Entering the Town

A quaint town stood at the mouth of the dense forest, guarding the entrance to the green fields beyond. Ramshackle wooden walls cut the path in half, and a couple of bored guards inspected the passing merchants for contraband.

Next to the entrance, a dense bush shook ever so unnaturally. Sharp hazel eyes stared anxiously from within the leaves, waiting for their chance… "Psssst, hey Touly? Is the coast clear yet?"

"Shush, they are going to hear us!"

"But this bush is sooo itchy. There's a twig poking me right in the-"

"I said, shush! We need to be stealthy. Or do you want to try to circle the town like last time?"

Min shivered recalling the experience. The mud, the vines, the laughter of the turkeys gobbling in the wind... She would rather avoid it if she could. She rested her head pensively on the knight's back. "N-no, let's not."

"And could you stop hugging me for FIVE seconds?!"

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't hear any complaints when we were cuddling last night!"

"I was cold, ok? It was a matter of body warmth, nothing more."

"Well, I liked it! It was way better than sleeping with some smelly goats!"

"Are you comparing me to a goat?"

"I said you are better than a goat! At least you smell nicer."

"That's it, we are sleeping upside down toni-"

"Ehem, are we interrupting something?" One of the guards pushed aside the leaves in front of the bush. He and his willowy companion stared directly at the two disheveled women hiding in the foliage.

Touly pushed Min back, sending her tumbling backward into the bush. "Ah, the twig! It poked me!"

"T-this is not what it looks like! We are pilgrims. We were hoping to gain entry into your fair town. Errr, undetected, if possible."

"Hmm." The guard pushed more leaves aside, revealing Touly's athletic physique and lack of clothing. "No vagrants in the city," he said sternly.

His companion's gaze traveled downward. Towards the knight's pert chest, and the amulet stuck in her cleavage. "That's a traveler necklace. These girls are on a pilgrimage."

"Yes! We are going to the Red Cathedral, and we were just passing by. Err, we have to complete the journey naked as a penance."

"There´s always a new type of penance with the zealots..."The guard stroked his chin. "Fine, you can come in. But don't cause any trouble. And no begging outside the church."

Touly got out of the bush. One of her hands ran vertically to her athletic body, failing to cover anything of importance, while the other dragged Min into the light. "Thanks, that won't be necessary. Hurry, while there is no one else around," Touly whispered at Min.

"Oww, give me a minute… the twig hurt."

"Shush." Dragging behind a somewhat reluctant Min, Touly went inside the town, jogging on the exposed dirt road for about ten seconds. As soon as she was inside the walls, she ducked behind the first house on her left.

Peeking out from her hiding spot, Touly saw a bustling town. Dirt roads surrounded by wooden and stone houses. Merchants peddling their wares, peasants going about their day. It had quite the homely atmosphere… soon to be broken by the two scandalous pilgrims crossing the road au natural.

"Let's get something straight. Neither of us wants to run across the main road to be gawked at by all the villagers in the town, right?"

"C-correct," replied a nervous Min, her dark eyes moving left and right in alert for potential witnesses.

"Good, so it's decided. We'll try to stick to the backyards and alleyways. See if we can sneak past the townsfolk."

"Sounds like a plan."

Removing a bang of unruly hair from her eyes, the knight spotted a path forward. She and Min tiptoed to an alley behind the house. The alleyway was cut short by the backyard of a sumptuous stone house. Touly stopped in front of a drying rack, running her fingers longingly across the soft fabric of a linen skirt.

"Err, you want to steal some clothes? I guess we can try, but in my experience, stealing tends to cause more trouble than it's worth," Min said.

Touly shook her head, letting go of the garment. "No, you are right. I'm not a thief. Besides, this is a naked pilgrimage. It's supposed to be penitence, not much point doing it if we are going to break the rules."

"Ma? Did you hear someone in the backyard?" Both Min and Touly looked at the house with trepidation. "I'll go check it out!" Someone was coming!

"Quick, we need to hide!"

The backyard had more laundry, a wooden tub, and assorted barrels. Touly and Min began opening them in a hurry. The first barrel had wine, the next honey, and the third butter. The knight opened the fourth barrel, and it was empty. Perfect! She quickly jumped inside.

"…ARGH! Really? Couldn't you hide somewhere else?" Before she had time to settle in, Min jumped in the same barrel as Touly.

The two naked women were pressed together in the cramped space. Their chests were awkwardly pushing the other, nipples brushing as if they were saying hello to each other. A knee was pressed against Touly's stomach, flanked by her own two legs. Each woman could feel the other's breath on their neck, their heat radiating on their skin.

