Testing My Luck in the New World

  “I thought you said we were going to speak privately?”

            After my walk through the city with the girls, I had a hunch where we were headed, but I didn’t think she’d actually take me to a tavern of all places.

            Reminiscent of the Adventurer’s guild in Amoranth, I could hear the lively music and raucous, drunken cheers of the patrons before we even stepped inside. The place was packed, and at only a little past two in the afternoon, I had to wonder if day-drinking was just the norm in this world. More importantly, given how this mess between us started, I had nothing but questions.

            “Don’t worry,” she said. “Nobody will bother us.”

            Miss Bellenfort shoved the swinging double doors to the place open, thrusting herself into the tavern much like a weary gunslinger might do in an old western movie. Likewise, the moment the sun caught her figure and cast her shadow over the faces of the patrons, several of them paled. Others hid behind their mugs, pretending not to notice. While a surprising few of the men who were already red in the cheeks stared longingly at her.

Meanwhile, despite the attention she drew to herself, none seemed to have noticed she wasn’t alone until I stepped up beside her.

            “Hey, Darwin,” She called across the room and the bartender stiffened, nearly dropping the mug he was wiping. “The back room empty?”

            “Y-Yes, it is, Lady Bellenfort. Would you like the usual?”

            “Obviously. And two glasses, please.”

            “Right away.”

Holding up an equal number of fingers, Miss Bellenfort strode through the bar and behind a curtain. I hurried to follow her, if anything to rid myself of the stares her declaration earned me. I couldn’t help but feel like everyone was looking at me like I was insane for sharing a drink with her, rather than being jealous for it.

 Following her golden mane and giant axe down a strikingly lonely hall, I noticed that the moment the curtain fell behind me, all other sounds from the bar faded. The hall had a sound-muffling enchantment placed on it, but I could still feel the vibrations through the floorboards once the music kicked back in.

“This way,” she called over her shoulder, sounding tired as she stepped into one of several rooms outfitted with the same curtains. I had to question the use of curtains that couldn’t be locked instead of a door, but I joined her all the same. She pulled her axe off her back and leaned it against the wall.

“Sit down.”

A casual, almost limp flick of her wrist directed me to sit across from her at a small table. I slid into the booth after her. However, when she sat down, she cupped her breasts with both hands and practically slammed them down on the table and the generous jiggle they made seemed to make it creak. Heaving a great sigh as she leaned her weight onto it, she peeked at me for only a second and, this time, I had no excuse ready to deny where I was looking.

She just closed her eyes and sighed again.

“Excuse me,” she said, rolling her shoulders. “I know these things are fun to look at, trust me, I do, but my shoulders are stiff like you wouldn’t believe right now.”

Gulping down my eyesight to compose myself, I pulled my sword off my hip and set it against the wall as well.

“You know, respectfully, a bra really would help with that. Least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

“And like I said last time, I don’t know what that is. But if you have one, I’d be happy to try it out.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t.”

“Maybe next time then.”

Yea. How nice would that be? I could make what might be the world’s first bra and give it to her as a sort of peace offering. I could die cringing at myself.

“Anyway, about why you called me out.”

Ready to move on from the embarrassment, and forcing myself not to look at the generous amount of cleavage she left on full display, I tried to speak, but she quickly rebuffed me with a shake of her head.

“Hold on. Darwin will be bringing the drinks soon. Can’t have him listening in.”

“I figured as much. But Miss Bellenfort, isn’t it a bit early to be drinking?”

Scrunching her brow, she waved me off.

“Stop calling me that.”

“Oh, uh, Lady Bellenfort, then?”

“No, you idiot. Just call me Elane. I feel like this conversation will take forever if you keep calling me Miss Bellenfort.”

“Right, uh, then you can just call me Alex.”

“Good. I hate referring to people by titles. It’s too cumbersome.”

As she spoke, a knock sounded against the wall before the curtain slowly parted. The man she called Darwin, who face was much harrier up close, brought in a tray topped with not one, but two bottles of rum and two crystal glasses to share between them. He set all this down on the table and the hairy backs of his hands caught my attention before the tail poking out his backside did.

Grunting with the effort it took her to lift herself off the table, Elane shoved a hand into her cleavage and the sound of clinking coins filled the silence. Darwin and I respectfully looked away in unison, he sighed.

“Here,” Elane said, slapping four gold coins on the tray. “I’ll be keeping whatever we don’t drink. And here.” She reached into her cleavage again and pulled out another silver coin to add to the pile. “Don’t let anyone bother us.”

“Of course, Lady Bellenfort. Please, take your time.”

Easily bought off, Darwin’s tail started to sway as he pocketed the coin. He set the bottles and glasses on the table and left almost as soon as he came. Elane waited a while before saying anything, likely making sure he wasn’t coming back, before taking up one of the bottles of amber liquid.

“Um, thanks for this. I can pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it. If I remember correctly, you said you don’t drink, right? But you will be drinking today.”

Completely forgoing to need to uncork the bottle, she pressed her thumb against the lip until the glass cracked. Without so much as a flinch to show she was in pain despite the blood dribbling down her wrist, she pinched and pulled the bottle’s top off, glass, cork and all. She tossed it aside and poured until both our glasses were half full.

“Are you okay? Want a health potion?”

“Huh? Man, you really don’t drink, do you?” she said, smiling for the first time today. “This is how sailors meet to drink as equals. We break the bottle so it can’t be closed again. Meaning we’ll be here a while. I only broke it because I invited you. Now, here.”

Instead of offering me a glass, she licked the blood off her finger and thrust her hand across the table. Taking the gesture the only way I could, I shook it. She nodded.

“Good. Now, drink it down.”

Without another word, she took up her own glass and downed the whole thing in one go. Seeing that she was waiting for me to do the same, and with a look that said this was expected of this little ritual, I downed mine as well.

Relieved at first that I didn’t feel the same unbearable burn my old body would have, my stomach still suffered an almost nauseating sense of intrusion. I’d only had a sip or two back at her mansion, and this was the first time I’d ever had a full glass.

“Pfft.”

            Smirking, just a little more of her beauty showing through what clouded her earlier, she poured us both another glass. Bringing hers back to her lips, she took another deep swig. She didn’t look to be waiting for me to do the same, but I did anyways. We were supposed to be meeting as equals, right? I was already starting to feel warmer, the nausea started to dissipate.

            “Goddess. This stuff is strong.”

            “Hoho? Not really. I think its rather tame. With rum, it’s the flavor you want to focus on, not how fast it can get you drunk.”

            “Then it’s just inexperience on my part.”

            Nodding to herself, Elane took another drink, this time a smaller one. And this time, I could almost swear I saw a bit of the same glee Yua had the first time we ate cake together. Or when Mana first tried the food here in the city.

            Once more, I took a drink myself and when the warmth started to spread, I said a silent apology to Yua. At this rate, she’d be stuck in her village for hours while I’m here drinking.

