“Master…”

                Still half asleep and ready to stay that way for all eternity, a sweet voice called out to me through the haze, but my eyes remained glued shut. No matter how much sleep I may have had last night, it wasn’t nearly enough. I always had trouble waking up in the morning, due to always tossing and turning night away. This was just more of the same.

                I was probably hearing things. Or, more likely, I left my computer monitor on again and some video or another started playing on the speaker once Lucy accidentally, or purposefully, knowing her, pulled the headphone jack out of the tower. If she hadn’t jumped on me yet, then she wasn’t ready for food.

                Deciding this meant that it wasn’t time to get up, and vaguely remembering that it was Saturday, I rolled onto my side and away from the voice. Hopefully, the video playing wasn’t a dirty one. I didn’t want to wake up and realized I had a wet dream at my age.

                “Master…? It’s morning.”

                When I didn’t respond to the cute, but now slightly bothered voice, which now sounded close enough to make me feel as though my headphones hadn’t come unplugged, but that they fell onto my pillow, I felt a cautious hand tap my shoulder gently before it rocked me.

                Wondering where it was that Lucy gained enough strength to actually move my body, I opened my eyes and was at first deeply confused and a little scared of the beautiful face that greeted me.

                Her emerald green eyes, framed by an already brushed field of chestnut brown hair, glowed in the morning sun where she looking down on, no looked at me. The difference was unmistakable. I recognized those eyes at once, but this situation was something that could never have happened.

                But when I remembered that the bed I was laying in wasn’t actually the one that stole so many hours of consciousness from me back on Earth and, more importantly, who the gorgeous girl shaking me awake was, my eyes widened much like I’m sure they did moments before that truck hit me.

                “Geez, Master,” Yua said, thumping her hands on her shapely hips. Her tail snapped at the air to emphasize her discontent. “You’re the one that said you wanted to get up early.”

                “I’m up. I’m up,” I said, forcing myself into as sitting position.

                Knowing full well that the sweet words whispered directly into my brain to tempt me back to sleep my ear belonged to the pillow behind me, I threw off the blanket to let the morning chill keep me from falling asleep again. The moment it did just that, I scratched at my stomach and yawned, then pointedly looked down when my fingertips felt a set of rigid and easily defined abs instead of the flabby mess my old body had become. It was a sensation I never felt back on Earth even when I was at my best, but I wasn’t too sure if I should be proud of it, given that it was a freebee from the Goddess that I didn’t even ask for.

                When I finally managed to rub the sleep out of my eyes, I saw that Yua had gotten out of bed first and was cleaning up the mess she made with her suitcase. She apparently decided to get dressed before waking me, as she was once more wearing the same hastily thrown together clothes as yesterday. It was probably more to save herself some embarrassment than it was to keep me from watching, but I couldn’t deny that I was disappointed to have missed it.

                I tossed my legs over the side of the bed and with their movement, I felt the unpleasant sensation of the leather pants I had gone to bed in scrunching up in a few uncomfortable places. I suddenly remembered the sleepy thought I had about the potential wet dream and my attention immediately shot down to my crotch.

                The Goddess had bestowed upon me a weapon more powerful than any other in the world, but I let out a huge sigh of relief upon noticing that sleeping next to Yua hadn’t caused it to stand up to reveal its full strength.

                I really don’t think I could have lived it down if that happened after swearing up and down to her I meant no harm to her chastity.

                That same, maidenly woman masquerading as a warrior, or was it the other way around, seemed to have taken my sigh as another yawn and turned another gentle smile in my direction once she slid her suitcase between the chest at the foot of the bed and the wall.

                No. That had to be a mistake. The smile was not gentle, nor were the feelings of warmth it made burn in my chest real. What I saw and what I felt just now were mere byproducts of the light of dawn creeping in through the window to play a dubious prank on me.

                Yua went to bed practically trembling from fear after I basically forced her to sleep next to me completely against her will. There was no way she could have smiled so brightly at me first thing in the morning after what may well have been a sleepless night for her.

                But there it was again. That gentle smile. This time accentuated by a cute tilt to her head, where her chestnut hair slipped down over her shoulder and forced the sunlight filtering through it to cast an even more godly light upon her. Further, she seemed to have buttoned the randomized buttons of her hand-me-down top in an even more disorderly fashion than they were yesterday, as the amount of cleavage I spotted when she bent to scoop up and fold the blanket was almost too much.

                No, it was entirely too much. Whereas yesterday I could catch barely a peak at that hidden valley, now about half of each breast was visible. Against the backdrop of the morning sun, I could almost swear I could see a bit of pink there, too!

                “Master,” she said, folding the blanket over her arms like a maid. “If you want to go to breakfast before heading to the dungeon, its best we go soon before the line gets… Wah!”

                She yelped in surprise and jumped back. Her smile vanished and her face quickly turned bright red. She pointed at me, her finger shaking. Or rather, her finger trembled at the sight of a certain part of me that managed to stand up and greet the world a tentative good morning before I could even fully remove myself from the bed.

