Chapter 55 - Vash Gets Broken In By Brazen Bulls!

Vash was surrounded on all sides by the group of Nandi men, salivating over her like a pack of hungry lions at the sight of a fattened zebra rump. They were tall—looming over her with their muscled arms and torsos; whilst she was stout and curvy, like a cute young wife: a soft and pliable, tender and delicate flower of unspoiled beauty.

The words oozed out of her mouth in a strained, timid murmur:

"M-m-my name is Vash." She said. "I came here...in search of somebody."

Hearing this strange voice issue from her mouth, to speak the words that she willed to speak, was not something she would easily grow accustomed to.

One of the Nandi guards stood out in front of her, while the others lingered in the background.

"Follow our instructions, and we won't have a cause to get rough with you!"

Just as he said this, Vash flinched at the sudden pricking, of the sharp bolt-tip of a crossbow, into the lower part of her back—where it curved into her voluminous buttocks.

She nodded slowly. Meekly. Yet, through all this harsh treatment, maintained a rebellious glare.

"To start with...I'm going to need you to STRIP, sweet cheeks." The Captain said gruffly, pointing to a section of the wall lit up by a pair torches. "Do it with your back against that wall, and make it snappy!"

Vash stood at where she was directed, her knees knocking in the cool misty morning air.

Slowly, she began to undo the buttons of the hood she was wearing—what had served as a parting gift, from Sonny, when she had briefly stood before him wearing only a set of default lacy black lingerie. It was an experience at once startling and humiliating, that she was to be forced to go through once again—only this time, worse still, it was to occur in front of this herd of grinning, grimy strangers.

"Come on! Double time!" One such stranger yelled at her. "We haven't got all morning!" The trade caravans would be rolling in any moment now, so they had to be quick with their blatant abuse of power.

Frantically, she fumbled to undo the buttons of her robe faster, with her set of thin, nimble fingers that were unlike the ones she was used to. As she let the robe drop to the floor, exposing herself, she considered how everything about this new body felt...ALIEN, down to such subtle details as the way her newly acquired tail swished and swayed, or the layers and mounds and rolls of fat that had accumulated in all manner of areas of her body, such as around her new set of fine, womanly hips.

Vash, despite herself, and the brave face she put on, felt on the verge of crying.

'This is bad! I have to keep it together...'

She thought about how Akira would have conducted herself in this situation: the fierce, unbridled confidence she always carried herself with, no matter what trials or tribulations she faced.

'How, though!? How does she manage to make everything look so effortless?'

Perhaps, if Vash really tried--or so he thought--he could be more like that. More like Akira.

And to possibly avoid being gangraped, it was certainly worth a shot.

"Is this a part of your job?" She murmured, at first, cautiously dipping her toes into this new resolve--that of feminine sassiness--born within her. "Intimidating the ladies into taking their clothes off?"

However, the Mithil Guard standing in the forefront appeared unfettered.

Ladies?" He scoffed, closely circling like a hungry vulture her as he did. "You couldn't possibly be referring to a Squell slut such as yourself."

Just as she was on the verge of offering a doubtlessly retort, Vash let out a tiny squeal as she felt his hand brusquely clap her from behind: eagerly grasping and squeezing at her ass, at all the juicy Squell meat contained therein, like a precious fruit ripe for the taking. Such a callous, intimate touch caused a shiver to run up her spine, accompanied by an arousing rush of heat the likes of which she'd never known, that coursed all throughout her body.

D-damn it!' Thought Vash, as this was all happening. 'Am I actually...being TURNED ON by this?'

Drawing his cow-like snout up close to her ear, the Mythil Guard's hoofed hand then glides swiftly, across her shoulder, to seize her by the neck before whispering into her ear softly: "Although, I must say, if you are indeed a Rakshasa, you sure picked out a fun disguise!"

...

At the same time Vash was experiencing her first case of bad touch, Akira was walking with Ai and Kanna along Mithil's drab streets, just after parting ways with the Amrita's barkeep.

The general mood around town was desolate, as ever. It was still early, so the shambled stalls that lined downtown were just now opening for business, with sellers more prone to grumbling and uttering curses after those turning a blind eye to their wares, rather than issuing even a simple "good morning." People milled about in the streets, carrying on in their normal tasks with a sort of soulless, robotic precision.

It was clear to Akira that such pitiful wretches had never driven around in a lamborghini with the hood down before, nor partaken in a several thousand dollar dry martini.

"These people...are living in constant fear."

"We may only be visitors, but for the people of Mithil this is their entire life."

"Instead of adventuring, and enjoying this world for what it offers, they'd rather just waste away doing the same old stuff they did in their previous life!"

Suddenly, the tickling sound of Ai and Kanna giggling together broke her out of her thoughts. Looking back, she saw they were reading aloud from a thin paperback.

"Brother Pelt slid his hands underneath her dress." Kanna was reading, bearing a wide grin. "As he combed the tender inside of her thigh, with his impossibly soft fingers, she struggled against the repressed urges that were rising up within her."

Ai continued: "NO, John!" She cried. "There will be Hell to pay, if big brother should ever find out!"

Akira walked over to the pair, hands on her hips. "Where'd you get that?" The title was comprised of only plain text, which read, "Whirlwind Affair with a Devilish Brother-In-Law Werewolf Priest."

Kanna answered, still snickering, "just now, we bought it from that stall over there—"

She pointed a thumb behind her, to a stall behind her and Ai. A Nandi man with sunglasses and a hooded sweater sat at the counter there, among racks filled with what looked to be pulpy novellas, including such ludicrously long-winded and unabashedly salacious titles as: "Romantic Affair with the Twisted CEO Vampire," or "Reincarnated as the Hero's Sassy Childhood Friend" and "My Blue-Footed Booby Cultivation System."

"What is all this GARBAGE?" Akira said, her face twisting up in disgust as she walked up to the Nandi at the stall.

"Cultivation this, cultivation that...are these all, like...farmer's almanacs?"

The Nandi groaned. "Ha-ha. Nice one. I haven't already heard THAT joke a million times..."

Akira, despite her initial confusion, ended up walking away with the first volume of "Prison Hell School for Lustful Witches" manga, which she eagerly stashed into her inventory for later. To her surprise, while continuing along, she saw there were many more stalls in that section of the market selling all kinds of arts and crafts; wall paintings and statuettes and drawings and comic books and colorful rugs. The people themselves were as grumpy and standoffish as ever, but at least here it was among some of the most incredible works of art Akira had ever seen outside of any high-class exhibit.

"Ah!" Ai suddenly exclaimed, to earn the curious glances of Akira and Kanna. "I think I get it now! This must be how the people of Mithil...are sort of able to..." She paused, to contemplate her words for a bit with a frown, before returning with a wide, triumphant smile. "Find their escape!"

Akira, thinking she looked so precious, pulled her close.

"I wonder if cute Ai-chan used to have an escape of her own, as well." She mused aloud, whereupon Ai immediately grew timid—laughing softly, under her breath, in apparent embarrassment.

"Well...truthfully, I used to publish some lewd things online...and—"

Akira lifted Ai up from behind before she could finish, hoisting her atop her shoulders to carry her the rest of the way.

"Mmm! Smell that?"

"I believe that's our 'escape' from hunger!"