Several villagers came out of their homes, shocked by how the situation had turned out. Everyone thought Oolong was a powerful monster who couldn't be defeated, but in reality, he had been beaten by a single sick girl.
As far as they knew, Nyra couldn't even get out of bed because of her illness, while Oolong was the monster the whole village dared not confront, even though some of them had firearms.
However, the result of their confrontation was the monster's downfall, so quickly and humiliatingly that it was hard to believe.
Those who had been watching in fear from inside their homes came out and gathered around the scene; a certain indignation was noticeable as they saw that Oolong was so weak and pathetic.
Nyra's aunt was one of the first to approach; she was the most incredulous, but it wasn't because of Oolong. Her surprise was due to her niece, who had recently awakened from her coma and seemed to have more energy than ever.
"Nyra..." Her voice sounded softly as she drew closer.
Nyra was holding Oolong by the collar of his shirt, she turned her gaze and her cold expression softened, giving way to a slight, gentle smile "Auntie, don't worry, I'm fine. That trash already said he's going to take us to the girls, they're all alive"
Oolong had said that they were all alright, but she didn't believe it; to her, it only meant that they were alive.
"That was much easier than I expected" Bulma approached them "Now that everything is settled and you're going to rescue the girls, could you give me your dragon ball?"
"Dragon ball?" The older woman asked, confused about the request.
Nyra raised an eyebrow "I was the one who sorted everything out in the end, but you want to collect your reward before we even see the girls? What you have in beauty, you lack in greed..."
Internally, she was very thoughtful, imagining that there must be something very important about this object.
Bulma clicked her tongue "Goku was going to handle this as promised, and in the end the result will be the same, right?"
Nyra was about to answer when she felt something, so she turned her face to Oolong, her eyes half-closed "Try to transform and I'll make you wish for death"
Oolong felt his stomach churn 'How did she know I was going to transform?' He began to tremble involuntarily.
Even Bulma felt her body shiver at the sound of that, so she took a step back, approaching Goku, who looked bored, with his arms crossed behind his neck.
Nyra turned her gaze to her and noticed her distancing herself, letting out a sigh she said "Let's do this, you come with us to his hideout, Goku will keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't escape, while you tell me why you want this dragon ball so badly"
...
A large group of people left the village; at the front was Oolong, tied up with ropes, and Goku holding the rope, while behind them were the parents of the girls who had been kidnapped earlier.
Behind them all were Nyra and Bulma, chatting as they followed everyone.
"So all you have to do is gather the seven dragon balls and any wish will be granted?" Nyra's voice sounded with a hint of disbelief.
"Well, that's what the legends say, we won't know for sure until we gather them all... Anyway, I'm doing this on my vacation, so if it's all a lie, I'll still have traveled the whole world" A subtle smile appeared on Bulma's face.
"It's an optimistic way of looking at things" Nyra slowly turned her gaze to the sky, seeing some white clouds amidst the blue of the sky.
"Since this Dragon Ball has the potential to be something so incredible, I want two things in exchange for giving you mine..." She said, without taking her eyes off the sky.
Bulma bit her lower lip "What exactly do you want?"
Nyra's gaze slowly lowered to her and she said "First, I want you to give me as much money as you can. Second, I want to go with you to look for the remaining dragon balls"
"That's all?" Bulma asked incredulously.
After all, Nyra hadn't mentioned a specific amount, only asked for as much as she could afford, so it wouldn't be difficult to fulfill that, and she also saw no problem in having another companion on her adventure.
"If this is simple for you, then it will be easier. Tell me, how much money do you have to give me? You must have money left over to be traveling the world"
Bulma made a contemplative expression 'I can't give away everything I have, or I won't have any money left for the rest of the month...'
"500.000 zeni, do you think that's enough?" Her voice sounded both uncertain and hopeful.
Nyra blinked several times in a row "You must be very rich to offer so much so casually... I just wanted to leave some money for my aunt so she could take a vacation while I'm away, so this is more than enough"
Money wasn't for her; after all, even though she didn't know much about this world, she was confident she could make her own fortune once she regained some of her former strength.
She just wanted to leave some money for her aunt so she could leave without worrying about the woman.
It took no more than half an hour from when they left the village and they had already arrived at their destination.
The place was off the beaten track and somewhat hidden by the terrain, but once you got close it was hard not to notice.
It wasn't a hideout, it was like a small palace, which was extremely flashy.
As they approached the entrance, everyone accompanying them was anxious, after all, it was their daughters who were inside that place.
Nyra stopped staying behind and moved forward to stand beside Oolong, looking at him sternly.
Despite resembling a small, ancient palace, the doors were technological and could only be opened with a password, which Oolong quickly typed in.
