106 Meeting Someone New

106 Meeting Someone New

Brianne was having the time of her life. The rich noble that had asked to spend time with her, had gone above and beyond with the picnic. That he had cooked the food himself made it taste that much better. The conversation was light, and a little fun, and he didn't interrogate her like she thought he would.

You see, she had moved to the adventurer starter town a few years ago and thought she could make it as an adventurer. Unfortunately, she was a peasant and didn't have a lot of money or any real skills. She was still determined to try, so she took out a loan and paid the fee to join the guild and bought some equipment and armor. It didn't take her long to figure out that was a huge mistake.

Trying to live a normal life while also paying back a large debt, left her with little or no spending money. She eventually gave up trying to do it and quit, turned in her card, and started working as a barmaid to pay off her loan. It took her almost a year before she was in the clear.

Instead of quitting like her boss thought she would, Brianne realized she actually liked her job and stayed on. She met and talked to interesting people every day and heard really interesting stories when they drank and she served them ale. It was as close to being an adventurer as she could get and she liked it. She liked it a lot and she was good at it.

Tonight she was laying under the stars and was cuddled up to the handsome muscular man that had everyone talking. Some talked because he was only an adventurer and had chosen it instead of an advanced class. Some talked because of the huge things he did and didn't brag about. Some talked because of how rich he was before he joined the guild.

Then there was the cook, Ignis. She practically had stars in her eyes for days after her father traded her for that magical meat tenderizer. It had taken several tankards of ale and a lot of begging and pleading for her to tell the secret of what happened between her and Satou in the back storage room... and what a story it was.

Once Ignis started talking about it, she wouldn't stop. Her claim to have never felt so much like a woman before had all of the female workers there letting out disbelieving hums. She described what he did to her, while standing up no less, and then him bending her over a wooden crate and taking her like she always dreamed.

Surprisingly, when asked about if she ever wanted a repeat, Ignis refused. She said that there was no way for him to top the perfection their first time was and she didn't want to ruin the memory with cheap followups.

Brianne wanted to find out for herself if that could be true, so she moved up from her cuddling to his side to look deep into his eyes. Without saying a word, she begged him to take her and make her feel like a woman, too. As she hoped, the expressions on her face had clued him in, because Satou smiled warmly at her and pulled her down into a passionate kiss.

*

I woke up the next morning just before dawn and the barmaid beside me stirred as well.

Brianne sighed with contentment and rolled over to give me a kiss. “Ignis was right.”

“About what?” I asked and then nodded to the horizon.

“There's no way you can do better than what you've already done.” Brianne said and caught her breath as the sun broke over the horizon and lit up the sky. “And now that.” She whispered. “Perfect on top of perfect.”

I held in my laugh at that. There was so much more we could do together; but, the more common women of this world thought that being treated well by a man was going to be the height of their relationship and didn't want to ruin things by trying to keep that great thing going. They were so set to be disappointed that they never once thought things could actually get better.

“Breakfast will be served as soon as you lift the bottom of the basket.” I said with a smile.

Brianne huffed and rolled away from me to dig her hand into the empty basket and yanked it back out, thinking she was lifting the basket. “Look, see? There's nothing...” She stopped talking when all she had in her hand was the wicker divider. She looked down into the basket and saw the preserved food I had made the night before and let out a groaning sigh. “Damn you.”

That I had to laugh at and sat up. “Good morning, by the way.”

“Good morning.” Brianne said and started to hand out the containers of food.

We sat there, still naked under the blanket, and ate a nice breakfast. Her eyes kept darting to mine and she gave me a pointed look each time, as if I was going to surprise her with yet another thing she wasn't expecting. I didn't, even though I could have, and we finished eating. I cast cleaning spells on us after that and we both dressed quietly.

“This was a really great time, Satou.” Brianne said, her voice filled with finality.

“Yes, it was.” I said and pulled her close to give her a kiss. “Thank you for spending time with me.”

