"Aaaaaah!" Min materialized out of thin air, crashing into a wooden table and sending all its contents, a bowl of soup, two beer mugs, and some turkey leftovers, into the floor.
"Oww! What happened?!"
Min stumbled to her feet and took a look around. She was no longer in the forest, instead, she was in a familiar-looking restaurant. But how did she? ...of course."That mage! She must have teleported me! Wait a minute..." Min giggled. "I actually teleported! I was there on second, and then fwoosh! I was here! Heh, how neat is that?"
"Very neat," replied the gentleman formerly dining on chicken soup.
"Told you that you can get a dinner and a show here," commented another man dressed in fine clothes.
"Eeep! S-sorry about ruining your meal, but I have to go!" Min replied with a wry smile, her arms hurrying to try and cover all her privates. The mage had not extended the courtesy of teleporing her clothes with her. She was back to square one! "Please forget about this!"
"Can't do!"
Min tried to hurry away but her daring escaped was stopped as she crashed headlong into a familiar innkeeper stood in her way. Of all the inns in the world, why did she have to teleport to this one?!
"Well, look who's back," she said. "Still naked And STILL making a mess out of my inn!"
"S-sorry! I promise I'll pay you back later, but I have to go help my-ack!" the innkeeper took one step to the left to block the door out.
"You aren't going anywhere until you clean the mess you caused, miss adventurer!"
The woman tossed Min a sponge. The wannabe heroine grumbled and kneeled on the floor. She doubted even Celeria could win a fight against the mighty matron. She best scrub as if her life depended on it if she wanted to return to the action…
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Celeria pushed Liana forward. The closer she got to the city, the less her captive wanted to cooperate.
The mage was still wearing nothing except for some leaves on her hair and mud covering certain parts of her skin, although nothing she would rather keep hidden.
"You can't turn me in," Liana pleaded. "I haven't killed or seriously hurt anyone!"
"I'm pretty sure the merchants and nobles you robbed would disagree."
"What? Those snotty blue-blooded rats? I only took some of their coin. You know that each one has a whole stash of treasure back in their states, right?"
"You also took their clothes, from what I hear."
"Well, they started to brag that their shoes and undergarments were more expensive than all the merchandise I was taking. I couldn't let them go clothed after I knew that, could I?"
"Don't want to get arrested, then don't become a bandit in the first place. Keep walking, or I'll drag you to the pillory myself."
With a defeated whimper, Liana awkwardly shuffled her feet forward into the city.
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"There! The floor is clean!"
Min got up from her knees and tossed the sponge back into the bucket. She was facing away from the two gentlemen but kept one of her hands hovering over her slim ass. With how much the two had been staring, she was half-worried they had drilled a new hole into it.
Ugh, if only she still had her cushy gambeson. Min swore to tackle that mage and steal her robe if she ever saw her again! Hopefully, that would happen sooner rather than later.
"Now, if you'll excuse me…"
"Wait, you still have to clean this!" The innkeeper dropped a heavy basket filled with her dirty laundry next to Min's feet. "Get to work." She pointed at the water-filled tub standing in the corner of the room.
"But why?!"
"Because you ruined the lunch of these two gentlemen, and I bet you don't have the money to pay for it. So, you are going to pay for it by working."
"Eh, it's fine…" one of the men said with a shrug.
"Yes, we already got more than our money's worth back."
"Nonsense. If our naked adventurer doesn't do this, she will never learn her lesson. Now girl, start scrubbing!"
"Grrr…"
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The city's streets were narrow and full of people. On more than one occasion, Celeria had to push her way forward through the crowd.
She noticed how all heads seemed to turn toward the naked mage. Seeing how Liana squirmed like a worm and that her face was glowing like the sun, the mage seemed acutely aware of this fact too.
Despite the elf's constant pushing, Liana took timid, rigid steps. She endeavored to keep her smooth legs as close together as possible, to try and hide the fiery bush between her legs.
She walked with her head down. Her eyes focused on her modest chest bobbing up and down with her janky movements. Making eye contact in her current state felt as scary as fighting a bear empty-handed. If only she still had her staff, she could call a thunderstorm to make all these ogling knaves bow down to her or blind them with a light that shone brighter than the sun. Alas…
After the longest walk in Liana's life, she and Celeria finally arrived at the guard station. The elf talked to the captain outside the entrance. A small crowd was in the barracks, yelling at the guards about some night thief. Celeria's next bounty, perhaps.
"All right, fifty silver coins as pro-"
"That's her! That's the thief that robbed my house last night!" Someone in the crowd pointed at Celeria.
"Yeah, it is her! I would recognize those pointy ears anywhere!"
"Drag her to the stocks!"
The old captain withdrew his payment. "Is this true?"
"Err…" With so many witnesses, there was no way Celeria could lie her way out of this one. Maybe she could sway the captain? "I did not rob them, I merely "collected" "donations" so that I could buy the equipment I needed to capture this dangerous outlaw. It was for the greater good."
"Greater good, my ass!"
"She took my mother's necklace!"
"Give me back my money!"
The mob was getting restless, the captain stood forth between them and the elf.
"Calm down, everyone. There is no need for violence, I'll make sure this woman pays back every penny she took from you, starting with her reward." The captain tossed the coin sack to the crowd.
"Aww, come on." Celeria pouted.
"This isn't nearly enough to pay us all back!"
The captain turned towards Celeria, his hand on his scabbard. "Go on, give back the rest of what you stole."
"I don't have their stuff, I sold it to buy my equipment," Celeria whispered.
"Then you will sell back your equipment and use that money to reimburse these citizens."
