Page 108

"Hey! Get the hell off me you creep!" What followed was a sharp scream. Before I even realized it, I was headed in that direction. In an alley, not even two blocks away from the ruined adventurer's guild, a tall human man was holding a beastfolk woman with bright red hair against the wall with one hand while his other was holding a knife stabbed in the woman's gut.

The man turned when he heard me coming and his eyes went wide when he saw the four people behind me. He pulled the knife and dropped the woman on the ground before starting to take off. Before he could get far Silva tackled him to the ground while Bella and I rushed to the woman's side.

She looked like she was in her mid-twenties. Now that I got a closer look at her, she was a demi-beastfolk with fox ears, a long fox tail, and large paw-like hands that didn't look particularly articulate. Her clothes were a little skimpy and thin, giving me the impression that she may be a prostitute. She was unconscious. Her neck was covered in the beginnings of fresh bruises and the stab wound in her gut looked serious. I quickly laid her flat on the ground and began to put pressure on the bloody wound.

"Good, hold her like that while I start healing her." Bella laid her right hand on the woman's chest while she tightened her grip on the scepter in her left hand. Small motes of green light lit up the scepter and the base of Bella's hand as she channeled her magic into the wound. "The wound is deep, it will take a little bit of time to heal. Keep putting pressure on it."

I nodded and maintained the pressure. In the corner of my eye I saw Silva beating the shit out of the guy but I didn't really have any empathy for him at the moment. Instead I stayed focused on the woman. After a bit of time the wound was completely healed but the woman hadn't regained consciousness.

"Bella, I think she may have hit her head when he dropped her. Can you heal any damage to her head?"

She nodded. "I can try." Bella moved her hand up to the woman's forehead before closing her eyes and channeling her healing magic again. After a moment she stopped. "I felt some drain on my mana, I'm not sure what it was but I healed something."

"Probably a concussion. What about the bruises on her neck?" I asked.

"Sure give me a moment." Bella's hand slipped down the neck and the bruises visibly went through the process of healing as if it was fast forwarding before my eyes. It was pretty interesting to watch. The fox woman's eyes began to flutter open but sharply contracted when she jerked away from the two of us.

"Who are you!? What are you doing!?"

Bella raised her hands placatingly. "It's alright, we just healed you after that man over there stabbed you."

She looked over at the man unconscious on the ground. His looks like it had taken quite the beating, large purple bruises covered his swollen face.

"Is he still alive?" I asked turning to Silva.

She scowled at the man. "For now."

I turned back to the fox woman. "Are you okay? Are you still in pain anywhere?"

Like my words woke her from a stupor she suddenly pulled her shirt up and looked at where her wound had been. Not even a scar remained on her clear pale skin, she traced a finger over where it had been before looking up in confusion.

"I thought he stabbed me," she said.

Bella smiled softly at her. "He did, I healed it up right away. If I get to the wound fast enough I can heal any scarring before it happens."

She ran her fingers over her neck. "No, I think I'm fine. It doesn't hurt anywhere." Her eyes looked back up and she had a guilty expression on her face. "I- I can't afford to pay you..."

Bella stood up and brushed the dirt off her pink skirt. "No need. You were hurt so we stepped in on our own."

Morrigan walked over from where she had been keeping watch. "What should we do with him?"

I scratched the base of my horn. "I suppose we should give him to the guards? He did try to murder this woman."

The fox woman shook her head. "They won't do anything. Most of the town is completely lawless right now and the city guard won't just believe a whore's accusation without any proof."

"Let's kill him then." Silva's eyes looked down at the man coldly.

"...Silva." She looked up at me only to flinch when she saw my expression.

"Fine fine. This then." She flipped his body onto his back and pulled down his britches.

"What are yo-?" I didn't even get to finish my question before a quick and sharp knife removed his balls from his crotch in an instant.

She quickly pulled his sack away before pointing the tip of her knife at him. "Now heal him without it."

Bella turned to me, jaw slack with a look of mild horror on her face.

I faltered, completely caught off guard by the situation. "Uhh, it's up to you Bella. Heal him with or without them, your call."

Bella put a shaky hand on his bare leg and the wound slowly sealed itself up, leaving only the thinnest white scar. At the same time, Silva threw the sack, testicles and all into a very disgusting waste bin against what could only have once been a restaurant, based on the meat scraps and animal bones.

I felt a bit of a phantom pain between my legs and I suspected Bella may have felt similarly. Especially based on the slightly sick look on her face. The foxy lady instead reacted by spitting on the unconscious man's face. "Serves him right, fucker."

I pulled my eyes away from the man's crotch. "Uh, let's get out of here. I would really not like to be here when this guy wakes up."

"Do the five of you know where you're going? There's not much out here right now. This area got hit pretty hard with the demon attacks." the fox demi asked.

