Chapter 22: Chapter 5 – Fel’ctas

--- --- Week 1 - Day 5 - Saturday, 7th Day of the Seventh Month --- ---

Fel'ctas woke early, all that food had made them tired and they had gone to sleep.

She felt satisfied and peered at the kitten snuggled into her side. From the edge of her vision she saw a shape. She looked over to Mrr'am's always empty bed. There were two bunny ears. It took several moments to register. Two bunny ears with their adopted bunny underneath.

Amusingly the youngest, Mrr'am, saw the bunny as the one needing the most help. Actually, Tinkerbell was the highest level, and was the oldest of their group. That she needed a lot of help was true as well. Fel'ctas gently freed herself of her kitten and slipped from the bed.

Tinkerbell's ears perked up and stood at attention. The bunny followed Fel'ctas with her eyes as the curvy catgirl approached and joined Tinkerbell under her blanket. Wrapping an arm around the bunny the cat pulled the much smaller figure into her lap. The smaller girl wrapped her arm around the busty catgirl and buried her face in the large chest.

The pair settled down like this until Tinkerbell started squirming and asked timidly. "Is there a door to the back garden?"

"Ahh" She took the smaller girl's hand and rose from the bed. She pulled the girl to the back of the house, where she undid the bars shutting the back door, and opened the rarely used door with force.

The bunny looked around, went to a barrel that was used for rain water from the roof and picked a damaged mug that was normally used for watering. "I have to dilute it later, or it will smell.

Fel'ctas nodded in agreement. It made sense that someone who was used to peeing outside knew all the tricks of it.
And it made sense, after all public toilets tended to smell when not maintained properly.
She banished the thoughts.

Tinkerbell washed that part right after, then watered the differently watered spot.

The bunny skipped over and took Fel'ctas hand. "You have a nice garden, just needs a little work."

"I am not good with plants." Fel'ctas admitted. "My mother did all that." Fel'ctas felt a deep sadness at that. "She would have wanted to continue the garden." The catgirl looked around with a feeling of nostalgia. "Maybe I should ask Cocoa?"

"You can ask her tomorrow." Tinkerbell patted the older cat on the arm. "Thank you for coming with me."

"Thank you for making me remember." Fel'ctas responded.

The pair returned inside.

As they laid back down, to rest a little longer, Fel'ctas realized something. She had not known about the garden before. It had never been mentioned in the game. This was bad. She did not know what else had changed.

It was a shock to realise how natural it had felt. No pretence, no forcing herself, it had come from inside. She was not sure if it was the only thing that had changed. After all she was now Fel'ctas, ninja catgirl, and target of females.

She forcibly pushed the thought away.

She cuddled her kitten some more and fell into a light sleep.

------

A little later the pair woke again, Fel'ctas removed the sleep feeding kitten from her chest and rolled her aside. The pair rose and got dressed. Silently they left the room. In the kitchen the two silently ate breakfast.

Then they equipped themselves, after rechecking everything, and a final check on the sleeping Mrr'am the pair left the house, locked the door, and went to the guild.

At the guild the pair found Cocoa and Honey already there and waiting. The badger was curled up under a table while Cocoa was sitting there drinking something from a bottle.

The two joined the cowgirl.

"Morning Cocoa and Honey." Fel'ctas greeted the pair.

"Good morning!" Tinkerbell chirped cheerfully.

There was a pause, then Cocoa blinked and responded. "Good morning."

The quartet sat calmly and waited. A little later, but still on time, Celies came inside, a little red in the face, probably from running.

Celies looked very cute today, Fel'ctas decided. She helped the out of breath elf sit down at the table.

"Sorry, the carriage was out shopping." The elf gladly drank from the bottle Cocoa offered.

"I will check on the quests meanwhile." Fel'ctas decided as she went over to Millie.

"Welcome adventurer Fel'ctas, I have today's recommended and dedicated quest prepared." Millie greeted. "Dedicated first." She pulled several sheets of parchment. "The cowgirls want to be milked." Millie gave Fel'ctas a resigned look. "All 11 single ones want it by mouth."

Fel'ctas froze, the tail going up and poofing up in shock.

The audience was very appreciative of the view.

"I thought so." Millie ripped that one apart, making Fel'ctas very sure that there was a deeper meaning to milking by mouth. "Next is an invitation to next week's single bitches meeting as the main attraction, for 10 gp."

Fel'ctas vehemently shook her head. No way she was going to be the main attraction in a room of horny, perverted, and probably single female canines. That was totally not worth the 10 gp.

"I agree." Millie made a note on this parchment. "Next is being a sex slave, probably full or part-time. Money is probably very high, but the requester is high level." Millie added thoughtfully. "Might be hundreds long term."

Fel'ctas hesitated for a moment.

"I'll note that down as a maybe, I'll ask her next time, and special information you want?" Millie asked.

Fel'ctas turned red. The money has swayed her a bit. "I don't know?" She was getting confused by herself.

"Then, the wolves still want their bunny." Millie reported.

The two females shared a look. Then Millie put the quest paper away.

"Mr Hung wants to find the perpetrators of the break-in into his illegal distillery. In his opinion the guards should be looking into who did the break in, instead of bothering him for having it."

Fel'ctas frowned. No way she was going to approach that horse hung stallion. Canon quest ended up with the heroine having to heal from penetration for days. It was simple saying no. "Well since it was an illegal one, I see no reason to look into it."

Millie nodded in agreement. "I agree. We still have the wolves hunt." the receptionist cowgirl continued. "The sheep heard howls near the further sheepyards, and a farmer and shepherd reported a real sheep having gone missing in the past week."

Fel'ctas nodded, that actually sounded doable and sensible, good xp, but no loot aside from the wolfskins. "That actually sounds good."

