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Chapter 12
I glanced at my status as I made my way back in the direction of the camp. I had to know if Min was alright. At the very least, the pheromones would have worn off. If I’m lucky, Ricardo would be dead right now.
I seemed to have come a long way since I came to this world. It’s a shame almost none of these abilities would help me in the slightest outside of a bedroom. Inside the bedroom, however, I’m a fucking goddess. Maybe I shouldn’t be getting excited by a bunch of level 1 and level 2 skills. Even if the max level was 10, that was still failing miserably.
There was one oddity I was starting to notice, though. I gained only 1 point per level. So why were endurance, charisma, and strength larger? Unlike the other skills, I received no notice for stat increases. I could guess. Perhaps stats increased based on use just like skills. That meant I had been using the hell out of charisma, a little bit in endurance, and strength, and nothing in the other areas. I guess sex was technically a human interaction, and I’ve had a ton of that, so is that why my charisma is so high? What will high charisma get me? I wouldn’t know until I spent more time with other people.
It did not take particularly long to return to the camp. It really wasn’t very far from the spider’s den. To think that we were choosing to rest that close to a monster was a little surprising. How many other monsters did we pass on our way through the woods?
Min was not at the campsite. I also found no trace of Shay or Darius’s body either. Damus, Marvis, and Ricardo were absent as well. However, someone survived. Most the packs were gone. The only one remaining was Darius’s.
He had no additional outfits to wear. There was a canteen that allowed me to drink and wash myself a little. I was still covered in dirt and blood, but at least my face was slightly more smudged now. He had some hard bread, which I also ate graciously. It also contained a belt, scabbard, and a knife, which I tied around me. The few strips of cloth that managed to partially keep my pants up had a little bit more support.
With the exception of a few toiletries, it was otherwise completely empty. I tossed it on my back anyway and continued walking in the direction that I thought we had been moving before. I should be a day or two out of some kind of village. It was close enough that I shouldn’t starve to death before making it. Not that I had any money to use once I got there. Even if I wanted to sell my body, who’d pay in my current condition?
My high mental stats kicked in and I merely gave a sigh before heading off into the woods. After a few minutes of walking, I pulled the dagger out, giving it a look. After staring at it for a minute, information popped up.
[Iron Dagger E-class Condition: Poor]
So my examine skill works on objects too? I stare at a tree for half a minute, frowning when it didn’t work. Then I stared at my backpack. A moment later…
[Ruck sack (Small) Condition: Moderate]
So was it only items that I could examine? Items, monsters, and people? How about animals? Why not the tree? I stare at a tree off in the distance. Still nothing. I was hoping I could examine every tree in the forest and get my examine ability up a few levels. I still took everything off my person and used examine on it. It still wasn’t enough to reach level 3, unfortunately. I considered going back and looking at the dead spider but decided it wasn’t worth the detour.
As I walked and considered things, I swung the dagger a few times. This was a poor dagger. Even I could tell. The edges were not particularly sharp. It also had several dents and cuts. It looked like the side had been hit with a hammer repeatedly. Forget dagger, I don’t even think it’d make a decent enough letter opener.
[Dagger has increased to LVL 1.]
Dagger? I had a dagger skill now? I got really excited. With the dagger skill, that meant I could actually fight back for once. It was the first offensive skill I had unlocked. I continued to spring the dagger around, but after an hour of doing it, my arm was getting tired and I had yet to get dagger level 2.
Maybe there was more to it than that? Most of my skills were stuck around level 2. Only my blowjob skill and my resistances were higher. I wasn’t sure what that meant. All of my time with goblins did not affect my skills, but it did affect my experience. Meanwhile, I had more vaginal sex than anything, yet my blowjob skill reached level 3 as well with less performance. Did my blowjob skill level more quickly because I was good at it? Is there a certain degree of knowledge involved? For example, I know how to perform a blowjob, so my skill increased quickly, yet I don’t know how to use a dagger, so will I need to be taught how to use a dagger before I’ll gain more levels? Will there become a point where I’ll need to be taught how to give blowjobs to increase that skill higher?
I was just guessing here. I never really talked to Darius about the aspects of leveling. Since I saw they had levels, I assumed they were aware of it, but it was possible levels wasn’t even a thing in this world. Maybe I’m the only one who sees things in levels. For everyone else, it’s just normal progression.
My steps quickened. I needed to get to town quickly to answer my questions. A few minutes later, I didn’t hit the town, but I did reach a road. This lead to even more confusion. Which direction should I head? The right direction would take me to town. The wrong direction could mean I end up dying on the side of the road. That didn’t leave a lot of margin for error. Do I go left or right? Which side of the city am I on? Looking at the sun, it’d be north or south.
I chose south. It seemed to me like the more south you went, the better off you’d be. I half expected to unlock some kind of gambler skill, but alas, I didn’t. Then again, even level 1 of a skill required repetition. I pulled out my dagger and swung it a bit. Once again, I received no further leveling. Maybe, I needed to learn from using the dagger. Maybe I needed to use the dagger on something.
I was getting hungry and there were no more rolls. My mental resistance made it so that I probably could kill something for food without feeling too bad about it. Maybe if I stabbed something, I’d make it to level 2.
