~ Chapter 44: Nanya’s surprise attack! ~

[Illsyore's point of view]

 The good part about all of us having an agility over 1000 was that we didn't need to bother ourselves with acquiring a carriage or a horse to travel around. We were able to run through the desert at about 100 km/h give or take. We could go much faster than this, but we weren’t in a hurry, and I wanted to get a good dose of staring at Ayuseya’s sweet bottom! Unfortunately, the chainmail I gave her had the uncanny ability to keep her bosom from bouncing too much. Actually, it barely did at all, making it more comfortable for her and less appealing for me.

Ugh! Me and my attention to useless details… I grumbled in my mind.

Eventually, we reached the end of the sea of sand and the beginning of rocky terrain, past this was a prairie that stretched for several kilometers. My geography was a bit lacking on this part, but the desert felt rather small, or maybe we just landed near its edge. Either way, after we ran past the prairie, we finally reached the woods. Not even five minutes later, a small town came into view.

“This is quite far actually. How were you able to find it so quickly again?” I asked Nanya.

“I didn’t. I found a bandit who thought I would be easy picking. I beat the snot out of him, and he was kind enough to point out the few settlements he knew of.” she explained and shrugged.

“Hm, so that’s why you mentioned the bandit camp? He told you where it was? To be fair, I did find it a bit odd that you randomly found one...” I told her and then let out a sigh.

“Yup!” she smirked.

“Then how did you know their ranks?” asked Shanteya with a raised eyebrow.

“He bragged about them being Intermediary and that they will get me eventually.” she waved it off as if it was nothing.

“Uh-huh. So, any chance we’re going to get ambushed soon?” I asked.

“You fear a bunch of Intermediary? Sneeze once and they will all die.” she replied as if something impossible like that was completely normal to her.

“Sigh… Well, how will we approach this place then? Just waltz in?” I asked.

“No, first I’m going to do this!” said Nanya with a big smirk as she put on a ring on her clawed pointing finger.

Actually, the ring kind of vanished inside her armor, since she was wearing it over her hand. I didn’t really have the inspiration to strip any of them in my Inner Mind to check their three sizes in copious amounts of detail for erm… research and… erm… armor building purposes. Yes! Armor! But yeah… I didn’t do it, I sort of skipped it, and I sort of regretted it now.

The fierce and imposing looking Nanya turned into a completely different person: now with blonde hair flowing down all the way to her hips, a not so spiky and bulky armor, no tail, and most importantly: no claws. The demoness turned 100% human, at least on the outside.

“WOW!” I gasped in surprise.

“How do I look?” she asked and made a twirl.

“Maybe I’m strange, but I think I like the real version better.” I replied tilting my head.

She blushed and turned around.

“I-It’s just a disguise…” she spoke with a clear note of embarrassment in the tone of her voice.

“She looks lovely and cute too!” Ayuseya complimented her.

“Indeed.” Shanteya agreed as well with a nod.

“Let’s go in then!” I smiled and walked in front of them.

We were met at the gate with two human warriors wearing sturdy heavy plate armors. Their weapons were big axes with thick handles. I was honestly expecting two spear-wielding, leather-armored soldiers, not these two fierce-looking individuals. They were sort of intimidating.

“Good day!” I initiated the conversation.

“Good day! Who be you is in the town job?” he suddenly said.

“Say what now?” I blinked surprised when I heard him.

Shaking my head, I looked back at the girls, but they didn’t seem to be bothered by the sudden massacre of the spoken language.

Maybe it’s just me? Is the Darkness messing with what I hear? I wondered.

“Ah, you maybe not speak Kalish not?” he asked furrowing his brow.

“Erm, maybe?” I asked trying to guess the answer.

“Can you understand me now?” the man asked, but I couldn’t see the difference, they were honestly speaking the same language but with a better grammar.

“Yes.” I replied and tried to focus a little bit on what sort of words I was hearing exactly.

“They must be adventurers. Are you here for the new Dungeon up north? I heard it’s a fearsome Dungeon of almost 100 floors now!” said the other man nodding as if to affirm his own words.

Fearsome? The one I broke by stepping in? I thought a bit surprised.

“No… we’re just passing by and would wish to spend the night at the local inn.” I told him with a smile.

“Ah! The inn is down the street to the right! Can’t miss it!” said the first guard.

“Thank you!” I nodded and smiled.

“Have a nice day and stay out of trouble!” he warned us.

