Chapter 58

Night of Day 12 since entering the gnome’s warren

I supposed it’s unlikely there are traps but I don’t take the chance. Fox Girl is way too cunning to assume there aren’t any. She would do something like that just to prove she’s the most cunning too, not because she thought anyone would get in.

I take off my belt and swing it out on the panels in front of me checking for anything like a trap activated by weight or motion. It takes a lot of time. I also have to check each panel on the floor more than once because I’m paranoid and because I’m not sure if I’ve put enough weight into the belt hitting the panel to trigger anything that might have been there.

But I leap frog from tatami mats by using the belt swinging probe and then using my heavier fireman’s axe as a secondary weightier probe on each mat. I have to get on my hands and knees on a tatami mat and then try to use my equipment to go to the next one ducking low and ready to roll away from both the probing mat and the one I’m on. It’s hard on the knees to move like this and very slow to be thorough and careful.

In this way I cross slowly getting close to the bed. It feels like I will never get there and it’s a big room too.

It turns out I was wrong there were no traps this far. But I’m still glad I was paranoid. If anything even by checking around I’m figuring out how Fox Girl thinks. She thought at this point she’d been safe because no one had ever been able to get this far.

Slowly I approach the bed.

Do I stop checking for traps?

I want to stop, but I can’t risk it. Rina is counting on me and Asakura too. Also her memory trap didn’t activate until the very end right? So it wouldn’t be past her to have the trap near the end instead of the beginning.

But now that I think about it. It’s possible I fell for the memory trap of finding the crystal before today. Its very nature would conceal the trap again right? So if that were to happen I would have had no memory of previously finding or seeing her crystal.

I refocus myself on my current task.

My heart beats faster.

The last mat before the bed is trapped though. As I probe it crossbow bolts shoot from some slits in the walls. I’m surprised but grateful I was careful. The positioning point of the bolt slits is so that it would have hit someone in the heart if they’d not been careful.

I tap the same mat a few times just to be sure, but it’s not an infinite shooting trap. Carefully I also set off the mats in a line with it from wall to wall until everything is set off.

It turned out to be a lot of traps. Right at the end almost everything was trapped with the shooting arrows trap. I am starting to think maybe it’s not worth it.

I sigh.

But I need her help.

I keep going a little longer. By this time I’ve sweat a lot because it’s been very intense. She is a worthy opponent. I can’t underestimate her or trigger any type of fight or flight response or it will get out of control quickly.

I kneel on my knees, hoping to suggest humility to hopefully make her anger dissipate quickly. She’s a wild creature so I can’t take any chances. I take a deep breath and take the last step forward.

Finally I’m at the bed.

I’m deeply afraid that if I wake her up she will also go ape shit on me and try to kill me. Our friendship has been tenuous and business like at best. I have no idea what her reaction will be for finding this place, but I’m sure it won’t be a good one.

Slowly and as quietly as possible I pull open the curtain of the four poster bed.

Fox Girl is resting there comfortably. But it’s a weird bed.

It’s some kind of antique and raised off the ground a bit with lots of nice padding and beautiful cloth. Weirdly enough Asian beds even from nobles in Asia often didn’t have raised beds like this, so I wonder where she got the idea from. Is it even from this world or something from my world? In fact this whole room doesn’t seem to fit with this world’s medieval feel. It’s not totally unlike them but…I can’t explain it. It has a deep mysterious feeling to it. As the curtains open up I can see everything. Of course there are no other bed sheets. But there are a lot of pillows. Is that because there’s no cold feeling in this state?

Strangely it’s also like there’s a fog or mist in this room. I hadn’t noticed it before. Is that one of her traps too? I’m getting more nervous now.

Is it because it’s a sub real dream pocket or some other reason? Should I leave? I can always escape and wake up right?

I better be careful what I touch. Who knows what she’s got in here? I still keep the axe ready because to be honest, even if she is asleep Fox Girl scares the hell out of me, because I’m smart. I don’t want to hurt her though, but just defend and block blows if I have too.

Fox Girl is asleep. She’s also like Sunghee here, naked in every way with no clothes. She breathes slowly and so shallowly at first I wasn’t sure if she was alive. As I study her, once every minute or so one of her ears twitches on top of her head; she is in a deep sleep. Is it because of her brain waves causing it? She doesn’t wake up.

Wow!

She’s also good looking like Sunghee...saying it like that doesn’t state it clearly enough. Both of them are like way super hot and sexy looking and you can tell why someone would want them. In a whole city of searching out women, each of them would easily be the top. Fox Girl’s boobs aren’t as big as Sunghee’s though; it’s only a minor defect. But they have good shape and are wide and round, even though the depth isn’t as overly large.

Her two tails have curled up barely covering up over the lower part that I should see but only just barely, since her tails are so fluffy and with long hair or fur. She has a peculiar opened posture that is very obscene and unguarded except for that small round place that is covered between her legs.

Yep. She definitely thought no one would ever get this far.

I should probably not dwell on this. It’s not what she’d want me to see.

Turning towards her face I study it. She looks very peaceful.

I feel bad for waking her up. I take a deep breath.

Why is she naked now though? She had clothes before…unless that was an illusion too? Ah I get it now.

She can sure enough make an illusion that looks like clothes. But if I touch her clothes illusion while she’s wearing it, I wonder if it will feel like clothes or feel like she’s wearing nothing?

I clear that tempting thought from my head. Of course she wouldn’t want me to think that.

I clear my throat. It’s now or never. She’s probably going to want to kill me…

“Hey Fox Girl. Wake up,” I said firmly.

