Ero-Game: Power and Sword

Finishing her 3rd bowl of chicken soup, she leaned back. “Ah, that tasted good.  Eh, everything hurts.” She patted her stomach and loosened her belt. I was sure the wounds on her body weren’t something to laugh about, but she seemed calm for someone who’d lost quite a bit of blood. Thankfully, it didn’t look like she was bleeding anymore. The beast race does have better self-healing. She could also be putting on a brave act. They are a  prideful race, though that might be a stereotype.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Garth said. “It looks like you were starving.”
“Oh, yeah, I hadn’t eaten in 2 days.”
“You entered the dungeon without food?” I asked her.
“Yeah, it isn’t much. I was planning on buying food with those cores anyway, so it all worked out.” Looks like she’s an air-head.
“Is that how you got hurt?” Garth asked, “Because you were starving.”
“No, no, no. This is nothing. I’ve gone weeks without food back in my  hometown. I’m like this because of those fucking humans.” She clenched  her fist and ground her teeth. “I don’t mean, all humans. But the ones I met were… never mind.” She just blew air out her mouth. She wanted to use some offensive terms for humans she knew from her queendom but refrained from saying them in front of the two humans.
“Why is a beastwoman in the human queendom, anyway?” I asked.
“Why? Is a beastwoman not allowed in the human queendom!? Are we not allies!?” She raised her voice.
“No, you’re allowed. And yes, we do have a treaty.” Our alliance isn’t exactly peachy, but it’s been going on for more than a decade. We’ve both managed to ban the slavery of both of our races from each of our respective queendoms. So it was technically safe for people to travel between both countries, though most never did.
“Huvv~” She puffed out some air.
“So people did that to you?” Garth asked with his concerned eyes.
She smiled and almost cried when she saw his eyes. “I knew you were a good human.” She tried to get up but collapsed back down. “Aaah~” It looked like it hurt to move. “I’ll hug you when I get better.” The stupid dog was hitting on him.
“Ah, ah.” Garth looked between us, turning his head back and forth.
“Okay, I’ll tell you how I became like this.” She said with a nod. “I’ve been trying to join an adventurers party for the last week with no luck. Outside the dungeon, everyone ignored me.”
“Why would they? They’re such…” She hadn’t even said much, but Garth seemed to be on her side already. He was leaning in to listen to her while I rested my chin in my hand and yawned. It was getting kind of  sleepy.
“Ah, maybe everyone ignoring me was for the best. If I’d joined a bigger group… I don’t even want to think about it.”
Oh God, she was jumping all over the place. “So what happened?” I asked, annoyed, trying to get us back to the story.
“Right, around noon, I entered the dungeon,” she again continued with her story. “A group of 3 adventurers happened to enter right behind me.  We ended up fighting right beside each other and the same monsters too. So, I asked: ‘hey, want to work together.’ I should’ve read the big one’s expression and never joined them. Oh, they were 2 martials and 1 magician. The magician was the leader of the group. She was a shorty. The big one was about to say something…” she clenched her fist, “but the  shorty stopped her. The shorty said, ‘let me talk with my party.’ And  went off to the corner and talked to them for a whole minute. I  should’ve left then. Who takes that long to decide?” She was blaming  herself a lot.
“People can take that long to decide.” I defended them, being a slow decision maker myself.
“Hmm, maybe. So, they let me join their group. Being an idiot, I think it’s great. Finally joined an adventurer group, I thought. But they make me be the vanguard. I thought it was fine at first because I was a higher level than them.”
“What level were they?” I asked.
“I don’t know their exact levels, but maybe around 4 or 5.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“So, anyway, I fought at the front. I thought it was fine in the beginning, but then it became… They barely helped me and watched from the back. I fought more and more. But we still split up the cores into 4. So I complained, but the shorty just agreed to give me more of the  cores. Being an idiot, I went along again. Then she kept pushing me to fight even though I wanted to rest. I should’ve just left right then and  there.” She huffed, annoyed with her past self.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah, why didn’t you?” Garth echoed.
“I thought they were testing me. You know, trying to see if I’ll take  the shorties orders, be part of the team. I just thought it was the normal sisterhood stuff. But I was wrong. The shorty was pushing me not to test me but to tire me out. They attacked me when I was exhausted, the damn cowards.”
“Cowards!” Garth echoed her.
“Right, right.” She nodded. “They gave me all the cores because they were planning on stealing it from me from the start. I could’ve beat any one of them in a one-on-one, even in my tired state. But with the 3 of them working together.” She ground her teeth and sighed. “You see the results. I had all my cores stolen, and they’d have killed me too if I didn’t run deeper into the dungeon.”
“You sure they won’t chase after you?” I asked.
“They might, but it’s late. Maybe tomorrow. They probably expect me to die from all the injuries. But I’ll survive.” She said with dark flames in her eyes. But looking at her injuries, even with the beast race’s healing ability, it’ll be tough on her own.
“So they stole everything but 3 cores.” Garth looked at her sympathetically.
“No, they stole everything. I happen to kill a few ghouls while I was running away.”
“With those injuries?” Garth was shocked. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able  to do something like that. He looked at me with the same question, his  eyes asking me: would you be able to do that?
