Rank Up Request

In the morning, Kris and Mibu woke up early and, after a quick breakfast, went over to the guild for a new request.

“I'm thinking we should hunt some boars again. That way we can try out the bow and your ice magic.

“Oh good idea!” Mibu said, giving a confident fist pump.

After stopping at the butcher (who was happy to see them again) to grab some bags, they left town into the woods.

After just a few minutes, Mibu picked up on a boar scent.

“Awesome, last time it took forever. Any goblins this time, or just the boar?” Kris asked, half-jokingly.

Mibu shook her head, “No goblins, but it's several boars,” she explained, before carefully heading towards the scent. After a few moments, they saw two medium-sized boar, and one larger one.

“Let's go for the large one first” Kris whispered, knocking an arrow.

Mibu held up her hand, “Can I try?”

“Yeah good idea, I'll shoot after you do,” Kris agreed.

Mibu snuck up closer. Holding up a hand, an Ice Spike came out, flying into the side of the boar.

It started squealing in pain, before turning it's head towards Mibu.

Kris let loose the arrow he had knocked, flying straight towards the boar...and landing several feet in front of it. I guess I am level 0.

The boar charged at Mibu, who hit it with another Ice Spike, causing it to slide mid charge. As it struggled to get up, Kris let loose another arrow. This one struck it squarely on the side.

Mibu ran up and sliced its throat.

Kris gave Mibu a thumps up, as she wiped some sweat off her brow. “Nice job! Did you level up?”

Mibu pulled up her status screen, showing 'Ice Magic – lv. 2'. “How about yours?”

Kris pulled up his, and it showed 'Bow – lv. 1'. “Well, that's a good start.”

After stuffing the boar into one of the bags, Mibu sniffed out the other boars (as the other two had run away during the fight).

They dispatched the next one rather easily, Kris landing his first arrow and Mibu quickly finishing it off with an Ice Spike.

“Do you smell the last one?” Kris asked, after they finished stuffing the second one into a bag.

Mibu sniffed a for a few moments, “Sorry, I can't smell it, it must be too far away.”

Kris shrugged, “I don't blame it, we already got two of them.”

Deciding to take what they had back, they cashed in the boars, earning over two silver.

Since it was not even mid-day yet, they decided to grab a quick bite (Mibu wanted meat skewers again), then head back to the request board. Finding a simple goblin hunting mission that wasn't far out of town, and worth one silver, so they grabbed it.

Once at the location, they quickly killed the two goblins there (leveling their magic in the process) and headed back once again.

As they were cashing in at Corinne, Kris thought Is this just gonna be our normal day now?

It would be, as for the next week week and a half, they took different requests each day (sometimes several in one day), although having a propensity to take any goblin extermination requests they saw. This, mixed in with some boar hunting (and Mibu occasionally grabbing some herbs or flowers they found for the alchemist), they had accrued almost thirty silver halfway through the month.

After another day of goblin slaying, Kris was counting the coins, verifying the amount. I'm actually a little worried carrying this around. It's a lot to accidentally lose, or worse, have stolen. “Do you have banks in this wo-...in this town? Like where you can store money?”

Mibu nodded, “There should be...but I don't think we have enough. They usually only cater to merchants or nobility.”

Of course.

“I think the Guild might be able to hold it for us, but we wouldn't make any interest on it,” Mibu added, though.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. They did provide me the loan, after all.”

Mibu was waiting on the bed, looking at him expectantly.

Ever since they had started, Mibu had wanted to have sex every night. They were even sometimes doing it two or three times. While Kris was enjoying it, he still felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

Of course, when they were doing it, all other thoughts left his mind besides Mibu.

Again, tonight, Mibu lured him over to the bed after he had returned the coins to the purse. When she was sitting there, looking at him demurely in only her undergarments (or worse, when she wore her sexy lingerie), it was impossible for him to refuse.

After another intensive bout of lovemaking, Mibu buried her face in Kris's chest, as he slept holding his arms around her.

Part of her felt bad that she was seducing him every night in an effort to prevent being sold back, but the rest of her loved all the attention and affection Kris showed her. Not just at night, but even during mundane affairs, like getting food or picking requests. He even seemed to be more concerned about her well-being than his own, despite the fact that she was the slave. It was almost as if...

If I wasn't a slave, it would feel like he was courting me, she thought, opening her eyes and looking up at him. Always worried about me, treating me nicely, showing me so much...warmth. What's going to happen when he actually finds a woman he likes...?

