Pondering this, I stopped in front of the inn once I spotted the large wooden sign hanging from a street post with the name "The Lazy Cat." My eyes flitted from the sign to the thin bar holding it aloft which then led to the rest of the building and was completely taken aback.
The building's architecture made no sense whatsoever. While it looked to be about four stories tall, its stone walls were uneven, misshapen and jutted out further than should be possible for its foundation to support properly. What looked like the balcony stretched over the sidewalk to almost halfway across the street with not a single structural support beneath it.
I was no architect, but the place looked ready to fall over at any moment. Was it held up by magic somehow?
Concerned for my safety, I chose to enter the inn anyways once I saw a few people leaving it without issue. There I found a woman maybe ten of fifteen years older than me waiting behind the counter. Her age clearly defined itself in the lines on her face, but she was still pretty good looking, especially considering that she wore a dress that left the cleavage of her giant breasts completely exposed.
Unlike the goddess, though, she did not take too kindly to my lecherous staring and coughed rather loudly. It didn't take long to see that I had angered her almost instantly.
"You need a room," she asked briskly.
"Yes. Uh, Albert suggested I stay at your inn."
With the mention of the merchant's name, her mood instantly lightened, not that her brows raised enough out of their furrow for her to change her tone.
"Oh, Albert did, did he? That's kind of him. How long would you like to stay?"
Considering what the prices of the things I sold just now were, I figured my gold alone was enough to let me stay here for quite a while. I needed time to figure things out, but I decided to be safe.
"Just one night. And dinner, please."
"Alright, one room and a meal is 2 silver pieces."
Oops.
"Um, I'm sorry ma'am, but could you make change for a gold piece? I only have 1 silver right now."
She lowered her chin at me, as if looking at in insect. Her eyelids hung half open over her empty pupil and that annoyed expression from a minute ago reappeared. Apparently even in this world, it was taboo to ask for a store clerk to break a large amount of money into something much smaller.
However, she just slumped her shoulders, sighed and prodded the silver tray she left out on the counter. Briefly thinking back to how Albert handed me what he owed, I put a single gold coin on it.
"I supposed I can do that. One moment please."
Begrudgingly, she snatched the tray, not the coin, off the counter and left through the door enclosed behind the counter. I guessed if I ever needed to resort to stealing, I knew to look in the backrooms for their safes. After a couple of minutes, a few more than I felt she needed, she came back, still holding the silver tray, but it was now beset with several towers of silver coins. Seemingly displeased with the weight of it, she then let it slam down on the counter, staring at me the whole while.
"Here is your change, mister. 98 silver coins."
Because the towers of coin all fell thanks to her slamming the tray down, leaving behind a mess of silver, I had no idea how to tell how much was actually there. So, I had to risk angering her further to check. And sure enough, when I stuck out my finger to start pulling single coins away from the pile to count them…
"I'm sorry, mister. Do you not trust my ability to do basic math? I'm no noble, but this much is nothing."
"N-Not at all. Sorry."
Immediately backing down from her angry glare, but unwilling to take a loss with what little coin I had, I instead decided to try something else. Using my silent casting ability, I mimed reaching for the coins with my hand and cast my new Appraisal skill. I had no idea if it would work, but it was best to at least try and make sure I wasn't being intimidated by this woman into letting myself get robbed.
A window appeared above my hand and displayed, much to my surprise, not only the number of coins present, but also where they came from. Apparently, the coins here were minted for the Vierre Kingdom. I wondered if Vierre silver was worth more or less than silver of another country, but since the right amount of coin was there, I thought it best I didn't waste more of her time.
So, I took what I learned and decided to go with this country's name being Vierre.
"Thank you," I said, stuffing the coins into my new pouch until it overflowed and stuffed the rest into my pockets while she sneered. Surely, she must have thought I was setting myself up to be robbed by holding so much coin this way, but I planned on stuffing it all into my item box as soon as I could.
"Good. I will show you to your room. Follow me."
Her voice sounding more demanding than helpful, she left her spot behind the counter and led me upstairs. Now that the transaction part of my coming here was over, she seemed to have mellowed out a bit. Just a little.
