Critical Misclass - Ch. 22-24

CHAPTER 22 - Inn and Out

Even if Thia wasn't a treasured party member or an enticing romantic partner, I knew I would want to stay friends with her, because she was the best damn wingman I'd ever had.

It was hard to believe that this was the same day that Ves and I had first kissed and fooled around. To be fair, it was so early in the day that it may as well have been the previous day, but we never went back to sleep. We were so excited about this quest that we were pushing ourselves as much as possible. Only once I started thinking about that did I start to feel just how exhausted I was.

Of course, I wasn't too exhausted to go spend some more time alone with Ves. What, exactly, did those two talk about when they went upstairs? Despite Thia's suggestive tone, I honestly wasn't expecting anything more to happen than maybe comforting Ves after an especially... difficult day. That's probably all it is. I was hoping for a chance to check in on her, and Thia just helped set that up.

When I reached room 3, I knocked lightly on the door. A few moments later, Ves unlocked and opened the door slightly, and when she recognized me, her eyes briefly widened and she let me in. The room was mostly dark, lit by only a single candle on a stand near the bed. While it was roughly the same size as Thia's room in Perrenbrook, the woodwork was significantly nicer, just like it had been in the dining area.

"Hey... how are you doing?"

She locked the door behind me, but didn't turn around. "... I don't know."

"Do you still hurt? Is it getting worse?"

"It's getting better."

Ves walked over to the bed and sat, looking towards the ground.

I didn't respond immediately, wondering if she was going to say anything else. Instead, she seemed to be waiting for me to say something. No words came to mind. No words for me to speak, at least; more than enough were swirling around my mind, as usual.

Seconds passed by, as I strained for the right thing to say. I finally just told her something that I had been thinking about almost nonstop all afternoon and evening.

"What happened to you... I've never been more scared in my life. It's almost hard to believe that I'm talking to you now. It-it's amazing, really."

She raised her head and I saw tears falling from her green eyes. "I... I thought I was dead. It hurt so much, and then everything went dark..." I quickly sat next to her and put my arm around her, and she put her head on my chest. "What the hell? Why would he do that? I-- This guy I don't know makes monsters attack us, and then just appears and almost kills me without breaking a sweat?"

I held her tight and stayed silent. Ves made a few shuddering breaths and sniffles. She wiped off her tears, then raised her head to look at me with a fierce expression.

"Jeremy... I want to get stronger. Whatever this power is, this-- this thing where we can use your class abilities, I want to figure it out and do shit that no one else has ever done before."

"Oh, I'm with you on that." I kissed the top of her head, between her ears.

"I don't care about that stupid rune anymore. All I want to do is focus on fuckin' destroying that guy. Red Gauze. Whatever."

"Right! He tried to kill you. And growing stronger to defeat some powerful evil being sounds pretty damn cool. Well, horrifying, but in a cool way."

Ves sat up straight, fire in her eyes. She took my hands in hers. "Right! That's not weird, is it? I want revenge, but it's also the kind of thing that every adventurer dreams of doing. Like in the old stories."

Some things are universal. Or multiversal. "We've got stories like that, too. I know just what you mean. Underdogs facing impossible odds, saving the world... right?"

"Yes! Exactly!" Another tear ran down her face, and this time I wiped it off with my thumb. "Who knows what that guy is up to? He might not have an army, or... or some kind of artifact, but he's fucking crazy and too damn powerful."

I nodded. "The next people he attacks might not be as lucky as us."

Ves was getting worked up. This was the most excited and determined I had seen her in the admittedly short time I'd known her.

"And whatever his deal is with you... he could keep trying to kill us. How stupid would we be if we just waited for that to happen?"

A thought hit me. "Hey, maybe Thia's right? Is he the reason why I'm here? What if I'm meant to stop him?"

Ves gasped. "The Goddess! Whoa, maybe!"

"Actually, it doesn't matter. The Goddess could tell me to leave him alone, and I wouldn't listen. You and Thia are the only people that matter to me. Hell, I already care about you two more than anything back home."

"Jeremy..." She leaned in closer to me.

"If some wrinkled old dick wants to fuck around with us, then he's going to find out what happens."

The beautiful netharri pulled me into a deep kiss, her fierce energy being harnessed into passion of a different kind. Our arms wrapped around each other as our tongues danced.

Ves broke off the kiss, biting her lower lip. "I know it hasn't been long, but I-- Ugh... I like you a lot." She averted her gaze as she blushed, and it was one of the cutest and sexiest things I had ever seen.

