DD 204 Ch 19

"Are you kidding me?" I stood up as Crimson presented the bill to me. "How? How are we supposed to pay that much?" 

Crimson shrugged. "Of course I’ll help with it." At least she had some sense of responsibility.

I sat down and put a hand on my forehead. "This is robbery! How are those Nekorian shacks worth this much?”

“They probably aren't worth near that. However, the Orkai said we were only 31% to blame. Which means, the bill the Nekorians got is at least double this amount." Crimson sniggered.

I still groaned, holding the bill out in front of me as if it would bite. "Well, I'm happy they're paying more than us. Next time we get in a fight, we're just killing everyone present so we can claim innocence. And no one can refute us," I said, causing Crimson and the rest of my party to slowly turn towards me. 

"There's the assassin in him," Dez said after a moment, and I blushed. 

"What? It just would make a little more sense," I tried to defend my opinion. “I just wanted to save Felin, not kill a thousand Nekorians, do you think I’m a monster?”

"Uh-huh. Just a little more sense," Des agreed mockingly.

"And what would you do differently?" I waved the bill at her. 

"Probably not bring Crimson," she said, glancing at the red leather clad adventurer. "No offense."

"None taken," Crimson shrugged. "I like to destroy things, and apparently that's going to get very expensive. Good news, though," Crimson said. "We apparently got loot rights on the Nekorian that died. Which means we got the little disc back and a few others." She held them between her fingers like coins. "So perhaps the level 84s will help us pay some of the debt. Though, apparently there were items in there that we couldn't take and other items that they took as part of the debt collection." She shrugged. "Honestly, it's all kind of confusing when the Orkai get all business-like."

"You can say that again," I could only agree. "I'm not going to get in a public fight like that any time soon. If for no other reason, I would like to avoid the Orkai arbiters.”

“Having them around does not mean the dungeon is safe. We shouldn’t get too comfortable." Crimson reminded us. "I think outside the safe zones it can still be fairly lawless. The only reason the Nekorians didn't pick a fight with you while you roamed was because there was already a record of the interaction that the Orkai had from the  50th floor safe zone.”

“At least we had that going for us." I held up my hands and shrugged. 

"Alright, so who wants to go farm zombies?" I turned around to the rest of my group. "I think I need cash. Fast." 

Des chuckled. "Ken, we're all going to help with this bill. Felin is our party member, and getting her back was a group decision. So we'll bear this cost as a group." 

Bun Bun squeaked from on top of Charlotte's head, only for the cute druid to reach up and grab him by the ears. "You can ignore him," she said. He squeaked at her several more times and she looked up at the rabbit. "If you don't consider yourself part of the party, I can go find another monster to tame." 

The rabbit clammed up, leaning over and holding onto her bangs as he stared her in the face with disbelief.

"Oh yeah, I said it, Bun Bun. You're part of the party and you don't get a share of the mana crystals while we're paying off this debt. You don't even get a share to begin with." He squeaked several more times. "Your carrot share is not dependent on how many monsters we kill. I have told you this a thousand times. You don't get to ask for more carrots because it was a busy day."

The argument we were watching was clearly not the first time they had debated carrot allotment. Charlotte had the cutest face as she stuck to her guns and stared down the cantankerous rabbit. "I'm not budging on this so you can save your breath," she said with an air of finality before focusing back on the rest of us. 

"Oh no, don't mind us," Penny waved a hand. "If you need to settle things with your summon, so be it. I've seen some of the bartering that Wendy does with that owl. He can get intense." 

"Really?" I asked. 

Penny nodded. "Apparently he’s pretty smart and tries to weasel up new deals all the time. Not to mention, Wendy can't suddenly break away from her group and go find a new flying summon. So when they're in a particularly challenging area, it likes to try and renegotiate, knowing that she doesn't have an immediate option to throw out an ultimatum, like Charlotte just threw at Bun Bun." 

The rabbit was perking up, giving Penny its full attention.

"Do not listen to her," Des said, putting her hands over the bunny's ears. "She's talking utter nonsense." 

Bun Bun squeaked and jumped around, fighting to get Des" hands off his ears.

"Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud," Penny apologized. 

"It's fine. If he gets too caught up in negotiating, I'll just have to follow through on my threat," Charlotte glared at the rabbit. "You will not try and negotiate when we're in a hurry. That'll just get you unsummoned for the final time." 

Bun Bun melted into her hair like a soft, fluffy ball of pouting.

