Shopping For Sidequests

"What kind of building is that?" Elsa asked me, while pointing, as we neared the outskirts of the town.

I had been wondering that myself. The building in question was a big, mostly plain square of whitewashed brick, like most of the newer construction we'd seen. Cheap and fast to put up I supposed. This particular one was two-storied, and the second floor, facing the street, had eight small balconies, each with its own door. On each balcony, a young monster girl was standing, waving down to the people on the street and calling out to them. "I think it might be a brothel." Interestingly, each girl was a different type of monster girl.

A passing local, who had his own sheepgirl, paused when he heard me. "Oh no, sir. Nothing like that. Not to say you can't find a few of those around here these days, but that's the daughter market." Obviously this only confused me more, seemed like he could tell that. "Look, it's not a small community here anymore, and not everyone is comfortable keeping their own daughters around, so they have to find someone for them. We can't just have unowned monster girls running around, who knows what trouble they would get up to."

Huh, I guess that sort of made sense. They were treated like second-class citizens in this nation. No wonder so many of the fishermen I saw had those crab-like girls with them, daughters of whoever had first caught one probably. So this was more an auction house than a brothel, only the girls wanted to be sold. "So the girls are being sold?" Still seemed a bit sketchy, but who was I to moralize?

Apparently he thought the idea was sketchy too, cause he blanched when I asked that. "It's not like that! Sure, they take some money, but that's just for the costs of food and care, you understand? People aren't just farming daughters out for profit." Yeah sure. "You looking for a girl?" He asked, after looking over my crew, a bit puzzled. Then he pointed up at the balcony that held a single sheep girl. "Lullaby up there is as gentle as can be, just like her mother." The sheep girls did look a lot alike, come to think of it, more like sisters though. "Just be careful if you shear her though, they get downright ornery then."

Did I want a sheep girl? Probably not, cute but hardly useful. I did need four more monster girls though... I thanked the man, who was probably a farmer, and he walked off with his sheep wife. I turned back to my girls. "Well, that answers that." Elsa shrugged, but didn't look happy. Mal was the only one who didn't actually. "They look happy at least." And they did at that. Apparently they weren't even being **** to hang out outside. While I was watching a harpy girl, who could have just flown off if she wanted, opened her door and went inside. Not long after, a short redhead who looked completely human came back out, replacing her. A dwarf? "So I'm going to need to capture some more monster girls anyways, why not take the easy way and buy one? I have plenty of gems."

Mal nodded along, she could see the merit. "You'd want someone useful, and not too many to keep in line while waiting on your jewelry to bind them."

Ella just smiled at me, trustingly. Cass didn't seem to care, and Ruby just shrugged. "As long as they want to be with you, I suppose I don't see the harm." Elsa gave in.

"They absolutely want husbands, the corruption drives them to it. Honestly, they are being surprisingly calm about it." I looked up at the holstaur on her balcony. She wasn't even offering fresh milk, and that harpy could have launched herself at someone. "I guess they really are domesticated here." Maleficent wasn't wrong though. Someone useful to pad out the party would be best. But also someone I found attractive. "Let's go inside and see who's available.

.

The inside was surprisingly nice compared to the utilitarian outside. It reminded me of an upscale hotel front desk more than anything. There was even a counter with a smiling older woman waiting behind it. "Welcome!" She started in, before stopping, obviously puzzled by a large group of women. Probably didn't get many human women in here, seemed strange to me to see a human woman working here in the first place, honestly. And I could tell she was human because she looked older, monster girls almost never looked their age. "Can I help you?" She finished, concentrating on me.

"This is the daughter market, yes?" She smiled again, nodding. "I'm new to the area, but I understand I can find unattached monster girls here?"

Obviously deciding I was a customer after all, she looked more than happy to explain. "Yes, exactly! New to the area? Are you unfamiliar with how we operate?"

"Yes. Let me start over. I am Prince Guy of Zipangu. It's possible, even probable, that we have similar markets there, but as a royal it's never come up, you understand?" She nodded, looking impressed. "I am here on a quest and thought a new wife would bolster our numbers. I can easily afford the dowry price, of course."