I placed my hand on the side of her face to gently encourage her to look at me again. "It's okay! I feel the same way."

Her tail swooshed back and forth as she tensed up slightly, and she narrowed her eyes. Suddenly, Ves pounced on me - well, we were both sitting, so it was more of a lunge - and pushed me onto the bed.

She planted numerous kisses all over my face before returning to my lips. I held her tighter than before, passionately returning the kiss. One of my hands stroked her back, and Ves arched her back to push against my hand, moaning faintly.

Although I got the impression that I could continue doing that as long as I wanted, there was something else that I was craving to do again since early that morning. My hand continued down, past her back, until I could touch her sexy ass again. This was not the time to just slowly explore its shape and contours, so I grabbed it hard.

Ves gave me the reaction I was hoping for. She groaned while we kissed, and this time, she bit my lower lip.

By this point, my armor was feeling more restrictive than ever. I tried to remove my pants without interrupting our makeout session, but couldn't, while Ves was rubbing her body against me. Fortunately, she got what I was trying to do, and eagerly moved down to help me.

I was pleasantly surprised when she took off my underwear at the same time, setting my cock free and allowing it to quickly reach full mast. Ves couldn't keep her eyes off of it as she sat up and pulled off her tight dress.

Her full breasts were lifted up by the dress, and then dropped down, jiggling. The enchantments on her outfit had to have included some kind of support for them, since she was definitely not wearing a bra.

Despite the low light provided by the candle, it was a big step up from the darkness of our previous encounter, and I could finally see her bare breasts. They were a bit more than a handful, capped with perky, pink, nipples. I sat up, and Ves anticipated my next move, as she pulled me into her bosom so I could enjoy the feeling of her warm skin around my face.

She took off her panties and moved onto my lap without releasing me, slowly rubbing herself against my cock. I grabbed her ass with both hands, helping her move in a way that was most comfortable for both of us.

"Oh my god," I panted, pulling my face back from her chest. "You're so sexy. Your tits, your ass... just... goddamn."

Ves moaned in response, gripping my back tighter. She moved in closer to me, her breasts pressing against my chest, and I could feel her breath on my ear. "Y-your penis... It feels... it feels so good like this..."

My voice dropped to a near-whisper. "Just do whatever makes you comfortable. There's no pressure." That was mostly true: there was quite a bit of pressure in me that was aching to be released, if she kept up her motions.

"No, no, I want this," she breathed.

"Are you sure? This morning--"

She cut me off with a kiss, pushing her tongue into my mouth. My heart was pounding. The only thing on my mind right then was that kiss.

... Until I felt her adjusting herself so she was rubbing directly against the head of my cock. Her breath caught in her throat. The wetness from her opening covered the head, and it was so warm it was practically burning.

With significant effort, I ended the kiss and looked into Ves's eyes. "Wait - this might be better for your first time." I had her lay down, and she opened her legs. Her pussy had a tuft of hair - calico-colored, of course - and her pink slit was moist with anticipation. Holding my cock, I positioned myself so that the tip was just touching her folds.

Ves looked me in the eyes. "I'm ready."

Lifting her legs, I slid the head into her wet pussy. She gasped, but didn't protest, so I continued to slowly push forward. Her virgin cunt was tight, which felt outrageously good to me, but she grimaced with some expected discomfort.

"Wait," she whimpered. "It-- something feels off."

I immediately paused. Am I going too fast? When I realized that this was different than the expected pain from her first time, I slowly withdrew my cock. "It might be the angle... let me..." I grabbed the nearest object - the blanket - and wadded it up. Lifting Ves's hips off the bed a few inches, I put the blanket underneath, to keep her held up at a slight angle.

"Okay, let me know how it feels." I cautiously slid into her pussy once more. Ves appeared to be doing better this time, and before I knew it, I had fully entered her.

She kissed me. "That's good..."

Grinning, I began to slowly move my cock out, and then in again, gradually increasing my speed. Each time, Ves looked to be enjoying it more and more. When she wrapped her arms against me again, moaning with pleasure, I leaned in closer and kissed her neck. "You feel incredible."

While her mouth was still open, Ves's lips curled up. "I've been missing out."

"I'll help you make up for lost time."

"Oh, you fuckin' better."

We laughed together, and I sped up my thrusts since she was having such a good time. Ves gasped, then put her legs around me. I was well and truly trapped, and couldn't have been happier about it.

