1.11 – Adventurers

No content warning needed, I think

Maple awoke the next day to find Rachel's tent moved quite a distance away from their own. Just up and moving your entire tent like that was neither quick nor easy, so you didn't do it without a good reason.

"Were we that loud last night?"

Emma shook her head, and pulled out the notebook and pen Maple was letting her keep.

Moved before.

"Oh. So it was you two who were that loud, huh?"

The Slime grinned and rubbed the back of her head, clearly proud of her conquest.

It was all sunshine today as Rachel cooked breakfast again. Maple plopped down on a log and let her body go limp. Thanks to delayed onset soreness, she was in even more pain today than last night. Her eyes rolled lazily toward Rachel.

The Arachnid seemed to avoid her gaze even more than when it was her having some nightly fun. Oh-ho? After what she went through last night, she felt a little teasing was in order. She put on a smirk to rival even Emma's.

"Did you have fun last night? I guess now we're...jelly sisters, huh? Jam gals? No wait, partners in slime!"

Rachel looked Maple in the eye and held her gaze a moment before reprising her.

"I thought you said it wouldn't make things weird."

Wait. Maple squinted in thought trying to digest this. Rachel had said make 'things' weird—not that Emma would do weird things, like she'd interpreted it yesterday.

"Wait, so you...knew it would uh, end up like that?"

"I knew what I was getting into. I just didn't want it to make things weird between us—and you assured me it wouldn't. But I guess that wasn't possible after all."

Emma elbowed Maple and glared at her with a silent don't mess this up for me.

"Oh. Sorry, no I was just confused is all. I understand now, and won't mention it again. So you could keep doing—"

"That's what I mean, Maple. Such things should remain private. Frankly, I'd prefer if you didn't know about it at all, but secrets are hard to keep when you're traveling. Anyway. Breakfast if you want some."

Maple nodded, and made a mental note to never bring it up again. Breakfast was sausage and bread, today. Maple was beginning to feel like dead weight. Even if cooking and cleaning were better left to the pros—she hadn't even gathered any of the firewood, for example.

"Thanks."

Maple had to drag the food to her mouth.

"You're welcome. How are you holding up?"

"I'm so sore. And tired."

"Yeah, I figured. Just take it easy. I'd give you some potion, but it's expensive and you wouldn't build much muscle if you let it do all the work for you."

Maple didn't much care for building muscle right then. Financially imposing wasn't something she wanted to do, however. She already felt like dead weight, so she would just walk until she dropped. If she really had to.

"I can't go any further. Can you carry me? Please?"

Maple was squatting on the ground. Her legs felt limp and heavy every time she tried to take another step. She kept having to stop for a break, only to need another one after 10 more steps. Rachel's patience had apparently run thin enough to actually agree.

"Fine. But if anyone sees us, they might get the wrong idea..."

"Who cares what anyone else thinks, friend, let me up."

Rachel let out a soft sigh as Maple climbed aboard her spider-half. She wrapped her arms around her waist first, and then just laid back and lazily clung to her exoskeleton. A too-sudden movement might make her fall, but the road was smooth and Rachel was careful.

"You're pretty comfy, you know?"

Maple let the slight bobbing of each step rock her to near-sleep. They went substantially faster like this, and it was only as much of a burden to Rachel as carrying Emma's jar was for Maple.

"We might actually still get there today if we keep this pace up. Even with the rain slowing us down yesterday."

After maybe an hour of rest, Maple sat up and stared at the landscape passing them by. It was like a really slow road trip. They hadn't even seen any—

"Group up ahead. Four of them. Stay on me."

Rachel was tense, causing Maple to sit upright and stare ahead. Maple could barely make them out they were still so far away. They didn't really seem threatening. They were just walking, and in their direction along the road, but still.

"They're just...people, right?"

"...Yes. But you never know who you'll encounter on the road. A good bandit group would look like ordinary people too. Next thing you know, there's a knife to your throat and you're being robbed as a dozen more come out of the trees. Just be cautious."

Maple nodded and clutched Emma's bottle close to her. If it came to a fight, it'd be four on three. Technically. Maple didn't even have a weapon, and she was basically useless either way. Emma also seemed to be much more of a lover than a fighter. So it'd be mostly up to Rachel and her mysterious combat class past.

As they drew closer, Maple could see one of them was...slithering, actually.

"Is that a—"

"Hoi there! We're Azure Bond, C-rank adventurers. Any trouble on the road?"

It was the woman with pointy ears, and a bow on her back who called out. Maple guessed she was an Elf, and Rachel would correct her on that later. She was a Half-Elf.

"Hello. None that we've come across. Are you coming from Syber?"

Rachel replied while Maple stared at the Lamia. She carried a staff and wore a robe which was white like most of her scales. Her hair and some of her scales were turquoise. The colored scales formed a pattern along the top of her snake-half.

It was so fascinating to see—her snake portion was as thick as Maple's torso was. She'd seen Lamias in various media before, but it was different in real life. She could see the Lamia's heartbeat and muscles flexing beneath her scales as she curled her body up into a coil. She wondered what it'd be like to—

"Don't you just want her to wrap her entire body around yours?"

