Enter Cape Hope

Suddenly, I was no longer sitting in a computer chair, but in a big, well-upholstered, leather one. The metal desk with its advanced computer was replaced with a big oak office desk that was uncluttered by anything. And the small dark room was replaced by what appeared to be a large open office. In front of the desk I sat behind, along either wall, were another six leather chairs like the one I now sat in. Five of which were occupied by my chosen companions, who looked as startled as I felt.

Lastly, standing in front of the desk facing me, a clipboard in hand, was a short, pale woman with long black hair, a winning smile, and wearing the slutty maid uniform of my Lackeys. Very, very different from finding myself alone in some light woods in the middle of nowhere.

I was tempted to look for my horse, but as soon as the girl noticed I was paying attention to her, she launched into her obviously practiced speech. "Good morning your Highness! Welcome to Cape Hope! The girls and I have been very busy the last few days preparing for your arrival." She seemed like she was about to launch into whatever those preparations were when I held up a hand, and she stopped, still quivering in apparent excitement.

First things first, I had no idea where this 'Cape Hope' was. "One thing at a time, what is your name?"

She hit me with that thousand-watt smile again. "Oh, I'm so sorry, your Highness. I'm Mindy. Your head Maid, Snow, put me in charge here as your personal secretary." She gave me a deep curtsey, then stood back at attention.

That was strange, they'd been setting things up here seemingly for days, and were in contact with Snow at least, but it had been mere moments before that I was in the incursion room. I guess some setup time made sense, my Artist's Layer Dungeon would have to be up and in place before I got here. Arriving in it made the purchase an even better investment. "Okay, good to hear you're in touch with Snow. Now, can you tell me where this Cape Hope is?" This would be important.

"Of course, my Lord. We've been making discrete inquiries since our arrival, but most of our information came from the new recruits." New recruits? Mindy flipped through some papers on her clipboard before reading. "Cape Hope is the southernmost city in the Land of the Four Souls. It had another name until recently, but no one will say it, apparently it's bad luck. A trader from Zipangu seems to have found a way to make regular trips through the mists surrounding the continent, and what was once a small fishing village has blown up into a new trade hub. Zipangu is also where we are supposed to be an envoy of your Highness."

Four Souls, thank the world makers. I'd heard of Zipangu, an archipelago with a society much like Imperial Japan, if they had had monster girls... I flipped open my pouch while my secretary waited to have my attention again, noting that it was much larger now. My signet ring was much the same, though more ornate now. Also atop the jewelry and gems was some rolled-up paperwork. Unrolling it, I found seals and documents proclaiming me Prince Guy of Zipangu, that was ballsy. This was a real place, and there was at least one person here from there if this trader was here now. Shit. Interestingly, I realized I had a whole host of memories detailing the ins and outs of the royal courts. Apparently, I could host a tea ceremony with the best of them now, thank you, Aesthetic Talent. No telling if any of that would come in handy here, but at least I wouldn't be caught flatfooted if it did. Rolling the papers back up, I noted that in addition to bracelets, my pouch also had a number of necklaces and rings as well now. Nice.

I looked around the room at my seated companions, who were apparently waiting on me. Maleficent gave me a haughty nod in acknowledgement. Cassandra, a salute. Ruby gave me a sultry wink while Elsa and Ella smiled and waved. Sorting through my pouch, I handed each of them a ring and a necklace, plus picked out one each for myself as well. Thankfully there was plenty, so some of the bracelets I'd had before must have been replaced. Worked for me.

Placing a broad silver ring with a black opal on my ring finger and a necklace of simple silver links that I tucked into my shirt after placing it about my neck. "So you'll note I have two more types of jewelry now. Both can capture just like the bracelets, and can be spoken through as well. The reason for wearing all three is the next thing I bought." I concentrated on activating the set, and silver armor spread from my shoulder down to my fist on my left side, as well as a silver breast and back plate. "The armor is just an illusion, but it approximates where the real protection is for the second setting." I concentrated again, and a faint silver field with black highlights covered me. "This is the first setting, a moderate protection over your whole body. If it is overcome, it will recharge in about ten seconds." I concentrated a third time, and the field brightened but narrowed to only cover my chest, back, and left arm. "In this setting, the protection is considerable, capable of deflecting an attack that would flatten a square mile. But if this breaks, it will take a full three hours to recharge." I noticed Mal and Cass already were showing illusionary armor. "There's an even stronger emergency setting, but it requires more pieces than I have yet." I looked over at Mindy, my secretary. "Is this trader from 'my' kingdom in port now?"

