In the Land of Leadale - Volume 5 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Story - Quolkeh's Suffering

“Welcome!”

Cayna beamed and greeted her friends visiting from afar with open arms. They returned her warm hospitality with hesitant smiles.

“You’re in a good mood.”

“Why would I be grumpy about seeing friends from out of town?” she pouted, puffing her cheeks in annoyance.

“Can’t argue with that,” he said with a hearty laugh.

“…Anyway,” the dragoid warrior began. He glanced from right to left at the tranquil scene behind Cayna. “Not much goin’ on here, huh?”

“Don’t tell me you got your hopes up over a village in the middle of nowhere,” Cayna mumbled. She glared at Exis.

A quiet forest village with no local specialties to speak of—that was most people’s initial impression of the place.

Lux Contracting sat right by the entrance. Their door was literally always open, and in addition to providing daily necessities, one sign advertised something a bit more peculiar.

“…This is a Sakaiya braaaaanch?!” Exis shouted, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Next to him, Quolkeh was similarly dumbfounded. The sign shocked most first-time visitors, so the employees were used to this reaction. Sunya, who was currently running the shop from behind the counter, ignored Exis’s yelling and focused on mending the clothes in her arms.

Cayna smiled awkwardly while Quolkeh pointed at the sign incredulously and blubbed like a fish.

“Everyone has the same reaction. Both the villagers and the shopkeepers are used to it by now.”

“Why does Sakaiya have a branch out here?!”

“You should ask Caerick. It came out of nowhere for me, too.”

“Sheesh…”

Cayna walked ahead, and Quolkeh and Exis reluctantly followed. Their destination was Marelle’s inn.

As one might expect, even the guest room in Cayna’s home couldn’t fit a dragoid. Thus, her best bet was to find the pair sizable lodgings.

Cayna skipped along with her friends in tow and greeted the passing villagers. Some asked if her companions were visitors.

“They’re my adventurer friends,” she’d stop and say each time.

Not a single person questioned this.

“I see, I see. We don’t have much here, but please enjoy your stay.”

Quolkeh and Exis both answered these well-wishes with fervent nods.

“The people here have really taken a shining to you, huh?” Exis commented.

“You think?”

“When we tell people we’re adventurers, they usually get nervous and treat us like thugs and outcasts…,” Quolkeh said softly.

Cayna pondered this. The villagers had been nothing but kind to her since the very beginning, so she never felt unwelcome. She looked at Exis for confirmation.

“It’s pretty typical,” he said with a nod.

“I don’t think everyone’s like that.”

“Society just hasn’t worn you down yet! Don’t go thinkin’ everyone’s a saint.”

The two stared at her, exasperated.

Their stern warning undoubtedly stemmed from their own harsh experiences. After all, most players had been living in modern Leadale far longer than her. Granted, Cayna herself already had to deal with pompous knights and pretentious noble sons, so she wasn’t entirely oblivious. Kee was likely keeping better track of this than Cayna, though.

Kuu suddenly popped out and sat on Cayna’s shoulder. She was crossing her arms and nodding vigorously.

Even the fairy agrees? How should I take that? Cayna wondered listlessly.

“Anyway,” she said, “I was surprised to get a Friend Message from you.”

“Yeah, we’ve got work in the area,” Exis explained.

“Work?”

Cayna looked over her shoulder, and he nodded. Quolkeh elaborated.

“They’re building a fortress along the eastern border, so we agreed to serve as guards. Some people can only work certain shifts.”

“Ah, that must be the conference Skargo said he was going to…”

“Hmm?”

The moment Skargo’s name came up, Exis looked concerned. Quolkeh failed to notice and continued on.

“The area is surrounded by forest, so we basically spend all our days off sleeping and drinking.”

“So you figured you’d stop by my village to kill time?”

“Yep. You said you were gonna adopt Luka, right? This place really is right on the border. The soldiers told us about a remote village slightly east of the Felskeilo capital,” Exis explained.

“And here you are,” Cayna said with an understanding nod.

The night before, she received a Friend Message that said, “Can we hang out at your place?” Cayna had assumed that they’d tagged along with Elineh’s caravan or something.

“I thought maybe you guys were taking a road trip.”

“We would have checked your schedule earlier if we were!” Quolkeh retorted.

Cayna laughed, then pointed to the building in front of them. “This is the village’s only inn.”

She entered its wide-open doors and beckoned Exis and Quolkeh to follow. When the pair stepped inside, Cayna called to Marelle, who was taking a breather behind the counter.

“Marelle, I brought some guests.”

The proprietress tiredly got to her feet. Lytt, who was also on break, trotted over to greet them. Exis’s head nearly reached the ceiling; she stared up at him, mouth agape. Marelle, on the other hand, was quick to treat him like any old customer.