            Well, who am I kidding? She’ll be having her own fun throwing her fists around. I just had to put some faith in her and rest assured that she relayed the information we gathered before she did that.

            “So, did you really order Erika to act as my girls’ maid?”

            “Yup. I figured you wouldn’t come out of hiding if they weren’t well taken care of.”

            “I wasn’t exactly hiding. I was at the inn we were renting.”

            “Hoho? I see. I bet Erika was a blushing mess when you answered the door. You know,” she said, taking another sip. “She can smell it on you, you know? Even if you try to wash is off.”

            “Smell it? Oh… Uh, we weren’t doing that.”

            “Hahaha. You don’t need to lie. Both those girls of yours were lookers. And any man with slaves like that would…”

            “They aren’t slaves to me,” I interrupted. Her smile wavered. Feeling the mood shift in the negative after the alcohol was just starting to improve it, I took another drink and said, “Like I said, Yua is basically my wife.”

            Elane nodded almost apologetically. “What about that cute Kitty?”

            “She’s, uh… To be honest, she’s moving in that direction too. It’ll take some time, though.”

            With a shoulder-slumping sigh, Elane took another, deeper gulp of her rum.

            “Figures. But why not make a move already? I mean, she was willing to aim a bow at me for your sake. Not to brag, but if she tried that out in the bar, half the people there would have fainted.”

            “It’s not that simple. Her father asked me to help their people before he’d let me have her.”

            “I see. I see. Is that the guild mission you were talking about when we first met?”

            “No, actually the guild mission has nothing to do with it. Other than the flower we’re after being found in their forest.”

Seeing my chance to bring up my own reason for coming here, I downed half of the liquid courage left in my glass, much to her surprise.

“The problem is the band of thieves in the forest. They’ve been stealing from the cat-kin.”

“Thieves?”

I gave her the quick rundown of what was happening as she refilled our drinks. Choosing to forgo explaining how exactly we gathered what we knew, I told her only what she needed to know. She nodded along with my explanation without interrupting save to take a drink, but in the end, she didn’t look all that impressed.

“I see. The Duke can be a pain, but it can’t be helped that he’s busy.”

“You know him?”

“Yup. Have for a long time now.”

“Then do you think you could help convince him to do something about them?”

Elane looked like she wanted to shake her head, but, in the middle of taking a drink, she just looked at me.

“Haaa… No.”

“Hey, I know I’m partially responsible for what happened to you, but…”

“It’s not that,” she said, throwing up a hand to stop me before I could plead the cat-kin’s case. “I can’t help because I know why the Duke is busy.”

“You mean the meeting with Lord Argento?”

This gave her pause, but the surprised widening of her eyes lasted only a second.

“So, you know about that? Yes. Actually, I’ll be joining him in that meeting tonight.”

Discretely checking the curtain, which looked about as protective as any other piece of cloth, I said, “Isn’t that supposed to be some sort of secret?”

“Hoho? Why should I care? I was only asked to help because… Well, never mind that. Just know that I don’t want to attend. I’m just doing the Duke a favor and because of that, I know he is too busy to rally up some thief exterminators. Now…”

She paused, specifically to take a large drink. When she set her glass back down, she aimed her cobalt blue eyes square into mine.

“My question to you is, how did you manage to travel all the way here, do all that investigating, and still have time to meet with me in just a day?”

“… Magic.”

“Magic?” she laughed derisively. “You know I’m not as gullible as that little girl, right? No, wait… by chance, do you mean teleportation magic?”

“Wha… How did you…Oh?!”

Shit, oops. I think the warmth of the alcohol must have been getting to my head. I didn’t even try to deny it. Couldn’t say whether or not I was drunk yet, I don’t exactly have any experience drinking, but I can say that I wasn’t feeling all that bothered for accidentally outing one of the secret abilities I kept asking the girls not to share.

Surprisingly, Elane also looked unimpressed and just nodded along, rolling her shoulder again. Leaning forward, I thought she was about to use the table to hold up her breasts again, but she thumped her chin on her hand.

 

 

“See, now that makes sense.”

 “You don’t seem all that surprised. When Beth over in the Mage’s Guild found out, she nearly had a mental breakdown.”

“Pfft. Look at me. How do you think I managed to travel the world by this age? I’m no good with magic myself, but using it for travel isn’t exactly new to me. I use to travel a lot like that back in the day. Not always, but a lot.”

She boastfully flicked the wrist that wasn’t holding up her head, but I couldn’t help but feel as though a somber intonation colored her words. As soon as I caught it, she hid her lips behind her glass. By the time she finished her third glass, her cheeks were a little rosy and her eyes were filled with a wistful longing.

“You know, I used to be an Adventurer like you.”

“Hey now. You’re not about to tell me you quit after taking an arrow to the knee, are you?”

“What? No. A good potion could mend something like that before ever need to worry about a scar. What I’m saying is that… Wait, you know I’m a Cartographer, right?”

“Of course.”

It’s literally the reason why we met.

“Right, well when I was ten, I found out that that class was insanely rare. Not even one in a thousand children are born with it. Unlike other classes, it’s unlikely that it’ll be passed to your children.” She paused to take a drink. “From what I’ve heard, my father had it too. Must have gotten it from him.”

“Are you not sure?”

“Can’t be. It’s all hearsay. My parents… they died when I was young. That girl earlier, I grew up in the same orphanage as her. That’s why it was easy to convince Sister Maybel to help me out. She remembers me.”

“So, when you said the life you built was over, you meant from the ground up?”

She nodded.

“Far as I know, my father never did anything with it, but I put it to good use as soon as I could. Saved up what little money I could earn begging, bought some parchment and a quill, scouted some local danger spots and eventually sold the maps I made of them to the first Adventurer that would buy. Luckily, it didn’t take long to find one. And from there, my career and reputation sort of blossomed.”

Making a wide gesture with her hands, she slouched in her seat.

“When my customers were pleased with my maps, they came back for more. When they weren’t, I tried harder. Soon, when I had enough coin saved up, I left the orphanage and asked a group of Adventures to let me join them on a quest.

“I came to them, a child dressed in rags that hadn’t so much as seen the trees beyond the city wall. They should have turned me away, but their leader Timothy agreed to let me join the party so fast I nearly fell over beneath the weight of his smile. He even refused the coin I worked so hard to save, saying I could travel with them for as long as I wanted, so long as I made copies of any maps I drew for them.”

A warm smile spread across her lips as she stared into the amber liquid in her glass. She hesitated to bring it to her lips again, as if she’d lose those memories if the glass emptied, but she downed it anyways before instantly refilling it.

“A few of his comrades refused, saying I wouldn’t survive the trip since my body was so weak, but thanks to Monica’s promises to help, they relented. She was their healer and, I hate to admit, I did end up making a lot of work for her.”

“You were a kid. That can’t be helped.”