I scratched the base of my horn again. "Not really, we were looking for a bar that wouldn't have issues with slaves when we heard you yell."

Her eyes lit up. "Wait! Come with me then! I know a safe place all of you can hang out. It's the least I can do for you guys after you saved me."

Torien's face hardened. "If you have a safe place to hide out, what are you doing out here?"

The demi-fox's ears went back and she looked pretty guilty. "I uh, knew there were some restaurants around here that might still have some food so I wanted to see if I could find some and bring it back. I know it's dangerous around here but I figured I could just flirt my way out of it. This guy got rough when... I refused to fuck him for free." She glanced away.

I sighed. "Alright, I believe you. What's your name?" I asked the woman.

"Me? I'm Raya! Nice to meet you!" She looked up at the sky, it was a bit into the late afternoon. "We should probably get going soon, it's dangerous enough during the day, we do not want to be out here when the sun goes down."

Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "Are there still demons running around town?"

She shook her head. "There are rumors but that's not what I'm worried about. The guards have been protecting even less of the city at night so different gangs have been running around town instead. They rob anyone out in the open and call it protection and women are pushed into sleeping with them or 'something bad might happen' they say. Normally the guards wouldn't let something like that happen but the city's a shitshow right now and all of you are much too pretty to be running around in all of that."

I looked at Torien, she often has the best sense about these kinds of things. She met my gaze and nodded. "It sounds like our best bet. We'll be cautious but I would hope someone whose life we just saved wouldn't turn around and betray us."

Raya's expression suddenly looked offended. "I would never! She saved my life, even the lowest of the low wouldn't screw someone over after that. Besides, it sounds like you were going to go to the kind of place I work at anyway, better to go to a reputable one."

"We're going to a bar?" Bella asked.

She turned to Bella confused. "A bar? No a... oh. Errrr." She turned to me, looking for help.

I cleared my throat. "I think she means a Brothel Bella."

Bella's ears went pink in a flash, I'm frankly a bit surprised she didn't pick up on the woman being a prostitute. She even referred to herself as a whore a couple times. Maybe it just went over her head.

The fox-demi looked sheepish, "Look, if you don't want to go, maybe I could..."

"N-no! It's okay! I, I think we should go." Bella was still embarrassed. Perhaps she was a bit excited too? I couldn't help but grin.

I sidled up to her and slid my arm around her waist. I couldn't give up this opportunity to tease her. "How about it Bella? We could go in, maybe see if a few girls would be interested in joining us in bed for the night?"

The fox girl's eyes had gone wide but she had a big grin on her face. "Oh! I hadn't thought you were the type! This is perfect then! Let's go! The girls will love you!"

I looked over at my other party members. "What do you three think? Any better ideas?"

Silva's eyebrows furrowed but she remained quiet. Torien sighed. "I suppose we could use the help. A local could show us the places we can go to avoid getting stabbed in our sleep." She looked at Raya's stomach. "Probably anyway."

"Hey!" The fox girl put her hands on her hips which just made Silva and Torien start laughing.

I turned to Morrigan. "How about you?"

Morrigan blushed and looked away. "As long as I can share your bed tonight too."

"Dang girl, how many girlfriends do you have? I'm impressed." Raya looked me up and down.

"Three," I said with a grin causing her to look at the rest of my party members in interest, oblivious that the third was hanging around my neck.

"Anyway," I looked at Silva. "You good with this idea too?"

"Do I actually have any input here?" she asked.

I looked her in the eye. "Of course. We're a party first. Everyone has input. If you feel like one of us is going to get stabbed I'd rather have a warning than a brown-noser."

"Brown-noser?"

"Butt kisser?" I asked.

This caused Silva to laugh. "Ah, I see. I haven't heard that one before. No, I don't have any complaints." She looked at Raya. "They have alcohol right?"

"Pfff, obviously. Er, food's a bit tight right now though."

I nodded. "I'm sure we can figure something out. Lead the way Raya."

"Awesome! Let's go!" The enthusiastic fox girl with a shockingly good ass led us down the alley away from the castrated man lying on the ground. It looks like we're about to secure our shelter for the night. Maybe not where I would have expected but I can't say I'm not a little excited. Come to think of it though... wouldn't a brothel be the perfect place to uh, grind up some levels of [Sexual Appetite]? I haven't let my hunger build for too much before but having a larger pool would give me a lot of wiggle room. Especially if I don't have as much other food to tide me over.

It was still in the afternoon when we finally approached the brothel. It was pretty noticeable from the outside. It stood out being one of the only buildings I had seen in the city built primarily out of wood, giving it a unique look. There weren't windows with girls dancing like you see in movies but there were quite a few... suggestive murals to say the least.

"Girls, Welcome to the Ruby Vixen!" Raya held out her paw-like hands toward the building and made the same pose as the girl on the sign.