Millie nodded in agreement. "Yes, it does, less risk then the bandit hunt we have next. Not much information on how many and what levels they are."

"High reward and very high-risk situation." Fel'ctas summed up. "Maybe once we all are at least level 2, better level 3."

"I agree with that assessment." She pulled out another one. "Suspicions of the goblin nest continue, so we need more people to scout the hills and deeper forest, high risk, low reward, but possibly high xp."

Fel'ctas shook her head. "No, still too early, if we stumble onto a village or a tribe, we are done for, maybe once Celies learns a few aoe spells."

"Then wolves it is?" Millie asked, pulling the parchment to the front.

"I will ask the others first, but I think so." Fel'ctas turned to her group. Celies was trying to look regal, Tinkerbell was fidgeting and throwing glances at Celies, Cocoa was sitting there with her eyes closed. Fel'ctas decided that the shy and insecure bunny and the tsundere high elf were not a pair that easily talked to each other. After all the elven maiden was insecure as well in reality.

Fel'ctas returned to their table. "We got bandits, very risky but might be high reward. Wolves, they are safer but only xp. Finally, we have Mr Hung who is upset his illegal distillery got broken in, and wants to know who did it."

Celies was first to offer an opinion. "While bandits are a blight, they are dangerous. Mr Hung is at fault for having an illegal distillery, so I think wolves are our best bet."

Cocoa just tilted her head and seemed to think.

"I agree that Mr Hung can be ignored." Tinkerbell confirmed Celies opinion. "The wolves are much safer than bandits. We could suddenly face a group of level two or three enemies." The bunny squirmed in her chair at having all the attention on her.

"Agreed." Cocoa finally voiced her opinion. "Wolves are a pack at most, while dangerous, it is still much better than having an unknown number of opponents with unknown levels. Wolves are a pack, but at least they are only animals."

The decision had been made.

"Then off to hunt some wolves we go." Fel'ctas rose and went back to the counter. "Millie, we are taking the wolves."

"It was my recommendation too." The cowgirl in professional mode agreed. "Here are the details. Please proceed to the vineyards. The sheep won't be able to tell you more, the farm the animal was eaten at, is a little beyond the vineyards. Please take care everyone."

She returned to the table where the others already rose.

"Let's go."

The party left the guild hall, and made their trek across town.

------

The party walked through the town, past the market, past the temple, towards the vineyards, past a group of nervously scurrying around sheep, and finally along the sheepyards.

It was a nice walk along the large fields of grapes. For Fel'ctas it was a realisation that her town was actually much larger than she had expected. From the outlying farms they steered to one that had several large stables and fenced pastures.

The five approached the main house and knocked on the door. No response. They walked past the first stable, looking at the small field behind it, they saw several dogs tending to the field.

"There you are, the adventurers we asked for I take it?" An older dogman rose and greeted the party.

"Yes, we were sent to investigate wolves’ howls and the missing sheep." Fel'ctas reported.

The dogman nodded. "One of the sheep in the outer pastures went missing." The man waved further out. "It was one of the ones near the woods, so probably a starved pack came too close, and saw one of the sheep stray too close to the woods."

"Any idea where?" She asked the shepherd.

"'Bout an hour that way you will find a pile of rocks, we use them as markers, the one you are looking for is a larger one with a sign saying '4' on it." The dog raised four fingers.

"We will be on our way then." Fel'ctas told the man.

"Good Hunting young ones."

------

Celies looked hot, in more than one meaning, the robe was clearly not meant for stuffy hot days. Luckily the high elven wizard shouldered on.

Pile of rocks with a 2 on it.

The party continued walking,

A while later another pile with a 3 was seen. The party decided to take a break. They drank some water and rested their feet for a little. Mostly for Celies benefit. Tinkerbell offered the water bottle, and Fel'ctas rubbed the legs.

"You could always take off the robe." Fel'ctas offered.

Celies turned red. "No."

"But you are too hot in it." Tinkerbell countered.

"I … I only have my underwear underneath it, and no bra." The elven maiden admitted.

Fel'ctas did not say how the elf actually did not need a bra.

"A lighter robe next time?"

"I agree."

------

The party finally found marker number 4.

The woods were nearby, and a fence was made from rocks. Some of it was already overgrown and mossy, some was clearly recently patched.

The group approached one such spot. It was clearly newly repaired.

"The sheep was dragged." Cocoa reported, then pointed at something nobody else saw. "That was not a pack of wolves, it was something larger, like something like a dire wolf, bear, or any other large animal or beast."

Fel'ctas was not sure if it was good or bad news. "That means we have one large sheep eater, and possibly a pack of wolves approaching town."

The party looked at the forest, and suddenly the shadows between the trees felt much more sinister. Two possible enemy groups were a bit much.

"Normally I'd want to split up and check the edge of the forest, with more possible enemies however I am against it." Fel'ctas worried aloud.

Tinkerbell nodded. "Start over there and then slowly work up to the track?"

Celies frowned. "Wolves are bad, but not that hard in a group I have read. A larger beast however, that changes things." She stared at the track, or at least tried to but looked left of it. "A larger monster is difficult for civilians."

The group headed back towards the farm and then went sideways into the forest.

The forest was naturally darker than the plains outside. It felt more humid but not as hot.

"I am hot." Celies complained.

"Unn" "I agree."

Celies thought nothing about the reply at first, but after a few moments she realized that Fel'ctas did not look as sticky and sweaty as she did, neither did Tinkerbell who was looking at the ground and undergrowth with an intent gaze, and the ears were at attention and twitching regularly. The elf then looked at Fel'ctas, who was peering this way and that, the ears twitching as well, and the tail standing at attention exposing the shapely butt to the world. Celies swallowed her tongue. She blushed red, she wanted to warn her lover, but then Fel'ctas bent over and exposed even more. Celies floundered for a while, then adopted the stance of one of the characters in her latest novel. Watch and enjoy while pretending nothing is wrong.