She looked confused again for a moment. "Oh, you mean the maintenance fee, nothing so fancy as a dowry here. All the way from Zipangu too, so fancy. I've seen the ship captain about town, of course. Didn't know we would be seeing royalty here though. And a quest! Oh my. Most of the girls here looking for a husband aren't the adventurous type I'm afraid."

"Someone with combat skills would be ideal." I interjected.

The older woman seemed lost in thought for a bit before she continued. "I'm afraid I can only think of two girls you might be interested in. I know Flora trained with her mother, it's an elven thing I understand. Then there's Salome... She can fight, it's getting her not to that's hard." She sighed. "Well, come with me and I'll take you to a greeting room, and you can meet them."

She got up and walked around the counter, leading us down a hallway further into the building. "Forgive me if this sounds indelicate, but I was curious to see a woman working here. Are you not afraid of becoming a monster girl?" It would be an improvement at her age, but the locals wouldn't see it that way.

"Oh no, not at all." She said over her shoulder, not bothering to slow down. "The girls would never, and with my husband passed there's not even the urge from competition."

"My condolences."

Gesturing into a room off the hall, she gave me another smile. "That is very kind of you, but he's been gone a while now. In fact, that's how I got into taking care of the girls."

The meeting room was also very nicely appointed, with its own fireplace and comfortable seating. We'd passed several similar, but smaller, rooms on the way here. As the girls settled down, I asked, now curious. "I'm curious, if you don't mind telling me."

"Oh, it's no secret. This was back before the town started growing. Without his income, I opened my home to some of the neibor's daughters to stay, like a boarding house. Easier for them than staying around their father and the problems that could cause. Their families paid for their upkeep plus a little extra that was all I needed to live on, and they helped around the place, of course. In turn, I did my best to find men looking for wives. Then the boom hit, and the town just kept growing and growing. Apparently with all the people that moved in from up north, it became even harder for unattached daughters to find husbands. Well, to my shock, the mayor talked to the governor about me and what I'd been doing. Next thing I know, they asked me to run this place, and I've been here since. Now you get comfortable, and I'll be right back with the girls." And she was off, so I took a seat in one of the plush chairs.

"This is certainly nicer than I expected." Elsa said from her own seat. "I thought we'd find some greasy merchant selling them like commodities. She's more like a doting mother trying to find matches for her daughters."

I nodded, it did seem shockingly wholesome. "It's clearly an important thing here. Most monster girls really can't control their urges for men, and if their fathers don't want to end up with more wives they obviously can't just kick them out into the wild here. The control over monster girls seems quite regimented here. Probably stiff penalties for non-compliance as well." The Nation was probably a slog of a bureaucracy for its government, under the Emperor, of course. Which made sense, the continent seemed to be a sort of analog to China as Zipangu was for Japan.

I thought about the girls the proprietress, who hadn't actually given her name, was fetching. An elf trained by her mother would be an excellent archer, which couldn't hurt. At least second-generation growing up here, she probably wouldn't be the same problem as a savage from the wilds. Interesting that she was a full elf since one of the women I was here for was apparently only half-elf. I had no idea how that worked. I had thought monster girls always bred true, aside from the rare male children who were usually born human. Not much to go by with the other girl, aside from she was apparently aggressive. That could fit a lot of monster girls though.

We weren't waiting long before the older woman ushered two of her charges into the room. The first was the green-haired elf from the balconies outside. The second had dark pink hair with a metallic tint, vivid orange eyes, and sharp teeth. Her arms from the elbow down and legs from the knee down were covered in large scales that matched her hair color, as did the scales on her long, reptilian tail. Some kind of lizard girl, and she seemed excited to see me. "Here we go, dears. Have a seat and get to know each other, ring the bell when you've made up your minds." And she was off back to the front desk, no doubt, and still hadn't given me her name.

