At this point, Thomas felt like he was going insane. He was hungry, dirty, thirsty, and--most importantly--bored to tears. The bandits hadn"t left him here, right? There was still the sound of some people talking a bit in the distance so that didn"t seem to be the case."Hey, can you sing another song?" A large meatball or perhaps a meatball-shaped person poked its head around the corner of the crates stacked up near Thomas"s cage while asking that question.
Staring at this person reminded Thomas that his body hadn"t eaten since before the bandit attack. Even then he only had simple foods and couldn"t eat his fill so his body was extremely hungry. Likely due to the fact that he thought about food, Thomas"s stomach growled quite loudly.
"Ah, right, father said to feed you. Sh.e.l.ley! The boy wants food!" The large girl--judging by the pitch of her voice--yelled towards the opposite side of the crates. Thomas didn"t know who this Sh.e.l.ley person was but he liked the idea of getting some food.
A pudgy girl a couple of years younger than the meatball waddled over towards the cage while struggling with a bucket. "We should wash him first. It wouldn"t be good if he... urgh ...got sick before he could help father." The girl paused a bit in the middle of her sentence while struggling to lift the bucket on to a small platform.
Meatball(temporary name) looked up and down Thomas"s body. "His clothes are all in shreds. He"s gonna need something to change into." A slight smirk appeared on her face. "Say, do you think that Sheila"s clothes would fit him?"
Sh.e.l.ley looked up at Meatball and after a few seconds a similar smirk appeared on Sh.e.l.ley"s face. "You know, I think they might just fit him."
Thomas was unaware of the conversation they were having due to a conversation that he was having with the AI in his head. Unfortunately for him, the Advanced a.r.s.enal didn"t currently supply food and fresh water. In the future, water could become available when he researched it but it would be a long time from now until he could research it. As for food, there were no rations and the closest thing to food was animal and vegetable products like fat and oil so it seemed like he"d need to work for his meals.
A medium sized ornate chest made a loud thud when it landed in front of Thomas"s cage. Judging by the two tired girls standing on either side of the chest, it looked like they were the ones who brought it over. It didn"t seem like there would be any food in the chest but these were a bandit"s daughters so maybe common sense didn"t apply to them.
With two clicks the latches came undone under the pudgy hands of Sh.e.l.ley. Meatball was still trying to catch her breath. Thomas couldn"t tell what Sh.e.l.ley was doing since her large b.u.t.t was currently staring him in the face but she seemed to be enjoying it as she was humming and gently swaying her b.u.t.t from side to side. Although Thomas liked b.u.t.ts, he just couldn"t bring himself to enjoy this one.
After Meatball caught her breath she reached into the neckline of her shirt and pulled out a key on the end of a thin rope. "As long as you obey our father then you"ll be fed and clothed. Don"t be stupid and try to run away or else we"ll let you become monster feed out there on your own. If you"re lucky you"ll die quickly after getting caught by something. If you"re unlucky then maybe a goblin would confuse you for a girl and you"ll wish you were dead."
Thomas figured that there would be monsters in a world that has magic but for them to have goblins is a bit surprising. It reminded him of one of his first roles as an extra; he played a hobgoblin in a cheap fantasy movie. Although his part wasn"t big, Thomas still put his all into it and one of his scenes went viral which helped him get another role later on.
"Understood." Thomas tried to communicate with the bandits as little as possible. It would be for the best if he didn"t get attached to any of them since he still plans on escaping when there is a chance for him to do so. If he was obedient then a chance would likely show itself quicker.
The key fit into the cage"s lock without a problem and in no time the door was opened. Thomas slowly stepped out and surrendered himself to the two girls. They quickly stripped him of his ruined outer clothes and hesitated to strip him of his underwear. "Hey, Jane, have you ever seen a boy down there."
The meatball, Jane, unconsciously looked at Thomas"s crotch before answering. "Yeah, once. Although I"ve never seen one that was still attached before." That answer would make any man cover his manhood and Thomas was no exception to this.
"Ehhh? How is that possible?". After thinking for a bit, Sh.e.l.ley seemed to have figured it out and, when she opened her mouth, Jane answered at the same time. "Annie."(x2) "I thought that was a thumb since I only saw it at a distance. So that"s what boys have down there." Seemingly satisfied by the fact that she had already seen one, Sh.e.l.ley instead turned her attention to the bucket of water. "Now, let"s get you clean."
It took nearly 15 minutes for the blood covering his body to be cleaned up and although Thomas"s hair wasn"t silky smooth it still looked much cleaner than it did before. In the middle of washing him up, Sh.e.l.ley needed to fetch another bucket of water since the water they were originally using quickly turned pink and could no longer be used. Although the tent was separated from the chilly wind outside, Thomas was washed with cold well water and couldn"t help but shiver. With his clothes torn up and covered in both dirt and blood there was no way they could be re-used. Thankfully he wouldn"t have to stay cold for too long as Sh.e.l.ley and Jane dried him off and gave him some clothes.
"What the h.e.l.l is this?" Thomas looked at the clothes he was given and felt both annoyed and perplexed. Did they really want him to wear clothes like this? In the memories left behind in the body given to him by the system he could remember what kinds of clothes boys wore. Even in his past life as an actor he couldn"t remember wearing clothes like this. There were more frills than he had ever seen before; black and red frills all over the clothes. He had never seen real clothes like this in person, even on a movie set. Thomas could remember seeing clothes a lot like this in an anime one of his extra buddies told him to check out and there was a specific name the j.a.panese used for it: Goth Loli. {Are they playing dress-up!?}