While we walked, she shared with me various details about the inn. Included in her explanation was that if other guests are causing me problems or if I think they stole anything, to come get her first before doing anything myself and that'd she'd handle any trouble makers herself. She also brought up that the walls of each room were lined with sound-muffling magic, so there is no need to worry about how much noise I might make. Since the establishment values guest privacy, after all.
I guessed that the same magic that silenced the rooms was the same sort of magic running through the walls and allowing this mess of a building to continue standing. At least, if the building's condition were really as bad as it looked, this place likely would have been condemned.
That said, the floorboards didn't creak at all as we walked, so it didn't seem too bad. But as for her acting as security for the place…
I focused on the back of her head while she walked in front of me and a window popped up displaying her name, age, level and occupation. Apparently, she was a level 30 Mage. So, she was likely more than capable of defending this place should the need arise. She might have even been the one to cast the magic in the building.
"Oh, and if a man claiming to sell magic scrolls knocks on your door, please do slam it in his face," she said, sounding as though she was sneering at the thought. "I don't know how he keeps getting in here, but he slips in from time to time and bothers my guests."
"What, does he over charge for them?"
She let out a very dry, very fake laugh.
"Ha. No. They're just paper. Because scrolls are kept sealed until used, nobody but a merchant with the Appraisal ability or a mage can tell the difference, so fooling fools is easy for him… Here is your room."
After what felt like an hour of walking with this woman, we stopped on the second floor in front of a room about half way down the hall. A golden number twenty-five was nailed to the door's face. She breathed a sigh and took a key out of her apron pocket and used it to open the door for me. She let me in first, but was right on my tail.
The room was about as simple as I could expect from an inn working in this time period. Pretty much all there was to it was a medium-sized bed with a thin blanket and a single pillow. A nightstand stood by next to it with only a single candle to light the room. There was a wardrobe taller than me in the corner of the room, but since I had no extra clothes, it was pointless. Along with all of this, was a large treasure-chest-looking box at the foot of the bed with a key sticking out of its keyhole. Other than that, the room was completely blank.
"Is the room to your liking?" she asked, her tone almost daring me to say otherwise.
"Y-Yes, this is just fine."
Not much I could do for accommodations considering. I'd either have to pay extra for more furniture I wasn't even going to use since I had the item box, or wait here for several hundred years until they figured out how gas worked and installed some kind of in-room kitchen. But I certainly wouldn't wait around that long even if I could.
"Good. You may use the chest to protect your valuables if you wish, but please make sure to return the key before you leave. If that is all, check out time is midday tomorrow."
She left the key on the nightstand, as opposed to handing it to me directly, and headed back out of the room without waiting to see if I had any more questions. At least, I could say with a sigh of relief, she didn't slam the door in my face.
After the door was closed behind her, the true silence of the sound canceling room hit me and all other sounds from the outside were cut off as well. Or so it seemed. If the other rooms were blocked with the same magic, then the lack of sound was likely due to being unable to hear them. Someone or multiple someones could be throwing a huge party right next door to my room and I wouldn't even know it. Thinking about it that way, the silence didn't seem so bad.
For the first time since I arrived in Amoranth, I was completely wrapped in silence. Free of the sounds of the forest. Free the hustle of the city. Free of even the wonders of this new world. And the only thing I could think of was that I wished I had my phone so that I could listen to music.
Back home, whenever I was out of the house, I was never without my headphones. Not that it makes any sense, but there was just something about all the sounds of the city coming together and becoming like a mind-numbing deafness that bothered me to no end. So much noise that it became impossible to distinguish individual tones and sounds that were very clearly there, but were un-hearable. Thus deafness. I was always incredibly uncomfortable without music or an audio-book to listen to. It just never felt right and would always prove to ruin my day if I had nothing to distract myself.
But more than anything, I was regretting the lack of being able to plop down in my gaming chair and screw around on my computer to waste away the hours. I knew it was the source of several of my problems, but being forced to give it up cold turkey wasn't exactly easy to do.
"But I guess I won't be seeing anything like that in this world for the rest of my life, huh?"
I threw myself onto the bed. While it looked just as rickety and prone to collapsing as did the building's exterior, it like the floorboards did not groan when I put my full weight on it. It was also surprisingly soft, considering how thin the mattress was.
