Summoned by Monster Girls

Removing the tail tips of the kobolds was a gristly thing, but I took care of it first. We piled the bits of meat into a cloth that the girls recovered from the remains of the peddlers pack. With that done, we gathered what we could of the remaining wares and got ready to head out.

“I wish that there was somewhere I could wash properly. Walking back feeling this sticky is going to suck.” I muttered when we made a last check of the ruins to ensure there wasn’t anything else there. The rooftop pyre had already burned down to coals as well, since we’d taken almost two hours to pick through things and deal with the bodies as a group. After the more coordinated fight, the girls and I didn’t want to split up. They stood watch for me while I collected the tail tips of the kobolds and I returned the favor while they looked for anything extra of value they could turn for a profit.

“There is a river a bit back in the trees. It’s why this is a preferred campsite.” Rieka gestured to the woods that came up behind the ruins. Since the ancient stone building was off to one side of the clearing rather than in the middle of it, the tree line actually got fairly close to the building.

“Would you mind if I washed up real fast?”

“Not at all, but you should make it quick. We want to make it back before sundown so we can turn in the proof of kills. I am not hanging on to them until tomorrow.” Kassandra said, wrinkling her nose and nodding to the bloody bundle. She then lead the charge into the trees with me close behind her. Rieka followed behind me and all three of us were silent as we walked, still thinking over the entire encounter.

The river that Rieka had mentioned was only about ten feet across and relatively shallow, it only took a bit of looking to find a good spot for me to climb in and wash real quickly.

“Could you two turn around while I clean up?” I asked them, peeling off the leather jerkin and setting it by the rivers edge. My shirt was stuck to my skin now and felt gross from the sweat and the blood that crusted the cloth from my injuries. I spent a minute poking the spots where I’d been stabbed by spears, but they were as fully healed as when I’d checked after Kassandra cast the spell on me.

“No can do, Liam.” Kassandra said, drawing my eyes back to her in time to spot a lascivious grin on her face. “We have to keep watch in case something tries to sneak up on you in the river after all.”

“Kass!” Rieka hissed, promptly blushing and turning away slightly. But the wolf-kin woman didn’t turn her back fully either, I noticed. I was about to protest but a memory of the chewed body hanging there came back to me and a shiver ran down my spine.

“Fair enough. I’m just washing up real fast though. The blood on my clothes really bothered me.” I said at last and shrugged. A hint of regret passed over Kassandra’s face, no doubt blaming herself for my injuries earlier. I’d have to find a way to reassure her that I didn’t blame either her or Rieka for that. I’d made my own mistakes and gotten hurt.

Working quickly because the water was going to be cold, I stripped off my boots and shirt before wading into the water. I wasn’t really worried about my clothes being wet, since they needed to be in order to clean them. I balled my shirt up and used it as an improvised wash rag after getting as much blood out of it as possible. Scooping water up to scrub the blood in my jeans did little to actually remove the stain, instead just spreading it around.

“Damn…these might be trashed.” I muttered to myself before wringing as much water out of the shirt and returning to the shore.

Kassandra had spent the entire time staring. Her look of guilt had faded away to a content smile as she sat with her arms crossed under her chest, shelving her bust quite appealingly in the close fitting blouse she was wearing. Rieka, on the other hand, was blushing furiously and actually doing a good job of keeping watch next to her, but I caught her sneaking a glance at me while I tried to swipe the water off me as much as possible.

I used my stained shirt to scrub the blood off the leather as much as possible. The treatments that had been done to the armor actually helped prevent it from staining. Once that was done, I glanced down at the stained and ruined shirt before rinsing it out as best as I could and then wringing it dry once more.

“You are going to put that back on?” Kassandra asked in a bemused voice.

“Armor is going to chafe otherwise. And I’m not up to the task of using Shape-Shifting to thicken my skin to the point where it wouldn’t bother me. Not yet at least. Gonna practice that though. Thanks for the idea on that, Rieka.”

