An investigation and a visitor

I regretfully remove my hands from Akemi's tail and straighten her back, calming myself down as I stand up. I stretch out all of her joints a couple times, Akemi's body is extra sore due to the paralysis spell that my assistant cast upon her last night. I then proceed to walk around the room and examine the place more closely. Most of the furnitures are crude-looking, something expected from a low-civilization race, but the overall design is minimalistic, elegant and clean. I had thought that these barbaric beastmen wouldn't know anything about being tidy, and yet I am once again proven wrong. Doesn't matter, it's just outward appearance. They're still a savage race in the inside. If I look closely, I'm sure I'll find the evidence of their true nature somewhere here.

It is unfortunate that I can't just access Akemi's memory to find out about everything these beastmen had done to the town, as we the royal mages have not been able to add that functionality readily to the mind-link spell. I say 'readily' because in one of the many tests we did, one of them resulted in the caster being able to read their target's memories after some time had passed. We tried our best to duplicate the result in subsequent tests, but alas we never succeeded. The king's pressure for the fruit of our research **** us to forgo that feature, and so here we are.

As I turn to the corner of her room, I notice a large cabinet. It doesn't seem to contain clothes as I can see what I assume to be Akemi's wardrobe in the other side of the room. I approach the cabinet and open the top drawer, hoping to find her journal or diary or something like that. The drawer is filled with rolled up scrolls, with no indication of what's in them. I pick one, untile the ribbon that seal it up, and read the parchment. It contains a report from a farmer about their bountiful harvest, and their sum of donation towards the shrine. I roll it back up and pick another one. It's similar to the first, only this time it's a fisherman giving his thanks and donations.

"Do all of these scrolls contains donation list? The shrine must be forcing these poor people to give them their hard-earned money, these damn shameless beasts!"

I muttered my frustration outloud. Akemi's melodious voice comes out of her lips, cursing her own people. These scrolls are proofs that the beastmen is a truly vile race, extorting the innocents into paying for their greed! I then rummage through the scrolls, looking for something else. If they are this meticulous with these small donations, there must be a book that compiles and lists the contents of all of these scrolls. I am soon proven right, as I finally find a ledger book that contains the accountings of the shrine in the back of the same top drawer. I flip it open, eager to see what evil deeds they have used these donations for, so I look at their expenses list.

"...huh? That can't be true, can it?"

Most of the expenses I see in the ledger are written as aids to the townspeople, most of it bought and sent from other cities. Medicine for the sick, food supplies for the unemployed, spare building materials for the repair of the town buildings, and so forth. According to the records, the shrine has spent a ridiculous amount of money helping the townspeople. And not just for the west side of the town where the beastmen reside, but also the human side on the east. Some small expenses are directed towards the shrine, to pay its workers and whatnot, but the rests are for the town's sake.

I close the book and think, trying to figure out their schemes. Even after a long moment of contemplation, I can not arrive at a definitive conclusion. However, I think I'll have to immediately correct my assumptions towards these beastmen lest I begin to fool myself and dull my judgement. I previously thought they are a barbaric and savage race, only knowing how to **** and plunder and lead a lawless life, but it is definitely not the case here. I can see now that they're a very cunning one, being careful and secretive in their evil deeds. They must be using these acts of charity to gain trust and sympathy, just so that the townspeople will willingly donate to them. I'm sure if I look closely at this ledger, I will be able to find a disparity between the income and the expenses, where the hidden fund is used for nefarious purposes. These beastmen are far more devious than I thought, but I will expose their evil deeds in time. I will bring justice to this town and help the innocent humans getting out of the beastmen's claws.

But not right now, I'll have to postpone meticulously checking the ledger and the donation scrolls as I need to check the contents of the other drawers first. I put the ledger back where I got it from and closed the top drawer. I proceed to the middle one and see many stacks of papers. I examine one and it shows a name and detailed information of an individual. It describes their race, date of birth, background, family, and other important details. On the top left of the paper, there's a small portrait of them, sketched by a very brilliant artist since the detail and realism is one of the best I've ever seen. The one described in the paper itself doesn't seem to be an important person, just an inassuming housewife with a husband and two children. Another paper I pick up describe a similar person, just a regular folk. These stacks of paper are probably just a town census, but why are these papers stored here in a shrine instead of inside a government building? Is there no such building here? Maybe I'll have to ask the mayor later as Viktor.

There is nothing of importance inside the middle drawer aside from the census, so I close it up and finally open the bottom one. It has a stack of blank papers, a few stacks of blank scrolls, and quills. There are also several jars of ink and a wax seal kit. The jars themselves are arranged neatly and the writing tools are kept separately in orderly fashion. I try moving them carefully to find any hidden document, but I find nothing of that sort. I close the drawer and sigh. So the bottom drawer is just the supply storage, how boring. Maybe now I should check-

"Excuse me, priestess. I'm here with your breakfast, may I come in?"