After entering the town, I was surprised to see how incredibly common and simple it was. There were no fancy buildings or strange-looking warriors. Everyone was wearing a mix of armor and linen clothing. At their waist they carried either swords or axes, mostly the latter. As for the species I could identify, there were a few el’doraw, even an elf healer helping out a human child who scabbed his knees. The only ones I couldn’t see were dwarfs and draconians, but most of them were certainly humans.

“Illsy, did you pull back your Dungeon Territory? We wouldn’t want Dungeon Level Detecting Stones going off all over the place now, do we?” Nanya whispered to me.

“Oh! No… I’ll do that now.” I replied and then closed my eyes for a moment.

The order to pull back my Dungeon Territory had to be done by feeling rather than simply selecting something from the status screen. I was quite certain the old grumpy dungeons inside my noggin wouldn’t help me with this, after all, it went against their principles.

“Done!” I declared with a smile.

We continued to walk towards the inn pointed out by the warrior at the gate. I was also looking around for the so-called Guild Hall or Guild Building or whatever was called here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t recognize it, but there was one interesting thing I noticed while walking around. The languages spoken here were many, but mostly that Kalish thingy the guard mentioned. Strange words popped up now and then, but in rest, everyone spoke with a broken grammar. It was a bit annoying to listen to them, but I had the feeling this was most likely the fault of the translator inside my noggin. With only bits and pieces of the language available, it was trying to make up for the rest, but it was failing miserably.

I wonder if I can buy somewhere a dictionary or something for this language… Any more of this gibberish, and my ears will fall off! I cried in my mind, but the girls didn’t appear to be bothered by it.

“Can you all actually understand what they are saying?” I asked curiously.

“Yes. I learned Kalish at the palace.” replied Ayuseya.

“I lived here once, remember?” replied Nanya with a raised eyebrow.

“Kendarian and Kalish were the first two languages I learned when I was still a free el’doraw.” said Shanteya.

“Kendarian?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“This language I’m speaking right now.” she told me with a smile.

“That, I can understand, but Kalish sounds like gibberish to me.” I shrugged.

“Kalish isn’t something those from the Allasn and Thorya continents use, unlike Shorayan, Paramanium, or Teslovian, which are more widespread. Of course, there are a bunch of other languages on this continent, I’m not even going to mention the unknown, ancient, or tribal ones or their rather diversified dialects.” explained Nanya with her usual teacher demeanor.

To be fair, I was sort of picturing her right now as the tall seductive mature teacher at school who from time to time lowered her glasses to wink back at me, her naughty little student. But yeah, I refrained from letting my imagination get to the best of me.

“Sounds like a big headache to me. Is there a spell that can help me learn all of them?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Something like that would be priceless, but no… As far as I know there’s no such spell.” replied Nanya, scratching the back of her head.

“If you wish, I can help you study it.” Ayuseya offered her services with a warm smile.

“Thank you! I appreciate it!” I showed her a big smile.

Once we reached the inn, the moment we stepped in, a bunch of curious gazes scanned us from head to toe, while whispers were heard in the back. We were probably an interesting sight to behold, especially since we didn’t dress like the locals or looked like them. I had green hair. That alone was enough to make me stand out of the crowd. My three pretty companions were also quite beautiful, more so than most of the women here as far as I could see.

“Welcome to the Milky Inn, nya!” the innkeeper welcomed us.

Nya? Did I hear that wrong? I thought and then looked in her direction.

Before me stood the rumored cat-girl, but unlike those in the manga and anime, she was an anthropomorphic feline from head to toe. A smooth black fur covered her entire body, whiskers endowed her little snout, her big cat-like eyes were looking back at me, and the left ear twitched a little. Unfortunately, her chest was close to nonexistent. There was a clear landing strip over there!

“Good day.” I said with a small bow.

“Nya?” she replied with a nod.

Is that intentional? I am seriously going to get a cat-girl slave or pet! I told myself.

“Omph!” I groaned as I received a hit in the ribs.

“I don’t know why, but I just felt like hitting you.” Nanya narrowed her eyes at me.

I gulped.

“Is everything alright, nya?” asked the innkeeper.

“Yes… nothing to worry about.” I rubbed my sore spot and approached her. “I wish to book a room for tonight. You have any free?” I asked, but I couldn’t help but stare at her swaying tail and cat-like features.

She intrigued me.

“First time seeing a nekatar, nya?” she asked with a giggle.

“Huh? Yeah…” I smiled foolishly.

“We’re not that rare on Sorone as we are on Allasn and Thorya. You’ll soon get used to it, nya.” she giggled.