“You’re friends of Cayna’s, then? We don’t have much, but we’re happy to have ya,” she said, ushering the two farther inside.

Lytt stood dazed for a moment but soon followed her mother’s lead and set to work. As the new guests started writing their names in the inn ledger, Marelle eyed Exis apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Sir Dragoid, but our beds might not be perfectly your size. That all right with you?”

“Sure, happens all the time. I’m used to it, so no worries.”

“Yeah, sometimes he rolls off the bed onto the floor. It’s fine.”

Exis’s acceptance of his less-than-ideal sleeping situation elicited a biting comment from Quolkeh. Cayna interrupted and proposed combining two beds together, but Exis wryly informed her they’d need at least three for that.

“I can’t sleep faceup,” he said.

“What, seriously?!”

Back when they were camped out in Luka’s fishing village, Cayna only saw Exis wrapped in a blanket and couldn’t remember who slept how.

“Hey, c’mon. Dragoids had wing and tail options back in character creation mode. And even without that, we’ve still got bumps and horns. It’s impossible to sleep like a human.”

Exis pointed to his head, and Cayna saw what he meant. Lying on your stomach seemed uncomfortable for humans, but it probably allowed dragoids a better night’s sleep.

“Are you both staying just one night?” Marelle asked.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be heading back to the border stronghold tomorrow. Today’s our day off.”

“That’ll be forty bronze total.”

““Uh…””

Both their jaws dropped when Marelle named her price. Cayna expected as much and grinned awkwardly.

“Ain’t that kinda cheap?!”

“What? Seriously? Are bargains always this good in remote villages?”

Still, she wished they’d tone down the Remote village this, remote village that stuff.

Seeming to sense Cayna’s irritation, Li’l Fairy drop-kicked the back of Quolkeh’s head.

“Yowwwwww?!”

The attack made no more than a light boink sound, but Quolkeh yelped and grabbed her head. Marelle and Lytt, who couldn’t see the fairy, stared worriedly as she crouched down and waited for the pain to subside. Perhaps they thought she was something of an oddball.

“Hey, you feelin’ okay? Cayna, does she have some kind of disease?”

“……”

Exis, who had once been kicked in the nose by the fairy, watched the tragic scene unfold with a cold grimace on his face. He sympathized. After all, even a casual attack like that sent the victim into a world of pain.

Under the impression something in their conversation had rubbed Cayna the wrong way, Exis apologized and bowed his head.

“What? You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Exis,” said Cayna.

“I just feel like we might’ve said something insensitive. Sorry.”

“What’re you talking about? Heh-heh-heh, what good is apologizing gonna do if you don’t even know what you did wrong?”

Cayna laughed, and Exis couldn’t help but join in.

Quolkeh looked up at the friends chuckling on either side of her and wondered if she should, too. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Li’l Fairy blowing on her fist and quickly begged for forgiveness.

The comical scene made Marelle and Lytt burst out laughing, and soon the inn erupted into giggles.

“Man, I thought I was gonna bust a gut…”

While Exis mumbled something about almost laughing himself to death, Quolkeh looked totally wiped out. Cayna and Lytt were with them. After their chuckles had subsided and the two put their luggage away in their room, Marelle said they should check out the bathhouse.

“Once you freshen up and wash the dust off, stop by our place for dinner and have your fill.”

“Marelle’s food is the best,” Cayna said, wiping imaginary drool from her mouth.

Exis’s and Quolkeh’s eyes sparkled.

“Aw, man! If you’re gonna talk it up that much, I guess I can expect somethin’ good?”

“I can’t remember the last time we had a decent meal!”

“Um, what kinds of stuff do you guys usually eat…?” Cayna asked, surprised. Exis and Quolkeh didn’t always know when their next meal would be.

“You ate lots when you first came here, too, Miss Cayna!”

“Hey, Lytt, let’s keep that our little secret, okay?”

Cayna’s supposed ally had just spilled the details of her first day in this world. Cayna had her take a vow of silence.

Quolkeh and Exis both read between the lines and smiled uncomfortably in realization.

Lytt didn’t have a clue what was going on and stared at everyone blankly, but she seemed to notice something ahead of them and waved.

“Hmm?”

“Oh, it’s Lu.”

“…Hold up, you’ve got a cat-eared butler and maid at your place, too?”

Luka stood in front of the village’s public bathhouse along with Roxilius and Roxine, who held towels and bags of spare clothes. It turned out that they were about to enter the bath.

Lytt raced over to Luka, and Roxine eyed the pair behind Cayna as if they were a couple of cockroaches. Roxilius had met them before, so he bowed politely.