She turned to the rest of the group, letting him wallow rather than trying to comfort him. "He was getting a little spoiled lately." 

"So, about farming zombies," Des prompted, raising an eyebrow. "Before we give our first payment, perhaps we could all get [Universal Language] and maybe a few other skills?"

"Shopping!" Penny perked up. 

"Shopping!" Des cheered, grabbing Penny's hand and pulling the other adventurer to her feet. She began to bounce with excitement, the two of them twirling around. "I'm so happy that I have a shopping partner. I was worried I wouldn't have one when Fayeth left."

"Shopping is very important," Penny said seriously. "Both buying and selling items from the dungeon is critical to progression. Not to mention, what you wear says a lot about you." 

I raised my eyebrow at Penny, who was wearing fairly ominous armor. 

"This was a necessity," Penny defended after a moment, as if it had pained her to admit it. "And not at all what I would like to wear. But we packed on ten levels and my gear desperately needed an update to match." The frost knight glanced over at Des. "She can rock that kind of outfit."

"Oh, why thank you," Des said, getting up and twirling. 

"Careful," I warned Penny. "You encourage her too much, next thing you know she's going to start dressing you."

Des spun on me. "Don't tell me you're still bitter about that. Felin was stealing all of your shirts and you needed a wardrobe update."

I grunted, not agreeing or disagreeing. It was the safest option. When it came to fashion it was better if I didn’t have much of an opinion. Besides, plain t-shirts and jeans agreed with me.

Penny chuckled. "I noticed Felin's nest."

"It's not a nest," Felin frowned, "it's a bed. A bed that smells like Ken. It's very important for Nekorians to cultivate a good scent."

My mind flashed back to Charlotte, wondering if Felin even bathed. I opened my mouth to ask and find the answer before snapping it shut. I realized there might be some secrets better left as that. Felin didn't stink, she wasn't dirty, and apparently she cultivated a scent of my clothes, so I should be honored.

"Careful, I think he's starting to overheat, thinking about shopping," Des waved a hand at me, getting the wrong idea. "We have to be careful with that one and make sure to subtly put him in nicer things that fit his skin tone. By the way, his skin tone has changed, it's more of a cool skin tone than it was before, perhaps it's the white hair." Des sucked in a breath, staring at me. "But he is to die for handsome, don't you think Penny?" She teased the Frost Knight. 

"Yeah," she stuttered and suddenly must have seen a smudge on her greaves because her eyes became fixed to them. "So handsome."

Des had that sort of predatory grin she often got as she ran a finger along the back of Penny's neck. "You know, now that you're a member of the party, I'm sure we could create some new material for 74 Wives."

Penny blushed bright red. "Des, I don't want Ken to focus on that," she hissed. 

"Huh?" I pretended to be deaf. "Felin, why don't we see if there are any shirts amongst your pile that need to be refreshed with my scent?"

The Nekorian perked up. "Absolutely! I thought you'd never ask." 

Heading off with Felin was better than listening to Des try and tempt Penny into sin.

Even though Penny joining the party was in many ways a prelude to more, I still felt the loss of Fayeth and had some hang-up about replacing her in that way as well. It felt cheap to me. So, if distracting myself by reclaiming some of my shirts from Felin with the promise to give her more later separated me from that conversation, that was certainly enough. 

Felin showed me the pile of clothes that she had on the couch in the bedroom. She quickly began picking up individual articles, sniffing them, and sorting them into two piles. 

"Felin, when you say "cultivating a scent," what does that mean exactly?" I decided to broach the concept at least a little.

"I smell like you, thus letting every other Nekorian know that I am taken. Honestly, that dumb lion shouldn't have tried what he did. He should know better than to mess with a scented woman," she gestured at herself. 

"For those that don't have a Nekorian nose, how obvious is that?" I asked.

"He would have smelled you on me the instant he was within a couple of yards. Sure, with you standing next to me he could maybe make some excuses," she shrugged. "But especially after standing near us and realizing how much of your scent was all over me, he should know I wouldn't be interested in entertaining any sort of change in my relationship." She let out a soft, cute growl.

I came up behind her and hugged her. "Don't worry, Felin. I won't let him or anyone else take you away. I know you've said multiple times through all of this that you're addicted to me, but can I share a secret with you?" I whispered the next part. “I’m hooked on you.” 

She turned, looking at me out of the corner of her eyes. "Am I that good? Are my tail jobs addictive?" she asked with such enthusiasm that even if they weren't, there was no way a man could say no. 