Fel'ctas meanwhile was looking around, but honestly, she felt clueless. As a former city girl her knowledge when it came to tracking was only what the spot skill told her. Find something that is different. Which here in case of the forest did not help her at all.
She bent over to poke a mushroom, it looked a little slimy, and that slime caused her to stop short of poking it.

Tinkerbell was not completely in her element, she was better in the open, but finding something that looked off, and pointing it out to Cocoa, their resident nature expert, was something she could handle.

Cocoa for her part saw nothing out of the ordinary, the few spots Tinkerbell pointed out to her were not relevant to their quest.
Or maybe they were the cowgirl wondered as she peered at a track leading through a mossy patch Tinkerbell had found suspicious. "Someone was here, several of the people."

The group stared at the ground where Cocoa pointed. Only Tinkerbell thought she knew what their druid meant.

"Let's follow them." Fel'ctas decided.

The party followed Cocoa as she followed the, to them, invisible tracks.

Finally, they arrived at a small clearing.

Everyone could see that it had been used for a party. Broken mugs, remains of a recently used fireplace, animal bones, forgotten cups, and what looked like a ripped shirt littered the ground.

"That was some party." Fel'ctas commented dryly.

Celies looked around and frowned at the mess. "That is rude, you shouldn't litter the forest."

Fel'ctas lifted the shirt and took a careful sniff.

"Eww!" Disgusted she threw the shredded rags into the unlit fireplace. "Drunk, sweaty, unwashed wolfboy"

All the females cringed.

Fel'ctas went over to Celies and hugged the elf, while burying her face in the maiden’s neck.

"Ahh, Fel'ctas!"

"Shmellsh nishe" came a barely understandable reply.

The party's wizard turned deep red.

After a few more moments Fel'ctas released the embarrassed high elf. "I think we found our wolves. Means it is some stupid brats that actually wanted play big bad wolves."

That caused some snickers and laughs.

"Find the bear or whatever now?" Cocoa asked.

The group shared worried looks at that.

"We have to." Celies murmured barely audibly.

Tinkerbell nodded to that but threw in. "We have to go slowly and carefully; it would be bad if whatever took the sheep saw us first."

"How bad?" Asked a pale Celies.

Cocoa looked thoughtful for a moment. "Dead and eaten bad?"

"Ahh, very bad then." Celies turned a little paler.

Fel'ctas looked at her party and decided a break would calm them a bit. "Let's get out of here, the forest edge and take a break, then we can go hunt the sheep eater."

The girls left the party spot and made for the forest border, where they took a small break in the shadows.

After the small break, and several complaints about the hot day. The girls made their way to the original track. There the group prepared themselves for the riskier part of their mission.

The group followed the drag marks into the woods, Cocoa followed a clear, to her at least, path, while Fel'ctas thought she saw something sometimes, Tinkerbell and Celies felt rather lost this time.

They slowly made their way through the forest. Soon it became obvious that it was not a quick walk. From the younger outer parts of the forest they slowly entered the older ancient forests. The party saw the trees change, here and there an older tree lay on the ground, at one such place everyone saw that they were on the right track, wool from the sheep was clinging to the bark. Whatever had gotten it, had dragged it over the large fallen tree.

A little further in came a small creek, the party ate their sandwiches and rested their feet.

Suddenly Fel'ctas stepped forward and put a hand on Cocoa's shoulder stopping the druid from progressing. Everyone halted. Fel’ctas pointed ahead, the group thought there was a clearing or something like that. She made them all huddle close.

"I think I saw something move over there." She whispered.

Tinkerbell responded just as quietly. "Sneak in and see from closer?"

Celies seemed thoughtful. "Cocoa and me will stay behind and make an ambush in case it is really something."

The cowgirl looked back, she looked thoughtful for a while then agreed. "If it sees you, run, come back for us if not."

"I am coming with you, my Move Silently and Hide are both above 10." Tinkerbell changed the plan.

Fel'ctas felt a stab of jealousy. Hers were only 7 each.

Celies hid behind a larger tree, Cocoa did the same, while Honey simply dug herself underground.

The party split into two groups. One prepared the ambush, the other slowly approached the clearing ahead.

The two sneaky ones moved quietly from cover to cover. Bushes, trees, fallen trees, and even depressions were all used. Soon they arrived close enough to smell the decay of rotting meat and hear the flies buzzing.

Off to the side, near several larger bushes was a nest, strewn around it bones and remains of dead animals.

It was clearly a large predator that lived here, there was a dead and mostly eaten bear off to the side. The two girls looked at each other. They needed to get Cocoa and have her look over the nest. Quickly but carefully they returned to the other two-party members.

"Cocoa, it is out, but whatever it is, it can hunt bears and it makes something like a bird's nest." Fel'ctas reported. "It has been here for a while going by the number of remnants."

Celies and Cocoa followed warily. The whole party was on edge, they were approaching the nest of something that ate bears. That soon turned into disgust. Rotting meat, mostly eaten corpses, and the endless buzzing of flies.

It was enough to make them all disgusted.

"I think it is an owlbear." Cocoa reported. "The nest is clearly birdlike, but unlike birds this drags it's victims, and it seems far too strong to actually be a bird. So that leaves owlbear."

The four girls were all rather nervous. Owlbears were common enough to be well known, mostly for their weirdness of being a mix of a bear with feathers and an owl's face. Also, for their hatred of any living beings and their fanatic killing, even when it was not for food.

"Let’s go and report quickly." Celies called out, looking green from the stench and surroundings.

"I agree." Fel'ctas confirmed.

The party hurried from the place of carnage, the sheep’s ripped off head with its milky eyes watching their departure.

