Chapter 13

Cass didn't know how to feel about what the nameless girl had done. She had killed someone. She knew that the nameless girl killed people, but... the last person that she had killed was Ted. He had been about to rape the nameless girl at the time; he had kidnapped her mother, too. She understood why the nameless girl did it, even if she also knew the nameless girl enjoyed it...

But those things didn't apply to Gar-rick. She had said he was attacking her, that she couldn't nonlethally subdue him, but Cass could tell... that was true, but an excuse. The nameless girl had killed him because she had wanted to.

She was brooding on it when they got up the next morning, the three of them rising before Noriko or Erza thanks to their different sleep cycles. The nameless girl pretty much immediately started sucking Drake's cock, just bobbing hungrily up and down it, her hand in between her thighs as she frantically masturbated. She really enjoyed it... Cass liked it too, but not that much, and not the same way... Cass just liked seeing Drake happy. The nameless girl liked having a cock in her throat. The way that her whole body radiated lust at the sensations, reality, treatment - it made Cass blush a bit even having seen it plenty in the past. Noriko enjoyed it even more, but she enjoyed it like she enjoyed regular sex. For the nameless girl, it was... something else.

She shook her head, turning away from the scene, putting the situation out of her mind to try to think. Drake reached out for her, then, one hand gently placed on her shoulder, drawing her attention back to him. "Something the matter, Cass?" He asked. The nameless girl paused in her sucking, popping off his cock at the question.

"When we were... out... she killed someone," Cass said, with a quiet glance over at the nameless girl.

Drake turned his attention down to the nameless girl, clearly not happy with her at all - and not in that playful way he sometimes was, because the nameless girl liked it. "Bitch. What did you do?"

"He had a falna and was attacking me, goshujinsama! It was justified self-defense!" He slapped her, making the nameless girl let out a noise of surprise, her eyes widening, then his hand went to her throat for a moment before he calmed himself down.

"Bitch," he said, the name soothing and cooing. "Could you have retreated?" The nameless girl didn't respond to that, and he squeezed, just a little, on her throat. "No killing people unless there's no other choice," he told her.

"What if they're going to rape me, goshujinsama?" She asked, her voice a little strained, but the question was insincere.

Drake could tell as much too. "Unless you are in a situation where you cannot retreat or nonlethally subdue the person, or if they present an immediate threat to someone else if you do retreat, you are not allowed to kill them. Understand, Bitch?" The nameless girl quietly nodded. "So, if you were following that rule this time, what would have happened?"

"I would have run away, goshujinsama. Probably back to Cass so she could subdue him again."

Drake's eyes briefly flicked down to Noriko, who was snoring with her head resting on his chest, completely oblivious to their conversation, before he continued to speak. "And you know that Cass is my favorite?"

"Yes, goshujinsama."

"And you do know that she doesn't like killing people, don't you?"

"Yes, goshujinsama."

"So can you guess what's going to happen now, Bitch?"

"You're going to punish me?" The nameless girl seemed to realize that she had done something bad, by the way she spoke. Cass would probably have stopped Drake from punishing her... but she also seemed to want to be punished, so Cass remained quiet.

"Yes." He let go of her throat. "Recommend me a punishment you think is appropriate to what you did."

The nameless girl was quiet for a few seconds. "Since what I did hurt her, you could make me eat out Cass-" he slapped her at that, a sharp, sudden thing, and she rubbed her cheek.

"Cass is straight, Bitch."

"So am I, goshujinsama," the nameless girl replied, and he narrowed his eyes at her. She pouted. "You could take my money for the next several days in the Dungeon and spend it on Cass. You could refuse to let me masturbate or have sex with you for a week. You could make me get a tattoo of your name on my pubic mound." That last one wasn't really a punishment in the nameless girl's eyes.

"We're going to do both of the first two," Drake said, making the nameless girl sigh. Part of it was that she wasn't going to get a tattoo; the rest was the punishment. Drake focused on the former part. "How many tattoo artists who are experienced with dark skin do you think there are in Orario?" He pointed out.

