Chapter 51: Erection
[Edited by Queen, deathbricks, Arthur300000, and ArchmageNaoki]
"Can I see your ID, m'lady?" The gate officer at the counter asked me as I arrived at the gate in high-spirits. Ahh, I'm so content with my maid's tails. Fluffy tails are the best! One of them is basically a man, but let's not mind the insignificant details.
"Here you are, sir." I happily handed my ID card to him under the gaze of the other soldiers. Thinking about the fluffy tails from another angle, it’s kind of weird that touching a man can be this fulfilling. Nah, there must be something wrong with this logic.
"No sir for me, m'lady. I'm not a Knight, and I’m definitely not a highborn." Uhm, I'm also not... Then why does he call me m'lady?
"Hmm, the document seems to be in order, m'lady. Is she your bodyguard?" The guard interrupted my thought and points at Cocoa. No, he points at Cocoa's spear.
"S-She is my maid." Caught off guard, I stumbled a bit.
"Can I see her contract? Sorry, m'lady, it's law. People these days try to come up will all kinds of excuses." Oh right, the contract. Hmm, that's why Cocoa quickly offered her service huh? I tried my best to elegantly present the contract I just wrote with a flourish. I think it's well past the point of correcting the m'lady thing, so I play along.
The guard took a lot more time scrutinizing the contract than my ID card. He also noted something on his memo. While waiting, I look around the area. The air under the wall feels noticeably more cool and moist than the last part of the road. I can see a lot of vibrant green leaves of small plants peeking out from cracks in the wall. The gate has a lot of rust on its surface but still looks sturdy, and there is another layer of gates on the other side of the tunnel. Assaulting this kind of town would be next to impossible unless the attacker can fly.
"Everything is in order, welcome to Grayjaws. Oh, right m'lady. There is a message from the fort commander that said there would be a reward for saving the high priestess’ caravan for Sir Sniper. Well, you are also no Sir, but there should be no problem. Please follow the sign to his office." The guard returns Cocoa's document to me. I wondered, will it be alright if I'm not a lady?
"Thank you, Si- er, have a good day." I thanked him. The gate guard chuckle and reply with: "Have a good day, m'lady."
...
The fort commander office is in a tower attached to the wall. However the tower guard would only allow me into the elevator and said that Cocoa has to wait here. "Authorized personnel only." is what he said.
"I will book a hotel for you in the meantime, then." Cocoa offered.
"Will you be alright alone?" I don't want to lose my only maid that I just acquired.
"It's fine, the town is quite safe, and I will stay away from back roads and alleys. Besides, if I couldn’t go shopping by myself, I would already be a failure as a maid." She's right, but I'm still worried. I give her a short range communication device with a tracking function I bought from a convenience store and instruct her to contact me immediately if something happens. I also gave her my old four-cubic-meters bracelet storage device, my old gun and told her to register them for herself. I also told her to sell all the monster corpses inside the bracelet for me. Finally, I handed her a tiny piece of ruby worth 200 gems for the hotel fee and grocery shopping.
"Eh, don't you have a smaller change?" She asked.
"Sorry, no." That ruby is the cheapest gemstone I have.
"Hmm, as expected of m'lady." Cocoa mocked me and walked away. Damn, what's wrong with them! I'm a guy for Hyperdimension Panties' sake. I wanted to shout that, but I don’t think anyone would believe me.
...
The elevator to the fort commander’s office was higher than I thought. I could see the entire town from up here. Hmm, where is Cocoa? Oh, there she is, a tiny dot with two tails. As I focused my vision on her, I saw her fluffy tails waving excitedly in front of some kind of shop. However, from my angle, I can't see what kind shop it was.
*Ding* The elevator hit the top floor, and its door slid open smoothly. Inside the office several people are loitering around a huge table. Uh, I don't know who's who.
"What are you doing here, lass?" A bear man turns toward me while I gawked. He's a bit smaller than my grandpa, but a lot more shaggy. Even though every Beastman in this world has a human face except for their ears and tails, he looks more like a fluffy bear than a human.
"Um, the gate guard told me that I should visit Mr. Fort Commander for a reward for saving the caravan." I answered him.
"Oh, you’re the sniper, huh? I haven't seen anyone that good for quite a long while. How far away were you shooting from? The first or the third curve?" First, third curve? What does he mean?
"Uhm, I followed the road from the Vibranthill, then I began shooting as soon as I saw the wall."
"The first curve then. That was.... 2.39 Kilometers away, huh? Not bad, not bad." He traces a line over the huge map on top of the table and mumbles something. A list of names perhaps. I try to tiptoe and stretch my body to make some sense of what is on the table. Ugh, I need a chair to stand on.
