Wearing the Young Lady's Skin

Deep within the underground cave, a dark figure seemed to hear something, ceasing a feeding-like action and vanishing into the cavern with an eerie movement.

Following this, two young male adventurers cautiously entered a slightly more spacious area, resembling a hall, through a passage on the other side of the cave.

Charles and Taylor, waving their torches, slowly moved forward, observing their surroundings.

"This... seems different from the rest of the cave..."

Charles whispered his observation, pausing before adding,

"...like some kind of creature's nest."

Taylor glanced at Charles's face, flickering in the torchlight, and silently agreed.

Then, in this spacious area, they discovered dried blood, complex footprints, a pile of human or animal bones, and a collection of clothing.

Both noticed the pile of clothing. After confirming there were no other creatures in the space, they used the flames from their existing torches to light an extra torch, which they then stuck into a crevice in the cave wall. Using its bright light, they carefully examined their surroundings again.

"It looks like someone has lived here, but these traces are strange. There's no fire or bedding for warmth, but there are definitely human footprints, mixed with some footprints of monsters I've never seen before."

Charles held his torch, carefully observing the marks on the ground, analyzing them using his experience and knowledge.

"Maybe this time, we might find something?"

Taylor noticed something unusual in the pile of clothing. It seemed to be a flesh-colored garment, which in the firelight looked somewhat like "human skin."

But when Taylor picked up the garment, she realized that what she saw wasn't just "like" human skin; no matter how she looked at it, it was human skin, and it seemed to be the skin of a human woman.

Hair fell along the skin, facial features were furrowed and somewhat indistinct, but the female characteristics of the chest and groin were very obvious. The skin was fair, and the head was sunken and drooping to the side, looking somewhat eerie.

"Charles, look! What is this?"

Taylor wasn't afraid, and held up the "human skin" with both hands, waving it at Charles.

When Charles saw the human skin in front of him, he frowned, and what came to mind was something he had read in a book about strange creatures.

"...The Skinflint, ugly in appearance, feeds on the flesh and blood of animals or humans. After eating, it uses some ability to peel off the skin of its victim, and then covers itself with the peeled skin, completely disguising itself as the skinned creature, even mimicking some of the behaviors of the creature before ****, making it difficult to distinguish."

"This is..."

Walking to Taylor's side, and only after touching the "human skin" himself did he finally confirm that his guess was probably true.

This might be a human skin peeled off by the Skinflint, but weren't these creatures extinct thousands of years ago?

When he lifted the face covered in human skin to confirm, he discovered something even more troublesome: wasn't this the very person Charles and Taylor were searching for—Viscount Randall's only daughter, Ilya Randall?

"The bounty for this mission was a thousand gold pounds! We actually found her! Charles, we're rich!"

Taylor shook Charles's shoulder excitedly, his voice, slightly raised with excitement, echoing through the cave.

But Charles didn't seem excited at all; instead, his brow furrowed deeper, and he couldn't help but press his temples.

"Have you forgotten what the bounty said? Find the runaway Ilya and bring her back alive to the Viscount's manor for a thousand gold pounds."

"Bring her back alive, that's the key. Knowing the nature of those noble lords, if you bring back a corpse, you might get some reward if you're lucky, but if you're unlucky, they might kill you on the spot."

Charles's cold tone instantly calmed Taylor's excitement.

Just then, rustling footsteps came from another passage in the cave.

"There's a light ahead, in this direction!"

"...Who's there?"

Human voices echoed through the cave. From the footsteps, Charles estimated there were at least six or seven people.

"...Probably other bounty hunters. Grab these things, let's get out of here first."

Charles's heart sank, and he quickly called to Taylor.

He knew that encountering monsters in the wild wasn't so scary; as long as you ran, most monsters wouldn't pursue you. But encountering humans trying to rob you was a different story. Before you could escape into a guarded city, if they caught up with you, killing you to cover your tracks was commonplace. In this desolate wilderness, if you were killed, no one would even claim your remains.

Bounty hunters were the most dangerous, because Charles, himself a bounty hunter, had witnessed firsthand how those guys could easily lose their humanity for money; some of them couldn't even be called human.

Extinguishing their torches, leaving only one to illuminate their path to prevent the men from following them, Charles and Taylor fled the cave along the same route they had come from.

"...The boss said someone beat us to it. You guys take some men and search the area..."

Just as they emerged from the cave, they heard voices from the high slope above, startling Charles and Taylor, who quickly crouched down and held their breath.

Fortunately, the group didn't seem to have discovered the cave exit. After confirming no one was around, Charles and Taylor ran towards the town without looking back.

After walking for several hours, they arrived at the largest city in the vicinity, their home, Anglesburg.

"...How was the day?"

The guards at the city gate were already used to the two's frequent comings and goings. Although they were too lazy to ask their names, they were familiar with their faces.

Their feigned friendliness was partly to confirm that the two bounty hunters weren't bringing anything dangerous into the city, and partly to try and extort some money.