“I’m pretty tough, little mister. I can still beat a few stupid ghouls.” The beastwoman smiled.
They blinked at each other a little too lovey-dovey. I didn’t like it. “Wait, master!?” He looked at me with wide eyes like a light just went off in his head.
“What, what?” I didn’t like that look.
“She’s tough!”
“Yeah.” Where was he going with this? I looked at the beastwoman, and she seemed pleased that she was recognized as being tough. “I guess.”
“Aren’t you trying to form a group! You should let her join!”
“What?”
“Oh, that’d be perfect. I wanted to join an adventurer’s group.” She  nodded her head and looked at me like she was already accepted. “If it’s you guys, I feel a lot more comfortable.”
Why are you feeling comfortable? Why are you talking like we’ve known each other for a long time? They both looked at me like it was already decided.
I wanted to ask Garth how a beastwoman would level up in a human queendom? How many human men would sleep with her? But under their sparkling gazes, all I could say was: “We- wel- welcome. Hehehe… Welcome  to the group.” Other than the fluffy tail and floppy ears, she did look human, so maybe it’ll be fine. Well, if this was Earth, she’d have to  beat them off.
She nodded confidently. “So, is it just the two of us?” She didn’t count Garth, which was expected. Men might be used as porters but rarely took part in battles.
“Yeah, for now. But we should make some things clear. I am the leader. All final decisions lay with me.” It was important to lay down the rules from the beginning.
She hesitated, and Garth jumped to her defense. “Master, she just escaped from an unreasonable boss. You shouldn’t say that right now.”  When I glared at him, he scratched his head and said to the beastwoman:  “But master isn’t like the people that tried to rob you. Master would never do that.”
He was right, so I calmed down and added: “You can refuse if it’s unreasonable.”
“Okay, I understand.” The beastwoman agreed.
“Okay, then the second issue. I’ll pay for all your living expenses, but any profits we make, you’ll only get 2% of it.”
She opened and closed her mouth. 2% was too small, but even 100% would usually only cover living expenses. “What are living expenses?”
“Room, food, and maybe clothing.”
“How much food?”
“3 meals a day.”
She stroked her chin. “And even clothing? Are you rich?”
“I have enough.” I shrugged.
“Then why are you an adventurer?”
“To be a productive member of society.”
“To. Be. A. Productive. Member. Of society… Hahahaha…” She laughed till it hurt her. “Ah, god, that hurt. You’re an interesting gal. But how about 10%? I have a lot of people back home I care about. Many men helped me reach where I am today, and I care about them a lot, so I’d like to help them if I can. 10%, please.”
Damn immigrants. Garth was looking at her like she was some saint. “5%  for the next 6 months, and we’ll negotiate again after the 6 months are up.” She was about to say something, but I stopped her from talking with a finger. “It isn’t just 5% of the cores. I mean 5% of everything we’ll  make from now on.” An adventurer group was a sisterhood, a family.  We’d be sharing everything from now on.
“I know, but…” She already knew that, but she was still hesitant. If she knew how much we’d be making from auctions and everything else from now on, she wouldn’t be hesitating like this. She would be thanking me that I was giving her anything at all.
Feeling annoyed by her hesitation, I added: “If I think you deserve more than 5% after 6 months, I’ll raise it.”
“Okay.” That motivated her. “So I just have to prove I deserve more right.”
“Yeah.”
“Can we make him the judge?” She pointed at Garth.
What? Why do you trust Garth so much more than me? “Ah…” But even I wasn’t sure if I could trust Garth to be a proper judge. It wasn’t that he’s not loyal; it’s just that he’s kind of an idiot. I had no idea why she trusted him so much. If it wasn’t for my modern ethics rubbing off on him, I was sure he’d be just as prejudiced towards the beast people as any average human. We’d be working together from now on, and I wanted  her to trust me more, so all I could do was scratch my head and say: “Okay, Garth can be the judge.”
“Okay.” She nodded and agreed. “Hmm… By the way, what are your names? I’m Nikola of Hornick.” The beastwoman introduced herself.
“Nikola. Right, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we.” I said,  “I’m Sherrie Hooper, the 3rd daughter of the Hooper family. You can call  me Sherrie. This is Garth Banister, my butler.”
“Garth, that’s a beautiful name.” She said. I wanted to puke, but Garth was eating it all up.
“Okay, let’s get some sleep!” I said. “Since there’s three of us now, Garth doesn’t need to stay up and watch.”
“Sure. Yeah, Garth should get his sleep.” The beastwoman agreed.
“Alright, pack up the food, and-”
“Wait.” Garth interrupted me. “Let’s heal her first. Now that she’s part of the group,” He rummaged through the space expansion bag as he talked and pulled out a red potion.
“Oh.” Nikola smiled.
He was about to hand it to her when I stopped him. “Wait.”
“What? Why? We have enough.” Garth questioned me.
The dog girl looked at me suspiciously.
“Wait. Let me try this out.” I took the dog girl’s hand in my hand. She  became alert. “Don’t worry, this… shouldn’t hurt.” This was the perfect time to test out [give]. So that’s what I did. My mana dropped, but her health improved radically. She became healthy before our eyes. The  bruise on her face disappeared, the wound on her shoulder, leg, and  abdomen healed in a matter of seconds.
“I feel a lot better now.” Nikola got up and jumped around and then pulled Garth off his chair and hugged him. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank  you.” She said, dancing around with him.
Why are you only thanking him? I healed you! 

