It was now afternoon, and the caravan I attached myself to has been moving through the mountainous valleys.  Around two dozen girls walked alongside a train of onagers carrying a variety of items from clay jars to bundles of copper plates.  We were moving at a brisk pace so I did my best to ignore the hunger pains coming from my stomach follow as best I could.

I was currently following from near the rear of this procession, observing what I can of these girls.  From what I could see this group could be split into two categories.  The first being the warriors, like that Aura girl from earlier, they were the smallest portion of the caravan, being only a handful, carrying a mixed variety of weapons and armor.  The majority of those present were the various workers, tending and managing the beasts, from what I understand their all servants of that one woman I was brought before earlier. 

So far, it’s actually been rather dull so far.  There has been no threat or crisis, just the steady march of the caravan and this is a problem as there is nothing to distract me from my worsening hunger pains. 

The gnawing sensation within me actually feels like it’s throbbing, almost with a demanding tone in the way it aches and churns.  My mind clouded by stabbing pain, in contrast I could feel my senses sharpen to a fine point looking for any source of nourishment.

Then suddenly I noticed that a piece of bread was being waved beneath my nose.

“You look like you could use some.”  The beautiful red headed girl, Aura, said with a slight smile and head cocked towards me. 

With predatory zeal I practically lunged at the bread, biting onto it fiercely while Aura was still holding it.  Slurping the bread down my throat, I then started licking Aura’s fingers to catch every last crumb.  Thanks to that delicious piece of bread the gnawing hunger retreated, though it didn’t disappear entirely.

“Huh, I should have requested you eat me out in exchange for the bread.”  Aura stated out loud with a look of horrified shock and macabre fascination on her face while staring at me.

“Thank you!”  I squeaked out in mild satisfaction.  “Is there anymore?”

“…Hehehehe, you’re one voracious girl.”  Aura laughed with a beaming smile.

“Hey, I’m just hungry.  So, what if I’m a little voracious.”  I replied a little defensively.

“So, you admit it, well then I guess I’ll be having you warm my bedding by the end of the week.”  Aura continued to tease me.

I can easily tell that this girl wanted me, well she was ordered to stay close to me.  You can’t get much closer then sleeping together.  But I need to put that aside for now because I’ve just noticed something odd.

What I’ve found strange is that my senses seem to be better than they were just earlier today.  Everything from sight to sound to smell has suddenly become sharper, bolder as if I’m a computer and someone started fiddling with the settings.  Now beyond my sudden confusion on what a computer is, I’m completely mystified as to how or why this happened to me.  Is it because of my hunger pains, but then why didn’t this happen a week ago before I met Sardura and her patrol, I was starving then so then why only now?

“Hello, Louise?  Why do you have such an intense look so suddenly?”  Aura asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Um, I was just thinking about something I just noticed.”  I quickly answered.  Then remembering something, I asked Aura.  “By the way Aura, you didn’t answer my question from earlier.”

“I still can’t believe your gall for not knowing what you got yourself into.  We’re heading for the city of Aruk, in the land of Sin’yar.  That’s why I’m shocked you don’t know that Sin’yar is a consistent destination for trade.” 

“Hmm, okay.”  I said absent mindedly.

Aura had a strained look on her face.  “You have no idea what Sin’yar is, do you?”

“Not a clue.” 

“Then how about Athura, Cygnar, the Kingdom of Cat-girls, the Isle of Demons or the awe-inspiring island of Yamata.”  She inquired curiously.

“…Nope.  I’m just a simple girl who knows nothing of this world.  But I would love to learn.”  I commented, conceding my ignorance with a self-depreciating smile. 

She made a wide smile when hearing my words.  “I’ll tell you all about it.”

We spent the next few hours chatting, Aura talked about the various places she has been to or the rumors she had heard.  She also told stories about her adventures, apparently, she’s been travelling from place to place as a warrior for hire for some time now.  Her homeland was far to the north, where it’s cold and wet with plenty of interesting inhabitants such as Valkyries, Fey and Jotun.

Now the caravan was coming to a stop for the night, and not a moment too soon as far as I was concerned, since I didn’t get much sleep last night.  We pulled off to the side to set up camp, mostly just sheets draped over poles pushed into the dirt.  Since Aura was the only friend I made so far, I helped with setting up her tent.

“*YAWN*, so what’s for dinner?”  I asked once we finished.

“You’re asking me?  I get my rations from Istara and she’s already denied you access to her supply.  Depending on me means digging into my rations.”  Aura said with a mildly exasperated tone.  Though to be fair I know that I’m beginning to turn into a glutton and Aura knows what would happen if she let's me pilfer her food.

