In my 8th year as Lief, my family and a handful of other villagers gathered together at the entrance to our village. Winter had just ended, but it was still too cold to work the land, so it was the perfect time to take a short trip to the city. That year’s visit to Derton was my 3rd since being born. It was also my father’s last.

My entire family woke early that morning, even before the sun could rise, and prayed for an extra half hour to the statues father built. Naturally we couldn’t bring the statues with us on our journey, so we were extra pious that day to compensate.

Gorro, God of Protection, received the majority of our prayers that morning, as we asked that he watch over us and our home on our week-long journey. His statue was that of a large man, welding even larger tower shields in each hand. In reality, he was more like a strange, giant turtle, but with no head or tail and 8 shielded legs. And in the center of each shield was a metallic eye as big as my fist.

After that we packed our travel supplies on the cart Hufflehoof pulled, and met up with the rest of our party at the village entrance. Every year our village would do this. Instead of risking traveling alone, it was much safer to travel as a large group.

The roads became increasingly dangerous as the war dragged on. More and more people became bandits as the Holy Ranta Theocracy slowly consumed the Thearyn Kingdom.

Even without the growing threat of bandits, we had to be wary of the vicious monsters lurking in the woods. So our village would pool together our meager savings to hire adventurers to guide and protect us once a year.

There was just 1 problem…

“Where the hell are those damn adventurers?” Micheal shouted as he took a swig from his wineskin.

“They’re probably still asleep. They were up all night… preparing,” Tom, the village head, said hesitantly as he glanced at the children. He was there to see us off.

“Huh? Sleeping? We’re not paying them to sleep! Go and wake their lazy asses up Lucy!” You could tell from his breathe that it wasn’t water in his wineskin.

“O-Okay dad,” she said as she looked at me nervously.

“Why don’t I go with you?” I suggested. She could barely handle being around the other kids; I doubt she had the courage to wake party of adventurers.

“You need to stop babying her kid. Anyone can tell from looking at her that she’s already a young women, ready for marriage. Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed; I see the way you look at her. It’s about time for her to get hitched and move away already.”

“She’s just 9,” my father said. “I’m sure Luslo wouldn’t permit marriage at such a young age.”

“Ha! Luslo is probably the one who made her this way. She’d better approve. Getting her out of the house earlier is the only reason why I’m willing to pay the church’s outrageous examination fees.”

He was referring to the small “donation” required by the church to confirm people’s blessings. The amount asked for varied depending on your income. Lowly peasants like us normally paid enough to feed themselves for a week, whereas nobility could pay up to 50x more in the end.

“Its not a fee; its a donation. The church needs it to survive, and without a detergent, people would swarm them everyday requesting confirmations.” Henry parroted the church’s official reason for asking for a donation. Of course he and mother went with us; neither one of them would ever miss an opportunity to pray at a real church.

The church’s survival aside, the deterrent was apparently a real reason. Hundreds of years ago, the service was completely free of charge, and the church was flooded with requests. A person could be blessed anytime in their life, not just when they’re born. In addition, there’s no indication when you’re blessed. Unlike when Lirt blessed my soul, blessing a body is a completely painless experience. So people without blessings would visit the church whenever they could hoping for a change in status.

“Call it what you want,” Micheal said, taking another swig. “Either way, in this case, it’s an overpriced service where they’re going to tell me what I already know. But unless I get it confirmed, I can’t say she’s blessed without becoming a heretic.”

“What are you planning on doing with her after that?” I asked.

“What’s it to you kid? Don’t tell me you want her for yourself? The point is to get her far away, not next door. That reminds me, what are you still doing here Lucy? Go get those damn adventurers already!”

“Yes daddy!” She nearly tripped as she scrambled back towards the village.

I glared at Micheal briefly before chasing after her. We were headed towards Tom’s house, where the adventurers were staying. I could tell something was on her mind, so I tried to cheer her up.

“Hey, don’t let what he said get you down. He was completely wrong to say that.”

“Was he wrong?” she asked without looking at me.

“Of course! You’re still far too young to get married, even if Luslo approves.”

“Not that,” she said as she looked down. “Do you look at me like that? Do you want me all for yourself?” She was practically whispering at that point.

I turned away in shame even though she couldn’t see me. Truth was, as a boy going through puberty, I was very attracted to her. It couldn’t be helped. We spent a lot of time together and were very close. In fact, when her body started changing, I was the first person she came to.

But I didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship by confessing, especially since I was her only friend. It would have gotten incredibly awkward if she didn’t feel the same way, so I tried to avoid the question instead.

