Chapter 13: Chapter 13 – Home Sweet Home

Koshiro motioned to her living room with both arms. “Home sweet home!” 

The kitsune’s apartment was almost as cute as she was. I walked in the door with a warm smile on my face. My skull narrowly missed the top of the door frame. I hadn’t become accustomed to my new size yet. 

“This place is cool,” I said with a wink.

“Thank you! I like it a lot. The rent is kind of pricey, but it’s worth it. Come on, let me give you the tour.”

“Sure, lead the way.”

Over the next few minutes, Koshiro showed me almost every nook and cranny. The kitchen was the one space that truly amazed me. It was massive, which was odd in an apartment. I couldn’t wait to whip something up for supper. I wanted to tackle a dessert after whatever meal I threw together. “This kitchen is crazy. You really maximized the space you have available.”

“Thanks, I’m rather proud of my kitchen. You should see my cupboard. I bet it will surprise you at the amount of ingredients I have.”

“Tada!” erupted Koshiro as she opened her double-doored pantry, revealing shelves and shelves of food, spices, and other ingredients.  Her face lit up with a giant smile.  She closed her eyes and gave me a peace sign gesture.

My eyes were bombarded with screens from the fresh food and ingredients available to me at my genius level cooking profession. “Wow, you weren’t lying. This is quite the stockpile you have here. Let’s see what you have in the arcane cooler.  If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I’m so excited to see what you will come up with.”

I opened the cooler to see a plethora of options at my disposal.  Holstaur Cream Cheese caught my eye immediately.  I picked up the large block and looked at it more closely.  “What does holstaur mean?”

“Holstaur is a monster girl type that can produce alot of unique milk.  They have horns, hooves, and some white fur with black spots scattered about.  I don’t want to sound crude, but they have enormous breasts.  We’re talking really, really big and they are full of milk.  Their milk is precious.  I swiped this cream cheese from the restaurant.  It’s getting close to the expiration date, and Betty told us that someone needed to use it.  She had no plans to use it before it went bad.  Are you going to cook something with it?”

I held the cream cheese close to my nose and breathed in the aroma.  Cream cheese on Earth smelled good, but this was on another level of yum. “I can’t wait to meet one of these holstaurs soon.”

“We have a holstaur friend, Claire.  She wants to work at the restaurant badly, but business has been down and Betty can’t afford another employee.  I told Betty that Claire could produce all kinds of delicious food with her milk, and bring in all kinds of new business. Betty is stubborn and doesn’t want to hear it. I’m shocked she offered you a job out of the blue like that. “Do you have something in mind for the cheese?”

I swiped through my recipe screens and found exactly what I was looking for.  “What do you think about just chowing down on some dessert for our meal?  I’ve found one of my favorites and this holstaur cream cheese should make it insanely good.”

“Dessert for supper?  That sounds great!  What’s the dessert called?”

“Holstaur cheesecake.  I think you have all the ingredients I need.  Does that sound like something you would eat?”

“I love cheese, and I love cake.  Slap them together and I’m in.”

I got the different ingredients out of the cooler and the pantry.  Koshiro had everything that I needed, and I couldn’t wait to get started. I placed everything on her island counter in the center of the kitchen.  I looked at each ingredient to make sure that I had everything to get started and pulled the screen up with the recipe and swiped it to the side of my vision.

 Holstaur Cheesecake Filling Ingredients

 24 ounces of softened holstaur cream cheese

1 cup of sugar

3 eggs

¼ of a cup of sour cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Fruit covering if desired

 

Crust ingredients

 15 crushed graham crackers

5 tablespoons of melted butter

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 pinch of salt

My large hands went to work immediately as I began the cheesecake filling first.  I tossed all the ingredients in the bowl and stirred vigorously.  This part would require a mixer for most everyone else, but with my skills, I could get the job done manually with no problem.  Koshiro just sat on a stool beside her island counter and looked on in awe.  My perverted self caught sight of her white panties since she didn’t have her legs crossed or closed together.  I got the feeling that this was intentional on her part.  This girl was the hottest girl I’d ever seen in my entire life… in person, tv screen, or magazine.  She was a goddess, and she appeared to be infatuated with me.  I wasn’t too experienced with the ladies on Earth, but her infatuation was easy to pick up on.  Who takes a stranger from another world back to their apartment to stay?  She was into me big time, and I liked it.  I really liked it.

