Escort Mission

Kris woke up, still being held by Mibu.

Taking stock of the situation, he realized, I don't hear any morning after doves, just some people yelling in a different room and a carriage rolling on the stones outside.

The reason why he had woken up was obvious: his stomach was growling. While he was sad to wake up the peacefully sleeping Mibu, he also wanted to get some food.

Wait...I feel like I'm moving past this too quickly. Is Mibu okay? Do we need to talk about it? Actually, that sounds weird... Deciding to gently shake Mibu, she slowly opened her eyes, giving him a bright smile.

“Morning,” she said, before sliding herself up to give him a kiss, her ears fluttering a bit.

Despite himself, Kris blushed. Why am I blushing over a kiss now, after last night!? “Umm...good morning. Are you okay?”

Mibu seemed surprised, but nodded. “Yes. I feel a little sore, but...” she smiled, rubbing her nose into his chest.

Kris instinctively hugged her, which she seemed to enjoy. “I...uh...sorry I did it inside. I kind of just went with it...”

Mibu seemed confused, “Why? I don't mind.”

“What...what if you get pregnant, though?” Kris blushed.

Mibu shook her head. “I'm guessing this is one of those things you don't know, but the slave magic has a contraception enchantment on it. I made sure it was on beforehand,” she asserted.

Kris was in awe of the lengths of preparation Mibu had taken. “You really wanted to have sex with me, didn't you?” he chuckled.

Mibu pouted, “Hey, I already told you, I-”

She was cut off as Kris gave her a passionate kiss. “Don't worry, I'll-”

He was cut off as his stomach growled loudly again.

Mibu giggled, “Shall we get some breakfast?”

After getting dressed and grabbing a bite to eat in the tavern, they went over to the guild, looking at requests.

Kris noticed Mibu was staying closer to him than before. Not that he minded, but it was a bit distracting when her breasts were constantly hitting his arm or side.

On the request board, they were looking for higher paid requests. The goal is two silver a day, but we bought ourselves a bit of breathing room with that last one. If we can keep it up, then we might even get the loan paid off early.

Continuing to scan, Mibu pointed to one, “This one's eight silvers, but...”

“But...?” Kris asked, looking at where she was pointing. The request read 'Looking for guard on trip to Floberg and back. Will pay food expenses and lodging at Floberg.'. “I don't know where Floberg is.”

Mibu pulled up her status screen map, pointing a ways south. “Here, it's about a day's trip on a wagon.”

“Hmm...even if it's two days, that's still four silver a day, which is pretty good. I doubt we'll be able to find ten silver requests every day....” he added, looking at the request board again in vain.

Mibu nodded in agreement.

“I'm a bit surprised they are fine with Wood-rank Guildmembers doing this though, I always thought escort missions would be higher-tier,” Kris mused.

Mibu raised an eyebrow. “It's pretty safe between here and Floberg, the most we might have to do is scare off some wolves.”

“Easy money then, right?” Kris chuckled.

Picking up the request, they went to meet up with the requester. It was a large, rotund, pompously dressed merchant.

“Hmm...I only requested one guard. I hope you aren't expecting me to pay extra?” he said, stroking his thin, long mustache.

Kris shook his head, “No, it's fine, we're...together.”

The man glanced at Mibu, who gave a slight bow. Giving a snort, he leaned back up, “Very well. We leave at once.”

The merchant had two wagon's hooked up together, being pulled by two horses. Kris and Mibu jumped in the back of the second one, as the first one was filled to the brim with various goods.

As he whipped the reins to get the horses started, the merchant yelled back, “No snacking from the crates! I'll provide you with something at lunch per the agreement.”

Kris rolled his eyes, It's not like I'm gonna risk messing up the request. “I'm relying on you to sniff out any threats, Mibu.”

Mibu saluted, “Roger!” and started sniffing.

However, Mibu caught whiff of nothing, and the morning rolled on uneventfully. As the road they were on was fairly empty, they only occasionally passed a walking pilgrim or another merchant on the road.

Due to this lack of events, Kris's mind kept focusing on other things. Mainly, to one event the previous night.

Are we going to do it every night now? Does she want to do it every night? Actually, does this mean we're dating now? Or not yet? Can you even date your own slave? She did say it's normal to have sex with them, but...what if I want more than that? What if she wants more than that? I don't...

Seeing Kris was staring at her, Mibu blushed. “What?” she whispered, glancing at the merchant up ahead.