Long silence…

I try it again, but this time both of her ears twitch, instead of just one. But they stayed flat, laying down like an animal might do if they sensed danger. Then an eyelid twitches. Then slowly an eye opens really big. It’s a feeling of total shock and surprise.

Gulp*

I’m afraid to say anything. How is she going to react now?

“How the fudge did you get in here?” she says seriously. She is wide with surprise as she sits up.

She’s so mad that I found her secret place that she forgets she’s naked.

She begins to chase me. Even with no weapons she’s scary. Her fox fingernails are also like steel razors too. She tries to rake them at me and I jump back. I’m now running for my life.

“I didn’t do anything!” I said.

“That doesn’t matter!” she shouts back.

We continue this type of torture for several minutes of making circles around her bed. After several laps she cuts me off and tries to hop over the bed and go through the curtained area to cut me off.

I shriek and run. She tries to swing at me and misses.

She chases me some more.

I feel the wind by my ear when she tries to cut me again right after that with her sharp nails. Despite looking beautiful and delicate I know that is also an illusion. She is very strong and powerful for her size in physical traits too.

Dang her nails are so long. I’m very afraid.

“Stop! It’s not what you think!” I shout.

“You don’t know what I think!” she shouts back.

“I need your help!”

“I already helped!” she says.

“Please! Please stop!” I cry out.

We keep the process up of her chasing me and me trying to stay alive. At length I managed to get a pillow from her bed to use as a shield. She screeches loudly at me when it’s damaged from her attacks. But then she finally stops.

I put my arms up and she hits me in the arm hard. If she slashes me with those claws I won’t be able to heal it so I’m terrified now. She doesn’t appear to be wanting to kill me anymore.

It’s left a huge bruise though. She doesn’t know her own strength. It’s like a four hundred pound muscle guy just smacked me around. At least she didn’t use the claws. But I end up rolling around on the ground.

“Ouwwwwww.”

“Oh come on you big baby, just heal it and you’ll be fine,” she said.

“I can’t. I lost it. That’s why I need your help,” I said.

“What the fudge do you mean by you lost it?!” she exclaims. Now she’s even madder. I roll around a bit avoiding her but then she calms down as she sees how worn out and frightened I am.

“I suppose I should give you a break,” she sighs.

“That would be good. Please do,” I said.

Then I explain the situation while she listens. I try to not get distracted or stare at her extremely wonderful and excellent figure. I leave nothing out, including the two new spells I’ve taught myself because I don’t know if my learning them has contributed anyway into my current predicament.

She listens carefully. Finally she sighs.

“It can’t be helped. We also had so little time together that I didn’t get a chance to warn you of that yet, because we were just trying to keep you alive. But its nice that you saved a lot of people. And technically you were under so much pressure. And you didn’t attack me in my sleep, so that shows you are a decent guy also. I should have foreseen this,” she says.

“Huh?” I respond.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault for not teaching you better,” she leans forward and bows low. Her beautifully shaped chest also hangs down with it. Wow, they are more wonderful than I thought. I try to not stare at them.

Cough*

“No, no thank you so far for everything. Please keep trying to help me. I need you,” I plead with her.

She nods but then stops suddenly.

She shakes her head with her hands on her hips. “You are actually doing really well, but magic takes a long time to cultivate. It may take the person’s entire lifetime just to be able to do some basic abilities. To think you got this far most people it might take them ten years of dabbling in stuff to be able to achieve. Plus not only do you have three abilities now, but one of them being the legendary lost heal spell. I can’t believe it.”

“So that’s good?” I’m shocked by her praise.

She’d been pushing me so hard for a long time that I thought she thought I was a fail.

“It’s good that you’ve been working hard while I was resting too. But I’m so tired,” she says.

Indeed she’s so tired she’s like hardly even aware she’s not wearing clothes.

But unfortunately I’ve stared at her great figure too long. I didn’t try to. I even tried to resist but, you know she’s just so hot looking. She then notices. “Eeep!” she screeches. Apparently she doesn’t have as good at alertness when she’s sleep deprived.

“Tch,” she says. Then she snaps her fingers and she’s wearing a robe that seemingly grew over her skin from nowhere.

“I need your help. If I even use my power once until I recover from this manaburn condition I could end up magic handicapped the gnomes say,” I finished.

She shook her head, “Well it’s not an un-fixable situation. You are just scared. You found something good and don’t want to lose it either. Heal magic is really nearly impossible to learn and do because of how much mana it uses. I mean if you think about it, it’s a godly cheat to have heal magic. So of course it costs tons of magic to use such a wonderful thing. So I should have foreseen this. Actually I am the one who should say sorry again.”

I’m surprised yet again when she bows to me deeply apologetic again. Her breasts bounced as she bows, though she didn’t notice it.

Before she lifts her head again, she starts talking again. “The best chance to make this work out for me to be able to escape is for you to set me free.” Before I can interrupt she keeps talking, holding up her hand.

“But I understand you need a survivable situation too and possess holy magic sacred to my tribe. So I will still help you. But after this I may have to sleep for weeks or even months to recover my power. Do you understand?”

I shrug. “I understand. But how can I possibly continue going forward with you gone or asleep that long. It’s too long and I’m really vulnerable. This world isn’t easy to live in.”

She nods. “It’s regrettable but the only solution is for you to unchain Sunghee.” She sighs deeply like doing that would be painful.

“But you said if I did that the demon box would lash out against me for trying to change it,” I said.

She sighs, “I did. And that’s unfortunately all too true. So once we open up her chains, the box will try to kill us for certain.”

“So...how prepared are you to face death?” she asked me with a fierce look.