                Thanks to a certain goddess, the enhancement that was added to my weapon made itself all too noticeable, despite my pants doing their darndest to keep it at bay. In fact, it almost looked like the clasp holding them together was starting to lose the battle for my shame.

                “Wait, wait,” I said, scrambling for the blanket to cover myself, only to realize she was holding it and lunged for the pillow instead. “It’s not… I mean… It just happens, sort of happens to men win the morning. I wasn’t…”

                “I-I know that much, at least!”

                Clearly just as embarrassed as I was, she spun around to face the door to what was supposed to be our little one-person room. She turned her cheek slightly, then whipped her face back towards the door. Then, speaking with an odd politeness, she said, “Sh-Should I maybe wait outside until… um… it can calm down?”

                “N-No… Er, well, maybe instead of that, c-could I ask you a small favor?”

                Her shoulders stiffened, er, probably a bad word to use here, but not inaccurate. I quickly fumbled through my words to alleviate any further misunderstandings she may be having regarding my condition.

                “C-Could you please re-button your shirt? It, um… you’re showing a bit too much skin a-and it’ll be hard to focus in the dungeon if.... That’s why I… I-I’d appreciate it.”

                At my poorly thought-out request, Yua’s ears shot to attention and she looked down to her own chest. Then, with a surprising calmness given what I had just pointed out to her, she muttered “so that’s why,” then quietly set about unbuttoning and rebuttoning her shirt with her back fully to me. The ease at which this change came about felt just as odd as her smile. I mean, wasn’t there supposed to be a heavily-embarrassed slap coming my way right now for pointing that out?

                Given how the shirt was thrown together, Yua probably had a hard time remembering which buttons went where and was in too much of a hurry to finish dressing before I could wake up to have noticed the mistake herself.

                As she did this, I forced my mind to think of any and every negative thing that had ever happened to me to try and calm my weapon down. Thankfully, or regretfully, these thoughts came to me with a surprising clarity and I was able to remember even the smaller details I once thought lost to time.

                The time I gave up on playing baseball in junior high school because the coach said I wasn’t good enough, and how I, depressed, neglected his advice to keep practicing and try again the next year. Then again in high school when I managed to make it to the junior varsity tennis team, only to fail at climbing the ranks to the varsity team to be with the friends that got me to play in the first place, because I let myself become complacent with the skills I already had and again, neglected the coach’s advice on how I could improve.

                Then there was the conversation I had with what you could probably call the “class nerd” in a AP classroom full of nerds and how I once had the gall to brag about how our grades were the same despite me never putting any effort into my studies and how he, in his infinite wisdom, questioned me on why I didn’t and how I had nothing to say to him but a bit of fake laughter.

                Then there was Grandma’s death and the memory of how her doctors wouldn’t let us kids come in to her hospital room to say goodbye in her final moments, because they thought we might break the very equipment keeping her alive as long as it did. Yea, that one stung.

                I felt like shit for using that day as a reason to calm myself, but it worked, and my pants suddenly felt a lot less tight.

                Goddess, why am I like this? I just got her to trust in me enough to know I wouldn’t attack her in bed, only to have her wake up to this? And why? Because I saw a little bit of cleavage? I’m not a kid. A virgin, maybe, but not a kid. I’ve seen way more than that online. Hell, the outfit she wore to bed last night was way more stimulating than what she is wearing right now! I managed to keep calm then, so what the hell?

               

                Once we managed to move past that little (large) misunderstanding so early in the morning, I was able to successfully stand up without making Yua think I was going to jump on her. She managed to cover up properly as well. Or, as properly as she could, anyways. Even after I promised that the problem went away, she kept her back to me while I got dressed.

                So much for growing closer… Guess this morning will have to be just another bad memory to add to the list.

                “I’m dressed,” I said despondently and she finally turned around.

                Her brow was furrowed and her cheeks were still pink, but she got right back to what she was trying to do before my morning blunder and tidy up what little mess I made getting out of bed. I guessed she was taught to do as much as a slave could for their master without actually being asked to, because I certainly wasn’t about to ask her to do anything more strenuous than to continue breathing after all that.

                She quickly, but carefully, put the pillow I used to cover myself back into place and spread the blanket back out onto the bed. She even tucked in the sides and arranged the pillow neatly up by headboard. Honestly, it looked even better than how I found it when I first rented the room. I tried to tell her that she didn’t need to since it would just get messy later and because I never bothered with such things in the past, but she wasn’t having it.

                “I can’t let my master live in such a dirty room. Especially since… You saved my life and… You were so nice to me last night.”

                Is that it? The room is practically barren. Even if we entered it after a heavy rain and trudged mud everywhere, it’d still look mostly clean.

                “You don’t need to thank me for that. It’s only natural to help someone you like.”

                Wait, what? Did I just say that? I remembered saying something similar yesterday in the heat of a perilous moment, but how did that just fall out of my mouth completely uncontested by my lack of confidence?

                “I-I see,” she said, poking her index fingers together. “Then, would you like me to gather and catalog all the loot we got yesterday?”

                Still bewildered by my own comment, I nodded yes and she zipped right over to the chest at the foot of the bed after I tossed her the key. She was trying to hide the rising flush in her cheeks, but I elected not to comment on it. I was doing the same.

