Chapter 2 - Home Sweet Home

"We are looking for someone capable and everyone here, minus possible thieves and the mediocre bards, are invited to take the test to become bodyguards for the Strogueher family. Those who are interested should appear tomorrow at 1 pm at the main gate of the Strogueher family's second mansion."

Everyone was surprised by the announcement, after all, a bodyguard earned hundreds of coins a year and all he had to do was to accompany someone during some trips and special occasions. It was the perfect job for someone who wanted to get rich.

However, the person would have to deal with thieves, kidnappers, maniacs, and many other types of people from the fringes of society.

Luke and his friends went out the back door before the man entered, but they could hear the call perfectly.

"Let's go home." said Ynosuke to the half-wolf, who nodded in agreement.

Ynosuke was not as strong as Luke, so when he got the warning signal, he grabbed John and left Zack to be carried by Luke.

This one went much closer than the quartet would have liked. They didn't like to be in places where there might be a mess, and three strong steps were signal enough to leave. If not for the rain, Luke might have sniffed out the man's unpleasant smell a little earlier.

The robber duo ran for a few blocks, carrying their friends. John insisted that he could run alone, however, his only good skill was opening locks that no one else could, otherwise, he was about as useful as a child.

When Zack finally woke up from the turbulence, they were able to walk to the main street like normal people. It was much emptier than usual, because of the torrential rain.

The winding alleys of Oukiwa had already turned into real traps because of the mud puddles. If they had not stolen a wagon during the afternoon, the quartet would take advantage of all this temporal chaos to commit petty thefts.

John, while drying the lenses of his glasses, asked the other three: "What do you think? Couldn't this be the big opportunity we've been looking for? The Strogueher's must have a safe with lots of gold coins."

"What happened?" Zack asked confused. He was already fully sober after the little nap and just as predicted, he had a huge bruise under his eye.

"A messenger from the Strogueher Family announced to everyone in the tavern, that they are looking for a bodyguard..." Ynosuke explained.

"The Strogueher Family?" The big red-headed man inquired, impressed. "They are very rich."

"Yes, yes! They are the official spokesmen for the Guild here in Oukiwa."

"I agree that we should take this opportunity to infiltrate there, but Meredith is too pessimistic to allow that."

"That's four against one! And if we include Matthew in that, it's five to one! She won't be able to not take it."

"It will be four against two. I don't support that." Luke said as he took off his hoodie.

"Luke, we will soon run out of work in this town. It seems like every week they discover another mining Dungeon here and there are more and more adventurers waiting for Tower type Dungeons. Soon there won't be any space for thieves."

"Ynosuke, the fact that there are more and more Dungeon is good for us, Because there will be more and more weapons and stone merchants, and maybe if Oukiwa grows to the point of becoming an Industrial City, there will be a chance for us to rob some Gene Store one day."

The group continued discussing the possibilities until they reached the harbor area. Huge ships docked there, so there was a great amount of movement of people day and night. It was the perfect place for thieves to hide. 

Meredith had lived for a long time hiding in dark alleys, so she believed that this was the perfect place for experienced thieves to hide. She had also grown tired of the misty forests. This was also why she now only orchestrated the robberies and took care of the gang's finances.

The shed where they lived could not be called 'home sweet home', however, it was a warm place where they could eat and rest. The aroma of the meat and vegetable stew, that they were already accustomed to, aroused the appetite of the four as they entered the warm warehouse.

"Have you finally arrived, you sons of bitches?!" Meredith shouted angrily.

Meredith had emerald green eyes and coppery red hair. When angered like that, her ears, which were normally hidden by her beautiful hair, perked up.

And well, she had a very good reason to be angry, because since early afternoon that day, they had gone out to carry out the wagon robbery as planned, and by now it was past nine o'clock at night.

"Say sorry for being so late, and don't even dare take a step inside before you take off those muddy boots!"

"Shhh! Keep it down!" Ynosuke pleaded, afraid that people on the street would hear.

"Sorry." said John.

Zack, who was starving, apologized so fast he seemed to have spoken another language.

"Sorry, sis." Luke spoke as he dried the inside of his right ear with his shirt.