"Ah... goshujinsama is so smart," the nameless girl said, bobbing her head in acceptance. "I promise not to kill anyone, even if they deserve it, unless it's absolutely necessary." Drake smiled and patted her head dotingly, and she suddenly perked up. "Ah, what if I could subject them to a fate worse than death, though, goshujinsama? Is that okay?"

"Not unless they really deserve it," he said, sourly.

"Don't worry, goshujinsama," she promised. She looked down at his cock, then sighed, getting up from the bed and stretching. "You can suck his cock now, Cass." Cass blushed at that, as the nameless girl started to collect clothes. "Should I call you joousama, since compared to you, I'm a lowly bitch onahole?" Cass blushed even brighter, averting her gaze from the nameless girl entirely, focusing on Drake.

"I like... Cass," she said.

"Okay. Cass it is."

"Do you want to...?" Drake asked, gesturing towards his groin, open to whatever Cass wanted. She nodded quietly, glancing down at his cock, one hand stroking him softly as she considered exactly what to do. She eventually decided to just straddle him and start riding.

* * *

The girl without a name could still taste the cherry-strawberry flavor of Noriko on her tongue. She had been ordered not to masturbate, and wasn't going to have sex with Drake, but he hadn't said anything about Noriko. Of course, all Noriko had going for her was the humiliation of having to eat out another girl, and the tasty juices she leaked out, so it wasn't an oversight, really. If it had been, she wouldn't have done it. She didn't bring it up, either - it was only when Noriko demanded she eat her out in the showers after they'd gotten done in the Dungeon that she had actually done so.

Noriko was just too cute. She just bossed the girl without a name around like it was nothing. Drake was more... considerate, in how he dominated her, trying to hit her specific preferences. Noriko just demanded cunnilingus when she was bored and called her Bitch because she thought that was her name. It was cute and fun and sexy.

Cass lurked on the edge of one of the buildings, looking down and making a silent motion to the girl without a name. She peered out over the edge at the people she was gesturing to, finding a group of three men all standing close together, surrounding an old woman. Part of her felt the urge to draw out her rifle and take a few quick shots, but she resisted it, swallowing the impulse. Drake had told her not to kill people; Cass didn't want her to kill people; killing people was """wrong""". She could kill people later, when it was an appropriate situation to do so.

She raised one finger to Cass, tapping her ear as she focused, her senses transforming into something far more precise and far ranging. She could catch the men talking, then. "You haven't paid up, old lady. I don't want to bust up some granny's legs, but Eris needs your money." Eris? Not Nyx? Maybe the Captain of the familia?

"Nyx needs your money," one of the other men corrected. Even from this distance, the girl without a name caught him giving the other one an annoyed glance. Perhaps they were like the Soma familia, with an absentee goddess and an active, abusive Captain?

"Just give us what you owe, and we can all go home, nice and easy," the third man said. "Don't, and we'll haveta make an example outta you. If we let old ladies go, then there'll be old men, little kids, and soon enough, nobody'll respect us."

What amazing logic, the girl without a name thought. Perhaps she should apply it to criminals. If she didn't kill pickpockets and bosses who stole their workers' wages, then soon enough the murderers and the rapists would think they were going to go free! She scarcely resisted the urge to ease the old woman's life with a few quick holes punctured in the men's heads. "Nyx familia," she whispered to Cass instead, and Cass nodded silently. She was wearing a wooden carved bat mask, and it looked very nice on her. It didn't have a mouth or even the impression thereof, which was appropriate for the quiet girl.

"There's... something off..." Cass said, as she watched the men surround the woman. "They're... dragging it out... on purpose."

"Tormenting an old woman... how awful. I really wish I could just shoot them. Can I shoot them? If you say it's okay, then it'll be fine with goshujinsama, I think."

Cass glanced over at the girl without a name, and shook her head silently. "I think... it might be... a trap?" She suggested.