Sweat dripped off my face. It hadn't been too long since the last time I had sex - or so I had been telling myself - but being with Ves was a completely different experience. She wasn't just the most beautiful woman I had ever made love to, but I felt such a strong connection with her.

I moved my hands down to grab her perfect ass again. As much as I wanted to touch her tail, there was no easy way to do that while she was on her back. Can't wait to try doggy-- uh, kitty style...

Watching her fantastic tits jiggle with each of my thrusts was almost enough to make me finish. Reaching up with one hand, I grabbed a breast and leaned down to lick and tease the nipple. Ves dug her fingers into my back, moaning loudly. "I-I'm close..."

I made sure to maintain my thrusting speed, continuing to lick her erect nipple. Every so often, I added a quick bite, which drove her crazy. It wasn't long before her moans grew louder and more frequent, until her whole body tensed up and no sound made it past her soft lips.

Moments later, she exhaled, her tension fading. "Oh, oh wow," she panted, pressing her lips to mine. "Thank you... for being my first."

And those were the magic words that brought me to climax. Groaning, I fired again and again into Ves's tight snatch. "Ah-- holy shit, that was amazing."

I tried to pull out, but Ves wouldn't release me, squeezing her arms and legs tighter around my body. I rolled to the side, making her roll over with me. Our foreheads met as we both smiled ridiculous smiles of pure joy.

CHAPTER 22 - Always Greener

We held each other in silence for a while. Relative silence, anyway: Ves had started purring shortly after we rolled over. It felt great - emotionally and physically - at any time, but with the two of us fully naked, it was truly beyond compare.

I don't know how long we stayed like that... it was one of those experiences that felt like it lasted forever while also being over all too soon.

Just as I was thinking that we should at least clean up, I felt a warm sensation on my groin, which soon spread to my whole body. Before I could react, the feeling disappeared, along with a faint flash of light.

"Your cleaning spell?"

Ves looked pleasantly surprised. "Hah, I was barely even thinking about casting it."

"There's no smell, and it didn't burn. Funny how your spells work best when you aren't thinking about them."

"Or maybe I'm just extra comfortable right now." She closed her eyes and kissed me.

"I'm glad to hear that. And feel it." I stroked her back, feeling her body vibrate as she purred. "I definitely didn't expect this so soon."

Resting her head against my chest, Ves took a deep breath. "Well, I... After I almost died, it felt stupid to be nervous about stuff like this." I held her close. It had really been one hell of a day, from start to finish. "And I care about you, too, you know. Who knows why you were brought here, or why the Goddess gave you that special message, or your power..." She looked up at me. "But since I've met you, I've felt like I finally have a future."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "My mom was a seamstress. She couldn't use magic, and didn't have a class like Tabur's, but she could fix and make simple clothing. I was going to follow in her footsteps, even if I thought the whole thing was boring."

This was the first time Ves had mentioned any family. "Did you want to become an adventurer, or just do anything other than become a seamstress?"

"I never thought I'd get a class, so I would have been happy with almost anything. But then my mom got sick. Really sick. And it didn't get better. She couldn't work, and I wasn't nearly as good of a seamstress as her, so I couldn't just take over. I started working as a laborer around the village, usually in the fields, whenever they needed an extra hand. But it wasn't often enough, and I could barely feed myself and my mom."

I kissed her forehead, not wanting to interrupt.

"Mom got worse, and by the end, I could barely leave the house. She needed so much care. Neighbors did what they could, and gave us some food, but that dwindled over time."

Ves was quiet for several seconds.

"Then, one day, Mom got hurt. It was in the middle of the night, and I had finally just fallen asleep. She wasn't thinking straight, and managed to get out of bed, but fell and hit her head on a table. There was a big wound and she... she was bleeding. The noise woke me up, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just watch her die. So I grabbed a needle and thread, and started stitching up the wound."

She lowered her head again, staring at the floor.

"I-- I couldn't see well, because of the tears. But after caring for her for so long, I couldn't just stop. That's when I heard the Goddess. The voice was so loud, and so sudden, it scared the hell out of me. It took me a second to realize she was granting me a class. Thought I might get whatever Tabur's class is."

"Do you think you got Vitality Mage because you were trying to heal your mom?"

"Maybe. I don't know what the Goddess was thinking. But at the time, I was so pissed. Not about the class - not yet - but I was thinking 'can I have a second to mourn?!'"

