C.U.C.K.E.D H.E.R.O Ch:15

The lively energy in the tavern made it the perfect place for me to unwind right now. I could get lost under all the drunken shouting and singing. The thudding and grunting of minotaur's head-hunting each other. The whirling and whimsical noises a mage was making as he created colourful lights to keep a group of younglings entertained.

Despite all the oddities, it made me feel at home. I was actually missing it. Home. It wasn't just worrying about mom, and what she must be going through right now. It was about the comfort of my own bed. Getting to relax with Hailey on the couch and binging an entire season of some anime she liked together. Hell, I even missed the bland taste of mom's meatloaf.

Sitting alone at my table, supping on my drink, I let my body relax. Who would have thought that entering a life or death fight would leave you feeling so tense. Doing quests and fighting monster's seemed like it was going to be way more fun back when we first got here.

Maybe that was just the reality of it. That the job only paid so well because of its inherent danger. Not everyone gets to be the hero covered in plot armour, with no fear of anything.

Except… I was the hero…

Apparently at least. I only had my busted crest to go off of. If I really was this fabled hero sent to save this world, I would have expected some sign by now. Some evil that needed vanquishing. A beautiful goddess to guide me on the journey. Anything to let me know what I was supposed to be doing here.

Well, I didn't need any of that stuff. I already had a beautiful goddess by my side, and she was supposed to get here any minute now.

Yep… she wouldn't be much longer now…

******

By the time my third mug was finished, I was feeling particularly bored. Most of the ‘normal’ people had gone home, leaving only the seedier types. Mercenaries planning their next score. Drunks who were falling asleep in their stools. Rowdy ‘frat boy’ types, parting late into the night.

I couldn't even people watch anymore without getting some mean looks. With nothing better to do, I decided to look over my character sheet again.

The moment I touched my crest I entered that quiet space again. A space that felt calm and safe at first, but now only reminded me of how different this world was.

Class - HERO

A unique class, bestowed upon an individual in a time where the world is in crisis. The heroes starts as a blank slate, but with the chance to grow into awesome power. With traits and abilities forming biased on milestones achieved. Potentially unlimited power and the chance to shape it as the Hero wills.

Health - 25

Mana reservoir - 1M

Spells -

Class Features - Hero’s grace, Hero’s Luck Mana Processing, Goblin Enthusiast, Submissive

Hero’s grace - The Hero will never accept help from an ally while others are in need. Negates all healing and buffs from allied party members. Doubles health and dexterity in combat.

Hero’s Luck - A Hero’s luck is what they make it.

Mana Processing - Ingested sources of raw Mana are particularly converted to Health.

Goblin Enthusiast - Lvl.3 - Triple the effectiveness of Mana gains from Goblin cum. Goblin cum yields doubled.

Submissive - Lvl.1 - Time spent in captivity has made you more submissive!

????? - Lvl.4 - ?????????????????????

God damn it… This is why I'd been avoiding looking at this stupid thing! How the hell was my Goblin enthusiast feature increasing! I thought the first level was from that one Goblin getting cum in my mouth, but maybe it increases just from being around them?

And ‘Submissive’? Because I was captured and taken against my will? That didn't make any fucking sense. And what the hell did it even do? ‘Made me more submissive’ what did that even mean? The other features had tangible effects, this was abstract. I didn't feel any different mentally, and I really hoped this class system couldn't mess with our minds.

And as the universes final fuck you for now, a bunch of questions marks… What? Did I have to pay for the premium life account to unlock that shit?

I sighed and let my head fall to the table. At least my health and mana increased? I didn't see anything shout a class ‘level’ so maybe stat increases was how that worked? One mana still didn't seem like anything though, especially when I didn't even have any magic to cast with it.

Moments before I was about to go check on Hailey, she stumbled into the bar. Normally people stumbled out of bars instead of in, but not her.

She was walking really weirdly, her thighs pressed together tightly but her lower legs apart. Every step seemed to be a struggle, and the tension was clear on her face. I guess she needed to pee, but she wasn't heading towards the bathroom?

Instead of walking directly over to me, she made her way around the bar. I tried to wave and get her attention, but she didn't notice me. Instead she walked past the first boy types, smiling as they cat called and whistled at her. She walked past the drunks, the old men waking up and shoving drinks at her to try and get her to stay. Spilling liquid all over her chest as she pushed past her.

Then she passed by the mercenaries. They almost ignored her, until the last guy she walked past slapped her ass.

“Hey!” My chair grinded against the floor as I rushed up. Ready to defend Hailey’s honour.

“Mason!” Hailey yelped. Finally noticing me and waddling over.

She was so happy to see me. Really happy. A little too happy looking considering she just got publicly groped.

“Hailey!” I called back. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeeEss!” Hsileys face was flushed red. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red like she'd been crying. “Per-peerfectly fine.”

“Why don't you come sit down?” I tried not to bring attention to her weird state right now. Clearly she was having a hard time and just didn't want to talk about it right now.

