“Knock knock, lovebirds it’s time to come out!” the maid said with a sly smile.

 

Lynessa became shocked as her cheeks turned red from the obvious teasing from her private maid, however, she quickly looked towards Kibo who was seen trying to avoid her gaze which embarrassed her even more and tried to defend herself.

 

“How dare you suggest a lady from the Kensington family would do such things!”

 

“Yeah right, two people of the opposite gender in a closed space for half a day together? You ain’t fooling me.”, the maid giggled.

 

“No, no that’s not true, we hardly talked the entire time during the journey. So what you are implying are obviously lies”

 

Kibo thought to himself, ‘Don’t girls have anything better to talk about?’ He proceeded to exit the carriage and took a look at his surroundings. They were on a lush green field, and only a few dozen meters away he noticed a wide slow-moving river. The water was crystal clear, allowing the moonlight to reflect off the pebbles which lay at the bottom. He walked along the riverbank and noticed a group of large boulders. He sat down on one of them, resting until he heard a voice calling out to him.

 

Lynessa sunk her head as she rubbed her hand together and nervously mentioned, “Kibo, can you protect us?”

 

He looked confused, “I’m already protecting you, I already checked the area we seem to be safe. You can rest easy.”

 

“No I mean, can you protect us when we're in the river?”

 

“Relax, no fish is going to bite you, just go, I’ll be near the tree.” He insisted.

 

‘That’s a strange request, does this world have fish that are dangerous to humans in their rivers? Why else would she be asking such a dumb question?’ He thought to himself.

 

The maid, seeing this conversation was not going anywhere, intervened and said, “I and the young lady are going to bathe in the river to clean ourselves, can you stand guard by the river and make sure no one peeks on us?”

 

“Yeah, okay. There are some boulders up ahead just bathe behind them, I’ll be on the other side waiting.”

 

“Eh? Why did he respond so quickly? Maybe he is a pervert and wants to sneak a peek at us, Ugh!” All men are lecherous, my mother's words are true! She clenched her fist, growing angrier and angrier by the second, but her rage was interrupted.

 

“Hey, hey, doesn’t he have the right to look at his future bride?” the maid joked with a cheeky smile.

 

Lynessa became bright red and hid behind her towel, which was the only defence her body had from Kibo's eyes. She couldn’t understand why her maid was teasing her so much today. They were brought up together and she considers her maid as a friend. Since she is a little older she always seems to pick on her like an older sister would. Most times I would ignore it but today it’s just too much especially with people around. Her embarrassed expression became that of worry as her eyebrows furrowed. 

 

Kibo sighed, “You gotta be kidding me. These girls can’t even bathe properly without trying to constantly drag my name through the mud.”

 

“Listen, I’m going to stand behind these boulders with my eyes closed. Once you go behind the rocks and into the river I will open them again. I’m going to stand guard for 15 minutes and then leave. The clock is ticking…”

 

“Come on, let’s go, his eyes are closed and we are wrapped in towels.”

 

They both rushed past Kibo and headed behind the boulders. They looked back and made sure they were out of sight, and once they felt safe they slowly lowered their toes into the river. When they decided it wasn’t too cold they removed their towels and stepped into the river.

 

Kibo had realised they would be arriving at the capital city Fialis soon, and once he had secured his funds he would need to head over to the Adventurer’s guild. He was hoping to get some extra privileges when signing up with them, but he had no way of knowing if those privileges were valuable enough to be worth the trouble. His only summon was Zana, and he had no active skills or protection for himself, so the best option was to increase the number of summons he could command. He wanted some to stay behind and defend him while the others attacked.

 

“Hmm…” He thought to himself, ‘What type of monster has good defence? Armoured monsters from dungeons are slow-moving; they won’t be quick enough to protect me since most battles are swift and rapidly changing. I need something that’s agile, but still has high enough defence to put up a decent fight.’ 

 

“Pfft.” he sighed out.

