6 6
"Mmmmmmm!" the moans of a sexy goddess echo through the chamber. "Deeper. Push it in deeper."
Ziggy rolls his eyes and shakes his head while pressing his thumbs into the upper back and shoulder muscles of his goddess. "Is this performance for anyone in particular, or are you just trying to stir some rumors up that we're sexually involved?"
"Rumors imply that it might not be true. Remember, I'm a goddess of sex; I can smell how much you want to fuck me," she says and moans as Ziggy finds a particular knot to work on. "Oh, that feels good."
"Well, I might not have the instincts of a god of sex, but I'm pretty sure my feelings on the matter are fairly obviously reciprocated, oh wise goddess," Ziggy says. He reaches behind where his legs straddle Xuannu's hips and claps a hand down on her plump round rump.
"Eep," the goddess yips and looks back over her shoulder at Ziggy with a hot and dangerous glare. "If you're so sure of that, why haven't you joined me in bed?"
"We're in bed right now; besides, you know the answer to that question," Ziggy says, pushing Xuannu back down and continuing to massage her bare back.
Now it was Xuannu's turn to roll her eyes. "It's just sex. Why do you have to make it so complicated?"
"Because if all I want is some pussy, I'll go to the pleasure district and fuck a few of Ishtar's whores," Ziggy says. "I wouldn't risk our happy Familia just to get my dick wet. I know me, and I know what my reaction would be if you start fucking around with some other guy to scratch your itch.
It's not fair, but it's not something that will change about me. Maybe in some other life, I would be more open-minded, but this isn't that life, and I've already made my decision on this."
Ziggy had made his decision for this life before he even got here. If he was going to be a mad scientist's project, he was going to enjoy life the way he wanted it.
"It's pretty sexist, you know," Xuannu says.
"I am aware. Only certain personalities will even think about it. Why do you think I haven't pursued you?" Ziggy says. "You are far too important to me to have a casual affair with, goddess, and you know that I am unwilling to share you if you are mine."
"You are very unreasonable," Xuannu huffs.
"Ha!" Ziggy lets out a short laugh. "I know, but I promised myself I'd be selfish about this, and I'm trying to be honest about what I want. I'm not going to lie or try to trick anyone into this. I know it's 'unreasonable,' but it's been done since time immemorable. Powerful people, gods, and conquerors alike have had a harem of lovers. I want one too."
Ziggy runs his fingers gently down her back, and she shivers. "Ugh," she groans. "I suppose you're not wrong... technically."
Ziggy smiles. "Enough, we're just going circles," he says and taps a sheet of paper next to the gorgeous woman. "Why don't you tell me more about this?"
Xuannu sighs and languidly pulls the sheet of paper containing Ziggy's most recent Falna in front of her. "Well, first of all, your growth is impressive. Only one day in the dungeon, you've gained more than two hundred points in your abilities. Even your magic has increased despite not having a spell."
Ziggy scans the sheet over her shoulder.
Name: Siegfried Solomon
Familia: Jiutian Zhanxie Huzheng Xuannü
Level: 1
Strength: I- 49
Vitality: I- 42
Dexterity: I- 51
Agility: I- 48
Magic: I- 39
Development Abilities
Spells
**Lemegeton
Skill
**Wisdom of Solomon
**Heart's Blood of the Dragon
"Yes, but now it seems like I do have a spell. What can you tell me about it?" Ziggy asks.
Xuannu frowns. "It's a strange spell that comes in two parts. The first requires a ritual to bind a conquered foe, and the second requires a short incantation to summon that foe forth to serve you."
Ziggy closes his eyes and focuses on the little nugget of knowledge that formed after Xuannu updated his Falna. "Okay, I see it. Well, that's... huh. That's interesting."
"It seems that the stronger you get, the more servants you may summon. I assume this has to do with your level but could be influenced by your magic as well."
"Hmm. I think it is more likely that the stronger my magic is, the stronger the vessel I can create for them will be. What happens if a vessel gets destroyed? Is the servant destroyed as well?"
Xuannu frowns. "It didn't appear so, but you won't be able to summon them again for some time. I'd guess the destruction of the vessel disperses the spirit, and they have to pull themselves together before you can summon them again."