The elven girl, who had pale skin, bright green eyes, and was wearing a short, simple green dress, swept in and took a chair where she could get a good look at me. The reptilian girl, who only wore a skimpy black bikini, however walked right up to me and eyed me with a sneer on her face. "Oi suppose you look the part, but kin you walk the walk?" Was she speaking in an Australian accent? What kind of monster girl was Australian?

"What she means is if you want her to join you, you will have to fight her for it. She will only consent to a man who can give her a worthy battle. Most just run away." The elven girl, who must be Flora, told matter-of-factly. Though she did so with a smile, so there was that.

"Thanks." I told the green-haired girl before looking back at the reptilian one. Standing as close to me as she was, I was basically looking up into her cleavage, so I stood up. She wasn't much shorter than me. "I will fight you if that's what it takes. I'd like both of you to join me."

Salome took a step back, her sneer gone. It was replaced by a look of sheer joy. "Yer gonna fight me?! Fuck yeah, let's go!"

Flora laughed. "Well, you are certainly brave enough, and think of yourself highly as well, looking for two more mates with the number you already have." She gestured offhandedly at the others.

Glaring at Flora, Maleficent seemed to take umbrage with the elf's attitude. "You would be lucky to join my lord's harem, the question is if you are worthy of him."

Blushing and glaring back, the greenette sat up straight, looking the draconic woman in the eye. "I can hold my own! My mother taught me to fight, to survive. I'm not soft like a city dweller."

"Hold on, hold on. There's no sense getting worked up." Even civilized, it would seem her monstrous nature made her feel competitive against one of my women. And she really didn't want to try and take on Maleficent. "What would it take for you to come with me?" I really did want both, for numbers, quests, and they were both beautiful.

She looked back at me and took a deep breath. Probably trying to calm herself. "You will appreciate my skill and use me? Not just consider me a trophy?"

"I'm leading a mission into the wilderness, and it will be just us unless I can convince one other to join. You will be used and valued."

She gave me a nod, apparently convinced. The whole time, the pinkette had been bouncing on her feet in impatience. "So we doing this now?"

"Soon as we clear things with the proprietor." She grabbed a rope that was apparently a bell pull and then ran out the door. I shrugged and followed with everyone behind me. There was a set of bags with a bow, quiver, and a pair of long daggers along the wall that Flora picked up, so they did have their own gear. Nice. Salome was standing across from the older woman when we got back to the entry room. "He's gonna fight me! Finally someone with a pair!" The scaly woman just had the one bag, but also a huge silver axe. She was obviously stronger than she looked.

The older woman smiled at me. "So you choose Salome then?" She frowned, seeing that Flora had followed with the others.

"Actually, both. Depending on what Salome thinks after the fight." She just blinked and shrugged before pulling out a ledger. I didn't have any local coins, so just pulled a fistful of gems out and set them on the counter. "Is this enough?"

The proprietress gasped as the gems spilled across the wood. "That is far too much!"

She scooped them up and tried to offer them back to me, but I just cupped her hands with my own, trapping the gems in her hand. "No, I insist. You are doing good work here. Continue helping these women, and may this help you do more."

The older woman nodded and placed the gems in a drawer before putting paperwork together. Of course, there would be paperwork. Flora seemed impressed, but Salome just looked impatient. Soon enough though, I was presented with two writs of ownership. I signed both, Flora signed hers, and then Salome signed hers as well. "I thought you wanted to fight first?"

"Oi just wanna fight, you don gotta win. Just gimme a fair dinken time, and I'm yours." Her orange eyes gleamed with an inner fire. Was she some kind of dragon? No wings.

I put the writs in my pouch and started outside. "Oh, I'll give you a fight, I promise you that." Outside, we started back up the street. "Not far until we are outside of town, we can find a clear spot, or if you like, we're heading to the guard compound, and we can borrow a sparring ring there. No weapons if you don't mind, just hand-to-hand." I didn't want to risk seriously hurting her with this sword, it was meant to kill a dragon after all.

She looked down at the three large claws that tipped her reptilian hands and snorted. "It's your funeral me fella, just don't bleed out too fast."

She had some pretty big surprises in store coming up.