                What is going on here? It’s one thing to be grateful for someone saving your life, but for it to change your entire attitude towards them the next day when you spent the whole of the day before either glaring at them or on your guard against them? And what’s this about being nice to her? It can’t be because I made her share a bed with me. The fact that I had to say “made her” was more than enough proof to prove that wasn’t it. So, could it be, because I shared my food with her? she did really seem to enjoy it after she tried to turn it down despite being clearly hungry herself.

                What happened to my resolve to accept that saving her life wasn’t going to be enough to win her over?

                I scratched my head.

                Why was it that interacting with people was so much harder than everything else I’ve ever tried before? It’s not like I was always bad at it. I actually used to be somewhat popular in high school. I only lost that edge because I spent five years in college, in a strange city, with no friends and in a place where I could easily swear the other students were ten-times more judgmental than what I was used to back home. Even after coming back home to what few friends I had left by that time, I never really recovered that part of me.

                I knew that it was probably best to just ask her what she meant directly so that I could continue to do whatever managed to make her happy, but again, the words would not come out as anything other than a sigh directed at my own ineptitude.

                While rummaging around inside her backpack, probably counting the items inside to make sure they stack up with the number of enemies we defeated, her hand suddenly stopped moving inside the bag. Then she started searching again, this time in a visible panic that had her ears standing on end, before stopping again and slowly turning to me, her eyes nearly in tears again.

                Seeing her like this, I began to panic at the thought that my worries of a thief breaking into the room while we slept ended up coming true. My mind began racing, imagining what they might have taken and how much it might have set us back from our already unapproachable goal, when she spoke.

                “M-Master… where’s the ring you found?”

                I sighed so hard that lightheadedness nearly made me fall back onto the mattress. How many panic attacks is this girl going to force on me today?

                “Relax, Yua. I kept it safe.”

                To help her calm down before she could panic herself, I quickly reached into the air between us and into my item box. I never quite managed to get used to the sight of my hand disappearing into nothingness, thanks mainly to using my pouch so much to hide the action. It was just too strange. In an instant, it looked like my hand had been amputated, stitched up and spent years healing until smooth, only without the added torture of all the pain that was supposed to come with that process.

                I pulled out the tiny ring and held it between my fingers for her to see. When its ruby-like jewels caught the morning sunlight, they sparkled, much like her eyes did once she saw it.

                “See?”

                She calmed down instantly and jumped to her feet and darted around my extended hand to examine every atom of the ring, from every conceivable angle, all while her ears twitched inquisitively.

                Was it too much to hope that she was so excited about the ring because its sale would pay off her contract and finalize me as her one and only master? Not just because she wanted to escape Alphonse?

                I suppose I wouldn’t have the guts to ask that question, even if she had given me the chance.

                Relief washed over her body and she put a hand to her chest in a sigh of relief upon seeing the tiny silver band, only to then be immediately overshadowed by an apparent amazement that practically sent her tail spinning through the air like a helicopter’s propeller.

                Seriously? Is this really the same girl that spent most of our time together scowling at me yesterday? Also, isn’t it supposed to be dogs that wag their tail excitedly?

                “… Master, was that magic? You did that before, right? With the potion? Where were you hiding it?”

                It was only natural that she be curious about what I had done. She may have taken the temporary severing of my right hand in stride when she saw it happen right before her, but it was still probably something wild to her. Even if she was born in a world presumably full of magic. While I hadn’t exactly meant to do so, to retrieve the health potion she needed to survive, I showed her the existence of my item box while we were in the middle of fighting the Proud Great Wolf. So, she must have forgotten all about it until seeing it again.

                Again, I didn’t mean to show it to her just yet. In my morning haze, if I may be so bold as to claim I was still suffering from such a state after that little incident involving my pants, I acted too hastily in trying to ease her mind. The image of her crying last night stuck with me a little too hard and I really didn’t want to see her become any sort of upset going forward.

                “I’ve never really seen magic outside of the dungeon,” she continued, tail beating down the air behind her. “It’s amazing that you managed to learn so many spells already! How does it work? Is it like a little invisible safe you can keep with you anywhere you go?”

                Taken aback by her continued barrage of questions, I felt I had no chance to fully remind myself of why I didn’t want to share this particular ability’s existence with anyone, but at the same time, I felt I had to give the bright, curious smile of this girl nothing but the truth.

                Regardless of how she found out about it, now that she’d already seen it, I didn’t see much point in trying to hide it from her anymore, so I went ahead and explained how the item box worked. She listened with rapt attention, her overly excited tail showing off how much effort she put into keeping the rest of herself still.

                “Amazing,” she said, her eyes beaming with just as much enthusiasm as when I showed her my teleportation magic. “Master is amazing!”

                She showered me with praise, leaving me to feel an embarrassing heat in my cheeks.

                Wait. Embarrassed? Not depressed? That wasn’t right. I hadn’t earned that spell or this ability. They may not have come naturally to me as my school work back on Earth did, but they were given to me for free. I should have felt like garbage, put up a fake smile and said a very limp “thank you” for the kind words, just like I did whenever a teacher, friend or family member complimented something I worked on. So, why did this girl’s and only this girl’s praise make me so… happy?