"Well, that's convenient," Ziggy says, leaning back into the massage.
"Mmmmmm," Xuannu moans. "Are you sure you can't do casual sex?"
"Oh, I could probably do casual sex... just not with you, goddess," he says.
"That is so not fair," she says indignantly.
"You know why," he sighs.
"Unfortunately," Xuannu pouts. "I still say you're being silly."
"Probably, but I won't put myself in that situation. If you were some random woman I picked up in a tavern and didn't care about, that would be fine. But you're my goddess, and I have zero doubts that I would develop feelings for you if we started sleeping together because I guarantee; it wouldn't be just one time."
His hands spread over her sexy back a thin coating of oil gave her skin a luminous glow. The urge to slide his hands around and cup her full breasts is torture, but Ziggy barely maintains his relatively rational mind. A random hook-up that he may never see again; he could separate and not care if she went out had an orgy the next night.
Someone like his goddess? There is just no way. It would be a distraction wondering if he would come home one day after fighting in the dungeon to find her with some rando she thought looked cute in the market. Unless she was entirely on board with the harem, as tempting as it was to have a willing sex goddess below him, he was not going there.
"I can't believe you're going to fuck that girl over me," Xuannu grouses. Ziggy smirks and shakes his head.
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.
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Ziggy sits in a large tub of steaming hot water, just soaking his aching body, and sighs. "So much better," he says.
Today, the dungeon did a number on him, and it was only the beginning. He thinks back to his conversation with Xuannu and sinks a little into the tub. "Jessica would laugh her ass off at me."
He smiles, remembering a conversation with her while watching some harem anime.
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"Please tell me you wouldn't be this much of a pussy if this happened to you?" Jessica said.
Ziggy frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, look at this guy. He's one of the strongest beings on the planet and has a half dozen sex kittens that all want to fuck him, and what does this pussy do? He blushes at holding a girl's hand. I mean, come on."
Ziggy laughed. "Hon, it's a different culture. There are different social norms and levels of intimacy. To him, it's 'lewd' to share these small intimacies, never mind the idea of sex."
"Oh, please," Jessica says. "We just saw one where the kid blackmails his stepmother, and she literally gives him her daughter to use as a sex toy; only for the two of them to then team up to drag the stepmother into a threeway. The girl had a candle shoved up her twat, for God's sake."
"Pfft," Ziggy snorted. "Yeah, that's hentai. Consider it counter-culture. The more tied up in social protocols the society is, the stronger the counter-culture backlash is."
"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just promise me that if something like this ever happens to you and you end up in some fantasy kingdom and several maybe legal hotties are trying to get in your pant, you'll fuck'em once hard for me."
"You wouldn't want me to try and get back to you?" Ziggy asked, genuinely curious.
"Listen. I love you, but even if it is possible, it would probably take forever, and I'd have probably moved on by then. Besides," Jessica said and stretched her arms over her head, exposing her flat stomach and accentuating her perky breasts. "I'll tell you right now. If it was me? I'd have those bitches on their backs and their knees twenty-four-seven, and I'd wish you well from my throne of hot pieces of ass."
"Bwahahaha," Ziggy exploded with laughter. "Oh, shit," he said with tears in his eyes. "I've created a monster."
"What can I say, yo," Jessica said with some swagger in her voice. "Those anime-honeys make my metaphorical dick hard."
"And you call me a nerd?" Ziggy said, still recovering from his laugh attack.
"That's because you are a nerd," she said with a sexy smile, moving to straddle his hips. "Now, let me show my favorite sexy nerd how to fuck an anime-honey."
.
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"I'll get there, Jess. It's just a little different than I imagined," Ziggy says out loud. "My goddess just needs a little time to stew on the idea."
A sex goddess denied by a man she wants to fuck is unthinkable. It would eat at her pride, and she may try to force the issue, but he will not bend on this.
He sighs. 'I know it's hypocritical that I want a harem but wouldn't accept her having multiple lovers. It's not like there is anything inherently wrong with the idea, but if she wants me, she can't have them. I'm not sharing my harem,' he thinks, and a slight smirk grows. 'Well, at least outside the harem. I kind of want to see Xuannu sixty-nine with another girl while I'm plowing her from behind. God, I watched way too much porn in my previous life.'