------

The nervousness that came from reporting their findings was visible. "Well I guess boys will be boys, however dat owlbear is bad news, you will be reporting to the guild?" The shepherd asked.

"Yes, it is our next stop."

"Good girls, once this is over, drop by for a drink." The dogman told the group.

"Thank you for the offer, but we need to hurry now." Fel'ctas decided not to take him up on that offer, she had seen the looks the daughter had been giving her.

------

Millie frowned. "And you are sure it is an owlbear?"

"It made a nest and ate a bear." Fel'ctas replied.

The receptionist pondered for a moment. "Yes, why not, you four over there." She called out to three elves and a beargirl that were looking a bit down. "As a punishment go and get that owlbear nesting in the woods. Adventurer Fel'ctas and her party will lead the way. I expect you four to be on your best behaviour and I will not make an issue out of what happened."

"Punishment?" Celies wondered.

"They managed to annoy someone high epic, she only knocked most of them out, and then Elior Rellan the famous cleric read them the riot act." Millie gave the party a look that made them look away. "Considering she is the cleric's idol, and the cleric was the last one standing?"

"Awkward" Cocoa described after everyone took a moment to chew on the information.

"Very much so." Millie confirmed. "All things considering, they got off lightly by getting knocked out for half a day."

"Lightly?" Fel'ctas wondered.

"She could have easily killed them all, she turned the spell nonlethal, if not three would have been dead." Millie reported loudly, shaming the four adventurers at the table some more.

"Let's go? Fel'ctas asked the four miserable adventurers.

The party quickly rose and was very eager to leave the annoyed cowgirl behind.

An awkward silence clung to the group as they travelled through town and past the sheepyards.

Finally, near the dog’s farm Celies finally exploded. "Why are you so quiet, what actually happened?"

"We annoyed the future shrine maiden who is at least level 41 and got lectured by Elior Rellan the famous high elven cleric." The cleric of the party said.

"Level 41?" Celies asked for clarification.

"At least, she knocked most of us out with a single low-level spell." The wizard admitted.

The beargirl with the huge axe simply looked away.

Fel'ctas and Tinkerbell shared a look, knowing who was being talked about. Fel'ctas decided to calm Celies down a bit. "She is an albino kitsune actually. She likes Mrr'am. She seems rather amused by my sister."

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"You met her?" Everyone turned to Fel'ctas.

The catgirl nodded. "She is a little taller than Mrr'am, and must be pretty important in the Kairan Duchy, as she was there to take the guards back." The catgirl reported.

"That was her that did that to the guards?"

"Did what?" The other party's wizard asked.

Celies looked rather uncomfortable. "Turned one guard impotent, and the other is now a cowgirl. Both were human men before."

There was a long moment of awkward silence.

"We got off easy." The barbarian beargirl said.

"Very easy." The ranger agreed.

"Could have changed our bodies." The ranger murmured.

"She did offer to strip us and turn us into drow." The cleric remembered.

The four high elves present shuddered.

Fel'ctas felt a twinge of something. Drow were usually a threat, dangerous and often simply sadistic. There was something else that was nagging at her, but she wasn't sure what it was.

"We are going to kill that owlbear, it is something we can do." The high elf cleric said. "We have seen the highest levels; we have seen someone like Elior Rellan being toyed with by a small shrine maiden. We want to rise above that so a little one like that will need more than a single spell to disable us."

Fel'ctas and her party traded looks, that sounded a lot like wounded pride.

They arrived at the 4th marker. From there it was a few more minutes’ walk to the damaged fence and then into the forest. There the party followed the trail again and stopped at a further distance from the clearing with the owlbears nest.

Fel'ctas and Tinkerbell showed the elven ranger the nest. Then the other party carefully started approaching, however suddenly there was movement. With a screech of rage the owlbear rose and stormed at the intruders.
The elven wizard cast a spell that got lost in the angry cries of the beast, the spell lashed out as a bright red ray and struck the chest of the beast. The next ray struck even better, however the furious approaching beast ignored the smoking chest burns.
The barbarian and ranger rose to the challenge and greeted the beast with their weapons drawn and stepped into its path to protect their cleric and their wizard. The pair of melee fighters lashed out, with only the barbarians greataxe managing to penetrate the mix of fur and feathers.

With a cry of rage the owlbear lashed out the claws raking the armour of the barbarian and penetrating into the flesh below, the beak bit down into the shoulder and with a savage pull it tore out a large part of the beargirls flesh and crushed then shoulder bones.

Fel'ctas and her party were immediately alerted, then moved forward cautiously as the barbarian fell, Celies launching a Magic Missile in tandem with the wizard launching a minor Orb of Ice. Tinkerbell tried hitting the beast but missed. The ranger managed to damage the beast even as the cleric stepped up behind her to heal the fallen barbarian.

The enraged beast sought to strike down the ranger, but luck and the dexterous body managed to avoid the worst of the damage with only a huge bite being taken out of the rangers' side. That the cleric immediately sought to heal.

Even as the barbarian rose the ranger struck again, wounding the beast. Tinkerbell's arrow pierced into the side while Fel'ctas missed her strike. Cocoa approached to help with the healing. But the slow cowgirl did not make it until the wounded beast struck again.

And it lashed out at the ranger, who barely weathered the storm of claws and beak, grateful for the healing the two-weapon wielding ranger retaliated. And retaliation came from everyone. The wizards cast their Magic Missiles, the barbarian announced her return by burying her axe deeply in the owlbears neck, Tinkerbell pierced deeply into its side with a perfectly aimed shot, and Fel'ctas struck with her shortsword from behind.

With a final pained screech of hatred, the owlbear collapsed.

Cocoa and the elven cleric healed the barbarian and ranger to the best of their abilities, but neither was anywhere near top condition.