Brianne blushed. “You're welcome, you shameless charmer.”

I grinned at her and knelt to pack everything back up. She helped a little by handing me the empty containers and then she folded up the blanket for me. I nodded in thanks and put the blanket into the basket, then stored it.

“Are you heading home or to the guild hall?” I asked her.

“Since you took care of cleaning my clothes and myself already, you might as well take me to the guild.” Brianne said with a smile. “Thank you for that, Satou. My uniform looks brand new.”

Cremea made a little choking sound and blushed.

I looked at the redhead on Mitsurugi's other side. “Fio? How about showing me a few thief skills? You might have something I haven't seen before.”

Fio blushed as well and turned her head to not meet my gaze.

“Not one skill? Really?” I asked and no one spoke. “If you didn't come here to show off your skills and get paid, why did you want to talk to me?”

Kyoyo Mitsurugi reached into a pouch and pulled out a quest notice and slapped it onto the table. “We came here for the bounty on you.”

I looked at the notice and there were no red skulls on it, which meant no one else had tried it. They probably thought it was an easy job with a huge payout of 100,000 Eris. I lifted my eyes from the paper to his face and saw the smug look.

“Are you going to attack me right now or wait until my back is turned?” I asked him.

Both girls made choking sounds and then gasped.

“He's not like that!” Cremea exclaimed.

“He's a Hero!” Fio exclaimed.

“Is he?” I asked and tapped a finger on the notice. “Committing murder for 100,000 Eris is not a very heroic thing to do.”

Mitsurugi scoffed as he stood up to try and intimidate me by looming over me. “We know all about how you ruined the Lord of Axel's business dealings and shacked up with a dozen succubi, which is against the law and common decency.”

I didn't ignore his dominance play and slowly stood. All three of them had their eyes watch the top of my head as it rose up, and up, and up. When I stood up to my full 5 foot 10 inches of height and with 2 inches added for my boot heels, my 6 feet total height was 5 inches higher than his. I was also broader across the chest and my armor wasn't as bulky as his.

“I will have you know it's 16 succubi, not 12.” I said in my defense. “They are also quite happy and satisfied with their current living arrangements.”

“Oh my.” Cremea whispered and stared up at me with a blush.

“Believe me, he's amazing.” Brianne whispered as she walked by and delivered more ale.

“So, you admit to your degeneracy?” Mitsurugi said with squinted eyes and an angry face. “Of course you would, you scoundrel! I'll deliver your head on a pike to the Lord of Axel!”

I gave him a pitying look and held in my sigh at him not backing down. “I think we need to take this outside.”

Mitsurugi nodded with a satisfied look at getting his way and walked around the table. The two girls jumped to their feet and ran after him as he walked to the front doors. The three of them left and the doors slammed shut.

“Please don't kill him.” Luna said and I turned to see that she was out in front of the teller booths.

“I'm not sure what else to do to him to make him stop coming after me, considering he literally wants to behead me.” I responded and put on my helmet before I picked up the notice to show her.

Luna sighed at the irrefutable evidence. “He rarely ever comes back here.”

I walked over to her with the notice in my hand. “You really want me to let him go, even knowing it was the Lord of Axel that legally hired him to murder me?”

Luna opened her mouth to answer and then sighed.

“I'll be putting up a notice when I come back for the disposal of the fat tub of lard, since it's apparently legal to do that.” I told her and walked over to the front doors.

“Satou.” Luna said and I stopped to turn and look back at her. “If you kill him... a recognized Hero... you're starting down a dark path that won't end well for you...” She said and then whispered. “...or for anyone else.”

I gave her a pointed look and then sighed. “I'll offer him twice my bounty to give up and end the Lord of Axel instead. If he chooses to not take it, that's on him and not my fault.”

Luna nodded and I walked over to the doors and out into the street. I had an idiot to deal with and he wasn't going to kick his own ass.