                “Er, well… Ahem. For starters, it’s not a spell, but a trait called Item Box that allows me to access a sort of invisible and bottomless backpack. Also…”

                “Eh?” she hummed, cutting me off. “What sort of trait does that? Does it belong to one of those extra classes you were talking about?”

                What? She believes me on that too, now? She was so staunch in her denial of my apparently rare ability to gain more than two classes just yesterday. And now she’s acting like its already a well-known fact?

                Was this a dream? Am I still asleep? Was this that sort of dream you have on the cusp of consciousness early in the morning after waking up just a little too early? The sort where you can control your dreams to an extent because you are aware you’re in a dream. I thought to do something utterly random and reckless just to check, such as jump off the bed and dropkick the bedroom door, but the cute tilt to Yua’s head brought me back to my senses.

                “It’s not from a class,” I said. “I just sort of have it.”

                I wasn’t sure if the only way to actually gain a trait was similar to how abilities worked, but that may well be the case if she bothered to ask. If she found this at all strange, she didn’t show it.

                “I see,” she said with a nod. “I was wondering why an Adventurer like you was traveling so light in the first place. I mean, you’re not from Amoranth, right? I thought it was weird that you didn’t have any traveling equipment with you or in here when we dropped of my suitcase yesterday. That’s even more amazing!”

                There it was again. Unearned praise. Or maybe that was more praise for the ability, not me myself? If not, then isn’t she basically praising me just for having the item box? It’s not like I used it in any beneficial way, other than holding the ring.

                But still, when it comes from her, it just feels so warm. Why couldn’t praise feel like this with everyone else?

                “Th-Thanks, but, uh… I actually wanted to apologize to you regarding my item box.”

                Her ears twitched.

                “Apologize? What has Master done that needs to be forgiven?”

                “Because I made you walk around the dungeon carrying all our loot yesterday when you really didn’t have to. I bet it must have slowed you down while you fought, right? I just thought that, if other people saw us walking the dungeon without actually holding any loot, they would end up suspicious of me and start asking questions. So, I had you carry it all.”

                She put her chin to her knuckle and started nodding to herself, mulling over my explanation. The quizzical pose lasted barely a second before she looked me in the eyes again.

                “Then I don’t see that as something that needs to be forgiven. I am your slave, Master. I am sworn to do as you ask. So, even if you still want me to carry everything, I will.”

                “Alright, then… I’ll ask you to keep carrying the backpack.”

                “Understood! Just leave it to me!”

                She thrust her hands on her hips and puffed out her shapely chest to show she was serious. Apparently, I had broken enough walls between us for her to be at least a little proud of her master.

                Or… Was this some kind of trick? Putting her looks and more importantly, my feelings for her aside, the way she is acting now is too at odds with who she was yesterday. I can’t let myself get too distracted. I still don’t know if she is a former criminal.

                Right after that incident this morning, she jumped straight into going through our loot from yesterday, on her own initiative, only to bring back up the super expensive ring. While I put it into my item box, she must have seen me put it in my pouch after I decided not to use it. I left the pouch and my belt on the floor last night before bed, so what if she searched it and decided to tease the question out of me after weakening my resolve with a peep at her cleavage in order to get me to tell her where I hid it? She hardly reacted to my noticing and pointing to her exposed skin, after all. Given how she reacted with pure anger when I accidentally groped her yesterday and all the comments she made about me looking at the bikini-armor woman, this was definitely weird. It might have been on purpose.

                What if her entire demeanor this morning was just a ploy to steal the ring and pay off her contract herself? All the smiles and praise might have been to that effect. Is that even possible? She’s technically already bound to me via the slave spell, but is there a way for the slave to break the spell all on their own? Can Alphonse undo the contract whenever he wants?

                What if forcing her to sleep next to me was just the last straw that forced her to try this?

                “…But I will transfer everything inside the bag to my Item Box for safe keeping,” I said, thinking the valuables would be safest with me. “When we need to sell them, I’ll just pull them out of my Item Box through the bag, to make it look like you’re carrying them. That way you don’t actually have to carry all that heavy stuff. Although, I won’t be able to get away with pulling the Proud Great Wolf pelt out of this small backpack.”

                The thing was too large to even fit in it. We were going to have to carry that thing no matter what.

                “No problem. Master is already being very generous, so this much is nothing!”

                Yua pumped her fist energetically and slapped the boss pelt with her tail. Meanwhile, I had to hope that my stupidity in showing her this ability when I still wasn’t sure of who she really was won’t end up biting me in the ass later.

                “I am very grateful. But to be clear, I don’t want you to tell anyone about my item box or teleportation spell or… Well, just don’t tell anyone about anything I can do. And if anyone asks, I am just an Adventurer and a Swordsman, okay? Actually, no. I’m sorry, but I am making that an order. Don’t tell anyone about me.”