It had been a hard fight against a terrible foe.

But everyone had survived, and the mission was a success.

------

The eight females rested for a bit, before cutting off the distinctive claws as proof of subjugation. The symbol of their success in a bag, they left the forest. It was already evening and everyone felt the long and exhausting day.

"Thank you for your support." The elven cleric told the younger party. "That was … shocking."

"Those screeches were terrible." Celies murmured.

As everyone in the party had superior hearing, they all nodded.

"I guess we call this a cooperative effort." The ranger remarked calmly.

They stopped at the farm and reported to the dog the result of their hunt. He happily gave them all some dried sheep meat as a snack and filled them with cool water to freshen them up.

It was already after sundown when they finally arrived at the guild and did their report to an exhausted Millie, who had stayed behind just for them.

"So, it really was an owlbear." She looked over the damaged armours on the barbarian and ranger. "Here is the reward, I split it evenly since you did more damage to the owlbear, and Fel'ctas party did all the non-combat parts and scouted the owlbear." She handed 2 sp and 5 cp to everyone. "The quest has been finished successfully. Now everyone, go home, you all look tired."

Cocoa stayed behind with Honey to return with her sister, the other party left, and Fel'ctas and Tinkerbell returned Celies to her gate.

------

It was already darkening when the two girls arrived at their home.

And they froze upon hearing voices from inside.

The two adventurers shared worried looks. Mrr'am was not alone, she was however supposed to be alone. But the voices were clearly Mrr'am and another young sounding one.

Tinkerbell pulled out her bow, and Fel'ctas held her shortsword ready in case it was someone suspicious, then she unlocked the door with her key. Carefully she pushed the door open.

What she saw was not what she expected. Pink and white cuddling in a love seat she clearly knew they had not possessed before. She relaxed because it was the albino shrine maiden. At the same time however, she felt a different type of tense because the albino canine was naked and cuddling with her equally naked sister, and the two seemed perfectly comfortable and amused.

"Good evening you two." The albino greeted with an amused smile at her shortsword and Tinkerbell's prepared bow. "Sorry Mrr'am, I need to make dinner." The shrine maiden told her sister who visibly perked up at seeing her sister.

"Steak!" Mrr'am scrambled off the white albino and pounced on her sister. Giving the older cat a strong hug. "Big sister not get hurt?"

"I am fine, Cocoa healed those that needed it afterwards, but none of us five got hurt." Then she looked at the table and saw the glowing coin on it.

"Don't worry, I recharged it, free of charge. It should be good for about three days again." She looked the two adventurers up and down. "I am Zaria, kitsune and epic shrine maiden of Tamano no Mae, I will be taking over the shrine once I repair it, due to many other obligations I won't be there a lot for a few more years."

Fel'ctas felt herself lock up. Zaria was the villainess. But the villainess had never been a kitsune loli, she had also never been a shrine maiden of Tamano no Mae. But she was affiliated with the Kairan house.

"Kon!" Another white shape caught her attention. The very worried cat saw her target of suspicion wave at the white shape with black tips. "And this is my familiar Yuki, she is an arctic fox. No worries, I mean you no harm, instead I am having a great time playing around with Mrr'am." The dangerous kitsune rose, suddenly feeling threatening not in the 'killing her accidently' kind, but in the 'being the villainess that was a perverted canine' way. Fel'ctas felt suddenly that the sex maids end was much more probable.

"Nyah likes to play too." Fel'ctas felt worried for a moment, before calming herself, at least she doubted those two would play like that. And the kitsune seemed playful like her sister, and Zaria was supposed to be a wizard that was her age. That had never changed in the game that she had played as Kanako.

The bunny stepped forward. "I am Tinkerbell, pleased to meet you Miss Zaria."

"Just Zaria is fine." Tinkerbell saw the epic shrine maiden look her up and down. It made her feel lacking, besides the albino looked younger than her, yet already had a better body than her, though the bunny wondered about that long hair that reached the ankles. "Let me fix that for you." The scout was confused about what was supposed to be fixed. But then the epic guest placed a hand on her chest, the bunny felt the dress change on her, looking down colour returned, the patches faded and melted into the material.

The bunny checked her armour. Then she felt the tears start. "Thank you, it was a present from my parents." together with her bow it was the last presents she had gotten from them.

The shrine maiden's hand felt calming on her head, carefully avoiding the sensible ears it had the comforting feeling of an adult. "Don't worry. Now go change, dinner is steak and skewers, dessert is cake."

Fel'ctas relaxed a little, she was not in full blown panic mode anymore. "I am Fel'ctas, thank you for keeping Mrr'am company." She bowed, eyeing the fox familiar suspiciously.

"Don't worry about it, and bowing is a bad idea, especially with the tail up like that." Fel'ctas felt her face heat up. She had done it again, and probably more than once too. And it was the same person again that was pointing it out to her. She just knew that she would be whimpering if she were a doggirl. "And before you ask, I am an epic sorcerer as well. Now shoo, Mrr'am make sure the two freshen up, I'll make dinner." Double epic. That explained a lot. It made her tenser and more relaxed at once. Tenser because it meant at least level 40. More relaxed because it meant that it could not be the villainess Zaria.

"Nyah!" Mrr'am agreed and grabbed her hand. Fel'ctas gave a squeeze, which caused the kitten to beam at her and squeeze back, then the kitten grabbed Tinkerbell and started forcefully pulling them into the depths of the house.

The kitten pulled them straight to the washing room, handing out towels, soap and buckets with water. The impatient little one even helped undress and wash when she felt the two tired adventurers were too slow.

"So how was your day?" Fel'ctas asked her little sister.

"Mrr'am bored, do cleaning, then try to do math. Math hard!" The kitten grinned. "Then white one appear with friends. Invite Mrr'am to meat."