"Absolutely." I told her.

"You mean it?" she asked again, her tail swinging back and forth excitedly. 

"Of course I mean it, Felin. I fought a level 84 shaman to get you back." I snuggled into her from behind, holding her tight.

Her grin spread even wider. "You killed a level 84 shaman." She thrust her hand forward, mimicking my [Mana Implosion], while going "BOOM!" Her ears and tails stood. up on end.

“Oh yeah? I mostly stole the kill from Crimson.”

She grinned, showing off those sharp canines of hers. "I don't think Crimson's going to become the Nekorian boogeyman. I think you are, after blowing up the shaman.” She ground her rear against me.

“Perhaps.” I said, not wanting to argue.

The pace of her hips redoubled, and a purr rumbled out from her chest. Her tail began to bat at my waistline, trying to wiggle itself into my pants.

Knowing that she derived quite the satisfaction from us being intimate, I pulled my pants open slightly, allowing her soft, striped tail to slither in. I groaned as her tail coiled around my rapidly stiffening member.

“You love this.” She murmured using her tail and her rear to stimulate me as we stood still swaying.

“Its wonderful, but I want more.” I pushed her down onto the pile of clothes.

She took a deep breath, her nose buried in them. “Peel my pants off.” She groaned.

I wasn’t one to argue, loving the sight of her pale flesh emerging from those tight black leather pants and dropping my own.

“Going to need more.” She look over her shoulder before using her tail to change the angle.

***

I laid spread out on the couch amid the heaping pile of clothes, both of us naked and sweaty. “Felin do you bathe?” I asked.”

“Nope.” She paused before shaking her head.

I glanced at her and the clothes thinking I should get up.

“Wait, don’t misunderstand.” She jumped up and straddled my waist before waving her hand. The sweat and the mess disappeared.

“Doesn’t that get rid of the scent?”

"Sort of.” She said, still smiling, before burying herself and me in the pile of clothes. "A lot of the time when someone smells, it's stuff on their skin, but other times when you smell things that are part of your skin. This doesn't get rid of the things that are part of your skin, just the ones on the surface. That’s why I have to cultivate your scent so it’s part of me."

I sniffed my armpit, and it didn't smell, so it was good enough for me. Thankfully now, I had the answer to Charlotte's dire question. Did Felin bathe? No. Normal cats didn't like water, but were the Nekorians that cat-like? I raised my eyebrow in thought before shrugging it off. It didn't matter.

Felin slipped herself into a pair of painted-on jeans, a white shirt, and her red leather jacket. "Enjoy."

With cleaning out of the way, I switched into a new pair of clothes. I probably should have put these on earlier because Felin's eyes were a little wide like she was going to pounce on me again. "Right. Coming?"

She bounced out of her seat. "I understand the importance of getting new gear, but Des and Penny put far too much importance on it."

I grunted in agreement. "They do. But that's just a them thing.”

“Right. We have all the important things we need already. And besides, shamans have the best skills." Felin bobbed her head.

This caused me to raise an eyebrow at her. "Speaking of which, that shaman in the safe zone used two very powerful abilities."

She fell and wrinkled her nose, looking to the side. "She did.”

“Perhaps..." I hesitated, unsure of how to approach the subject.

"Perhaps she did. And I am technically in the same class. However, she's many levels higher than me. It might be a different type of shaman, she has one for her god and I have one for the Great One." She argued. "Can't I worship one while she worships another result in a different class?" She was getting a little defensive.

I knew she asked it as a question. However, it wasn't something I was qualified to answer. "Felin, I don't think it matters," I offered, wrapping my arms around her. "You are who you choose to be. Even amongst classes, skill sets can vary. At a certain point, it becomes less about what the basic class gives you, and more about what skills you buy, and what skills you become proficient in using. And how you attune your mana."

She nodded slowly. "Not all shamans are the same."

"I couldn't agree more, Felin. So how about we go shopping, and look for a couple of skills that would suit you personally?" I offered.

She squinted for a moment before she nodded her head more emphatically.

I could tell this time, she was actually interested in shopping, which may have been a mistake on my part. I already had two ladies far too interested in shopping for someone who owed a great debt. 

Felin grabbed my hand and pulled me along. The Nekorian, however, had a giant grin on her face, and I couldn't find it in myself to be disappointed if going shopping meant she would be this excited.

I would do just about anything, including emptying my wallet and going into debt, if it meant that the ladies in my party kept on smiling.