“Oh it’s nothing! Happy to have helped.” Rieka replied quickly, still blushing and stealing more glances at my bare chest. A little self conscious, I started to put the shirt on when Kassandra spoke up.

“Not yet, Liam!” She insisted and slithered forward, I paused with the still wet shirt over my head and waited as she came to a stop in front of me, a wicked smile on her lips. “You promised me a hug earlier but didn’t wanna get blood on my clothes. No more blood on you now, so can I get that hug? It’s only fair that you help me warm up now, since we’ve been in the shade of the trees waiting for you to finish washing. And I’d like to not get wet either, at least from the river water.”

Considering her statement for a moment, I didn’t really see a problem with it. Sure, I was a bit embarrassed to be hugging someone with my chest bare like this. But after being stabbed a few times and killing that many creatures, the embarrassment was minor really.

And honestly, I could use the hug too. I was holding it together for now, but only because of the relative danger of our location. The trembly and weak feeling of adrenaline leaving my system had come and gone already, leaving behind a hollow sensation that I was still struggling with.

“Come on up here then.” I tossed the shirt aside onto a bush and held my arms out to her. Kassandra squealed happily and lunged upwards on her long tail to wrap her arms around my chest and bury her face in my neck, being careful not to smash her spectacles into me too much. Her snake tail wriggled happily behind her before it coiled around my waist, wrapping twice around my hips and squeezing tight to support her. I had to lean back a little to remain balanced on the loose stones that made up the river bank. Kassandra may have been small, but I was continually reminded that she had quite a bit of mass to her body with the addition of nearly ten feet of tail.

“Mm, warm.” Kassandra hummed happily into my neck and I couldn’t help the smile that statement produced. I hugged her back, enjoying the close feeling from her snuggling into me as well as the steady, squeezing pressure of her tail kneading my midsection. The roiling emotions from the day that had been lurking in the back of my mind calmed a bit more and I felt the stress of what I’d done fading too. That hollow sensation began to fill in, slowly but surely.

It’s for the girls. You promised to protect them after all. The thought floated through my mind again and I squeezed Kassandra a bit tighter, to which she responded by squeezing me back a good deal stronger. The muscles in her tail were not to be disregarded after all. You need to get better. Figure out how to use this sword they got you and practice this Shape-Shifting power you got. They got too close to the girls earlier and if I get hurt, that’ll just be easier for them to get hurt. Another surge of protective instinct welled up in my chest and I resolved to do better.

The hug continued for several minutes until Kassandra finally sighed into my chest and began to unwind her tail to disengage.

“That was nice, thank you Liam.” She hummed while smiling contentedly once she settled to the ground once more. “You should try it, Rieka. I feel ready to take on more kobolds if we had to!”

“You want a hug too?” I offered the blonde princess and she bit her lip slightly, seriously considering it.

“Do it, Rieka! Liam got hurt protecting us, the least you could do is give the man a hug!” Kassandra urged, her contented smile twisting into a teasing one while she slithered out of the way. Kassandra’s statement had the desired effect though and Rieka stepped up to give me a quick hug. I returned it carefully, not wanting to spook the more shy girl. Rieka’s ears tickled my cheek slightly when they shifted, but her tail wiggled happily behind her so I knew she was enjoying it. With that bit of reassurance from both girls, the hollow sensation in my chest closed up entirely and I felt back on a more even keel once more.

With the hugs out of the way, I got dressed in the armor once more. Kassandra protested, suggesting that I walk back bare-chested to give the clothes time to dry, but caved when I reminded her that we were still in dangerous territory and I needed to be ready to protect them. For all her teasing, she was a serious and intelligent girl after all.

We stopped in the ruins clearing just long enough to make sure the pyre was finishing up before heading out to the road. I used my sword to hack off a couple of leafy branches and we used them to sweep away the kobold’s noise trap, partially to prevent injuries to any horses coming through and also to prevent Kassandra from cutting her underbelly on any glass pieces or sharp bits.

“My scales are actually pretty strong. I could go over glass without a problem, but sharp metal would cut through them.” Kass explained, glancing over at my arm which was still covered in crocodile hide. “Not as strong as those scales, I think. But still good enough that I generally don’t worry about it while I’m traveling through town or on campus.”

