The Island of Wonder

The Narakai’s base turned out to be a rented room in one of the local inns. Most of the floor was covered by mattresses and blankets, leaving just a narrow path going from the doorway to the single bed. The leader of the Wolf soldiers sat down on one of the mattresses and the rest followed her example on theirs. Nicole, Mignon, and the girls were left standing in the middle of the room.

"My name is Cira, but to you I am Subgeneral of the Third Division. We are going to wait here. Eventually the general will come back."

"I am Nicole and those are Soi and Iloe." Nicole pointed at her friends. "I hope we won’t have to waste the whole day here though."

"I don’t care what you hope for. On one hand I would love to get rid of you three, but if you really have something to do with rescuing our cubs... Just sit in silence and don’t do anything suspicious." Cira said with a frown. She unsheathed her sword and started sharpening its edge with some black stone.

Damn, what’s her problem?

They didn’t have to wait for long. In less than ten minutes, the same man that barged into the throne room entered the 'base'. In an instant, all other Narakai, Cira included, stood up and bowed to the man, resting only after he nodded and waved his hand as a sign. The man quickly approached Nicole.

"What are you ladies doing here?" He asked unexpectedly politely. Standing so close, Nicole noticed his big canines as he spoke, together with a strong, masculine jawline.

Cira was already at his side. "First, General, this woman said she helped with getting our stolen children back. And second, just look at that!" She pointed at Mignon, who stood next to Nicole but seemed to ignore the commotion, his eyes locked on a piece of dried meat eaten by one of the soldiers. "A Krellip that she calls her pet!"

The General silenced Cira with a hand. "She really did help with the kids. I met them just now and moved them to the neighboring room here. A few of them mentioned her when I asked what happened and who helped them get to the Hive."

Cira had no words, she didn’t expect it to be the truth all along. The General scratched his chin as he looked at Mignon.

"But the Krellip… Where did you get him?"

Nicole petted the husky-like head of her pet. "In a forest, not far from the Torakai village. He was wounded, so I helped him out. Since then he started following me around. But what’s the deal with Krellips anyway?"

"Mhm…" The man squinted his eyes in thought. "Interesting. I wonder how a Krellip appeared there at all. Haven’t heard of any going missing from the royal collection… The thing is, all Krellips belong to the Royal Alpha pair of our tribe. Well, currently the Queen is the only one who cares about them, the new King doesn’t seem to care about that. Krellips being exclusively for them is a fact known to everyone on the island. It’s a sign and pride of our tribe."

I may regret saying this later, but…

"Hm. Anyways, I am not giving Mignon to anyone. He is mine."

Cira’s sword made an arc in the air as it went straight at Nicole’s neck.

SPLASH

Water flew to the sides as the sword phased through the blue watery neck that turned normal just as the weapon was out.

Fuck, that was close. Good thing I expected something like that sooner or later and concentrated on my water resource beforehand.

Cira, the same as everyone else, stared at the unharmed Nicole with wide eyes.

"Hey, that was dangerous. Don’t swing this thing carelessly."

"What was that?!" the Narakai woman roared, already grabbing her sword with the second hand for the next hit. But the General quickly placed his hand on the base of her sword, pushing it down.

"This is not how soldiers should behave, Subgeneral." His voice was stern. "I am sorry for that." He said to Nicole after a small bow.

"Doesn’t matter right now. If you guys don’t need anything from us, we will be going." Nicole said, passing by the General towards the exit.

"Hey, uh… There is one more thing. I heard Bee soldiers talking about the mobilization of part of their army. And when I interrupted your talk with the Queen, I heard part of what you said. Are you serious about raiding a Zanokai village?"

"Of course. What about it?"

"Nothing. Just gathering intel." The General smiled.

Outside of the inn, the girls finally sighed with relief.

"We wasted so much time there." Soi groaned. "And got nothing."

"At least we are still alive. If anything, it wouldn’t even be surprising if they killed us back there." Iloe was more positive. "It seems that the General guy is really thankful for the help with the kids."

"I wouldn’t be so sure." Nicole bit her lip. "If he heard at least part of my and the Queen’s conversation, enough to learn about our plans, he could have spared us for one more reason. Since the Queen kind of employed me, killing me could escalate a conflict. It’s easier for them to turn a blind eye to Mignon for now than risk starting a fight." She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, the result is the same in the end. Let’s go continue our walk."

The rest of the day, the girls and Mignon spent exploring the Blue and Orange parts of the Hive, getting accustomed to the new surroundings of a big underground city. With no money to spend, they were just observing everything.

It was nothing too special, the Blue district offering mostly inns, restaurants, bars, or other services that neither of them was interested in at the moment.

Hm, considering how sexually open the natives are, I partially expected to see brothels on every corner or something. But there are none? Not that I wanted to use them anyway… Right, at the inn there was this whole dolls thing, I guess every inn is a small brothel already. They are even lewdier than I expected, hah.

