Ofris tried his utmost to calm me down. Not only had he began stroking my back, he also dried my tears with a slightly dirty handkerchief he had found somewhere in his backpack. All of this he did while attacking me with a series of cheesy lines, excuses and promises he spoke to me in a soft voice.

Of course he lied about how everything would turn out fine for me or that he would figure something out, only to top it off with more lies. One time he even went as far as telling me that I looked cuter without tears on my face and how happy he would be seeing me smile instead. Who would want to hear that from a guy?!

A certain someone was having the time of her life over Ofris’ struggle, even going as far as cheering for him, all of this while updating the quests whenever she saw it fit. By now he had called me by my name, held my hand and even hugged me, thus fullfilling the conditions of three of the quests, the next one however asked for something entirely different, something I would NEVER allow him to do!

『Quest 4/5: Touch me!

Objective: Get your crush to touch you intimately.

Reward: 600 Exp』

I was still brooding over the quest when I noticed Ofris staring at me. He seemed confused at first but soon enough a faint smile grew on his lips, as he had finally succeeded in calming me down. He still kept stroking my back though, as if to make sure I stayed this way.

“Where is your mind again,” he asked.

“Ehm...”

Ofris futilely waited for the answer that would never come, to then let out a long sigh. “At least you have calmed down now.”

“What does he want me to tell him? ‘Oh, Ofris. Can you please touch my boobies? I will get magic powers if you do~!’ AS IF!”

「Are you making fun of my magic?! It is the ‘Fox Edition’!」

“... I hereby solemly swear to never let a guy touch me inti-”

「Nononono!」 Her panicky voice echoed through my mind. 「I don’t want my daughter to die lonely twice!」

Once again I caught Ofris staring at me in confusion, once again I felt his hand wandering down my back as it had done dozens of times by now, this time, however, something was different. His hand wandered a little more, accidentally or deliberately, to then lightly touch the base of my tail. A shiver went over my back as hundreds of sparks conquered my skin.

“Wa- wa- what?!”

Before I could even ask her about it, a green screen popped up in front of my eyes, immediately answering any question I might have had.

『Quest completed: A Maiden in Love 4/5

Gained Experience-Points: 600』

『Accepted Quest 5/5: Kiss me!

Objective: Kiss your crush

Rewards:

⇒Skillset: Novice Magic (Fox Edition)

⇒Skillset: Dancing (Fox Edition)

⇒Skill: Item Box (Fox Edition)

⇒Title: A Fox’s Charm (Passive effect: Changes color of hair)』

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Something inside of me burst open. “He did NOT touch me intimately!!

「He totally did! A girl should never let a guy touch her tail! And if she does, it would be the one she wants to be with! That’s like-」 She thought for a second. 「Super lewd!」

“It is not!”

「So you are fine with him touching you~?」

“No I am not! And I won’t kiss him! Never! I would rather die a virgin than kissing a man!”

「You already died a virgin, though~」

Hot blood rushed into my face. “I- what- that has nothing to do with this!”

「Just kiss him. He won’t mind it!」

I was just about to tell her off when I heard somebody clear his throat, somebody who wasn’t Ofris.

“Who-”

It was the girl from the counter. She stood behind Ofris, her hands on her hips and her eyes piercing right through my own. She was shaking in anger, so much that she couldn’t even get a word out for a moment. It was only when Ofris realized I was staring at somebody and turned around himself that her mood somewhat calmed. She forced herself to a smile.

“Risa, wasn’t it? Why does she look so angry?”

「She is envious, of course~」

“Envious?”

「It seems she loves your hubby~」

“Nobody loves my hubby!”

「That’s right, Rika! Show her!」

“That is not what I meant!”

While I was still arguing with the voice that tried to conquer my mind, Ofris was already trying to explain what had happened. He let go of me, turned around and faced Risa.

“Sorry about this, Risa. She suddenly started crying so I thought I should calm her down before registering her.”

All hope left her face. She looked down, trying to avoid Ofris’ eyes, to then answer him. Her voice had turned weak and shaky.

“So you really bought a slave...”

“Bought?” Ofris asked, somewhat confused. “I found her by the ruins. You told me to accompany those pests to Min, remember?”

“Pests? You mean Maxon and the others?”

“They tried to rape her,” he explained, before glancing over his shoulder. “I will file a report later. She doesn’t need to listen to it.”

I could only avert my eyes in guilt. There was no way to tell if those boys would really have tried to do it. Ofris had chased them away before they could even try something. And by that time, they had only tried to get back at me for insulting them.

Maybe they would really have taken the chance once they had pushed me down. It was four of them, more than enough for them to come up with some stupid ideas. Guilty or innocent, I had possibly destroyed their futures as adventurers, and maybe even more.

“I understand.”

“Maybe they aren’t cut out for the job, after all.”

“Did they finish their mission?”

Ofris shook his head. “We were already two days over the schedule when we found the girl, but the scholars still asked for more time.”

“So you left their party behind?”

“How could I not? One half of them demanded for me to kill her, the other half tried to have their way with her!”

Risa went silent for a moment, lost in thought. She then sighed and sat down on one of the chairs.

“You will have to write a formal report, otherwise you won’t receive any payment and the mission will be marked as failed.”

“I will hand it in once things calmed down a little.”

Her gaze turned towards me, mustering my face, then my body and especially my ears and tail. She wasn’t happy about me being here, that much was for sure, but she somehow still managed to stay professional enough for Ofris to not realize.

“She was alone when you found her?”

“Somebody abandoned her in the ruins, not even giving her food or clothes to wear. By the time we found her, she was a shaking mess. I had to carry her all the way back to the camp before warming her up.”

“Sounds like you had it rough. Are you ok? I can call Sahria.”

Ofris sighed. “I am fine. But if she is free right now I would like her to take a look at the girl. We need to find her master and fix her up. Apparently the whole ordeal had left her... confused.”

“Confused?”

“She talks to her-” He hesitated. “No, she can’t remember how she got there. Maybe it is her mind trying to protect her from what her master did. It wouldn’t be the first time I saw that happen.”

“I have no master...” I heard myself protest.

My voice was weak, almost whispering, and neither Ofris nor Risa paid it any heed. Instead, they simply continued talking about Ofris’ findings and guesses, exchanging lots of useless and false information. Not once did they try to ask me, instead they avoided even mentioning my name. Ofris obviously tried to protect me by doing so but Risa? She disliked me. She disliked every single word Ofris said about me.

「So envious~」

“...”