Chương 171: Meetup

When I told Sallia that I thought it was time to bust out Felix, she reacted with enthusiasm and excitement. When Anise heard us talking, she immediately jumped in to help. Felix warned us to be careful and run if things looked dangerous, but otherwise seemed a bit relieved that a proper rescue was materializing. We had been forced to delay Felix's rescue again and again because we didn't have the ability to break him out, but now that it was finally happening, he seemed excited to finally leave.

So Anise and I met up at Old Mo's shop, with Sallia running a bit late because she had to wait for her parents to get home and fall asleep. She didn't want to freak them out, after all, and her parents usually collapsed from exhaustion shortly after throwing together a basic meal. Meanwhile, Anise's parents went to sleep much earlier, since they worked better hours.

It took a lot of directions over the communication bracelet to make sure Anise ended up at the right place, and a few times, I started to get nervous when Anise said that she wasn't sure if she was being followed by someone. Anise was the most vulnerable member of our group right now, since the only extra abilities she had were her magic missiles and the {Shadow Dryad's Eyes}, which Anise had installed before I regained consciousness. Even with those extra abilities, Anise had the longest walk to meet up with us.

Sallia and I lived in the slums, which was right next to the red-light district where Mo's store was located. Anise lived in the middle class section of the city - and her parents didn't live anywhere near the red-light district. If Anise didn't have her magic missile glove and eyes, I would have yelled at her over the bracelet no matter how long I needed to in order to convince her not to come.

Instead, after much getting lost and figuring out directions over our communication bracelets, Anise finally arrived outside Old Mo's shop, blushing furiously.

"Miria! There are women who… who…" Anise stuttered a few times, and I started to feel guilty.

"They really aren't wearing… that is… uhh…" My guilty feelings intensified. Anise had only been 35 in our last life - but considering the lifespans of Orthanoids, she had been about the human equivalent of an 18 or 19 year old. And unlike the rest of us, she didn't have any memories of being an adult in any of her lives before being introduced to the Market. Not to mention, Anise had spent most of her last life studying magic with us, so she didn't have very many life experiences.

Had asking Anise to meet up with us in the middle of the red-light district been a bad idea? I winced a bit, before deciding to just keep moving forward.

"You look different," I said, as I examined Anise.. Sallia and I didn't really look that different from normal - there were a few minor alterations to bone and facial structure based on the genetics we had inherited from our parents, and Sallia's hair color was slightly different than before. But if someone from the islands squinted a little and looked at me now, they would still probably recognize me. However, Anise looked almost unrecognizable.

In our previous life, and in the Market, Anise had four eyes, pink hair, a somewhat short stature, and delicate facial features that made her look a little younger than she was. The delicate facial features and short stature were still there - even for a four year old, Anise looked a little younger. She had a healthier weight than Sallia and I, since her family wasn't hurting for food, but she was obviously a little on the small side. However, her pink hair was gone. It had been replaced with golden hair, instead.

It was a sort of strawberry-blonde color that faintly resembled her original pink hair, but it her hair color was much closer to mine than her own. In addition, Anise had previously had four eyes. Two eyes in the same spot as everyone else, and two eyes on her temples, giving her a much wider range of vision than most people had. Now, Anise only possessed two eyes.

"You look very different," I said, repeating myself as I took in all of Anise's changes. Anise nodded, and frowned.

"I don't really like it," she said, after some thought.

"I liked my previous hair color more. And my eyes are really throwing me off. I've kinda gotten used to the fact that I only have two eyes now, but I really don't know how people see like this. I have to turn my head so much to glance to the left or right. It's really annoying." I looked at Anise, and sighed. To be honest, I hadn't thought about how different Anise's original facial structure was from the normal inhabitants of this world, or how {Identity} would interact with her genetics until now.

So far, I always resembled my parents a little bit - probably exactly enough to make sure my father didn't wonder if my mother was cheating on him. But I also looked very distinctly like myself every world. There were a lot of pieces of my original body shape and facial structure mixed in, even if the way I looked still changed a little from life to life. Anise had changed a lot more than the three of us ever had, though. I absently wondered why that was the case.

In the world of the black sun, I had observed that all life had some sort of soul attached to it, even moss and spiders. The souls of these creatures had all been different colors, so at the time, I had wondered what those colors meant. Now, I was even more curious about how the 'biology' of souls worked. The Market had mentioned that there were four layers to the soul, and briefly described what each layer of the soul did. However, how did souls and biology work together? You might be reading a pirated copy.

Look for the official release to support the author. So far, every single species we had ended up reincarnating as resembled humanity. Sure, there were some physical differences - the Orthanoids of our previous world had been very slightly shorter than normal humans, and our lifespan had been notably longer. But if I took a normal person from this world and threw them into the islands world, nobody would notice anything wrong immediately.

Which made me wonder why our biology was so aesthetically consistent from one life to the next. Was this some sort of hidden Market function, to make sure we didn't reincarnate as flying squids or something? Or was it a property innate to our souls themselves, with the Market playing no part in what species we reincarnated as? I sighed, and shook my head. For every answer I got about the Market, it felt like I got ten more questions as well.

"Hey Anise, what do you think makes a species what it is?" I asked.

