Chapter 22: A new (in)sight
He woke up the next day with the morning light shining in an chirping of birds. Sitting up he saw Shanti sitting on the window board letting her long legs hang outside the window while leaning on her palms. She was still butt naked and gazed into the distance with slightly melancholic eyes. She didn't seem to mind if she was to bee seen.
That was exactly the situation J. wanted to avoid as he had no idea how to handle it. Just leaving wasn't an option as this was his room and the woman was already awake.
"Uhm, you know..." J.
"Don't worry, I'm not in heat." S.
He had no idea what she just said and just stared at her. As she could read exactly that of his facial expression she turned around letting her left leg hang down inside the room. With her still dripping white crotch facing him she went on starting in a soft yet getting slightly soured voice.
"...you do know that we beastkin go onto heat once ore twice a Year, right? So no, I'm not in heat and you don't need to worry about what happened last night!"
"...No, ehem, I ...was going to ask... why you don't have a tail..." J
His voice was getting close to inaudible towards the end of his sentence. But it really bugged him.
She had those soft ears, muscular legs and had even neighed.
A wide grin formed in Shanit's face, her eyes in slits started to tear up as she pulled him up from the bed into her embrace. After chuckling a little she gave him a small peck on his lips.
"We Equidae, like most or the beaskins come in different variations. While the ears and eyes are passed down most the time, tails and internal changes aren't obligatory. As you saw I don't have a tail but got the inner adaptions on my hips and legs... " S.
Whith that she left his embrace and strided towards her clothes on the floor. Before pulling up her pant completely she turned her head slightly towards him smirking and slapped her butt.
"As you watched my back that specifically, why don't you take it if we meet again..."
Staring at the same spot even after the door had closed again, he asked himself 'did she just invite me to... nah...'. Shaking his head he cleared hi thoughts and dressed up.
Leaving his room towards the dining hall, he received angry stares from tired looking eyes wherever he went. Even Asher and Aman looked at him in slight disbelief as he sat beside them for breakfast.
They had been audible through most of the guest wing as he learned.
Following the breakfast J. had to attend to deacon Paxton. The head priest had analyzed the totems as far as he could and could confirm their mode of operation. They multiplied the libido of all males in the proximity of about 200 yards, the greater the distance, the longer it took. At a certain multiplication the reason of infected men switched off and the jumped at everything.
This was bound to skyrocket the population of fertile and short lived creatures such as Kobolds and Goblins.
For further examinations he recommended to bring it to the Mages Guild as he found no hints to where or from who it was made. But considering how they found already two of it and how easy they had been to set up, Paxton was betting on there being more totems.
Giving him a letter for Commander Haggard and thanking him again for his help, the head priest escorted J. towards the abbeys entrance. A Wagon was already waiting for him and the totems, which were currently getting sealed back in the chest. Some of the seats had already been occupied by adventurers.
It was time to say goodbye to Asher's party. They would be staying back until Eagan was up again. If he would stay in their group was up to him, but they would at least escort him home if he decided to leave. After a couple of days they would leave here and their next stay would be Arathor.
With the promise to meet there in two weeks he climbed onto the wagon. Shanti had still been asleep and was no where to be seen, but Jeany had an expectant look in her eyes as their distance slowly grew.
No one in the Wagon was talking as the travel went on. Most of the men had shot him angry glares while the only woman, a brown haired girl in her late teens, threw him a longing gaze. After twenty minutes they had left the fields an most of the passengers had fallen asleep. With nothing else to do he went for the Settings.
Settings
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*HUD*
*General*
Not having that much choices he went for General settings and a long list with options appeared. The settings were divided into sections and most of them had a slider behind them. Some options had been greyed out and named '???', which he thought might reveal themselves later on. In the section Direct access he found the reason why the inventory was bugged.
It wasn't! The switch for direct access was simply off.
After correcting this mistake and checking everything out he looked into the HUD. This was where his fun began. For the rest of the travel he tested and tweaked his new head up display. As they reached their rest stop his sight had changed drastically.
In the top left field he now saw two scales showing his health and mana in blue and red. He loved the old fashioned displays of adventure-games.