My eyes wondered to either side, waiting for the opportunity to attack. I apparently would make a very bad hunter. The one time a bunny shot across the path, I barely could fumble my dagger out of its sheath before it was gone from sight. The truth was, even if I did kill it, I know nothing about skinning, let alone making a fire to cook it.
I really wished Min were here. She had cooked some of the meals on the way. Her class was an archer, and she was an elf. That had to mean she was probably very good at living in the woods. Wait, was I being a racist there? Was racism even a thing in this world? Or I guess you’d call it speciest since she isn’t human.
While moving through these thoughts, there was a shout in front of me and I lifted my head. There was a group up in the distance. I had been so focused on irrelevant crap, that I hadn’t even realized I’d approached some others. It was a caravan of sorts. It was a large wagon complete with horses, and there were a bunch of people running about in a frenzy.
I continued on my way, walking closer to the group. As I approached, the voices became clearer and it became apparent that they were in the middle of a life or death struggle. They were trying to hide around the wagon as arrows rained down from both sides of the forest. A few men in front were fighting with swords against another group of men. The defending group was well groomed and well dressed. The offenders wore much more common clothing and had a menacing aura. Were thieves raiding a merchant caravan? That was the image that had the most similarities to this one.
Before my brain could inform me of how dangerous this was, I was already running forward into the thick of it. A man got struck by an arrow and collapsed a few feet in front of me. I kneeled down to his side, immediately trying to cover his wounds. He glared up at me fiercely.
“You missed her. She’s in another carriage, you bastards…”
I blinked, not quite sure why he was glaring at me with hostility. Then I realized that I was holding a dagger, covered in dried blood, and not someone in his caravan. That meant I was a thief to him. No wait, he said this was a carriage, not a caravan. In retrospect, it was pretty fancy looking. They looked more like nobles than merchants.
There was a thudding as footsteps came from the other side of the carriage. A man leaped out from the side, brandishing a sword already died red with blood.
“I’ve found her. We’ve got the princess!” He shouted.
What? A princess? They found a princess? I want to see! The dying man who was glaring at me suddenly popped his eyes open in surprise. A moment later his breath stopped, unable to give any last words. Meanwhile, the thief approached with the sword pointing at me.
“Don’t even try to run, little missy. You’re worth a lot of money to us.”
I stared at him blankly for quite some time before it came crashing home.
Oh, I’m the princess?
“I’m not a princess!” I declared.
Since they wanted to keep the princess alive, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing for me to say, but I was so surprised that I sort of just blurted it out. The man gave a sneer that clearly showed he didn’t believe me. I started weighing my options. If they realized I wasn’t a princess, they’d probably kill me. On the other hand, if I claimed I was a princess, and they found out I lied, they’d definitely kill me. However, until they found out I was a princess, my life was 100% guaranteed.
“Oh, no, what will I ever do!” I tried to add an accent like I thought a princess would make.
The thief grabbed me, knocking the dagger from my hand, and roughly pulling me up. I tried to force myself to cry, however, with my extreme mental resistance, it was surprisingly difficult, even when I thought about bad or upsetting things. I barely managed to squeeze out a single tear.
[Deception has increased to LVL 1.]
The tears began to run a little easier. Thank you deception skill! He shoved me against the side of the carriage. His hot breath was on my neck and his body was pressed against mine. You probably imagine a thief to be filthy and disgusting. However, you have to remember that my only reference to cleanliness was three men who had been traveling for a month without taking a shower and goblins who never cleaned, ever. I was also very filthy myself.
Comparatively, this guy looked like a saint. His hair had actually been combed at some point in the last year, his body smelled of a thick, manly scent that sent shivers across my mind. My last partner had been a spider, and since I’ve been walking I hadn’t done anything, this reminded me that I was pretty damn horny. Plus, from a role-play perspective, a thief kidnapping and having his way with an innocent princess. That’s pretty hot, right?
“Well, look at this pretty thing we have here. I bet you…” his eyes shown malevolently for a moment.
Yes! Perfect! Ravage me! Fuck me! Right Here! Bring your friends! +50% experience bonus, here we come!
He seemed to hesitate a bit, his hand reaching out towards my chest. Then he pulled away.
Eh? What the hell!
A moment later two other thieves came around the carriage. He spun me around, and before I could get excited that he was going to go in from behind, he was wrapping up my arms. Did he see something in my eyes? I really needed to get those checked. I’d have to work on the deception skill, I kept scaring away potential prey. It didn’t occur to me that maybe I should stop seeing them as my prey. As he pulled me out from the side of the carriage, a group of twenty men surrounded us, talking amongst themselves.
“We’ve caught the princess. Boss was right, she was right where he said she was going to be.” The man who tied me up explained.
“She looks pretty messed up, Dox, you haven’t been breaking her in, the boss will be real upset about that.” Another man chuckled.
“Of course not,” the one holding me, Dox, protested, “She’s bosses, of course. Plus she’s worth a lot of money. If they knew we raped her, we could lose some profit. Remember gentlemen, no sex!”
“There’s our Dox, always thinking about the money!” Another man laughed.
This broke the tension in the group as they grabbed me and started dragging me off into the forest. My wrists were tied up in a rope as they dragged me along. Tears started to fall down as I cried harder and harder. I’d like to say I was working the deception ability, however, in reality, I was just really upset.
No sex? We’ll see about that!
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