“Hey, fine-looking gentlemen!”

After hearing the pleasant voice of a young girl, the men turned their heads toward her.

“Fuck off, kid, this isn’t a place for the likes of you.” One of them tried to cut her off before Saori could even get close to the table. Meanwhile, the rest of the group was eyeballing the girl up and down with quite an interest.

“Yea, we have proper wives patiently waiting for us to get home and ride them.”

The girl smiled and approached the group with confidence. She didn’t seem bothered by the two malicious comments.

“What a bitch!” another one said with disgust, “You girls that don’t give a damn about people insulting you are all about money in your holes.”

“Or we just know better than to get offended by any stupid things the primates that think with their sausages say,” Saori replied as she turned around and put her butt on the table for the boys to see, then asked:

“Mind if I watch the next round? The winner gets to do me in the pub’s bathroom.”

After a few moments of silence and some glances thrown at one another, one of the men finally spoke.

“Damn, girl! Ok, but I need to check your butt cheeks first. I ain’t screwing any fake stuff.”

“Yes, yes. He’s right, we gotta get a grab, you know what I mean? Make sure they’re real.”

“I’m doing this for free, you shitheads. So why do you need to check?!” the girl thought as she had her bottom fondled by several hands.

“Show us your ass naked or fuck off.” The guy with the straw hat, named Jiro, demanded; then sucked from his cigar. Everyone else went silent waiting to see what the girl would do when met with such an absurd request. This was a public place, after all. A girl showing her skin in a pub around these parts of the village was insane.

While everyone in the group was glad this happened and happy that they decided to come here today, the girl was embarrassed.

Saori figured out he must be the “shot caller” of the group. She knew that refusing was not an option at this point.

After quickly checking to see if people were watching her, she pulled her shorts down just under her butt cheeks, offering the group a close view of her round ass. It’s not like this was the first time the girl was involved in such activities with people that she barely knew, so why was she so embarrassed? She didn’t know either.

Saori didn’t last more than five seconds. She pulled her shorts back up and turned around, slamming the table with the palm of her right hand.

“I did my part, now you do yours and get started with that poker round already.” She said as her cheeks reddened.

Ten minutes later, Jiro threw his cigar into the bin and followed the badass chick inside the bathroom. Luckily for them, no one was around, so they were free to use the place as they wished.

“All right, girlie. Lean onto the wall with your hands, spread your legs, and stick your ass out. You behave and we’ll be done in a matter of minutes.” He said as he took the belt from his pants off. As he was thinking that he was finally going to have some relief after the last rough couple of days, the man noticed something.

Something was strange about the girl. She took the exact position she had been asked to, but she was looking down and chuckling. He couldn’t see her face in the window either. Not to mention that the light coming from the bulb was weak, pale, and flickering, which contributed even further to the man’s feeling of unease.

“Do you understand?!” The man raised his voice. He was starting to sweat.

“There is no going back now. You did this.” He was slowly getting closer to her. Why was he so scared? She was just a girl, after all.

“Sorry, sorry!” The girl barely managed to apologize through the chuckling. “It is just that… Ha, ha, ha, ha!”.

“WHAT IS SO FUNNY?!” the man started to panic.

After he stood there in shock, simply watching the crazy girl, feeling scared and threatened, he finally clenched his teeth and threw his right fist at the back of the girl’s head.

Saori saw the punch coming by looking in the mirror, leaned to the left to dodge, grabbed the man’s hand by the wrist, and deflected it into the glass, which then shattered into several pieces.

“AAAAAA!” The man screamed in pain as his skin got cut in several places.

While still with her back to the man, the girl leaned forward and lifted her left foot up so much that she hit him in the chin mercilessly with her heel, breaking several of his teeth.

As the girl let go of his hand, the man took several steps back, blood spewing from his mouth as he tried to regain his balance. The kick in the chin was so well executed, that not only did his jaw hurt like hell, but the impact reached his brain, making him extremely dizzy.

The next thing he saw before the lights went out was the girl reaching up for the bulb. He was now alone in the dark, in a room far away down the corridor with no windows, at the mercy of this monstrous girl.

