Better Play It Safe

“I trust Rosalind, but I don’t trust dark magic nor the misfit boys. I’ll stay in her for a few days, just to smooth things out for her. It won’t help anyone to **** her back in control right after so much action. Just a few days.”

Alesia and Coltia agreed with the reasons for Earnest’s decision, and with that Rosalind left Earnest’s room. She went to the end of the second floor hallway and entered her own room, closing the door before collapsing into bed. She fell asleep almost immediately.

…

Rosalind woke up disoriented. It took a minute to reconcile the sensory inputs of a different body to Earnest’s still waking mind. Everything felt different. Earnest’s mind had to adapt to the feeling of sore muscles that weren’t his. After some time in bed, Earnest’s mind finally decided that it was time to get up, and Rosalind’s body reluctantly followed. She moved her legs over the side of the bed, and as she stood up she took a mental note that she was still fully dressed from yesterday. Well, a wash and a change of clothes could come later, Rosalind’s stomach was demanding immediate attention.

Rosalind left her room and saw the doors of Earnest’s, Alesia’s, and Coltia’s rooms. She suddenly remembered that she had left the **** body of Earnest last night. Was it okay? Rosalind knocked on the door of Earnest’s room. There was a noise of fabric moving around, then a few footsteps before Alesia answered the door.

“Oh, hey there! Look who’s up! Not you in the morning anymore haha ha… Uh, anyways. Coltia is downstairs interrogating the misfit boys. I’ve been here looking after you. Well, not you ‘you’ but your body.”

Alesia stepped away from the door and revealed Earnest’s vacant body, laying face up on the bed. Rosalind was relieved to see that it was fine, but as she looked she noticed that the set of clothes that it was wearing were different from yesterday’s. She was confused for a moment before realizing that Alesia must have changed it out of its dirty, sweaty clothes. Alesia must’ve sensed that Rosalind had a couple of questions as she looked at Earnest’s body.

“So after you left yesterday, Coltia and I decided that one of us should keep watch over your body. And knowing Coltia, you can probably guess who ended up doing it. Don’t worry, I took good care of you. I brought a bucket and cloth up to wash you and gave you a fresh set of clothes. From what I saw, no injuries to worry about… Oh- uh, and don’t worry about what I saw… uh, I’m an apothecary, I see people all the time. It doesn’t matter that you’re tall, handsome, muscular, and sexy, it’s all the same to me!”

Rosalind was feeling appreciative towards Alesia up until the last part. Well, it didn’t bother her that much at this point, there were more pressing things to think about. Rosalind spoke to the nervous looking Alesia.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it. I’m going to eat. I’m famished right now. Afterwards I’ll wash up and change clothes, then maybe talk with Coltia. Where is she again?”

Alesia looked relieved that her treatment of Earnest wasn’t an issue.

“She’s by the old town knight’s house nearby with the misfit boys. She said she was gonna ‘ask them nicely’ about where they got the journal and what they did to Rosalind.”

Rosalind nodded and turned to head towards the staircase, but then turned back to ask Alesia another question.

“Have you eaten yet? If you’re hungry we can eat together.”

“Thanks, but I already… ate. I’ll be up here, keeping watch over you just in case. Uh, just make sure to knock if you need anything okay?”

Rosalind agreed and went down to the dining area of the inn. She ordered a full breakfast, and started eating ravenously as soon as it arrived. As she filled her stomach and the feeling of hunger subsided, her body started to wake up. She started to notice yesterday’s dissatisfaction returning to her slowly. By the time she finished her meal, it was noticeable, but not as uncontrollable as yesterday. She consciously tried to ignore it, and left the inn to check in on Coltia.

Rosalind made her way to the previous knight of Knottori’s home, where he had retired to. She guessed that there were only so many places to question the little criminals. That old knight would probably be able to provide security for such things, but she wondered why Coltia didn’t just wait for Rosalind to wake up and help out. Then again, it was approaching mid day and she knew that Coltia hated boredom. She could certainly be patient when it was needed, but being totally idle seemed to be a different issue for her.

Rosalind arrived at the old knight Arthur’s house, the nameplate on the home reminding Rosalind of his name. She knocked and waited. After some time, the man himself answered the door.

“Ah, Rosalind! I hope you’ve rested and recovered well. Even though Ricard and Barnabas aren’t the most threatening, Thomlin can be quite a handful, and taking all three at once would certainly be a challenge. Ah, maybe in my hayday I would be up for it, but that’s long in the past.”

Arthur started talking about his past, eventually realizing that he was taking up both of their time.

“Sorry about that. Anyways, good work. Your, uh, companion… Coltia is questioning them. Well… less questioning and maybe closer to torturing? She a bit of a strange one. Come in, come in.”

