Korith sat on a crate.

Getting on top of the wooden box had been a task of great difficulty, involving the smaller box that was next to the one she had placed her butt on. As a kobold, she was among the shorter humanoid races in the Omniverse and among them, she was of a fairly standard height, standing at 106 centimetres.

Like all kobolds she had a tail, resembling that of a lizard, flopping lazily behind her. She also had scales, red in colour, that covered her feet from the talons upwards to her thighs, and her hands from the equally clawed fingers to above the elbow.

Like all sapient kobolds, she had a human face and torso. Many who heard the name ‘kobold’ thought of what essentially were lesser lizardmen or draconic servants that had greatly devolved from the splendour of the genuine dragons. While those beings did exist in the Omniverse and while they did often share the name kobold, the ones smart enough to count among the civilized races were universally closer to small humans with lizard features than lizards with humanoid traits. Their creator deity Hoard had decided that that would make it easier for his favoured children to go out in the world, prosper, and bring shiny things back to him.

Like all humanoid females in this town, she attracted some gazes. Korith was quite used to this. She couldn’t help but invite sexual attention. This was for two reasons.

Number one was that she looked, objectively, good. She had an attractive face. A bit on the round side, combining with her short size to be generally seen as cute. Long, gold hair, treated with enough respect to keep too many strands from sticking out, framed the light brown complexion of her skin. Eyebrows of a darker shade sat above gold eyes, their pupils slit like that of a snake. Her nose was an adorable button and her brownish red lips were full and sultry. Four horns expanded from the sides of her head, two large ones and two smaller ones underneath, the base of them almost touching her pointy ears.

Number two was her body. Korith was stacked and in this she differed from most kobolds. Her tits reached a massive size that was only emphasized by her shortness and the narrowness of her waist. A narrowness that widened towards her hips again. Nothing was absurdly out of proportion. Nothing was of an expected size either. Tits, ass, and thighs, she was equipped with a lot of squishiness in all areas. Training kept her thin as much as those natural assets allowed.

Having walked around with her looks and her boobs, she had gotten used to the gazes of interested partners and learned to live with them. Earlier in her life, those looks had often frightened her, especially when they came from tall foreigners, visiting the Leaf of Kobidzan. Kobolds were blessed with many natural defences, but size could be intimidating. Nowadays, Korith had the greatest of ways to fend off any unwanted attention: a warhammer of solid steel, attached to an oaken grip. It was the length of her entire arm and the head was big enough to outsize a regular human’s clenched fist twice over. Nobody wanted a hunk of metal like that swung towards them.

Otherwise, all Korith could do was dress conservatively and hope people remembered what their mothers had taught them. That worked for almost all people she encountered. For the rest, the threat of losing their kneecaps worked. Korith didn’t like to think about doing that though.

“You sure I can do nothing?” she asked Joey, the half elf whose boat she had booked for the crossing.

“Gods, you ask a lot of questions,” the captain grumbled, not hiding whatsoever that he was hungover. “Are you that eager to leave? You’ve been here a week…”

“Two weeks,” Korith softly corrected.

“…whatever, what’s an extra hour of twiddling your thumbs? We won’t leave any sooner no matter what you do.”

“Nothing much, as long as I won’t have to pay for anything else,” Korith said, her hand resting on her adventurer’s bag. In it was her mostly empty coin purse, along with some other possessions that were not as important. ‘The offerings to Hoard I could have made rather than staying in the inn,’ she lamented. “You sure there is nothing I can do?” she asked another time.

“If you’re that bored, you can take those,” Joey pointed to a couple of barrels and crates by the only warehouse in the small city, “to there,” his finger wandered on to the spot where a wooden plank connected his ship to the largest pier in the city. “My useless maggots can take them the rest of the way.”

“I could take them straight onto the ship,” Korith assured.