“So, you’re Jiro, right? The wanted criminal. I’ve seen your poster. This is why you wear the big straw hat… to hide your identity. You’ve got some guts to show yourself in a bar where mercenaries often come.” Saori said with ecstasy in her voice.

“Shut the hell up!” the man screamed and attacked her again, but to no avail. He had been sent flying back and onto the floor. He couldn’t see anything, not that he stood a chance if he could.

Several times Jiro stood up to fight, but every time he got his ass kicked. There were moments when Jiro thought he would finally land a hit, but the girl always managed to somehow disappear. She knew how to use the dark to her advantage.

He was eventually forced to kneel by the girl pressing her foot on the top of his head. After his arm was twisted and several fingers were broken, he gave up.

Jiro couldn’t understand how she could enjoy this so much. Despite not seeing her face, he knew the girl had been grinning ever since she stepped into the bathroom.

“J-J-Just kill… me.”

“Look, I seriously didn’t mind trying your sausage before questioning you, but you attacked me. Not my fault.”

The questioning went smoothly after that.

*

Anta came out of the church just as Saori came out of the pub dragging the unconscious Jiro after her.

“It’s nice not to see crows everywhere you look, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. Where do we take this wanted criminal?” Saori asked.

“There is a guild not far from here. It’s huge, let’s go there. I am sure they will be glad to have another criminal caught under their guild’s name, Shields of Honor. I believe they will pay us.”

As they got closer to the center of the village, while on their way to get their reward, the two saw several faces. Most people were relaxed and minding their own business. Only a few eyeballed Saori for her out-of-the-ordinary street fighter outfit. One of them was the overweight guard that chased her the other day when she stole the rabbit, which made the girl laugh, but she covered her mouth with her hand to avoid getting into trouble.

“What an immature kid,” Anta whispered to herself and sighed.

“I heard you.”

“Tsk.”

The main path was paved with several round white and dark-gray rocks, most of the same size. It gave the road a pleasant aesthetic look and it made for a great change after the decade spent in the cursed village.

Most buildings were not very impressive but still far better than what the beast girl was used to. Aspect-wise, there was a lot of variety between them.

After breathing in, Saori decided to tell gran the information she put her hands on.

“Dragnya is the name of the witch that comes to these lands. We are on her territory.”

“This is bad news.” The woman replied, unfazed by the name of her sister.

“She is the second oldest sister after me and unmatched among us sisters when it comes to physical strength. Her appetite for food, meat especially, is unrivaled. It’s rumored that she eats people as well. Somehow, all this food helped her evolve to unparalleled standards. I don’t even know if she can be killed anymore.”

After listening very carefully to what gran had to say, the girl added: “I have also found out that people receive letters in front of their doors asking them to do terrible things such as murdering someone. Nobody knows how and when, but it can happen to anyone. That’s why there are so many crimes in this village.”

“You might think that they can decide whether they will do or not what’s written inside, but I know my sister. They have no choice.” Anta started to take bigger steps and tried to increase the pace a bit.

“Let’s hurry up, Saori. We’re being watched.”

“By who?” the girl asked as she had a look around her. She saw a man staring at them through a window from the second floor of an older house. His face was devoid of any emotion, his mouth was open under the shape of the letter “O”, and he was not blinking at all. It almost felt like his life had been sucked out of him.

For a few weeks, the girl managed to take her mind off all the terrible things that happened and get on with her normal daily life. But she could feel those peaceful times were about to end. The winds of change were once again whistling and blowing, bringing the dark side of the world along with them.

Something had caught up to them, something strong, dark, and relentless. It was a curse that doesn't take breaks, nor does it ever rest. A curse that takes the time to watch, analyze, and plan. This was no longer the world the beast girl belonged to and all the witches now knew. The message had been well received and actions would be taken.

 

Volume 1 from the story (filled with nice illustrations and editing) is also available on Amazon (21 chapters): https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Beast-Girl-Surviving-Progression-ebook/dp/B0BG6DNXG5/

Volume 2 is available for pre-order at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG6DNXG5