They all entered together, with eager steps. Inside, it was like a modern mansion, a much better environment than in the village. In the background, it was possible to hear music coming from a room further on.
"They must be in the main hall..." Oolong said with a sigh, as he guided everyone in the direction from where the sound was coming.
At that point, Goku had released the rope, allowing the pig to move freely, although its arms were still tied behind its back.
Bulma scanned the mansion with her eyes "It seems he made quite a bit of money scaring the villagers..."
Nyra frowned 'Everyone in the village is a normal person. If even one of them knew about mana, that pig would never have succeeded in his deception!'
They quickly arrived at a large, spacious hall. The first thing everyone noticed were the three girls; they were all there and didn't look at all like terrified kidnapped girls or anything worse.
One of them was dancing in the middle of the hall, following the rhythm of the music. Another was leaning against a counter, with a drink in her hand. The last one was lying in a recliner.
Besides their relaxed demeanor, they were wearing very different clothes from those worn by the villagers; their clothes were much more refined and looked brand new, something impossible to maintain while working in the fields as the villagers did.
Overjoyed to be reunited with their daughters, the parents called them by name as they approached "You're safe now, we came to rescue you!"
"Save us?" the girl who had been dancing asked, momentarily confused, but then she seemed to understand "It's true, we've been gone for a long time and you haven't heard from us"
"We didn't mean any harm, we would have visited you, but Oolong said we couldn't, so there's no way around it. But don't worry, we're doing very well here!" The girl leaning against the counter said, before taking another sip of her drink.
Nyra watched the whole scene in disbelief, as the parents ran towards their daughters with tears of joy, the girls acting casually, as if they were just on vacation away from home and had forgotten to call.
She turned her gaze to Oolong, and without her asking, he said "These girls, none of them are fit to be good wives... After they saw my true form, none of them are afraid of me, but if I let them go back, they'd ruin my disguise... Now these three just take advantage of my money and do nothing all day!"
A sigh escaped Nyra's lips, a mixture of mockery and relief "You're quite pathetic, aren't you?"
The pig lowered its head "Anyway, you can take all three; it'll be better without them here"
...
Nyra did not stay to see the outcome between the parents and daughters, returning to the village with Bulma, Goku, and Oolong.
Entering her house alone, she saw her aunt sitting in a chair. The woman seemed anxious, until she saw the girl and her expression changed to relief and happiness.
"Aunt..." Nyra smiled, but her eyes held a sense of sorrow.
While she had only met the woman a few hours prior and exchanged a few words, she had also known her for years through the memories stored in her body.
"I know this might seem a little abrupt, but I'll be traveling with those people who arrived in the village earlier"
Nyra could see her aunt's expression change once again "What do you mean? Where are you going and why?"
The girl took a deep breath "We're going to travel the whole world. That girl with the blue hair, Bulma, she's traveling the world during her vacation, and I'm going to follow her. As for the reason... It's because I fell in love with her"
Nyra tried her best to act as convincingly as possible. She had even been interested in Bulma, but to fall in love to the point of following her so suddenly? That wasn't the case.
But the real explanation would be too complex to give without revealing that she was a reincarnation, and it would also worry her aunt a lot. Compared to that, appearing to be a lovestruck young woman was much better.
The aunt's eyes widened "You fell in love with that girl?! You like... girls?"
"I like boys too, but that doesn't matter now, because I fell in love with her" Nyra smiled, still acting lovestruck.
She moved closer to her aunt and held her hands "The trip around the world will last less than a month, but I intend to stay with her after that... I promise to call you often, I'll come back at the end of the year to visit you"
While her aunt was still speechless, Nyra took something from her pockets and placed it in the woman's hand.
The aunt looked, her shock deepening "What is this? Where did this money come from?"
It was a wad of 10,000 zeni bills; there were 45 notes stacked and held together by a rubber band.
"You know that orange sphere with stars inside, the one I said I'd give Bulma? I convinced her to buy it!" Nyra smiled excitedly "She wanted to give 300,000 zeni, but I negotiated and got 500,000, and I kept 10% for my negotiating efforts"
"You had already agreed to let her keep it, so it's okay that I sold it, right?"
"Was that thing really that valuable?!" The aunt was silent for a moment, then handed the money to the girl "You should take it all; I didn't even know it had any value, and you'll need it if you travel..."
Nyra quickly refused "Auntie, do you think a girl who pays so much for a pretty ornament has money problems? Money won't be a problem traveling with her. Besides, I want her to use that money to take a vacation"
She moved her hands to the woman's face and gently stroked it with her thumb just below her eyes "When I come back at the end of the year, I don't want to see those dark circles anymore"
Tears could be seen welling up in the woman's eyes, while her mouth trembled slightly, it was a mix of emotions.
...