"A search mission. Didn't find the person, just some clothes. The person is probably gone..."

Charles wanted to give Taylor a wink, but seeing Taylor already standing in front of the guards, he felt a little nervous.

Taylor opened the package, revealing the clothes inside.

"...That's all." Taylor pursed his lips.

The guard stepped forward and began rummaging through the package, making Charles's breath catch in his throat.

"Whose daughter is this? With just this, it'll be hard to get any money."

After a moment, the guard looked disappointed, seemingly having found nothing, and withdrew his hand from the package.

Seeing the guard stop searching, Charles finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This package was a cloth bag with hidden compartments that the two of them had prepared beforehand, specifically for evading searches and transporting dangerous goods, and the leather was hidden in one of the compartments.

But a thorough search couldn't guarantee that nothing would be discovered.

"Everyone knows this level of mission is beyond our capabilities. Finding anything is already good enough; let's just try our luck..."

The guard raised an eyebrow, knowing he wouldn't get anything valuable from these two poor bounty hunters today. He didn't intend to take the clothes, which belonged to nobles and might even be from corpses; they'd only cause trouble in the city.

After taking the cigarettes Taylor shoved into his hand, the guard waved for the two to go inside.

It was late, and the two only felt at ease after returning to their lodgings and confirming they weren't being followed.

It was a dilapidated hut near a cemetery, the cold night wind making the surroundings particularly eerie, but Charles and Taylor didn't seem to care. They closed the door, lit candles, and packed their belongings for the day.

Because no one wanted to live in the area, they had rented this place for ten copper coins a month, but for two people who had come here to make a living, having a place to stay was already a blessing.

Charles's parents died of the plague, and Taylor was an orphan from birth. The two met while completing bounty missions and decided to team up. After all, most missions were too dangerous for one person, but with each other, they could support each other and have a wider range of mission options.

More importantly, their abilities complemented each other. Charles excelled in deduction and investigation, and was knowledgeable, while Taylor was skilled in combat and ****.

Of course, Charles wasn't completely incapable of using weapons, but he was far inferior to Taylor, a professional fighter.

"...What do you mean? What should we do with that skin?"

If they were lucky, the skin could be exchanged for some money, but Charles didn't want to risk himself or Taylor. He was now all alone, and after years of partnership, Taylor was like a brother to him.

Money could be earned back, but life was gone forever. If he could get a thousand gold pounds, he wouldn't mind taking the risk, but for just one skin, the other party clearly couldn't offer that much, provided that the other party wouldn't kill him out of grief over the loss of his daughter, or to prevent outsiders from finding out that his daughter had been turned into skin.

But what if? Even a hundred or two gold pounds would be enough to ensure their immediate comfort and free them from this drafty, dilapidated house.

Thinking about it, Charles wavered.

"Never mind, there's still time. I'll think about it tomorrow," Charles sighed. After wiping the mud off his shoes in the living room, he prepared to go back to his bedroom.

Just as he was about to get up, the bedroom door suddenly opened, and a clear female voice reached his ears.

"Charles, oh no... I can't get this skin off!"

It was a young girl who looked to be under twenty, with long, slightly curly golden hair, her face filled with fear, and most importantly, she was completely naked.

Charles paused, a strange guess suddenly forming in his mind. He cautiously asked ,

"...Taylor?"

He remembered that the skin he had seen in the cave resembled the person before him in appearance and hair color.

He had checked immediately upon returning to the hut; besides himself and Taylor, there was no one else in the room.

“Look at my back… I just slipped on from behind, but now I can’t feel the opening…”

the girl muttered to herself. Charles basically understood the situation; it seemed Taylor had put on the human skin peeled off by the skinning monster.

Taylor was always like this, always with a dangerous curiosity.

He had initially thought Taylor was deliberately teasing him, but seeing the girl’s pale lips and trembling fingers, Charles temporarily abandoned that guess.

“Turn around, let me take a look.”

Although Charles was also curious about how the skin had completely transformed Taylor into a girl, the immediate priority was to help Taylor remove this strange skin.

He gestured for Taylor to turn around and examined his back.

But where was the opening on his fair and smooth back?

“…Are you sure you slipped on from behind? You’re not lying to me, are you?”

After observing carefully for a while without success, Charles tugged at the spine a few times, but couldn’t pull it up much. It was as soft and elastic as real female skin, at least more delicate than the skin of the prostitutes Charles had slept with.

"It must be behind...probably around here..."

The girl pointed to the area between her spine and shoulder blades.

Charles looked in the direction she was pointing, but there was nothing there.

Even someone as composed as Charles couldn't help but feel a surge of sexual desire upon seeing the girl's alluring curves, slender waist, and full hips. He swallowed hard, quickly suppressing the urge. His immediate priority was to find a way to help Taylor get off.

As if remembering something, Charles came out of the kitchen with a small knife.