Ziggy pushes himself out of the bath and dries himself. He tries to think about his goals and realizes he doesn't have much of a plan beyond his pursuit of strength and sexy women.
He might help out Bell; alleviate some of his plot and romantic burdens. He might help Ais with her desires, both plot-related and unexplored sexual. He only knows that he needs to be powerful to do anything in this world; given his abilities, there is no reason that he can't become one of, if not the strongest adventurer.
Ziggy thinks about this while getting dressed. Black slacks paired with a white shirt and hip-length black jacket just long enough to cover the dirk at his back. The coat has built-in sheathes for small blades in the breast and the cuffs. Pulling his boots on, also black, Ziggy taps them into place and looks at himself in the mirror.
He sighs. "I'm so ridiculously monochromatic," he says, shaking his head. "I've got to get some color in my wardrobe. People will think I'm an undertaker, or maybe I work at the guild. Maybe some blue accents."
'Jess was always better than me at this,' he thinks. 'Gimme a graphic t-shirt, a pair of pants, and some comfy sneakers, and I'd be good to go. Jess would spin me around and push me back into the bedroom, complaining that I couldn't wear that to her sister's wedding. Like anyone would be looking at me.'
Ziggy runs his fingers through his hair until it looks the way he wants it to, nods to his reflection, and heads to the door. Opening the door, he finds Asuka standing there mid-knock.
"Hello there," he says. 'General Kenobi,' he thinks. "Are you ready to go?"
"Um," she says, blushing furiously and not meeting his eyes. "Ye-yes, I'm ready."
"Great! Now, I'm no expert on clothes shopping, but there are a few basics I think we should start with that will help reduce the risk of... well, it'll give you some added coverage, let's say," he says. "I saw a shop on my way back, and I've already spoken to one of the clerks. If we hurry, she said that she will help you pick out something nice."
The shy girl just nods. Ziggy sighs a little and leans down to look her in the eyes. "There's no need to be nervous with me... Okay, that may not be entirely true. You are so cute that the idea of gobbling you up has crossed my mind more than a few times," he says, and her eyes widen in something alternating between fear and anticipation. "But I promise I won't do that."
It might have been Ziggy's imagination, but he was pretty sure she was a little disappointed to hear that. "We can take it slow. Think of it as going out with a friend," he says and smirks. "A friend you're insanely attracted to perhaps, but a friend nonetheless."
He holds out a hand as his smirk becomes a full smile. "Come on, let's go shopping."
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Asuka took his hand but only held it until they came across other people, at which point she dropped his hand and lowered her eyes. They walked side-by-side out of the Peach Blossom Palace and into Orario proper, arriving at a small shop called Niki's Confidential, where Asuka proceeded to turn a bright red color.
She started to back away when an attractive Hume Bunny walked out of the store and approached Ziggy with a smile. "Is this the young lady you were telling me about?" she asks Ziggy.
The bunny girl smiles and rushes over to, the petrified with embarrassment, Asuka and takes her hand. "Come along, honey. I promise this will be painless," she says and drags Asuka into the store.
Ziggy sits on the bench outside the store meant for boyfriends and husbands to wait while their significant others get fitted.
.
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Once inside the store, the Hume woman, with caramel-colored fuzzy ears and slightly darker curly hair, directs Asuka to a chair before calling out, "Velvet, sweetie. We have a client."
"Coming, mom," a voice, presumably Velvet, calls out. A girl about Asuka's age comes out. She has straight, chocolate-brown hair and fur and even darker brown eyes. Her outfit is a brown and yellow shirt and shorts with black tights.
"Hello, I'm Velvet," she says to the vaguely shell-shocked Asuka.
Asuka shakes her head, clears the cobwebs, and stands up to bow. "Um, hello. My name is Asuka. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, my. You are a polite one, aren't you?" the mother bunny says. "My name is Niki, and this is my shop. The young man outside said you required some undergarments, and I can see that he is quite correct here. Velvet, dear, bring her to fitting room four, and get her measurements. I'll eyeball it and see what we have that might look good on her."
Asuka cocks her head, confused. "If they are undergarments, why do they need to look good?" she asks.