“Maybe, but I did what I could and often made trouble for them. Like with Bonda, the party’s heavy armor fanboy whose even heavier ass made the cart squeal endlessly every time he rode in the diver’s perch. He was supposed to use his shield to protect us, but he always ended up trembling behind it like a coward every time the others started arguing over something ridiculous, or how to tackle a quest Timothy’d plucked off the board haphazardly. I’d try to draw him into the arguments have them settled, but one of the others would come back with, see, you’re making Bonda worry, and the trouble would start all over again.

“Then there was Mykeal, our mage. He was always the helpful sort, building the campfires, mending torn clothes, using his wits to find us better deals in the cities and all that. But my tits weren’t fully grown back then, so I didn’t know how a man’s mind really worked. Turns out, he was a bit of a perv. Brave and intelligent like no other, but he spent most of his coin attempting to chat up whatever women he found in the taverns.” She paused, not to drink, but to laugh. “There was one time I found him by the river washing his clothes. I thought he was washing everyone’s, so I bundled up all my things and all Monica’s and brought them to him.”

“Uh oh.”

She nodded, laughing to herself. “Yup. Obviously, I was wrong. And when Monica found him enjoying her panties… Well, let’s just say she refused to use her magic to heal his broken nose for three full days.”

Stopping only to drink or laugh, Elane went on to share in exuberant detail the dozens of quests she’d gone on with Bellenfort’s Brigade and various other memories with them. I probably should have stopped her at some point so we could get back on topic, but I was enthralled by her stories of the Adventurer’s lifestyle that I quietly start to regret not setting out as a proper Adventurer sooner.

Midway through a funny story involving a broom handle, a goat, and a screaming maiden Mykeal had been trying to woe, she paused again, this time squinting at the ceiling in thought, before continuing.

“You know, now that I’m older, I think Monica only agreed to help out because she was sweet on Timothy. Didn’t notice as a kid, but the way she always made excuses to be around him makes sense now. And so does the way she’d sneak into his tent at night when she thought the rest of us were sleeping. Well, anyways, it was fun. Leaving the city for the first time.”

“They sound like nice people.”

“They were. Bellenfort’s Brigade. That’s what they called themselves.”

“Bellenfort? Like your name?”

She nodded, then took another long draw from her glass. Remembering my own drink, I hurried to drink some more myself. The nausea was already completely gone and, despite the melancholy in her tone, I found I couldn’t stop smiling at her.

“They started calling themselves that after cleaning up the bandits that took over old Fort Bellend. I didn’t do much to help, just kept the horses ready in case things turned sour. It didn’t though. None of them came back with so much as a scratch to brag about over drinks. To be honest, they weren’t much. Just a group of C-ranked Adventurers that got lucky enough to find the bandits passed out drunk after they’d drunk themselves stupid with the spoils they stole from a nearby village.”

            “Hmm. Fort Bellend. Bellend- fort. You think that up yourself?”

            “Hoho. Not very clever, is it?”

            “I like it, actually. Besides, I gave up my own name, so I really can’t complain.”

            “Gave it up, eh?” she let out a small laugh that quickly faded when she bit her lip. “Actually, I took the name to honor them.”

            I don’t know if it was curiosity or the alcohol, but I found my next question rolling off my tongue before I could think it through.

            “What happened to them?”

            “They died,” she said simply, then downed an entire glass in one go. “After several months of traveling together, we were attacked by bandits. Different ones. A savage bunch that didn’t even give a chance to talk before they aimed their blades at our throats. There were too many of them, but everyone got up to fight back anyways. I was just a little girl, so I hid. I tried to, anyways. It didn’t stop me from hearing Timothy’s sword shatter. Or the sudden stop to Monica’s scream. Bonda’s equally savage roar. And Mykeal’s begging for mercy when he was the last of the Brigade still standing.

“I was too young to put up any sort of fight, so they protected me, even though they didn’t want to. So, when they no longer could, one of the bandits ran at me and…”

            Elane snapped her eyes shut when the grip on her glass creaked. Solemnly, she touched a finger to her chest and traced it down the scar I’d been trying not to look at.

            “They took what little we had and left me for dead. They killed the people that were so nice to me and I watched them go. Watched them laughing and sorting out the loot they killed us for like it was just another day at work. Watching my shirt fill with red, I asked why. Why did they all have to die? None of us had enough money to make killing us worth the effort, so why bother?

“Unable to find an answer, I tried to ask Timothy, but his head was missing. So, I picked up Bonda’s axe and… and I don’t know. I just kind of blacked out after that. But when I came to, all of the bandits were dead and Bonda’s axe was covered in blood.”

            “I’m sorry. I don’t even know what to say to that, but here’s to Bellenfort’s Brigade.”

            I raised my glass and, forcing a smile, she clinked hers against it.

            “To Bellenfort’s Brigade. The only family I’d ever known.”

We both downed our drinks in a single gulp. She shook her head, clenching her teeth at the tasteful burn and wiped away a tear. This time, feeling as though I understood a bit of why she loved this stuff so much, I refilled our glasses.

            “It’s… It’s in the past. Anyways, it’s not all bad. That’s the day I got my Adventurer class. And that trip was when I finished my first large scale map. For all my luck was worth, it happened to catch the eye of some noble’s attendant. They bought it, brought it to their lord and eventually came back for more. Then they spread the word about the quality of my maps showing more of their own lands than even they knew about. See, one of a Cartographer’s abilities makes mapping places almost too easy. Most people don’t know this, but a regular person couldn’t do what I do unless they walked every inch of the area they wanted to map, while I just sort of need to be in the area to know anything and everything worth mapping. Oh, and don’t tell anyone. It’ll be a pain if they find out.”

            “I won’t,” I nodded, wondering if that ability was sort of like the innate knowledge my classes gave me about their professions. She continued.

            “Eventually, word even made it to King DeGarmo and he had me brought to the capitol. After a long chat, he hired me to map the world for his benefit. He had one of his men handed me my first bag of gold and I nearly buckled under the weight of it. I wasn’t even six-teen years old yet, and I was sure I’d made more coin than my parents ever had. And all I had to do was say yes. As you can guess, I didn’t hesitate.”

            “I’d have to question your sanity if you did.”

            “Right?” she laughed, downing another sip. “He even sent a platoon of the country’s best knights with me for protection.”

            “Were they the ones that taught you how to handle an axe?”

            “Hmm? No. Not really. They taught me a few things, but I was mostly self-taught. After what happened to Bellenfort’s Brigade, I started carrying Bonda’s axe with me wherever I went. Naturally, I practiced swinging it around too.”

Her rosy cheeks dimpled with a fierce smile as she mimed an overhead axe swing. I laughed, half out of drunken stupidity, half because of the way her chest bounced and nearly knocked over her glass.

Goddess, is this what it feels like to be drunk? Like love and sex, I’m starting to regret letting this feeling pass me by in my last life.

Taking another sip, unable to tell how many glasses I’d had despite my memory, I pointed to the giant axe she left leaning against the wall.

“Is that Bonda’s axe?”

“Pfft. Hell no. There’s no way I could have picked that thing up back then. His was just a plain hand axe. This one was made by a friend of mine.”