"Damn - I can't even imagine..."

"Anyway... once things had settled down, I started thinking that maybe having this class was a good thing. It wasn't anywhere near what I thought I'd get if it ever happened to me, but it was a chance to leave the village and start fresh. I didn't have any real skills, and was too old to be an apprentice. And that's when I found out how terrible I am as a Healer."

I wrapped my other arm around Ves, and hugged her tight. "I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that. Thank you for telling me, though."

We stayed like that for a few minutes, just enjoying being close to each other. Eventually, Ves pulled back a little so that we could talk face-to-face again.

"Thanks for listening. I've never told anyone about that. Well, the village all knows about my mom, but I've never been able to really talk about it. I want to know more about you, though. Where was your life headed, back home?"

"Actually... I can kind of relate to not having anything ahead of me. The day I left home, I got fired from my job."

"'Fired'?"

"Oh... uh, 'sacked'? 'Let go'? I wasn't allowed to work there any more. I had no career or plans."

"Go figure... What would you have had to do?"

"Probably get a worse job that I hated, just to survive. It's mostly my own fault. I never knew what I really wanted to do, and couldn't just be comfortable with what I had."

"Well, it's your world's loss." She kissed my cheek. "I think we'll be doing some pretty damn great stuff here."

"I think so, too. Still not sure how we're gonna get there, but it seems like we've got a lot of potential."

Ves was purring again. "No kidding! A party that can use each other's abilities? Never happened before, as far as I know."

"Not just our own abilities - I used Ullun's spell to make my daggers burn."

"Oh shit, that's right!" Her eyes widened as she considered the possibilities. "So we need to learn about how other classes work, too."

"One step at a time." I kissed her. "I bet we'd get overwhelmed trying to do everything right away."

Ves smiled. "Right. I'm just... so happy to look forward to something."

"Me too. And I think Thia feels the same way. She told me she was also feeling unsure about her future."

Ves looked away for a few seconds. "Speaking of Thia..." She looked back at me, noticing that I had taken the opportunity to stare appreciatively at her wonderful breasts, squished against me. "Hey," she giggled, and I met her eyes with a guilty smile. "Just wanted to say that I like her. She's a little... tightly-wound, but she's so nice, and I'm glad she's with us. And I like her for you, too."

It was so weird hearing a woman, shortly after we'd made love, telling me that she liked the other woman I was seeing. Not only that, but she thought we were a good match.

"Really? I'm glad to hear all that. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this." My face felt warm, and I'm sure I was blushing. Ves noticed my awkwardness (how could she not?) and laughed before giving me a deep kiss.

"The modesty helps," Ves chuckled. "I could see myself being with a guy who was kinda overconfident, but not if he had other partners. Then it would just turn from endearing to obnoxious."

Talking about Thia reminded me of something from earlier. It felt a little weird to bring it up now, but I knew it would be better to do so sooner than later. "I... don't think we should drop this whole quest to learn about the rune. I know that we have much bigger things to worry about, and I want to stop that guy, more than anything--"

"It's okay," Ves interjected. "You're right. We're just starting out. It'd look bad if we abandoned the first quest we ever got."

"And I'd be worried about how that could affect Thia. Even though she wants to drop out of the Seekers, it's still all tied up with her family."

"Damn, good point." Ves considered this for a moment. "I just don't want to forget about that Gauze guy. Even if I could."

"Oh, don't worry. We're going to keep getting stronger, and he'll regret ever fucking with us."

Ves's lips were on mine again, kissing me passionately. My hands roamed all over her as we made out for a few minutes, although once they made it to her breasts, they didn't leave.

She laughed while her tongue was still in my mouth. "You really like my tits, huh?"

"I like tits, as a rule. But I love yours." Bringing my head down to her chest, I kissed one breast, then the other, then kissed my way down to her nipple and sucked it into my mouth. Ves giggled with arousal and pushed my head against her chest, so I opened my mouth wider to take in as much of her creamy flesh as possible.

As I flicked my tongue over her nipple - and brought one hand up to tease the other one - Ves moaned. "My tits love you, too."

The more time I spent in bed with Ves, the more I wanted to stay awake all night and just enjoy every second with her. Knowing how suddenly I could just... lose her made me want to cherish every moment we had.

I did doze off eventually, long after Ves did. It was one of those sleeps which felt like I blinked and it was suddenly morning. My entire body was sore, especially my legs. Apparently, jogging every other day hadn't prepared me for several hours of walking with a heavy backpack with a life-or-death battle in the middle.