                I needed to be absolutely sure none of this would get out. The world already seemed to run on might and magic. If the people found out I had the equivalent of a bunch of cheat codes at my beck and call, then I’d never be safe again as they would no doubt either relentlessly try to get me to work for them or outright kill me. And I really didn’t want to know which of the two it’d end up being.

                Until I understood whether or not I could fully trust Yua, I’d have to get her to comply by forcing the slave spell to keep her mouth shut.

                Oddly enough, she smiled as bright as the morning sun the second time I gave her a serious order and she thumped her chest. Looking respectfully, I did notice her breasts jiggle when she did so, but I didn’t let it sway me.

                “Don’t worry, Master. Your secrets are safe with me!”

                “Thank you,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Then, if you’re ready, let’s get going.”

                We were going to have a lot to do today and didn’t have any more time to waste. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to sell off all of what we got, especially the ring, so it was best we didn’t fool around anymore than necessary.

                With my mind full of the endless worries my own mistakes piled on me, I yawned as I walked to the door and when I tried to pull on the handle, it didn’t budge.

                “Master, wait.”

                Yua had put her palm on the door, using her impressive strength to prevent it from opening. However, she didn’t look mad.

                “Just because we don’t have time to bathe, doesn’t mean you should go around looking like you just rolled out of bed. Here, let me just…”

                Without my asking her to, Yua began combing her slender fingers through my hair, smoothing it out into a presumably more respectable appearance. The tickle of her fingers carefully running through my hair sent shivers up my spine and after just a few seconds in, I felt as though she was giving my entire scalp a full-body massage. Not that that made any sense, nor did it matter that I noticed it didn’t. As tall as I was, she had to stand on her toes and raise her arm up, freeing her breasts to wobble slightly with her careful movements. She had indeed rebuttoned her shirt.

                To avoid a repeat of earlier, I tried not to look at her too much.

                “There. Master is much more presentable now,” she said and fell back onto her feet with a smile. “You know, Master, if you don’t take care of your appearance, people might start to think you are a slave instead of my master.”

                “Sorry… I, uh… I’ll be more careful next time. And thanks.”

                “Of course!”

                For some reason, looking oddly satisfied with herself, she threw on her backpack after using some loose strings attached to it to tie down the boss pelt. It made her look like she was carrying a rolled up sleeping bag. When she was ready, she skipped across the room to hold the door open for me. I didn’t mind opening doors for myself, but I didn’t want to ruin her good mood by telling her that. So, I gave her a short, sympathetic smile as thanks.

 

                We left the inn good and early, so there was still technically time before the appointed checkout hour. I didn’t yet have the money to rent the room for another night, so I decided to put it off and sneak away until I did. Thankfully, the innkeeper wasn’t there to see us leave. I didn’t want Yua to lose her suitcase if the innkeeper decided to clear the room for a new guest after thinking we skipped out without telling her, but when I brought it up, Yua mentioned the only thing in it was that shirt she wore to bed last night and that she wasn’t particularly attached to it. So, we let it be.

                Even in the morning, the city streets were bustling with people. The sights and smells of various food stalls were already heating up and sharing their flavors with the world. Those that already ate were already going about their work days and some of the children too young to help out were already playing and chasing one another in the streets. Thanks to them, several of the women tending to their chores had to watch where they stepped and lifted the large baskets of dirty laundry they held up over their head to avoid letting a child crash into it as they weaved their way through the crowd. Almost all of the women, at least the ones carrying the baskets of laundry, headed in the same direction. My guess was that there was some kind of magic laundromat or a nearby stream or something where they washed their family’s things.

                Right, laundry. Yua and I both only had one outfit each. We’d have to clean them at some point before they really started to stink. I should buy something for us to wear when that time comes. Or, maybe I should just wait. As much as I preferred to be clean, I shouldn’t waste any money until the thing with Alphonse is done and settled and Yua and I are free. But then again, we will be fighting, which means sweating. Even if she might say she’s fine with the city’s smells by now, I didn’t want to personally be a cause of suffering for her extra sensitive nose.

                We walked side by side for a while, but when we came up to the shopping district, Yua stopped.

                “Where should we go first, Master?”

                “Hmm. Well, I think we should just head to the general store first. Once we sell off the pelts and everything else, then we can use that money to stock up on what we’ll need for the day.”

                Yua, tilted her head and looked at me curiously.

                “What’s wrong?”

                “Master, you don’t sell pelts to the general store if you want to make money. You take them to the armorer or a clothing store.”

                Well, that’s something I wish I knew yesterday. No, I should have guessed that to begin with. The general store most likely takes the pelts for dirt cheap prices and resells them to the clothing stores for a profit. Taking the materials straight to where they are needed should net us a larger profit.

                “What about the other things? Where should I sell those?”          

                Yua put her finger to her chin and took a moment to think to herself before answering.

                “The wolf fangs and living slime goo should go to the apothecary. The slime oil could go as well, but you could also sell it to just about any of the city’s cooks.”

                “You can cook with slime oil?”

                It looked close enough to regular cooking oil, but the idea of anything one of those slime balls dropped from their bodies touching my food sounded disgusting. Not to mention the goo they also dropped was literally poisonous.