“You brought Lu along, Cie?”

“Yes. I thought I should also take this opportunity to wash that filthy cat as well.”

Cayna was certain she could see sparks flying between the two werecats, but this was such a commonplace occurrence that she didn’t care. Friction and malice quickly permeated the air, though Quolkeh was the only one sensitive to it.

“You’ll just get caught in the crossfire if you let it bother you. Leave ’em be,” Exis advised with a pat on the shoulder. Roxine was level 550, so she had an advantage over level-430 Quolkeh.

“Rox, you went on patrol today, right?”

“Yes. I assisted in the fields as well.”

“…Ah, gotcha.”

Still, Roxilius was hardly dirty enough to warrant being called a “filthy cat.” Roxine started to tease him further, but Luka grabbed her tail, annoyed. The maid grew despondent; Exis looked on with admiration.

“Luka sure has gotten strong,” he murmured.

At any rate, trouble brewed when the group divided up to enter the men’s and women’s baths. Quolkeh instinctively headed over to the men’s side, but…

“Hold it, hold it, hold it! You’re over here, Quolkeh!”

“Huh? Eh? Whaaaaat?!”

Quolkeh tried to follow Exis and Roxilius, but Cayna immediately caught her and pulled her over to the women’s side. Quolkeh was thoroughly confused.

“You can’t go in there, miss. That side is for boys only.”

“Yeah… No girls…allowed.”

“Honestly. I understand you are an adventurer, but do have some modesty.”

Lytt and Luka made sound arguments while Roxine glared at Quolkeh.

“…Oh.” Cayna finally remembered Quolkeh was a man in real life.

“You remember, right?!”

“Yep. But just give up already.”

“…Huh?”

Quolkeh was male inside but appeared female. She could enter the women’s bath with no issue. Besides, if she was going to live as a woman, Cayna thought it’d be better for her to get used to things like this—and the sooner, the better.

Lytt and Luka quickly got undressed and left the changing room. So far, so good.

“Ah, one moment please, Lady Luka.”

Roxine elegantly rustled out of her outfit and went after Luka. Quolkeh blushed and looked away from the maid’s naked figure. In truth, she wanted to confirm a few mysteries (like where Roxine’s tail started), but she quickly came to her senses.

Once Roxine left the changing room, Quolkeh heaved a deep sigh of relief and relaxed her shoulders. But she froze once again when Cayna began to undress.

“Heh-heh-heh. Wanna see?”

“N-no, I…”

Quolkeh averted her gaze, and Cayna came around to face her. Quolkeh turned away again, and Cayna once again circled to her front. A battle of visual offense and defense ensued.

Just then, another key woman came into the picture.

“Oh! Hello, Cayna.”

“Hi, Mimily.”

“I heard you’ll all be heading into the bath. May I join you?”

Sliding inside from the door of her bedroom-slash-laundry room was the mermaid Mimily. Her movements reminded Cayna of a sea lion at an aquarium show, although she didn’t dare say so.

“Sure,” she replied.

Since Mimily was a mermaid, she would only need to take off her bikini top to be fully naked. Quolkeh did a spit take the moment she laid eyes on Mimily’s extraordinary beauty and perfect proportions.

“Oh, we have a visitor?” Mimily asked, tilting her head at Quolkeh’s odd behavior.

“Yep. This is my adventurer friend Quolkeh. She’s a little shy and won’t get undressed.”

“Wha—?!”

Quolkeh blustered at the unnecessary backstory she was suddenly assigned.

“Well then, allow me to assist you,” Mimily said with a pleasant smile as she moved to help her undress.

Cayna numbed Quolkeh with a light paralysis attack, and she and Mimily proceeded to try removing the adventurer’s equipment, much to her dismay. Frustrated with Quolkeh’s struggling, the mermaid wrapped her tail around Quolkeh’s lower half.

“Now’s our chance, Mimily!”

“Right! Come on, don’t fight it!”

““…Oh.””

For whatever reason, Mimily’s top fell to the floor.

“ ”

Presented with a full-frontal view, Quolkeh blushed scarlet. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out.

“Umm?”

“First time, huh…?”

Roxine heard screaming and charged into the changing room. Mimily’s confusion and Cayna’s vacant stare couldn’t even begin to explain what happened.

Meanwhile, in the men’s bath, Exis bowed his head and offered a moment of silence. Roxilius didn’t want to upset his master, so he resisted flying into the women’s bath and ignored the ruckus.

The unconscious Quolkeh was transported to the inn and later spent the rest of the evening locked in her room. The next day, she returned to the border sight unseen.

And thus our story ends.