"The other barrels are full..." Min excused herself, trying to pull back away from Touly but failing to do so on account of the little space she had to work with.

"Ugh, at least help me put the lid back on." Touly and Min placed the lid on the barrel just in time. The door opened outside.

"Huh, no one's here. Might as well start moving the barrels to the market. The four heavy barrels... all the way there... Screw it, Ma isn't watching. I'll roll them down the street."

"Mfp!" Both Min and Touly stiffened a yelp. Their barrel got pushed down. Min was on top of a very uncomfortable and annoyed Touly. She gave her companion an apologetic smile, but it didn't last long.

The barrel started rolling. Touly and Min took turns being on top and bottom, neither enjoying the bumpy ride very much. Their bodies clashed awkwardly with each rotation, their faces squished together in the revolving embrace.

The merchant stopped pushing the four barrels to catch his breath, accidentally letting them go. "No, no, no!" They all started rolling downhill at alarming speeds.

Touly's and Min's worlds span much faster than before. They jumped around and constantly bounced into each other in the spinning barrel. The two girls began screaming their lungs out, pleading for help that never came.

The barrels finally stopped, crashing against a hay pile and scaring away the horses eating from it. Their lids had popped open in the downhill race, honey, and butter flowing into the warm cobblestone. Touly's legs and Min's arms were sticking out of the open hole of their wooden hideout.

A dazed Min crawled out of the barrel and sat her slim bottom on the ground, her hands trying to keep her head from spinning. "…You …know? …this reminds me of something from back home called a roller coaster…"

Touly's legs shimmied left and right as she struggled to exit the barrel from the bottom up. The knight managed to crawl out, but she didn't stand up. She rested her back on the prickly hay, closing her eyes to try and calm her thumping head. "Ugh… your people must be quite cruel to create such a devious torture."

"No, it's actually quite fun… Eeep! T-t-touly, you might not want to open your eyes."

Touly grumbled. She slowly raised her arms around her chest, crossing her legs. "Let me guess, we are outside the church, and the whole congregation has come out."

The knight fearfully looked down from the sky. Stalls, vegetables, an astonished crowd, and annoyed merchants.; they had crashed in the middle of the market.

"Nope. This is worse."

"S-should we, err, flee?" Min asked, her cheeks red as the apples sold next to her.

"Yes." Touly sprang to her feet, took a step on the slippery butter pouring out of the other barrel, and promptly fell forward. She landed face-first on the greasy puddle, her firm bottom high in the air to the amusement of the assembled crowd.

She tried, again and again, to stand up, but she kept flopping into the puddle like a fish out of water, her skin acquiring a bright sheen thanks to all the butter that now coated it.

Seeing Touly's ordeal, Min got another idea. "Screw this, I'm going to hide again." She dove headfirst into the first barrel she laid eyes on.

"Ack!" Min unwittingly entered the honey barrel and coated herself in the sticky liquid. She exited the barrel not one second later with a scowl of disgust. "Ewwwww."

The sorry display didn't elicit sympathy in the townsfolk, but laughter. It was something straight out of a jester's comedy routine. Even the poor sod on the stocks chuckled at the two naked girls.

Where to now? Touly carefully managed to stand back up on her feet. With mindful steps, she got away from the puddle of butter. She turned right, she saw the mocking faces of a couple of milkmaids. Looking left, a gang of grinning boys. Behind her? Nothing but a stone wall. The chorus of laughter sounded in her head with the intensity of war drums.

She couldn't focus on anything but their mockery and the rising heat of her cheeks. First, she needed to cover up! But with what? The barrel was too heavy to carry. Stealing clothes was out of the question, but maybe there was another way…

"O-ok, everyone had a laugh. C-can we all just move on and-No, I won't move my hands, mister! They are fine where they are!" Min was trying to calm the crowd with little success. "Hey! No touching…Touly?! What are you doing? Argh! Let me go!"

Like a highwaywoman taking a hostage, Touly had grabbed Min from behind. It was hard for the knight to hold the squirming woman in place thanks to her literal butterfingers, but she squeezed Min's forearms for dear life.

With her hands held at her sides, it became impossible for Min to hide her smallish breasts from view or any part of her slim body. The knight pressed her sticky companion against her chest, using her as a makeshift mantlet to cover herself from the piercing eyes surrounding her.

"H-hey, come on! Let me go! I thought you didn't like hugs." Touly didn't respond, embarrassed not only by her state of undress, but also by her cowardly actions. Although, not embarrassed enough to let Min go.