"That… might be a problem."
"Why?"
"Because I also bought stuff for my companion, but then this idiot teleported her, and I don't know where she or her stuff is. I can't sell back something I don't have."
"Is that true?" the captain asked Liana.
"Well…" Liana glanced at Celeria. "…No. I don't know any teleportation spells, and this elf came at me alone. I think she is just trying to swindle you all to keep some of the money for herself."
"I-I'm not! You can't trust her. She is a thief and an outlaw!" Celeria pointed towards Liana accusatorily, and the mage stuck her tongue back at her.
"I heard enough! You will pay back these good folks, or you will join the mage on the stocks!"
There didn't seem to be a way to escape the situation without getting arrested or losing all her hard-earned coin. Maybe she could strike a compromise?
"Even if I sell everything I have, I'm afraid it won't be enough to reimburse it all! I can try to pay the city back some other way. I'll capture the next bounty for free. How does that sound?"
A tomato went flying right next to Celeria's shoulder. The crowd was unimpressed. The other two guards, a spindly guy and a stout man, were having trouble keeping them back.
"H-hey, come on, no need for-Ack!" Celeria ducked to dodge another tomato. The captain took his opportunity to grab Celeria's hands and press them behind her back.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"You are under arrest for theft. All your ill-begotten goods are now forfeit…"
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"T-there, it's finally done." Min finished scrubbing the last of the dirty laundry.
The room clapped somewhat sarcastically as Min tossed the washboard into the tub. The inn had gotten a bit livelier, with more people sitting around and watching the naked woman work.
She didn't quite understand why. She sat with her back against the room. It's not like they could see anything but her soft butt and the occasional glimpse of the sides of her breasts. That couldn´t be very interesting to watch for long, right?
Never mind that. She had more urgent matters!
Min got up and attempted to finally leave the inn, side stepping along the perimeter with her front aimed at the wall at all times. She wasn't going to just strut out with her tits hanging in the air like this was a burlesque show! The crowd had already seen enough, and she still wanted to protect what scraps remained of her dignity.
Just as she was about to cross the door, it swung open, and Min jumped back just in time to dodge it. "Haha! Not this time, door!"
"Oh, Min, you are back!" The innkeeper's daughter had returned with some fresh vegetables from the market. "Decided to take me up on my advertising job?"
"Sorry, not that desperate yet. Please move, I need to go help my friend fight a mage!" Celeria was her friend, right? She was at least an acquaintance.
"A mage? Is she, by chance, a woman? Ginger, short hair?"
"Yes, have you seen her?"
"Yeah, there was a woman on the stocks fitting that description. She was some sort of highway robber? Funny thing, she was naked too! Weird, huh?"
"Ah, I see. I guess Celeria beat her without my help… That's a relief."
"Say, weren't you going out?" the young woman kept the door open for Min.
"Eh, not anymore." If Celeria didn't need her help, Min couldn't muster the courage to go outside and parade her intimates to half the countryside. The elf said she was going to take her part of the reward, so there wasn't even a monetary incentive to find her right now.
Min couldn't help but smile. If the woman in the stocks was Liana, that meant that she (indirectly) completed the first quest!
Granted, she lost all her clothes again, and no one even knew that she helped take down Liana. She was technically back on square one. But, even if it had a crappy ending, it was still a victory!
She made a "friend", fought a mage, and got teleported. Min was finally living the fantasy life! The only thing missing was some god-darned pants. Or was it goddess-darned on this new world?
"Just to be sure, though. Was the mage's name Liana?"
"Oh?" the woman stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, I think so. It was something starting with an L. There was also another thief on the stocks, but I couldn't quite catch her name…"
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Celeria was uncomfortable. Her nose itched, she was sweating, and her face felt hotter than fire. Although she suspected that was not due to the sun but rather the demeaning circumstances she found herself in.
She was standing on an elevated platform on the plaza, her head and hands secured inside the wooden holes of the pillory. At her side, there was a sign she couldn't read but was pretty sure it said something like: "Punished for committing burglary".
Glancing to her left, she saw Liana suffering the same fate as her. The guards haven't given her any additional cover, having dragged her to the stocks the second she got arrested.
The red-faced and naked Liana writhed against her binds. Her eyes were closed as she tried to ignore the teasing from the merchants in the crowd. Her little pink nipples aimed down, her back stuck in an uncomfortable perpendicular position with the floor.
A crowd surrounded the two women. Boys laughed at them, old hags scoffed, and a couple of milkmaids even pointed at Celeria's ears with incredulity… They weren't that big! There were even street vendors walking around selling snacks to the mob. Celeria hoped they weren't going to end up flying at her face.
Like the mage, Celeria was also stark naked. They had confiscated all her belongings to pawn them off and try to reimburse the citizens she had stolen from. Without even a handkerchief to her name, she was now completely broke. In hindsight, killing rats for coins would have been a less embarrassing way to earn coins. Now she had a long time to reflect-
"Celeria is that you?!" A young woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. She had flowing chestnut hair and determined green eyes. "Unbelievable, I leave you alone for just a week…"
"Ah, Peonie! Sorry, I couldn't meet you at the inn, but I got into a bit of a bind." Celeria replied, trying but failing to shrug.
Peonie clicked her tongue. "Yeah, I can see that you are a little tied up. No problem. Find me at the inn when you are done with your sentence."
"W-w-wait! Can you find the guard's captain and pay my bail?"
Peonie glared at the naked elf with the eyes of a disappointed parent.
"P-pretty please?!"
"Fine, I'll see what I can do. Just stay put, and I'll be right back."
"Not like I have much choice…"