Third Person POV

Two days passed since Satoshi conveniently blasted off the rabbit-eared woman into oblivion. Most of his time went into learning the new language which he was indeed picking up quite fast; as someone once said, “Necessity is the mother of all motivation.”

"..That was when the neighbour aunty called out to the newbie adventurers and gave each one a smack to the head. 'This is not a job for kids!' she told them.."

Satoshi stood next to Feriana, watching her cook. She was making some kind of scrambled eggs for breakfast. Raw, the eggs were brown and large, double the size of his fist. With it were some vegetable-fruit things he couldn’t even try to relate with anything he’d seen on Earth.

Satoshi himself knew how to cook a decent meal but watching these other-worldly ingredients and their innovative ways of being cooked were something that piqued his interest.

“..Not only did they go back to the guild without completing their job, everyone on the streets pointed and laughed at their mud covered bodies! Once they...”

Feriana just rambled on and on, her unstoppable mouth in no way a hindrance to her hands. She simultaneously used the wooden ladle to scrape the hardened egg off the metallic pan and with a flick, the scrambled eggs flew into the air landing precisely back on the pan where she again used the ladle to break and disperse them.

“...I was buying fruits when that happened and I turned around to see why people were shouting. There was an incredible fight. Both of them had swords and……”

Satoshi tried to focus more on her rambling than the cooking. There was only so much he could learn with her pointing at stuff and telling him words. Without a common language, it was next to impossible to explain abstract concepts and grammar. So for the last two days, not only did he refrain from blocking her out with a sound barrier, he actually listened intently, trying to make out words in her long-winded rants and figure out some patterns.

Earlier he couldn’t even segregate the different words in her speech, much less understand anything, but now he was slowly getting used to her way of talking. Occasionally stopping her and asking her to repeat slowly certainly helped.

“...The guards took both of them and put them in prison for a whole two days for that! I mean, yes, they almost destroyed the shop and yes, a few people got injured but clearly the horseman was at fault! I mean…”

It was also quite interesting for him to observe Feriana’s expressions as she talked. She would laugh and smile and frown. Sometimes she would roll her eyes or raise her eyebrow or scrunch her nose. With context, he felt these would be similar to what they practised back on Earth but then there were a few that made no sense to him. Like extending and contracting her neck. What could that possibly mean? Maybe it was a ferret thing?

“...Even after that he got drunk and beat up more people. Though I didn’t see it happen, the vegetable vendor told me that due to….”

Feriana was done with the food. She was now putting the prepared dish in two plates.

(Adventurer, head, kid, guild, street, body, fruits, shout, fight, swords, vegetable.. So an adventurer with a head met a kid outside the guild in the streets. His body looked like fruits when he shouted and then they fought with vegetable swords. Yup, It all makes sense.)

Satoshi could make out some of the words, but the larger context was far beyond his capabilities at the moment.

Feriana carried the two plates and placed them on the table behind them. The kitchen was sizable enough, as it served as a meld of both the kitchen and dining room. This was one of the only places in the house where they had metallic equipment. Obviously cooking couldn’t be done in wooden utensils but the plates and cutlery were again wooden. Apparently, metallic equipment wasn’t prevalent for other regular household purposes.

Feriana finally quieted up in order to get some food in her mouth. Satoshi was totally intent on making the exercising a part of his habit and they had returned not long ago, ravenous. And he didn’t mind taking Feriana along. She enjoyed bathing in the small pool and today, also took along a bag of clothes to wash. Satoshi dug out another mini-pool just for her to do that.

“Tasty.”

Satoshi told Feriana in beast language. The scrambled eggs were a little too moist for his liking but the spicy flavour really fit well with him. The crunchy vegetables brought about a nice texture to the meal.

“Thank you!”

There was no equivalent of welcome in the language. Or at least, he didn’t know and Feriana didn’t judge it important to tell him yet.

*knock knock*

“Anyone home! Fobert!”

There was a knock on the door. A visitor, the first-ever since he came here.