Kris blushed back, “Sorry I was just thinking about...you. Or about us, I guess.”

Mibu glanced again at the merchant, before crawling over and giving Kris a quick kiss. “Hopefully that tides you over until tonight...” she whispered in his ear, before sitting back down and sniffing again.

Well...that answers some of my questions. I guess we're fine like this for now.

After a while, the merchant pulled over onto the side of the road near a stream, allowing the horses to drink.

Walking over, he threw two apples and a wedge of cheese up to them. “Here's lunch,” he said with a bit of a stern attitude, before walking back to his horse.

Kris was a bit perturbed, but seeing Mibu quietly thank him, he decided to let it slide.

Snapping a bite out of the apple, and tearing the cheese in half to give Mibu, he quickly finished, before throwing the apple core into the river. Looking around, he saw that the merchant was feeding some carrots to his horses, along with a sugar square. I think they might have gotten a better lunch than us.

Mibu had gone to wash her hands and face in the river, so he jumped down to join her. As he leaned over, Mibu held up an arm in front of him.

“There's someone behind that hill,” she said quietly, nodding her head subtly to a small mound about ten meters from the other side of the stream. They were currently in a rolling grassland, so they must have been using the curve of the land to not be seen.

“Are they doing anything?” Kris asked, matching her volume, and not sure what to do with the information.

Mibu shook her head, “No, but they aren't good. They have a lot of blood smell on them.”

Kris nodded, “I'll tell the merchant, yell if they move towards us.”

Mibu kept her eyes peeled as Kris walked over. “Hey...” I just realized, I don't even know his name... “My...companion thinks there's someone over that hill. We should probably get going.”

The merchant snorted, “Yes, yes, once my darlings have finished eating, we'll get going,” he said, petting his horses. “You don't need to make up some fanciful enemy. I already paid your guild, I'm not giving-”.

He was cut off by Mibu yelling “Kris!”

Kris turned around quickly to see a man on the hill, bow drawn. Mibu! he thought, about to rush over, before realizing the man wasn't facing her, but him.

The man's bow flicked as an arrow flew towards him. Or so he thought. As he went to duck, the arrow instead went beside him, hitting the merchant square in the stomach.

The merchant grunted before falling over, clutching at his horses.

Kris turned around to see Mibu rushing the man as he went to notch another arrow.

Dammit, he thought, running after her, jumping over the stream.

Looking up, he saw the man dodge a swipe from Mibu before pulling out his own dagger.

Wrong move. Scorch! he thought, pointing his palm at him. The Scorch hit him squarely in the back, causing him to yell in pain as it burned a whole in his clothes. No hole was punched in him though.

He turned to face Kris, instead charging him.

Kris wasn't sure what to do, opting to try to dodge, but he was too slow, and a swipe from the man hit him in the chest.

Luckily, it was either too shallow, or the knife wasn't sharp enough, and it didn't tear through his armor.

Giving a grunt of disgust as he looked at Kris still standing, he went to charge him again, but instead, roared again in pain, turning and taking a swipe at Mibu, who had just stabbed him in the back, directly in the hole he had made with Scorch.

Kris took the opportunity to cast another Scorch, trying to aim for the hole once again.

This time, Scorch punched through the man, carving out a hole in his spine. The man fell over instantly.

Kris ran over to Mibu, hugging her, as she hugged him back. Thank goodness. After embracing, they looked at the man lying there motionless. “Is he dead?”

Mibu kicked him. “Yup, smells dead too.”

Huh...I thought maybe I'd feel more troubled killing a human, but I really don't. Maybe because they were threatening Mibu?

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“What about the merchant?” Mibu asked, looking over.

Shoot! He ran over, Mibu following, to the merchant.

The merchant had pulled out there arrow, holding his bleeding stomach as he groaned in pain.

Mibu used her healing magic on the wound. Kris could see it slowly stop bleeding and close up. The wound started to fade, until just a tiny scar remained.

Mibu wiped her brow. “I'm out of mana, so that's all I can do for now.”

The merchant's eyes widened, looking at Mibu. “You're a healer? I only paid enough for a Wood-rank adventurer.”

“We're...new,” was all Kris replied.

After a moment of heavy breathing, the merchant got himself to his feet. “Err...thank you for taking care of that bandit. And for healing me,” he said with a slight nod.

Kris nodded back, “Of course, it's our job.”

After that, the merchant calmed down the horses, who had been spooked by the altercation, while Kris walked back to Mibu, who was looting the supposed bandit.