"Here you are, the reward." He handed a palm sized leather pouch to me. The feeling of the pouch touching my palm tells me that there are a lot of small gemstones inside. It felt kind of strange that those people I saved didn't come to meet me by themselves, but I still thanked them for the money. I will be counting all of it happily tonight.
"So, may I ask what are you going to do from here? Are you interested in becoming an officer here? We could use a capable body like you." Mr. Bear invited me.
"No thank you. I need to go to the Alphatrick to meet my teammates there." I refuse his offer.
"Alphatrick huh? Hey Todd, do we have any escorting requests to that area?"
"Yes sir, a group of merchants asked a platoon to accompany them back to their HQ in Alpos which is only an hour away from Alphatrick." A senior wolf man in spectacles answered.
"So, how about it, lass? You can go with that caravan first thing in the morning. All you need to do is ensure that they are safe. I will also assign a platoon under you to command."
"Is it fine to give a platoon to me so suddenly?"
"It's better this way. We have plenty of foot soldiers. However, a commanding officer is something we are in short supply of. So, you save us one officer. It's a win-win situation. Deal?"
Stolen novel; please report.
"What if one of them dies?" If they come with poor equipment like those that died in the village, some of them would surely die if a few monsters manage to get past me. I felt like they were are going to be more of a liability than an asset.
"Then they die. Don't worry. You already have a proper uniform. Ha ha ha-" He patted my back heavily. So, my tactical vest is for officers, huh?
In the end, I accept his proposal with a firm handshake. It's better to have accepted this than wasting more time to find a means of transport myself in this kind of situation. I already walked too much today.
He also asked me about the situation beyond the wall, so it took me a while to narrate all the events. It was 5:21 PM when I left the office with two letters in my hand. One of them is the deed record. Mr. Bear said I could use it to get extra assignment points from the school, while the other one appointed me as an acting platoon commander. There are also the names of twenty soldiers that I'm going to meet tomorrow. I hope it turns out well.
As I rode the elevator down, the sun began to peek below the gray clouds that covered the sky for most of the day. Its rays illuminating the whole town and cast some shadows in the process. I put my hand up and block the glaring light from the sun as I tried to locate my new maid. Damn, I can't find her. Luckily, I gave her a tracking device.
I took out the partner of the device I gave Cocoa and try to track her. Because it's a consumer grade product, its range is short, 200 meters maximum, but it should be fine in this small town.
I exit the elevator then stroll along the street into the town. If Cocoa is within range, the device will notify me anyway. There are several shops on both sides of the road, though some stalls have begun to pack up and leave. The majority of people walking by are Beast people with big grocery bags in their hands with four or five kids of about the same age following each of them. People here have a lot of children huh?
This Beastmen town isn't as clean as human settlements. The roads are mostly made of dirt and pebbles, and the shops beside the road are mostly open air. However, people here are more friendly, those kids and their parents are always waving at me as I walk past them, and the merchant at every snack store I visited tried to give me a lot of free samples.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* The tracking device notified me of Cocoa’s location as I entered the lingerie shop. I turn the device to silent. Well, she can wait. I'm currently on important business. Ohhhh, so this is how it is, huh? Hmmm, hmmm, nice. I will have this one and this one. Wow, this one might look good with Cocoa's tails.
"May I help you, lady?" A cute shop staff approaches me, a cat kin.
"Uhm, I’m just browsing." In any other situation, I would gladly have her company. However, during the panties viewing. Uhm, buying I mean, I preferred to be alone. The cat girl bowed politely and walked away.
[Skynet, why do people here keep calling me lady this and lady that?]
[There are a lot of reasons, mistress. Your vest is one thing, majority of officers here are from the upper caste. Some circumstances also lead other people to think as such. In the gate officer’s case, your method of killing is a giveaway. The sniper rifle is considered a high-class weapon here. Your inability to produce smaller change also contributes to the belief. And here, you walk straight to the first-hand shelf instead of browsing the second-hand section which normal people here would do.] What!? They have second-hand panties for sale here!? Where is it? I’m gonna sniff them all!
I quickly found a used product shelf. They rated their prices by how much of the auto-clean and auto-repair enchantment is left. An average price of new panties is about 15 gems which is cheaper than where I came from. The used one is rated at 5 to 10 gems a pair.
I pick a pair up and sniff. Damn, it's well washed. Even though the sign said that there is no auto clean enchantment left. There is only the smell of detergent on it. People here don't know how to do business huh?
...
"It's 497 gems, my lady." The cashier told me the total price. I ended up splurging on a lot since adult panties of my size are difficult to come by in my home town. Here, for some reason, they have them in abundance. I also bought the most expensive set from the shop made of a rare monster's silk. It’s expensive but no regrets!
"Here you are." I handed her a piece of amethyst worth 500 gems. She gave me two shiny pebbles back and bowed. One black and one white. This must be the smallest change they have.
I skipped out of the shop with a satisfied expression. Then I turned the tracking device back on and continued looking for Cocoa. The sun had already set, and the street lamps began to shine dimly. Some are broken, and some are flickering. Still, there are the lights from shops and residents on both sides to illuminate the street.
I follow the signal and turn left at the corner. The crunching noise from pebbles under my footstep becomes noticeable in the silence. However, the sound was quickly masked by energetic chatting and cheering which come out from an inn called "Harbinger of snooze". Alright, Cocoa's signal is coming from here.
I open the wooden saloon door which is at my head height. I could easily duck in, but that would feel strange, so I pushed it open instead. The inside is filled with people, half of them are in all kinds of uniforms while the other were families. Yup, people here have a lot of kids.
"Here you are, the left over from the inn’s fee and the income from the monster corpses." Cocoa handed me a big pouch of gemstones. I thanked her and stored the bag away. However, just before I can retrieve Cocoa's underwear which I just bought for her, she turned serious and began her lecture.
"Do you know each device you gave me is much more than my wage? This bracelet is already worth 1,600 gems! And this gun-" Cocoa began to lecture me about the proper use of money, and the difficulties of how her people live, then moving on to the topic about how I shouldn't trust people easily... When she noticed the value of those items on the register station, it must’ve been quite a shock for her.
I spent all of dinner and a long while after it listening to her maniacal speech about the adventurer grade pike. She claimed it as a perfect tool for a zombie apocalypse for a lot of reasons which I honestly don't care to repeat. However, I let her rant on because I enjoy watching her passionately talking about something. Her petite stature cutely contradicts her seriousness, and those tails, hmm, I will enjoy them thoroughly tonight.
The meal is also not that strange. I think my brother just tried to scare me or something. It was just porridge with some meat inside and some small side dishes with all kinds of meats. The only difference I notice is that they have a lot less vegetables than what I used to have. However, if I compare it with the instant meal of my previous life, this meal is still better.
The room we have is a bit cramped. It's only large enough to just barely fit two beds inside. The only window in the room is about the size of a picture frame which situates on the pillow side wall. I want to go back and ask for a bigger one, but Cocoa said it's too wasteful to have a larger room just for a one night sleep.
"At least it has a private shower." I mumble to myself as I pull Cocoa inside. Hmm, it's not as crowded as I thought. Maybe it's because of our developing bodies. We can both stand in the shower with some room to spare.
"Why did you bring Skynet?" Cocoa noticed Skynet's existence as I undress.
"Oh, she goes where I go. You see, she drains magical energy directly from me, so if we are more than five meters apart, she would be forced to enter hibernation mode." Well, there is also another reason, but I won't tell her.
[Skynet, begin the recording.] I silently told Skynet as I place her on the shelf with all my clothes.
[Acknowledged, mistress.] A firm reply from my partner in crime. During dinner, I had already transferred my entire Reference Material folder into my previous computing device. Now, Skynet has a lot of space to play around with.
"Uhm, you see. This hotel room is definitely less than five meters wide." Eh, she's right...
"The wall will reduce the energy transference range significantly." Skynet came to the rescue, and Cocoa seems to buy it as she shrugged and began to undress. Phew, good job Skynet!
[You’re welcome, mistress.] My accomplice said smugly.
To not scare Cocoa off, I obediently let her wash my hair and my body. The amount of blood and grime which came out from my hair was enough to dye the floor red for several minutes. Cocoa was also surprised by it and told me that she thought my hair was red... It seems I lost a lot of blood this morning, or is it because when I cut several monsters throats with a dagger?
Anyway, this’s my first time showering with a real nine-tailed-fox girl. It’s not a dream or a fake like that elf shota trap. I also like to bathe with my mom and my sister, but for Cocoa, she has some kind of exotic aura about her. Her hair and her fluffy tails had become drenched under the shower. The murky droplets are dripping along the length of her tail. Being stuck under the collapsed building must have caused that. Oh, you poor thing. I’m going to wash you through and through.
"Alright, let me help you this time." As my body become squeaky clean, I happily grabbed the soap bar and turned to her.
"No thank you. Uh, I can wash myself. No, not that place, ah~" Cocoa moaned cutely as I moving on from washing her hair to rub her triangular ears. However, something pink suddenly shot out from between her legs like a switchblade... It's pointy, and it's big. There are also knots at its base, and there doesn't seem to be any skin covering it.
[Oh, mistress, I forgot to tell you that all nine-tailed-fox kin are futanari.]
... In shock, I dropped the soap.