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Proofreaders (1st part) : Kanadaj, NYAHAHAHAHA (a.k.a Ramzicmain),
Poofriders : LaDenouement (a.k.a. LD, a.k.a. Onion Soup a.k.a something shu doesn’t particularly hate a lot)
Chapter 1 : Shunned Freedman
Polly looked at the disintegrating blank room. She felt the world tilting dangerously. Her senses were screaming at her that she was going to fall on her back.
Soon after, she was staring at the ceiling of a shabby inn room. Polly was now connected to Royal Road.
“Gnnnhfua?!”
A black panther leapt onto Polly’s virtual body and squeezed the air out of her lungs.
“Why, you!”
She flipped the black panther away, chasing it from the cozy bed where she was resting.
“Hm, strange. It’s so warm,” she pondered.
She looked at her side and saw a boy sharing the blanket with her, along with a bit of ...warmth as he was naked?
“What the-!” she shrieked. Taken aback, she panicked and fell from the bed head first. She quickly got up, rubbing her aching head.
Another unexpected situation assaulted Polly. She was patting her robe back into place when she realized that she wasn’t wearing her usual gothic lolita robe. Instead, she was wearing a maid costume.
“Oh, my precious chastity? You still here?” She wondered.
Polly looked at the boy more attentively. She reflexively readjusted her non-existent glasses to see better. If she had them, the glasses would glint maliciously. Polly didn’t strip the boy, so she was surprised. It seems that when the inn owner shoved the unconscious boy on the bed, she took the chance to strip the boy to dry his soaked clothes. How thoughtful.
The boy wasn’t exactly naked, actually. He still had underwear and badly applied bandages wrapping him.
It couldn’t be helped that it was badly done since it was raining and dark. He would probably have survived even without bandages anyway…
She then noticed that the naked youth was still unconscious.
Obviously, Polly had the mind of a maiden. She didn’t read that many weird pieces of fiction that involved ardent bishounen rubbing their bodies against each other. Of course not, Polly wasn’t that much into that… Which was why she couldn’t help but feast her eyes upon his bare chest with innocent curiosity when she realized the boy was defenceless.
He was rather tall for a boy. Polly gave him around 3 more years than her, which would be around 18 years old? So, referring to him as a man, rather than a boy, would be correct.
He had gray, messy, long hair, a rather good face, and a body that was rather thin. It lacked some muscle. He didn’t have the dreamy pectorals, but the face compensated for that. Oh, but it was decent enough for Polly. Decent for what, exactly? Who knows...
If you were to ask her opinion, she would tell you 7/10. However, the way she rates people is unknown… And in the first place, it was easy to obtain good looks in the game. Just get some points in charisma, and you’re set.
“Hmm, that’s right. I remember now.”
She had encountered an unconscious man in the forest she crossed. The Grave Corpse - not knowing whether he was a player or NPC, she had dragged him away by pulling his feet. She had roamed under the endless rain for an hour. They ended up at the only inn of the village, where the owner of the inn lent them a room for couples due to a misunderstanding.
The inn owner and the maid were acquaintances of Polly, and offered her a bath and a change of clothes, which was why Polly ended up in a maid costume.
Polly patted the black panther.
“Penthesilea, he didn’t do anything, right?”
The big feline rubbed her face on Polly’s chest, asking to be patted.
“Great, thanks for watching over me.”
Polly said a magic formula and Penthesilea vanished in a purple smoke. The Panther was an animal spirit summon. They formed a contract together when Polly was a Spirit Summoner. Even though Polly had changed her class to Umbra Summoner, her animal summoning skill was still available, but it stopped leveling up.
She took her robe that was drying next to the man’s clothes. She changed her clothes cautiously, wary that the man was faking unconsciousness.
“... You better line up some money when I come back.”
Polly expected rewards for her good actions.
With her full magician set, she was back as a goth loli. She arrived downstairs into the main room of the inn. It was strangely lively.
“Oooooi, Dilys! Bring me an ale and your nice butt too! HA HA HA HA!” An old customer, who looked like a beggar, shouted out to the maid.
Dilys made an awkward smile to the boorish customer and readjusted her precious hair brooch. A large, ominous figure suddenly loomed behind the customer.
“Uh-oh,” the beggar felt the murderous intent directed at him. The whole inn immediately fell silent. He turned and saw the owner’s angry stare. The owner was over 2 metres tall (6.5 feet). One of the owner’s leather sandals was quickly hammering the ground in irritation. The leg’s muscular thigh and calf were bulging, baring their curves. A long tail was trembling with overflowing anger. Large arms were crossed over large pectorals, and muscular eyebrows were frowning in an intense glare.