After finishing saying her goodbyes and gathering her things, Nyra left with her new group, leaving that village and her aunt behind.
Now in a motorboat, in the middle of a crystal-clear river surrounded by rocky hills, Nyra stretched in her seat, gazing at Bulma, who was piloting beside her.
"Hey, do you really think it's a good idea to bring that pervert with us? Even though he's pretty pathetic, he's still not the kind of person you want around" Her voice came out softly, just loud enough to drown out the sound of the engine.
In the back seat, Goku and Oolong sat side by side, with the former gazing at the water in wonder, while the latter stared ahead in annoyance.
"I didn't want to be brought along either... The only good part is when we all sleep together, hehehe" His expression shifted to a more perverted one.
Nyra turned around "I think I hit you too lightly, maybe I should use you as a punching bag while we're together"
You could hear the sound of Oolong swallowing hard and then falling silent.
"He's really disgusting, but he has a very interesting ability that could be very useful in some circumstances. Besides, if we just let him loose, he'll attack other villages" Bulma said, glancing sideways at the other girl.
Nyra sighed "I never found that kind of ability very useful, since anyone with the slightest practice can see through it... He was just lucky that I was the only one there with that knowledge and that I had never seen him in person"
She adjusted herself in her seat and simply turned her neck, smiling at Bulma "But if you like that ability, I can learn it. I would be much more reliable than a certain incompetent, who can only maintain the transformations for 5 minutes"
"Who said I'm going to teach you?" Oolong's voice sounded irritated, and the reply came quickly "Who said I need you to teach me?"
She turned her face to Oolong "Do you think it's that complicated?" As her voice left her mouth, black horns sprouted from her head, gradually lengthening and giving her a demonic appearance, which matched her arrogant smile.
Sighs of surprise rang out almost in unison; none of them had expected anything like this.
"You can transform too, that's so cool!" Goku said excitedly, while looking at the twisted black horns.
Nyra's smile softened slightly "Like I said, I've never practiced this, so at most I can add a few simple things. If I want to completely change my body like he does, then I'll need to practice for a while"
'Practicing this will help evolve my mana core, so it will be useful even if I don't actually use these transformations...' She closed her eyes as if enjoying the breeze, but secretly she was practicing.
Her pseudo-transformation, forming horns on her head, consumed some of her mana to maintain; something like that would take a whole day to deplete, even in her current state.
That was if she didn't try to recover her mana in the midst of it; if she actively spent some time recovering mana, that small expenditure would never deplete it.
The body naturally replenishes mana at a slow but steady pace. Nyra, however, can actively replenish her mana, making the process far more effective.
For someone at rank 0, it would normally be impossible to maintain a transformation while simultaneously recovering their mana, but she has the knowledge and experience of someone who has reached rank 6, someone who was one step away from becoming a master of mana.
'It will only take me a few hours to reach the gray stage... Reaching the white stage might take a day, so reaching rank 1 should take about two days...' She smiled in her mind.
She was considered talented in her previous life, yet it took her more than three months to reach rank 1, but now she was confident she could do it in three days. This was shocking, but pleasing.
The sound of the sputtering engine interrupted Nyra's thoughts, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Bulma stared at the panel in front of her, then clicked her tongue "Damn! I haven't used this boat in so long that I forgot to refuel it!"
She turned around and faced the pig "Hey, can you turn yourself into a gas can so we can fill up the tank?"
"It doesn't work that way!" He replied irritably.
Nyra nodded slightly "To do something like that would be much more complicated, to the point that it would be much easier for him to turn the motorboat over"
Hearing that, Goku quickly turned to Oolong and said "Then transform into a motorboat!"
Before he could respond angrily again, Nyra said "He probably could, but remember that the transformation doesn't change his strength, so he wouldn't be able to support our weight and we would sink with him"
"But I have a simple idea" She smiled wickedly "Goku climbs onto his cloud, then he pulls the boat with a rope, which in this case will be Oolong transformed into a rope, so we'll have five minutes to get somewhere where we can continue by land"
"Why does it have to be me?! There must be some ropes on that boat, use them!" The little pig quickly rejected the idea.
Nyra let out a light laugh "I was just kidding, using rotten rope would be a problem, it's better to use regular ropes"
///
Author's note: First of all, thank you for reading these three chapters. I'm glad to know that my writing is at least somewhat enjoyable, even if it probably has errors. Second, I would like to ask for your opinions, anything you think is relevant for me to pay more attention to, or ideas for the future of the work. Although I have many ideas for the future, everything is still open, since I've only written these three chapters.
Lastly, I'd like to warn you, in case you haven't noticed from the tags, that this story will contain NSFW content, both Nyra with women and Nyra with men. If this bothers you, it might be best to stop reading now, because this will be a significant part of the story.