“Sure…”

“About the room, we have three left. All of them, nya?” she asked.

“Erm… how many beds each?”

“One has a single bed, nya. The other have double beds. How many do you wish to book, nya?”

“Two, please…” I said, thinking that two of the girls would get a room, and I would be sleeping with Shanteya as usual.

“Very well, nya! Are you an adventurer, by the way?” she asked tilting her head to the left.

“We plan on registering, why?”

“Adventurers get a 10% discount. After you register, just show me the card, and I’ll ask for fewer coins.” she told me.

That sounded like a good deal, however, there was nothing I could do about it now. I wanted to settle in and lay down in a bed for like the first time in forever.

“Good to know. How much does it cost?” I asked.

“For two rooms, that would be six silverettes.” she told me.

“Alright, erm… Nanya?” I looked back at her.

“Here you go.” she tossed me the six coins.

They were actually silver coins, but this was the first time I held one in my hand. I didn’t even know how much I could buy with one of those, but the currency was also different here than it was in Shoraya. Truth be told, I didn’t bother learning about this sort of stuff while I was in my Crystal Body. Well, now was a good time as any to start learning.

“Out of curiosity. How much would this be worth?” I asked her and then showed her a perfectly round sphere of gold I created in that moment.

It wasn’t that hard. I had like a small mountain of the stuff.

“Oh? Shiny, nya! Erm, about 10 goldiettes, maybe 12 if you barter. Where did you get it, nya?” she asked with sparkling eyes.

“Erm… A Dungeon.” I smiled.

“I see, nya… Shiny, very shiny.” she was almost drooling.

Moving my hand from left to right seemed to catch her attention. It was fun to see her act like that.

Heh, she’s like an actual kitten. Wait… were cats attracted to shiny spheres? I asked myself, but since I never owned a pet cat, I had no idea.

“Illsy.” Nanya poked me in the back with a finger. “Stop playing around, it’s not polite.” she glared at me.

“Ah! Sorry!” I said and closed my palm, removing the sphere from the nekatar’s sight and then absorbing it.

“Nya?” she blinked surprised as if pulled out of a trance “Well… Ehehe~, I hope you will enjoy your stay here! The rooms are on the second floor. This one is for the room on the right, next to the stairs, and that one is for the one at the other end of the corridor, nya.” said the woman with a smile before handing me the two keys.

The rooms weren’t next to each other, but maybe that was asking for a bit too much. We checked the first room. It was of simple design and didn’t smell that bad. With a nekatar in charge of the place, I highly doubted she allowed situations in which bad smells would persist. Then again, I could always turn off my nose.

“Who will stay here?” asked Nanya.

“You and Ayuseya.” I replied.

She turned around and raised an eyebrow.

“You are planning on hogging Shanteya for yourself?” she asked with a grin.

“Yes, I mean no… I slept, for the most part, together with her, and it’s been a really LONG time for me since I last did so.” I shrugged.

“Fine.” Nanya shooed me off with her hand, and I sighed.

Me and Shanteya went to the other room to check it out. There was nothing out of place there, it was actually an identical copy of the previous one. I closed the door and absorbed the key, since it was the safest with me. Nanya probably did the same, and we all returned downstairs.

“What should we do now?” I asked them.

“Why don’t we eat something and then go to bed? Honestly, I’m a bit tired…” suggested Nanya, stretching her arms a little.

“I agree. A good meal and a decent amount of rest will restore our powers for the next day.” Ayuseya nodded.

“Whatever Master wishes.” Shanteya was indifferent by the looks of things.

“Then we’ll go with that… I think it’ll be a while before the Sun sets, so I will fiddle with some projects in my Inner Mind. If you three want to look around the town, you are free to do so.” I told them and then we all went to grab a bite to eat.

Our cook was an old woman who worked for the nekatar innkeeper. Thanks to her, we managed to get a taste of the local cuisine and most importantly of some really tasty sausages. Unfortunately, they were far from what my mother back on Earth used to make during the Christmas holiday. Alina never got a chance to try making them herself because we always went over to my folks. It was like a small family reunion.

The specialty of the area was a portion of mashed potatoes with a boiled egg on top. The old lady here added some seasoning over the egg and a few pieces of smoked ham next to it. We all ate like starved wolves because it was that delicious.

For me, it had been so long since I last ate an actual meal, that anything I gobbled down tasted like heaven. That being said, I ate like a pig. My companions, on the other hand, were a bit more delicate with their manners. They didn’t stuff their face like a certain Dungeon Lord here.

