I am so embarrassed

The next morning, I hear someone calling my name. It is gentle, but I don’t feel like waking up, so I ignore. I do notice I’m feeling a little cold. That’s so annoying.

I hear the voice again and this time it’s also telling me to wake up. I don’t want to, shut up. Then somebody starts caressing one of my ears. I flap that ear twice and hope they stop. But they just get back to it and tell me to wake up again. Ugh, fine. I’ll wake up.

When I get up, I notice that I am actually nude. And next to me is Merlara and she is also nude. Then I remember what happened last night. I am immediately fully wake and say, “Oh my god.”

“So, you remember huh?” Merlara asks.

“Merlara, I am so sorry. I have no idea what came over me.” I apologize.

“I think I know what happened.” Merlara says. “We both got incredibly horny after you dropped that perfume, right?”

I recall the events of last night and nod in agreement.

“I think that might not have been perfume, but pink incense. It is a **** meant to make women horny. Whomever gave that to you was probably planning to get you so horny that you would accept anyone as a sexual partner.”

I remember how the mine owner gave it to me. Combined with what Merlara just told me, I start to think about what could have happened if I went to my room instead.

Merlara comes over and gives me a hug. “Hey now. It’s alright. I’m sure you didn’t get me pregnant.”

I did not expect her to make any jokes, so I kinda laughed a bit. Then I pulled myself out of her hug and said, “This is not the time for jokes, Mer.” But I couldn’t hide my smile.

“It is also not the time to be moping about it. We should get ready to return to Riledo.” She says.

She is right. And after what the rich guy here tried to do to me, I want to get out as quickly as possible.

We both get dressed and I then go to my room to get my armor and my backpack. Shortly after, I meet Ryul and Shalia outside. Merlara is there too, all armored up. The mine owner meets us one last time and thanks us for our services. After that we leave. The sooner the better if you ask me.

We quickly reach the ferry and cross the river. After that, we skip the inn we spend a night at and head right for Riledo.

At our first lunch break, Shalia looks around our camping spot for some wood. She ends up finding a tree which she thinks looks nice and uses her magic to have it grow an acorn on a branch close to her. Then she grabs the blue stone we found in the bathhouse at the end of our quest. The one that was dripping water. Shalia holds the acorn next to the stone and uses her magic to cause the acorn to sprout. A thin sapling comes out of it and Shalia guides it to wrap itself around the stone. When the sapling has made a full circle, she has it grow in thickness a bit, and then she stops.

“I better don’t use all my mana right away. But I do feel this would make for a good staff. Don’t you?”

I actually think it’s a great idea. If Shalia can control that orb so it can generate liquid water whenever she commands it, it would make for a very useful staff. Shalia regularly spends a little mana to grow the wood more.

That evening, Merlara and I take first watch. It is unusually silent. Kinda like that time we had that fight. Except then we were upset with each other. Now we aren’t and it makes me feel even more awkward.

It is only after our shift is over and Merlara and I head into our tent that I finally ask her what’s been on my mind the whole day.

“Say, Merlara. About last night. Was it …? How did …?” I ask.

Merlara patiently waits for me to finish, but I can’t find the words to express myself.

When it seems like I’m giving up, Merlara speaks up and says, “I have never been with a woman before. I have never even gone that far with a guy either. Have you?”

I look down and start blushing. “No, I haven’t. You are my first. Uhm, did you like it?”

“I did.” Merlara replies with some hesitation. “But I was under the influence of an aphrodisiac. Same for you. So I guess we were **** into enjoying it.”

“I guess. Ugh, this is all so confusing to me. Like, I thought I would find a cute guy and do this kind of stuff with him. This just … It went completely against all of my expectations, you know.”

“From my experiences, I would say a lot of romance goes against expectations.” Merlara explains. “I should know, I’ve been on this world longer than you.”

Ok, her using her age to make her appear more knowledgeable than me might make sense, but it also strikes a nerve with me. Like I suddenly feel bratty enough to challenge her on that.

“Yeah, you’re like 32? That makes you, what, 13 years older than me? Does that make you a MILF? Should I call you mommy the next time we have sex?”

Merlara looks at me with raised eyebrows and says, “I may have 13 years on you, but I look just as young as you do. So you better drop that tone, you little brat.”

Then Merlara reaches over and slaps my butt. I am not even mad. It actually makes me laugh that she did it.

“Tell me, Leona. Are you curious whether this was a one-time fluke, or if maybe there is more behind it?” Merlara then asks.

“I don’t know. All I know for sure is that I am confused about it all.” I admit

“Here’s an idea. How about we try it again in the guildhall. Except no aphrodisiacs this time. If it works out, it works out. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Then you’ll know. Alright?”