“Hmm. What about that coat, then?”

Thankfully, the time I spent around her sober afforded me the chance to notice the sea captain-esque look to the coat she used to bind her breasts. Smirking to herself, she pinched its lapel between her fingers and rubbed its fabric, as though for good luck.

“After a several years of working for the king, of him pouring through every map I ever gave him like he was addicted to looking at them, and after coming of age, he let me officially join his army and – blah blah blah – I drew lots of maps and rose through the ranks until I came to command the knights that once protected me. Becoming their captain earned me this coat.”

Staring down at her own chest, or rather her coat, she smiled fondly.

“To me, it was proof that I’d done something with my life. A life that may well have ended in a gutter somewhere had I done nothing with what I had. But I fought and fought hard. We got into several scraps in our travels and I grew and got stronger. We adventured, took on guild quests along the way to keep our coffers satisfied, found treasures and made names for ourselves. Then I grew some more. Then these damn things kept growing and suddenly I had a little more respect from my men.”

She gestured to her chest and took another drink while I tried to stop the drink I’d just taken from shooting out my nose as I laughed.

“Then, after my journey was done and King DeGarmo held a map to the world in his hands, hahaha! He was so happy, he granted me a noble’s title. Nothing special-ly, really. Just a Baronette. Other than people calling me Lady and earning the right to own a house in the city, it’s not really good for much. I dun have much actual power.”

Somewhere along our chat, we’d apparently finished off the first bottle. So, she cracked open the second one and poured. Finding myself too engrossed by her story, her beauty and the inexplicable laughter that kept bubbling up all on its own, I didn’t’ stop to question how much I’d already had. Not that it mattered. We clinked our cups together again and shared a drink.

“Ya know,” she said. “That’s why.”

“Pfft. Why what?”

“Obviously! That’s why I took da name Bellenfort. I, Elane, was a noblewoman. Can’t be a noble without a name, ya know? That wouldn’nt make sense.”

As if to toast to her own achievements, she reached for the bottle again and suddenly, I couldn’t stand the idea of her having another drop. Finding enough clarity in the moment to remember why we were here in the first place, I realized she’d been slurring her words for at least that last couple of glasses.

Maybe I was too drunk for my own good, I couldn’t know, but my hand shot across the table to grab hold of hers before she could pick up the bottle. For all the strength it took to wield that axe, to repeatedly pick herself up from the lowest of the lows, her hands were still just as slender as any other woman’s.

Belatedly noticing her own hand had stopped moving, Elane gawked at me. Her cheeks having been flushed for a long time now, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all, but she didn’t pull away.

“Elane,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Let’s stop drinking.”

“W-What? Why? Pfft. Can’t handle da booze?”

“No. I want to talk to the real Elane. Not the one that hides behind a bottle.”

The real Elane sounded just right. I didn’t want the drunk that talked more about her ass than anything else. Or the scared, violent woman on the verge of losing everything she worked so hard for. I wanted the one that could be her true self.

“You know,” I said, trying to forcefully sober myself up a little. “I used to hide a lot too, though I preferred hiding behind a computer screen.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Never mind that, just… Isn’t it lonely? Drinking like this, I mean? It was a little different for me, and knowing what you went through, I feel ashamed to admit I stayed like like that for years. Just watching my life fly right on by without me. But you, you made something of yourself. That’s something I can’t say I did, even though I had plenty of opportunities.”

“… What happened?”

“Nothing, really. I just got knocked down and couldn’t find it in myself to get back up. Well, I suppose it’s more like I tripped over my own feet, but you get the idea, right?”

I didn’t have much before I started hiding away, locking myself in my bedroom with only my thoughts and hobbies to keep me company. But she earned the sort of lifestyle most would kill for and she was drowning it all away with rum.

“Don’t you want to experience all the things you’ve been missing while you’ve been cooped up in your mansion drinking the days away?”

I may be projecting, I don’t know. Sober me probably wouldn’t have been able to say all this, but that’s how I felt. After the trouble in Amoranth was dealt with and we’d fled, and I experienced the bliss of married life with Yua, the same sort of bliss I’d almost purposefully refused myself back then, I only had regrets for how I lived my old life.

And I can tell Elane is headed down that path. And the street she’s walking is lined with booze.

She looked away, a pained grimace plastering itself on her face. She tried to pull her hand away, but I didn’t let go. Grimacing at the bottle, she spoke.

“It’s not that easy. Yea, life was hard back then, but once the king hired me and I started traveling, I had so, so much fun. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I never would have known how much I loved traveling and learning about the world, until it became my reason for living. My way of living. All the days I’ve lived out there in the wild, just drawing my maps, they were the most peaceful, most relaxing and funnest times I’d ever had. Then, when I finished my last new map, and the journey was suddenly over, I was… I don’t know, scared, I guess.”

“That the fun was over?”

“No, that I let them down. All that constant traveling reminded me of Bellenfort’s Brigade and what we should have been.”

“So you were traveling on their behalf?”

Elane shook her head and, were I not still drunk myself, I’d be able to say for certain that she’d squeezed my hand back.

“I’m probably a little too selfish to say something so grandiose. They died protecting me. I just… I wanted to keep adventuring with them. But when there was no longer any adventures to be had, no more lands to discover…”

“You felt like you were losing them? Their memory?”

“Something like that, yea. But I do also really love discovering new places. I love it a lot, actually. It is by far my most favorite thing in this world, and I ruined it. For the Brigade, for me. I wish we’d moved slower. Travelled longer. I spoiled myself rotten, and now all I have left is…”

Her once strikingly cobalt blue eyes drifted to the bottle and suddenly anger boiled up in me. An anger I could not conceive to suppress in my state. In that instant, that one glance, I knew I couldn’t let her make the same mistake I had.

            I jumped to my feet, gripped the edge of the table and threw everything against the wall. Glass shattered, liquid splashed, something wooden broke and a woman gasped in shock and regret. The commotion should have caused a stampede of angry bar staff to flood into the room, but the sound-muffling enchantment kept us hidden.

Her eyes shot open and she pulled her hand back and away from me to cradle it to her chest, as if suddenly afraid of the man she knew she could overpower.

“I’m still a little drunk myself, so this might not make sense, but drinking won’t make new adventures pop up out of nowhere!”

“I know that!”

“Then do you know you still have people that care about you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

My cheeks were burning, but the alcohol allowed me to keep going.

“Your maids care about you. At least, Erika does. You drunkenly ordered her to do something no girl should ever be forced to do, but after we parted and I was about to leave, she still defended you. Told me you weren’t so bad, despite how you treated her. Yesterday, she begged you not to kill me because doing so only would have hurt you too. And today. You sent her to my room without knowing what I might do to her, but she still went to deliver your message. She may be a slave, but she didn’t look like she was forcing herself to be there.”

“W-Why are you suddenly bringing her up?”

