Sherry

“Uuuhhh…”

My eyes fluttered open. A familiar-looking white ceiling was above me. I was in my new bedroom. 

It seemed I had fallen asleep before I realized it.

Suddenly, I felt it—a tickling sensation right on my most sensitive place.

"A-ahn!"

I couldn't help it. A moan just came out from my mouth on its own. It was just like that lurid book described, with the heroine unable to resist moaning shamelessly as the hero assaulted her, even though the walls of the room were thin and she very well knew their neighbours would be able to hear what was going on. It led to quite the embarrassing scene afterwards, where the innkeeper would scold them for being too loud and disturbing the sleep of the other guests.

I looked down, and there was a person there—his upper half disappearing inside my white nightgown.

“H-Hugo! W-what are you doing down there?” No good. He was clearly still asleep.

And then, a rush of memories suddenly entered my mind. How he told me that I was “the cutest girl that he ever knew”, and how he admitted that he liked me, and how I invited, no, demanded for him to sleep with me for the night.

My face immediately went beet red. What was I thinking?

And now, he’s here, right under me, with his breath tickling my precious spot.

"Ahhnnn, H-Hugo! N-not there…" I moaned again—tears starting to pool in my eyes.

My first instinct was to kick him off the bed right then and there. How could he do such a thing to a girl when she was sleeping? However, I stopped myself. I was the one who forced him to be here. And since he was still sleeping, he must not be doing this on purpose. I was a bad sleeper after all. In my sleep, I somehow must have moved around to end up in this position with him.

Suddenly, he stirred. But instead of going downwards, as I wished he would be, he instead moved upwards, pushing his nose right into my pantied crotch.

"Aaahhnnn, H-Hugo, no, Hugo!" I tried to push him away but I found my strength suddenly not being there. Not to mention that my legs were now gripping him, as if they wanted to push him even further into me.

I-is this divine retribution? For seeing what's between his legs yesterday in the bath? Now he's seeing what's between mine! Not only that, but he's also breathing into it!

I should've apologized! I was the one at fault! Why did I slap him like that?

Oh, Saint Milicis! P-please stop this at once! Or I'm going to die out of embarrassment!

Just when I thought I was going to lose it, a rush of steps closed in, followed by the door opening with a bang. It was Marina, and her gaze was immediately locked in towards me and Hugo.

Immediately a chill went through my entire body. She was mad. Really mad. Calling her angry would be quite the understatement.

Without hesitation, she pulled Hugo away before shaking his body, telling him to wake up.

What followed after was a straight lecture for half an hour, as she basically scolded Hugo for doing what he just did to me. He just sat there with a pitiful, sorry look, avoiding both her gaze and mine. I tried to interrupt multiple times, telling her that it wasn't his fault, but she would always tell me to stay out of it, not wanting to listen to any of my arguments.

When she was done, Hugo was in the verge of tears. This was the very first time I saw him like this. I wanted so badly to go there and gave him a hug, but I knew Marina would not approve.

"I-I'm sorry, S-Sis…" His voice shook. "I-I promise I wouldn't do it again…" He sniffed.

That’s it, I couldn’t just stand by any longer! I had to come to his rescue!

“Stop! Don’t scold Hugo any longer! It was my fault! All of it!” I rushed forward, standing in front of him with my arms outstretched, giving a tearful glare towards the older, taller girl. “I was the one who forced him to sleep with me! And I was the one who moved around in my sleep, making him end up in a position like that! He didn’t do anything! He was just breathing in his sleep, that’s it! If you want to punish someone, then punish me!” I panted. Suddenly, I was completely out of breath. Without realizing it, I had been yelling at her.

She paused for a while, looking straight at me. It felt like an eternity, with her and I staring at each other—no one seemingly wanting to give an inch, to show a weakness to the other.

And then, all of a sudden, she started to laugh.

“O-oh you two! Really! You are so serious that it’s adorable!”

For a good minute, she just stood there, laughing to herself, holding her stomach as if she was in pain. And when she finished, she wiped some tears of her own eyes, as some had gotten out from her laugh.