Velvet and Niki look at each other and back to Asuka. "Sweetie, I've seen the hunk of arm candy you came here with. Trust me, you will eventually want him to see the undergarments and possibly to peel them off with his teeth," Niki says, and Asuka's face burns red.
"M-mom!" Velvet shouts.
Niki holds up her hand. "Trust me, Velvet. If he weren't here with a client, I'd be angling to get you a boyfriend... or maybe a new step-daddy," Niki says, mumbling the last part while looking back towards the front of the store.
Velvet ushers Asuka towards the back of the store and away from her tactless mother. "Just ignore her," she says, closing the curtain to the fitting area. "Now why don't we get you out of those... clothes?... and take your measurements, though I hardly need to. Mom may be... well, what she is, but she an absolute wiz at sizing people up."
Asuka resists briefly but is eventually stripped of her already minimal clothing. She tries to cover herself up, but Velvet reassures her. "We're all girls here. Don't worry. I just want to take an accurate measurement."
The one thing to be said for the staff at Niki's Confidential, they know their trade. Within fifteen minutes, the two had found several sets of undergarments for every occasion.
"I must say, for such a petite girl, you have wonderfully proportioned assets," Niki says. "That young man is in for a treat. I'm honestly amazed he thought we should cover these up."
"Mom," Velvet says with a warning growl. Asuka, meanwhile, has turned cherry-red.
"I suppose it makes some sense. You have been running around in barely a sheet covering your naughty bits. A stiff breeze, and you'd be flashing all of Orario your cute tush."
"Mother!" Velvet shouts.
"Oh, sorry," Niki says. "Sometimes, I forget myself. Forget what I was saying. Now, this is a type of undergarment designed to help secure your breasts when you are doing vigorous activities. Such as adventuring in the dungeon. It's made of special silk that is flexible but strong.
It can also double as an undershirt, and the bottoms are virtually indistinguishable from what some adventurers wear as shorts. I suggest you wear these home. Not as sexy as some of the others, but until you have some more outfits, this would work best with your... tabard?"
Velvet rolls her eyes as Asuka squirms in her seat.
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'I need more practice with the throwing knives and probably should expand my weapon selection. There are different types of enemies on the later floors. It only makes sense that some weapons may work better against them than others,' Ziggy thinks.
It's been almost thirty minutes since Niki dragged Asuka into the store, and he'd been going over the day's events and playing with one of the small throwing blades he'd placed in the sleeve of his coat while waiting.
'Ouka and the rest of the Take Familia learn multiple weapons so they can pick up whatever they need to. I need to be at least proficient in various weapons for similar reasons. Maybe I'll see if Mao and Wei can work with me for a little while tomorrow.'
Looking up, Ziggy sees Asuka coming out of the shop with two Hume Bunnies, Niki, who he's met, and another who looks familiar but hasn't. This other bunny-girl is, of course, Velvet. Ziggy stands up and smiles at the three women. Asuka is still a bit pink in the cheeks, but she's recovered a bit now that her new underwear is boxed up away from the public's eye.
"How did it go?" he asks.
"Great!" Niki says. "She's a treasure, and I think we've found some nice options."
Ziggy offers to take the boxes that Velvet is carrying containing the rest of the purchases, but Asuka grabs them, her face flaming. Ziggy eyes dance with laughter at the cute girl. "So," he says. "Was the retainer enough, or do I owe you anything more?"
Niki smiles. "It was more than enough. You even still have additional funds; I have it right here," she says, holding a small pouch.
Ziggy waves her off. "Why don't you hold on to it. I'm sure I'll be back."
Niki notices that Ziggy's eyes linger on her daughter, and the wheels in her mind start to turn. 'Did I misread their relationship?' she thinks. 'I don't think so. The girl is obviously smitten with him. Is he the philandering type? I wouldn't doubt it; he's handsome enough to attract all sorts of attention. Still, a handsome adventurer as a son-in-law wouldn't be bad if she can lock him down.'
Niki was a little off in her estimation of the situation. Ziggy's attention was indeed lingering on Velvet, but only because of a gnawing feeling of familiarity he has with her. He's seen her somewhere and has no idea where that somewhere was.