            “Because you’re making the same mistake I did! Don’t be so stupid! You have someone that cares, but you are ignoring them in favor of getting drunk. They can’t give you back your sense of adventure, but they can be there for you.”

            At least, that’s what I believe. Erika said she only acted like that when drunk, meaning she was otherwise mostly nice. As a slave, she had no reason to want to defend her master without being asked to, unless she wanted to. Denying that would be like denying the reality that is Yua’s love. And I refuse to do that again.

Goddess, why am I lecturing someone whose life I effectively helped ruin?

Elane stared at me, wide eyed for only a few seconds, but those seconds seemed to stretch on forever. Then finally, she laughed.

“Ha… Hahahahaha! Damn! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since someone talked back to me like that? Hahahahaha!”

“Ugh… All that and you were too drunk to listen.” Feeling as though my face had caught fire, I plopped back down in my seat. “Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut.”

Still laughing, she slowly shook her head as she wiped away a tear.

“Gods, no. I heard you loud and clear. But I have to ask, why do you even care?”

“Like I said, I don’t want to see you make the same mistake I did. My reasons may be entirely inconsequential compare to yours, but we’re still in the same boat.”

“Hoho? And you’re my life raft?”

“Ugh… Shut up.”

“Hahahaha! You know, I’m starting to think Erika’s first impression of you was….”

Elane’s head whipped towards the curtain and I heard an entire tavern’s worth of people all gasp at the same time the music leaking through the room’s enchantment stopped. Then silence. The world outside the room seemed to freeze over.

Swinging her legs out of the booth, Elane reached for her axe just as we heard a single set of footsteps dashing in our direction. They were light and quick and would have been inaudible had the tavern not been so quiet. They also seemed to know exactly where they were going.

Elane’s fingers coiled around her axe’s handle, but she dropped it the moment the curtain burst open.

“There you are. Big Bro, help me!”

“M-Mana? What are you…”

Rubbing what I hoped was an alcohol-fueled delirium from my eyes, I blinked hard enough to split an atom with my eyelids, but when I opened them again, the sight of the person standing in the doorway didn’t change. Elane’s jaw dropped hard enough to make her chest jiggle.

Standing there, in this public building, wearing a playfully sweet grin on her lips was none other than Mana. That much was obvious, but the sight of her was too much for my brain to handle.

“A-Alex,” Elane whispered after picking up her jaw. “Is it just me, or is Kitty naked?”

“… It’s not just you.”

Mana was standing before us, completely and totally nude. Her tiny breasts soaked up the warm light of the candles burning around us, highlighting the soft pink of her nipples. Down below, opposite the excited swishing of her tail and between her slender thighs was the unabashed sight of her bare pussy that wasn’t quite covered enough by the small tuft of black hair she was so strangely proud of.

She wasn’t holding her clothes, either. She was completely and totally naked. In public. In the city. Not in her village.

Did… Did my second wife just run through the tavern in the nude? Did everyone out there see her? No, was it the entire city? Did everyone in the city now know what my cute Mana looked like naked? Why did I ever think she’d stay put when she ran away from her village so soon after we left?!

“Mana, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you wearing…”

“Eeep!”

Jumping in place, her ears stiffening to a razor-sharp point, she broke into another sprint. Deftly skipping around the shards of broken glass, Mana leapt onto my lap. She curled her knees up to her chest and grabbed the sides of my cloak. Pulling them over her until only her head was sticking out. She turned, grinned playfully at me, then ducked inside my cloak.

I knew my cloak was oversized, but apparently it was big enough for us both to wear it at the same time.

“Excuse me, Lady Bellenfort,” Darwin said, casting the curtain aside. “This might sound crazy, but did you see a naked cat-kin girl run through here?”

“No. Now get out of here. I said I don’t want to be disturbed.”

“But she went this way and… wait, what happened to the table?”

“I said go!”

“Y-Yes, my lady!”

The moment he was gone, no, the moment the curtain closed on the room, Mana poked her head back out. With her still grinning as her eyes traced the path I assumed Darwing to be fleeing in, I could feel her tail whipping again my abdomen.

Certain parts of me were trying to react to her unintentional lewdness, but the part decrying her flagrant disregard for modesty was too loud to ignore.

“That was close.”

“K-Kitty,” Elane stammered, her cheeks flushed as she held out her shaking hands. “Can I have a hug?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s Booby-Lady. No way. I can’t breathe when you hug me.”

“B-But…”

“Nope,” she said and turned to me. “Big Bro, when are you coming back?”

What the fuck…?

“Did you come here just to ask me that? Where the hell are your clothes?”

“I don’t know. I took them off. They are… places, I guess?”

“Places?”

“Yea. I don’t know. I just took them off and left them.”

“Mana….”

“Hmm?”

She looked up at me, an almost deafeningly-cute smile plastered to her lips. This girl was a picture-perfect example of innocence, and in her mind, that’s exactly what she was. But I couldn’t stand the thought of her running around the city like this. I knew she didn’t mind, but this and that are two different things.

If Yua and I warning her of the dangers and customs of humans wasn’t enough to drill it into her head, then I needed to explain things, not as a human or as a man, but as her mate.

My mind still muddied by the alcohol; I chose to let it guide my actions and pulled my right hand inside my cloak. Without any of my past hesitation, I then shoved it down between her thighs. Her eyes and ears shot up. And when my middle and ring fingers slid down over her bush, tapped against the little button hiding beneath its hood and slipped inside the spot that had yet to feel the touch of a man, her mouth opened in a soundless, delighted gasp.

She let me in almost too easily, but I knew she’d be fine. She’d already done this to me multiple times now. So I pushed my fingers deeper, feeling her warmth, her tightness and just a tiny bit of her arousal as her tail doubled the speed of its flicking. And there, I held her firmly. Just as her people demanded of their mates.

Her heated breath felt against my neck that she was fully aware of how I was holding her. She squeezed her thighs together, as if refusing to let me go. True to her people’s ways, she instantaneously straightened up until she was ready to listen. Her eyes alight with excitement, she somehow managed to suppress her giddiness enough to relax enough in wait for me to speak my mind.

It was a natural response, I know, but I too had to weaponize my morality to suppress my monster’s attempt to rise up. My only saving’s grace was that Elane didn’t seem to notice what we were doing.

“Mana?”

“Yes, Big Bro?”

“I am your mate.”

A toothy grin took to her cute, dimpled cheeks well after it should have. She nodded quickly.

“And I am yours.”

“Good. Then I’ll say this as your mate: do not ever take your clothes off in public again.”

Her grin faded almost as quick. She drew her chin in, but she didn’t let herself look away. It was thanks to her people’s customs that she knew that this was not a joking matter. As her mate, when holding her like this, my word was essentially law. I hated that it came to this, and I hated that I had to force the matter, but this was not something I could just sit back and watch.

“But nobody got mad at me like you said they would.”

Chin still drawn, she turned her eyes up to me, pleading. Perhaps it was the alcohol again, but I wasn’t even slightly swayed.

“That doesn’t matter. I don’t want other men to see you like this. Ever.”