Seeing the knife in Charles's hand, the girl's face turned even paler.

"You...what are you going to do..."

"Cut it open and see."

"Oh..."

He held the knife against the back and gently cut into the girl's spine. The next second, bright red blood dripped down the curve of her back.

"Ouch...did you cut too deep..."

Taylor clenched her fists, enduring the pain in her back, and asked Charles.

Charles had only managed to make a tiny incision, less than the width of his little finger. Though narrow, it was deep enough that by pressing down on both sides to open the incision, only flesh and blood could be seen inside. Because the skin around the spine was so thin, the pinkish-white vertebrae beneath were even faintly visible.

"This..."

Charles was stunned. He had never seen anything like this before and didn't know what to do.

"...It hurts...can you cut it open...?"

Taylor wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and cautiously turned her head to ask.

Charles shook his head.

"Ah...achoo!"

A sneeze escaped Taylor's lips, and she realized she had been naked for so long. In the late autumn night, her body was already freezing cold, and her nose was running.

"It's too dark to see clearly tonight. Go put on some clothes, or we can think of something tomorrow."

"...That's all we can do."

Charles simply wiped away the blood from the wound until most of it had congealed before returning to the bedroom.

Perhaps due to the exhaustion of the day, Charles didn't pay much attention to the girl sharing his bed and almost fell asleep immediately.

...

The next day.

The slight swaying of the large wooden bed woke Charles. He didn't know when, but the sun was already just beginning to rise. Charles rubbed his eyes and prepared to get up and wash.

Turning his head, he saw a young woman beside him, her upper body naked. One hand was caressing the deep pink nipples of her full, white breasts, while the other hand dangled from under the sheets. Her lips were slightly parted, her eyes were glazed, and her cheeks were flushed.

He had to admit, even after seeing many prostitutes' bodies, none could compare to the young woman before him. She had a slender waist, fair and delicate skin, and her profile was undeniably beautiful and elegant. However, her behavior was completely at odds with her appearance.

This girl…

Charles was speechless. Taylor had been incredibly nervous last night, and now, just one night later, she was enjoying this appearance.

"This skin can actually feel something?" Charles had never seen anything so amazing before. He had thought it was just an external disguise, but judging from the girl's expression, it was more than that.

Taylor, lost in pleasure, was about to rest for a moment when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that his partner had woken up and was watching him. He panicked for a moment, then his cheeks flushed.

Actually, Taylor had been tossing and turning since going to bed last night.

Whether it was the soft, tingling sensation of the woman's breasts rubbing against the blankets, the faint feminine scent emanating from her skin, or the pleasure of his thighs rubbing together without any male obstruction, he couldn't help but want to relieve himself.

But no matter how excited he was, all he could see between his legs was that flat, narrow slit, as if his penis was being firmly suppressed beneath it.

He finally fell asleep, but by morning, the slight urge to urinate made the urge even stronger, and he finally couldn't resist touching the body.

The girl's breasts weren't large, but they were firm and elastic, her skin as smooth as silk. Her pink nipples were much larger than a man's. Taylor only lightly ran his fingers across them, and he felt a tingling sensation he had never experienced before, a slight itch spreading deep into his groin.

Could it be that he also felt like a woman down there...?

Once this thought arose, it was hard to take it back. He pulled down his underwear, slightly lifted the blanket, and in the dim light of the sunrise, the girl's slender waist, full thighs, and flat crotch came into view. At this moment, his own crotch no longer had that erect thing; instead, there was a thin slit, and something seemed to be wrapped inside.

Taylor, who had never touched a woman before, felt a rush of blood to his brain, making his head buzz.

"...Touching it... shouldn't be... okay?"

He swallowed hard, reassuring himself in his mind.

After enduring a whole night, reason had long been conquered by desire. He stretched out his now slender fingers and gently pressed them on both sides of the slit. He immediately felt the slightly rough touch of his fingerprints at the base of his groin.

The instant she touched him, a tingling, electric sensation shot through her groin, causing her body to tremble slightly.

So...so good...

Unlike male masturbation, the gentle touch of this woman's skin was like a mild orgasm, spreading through her groin and lower abdomen.

Just a touch felt so good; she'd heard that you could insert something into a woman's vagina. Just imagining it made Taylor feel an unbearable itch in her groin.

Until she noticed Charles looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

"...So good?"

Charles, seeing the girl had noticed him, broke the silence, his expression complex.

"Uh...I don't know..."

Taylor was startled, avoiding his gaze, her eyes immediately looking away, feeling her face burning.

"Still can't get it off?"

"...It seems so."

"If you can't get this off, we've wasted our trip. Fine, if it's really impossible, you can keep the skin and play with it. It's risky to hand it over anyway..."

Charles shook his head, got out of bed, put on some clothes, and planned to go to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Watching his companion leave the room, Taylor felt both ashamed and embarrassed, but immediately, his hands began moving again.

"Just one last time...just one more time..."