The pond wasn't far from the edge of swamp. But progress was slow, it had been a lot easier when he was a Nekomata. Now he found himself wading through the muck with Vivian and Andrea. The former cracking jokes about wet t-shirt contests. At least the muck only came to her hips now, a lot better than before.
Alec quickly found himself annoyed at the heavy weights on his chest. As Vivian had warned him, they were actually quite painful to just leave hanging there, often even nearly pulling him off balance just from the way they swayed as he moved. He'd so far managed to bind them somewhat at least by tugging the hem of his shirt firmly in his pants. This at least limited the swaying to more of a jostling and jiggling movement.
Unfortunately, he found his new breasts came complete with larger more sensitive nipples which now poked into the wet fabric. But he was not going to wear a bra. He was a man. At least that's what he'd said earlier, after a while it became more of a pride thing.
Finally they left the swamp and entered the grassy plains. The sun had begun to set, it was getting late. But even in the diminishing light, he could still see the long lines of reeds spread out before them.
As they approached a patch Alec said, "Are those the dickweeds?"
Andrea nodded as she peered into the closest cluster. "They look pretty ripe." She turned and looked him sternly in the eyes. "Wear gloves and be careful."
They arrived at a patch and put on gloves.
"Okay, pay attention Alec. This one here is ripe and this one is overripe." Andrea pointed out several of the brown sausage like fruits in quick succession. They all looked mostly the same to Alec. One of them seemed blodgier though. That was probably the overripe one.
"You probably do not want an overripe one. Did you need ripe or a young one?"
What was it the man had told Alec? He fished his adventurers card out of his pocket, which helpfully responded with a hologram. "I need young ones."
Andrea made a clicking sound. "It is really not that time of the year for this." She carefully waded deeper into the patch, ultimately disappearing into the reeds.
"I'll go and check over here." Alec said, pointing in the opposite direction. His massive breasts jiggling in his shirt as he did so.
"Hold still Neka, while I help daddy Alec. I'll check that other patch over there!" Vivian said.
Alec carefully pushed the reeds to the side as he searched for one that wasn't like the others he'd seen. Still, the help from Andrea and Vivian is extremely welcome. He wouldn't have known how badly he might have screwed this up without them.
Maybe it was high time to start working on his wisdom score, once they got back into town. He wondered why you needed gloves to handle these things. He should probably ask about that later.
He stopped walking when he spotted one that wasn't like the others at all. It long thin brown sausage was blotched and ended in a bulbous head. More interestingly, at the top of the head was some white fluffy material. Was this a young one? It reminded him of the cattails back home.
He could pick it, but the tits he was currently sporting made him more cautious. Maybe he should just call Andrea over. In his mind, the fluffy stuff meaning it was young just didn't make sense. Cattails become fluffy at the end of the life cycle. But then this world was quite different.
Alec looked at the weird fruit again. What would happen if he picked it. The stupid frogs gave him tits, but he had gloves this time. And what was actually the worst that could happen? That he would grow a dick? The thing he was questing to get back? But what if it grew large, like his stupid heavy tits.
He propped his heavy tits up on his arms to get the weight off his back. Images of him with a dick as long as he was filled his mind.
Or maybe these things just made dicks fall off, but then why would Andrea and Vivian need to be careful. Or maybe his mind was getting twisted from his time here and these didn't do anything dick related at all. Maybe they actually were poisoness.
Maybe erring on the side of caution was the better option here.
"Andrea!" He yelled.
"Yes?"
"I've found something, could you come check it out?"
"I am on my way to your general position."
"Alec?"
"Yes, I'm here."
Their eyes met as Andrea pushed through the reeds. "Yes, what have you found?"
"I found a fluffy sausage on a stick" Alec pointed at the weird fruit.
"That is a nice one. Well done." She took out a jar and lowered it over the dickweed. She then carefully tilted the jar before slicing the stem with a knife and closing the lid.
"That is one. While I do not know the spell you are going to have cast, I would suggest finding at least 1 more."
Alec nodded and they split up again.
After a long search they managed to find one more in the field. Returning however, Vivian showed up clutching another in her jar.
Alec smiled, maybe everything was going to be just fine.
They waded through the grass langs to the dry patch he had camped on earlier with Vivian. As soon as Vivian's foot touched dry land Neka launched herself from the carrier and landed on the dry land.
Happily, it darted around sniffing the area and coming back looking generally confused. "Self?" She squeaked.
They made camp. Alec felt relieved finally sitting down, letting his heavy breasts rest on his lap. It felt good not having that weight on his back anymore.
