I felt like I"d just lost my soul.The world faded to shades of grey, and the only color that existed was bore solely by the person before me. Her fair, caramel brown hair and emerald green eyes were the most enchanting shades of color I"d ever seen in my life!
And those fluffy brown ears standing proudly atop her head were especially alluring!
They were tall, soft-looking and just amazing!
I was almost driven mad with the desire to hug her! I wanted to touch them! Those ears, I wanted to play with them so much I couldn"t stand it!
She was...perfect! Absolutely perfect!
"CAT EARS!!!!!!!!"
I couldn"t help but exclaim.
But it was a pity. As soon as she realized what happened the hood was back on in an instant, almost as if she were ashamed. I had a few suspicions due to that action, and the words that old hag said earlier. I chose not to address them right now.
Priorities, me. Priorities.
I ignored the waifu candidate for a second and squatted to examine the other hooded figure.
"Alright let"s remove that thing and see if you"re really alright, shall we?"
I reached over.
"Don"t!" The young woman shouted.
Too late, I"d already moved the cloth aside and got a look at the face beneath. Or that was the plan but it was covered in bandages
That was odd enough. But then I looked a bit more thoroughly and started noticing other things too. Like the cuts on her hands. The bruises on her arm. The tattered cloak and shirt that was more akin to a sack than an actual piece of clothing.
It only took a few seconds to take it all in.
She didn"t react at first. It was only after I"d finished my scanning that she looked up.
I found myself meeting with a pair of dull, ruby-red eyes.
She clutched the side of her ribs and her entire body trembled when a wind picked up.
I attempted a kind smile. "You"e got some pretty nice looking eyes there." Silence. "Well. Nevermind that. Up you go."
The woman was hanging with her mouth open as I talked.
For some reason she seemed surprised?
I was curious about that but didn"t ask. I just scooped the girl up off the ground a gave her a princess-carry.
I frowned.
I knew I was pretty strong for my age. But what the h.e.l.l? She was light as a feather. And so thin that I could feel her bones. I ended up taking extra care, fearing I"d break something.
The girl resisted as I held onto her. I could feel her hands pushing at my chest. It was useless. She was so weak that the attempt was just plain sad.
f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d. What kind of p.r.i.c.k treats a kid like this? I wanted to track him down again and drag him back for Patches to use as a chewtoy for the rest of his pathetic life.
Instead of doing that though I refocused on the waifu candidate.
"Your Master"s gone, you"re dressed as beggars, the air is freezing and this kid is both wet and all banged up. Do you even got a place to go?"
Servants like them normally lived in a guest house at their Masters" Estate. If they did own a home outside of that then it"s unlikely they would have been able to afford maintanence given their outfits. Which was another thing, their personal items were gone now. I doubted they had much in the way of savings but they wouldn"t carry it around anyway so didn"t that mean whatever money they might have had tucked away was also gone?
Sure there were banks but servants weren"t often paid much since all their necessities were already provided to them by their Masters. Unless they were educated, were followers of a great house, or had a high position like Head Maid or some such thing, well, their pay was a pittance.
These two did not look like valued servants. So it was safe to a.s.sume they had no home and no money to last, if any at all.
Did they have even a single silver to their name right now?
My question made her snap back to reality. Her face dropped. "He was the only one willing to take us in. What"re we going to do now?"
As expected, I was right. They had no plan. I didn"t know what was up with that first thing but I was already walking away and didn"t pay it much attention. " Follow me."
"What? Hey, don"t just pick her up and leave!" She ran to catch up. "What do you think your"re doing!"
"I already said." My voice was dead even. " I planned on getting involved since the beginning."
"....Yes? I don"t follow."
"I mean your Master was about to leave this kid to die, you understand that, right? And you were going to be used as a test dummy." I cut her off. "You"ve been thrown away."
"That"s...that"s true..."
Her ears must"ve been hanging low because I saw the hood drop a few inches.
"So you probably would"ve both died."
"That"s also...well..."
The blunt words left her face pale. It was easy to work out but actually hearing it would make anyone anxious. They only just barely escaped, in all likelihood, miserable deaths. How could she NOT be scared?
" But I stepped in to help out because I didn"t like what I saw. Which means you"re only alive because of me. Which also means I"m now responsible for your lives."
She walked along silently.
"You name?" I waited a few seconds to inquire.
"Minerva."
"Nice, I like it. Sounded cla.s.sic."