Ves stirred. She was the little spoon, and lightly rubbed her head against my arm as she woke. "Morning," she literally purred, slowly moving her ass against my groin.

I groaned, mostly because of the aching. Ves picked up on the less-than-aroused sound I was making, and rolled over. "You okay?"

"Just sore, from... everything..."

She gave me a peck on the lips. "Let me try something. Where does it hurt?" I told her about my legs, and she pulled off the blanket, then sat up and placed her hands on my legs. Every time I saw her naked body felt like a gift, and was nearly enough to distract me from the discomfort I was feeling.

Her palms lit up, spreading across my legs along with the usual warmth from her magic. The soreness was soon replaced by a different kind of ache, but that fortunately faded after half a minute or so. Guess she's thinking too hard about it.

"Thanks, that's... actually, that's a lot better." I got out of bed and stretched, feeling great and without a hint of soreness. "Gotta keep that in mind now that I have two girlfriends."

Ves snorted. "You'll have to test that out later, lover. I'm starving."

Someone knocked at the door. Since we were still naked, I went up to the door and asked who it was.

Thia's voice replied, with a hint of playfulness. "My apologies for the interruption..."

The bed, where Ves was still sitting, was positioned so that it couldn't be seen if the door was opened only partially. That made me feel confident in unlocking the door and opening it just enough for Thia to enter - making sure my own naked body couldn't be seen from the hallway - and I locked it up immediately after. Thia's eyes roamed over my body, and her expression was so hungry, I briefly felt concerned for my safety.

Ves had pulled the blanket over her chest in a panic, surprised by how I had opened the door without warning. When she saw that it was Thia, she exhaled and dropped the blanket. Before Thia had the chance to pounce on me, she noticed Ves, and gasped.

"Vestele! I knew you were beautiful, but... oh, this is embarrassing. I am quite envious of you now..."

Thia sat on the bed, next to Ves, who blushed and tried to wave off the compliment. "What? No way. You're so pretty."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but... if only I possessed a bosom such as yours! May I...?"

Ves's ears flattened. "You want to touch my boobs?"

"Most definitely! Thank you!" Misunderstanding Ves's question, Thia gently cupped the bottom of Ves's breasts with both hands. Ves made a startled sound as her tail fur puffed up. "The size... the shape... the softness... absolutely magnificent..."

"Okay, okay, thanks." Still blushing, Ves took Thia's wrists and moved them away from her chest. "I'm sure yours are great, too. Nice and perky and, uh, not-heavy."

It's probably unnecessary for me to mention that I was fully erect as this unfolded mere feet away from me. Well, I guess I wasn't fully erect, not until Thia practically tore off her dress and unhooked her bra just a couple of smooth motions. Ves was bewildered by this sudden series of events, but whatever she was about to say was interrupted by Thia.

"You flatter me, but my breasts pale in comparison to yours, and I am not just referring to your fair skin."

The comment made Ves's expression change from confused to incredulous. "What?! You've got that perfect bronzed skin and you're so damn petite! I'm the jealous one."

Her stomach grumbled. "I'm too hungry for this." Ves got off the bed, asked Thia to pass over her underwear, and pulled on her dress. As she slipped on her boots, Ves noticed my erection and smirked. "I'll try to save you two something."

With that, Ves left the room. Thia and I turned our attention to each other. I locked the door as fast as possible, wanting to practically tackle Thia on the bed, but when I turned around she was already jumping into my arms.

Thia and I had enjoyed giving each other oral sex, but this was the first time that we weren't wearing clothes or armor everywhere else. Feeling her bare chest against mine somehow felt long overdue. Our lips met with almost too much force, and we both moaned as our tongues reunited.

Just like our previous encounter, Thia wrapped her legs around me as I held her. While it wasn't exactly difficult to lift her up before, it somehow felt even easier this time.

I ran a hand through her silky, golden, hair and stared in awe at her gorgeous face. Her blue eyes, her cute nose, her luscious lips... I wanted her so much that it hurt.

Thia giggled as I admired her. "I must admit that I, too, am famished. It appears that we never have the opportunity to truly... savor our time together..." She punctuated this by slowly licking the side of my face, making my cock throb and driving me wild. "... But I am always pleased to have any time with you at all."

"Don't worry. Next chance we get, I'm all yours."

She smiled, her eyes narrowing like a predator's. "Then fuck me, Jeremy. Fuck me now."