“Ah, sorry, I couldn’t hear you. Did you say something? The wind is pretty loud today.”

“I sai-” After a moment of hesitation, she rose her voice and faced me directly to ask again, but I cut her off before she could.

“Anyways, we’re almost there. Don’t let the adventurers intimidate you too much when we meet them okay?” We were actually still 2 minutes away, so I quickened my pace to end the conversation even a second earlier.

“Okay Lief.” She was visibly depressed, but I didn’t know what else to say. The rest of the way was walked in silence.

◊ ◊ ◊

When we arrived I tried to knock on the door, but before I could, it swung open and we were greeted by Betty.

“Good morning! If it isn’t Lief and Lucy. I thought I wouldn’t see you two again for another week. Shouldn’t you have left for the city by now?”

“Good morning grandma,” Lucy said. She had no trouble talking to her grandmother; we spent enough time listening to her stories together that she was one of the few people Lucy could naturally talk to.

“Good morning Betty. We were supposed to leave at sunrise, but the adventurers haven’t shown up yet. Are they still inside?”

“Please Lief, how many times do I have to tell you, call me grandma as well. As for the adventurers, I thought they left this morning. I haven’t heard a peep from them since last night. They were pretty loud though, it was hard to get any sleep.”

“Grandpa thought they might still be sleeping. Can you go wake them up for us?” Lucy asked.

“I wish I could, but I’m already late as it is. I heard Stacy’s water just broke; I’m on my way there now to help her deliver. But they’re staying in the guest room. You two know the way don’t you?”

Stacy was another farmer’s wife who moved in 1 year prior. After losing her home in the war, she moved from place to place for a few years. Unfortunately, the war seemed to follow her everywhere she went. Tired of traveling, she finally decided to settle down here and marry one our neighbor's sons.

“Yes Betty. Give Stacy our best wishes when you see her.” I said. It didn’t feel right to call her grandma since we weren’t actually related.

“Again with the Betty. If I’m not imagining things, I really will be your grandma in a few years anyways. But I really must go. Have a safe journey you two!” Betty gave her goodbyes as she hurried away.

“Bye grandma!” Lucy said as she pulled me inside the house. “Come on, we don’t want to keep dad waiting any longer.”

We went down the hall towards the guest room. It was actually the biggest and most well outfitted room in the entire village, though that wasn’t saying much. It may have been rare for guests to come to our village, but there was 1 significantly important person that came every year – the tax collector. To make his visit as pleasant as possible, Tom spared no expense furnishing the room.

It had a proper bed with cotton sheets and fur blankets, a fireplace, and even a candle-lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Commoners usually couldn’t afford a bed even without the sheets and blankets, and most fireplaces were exclusively found in the living room, as normal families simply couldn’t afford to fuel multiple fireplaces. And a chandelier in a plebeian's house was practically unheard of. Candles were expensive, and a chandelier required multiple to be burned.

To this day I’m still not sure how they were able to afford those luxuries. I asked Betty about it once, but she just laughed it off, telling me there’s no need to worry about it. Lucy didn’t know anymore than I did.

I approached the hand-carved door and knocked twice. There was no answer.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” I asked. I tried knocking again but only heard silence in return. Fearing the worst I told Lucy to take a step back.

“I’m going to go in, Lucy. Take a step back; we don’t know whats in there,” I said. I may have sounded paranoid, but there were several creatures in this world known to kill people in the dead of night. Betty said they were pretty loud the night before, so I thought maybe what she heard was them struggling against a monster.

She followed my directions, but stayed in eyesight. I would preferred if she just waited outside, but I knew she wouldn’t leave me alone in a potentially dangerous situation. After I gathered my courage I slowly opened the door.

The room was a complete mess. There were signs of struggle everywhere; most of the furniture was knocked over and scratch marks could be found all over the place. I couldn’t see any obvious blood, but a strange smell unknown to me at the time permeated the room. The bed was out of position, and something large was clearly under the fur blanket.

Fearing the worst I grabbed a nearby long sword with my right hand and blanket with my left. I gulped once and ripped it off with all my strength. What I found shocked me so much I dropped the sword and let out a scream.

“Whats wrong?” Lucy yelled as she ran into the room.

When she saw what was on the bed, she screamed, “NOOO! Don’t look Lief!” and hastily covered my eyes.

But it was too late. Thanks to Lirt’s blessing, the adventurer’s naked bodies were permanently etched into my memory.

