“Well, ain’t this a sight for sore eyes.” The Cow Girl exclaimed, pulling her wagon over to the side of the road as she greeted some familiar faces. She was doing a delivery to a more remote region than usual, having received a request for a large milk delivery to a certain village after their usual supplier had problems. The last thing she had expected was to see her childhood friend’s adventuring party all the way out in the sticks, far from danger, albeit without the big man himself. In fact, there was a conspicuous lack of men in general, the Cow Girl spying two blondes in pure white outfits and an green-haired Elf. “What’re y’all doing all the way out here?”

“Ah! Goblin Slayer’s friend!” The Priestess stated, recognising the familiar voice and most definitely recognising that familiar cleavage. “Good day to you! I didn’t expect to see you either.”

“Miss Priestess, Miss Elf,” The Cow Girl nodded, the Elf giving a quick wave of recognition, although she seemed to have a somewhat surly attitude today, even more than usual. She glanced over at the maiden in white, who to her surprise was wearing a blindfold. “And who’s this cutie? You escorting her?”

“More like she’s escorting us.” The Elf said jokingly. “Meet the illustrious Sword Maiden.”

“Greetings to you, friend of Goblin Slayer.” The Sword Maiden politely said, bowing her head as well.

“Geez, you guys sure are keeping company with some big fish.” Cow Girl remarked. “Must be a tough job.



“Quite the opposite, if all goes well.” The Sword Maiden smiled. “And not just because of my presence.”

“Goblin Slayer didn’t come with you this time?” the Cow Girl looked around just to make sure he wasn’t hiding somewhere.



“No goblins, no Goblin Slayer.” The Elf said sardonically. “Besides, that guy doesn’t know how to have fun, I think he’s allergic to the idea of breaks.”

“It’s not a break.” The Sword Maiden said slightly defensively. “It’s a very important mission that happens to take place at the resort village of Moonpool. Anything else we do there is totally coincidental.”

“You don’t have to pretend in front of her, Maiden.” The Priestess decided to stop the Maiden from embarrassing herself earlier. “You did say that you wanted some companions and an excuse to take a little time off from your duties.”

“Oh, y’all are taking a break? I was just headed there too.” The Cow Girl brushed aside the Maiden’s concerns with her cheery attitude.

“If you’re heading there anyway,” The Elf said. “Mind if we continue this conversation on your wagon? We kind of missed our carriage and we’ve been hoofing it on foot all day.”

“Sure thing! Welcome aboard.” The Cow Girl gestured for the appreciative group to climb aboard and rest their feet. Whatever it was, it must have been 

Once they were settled in, she was quickly brought up to speed. The Maiden had received a request

“Y’know what, count me in. I’ve been workin’ myself to the bone anyhow, I’d been meaning to make a pit stop before heading back. The old man won’t miss me for a couple of weeks.” The Cow Girl grinned, bringing their group from three to four.

“Folks around here sure are well fed.” The Cow Girl commented, glancing at their stretched out clothes and expanded waistlines.

“This is the incident that my services were requested for.” The Maiden said in a serious tone of voice. “Something has been causing the locals to magically gain weight, with no visible cause.”



“...They didn’t need you to go investigating something like this, did they?” The Cow Girl asked with a crooked smile, and the Maiden blushed again.

“I may have intercepted a request intended for more low-rank adventurers…” The Maiden 

“Well, who cares? You deserve it, we deserve it, everybody deserves a stay at the hot springs.” The Elf decided to sweep it all aside, they were already here so they may as well not feel any shame about it. “We’ll solve this case in a day or so and then spend a week kicking back.”



“That certainly sounds like a plan to me. It’ll be nice to have a silly quest like this under our belts instead of a life or death struggle for once.” The Priestess smiled. How hard could solving a case of mysterious weight gain possibly be?

–

“Welcome! Will you be staying with us for long?” asked the proprietress of the inn the group were to be staying at, a particularly fat woman who must have weighed in the hundreds of pounds, based on her hefty second chin and the fact that her gut was pressing against the counter she stood behind. She was wearing a curious outfit from the far east called a kimono, with her hair done up in a traditional style of that region. From what the group knew of the village’s history, the innkeeper’s family were migrants who had capitalised on the natural hot springs in the area and replicated a common type of combined hot spring and inn that existed in their home country. “I’m sure you’re aware of the ongoing, um, epidemic, and you seem like adventurers, so I expect you may not be staying for long.”

“Uh, let’s say about a week or so.” The Priest. “And we’re here specifically for that, actually.”

“I see! You must be those investigators the mayor asked for. Shall I book you in for the tailor at the end of your trip?” The fat woman asked without hesitation. “We’ve started offering a package deal with our guests for anybody who stays for a week or more, seeing as they’ll be needing it by the time they leave.”