“His armor is ruined, but I think the bow and arrows are fine,” she said, handing them to him. “His dagger is low-quality, but good thing we had the armor.”

Kris looked at his leather chest. While it hadn't gone through, there was a gouge across it where the dagger had connected. Yeah, this was a good purchase.

After that, they got back into the wagon as the merchant took off again.

After their lunch stop fight, Kris played around with the bow, pulling back the string to see how hard it was. I think it's just a basic bow, so it's not that hard. Actually, wait, I haven't picked up a bow before... As expected, when he opened his status screen, there was now a 'Bow – lv. 0' (also, his Leather Armor had gone up to lv. 1). Using the bow would be cool. Although...

“Mibu, do you wanna use the bow?” he said, handing it to her.

Mibu seemed confused, “I don't mind, but don't you want to?”

Kris shrugged, “I might want to as well, but I'd rather you stay farther away so you don't get hurt.”

Mibu blushed, “I don't mind, I can fight close up.”

“Oh, I know, I saw you...I just...if I get hurt, you can heal me. Plus my Scorch has a shorter range than a bow would.”

Mibu thought for a moment, before countering, “But if I'm not next to you, I won't be able to heal you.”

Eughhh...that's a good point. “Well, maybe in some situations it will be useful?”

Mibu nodded vigorously. “Yes, the more options we have in combat, the better.”

The rest of the day passed mercifully quietly, until they rolled into Floberg near dusk. Instead of heading directly for an inn, instead they stopped at a shop.

The merchant clambered down, meeting with another man (presumably the shop owner) at the door. After a few moments, several men came out, jumping into the first wagon and grabbing a few chests, before taking them inside the shop.

After some counting, the shop owner handed over a small bag to the merchant. After doing his own counting, the merchant shook the shop owners hand, before climbing back into the wagon.

This process was repeated several more times, until the wagons were both almost empty. At that point, the only light coming from the lamplights on the street, and they finally stopped at an inn.

After parking the wagon and seeing the horses to the stable, they went inside. After ordering two rooms, they grabbed a seat in the tavern area.

“Order...whatever you like,” he said, giving an almost nervous smile.

Kris nodded. I guess this is his way of thanking us for this afternoon.

Mibu ordered a steak, and Kris ordered some roasted pheasant. The merchant ordered some fruit porridge.

After their food came, they ate in relative silence. Kris didn't know what to say, and Mibu was focused on her steak. The merchant's eyes were darting around, looking at everyone in the tavern.

Is he worried about an enemy? I mean, you'd have to be pretty brave to attack in a crowded tavern like this. Especially-

The merchant got up suddenly, his porridge only half done. Walking over to someone at the bar, he clapped him on the back, before engaging in a lively conversation.

Oh, must be some friend or business contact.

After they finished eating, they continued sitting at the table.

Mibu whispered, “Do you think he'll be a while?”

Kris shrugged. There was now a small group around the merchant, most of whom were dressed similarly, and they were all drinking and laughing.

Mibu squirmed a bit in her seat. “I want to...go to the room,” she said, blushing a bit.

Kris blushed back. “Mibu...we don't...we don't have too do...that.”

Mibu pouted. “I thought you enjoyed it!?”

“I did, but-”

They were cut off as the merchant slapped the table, dropping a room key down. “Haha, sorry about that, I got caught up reminiscing and forgot about you,” he explained. His normally stoic, uppity demeanor had been replaced with a exuberant, jovial tone.

Kris was taken aback. “Are you...okay with us going to bed?”

“Haha, of course. I'm sure you want some...alone time,” he added with a mischievous grin. “I'll come knock on your door when I'm ready to leave in the morning.” He then turned and went back to his group.

Mibu half-dragged Kris to their room. As soon as the door was closed, she jumped at him, making out with him before Kris could get a word in.

After a few moments, Kris grabbed her shoulders. “Wait, wait, wait, we weren't done discussing from earlier...”

“No talk just sex,” Mibu replied, trying to jump back on him.

Kris was incredulous, “Just hold on a sec. I promise we will if you talk with me first.”

This seemed to calm Mibu down a bit, and she sat on the bed. “Okay.”

Kris sat down next to her. “So...why are you so gung-ho about this?”

“Why can't I just like mating with you?” Mibu asked.

Kris blushed, “That can't be the only reason...”

Mibu was pouting again, “I told you, I don't want to be alone!”