Smart. Regal.
She stayed quiet a while longer.
The girl was panting heavily in my arms.
"...What"s going to happen to us, then, Master?"
As befitting someone with that name. She was a quick-witted woman, wasn"t she?
"I"m going to take care of you."
Cat-eared waifu, GET!
Loli, GET!
***
I wasted no time and took them to the nearest Inn. The little one here was soaked with water and icy to the touch. I had to get her body temp up so I rented a room with a fireplace.
I told Minerva to go draw a bath while I laid the girl out on the bed.
She kept slipping in and out of consciousness. As soon as I saw she was awake I took out a vial from my pouch and started undoing her wrappings.
"Wait, don"t!" Minerva appeared from out of the ether and raised her voice in a panic.
Just like last time she was too late.
I was already looking at the girl"s full, unbandaged face.
I raised a brow, impressed. "Wow. Precious little thing you are, aren"t you? You"d be cuter with a clean face and better clothes though. Let"s make sure you get both soon, "kay?"
My voice had taken on a gentler tone. Ah, my heart just bled for the poor little thing.
She had a face as fine and charming as Dolly"s and her golden strands of hair were just a few shades fairer.
She"d normally be a lovely girl if only she wasn"t so gaunt. When was the last time she ate till she was full? Looked like months if not longer.
I noticed the shock on Minerva"s face making it"s appearance once again.
What was up with that?
I didn"t ask for now. I just put the vial to the girl"s lips and had her down the whole thing.
Healing potion? If this were the game version, maybe.
But this wasn"t quite as effective in real life. It"s not like people here had a health bar that could just be refilled. Originally this thing was supposed to be able to heal minor wounds instantly in-game.
It wasn"t something used in the first game but was common in the sixth. Since the two were part of the same world, of course, I was easily able to get my hands on one.
It"s just that this wasn"t like it"s Love Orgy counterpart and was only able to stimulate the body"s natural healing process. It also had a painkiller effect.
f.u.c.kers were expensive though.
When I was sure she got every last drop I laid her back down.
"So. " I said as the kid drifted away. "Is she yours?" I was eagerly awaiting a yes. Milf? Milf? Yes?
"No." Shame. "Evie"s the child of friend. She pa.s.sed away some time ago." It didn"t seem like it was something she wanted to talk about.
It was personal matter and I was a stranger, it was understandable.
"But I"ve been taking care of her since she was a baby." She went on hesitantly. "She"s like a sister and daughter to me." MILF!!
Well. Not really. But adoptive mother was also fine. And she had the s.e.xy Onee-san status as well so that was a twofer.
She was s.e.xy, by the way. Her curves were bountiful and in all the right places. She was a tad too thin like "Evie" here but not so much..
Only thing that can top a s.e.xy milf/onee-san is a s.e.xy female teacher.
"How old are you?"
"18." Pretty young, almost too young for my tastes. Oh well, no big deal. Least she was legal.
"I see." The potion would already be working by now. "I gave her something for the injuries and pain, she should be fine by next morning but I"ll call for a doctor if she isn"t. In the meantime we"ve got to warm her up. Can you bathe her yourself?"
"Yes. Are you going somewhere, Master?"
I took out some money from my purse. I then put the money in my pocket and sat the purse on the table.
She watched me without another word.
"I"m going to buy you two a few things. I"ll be back in half an hour."
I wouldn"t give up on a great candidate like this one for anything, alright?
But I also wouldn"t try to force anyone to stay with me if they didn"t want to.
***
The tailor from the other day was open. I asked for some new pairs of clothing for the father-son duo and then purchased some thick coats, gloves and boots for the two strays I"d picked up.
Since it really was chilly out today I got Dolly a blanket. I couldn"t bear to let her part with that bunny onesie just yet.
As for the strays I had to guess on their measurements but I was confident in my keen eyes of observation.
I chatted with the shop owner a while as she worked and left as soon as she was done.
I"d taken the opportunity to change my own outfit. Something less disorderly. Which was just a plain white shirt, a vest and some trousers.
My next stop was a small pharmacy, then the bakery. After that I checked on the carriage we"d used on our way over and made sure everything was in order before finally heading back to the Inn.
I didn"t have any expectations when I opened the door.
To my surprise I found Minvera laying her head next to Evie"s still-unconscious form. She"d fallen asleep but woke up the moment I walked in.