When the meal was over, the women went up to their rooms, while I decided to have a big tankard of mead. I never tried it back in Romania because we never had anything like that. Palincă yes, șpriț yes, țuică yes, vodka yes, whiskey yes, wine yes, liquor yes, beer yes, but mead, I never even knew where to buy it from. I think it was produced by fermenting honey with water… or was it something else? I couldn’t really remember. Either way, I had two big tankards of it and drank it slowly.

The result of my experiment was finding out that I’m completely immune to alcohol. The taste was bitter, close to beer, but not quite like it. Either way, I managed to taste the mead and the last thing on my list was rum.

I just need to find a pirate now… I thought as I brought the tankard back to the nekatar innkeeper.

Her name, by the way, was Neyalin, and she was actually mated. In human terms, it meant that she already found her half and was happily married. The lucky fellow was a nekatar and a hunter by profession, who was currently out in the woods.

Since I currently had a lot of free time on my hands, I decided to take a spin around the town and search for the Adventurer Guild. I found it quite fast, but it was on the other side of this settlement. We actually walked past it when we came in. The market was closed, but there was a woodcutter there who made wood carvings. They were really detailed and beautiful. I bought a carving of an owl and paid him with a small silver nugget. Apparently, I paid three times the actual price he set. It didn’t really matter to me, though. The mountain of silver inside my Inner Mind was bigger than the one of gold.

I returned to the inn around sunset. The sky was bright red, and the people were yawning all over the place. It was contagious because even I ended up yawning at one point. Well, the day was over, and I could finally take my first beauty sleep in a warm and comfy bed.

“Good evening.” I said to Neyalin when I walked past her.

“Good evening, nya!” she replied.

As I made my way upstairs, I walked past a big guy, a human with a rough appearance and bloodshot eyes, an adventurer most likely. Upon returning to my room, I stretched my hands and walked over to the bed.

“Shanteya?” I asked when I saw a figure standing on the bed.

“Not exactly.” the one who turned around was Nanya.

“Evening, so… what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I traded places with her… I…” her gaze fell on the floor. “I have something I wish to talk with you about…” she looked up into my eyes.

“Alright, I’m listening.” I said and approached her.

This was probably something important.

“Illsy, I don’t think I can thank you enough for what you did back there… You saved us from that madman.”

I took a seat on the bed next to her and looked into her eyes. Nanya’s cheeks were red, and she was constantly avoiding my gaze.

“Anytime.” I replied.

“You really aren’t like the other Dungeons…” she said and then got up.

“I have you as a wife, so I’m considering that as a plus already.” I showed her a cheeky smile.

Looking back at me, she replied with a shy smile and then took a step in front of me.

“Illsy…” she told me.

“Hm?”

Nanya looked into my eyes and then with her hand on her chest, she told me “I’m not like the other girls… I’m half dungeon, you know that, right?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“I’m not very pretty either… my body… it’s different.” she looked down at her clawed hands.

“You do know you’re talking to someone who can shoot lasers out of his palms, right?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

I honestly couldn’t tell where she was going with this.

Clenching her fist, she looked back at me with a serious gaze in her eyes.

“You are right. You aren’t like the others… you are different. That’s why I can’t afford to lose to them or my own fears…” she declared.

I blinked surprised, but I still couldn’t tell what she was trying to do.

Did I cross some wrong wires when I fixed her wounds? I asked myself while narrowing my eyes at her.

In the next moment, Nanya did something completely unexpected, something unthinkable…

The armor she created with her own power vanished, absorbed by her body. In front of me, she stood almost naked, only her pink panties remained. Well, nothing a good ol’ Colly Tos couldn’t fix. Her long tail swayed behind her in restless motion, while the color in her cheeks turned a bright red. There was a trace of an instinct to hide her bosom, but she forced herself not to.

“No more games… no more hiding… Can you accept me, Illsy? As I am? A demoness and a dungeon?” she asked me with worry in her dark eyes.

“Aaa baa… er… uh…” was all I could say.

As much as I could try, my eyes fell only on the wrong places, especially her chest. I knew I was the one who fixed the hole in her thoracic cavity, but still… THOSE HOLY MOUNTAINS!

“Illsy?” she asked tilting her head to the left.

“Silly woman…” I said and pulled her in my embrace.

How could I say no or even think about rejecting my own wife even if she was a demoness and a dungeon? If I did, the gods were sure to punish me severely! Therefore, that night, Nanya was going to be my first in this bright new world.