Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 284: Interlude - 3: Hidden in Plain Sight

Lush were the greens and hues of the flora around the front of the palace—pinks to yellows to whites and reds. The anterior gardens to the left and right of the gates of Tamara Palace.

However, on the right were not the fauna one would expect. A small legion of dogs were being escorted around by Royal Guard. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The dogs followed a chaotically ordered line between them, crossing the gap in between the two gardens, past the fountain spewing waters of gold.

Towards the eastern path they went, all of the little pooches, each no bigger than a forearm. At the gates themselves was a blonde in a black shirt and a long white skirt, alongside a magician in her usual attire; both of them were discussing something.

"Ms Jotou, watch out!"

To Feyan’s voice Jotou swivelled her head and raised her left arm in front of Asobi! ...Only to see a golden brown dog with white fur going down its chest, dashing towards her.

Jotou knitted her brows to the imminent ’threat’ approaching. It was barely taller than her ankles as she watched it make a beeline towards her.

It came to a halt before it crashed into her legs and panted staring up with its curling bushy tail wagging. It barked a few times, lifting its front paws every time it did; somewhat ringing to the ears its bark was.

Jotou tilted her head and kneeled down, "...I remember you," she reached her hand out and the dog immediately allowed her to pet it.

It pushed its head into her palm, forcing Jotou to use both her hands to tame its energy. Short snout and short floppy ears, which both had bits of black fur at the ends, "Orion, right?" she recalled the name she gave.

"Oh! That puppy?" Asobi leaned forward.

Jotou extended her arms more, allowing Orion to fit into her grasp. With a light huff, Jotou cradled Orion into her arms and stood up. The dog fitted comfortably into her arms, like a puddle of fluff. "He’s a lot heavier than he used to be..."

Asobi gave Orion reached her hand out as Orion’s nose twitched in sniffs. The magician planted her hand and petted him lightly; it seemed that Orion recognized her as well.

"Apologies Ms Jotou," Feyan made his way over whilst the rest of the dogs were escorted away.

"Where are all the doggies going?" Asobi glanced over.

Feyan recomposed himself, "Most of the smaller breeds have fully grown and have passed their training and medical checkups. So they were being taken to the barracks, before we send them out to families who want them."

"Hopefully they’ll get nice homes." Jotou smiled to content dog in her hands, "I’m more surprised Orion remembers me."

"You, named this one?" Feyan queried.

Jotou chuckled to Feyan, "Months ago."

"Would you like to keep this one then?"

Jotou shook her head to Feyan, "I know we’ve been here for a while, but I don’t think we’re gonna be here long enough to take care of a dog."

"We have spared a good sum of time and money on these royal dogs. I believe the palace should be able to spare a few silver to take care of one more personally."

"Well..." Jotou looked into Orion’s eyes and then to its overjoyed tail. "If it’s not a problem, then sure."

"Yay! We have a doggie!" Asobi played with his front paws.

"It really should be no hassle. Besides, the princess has already chosen a Cravoltan Lionhound for herself," Feyan sighed.

Jotou narrowed her eyes as she petted Orion. Asobi’s eyes bubbled instead, "A whole lion?"

"Lionhound," he repeated. "Besides a minor resemblance to one, it has no lineage to actual lions. It is however, quite a large breed; and one that sheds a lot...

But," Feyan reached the back of his palm to Orion. The dog sniffed it and allowed Feyan to pet it lightly, "Lionhounds, while a bit destructive if left unchecked, prefer to lounge and play in an idle manner.

Instead of being energetic and requiring constant attention like this one," Feyan took his hand away, only for Asobi to substitute. "A North Cravoltan Terrier; all bark and all bite. Still, an intelligent breed that learns quickly."

Horses neighed from a carriage outside the gates. "Jotou, we have to go!"

"Right," Jotou petted Orion one last time.

"I will take him into the palace then," Feyan put his hands out to take Orion into his arms. Orion kept his paw on Jotou, not wanting to let go.

"Go on buddy, no need to worry," Jotou unhooked his paw from her top. She gave a smile, "You’ll be with us now, so have fun." Feyan took him away, however Orion’s gaze remained stagnant on the blonde.

With that, the other two jogged to the carriages awaiting them. Once inside and the carriage began moving, "Alright, what spells did you have in mind?" Jotou asked the elf sitting across from her.

"Okay, for our disguises, the countess taught me this really amazing spell called, Impersonate!" Asobi flourished her wand. "I can make anyone look and sound like anyone I know!"

"One problem I noticed with the spell."

"What is it?"