Based on how much it cost to stay just one night, I figured one of my next goals needed to be securing enough money to buy myself a house with a proper bed somewhere. If that's even possible. Staying here forever might be an unsustainable dream. Not that I wanted to keep around that woman for long.
From what I knew of this time period, which consisted mainly of knowledge I gleaned from fictional sources, people that owned houses in cities had to pay extra taxes because of the added safety the city walls and guards provided. On the other hand, if I bought a house outside of a city, I would have to worry about it being robbed whenever I was gone. Or worse, when I was there. And I still had no idea how to get a income large enough to secure a living in this place.
Albert said you were born into your class, which should mean that you were essentially born into your job, right? That was extremely limiting. I had the Adventurer class, meaning that could be my best bet for earning an income, but it was most likely dangerous.
I wonder if finding a job outside of your class was difficult. Albert did also mention a parent's hobbies could affect what class their kid gets, so maybe you aren't actually tied down to any one thing? Hopefully not. For purely logistical reasons, if familial breeding went even slightly askew, it could lead to any one city to have thousands of farmers, but no merchants, bakers, cooks, craftsmen, guards and so on. That definitely didn't sound sustainable.
Why did the Goddess design the world this way?
With a heavy sigh, I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes. I started running through all the information in I had taken in today and trying to work it out into something useful. Thankfully, the Help tab in my menu apparently took notes for me and automatically jotted down the basics of all the conversations I'd had and things I'd seen. So, I was able to quickly skim them once I checked.
Out of everything, what still stood out to me the most was the concept of owning a slave being legal. If anything good were to come from owning a person, I could use my authority over them to ask any questions I had about the world, while ordering their complete silence so they couldn't tell anyone else where I was from or why I needed to be taught such basic information as an adult. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with people getting mad over my questioning like Albert did, or thinking I was stupid, since that could hurt my image around here.
I wasn't so vain that that alone would bother me, but I wasn't interested in the idea of ending up a pariah. If I was going to live here, or anywhere in this world, I didn't want to start at the very bottom of society.
"… Not to mention that bunny girl was really cute."
I shook my head.
I needed to be more practical. What should come first is coming up with a way to sustain my current lifestyle, if not improve it.
While pondering what types of jobs I would be able to do here, after realizing my old desk job did not prepare me for most anything available to me here, I scratched my head and some more of that red dust fell onto my face. A twinge of pain in my nose, caused me to sneeze.
Apparently, I still had a noticeable amount of that spice in my hair.
"Maybe what I should do first is take a bath. Nobody is going to hire me if I stink, right? But how exactly do I do that…?"
I sat up, remembered that there was no bathroom in this room and lamented that that either meant chamber pots were a thing in this world, or, hopefully, there was an actual bathroom somewhere down the hall.
For the time being, I reluctantly headed back downstairs and went to ask the innkeeper what my options were. I suppose getting used to talking to people also means talking to those who don't want to talk to you. I guess I might just have to endure her abuse and tell her I'm form some rural village somewhere and that I don't know how city-living works.
When I reached the ground floor, I found her with her elbow on the counter and her chin in her palm, glaring a hole into the front door as if she were trying to will customers into her abode with just her eyes. My foot hit the last step and her eyes darted to me before her features scrunched up with reproach.
"… Is there something wrong with your room, mister?"
"No, it's fine. I-I just wanted to ask where I can take a bath."
She snorted.
"Mister, I don't know if you are kidding around, but if it's a bath you are wanting, you're going to have to go ask the nearest nobleman to borrow theirs."
I screamed inwardly, trying not to let it show on my face. Talking to people was going to take getting used to, but how am I supposed to handle this shit?!
Still… Great. It's the type of world where only nobles can afford to make enough hot water to take a bath. Or was it just that owning a bathtub was too expensive?
"However," she continued. "If you wish to wash up, there's a well outback and some buckets. That's where everyone else that stays here does it. I can get you a rag to wipe yourself down and a towel, if you like."
Without thinking, I nodded and thanked her to end the conversation. Baby steps, right? I just had to hope I wasn't going to be charged for the extra services.
"Good. Come with me, then. Thank the gods. And here I thought you were going to stain my bed with the scent of spiced berryweed. Did you think it was a hat or something?"
"N-No. Sorry if my smell offends you. I just… tripped and spilled it on myself in the market earlier."