"Ah. That makes sense, Batgirl," the girl without a name agreed. "I'll go look around the area," she said, letting nothingness wreathe her like a warm blanket, vanishing from the edge of perception before jumping down three stories and landing easily on her feet. Adventurers had truly incredible bodies, and she was only Level One. She prowled through the streets, keeping her senses sharp, looking for any sign of who might be supporting the men.

She wasn't allowed to kill them when she found them, she reminded herself. Cass would know. Even if she could do it without being caught, it would be disobeying Drake's orders. The orders weren't evil, they were just annoying. This was part of the give and take of a relationship. She obeyed him when he said not to kill people for good reasons; he whored her out to strange men despite it not having been to his tastes originally. (Though, she now got the impression he looked forward to doing it. It was so romantic! He'd started liking something new because he had done it together with her... She really doubted that she would start to like not killing criminals, though.)

Ah, there they are, she said, as she entered the intersection the men were clustered in. She counted seven in the alleys and shop windows near her. Perhaps there were a couple more, but most of them weren't hiding very well, so unless it was a double bluff, it was very unlikely there were more than a dozen men altogether. That sure was a lot of people, just for her? Technically, there was a woman in immediate danger, so arguably she was allowed to start killing them... but that wasn't the spirit of Drake's command, and Cass would want to - ah, Cass was already on the lip of a building right over the alley, perched in place, looking a bit like a black gargoyle with her choice of outfit.

She arrived at Cass's side, and let just a whisper escape the nothingness that enveloped her. "How many?"

"I think..." Cass took a moment with her fingers. "Oneteen."

"Eleven," the girl without a name gently corrected. "I missed one. Where?"

Cass pointed quietly. The girl without a name followed her finger, spotting a small redheaded girl playing with a toy in the street. She looked scraggly and unkempt; the girl without a name had assumed she was an orphan, but if Cass said otherwise, she was presumably a pallum.

"What levels, do you think?"

Cass paused for a moment, squinting. "I think... one. Maybe..." she trailed off. "The girl is a Two."

The girl without a name had never killed a Level Two before. Well, she had killed Zanis, but that had been after Soma. The difference between a Level One and a Level Two was vast, but she was an "Exalted": even when she hadn't had a falna at all, she had quite easily killed a dozen men, so she wasn't too concerned about the Level Ones. Although, maybe she should have been, since she wasn't allowed to kill people... "Hmm." She wasn't stupid. She had killed as many people as she had, back when she had been a normal girl, because she had been careful and methodical about her killings, despite the idiot news media saying she was a 'disorganized' serial killer. "I'll blind and deafen them," she decided. "Close your eyes when I say 'I'm the Spectre'." Then she dropped back to the ground, stepping up behind the men, still lazily harassing the terrified old woman like the horrible people they were.

She sauntered into their midst, then did her best to punch one of them in the back of the neck. Predictably, it just made him lean forward and grunt in pain, spinning around a weapon as he wore an evil sneer of a smile on his lips. "If you fight back, I'm going to have to kill you," she told him, smiling behind her mask at the half-lie. "Just like I did your pal, Gary."

"Glad to hear that was you. But you won't be killing me. Let's get her, boys," he said, and the other seven men emerged from hiding - the redheaded girl glanced their way, and then continued on playing. Pretending to just be a normal child, it seemed.

"Oh no. Ten men, all at once? I don't know if I'll be able to handle you without killing you all," she said, playfully dancing around the attacks of the three men who had been harassing the woman, darting back towards where the pallum was playing. She was soon standing in front of the girl - well, moving at a decent pace in front of the girl, keeping the men in her line of sight. It would be funny to pretend to take her as a hostage, but that obviously wouldn't work, so instead. "Hey, little girl," she said, reaching into her coat and making the girl look up at her. "I'm the Spectre," she said, making the girl blink, and she pulled the pins on five separate flashbangs, opening her coat in the same fluid movement. They were primed to go off after a fraction of a second, so she closed her eyes behind her mask and instantly, the world erupted in noise, a ringing remaining in her ears even afterwards.