 

‘I’ll just have to join up with a dungeon raid group and see what monsters this world has, I’m assuming most of it will be the same as Earth though. Plus I’m still not sure about raising humans as my summons but as days go on, I’m starting to care less.’

 

Kibo’s thoughts were drowned out by the noises of water splashing and just before he was about to speak up he heard a moan come from behind him.

 

“What the hell are they doing behind me? No, impossible, it can’t be.”

 

“My lady, it’s so unfair, you have been well endowed in all the right places.” The maid teased.

 

“Stop it!”, Lynessa tried to break free from the Maid’s grip, however, she tightened it and she fell back onto the maid's soft chest.

 

“Oh, you’re a feisty one!”, she said with a sly smirk.

 

Lynessa looked completely baffled at what to do in this situation until she suddenly felt tingles travel up her spine, as places she didn’t want anyone to touch were touched.

 

As her face became more flushed she thought to herself, ‘I never knew a childhood friend I grew up with would end up becoming so dirty.’ She forced herself free from the maid's grip and backed away while simultaneously covering her breasts.

 

“That’s enough, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but this is not the time and definitely not the place to be teasing me, I’m leaving right now!”

 

“Aww, playtimes over.” the maid reluctantly mentions.

 

They both climbed out, and after drying they changed into their new clothes. Once changed, they both proceeded to head for their carriage.

 

As she walked past the boulders she noticed Kibo was looking the other way and had his eyes closed.

 

She started to think. “Maybe he doesn’t find me attractive? My mother said that all guys will pounce on a defenceless girl if they get the chance, but he isn’t even taking a single glance towards me.” She became more upset and self-conscious until she nervously spoke up and said, “Why didn’t you look at me?”.

 

Kibo's eyes widened and dozens of different thoughts raced through his mind, ‘Wait what the fuck did she just say? Hold up, let me just think before I answer. She finished bathing and now asking why I didn’t peek at her after she insulted me and insisted I don’t? I didn’t realise being raised in a noble society made you retarded.’

 

As his thoughts calmed down he responded, “Of course not, do you take me to be some fool?”

 

Lynessa's eyes were left wide open as she misunderstood his words. ‘Wow not only did he not look at me, but he also said only an ugly fool would sneak a peek at me.’ She started to become more infuriated and argued back, “How dare you, why would only a fool look at me?”

 

“Wait, what?", after some thought, Kibo realized what she was trying to say.

 

‘Ohhhhhh! I get it now, she must be self-conscious after berating me for not looking at her. Now she feels something is wrong with her since I never looked. You gotta be kidding me, why do women always jump to the worst-case scenario?’

 

He proceeded to walk towards her and noticed she became flustered as she took steps away from him, but he didn’t stop and continued to slowly walk towards her.

 

“What...what do you want, get away from me.”, she started to become more nervous and looked towards the ground in a shy manner.

 

“Oh, you said I didn’t look before but now I am looking, this is what you wanted am I right?”

 

Lynessa continued to take small steps back and avoided making eye contact. She nervously said, “N-No stop it, this isn’t funny.”

 

She backed up to a tree and closed her eyes, Kibo grabbed her wrist and raised it above her head, he leaned in next to her ear, feeling her breath on the side of his neck, he whispered, “Don’t worry, you're very pretty, but you're barking up the wrong tree, thinking I will fall for you or anyone for that matter.” Just before he leaned back he smelt a whiff of a sweet-scented soap radiating from her skin, he quickly let her go and walked away from her.

 

She was left embarrassed as her cheeks were as red as they could be, and breathing heavily she rushed towards the carriage.

 

Kibo assumed the girls were going to sleep in the carriage since they had lost the camping equipment in the last incident. He would have to climb up some tree and sleep on a thick branch, and to prevent falling down he has to tie himself to it with rope.

 

They had only slept for six hours before they headed out again since they wanted to reach the Capital the next day. Luckily they got there a lot quicker, as the roads became better and there weren't any disruptions.

 

 

Many hours later into the journey the maid announced, “Welcome to the Capital City Fialis".