Fel'ctas mentally translated that to Mrr'am getting fed up with the math, and being rescued by the albino, she totally avoided the name Zaria, from the terrible fate. Then she got invited to food it seemed. She'd reprimand her sister for not being careful, but this time being with the double epic one was the safest place the pink one could have been. "Remember not to go with strangers."

"Guests strange, big elf, small elf, big bunny." Mrr'am reported.

Fel'ctas sighed mentally. "Not that kind of strange. People you never met before without me; don't go with people you don't know. Going with her and her friends is fine, since you know her."

"Mrr'am confused?"

"Don't go with anyone unless you know at least one person well?" Tinkerbell tried to clarify.

"Mrr'am understand now."

Fel'ctas gave the bunny a thankful look.

"Then we go shopping. Buy lots of meat and sweets, and cake. And buy more meat. And lots of things Mrr'am don't know but smell good, funny or weird."

The pair was freshened up, and ready to leave. Being what they were, it was only a moment of hesitation that got interrupted by Mrr'am starting to pull at their hands again to skip getting clothes and instead follow their noses that smelled the delicious scents of cooking.

Mrr'am however decided to continue her tale. " Then after cake we meet sheep. The sheep went bahh, then adventurers came to hurt big elf, then white made adventurers go fwosh."

That needed a translation the two adventurers decided and looked towards the epic cook who then explained. "Adventurers took offense towards my lover, I made a Lightning Loop out of nonlethal fire. Most of them got knocked out, then our cleric talked sense into their cleric."

"Nyah, small elf funny, she wave hands a lot. Squirrel have very fluffy tail~" Fel'ctas wondered if she was supposed to ask where the squirrel had come from.

"One day I will finally teach her how to relax, there was never any real danger, I think the most afraid one was Fiola, but then again she is a sheep." Tinkerbell nodded in agreement; most sheep tended to get scared really easily, only mice were worse.

"Then we get things, and go to shrine. White fox watch meat."

The two adventurers looked towards the long haired one again. "She means my familiar … who disappeared again? She is probably using one of the beds to sleep, worse than a cat that one." Came the complaint.

"At shrine bad men come while we cook."

"Thieves and chance slavers, I delivered them and their loot to the guard station." Was the worrisome explanation for that.

"Then we eat, lots of meat, nyah~" Mrr'am remembered almost drooling, actually she was drooling again. "Juice and cake!"

"We bought a lot; it wouldn't be right to use your things without giving you something in return." The cook explained while pointing at the cupboard. "Most napped between the meat and cake."

"Then teach me math, and tell stories."

"Embarrassing moments from adventures I had or heard about." Suddenly that faraway look was one you found on grandparents telling stories from long ago. "One you might like, you know there is a Belt of Waterwalking, makes water like normal ground."

The three residents listened carefully. "The ship we were on started sinking. It was a large one. One of my fellow adventurers, a Fighter was wearing Full Plate Armour and a Tower Shield. We jumped off the ship. So, did he, only he forgot that he was wearing that belt. It was like jumping from the second or maybe third floor."

Fel'ctas and Tinkerbell shared a pained look. Heavier armoured then that cleric they had today, and still jumps off a sinking ship while having the armour equipped?

"Luckily, he did not hurt himself too badly, and the druid turned into a squid and pulled us to the shore. That water was really cold." The kitsune clearly shuddered at the memory. "Stupid island was a mess. The druid almost got stabbed by us when she turned into a giant spider, while we were there."

Their storyteller prodded the food on the stove. "The first skewers are ready, please sit at the table."

Mrr'am and Fel’ctas sat down on their chairs, while Tinkerbell stood on hers, at least until the epic one shook her head, lifted the bunny off the chair as if she weighted nothing, which was probably the case for the white vixen. Then the chair morphed into a smaller but taller chair. "If it and the love seat don't suit your taste, I'll undo it, otherwise you can call me if it does not change back in a week."

"No, it is fine." Fel'ctas responded. "We are getting a proper chair for Tinkerbell tomorrow, so you can change it back later. The love seat looks comfortable."

"Met a matriarch, she has the most comfortable couch I have ever been on, I tried to pattern it after that couch." The vixen did not sound completely happy with her creation. "It is not the same naturally, but it is close. I need to remember to get a couch like that. Now eat, the steaks should be done in a bit." they were ordered

The three dug in with gusto.

"Nyeh, scho good!" Fel'ctas decided that this was the best meat she had eaten in this world yet. Scratch that, it was probably better than most things from her old life too.

Mrr'am gave an agreeing "Nyah~" as she nibbled on a meat skewer.

Tinkerbell just made a happy noise; her skewer had a lot of vegetables.

"Does being epic mean you can do anything?" Tinkerbell wondered as the cook turned back to the stove.

"Kon!" came the agreeing bark from below.

Tinkerbell stared at the white fox that had reappeared from somewhere, and was giving her what was probably an amused look. The understandable reply came however from the stove.

"If you are epic in more than one class type maybe. And I mean things like fighting, intellectual, survival. And naturally you need enough Int to get more skill points. Though I took cooking as a profession. I like cooking and it helps me adjust the taste the way I like it." The ones listening at the table heard the sizzles increase for a moment. "I need the plates. The steaks are done. Mrr'am, here a meat and bacon skewer."

"Nyah~" "Nyah!" "Mhh!" The public approved.

Their guest served them drinks before anyone choked, before returning to the stove to finish whatever else she was preparing. Soon another round of skewers was brought and decimated.

To Fel'ctas and Tinkerbell seeing the dirty dishes being cleaned with magic was an eyeopener. Casters usually used magic sparingly. Maybe this was what being epic in two caster classes meant. Freedom others could only wish for.