“How do you handle mud and the like?” I couldn’t help but ask, since I needed a distraction from collecting the tail tips from the kobolds we’d already tossed into the bushes by the road back by the ambush site. The girls would be paid by a headcount after all, so we needed to make sure they made the most of this.

“With reluctance and a special type of scraper pad. It’s kind of like the type of curry-comb that they use on horses or centaurs. I have one mounted by the door to my rooms in the dorm and my parents have one at their house. I just slither over top of it and that brushes off the worst of the dirt and mud. Otherwise, I just have to take a bath.” Kassandra wrinkled her nose and shrugged helplessly. “Not much else to do about it. Thankfully, the roads are generally hard packed enough that it doesn’t turn to mush easily and most towns have cobblestone streets. Just part of life for lamia. I try to avoid mud though, since it tends to be really cold and if I’m not careful, cold can really hurt me.”

“That’s right, how sensitive are you to the cold? Does using your ice magic actually hurt you? I know you mentioned it before but we got sidetracked.” I asked while we got back onto the road and got going again.

“Depends on how cold it is and how fast I’m exposed to it.” Kassandra shrugged, slithering along on my right while Rieka walked on my left. We all kept our eyes moving to ensure we didn’t fall prey to any more ambushes. “As far as my magic goes? It can chill down certain body parts, but I’d need to be slinging a lot of magic to actually be dangerous.”

“If you practiced more, you could prevent the chill from spreading.” Rieka said with the air of someone repeating themselves.

“But I hate being cold!” Kassandra protested petulantly.

“You should have someone set up a fire or brazier near you, so you can warm back up. It’d be worth the time investment if you can get a better handle on your magic for the future. The last thing you need is to be wet and have to use magic that chills you even further.” I suggested and Kassandra sighed, nodding along reluctantly.

“I should, yea. I know if I get better mastery of the ice magic, I’ll be more resistant to drops in temperature too. It’s just…very unpleasant. If I get too cold, my mind starts slowing down and it’s really hard to think. I hate that feeling.”

“You could just wrap Liam up to use as a heater and practice your magic then. I’m sure he’d be happy to keep an eye on you and he’s definitely warm enough.” Rieka teased, but Kassandra’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Yea! That sounds like a great idea. Would you be willing to do that with me, Liam?” Kassandra practically begged, turning her best puppy-dog eyes on me.

“As long as it doesn’t put a strain on your mana supply, I’m happy to help out. Still getting used to the whole ‘mana is money’ here and all that.”

“Yea, it does take some getting used to, but it is worth it. As you saw earlier today. A regular group would have likely sustained more injuries and then had to spend the rest of the day hunting down fleeing kobolds in that same situation. With us, it was over in a matter of a minute or so.” Rieka reminded me. “It also balances out some in the gearing, since we don’t need as much equipment as a soldier. Just our rods and either mana-infused metals or crystals.”

“Do you actually need the rods to use magic? I didn’t see a spot for you to put a crystal inside them. Speaking of, did you need to swap out the spent coins?” I glanced at the rod on Rieka’s hip and then over at Kassandra’s. They were shaped roughly like an old-style police baton, just a metal cylinder about a foot and a half long with the sliding portions to expose or hide the mana-infused coins that made up the core of the rod.

“That’s a good point. I meant to do that while you were washing, but with Kassandra distracted I wanted to keep a better watch.” Rieka stopped and drew her baton from her waist. Kassandra did the same, though the dwarf lamia girl grumbled under her breath about not being distracted.

The two girls twisted the catches on their batons and folded them open. The ‘hinge’ seemed to be built into the top of the grip and they folded up to a ninety-degree angle to expose the stack of iron coins in the rod. Kassandra’s stack still had about a fourth of them glittering with the oil-slick effect that told me the mana in them was still good. Rieka’s was about half full of charged coins. It only took a handful of seconds for them to extract the spent coins and tuck them into one hip pouch before pulling fresh coins from another and replacing them.

