Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) (22 page)

Scott flailed his arms and legs around a little as the diminutive naked mythological creature shut off his air supply. He tried to tell her to get off but it came out heavily mumbled.

“Oh, Scott... that tickles!” Ero giggled and hugged him with greater intensity. She absolutely refused to budge after that, no matter what he did.

If this had been a cliché and poorly scripted television series, Rhea or someone else would have barged in right then. However, life did not always synchronize in such ways. Instead Scott was forced to think quickly. He performed an action known as a ‘raspberry.’ His lips and tongue made a rude noise that caused Ero to giggle louder and start to squirm.

She loosened her adorable death grip just enough for him to pluck her off of him. He held her up in front of him and said, “I named you well...”

Ero smiled at him sweetly for a moment then lowered her eyes. She flapped her wings in a shy and demure manner. “I was just happy... Was it, OK?”

“You can hug me whenever you like, just... Put on some clothes or hug me somewhere other than my face.” said Scott. He sincerely hoped that they would be able to find her something to wear in the future. She had no sense of feminine modesty and thus did not care if she was naked. She had been naked her entire life from what he could tell. Her disregard for the need for clothing might be a problem for her later, though.

“Somewhere else, huh?” She eyed him critically then grinned. A faint hint of drool escaped her lips.

“Not there, or there, or there either.” said Scott.

“Hey, how did you know what places I was thinking about?” asked Ero. She looked at him with wide and intrigued eyes.

“I named you well, remember?” he said.

She narrowed her eyes and gazed at him in a surprisingly calm and serious manner. A delicate hand rose to her lips and she unleashed a surprisingly adult chuckle. “Fu fu fu.”

Scott squeezed her gently by instinct and she started to squirm in his hand. Finally she looked up at him then lifted one of her beautifully sculpted eyebrows. “Scott, I’m glad that you want to hold me so tightly in your masculine embrace, but can you at least feed me first? I’m a growing girl you know.”

He eyed her carefully then slowly released his grip a little. She immediately began to wiggle in his hand. She wiggled a little more than was strictly necessary to be honest.

“Mmm, much better. It’s cozy in here, you know.” She grinned at him then tossed her hair over her shoulder.

A shudder crawled up his spine as a sweet, but horrible, future bloomed before him. Ero almost seemed like she was trying to flirt with him. He did not mind it terribly, but something about what she had said just before stuck with him. “Growing girl?”

She leaned forward and rested the top of her body on his fist and looked up at him with a cute expression. “Oh yes, I am growing every day and in every way.”

His left eyelid twitched slightly. “Man, how am I going to explain you to Rhea?”

How does a man inform his not quite, but sort-of, fantasy world girlfriend that he also has a permanent bond with another girl? Also, said girl is a pervert who lives inside his head and likes to hug his face when she is naked? Somehow, he did not see that conversation ending well.

She placed two fingers to her lips then acquired a complicated expression. After a moment she released a soft overly feminine giggle. “I can hug her too, that might help. I’m pretty sure it would help me, anyway.”

Scott released Ero and she dropped onto the pillow. She sat there, her fairy business openly displayed to the world, while she casually observed her master. The diminutive girl made no attempt to cover herself, but then why would she? Ero had been naked her entire life. The business she was conducting was something that she had freely conducted since the day she was born.

“Will it be a problem? I’m sorry... I should not have asked to bond with you.” Ero looked down at the pillow and sighed loudly. Her strangely seductive attitude left her entirely and she looked truly remorseful. The poor girl looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

“I don’t know. Don’t worry about it so much, though. You asked, but I’m the one who said yes. Besides that, you helped me a lot. I hope Rhea understands that, but it’s really something she’ll have to decide on her own.” said Scott. It was done and could not be undone.

He liked Rhea, but she kept holding back. She hid things from him. She seemed honest, even sincere, in what she told him regarding her feelings for him. Yet, others had done that in the past.

Sarah was the most recent culprit. They had spent three years together, and even reached a point where they had decided to get married. But she had hid things till the very end and then discarded him after a single night of drunken sex with her old boyfriend.

He knew that he was better off without her, but it still hurt to be so casually cast off. It was not possible for him to truly accept someone as more than a friend if they could not be honest with him. He refused to allow that sort of relationship to fully blossom anymore.

Ero had saved his life and helped him a great deal. He owed her. There were no secrets there. Scott had no romantic interest in the girl that he was aware of, but he trusted her with his life at this point. She had already proven that she would help him in a crises and that sort of loyalty meant a lot to him as both a man and as a former soldier. Hopefully that would not come back to haunt him later.

“OK. I hope she will like me. You think about her a lot...” said Ero. She did not look at him while she said it. She continued to look down at the pillow while her hair shaded her eyes.

“I hope she likes you, too. We’re BFFs, right?” said Scott, a soft smile upon his lips.

Her head snapped up and she looked at him with growing excitement. Her face began to take on a rosy pink tinge and her eyes widened gently. She exclaimed, “Yeah!”

Scott started to smile at the excited girl. His smile was short lived, however. She giggled happily then lunged forward and hugged his face again. “Not the face! Not the face!” cried Scott.

She giggled at him once more, but refused to move. Ero believed that he would forgive her for her trespass in the end. They were best friends forever, after all.

***

The sounds of loud grumbling interspersed by the occasional angry shout permeated the air. The ill-will and general frustration were brought on by the fact that only four people from the guild had arrived at the rendezvous point so far.

“Look, I get why that weak ass Karsh isn’t here. Why hasn’t anyone else showed up, yet?” asked Redfang, the hobgoblin.