With her shield in place, Touly marched forward, pushing across the rowdy crowd. "H-hey stop! At least grab me by the chest if you are going to try to use me as cover! Try to hide my tits too, you know? And stop kicking my shins!"

Min retaliated by stepping on Touly's feet. Grimacing, Touly lost her focus for a few seconds, but it was all Min needed to slip away from her sticky fingers and push her back.

With her feet still covered in butter, Touly tripped backward into a bakery stand. Lying on her back and with her legs spread wide open, there was little left to the imagination about the knight's unmentionables. Touly squealed a very un-knightly squeal, putting both hands into hiding the little honey patch over her womanhood.

Min walked in front of her mortified companion, a smug look of self-righteousness plastered on her face. "S-sorry about that, but you can't just- Argh!" Touly was beyond reasoning. She lashed out at the culprit of her undignified fall, grabbing a handful of dough from the stall and tossing it at Min's face.

Min stumbled backward and tripped over the knee-high fence of a chicken coop, landing over their barley feed. The birds were already feeding, and they took a liking to the new honey-flavored meal in their bowl. "Ouch! Get away from me!"

Scrambling over her feet, Min tried to crawl away from the hungry chickens, going in circles around the pen. The layer of honey on her skin now held numerous feathers thanks to her confrontation with the birds.

Min found and opened the fence to leave the enclosure. As soon as the door opened, a handful of chickens ran free before their owner closed it back.

The stern middle-aged woman grabbed Min's ear and pulled her closer. "Look at what you two did with your games! My chickens! You will get them back or I'll have the guards toss you in the stocks for the rest of your life!"

"Owww, I don't think losing a couple of chickens is worth a life sentence. In-n any case, we are kind of busy, right Touly?" Min replied, with a wry smile and crossed legs.

"We can't do that. At worst they'll have to stay on the stocks for a day or do a bit of forced labor spinning the mills."

The guards interjected, finally deciding to interrupt the scene. One apprehended Min, and another arrested Touly, dragging her to her feet.

"Ha! Told you this wasn't a life sentence! …wait no, that's still awful! We have to find those chickens pronto!"

Work? naked? In front of that many people?! The thought was just dreadful. So was chasing chickens around town in her birthday suit. Touly gave one last desperate pull to escape from the man holding her arm… and it worked!

Thanks to all that butter on her skin, Touly slid right out of the guard's hands and promptly tripped over the cobblestone like a rolling ball. She wasn't stopping, she was sliding downhill!

"Wait, Touly, where are you going? You can't leave me! Come back and help me…" Min's cries for help dissipated in the air. Even if she wanted to, Touly couldn't stop now. She was going too fast! The butter was too slick!

"Aaaaaaah!" Touly practically flew out of the town's open gates, crashing into the soft wheat blades of the fields beyond.

Yes! She had finally left behind that awful town. Not a moment too soon. That was one place she was never going to show her face again. Now it was time to keep… going?

No, that wasn't right. Min was still inside, probably still squirming under the townspeople's gaze. She really ought to go back and help her. It would be the chivalrous thing to do…

But could she do that? Go back to being the town's laughing stock? What if the guards arrested her for evading capture and put her on the stocks? It was just too awful! She couldn't! But she also couldn't continue forward and leave her companion. Then the Grandmaster would be right, she would be a deserter!

For the next hour, Touly remained paralyzed in indecision. Her remorse prevented her from resuming her pilgrimage, but her mortification stopped her from going back to check on Min.

She sneaked around the wall, trying to find a hidden way to go inside, but could never find the perfect opening. There was always some reason, some excuse, that she used to remain outside.

She remained indecisive until a very red-faced Min trotted out of the gate. She was covered in even more feathers than the last time Touly saw her, and she even had a couple of patches of color on her skin. As if she had picked a fight with a basket of squishy vegetables and lost.

"H-hey!" Touly waved at her from the relative safety of the wheat grasses. "A-are you ok? What happened?!"

Min glared at Touly. Even the seasoned warrior was taken aback by the sheer hatred in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm fine. Everything's fine! I just had to chase five chickens across every damned street in the town. Did you know that one hid under her Holiness habit? She did not appreciate me trying to grab it back." Min replied.

"Err…"

"But I couldn't find the last damned bird, so I had to pay for it! I tried to put on a little show to earn more money. You know, a classic comedy routine. As you can see, the townsfolk didn't appreciate my sense of humor. Still, a few rounds of slapstick got me enough coins to pay the fine and avoid the stocks, thankfully."

"Y-yeah, thankfully. Listen-"

Min narrowed her gaze even more. "Just shut up. Let's get going. I won't be a free woman until you finish your stupid pilgrimage."