For example, even now I can perfectly recall the blond one’s voluptuous body. The way her butt was sticking out because her long legs were wrapped around the man’s body. And how her large breasts were pressed up against his back. Unlike Nilhs, when I looked at her I felt the very opposite of disgust.

The muscular man, on the other hand, was tightly hugging the dark haired girl. His bulging arms looked strong enough to crush her in his grasp, but she didn’t seem to be in any discomfort. He was easily the tallest man I’d ever seen up until then, and other parts of him were also impressively sized. Quite frankly, I was jealous.

The girl he was hugging was also hugging him back. She was much shorter than the blond, only about as tall as I was at the time. But she was still clearly an adult, despite her small breasts. Her slim, well-toned body stirred when we screamed.

“SORRYSORRYSORRY!” Lucy yelled as she forcefully dragged me out of the room and slammed the door shut.

“Ah, it’s already morning. Sorry we’re late, give us a minute to get dressed okay?” a feminine voice called out from the other side of the door.

“T-t-t-t-take all time you need!” Lucy yelled as she pushed me into the living room.

“D-did you see it Lief?” Lucy asked while we were waiting. “Did you see those girls naked?”

“Y-yeah” I awkwardly replied. There was no point denying it.

“Which one did you like more?” She leaned in close and looked into my eyes intently, as if it was the most important question in the world. Now that I think about it, she had a crazy look in her eyes, but my mind was too disarrayed to notice back then.

“Wait, what? Why?”

“No deflecting! You’re not getting out of answering this time,” she said as she grabbed my head with both hands to keep me from looking away.

“I think they’re both equally charming,” came a deep, masculine voice from the hallway. 4 people were standing there, fully clothed this time. I recognized the 3 people from earlier, but the 4th was a complete stranger.

He was medium height and skinny; if he had any muscles, they weren’t visible under his thin leather armor. His dead eyes didn’t project a sense of confidence at all. On his hip was the long sword I dropped earlier. Compared to his other companions he didn’t look very reliable.

He wasn’t the owner of the voice from earlier of course. That honor belonged to the tall, muscular man sandwiched by the two beautiful girls.

“But men have their preferences don’t they?” he teased me. “If you had to pick one, who would it be? Don’t be shy. The one on the left with the huge boobs is Daniella, and the girl with the deadpan expression is Lyndis, though we call her Lynn.”

“Yeah, what do you think Lief?” Lucy relentlessly followed up. It was surprising to see her behaving so aggressively, especially since it was in the company of complete strangers. It seemed like I really wasn’t going to get out of answering, so I took a closer look at the two of them.

Daniella’s golden blond hair flowed all the way down to her hips. Her lake-blue eyes and kind smile were both very inviting, and the way she blushed made me want to protect her. In her hands was a long, wooden staff with a clear orb adorned at the top. She wore a fancy, but thin robe that did nothing to hide her sensual curves. When I looked at her I couldn’t help but picture her naked body and look away embarrassingly.

When I me Lynn’s eyes, she seemed sad for a moment. Her facial expression never changed, but that’s the feeling I got. Because I was captivated by her blood-red eyes, we spent a moment staring at each other before she turned away and covered herself with her hood.

On her back was a bow and quiver full of arrows, and at the back of her slender hips was a sheath holding two short swords penetrating either end. Her form-fitting garb was entirely composed of dark, neutral colors, which contrasted greatly with her pale skin.

Compared to our sun-kissed skin, hers made me think she’s never been outside. Her breasts may have been small, but even when I pictured her naked I didn’t feel compelled to avert my gaze. If anything, I wanted to take a closer look.

“Don’t put so much pressure on him,” she tried ending the conversation. “I’m sure his answer is Daniella anyways, just like everyone else.”

“That’s not true at all!” I passionately refuted her. She looked confused for a moment before returning to her deadpan face.

“So you like small boobs,” Lucy dejectedly whispered as she pushed down on her own growing chest.

“No! Big boobs are good too! Ah! What am I even saying?” I tried to think of a way to end things before it got even more out of hand, but the tall man wouldn’t let me.

“Hahaha, you see that Dani? Looks like you got another one under your spell. Too bad kid, she’s already mine. We’re already married you know? Came back in 5-10 years and you can go for Lyndis though.”

“Wait, what? No, it’s not li-”

“Anyways, I’m Godfrey, leader of the silver ranked adventurer party, Ascension. Sorry to keep you waiting; we were pretty exhausted from all the exercise last night,” he said while giving me a knowing wink.