"... I'm sorry too" Ynosuke spoke last.

*

A large basin of hot water was the only thing Luke needed after a tiring day. Yes, he was hungry, but it wasn't as if he looked forward to eating the same stew every day.

The sound of water falling on the wooden floor of the bathroom, crackled loudly. Splashhhhh!

Perhaps because he was half-wolf, Luke sweated much more than most, and the fur on his tail also needed to be washed quite often to keep it silky, so he was the only one among the men in the pack who bathed every day.

The others, even after arriving soaked from the rain, preferred to leave this kind of thing for the weekend or when they were very tired.

From the cold wind coming in through the window, Luke felt that the rain would continue until the next day. Which also meant that it would be another day that he would have his skills reduced.

While trying to scrub his own back, Luke dropped his soapstone on the floor, and it slid toward the door. Someone coincidentally knocked on the door at the same moment. Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Luke, is everything okay?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, I'm just finishing up!"

The girl opened the bathroom door to check if everything was okay. They had known each other for years, so they were intimate about it, and she was already too stressed to have to wait long for her shower.

However, to balance the scales of the universe, if Luke as a thief was a professional, as a man he was someone with a total of zero experience. Therefore, he was also someone who was very shy when he was alone between four walls with a woman.

"Go quickly and leave some water for me. Ah, you dropped your soap! Let me get it for you." Meredith, who was wearing only a towel, went into the bathroom to pick up the soapstone from the floor.

The half-wolf took a brief look at his childhood friend's breasts, blushed, and after taking a brief look between his own legs, gave himself a punch so hard that it made him fall off the stool he was sitting on. That was the way he found to control himself.

"Did you slip?" Meredith asked worriedly, seeing Luke in that situation.

He remained inexpressive as he nodded, and in the end, stretched out his arm for her to return the soap.

The girl, who had known Luke for over sixteen years, had only seen him so embarrassed in this kind of situation. She knew he was nervous because his two wolf ears were as red as a Samurai Pepper.

Faced with a rare opportunity, she proposed: "Luke, will you let me wash your back?"

The boy arched his eyebrows, pondered, and after a few moments, replied:

"No, I can do that for myself."

The half-wolf, having grown up on the streets, had a habit of wanting to look strong, so even though he wanted an beautiful half-naked girl to rub his back, he couldn't admit it.

Meredith, seeing him look vulnerable for the first time in a long time, felt she had just found a new hobby. Since she was determined to see more of those reactions, she decided to blackmail him.

Leaning forward a little, she asked as she waggled her tail: "If you're not going to let me wash your back, I'll have to pay you a little visit in your room later."

Without hesitation, he stood up and sat down with his back to her. He had no choice but to accept it, because the moment the half-fox leaned over, it felt like her towel was about to fall off and, in those milliseconds, Luke imagined a reality where that happened and got so turned on that he had almost a nosebleed.

As Meredith began rubbing the soap on her friend's back, she remembered how full of scars he was. There were marks from blade cuts, claw cuts, open wounds, and even bites, not only on his back, but all over his abdomen. It was amazing that he was still alive, being so unlucky.

Luke's whole body showed his experience. Even though he was about to turn twenty in just a few months, he already seemed to have lived a long time, both by the look in his eyes and by his reactions to every kind of situation. 

Except when Meredith would playfully play with her breasts on his back, and thus internally amuse herself with the little shakes the boy gave.

Splashh! "Okay, I think I'm done." spoke the half-fox after throwing some water on Luke's back.

"Thanks." He replied, getting up.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's hide the Big Bad Wolf, please?"

"You say that now?" Luke, who had already realized that his friend was having fun with her reactions, questioned looking into her eyes.

"Okay, I admit that I deserve to be judged… You can go, now it's my turn to take a shower."

Luke quickly exited the bathroom and closed the door. With his ears nearly purple, his brain about to go fuzzy, and his heart racing, he leaned against the wall so as not to faint at the variety of possibilities of things that could have happened in this bathroom.

"Hey, Luke! Haven't you changed your clothes yet?! Come on down! Matthew has arrived with good news!" said Ynosuke at the foot of the staircase leading to the second floor.