"What? No, no, just no. I am not babysitting anyone while I'm out there in the ruins."
That was my response when the princess begged me to take her with me to the forest.
"B-but, I can be useful. I-I know some magic. A-and my level is decent."
"Really? Well, let's see your stats, shall we?"
I use a particular ability of mine that lets me scan an object's stat.
NameLiliaClassPrincessLevel75HP10000MP50000Strength100Intelligence3500Vitality100Agility100
I am surprised. That's far beyond my expectations. I thought she would just be a low-level pretty little princess but here, she's on par with pure mage builds.
Though being a pure mage also means that yes, you do have to babysit her after all. Can't do jack shit with that stat if an enemy gets close.
And I notice that her name is Lilia. I've been calling her "princess" all this time. "Princess Lilia", huh? Sounds fitting.
"S-so, h-how about it?" she asks me nervously.
I look at her, seeing that she's still wearing her usual princess dress.
"Fine, you're in. But with one condition. You can't go out there with that getup."
"E-eh, why?" she asks.
"Wearing a long and impractical dress like that to explore a forest is just asking for trouble. It could get stuck in branches, ripped by bushes, and many other things that will hinder the exploration."
"T-then, what should I wear?"
"Now that's a good question. What should you wear indeed?"
My perverted grin comes out.
"The most important part is the shortness of the dress. So find some dress from your wardrobe with the shortest hem."
"R-right away."
And then, she goes right away to her room, leaving me alone to finish my breakfast.
***
"S-so, how do I look? Does this fit your requirement?"
I have to restrain myself from drooling at the sight.
She wears a frilly pink semi-sundress (because it's not as thin as your usual sundress) that ends up right below her crotch and butt. The smallest movement will uncover the delicious panties that lie underneath.
However, I still see a way from improvement.
"Shorten the front and the back just a little more and you're good to go."
She blushes hearing that command. She knows if she shortens them even more her panties would be revealed the world.
Alas, she has no choice if she wants to follow me to the forest.
Reluctantly, she casts a tiny wind razor to cut the hem of her dress, showing a glimpse of her yellow-striped panties to him.
"Perfect. Now, if you don't have anything else you need to do, we can depart right away, Lilia-chan."
"Y-yes, Hero-sama!"
"Oh, and my name's Akira. I figure it'll be fair since I now call you with your name after all."
***
So we depart from the castle, with tears from the king, I might add, that melodramatic old coot. Normally, the trip to the Forest of Dancing Trees will take us a long time, since we have to go through many different areas first. But, I already activate the teleporter there, so I should be able to just teleport there by the device in the town center.
When we enter the town, I notice how a certain thing has changed.
The streets are no longer populated with gaudily-dressed people. They're populated with ordinary NPCs instead.
As this town of Magnus is the starting town, lots of player characters gather here, including those high-level people who love to show off their shiny equipment. I myself never understood the appeal of that. What's the point of it anyway?
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I go straight to the teleporter in the town center, grabbing Lilia's hand (and giving her a blush) since I don't want us to get separated in this busy place. I speak the code word and the portal manifests. I tell Lilia to hang on tight since it's her first time going through a teleporter and she immediately clings to my left arm to my chagrin, since I can feel her breasts crushing onto me.
When the light subsides, we're already in the forest, to the amazement of Lilia.
"So, here's the two simple rules. You must always walk in front of me where I can keep my eyes on you, but when a hint of a danger arrives, you immediately go behind me. And do not touch anything without my permission."
"I understand," she answers.
"Good, now we shall take that path over there,"
So then we walk, to the direction where the entrance to the Maze of Air should be. I take out my handdrawn map to ensure that we're walking the right path. And sure enough, we are. It should take only around two hours until we arrive at the spot.
In the meantime, I shall enjoy the view.
No, not the view of the forest. The view of the tight yellow striped panties Lilia is wearing.
You see, another reason why I tell her to walk in front of me is so that I can take a peek on that glorious sight on our journey. Every time her beautiful legs move, her dress rises up ever so slightly. It's the dream of every voyeur to be on this situation right now.
What can I say? I'm a healthy young man.
After an hour of walking (an a couple minutes of fighting random monsters in the way), I notice how the trees in front of us are getting thicker and thicker, as if they're telling us to go back.
Perfect. That means we're in the right route.
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
I grin as I see the vines and branches from the nearby trees suddenly wrapping themselves around Lilia's body, tightening themselves around her breasts, outlining their massive size to the world, and lifting the hem of her dress, showing off her yellow shimapan which is so tight you can see the shape of her cameltoe clearly.
Why do I grin, you may ask? Reason one should be obvious to any warm-blooded males out there (heh) while reason two is because that's the sign of the appearance of the boss that's guarding the path to the maze.
"A-Akira-sama, h-help!" Lilia shouts as she's blushing.
"Wait just a moment! I need to draw out the boss first!" I reply.
It's true. You need someone to be the bait while you solve the puzzle to summon the boss. When I did it last time, I used an NPC mercenary to as the bait. A female one, of course, I only travel with female NPCs for obvious reasons.
"Kyaaa, d-don't go there..."
The vines begin to insert themselves into her bras and panties, eliciting a moan from the poor princess.
And in the meantime, I am pretending to go search for the hidden switches on the trees around us you need to press to call out the boss. I say pretending because I am delaying as long as possible so that I can watch the great show given by Lilia.
"A-aaaah, n-no..."
Man, this is great! Her reaction is so much better than the female NPC!
Then, I notice a branch beginning to wrap itself on her throat, which is the sign that I can't delay much longer.
I press the last switch, making all the branches and vines on Lilia unwrap themselves.
And then, the trees begin to converge, extending, twisting and turning into a shape of a giant turtle with legs made out of the trees.
Meet the guardian of the forest, The Great Enturtle.
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