The ravenette nodded, eyes wide at my display. "Yes my Lord. His ship, the Dauntless, got in just after we arrived. He was not happy that we'd set up shop in this warehouse. I fear he may have rented it while in port before and wanted it again." Well, that was another bother to deal with.

"Send one of the local recruits to ask him if he would be free to meet with me soon."

She bobbed another deep curtsey. "Of course, my Lord, at once, my Lord. One thing, should I also send word to the local guard captain? He was most insistent on seeing you once you arrived." Shit.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I did so not need local entanglements already, I hadn't even had time to check the main quest for this world yet. "Yes, send him word as well." No point delaying things if he was already poking his nose in.

"At once, your Highness!" Another bob and she was off at a run, quite impressive in those heels.

Once she was gone, I waved the others close, and they all got up in a huddle. "Now the bad news. We are in a Mamono world. What that means is very powerful, practically god like, demons of lust have corrupted this world. Their power is in the air, the water, and even in the soil. It has turned all the monsters and demi-humans into monster girls, and I mean all. Even a simple haunted chandelier is now some approximation of a sexy girl. And they want to mate with men, even the nice ones will lose control when they go into heat. Worse still, this demonic energy can infect normal women, turning them into monster girls. That is why I picked the five of you. Cass, Ruby, Maleficent, you three are already monster girls of a sort. It is still possible for you to become corrupted, but thanks to our link, that should only mean you'll become more like your monster girl types here. Elsa and Ella, however, have nothing to worry about, thanks to a couple of purchases I made, you two are now completely immune to corruption. You should be able to feel a sort of light within your heart, your soul." The former ruler nodded, but Ella went one step more, and with a beatific smile, exploded with light. We all covered our eyes, too late, but thanks to Environmental Defense could soon see again. By this time, Ella had limited herself to just a faint glow, but spun around, giggling. "The two of you are now Princesses of Light. In addition to being immune to corruption, you can hold it at bay or even **** it back if you push hard enough. Working together, you can do even more than individually. I also bought Corruption Defense, but that just increases the rest of our resistances to it. I'm counting on the two of you to keep us safe. Do not eat or drink anything that hasn't been handled by one of them first. Try to stay close to them, and always sleep close to one of them. You two should also be able to detect sources of corruption." That got nods from both of the Princesses.

Ella shivered. "I can feel it out there. waves and waves of it." Probably the ocean, it was steeped in Mamono energy. Hopefully, it would be better inland.

"This land has three nations. We are currently in one ruled by humans. They've subjugated all the local monster girls and **** them to serve mankind, they think. Secretly, the Emperor and his council are actually powerful Mamono lords. Still, for the most part there is rule of law here, and the monster girls are generally treated well, if as second-class citizens."

Cass didn't look happy. "That means us as well?" Rose even growled.

I nodded. "Theoretically, but the two of you look human, so you shouldn't have any problem. Mal." I looked over at her, and the tall woman shrugged and rustled her wings. "No one is going to take you for human, but one other thing about monster girls here. They typically seek husbands. See, they primarily feed off of human 'essence' which generally means sperm. The monster girls you see in this land, if they aren't wild, will have a husband they are bonded to. Which means the locals will assume that you are bonded to me."

Maleficent threw her head back and laughed at the joke. "I am bound to you, and I do crave your essence." She laughed again before giving me a sardonic smile.

I smiled back, the way she really drew out the word essence made me want to give her some right now... "There's not a lot of mortal danger here, the magic of this realm wants to corrupt, not kill. Most of the monster girls' attacks won't actually wound you, but will instead drain your own essence. If it gets too low, the Mamono energy will try to creep in to replace it, corrupting you. For men, that just makes us super horny, for women, it usually means converting you into the type of monster girl that attacked. There are some special cases otherwise of course. You'll even find that the very metals here have also absorbed this magic. You should see a lot of people, and almost all monster girls who have weapons are using silver. That's Momono ore, it also doesn't wound but causes essence drain. It is useful for capturing enemies alive, and **** to have sex."