Spoiler :
http%3a%2f%2fsand.daar.free.fr%2fwp-content%2fMomo.jpg [http://sand.daar.free.fr/wp-content/Momo.jpg]
BUT, YES! Dun dun dun! The owner was a SHE! A proud member of the Sayian Weregorilla race. Truly, her over-developed biceps were misleading. If it wasn’t for her maid costume and her poor attempt at using make-up, nobody would be able to guess her gender.
“Haha, Momo, don’t be jeal-” The beggar was cut short. He was sent flying elegantly across the room and exiting the inn with utmost style as his flying body broke through a window. He crashed loudly outside, landing on muddy ground. The beggar managed this beautiful figure of flying thanks to the strength of Momo, who had violently grabbed and thrown him with all her might.
“I told you not to embarrass Dilys for the umpteenth time this morning! Go away!” Momo roared, making the whole inn shiver.
The old man got up and threw a glance through the broken window. “Tch,” he spat, sullied in mud. He wobbled away.
Dilys’ dog tail was sticking out of a hole in her skirt. Polly grabbed it.
“Aaanhh~~? Poly’?! Stop it!” Dilys begged with teary eyes.
What the, isn’t your reaction too much? Polly scratched her cat ears.
Incidentally, they were in the queendom of Formoriah, the territory of the beast race of Royal Road. Polly was a werecat, and Dilys, a weredog.
Polly handed Dilys a folded set of clothes.
“Thank you, Dilys, but as expected, the chest area is too loose for me,” Polly said bitterly.
Dilys blushed and took it.
“Oh! Polly’!” Momo called out to the small player, “Come here! It’s been a while, tell us about your trip.”
Momo invited Polly to the free table, left vacant by the beggar that was kicked out. Polly sat obediently and Dilys brought some alcoholic beverages to Momo and Polly.
“Hehe, be amazed! I went to Amberstell and performed an ascension ritual. I released two of my servant ghosts,” Polly announced cheerfully.
Polly was an Umbra Summoner. An Umbra Summoner fulfilled the duty to exorcise haunting spirits. However, they didn’t forcefully erase the ghosts. Rather, they sympathized and helped them. In compensation, Umbra Summoners had the ability to subjugate those ghosts to complete the ascension ritual.
Polly chose this class for its symbolic meaning. Whether it’s a NPC or a real person, death is terrible, Polly thought. Helping those spirits come to term with their own deaths was the least she could do.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Oooh! That’s great! Wasn’t one of your servants a child, too? So he finally left, huh?” Momo was deep in thought.
“Yeah, he was a prodigious archer.” A hint of loneliness appeared on Polly’s face as she nodded. “Ah! But, I also got two new servants! They are both proud women, haha!”
“Come to think of it, you also got a boy too. What about him?” Momo asked, moving her face closer to Polly.
Polly simply explained to Momo what happened.
“Huh? So you just found him half-unconscious on your way here and picked him up?” Momo asked in a surprised tone. She had an expression on her face saying something like “How lucky!!”
Polly beamed proudly as if she had stumbled on a treasure chest. “Yeah, I carried him myself, ufufufu!” She bragged while showing off her non-existent biceps. Actually, it was Nightwraith who carried him.
“Hmm… So, he is not Polly’s companion…” Momo muttered, deep in thoughts. “Those from the human race are rare here. It’s the first time I’ve seen one! I would even say that… He is rather cute,” Momo blushed and looked away like a maiden.
“?!??!” Polly leapt back, staring at Momo.
But she’s a were-gorilla! The way she acts is way too creepy with her appearance!
“Come to think of it, were you the one who stripped him naked?” Polly asked.
“Hehehe, I guess so. Oh, I am such a sinful woman, hahaha…” Momo said shaking her head, holding her cheeks.
If it were a comedy manga scene, blood would splurt from Polly’s mouth.
Urgh, I can’t even imagine what she did with his body while he was logged off… No wait, can NPC even do dirty things with AFK players?!
Spoiler :
http%3a%2f%2fsand.daar.free.fr%2fwp-content%2fbloodspurt.jpg [http://sand.daar.free.fr/wp-content/bloodspurt.jpg]
Oops there's blood. Royalroad isn't a PEGI-13 game anymore!?
Polly remembered Momo’s previous attempts to seduce male customers.
“D-don’t rape me!”
“I’m too ugly, spare me!”
“Momo! I love you only as a friend!” or something like this.