“Askrida is another week’s walk from here. Even if they ride, some of them won’t be here till tomorrow. We probably won’t go after him till Karsh can log-in again anyway.”  said Aen the Orc.

“Shit, having to wait four days just to take out one weak ass Noob.” growled Redfang. What kind of garbage was that? The guy might be slightly higher-tier than the typical noob, but he was nothing special from what he could see.

“Whatever, the guild’s paying us to sit here. It’s boring, but at least it’s easy Fayth.” said Aen.

“I know. I know. But aren’t we a bit exposed? I mean doesn’t it look suspicious that an orc and a hobgoblin are just hanging out in the woods near a human town? Neither of us chose stealth builds. It’s not like it would be hard to spot us.” said Redfang

Aen looked at the hobgoblin then snorted. “Who the hell cares about us standing out here? No player would have a reason to give a damn. Meaden’s a tiny shithole. There aren’t enough guards to patrol the town and the woods.”

“Maybe, but you know what... I still feel exposed. It’s like the forest has eyes, man.”

“Stop being paranoid, you wuss. There’s no one watching us.” said  Aen.

Redfang grunted then looked around. It certainly felt like someone was watching them, but maybe Aen was right. Who would really care about them hanging out in the woods if you discounted the guards? If it had been town guards there would have been a confrontation by now anyway.

Monster races were not particularly welcome in human towns at the moment. That was the price everyone in the guild had been forced to pay for taking over Askrida. They had gained partial control of a decent-sized town through underhanded dealings but other towns hated them.

A brief gust of wind caused Redfang to look around wide-eyed, but he say nothing unusual. No, it had been sudden but it had been nothing but the wind. He hoped.

***

“Oh, what’s this?” Ero fluttered around a pie that was sitting under a clear glass cover. The tasty looking desert looked like something out of a magazine. It was impossibly perfect in design and appearance.

They had gone down to eat breakfast. In doing so, he had discovered that the kitchen staff had already begun to make desserts for the day. Scott watched the intrigued fairy flutter around various cakes and pies while she continually asked what they were.

“It smells really nice!” said Ero. She bit her lower lip and made little murmurs of approval.

“Hey, what is that thing? Keep it away from my desert tray.” said an older man after noticing the fairy fluttering about.

“I am not a thing!” shouted Ero. Of course, her shout sounded more like someone speaking in an overly loud voice.

“Sorry.” said Scott, before grabbing the naked girl and putting her on his shoulder. How the man had not known that she was a fairy just by looking at her was anyone’s guess. Honestly, what else could she be?

“I’m not a thing. Oh...” Ero started to flutter around Scott’s head in an agitated manner. How dare that guy call her a thing? She had a name, you know!

“Would you like a piece of pie?” asked Scott.

“Uhm, sure!” replied the fairy. She forgot her annoyance when faced with the prospect of something tasty to eat.

Ero landed on top of his head then pointed at an apple pie nearby. “Can I have that one?”

“Which one? I can’t see you that well.” said Scott.

“Oh, um... The one under the glass cover.” she said shyly.

“Alright.” Scott decided to indulge his fairy BFF. He also bought a piece for himself. It did look incredibly good.

It was an interesting moment, to say the least. Scott had never seen anyone attempt to eat a pie using a fork that would be the size of a battle trident if it were expanded to human size. Ero eventually defaulted to simply pulling off chunks of pie by hand. She occasionally looked up at him with an absurdly pleased grin while apple pie dripped down her face.

The sight of the adorable little thing eating pie like that made the man smile. She was a strange girl. One moment she was sweet and innocent to the point that she almost seemed like a child. In the next moment she said things that would make even the crustiest veteran sailor blush.

After their early morning dessert they hit the town. Scott’s equipment would not be fully restored till tomorrow evening, so he had a great deal of time to kill. He could go out and hunt, but he felt like that would not really work out. The monsters in the Meaden zone would be fairly weak when compared to him now. The monsters in the area might not give any experience outside of the mine, and even that was probably not going to be a viable hunting location for him much longer when it came to acquiring experience. He could still grind for ability points and loot, though. It would be worth the time that would be spent, and when Rhea returned she would still be able to make full use of the place.

Instead of hunting, he opted to walk around town with Ero. People occasionally stopped to stare at the naked girl as she zipped around, but apparently she was not that unique. No one started to scream about how amazing it was to see a fairy, so Scott assumed that fairies were not as rare as he had originally thought. They might also be so rare that no one had even heard of them. He doubted that, but it was a possibility.

The day wore on, and Scott indulged the happy little fairy. She had been cooped up in a closed off spring for years. She had not traveled too far from the mine before that, and this was her first time actually visiting a human town.

Night came and Ero grew tired. She returned to Scott’s mind and the sorcerer opted to get some sleep. He had enjoyed spending time exploring town with Ero, but he was starting to feel a little stir crazy. He had he itch, he needed to hunt. Before going to sleep he thought, ‘What would it hurt to hunt without my gear?’

It was an interesting thought. How much had he improved? He could check his stats, but how did they reflect his real ability to fight? The idea stuck with him for quite a while. His armor needed to be repaired. What would it possibly hurt to test his skills without equipment, when the monsters in the area are much lower in level when compared to him?

***

A happy cry echoed through the room. A certain blue haired goddess of love and gaming was finally free of business entanglements for a time. “Eight hours, I have eight whole hours...”

Origin excitedly sang out, “Eight whole hours.” repeatedly while racing down the street. The divine city was not an easy place to travel through on a good day. Due to the nigh-invulnerable nature of deities, the inhabitants of the celestial metropolis were more than casual about such things as car crashes and attempted vehicular manslaughter.