“Sure, you could,” Joey’s hungover tone made it difficult for the kobold to determine if he was being sarcastic or just tired. “You have any idea where in my ship the water barrels are supposed to go though?” Korith shook her head. “Grain shipments? Nails? Lead for emergency repairs?” To each question, she shook her head.

“I get it,” she assured, before Joey could continue and jumped off the barrel. Although they were packed pretty tightly into the casual travelling clothes she wore, thick to ward against the autumn winds, her boobs bounced around when she hit the pavement. The warhammer was swiftly stored in the bag double secured to her belt. “Only up to the plank then.”

Korith walked over to where the shipment stood in the warehouse and dodged one of the dozen sailors meeting her halfway. They, among some people loitering around the port, watched Korith with interest. When she lifted up a barrel half as tall as her, filled with apples, and held it above her head, nobody was too surprised. Having someone who shipped people back and forth from an island where adventurer’s retired meant they saw their fair share of oddities. A shortstack lugging heavy cargo around was only unusual to visitors from neighbouring villages or young people.

Humming happily, Korith went after her work, travelling back and forth, placing each item closer to the ship. It was a medium-sized vessel, mostly unpainted, with the hull and the majority of the additions being made from simple brown wood. Only the masts and the captain’s quarters at the back showed any signs of being higher quality. As the loading continued, the ship slowly sank deeper into the water. All of that was intended though. While the boat was going deeper into the water, the surface of the water itself was gradually rising. By the time the ship was fully loaded and they were ready to leave, the process would reverse and the ebb would help pull the ship out into the open ocean. All that mattered was that the holes with the paddles stayed above the waterline and there was a solid two metres before that could become even a remote issue.

After about half an hour, Korith had brought everything she could up to the pier and the sailors were quickly getting done with the rest. With nothing else to do, she decided to board and have a look around the place she would spend the next couple of days in.

The ship was cramped. Joey made the most of the trip and had loaded as much into it as was safe. The sleeping chambers for the sailors and travellers were separate, the sailors sleeping at the back and the travellers at the front of the ship. Both were filled with hammocks and pretty tiny. The only three areas on the ship that had something resembling privacy were the crow’s nest, the poop deck, and the captain’s quarters. Although Joey reserved the privilege of isolation for himself, his quarters were barely large enough to fit his own hammock, a chest and a desk in there.

“Do ya wanna open that chest?”

Korith jumped and looked up at the redheaded tiger girl that was peeking into the captain’s chamber. Just because she could, Reysha had decided to sneak up on the distracted kobold. Suspiciously, they both hung onto the same side of the doorframe, peeking into the room. The blonde had gone with this approach because she did not feel it was right to enter. The Rogue did it because she thought it looked funny.

“No!” Korith hastily retreated from the door.

Eyes going straight to the absolute bounciness that ensued, Reysha was distracted from whatever she wanted to say originally. “By the gods, girl, you look delightfully squeezable.”

“Thank you?” The kobold was more than a bit overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the scarlet-haired feline female. “No, sorry, that’s not an invitation,” she was swift to declare, when the redhead raised her hands in a grabby fashion.

“Shame,” Reysha let her arms fall limply again, before stemming her hands into her hips. “I’m Reysha, by the way. We’ll be sharing a room.”

Now that Korith had a moment to look at the tall (not just from her perspective) woman, she did have every hallmark of an adventurer. “Stay away from my hammock and my stuff, please,” the kobold requested.

“Oy, just because I want to open one chest doesn’t mean I steal from everyone,” the tiger girl responded with played-up offense. “Woe is me, I didn’t even do anything yet.”

“That’s patently false,” Joey barked his way into the conversation. “Because you’re in my way. Get away from my quarters and keep to the railing, if you need to stay onboard. We’re leaving.”

“Hey, I paid for the full boat experience, I demand to hear ya say that we’re setting sail.”

“Sails are staying down. Damn wind turned eastwards,” Joey cussed, while marching past the two women that had stepped out of the way. “We’ll have to let the tide drag us and steer the ship so the wind doesn’t slow us down.” Pissed, the captain glared at the two. “Do either of you attract bad luck or something?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that has anything to do with this,” Reysha chirped. “You’ll get this done, right?”