Next up was the crust.  I mixed the crackers, butter, sugar, and salt together immediately.  I then pressed the mixture into a pie pan.  I licked my fingers afterward to get a good taste of the butter.  “Goddamn, this is holstaur butter, and it is delicious.”

“I told you,” Koshiro grinned and continued to glare at me.

“You were right, that’s for sure.”

The kitsune giggled. “That’s one of my many talents… being right all the time.”

I cocked a brow at her as I poured the filling into the crust. Then I placed the pie into the arcane stove.  Since I was genius level in the cooking profession, I was immediately aware of how to work this thing absolutely perfectly.  These things worked about a thousand times better than anything that we had on Earth.  In an oven back on Earth, this would require an hour to cook.  In my new world, this would be done in two minutes.

“My gods, that smells amazing.  Is it going to be ready to eat after you pull it from the oven?”

“Not quite. I will need to place it in the cooler for a little bit to chill it.  Luckily, these coolers kick ass and it will be chilled perfectly in about thirty seconds.”

I moved the cheesecake from the oven to the arcane cooler and shut the door.  “Almost done.  Get those tastebuds prepared.  This is going to blow your mind.  I promise.”

I pulled out the perfectly chilled cheese cake and placed it on the counter in front of Koshiro. “Wallah!”

I couldn’t wait to taste this thing of beauty.  Cheesecake was one of my favorite desserts of all time.  The top was a beautiful tan and when I cut the creamy filling; I saw the perfect white that I was looking for.  I lifted a slice and placed it on Koshiro’s plate, along with a fork.

“Go ahead, try it.”  

“Gods, it looks too beautiful to even eat.”

“Let me help you,” I cut into the cheesecake and held it up to her mouth.  She opened her mouth, and I placed the bite of heaven in her mouth.  She closed her eyes and chewed slowly.  She moaned and grabbed my hand.

“This is the best dessert I’ve ever had.  Thank the Nine for giving you the ability to create something this delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I reached over with my thumb and wiped away some cheesecake in the corner of her mouth.  I brought my thumb back to my mouth and tasted it.  She shivered a bit when my finger touched her face and she followed my thumb with her eyes all the way to my mouth.  I could tell that she wanted to be that small piece of cheesecake. As delicious as the desert was, I would rather taste the gorgeous kitsune’s pink, plump lips.

******

We devoured almost 3/4s of the cheesecake.  There wasn’t a lot of talking during this time.  It was nice to be in a situation where silence wasn’t awkward.  I didn’t feel the need to talk about bullshit.

I balled up my napkin and dropped it on my empty plate.  “So, can you tell me a bit about this dungeon that everyone talked about earlier?”

“Sure, Summerstar is in an amazing location.  We have the beach and shipping docks, which bring in a lot of visitors, but the biggest draw to our town is the Stonerock Dungeon a few miles outside of town.  Adventurers come from all over the world to dive into it and gather as much essence and loot that they can.”

“So that is where the mage and cleric we met earlier were headed?”

“Yes, a lot of these adventurers stay in Summerstar, but there are several camping sites near the dungeon. Summerstar is a fairly safe town, but downtown can get a little rowdy because of all the adventurers at the bars.  Thank the Nine that no one has opened a brothel yet.  The mayor has strict rules about that.”

“I need to go check out this dungeon.  I could probably earn some credits to help the restaurant,” I wondered.