With her legs still wrapped around me, I carried her to the nightstand and prayed that it was as well-crafted as it looked. I placed my petite aevrana girlfriend on top and merely pulled her panties far enough so that I could plunge my cock into her soaking entrance.

Thia gasped as I buried myself completely inside her. Her legs squeezed me tighter and her nails dug into my back as I began pumping into her cunt over and over. Oh, we were going to have some real fun together one day, but for now... this was pretty fucking great.

"Oh, Jeremy, yes! Yes! YES!"

The nightstand banged against the wall with each of my thrusts, knocking over the (fortunately unlit) candle. It rolled off the nightstand and across the room. Hope the neighbors are already at breakfast...

I couldn't remember the last time I was encouraged to have sex as fast as possible. It's not something I would want to do every time, but the thrill was undeniable.

Thia was moving her hips in time with my thrusts, moaning louder and louder. Just as her voice reached its limit, so did Thia herself.

"Ah-- aah-- oh, Goddess..."

I slowed my movements down without stopping. "I'll be there any second now."

Thia released me from her arms and legs and urged me to pull out, as I expressed confusion. She smiled at me, still panting, and slid off the nightstand and onto her knees in front of me.

"As I said... I am famished."

The little minx wrapped her lips around my cockhead, moaning as she eagerly lapped up the mixture of our fluids. My groans only seemed to encourage her to work harder to make me finish. Her head slid closer to my groin, cleaning every inch of my cock as it entered her mouth.

That was more than I could take. My legs twitched as I shot my load into her mouth, but she continued working her way to the base. When she got there, I felt like I might pass out from the stimulation. Thia didn't pull back until she was satisfied that my entire cock had been licked clean.

After I caught my breath, I helped her up and kissed her. "And here I thought I'd have a chance to practice the cleaning spell..."

CHAPTER 22 - Storm Drained

After getting dressed, Thia left the room first so she could begin the second part of her breakfast. I stayed behind for a bit in order to practice the cleaning spell. While I was certain that the innkeepers could handle any dirty bedding, Thia and I had left some stains on the nightstand that I would have felt bad about ignoring.

What followed felt like an overdone scene from too many comic book movies to count: I tried different variations of pointing or gesturing at the area I wanted to magically clean, while focusing on actually casting the spell. This was the main reason why I was happy to let Thia leave before me. Not only did I look ridiculous, but being concerned about that would have made the process even more difficult.

Despite that, however, my mind kept drifting to Ves, and Thia... and Ves and Thia... Naturally, telling myself to stop thinking about them had the opposite effect. When it became clear that my imagination was spiraling out of control, I decided to just give in and indulge for a minute before starting fresh. It had been a busy night, and the morning had already gone places I didn't expect, so there hadn't been enough time for everything to sink in.

Once my memories reached the most recent events with Thia, and the mess we had made, I felt a light tingle in my fingers. The telltale glow was filling my palms, and had spread to the nightstand. In an instant, the light - and the stain - vanished, leaving behind the strong, bleach-like, smell. Is that because I'm copying Ves, or does that happen to everyone until they get better at casting?

Feeling much more confident, I focused on the bed. While it still took a bit longer to cast than I would have liked, I was able to make it happen without having to distract myself. I was grinning ear-to-ear, excited to have learned to cast another spell. I realized that my clothes and armor also needed a hit of that spell after a day of traveling, since Ves didn't get a chance to do it yet. With roughly the same amount of effort as the previous time, I managed to cast the spell again, making my clothes as good as new.

Ves had used the spell to clean our bodies before we fell asleep, but I realized that Thia still needed it. Unless Ves does it first, I'd like to show off the spell myself.

Now that I was ready to get some food, I opened the door, only to find another young halfling woman in a simple light blue dress waiting in the hallway. She was holding a broom and what must have been some cleaning supplies, although they looked unfamiliar to me.

"Good morning, sir," she said, bowing slightly. "Your companion told me that you'd be leaving the room a little bit after her. May I go in to clean?"

I felt bad for taking longer than expected - the poor woman must have been waiting outside the room for several minutes. Then a thought came to me: if the housekeeper had spoken to Thia when she left, then there was a good chance that the housekeeper had been nearby shortly before that... when we were making noise.

"Yeah, I'm all done in there for now, thank you. Sorry for... any disturbances."

The young woman gave me a sly grin. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, sir. Our rooms are enchanted to block all but the loudest noises."