“To answer your question, Liam. There is a slot in the handle for a mana crystal here.” Rieka finished first as she had to do fewer coins. She turned the baton around and held it out to me so I could see the flared base of the baton that looked like it could hold a large marble or a bit of quartz crystal. “For ease of storage and transport at least. Most folks don’t like to flash that around unless they are going into a fight though. We can use magic without the rod, it’s just easier to direct with it. Also…Kass, trade me.” She fished out a small handful of the mana-infused iron coins and held them out to the dwarf lamia, who blinked behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

“What? Why?”

“You spent a chunk on healing Liam up. That’s not something I can do, so you had to shoulder the cost of it. This is my share. We are kind of sharing the use of him after all.” Rieka replied bluntly. Kassandra smirked at her and bobbed her eyebrows suggestively.

“Sharing the use of him? I mean, I’m not against it as long as Liam is okay sharing.” She teased, which made Rieka blush but the wolf-kin woman didn’t take her hand and its load of coins back. Kassandra continued to smirk at her friend for another few moments before nodding and accepting the coins, counting out a few and then replacing them with regular iron coins and handing the rest back to Rieka. “There, that is half. We have to make sure we take care of our human, so I’m happy you are willing to split costs like this.”

“I almost changed my mind with that last joke.” Rieka huffed, separating the coins into their respective pouches and tying them closed once more.

“Who says it was a joke?” Kassandra replied cheekily. Rieka’s fluffy ears had been relaxed before, but they shot upright now and her tail fluffed up in surprise behind her.

“I…what…no…what?” She stuttered, her cheeks now flaming with a blush while Kassandra laughed gaily. I chose to keep silent instead and guided the girls to start walking.

<><><>

Kassandra continued to tease Rieka for a good half an hour while we walked, though we all remained watchful. Though Rieka was too distracted by her blushes to be really paying attention.

Once we made it out of the foothills forest and back into the more open and rolling plains around Juneau and Kintos, the girls relaxed even more. Given that we could see further over the grasslands, relaxing made some sense but I was still watchful. We’d stopped to eat some of the meat and vegetable filled buns that the girls had bought the previous day and packed. It was mid-afternoon now and we were several hours past lunch, but none of us had felt hungry after dealing with the kobolds.

“I don’t look forward to eating actual trail food. Dried meat and fruit is good, but there is something just so wonderful about a hot meal.” Kassandra sighed wistfully while chewing on her food.

“You just aren’t looking forward to slithering out of your warm bed when we actually have to get up early on overnight trips.”

“Overnights?” It took a bit of skill to drink out of a waterskin, but I was figuring it out after dumping some down my front. That had amused Kassandra, though she’d shrieked in protest when I flicked water at her in revenge.

“Yea, eventually we are going to have to go further from Juneau to complete missions. On top of needing to pay for mana for our education, we also need to complete certain types of missions depending on our majors. Since Kass and I have magic and combat in our majors, we need to do longer range and dangerous hunts. Kass will need to visit and document ruins to study for her history coursework too.”

“Huh…well as long as you let me know ahead of time, I have some vacation saved up that I can use to make that happen if you need me.”

“Oh we need you.” Kassandra interjected so fast it made me jump in surprise. “You’ll have to stay over. To help guard the campsite and us as well.”

Rieka and I both turned to stare at her and Kassandra did her best to smile innocently at us.

“What?”

“Yea…something tells me you just want another heater.” Rieka drawled and we both laughed at Kassandra’s earnest nodding in response to that statement.

“I’m still curious why you don’t have guards, Rieka. I know you said before that you could hire them, but one would think a trained set of guards would be better.” I mentioned something that had been bothering me for a while now.

“I could hire guards, that is true. But it also ties into why we do these missions. We need experience and being able to support ourselves is a good start. Both Kassandra and I could draw on funds from our lands, but that is tax money that could be better used reinvesting in our people. So we are trying to leave those funds alone and act as ‘normal’ students without those advantages.” Rieka explained carefully as we continued to follow the road over the grasslands.