Satoshi extended his detection; a little cumbersome with so little gaps through the door; it was a single person.

*knock kock*

“Fobert, you there?”

Satoshi looked towards Feriana who should probably not have a nickname like the one being called out.

Feriana was looking down, her eyes wide and a glint of fear visible in her eyes.

(The father?)

Satoshi wrapped some air around Feriana’s body, inside her clothes, and fed a small stream of air into her lungs. Feriana’s mind had subconsciously attached this feeling to that of resolution and Satoshi knew it; he did trained her as such, after all.

Feriana jerked a little, her senses returning to her.

“Feriana. Go.”

He said in a low volume.

*knock knock*

Feriana looked at him, her composure visibly returning back to her.

“Yes.”

She said towards Satoshi with a confident nod.

“Wait!”

She called out towards the man whose knockings were slowly transitioning into bangings. Satoshi made the air around the area dense to allow better propagation of sound. He had found this tidbit when experimenting with zoning out one of Feriana’s rambles without having to use an explicit sound barrier.

*door unlocks*

“Umm.. Yes?”

“You must be Fobert’s daughter. I work with your father.”

“I see.”

“He hasn’t come to work for the last four days. Our boss sent me to check up on him.”

The man’s voice was rough. Satoshi wanted to see the man’s associated animal species but refrained from making any sounds. His sound amplification was bi-directional, just like his sound barrier, and he did not want to risk anything against these beastkin’s superior senses.

“Father has..”

She hesitated for a moment.

“He left..”

Satoshi kept his wind wrapped around Feriana to help her courage up.

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“What do you mean ‘He left’? Where did he go?”

Obviously, he wouldn’t leave that easy. People often had a thing for being nosy.

Satoshi did not understand what kind of conversation was going on between them. He had no choice but to trust Feriana to handle it on her own. Though he sat ready. He was slowly diminishing the amount of air intake of the man in an attempt to make him woozy and leave early, but not enough that there would be any need for him to come into the house for suddenly feeling too sick, even if Feriana somehow chose to do it ‘out of courtesy’. He was also ready to deploy a sound barrier, push him inside and simultaneously burst his lungs, if he attempted anything violent.

“..I don’t know. He didn’t tell me anything. He just.. left.”

“What, just like that?”

“He left a letter. It didn’t say why.. It just said he wasn’t coming back... He didn’t mention anything else.”

“Uh..", the man grunted, "Okay, I guess. I’ll tell the boss that.”

The man scratched his head and simply walked away, unconcerned of his colleague’s daughter’s well being at the situation.

The door closed, and Satoshi let the dense air return to normal. Feriana walked back in, a little unsteady. She looked at Satoshi, his face unhidden; there was no need to keep the hood on while in the house.

Feriana took him by surprise as she jumped on him.

They fell to the back, the chair in tow. Satoshi managed to use an air bubble to break their fall just in time. Feriana did not seem to care about anything as she proceeded to kiss and lick him, going as far as to taking off his shirt while on the kitchen floor.

(I had not even eaten half of those scrambled eggs…)

Satoshi let her do as she pleased. She would get like this, insecure and wild every night and fuck him till she was tired and could sleep. Satoshi had started to use his ability to make her dizzy and fall asleep faster but unfortunately, she wouldn’t have that respite for now.

*knock knock*

Satoshi forced some air into Feriana’s lungs in an attempt to bring her back to her senses.

He had been keeping track of the man as he left and hence was able to detect the three approaching presences even before they had knocked.

“Feriana.”

He pushed her away from him. She had slight tears in her eyes. It was obviously not going to be so easy for her to come to terms with her new life in a matter of days.

Satoshi ran his hands through the white ferret fur at the sides of her face.

“Go.”

He had a feeling this one was going to be important.

Feriana took a few deep breaths and nodded reluctantly. After a despondent lick, she got off him and stood up. Following her, Satoshi, still in the chair, pushed himself up using the wind, snapping back into position with a force that should have produced at least a light thud but didn't.