To the lower left he had an info box. With this the bothersome notifications posed no longer a problem as he had blocked them, at least in combat. If he wanted to he could still enlarge the information and even scroll back the log to see what had happened.
The shortcuts to his inventory, status and even some fields for instant access he had put in the lower left part of his vision. Next to it he had reserved the space so that he could assign spells there.
Similar to that the middle and right top parts were blank.
That changed the moment he looked at the woman of the fellow passengers. The moment he willed to and locked his eyes a small depiction of her appeared in his upper field ow view.
O – Danica [LVL 8]
HP 280/280 MP 110/110
The basic [Analyze] was no longer necessary with this, but he would keep up analyzing who and whatever he could to gain proficiency. Leaving the group for a bit as the horses rested, he went to test the quick-buttons. And the fireball he assigned to the first appeared instantly. Though it costed a little more mana and had a small cool-down, he could now instantly cast spells with this.
Like on the way towards the abbey the trip took until afternoon. As they entered the town he notified a guard which promptly rushed for the garrison.
Arriving at the towns crossroad he was greeted by Tharynn and unloaded the now two totems in the chest. Two more soldiers took it and went with a whole twenty guards to the garrison.
J. hadn't passed down the letter as he wanted Alexis to be with him for the report.
So he went to the Inn first thing.
Mia was surprised to see him back but happy. When Alexis had heard him and came down to them, he recounted what had happened at the abbey. Though he left the nightly visit he got out, obviously.
Both of them had a stern look as he finished and urged him to visit Haggard immediately.
The same look appeared on the Commanders face as J. had told his story of the past three days. The discussion for their next steps took up the next hour with the conclusion to take different attempts at the same time. One totem was to be brought to the Headquarters located in Arathor's military district, while the other one went to the Mages Guild.
Tharynn was to transfer the Totems and report to the Marshal, while J. would accompany him and use this chance to register at the Adventurers Guild.
After the meeting they left together for Mia's Inn and had dinner together. Haggard had invited them and even paid J. five silvers for his help.
What J. learned this evening made rage boil in him. The bandits in the region kept getting brazen as they had attacked even more adventurers. The rumors of one Female bandit leader immune to magic had spread further. The probability of that being the one who stole J's ring was high, what made him furious.
More bandit camps had been sighted at the eastern shore of the silver lake near Gold Creek. At the same time young men and girls had gone missing in the further eastern parts of the forrest.
As the sun had set for quite some time, the two officers left. They all had have enough drinks and the next day would start early. Tharynn and J. would be traveling by horse to the capital.
After he had already gone to bed, J. had to use the restrooms again. Passing Mia's room, the door was closed this time. On his way back to his room he heard the muffled moaning again but went on. He had felt like someone snickering inside but brushed it off. He may have had to much ale this night.
The next morning he woke up early. As he had already dressed up and no baggage to take with him he left the room towards the stairs. As mia's door opened he halted. Who came out of the door wasn't Mia but Alexis, with messy hair and covering herself with a blanket...
Grinning at her she walked passed him after rolling her eyes.
So he had heard right...
Marcus had already prepared a hearty breakfast for him and it didn't take that long for the women to arrive. Alexis shot him a 'don't dare to ask' stare and talked normally afterwards.
Tharynn was already waiting for him outside the Inn. A white horse had been prepared for him and a big chest was affixed behind the saddle. The Adjutant had a black horse and told him those were magical beasts. Not only were they slightly faster than normal horses but also needed no rest while easy to ride.
Saddling up, Mia and Alexis came out to say their goodbyes.
On their way toward the Capital they talked about the bandits and how Tharynn suspected them to be the culprit behind the totems. He had the feeling of Eldrin as a whole being under attack.
Later J. asked him about how Haggard and Alexis knew each other. As he was only told they had met on a battlefield in the distant past and that apparently Alexis had saved the Commanders life. He had been a young soldier then and Tharynn only knew it had taken place in the Highlands. Afterwards Haggard had climbed through the ranks and was about to even reach the next rank soon. He had been stationed in the garrison on his own accord though he has had better options with more prestige. But that at least came in handy in this situation.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone