Chapter 173. Holstaur’s

Kettu's words rang in my head as we continued.

Tarakona had made a few passing comments about her mother wanting the same as she had, but I hadn't taken them seriously, because... Well, I didn't know if that was right.

Would I stop it if it came to pass?

Of course not. There were many fantasies involving a step mother but God damn a Dragon?

I felt a bit like I was heading towards the Lusty Argonian Maid territory here. Then again.My eyes drifted to Kettu in her maid outfit, which she had somehow kept clean despite all the trekking we had been doing. We were well and truly into Foxy territory with her.

As if she felt my eyes on her, Kettu spun her head around and smirked. She hadn't offered anything more and had seemed quite content just letting me work through it at my own pace.

"Would both Dragons be okay with that?" I asked. "Tarakona mentioned Dragons mate for life and I really don't want to assume anything."

"A lie Tithalia told her when she was younger. She believed saying it would force Tarakona to be a little more picky with her choice in mate." Kettu replied with a shrug. "Ultimately Tithalia didn't want Tarakona to go through the same abandonment as she had with her own mate. I'll admit if she didn't have Tarakona to keep her going she would have probably broken then, not mentioning I would never have been saved. There are stories of rebounds but Tithalia threw everything she had into raising Tarakona, she didn't have time for anything else."

"Well at least I don't have to worry about impressing her father then. Got my hands full with just her mother." I joked, getting a scoff from the Kitsune.

Before she could reply to my joke, however, her ears twitched and she cocked her head to the side. "We're close. I can hear construction underway."

I put the thoughts of Tithalia to the back of my mind to revisit later. Preferably with Tarakona present so that I knew where we all stood, but for now.

It took about an hour for my own ears to hear the sound of hammers and saws, something I chalked up to Kettu's fox heritage.

I also memorized my position just out here in case I needed to teleport for any reason. I mean who am I kidding, I would be coming back unless Dallas just hands everything over to me and I highly doubt he would do that. Unless?

Can I trigger a flag by saying it enough?

"Forgive me for not asking previously but what type of approach are we taking with this? Do we want to be aggressive and threaten him or more stealthy?" Kettu asked just as we came out of the forest and could make out the signs of life. "Regardless of your choice I will be trying to free the enslaved girls but I want to know what you want to do."

There had been a path from town we could have followed, but we both agreed that not giving him time to prepare was for the best.

"Stealthy. I want to find his Livestock and see what kind of condition she is in. Tilty has made Dallas sound like an ass so confirming that is my main priority." I thought for a second before letting out a breath. "You were a slave previously and I hate to bring it up but is there any spells you know of that could remove a slave collar?"

Kettu's tails all bristled for a second before relaxing."It is possible but not something Tithalia has taught me. If we can find one of these collars, I can take it back with us and figure it out." Kettu said, trying to keep her voice even. She succeeded for the most part but I could tell it was a strain. "Though I would much prefer we free them now."

"Hey, if it's too much, we can find another strategy." I offered, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Kettu growled. "No. It is not too much. Saving some from that fate is worth reliving all of my memories, I just don't make any promises. Giving them hope and not delivering would crush whatever spirit they still have."

I nodded unsure of what to say. Kettu gave herself a moment before turning back to me.

"Well if a stealthy approach is what we're doing then let's try this." She said touching the tip of my nose.

The world blurred before kettu vanished.

"Oh. It's been a while since I did it with someone else." She spoke from beside me. "Here you go."

I felt another tap on the bridge of my nose, and Kettu's form became visible again, but hazy. I could see her, but I could see the trees behind her as well.

"Invisibility?" I questioned looking down at my own hands and seeing the same hazy overlay. Looking at my stomach didn't reveal all my Internal organs so it was just an outline.

"Yip. Though it doesn't stop sound, just sight. Aaaand if someone has a good sense of smell they will notice you as well." Kettu replied with a curtsy. "I should also mention if you go to far away from me it will fail as well. I'm not as proficient as I want to be with sharing this ability."

"No problems here. This will make everything much easier."

Kettu bowed again and we set off with the first location I had in mind. The pens.I wanted to know if we could do anything for the Holstaur's and Harpies right now. If we could free them, it would solve a potential problem when we came across Dallas's Livestock.

I didn't know the rules of slavery in this world so I could be committing a crime by freeing them but I'll take that. If their freedom means I'm a criminal then so be it. Not like they could actually convict me without saying goodbye to everything I can sell.

The Holstaur's pen was a little bigger than I remembered but that might have been because of my size then. There was plenty of room for them to run about, but they huddled together near one of the edges instead.