                “Yes. It’s not the best oil for cooking, but it’s the cheapest. So, I’m sure someone wouldn’t mind taking it off your hands instead of buying it for a higher price at the store.”

                “Makes sense,” I sighed.

                From that point alone, I knew we were going to be running all over the place trying to sell off our loot before doing it all over again when we were done with the dungeons. I would have preferred to just head to the dungeon now and sell off everything when we finished for the day, but I didn’t know how long we were going to dive through the dungeon today and we needed money to buy what we needed before going into the dungeon in the first place.

                Still, didn’t Yua say something about not selling the things she looted? I seem to recall she did. Was she just holding out on me back then out of hate? It’s easy to assume she might have held out on me because she wanted me to fail to pay back Alphonse and get myself enslaved as revenge for buying her.

                I shook my head and, thanks to one of the women crying out as they dropped their laundry basket right in a muddy puddle on the side of the road, Yua didn’t notice.

                Being suspicious of her is probably fine, but I shouldn’t act like it in public. Until I have a concrete answer, it’s all just a possibility. Potentially one born out of my own paranoia. Although, it was paranoia well deserved after her sudden change in attitude. Still, it was just as easy to assume that she simply didn’t want to be nice and share everything she knew to the man she just met and that had just bought her.

                “That’s all fine, but what about the silver ring of…”

                Yua horridly pushed both of her hands onto my lips, preventing me from speaking any further.

                “Shhh! Master, you shouldn’t mention that you are carrying something valuable when we’re in public. You never know when someone might be listening!”

                She turned her cat ears to the crowd of people seemingly just going about their days and listened. I wasn’t worried about any thieves stealing the ring out of my item box, since nobody but Yua even knew it existed. Not to mention I was pretty sure only I could access it. But given her concern, I went ahead and looked as well, albeit aggressively carefully, so I didn’t draw attention.

                Unlike her, I had the ability to see people’s private information by just focusing on them for a second. So, it was easy to tell that there was nobody around with the Thief tag under their name. Assuming there even was a tag like that to begin with. Furthermore, I didn’t even see anyone looking at us. I pulled her hands off of my mouth.

                “It’s fine, Yua. Nobody is listening. Thanks for the concern, but nobody would be able to take it from me, remember?”

                She opened her mouth in an “oh” of recognition, like she only just remembered the thing she just learned this morning and nodded before looking down to her bare feet. Her cat ears drooped sadly and I had to clench my chest to prevent her meek demeanor from causing me a sugary heart attack.

                “Sorry I put my hands on your face, Master.”

                “I-It’s alright. You don’t have to apologize for every little thing. You were definitely in the right there. Let’s just get going, okay?”

                Her frown flipped over in an instant and her ears perked right back up, seemingly happy that she wasn’t going to be punished. I hated that she might still feel that I’d resort to corporal punishment, but I had to admit that she would be stupid to trust me completely when I told her I wouldn’t hurt her after she had spent years being taught that her future master might do just that.

               

                At my request, Yua took us to the nearest clothing store. We walked the cobble stone path throughout the city until we found a white, two-story building with large glass windows showing what they had in stock. Seeing this, I wondered if window shopping was still something people did here to waste time.

                “Welcome to the Threaded Spool, Sir. I am Gideon. How may I help you?”

                The moment we walked inside the shop, the owner, an older man dressed stunningly well when compared to the people walking around outside greeted us from behind the counter near the entrance. He wore a well-tailored shirt, spiffy leather vest and wrapped it all together with a red necktie.

                It was nice to know good looking clothes existed here. I didn’t particularly like walking around looking like I live outside.

                “Good morning,” I said. “We’re here to sell some wolf pelts from the dungeon.”

                “Alright, Sir. May I see what you have?”

                Happy that the man seemed to be a little easier going than the other shop owners I have dealt with so far, I had Yua turn around so I could undo the straps fixing the boss pelt to her backpack and set it on the counter. Gideon didn’t seem surprised by its size at all and set about analyzing it while I shoved my hand into Yua’s backpack to begin our little ruse by accessing my item box as discretely as possible.

                I pulled out the rest of the pelts and stacked them neatly on the counter, as my Merchant class seemed to tell me that I needed to present my goods properly. He seemed pleased with this and set about using his own Appraisal skill on each of the pelts. I was about to question why he didn’t just appraise the whole stack like you could with coins, but then he took out what looked like a monocle or maybe a small magnifying glass from his vest pocket and looked even closer at the fur. We watched in silence as his eye darted around each pelt as if he were checking every strand of fur for split ends.  Once he was satisfied, he slipped the monocle back into its pocket and smiled politely at us.

                “Alright. You have brought me 7 Proud Wolf Pelts from the first floor of Amoranth Dungeon and the pelt of the Proud Great Wolf from the same floor. For this, I can offer you 10 gold and 70 silver pieces. Will that be alright?”

                “Can you really tell what floor we got these from?”

                Gideon smiled as if knowing were only natural. I hadn’t thought to ask Yua yet, but now that the question had fallen out of my mouth, I considered the fact that the wolves may appear only on the first floor. This wasn’t a big deal, but it did make me look like a total newbie when it came to these pelts and the dungeon. I better be on guard for future mistakes so I don’t screw up like I did with Alphonse.