Thinking about it, the only women he talked to frequently were Frieda, the tavern bartender, and Corinne, the guild girl. Well, I don't think either of them are interested in him, so I'm fine for now... She squeezed Kris harder, I just need to convince him to keep me around!

The next day, Kris woke up, his chest feeling a bit sore. He didn't remember it getting hit yesterday in any of their fights, but maybe he just couldn't remember.

After getting dressed, they headed over to the guild.

“Hey, Corinne,” Kris said, waving to her as he walked up.

Giving a smile, Corinne replied, “Oh, I wanted to see you actually, but...”

“What's wrong?” Kris asked.

“Did you have something you wanted to ask first?”

“Oh, yeah...is it possible to keep my extra money at the guild instead of carrying it around?” he asked, jingling his coinpurse.

Corinne nodded, “Of course, we offer basic banking services for Guildmembers. We can also hold onto items, as well. Do you want to store some?”

Kris nodded, pulling out twenty-five silver.

Corinne took them, and began filling out a paper. “We can also automatically take your loan payment at the end of the month from your box, if you'd like. A lot of Guildmembers do that when they aren't sure if they'll be in town to pay.”

“Oh, yeah sure, that's convenient.” They even have automatic payments!

After she took their money and deposited it in the back, she came back giving them a paper.

“We decided 'Kris's Party' was ready for a rank-up request. If you can complete this, both of you will be promoted to Copper-rank,” she explained, holding out the paper.

'Goblin nest subjugation. Over dozen goblins. Twenty silver.' Wow, that's a lot of money...and a lot of goblins.

“You two have become our goblin clearing experts. A lot of the higher rank Guildmembers don't take them, but it's an important task to keep the forest and farms safe in the area,” Corinne lectured.

Kris nodded in agreement. Ever since he'd been injured by a goblin, he'd grown a particular distaste for them.

“Are you willing to take it? If not, it might be a while before we offer another rank-up request,” she added.

Kris looked at Mibu, who gave a fist pump. “Yeah, we'll take it.”

Corinne smiled and nodded, “Excellent.”

Putting the request into his status screen, they headed off for the goblin nest. The trek would take a couple hours, so they had time to prepare a stratagem.

“Okay, we'll sneak up and take out the guards like last time. We should try and use the bow if we can to keep it quiet and not alert any in the nest,” Kris explained.

Mibu nodded in earnest agreement.

Over the last two weeks, they had gotten their respective magics up to lv. 5, and bow and dagger skills to lv. 4. It was obvious that the level increases slowed down quickly. Or at least, they did against goblins and boars.

When they could see on the map they were getting close, they both started to sneak. It seemed like the requirement for leveling Sneak was just damaging enemies while not being seen, regardless of magic, dagger, or bow. Mibu seemed to have a natural talent for it (maybe dogkin are born better at sneaking? I'm sure the nose helps) and had scored many kills with the bow.

This time, too, Mibu was letting loose arrows whenever she sniffed out a goblin. Sometimes, Kris couldn't even see them yet, and Mibu was shooting at them. Luckily, goblins generally fell to one arrow to the neck.

Mibu had hit four, before whispering, “I don't smell any more outside. I think the rest are in the nest.”

Kris nodded, following Mibu until they found the nest. Instead of in a cave, this one was in a clearing, a rough wooden palisade built on the outside. Kris could see a couple sleeping inside, and two awake, eating what looked like a deer.

Kris was about to get closer, when Mibu stopped him.

“Why don't we burn them out, and we can hit them as they try to run through the opening, if the flames don't get them,” she suggested.

You're positively evil, Mibu. “Good idea,” Kris nodded. Casting Scorch on a couple places on the wall, the encampment was soon going up in flames.

“Yabba!? Yabba!” came shouting from inside. As predicted, some of them started running out, only to eat a Scorch and arrows. After three ran out to die this way, no more came.

Kris turned to Mibu, “What about the others? Did they die in the flames?”

Mibu sniffed but shook her head, “I can't tell, there's only smoke smell now.”

“Well, I guess we can just wait until-” Kris started before being cut off by Mibu shooting an arrow over his shoulder.

After he got over his surprise, Kris turned around. In front of him was what looked like a goblin, but was probably twice his height, or close to it, and orange instead of a green.

The arrow had stuck in it's shoulder, but didn't seem to phase it. Kris cast Scorch, hitting it squarely in the chest. The goblin waved its arm at the flame. It had definitely hit and even burned a hole through it's clothing, but it didn't seem too phased.