“We’re not gonna need it!” The Elf barged in with slightly red eartips. “Just leave it to us, we’ll have this case cracked in three days tops!”

“My, I certainly hope so. I’m spending a fortune on making sure my clothes keep up with the rest of me” The overl plump proprietress smiled. “Good luck, you girls!”

After settling in overnight and enjoying the hot springs and delicious local cuisine, the group decided not to laze around and to instead focus their efforts on solving the case as quickly as possible. The idea of a curse of weight gain seemed ridiculous, but it would be even more ridiculous if they themselves started suffering from it.

After settling in at a local inn and enjoying their first night, the group got to work investigating the village and interrogating the villagers. The first thing they noticed was that although they’d thought that the entire village had gotten chunky, any overweight male waistlines were purely self-inflicted. The spontaneous weight gain seemed to affect only women, with nobody having any idea why. The group scoured the village, investigating seemingly every avenue with no cause in sight. Everybody seemed collectively clueless, with reactions ranging from mortified that their perfect figures had been ruined, to those who had decided to collectively relax and felt a sense of comfort in that they no longer needed to watch their weights, because everybody else as in the same boat as them.

“Well, that was a whole lot of nothing.” The Elf complained as the group relaxed in the local hot springs that the village was so famous for after managing to get hands-on interviews with nearly everybody in the village, male or female. “Not a single clue in a whole week!”

“I’m sure something will turn up soon.” The Priestess said optimistically. She certainly hoped so

“Has it started affecting y’all yet?” The Cow Girl asked, her milky cleavage floating on the water. “I haven’t noticed much myself.”



“That’s because you’re already chu-” The Elf was cut off as the Sword Maiden reached over and dunked her head underwater.

“It’s been going on for months, so I’m sure just a week will hardly be noticeable.” She smiled confidently, each one of the group besides the Cow Girl avoiding the elephant in the room, which was that they were already starting to feel a bit softer. Toned tummies were turning pinchable, thighs were getting bigger, and even their chests were poking out a bit more. Still, it was only a handful of pounds. Soon they’d find a lead, and then they’d be home free having worked off the weight on the walk home…

–

“Thank you for choosing our services, esteemed guests.” The local tailor said with a broad, shameless smile as she took in the adventuring group after three weeks of dead ends and lazing around the village enjoying themselves as they “waited for opportunities to present themselves”.

The group had gotten seriously plump, each one sporting thick thighs, asses that filled out chairs, sagging breasts, and rounded faces that betrayed their chubbiness even if they were to wear loose clothing. Their outfits were totally inadequate now, forcing them all to go to the tailor for emergency size upgrades.

“So, have you found any leads yet?” The tailor asked conversationally while she measured the group, the Elf 

“We’re on the verge of a breakthrough!” The Elf blustered as the tailor wrapped her measuring tape around her pot belly.

“I must admit, it’s proving tough.” The Sword Maiden admitted. “I feel no closer now than when I arrived.”

“Well, now you know what the rest of us feel like.” The tailor commented as the tape dug into the Elf’s love handles. “Still, makes us all feel better that you city folk are having as much trouble as our locals did.”

“I bet you’re making a real tidy profit off of this whole business.” The Elf commented.



“That I am!” The tailor chuckled. “Though as you can see, I’m as much of a victim as the rest of them.”



The woman had long black hair done up in a neat bun, and was about as heavy as the innkeeper, having to shuffle backwards to avoid pressing her huge round gut into her customers, while her footstool was practically swallowed by her oversized ass. She had sharp eyes that couldn’t be dulled by her softened face, and the Elf, Priestess, and Cow Girl could tell that they were the eyes of somebody who saw her own obesity as quite the reasonable trade for profit.

 The Priestess couldn’t help but look apprehensively at the woman, feeling that her own butt had gotten quite large lately. Was this the fate in store for all of them if they couldn’t figure out who or what was causing it?

“Oops, sorry about that.” The Cow girl said very apologetically as the measuring tape came away from her puffy nipples dripping with milk. With her breasts already bigger than her head, it was no surprise to anybody that “cow” wasn’t just because she worked on a farm. “My girls have really started to go off since I got here, must be a side effect…”



“Have you considered bottling it?” The tailor joked, the Cow Girl stroking her burgeoning second chin. Now there was a thought…

–

“So.” The Elf said, loosening the belt on her inn-provided yukata as the group recovered from their latest soak in the immensely comfortable hot springs. “It’s been what, a month and a half, and we’ve got zip. Do you think we should 

The group shuffled their feet. 

“I can’t help but feel like it would be a waste to turn back now with nothing to show for it.” The Priestess admitted.



“Maybe the culprit is being extra careful because they know we’re here.” The Elf speculated. “And if we just work harder, they’ll slip up and we’ll catch them in the act!”