Momo would do absolutely anything for her lover. Though it usually ended with her actively bullying the poor fellows.
Ahah, those were good times. So, he’s her new victim, right?
Polly coughed. “Do you want him as a body pillow? I’ll trade him for Dilys, ufufufufu,” she let an ominous laugh.
As Polly suggested the outrageous exchange, both of them looked at Dilys. The waitress was being harassed by a clingy player.
Damn it, we don’t watch over you for five seconds and you’re already being hit on??!!?
“Haha, come on, come on! I’m so bored, there’s no decent player to recruit for a party in this shabby inn,” a brat was pulling Dilys’ skirt. A couple of players were talking to the brat, but got ignored.
More like, nobody wants to party with you, Polly commented mentally.
“Let’s go, big sis,” the player told his companion as they looked down on the brat, as if he was some cockroach. They eventually left him.
“Hmpf, the girl was fine, but that boy had to come ruining everything!” The obnoxious brat pissed everyone off. He forcefully pulled Dilys arm toward him and groped her.
Polly’s hair bristled. I’m the only one allowed to grope her!
The NPCs around were grumbling, glaring at the boy.
“Fucking brat…”
“Why do all freedmen behave like shit?”
“Sweet Freya, if we did something like that, we would immediately be kicked out by Momo.”
“Raaah, I wish I was immortal too.”
“Hey! What are you fucking looking at?!” The brat roared. “If you have balls, stand up and come! Though, whether I get beaten or not, I would just burn you and your family in your precious house as soon as I respawn! HAHA!” The player was shouting at the villagers.
“Urgh!”
“...!”
The villagers averted their gazes. They didn’t want to risk attracting the wrath of an immortal freedman, blessed by gods, and also known as player.
Momo, however, stood up.
“What the heck are you doing in my inn?” She asked him with a menacing air.
“...PUHAHAHAHA! You do have balls!” He roared in laughter. “What are you? A friggin’ transsex-...” He was making fun of Momo’s manly maid appearance, however, that was as far as Momo’s patience went.
She slapped him. He flew away like a rag doll and sprawled out onto the floor.
“What! How dare you!?” The brat was outraged. He rubbed his neck that had taken some damage when Momo slapped him on the cheek.
“My line exactly,” Momo kicked him.
“Ouch! Hey! Stop!” The boy interjected as he was beaten to a pulp by Momo. The whole inn laughed at him and cheered for the inn owner. The player couldn’t do anything. He tried drawing his sword but Momo was an experienced fighter.
Even Dilys, who was a docile waitress, cheered for the outburst of violence.
Tears began to swell up in the brat’s eyes.
“Hahaha! Serves him right!”
“That’s what you get for messing with my Dilys,” Polly shout.
Finally, the boy couldn’t take the humiliation anymore and ran away.
Outside, the ground was muddy. A heavy rain had fallen on the whole forest. The boy didn’t pay attention to the step at the inn entrance and crashed onto the dirty soil in panic.
“Sniff… Shit!” The boy looked back at the inn. They were making fun of him. He ran away from the inn and slipped on the mud.
“Oh, are you okay, boy?” A villager reached out to him, but the obnoxious player slapped away the helping hand, and walked away without the NPC’s help.
“Aaaah, damn. I was supposed to recruit other players in the inn,” the battered boy moaned as he kicked a pile of firewood on his way. Humiliated, he took shelter in the woods.
I’ll make you pay, he swore.
BONUS :
As an apology for the lack of drawing, here’s a bonus drawing of Polly in game.
Spoiler :
http%3a%2f%2fsand.daar.free.fr%2fwp-content%2fPolly-IG.jpg [http://sand.daar.free.fr/wp-content/Polly-IG.jpg]
Author note :
Spoiler :
The pathetic wordcount : 2.5k
You might be wondering how everything so far is related to the summary. Well I guess this is only the first chapter, so it is to be expected.
Whereas the prologue was setting Polly’s IRL background, this chapter gives a glimpse of Polly’s IG background. She has In-game friends, i.e. her servants and the NPC.
It also introduces some tension to player/NPC relationship.
Well, that’s it. My english, and narrative skills are a bit bland, that’s why I can’t thank my PR enough for trying to correct this. Thanks to Kanadaj, LD, and Ramz for the PR (especially LD who PRed everything thoroughly). Thanks to people supporting me on the chatango such as Sieg, Vara, nls, Imi, MB, Exn, etc.
*coughs* Also, I'd like to remind you that I'll try to keep the story as shortest as possible.
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"A-actually, don't read the next chapter, baka!" Polly exclaimed.