1.45 – A Update

General negative religion vibes, but the goal isn't really to display cruelty so I think it should be fine for most people?

Specifically, she's confined to their temple but treated well.

She's trans and likes/would have kept her dick regardless. Again, touched on only lightly. It's not meant to be a negative plot point, and the church won't have any major gripes about it.

The main plot is seducing the clergy and possibly escaping.

The bathtub filled the room with a heavy floral scent, like being in the detergent aisle back home. The 'purifying herbs' made her face scrunch up, but they wouldn't let her bathe without them. Not even after breaking out in hives from whichever ones they'd used one particular night.

They simply gave her a sip from a 'potion', and made a note not to use that particular herb anymore. Though the medicine worked faster than what should have been possible, her condition clearing up instantly, she remained obstinately skeptical.

Because it was these people claiming alchemy was real. They still thought she was their god's Chosen, whatever that even meant; rather than catch her in a lie, their [Prophets] confirmed it.

Goddess Claira herself, from within her divine realm, sent instructions on what to do with her. Only, she gleaned, the message hadn't included any actual words—but consisted entirely of feelings and intentions.

They interpreted it as: 'teach her', 'purify her', 'make her fit to be my Chosen', and so on. Because of this 'general vibe' the cultists felt, they confined her here: the temple used as their headquarters, in the center of their kingdom's capital. For two weeks now.

She still planned to escape, but where could she go? Their influence was strongest here, and even if she could escape, they had their fingers in every Human settlement on the continent.

There were other species, that the books they'd given her generally referred to as barbaric, uncivilized, and so on—but they had cities and towns their own. Her information was too unreliable. Anything the Church claimed was suspect.

But she couldn't seriously deny that magic, alchemy, or even Gods existed; teleportation was what had brought her here in the first place, and they had no notion of electricity. Magic runes kept her bath delightfully hot the entire time.

And a...presence had given her a Class, that first night. She'd resisted, tried to kick it out of her head, and it had almost worked. It even stopped mid-sentence, but then a will stronger than her own interfered, and the first entity designated her a [Maiden of Claira].

With that Class came a Skill: [Lesser Dampen Libido]. She learned it was a passive ability, and couldn't be turned off, though she tried. In turn, it constantly tried to turn her off. She vowed to fuck everyone in their damn temple, horny or not.

Alicia sighed and sunk deeper into the water, her hand moving lower still. She wondered if she could drown herself before being found, or if they had a way to detect that. Only a passing thought. There were benefits to being here.

Like most religion, the Church of Claira hoarded wealth. Her bathroom, used only for bathing, was larger than a bedroom. A detailed marble statue stood in the center of the room. Each night, two dozen servants carrying buckets filled the tiled and silver-trimmed bath.

And then immediately after, all that water was drained away.

The servants weren't slaves, as far as she could tell, but were all some variation of [Attendant of Claira]. They treated her reverently, some fidgeting nervously around her. Any time she asked about their work conditions, they replied with much the same thing.

"I'm happy to serve Her Chosen. Labor keeps the mind pure."

Was it their Classes doing it—or were they just raised that way? Alicia was no stranger to religious brainwashing, but the former was worrying.

They'd already entrapped her. Just today, she woke up as a Level 2 [Maiden of Claira], thankfully without any additional Skills. She wasn't sure whether to blame this world, or the God(s?) here.

Classes without Claira in the title did exist though, and just doing things related to it would make it grow in level. She worked against hers as much as possible. She thought impure thoughts, tried hitting on the clergy, masturbated, and her biggest project—slowly seducing John.

The [True Steward of Claira] who she'd encountered first. She saw him for at least an hour on most days, and today she'd moved their appointment up to after her bath. They should have more privacy, that way.

Despite the negatives, it was a gilded cage. Dinner included multiple courses; a luxury she'd never had even back home. They weren't cruel to her, and brought her almost anything she asked for. She didn't find herself wanting for anything—except her freedom.

She'd worried initially, that they would forcibly strip her or try to dress her themselves, and then there really would have been a problem. Luckily, anything involving nudity was private and involved only a single person, or else it was forbidden. That part of their culture afforded her much privacy.

There was a larger benefit to being here though, one inherent to this world, she guessed. Or maybe the Goddess had done something to her, she didn't know.

But two weeks had passed without access to her stuff. Where she had expected unwanted changes to show themselves any day now—instead, she looked more feminine than ever. She no longer needed it.

Thanks to the privacy they gave her, and the loose dresses they clothed her with, none yet had discovered what her hand wrapped around now. If this Church had any doctrine against what she was, she hadn't yet been informed. Part of her hoped they were ignorant enough for it to not be an issue.

Alicia met Claira's cold, stone eyes. She stood in the center of the room, facing the bath and looking down on anyone bathing, making sure they weren't doing anything inappropriate.

As part of her new nightly ritual, she stroked herself to that sculpture of her. Not because she was that starved for material, nor was she very horny, but because—

"A nut a day keeps the levels away."

