accepted numerous quests. It would actually be pointless to speak to anyone about a writ of meritorious service until they had done at least one significant thing for the country. They would find it easier to negotiate such an event if they had a few completed quests under their belt.

Scott had asked Rhea earlier if she had done any quests in the area, but she had not really focused on questing. Rhea was an avatar that Origin used when she wanted to murder hapless animals in the wilderness as a stress releasing exercise. She had performed few quests other than ones that helped her find specialty equipment. He had to accept the fact that nothing was ever too easy. If she had actually already had a writ then none of this would be necessary.

***

Shara sighed lightly at the monitor. She had to choose a backstory, stats, and skills for her avatar. Her community service project could not begin properly until she did so. The skills and stats were simple enough to choose from. The problem was not related to the system and the alpha-testing she would have to perform. No, the issue was that the red-haired goddess could not decide what she wished to do in regards to the world-setting and backstory.

“I guess I could be an American, like Scott.” Shara smiled gently then sighed a little after she thought of him. She had developed a huge crush on the man over the years, but she knew that it was not really love. If anything her desire to be with him was more due to obsession over her sister’s interest and her loneliness. He was a great guy, and if her sister was not so stingy, they would have really cute babies at some point. Sadly, such was not the case.

“Scott...” said Shara with a soft sigh. She’d had her shot at a Scott of her own, but his heart had not been ready for the love that she’d had to give. Now she was at a loss. She was fine with only being friends with her sister’s love interest, but she also liked him. Well, the idea of him.

She thought about that for a moment. “What was that called again?”

Shara blinked then raised one finger up into the air as the term came to mind. “Dimensional Analogous Typological and Approximate Soul Syndrome.”

Yes, poor little Shara had a severe case of DAT ASS. Every time she thought of Scott, the symptoms of DAT ASS became quite apparent. It was a common affliction among the gods. It amounted to an inter-dimensional concept of not being able to love the one you want, so you ended up loving the one who you were with at the time. It was similar, except for the fact that both people were essentially different reality versions of the same person.

“I so have a major case of DAT ASS.” said Shara with a sigh. There was no cure for it, either. The only way to treat the affliction was to actively end up in a relationship with the person you longed for, or their close dimensional analogous approximation. It was all the same soul anyway, just different expressions of that person.

“Too bad there’s no Scott in this world.” said Shara sadly.

Shara blinked a moment later. “Wait; is there a Scott in that world?”

She began checking through the records for various spiritual patterns. Personalities can be different between soul expressions, but the spiritual resonance pattern was always identical. It did not take long for her to discover that there was indeed a Scott in that world.

“Hmm, information more than one year after insertion is blocked until after the initial insertion period is over.” It was annoying but it did make sense to her. The timeline would be changed by the insertion of the few thousand alpha-testers involved. If they knew what originally happened, they might cause even more disruption to occur. The entire purpose of the project was to try and mitigate those sorts of issues to an extent.

Scott would be roughly two years old by the time she was inserted. That was nice. He would be older than her. Shara giggled softly then thought about how she could be his cute little junior.

“Please take care of me.” she said sweetly to the infant on the screen.

“Well, I know exactly where I am going to be inserted now. I just need to figure out a background that will allow me to meet up with community service Scott.” said Shara.

She scoured the local area for a worthwhile family to give birth to her. Eventually, she gave up and chose the custom family option. It would allow her to have parents crafted for her, as well as a custom backstory. It was not as good as being born normally, but at least it would meet her requirements with greater ease.

She opened up the character model generation kit, and began to craft her family members. She would be an only child, as that would be easiest to deal with at the moment. Her father would be a ruggedly handsome man who was a mixture of Caucasian and Latin features. He would meet her mother, the daughter of a traditional Japanese ninja master, during a business trip to Japan.

Shara threw in a few random parts about her father having been born to a family of demon hunters, so that her parents had something in common. The family business, so to speak, was fighting crime and supernatural evil. They also sold weapons.

The backstory flew from her fingers as she crafted the perfect background for her avatar. After she finished a few more things, she hit send. It took a few minutes, but the project leader sent back his approval. A dozen mortal souls were contacted and after a brief moment of discussion they chose to be contractually obligated to reincarnate in the world according to Shara’s requirements. They would have the chance to live again, and would also be part of helping that world’s human population. In short, it sounded like fun to be demon hunting ninjas instead of disembodied floating masses of spiritual essence.

“Excellent, I have a family on that world for my avatar, and I can live near that Scott. What else do I need?” she asked.

Shara had to consider the future carefully. She already knew that she would have the expert knowledge and skills of a demon hunting ninja master by the time the community service ended. What she had to work on was her character interaction. Namely, dare she go for the brass ring and make an attempt to get to know this Scott on a personal level? Did she want him to help her deal with DAT ASS?

Yes, yes she did. “I’ll have to really make an impact in his life. I wonder how I’ll accomplish that?”

The ninja goddess was practically giddy at the idea of being able to spend a mortal life with Scott, even if they ended up as just friends once more, there was no reason for her to believe that she would feel like an outsider forever. Besides that, Rhea could not be mad if she did all manner of interesting things with community service Scott.

“You know, this could be fun. Maybe, I can be the cute childhood friend who he secretly longs for.... Oh, that would be great!” Shara squealed with such excitement, that Gambol would have been proud of her tone and volume.

Shara thought about what things might be like once they were older and her eyes widened. She pulled out a paper fan then laughed out with a disturbingly lecherous, “Oh ho ho ho ho ho.”