                “I can,” he said with a polite, but proud incline of his chin. “You may not be able to, but as a Tailor, I can see distinct differences in the quality of the furs brought to me. The wolves from the first floor have fur that can be easily treated and made softer so that it can be worn directly on the skin. Those from the deeper levels have tougher fur that are much harder to prepare, but are much more durable. Although, the only real difference is how they are prepared once I have my way with them.”

                Gideon folded his hand neatly on the counter, looking rather proud of himself for being able to educate a newbie, or maybe just someone not as well versed with his class as he was. It was actually hard to tell if he was being condescending or just sharing what he knew.

                At least I didn’t make a fool of myself.

                “I see. Thanks for the explanation. I’ll take the 10 gold and 70 silver pieces then.”

                “Right away, Sir. Just one moment.”

                Unlike the general store owner, Gideon stayed put and pulled out a small metal box from the backside of the counter and set it down next to the pelts. He slowly pulled coins out of it, counting them as meticulously as he did with the pelts. I decided to look around the shop, just to see what they had while we waited for him to finish.

                There were several different types of common city clothes and even some that looked to be more durable, probably the sort that might be favored by those that worked with their hands and more. All of what was available was either hanging from hooks on the walls or were folded into neat piles on the small rounded tables scattered across the main floor. Many looked just as well-made as what Gideon wore, but there were also a lot of clothes that looked similar to what Yua was wearing now, but long before it got tossed out and was reappropriated to fit a slave.

                I thought for a second that the clothes the Goddess gave me might some sort of rare, one-of-kind items I could sell and replace with something cheaper for a profit, but I ended up finding something similar over in the men’s section and the thought was squashed. Damn.

                Then I noticed a few racks of various shoes and boots lined up against the wall. Seeing this, I looked at Yua’s bare feet. They were covered in a fine layer of dirt and dust from the walk over, but they didn’t look to be injured in anyway. The thought made me wonder if beast-kin just have harder skin than humans, but felt my face heat up when I realized that likely wasn’t the case from back when I accidentally groped her and felt just a little of her softness.

                “H-Hey, Yua. Why don’t you go ahead and pick out a pair of shoes for yourself? I’ll buy them for you. My treat.”

                Offering a girl a pair of shoes in recompense for touching her where I shouldn’t have probably should have earned me a good punch to the gut, if not somewhere lower on my body. But after hearing my offer to get her a gift, her eyes went wide before immediately laying into a protest.

                “But Master, what about the cost?”

                “It’s fine,” I said, waving her off. “I don’t like the idea of you walking around barefoot. What will happen if you step on something and get hurt? Besides, having something on your feet will help in the dungeon, won’t it?”

                The streets may have been paved with stone, but that didn’t mean they were spotless. Furthermore, I thought back again to when I groped her, but mainly how that only happened because she slipped on the slime’s goo. As exhilarating as the sensation was, I wanted to prevent that from happening again. She seemed to as well and remembered the unfortunate way I had caught her, because she blushed.

                “B-But… Masters don’t buy things like nice clothes for their slaves. Slaves aren’t allowed to own anything.”

                “I’m not concerned with how other masters treat their slaves,” I said, putting my foot down, surprised at how easily she outed herself as a slave in public. “I don’t want you walking around without shoes and getting hurt because of it.”

                She looked apprehensive, like she thought I was tricking her, but I held my gaze firm with a smile to show my sincerity. She had no choice but to buckle and accept the gift.

                “Th-Then I will do as Master wishes and choose something… Anything a slave owns belongs to their master, so this is like you’re buying it for yourself anyways.”

                With that admittedly dark response, Yua took off for the racks of shoes to start her search for something that would fit. As apprehensive as she was to accept the gift, she did look moderately happy to do some shopping for her own benefit. Even if it was just this much.

                Curious about what she said, I leaned on the counter to talk to Gideon as he finished counting his coins.

                “Is what she said true? About slaves not being allowed to own anything?”

                Gideon set the final stack of 10 silver coins onto the same sort of small silver platter all the other merchants in the city seemed to use and nodded.

                “It is,” he explained. “Slaves, by name, are not allowed to own anything at all. That goes even for the clothes on their backs. Everything they possess before they are enslaved or that is given to them thereafter, becomes the rightful property of their current master. If you wished, you could even force her to take off everything she is wearing right this instant and make her walk besides you as naked as the day she was born.”

                My elbow slipped off the counter as his last point struck me and I nearly fell. While walking around with a naked girl as beautiful as Yua sounded sexy on paper, and in my daydreams, there was no way I would actually force her to do something like that. However, when my mind naturally went along with the image of that dirty fantasy and looked her way, Yua’s ears twitched. She hadn’t been looking at me, but her cat ears probably heard our conversation.

                So, I coughed into my hand and denied the fantasy.

                “Well, I won’t be making her do something like that. But thanks for the explanation.”

                Gideon gave me a small smile as if all he had done was tell me something obvious. I chose not to start up another conversation since the man seemed to have no qualms with talking about weird stuff like that. So, we both waited for Yua to finish picking in silence.