Feriana made her way towards the door. A flying robe passed her and into the kitchen, draping itself over its owner.

“Ah, Mr. Meste, Mr. Rovango.”

At her door stood a wolfman, a ratman and a catman. She did not recognise the catman.

“Ms. Feriana. I apologise for coming unannounced.”

“No, umm.. That’s alright. Thank you so much for the other day.”

Feriana bowed towards the men at her door. Within her loose gown, her feet shook and her heart beat faster, the effects of the previous meeting only serving to amplify her nerve-wreck. She bowed a little longer than usual, trying to think in her mind of Satoshi as she felt him through her hair and around every part of her body.

“Please get up, Ms. Feriana. I already told you, it was the least we could do to repay Satoshi for saving us in the woods. How are you now?”

Meste interpreted her longer-than-usual bow to be one of extreme gratitude. The other two behind him stood quietly, the catman looked confident in their leader's ability to manage the conversation well. While the Ratman.. sported a frown.

“I am more than good. It is all thanks to you and Mr. Rovango. Though I hope you didn’t have to.. Umm.. ‘go through’ anything because of that when you were dragged away by the koala lady?”

“...Don’t worry about it..”

Rovango the ratman, replied staring back right her in spite. Though it didn’t seem like the reason for his spite was that particular event.

“...”

“...”

“Anyways.”

Meste broke in the awkward atmosphere.

“Yes. And umm.. if you don’t mind, how did you find where I live?”

Feriana asked the wolfman in the front.

“Yes. For that, I would like to apologise twice; one, once again for coming unannounced and the second, well, it is part of an investigation, so we had to find out your living place ourselves via some ‘unorthodox’ ways. The said investigation is the reason we're here.”

Feriana knew this was coming but that did nothing to prevent her from cold sweat dripping down her back.

“An investigation?”

She asked, pretending her best to be ignorant of the situation.

“A member of our party went missing two days ago. Her name is Poochi, she’s a rabbitwoman. Would you happen to know anything?”

For some reason, her eyes started to notice the men and their outfits. All three of them were well equipped with armour and weapons. The ratman’s projected hostility did nothing to ease her tension.

“I don’t.”

Feriana tried to be as confident as possible in her answer.

“Is Satoshi home?”

!?

Maybe it reflected on her face, as the wolfman chose to continue.

“Ms. Feriana, you misunderstand, I assure you. I am not accusing him of anything. We’re trying to investigate the whereabouts of a close party member, so we’re hoping to get any kind of help, really.”

“Satoshi is home.”

“I see. I understand there is probably no point in conversing with him with his limited vocal capabilities. Do you think he would know anything?”

“Satoshi would never do anything like that.”

Feriana replied with some genuine anger. Even though she had witnessed what had occurred, in her head, not an ounce of it was her saviour’s fault.

“I apologise again Ms. Feriana. As I said, we’re simply looking for anyone who would..”

“He did it!”

Rovango finally burst out through grit teeth, cutting off his party leader.

“Rovango, Meste is speaking.”

Feriana heard the catkin at the back speak for the first time.

“You know it too, Ronaldu!”

Rovango replied to the catman called Ronaldu with ferocity.

“Poochi was obsessed with that man. And not in a good way!”

Rovango looked at the ground as he spoke. It was clear he had a thing for the rabbitwoman.

“She was our ranger! There’s no way she could be taken down so easily unless it was someone incredibly powerful!”

He proceeded to glare at Feriana. He would have attacked any moment if Meste wasn’t there.

“Feriana.”

From behind came her the voice of a man. A voice that brought colours back to her frightened world.

Rovango shuddered as he saw the robed man walk out from a room at the back. Even though the man inside the robe was visibly lean, the presence he exuded was unrivalled. His presence could be felt. The air itself seemed to get heavier as it suddenly became harder to breathe. The memories of the balaboor being blown away flashed through his mind and served to relieve him of all his fury.

"Mr. Satoshi. I apologise for my partner's rudeness."