She opened her eyes, the only person who could see - the pallum was clearly affected too, scowling as the girl without a name danced back - and saw as Cass methodically took down the men, starting from the back, punching and kicking them, knocking them each down in a fraction of a second. She never left herself open. One of the men had maybe been lucky, or very very smart, because he clearly wasn't blind, and managed to notice Cass's approach from the rear of their group. It didn't really matter, though - Cass grabbed his wrist, twisted him around, and hurled him bodily into the tiny girl.

"What's going on?!" The pallum snapped, and he immediately did his best to clamber off her. Maybe the Captain? Or maybe just the respect afforded to a Level Two. She wiped at her eyes, still rather blind, though she had just the hint of awareness. "I-I'm just a little girl, why are you attacking me?" If the girl without a name hadn't known better, she might have bought it. Particularly given her ears were still ringing.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, little girl, that was actually this ugly, fat man's fault," the girl without a name mocked. "He tripped and fell on you!"

"O-oh, okay," the pallum replied, pretending to buy it. Cass had gotten through the men by that point. She was really impressive as a melee fighter. She paused a couple meters out from the pallum, staying out of melee range, it looked like. The girl without a name idly stepped back, trying to disguise the movement as just trying to take in the whole scene.

The pallum didn't let her. In the blink of an eye, she drew her dagger and closed on the girl without a name, simply cutting into her legs with a neat slice. The knife dug deep into the leg just below the kneecap, and the girl without a name listed, feeling and expending a surge of that mystical energy - "Essence," apparently - to keep herself upright after the knife slipped smoothly through her leg. The pallum instantly went for Cass in much the same way, but Cass was better prepared for her, grabbing the knife in one gauntleted hand.

The gauntlets Syr had gotten her were apparently very high quality, because the knife that had so easily sliced through her leg didn't cut through the metal, instead getting caught in Cass's grip. Of course, the pallum was stronger than Cass, despite her small size, but a less experienced combatant.

The girl without a name pretended to topple onto her butt, the noise completely natural for somebody who'd had their leg bisected. Everyone else except Cass, the girl without a name, and the pallum was unconscious or had fled, so she summoned a high caliber rifle, pointing at the pallum's head, following her movement with the hefty thing. She wouldn't shoot until it was necessary to save Cass's life. That was the rule she would follow, because Drake and Cass both wanted her to.

* * *

Cass gripped the knife tightly, refusing to let go of it no matter how the pallum pulled. It was her only weapon. Cass had inferior strength to the pallum, but she had fought plenty of stronger people - though not ones who were also more agile. That was the real problem. She had the reach advantage, and keeping hold of the knife would deny the pallum a proper attack. When the pallum tried to kick at her, she easily shifted her feet to avoid the strikes.

"Such a pain in my ass," the pallum said, almost sneering. "For a Level One, you don't go down easy, I'll give you that. Your friend just lost her leg, though. She's probably bleeding out right now, you know?" It was a trick to get Cass to shift her focus away from the pallum, who just smirked at the lack of response. "Cold. Who's paying you, and how much?"

"No one... is paying me..." Cass gritted out.

"Ah. You a local, then? I can leave your family alone, if you agree to fuck off." She even seemed honest in the offer, but that wasn't why Cass was here. Cass just shook her head. "So," she pulled, but Cass just pulled back, and superior strength didn't compensate for the weight difference, either - she was pulled an inch off the ground for a second before she managed to settle her weight against the ground again by kicking and twisting frantically. "Why... are you here, then?" She said, her expression a lot more annoyed.

"You're... hurting people..." Cass explained. "I don't... like that..."

"We don't hurt people if they pay us. It's just like taxes." Even the pallum didn't believe it. She pushed her tongue against her cheek. "Come on. Nobody cares what happens in Daedalus. Why should you? These people don't matter."