It was hard to call what they were doing working harder, as the group were all lazing around not even dressed for going out on the town. The group spent most of their time enjoying their vacation, the sunk cost fallacy causing them to disregard their increasingly bloated bodies. They were already past the point of no return, why worry further? If anything being so fat meant that they could gorge themselves and gain even more without worry, exacerbating the problem as the group grew progressively more lethargic the more time passed.

Of course, they’d all grown in their own unique ways. The Elf was the most bottom heavy with a relatively modest chest (still too large for her to cup with her hands), with tremendous thighs and an ass that was constantly bumping the others in the cramped corridors of the inn, the group able to only have two standing side by side before they started to worry about pressing their hips against the walls. The Cow Girl was bustier than the others by an order of magnitude, breasts swollen to twice the size of her head and requiring constant milking to avoid lactating at inopportune times, the Elf having gained somewhat of an addiction to bottles of the Cow Girl’s fresh milk, constantly fighting the temptation to ask to have it straight from the source. She had a hefty ass and sagging belly of her own, but othewise was so top-heavy that she merely looked overweight compared to the rest.

The Sword Maiden had the most well-rounded figure, with a bloated hourglass caused by her massive breasts and ass with cheeks that were larger than the cushions she enjoyed sitting on. Her gut stuck out as far as her chest and was contained in two pillowy folds, while her arms were so thick that one could hardly see herself swinging a sword, not without bumping her own breasts and sending herself jiggling.

The Priestess was the most belly heavy, her gut sticking out several feet while her hips gave her a distinctly apple-shaped figure. Due to her short height she seemed even heavier than the others, and was constantly huffing and puffing as she walked due to her poor stamina made worse by her weight and lack of exercise recently, unless you counted the burden of having to lift her own girth.



Each had their own excuses for letting themselves get this bad. The Priestess had simply given up and tried not to think about it too much, the Elf declared that she was a vegetarian and would naturally shed the weight, while the Cow Girl stated that she’d probably burn it while working on the farm, and that she didn’t mind her figure one way or the other. The Maiden diplomatically stated that her figure was irrelevant as long as she could perform her duties, although the others wondered if she’d be spending the immediate future in a completely administrative role with how big she was getting.

“Miss Maiden,” The Priestess whispered. “I don’t mean to impose, but do you think you could join me in some late-night stake-outs? I think that we’ve been too busy focusing on investigating during the day and enjoying ourselves at night, it’d be easy for the culprit to be running around under our noses. The other two can stay here, I don’t think they’d be patient enough to sit there for most of the night watching one location.”



“That does make sense.” The Maiden agreed. It was an obvious conclusion, but the group had been enjoying their routine so much that they’d been reluctant to do anything genuinely uncomfortable. “And you won’t have to worry about night vision with me. Where were you thinking?”



“I have a few places in mind, but I don’t think they’ll be there every night.” The Priestess admitted. “It could take us a couple of weeks, but it’s the best idea I’ve got.”



“Then it’s worth a try.” The Sword Maiden said. “I don’t mind how long it might take, as long as we get the job done.”



The Maiden wasn’t lying when she said that. Perhaps due to losing her sight, she hardly cared what her body looked like. Being so heavy was almost comfortable, so it was fine if she got a little bigger…

–

“Miss Priestess, I know I agreed to this, but…”



“Shh, miss Maiden!” The Priestess said, shifting her huge ass 

“But it’s been almost two weeks!” The Maiden moaned as quietly as she could. “If we take any longer, we won’t be able to hide behind anything in the first place!”

The two of them had gotten seriously obese in their determination to not leave empty-handed, the dark blanket the two had pulled over themselves to avoid the chill as they staked out (ate snacks and very quietly chatted for a few hours in the middle of the night. The blanket had been quite adequate when they started, but adding another hundred pounds meant that the two were constantly tugging at it and fighting over who got to have the entirety of their chunky thighs covered. It was the source of a lot of argument, as the white yukatas they primarily wore these days were too visibly otherwise.

“Shh! I think I see something!” The Priestess said, pointing at a figure obscured by the veil of night approaching the well where the two most commonly staked out, as it was the most obvious place to watch.

“Maybe they’re just thirsty.” The Maiden suggested, eager to stop wasting her nights out here and enjoy her comfortable futon back at the inn.

“Look, they’re pouring something in! I knew it!” The Priestess said, her most obvious guess, the local water supply being tainted, turned out to be accurate. It didn’t really matter if it was right or wrong, as there was no other practical water supply meaning that they couldn’t just stop the townspeople from using it. Besides, the culprit probably would have figured out another method anyway.



“Shall we catch them now?” The Maiden asked, ready to leap into action, perhaps forgetting the state of her body as the broad, clearly female figure waddled off.

