Thomas was already starting to regret agreeing to help Estella. Carrying Annie was difficult with his small body and even after a few hours they still hadn"t found the road. "We need to set her down for a bit."Thomas and Estella gently placed Annie on the ground. Estella seemed a bit worried. "Why are we stopping? Did you hear something?"
"No. I"m just hungry and thirsty. We can"t do anything about water unless we find a river but I"ve seen a few small animals along the way. Do you know how to hunt?" She was a princess so he wouldn"t be surprised if she didn"t know how but she was also a goblin so she might actually know how to hunt.
"If I had a bow I might be able to catch one but I left my bow and arrows behind. I"m not even sure if they were spared from the blast but I can"t go back there." Thomas had a couple of bows in his pocket dimension but they were too flashy and might make them a target on the road. Taking it out in front of Estella would be a terrible idea so he"d need to separate from her for a bit.
"I think I remember a place near here that the hunters stored an extra bow. I"ll quickly go get it so until I get back you"ll need to protect her, okay?" Thomas knew that she wouldn"t believe his story but before she could ask questions he was already gone. He really was going to bring back a bow so it"s not like he"d be doing her any harm in the end.
After asking the system"s AI about the bows that were available, Thomas decided to buy two wooden bows; one long and one short. The bows only costed him 375 points total and arrows came free. 20 arrows per bow meant he had a total of 40 but he didn"t really need the second quiver. It"s not like he knew how to use a bow.
Rushing back to Estella and Annie, Thomas somewhat resembled a pack mule with everything he was carrying. Estella"s face seemed to carry some surprise on it. Clearly she wasn"t expecting him to bring back a bow--let alone two of them.
"Eh? There really was a bow? Which one is meant for me?" Estella thought he brought back two because one was meant to be for him. It was a reasonable thought but Thomas"s very existence was unreasonable so he was guaranteed to do odd things as if they were completely normal.
"Take your pick. There were two but I didn"t know what type you were used to. It"s not like the dead hunters will be using them so there"s nothing to worry about. On the contrary I think we"d have more to worry about if they could still use them." Especially since they didn"t even exist. Thomas just made them up and had already killed them off.
Estella looked at the two bows with a hand on her chin as she tried to decide which one to use. In the end she grabbed the long bow. Its extra power could be useful. Taking a quiver and five extra arrows from the other quiver, Estella headed off to catch them some small animals to eat.
Thomas"s first attempt in lighting a fire didn"t go so well. Rubbing the sticks together didn"t even produce any smoke. Frustrated by this, Thomas turned to the Advanced a.r.s.enal and purchased a fire-starting kit and some firewood. The fire-starting kit was just a flint rod and steel sc.r.a.per with a handle but it managed to catch some dead gra.s.s on fire. After getting the fire started, Thomas just needed to buy some metal plates and skewers.
Thomas moved Annie a bit closer to the flames and rested her head on his lap. Annie seemed to be in pain as she kept moaning so Thomas gently caressed the untouched side of her head while humming. Thomas could do nothing to relieve her of her pain and the only antiseptic the a.r.s.enal carried currently was alcohol. With injuries like hers it would cause too much pain and even if she didn"t die immediately from shock she"d still suffer more than she was now. If infected, her wounds would still take at least a few days to kill her. As long as they reached the city and got her to a healer then everything would turn out alright.
While looking at Annie"s face and caressing it, Thomas noticed that her left eye had opened up and she was staring at him. Thomas made sure to give her a smile as he took off his helmet so that she could see his entire head. She had been through a lot and currently was in pain but she started smiling. Annie was cute when she was smiling and wasn"t threatening to harm someone. Her body that had a good amount of muscles from her training was still undeniably feminine. If she weren"t so violent then Thomas would definitely try to woo her but even then it"s questionable if she would accept.
Unlike Estella, Annie is a pure human born and raised with human values. To Annie, Thomas is just a child and right now she even believes that he"s a girl. Estella grew up with both goblins and hobgoblins. Her grandfather was a goblin and was around the same height as Thomas so she wouldn"t really think that he was a child since he didn"t act like one.