"I am done." The walking enigma proclaimed finally. "Mrr'am we will continue in a few days. No hurry to decide." She told the kitten.

"Nyah~ See nyah~"

The vixen nodded at the two adventurers and the two could only look in confusion as the white fox jumped onto the albino's shoulders as she collected her clothes.

Then a look that seemed to go far away. And she was gone.

"Teleportation?" Fel'ctas wondered.

Tinkerbell nodded sleepily. She was stuffed.

The older sister gave her little sister a questioning stare. "What did she mean by continue and decide?"

"Secret!" The kitten chirped happily. "Sleep now? Mrr'am tired and bunny look asleep."

Fel'ctas weighed her jealous curiosity against her own sleepiness. And decided that the full stomach and sleepiness won. She helped Tinkerbell from the chair and the trio went to rinse their mouths and wash their teeth.

Afterwards the sleepy group fell into their beds.

Something made Fel'ctas open her character sheet.

She had levelled!

She could advance to level 2!

She was being offered more flaws?

She could understand 'Sensitive Nipples', even if she shied away from that one, it was too dangerous. Even 'Sensitive Annaly' made sense, sort of. Fel'ctas mentally cursed the anal elves for gaining the chance to add it. She even understood where the 'Submissive' came from, it was all the stupid canines’ fault. But she had no idea where 'Delusional' and 'Pet' had come from. The 'Attraction: Yuri' was easy to explain as well, she was not sure if she wanted to secure herself to the Yuri Route. It would mean skipping the capture targets and would force her to seduce the Villainess. The 'Exhibitionist' was clear, she inwardly cursed her dress, but it was too good to be discarded. 'Flasher' and 'Accidental Flasher' were along the same route. The last one 'The more the merrier' was an orgy flaw, she was not into orgies. She only had ever had one orgy. She blushed as she remembered those perverted twins. Then there was a not erotic flaw: 'Paranoid'. She could really understand it, there was so much out to get her, she did not want to take her as she was already paranoid enough without it.

She did not want to risk simply continuing forward without deciding it now. Last time she did that the consequences had been dire. With a whimper she looked over the available options again.

Sensitive anally was a good choice. As weird as it sounded. Her butt would remain unmolested unless Celies or her guard were too needy. It was a good pick.

The other one that stuck out was the yuri flaw. She managed 5 days without getting raped. It would remove her chance at getting the capture targets however.
Those were: Prince of their kingdom, her age. Prince of the neighbouring kingdom, a year older. Duke's son, a year older. Other kingdom's earl's son, their age. Other kingdom’s earl's son, their age.
All high nobles. She hugged Mrr'am tighter.
Actually, Mrr'am was not present a lot. She remembered the marriage ends; she saw her kitten nowhere in the ending cg as a catgirl. Being human had her as a maid several times. So did cowgirl. She did not want to be separated. But the fact was that Mrr'am had no noble blood despite being related to her. Chances where she'd be used against her even.
Kanako decided she was paranoid again.
But it was a possibility.
She then thought about the capture targets. All pretty and well-endowed and eager to bed her. So, a bunch of horny pretty boys. After tasting the flowers being entered felt weird. She was sure she could take it, but the original routes had her filled by many others too.
She was not a slut!
There were several princesses and high-ranking daughters too. She was sure her tongue would work on those.
Her best bet was Zaria the Villainess. In the endings you did not actively seek out the capture targets you had her in a more neutral setting. And the catgirl did have the sex kittens ending, that one featured Mrr'am too.
Maybe she should seduce the villainess?

The Fel'ctas part wondered what she tasted like.

The Kanako part agreed it was a valid concern. Then realized the train of thought and panicked. She was so corrupted already.
Still, aside from canines it seemed that females were not as dominating. And honestly adventuring was fun. Something that would be much harder as a high noble.
So, for yuri were: Mrr'am, more freedom, hopefully no rape, less bullying, and a pretty villainess.
Against yuri were: canines, blackmail, no hot hunks, rape, bullying, less freedom, and an enemy in the villainess.

Freedom was an important point. She was an adventurer, she liked it. It was dangerous, but she could do things her human self-had never been able to. She stopped mentally, being a princess and noble meant riches and a stable life. However, wasn't there always politics involved? There were many novels about harem politics and how you had to watch yourself on every step.
At least the dresses were beautiful.
That stopped Fel'ctas. She had the unclothed flaw. That meant spending days in tightly fitted dresses and corsets was a big no.

Being a naked sex kitten for the villainess sounded suddenly much better.

Or she could seduce someone else.

With some hesitation she added the Flaw: Mindset: Homosexual (Yuri).
She was now committed to being a lesbian. And the villainess was probably her easiest target.

Now however she had a new dilemma. Put all 4 points in Strength, or two in Strength and two in Constitution.
Str would increase her attack and damage.
Con would give her fortitude save and hp.

After a lot of hesitation, she added two to each.

Assigning her Skill Points took a lot longer, but in the end after a lot of hesitation she upgraded the classic rogue skills to max, and others here and there. She really wanted more skill points.

Like three times as many.

Still that was pretty much impossible. She decided it must be really nice to be epic and be able to spend skill points on more trivial skills. Next level depending on how soon she would manage it, she decided that she should add some skill points to social skills.

She had to prepare for more situations than just combat. That having skill points gave you a real advantage in this world was annoying.

She decided to sleep, it was too late to change anything now.

She hoped tomorrow was going to be a good day.

------

Bonus - High Elven Panic

Celies was tired, wizards were not meant for walking all day. She was a bookworm by definition.

"Welcome home my Lady." The guard greeted as she was let in through the gate.

Celies replied tiredly. "I am back."

She approached the mansion door and used the door knocker. A few moments later the door opened and Sienna bowed. "Welcome home Mistress."