“Alright, alright, I get it now. It’s my defeat. You two really do like each other after all.” She cheerfully declared, while ruffling both of our hair. "Hugo, I'm so proud of you, standing up for Sherry like that. You're planning to take all the blame, don't you? How chivalrous! Just like a little gentleman!" She then turned to me. "And you, Sherry, you're willing to speak up to save Hugo, even though you know that you would be punished for it. You're honest and I like that in a person, especially one that might be my little brother's wife in the future.” She gave me a little wink here. “Now I know for sure that I will leave him in safe hands while I am gone."

Had this… had this all been an act by her?!

"Before I leave though, let me say one other thing. Let this be a lesson to you two, alright? Especially you, Sherry. Inviting a boy to sleep with you like that? Not a good idea. Even though it’s Hugo, he’s still a boy with his desires. As his older sister, I know that he already has some fondness for a girl’s body, and it would only increase as he gets older. Of course, he, as the good boy that he is, would try to hold back and not do anything that would upset you. But, if you invite him like that, he can turn into a beast that would devour you whole. All boys are like that. In fact, it would be odd if a boy doesn’t have at least some lust towards the female form, especially when they’re older. And you, Hugo.” She turned towards him. “Take care of her well, alright? If she shows a moment of weakness again like last night, don’t just take on her offer. You have to think about the consequences first. I do not want a little brother that would closely befriend a girl, only to throw her away once he gets bored.”

And with that said, she left us two, with me befuddled at what just occurred.

“H-hey…” Hugo turned to me. “S-sorry again… f-for what I did there…”

BA-DUMP!

H-he’s blushing! T-that’s so cute! I almost threw myself into him for a hug!

“S-stop apologizing! It’s my fault, remember? A-and the incident in the bath too! That’s my fault as well!”

“R-right…”

With an awkward tension between us, Hugo left the room. Before he could leave however, I stopped him, just to ask this one last question.

“B-by the way… d-do you like it… w-when I wore a maid’s clothing like last night?”

I didn’t know what came over me at that time. Only that I suddenly wanted to know more about his… preferences in girls. If what Marina said was true, then he must already have said preferences. And I… I wanted to fulfill them. I-if they weren’t too embarrassing, of course.

He halted his steps. Without turning around, he answered, “Y-yes. I-I think you look really cute in them.” And then, he ran away.

And that was how my first night with him ended. After this, I wouldn’t invite him again, remembering what Marina said to me. I would, however, continue to strive to be a girl that he would like. Even though he already said that he liked me, I still couldn’t rest my laurels. I wanted to be even more liked by him. I was turning greedy. I wanted him all for myself.

I just hoped that one day, he would find me as desirable.

---

Hugo

Autumn was approaching, and that meant Marina had to return back to the magic school soon. Knowing this, I strived to learn as much as I could about magic from her.

I learned more about summoning spells and how they worked. Apparently, after a contract was formed, a summoner would only manifest the projection of the spirit/monster he or she made the contract with. You wouldn’t really be summoning the real deal, so to speak. That would be reserved for advance level summoners, where they would know the true name of their summons. Once they did, they could keep their summons around for basically forever, and without fulfilling their demands if they so chose. They called it a Familiar Pact, and it basically forced the spirit to do whatever biddings the summoner had in mind. Since he or she knew the spirit’s true name, they really couldn’t resist the commands of their summoner. 

That only applied to the Fey, by the way. Demons didn’t really have true names. To make a demon stay around for long, you don’t need to do anything special. You just need to keep feeding it mana, and if the demon decided they wanted to stay around, they would. In fact, there was no obligation for the demon to return if they didn’t want to. Marina’s teacher told her a story about a young mage who was haunted by a succubus demon that would never leave him alone. And she would interfere with his love life, like she was his extremely jealous and possessive girlfriend. Only after he learned to forcefully banish her that he could escape from that nightmare.

Well, I wouldn’t know if that anecdotal story was true. But it’s certainly a good propaganda-ish reason why summoning demons was quite frowned upon. You couldn’t quite control them like you could with the Fey. Though Marina also said that a handful of her classmates actually ended up making a pact with them. In Mira, it wasn’t illegal to do so.

Marina herself said that she was never interested in summoning any demons, apparently. She said that they all looked shady and dicey to her. She preferred to summon more Feys instead.