"Huh?" She asked, seeming startled by my question.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was thinking about how souls and biology work together, and I couldn't help but realize that every single life so far, I've reincarnated as a species that strongly resembles my first life's biology. Like, I have two arms, two legs, a head, and so on…" I said.

"Since you have two eyes instead of four this time, I started thinking about it again."

"Hmm…" Anise fell into thought, successfully distracted from… whatever she had witnessed earlier while walking through the streets of the red light district during the busy hours of the night.

"You know, I remember you saying in your last life that different souls have different colors, right? Spiders and moss both had… what colors were their souls again?" Anise paused for a moment, and then shrugged.

"Either way, their souls were differently colored. Are our souls still silver this time?"

"Yes. They look exactly the same," I confirmed.

"And in the Market, I remember the book saying that some part of the soul links up to the biological brain. Maybe that part also determines what kind of brain you can inhabit? Like, bodies that we inhabit all need to be at least kind of similar to each other?" Anise shrugged.

"That's my guess, anyway."

"Your guess is as good as any of mine," I said, after a moment, before glancing at Old Mo's shop again. Old Mo was quietly moving around and serving a few people their meals, and the shop looked peaceful. Old Mo saw me glancing through the window, and frowned at me. I gave him a disarming smile. Old Mo frowned even more deeply than before, but was distracted by a customer a moment later. Anise and I made our way into the shop, where I grabbed a loaf of bread and sat down with Anise.

"Miria," said Old Mo, after I sat down.

"You're out later than usual."

"I wanted to meet up with a friend, and this place was safe," I said. Old Mo glanced at Anise.

"I don't think I've ever seen you with her before. I've seen you with Sallia a lot, but…"

"Old Mo, this is my friend, Anise."

"She looks… better off," said Old Mo, glancing at Anise's clothes. Even though Anise's clothes had collected a bit of grime as she made her way towards our meeting location, they were still unmistakably of higher quality than the outer dress I wore. Anise nodded at Old Mo.

"My family is a bit better off. But that doesn't mean Miria and I can't be friends," she said, giving Old Mo a happy smile. Old Mo frowned at me, and then frowned at Anise again.

"Miria, can I talk with you for a moment?" asked Old Mo.

"Sure?" Old Mo quickly led me to the back room, where he gave me a deep look.

"Look… Miria, I get it. I know that it must seem hard to improve your life, and I know that a lot of other slum kids have been driven to desperate actions. I won't judge you for doing what you need to do, but… are you sure about this? Kidnapping a rich kid's daughter is really brazen, and not to mock you, but I'm not sure you could take her in a fight. And if you really kidnap a kid, the hats will be all over you afterwards.

The hats usually don't interfere with the slums too much, and they might seem busy because of the war, but if you kidnapped someone important- well, it could end really badly. And I'm not sure if she's a good target, either. Her clothes don't look that good, and she looks well fed, but not chubby. If you return her now, you can probably still get away from this without a giant mess unfolding, and I really think -" I tried not to laugh, and failed.

"Uhh… Old Mo, Anise really is my friend. I didn't kidnap her," I said, trying not to wheeze.

"Oh." He said, after a very brief, awkward silence. He glanced at the door again, this time looking a bit awkward, before he cleared his throat.

"I'm glad. Kidnapping is a road that's hard to walk back from, and considering how malnourished you are, too much physical labor isn't a good idea. Your brain is good, but your arms and legs are really too skinny. They're getting better, but…" Mo shook his head.

"Well, anyway. Sorry - I guess I read too much into the situation, but if she's really your friend… well, do your best to stay friends with her, I suppose. Even just being able to eat a meal or two at her house and build a connection could help you if you ever want to improve your life in the future. I hope things turn out well for you. Carry on." I nodded, trying not to laugh in his face, and quickly made my way out of the back room and back towards Anise. <What did he want?

> sent Anise, voice full of curiosity as she spoke to me over the friendship bracelet. <He thought I had kidnapped you, and he was trying to dissuade me because the hats - erm, the guards would punish me afterwards, > I said. <Really? > Anise took a look at me, and then a look at herself, before her face also scrunched up as if she were trying not to laugh. <I can't imagine you kidnapping anyone. > <I found the idea pretty absurd as well, > I commented, as Anise snickered.

After that, Anise and I started munching on our bread. A few minutes later, Sallia poked her head through the doorway, before she quickly made her way into the store. She greeted Anise and I with a grin.

"Miria! Anise!" She did a double take as she saw Anise.

"Anise, you look really different this time!" Anise grimaced and touched her hair again.

"I do," she said, some of her good mood fading as she looked at her strawberry-blonde hair again.

"Old Mo, good to see you!" Old Mo gave the three of us nods, and tried not to look too awkward as he glanced at Anise and I again. <Did Old Mo really think you kidnapped Anise? > asked Sallia, sounding more bemused than anything else as she spoke over the bracelet. <Yup. He thinks I'm six or seven, based on how I talk and act - which I guess is fair. But even so, do most six or seven year olds kidnap children in this city? > Sallia paused, before shrugging. <I have no idea.

Maybe if they're caught up with a gang, they might help out or something? Anyway. > The three of us finished eating our bread, before we paid and left. Now that we had met up, it was time to find Felix and free him.