"Oh! Good to know." I nodded and excused myself, wondering exactly what the enchantment's limits were, and if Thia had met or exceeded them.

"Just how many daughters did that guy have, anyway?"

Thia and I looked at Ves, and I asked "The innkeeper?"

"Yeah. There was the girl at the counter, the server, the cook..."

"There were two different servers," Thia corrected. "The young lady who served us breakfast was slightly older than the server from last night."

"There was also, uh, the housekeeper. And the girl who greeted us yesterday has a twin. They were both at the counter when I was checking out."

Ves scratched her head. "So, at least six. Wonder if their mom is still around, or if she lost her mind and left."

"I believe I overheard one of the girls mention that their mother was running the nearby orchard... along with some of their sisters," Thia said.

"Good Goddess..." Ves shook her head.

Luckily for me, this subject made it easy to bring up something I was hoping to talk about sooner or later. "Speaking of kids... Is that something we need to be concerned about, or--"

Ves interrupted, chuckling nervously. "No, no no no. The cleaning spell takes care of that, thankfully."

"Wait, so if someone actually does want to get pregnant, they have to make sure that no one casts that spell on them?"

"Look, at this point, you know almost as much about these spells as I do, but I'm pretty sure that it only has that particular effect for the first day or so."

Thia chimed in. "With practice, it should be possible to make minor adjustments to spells, so one could avoid cleaning any desired... messes."

We all chuckled at her choice of words, then I raised a question. "Thia, do you need one of us to cast the spell... just to be safe?"

Ves slapped my back. "Don't worry, I already cleaned Thia and her clothes before you got to breakfast." I thanked her, and she added "What else are girlfriends for, if not making sure your other girlfriend doesn't get pregnant?"

We were hit by a storm just a few hours later. The weather had made a sharp turn not long after we got back on the road, the mostly-cloudless sky becoming a dark grey, followed by hard rain.

None of our classes provided any kind of protection against the rain - at least, not that we were aware of. Ves hadn't bought any kind of special cover or umbrella-equivalents, with one exception; her excuse being that it rarely ever rained this time of year, much less with this intensity.

What she did have was her original Vitality Mage robe. "Thought 'better safe than sorry'. If I learned something about my class in Vanndrenvar that, I dunno, required this thing, and it was all the way back home, I'd feel like an idiot."

Even with the hood pulled up and the robe covering her tail and legs, Ves was having an especially rough time in the rain. Not that Thia or I were feeling great, but the soggy catgirl was absolutely miserable.

All we could do was push forward. By the time the rain had turned from a drizzle to a full-on storm, we were nearly as close to the next stop as we were to Paddorn. Losing a full day of travel didn't sound like an appealing choice, although after a couple of hours of walking in the rain, I was definitely feeling nostalgic for that inn, its spicy food, and the great times we'd had in the rooms.

Conditions only grew worse as the day went on. As we were discussing the potential need to find shelter for the night, I got the sense that something was awry up ahead. While that was better than nothing, I knew that I still needed to find a way to hone, or gain a better understanding of, my enhanced senses. The storm wasn't making it easy.

Fortunately, what we discovered was more of a massive inconvenience than an active threat: A rushing river was cutting across the road, preventing us from continuing.

"There's no bridge," I practically yelled over the storm. "Must be a flood?"

"Most likely, yes." Thia pointed to a sign posted on the other side of the water. "Are you able to make out what it says?"

The sign wasn't too far away, but the storm was interfering with visibility, so I knew she was hoping my Rogue senses could read it. This seemed like a good learning opportunity to me. "Try to focus on it."

That might have been the first time I saw Thia look irritated. "Jeremy."

My concept of "good timing" needed the most improvement. "Alright, sorry!" I moved closer to the water, still keeping a safe distance, and took a look at the sign. "It says that the detour is south."

Since our trip so far had been pretty much just heading east, turning south was as easy as making a hard right. I wasn't exactly sure what we should be looking for, though. The sign had appeared to be fairly old, so this spot must have been prone to flooding. Why haven't they just built a bridge?

As soon as I read the sign to them, Ves and Thia turned off the road and began walking between the trees. They had mentioned that weather could pose a problem on this journey, so I figured that they knew what to do in this situation. I followed behind them.

It wasn't long before we ran into another signpost that said to continue further south. This one looked newer than the first, so I assumed that the detour must have changed at least a little over the years.