Hmm, so what am I going to do about food?  I’m getting hungry again and I can’t be bumming off of Aura forever.  Either I start learning to scavenge in the wilderness…or maybe I’ll have to do a strip tease for the caravan leader, Istara, for some rations.  Well, if I’m forced to do that I would prefer to be with Aura.  Whatever I’ll just talk to Istara and we’ll see what happens.

Heading towards the central tent to find her right away.  I casually observe the rest of the camp as I walk by.  Most of the servant girls were finishing off various chores and settling in to eat while the guards were preparing for watch duty.  Their clothes were either simple one-piece dresses or a two-piece miniskirt, tank top set that exposes the midriff.  

Seeing all of these girls I take notice that all of them are really beautiful, with stunning figures and clear, supple skin.  In my fragmented memories these girls would be highly desired as models or actresses in that other world but here their common servants working for a travelling merchant.  Since I know for a fact that goddesses exist, I wonder if a certain primordial lesbian goddess deliberately made the women of this world so drop dead gorgeous or if possibly there was some sort of breeding program to reach this current state of things.

Thinking of goddesses, I should ask Aura about the goddesses worshipped in this Sin’yar we’re heading to, as well as those worshipped in her homeland and if she’s got any special devotion to one of them.  I need to get serious in gathering intel on the goddesses I’m supposed to fight.  This entire world is essentially enemy territory for me so

I should probably also look into ways of getting stronger, maybe magic, that would be interesting to learn.  The Dragon-Goddess told me that magic was prevalent in this world yet so far I haven’t seen anyone use any magic.  Maybe it’s just this region I’m in, everything I’ve seen so far has had an ancient low-tech feel to it.  What if the practitioners are…?

*CLICK* 

A snapping sound briefly frightening me, distracting me from my thoughts.  I immediately saw the hand that caused it right in front of my face, following the arm I found the girl responsible for the rude gesture.

“Look here new girl, you think you can just waltz in and latch onto Aura without any consideration for the rest of us.”  The rude girl immediately fired off.

“…What.”  I responded in calm disbelief.

“There are a lot of us who patiently compete to receive Aura’s attention, and yet you show up whoring yourself out by taking advantage of her generosity to steal a place in her bed.  Well, I’m telling you that there are rules, an order to things here.  You hear me?”  She ranted while poking her finger into my chest.

Huh, despite my chest only being slightly above average (at by the standards of this world) they seem quite bouncy and perky.  I knew they were gravity defying but to see them bounce like they were jelly was…surprisingly mesmerizing.

“Hey!  Are you listening to me?”

“Eh, I’m trying not to.”  I said while swatting away the girl’s finger in annoyance.

“What!?  The gall of you.  I’m trying to give you very important advice here, so you should appreciate…”

And I toned her out at that point.  I get it, I get it, we all want to get hot and bothered with Aura.  From what I’ve heard so far Aura is very experienced and has ravished plenty of girls during her travels.  What makes this caravan any different?  And honestly this girl’s ranting is just boring.

*YAWN* I unconsciously started yawning

“AH!”  Suddenly a fist slams into my face.  I spin around and fall onto the ground, slightly dazed as to what is happening.

Before I could collect my wits the girl crashes onto me punching, kicking, screaming, pulling my hair with frantic fervor.  She relentlessly continued her assault for several long moments while I began to recover from the shock.  Just as suddenly is began the mindless attack stopped…because she moved her hands to my throat and started to squeeze.

This is when the panic began to settle in my mind, the assault earlier was disconcerting more than anything else but this was actually threatening.  I could feel pressure building on my throat, the growing desperation within me to breath, the slow fading of consciousness.  My hands feeling for anyway to get me out of this finally grasped the copper dagger, still in it’s leather sheath, and with all of the force I could muster smashed it into the girl’s face.

The girl fell off of me with a thud.  Getting up as I suck in as much air into my lungs as I can, while incessantly coughing and wheezing, I hastily jump on top of the girl.  Smacking her with the dagger as I pin her down with a few punches and kicks aimed far better then she managed, I was quite literally beating her into submission.

Finally, after several minutes of ruthlessly dominating over the girl, her whimpering signaling that she had given up.  Getting off I staggered back a couple of steps only to collapse in exhaustion. 

“Congratulations on your conquest.”  Aura said cheekily as she came over to be standing over me, just as I drifted off.

---

I awoke with a start, my body lurching upright into a sitting position.  My mind was a little hazy as to what happened, but it quickly came to after only a moment of processing.

With that done the next thing I noticed was that I had apparently been moved to a tent, and that it was night…wait why am I naked? 

Looking around I find Aura sleeping next to me in the same tent, though we are under separate sheets.  And there are two girls in her embrace. 

Well I’m confused.  My best guess is that I was brought here while I was passed out, but then why has my clothes been removed?

While considering whether to wake up Aura to ask her what happened when I was out, my recently enhanced senses picked up faint sounds, footsteps to be precise, that were coming from beyond the camp.