“That…makes a bit more sense. I was just wondering about the cost, wouldn’t it cost less to hire competent guards than to summon me?”

“Not at the moment. A truly skilled guard is compensated higher than a summon, and there is no guarantee that they would reinvest that money into protecting their charges. As a summon, your power will grow the more you work with us. It allows you to grow alongside us. I admit, it’s a bit of a gamble, but I think it’s paying off.” Rieka gave me a sunny smile that made my heart twinge a little.

“Oh it’s definitely paying off. You saw him in the stream as much as I did. Our Liam is a hunk already and I can’t wait to see him develop even more.” Kassandra butted in to tease us both. Rieka blushed again but didn’t refute her statement, while I just considered their words.

<><><>

Turning in the trophies was surprisingly simple. The girls had picked up the contract from the Hunt and Trade Hall in Kintos. It was a source for a lot of the extra work that the students at Juneau got since it had a smaller branch actually on campus for sharing specific information and locations of various monsters that might have useful supplies for the students of different disciplines. Apparently, crafters would put in orders for materials and reservations for rare monster parts if they were found. It reminded me a lot of an ‘adventurer guild’ from a few of the games I’d played, but more focused on the commerce side of things.

“Well that was worthwhile.” I murmured as the girls divided the mana-infused coins between them. The job had paid out four of the mana-infused gold coins and a dozen infused silver.

“Yea, it’s a good step to recoup costs for sure. Not sure if it was worth the risk in the moment, but in the retrospect it is.” Rieka tucked the gold into a slender, leather pouch that she had extracted from inside her shirt before slipping it out of sight once more. She’d decided to crowd in close to me to hide the motion from others in the corner of the Hunt and Trade Hall, which had the benefit of giving me a view down her shirt that I was sure was unintentional. She was far to shy to be giving me a show intentionally, so I did my best to not stare at the soft curves during their brief exposure.

“The trinkets we brought back will probably bring in a few more silver. I put in the notice at the desk about the dead peddler, so if someone has a guess as to who it might be, they’ll be informed. I didn’t see a wedding band or anything, so it’s unlikely they left any family behind.” Kassandra was doing something similar to Rieka, but rather than tucking the gold pieces into a pouch, she folded down a portion of her underbust corset to reveal a stitched in pocket which she slipped them into. Apparently the garment didn’t have the solid boning that most corsets did, instead acting more like a close fitting vest combined with a belt. She did the same as Rieka, using me as a shield to block the rest of the room from seeing. Kassandra shot me a wicked grin from her much lower angle. She’d not bothered to button the top of her shirt this entire time and swayed slightly to make her pale, freckled mounds shake.

“Scamp.”

“Never claimed to be anything else.” She grinned again before slipping the silver into a smaller pouch on her hip. “So we are set for the next few weeks for classes with this, but we should plan for more next weekend too. No reason to not have the supplies on hand in a pinch. I know I have at least three spells that need a gold worth of mana to cast, and I’m sure Rieka has more. Plus, if we can get enough for a dimensional bag, that’ll help a lot. Especially when it comes time for overnight trips.”

“Yea, I doubt it. That kobold one was an oddity. The fact that the reward was so high on it was likely because a number of richer merchants want to use the road. A couple of gold to clear out the problem is cheaper than hiring bodyguards for their wagon caravans.” Rieka replied, glancing up at me. “Like I mentioned earlier, guards can be really expensive.”

“We didn’t see anyone at all today while on that road, was that weird?” I asked while thinking.

“Hard to say. The trip is long enough that most take it on horseback. If there was a report of the kobolds already out, then I bet folks were waiting to travel until they were taken care of. Also, you noticed there weren’t any houses, farms, or villages off the road to? The road is mostly just to connect Kintos to the port if I remember right. So regular trade is mostly foodstuffs, but the port is used to ship other things too.” Kassandra shrugged.