Mibu cast an Ice Spike, which hit it squarely in the stomach. It caused the goblin to keel over for a moment, but then it started laughing.

Kris froze up. Dammit, this thing is tough. Casting another Scorch, the goblin ran through it and took a swipe at him. He tried to dodge, but it's hand was so big it still grazed him, causing him to lose his balance and tumble over.

As Kris was trying to get his bearings, he heard Mibu give a 'yelp'. Looking up, the goblin had grabbed Mibu with one hand, and she was kicking and squirming trying to get out, looking like the air was getting squeezed out of her. In desperation, she even bit into the goblin's hand, sinking her canines in.

Kris, seeing Mibu in danger, went into a rage. Grabbing his dagger, he lunged at the goblin. Due to the angle of his lunge, and the height of the goblin, Kris's dagger connected squarely with the goblin...in the groin.

The goblin instantly dropped Mibu, grabbing it's crotch as it fell to it's knees.

Kris ran over to Mibu, who was grabbing her stomach and gasping for air. “Are you okay!?”

Mibu, while still catching her breath, pointed to the goblin, “Not...dead...” and shot it with an Ice Spike, hitting it squarely in the chest. This time, the Ice Spike stuck into it, causing the goblin to fall over.

Kris walked over and looked over the goblin. It seemed to still be squirming a bit, grabbing at the lodged Ice Spike, so he sliced it's neck. In a few moments, it was no longer moving.

Turning back to Mibu, she was standing up, although still seemed a bit air-deprived. Kris went over and supported her, earning a weak smile.

“Thanks,” she whispered, her breathing seeming to steady.

“Heal yourself,” Kris asserted, looking at her health. It wasn't low, but it wasn't full either after being squished by the goblin.

Mibu shook her head, “Not enough mana.”

“Then we'll just wait until you can,” Kris said, sitting down and pulling Mibu into his lap and holding onto her. After all their intimate times together, he knew she liked being embraced the most. The request was showing as completed, so they had successfully killed all the goblins, and didn't need to worry about enemies for the time being.

Mibu smiled, leaning her head back onto his chest.

After a few minutes (Mibu possibly waiting a bit longer than needed to recover her mana, in order to stay like they were), she healed herself, as well as the few health Kris had lost.

By that point, the fire in the goblin encampment had mostly died down. They attempted to loot the camp, but since everything had been burned up, they didn't find anything valuable, and decided to head home.

Getting back in the evening, they stopped at the Adventurer's Guild right away to give the good news.

Corrine was happy to see them. “I presume you bring good news?”

“Yeah...it was a bit of a scrap, but we cleared it out,” Kris said, pulling up the request for her.

Corinne nodded, writing the results on a paper as usual. “Monster Log?”

Kris and Mibu pulled that up as well. Even all those goblins wouldn't amount to a full silver, but every bit was helpful.

Corinne nodded, before doing a double take, grabbing her glasses and leaning towards the screen. “A hob-...hobgoblin?”

Kris raised an eyebrow, before seeing it in the Monster Log, too. “Oh, is that what that was? It was a bit larger than the others.”

Corinne stood up and repeatedly bowed, “I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, the report said nothing about a hobgoblin. I didn't mean to put you in danger, this was just supposed to be a Copper-rank...”

Kris held up his hands, “It's okay, I mean, it was a rank-up request, right?”

Mibu was nodding vigorously in assurance.

“No, hobgoblins are Iron-rank usually...” Corinne said, looking down.

Kris wasn't sure how to respond. “It's okay, really...”

Corinne shook her head, “No, I mean it, I...” before trailing off and walking to the back.

Kris and Mibu looked at each other, exchanging shrugs.

After a few minutes, Corinne returned, dropping fifteen silvers on the counter. “Here is your payment, plus the monster bounties, including a silver for the hobgoblin, and after speaking with the Guildmaster we have rounded up your payment to fifteen silver as an apology for the incorrectly ranked request.”

Kris was about to refuse, but he noticed Mibu was excited, probably salivating a the idea of getting more steaks with the money. Well, I guess this is fine. He nodded and sliding five of the silver into his coinpurse. “Could you put the rest into our deposit?”

Corinne smiled and nodded, scooping up the coins and heading to the back.

Kris turned to Mibu, “Steaks?”

After enjoying the finest in dogkin cuisine, they headed back to the tavern. Once inside, they were accosted by Misty's Party (that wasn't their actual name, but Kris thought of them as such in his head).

“Here's our two newest Copper-rank Adventurers,” the wolfkin shouted at them.