“Sit.. uhh… sit down?” Hailey said. Sounding weirdly nervous for something so normal. “I… I can't…”

“Hailey… please? I know you have to go meet Sandor, but I'm worried about you.” I sat down at the table, gesturing for her to join me. “Can we talk?”

“Fffine…” Hailey groaned. “I mean! I do want to talk, but now's not a great time…”

“Please. For me?” I stared up at Hailey. Giving her the puppy dog eyes I knew she couldn't resist.

“Okay… let me just…” Hailey shuffled over to her seat. Slowly bending over and lowering herself down onto it.

Stacking those shelves must have physically taken it out of her. Because she didn't just sit down like normal. She took forever to get her butt down onto that chair. Making the funniest strained faces as she powered through the pain.

“Hey, did you end up buying that dildo?” I asked. “Or find out anything else about it?”

“The MhMMmm dildo?? I uhh haha yes… godDddess yeeEss I… I got all of it…” Hailey let put a sigh of relief as she finally fully sat down. Her body collapsing into the back of her chair.

“So where is it?”

“Inside… in… uhh…” Hailey still looked dazed. Seemingly getting lost in the motion of rocking back and forth on her chair. “Innnnside Max's shop! He Mhmmm… he's staying the night there…”

She left Vance there? A little weird, but I guess it was better he stayed with the manufacturer of the potion in case anything went wrong.

“Are you sure you're feeling okay?” I asked again. She was acting so weird lately. She had good reason too, but still it worried me. What if… if my crest could affect my mind, maybe hers was affecting her? “Can I touch your crest?”

“You mean… down here…” Hailey put her hand on her stomach, right above here her actual crest was. She pushed her hair into her tight petite tummy, rubbing it. “Fuuuahh~ I… I can feel it…”

“Hailey? You're not actually touching it right now…” Okay, this was too weird. Something was up with Hailey. “Here, let me just-”

“No!” Hailey panicked the moment I started to stand up. “No don't… don't trouble yourself. Ha.. haha I got it!”

Hailey lowered her hand. I expected her to give her crest a light touch, but instead she slammed her fist into it. Her eyes quickly flashing with light as contact was made.

“UnGhnnn… seeEe? I'm fffiine.” Hailey said in the least convincing voice she could have.

“You don't have any new class features? Nothing that mentions any mental effects?”

“Nope!” Again Hailey pushed her fist into the crest that laid just above her most sensitive areas. “There's. Nughh. Nothing. UNnGhnn. Wrong. HAaahhh. With. MHMMmmmmMee…”

“Okay okay! You're fine, I get it…” I was more worried than ever now. Worried she was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.

“Listen. I'm going to think on some stuff tonight. Figure out what we need to do next.” I tried to reassure her. A goal, or some hope of getting back to our old life was hopefully what she needed to feel better. “We can't keep stumbling through things hoping for the best. We need a safe way of making money, we need to learn more about the customs and culture of this world. We need to find every link back to our world we can. We need to…”

I let my voice trail off as I noticed Hailey wasn't listening. She was just biting her lip while staring off into the distance. Gently rocking her body in the chair.

“Nevermind. We'll talk about it tomorrow.” She must have been exhausted. It had been a long couple of days. “Why don't you go fix Sandor up and get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll have a plan, that's a promise.”

“Ssssandor… yes.. I need- I mean! He… he needs me…” Hailey slowly stood back up. Still keeping her thighs locked together.

“Don't let him work you too hard. You need some rest!” I stood up as well. Ready to steady her if she looked like she was about to tumble over.

She was actually walking better now though. Her thighs still together, but not as tightly as she was before. The rest must have done her good. I hated that she couldn't just sleep now and had to go heal Sandor. But he was too useful to us to piss off now.

“I love you.” I told her. My heart racing as I said it.

“Ohh… honey.” Hailey walked over to me. Standing one step too far away for a hug, she bent forward to kiss me.

I didn't get what she was doing, but I wasn't about to turn down a kiss. She locked me into a passionate embrace. The men in the bar hooting and hollering as Hailey wiggled around. Mashing her lips onto mine.

“I love you too!” Hailey blew another kiss as she walked away.

As she shuffled towards the stairs, more guys cheered and whistled at her. Hailey just smiled and waved at them. Clearly still embarrassed, but… embracing it?

A gut feeling told me something was wrong. The Hailey I knew wouldn't have just slowly kept walking if a guy made a comment about her body. She'd run away, or look to me to tell him to back off. I just wasn't used to seeing her act so strangely, but then again, I'd never seen her in a situation that was this strange.

Something else to think about tonight. Things were beginning to fall apart and somebody had to keep us on track. To keep us together.

A plan. That's what we needed. Something to work towards that was more than just a vague objective.

I was about to go get my fourth drink when something caught my eye. A wet patch on Haileys chair. Right where she had been sitting moments ago…

Somebody must have spilled a drink on it before I had the table. She must have really been distracted if she hadn't noticed that. It was directly in the middle of where she'd been sitting.

I sighed and shook my head. I really loved that girl, but she could be so oblivious about the most obvious things.