"You need to know the person to impersonate them. Mostly everyone we know, probably don’t want to be seen in the city and I’d prefer not to play around with their identities literally; might cause us problems in the future."

"Hm... You’re right, I don’t even know a lot of the staff or Royal Guard’s names if we wanted to be less conspicuous."

"It sounds like a useful spell for other things, but not this case. Maybe just disguise us like you used to? I don’t see any reason our voices need to change; plus, you can already do voices without magic."

"I can’t do man voices," Asobi mimicked Jotou’s voice with a shake of her head. "Otherwise, I guess it’s pretty doable. I’ll just have to concentrate more," it was if Jotou was speaking to herself.

"You said there were other spells you could do, right?"

"Hm, Mirror Me probs won’t work. Colour shift probs can help us. And I do know this other spell called Illusory Appendage. We could probs use them together."

"Alright, I don’t use ’probs’ that much," Jotou’s eyes glazed over.

"Ai, ai, ai, everyone’s a critic."

Jotou tightened her lips... "So what does Illusory Appendage do exactly?"

"Oh, it makes your body look different using illusions!" the usual squeaky tone returned. "Both of the spells don’t need me to keep thinking about them, so I thought it would be the best ones."

"Smart Asobi." Jotou pondered how to use them in the moment. Problem was of course, too many illusions will become hard to conceal easily.

"Yay! Can I give our disguise a try?"

"If you have an idea, go ahead," Jotou looked up.

"Of course! I must conceal this masterpiece with one of my own," with a little drama and flare in her tone, Asobi swayed her wand in front of Jotou’s face. "Such pretty eyes and lashes so comely.

Hair as blonde as gold, sharp nose that’s just big enough for the face and wide lips. Naturally flat and thick brows, an elegant jawline and near-flawless cheeks that are turning pink- wait no, red-"

"Will you just do the spell?" the flustered Jotou darted her eyes to the side.

"Hmm," Asobi examined. "Other than the colour of your eyebrows, I don’t really need to change any of this. I can just do this; Illusory Appendage~" spots of light sparkled out of her wand.

Jotou shut her eyes whilst Asobi seemed to cast more than a few times. "Done!"

The blonde- The dark-haired Jotou opened her eyes. The same ponytail she felt, the same hued clothes. She squinted however, when she realized she could feel the ability to control something within her mind...

Asobi’s eyes glittered with white light as she giggled to Jotou’s black cat-like ears wriggling in curiosity.

"Well, I can’t really see a mirror," Jotou said as a thin black tail she could not feel shifted onto her lap. "The hell!?" She tried to touch it, but her fingers just poked her lap instead.

The tail reacted on its own and retreated. Jotou then felt, like she could control its movement? She commanded the tail to move in her mind and the tail followed the order swiftly. "What did you do to me...?"

Asobi checked the sides of Jotou’s head, where her human ears had disappeared into strands of black hair. "Everybody knows the Thundering Blade’s not a part-human! It’s the easiest disguise!" she cheered.

Jotou thought for a second... "That’s actually pretty clever."

Asobi giggled, "Thank you!" She pointed the wand to herself and with a little light, Asobi donned on a similar disguise of two cat-like ears and a black tail. She set her top hat aside, "Now we match!"

"As long as we don’t draw too much attention. You should probs ditch the magician’s outfit though."

"Ooo, you’re right! Don’t have a specific spell for that... Oh well," Asobi illusorily changed her outfit into a green blouse and black trousers.

"You sure this’ll hold up, right? I could kinda see the mouse trap with flour this morning," Jotou questioned.

"The prank was too far away from me, I was all the way in the kitchen. Oh yeah! Did the prank work!? Did we finally get you!?" Asobi’s legs bounced.

"No."

"Aww..." she drooped.

"Okay, we’ll just have to stick close together so nobody notices the illusions."

The carriage arrived at the mouth of the path, "We’re here," the coachman announced.

"Alright, we’re going invisible!" Asobi warned before both her and Jotou disappeared. The carriage doors opened on its own and into the busy street went the clacks of footsteps.

Onlookers paused to point and stare. Who could that be? A special visit from the palace? Meanwhile, Jotou and Asobi snuck right past them all.

_

"Coast’s clear," Jotou told.

Asobi dispelled the invisibility off of them around a street corner. The two walked out, unseen by the hundreds and hundreds of people walking about.

Slow steps they took into the City Centre. No one batted an eye to the two cat-girls walking about, glancing at the sights around. With that much confirmed, the two became more confident in their stride across the city.