"Everyone... matters..." Cass said. The pallum tried to lash out with her free hand, but Cass shifted her weight to the side, and her shorter reach rendered the attack useless, only impacting her gauntlets as she scowled.

"Ah, a real hero, huh? And what's your name, little hero?"

"Batgirl," she said, then suddenly stood up, yanking the pallum up off the ground with the movement. Her legs kicked towards Cass's chest immediately, her hand refusing to release her death grip on her knife, but Cass twisted her wrist, throwing the attacks off, repeating the motion with each successive attack attempt by the pallum. Eventually, she let go of the knife, her feet hitting the ground a moment later. She started to rush towards Cass, but Cass could see the way she'd move, and managed to roll to the side, knife still in hard, bringing it up automatically to interpose between herself and the pallum.

"Mine's Eris. You're not going to win this fight," Eris said, though she wasn't as confident as she pretended. "Tell you what. Let's go our separate ways. We can have a rematch later. Or, we can keep fighting until one of us dies."

Cass stared down Eris, holding her knife in a position where it would prevent a sudden approach. The pallum simply stared right back, waiting patiently. One of the unconscious men groaned, and Cass's lips suddenly thinned. They were starting to wake up. "You..."

"Ah, let's just do it, Batgirl," came the voice of the nameless girl from behind her. "I mean, I could kill her right now if you'd rather, but I don't think you want me to do that. We can beat up these losers any time we feel like."

"They might..." Cass trailed off. They didn't really seem to have any impulse to kill. To torment. To threaten. To rob. To beat. But... other than her and the nameless girl, they didn't want to kill the people here. "Okay," she agreed, at last.

"Mind giving me my knife back?" Eris asked, as Cass moved over to where the nameless girl was, keeping her eyes on the Level Two. "Yeah, I thought so," she said, when she didn't get a response. She sighed. "Gonna have to really squeeze the locals if you don't give it back. It's expensive, you know." Cass's fist tightened on the knife, an intense anger coming out in response to the blatant manipulation attempt. She just grabbed the blade of the knife and snapped it. "Somebody's immature," the pallum said, with a huff. "You know that's half the reason I wasn't charging you, right?"

"The other reason... is your reach... and that Spectre... will kill you."

"Will she now?"

"She killed... Garrick."

"Hm. I guess she did manage to blind me with those magic items of hers. Might have something dangerous like that. Ah well. I'm not in the business of murder, so you can just leave and never come back, and we can forget all about this. You're making it hard to do business."

"Good," Cass said. Eris rolled her eyes, but she didn't stop Cass from leaving, and the nameless girl followed after her, seeming completely uninjured from the attack that had severed her leg. Eris noticed it too, but didn't comment, just frowning.

* * *

Nyx yawned and wiped at her eyes, as Eris stood before her. "We've learned what happened to Gary, my goddess. He was killed by a pair of adventurers."

"Oh no. Do you know which familia?"

"No." True. "They wore masks, likely to conceal their identities." Nyx pouted at that. How annoying! What the heck were these people doing, messing with her familia? "I believe they are trying to establish their own law in Daedalus Street, and see us as an obstacle to that." Truth.

"What? Why would they see us as an obstacle to law?" Nyx asked. "Is this about me and Alecto? I really didn't know he was a member of the Evilus familia, tell them that!"

"I... can try telling them that, but I don't think it's likely to work, my goddess."

"Uwaaa," Nyx whined, flopping on the bed. "I just want to have a nice familia and live a sleepy life here in Orario. Why does everybody have to make it so hard?" It sucked so much! That was why she delegated all the hard work of running the familia to Eris. Besides, she was a mortal, so she'd be better at telling mortals what to do than Nyx was. That's how all the other gods ran things.

"I don't know," Eris said, which was a lie, making Nyx jerk to attention, her eyes narrowing.

"You do know! Tell me!"

Eris's expression briefly shifted, then she spoke. "I believe that people think you are easily manipulated since you are so lazy and sleep too much." Truth.