And it might piss Claira off, supposing she could watch through those eyes. Alicia prayed she could. Enough blasphemy might even revert the Class and levels they'd forced on her, so she continued.

"I dedicate the lives of these brave sailors to Claira. Go on, little guys, ascend to heaven."

The pearly string floating on the water was unfortunately not beamed up in holy offering. She stared at it with disgust over her situation, and then pulled the drain plug.

"If I level up one more time, I swear to you, I'm gonna defile that statue next. So you'd better stop."

She felt a little silly, talking to a statue and potentially angering a literal Goddess.

John appeared in her chambers shortly after. They were alone. John being a trusted member of the Church, with the 'True' aspect of his Class denoting his virgin parents, his Class was the least of what he'd lose if he did anything. That was unheard of, however.

"Tell me again why you made me come here so late? I do have other duties."

"Aw, do you dislike me that much, John? Am I a burden to you? Or, do you have a wife and kids waiting at home after all?"

Alicia feigned a wistful look. She knew he didn't. And he knew she was teasing him, but replied consolingly anyway.

"Please, Alicia, you're already well aware. Would it help if I said meeting with you is the highlight of my day? It is typically day, however, so I hope you at least studied?"

Ostensibly, he met with her to monitor her and make sure she studied their tenets properly. But whether or not it was just an act to make her more compliant, he seemed to sympathize with her to some degree. He was also the only one she had got to use her name thus far, instead of calling her 'Chosen'.

As for studying, she obliged them. Slowly. While their religious texts were as useless as any, some of the history and geography would actually be useful later.

Their main commandment was 'Do not partake in obscene acts.' The text didn't specify what those acts were, for fear of mimicry, Alicia suspected, so that gave her some leeway as she stretched out on the sofa. Her bare feet landed on John's lap.

"What if I said I had just wanted a bedtime foot massage? Would you be disappointed?"

"Yes."

He immediately got to work. The first time she'd had him do this had taken some convincing, but now she barely had to ask. She'd been hoping for a latent foot fetish to reveal itself—not much sign of that so far—but he was pretty good at it.

Phase 1, normalize physical contact, was just about complete. There were all kinds of ways this could go next, but she had to ease him into any of it over the course of days or weeks. So slow.

He glanced over at her. If she remained silent, he might clarify that he wasn't that disappointed, but just had a duty to serve the Church. She suspected some of his deadpan answers were his own form of humor.

"Well, I did study. You should be happy. I know all the rules of Fate now. We could play, if you wanna."

"Did you now? I'd love...I mean, that's not what you ought to study. As much as you disagree, I do need to show that you're making progress."

It'd taken some coaxing to get any of his personal interests, but Fate was John's favorite board game. It was like chess, but with a hexagonal grid, levels, and the ability to recruit pieces. He liked all kinds of games like that. If they were back home, he would have had a field day in a game shop.

Alicia rolled her eyes and kicked her feet against his thighs.

"Quiz me if you want."

"Alright. What's the first doctrine?"

That one was a given, and the rest of his questions were also suspiciously easy. If Alicia didn't know better, she'd guess intentionally so.

Once she'd passed enough of his questions, he left and came back with a game set. They set it up on the table next to the sofa, so that they were playing sideways. The game had more rules than chess, but Alicia got the general idea.

Units started at level 1, indicated by a number on their base, and leveled as they killed enemy units. You kept track by rotating the piece inside of its hexagonal grid space. The level it currently was faced the opponent.

The pieces were simple carvings; a sword for the warrior, staff for the mage, and so on. The base of each had a dimple to accept a colored marble, so you could specialize a unit to get a fire-mage, for example.

Each combination, and some of the levels, had additional rules to remember. Alicia tried her best, having played tabletop games before, but John still whooped her.

"Sorry. It's a difficult game to pick up. Most don't have the patience for it, but you did well for your first time."

"Yeah, yeah. I've got it now. Let's go again."

She didn't win a single time. John suggested he should go easy on her, but Alicia refused. When she finally did beat him, it would be more meaningful. For now though, they'd both had their fill of the game.

If the night had ended there, she would have considered it a success. Gain emotional attachment from the man by indulging his personal interests, establish 'foot-massage and game night with John' as a regular occurrence, and combine that with the normalization of pursuing guilty pleasures like personal hobbies rather than the interests of the Church.

Was that all Phase 2? She was scheming and she was plotting, but there was one more thing she could pursue tonight.

"Could we go for a walk? Just in the garden. It should be fine, right?"

He blinked and considered it. It was long dark by now, but the garden was inside the temple grounds. If she tried to run, John alone would be more than enough to stop her. She continued.

"The fresh air would be nice, after being beaten so thoroughly. And it's not like I could escape, with you there."

John jerked from his thoughts.

"I've told you before—you're not a prisoner here. I wish you wouldn't see it that way."

"Well, you could have fooled me."

Alicia crossed her arms, hefting her breasts up slightly. She was careful not to mention it, but he noticed that kind of thing, sometimes. John sighed and stood.

"Let's go for a walk, then."

The full moons were out that night.