Given that she already didn't seem to like me, there was no way I was going to tell her the truth. Didn't want her sicking the guards on me.
She rolled her eyes in a huff and led me away from the front counter again. At least I learned what the spice clinging to me was. But spiced berryweed? Are berries spicy in this world?
Unlike before, the innkeeper led me down a hallway beneath the stairs that started right beside the front counter. We walked past what looked and smelled like a kitchen and I got the distinct impression by how she looked at me over her shoulder as we passed it, that she might have wanted to cook me alive since I was already spiced up and I hurried on behind her. So much for hospitality here.
Without further ado, she opened a door to a garden behind the building that wasn't visible from the front. It was a small, walled off area with an old-fashioned water well, (or rather, current fashion?) in one corner of the yard, as she promised. Various kinds of colorful flowers hugged the wooden walls and gave the garden a pleasant scent, possibly to mask the smell of whatever customers needed to wash off their bodies. At the center of the garden was a slender tree with long, hanging branches that shaded most of the area. Circling around its base like a scarf was a tall, deep green bush and in front of that was a wooden bench with several small buckets stacked atop it.
And that was it.
I found the source of water, but there were no bars of soap and worst of all, no curtains or collapsible partitions available. Which meant that if I wanted to bathe, I had to do so standing outside, naked. What happened to valuing your customer's privacy?!
"Here's your towel and rag. When you're done with them, just leave them on the bench and I will collect them later."
"W-Wait."
When she turned to leave, I called out to her, meaning to complain, but once more her annoyed expression was the version of her that faced me.
"What? Don't tell me you don't know how to wash yourself and want my help. I'm not falling for that again."
"Again?... N-No, it's just… Never mind. Thank you for letting me stay here."
She scoffed when I buckled under the weight of her gaze and trod off back inside before I could muster up another attempt to stop her. Not that I would have. I could tell a losing battle when I saw one.
I guess I should have expected this. In times like this, from what I knew, it seemed that people were relatively used to being naked in public since most villagers and city folk didn't have baths of their own. Washing in the yard may well have been somewhat commonplace, but I had to wonder if she'd just let me take some of the water up to my room. Nah, probably not. She'd no doubt just bitch and moan about the risk of me spilling water everywhere.
I sighed to myself, something I figured I'd be doing a lot of now, and took one of the provided buckets over to the well.
At the very least, the hand-crank on the well made extracting the water easy. I did, at least, managed to enjoy the spectacle of actually using a well to collect water. Doing something so mundane as this was oddly exciting in its own way after a lifetime of living with proper plumbing and running water at the twist of a knob. Actually working for my water was… oddly satisfying.
When the attached bucket came back up filled with water, I transferred it into mine and looked around the yard. There was nobody but myself and my wavering reflection in the water settling in the bucket and, more importantly, nowhere private to go and hide as I washed myself.
Seeing as how washing the spice out of my hair might make the water in the well dirty, which they probably used for drinking and cooking, I moved my bucket back over to the bench to wash myself. On the way, I thought of trying to just take half of my clothes off at a time, such as taking my shirt off and washing my torso, drying, then putting it back on and repeating the process with my lower half. But doing that would likely just leave me with damp, uncomfortable clothes. Had I stopped to buy another set first, I could have risked that.
Sensing no route for escape, since the innkeeper would likely notice me immediately if I tried to use my low-level sneak ability to get past her to bring my bucket upstairs, I had to give in and undress where I was.
Sucking in a deep breath, I stripped off all the clothes I had, save for the pair of loose, patched-up shorts that acted as my underwear. I draped everything over a low-hanging branch, wishing at the same time that my clothes were long enough or that the branches were low enough to act as a curtain. When I looked back to the bucket and rag, I was immediately at an impasse.
The clothes I had on me were literally all I had. There was no other set waiting for me in my room and nothing in my item box. If I tried to wash myself while keeping on my underwear, they would inevitably get wet and I would either have to go without or just bear with their uncomfortable wetness until they dried on their own. Neither option sounded good. I was a slave to my comfort zone.
But then again, wasn't I supposed to be breaking free of that?
I did briefly consider the option of drying them with Fire Ball, but when I remembered what happened to the branch I tested it on, I abandoned the idea instantly.