The near-noon Sun was certainly not pleasant, but the cloud cover seemed to be enough. People went about their day; albeit, much lesser than usual due to the time. But it was crowded nonetheless.

Office buildings row by row, more refined shops that were unlike the ones in the market district. A few restaurants were closed after breakfast, awaiting to open during the lunch hour, when people would come bustling out of their work stations.

From building to building and lamppost to lamppost still hung threads of colourful decorations that jingled and chimed, glittering under the sunlight.

Banners that still welcomed the new year and discounts still going for those who hadn’t finished their needs for shopping. The heat was soon countered by the refreshing rainforest breeze from the tall trees from all sides of Cravolta City.

Flags of Cravolta flew high, flapping. The hum of being in the heart of a bustling city couldn’t be less annoying to the two who enjoyed the wonder of seeing everything around them.

It was after all, a view they rarely saw despite their current residence. A friendly face once in a while would wish the two a happy New Year as they passed, to which Jotou would smile and reply, while Asobi would answer rather overjoyed.

_

The afternoon was upon them and they looked up the wide building. Multiple streets of octagonal bricks made their way here, connecting as a whole to Cravolta City Hospital.

Less bustling, but visitors and patients alike went in and out. The carriages had cross symbols, even the mounts wore them.

"I never had to go to a place like this before," Asobi muttered as her cat-like ears fell back—her pointy elven ears missing.

"You’ve never gotten sick or needed medical attention?" Jotou’s ears bristled.

"No. Doctors always came to the circus if I was sick. They’d give me a lollipop right after! Hey, Hotaru always heals us, right?"

"Mhm."

"So she’s like a travelling hospital. And that’s why her name starts with an H!"

Jotou chuckled, "It has an O too."

Asobi gasped, "You’re right!"

"Hotaru Kinoshita. H-O-S... We’re missing a P and an L."

"I was just kidding!" Asobi giggled.

"I’m telling Hotaru you called her a walking hospital."

Asobi gasped again, "You wouldn’t dare!"

Jotou stuck her tongue out and gave a wink.

_

After they bought their lunch to go, they walked more around the city till their feet were tired. A bench was a welcome sight. "I wonder where Cravolta City Penitentiary is," Jotou spoke.

"Do you want to ask around?"

"No need. I was just thinking, the Rainstorm Slasher’s there. Wonder how they’ve been dealing with him."

"An affinity-lock, duh!"

"Well, he is a Trailonian enemy. I don’t know how Cravoltan prisoners would react to him being there; not good I imagine."

"Hm..." Asobi pouted. "He was bad and caught us all. He almost killed and made you sleep for nearly two days. You really shouldn’t be worried about him. It’s bad for your soul."

Jotou shook her head in a smirk, "I’m not worried, just curious."

"Ohhh... Curiosity rewards the cat, so I get it! You’re really getting into character!"

"It’s killed the... never mind."

"My legs aren’t lifeless anymore, so we can walk again if you’re ready?"

"Sure, let’s go towards the rainforest park."

_

A few performers were along the streets, doing little tricks to gain some coin. The magician’s tail was all the way up, but she had to resist the temptation to put on a show, unless she wanted to expose the two.

A street vendor caught her eyes; he was surrounded by children who hopped and screamed in joy as bubbles clouded the area around them.

Unable to resist, she bolted away from Jotou to join in the fun with a giggle and a wide smile. "Uh-" Jotou’s eyes became bubbles themselves before she chose to follow Asobi instead.

Taking a large bubble wand into her hand, Asobi dipped it into the solution and puffed out dozens of bubbles into the group of children.

Jotou stood with the parents around the area to keep an eye on Asobi. Asobi crouched down, her ears pricked and tail in the air as she placed a finger over her lips and winked to the kids.

Asobi’s jade-green eyes glittered like stars, much like the little bits of light that glittered around the bubble wand she waved. With a light woosh and a bit of a show upon her face, bubbly illusions began to form.

The kids gasped and jumped and shouted as butterflies and hearts floated across like bubbles. A bubbly rabbit hopped around them in the air whilst a small bubbly duck popped to the poke of a child.

Bubbles of all critters and shapes floated and fluttered. With a smile as bright as hers, Jotou couldn’t help but be infected by it. How could one be this happy was truly a mystery to her.

"Hey! You trying to upstage me here? No shows unless I’m getting a cut, scram!" the vendor finally noticed Asobi’s little performance to the side.

Jotou rushed in and took Asobi by the wrist, "Sorry about her!" with a giggle Jotou left the scene with Asobi in tow. Asobi looked back, waving to the kids who waved back at her.