We continued moving through the forest, with me in the rear, trying my best to pay attention to anything potentially suspicious. The pouring rain and howling wind made that woefully difficult, and I hoped that it would negatively impact anything dangerous as much as it was impacting us.

I was so focused on everything that might be to our sides or our rear that I nearly bumped into Ves when she and Thia came to a stop. Even more embarrassing (which I did not, and would not, admit to either of them) was that I hadn't noticed the structure right in front of us.

In my defense, it was surrounded by trees and had moss and other plants growing over most of it. From my perspective, at least, it looked like the structure was only about a dozen feet in length and width, and a few feet shorter in height. There was an entrance facing us, roughly four feet wide and seven feet tall. Thia turned to me and Ves. "The path is through here!"

"Seriously?!" Despite Ves's complaint, she didn't press the issue, and followed Thia through the entrance. I felt just as incredulous, but didn't care if it was just a roof over our heads so that we could wait out the storm. It was dark within, but from what I was able to see, the structure was empty.

As I approached the ancient-looking structure, I saw another sign. This one was attached to the exterior wall, next to the entrance, and looked almost like a plaque.

FRETAQUEN RUINS DETOUR

SANCTIFIED IN 381 P. R.

CLEARED BY EASTERN CONSOLIDATED DELVERS

Thia waited within and asked Ves for some light, but I offered to try it myself. "I can always use more practice, and it's actually pretty fun being able to use magic."

"Actually," Thia realized, "Mayhaps I should attempt it myself. I have yet to cast any spells, and this may be the ideal place in which to practice."

"Why's that?"

Ves answered while Thia concentrated on casting the spell. "This dungeon's been sanctified."

"This is a dungeon? And what does that mean?" This was the first time I had heard anyone describe something as a "dungeon" in Fielende, although I had been expecting it to come up sooner or later.

"It means that adventurers cleared out all the monsters and hazards, then the Empire used ancient magic to keep it that way. Basically."

"Is that the normal procedure for dungeons?"

"Nah, lots of times, there's reasons to keep one unsanctified. Usually, it's because monsters breed there that have useful parts worth harvesting." Ves chuckled lightly as she watched me absorb all this information. "And before you ask, most monsters don't breed in the normal way, so they can't be grown on a ranch or whatever."

"Oh, okay. So they made a point of sanctifying this place to use as a detour. I'm guessing it'll take us at least a little out of the way, or it would just be used as the main road."

"Well, that, and this place is too small for a wagon or carriage. Anyone traveling that way would have to wait for the weather to change, or take a much longer way around the flooding."

There was a flash of light, which immediately dimmed down to a faint glow. Thia held out her hand, a mote of light hovering over her palm. Her smile was beaming brighter than the initial burst. "I did it!"

Ves cheered, and I embraced Thia. "Nice work! How do you feel?"

"This is incredible. It may only be a bit of light, but to think that I have cast a spell..."

"Right? I know how you feel." I noticed that the light had revealed stone stairs in the back of the room, leading underground. "Oh, that must be the way into the actual dungeon." It definitely wasn't something that a horse, let alone a full wagon, could enter.

"Can we at least take a break, first?" Ves yawned, pulling off her soaking wet robe.

I looked around the small room. "Is there any reason why we can't spend the night here?"

Thia answered, her eyes still focused on the magical light in her hand. "The sanctification prevents monsters from spawning or entering, but does nothing to keep out animals, or... dangerous people. We would have to take turns standing watch."

"I don't have a problem with that. Ves?"

"Sounds good. The storm's not likely to stop anytime soon, and who knows how far we'll be from an inn when we get to the other side of this dungeon."

As we made ourselves as comfortable as possible in the ruin, we all attempted to use the cleaning spell to dry off our clothes. Ves had never considered this before, saying that it hadn't come up yet, but the spell removed stains and... other fluids with ease, so it made sense.

It turned out that the lighter the clothing, the less times the spell needed to be used to fully remove the moisture. My shirt and underwear from Earth were easy enough to dry, but Ves's robe required each of us to take turns casting the spell. We figured that our inexperience with the spell made it more difficult, and casting it over and over started to make us a little lightheaded.

Once we were no longer drenched, we realized that we couldn't start a fire due to a lack of proper ventilation. Ves dug into my pack, and proudly revealed that she had bought a blanket for a situation such as this.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why couldn't we have used this to block some of the rain?"

Ves looked at me incredulously. "Because then we'd have a wet blanket, and-- dammit!"

As a penance, she offered to take the first watch.