The Orange district, the huge open-air market, at least as much open-air as you can get in an underground place, was a sea of tents. Walking around, Nicole noticed that most were selling weapons, armor, and very basic clothes. Compared to Nicole’s work, still on the bodies of the three girls, the products were nothing more than boring rags. Unsurprisingly, many couldn’t tear their gazes off the girls as they casually explored.

Hm, I wonder if we look like some nobility or even royalty? Nicole smirked to herself, fixing her hair. I could make some more average ones and try to find a merchant to sell those to him. The best designs will go for the Queen, but I never said a word about exclusivity.

After this idea popped into her head, Nicole was scanning through the market in search of someone visibly rich enough. But no matter how she tried, no one seemed to stand out.

Well, I have a while. I don’t have to rush it.

Just then, Nicole spotted a big, round tent that was reaching higher than the rest. She circled it to find an entrance and got in. The torchlight in the darkness created an atmosphere of something ominous, despite the sounds produced by the rest of the market outside. After a few steps, a tall, tanned, muscular Torakai man approached the girls.

"Hm, what can I help you with?" A light, polite smile never disappeared from his face.

"What’s this place?" Soi asked, looking around cautiously.

"Oh, dear ladies don’t know?" The man raised a brow. "This is my special little shop, of course! You can find only the best things in here! Follow me please."

A few more meters in, the girls found themselves between two rows of cages. Partially covered by cloth, hiding the insides even more despite the shadows already doing the work perfectly.

The sight of cages and cloth made Nicole shiver.

Don’t tell me—

"Here is the basic stuff meant for everyone." The man said, arms wide as if he was trying to point at everything around them. "The real stuff is deeper." He glanced at the girls with a smirk.

After a while, they approached a wall. There, in the dim light, next to it were two young men and three girls bound by golden chains that connected to the wall. All were of rare beauty and completely naked, sitting peacefully on pillows on the floor. Looking at the newcomers, each of them gave Nicole a smile upon eye contact.

"These ones are more suiting such ladies as you~" the man said.

So slave trading is real… I feel kinda wrong even just being there.

Nicole swallowed hard.

"They seem calm. Too calm."

"Oh, miss prefers more active ones?"

"What? No, no, I mean… I had only one slave, and she wasn’t particularly happy about it."

"Right. Yet those are good quality ones, trained to behave. None of them are able to even think about leading a free life anymore." The man said proudly.

Trained?! Though what am I surprised about. Of course, they are doing something to them to secure their behavior.

He continued.

"Could I ask some questions to find the best fitting one for you? Is it for personal use? As a present?"

Nicole waved her hands.

"No, wait. We are here for the first time in the Hive and were just exploring the market. Neither of us came here to buy a slave."

"Oh. I get it. Because of your refined clothes, I assumed you are someone important." His cat ears dropped. "Well, if you are ever looking for slaves, I would love to help you."

Iloe tugged at Nicole’s arm and whispered.

"Let’s go already."

But Nicole stood in place.

"I have a proposition."

As she spoke, her heart was threatening to break her ribcage.

"People are more attractive and sexy when wearing appropriate clothes, not just naked. Something that accentuates their bodies."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Hm, maybe. So what?"

"The clothes you see on me and my friends were made by me. I… I could make some for you. You could increase the value of slaves."

As he was thinking, he slowly smiled wide, showing his big teeth.

"Good. Whenever you make those, come, and we will decide the price."

Soon enough, the girls left the slave trader’s tent. They got hungry and tired after so much walking, so they decided to go back. On their way, Nicole was deep in thought.

Have I really said that? Am I ready to not just accept the fact of slaves being normal here, but also to work with the slavers?

She bit her lip.

At the inn, they realized they still had no money.

"Wait here." Soi said before approaching the barmaid and talking with her. Nicole and Iloe couldn’t hear anything, as the place was crowded and too loud. Then Soi went somewhere to the back and after a few minutes came back with a grin.

"What happened?" Iloe asked curiously.

"I made a little deal with the owner of this place. We get today’s dinner for free and I get some fun later tonight."

"Oh." Iloe didn’t say anything more.

Hearing Soi’s words, Nicole strangely didn’t feel almost anything.

Hah, right. I already forgot that Soi is pretty fast to find company for a night for herself.

Later, already in the shared bed with Iloe. The catgirl was asleep, while Nicole’s mind was still processing the day’s events, especially the slaves.

I already promised myself to forget the past norms. I accepted the sexual freedom of locals. Should I accept this too? That some of them are just being broken and made into slaves? But additional money won’t hurt, and it’s not like I am the one selling people. Right. This is a dangerous, hostile world. I can’t be too soft.

And just like what Soi did today. We wouldn’t eat proper food if she didn’t do that. This would be wild back on Earth, to fuck for food. Considered one of the lowest points where a human could fall. But here, it’s alright.

Am I restricting myself too much? Or am I going too far?

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