Rosalind was relieved that Arthur’s reminiscing had ended and that she could finally enter the house. It was a humble abode, simply furnished but comfortably lived-in. Rosalind followed Arthur through the house, out another door into a fenced-off area behind the building. In the center of the enclosure sat the three misfit boys with their arms and legs still bound, their backs leaned up against each other’s. It looked like Ricard and Thomlin had some cloth tied in their mouths. Barnabas’ mouth was unbound, but struggled to speak on its own as Coltia towered above him. She was holding the journal in one hand and her wand in her other.

As Rosalind and Arthur joined the questioning-in-progress, the misfit boys turned their heads to look at whoever just arrived. Their expressions were complex, like they didn’t know how to react to Rosalind’s arrival. Coltia seemed to acknowledge Rosalind, but turned back to Barnabas.

“Hey. No distractions, eyes on me.”

Barnabas quickly turned his head back to her with fear in his eyes.

“That’s better~ None of you boys have been willing to tell me where you got this journal, how hurtful~ Well, now Rosalind is here, so why don’t you tell her~?”

Barnabas didn’t even turn to look at Rosalind, nor say anything. He was stuck with an expression of fear as he looked wide-eyed at Coltia’s wand.

“Hmm~ Didn’t think you would. Looks like you need more encouragement~ You’re interested in magic aren’t you~? I’ll give you a hands on lesson right now~”

Coltia touched the tip of her wand to Barnabas’ side and a little zapping sound could be heard. Barnabas immediately jerked, but his arms and legs were still bound and he fell onto his side. Coltia crouched down near his head, bringing her face closer to his.

“I hope you remember that little lesson~ There’s plenty more to learn~ You liked being a woman didn’t you~? Why don’t I transform your little dick into something you’d more prefer~?”

Coltia pointed the wand between Barnabas’s legs threateningly. His expression was full of terror as he pushed himself to answer.

“I- I- I- I told you al- already! We- we- we- we all did! We- we f- f- f- found it buried! We- we- we- we didn’t st- st- st- steal it! St- Stop already!”

Coltia paused for a moment, acting as if she was considering their plea.

“Hmm~ I would love to stop~ But… that’s not what I wanted to hear~”

Coltia pushed her wand against Barnabas’ crotch. He tried to close his legs and move away, but he was still bound and could only struggle futilely. After a few moments, Coltia seemed to finish casting the spell as she withdrew her magic tool from Barnabas.

“Next time it’s your turn, tell me the truth, or else you’ll get a matching pair of breasts too~ What fun that’ll be, we’ll have to think of a new name~ Bernadette maybe~?”

Rosalind watched in mixed fascination and horror. She knew that Coltia had a domineering and sadistic side to her, but it was mostly tempered by a playful flirtiness. Coltia still had those aspects to her, but the intensity had increased to **** levels from what Rosalind saw so far. She was toying with Barnabas like he was her personal plaything. And it was kind of adding to Rosalind’s current arousal. After Coltia had finished with Baranbas, she went over to Rosalind.

“I’ve been at it for a while now~ They haven’t broken just yet~ I’ve been asking them where they got the journal from. There’s no way they just found it. This sorcerer, Morgan, doesn’t seem careless enough to lose it. Maybe they stole it~ Maybe they bought it~ We’ll have to find out the fun way~”

“I see. Uh, one question though. Why didn’t you use a mind slime or something to read it from their memories?”

“Ah~ Well, that wouldn’t be any fun now would it~? Besides, I’m just a little amateur apprentice, leaving her master’s side for the first time~ I’ve only got enough in me to summon and control one familiar at a time~ And that familiar is the black mind slime you’ve been getting along with~”

“Ah, okay, I see. One other thing. Is Barnabas actually going to turn into a woman?”

“Why of course! Threats don’t mean anything if you don’t act on them~ That’s the first thing you need to learn as an interrogator~ And also the first thing that your little victims need to learn about you too~ Barnabas will slowly transform over the next few days as my magic works its ways~ What do you think about the name Bernadette~? I think it fits quite well~”

“Um, sure, yeah, I like it.”

Rosalind didn’t know if it was her body sensing danger from Coltia, or if her sadistic nature had flipped some sort of switch, but Rosalind’s body was filling up with excitement and arousal. Coltia’s voice was smooth, melodic and sexy, but the words were tinged with venom. Rosalind was so aroused by Coltia that she almost wished that she was being interrogated by her.

“Now that you’re here ‘Rosalind’, we can get down to business~”

Coltia went over to Arthur and told him that he could leave now that Rosalind was here. He agreed and went back into his home. A few moments later Rosalind heard the front door opening with footsteps going back around the house. She watched the tip of a fishing rod move behind the top of the fence and depart towards a nearby fishing spot.

After Coltia was sure that Arthur was a sufficient distance away, she talked again with Rosalind.

“Due to the… personal… nature of your situation, I only asked about the dark magic in front of that old knight. Now we can move on to more… interesting topics~”

Coltia turned from Rosalind and went back to the misfit boys, as Rosalind followed her.