I gulped down my fears and checked around me one more time to make sure I was alone. If this was how things were here, then this probably wasn't going to be my last time bathing like this. And next time I might not be alone. So, I quickly yanked my shorts down and something weighty suddenly hit my wrist and then slapped against my thigh. Confused, I looked down between my legs and saw….
"Holy shit. That thing's huge! Was that there this whole time? How did I not feel it?!"
Just to make sure it was real, I touched the sleeping flag pole that reached about half-way down my thigh to stare at the grass. Both unremarkably and remarkably, I felt the delicate sensation of flesh-on-flesh contact. Then, again, just to be sure, I shook my hips and watched the thing flop back and forth.
"My god… No, thank you, Goddess!"
Emboldened by her gracious, surprising gift, I sat on the bench in a much better mood. I mean, I wasn't really a slouch before, but this thing had to be at least twice as long of my old one! Not to mention it was definitely thicker. Maybe it just looked bigger because, now that I look at it, the rest of my body is almost entirely free of fat.
My arms were thick, my chest and shoulders broad and my leg strong. And for the first time in my, I had a set of wonderfully sculpted six-pack abs, all completely free of charge. I had absolutely nothing to complain about! Was this a gesture of good will from my Goddess to help me gain some confidence?
Feeling wholly content with myself, I scooped some of the water out of the bucket with my hands and splashed my face before pouring more over my head. The pleasant sting of the cold water was refreshing, but not what I was expecting to use for a bath. Then again, none of this was. I considered shooting a Fire Ball into the water to heat it up, but thought better of it.
I dipped the rag in the bucket and used it to wash my hair to the best of my ability. Although, without soap, I wasn't sure how much of the spice I would be able to get out. While doing so, I whistled the tune of a song I had been listening to a lot before I died to pass the time and drain away some of the silence. If I couldn't listen to music, then I could at least do my best to play it for myself.
After a few minutes of scrubbing and a second trip to the well for more water, my hair was starting to feel like it was about as clean as I could make it without shampoo. So, I lifted the bucket over my head and dumped about half its remaining contents over myself, turning more and more of the grass and soil beneath my feet wet and squishy. Smoothing my hair back, I splashed my body and scrubbed the rug over my new musculature as I whistled.
"What song is that?"
I was rocketed out of my happy place and right back to the point of remembering my embarrassing state of undress when I heard the soft, almost sultry voice of a woman. I stopped scrubbing and looked at her, dumbstruck.
It wasn't because the woman before me was beautiful as she stood there dressed in what looked like the same type of commoner's dress that I saw most other city girls wearing. Nor was it because the fluffy, droopy dog ears draped over her flaxen hair and her thick, bushy tail dusting the air behind her were entirely impossible to miss, but because she was standing about six feet away, smiling at me. Surely, she could see everything. Everything. Especially the new attachment dangling between my thighs.
"It's an interesting song," she continued casually. "What's it called?"
"Uh-uh…. It's…"
I managed to squeak out its name and, naturally, she had no idea what it was. Most people back on Earth probably wouldn't, either. Not that I was one to listen to the sort of underground music most people never heard of, but it was a song from a not-to-well known band and from a genre most people didn't like.
"Strange. I've never heard that one before. Oh well. You may keep whistling, if you like. I don't mind."
"O-Okay…"
I did as she said, trying to cover as much of my manhood as I could with my rag. Only now did I notice how small the damn cloth was.
Merely for the sake of saving face did I keep whistling. Unfortunately, my whistles came out as weak, stunted versions of what they were a moment ago, unable to carry a proper tune as my embarrassment swelled until I was unable to remember the rest of the song clearly. Then, as if to make it worse, the beautiful dog-eared woman started undressing right where she stood.
My jaw almost literally hit the floor when she unfastened the string holding the front of her dress in place and the large mounds hidden beneath it settled into a more comfortable, more natural position. She then pulled another string and the hole cut out for her cleavage expanded to twice its original size as it loosened its hold on her.
What's worse, or dare I say better, was that when she finished untying all the knots holding her tight dress against her body, she reached down to her ankles and grabbed it by the hem. And in one smooth motion, she lifted the dress up over her head and her large, bare breasts bounced to expose themselves to the sunlight. The two pink tips at their center looked to have gone a little rigid after being exposed to the cool air. And seemingly without a single care in the world, she then mimicked me by draping the dress over a branch.