I peeked and saw that the kid"s face was much cleaner and now had the faint pink of a nice, warm bath.
d.a.m.n. She"s be a heartbreaker in the future, that one. She just needed some more meat on her and she"s be as cute as a b.u.t.ton.
Also the pain that"d been twisting her face every so often before had now vanished completely. Glad that stuff did the trick. I was relieved to see her looking better.
"You"re still here."
"So it seems."
I sat the clothes and bag of baked goods on the table. "Did you even take a look?" I meant the purse, what else?
She shook her head. It was still laying right where it was, untouched.
I walked over, opened it and dumped all the contents onto the bed.
Dozens of thick gold coins and three rolls of silver-green bills scattered everywhere. It was enough for an average commoner to purchase a small property and live luxuriously for a year. Several if they were more frugal.
"Regetting it?" A smirk. Big bro is generous. They coulda had a nice life. Found some place to stay, get a new job, save up.
Of course if she wasn"t a waifu candidate I wouldn"t be quite as giving but still would"ve helped them find some lodgings and had someone under our House"s authority allow the two a way to earn some income.
I did mean it when I said I"d be responsible for them. It"s purely selfish, though, don"t get me wrong. I took the time to help them, they aren"t allowed to go off and starve! That would make my effort meaningless! f.u.c.k that.
Now however she proved a good seed! I was totally planning on keeping her with me. I couldn"t let her be under someone else, now could I? No, no. Let"s get this girl a wedding dress, people!
I expected a joking response, or maybe a sigh.
I did NOT expect the bitterness that actually came out.
"As if I could keep it anyway. Is it that fun playing around with me? I guess I really don"t bring her anything but trouble, do I?...I should just..." She muttered. Now she didn"t show it on her face but her tone was full of self-loathing.
"I admit that I think it would be very fun to tease you in the future. But you see, that sentence right there has the scent of a story behind it. So whaddya mean? Is there something I"m missing here or what?"
"I know you saw them, there"s no reason to pretend you didn"t. You know what I am, what"d happen even if I took that money."
"Let"s say I don"t. Enlightment me."
I could tell by the way her body shook that whatever thought was coursing through her head right now absolutely terrified her.
She gave a hollow laugh. "Come on. Someone like me, with no owner? They"d cut them off and leave us both to rot." A gulp. "But I didn"t touch it. I didn"t touch it at all!" She stood abruptly. "So I pa.s.sed the test, right? Right? You"ll keep your word, won"t you?" Her voice grew thick with emotion. " I-If not me, then at least take Evie." The woman begged. " Please take care of her! If it"s you, then--"
I held up a hand.
Um, yeah, what"s all this nonsense she"s spouting?
"Hold the heck up lady, what do you mean, they"d "cut them off "? Cut what?"
She looked at me like I was bullying her. I saw tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. "My ears..."
The room turned silent.
Then,
"...Your cat ears?"
She nodded stiffly.
"&%$#!" I exploded. "Who f.u.kken dares! What motherf.u.c.ker wants to die? Cut them off? CUT THEM OFF?! Those beautiful works of art? Those glorious gifts from the G.o.ds?! Where are they, where are those c.o.c.ksuckers, huh? I"ll beat them to death! f.u.c.k!"
I was panting so hard I was on the verge of hyperventilation.
I was p.i.s.sed off I felt like burning coals were just spinning about in my chest. My Devil"s Left, it burned!
My shouts were so loud that the little girl rolled about uneasily.
Minerva"s hands were cradling her own head and looked like she was just hit a flashbang.
"What? Yes? Huh?" She babbled, clearly out of it.
I clapped her shoulder while she struggled to get herself together. "You"re a national treasure, Minnie. Don"t you worry your pretty little head. If anyone here tries taking those ears, I"ll burn the Kingdom to the ground."
Bro? Comrade? What bro, what comrade? Sorry, Lucy-loo, but a Kingdom like that doesn"t deserve to exist!
"You...But.. don"t you think I"m a disgusting mutant freak that"s ugly, sinful and deserves to die?" She blinked. astonished.
TT^TT
Watashi no kokoro, watashi no tamashi.
"Who would?"
"Who wouldn"t?"
"Is that the case?"
"Beastkin who"re like me are hated everywhere, aren"t we? That should be the case, yes..."
"I see. So it"s a purge, then."
"???"
"...Deus Vult..."
I don"t want to be bad, but the world keeps forcing me to do bad things!