I couldn’t help but be relieved from her declaration. I wouldn’t want her to summon an incubus boy that would try to seduce and even bed her. Urgh.

Oh, I hadn’t talked about summoning demands yet, had I? To make a contract, you need to promise a specific thing to the being you were going to make a contract to, that had to be fulfilled every time you summoned it. Taking Marina as an example, her fairy wanted a sniff of her aroma, while her dryad wanted her to give her some nutrients through her magic. I imagined the more powerful the creature was, the harder the required task would be.

I was taught my first summoning spell at last. Just like her, I was going to summon a Fey. At first, I didn’t want to try summoning a fairy, but she insisted, saying that, “You have to start from the basics! A fairy is the easiest Fey to summon, and the safest as well!” So I did as she instructed, placing a flower pot specially fertilized with a potion she made near my bed. Just as she said, a week later, I had the dream she foretold.

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in my room. I was in a forest. Most likely the Great Fairy Forest in the Demon Continent, as she told me. 

Wew, this place… it’s… extraordinary...

I was speechless. Just looking around where I started, it was clear that this forest was not an ordinary one. It looked and felt a lot more fantastical, with many of the trees and branches bending over in unnatural-looking ways. And I felt a certain ambient energy permeating through the air, entering me every time I breathed. Ah, the ambient magic of the Demon Continent. I remembered Marina telling me about it. The entire continent was enveloped in an unnaturally high level of ambient magic compared to other continents.

Of course, I wasn’t actually there. My current body was just an astral projection, manifested by the ritual pact I was currently engaged in. I wouldn’t know how accurate my senses were at this moment.

I walked forward, looking around for any fairies that I might make a pact with. It certainly would be nice if I could find a cute one, though usually, all fairies tend to be cute in the fantasy stories I had read.

Hmm, that’s odd. I couldn’t find a single one. Shouldn’t there be an abundance of fairies around in a place called the Great Fairy Forest?

My steps carried me into a small spring, with water gushing out from the middle of the body of water.

And there, on the top of said gushing water, was a fairy, seemingly asleep on top of the water spout.

She’s beautiful!

Such was my first impression of her. Unlike Marina’s fairy, who fit in the palm of her hand, she was much bigger. If I had to say, she was around the size of a small cat. She could perch on my shoulder with no problem whatsoever.

She had long and wavy blue hair, tied and braided when it ended near her feet. Her head was adorned by white flowers (I couldn’t name them), and she wore a white dress with a bluish skirt that was longer in the back, exposing her lovely thighs a little.

Just by looking at her, I decided. I wanted her to be my fairy.

But how would I go about making a pact with her though? Marina didn’t say anything about that. She just said that every fairy would have their own conditions and such. What? So this was just like courting a girl?

And then, I noticed it—her eyes slowly fluttering open.

“Kyaah! A human!”

She fell down through the spout, almost comically, I might add. Was this fairy the clumsy type? She quickly recovered however, and she immediately flew away from me.

No good! I had to catch her! "Hey, wait!" I chased after her. "I want to make a pact with you! I'm a mage, you see!"

She stopped. And suddenly, just as fast as she had escaped, she went back, smile going up both ears, eyes like an excited puppy. “Really?! Really? Really? Really? You want me to become your summon?” She said in a sing-along voice. “Y-yes, really!” I couldn’t help but be taken aback by her excitement. “Then take me take me take me! I’m so bored here! I want to play around on the outside too, like the others! Can you believe that no one has ever made a contract with me even though I’m already a high fairy? Uuu, I want to go too! I wanna gooooo!!!”

Oh God. I thought she would be the calm type, judging by her looks! But she’s unexpectedly whiny and childish like this! Maybe all fairies were just like that? And a high fairy? So she’s not just a normal fairy?

“A-alright then!” I couldn’t help but be taken aback a little. “One thing though, what kind of compensation do you want?”

“Compensation?” She raised her eyebrows. “Ooh, right… that…” For a moment, she paused, seemingly deep in thought. “I know!” She suddenly declared. “You give me a head pat and praise me for the good job that I just did!”

What. That was certainly an… odd request to ask.