Thankfully, for the sake of my sanity, her long fluffy tail rested just above a pair of plain white panties.
Wait, what?
Why was she wearing panties in a world where they shouldn't exist? Based on my admittedly limited knowledge of medieval clothing, she should be wearing some kind of second, smaller dress beneath that one or at least a pair of shorts like mine. Yet there she was, wearing a pair of plain white panties that hugged her most sensitive places just as tightly as you would expect from a modern-day pair. In fact, they looked like the sort you'd be able to buy cheaply at a discount store.
As I pondered the strange appearance of some unexpected modernity, she slipped her fingers beneath the waist band of her panties and started to push them down. I immediately stood up.
"I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to peek. I-I'll just go."
I scrambled to gather up my things and, in the process, forgot to cover my lower half and frantically tried to do so since this naked beauty was looking right at me due to my sudden outburst. This time her smile looked oddly sympathetic.
"It's okay," she said, her voice almost breaking into a giggle. "You can stay and finish washing up. I don't mind. Really, I don't."
With that said, and as if to prove a point, she immediately went back to pulling down her panties. In one fell swoop, they slid across her plump thighs, over her shapely calves and down to her feet. She stepped out of them and set them with her dress on the branch. She then turned to face me fully with a now completely naked body.
There was a small tuft of hair between her upper thighs that didn't quite cover the most alluring part of her nudity. She clapped her hands together with a "there you have it" sort of smile on her lips.
"See? I don't mind. Go ahead and wash up so you don't waste the water you drew."
"R-Right."
The nameless dog-girl that was so okay with my seeing her naked form walked over to the well to collect her own water with the painted bucket she apparently brought herself. I got the distinct impression that her having her own bucket suggested that she really was just so used to washing herself in public that it no longer bothered her. Assuming it ever did in the first place. Why else would she come prepared?
I listened to the well wheel squeak as she drew water, then to the sounds of her footsteps across the grass as she came back to the bench. Naturally I wasn't watching her, but when she sat down so nonchalantly and without a single care to cover herself, it was so mind boggling that curiosity force me to look.
Needless to say, there was a certain reaction going on down below my belt-line that a simple rag couldn't hope to hide. So, I quickly sat down. Trying not to make her uncomfortable, I pinned the dastardly thing between my thighs so that it couldn't spring up on its own.
Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice this effort of mine and continued about her business.
"So, you're not from around here, are you?"
As her seductive lips formed those words, she paid me no mind when she raised her arms over her head to tie her hair into a knot, probably because she didn't intend to wash it and wanted to keep it from getting wet. Her perky breasts were lifted up with that gentle motion and almost seemed to glisten in the afternoon sun, completely free of even a spec of fiber that should have been there to cover herself. I couldn't help but notice that her nipples really had hardened in the breeze.
Remembering she'd asked a question, I shook my head and answered.
"No… No, I'm not. Is it that obvious?"
She giggled and lifted up her bucket to dump water over her chest. The slick liquid slid down her collar bone and down the pale white breasts that so captivated me, only to then shoot off the pink tips and onto the ground beneath us. Then she looked at me, a smile still on her face.
"Because you don't seem comfortable around beast-kin like me. I know there are places where my kind aren't common."
"Y-Yea…"
That's certainly one way to put it.
"Well don't be," she said, rubbing her personal rag, a pink embroidered swatch of cloth, over her shoulders. She looked about as satisfied as if she were massaging herself after a long day of work. "We beast-kin aren't as scary as the rumors say."
"Rumors?"
"Haven't you heard? Apparently, people from neighboring kingdoms seem to think we are a bunch of vicious monsters that will kill and eat you as soon as look at you. But that is simply not true. Can't you tell?"
With the naked spectacle of this woman choosing to freely show me her body without any sort of restraint or contempt for my gaze as she naturally moved the rag lower to wipe her breasts, I didn't understand how such a rumor could have ever been started. I did sense a certain wildness from her, but not the sort that one should be scared of. Instead, she somehow seemed attuned with nature. As if she belonged more out here than inside like I did. A serene beauty that belonged in the forests, frolicking with her own kind among the trees.
"See? I'm not going to hurt you, you know."