“O-Oh…”

Her ears flattened and, beneath the cloak, she touched a hand to my forearm. I thought my refusal here would have been enough for her to ask me to stop, but she didn’t try to make me. So, I continued.

“I said it was fine in your village, but when living amongst humans, you absolutely cannot run around naked. That’s not how we do things. Some people will look down on you, while others will… They’ll look at you like I want to. As your mate, I am not okay with that.”

Mana bit her lip, but nodded. Strange as it was for me to have to say all this, I needed it to be clear. But seeing her trembling and on the verge of tears, I slowed myself. I can’t say for certain whether I was mad, worried or just jealous of all the eyes that had been lecherously placed on her, or maybe some combination of the three, but even now, I wanted to comfort her. If anything, to show that I was saying this calmly.

Without ending my hold on her, I used my other hand to lift her chin. Leaning closer, I pressed my lips to hers.

Elane gasped, but Mana only tightened around me.

“I know you don’t like clothes, but this is how things have to be. Unless, knowing this, you don’t want to be my mate anymore.”

Despite the ease she felt in holding each other this way, we had not crossed that unbreakable line. The cat-kin mate for life, but since we hadn’t gone that far yet, it should be okay for us to turn back. To go back to the short stint we had as just friends that only happened to meet thanks to Yua. To her just being that cute girl I met in their village. I hated the thought.

Even if my heart shattered at the mere thought of leaving her behind, if she found this condition of mine truly unbearable, then she had that option. I’d teleport her back this instant, apologize to her parents and, probably after a great deal of hesitation, head back to the inn alone with Yua.

As if this same scenario played out in her mind, she shook her head, flinging tears everywhere. Her hand flew into my pants and, this time, I didn’t so much as flinch when her small fingers wrapped around me.

“I am your mate,” she said, sniffling. “I don’t want to be anything else. I’ll… I’ll wear clothes. Even that panties thing. Just, please don’t leave me alone like the others did. I’ll be a good mate, I promise…!”

I took her lips again. Unable to think as straight as I would have liked, I let my tongue invade her mouth to have a taste of hers. A sharp inhalation that passed through her nose let me know I’d surprised her, but she didn’t pull away. She’d eaten almost nothing but meat for the last two days, but she tasted so sweet it was hard to stop myself from taking it too far.

We really shouldn’t be having this conversation while I’m drunk.

“It’s not about being a good mate,” I said. “I know you are.”

How could she be any less when she left the comfort of her home, the place she’d lived her whole life, the forest she’d never stepped out of, just to be by my side.

“I’m just selfish. I don’t want other men to look at you like I do, okay? You’re my Mana, my mate. Not theirs.”

I didn’t want her to conform to my every desire. She wasn’t a lump of clay that needed to be molded into the shape of a proper woman. If she was, the subject of her wearing clothes when alone with me would never have come up and I’d be able to give into my carnal desires all I wanted.

But I can’t let that happen. I know myself too well. I’m the sort of person that happily jumped on Yua every time she accidently flashed her panties this last month. If I let Mana be that vulnerable around me, I fear she’d start to think I was just using her for her body. And that was absolutely not the case.

“I understand,” she said, sniffling one last time. “Big Bro just wants to keep me to himself.”

“Exactly. Sorry for being so selfish.”

She shook her head and her adorable smile made its triumphant return.

“It’s not selfish. A mate should belong only to their mate. That’s just how it is. And it’s how I want to be, with you.”

“Good. Thank you. Now, come here.”

“Okay~”

Neither of us let go of each other as our lips once more intertwined. In a direct counter to my thoughts on her own morality, it took straining every muscle in my arm and hand not to move anything more than my lips, for she too did nothing but hold me, even when the space warming my fingers grew just a little more damp.

Letting my tongue push hers around, Mana giggled as though finding the kiss funny.

“I have no idea what’s going on, but this is so sweet!”

I froze, my tongue still in Mana’s mouth, or rather, Mana holding my tongue with her lips, I suddenly felt like we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t have when I heard a third voice.

Elane was gawking at us like we were two actors romancing each other in some daytime TV drama. Reacquainted with the fact that we were not alone thanks to her squealing, I forced out an apology.

“S-sorry, Elane,” I said, finally pulling my hand away from Mana’s thighs. She too let go of me. “I, uh, guess I might be a little more drunk than I thought.”

For reasons I didn’t need to explain to myself, my cheeks boiled at the thought of making out in front of this woman. Mana, naturally, didn’t care in the slightest as she happily leaned back into my chest.

“No, no, no. It’s fine! Kitty is super cute, so it’s pretty understandable that you’d want to shove your tongue down her throat. Don’t mind me.”

“I do mind. And can you not put it like that when we were supposed to be having a serious discussion?”

The only reason why we were in this tavern and why Mana came here was because Elane wanted to talk. The thought that everything had gone askew because of a naked girl was strong enough to sober me up a little.

“Our conversation got totally derailed. We’re not alone anymore, but what exactly did you actually call me out here for? Surely it wasn’t to talk about our pasts over drinks.”

“Yea, yea, yea. Hold on,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Kitty, why were you hiding from Darwin?”

“Hmm? You mean that male that was pouring all those stinky drinks? I wasn’t. I was hiding from her.”

Mana tipped her nose towards the curtain before ducking inside my cloak again. Seconds later, Erika burst into the room. Her hair was a mess and her face was sweaty. Her chest was rising and falling so rapidly I almost felt her heartbeat all the way across the room. I knew immediately that she’d chased Mana here.

Thankfully, she was gripping Mana’s clothes in her hand.

“You…”

Trying to affix an angry glare to her pretty face, Erika failed spectacularly once she looked my way. She blushed furiously. Not at me, per say, but to the large, girl-shaped bulge in my cloak. As if she needed to, she stuck her nose up in the air and sniffed loudly before leveling her eyes back on the bulge.

“I know you’re there, Miss Mana. You should know there’s no point in hiding from my nose.”

I sighed.

“Erika, I’m sorry for the trouble she’s caused you, but could you spare her the lecture? I just got done talking to her.”

A jolt of surprise causing her to shake her head, Erika seemed to have only just noticed I was there, despite harboring the criminal inside my clothes.

“S-Sir Alex. My apologies. I tried to talk to her, but she refused to listen. A-And I wasn’t fast enough to prevent her from… I-Is she still…?”

“Yes, she is. And sorry again, but can I have those clothes?”

“O-O-Of course!”

Speeding across the room, she very nearly threw the clothes at me, looking as though she were equal parts happy to be rid of them and embarrassed to be a part of this.

Freed from a second lecture, Mana poked her head back out and grinned mischievously at the maid. Erika pursed her lips, looking like she might cry, but she quickly hid such emotions once she finally noticed Elane.

Suddenly growing stiff like a board, she was clearly bracing for punishment for failing the task her mistress set out for her, but Elane was too focused on us to care.

“Mana,” I called, poking the former lump’s head. “Can you come out of there and get dressed already?”

