Old Friend, New Fun

Carson wasn’t too worried about his store not really getting much in the way of traffic; it was still technically the first day, and in a location that usually didn’t get much attention. The nearest dungeon wasn’t too far away, but it had been a considerable amount of time since it was actually active, and not just a place for monsters or criminals to set up camp for a few days. There were a few different organizations, both national and more akin to private, were dedicated to observing dungeons, both active and not, to see when their activity changes or find signs of it changing. Carson learned all of this shortly after applying to be an adventurer.

The biggest surprise for him about this world was that while the ordinary people tended to show up wearing more conservative attire, even those acting in an official capacity for the government tended to wear attire that was more akin to what you would typically expect in a historical period drama on Earth, which wasn’t quite as normal as first impressions implied. Form-fitting armor for female soldiers and knights was mostly in the realm of reasonable believability, but then things changed when you saw the official religious garb was tending to lean a bit too far into the kinky side of things. He had actually traveled with a priestess, and her garb was far more revealing than it had any real right to be, and nobody seemed to care. It wasn’t until he saw the inside of several churches, each dedicated to a different deity, that he realized that it was just the norm for this place.

Armor rules were just as baffling; the cheap stuff covered more, but more advanced armor actually showed off more, regardless of gender, and somehow offered better protection. There was that one time he saw the elite guard of a few different nobles, and they all were basically wearing what looked like metal approximations of armor that looked like they took more cues from swimwear and leotards. Funny what you focus in on at times. The same held true with the high-tier mage armor. Thankfully, it seemed alchemist attire didn’t follow that trend, as far as Carson was aware.

But the rule was in overdrive with the nobility, especially the monarchs, of this world. You were more likely to see a queen greeting new guests in translucent lingerie than traditional medieval monarch attire, although the lingerie did usually tend to have that sort of aesthetic more often than not. The trend seemed to lean more heavily on the female side of things in that regard; they even said it was a long-standing tradition to do so, going back many generations.

Carson was brought out of his musings by the sound of the front bell ringing. When he looked up, he saw a face he hadn’t seen for some time. It was the demon-kin known as Sultry, his party’s healer, who was one with the rare class of Peace Priestess. Sultry was a demon-kin, also known as fiend-spawn, with vibrant purple skin and green eyes, her horns looked like they were carved from the branches of some great tree with their wooden appearance and texture; her tail ended in a batwing shape, and her hooves had more the look of an equine than any sort of sheep or goat that was usually typical of her kind.

Her people were uncommon, but not rare, and different places had different responses to her people, here she would be regarded as more of a curiosity rather than some kine of hostility that was typically present in more population dense areas. “It took me longer than I would have liked to find where you decided to hole up,” said Sultry in her sensual-sounding voice that had a hint of playful joke teasing in it this time around. “I always enjoyed those beverages you were able to conjure up, but you did mention something about imitations not being as good as the authentic experience. Is that what this place is for?”

“That was the initial plan, yes,” said Carson, “but it has been brought to my attention the products produced here might have some…interesting side effects that have a bit of delayed activation time. Think of it as consuming a potion that doesn’t kick in its effects until some time after the potion has been consumed.”

“Sounds like fun, I would very much like to assist you with the testing phase.”

“Happy to have you do so, but last I checked, you got a massive promotion in your order. Are you sure it’s okay for a Pacitreon to be out in these parts unaccompanied?”

“I felt it was time to tell you this, seeing as it didn’t seem like the right time back when we were adventuring together, but I want to spend the rest of my time with you, I caught feelings for you back when we were adventuring together.”

“Oh boy, I think I might have noticed, but was too focused on my mission to find a way back home. Which I stopped maybe a year or two after I started adventuring with you all, it only took three or four months of being with you all to decide cultural contamination was unavoidable and start bringing some things from where I’m from. I just chose to ignore that little observation, until you decided to actually bring it up with me.”

“Much appreciated with your honesty.”

“Now, before we continue our conversation,” said Carson as he slid a menu over the bar towards the demon-kin, “how about sampling something from here. Although, I should warn you that their might be some unintended side effects; the local guard captain sampled one of the ginger ales I made with one of the appropriate materials I still had in storage from way back in the day, she came back a few days later with a larger rear than when she first visited. So, I at least know what one of the side effects for my bevarges can be, but it only seems to be the ginger-like plant I happened upon way back when.”

“That was never my sort of thing anyway,” said Sultry, “the warriors seemed to prefer that and root beers when you did make it,” she took a look over the menu, “this ‘cream soda’ seems interesting, let’s just go with the basic version for now, we can try the flavored versions later.”

“Sure thing,” said Carson as he grabbed a glass mug from its place on the shelf under the counter and filled it up with the requested beverage. As she observed Carson fill the drinking apparatus, Sultry made a comment about it looking like a pale beer or ale. “You’re not wrong, something tells me that was intentional back where I’m from,” responded Carson as he handed it over to Sultry at the bar.

“Explain please,” requested Sultry as she took a long sip from the beverage.

“Back a few centuries ago, the nation I lived had a period that lasted a little over a decade where the consumption of **** was prohibited for commercial sale and consumption. It was a national experience, now considered an experiment by some, that didn’t quite work the way the ones who initiated thought it would. A legal way to substitute alcoholic beverages were sodas, much like what I’m serving now. In short, people wanted to feel like things were okay from before the that era in the nation’s history had that era happened. So, having a beverage that looks similar to something a bit more like what you were used to can help dull the pain of the loss and help you get through the ordeal.”