I happened to notice she was an inch shorter than Garth.
“Alright, alright! Garth, get some sleep. Nikola, you should sleep too. I’ll watch for the first half, then it’ll be you.”
“Okay.” She smiled and released Garth from her hug.

Garth put away the cookware and took out the sleeping bags. While Nikola just laid down on the ground and watched him.
“Master, should I give her your mummy sleeping bag or give her one of  the old ones?” Garth asked, taking out both. “The mummy one’s really cozy.”
“Oh, I get a sleeping bag.” Nikola sat up with a smile. “Can I share it with you?”
Garth smiled wryly. “Miss Nikola, it’s not good to joke around like that during work.”
“Ah, all of a sudden, I’m miss Nikola.” She scratched her head. “You can just call me Nikola or Nikol.”
“I don’t care, just give her either,” I said.
“Then I’ll give her your mummy sleeping bag.” He put the regular sleeping bag back in the space expansion bag. “Here, Nikola, you can use this. It’s very cozy.”
“Thank you very much.” She happily got in my sleeping bag.

The night passed by without a hitch. Nikola did her part well. She might play around a little, but she took her work seriously.

***

The  next day we advanced forward as we did before. But since I was done practicing, I stayed in the back and let Nikola and Garth do most of the work.
Then after an hour of watching Garth fight, Nikola finally asked the question: “Garth, what’s your level?”
“I… Ah… She made me do it!” He pointed at me. There’s a lot of stigma about men gaining levels in this world. The religion of this world was strongly against it. The religion of this world was very similar to Earth. Except God was a woman, the messiah was a woman, and instead of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, they said: the mother, the daughter, and the holy ghost.
There was a secret unit of the church that hunted men that leveled. I’m  sure they’re lurking around somewhere even now doing horrible stuff. But the bigger problem, in my opinion, was the men themselves that supported the church and looked down on men that wanted to level up. It was also true that most men just didn’t like leveling up. Even most women didn’t like leveling up because of the sheer number of men you needed to sleep with to become successful at it. Most reach somewhere between levels 5 and 15 and give up, realizing the height of the mountain ahead of them. Since I know all the men that give high  experience points, I’m somewhat of an exception, but I’ll still need to  sleep with many men to reach level 100.
“He’s level 11,” I answered Nikola’s question.
“What? You?” She was surprised.
“No, no!” He shook his head. “I was only with one guy! And she forced me.”
“One guy? How can- He’d have to give around…”
“Tell her! Tell her!” Garth was shouting at me.
It seemed even Garth was one of those men that looked down on men that leveled up. I sighed. “Yeah, he’s telling the truth. He gave 2000 points.”
“What!?” Nikola was surprised to hear it. “Who is it?” Her eyes were sparkling.
“Sorry, can’t tell you. He doesn’t want people to find out.”
“What? Ah, oh, hm.” She was upset, but she understood that I wanted to respect the man’s wishes. “Maybe if he met me.”
“I can ask him.” I shrugged. “But I can’t guarantee he’ll sleep with you.”
“Yes, yes, please do. We’re sisters, aren’t we?” She’s cute when she’s sucking up.
I nodded. “Okay, let’s keep going. We’ll talk about this later.”
“Will you continue to force Garth to gain levels? Then the church…” She was concerned.
“No. I only wanted him to level up so he could protect himself until I formed a team. I need him to come along for now, but I think if we can get one more person, we can stop bringing him along.”
“Aren’t I enough?” Nikola asked. “Men should work in the city.”
“Do you want to cook and carry luggage?” I said, and Garth moaned. You’re a butler, don’t moan about doing work.
“I’m fine with carrying luggage.” She said.
“Then we’ll have to find someone willing to cook.”
“I don’t mind cooking, but I was always told I was a bad cook.” She said.
“You look bad at cooking.”
“What does that mean?” She smiled wryly.
“Nothing.” I was just joking. “Come on, ghouls are coming.” I saw more than 10 ghouls running towards us. I activated [energy manipulation,  lightning]; a bolt of lightning floated above my hand. It sparkled, twisted, deformed, and formed in the air. It gave off the tiniest sounds of thunder like a tapping woodpecker. With a thought, I made it fly forward at light speed, passing it through one ghoul after another. Each one it passed through was electrocuted and hit the ground. I’d gotten a lot better at controlling lightning because of all the practicing yesterday. “Come on, I want to reach the first teleportation point before 6.”
Nikola looked impressed by my display of power and answered, “Yes, boss.” With a smile.
It looks like she’s finally seeing me as a leader.