“Hehehe, okay… Wait.”

She shifted, letting her feet fall out of the cloak to dangle between my legs, but stopped there. Turning, her ears tickling my chin, she twisted her brow in confusion.

“But you said not to let others see me naked.”

“… I mostly meant men, but these two are fine. I think,” I turned to Elane. “Sorry, but given the circumstance, would you mind if she…?”

“Oh, no. Go right ahead.”

Putting up a forced smile, a pink tinge still coloring her cheeks, she politely gestured the go ahead. Erika opened her mouth to protest, but Mana slipped out of my cloak and back onto the floor before she could get the words out.

Once she was fully in view again, Elane’s hands clenched her knees with a force that looked like it could shatter boulders, while Erika’s face had gone so red she looked like she might pop.

Then, completely out of nowhere, Erika squinted and turned an ear towards her mistress. She tilted her head in confusion, sniffed the air, looked at the ground and gasped at the glass scattered about.

Ever nimble, Mana easily side-stepped this obstruction and, smiling through her reluctance, accepted the panties I handed her. And as if this world weren’t confusing enough, she casually got dressed in front of everyone, while Erika got down on her knees to start sweeping up the glass and while Elane continued to crush her knees.

I suppose that, even if she found Mana just as cute as I did, having to watch this scene while we were supposed to be talking was a bit much. So, I stood to help her hurry along, but I was struck with a sudden headrush of dizziness, like all the booze rushed to my brain the moment my ass left the seat. Clutching my head, I fell back into my seat and settled for watching her.

Once Mana was fully dressed, the mess I made was cleaned and when Elane was done turning her knees into a fine powder, we left, drunkenly staggering our way out of the room. There was no way to speak privately with the present company and I didn’t want to leave Mana and Erika alone again.

However – and that is a big fat HOWEVER – when we stepped into the main drinking area of the tavern, I couldn’t help but notice Darwin gasp at the sight of the now fully clothed Mana happily holding my hand. He very clearly remembered her. How could he not when she’s so cute? But so did the others, and only a few of them were women.

When we stepped out, ready to leave, each and every one of them went silent again, as if suddenly shutting up was a hobby they were all experts at.

Under the pressure of their collective gazes, Mana hid behind me even though she no longer had anything she needed to hide, save for their memories of her. And said memories were written clearly on their faces.

Clenching my teeth, I stepped up and addressed the crowd. I was only barely able to keep myself from yelling.

“Sorry for the disturbance earlier everyone, but I hope you all can understand that… You didn’t see a fucking thing. Got it?”

I tapped my sword for emphasis and a few of the patrons blanched, but not all of them. Hardly any of them, actually. Not until Elane stepped up beside me.

“That’s right you shits. You didn’t see anything, right, Darwin?”

I thought she was going to brandish her axe for our sake, but instead, Elane pulled out a gold coin and flicked it towards the bartender. Every eye in the place watched that coin arch through the air as though it were moving in slow motion. Having put a little too much strength into it, it hit the counter with a loud clink and fell harmlessly onto the floor.

She continued with a smile, “Anyone here that didn’t see anything gets a free drink on me.”

“I-I didn’t see anything!”

“Me neither!”

“Neither did I!”

“Hey, I just got here. I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but I didn’t see either!”

Darwin was immediately beset by a gang of thirsty patrons that forced his attention elsewhere. Understanding less about this world’s currency than I wished to, and knowing even less about its alcohol, I had to guess that that one gold coin was going to be enough to get all these people about as drunk as us, even if they didn’t go for the cheap stuff.

Elane smirked at me from over her shoulder, with the soon-to-be-setting sun casting a golden silhouette behind her. The beautiful curl to her lips said That’s how you deal with this sort of people, but she ruined the effect by staggering her next step hard enough for Erika to have to catch her.

Laughing it off, she threw an arm around the maid’s shoulders and pushed the tavern doors open. We followed close behind her as Darwin was flooded with orders.

We walked a while, seemingly without direction. At least, none that I could tell. I thought I’d sobered up a bit after yelling at Elane and confronting Mana, but I grossly underestimated the effect the alcohol was having on my body.

I found it annoyingly difficult just trying to walk in a straight line without swaying to one side or the other, but I kept trying for Mana’s sake. Elane, however, had no problems leaning on Erika for support. I had to hope that it had something to do with our conversation that she was letting the maid help her.

“Okay, this is far enough,” Elane sighed, stretching her arms over her head. The buttons keeping her coat pulled over her breasts once more screamed in agony and, just when I thought they were going to snap, she lowered her arms with a satisfied grunt.

I didn’t realize it until we stopped, I’ll admit that I’d been too busy switching my line of sight from looking down Mana’s blouse to looking at Elane’s jiggling ass, but she’d brought us back to Wave Watcher’s Cross.

“Erika and I will be heading this way,” Elane said, pointing towards the church, but my mind was coherent enough to figure she meant somewhere beyond the dilapidated building. “It was fun drinking with you. Oh, one more thing.”

Staggering toward us, Elane picked Mana up into her arms before the girl realized what was going on and hugged her to her chest. Her face ruthlessly buried in the mass of cleavage, she kicked and squirmed and fought to no avail. It wasn’t until Erika politely coughed into her fist that Elane released my Mana and she scurried behind me.

“Kitty, you’re so cute.”

“Shut up!”

“Hahaha. So cute. Bye bye. And bye bye, Alex. All things considered; it was fun drinking with you.”

“Yea, it was. But the world is kind of spinning right now. I think we had too much.”

“Hoho? Is it? You’re such a lightweight.”

“You’re one to talk. You can barely stand, too.”

“Nuh-uh. I’m only a little tipsy,” she said with a wink before heading off towards the church. I knew the tipsy thing to be her code word for denying her own drunkenness, but to her credit, she was handling herself much better than I was. And I’m pretty sure she drank more than me.

“Oh, wait, Elane. What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Hmm. Oh yea,” she hummed, tilting her head. No, I think the weight of her axe was making her entire body tilt. “Nothing, really.”

“But you called me out here because you wanted to talk. That means you had something to say, doesn’t it?”

“Hoho? No, it doesn’t. But since it was fun, I’ll let you in on a little, teeny tiny secret.”

Staggering back towards me, Elane left Erika behind and nearly tripped when she tried to pat my shoulder, but I caught her hand with my own. Smiling and laughing to herself, she turned her cobalt blue eyes up to me and the heat returned to my cheeks.

“I didn’t have anything specific I wanted to talk about today. I was serious when I said I just wanted to see what kind of man you are. Shame you can’t hold your rum, though.”

Honestly, I was surprised at myself. New body or not, having no experience drinking should have made me a total lightweight. The sheer abundance of Elane’s experience made it easy to see why she’d only started to slur her words, but after all we drank, I felt as though I should have passed out a long time ago. Maybe my endurance boosting trait somehow granted me better alcohol tolerance?