“Gods, you are the most generous living creature I’ve ever met.  It’s crazy.  However, if you want to farm the dungeon, you’re going to need a dungeon license.  The Office of Dungeon Delving is a couple of streets over.  Dungeon licenses are expensive.  You can agree to give a percentage of your loot to the office in exchange for a cheap or free license. You can also get a temporary license or a lifetime license.  The lifetime licenses are insanely expensive.”

“Do these licenses only work for Stonerock?”

“No, you can use them all over the world, fortunately.”

I nodded. “I see.”

Koshiro stuck out her plumb bottom lip.  “You’re not leaving us already, are you?”

I shook my head.  “No, of course not.  I was just asking.  Adventuring isn’t my forte, but it would be nice to earn some credits or gear that I can sell for credits.  I’m S-rank, so I suppose I should take advantage of that from time to time.”

“I’m willing to bet that the mayor can get you a license for free. I would be shocked if he didn’t.  You eradicated the Big gang from our town.  That’s freaking huge.”

“I can’t take all the credit.  Henegar the grizzly made quick work of Bubba.  Holy shit, that was awesome.  I hope he’s okay.”

“Maybe we can check on him tomorrow,” Koshiro replied.

“I would like that.”

“I think it would be cool to have a bear mount.  Rawr!”  Koshiro growled with a clawing gesture.

“I think it would be cool if the bear didn’t want to kill us when he saw us,” I joked.

The kitsune punched me in the arm and stuck her tongue out.  “You just wait and see. We’re gonna be riding that grizzly bear down the beach.  Imagine the waves crashing, the sea breeze blowing through our hair, and the sunset.”

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“Imagine the screams of men, women, and children when they see a huge grizzly bear strutting on the sand.  I can see it now.”

“You’re so bad.  It’s gonna be outstanding. You’ll see.”

“Okay, I’m going to believe that as well.”

“You better believe it, you big gorgeous hunk of beef! Oh no, did I say that out loud?” Koshiro covered her mouth with her hands and her cheeks turned bright pink.

“I’ve never been called a hunk of beef before, but I appreciate the compliment,” I chuckled.

“The Nine, I’m so embarrassed. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“So it isn’t true?”

“Yes, it’s true, you silly, silly man.  I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Believe me, when a beautiful girl tells me I’m handsome, it can’t get much better than that.”

Koshiro sighed.  “Okay, that’s good.  I’m glad my slippage made you happy.”

I crossed my arms and looked into her eyes.  “You know, you’re a gorgeous, lean cut of steak yourself.”

Koshiro blushed and put her hand on my chest as she laughed.  “Thank you.  When you started that sentence, I thought you were going to call me a big hunk of beef.”

There were a few seconds of silence, but Koshiro broke the ice before things got awkward. “Do you want to sit on the couch?  I can get us each a mug of ale or a glass of wine.  Which do you prefer?”

I plopped down on the deceptively comfortable couch and laid each arm on the back.  “I’ll take an ale, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay, coming right up.  Make yourself comfortable!”  Koshiro bounced off into the kitchen.  I heard the cooler open and the sound of glass tapping together.  The kitsune brought two huge glass mugs of ale with an enormous head of foam on the top.  It was almost as if a spell was keeping the foam from running down the sides.  The bronze, bubbly liquid in the mug was cool and begging to be drunk.  I held the top of the mug under my nostrils and took a deep breath.  The smell of hops made my senses bloom.  I held out my mug toward Koshiro and she did the same.  We tapped each other’s glass and took a big swig of the cold ale.  It was an extremely tasty brew.  It tasted almost like an I.P.A. but not quite as bitter.  There was a very interesting flavor that I couldn’t quite place.

Koshiro downed the whole thing in two swallows and burped.

I cocked a brow. “Thirsty?”

The kitsune’s cheeks reddened, and she giggled uncomfortably. “I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”

“Nervous? Why on Earth are you nervous?”

“I’ve never been to Earth to know if I would be nervous. I’m only nervous on this planet.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Am I making you nervous, or did the confrontation and violence throw you for a loop?”