They walked over, giving sheepish smiles as they sat down next to them.

Misty asked, “So? What was your rank-up request?”

Kris launched into the story, including their confrontation with the hobgoblin.

The orc laughed uproariously, “Haha, I've never heard of someone killing a hobgoblin by slicing it's member off before!”

Misty elbowed Mibu, “Hehe, if you need him to fight better you just have to pretend to be in danger...”

Mibu blushed, looking down at her drink.

Kris continued drinking with the party through the evening, while Misty and Mibu had splintered off at some point.

Now where did they get too?

Misty had convinced Mibu to go the bathhouse with her again. Unlike last time, Mibu was much more enthusiastic this trip.

“You're hair's getting a bit longer. Did you decide to grow it out like I mentioned?” Misty asked.

Mibu nodded. “He doesn't seem to mind it short, but I still think he likes longer better.”

Misty nodded. “Good, good. So...” she lowered her voice, so others nearby couldn't hear, “...how is it at night?”

Misty was expecting a blush, or some other kind of reserved answer, but instead, Mibu just smiled and nodded.

“It's excellent, he accepts me every night when I ask,” she explained.

Misty stopped scrubbing. When...she asks...? “So...you're the one initiating?”

Mibu nodded vigorously. “Yes. Although even outside of sex, he shows me show much affection...”

Am I talking to his slave or his wife? What kind of relationship do they have? She continued scrubbing while Mibu was talking about all the times he had taken her to her favorite steakhouse. Well, whatever, he's obviously treating her well...

“What about you?” Mibu asked.

“What about what?” Misty replied, taking a bucket and washing Mibu's head off.

After shaking her head to get the water off, Mibu continued, “Do you have sex with your party members?”

Misty blinked a few times, she must have some wrong assumptions. Although, I guess it's probably not uncommon in some parties. She shook her head, “No, I get along with them, but we agreed to not get romantically involved.”

Mibu leaned her head sideways as they switched places, “Really? It's so nice though. After a long day of work, ending the day by embracing each other...”

Misty shook her head, “I'm sure it is, but I'm waiting until I find a man worthy of having children with me.”

Mibu nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. What are you looking for?”

Misty crossed her arms, smiling haughtily, “They must be at least as powerful a mage as I. That way our children will be even more powerful once we pass our knowledge down to them.”

Mibu stopped scrubbing, causing Misty to look back.

“What's wrong?”

For the first time that night, Mibu was blushing, “Do you...do you think Kris will have children with me? That would be so wonderful...”

Misty blinked a few times (again). “Err, I bet he will. But you both just got to Copper-rank, right? You have a lot of ranks to go before you can think about retiring and having children, right?” she tried to convince her.

Mibu nodded vigorously. “That's true, we need a lot more money first.”

Misty shook her head as Mibu dumped water over it. I'll have to extract a 'thanks' from Kris later for calming down his wife-slave's lust a bit.

Kris and the others had drunk up a storm, celebrating his (and Mibu's) advancement. Eventually, they decided to go soak in the bathhouse for a while to sober up. After that, the others left to go hit up the brothels, trying to drag Kris along.

“Aw, come on, you don't wanna join us?” the human asked.

Kris tried to protest, “No, that's okay. Mibu would get upset if I did...”

This earned him a round of laughter.

“Haha, you're worried your slave will be upset? I mean, Mibu is nice lass, but...”

The orc seemed thoughtful, “Maybe I should get my own slave...”

“Haha, are you gonna take care of it? You can barely take care of yourself!” the human chided him.

“Hey, I can...yeah actually, you're right, haha!”

Kris waved them bye as they headed out, before heading back to the tavern. I am curious, but it's kinda pointless when Mibu is there for me every night anyway. Actually...

He had been trying to think of a way to celebrate with Mibu. He had taken her to get steaks, so that was one thing. He presumed they would have sex again tonight, but that was normal. Except for one part.

If I take the lead tonight, will that make her happy? She doesn't seem to mind always being the initiator, and obviously I accept, but I wonder if she'll appreciate me being more assertive?

Deciding that was a good course of action, he picked up the pace, heading back to the inn.

Heading through the inn quickly, he opened the door. I wonder if she's in her white lingerie again?

Going inside, Mibu was...laying on the bed haphazardly, still in her bathrobe, very obviously asleep.

Kris smiled. She must have been tired. Well, I am too... Slipping onto the bed, he gently wrapped his arm around her. I'll take the initiative next time.

With the the comfortable warmth of Mibu pressed against him, he fell asleep.