Chapter 145

145 Enjoy goblin city, please! part Mia chuckled at the sight of Ryu holding on to Athela with both arms, he even had a leg on top of her.

“Help me please”

An Athela with reddened eyes and a face that showed she didn’t blink an eye during the whole night whispered at Mia.

“Shhh, you’ll wake him up. It’s your fault for falling asleep in master’s bed”

Mia placed her finger in her lips signalling her to keep quiet, but Ryu was about to wake up anyways as the dawn was already breaking.

“Mia, how many times do I need to tell you that you need to put some clothes on if you’re sleeping with me”

Were Ryu’s first words after waking up. His eyes were still closed but he felt the warmth of a naked woman besides him.

“Hold on a second, what are you doing over there? if you’re already up... then who is beside me?”

Athela covered herself with the blankets one second too late as Ryu caught the sight of her naked breasts.

.....

“Lady Athela, aren’t you too daring for a noblewoman?”

He playfully joked, calling her a lady on purpose.

“N-no! that’s not it! I swear it was an accident”

“Is it the usual for you to accidentally sleep naked with men?”

Athela blushed heavily at Ryu’s remark. Mia did her best to hold on, but eventually exploded in laughter but Ryu looked at her with reproachful eyes.

“Mia, why is she still naked? if you’re free enough to be laughing at other people’s expense you’re also free to work, aren’t you?”

“Yes master”

Mia lowered her gaze in a regretful manner.

“Mister Ryu, I need to speak to you if possible”

Athela said after composing herself.

“Shouldn’t you at least wait until Mia makes you something to dress?”

“I don’t think this can wait any longer, besides...” She slowly uncovered her upper body, placing the tip of the blanket on top of her lap. Her breats were again fully exposed, only this time she didn’t show the slightest sign of embarrassment. Instead she beared a determined look on her face.

“This might be the right way to speak to you about what I want”

She waved her golden hair back, revealing her face and giving Ryu a clearer view of her naked body. Ryu couldn’t help but glare at her body with his eyes full of desire. She was a mature woman, but she couldn’t be considered old by anyone’s standars, and he was a man after all.

“Fine, just tell me what you want, but first... Mia, don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

Mia looked at him with a reluctant expression, Ryu’s desire made his energy taste so much better she could barely contain from throwing herself into his arms, but she eventually nodded and left the room.

“Before anything, I would like to thank you for rescuing me and my maid”

Athela bowed her head for a few seconds before continuing.

“Right now I don’t have anything to properly compensate you for what you’ve done for me, so instead I’m going to tell you everything. I’m lady Athela of house Celarent, in the distant past Celarent wasn’t a city but a kingdom in its own right. Eventually, Celarent and the kingdom of Loudeac merged and my house became one of the most reputable noble houses in the kingdom”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“Please, just listen to me. What I’m going to ask you is not something that can be discussed so easily. I’m the current head of my family but... we lost almost all of our members along with our funds too in the past war, in fact, though I was raised as a noble my family wasn’t really that rich and we were barely able to get by”

Her tone of voice became more serious before she continued

“I’m not proud of the things I’ve had done to acquire the necessary funds to recover the fief that belongs rightfully to my family, but ever since I took matters into my hands we are the closest we have ever been to do so. To tell the truth, it’s mostly thanks to my maid, an orphan my mother raised to be our servant, she’s really capable as a merchant and possesses the haggle skill”

“Is that why you had her pretend to be you during your deals?”

“Precisely because of that. I made the contracts and signed them myself, but she negotiated the terms and we took advantage of that”

“Then what reason did you have to take down businesses?”

“That is... well, the thing is I made a deal with the merchant’s assosiation. They’d let me do business my way as long as I took care of taking down certain shops, that was the case of miss Mia. She was just too popular and...”

“I don’t get it, why would you deal with corrupt merchants if you wanted to recover ther city? even if you succeeded, wouldn’t that leave you surrounded by corrupt people?”

Athela seemed to ponder at Ryu’s question for a few seconds before replying

“That’s why I told you I’m not proud of the things I had done. It doesn’t matter anyway because I ended up losing so much money to you my house is no longer ruined, it’s heavily sunken in debt”

“I get it now, is that why you wanted to speak to me naked? If you’re offering yourself as a form of payment, let me tell you it wouldn’t cover more than a few silvers...”

“No! that’s not it! but... if you like what you see, you could marry me and become a noble. That should be compensation enough”

“And why would I want to be a noble?”

“But the whole city might be yours!”

“I refuse, I’m not interested in marriage, nobility or in you”

“But mister Ryu! I went as far as travelling to the sacred empire to find a cure for your curse! I even got caught by goblins and they kept me prisoner for weeks! I don’t have any money, I don’t have anything to repay you the money I owe you or the kindness you showed me!”

Athela’s tone became desperate.

“I’ts true I told you I needed to find a cure for my curse but right now I think I have it under control. This curse... It doesn’t seem to want to hurt me anymore, it does consume my energy, but it’s not so bad I can’t endure it. You don’t have to worry about repaying me, you were caught while trying to do what Iasked you, so you can say we’re even now. Ah! you still need to pay me the money or return the tonics you bought from me”

“Yes! I’ll give them back to you, I promise!”

It goes without saying that Ryu had little to no use for money right now because goblins didn’t have any sort of currency, but Athela had a warehouse filled with tonics that he could either sell or use.

At the same time that conversation was taking place, Mia went outside to make some clothes for Athela as Ryu ordered her. She went to check the tanning racks in case the leather was ready. There wasn’t a single piece of leather that could be used at the moment, but Mia was pleasantly surprised when she noticed there were goblins adjusting the ropes to expand the letter just as Ryu taught them.

They were hardworking and good willed, which made their help invaluable for dismantling the megalania and making the most out of it’s parts. They too were quite happy because Ryu gave them some of the fangs as payment and he was willing to teach them how to craft weapons and armors.

As if that wasn’t enough, they were experiencing the benefits of cooking with fire and they were able to prepare meat by themselves for the first time ever. Bardun was unconscious for less than a week, but when he woke up his village looked like a different place, buildings looked sturdier, goblins had better weapons already and the streets were filled with all sorts of new products.

Mia was walking those streets right now looking for a piece of cloth she could use to fashion a dress for Athela.

“Hello”

“Hello! hello!”

Every goblin greeted Mia with their limited vocabulary, it sounded like a strange chorus comprised of only bad singers, but she was really happy they to be recognized by them and tried to befriend everyone. Even learning their names was an impossible task, since they were so many and they all looked similar, but that didn’t stop her from trying anyway.

It took Mia more than ten minutes to find a goblin who had some half decent fabric in their tent.

“Hello! I want this please”

She said as she lifted the pieces of cloth from the ground. The goblin inside the hut understood exactly what she meant and quickly nodded, he didn’t even try to bargain with the pink haired human female that they all thought was Ryu’s wife.