She stopped and suddenly raised a puzzled brow, a faint pink tint to her cheeks. She looked away to continue washing her body.
"You know, you don't have to try so hard to hide your erection. I know men can't help themselves sometimes."
Shit!!!
Without even noticing it, I had stopped washing myself and a certain part of me that most wanted to show that my interest was not in her conversation was already showing its newfound strength and was trying to show itself. She giggled when my hands snapped over my rising manhood.
"S-Sorry."
"Don't be. Like I said, I understand. Although, I do have to warn you that my master has ordered that only he is allowed to touch me. If you try anything funny, we will both get punished. And you don't want to anger a level 47 Axe Warrior, would you? He's upstairs waiting for me to wash up."
She giggled again when I felt the color drain from my face. Naturally, my not-so little friend also retreated to fight another day after hearing that. Even with my cheat abilities, there was no way in hell I was going to fight someone more than forty times my level on my first day in this world.
I gulped at the thought. She giggled. Then a thought appeared in my mind and on my lips before I could really think it through.
"Wait, your master touches you? You-You wouldn't happen to mean sexually… right?"
I asked, thinking that as a slave, she might have been forced into something she disagreed with, but she just nodded at my question, her slight smile unwavering.
"Uh-huh. That's what he bought me for."
"B-But how does that work? Aren't you a member of the dog-kin species?"
I only guessed at the actual name of her people based on the naming scheme of the bunny girl from earlier, but she didn't correct me. Instead, for some reason, her expression turned increasingly sympathetic. I couldn't pin a reason on why, but she looked genuinely sad. Even her tail drooped a bit to show the change in her emotional state.
Did I offend her by bringing up her race after she tried to tell me she wasn't a bad person?
"Oh, you poor boy. How long have you been on your own? Didn't your parents tell… Don't you know how it works? Here, let me show you."
While my fantasies for free-bird women were all screaming at me to focus, this beautiful dog-kin girl lifted her foot onto the bench and turned her body to face me directly. Now not even that small tuft of hair could contain what normally should have been hiding there between her bare thighs.
Smoothly, naturally, as if it was the most understandable thing to do in this situation, her hand moved over her leg and towards her crotch. She then spread herself with her index and middle fingers as casually as if she were only showing me directions to the convenience store. Now not even the pink inside was hidden.
"You see, you put your cock in this hole here, same as you would with any human woman. Then you…"
"I-I know that part!"
I stopped her so that my heart wouldn't explode from such a sexy woman giving me a visual example of the birds and the bees.
Seriously! Being free is one thing, but to show someone you just met a full visual of your privates like it was nothing is something else entirely!
"Oh, then what's the problem?"
After she questioned me, she set her foot back down on the ground. Not, apparently, out of embarrassment over her misunderstanding, but because it seemed more comfortable.
"I-I just didn't know beast-kin and humans could… have sex. That's all."
She giggled again, this time louder, almost approaching a full-on laugh. I felt my cheeks burn. As an after-thought, I only just realized that the beast-kin are probably only as different from humans as the people from my world were different in regards to skin color. That didn't mean the actual anatomy was all that different!
I'm such an idiot!
The dog-kin girl quickly calmed herself when she saw me looking all the more embarrassed and apologized.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that, that seemed like something you should know at your age."
"No… It's my fault for not being clear with what I meant. I'm sorry to have taken advantage of your kindness by seeing something I shouldn't have."
"Like I said, I don't mind. You can look all you want. You just can't touch… Oh my... That's really big."
I looked at her, confused by what she meant, and found her taking full advantage of the free-to-look pass she just offered me as she was staring with great interest at my now fully erect member. After such an offer, how else could I respond!
"S-S-Sorry, but I think I should go."
I jumped up, now no longer able to cover myself, and gathered my things. She continued looking, but her expression reeled right back to sympathetic.
"If my looking bothers you, I can just go over to the other side of the bench. You don't have to end your wash early."
"No… No. It's fine. I think… No, yea. I'm done. Please, enjoy the rest of your bath, miss!"
I threw on my clothes and boots as fast as I could without stopping to dry myself and ran for the door.
"Wait," the woman called out again. "I'm sorry if that was too much for you!"
Embarrassed by her further misunderstanding, I raced back upstairs to my room.