Estella came back covered in mud but also had three rabbit-like beasts in hand so the triumphant smile on her face was well-earned. They were a bit larger than a regular rabbit and had teeth closer to that of a dog. Their tails were more like that of a donkey"s since the fluffy bit was slightly extended from the body. It was probably for the best that they were a bit ugly since he"d feel bad for eating something adorable. Well, he"d eat it either way since he was hungry.
Watching Estella trying to skin the rabbits with his dagger was amusing. The first pelt was completely ruined by her and the second pelt wasn"t as damaged but still wasn"t in any condition to be sold. As for the third pelt it was basically the same as the second one. It"s not like they needed the pelts but it was never a good feeling seeing things go to waste like that.
With the pelts and guts removed, Estella stuck them on to the skewers without asking where they came from and started cooking them over the fire. Thankfully her cooking was better than her ability to disa.s.semble the animals so they were neither raw nor too overcooked to eat. Putting his rabbit--skewer and all--on a plate, Thomas started ripping small pieces off of it. The taste wasn"t so good since there were no seasonings and the blood wasn"t drained in time but it was better than nothing.
Seeing that Annie was still watching him, he decided to help her sit up and rested her head on his chest. In this position he wouldn"t be able to see her expression but it was easier to feed her from behind. Thomas ripped off a piece for her, blew on it to cool it down, and then held it just in front of her teeth. Feeling her teeth brush against his fingertips, Thomas released the piece of meat from his grasp. Every time she finished a piece he"d wait a short while before feeding her another piece.
Before Thomas knew it, Estella was already next to him and was holding out a piece of meat in front of his mouth. This was the first time Thomas had been fed by a woman so he wasn"t a gentleman about it. He grabbed the meat with his teeth and ate it while continuing to feed Annie. The cycle of Estella feeding Thomas and Thomas feeding Annie continued until only Estella"s share remained.
Gently removing Annie from on top of himself, Thomas took Estella"s food from her. Before Estella could complain about it, Thomas held out a piece of meat for her to eat. Although a bit embarra.s.sed about it, Estella still ate the food. After she swallowed her food, Thomas did something even more embarra.s.sing; sitting down behind her and pulling her into the same position that he had held Annie in earlier, Thomas held a piece of meat in front of her mouth.
While feeding Estella in this embarra.s.sing position, Thomas kept caressing different parts of her head and neck. When he reached her ears she shivered and grinded her thighs together. After the meat was finished being eaten, Thomas pulled Estella up further into his lap so that his head was directly behind hers. Using his teeth to tease the tips of her ears she released a moan.
Taking that as a sign to continue, Thomas"s hands explored her body beneath her neck. Gently tracing her clavicle with one hand while using his other hand to undo the cloth belt keeping her robe closed. Estella wasn"t struggling and even helped Thomas with her belt. After exposing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the open air, Estella escaped from his hold and turned around; pinning Thomas to the ground as she was panting. As if a curse was broken, Estella"s glossy eyes regained their clarity and she scrambled to get off of him. "Why? Why did I do that? You"re not him. I can"t... I can"t..."
Thomas saw the tears in her eyes and it put out the once raging fire in his body. Getting closer and wrapping her in a hug, Thomas could feel that she started struggling. "Shhhh. Shhhh. Don"t worry. Everything will be okay. I won"t do anything to you. You"re okay."
Estella"s crying quickly became quieter and after he started patting her on the back she became much more calm. "Sorry. I don"t know what came over me. It felt good and before I knew it I felt like I had lost control of my body. I"m not ready to move on yet. I"m sorry."
Pulling Estella towards where Annie was, Thomas laid down some blankets from his pocket dimension. Annie was already on a robe but the blankets would be warmer so he moved her on top of the blankets. After covering her up and adding more sticks to the fire, Thomas laid down next to her and patted the blankets to get Estella to lay on the other side of him.
Estella paused for a while but decided to lay next to him, facing away from him. Thomas brought out more blankets and slipped in behind her. Hugging her from behind, Thomas wished her sweet dreams and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He wouldn"t try anything tonight but he still wanted her to get used to his touch so that she"d be more willing to be with him in the future.