Chapter 76: Birthday… invitation?

Once the brief flash of light faded, a woman decked out in a skintight black bodysuit appeared, probably not latex since wearing latex too much will literally kill you almost as quickly as a latex-covered dom will make you masturbate yourself to death. Her suit also looked a little more matte, I think. Not that I’ve ever seen a latex suit in-person. It wasn’t too dissimilar to our own dungeon raiding clothes.

The only uncovered portion of her was her face, sporting some cute narrowed blue eyes, and her long blonde hair, which did not sport any blue. Her lips were clearly pursed. Probably concerned. Probably because of Melody calling her. Probably nervous too. A very normal reaction to my terrifyingly-cute Melody.

After quickly scanning the surroundings and only finding rows of workout equipment instead of some deadly monster that almost killed us (I don’t know how much Melody told her), her eyes landed on Melody, and then me, and then back on Melody. “Who’s hurt?”

“Scarlet,” Melody replied, pointing to me as she removed herself from our head-shoulder pile, making me shiver briefly before I rolled my neck to stretch.

“Them? Where?” the lady asked, her eyes following Melody’s finger. “Sorry, but I can't sense anything.”

Melody sighed then stood up, turned to me, and ordered, “Stand up.”

I did, straightening my skirt before turning to Melody, expecting another command—

“Lift up your skirt.”

—but not that command.

“No!” the healer shouted immediately while my eyes darted to the ground and my cheeks started burning. Gesturing at my pelvis area, she continued. “I do not need to see… anything… there.”

Frozen with… uh… embarrassed confusion, or something, I did not lift my skirt. Although it might make Melody happier? Maybe I should. And it’s just someone in Melody’s guild so she can force them to stay silent… assuming they won’t already want to. No real detriment to me. Maybe I just…

Having somehow concluded that lifting my skirt in front of a stranger, might actually make sense, my hands were already gripping the hem, slowly tugging upwards. She’s basically a doctor anyway, and obviously there’s totally no problem at all with a doctor seeing all of your naked body. Fortunately or unfortunately, the latex lady interrupted again. “Stop! Seriously! Or I will leave.”

Well shit. If she leaves, Melody’s sad. If I don’t lift up my skirt, Melody’s sad. The world is against me. I slowly raised my head toward Melody, laboring over my choices.

Given what just happened, I assume Melody would be saddest if the healer left. Then again, would the lady even leave? She’s essentially employed by Melody. I’m not sure how much Melody fiddles with guild things, but she definitely could, and probably would when it relates to me, fire someone for whatever reason if she was feeling petty.

Thankfully, my concern was unwarranted as Melody soon spoke. “Stop, Scarlet.“ Then she turned to the lady. “Her legs.”

Sighing, the healer squinted while she replied. “They were healed… fifteen minutes ago? She’s fine.”

“Heal her again.” Melody insisted. I don’t think you can fix something that isn’t broken though.

“There’s nothing to heal,” the healer insisted. Then she sighed as Melody continued staring at her. “Please tell me there’s something else?”

”Tell my father to check his damn messages,” Melody answered as she slid a little closer to me, her hand idly playing with the side of my skirt, making my legs feel a little cold but the rest of my body feel a little warm because… well… Melody cuteness things.

“Absolutely not.” The lady who’s name I really need to get glanced around the room again, before asking in an exhausted voice, “Where’s the exit?”

“Over there.” Melody pointed towards the direction we came from and, sadly, removed her hand from my skirt. Mystery lady headed off in that direction. I guess she couldn’t teleport again?

We stood and watched for a while until she neared the doorway, when Melody commented, “She’s still new. Got hired and assigned to this region a year ago I think.”

“Huh,” I said, not really sure what to say since I had no clue what Melody was trying to get at. I’m surprised knows who she is though. I assume her guild employs a lot of people, seems unlikely a random S tier would be memorable.

Wait. No… S tiers are rare. It makes sense she’d remember them. I’ve just been around a lot recently. A lot more than most people would interact with in their lifetime, I think. My sense of classes is all out of whack. There’s only like… There’s seven X tiers, right? So 7 times 100 is 700. Yeah. Seven hundred S tiers-ish?

Melody continued talking, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down it until she was seated again. I followed. “My father is kinder than he lets on. He wants to meet you sometime. Maybe at Josephine’s birthday party.”

Ah. The refusal to tell Melody’s father to check his messages. I think I’d refuse too no matter how nice Melody’s parents are. Mainly because I don’t want them to hate me. Unless Melody hates them. Then fuck them. But I think Melody loves her parents. Also, a birthday party? “Who’s Josephine?”

”You know her,” Melody stated, looking over at me. I stared back. “Solstice. The princess.”

That Josephine?! Uh… I wouldn’t say I know her, I do know about her. She’s two years younger than me, so this is her seventeenth birthday I think. Or sixteenth? My birthday is in May and when I was seventeen, she was two years younger than me… so sixteenth birthday. She’s the youngest of the royal/imperial children. Her brother is around twenty and her sister should be around my age. Historically royal families have more than three children, but the current one decided three would be enough. I mean, there hasn’t been an assassination in like fifty years so I guess it's fine.

“You’re coming with me to her birthday party,” Melody repeated, pulling me out of my thoughts.

”Uh…” The princess’ birthday party. I don’t think I’ll fit in there. I’m kind of a normal person. “Okay?”

Ignoring my hesitation, Melody continued talking. “It’s not for a couple weeks, but we’ll need to buy you a gown. Maybe purple? Might offend some of the old nobles since they don’t all know your tier.”