“I think I get it, but you said it came to an end, so things basically went back to how they were before, I assume.”

“Not quite, legal age of consumption laws were enacted, and for alcoholic beverages the legal drinking age was set to a minimum age of 21 years. I think mentioned some of this stuff before, around the party tried getting me to have a beer or ale shortly after we were officially a team and accomplished our first big win.”

“Right, I do recall you saying something about being underage. But that’s not the case now, you’re well past that minimum requirement. That said, this place is a bit lacking…” milk started flowing from her nipples, “are my breasts leaking milk?”

“Okay, so cream sodas seem to have a location effect,” said Carson as he pulled up a notebook and started jotting down his observations. I’ll close and lock up for a bit, we need to observe how long this lasts, among other things. Follow me, I’ll show my residential area,” he said as he pocketed the booklet and started heading for a hidden side door next to the bar.

With the sound of a hidden latch clicking undone, the hidden doorway slipped open, “Probably was a surprise when you asked for that feature during the building,” said Sultry as she followed him in, a spiral stairway no more than twelve feet from her feet leading downward and deeper into the ground than she anticipated.”

“Actually,” said Carson as he closed and relocked the door, “I added in the feature of a few hidden doors after construction. It might not fall into the purview of what my class is capable of, but I did take the time to learn enough about construction to make sure I wasn’t being cheated out of my coin; which coincidentally also gave me just enough knowledge on how to install hidden doorways without compromising the work to build the structure.”

“You seem to be a man of far more talents than your mark would imply,” said Sultry with a suggestive lick of her lips, “it just means the wait is even more worth it.”

“Jokes aside,” said Carson as he led his companion down the stairs, “we really should get to one of the rooms before trying to get a bit more intimate. I even set aside rooms for each of our party’s members, I do hope I managed to furnish them properly for your liking. And yes, your room is one of the closet to mine.”

“So, you weren’t as oblivious as you appeared in such matters after all.”

“Nope, just intensely focused on a goal, one that I realized a bit too late wasn’t a viable option for me. So, I switched gears, as they say where I’m from, to an objective I had always thought about before the incident that brought me to this realm.” After three or four minutes of descending the stairs, the pair came to a wide hallway with a few dozen rooms on either side and one room all the way at the end of the hallway. “This is my sleeping area, or rather it’s made to look that way.”

“You place illusion magic on the place, not a bad plan, which door that wee see actually leads to the real sleeping areas?”

“None of them,” the demon-kin turned her head to Carson in surprise, “the actual real door is on the right, next me on the wall. All those doors are decoys.”

“I take it the builders know?”

“Not entirely, at best they think this area is for storage, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong to think that. Those rooms are technically storage for some of my materials, but they’re rigged up with some special alchemical traps.”

“And since you’re immune to those sorts of things, I’m the trap is barely more than a minor annoyance, regardless of the actual effect.”

“Nothing too hazardous,” said Carson, just something to incapacitate them for a while. I don’t want to accidentally kill what could very well be just a curious child that ended up here somehow. I’m not all that confident in the magical wards I have on the place, not without someone of Hetanlia’s skill in the art, she is one of the best abjurers on the continent.”

“She hasn’t visited yet?”

“She’s too busy with her duties at that academic mage city she was invited to be part of when we all went our separate ways. I did send a letter to her asking for a few protective charms I could place around the complex to keep unwanted guests, attacks, and the like out. The best I can do for the moment is some moderately affordable charms to keep others from scrying on the place stashed around, but it looks like the’re the kind of work that leans closer to the shoddy side of things. At best, they won’t last more than a month or two before breaking down, by my estimate.”

“When did you put them up?”

“A little before I started brewing about a week ago.”

“I’ll check with some things to help see what’s going on, she should have sent you a reply letter by now.”

“Well, the church network is pretty reliable, for now,” commented Carson.

“Why did you word it that way?”

“The history of organized religion in my world is full of people using their religion to control and manipulate others; granted, that was in the absence of magic, so no spells or anything like that to do the job. Regardless, I think you know what I was getting at.”

“No matter how good or well-intentioned the institution is now, corruption can slowly spread and fester throughout it and turn what everyone thinks about it looking the same on the outside just a show for the masses.”

“Basically. Even institutions designed to safeguard against the corruption can become corrupted themselves,” Carson opened the hidden door next him without a sound led Sultry in. The hallway on the other side was a bit more confined, about ten to fifteen percent smaller than the hallway the stairs had led to. The hallway also had two or three doors on either side before splitting of into intersections, even the end of the hall split off into a T-shaped intersection. “This is designed more for privacy,” said Carson as he led Sultry down the hall. They came to the end of the hall and turned right, revealing three doors on the left and two on the right with a door at the end of the hall.”

“So, which one is mine,” inquired Sultry.

“Mine is the door at the end of the hall,” replied Carson, “yours is the closet one to the end on the right.” He led his companion over and opened the door to the room for her. Inside was a moderately sized room with furnishings that matched her style surprisingly well, there was even a small shrine to the deity she had made an oath two as a priestess in the corner on the other side of the room.

“Well, how about helping me get comfortable,” said Sultry in a teasing voice as she wandered into the room and removed her top, her still lactating bosom now on full display.

“If I must,” said Carson in an equally teasing voice, removing his shirt and throwing near her top as he entered the room, closing the door behind him with his foot. A moment later he was fondling her breasts and sucking at her breasts with the energy of a horny college kid. The whole experience went on for a few hours.

“You do know how to make a girl feel special.”