Chapter 1

First off, a recap of the story so far!

I'm Karina-formerly male, currently female! The Goddess sent me to this world and gave me her power and a body in her likeness in order to settle a personal grudge, and then once my role was over and she didn't need me anymore, she told me I could do whatever I wanted here from now on! Set loose in this world with an incredibly OP ability called spatial magic, I decided I'd try my hand at being an adventurer in the town closest to me, which turned out to be Solasidore. A lot happened after that, including me purchasing the half-dwarf slave girl, Aishia, and heading to the port town Verald and tussling with some pirates to befriend the cross-dressing elf boy, Dia!

Huh? Dia isn't actually a cross-dresser, since it was something I forced him to do against his will, you say? Wh-What are you talking about? I don't recall doing anything like that. If you're just gonna criticize my actions, get outta here! Shoo! I just wanted to spice things up a little, that's all! Is that a crime?!

And so, we became a party of three, but more party members means higher living expenses, so I decided to make earning money my next goal. You can't run a harem when you're broke, after all! I've gotta find some way around here to get rich quick, so that I can add "sugar mommy" to my growing list of careers!

"I'm back, dear Solasidore! Did you miss me?"

At long last, we'd made it back to Solasidore. That said, the return trip itself hadn't taken long at all. In fact, I could have warped us to the gate in an instant with my teleportation ability, but the time stamps would have looked too suspicious, so we'd padded out the time by hanging out in our spatial magic base for a while.

Upon reaching the gate checkpoint while pulling a dummy merchant's cart behind me, I showed the guards my Trader's Guild license. Aishia was a slave and thus my "property," so she was exempt from inspection. Dia had his own ID, apparently, so I had him use that for now. Once we got into town, the plan was to sign him up as an adventurer and get him a guild license to match mine.

"'Sup, guards! It's your favorite merchant, Karina Shounin!"

"Thanks for all your hard work," Dia added.

"Let's see, a merchant from the Trader's Guild...and this girl's your slave? Hmm? But who's this other girl with you? I need to see her ID too."

"Er...here."

"Huh?! I-I'm terribly sorry, miss! You all may pass!" Seeing the pendant Dia produced from his breast, the guard treated Dia quite differently than he had me. It must have been a symbol of his noble status or something, because he didn't even bother to inspect my cargo. Of course, it wouldn't have been a problem if he had...but since lube and vibrators were my only inventory at the moment, it would have been a little embarrassing, so it was probably for the best.

"Man...I really want to get a normal ID soon," Dia mumbled dejectedly as we walked into the town.

Aishia opened her mouth to say something-most likely something along the lines of "so that ID is abnormal, then?" but decided against it. Well, judging from the guard's reaction, that much was probably obvious to her already.

"Yeah, if we keep using that ID every time, we're really gonna stand out. Let's head to the Adventurer's Guild right away and get you a new one."

"Thanks, big sis!"

There was no need to hurry and deliver the lube right away, so we headed to the Adventurer's Guild first.

* * *

The Adventurer's Guild was bustling, as usual. And the moment I entered, the other adventurers' gazes immediately went straight to my boobs. Like I've been saying, you guys really need to work on your subtlety...wait, no, a few of them are looking at Dia instead. Well, he is a cute elf cross-dresser, so I can't blame them.

Meanwhile, Dia's head was on a swivel as he gawked around at the guild in wonder. Aishia stood behind him to his left with a smug grin, clearly enjoying his reaction.

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever been inside an adventurer's guild! So this is what it looks like!"

"The guild in Verald looks a lot like this too, by the way. Oh, I spy a Blade! Sup, Blade?"

My eyes fell on Blade and his colleagues, hard at work drinking at the bar. Ever since the incident with the orc king, they were now known as the heroes who'd saved the town, so I was glad to see they'd been able to continue their adventurer work like normal despite their newfound fame.

"Yo, Karina! Back from Verald already, huh? I had no doubt you'd return safe, of course, but it's good to see you all the same. Wait...who's that elf next to you? A secret love child, perhaps?"

"Yeah, this is my adorable daughter-come on, Blade, you know better than that. Do I really look old enough to have a kid this big?"

"Yeah, I guess not. But she doesn't look like a slave like the other one, so I assume there are some extenuating circumstances I'm not privy to? Something outrageous, no doubt?"

"Heh heh, well spotted. Dia is...well, as you can see, unbelievably, amazingly cute! But apart from being an oasis for the eyes, she's also a genius! She's just so awesome that I had to have her in my party!" I grabbed Dia by the shoulders and pushed him forward as I introduced him to Blade and the others.

"O-Oh, I see," the veteran adventurer said, his smile strained. "Yeah, she's cute, all right. The name's Blade, little girl. Well met."

"Ah, m-my name's Dia. It's nice to meet you." He gave a polite, formal bow to Blade and his colleagues.

"All right, buddy, let's get you registered so we can become an adventuring party too!"

"Hey, Karina, did you just call that girl 'buddy'? Don't tell me..."

"Oh, that's because I'm actually a guy," Dia said.

"I...see. I wouldn't have guessed...but I suspect that's probably Karina's handiwork, so if you ever want an out, just let me know. I can shelter you from her if need be."

Blade immediately picked up on what was going on just from Dia's words. But come on, do you really need to treat me like I'm the root of all evil here?

Then Aishia's face twisted in shock. "Huh?! You're actually a boy, Dia?!"

"Y-Yeah... Wait, did you not know?! I thought I mentioned it!"

Come to think of it, Aishia had never been present for any of the scenes where Dia had announced he was a guy, had she? So wait, she'd never known? All this time?!

"U-Unbelievable! Even though you're that cute?!"

Yeah. Even though he's that cute.

"Even though you're that cute?!"

"D-Did you really need to say it twice, Aishia?"

"Well, let's just say Dia's gender is Dia and leave it at that," I suggested. "After all, no guy could possibly be that cute. Case in point, look at Blade over there. That's what a man looks like. And this is what a Dia looks like. Agreed?"

"I-Indeed, something so cute couldn't possibly identify as a man. Dia is a Dia. Phew." She let out a sigh of clear relief.

"I-I'm not so sure I agree with that logic..."

"Well, er, you know... Good luck." Blade said, patting Dia sympathetically on the shoulder.

Yeah, now that they were right next to each other, it was even more obvious how ridiculously cute Dia was, and it made me doubt his real gender even more. Sometimes it even made me want to check for myself. Not that I would.

Dia's registration was completed in no time. He already had an ID, for one, and unlike with me at first, we had the money to register him this time. He was immediately given the starting rank, Rank F. While I was at it, I decided to ask the receptionist to register the both of us as a party.

"And what will your party name be?"

"Uh... Whoops, I hadn't really thought that far. Dia, any ideas?"

"Huh? You're asking me? W-Well, let's see. Since our main job is mercantile work, and you duplicate stuff, how about 'The Fakers'?"

"Hey, that's not bad. Then we'll go with that."

"Very well. Then I'll get the paperwork ready."

As the receptionist turned away, Dia whispered in my ear. "A 'faker' is also someone pretending to be who they aren't, so I thought that'd be perfect for you, since you're trying to hide your identity and all."

"No kidding? You really gave it that much consideration in a split second? You really are a genius!"

"Actually... Sorry to disappoint, but I've been thinking about a name for the party for quite a while now..." he mumbled sheepishly.

"Really?! You were looking forward to being in a party with me that much?! Aww... You're just so adorable!"

Of course, our party was approved. Thus, "The Fakers" were born.

Next, it was time to strike it rich-at least enough to raise Dia's rank from F to E. I supposed I could do some more logging... Oh, right, I turned in so many before that it caused the market value of...