Royal etiquette… I’m not going to need to learn any of that right? Like not the ten forks stuff. I prefer my single big fork for everything. Just lick between foods and boom: a new clean fork.

Scratch that. What am I thinking? I’m X tier. I make the rules. Maybe I can “convince” the emperor to ban having more than… 2 forks for a meal? Unless it’s a lot of courses. Hmm… Max of 1.5 fork average per course. Same with spoons. And knives.

“We can go shopping this weekend,” Melody decided. “And before I forget…”

Status Share from Melody

Please select one unlock for your pet.

Secondary Ability: Sensory Overload (Level 1)

Can link any two non-humanoid creatures‘ sense of touch (including pain and pleasure), with both creatures feeling the full sensation. However, damage still applies solely to the attacked creature.

Range:

All creatures must be within pet’s line of sight when activated. One creature must remain in pet’s line of sight while active.

Consumption Rate:

3 mana per second per linked creature

Secondary Ability: Pain link (Level 1)

Can link any two consenting persons’ pain, splitting the sensation at any ratio. However, damage still applies solely to whomever is attacked.

Range:

All linked persons must be within 1 km of pet.

Consumption Rate:

3 mana per second per linked person

Ah, my daily submission level up. I like being rewarded for doing nothing.

A pain debuff and a pain buff. These both… seem kinda useful? The second one more so in a desperate situation, but the first is basically always useful. Literally torturing monsters.

Pain link could be really hot. I could link my pain with Melody’s and then she could punish me from anywhere by hitting herself. Or do it right in front of me… oh god I’d be so submissive. I don’t think I could bear seeing Melody hit herself, especially if it’s a punishment… although I guess I’m not supposed to like punishments.

Yeah I’ll go with the first one, Sensory Overload. Most useful. It does seem awfully evil though, doesn’t it? Not that human-killing monsters deserve sympathy.

“Sensory Overload is more useful I think…”

“Silvia and Amane would beg to differ,” Melody mumbled before she finished the selection and the popup popped up.

Submission Level Up!

Having reached submission score 40, you have unlocked the following ability.

You have also leveled up to level 7 and are 8% of the way to level 8.

Secondary Ability: Sensory Overload (Level 1)

Can link any two non-humanoid creatures‘ sense of touch (including pain and pleasure), with both creatures feeling the full sensation. However, damage still applies solely to the attacked creature.

Range:

All creatures must be within your line of sight when activated. One creature must remain in your line of sight while active.

Consumption Rate:

3 mana per second per linked creature

I dismissed the message immediately having already read the ability description ten seconds ago, although I did notice I leveled—but I can check that later. Moving to Melody’s random comment about Amane and Silvia, I was very confused. “Really?”

“They have a mommy little girl thing going on,” Melody explained before leaning against my shoulder. “Or at least it felt that way when I saw them after lunch.”

“What happened?” I asked, looking down at Melody’s hair. It smells kinda sweet today. Maybe lavender?

“Met them as I walked out,” Melody began, pausing to slide her hand down to the hem of my skirt. She continued as she curled her fingers over and under. “They held hands while Amane skipped beside her.”

That’s… I mean it’s not crazy weird. Amane can like skipping and two girls holding hands is just a friendly thing. I think. I mean I don’t usually hold my friends hands. But it’s not like I’d say no. Especially if they’re cute. Yeah, not helping my case here. “But that doesn’t really mean much?”

Melody’s hand began a skirt-tugging journey up my thigh. Once it reached halfway, she whispered, “Then Amane whispered ‘Mommy, I’m hungry.’”

“Uh—” What? That, I shouldn’t know. I think. I mean… how long have they known each other? I find it hard to believe they’ve progressed that much. They pair up in things and are close, sure, but no way they’re more than friends, right? That’s just… maybe it’s a joke?

Do people joke like that? That doesn’t matter. How do I even reply to Melody? Uh… “Eavesdropping is bad, you know?”

Melody’s hand had somehow crept all the way up my leg making my panties visible to everyone… not that there’s really anyone here. With her hand frozen right there, she mumbled, “Sorry, Mommy. Should I make it up to you?”

“What the fuck?” And what the fuck will happen if I say yes? “Hell no! You’re the mommy!”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, Mommy. I forgot?” Melody replied… with a question? How do you think you forgot?

I don’t even… why is Melody being weird again? And acting so submissive. Melody’s eyes were trained down at her hand, resting right at the top of my thighs, like… what I’d do to beg for sex or something. Is she horny? I feel like I’m the hornier one most of the time. “Are you okay, Melody?”

Melody sighed, pulling her hand off of my leg and her head off my shoulder. “Yeah, sorry, Scar.”

We sat there for a few more minutes in silence. I don’t think Melody’s okay, but I don’t know how to help. Instead, for better or worse, I checked over my system and the progress on our shared spatial storage ability.

Scarlet Diamond

BDSysteM

Unique - X tier

Active Mistress Imposed Effects: Nudity

Level 7 (8%)

Credits: 7914.06

Health: 560/560

Mana: 560/560

Submission: 40

Strength: 560

Agility: 560

Points: 20

Secondary Ability: Shared Spatial Inventory (Level 2)

Provides a no requirement shared spatial inventory of size 10cm x 10cm x 10cm for pet and Mistress, with both having access and the ability to add or remove any non-living physical items. Any living entity inserted will die immediately.

Progress: 9%