Kris shook his head, “I'm not going to get rid of you or sell you off if you don't have sex with me every night...” he explained, trying to reassure her.

Mibu shook her head, “I don't know that, though! People have broken their promises to me before...”

Kris winced. “Is...” he paused, thinking if he should ask what he was about to ask. However, after thinking through it, he decided it was the only way to move forward, “...is that why you were at the slave merchant's?”

Mibu looked down and nodded. “Yes.”

After waiting a moment, Kris asked. “Do you want to talk about it?”

After a few moments, Mibu explained, “I used to live with my family in the forest. Me, my mother, and my father. My parents used to be adventurers, it's how they met, but when they had me they settled down in a hut in the forest in the kingdom to the north. Growing up, I wanted to be an adventurer too, but my mom told me she wouldn't let me, since it was too dangerous. She only even taught me the healing skill a couple years ago for use in an emergency, and when she was really sick...”

Kris scratched his head, “Oh...sorry for making you break your promise.”

Mibu giggled, her mood brightening up a bit. “I'm sure she'll understand. After she passed away, my father...changed. He was never around, he'd go into town and spent all his money on gambling and brothels. When I came of age, he said he was going to take me to the Adventurer's Guild so I could sign up, but instead...he sold me to the slave merchant in town.”

Kris felt like crying, I don't even know what to say. That's insanely sad. No wonder she has trust issues. Not sure what to do, he just wrapped his arm around Mibu's back.

Mibu was surprised at first, but then smiled and leaned into him.

“I...I'll do whatever I can to help,” Kris said, trying to reassure her.

Mibu smiled, before leaning up and kissing him. “Please embrace me. Please need me,” she whispered, while taking off her armor, revealing her rough brown undergarments.

Despite still having some misgivings, Kris decided to acquiesce, beginning taking off his own armor.

After they were both naked, she pulled Kris onto the bed, rubbing his shaft while kissing him.

Remembering she had enjoyed it the night prior, he grabbed her breasts, squeezing and massaging as Mibu moaned between kisses.

Once Kris was fully erect, Mibu sat on top, lowering herself onto it. Putting her hands on his chest, she pushed herself up and down, grunting each time she slammed down onto him.

Kris was going crazy, coming almost immediately as Mibu also spasmed on top of him.

Falling over onto his chest, Mibu was breathing heavily.

Kris wrapped his arms around her, and Mibu did the same.

“Please don't let go of me,” she said, before falling asleep from exhaustion.

Kris shook his head, I don't know why I'd ever want to...

The next morning, they were woken up by a knock at the door. “Meet me in front of the inn in five minutes,” came a voice from outside.

Mibu quickly jumped out of bed, putting on her undergarments and armor.

Kris slowly rolled over, rubbing his eyes. “How are you so energetic in the morning?”

Mibu pumped her fist, “After last night, I feel great.”

Kris shook his head, You're supposed to be worn out after sex, not full of energy.

After she finished getting herself dressed, she helped Kris, roughly pulling his armor on, before grabbing their belongings and pushing him out of the door.

The merchant seemed back to his stern demeanor this morning, not saying a word as they climbed into the second wagon.

Once they were in, they did the reverse of the process from last night. Stopping at several different shops and stalls, the merchant bought stock and loaded it in his wagons, until they were stuck in the back, sitting on crates.

With that, they left, heading north again back to Coburn.

They rolled along in silence, the only sound coming from the wheels and the occasional passerby.

At some point in the morning, Mibu dozed off while sitting.

She definitely has a cute sleeping face, Kris mused.

However, it was a short nap as she was jolted awake when the wagon hit a rock in the road, causing their wagon to shudder.

Kris leaned over to steady her as she was about to fall off, earning a blushed smile as thanks.

That's also cute, but why are you blushing over something small like this!?

When it should have been getting to lunch, the merchant hollered back, “Not stopping today, just grab something from the crates.”

Mibu and Kris shrugged, then started looking around the wagon. After some searching, they found a couple pears and some jerky, and contented themselves with that.

While chewing on the jerky, Mibu asked, “Do you think we should get another member soon? You said you wanted to get more woman, and having a good front-line fighter would help keep both of us safer.”

Kris almost choked on his pear. Slapping his chest to help swallow, he coughed a couple times. This girl...she's combining two different conversations we had and making suggestions.

Mibu seemed concerned, so he held out his hand to show he was okay. After getting his breathing back, he replied, “You're really okay with it?”