“Well, either way. I’m glad you girls got the coins you needed to fund your studies. Also makes me feel less like an unrepentant mooch with you buying gear for me. Too bad I can’t take anything back with me. A couple of those gold coins, regardless of mana content, would likely be enough to cover my rent for most of a year if they are at least an ounce each.” I sighed, remembering my thoughts while we had been fighting the kobolds earlier in the day.

Paying the bills fighting monsters would really be an interesting way of making a living. Hell, at this point anything would be better than having to go back and deal with Dutcher.

“Too bad it costs mana to keep you here, Liam. Or else I’d offer to let you stay with me instead. Would be nice to have you around all the time.” Kassandra winked up at me.

“Kass!” Rieka protested, a blush coloring her cheeks at the dwarf lamia’s blunt statement, no doubt the wolf-kin woman’s imagination was running away from her as it continued to darken.

“What? It would be nice, plus then Liam could focus on training with his ability and the like. You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t love to have him around all the time, even if you just appreciate the figure he cuts.” Kassandra purred, leaning into me and pretending to nuzzle into my chest. A motion that was ruined by the leather armor I was still wearing.

“We are around other people and in public!” Rieka continued to protest, glancing around at the different townsfolk that milled around us. Her protests were honestly gathering more attention than Kassandra’s quiet insinuations, but Rieka didn’t notice that part of it.

“I mean, that’s the entire reason I’m not climbing up Liam like a tree right now.” Kassandra giggled at her friend, who looked ready to combust.

“Okay, Kass. Enough teasing Rieka.” I interjected calmly and Kassandra sighed, but nodded.

“Fine. But I really do want to climb you like a tree right now. You did a good job today and should be rewarded.”

“I’ll take your thanks in reward for now, Kass. Rieka does make a point that this is a bit of a public setting for such things after all.” I reminded her gently and Kassandra sighed again, more heavily this time.

“Okay, I’ll just put it on your tab to show my appreciation for later. I think, once we get back in the green as far as costs go, we can try and set the consumed coinage aside for you if you do get a transport ability.”

“No, we can figure that out when we get there. For now, you girls take the funds. I’m getting paid in power after all.” I shot them a wink. The message had come across my vision when I’d handed over the tail tips of the kobolds earlier.

Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their mission to eliminate the kobolds and see them home safely.

Reward - 300 SP

COMPLETED

With another 300 SP on hand, I now sat at exactly 500 SP in my ‘wallet’ as I was thinking of it in the System interface. I need to look closer at the Enhance Self thing when I get back. It’s only mid-afternoon and while I’m wiped out from the walking, it’d be worth it to check it over.

Thinking of the power reminded me of the crocodile skin on my left hand and I glanced at it. We were back in town and safe, so while the girls headed out the door, I focused on my hand and urged the skin to return to normal. It took almost ten seconds to do, but the scales faded away and were replaced with my skin.

“Now I just gotta get to the point that I can do that even quicker.” I muttered to myself, following after the girls. I did notice the irritated gazes of a couple of people standing on the other side of the hall following them, specifically Kassandra. Looks like Kass wasn’t as quiet as she thought she might have been earlier. The people glaring at her and Rieka looked rather offended, but then again if this was anything like the middle ages of Earth, it was fairly puritanical in mindset.

One of the folks glaring looked familiar though, but I couldn’t place her. I wasn’t able to stay and study them, as the girls were already moving quickly and I needed to keep up while they went about selling our other ‘loot’.

I mostly spent the time keeping watch for them while they sold the bits of handmade jewelry off to a bulk vendor, though I did take the opportunity to check on the progress of my Shape-Shifting power. Navigating to the stats page, I was happy to find that the mastery rating for ‘Shape-Shifting (Minor)’ had increased drastically.

Mastery - 223/1000

Huh, apparently using it in a fight helped a lot. Or maybe it was leaving the shift in place? I’ll have to experiment some.

“Liam! Come on, let's go get something as a treat before you have to head back.” Kassandra’s voice brought me out of my thoughts and the grinning dwarf lamia grabbed one of my hands to tug me down the street towards what looked suspiciously like a bakery. Rieka followed after us with a laugh.