Neka had curled up at the fire, near Vivian. Andrea was inspecting a blade from their loot, she was trying to determine which spells were cast so they had a better idea on their actual value. The silver blade in her hand reflected the light from the flames, giving it an oddly deadly glint.
Vivian was fiddling with a piece of cloth. Her bottom four breasts had either fully disappeared or they'd shrunk small enough that they weren't visible through her clothes anymore. Her height seemed to have been restored as well.
"Vivian, I've been meaning to ask. Why is it taking so long for you to return to normal? Andrea seemed to be back to ...normal... after like an hour or so. But you took nearly a day."
Vivian shrugged. "That's the Elven ancestry for you. Spells tend to cling to me."
"So if you cast a sleeping spell on you lasting a day you could be sleeping two?"
"Yes, that's about it."
"Seriously? That's it?" Alec said disappointed.
"I could... try sleeping for three if it makes you happy?" Vivian said, visibly confused.
"No, that's not what I meant. See, in my world when they write about people with Elven heritage, it's like hitting the DNA jackpot. You get stunning good looks, great natural magic powers, longevity and sometimes a whole host of other abilities like talking to animals. Hearing you say that all you have from it is magic sensitivity is surprising to me."
"Are you saying I'm not good looking?"
"Yes, that is what he is implying." Andrea added, without looking up from her work.
Alec sat back and swallowed. Okay, take it easy. You can navigate this without digging a deeper hole. "No, that's not..."
Vivian burst out laughing. "Come on! We're just messing with you. You should know me better by now."
"My sensitivity works both ways. It takes longer to shake curses, but I can also get extra benefit from more positive spells. Like added strength lasting longer, which works out great with my bow. Though, I do have to be careful about that as well. I'm no longer a welcome guest in some hotels after ripping some doors out."
"So is that sensitivity and your bow all you have?"
"Well I can't say anything about my longevity yet until you guys get old and wrinkly and I don't. Don't forget, this Elven thing is way way back in my family. Not recent or anything. But, my brother has some added magic affinity.
Basically, it's different for everyone, same as hair color. Like my lack of pointy ears."
"Different lineages can provide different boons and banes." Andrea added as she turned the blade around in her hands.
Alec nodded, this made sense. "So do you have anything special in the past Andrea?" He expected some rock creature blood, which would at least explain her character.
"No, sorry to disappoint. I am fully human." Andrea put the blade away, before picking up another. "I have no idea what this one does."
"Different subject. We are done in the swamp, you have two ingredients. Vivian and I should report to the guild. As such I would suggest heading back to town to stock up before we go to the next location. You needed Minotaur milk and ball herbs right?"
"Yes."
"Where can you find ballherbs? Did the quest giver say that?" Vivian asked.
"Apparently they're on the outskirts of the town."
"That is what I seem to remember as well. They are pretty easy to obtain. You could go and fetch some while we deal with our business with the guild."
"Can't I come with?" Alec remembered what Vivian had told him, the witch was an S rank mission. And back when he did his first mission he was told that was more or less a VIP club. He was seriously curious what things would be like in there.
"We can try. But I'm not sure if you're allowed in. S rank stuff is all invite only usually."
"Besides, it is more efficient if we split up and regroup to get the milk after."
Alec changed the way he sat and brushed his huge tits with his arms. He didn't like the idea of trying to get something called ball herbs by himself. With a name like that, who knew what those things could do? Actually, he knew someone who probably does know. "Are ball herbs dangerous?"
Andrea shook her head. "No, they are called ball herbs due to the way they curl up into a ball after they finish blooming. They spread their seeds by letting a soft wind break their stem and then rolling along the ground. You need the seeds, but in order to do anything with them they need to be processed."
"That's a relief."
"Are you sure that's a relief?" Vivian asked slyly.
He just threw her an annoyed look.
"We do not have to decide now, but please think it over. I personally find this the most efficient route."
"Don't worry Alec, while Andrea has a point about the guild, even if we do split up, you're not getting rid off us that easily. " Vivian said smiling.
"Indeed. I said I would help, so I will help."
His heart skipped a beat and a pleasant warmth spread in his chest. He wasn't alone in this world anymore. He had an actual friend... and Andrea.
When his turn to sleep came up Alec found his breasts getting in the way again. He couldn't lay on his stomach. Laying on his back was okay, but the breasts were quite heavy which restricted breathing. Not that he was in danger of suffocating, it just wasn't quite comfortable enough for sleeping.
Ultimately, only a side pose was comfortable, with his breasts stacked in his shirt next to him.