Unlike the other man, he projected a strong, dependable aura. Thick, leather armor covered the areas not protected by plate mail. On his left arm was a steel round shield, and on his back was a heavy war hammer. If it was anyone else I would have questioned how they managed to equip it all, but on him it seemed completely natural.

“Hmp. You 3 were humping like rabbits while I was busy getting everything ready. Don’t try dress it up any other way,” the 4th wheel said.

“Don’t be like that Raphael,” Godfrey said as he slapped on him on the back. Surprisingly, it didn’t affect his posture at all. “Let’s head out while we talk, shall we? I don’t want to keep the others waiting any longer than we have to.”

“Y-yeah, Right this way,” I said as I lead them out the door.

“By the way, why doesn’t this village have an inn?” Raphael asked Lucy. They were standing in the back of the group. Usually she would be right by my side, but she was too lost in thought to notice how far apart we were.

“Huh? Oh, umm, sorry. We don’t get enough visitors to have an inn,” she meekly answered.

“Past here there’s nothing but forests, swamps and the mountains,” I added. “We’re not rich enough to make the trip worth it for merchants, so the only people that normally come here are tax collectors and lost adventurers.”

“Well it was really inconvenient having to share a room with these 3. I had to wait outside until they were done,” he grumbled.

Speaking of which, Daniella and Lynn were whispering amongst themselves a little ahead of them, and Godfrey was walking side by side with me.

He wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, leaned in and said in a low voice, “So? Aren’t you going to ask?”

“What do you mean?”

“No need to hold back,” he smirked, “You want to know about those two don’t you? I can tell by the way you keep looking back at them. Before you ask, Dani’s boobs really are as soft as they look.” He did a squeezing motion with his right hand.

“That’s not it!” I quickly refuted him. I didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings. “It’s just, you follow the Heavenly Laws don’t you?”

Every god had at least 1 rule in place, and those who break those rules are considered heretics. These rules were called the Heavenly Laws and were separate from the country’s laws, though most of the heavily religious countries included them in their own.

“Of course! There’s no way I’m going to risk becoming the church’s slave for not following some simple rules.”

“But doesn’t Luslo forbid sleeping with anyone you’re not married to? It didn’t sound like Lynn is your wife,” I said. It was rare for a person in the Thearyn Kingdom to have multiple marriage partners as monogamy was nationally practiced, but that wasn’t the case in some other countries.

In the Holy Ranta Theocracy for example, you could have several wives and husbands depending on your blessings. But adventurers didn’t exist there, so I assumed Ascension was a local party.

“Ah, so that’s what this is about. Let me give you some useful advice kid. What’s forbidden isn’t sleeping together, it’s sex. And there are plenty of things a man and woman can do that isn’t sex. Keep that in mind; you’ll have a lot more fun that way.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” I replied awkwardly. On the way back I kept glancing back towards the girls wondering what those things could have been; it didn’t go unnoticed.

◊ ◊ ◊

By the time we got back the sun was already high in the sky.

“It’s about time! What took you so damn long?” Micheal asked.

“Calm down old man.” Godfrey’s smile never faltered. “And hour or two won’t make that much of a difference in the long run. We can easily make up for it over the next 3 days.”

“O-old man? I’m not even a grandfather yet! You should show some respect to your clients. I’ve half a mind to fire you and find some harder working adventurers instead!”

“That’s your choice,” Raphael said, “but good luck finding another party willing to escort this large a party for so little pay.”

There were 18 people headed to the city that year, and we each only put up a couple iron coins.

“Tsk. Well you better do a better job guarding us while we’re out on the road.”

“Of course old man! We’re very good at our jobs. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be Silver Ranked.”

There were 7 adventurer ranks in this world; from weakest to strongest it went Bronze, Iron, Steel, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond. Those inexperienced with combat started out at Bronze and could easily promote to Iron by simply completing a set number of requests. But from Steel onwards you had to pass a fairly difficult test. Most adventurers never make it into Steel, let alone Silver.

“If you don’t mind me saying this, I hope last night wasn’t representative of how you act on the job. The woods can be dangerous at night,” Tom interjected from the side.

“Hahaha don’t worry gramps. Adventurers know better than anyone how dangerous the woods can be at night. We’ll stay vigil. Don’t want to die in the middle of no where after all.”

After that everyone introduced themselves and got into formation. Godfrey took the lead, Daniella was in the center with the other villagers, and Raphael covered the rear. Lynn was in charge of scouting ahead.

With that we finally left for Derton.