“When you finally get out of my way, I might!” the captain impatiently snapped at them and stormed up the stairs to the ship’s wheel. It was located at the highest point of the deck and above his quarters.

Reysha giggled and started walking away. Korith followed. The redhead was odd company, but she was also interesting company. They found a part of the railing where they could stand without getting in the way of any of the sailors, who were binding back down the sails they had loosened half an hour earlier. Sailing was all about coping with changes and dealing with the boredom of the safe stretches.

“Sooooo,” Korith let hear the drawn-out word to grab Reysha’s attention again. “You’re an adventurer too?”

“Nah, prostitute,” Reysha responded swiftly and pulled at the back of her linen shirt in a way that emphasized her figure. Confused, Korith blinked a couple of times. Then the tiger girl broke out laughing. “I’m just pulling your panties. Yeah, I’m an adventurer. Rogue, if ya wanna know.”

“Warrior, level 15… oh, and I’m Korith.” The kobold had suddenly remembered she hadn’t stated her own name yet.

“You’re pretty short for a Warrior… I guess ya get that a lot, don’t ya?”

“It stops after I’ve fought with someone,” the shortstack assured.

Reysha laughed out loud again. “Confident, I like it!” She continued to laugh afterwards. Korith didn’t think it was that funny, but was happy that she was entertaining. While Reysha slapped the weatherworn wood of the railing, the boat began its slow path out of the harbour.

“Sadly, few people ever let me try,” the kobold added, tail and head sinking. “I haven’t been able to find a group. Are you in the same boat?”

“Literally?” Reysha looked at the wooden planks under her feet. “Yes. Figuratively, no. I have a party.”

‘Maybe I can join them?’ Korith thought, biting back the urge to cuss out loud. There was no guaranteeing that Reysha was as easy to get along with as she felt initially, or that her party members were as easy-going as she was, but at this point she was desperate for whatever company she could find. The search for a party had brought her to this Leaf, having heard rumours of Wise Shire. Since they would be on this boat for several days, she had ample time to get to know them. “How about we head indoors and play some cards?” she suggested. In Korith’s mind, there was no better way to get to know someone (or passing the time) than playing games.

“Later,” Reysha promised and looked out towards the land. The ship had been turned to face westwards by now, reducing the amount of surface they offered to the wind. Although it still felt like they were moving quite slowly, the vessel was gaining speed now. “I want to greet the rest of my party when they get here.”

“What do you mean by that? Aren’t they already on board?” Korith asked.

“Nope, they’re… there they are,” Reysha said and pointed south of their position.

The kobold strained her eyes to spot what the tiger girl was talking about. At first there was nothing. Then she realized that one of the seagulls in the distance was uncharacteristically large. Two of them, and they were getting closer. After two more minutes, it became clear that those weren’t seagulls at all and that they were getting closer rapidly.

The two entities separated when they were close enough to be properly recognized as humanoids. One was circling above, slowing down and aligning his path with the path of the ship. The other gracefully hovered down onto the boat. Her pale skin practically shone in the sunlight, making her seem like an angel descending. Korith had no idea that her feeling was right on the shinies.

“If you would please make room for my darling,” Aclysia told the sailors and other travellers that crowded around the main deck to see what was happening.

“Stop gawking!” Joey screamed down from the steering wheel. “Just give them some spa- fucking hell he’s massive!”

Apexus landed on the board as softly as he could. Which, thanks to the space Aclysia had swiftly cleared, was about as gentle a two-metre-tall mountain of muscle and covert slime could be asked to land on a moving target. Feet hitting the board with a hollow ‘THUD’, the humanoid chimera adjusted his robe and looked around the ship. Blue eyes and a straight back conveyed a mighty presence.

‘Hamena, hamena, hamena,’ Korith thought.