Even though he addressed the robed man, it was clearly directed towards the ferretwoman. Even Meste evidently struggled to breathe in the man's presence.

"If you do find anything, I implore you to leave a message addressed to us at the guild. Well then, have a good day Mr. Satoshi, Ms. Feriana."

Meste gave a small bow and left with his entourage, all of them in a newfound hurry to escape the place upon Satoshi's arrival.

As soon as the door closed, Feriana jumped on Satoshi right then and there in an even greater fervor than before. This meeting piled on top of the previous one must have shaken her to the core.

As she kissed and licked her source of sanity, the said source had only one thought in his mind.

(My scrambled eggs….)

----------------------------

Thankfully there were no more interruptions after that. Satoshi could easily guess why their two set of 'guests' had decided to visit. Even though he didn't understand either of the talks, he could tell that the one who came first, looking for the father, was most likely not going to come back. The man simply didn't care, otherwise, the conversation would have not been as short as it was.

In the case of Meste and the others, he couldn't be sure. He knew he had blown the stupid bitch with a speed that her body would be hard-pressed to be found; if her aftermath resembled anything like the original anyway. But then again, he couldn't be sure. He was still extremely limited in his knowledge of this world and its resident's capabilities and that pissed him off. He half hoped they would find her and came back to fight him just so he could alleviate some of his boredom.

"Feriana."

He called out to the naked ferretgirl in his arms. Halfway through, he had somehow managed to get the two of them into bed.

Feriana looked up from his chest, to his face.

"Adventurer. You. Me."

He spoke in his broken beastkin.

Suddenly, Feriana felt the world move. The room was moving!

She sat up and looked around in exasperation.

No, it was them that was moving! Rather it was just the bed.

*thud*

With a light thud, the bed met the wall giving Satoshi a backrest. He motioned for Feriana to sit next to him, which she obediently followed.

Two plates of cold scrambled eggs flew inside the room and hovered in front of them. Satoshi grabbed one and took a bite.

“Hungry.”

He said, if only just to practice the learnt word.

Feriana gave a sheepish smile clearly recognising herself as the reason for his hunger. Matter of fact, now that he mentioned it, she realised she was ravished as well!

She grabbed the plate hovering in front of her and gobbled it down.

"Phew.."

It wasn't enough to fill up her empty stomach but it would do for now. Though if Satoshi needed more, she would haste and prepare more.

"Adventurer."

She looked down at her hands. She had never fought anyone; be it human or beast.

"Feriana. I kill. Adventurer kill. You walk."

Satoshi told her as if realising her worries.

"I no talk. You talk adventurer. I, adventurer fight."

"You mean, I will talk to adventurers? You 'and' adventurers will fight?"

She said everything slowly with over-expressive hand signs to make sure they were on the same page.

Satoshi picked up the pack of pages and the quill he had bought off yesterday. Both of these had been expensive. But it was a big help. He noted down all the words he'd come to know in the language and wrote his interpretation of it on the pages. He would read this multiple times a day. He just noted down the word for 'and'.

"I 'and' you walk. I 'and' you adventurers. You talk adventurers. I, you and adventurers walk.." he searched through the pages, "..trees. Me and adventurers fight. You and me walk home."

Satoshi tried to say all he could manage with his beginner knowledge of verbs and nouns in the language. He also accompanied every word with exaggerated gestures to help get the point across.

"You and I walk to the 'guild'. You and I 'become' adventurers. I talk 'to' 'other' adventurers. You, me and 'other' adventurers go to the 'forest'. You and adventurers fight 'beasts'. You and me walk back home."

Satosh quickly jotted down whatever new words he could understand in small writing so as to not waste the pages. There were two new words in his list: 'other' and 'beasts'.

They had a few more minutes of back and forth before finally settling down, making sure they understood each other. Satoshi told her they would go the next day, so she left to do household chores. Satoshi simply sat with the pages in his hand, more than a total of hundred words on them now and went about reciting each word while imagining it in context.