“Yeah.” I agree with Merlara. “That would be good, Mer.”

After that, Merlara tells me to get some sleep and reaches over for a kiss on my cheek.

The next couple of days, Shalia keeps growing her staff and by the time we reach Riledo, it kinda resembles a wand. Merlara and I keep getting friendlier as well. When we report about our quest to Aelbrecht we tell him everything about the underground estate and the glowing orb on the ceiling which apparently lured the attention of the elementals. Merlara also gives him the book she found there and he recognizes the script to be Zrephian. So the creepy mine owner was right. It actually is a Zrephian ruin. Aelbrecht decided to reward us for this book with 4 golden coins. All of us except Merlara were stunned. A simple Zrephian artifact, a dumb book, is worth that much? Merlara later explains that those books hold knowledge and Zrephian knowledge often supersedes ours. Aelbrecht is also a collector of all things Zrephian. This was then a good idea for us to show Aelbrecht the other artifacts we found there.

Aelbrechts studies them a bit and explains how the shield I found attracts arrows and other projectiles that are coming to me at high speed. Thus, if somebody was to shoot an arrow to my face or my sword, the shield will cause the arrow to go off track and hit it instead. That is very useful.

The gauntlet Ryul found is meant to create a shockwave whenever it Ryul hits it with his palm. But it also only has 3 charges per day.

Zrephian mages apparently had the ability to enchant objects in such a way that they teleport water from a location at the bottom of the sea to the object, which is why orbs like the one Shalia put in her staff are not generally used for fighting. But witch such Zrephian artifacts being quite rare, Aelbrecht says he is happy that Shalia found such a creative use for a rather mundane Zrephian tool.

The bracelet we found and thought was just some jewelry is actually also enchanted. It detects when the wielder’s life is in danger and then causes a spike in luck to safeguard the wielder’s life. But after each use it needs a full day to recharge.

After Aelbrecht has appraised the artifacts we brought back, we head to the large hall with the quest board. We find ourselves a table and place our loot on it. Shalia has basically already taken the blue orb for herself. She’s already started crafting a staff around it. So that one is spoken for. Ryul’s gauntlet is really useful for him and the shield works well for me. That leaves the bracelet for Merlara. What remains are the minerals we found. Merlara suggests we sell them all. I interrupt her and say that I would very much like to have the mithril for myself and have some armor fashioned out of it. Merlara agrees and says she will keep it aside.

First Merlara takes us to the alchemist guild to sell the fire heart. Their logistics officer is quite happy to see it and offers us 1 gold and 50 silver for it. Then we go to the crafters guild to sell the rest. The copper ore we found sells for 3 silver. Well, that’s the same as 300 copper coins. The quartz isn’t quite expensive, but we found a decent chunk, so we at least get 9 silver for that. The obsidian is pricier, but we have less of it, so that’s only 11 silver. The mithril on the other hand is something they are willing to buy for 30 silver. So, at least now I know how much that is worth.

Right, all the money we made pooled together that makes 1 gold and 73 silver from selling our loot, 2 gold and 60 silver from our quest and 4 gold from selling him that old book. Merlara quickly divides that among us as 2 golden coins each for her, Ryul and Shalia and 1 golden coin with 100 silver for me, which leaves 33 silver to be divided. She hands out 8 silver to each of us 4, leaving 1 silver. Which Merlara says we should spend on buying drinks. We all agree to that.

At last, that brings us to the clump of mithril. Merlara says she prefers to leave stuff like that to the end. This way I can now use some of my earnings to buy it from the group. Which I do. Thus I lose 30 silver, but Merlara, Shalia and Ryul now have an extra 30 silver to divide in 3. So my total is 1 gold, 78 silver and some mithril ore. You know, these last 2 weeks were very profitable. I approve.

Before leaving I ask the clerks in the crafters guild if they could fashion me a cuirass from the mithril and they say it is large enough to do it. They will have to charge me 2 silver for the manhours, though. I agree and after a week I can go and collect my armor.

After that we head for the guild and spend the silver on drinks. Not just for us but also for our guildmembers. Our treat. At the end of the day I am in my room adding my new earning to the finances I had already collected. Back then I made 27 silver and 325 bronze. Now I al adding 76 silver and 1 gold to it. I can’t help but look at it for a while. No wonder everybody wants to be an A rank. Just look at how much money can be earned in such a short time. I’m still doing so with borrowed armor though. When I buy my own full set, I might need to start my fundings from zero. But since I found the mithril for my new cuirass that goes a long way.

I get interrupted by somebody knocking on my door. I quickly close the lockbox I keep my money in and hide it. Then I see who is at the door.