“No, they might be able to destroy the evidence if they see us coming.” The Priestess decided, although really it was because the two were in no condition to actually catch them if they ran, and stealth was clearly not on the table. “We’ll get everybody together and do it tomorrow…”



–

“Ah, good timing! I just finished on your clothes.” The tailor said cheerfully as the group returned to her home, the porky adventurers taking up most of the room with almost two thousand pounds of woman in the room altogether.



“Thanks. Do you think you could help us get them on?” The Priestess asked shamelessly, the gorup slipping into greatly enlargened versions of their usual outfits.

Each were so fat that their arms squashed against their breasts and love handles just by moving them around, the Elf seriously doubting she had enough dexterity to use a bow as she required the most help changing from her yukata into her usual multi-layered outfit, the corset strings now largely decorative as her fat bulged out over the ends of her top, shorts, and thigh-high boots

“So, did you finally find the culprit who’s been fattening us all up?” The tailor asked as she helped the Elf into her shorts, the once ultra-flexible Elf barely being able to bend over. The Cow Girl seemed most self sufficient, fairly easily putting her overalls on, her beach balls squeezed tight even after her fresh tailoring, perhaps due to the fact that she hadn’t milked herself since this morning and her breasts were subtly bigger just from that. “I guess not, or I would have heard about it by now!”

The Sword Maiden’s skirt seemed more like thin strips of cloth as most of her thighs and hips were proudly exposed, the Priestess managing to be the most modest as she resembled a big white butterball, barely able to reach her own navel with how fat she had gotten.

“We do believe we’ve finally found a lead though.” The Maiden said, the tailor’s ears perking up.

“Really? Who? Don’t tell me, the inn owner?” She said as if they were discussing some juicy gossip.

“Yes, they were closer than we thought all along.” The Priestess said dramatically. “Miss tailor, it’s you! We caught you red-handed at the well last night!”

“Huh? Seriously?” The Elf exclaimed, just as surprised as the culprit. “Wait, you guys didn’t tell me?”

“We weren’t sure about your poker face, sorry!” The Cow Girl said apologetically. “I’ll give you some free milk later to make it up to you!

“You guys are terrible!” The Elf complained. “Just so you know, the only reason why I didn’t think it was the tailor was because it was too obvious!”

“Hang on, what proof do you have!?” The tailor shouted desperately, the similarly bloated woman having her escape route blocked off by the wall of women before her. “I’m sure you saw somebody, but how do you know it’s me?”



“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” The Cow Girl put her hands on her extremely wide hips. “You must be making a fortune off of this business, what with everybody needing new clothes every other week. Gettin’ fat yourself is barely anything compared to the profit.”



“It might be too dark to see anybody for a regular person, but you can’t fool these eyes.” The Maiden said, pointing at her blindfold. “I can see a person’s individual aura, and yours was unmistakable. If we search your house, I’m sure we’ll find whatever potion you were using.”

The tailor looked desperate, then slumped as she realised that there was nowhere to go, and that her hiding place for the potion would eventually be discovered.

“Well, you people seem to have figured it all out. But that was days ago! If you knew, why didn’t you catch me earlier?” The tailor asked with gritted teeth. “I just spent two days sewing your clothes for you.”

“We needed you to fix our clothes first, honestly.” The Elf admitted, and the tailor had to admit that this was fair enough…

–

“Shame we couldn’t stay longer.” The Elf sighed as the group sat on a carriage pulled by three extremely muscular-looking horses. “We finally solved it, it wouldn’t have made us any fatter if we stayed longer.”



“The potion will still take another couple of weeks to wear off.” The Priestess pointed out. “And we already stayed there for much, much longer than we intended…”



“I did enjoy it, all things considered.” The Maiden said. “I haven’t had a good vacation in goodness knows how many years.”



“I don’t know what I’m gonna tell everybody back at the guild.” The Elf groaned. “Maybe I should go back to the forest until I work this off… No, wait, that’d be even worse!”

“Let’s just say that we fought a very strong monster with some very strange magic.” The Priestess suggested. “If anybody questions it, we’d just ask them if they’d rather be fat and victorious, or skinny with an entire dead village behind them!”



“That’s a hell of an excuse.” The Cow Girl laughed. “But it’s better to just be honest or it’ll be even more embarrassing when the truth comes out.”

“Easy for you to say.” The Elf grumbled. “By the way, are you gonna keep selling that milk f yours? Uh, asking for a friend…”



The Maiden stayed silent. Not just because it was her fault they all got into this mess to begin wit, but because she couldn’t admit that she didn’t enjoy just how soft and comfortable her new body was. If only her eyesight was better, she thought to herself, she bet that everybody around her were ever so plump and cute right now…