                “Master, can I, um… could I get these?”

                Yua held up a pair of tall, polished leather boots that looked like they might reach up to her calves. Their thick soles would provide an adequate amount of protection from slipping and the black leather laces looked as clean as if they were just made that morning.

                That said, they didn’t look even remotely cute. I thought she might go for something more lady-like from all the nicer options available, but it looks like she went with what would best improve her ability to fight. That, or she just went with the cheapest option to ease the strain on my purse. The leather they are made of does look kind of thin and might rip easily.

                “I-I think I will be able to kick even harder with these,” she added, as if needing to plead her case.

                “That looks fine,” I said, turning to Gideon. “How much are they?”

                Given how I didn’t see a single price tag in the entire store, I figured customers were meant to ask him whenever they needed to know. I held out my hand for the boots, but only so I could check them with Appraisal. Thankfully, Gideon heard our conversation and gave the same price listed in the info box that appeared.

                “The Long Women’s Leather Boots are 10 silver pieces.”

                10 silvers, eh? I guess they aren’t as cheap as they look.

                “Eh, but that’s so much,” Yua protested again. “Master, you don’t…”

                “It’s fine. I’ll take them. Yua, put them on before we leave.”

                I pushed one of the stacks of silver pieces on the tray back towards Gideon and scooped up the rest to set them into my item box via my pouch. While I did, Yua sat down on the floor right where she stood, her eager tail swaying around happily despite her protests, and stuffed her feet into their new leathery homes. Watching her do this, I made a mental note to search this shop again when we had the coin to spare and see if I could find us some socks.

                After living an entire life with the luxury of socks, being made to wear leather boots without them was a nightmare. I was too tired to care last night, but when I finally took mine off before bed, I realized just how much my feet hurt just from them rubbing up against the leather all day.

                Unlike the ring we found, when she put them on, they did not resize themselves to fit her feet perfectly. But when she tied them up and stood, now slightly taller, and tapped the toe of her boot on the floor, it looked like they fit her well enough as is. They even accentuated the shape of her legs and bottom, much like a pair of high-heels would have.

                Satisfied with her new footwear, Yua beamed at me with a radiant smile. That smile was enough to say the 10 silvers were more than worth it.

                Unless… she wasn’t just protesting the sale to get my good-natured self to buy them anyway, right? She wasn’t using reverse psychology on me, was she?

                No. No. Don’t be dumb. I just demanded that she pick something out. And those do look like the cheapest pair Gideon had for sale. She could have picked out something better, but didn’t. Don’t let your suspicions get the better of you.

                After we finished at the tailor’s shop, and now that we had money, we took a quick trip back to the inn. I thought to have Yua wait outside while I tried to make it look like I was alone and so I’d only have to pay for one person, but the innkeeper snarled at me, saying she already knew about the girl and that slaves get to room for free as long as they are with their master. Apparently, this is because they aren’t recognized as people and because they were expected to sleep on the floor, not the beds. That and that feeding them was entirely at the master’s discretion, as they would still be charged for the second meal.

                Taking a detailed mental note of all of this to avoid having to ask her again, I wondered how she knew about Yua, since she didn’t see me haul her into my room after buying her or when I teleported us straight into the room after we finished with the dungeon yesterday. Regardless, I rented the same room again and tacked on two full meals. Hopefully, Yua’d brighten up even more than she did last night if she got a full meal all to herself.

                Wait. What am I even talking about? Brighten up? I’m still torn between my infatuation with her and the possibility that she’s just waiting to stab me in the back. So, why am I still so focused on improving her mood? Maybe I’m subconsciously thinking that she might give up her thoughts of betrayal if I got her to like me? Then again, wouldn’t me acknowledging that mean it’s not subconscious anymore? Were these my actual thoughts and was it just my now not-so-little buddy downstairs telling me that Yua was good people? Despite the possibilities, I still want to make her smile. I want to see her so happy she might even cry.

                Goddess, what the hell is wrong with me? You gave me all these powers, but you couldn’t help me make up my mind? Why lead me to Yua anyways? You said “head East,” right? I went East, found Amoranth, went further East inside the Eastern District of Amoranth and found Yua in the slave house. That’s what you wanted for me, right? Why did you set me on a path directly to her? What was the point of meeting her, aside from falling for her so hard that I made the dumbest decision of my life with barely a thought for the consequences? If so, I’m allowed to complain, right? You wanted this for me, right? What the hell, right?

                Practically skipping down the sidewalk in her new boots, Yua’s ears gave a little half-flick and she looked at me over her shoulder as we walked. The crowd was starting to grow as the day went on, so she must have been looking to make sure I was still there since all the other sounds of the city’s daily life had clouded her sense of hearing. When she spotted me, I noticed a small upward turn to her lips before she faced forwards again and her chestnut hair swept her expression out of sight to sway in the breeze.

                Her tail gave a happy swish, but I looked away for fear of getting caught staring at what lay just below that.

                I’m not crazy, am I? She’s been nothing but rude and impatient with me until now, then the day after we found something crazy valuable, she’s all smiles. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?