A feminine voice came from behind the door, and a silhouette can be seen on the paper lining, kneeling on the floor. I didn't realize how much time has passed during my search of clues. There isn't any lock on the door, which actually helped me to sneak in last night, so anyone could have caught me by surprise while I was suspiciously looking through the drawers. Thankfully, this one is polite enough to announce their presence and ask for permission first. A moment later, I smile using Akemi's lips, realizing my mistake in thinking. Of course they are being polite towards me, Akemi is well respected in this town. She's basically the de facto leader of the beastmen in Thresford, and there is no doubt that she also plays the same role among the shrine workers. It will be quite easy to enforce my will using Akemi's body.

That being said, I can't let them know about my control over Akemi's body. I can't afford to make any mistake or it will blow my cover, so I must be careful in how I act. I quickly straighten my posture and put on a gentle smile. Just before I speak to let her in, I catch myself and change it into a question.

"Who is it?"

Since I don't have Akemi's memories, it'd be best to know the names of the people surrounding Akemi as quickly as possible. Not just to be friendly and maintain the facade, but also so that I can investigate each of them individually later.

"...It is I, Iris, priestess Akemi"

The voice replies, a hint of confusion is apparent in her tone. She probably wonders why I had to ask her name, as Akemi should already know her voice well. Maybe also perhaps because the one who delivers Akemi's breakfast is the same everyday. But it is okay, I should be able to play it off as a harmless mistake and it won't cause any suspicion.

"Ah, sorry Iris, I can't hear you well. You can come in"

The door is almost immediately but slowly slid open. A young woman is kneeling on the floor, presumably called Iris. A tray filled with a bowl, a plate and a cup is laid down on the floor next to her. She picks the tray with one hand and stands up. Her free hand closes the door after she enters. She looks downwards as she walks closer, not looking directly at me. Back in the capital city, that's a sign of disrespect, but perhaps for these backwards beastmen it's the opposite? While the woman is setting the tray and its contents down near Akemi's quilted matrass, I take a closer look at this Iris woman.

For one, she doesn't look like a beastwoman, since I don't see any animal parts on her. Other than that, I can say she's quite a beauty. However, I think she's more than she looks, as there's no fooling the eyes of a well seasoned mage such as I. She's slender but I suspects that she is quite strong and agile, more so than a regular human. And I don't mean she has prominent abs and thick muscles on her upper arms, it's just the subtle way she carries herself. She moves gracefully, but her steps are measured and controlled. It is possible that she has received proper combat training and quite a talented fighter at that.

Speaking of abs, if she did have one, I would be able to see it because her stomach is only covered by a thin fabric, nearly see through. There is a thicker white cloth covering her upper chest, but it was almost as if the tailor ran out of material halfway and decided to be done with it, thus exposing quite a large portion of her ample breasts and the entirety of her stomach. Her nipples are protruding against the flimsy black fabric, just below the white cloth. A pair of gloves covers her hands and forearms up to just above her elbows, its color and type of fabric identical with the black clothes. However, there is nothing covering her shoulders and her underarms.

As Iris stands back up, her short skirt (or what might constitute as one) sways, the multiple slits briefly exposes her crotch and the side of her thighs. It seems the black... bodysuit, for lack of better term, covers her body up from her neck down to her crotch. And just like how she doesn't wear one on top, she doesn't wear any underwear down there either. I can clearly see the outlines of her nether lips. Her thighs, even more exposed than her upper body without anything covering them, are quite thick, especially around the thigh gap area. While she has the body of a warrior, it also has the appeal of a courtesan, especially with that kind of clothing. To say that her attire is alluring would be an understatement. Does she always dress this provocatively in public? I hope my face isn't showing any of my arousal right now.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, priestess?"

Iris's voice brought me back to my senses, and I stopped staring at her body and focuses on her face instead. She's still looking downward, her face slightly covered by her straight, bluish black hair whose tips barely reaches her shoulders. But it still can't hide her beautiful face. Her eyes are sharp, and overall she seems to give me the vibe of a serious woman. A pair of human looking ears slightly poking out of her hair, and once again I fail to see any indication that she's a beastwoman. Perhaps she's a human who's **** to work here at the shrine against her will? That will explain her subservient attitude and astonishing clothing choice.

"No, thank you Iris," I replied, using Akemi's mouth and voice.

Iris looks up for the first time ever since she enters the room, looking straight at me. She proceeds to let out an audible gasp, her golden eyes open widely. She is seemingly shocked by something after looking at me, or to be precise, Akemi. I immediately panic, did I do something wrong? Is my face betraying me and shows my arousal after staring at her body? My body begins to sweat in cold, but I can't show any of those signs on my face!