"I am home." Celies mumbled as she entered.

"How was the quest?"

"It was an owlbear, we had a higher party with us, but without our help, it would have killed most of them probably." Celies remembered with a grimace. "One of the farmers thought that one of his sheep got taken by wolves, since he had heard howls. But those were just wolfboys playing around." Celies let herself be led to the bath as she reported the day to Sienna. "We found out however that an owlbear took the sheep."

"That was very dangerous, Mistress."

"It was a beast, all it wanted was to kill us!" The elven maiden complained as they arrived at the bath.

"Raise leg." Sienna ordered as she started stripping her mistress.

"I overheard that the other party was sent along as a penalty, for having annoyed the wrong person."

"An over level 40 shrine maiden and daughter of a duke possibly?"

Celies froze. "You know something!"

"Relax first and wash up, I have more information for you. It is waiting at your desk."

Celies did not feel relaxed, it was like a cloud of doom waiting for her.

The massage to relax her muscles was appreciated though.

Dinner was a nice light chicken salad with corn. Armed with a nice rose tea, Celies started reading the papers Sienna had prepared for her.

It was not much but afterwards she felt as if she had read a large story and was nowhere near done.

"So, the same person that knocked out the party I teamed up with today, is the same one that returned that caravan a few days ago with what from descriptions is a Teleportation Circle and one large enough to teleport carriages?" That was a huge feat. "Then after some of her guards were stupid and acted up here, one was turned into a cowgirl and the other was rendered impotent as a punishment? What kind of insane punishments are those? At least she takes the honour of her house seriously."

"According to the guards report she made it fit their crimes, and you forgot that she hired a cowgirl to increase their punishment."

"Yes, a cowgirl, to act lewdly before them." Celies blushed deeply. "Then somehow she seems friendly with Mrr'am, who is Fel'ctas little sister."

"I requested more information from the guild and asked the guards to ask around." Sienna added.

"And she is an epic Shrine Maiden of Tamano no Mae that declared that she is taking over the shrine, and she is also an epic Sorcerer. And finally, she actually is the Lady Zaria van Kairan." Celies finished with a whimper.

"Tomorrow I should have more information from the guild and the guards."

Celies whimpered. "I have to deal with someone like that?"

"She seems to have a drow lover, a bunny sex pet, and Elior Rellan is following her."

Celies looked up at Sienna. "A drow lover, a bunny as a sex pet, and the Elior Rellan is a follower? I remember that Elior Rellan was hired by our Duke Aschen."

"I don't have that information yet."

"You are sure it is Lady Elior?"

"Yes, I have seen their seals. Lady Zaria promised to visit soon."

"Prepare everything on kitsune, shrine maidens, Tamano no Mae, and all you can get on Lady Zaria." Celies ordered her maid. "I will take tomorrow off from adventuring to read through it all." Celies did not sound happy. "Maybe I should invite Mrr'am to ask her about the Lady Zaria?"

"I shall inform the party in the morning."

"I like going on quests with them." Celies honestly admitted. "And now I have to miss out because an overpowered shrine maiden has taken a liking to the old abandoned shrine."

"It counts as work Mistress, but just noble work, something the others in your party don't have to worry about." Sienna struck without mercy. "Now sleep Mistress, it was a long day for you."

Celies petted Princess, the scales feeling rather relaxing to her.

"Good night Mistress, don't read too long." Sienna reminded her bookworm lady and left.

Celies waited a little and then wandered over to the bookshelf. Scanning the titles, she arrived at the one she was looking for. "Princess Elianna and the Lost Shrine" Celies felt her face burn up as she pulled the book from the shelf.

She skimmed the book. Princess Elianna was fleeing from that human Prince Derek who wanted to turn her into his pet and slave. She got lost in the hills and forests and managed to dodge her pursuers long enough to find herself only facing scouts she managed to disable, then wounded and exhausted she arrived at a shrine, where the shrine maidens welcomed her. They agreed to help her in return for helping them. They were proven to be futanaris, that then used the princess lovingly. They healed her, exhausted her, and equipped her. Their leader then spent two weeks leading Princess Elianna through the forests and hills to safety, and each night penetrating the princess in all three places.

Celies threw the book away and hid under her blanket face burning hot. She was no princess, but the shrine maiden that had guided Princess Elianna had been epic too. A futanari that enjoyed elves. A drow was a type of elf, no matter how much she did not want to admit it, then there was lady Elior, who was following that kitsune, and finally she had a small bunny as a sex pet. Celies was not confident that she could take something like a futanari's organ inside her, those were clearly larger than normal ones, and with her flaw she expected it to be too large. Then again that kitsune probably knew spells how to make it fit.

That night Celies dreamt of being ravaged by a faceless kitsune and then kept as a pet on a leash.

Reminder:
Fel'ctas party poll is still open! https://www.scribblehub.com/read/69709-lets-explore-and-enjoy/chapter/77449/

Fel'ctas quest poll is open too!  https://www.scribblehub.com/read/69709-lets-explore-and-enjoy/chapter/83262/

That was dangerous, guess Fel'ctas was really lucky Zaria nuked the assisting party before.

Poll: Is Fel'ctas paranoid enough and aside of her delusions acting as logically as someone in her situation could?
1: Yes, even her delusions are fine, considering her situation.
2: Yes, everything aside from her yuri delusions fits.
3: Yes, but she should try harder to level and amass riches.
4: No, she should run with Mrr'am, risk the dangerous world and skip the plot.
5: No, she is being stupid by taking references from a game.
6: No, she is not preparing enough, despite the fact that there is nothing she can really prepare more.
7: Don't care option. I like one of the other Main Characters more.
8: Hand over Mrr'am to Zaria and stop writing about the yuri ninja Fel'ctas.
9: Whatever, stop asking questions and write more.

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