"Oh my gosh, yes."

Maple replied without thinking. She realized what she'd just said out loud and looked up to see everyone staring at her. Rachel turned her torso around and gave her a look as she turned red. Even Emma—who had come out of her bottle at some point—looked a little shocked.

The one who had first noticed Maple's staring and then asked that brazen question was a blonde hair blue eye Human woman in heavy armor. She looked as surprised as anyone, but instead of disgust, her face then filled with enthusiasm.

"Sorry, it's just the first time I've seen a—"

"Finally, someone else who gets it! I told you you were a total looker, Sylla. Isn't she just adorable?"

The Lamia in question, Sylla, coiled her snake-half even tighter and clutched her staff as her own face turned red. She was avoiding both of the weird women's gazes.

"Stop it, Thera. You're embarrassing me."

Rachel rubbed her face. What was with all the people she was meeting lately? The Dwarf of the group turned to the Half-Elf who'd first called out to them.

"By my beard. I think our dear captain has finally found someone as weird as she is."

"Sorry, my Human friend is a little weird. I think she's mostly just surprised because it's her first time seeing a Lamia. Though, she was crying about giant spiders when she saw me for the first time..."

Rachel sounded slightly hurt, and Maple had no excuse for that. Besides maybe arachnophobia.

"Hah! Not from around here then, is she? And yet now you two are...?"

Maple saw the Dwarf glance at her hands on Rachel's waste. She quickly removed them and climbed down.

"We're just friends—I'm just not used to walking this far, so she ended up having to carry me. Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. Your scales are just so pretty. Um, not that Rachel's spider-half isn't pretty too, it's just..."

Emma put her arm around Maple then, claiming her. The Dwarf looked even more surprised, and Thera cried out.

"Whaaaa—You got a Slime to bond with you? You're so lucky!"

"That's our [Interspecies Seductress] for you."

"Aw, don't out me like—"

Rachel rolled her eyes, and Emma squeezed her face affectionately against Maple's

"No way, that's a class?! How did you get it? I need to know."

The weird blonde woman got up in Maple's face, practically begging she teach her what she did. Maple backed up half a step, and then it took both the Half-Elf and the Dwarf to drag Thera back.

"Don't mind our captain. She's got issues. I'm Alas, and that's Dort. We just came from Syber; you shouldn't have any issues heading that way."

"Pardon our weird Human as well. I'm Rachel. That's Emma, and Maple."

Rachel turned to the still-blushing Lamia, and looked her up and down.

"I hate to ask with your team around, but, are they treating you well?"

Sylla looked surprised, and slightly more flustered before she answered.

"Um, yes...My team has been nothing but kind to me."

The answer seemed to satisfy Rachel. Dort nodded, and then looked up at the Arachnid woman.

"It's good that you ask. We're like family and that includes Sylly here, but not every team is as...friendly as ours."

A majority humanoid party with much fewer 'monster' races was often a worrying sign. In some Human towns they weren't recognized as people at all, but were treated more like pets. Slaves.

If that was what was going on here, Rachel might have done something about it. Four C-ranks wouldn't have been easy, but she'd dealt with worse in the past.

They parted ways shortly after that.

"Well, we have an assignment to get to. Remember Azure Bond if you ever need adventurer work done. I'll make you tell me how you got that class next time we meet!"

Maple shuddered. There was a gal to put her to shame. The system here was off by far if it gave Maple these kinds of classes, but not someone like that.

"Phew. That was stressful."

Rachel eyed the green-eyed girl without saying anything. Maple managed to walk on her own the rest of the way. They saw it long before they reached it. Huge 40ft stone walls surrounded the city, making it visible from miles away. And if that wasn't enough, it seemed as large as any city back home.

"Wow, I didn't know it'd be so big!"

"Well, yeah. It's one of the largest cities on the continent, and open to all civilized races. Listen, when we get to my old friend's inn, don't mention her missing wing okay? It has...a negative connotation in Succubus society."

"Oh, okay. So your friend is a Succubus? What are those like here exactly?"

Rachel scratched her head. The road they were on was paved with stone now, the gate up ahead was letting people in and out. Mostly in though, as it was sunset.

"You've heard of them? Well they're...just like any other people? They do need sexual energy to live, but it's not nearly as much as you might think. Even once every few months would be fine for most."

When they finally got to the gate, it turned out Maple and Emma needed to register for an entry pass in a separate line. Rachel already had one from prior visits.

"I'll go on ahead to the inn. Remember, it's called the Copper Butterfly, and is on the far west side of the city. You shouldn't have any issues finding it—just ask for directions if you need help."

The Human and Slime waved her off, and got in line. It was filled with a variety of species, from Humans to what looked like lizard-men and full on furries. Most of them were larger than Maple was, and some had sharp teeth.

Every few minutes a furry guard who looked kind of like a mix between a dog and a hyena would come out and call the next person inside.

"Nervous? Because I sure am."

Emma grabbed Maple's hand and held it.