I sighed, but when I noticed how the way we were holding hands looked similar to how Yua and her many opponents settled their sparring matches, I remembered we had somewhere to be.

“Sorry again for everything. For turning you into a thief, for yelling at you, for breaking your rum twice now and, well, I’m sorry.”

Letting go of Mana’s hand to pat Elane’s, I concluded our meetup by casting Dimensional Step to take us back to the inn. Luckily, I wasn’t drunk enough for the spell to fail.

Erika gasped at the sight of the blue lights, but Elane just smirked at me.

I continued, “This is all still a bit new to me. This whole thief, thing. The cat-kin’s nudist ways. The alcohol…. I never had to deal with any of this stuff in my old world, but I’m trying to learn. Sorry my lack of progress ended up hurting you.”

“… In your old world?”

Elane’s smirk vanished and was quickly replaced with a confused intrigue that for some reason made her eyes widen and her cheeks flush. The sudden clarity that took over her face made her almost look sober. Sober and gorgeous. Seeing her like this, it was easy to see why I confused her for a literal goddess at first.

I quickly looked away, turning towards the portal. I’d been holding her hand again and probably for too long.

Goddess, I think I might have been a little too influenced by the cat-kin, just grabbing people’s hands like that.

“Anyways, we gotta go,” I said. “Oh, and you really shouldn’t drink so much. You’re, like, way prettier when you smile and you don’t seem to do much of that when you drink.”

“Wait, what did you…”

“Oh, oh! One more thing, if you’re gonna meet with that Dragma lord, don’t forget he’s a thief. Er, that he’s working with the thieves? Either way, be careful.”

“W-Wait a second.”

“See you later!”

Seeing that the portal was beginning to waver along with my focus, I picked Mana up into my arms and jumped through into our room.

I tossed Mana onto the bed as the portal closed and immediately opened another, this time to the river by the village. I waited a few seconds for my lovely wife to appear and when she didn’t, I stuck my head through and found a couple of her people enjoying a nice river bath. I asked them to send her my way and they happily agreed.

Only a couple minutes and one recast of my spell later, and Yua came bounding through the portal. Smiling broadly, her hair was a mess and she was caked in dirt and sweat. Smirking to myself, finding myself oddly content in knowing I was right to assume she’d spent most of her time fighting, I cast a quick Body Wash spell on her and, in an instant, all the mess coating her vanished.

Free of the grime, Yua jumped into my arms. I enjoyed the soft sensation of her bare breasts against my chest and hugged her back. After everything today, it didn’t take but a few seconds into our embrace for my hands to drift down south.

Fully, openly and thoroughly groping her equally bare ass, I gave her a quick kiss before asking, “So, how did it go?”

“Great!” she chimed, her tail swishing happily. “Daddy said he’ll be ready to fight anytime.”

“Good. Good.”

Smiling, mumbling my approval, my hands flew up north again. Jumping behind her, I wrapped my arms around her and cupped her breasts, pulling her into my chest. Immediately losing myself in their softness and in the sight of my fingers sinking into her flesh, I barely noticed her smile twitch when she gave me a quick sniff.

“Alex, were you drinking?”

“Uhh. Yea, a little. Or, a lot, I guess. I don’t know what constitutes a lot, but I think it was too much. Right, Mana?”

“I don’t know,” my cute little soon-to-be-second wife said with a shrug.

I wanted to reach over and wrap her into a hug, but Yua’s breasts wouldn’t let me move from this spot. They were demanding I fondle them and she herself was starting to breathe a little heavier. Naturally, my Memorize skill allowed me to remember exactly how and where she liked to be fondled.

Pressing her lips to suppress something, she grabbed hold my wrists, not to stop me, but to steady herself. She wasn’t at all bothered by her fellow cat girl sitting on the bed only a few feet away from us.

“Nnm… But weren’t you going to spread rumors or something?”

“Yea, but we got something better.”

After all, the plan to spread rumors on the cat-kin’s behalf was something like a last resort that would need time to fester. We’d still do it, but it was never my main plan of attack.

“Ahn!” unable to suppress herself any longer when I tweaked her nipple, Yua had to force herself to speak. “Wh-What is it? …  Nngh…. What’s better?”

Spinning Yua by the shoulders, I planted another kiss on her before lifting her by the backs of her thighs. She clung to me for only a second before I set her down on the bed next to Mana. With her looking comfortable and with her pussy looking even more enticing than usual, I started on my belt. She watched my pants fall to the floor with a playful bite to her lip.

“I was out drinking with Elane, actually. Remember? Miss Bellenfort?”

“Hehe. Yea, I remember. But what about that is better?”

I pulled my underwear off and tossed it over my shoulder. Only then did I find the intelligence to make sure the window was still closed and the sound-proofing enchantment still in effect.

“Because,” I said, taking her knees in hand and parting them for her. “She’s going to be meeting with the Duke and Lord Argento later. And I told her about the thieves.”

“Oh? Did she say she’d do something about them?”

“Nope. But now that she knows, she might be able to bring it up during their talk. If they corner Lord Argento, they might be able to get better trade deals with Dragma.”

At this, Yua giggled to herself and I enjoyed the sight of her sizeable breasts jiggling right along with her laughter.

“And how does that help us at all?”

“…Er… Did I mention I’mdrunk?”

“Hehehe. You really didn’t need to.”

Shit. I wasted the day, didn’t I? It’s not like the rumors I’d planned were going to show any fruit today, anyways, but now we’re a day behind. I think?

Hopefully it’ll be easier to get in touch with the Duke once his little negotiation thing is done.

“Alex, maybe we should wait. There’s still time to get some work done.”

She started to close her legs, trying to hide the holy land from my line of sight, but I put my hands on her knees again and held them in place. The sudden show of force didn’t so much as put a crack in her lovely smile.

“Yua… A lot’s happened while you were gone.”

            Fearing for my life a bit. Worrying about Mana. Getting drunk for the very first time. Listening to Elane’s troubled past. Mana showing up naked in a bar.

And then there was that time where I thought about how sexy it was that Yua popped back into the inn through my portal, butt naked and unashamed of it. Knowing she spent the better part of the last few hours just as naked as Mana had been at the bar, I was pretty sure I was being a giant hypocrite, but the circumstances are totally different.

            “But what about Mana?” Yua said, looking at the girl in question as she propped herself up on a pillow. “What about holding back?”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind. Besides, Big Sis, you know you’re supposed to let your mate mate with you whenever he wants, remember?”

As she spoke, Mana gave me a cheeky thumbs-up and I took it as her doing me a favor in return for me not mentioning her streaking incident to Yua, since she likely would have gotten a scolding. And I was happy to accept her offer.

“So,” I continued, putting a knee on the bed. “We are not leaving this room again until the bedsheets are soaked through and you’ve screamed your heart out from all the pleasure.”

            Smiling wryly at the both of us, Yua touched her fingertips to her crotch and spread her lower lips for me. I pounced.

Maybe getting drunk every once in a while isn’t such a bad idea after all.