Kettu let out a hiss as we neared and finally got a good look at the collar's they wore. They were bulky things with a broken chain dangling down their fronts but they were tight around each neck. Tight enough that I doubt I could have squeezed a finger between it and their necks.

The Holstaur's themselves all had horns that looked to have been filed down as well as hooves. I would have missed their tails with how closely they were hugging them to their bodies.

"I'm not seeing any spare ones I can use to practice on." Kettu whispered to me as she kept her head on a swivel.

One of the girls looked up from her position on the ground at her voice, looking confused as she tried to locate it. She was thinner than I'd have expected someone to be if they wanted to be farmed but whatever fat she did have was solely located in her chest. Instead of giving up when she couldn't see us she came over to the edge of the fence and snarled into the empty space.

"Give up you bastards. We were given clothes so you'd stop oggling us and we're not going to strip for your own perverted fantasies." She was still looking around obviously thinking we were hiding behind something.

Her 'clothes' were little more than thick rags that came down the her knees and only just hid all of their curves. It was probably the cheapest thing Dallas could have found in a short time, but if he had the money, why not splurge a little? Or was that not a requirement in this world?

I knew the answer but it still annoyed me.

"Fucking perverts." She growled to herself before stomping her hoof down and yelling. "It's bad enough being stuck here like this but we ain't not show girls! Just leave us alone!"

The rest of the herd looked up at her outburst but didn't make any comment.

"Can you drop my invisibility only for them?" I asked Kettu.

The Kitsune shook her head. "If I could touch them yes but I doubt they'd be accepting to that."

I growled quietly to myself before looking around. I couldn't see anyone else around except for the Harpies.

"Fine. Drop my invisibility completely, but keep your own in case something happens."Kettu clearly didn't like that, but she did as I said.

The Holstaur's all jumped at my sudden appearance before distain crossed their faces.

"What? Dallas making it hard for you to catch a peek that you have to use invisibility?" The one that had yelled before said, spitting at my feet. "Disgusting."

"Can't say I expected anything different." I said quietly to myself. "Any chance there's something I can do to prove I'm not a pervert?"

Thank God Zeldi wasn't here because I'm pretty sure she would have said no.

The Holstaur's all continued to look at me with distain. The one in front snorted towards me in a very cowlike manner.

"Remove these collars. Then we'll trust you."

There was a lot of scoffing from the rest of the group and some gestures that were entirely within reason considering their predicament, even if I didn't think I deserved them.

"If you can tell me how I will," I said back coming over to the fence and leaning against one of the postes.

The Holstaur that seemed to be the leader or at least the one most confident matched me but still stayed at arms length.

She snorted towards me as she approached. "What is this? Some kind of play to cop a feel? Or are you trying to win a bet about getting close to us?"

"What if I said I was here to help?" I replied ignoring her jab.

The Holstaur stared at me for a moment as if trying to decide if she could be bothered before shrugging.  "I got nothing else to do today, so let's see what type of bullshit you're trying to pull. Could be entertaining watching you get flogged for trying something when you inevitably get caught."

"Let me guess, a Dallas specialty?" I tried to keep the growl out of my voice.

A few of the herd touched points on their arms where scars were hidden, and I had my answer.

"That fucker has a few specialties. He might even try something new with you."

"Master Clovek, I do not like this. If she yells out, we will be caught." Kettu whispered.

The Holstaur looked in her direction and gave a confused expression when she couldn't see her.

"What if I said I was a Deed owner that simply wanted to help" I said turning the conversation back to me.

"You would have had a better chance persuading me to let you touch my boob right after fucking my sister than trying to say any Deed owner wanted to help us." She returned with a scowl.

I let out a breath as I tried to think of something. My eyes found her collar and I let my jaw drop slightly at how stupid I was being. "Well, how about I'm a magician that can remove your collar? Would that be a good start?"

"Sure." She shrugged back. "Hell, I'll agree to be your personal dairy cow if you remove all of our collars Mister Magician." There was a lot of sarcasm in her tone but her eyes had that faint spark of hope.

I was reminded of Voras and the price of making deals like this. Was I going to correct her? Nope. She can learn for herself.

"Then I just need to touch it." I said holding my hand out to her.

It was obvious she thought this was some kind of trick as she continued to stare at me like I was stupid, but with a shrug she stepped close enough that I could only just touch the thick leather. If I dropped my hand it would have hit her impressive bust but that wasn't my goal.

"Personal dairy cow? Unfortunately for you I already have one of those but I guess I could accept another." I joked pulling the collar into my inventory with a smile. "That is what you promised, right?"