Mibu shrugged, “I know some races don't, but I told you dogkin practice polygamy. Plus...” she blushed, while poking her fingers together, “...if there was another with us, I'd be...we'd be an even bigger pack, right?”

That's true. Maybe she won't be so affection-starved if there's three of us. Or would she be more because I'd be spending time with the other girl? Err...if they're okay with it. After his thinking, Kris nodded. “I think that's a good idea. But we need to pay off my loan. If we get another member, we'll have to split the payment with them, too.”

“You could just get another combat slave. There was several pretty girls at the merchant I was at.”

Kris thought for a moment, “I guess we could, but we need a good fighter, not just someone who's pretty.”

“We can train them up, just like you're training me,” Mibu said, giving a fist pump.

“Maybe...” Although it would be nice to get someone who makes an immediate impact. “Maybe we'll check how much we have left over after the first payment, and then we can see who they have.”

Mibu nodded vigorously with a smile.

The afternoon also passed uneventfully, until in the evening they reached Coburn.

After entering through the gate, the merchant stopped. “Here is good,” he said, clambering down.

“You don't need us to see you to the stores?” Kris asked.

The merchant chuckled, “Not in Coburn, you don't.”

Kris pulled up the request on his status screen, and he marked it as completed. “One moment,” he asked, before jumping up into the second wagon. After rummaging for a bit, he pulled out a wrapped package. “Here. I know your guild will pay you but I...appreciated your help on this trip.”

Kris took the package with a raised eyebrow. “Thanks...?”

The merchant nodded, before getting back into his wagon and driving off.

Kris went to open it, but Mibu stopped him, sniffing it. “Let's open that later,” she whispered.

Kris nodded, trusting Mibu's nose.

They went into the guild, walking up to Corrine seated her normal spot at the desk.

Giving them a smile, Corrine closed out the request, before walking to the back. Coming back she stacked the eight silver in front of them. She then noticeably looked between them, before sitting back down.

What's wrong? Do we look weird? Now that he was thinking about it, Mibu was standing right up against him again. He had sorta just gotten used to it.

As they walked away, Kris asked, “Do you think we should pick up a new request, or you wanna wait until tomorrow? I'm kinda tired after the journey-”

Mibu cut him off, pointing to the package under his arm, “We should go back to the inn and open that right away.”

Kris raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

They then headed over to the inn. After saying hi to John, and grabbing two drinks from Frieda, they went to their room.

Sitting the package down at the table, Kris asked, “So, what's wrong with the package? Can you smell something with it?” while handing one of the drinks to Mibu.

She nodded, taking a sip, “Yes, it smells like magic.”

“Magic? Do you think it's not safe?”

“I don't know.”

Hmmm.... “Well, at this point, I have to know what's inside.” Opening the wrapping, out tumbled onto the table a...book. Wait...this looks familiar...

Mibu's eyes went wide, “I've never seen one, but...I think it's a Goddess Tome,” she explained, leaning over it.

Kris nodded, Well, since I've actually seen one before, I knew that was true. He delicately opened it, “Ice Spike?”

Mibu's face lit up. “That's a low-mana ice spell. This is probably worth a lot.”

“A lot as in...how much?”

Mibu looked thoughtful, “They're rare, so even low level spells will be at least a few gold.”

A few gold!? We could pay off the loan right now! Although... “Sorry, I know I'm a bit clueless, but...do you think this is worth using? Or should we sell it instead?”

Mibu shook her head quickly, “I think we should use it. Tomes are usually only found in Dungeons, and learning a new spell, especially of a new magic type, is much more valuable.”

Dungeons? I'll ask about that later... “Yeah, I was thinking so too,” he replied, picking it up and giving to her.

Mibu pushed it back, “No, Master should learn this, I need to conserve my magic for healing spells.”

Kris pushed it back at her “Why are you back to calling me 'Master'? And I think you should, you don't have any offensive magic spells.”

Mibu pushed it back, “Kris should be the priority for getting levels, so you get more mana,” she explained.

“But if Mibu gets more mana, she'll be able to do more healing. Plus, having you be able to use magic that isn't healing in combat gives us more options.”

Mibu sighed, defeated, not having a response to her own words being used against her. “Okay...” she opened her status screen, sliding the book into it. It now had an 'Ice Magic' – lv. 0'.

After they finished their drinks, Mibu started getting undressed, looking at him expectantly.

“I know, I know...” Kris said, acting reluctant but giving her a smile, before getting undressed and joining her on the bed.