Well, not as odd as wanting to smell you, I suppose.

Well, I wouldn’t complain. It was an easy request to do after all. I quickly agreed, and with it, it seemed we had finished our pact.

Chuu~♥

With a kiss to the cheek, she bid me goodbye, telling me to call upon her soon. Damn, she’s pretty precocious, wasn’t she? Not that I was complaining of course.

Wait, how about the summoning chant though?

----

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I somehow immediately knew the words I would need to summon her. Quickly, I ran over to Marina’s room, wanting to tell her that I had done it. I could summon my very first spirit at last!

Only to stumble upon her right in the middle of changing, as she bent over forward, pulling her panties upwards.

W-whoa!

I could see it all; the smooth, plump butt, the teal panties she were pulling upwards, and the embarrassed look on her face as she realized that I just entered..

“Hugo, what did I say about knocking first before barging into a girl’s room?” Oof, that scary smile… I’m in trouble now!

“S-sorry, Sis, I-I forgot!” I quickly answered. “I was so excited that I couldn’t help running over here as soon as I could! I just made a contract with my fairy, Sis!”

Her scary smile disappeared, replaced by a curious and intrigued look. She pulled the panties upwards, letting her dress fall afterwards. Thankfully, she had already worn the rest of her dress. Just not her panties, for some reason.

“Really?” She smiled with excitement. “Then show me! Right here! Right now!”

“A-alright, Sis, alright! Sheesh, no need to rush me…”

I immediately began my chant, holding my right hand forward as I gathered my mana. I would need to conjure the summoning circle mid-air, where the summon would come out from. I imagined the circle forming, all the while chanting the spell as clearly as I could.

When I opened my eyes back up again, there she was—the fairy, smiling at me.

“Wow, but that’s… that’s a high fairy, isn’t it?” Marina exclaimed. “You get one as your very first summon?” It was clear that summoning a high fairy was not something a complete beginner like me should be able to do.

“Hello, Hugo!” The fairy cheerfully waved her hands. “And hello, another human I don’t know about!” She waved her hands again towards Marina.

I then started to explain how I met her. Well, before she decided to interrupt me and told the story herself, that is. And for some reason, she felt it was necessary to embellish things. Quite severely, I might add. She started to talk about how I saved her heroically from an evil kobold who wanted to kidnap her and make her his wife, even though obviously nothing like that ever happened.

“And that’s how Hugo became my master!” She patted her chest proudly. Marina just blinked with a clear look of confusion on her face as she finished her story.

“U-uh, right…” She could probably tell that the story was too outlandish to be true as well. “So, Hugo, looks like you really got a high fairy as your first summon. That’s really quite rare, you know. High fairies are quite above the level of the common fairies. They’re bigger for starters, and they could cast some magic other than healing ones. This one you got? She seems to be a spring fairy, so she could probably cast some water spells.”

“Yep! Rightomundo!” The fairy declared. “Need your plants to be watered, Master? Then I’m your girl!”

Uh, I don’t think I would use a fairy for that purpose… though it certainly can be quite convenient...

“Oh, look at that!” The fairy suddenly declared. “Time’s running up! Master! Your headpat and praise please!” She flew towards me, leaning forward with a happy smile, closing her eyes. Wew, this fairy really didn’t know any shame, did she?

I did as she demanded, patting her head and saying to her, “Great job! Thank you for the introduction!” with a smile. “Hehe, you’re welcome, Master! You’re welcome!” She giggled. And then, she flew closer to me and gave me another kiss to the cheek before disappearing.

I looked back at Marina... and saw that her expression had soured considerably.

She didn’t say anything however. Well, not to me anyways. Under her breath, I could hear her whisper, “Really? Is every girl Hugo meets will flirt with him like this?”

I couldn’t help but grin a little. Big Sis is getting jealous! Big Sis is getting jealous!

I didn’t say it to her of course. I wouldn’t want another half an hour lecture after all.

------

A/N:

With any luck, we might be able to get a cameo of a certain girl Hugo will only meet much, much later on in the next chapter. I have to say, I'm pretty excited to reveal a bit of her this early.

And here’s how Hugo’s new fairy looks.