"So the guards here will be using silver weapons to capture monster girls to subjugate?" Cass asked.

"Exactly right. You'll see much the same in the Land of the Four Gods. They are largely the opposite of here socially, with the monster girls in charge, but humans are still treated well. That last is an uncivilized hellhole where we will be attacked on sight by just about everyone."

Maleficent snorted. "Survival of the fittest then." She flexed one hand, showing claws. "Bring it on."

I shook my head. "I really, really don't want to think of having to go into the Land of the Four Fiends. Hopefully, my quest won't require it. Speaking of, give me a moment, I haven't even looked at my quest log yet."

I walked back around what was apparently my desk and sat back in the chair while everyone else sat back in their chairs, except Rose, who sat in Cassandra's lap...

Pulling out my Company device, which still looked the same, I flipped over to the Quests tab. Interestingly, I had two, the main quest and a side quest already. I tapped on the main one. Main Quest: Hunting The Huntresses. A group of huntresses have recently entered the country on various quests. Capture five of them before they are corrupted. After that was a list of eight names that I'd never heard of before. Not great, I didn't know who these women were, where they were, and I could only miss three of them before failing. In a land where corruption was all too easy. Fuck. It also, I noted, didn't list rewards.

Hoping for some good news, I tabbed over to side quests to see a string of notifications. Hidden Quest unlocked! Gotta Lay Them All: Have sex with ten different Monster Girl types. Reward: 30 credits and the capture of a random monster girl of chosen type, no greater than tier six. After that was a list of six updates: Dark Mage, Werewolf, Cheshire, Mermaid, Dragon, Ice Queen. So not only had I unlocked the quest, but it was already counting six of my girls I'd had sex with. Werewolf was obviously Ruby, but Dark Mage? They were in order, so I could only assume it was counting Grimhilde, which made me even more glad I'd chosen to leave her behind. Kat and Ariel were self-explanatory, as was Maleficent. It must be counting Elsa as an Ice Queen, which seemed odd, especially now she had Heart Of Light. Oh well, I wasn't complaining. Only four more monster girls and I'd get a chunk of credits and another companion. I'd have to start thinking about which would be the best to pick. Flipping over to the Catalog showed me it did indeed have a listing of all the generic MGE monster girls, which would be a big help.

Setting my device on the desk, I started going through the drawers until I found some paper, a pen, and some ink. I hoped I found a world with a decent tech level next, I'd have the Minions raid an office supply store. Luckily, my Persona had impeccable penmanship. Quickly, I jotted down the list of eight names from my main quest. Alameria Crescentria, Luciana Southray, Merse Dascaros, Olivie Amaltia, Paula Tronmail, Primera Concerto, Vermut Rosnair, and Wilmarina Nocrim.

Hopefully the office girls had heard something about them, or I was really going to be hunting blind. Maybe I'd have to chase down four more monster girls just to get the credits to buy Bounty Tracker. No, a quick look told me I wouldn't have enough for it, never mind the two prerequisites needed for it first. It would buy me Mapper and Target Tracker though, so I added them to my mental shopping list. Maybe another forty credits would fall in my lap.

I leaned back to wait, but it really wasn't long before Mindy was back. "My Lord!" A deep curtsey in my direction. "The master trader is more than happy to meet with you at your convenience at his ship, but Guard Captain Alucard is on his way to see you now. You could wait first or catch him on the way to the ship."

That name seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "No point sitting around waiting." And I didn't want him poking his nose around in here. "We can catch him on the street. Do you know where this ship is docked?" She nodded with a bright smile. "Perfect, you lead us there. But first, check out this list of names." I pushed the paper over to the ravenette maid, who looked it over curiously. "Any ring a bell? I need your girls to find out as much about them, especially their locations, as soon as possible."

She looked super excited to have a mission, practically bouncing in place. "Your Highness, I believe this is a list of a group of adventurers that came through here about the same time that we set up. They made quite a stir, and one of them is still in Cape Hope! Captain Dascaros is training troops for the Emperor here for the next push into enemy territory."

Well, that was good news. She might even have more information on where the others could have gone. I waved Mindy ahead of me, and the six of us followed her out of the office, the warehouse, and into the morning light.