“Oh no, I loved watching you beat that orc to a pulp and slice that other jerk in half with the ax,” Koshiro replied as she shadowboxed. Her facial expression went from nervousness to mild rage as she talked about the Big. I found it odd at how quickly her moods could change. It made me a little nervous in all honesty.

“So it’s me then?”

“You?” Koshiro asked as she removed herself from the angry stupor she was in.

“Me that makes you nervous?”

Koshiro slapped her knee and giggled. “Wow, I got a little taken away there. Yeah, you make me nervous, but in a good way, I mean.”

“What does that mean, exactly?”

“Well, you’re very handsome and muscular, plus you’re S-ranked, yet you’re kind and generous. I’ve met no one like you before.”

“I’m flattered, but I’m just a regular dude.”

“Add humility to the list of amazing qualities!” Koshiro swooned.

“You’re too much.”

The kitsune winked as she grabbed my mug and downed what I had left, then burped. “Oops, sorry.”

“Are you sorry for burping or drinking all my ale without asking?”

Koshiro blushed. “Both, I guess. See, I do stupid things when I’m around you! I’ll get you more. Hold on!”

The kitsune darted off the couch to the arcane cooler. She hummed a tune as she refilled both mugs. Her two tails danced behind her as she swayed her hips ever so slightly.  She spun around and held both huge mugs in the air. White, fluffy foam began to spill over the rim of the glass. Her eyes widened when she saw the mess that she was about to make and moved to the couch quickly to avoid any spillage.

“Here you go. I promise I’ll let you drink this one.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. Don’t get between a man and his beer,” I replied sarcastically.

“I’ll remember that,” Koshiro replied flirtatiously. 

“Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? I’ve been the center of attention since I arrived on this planet. I wanna know more about you.”

Her eyes lit up, and he grinned. “You wanna know about me?”

I didn’t reply verbally. I motioned for her to continue using my frosty ale mug.

“There’s not really much to tell. I’ve lived in this area all of my life.”

“Parents?” 

Koshiro sighed. “Both of them died last year. They were skinned alive and set on fire by goblins.”

“Fuck! I’m so sorry!”

Koshiro almost fell off the couch laughing. “You should have seen your face.”

“So you’re just kidding?”

“Of course.”

“Thank God.”

“They’re still alive. They’re traveling alchemists. I see them maybe twice a year. They are on the road all the time.”

“I’m sorry, you must be lonely.”

“No, we have a good relationship and I do miss them. But I’ve got some great friends here in Summerstar.”

“You can add me to that list,” I replied and regretted it. That was a corny line that I wanted to take back immediately. I definitely didn’t get S-rank talking with the ladies’ skills.

“I’ll be happy to mark you down. Thanks, Chad.”

“No problem.”

“Do you want me to show you to your room?” Koshiro asked with a yawn.

“Sure, it’s been a long day.”

The room she led me to was small, but perfectly sufficient for me. It was well kept and clean. Not that I expected it to be dirty. I just know that spare bedrooms that aren’t used usually turn into storage areas or places you just toss stuff and shut the door to get it out of your sight. The room definitely had a woman’s touch with the light purple and pink colors. The bed was a full size, and it looked extremely comfortable. I must admit, I looked down my body and back at the bed, doing calculations in my head to determine if my legs would dangle off the end. It was going to be close.

“Is this going to be okay for you?” Koshiro asked as she fluffed the pillows on the comfortable bed.

“It’s great. Thanks again. It’s gotta be weird having a strange man bunk up with you after only knowing him for a day.”

Koshiro put her hands on her hips and smirked. “How do you know I don’t do this all the time?”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Well, I’m just happy I’m the guy that gets to stay here tonight.”

“Silly, you are my first male guest, actually. Well, other than my father.”

I patted my heart and winked. “I’m honored.”

“If you’re settled, I’m going to turn in. That yummy cheesecake has made me super tired.”

“I’m fine, and thanks again for letting me stay here.”

The kitsune blew me a kiss. “No problem, sweet dreams.”

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