Nyx squinted at that. Did Eris think she was lazy and slept too much? Did she want to ask? She did sleep a lot more than most people did... and she didn't like to work... no, she didn't want to ask. "Ah. Do you think I should work harder, then?"

"No, my goddess. You being who you are, is why I chose to follow you." Truth.

"Aww, how sweet!" Nyx grabbed Eris in a big hug, hefting the pallum up off the ground as she squeezed for a few seconds. "Thank you. Everybody in Heaven was mean to me. I'm glad I have such a wonderful familia here in Gekai."

"I'm also very thankful for your familia," Eris agreed. Truth. "But be careful - one of them had a Skill that let her turn invisible. I think she may even have been following me, after our fight." Truth. "I may have lost her, but you should stay indoors. We don't want to risk them finding you and doing something to you."

"Oh no... that's scary," Nyx said, nodding along with her most trusted child. "Won't you stay here to protect me?"

Eris looked uncertain about it - but nodded. "Fine. For a while. But we'll stay inside the whole time."

"Thank you!" She pat Eris on the head. "You're such a good child."

"Thank you, my goddess," Eris said, coming inside. They chatted and played some board games that Nyx owned, before Nyx finally went to sleep. She knew Eris would probably sneak out, then, but Eris would always make sure to protect her. She'd promised as much, once, and she had meant it then, so Nyx wasn't worried at all.

* * *

"Do we have any ideas on who Spectre and Batgirl really are?" Eris asked the gathered familia members. There was a general shaking of the heads. She couldn't be too angry about it; from her own investigations, the pair always wore masks and appeared from nowhere to deal with crime. She didn't mind them playing heroes for purse snatchers and rapists, but the Nyx familia needed money, and Daedalus Street had been a good place to get passive income.

Had been. It was just a quiet rumbling down, but there had been more cases of noncompliance. Every time, of course, they claimed to not have the money, but she knew that they were just hiding it, feeling emboldened by the presence of these vigilantes. It was going to be a problem. "We'll be Dungeon delving more," she decided on. "The stronger we are, the less that two Level Ones can present a problem to us." Frankly, they must have had some absurd Skills to manage it now. She knew that there were adventurers who could overcome a level gap with their abilities, but those were generally higher level, like the Silence. Perhaps one of them was a Reynard with some unique magic? "And pay attention to the adventurers you see. If any of them move or fight like Batgirl or Spectre, then we'll have a better idea of our enemies."

That had been one mistake the pair had made - not killing her men when they'd bested the trap she'd set. She was thankful for it, and would have been inclined to show them mercy, but it seemed they weren't going to leave her be, so she couldn't afford to.

Mercy was expensive, in the end, and the familia's budget was getting stretched tight, thanks to the measures they had to take to deal with these two.

* * *

You could consider it some kind of irony, that I hated brothels. I was in a plural marriage with four women I had "purchased", and had plans to buy more, but Cass, Noriko, Erza, Julia - they were just in love with me. I didn't actually own them, "purchase" or not.

Regardless of my feelings on prostitution, it had fallen on me to spend more time at the Ishtar familia, since Julia was now out fighting crime with Cass. I didn't want to leave Haruhime alone to stew in her misery.

"Welcome once more, goshujinsama," Haruhime said, stirring her tea. She hadn't poured me any, since I didn't drink. "Do you truly have no plans to take advantage of me?"

"Yes," I told her.

"I see. Thank you, I suppose," she said, sipping at the tea. "What has become of your dark-skinned beloved?"

"She's..." I couldn't really tell the full story. "Helping people. She hasn't forgotten about you, don't worry," I told her. "She's just trying to get stronger, so she can help you, and others."

"I see. I don't think it will help. You are just Level One; Phryne is Level Five. The difference between you is as great as that of heaven and hell."

"You may be underestimating her," I replied. "She's very good at killing people." I doubted she was good enough to overcome a level difference like that - but by how Julia talked, Bell had clearly managed to free Haruhime quite early on in his career. She had to know how, and I trusted her. If she wasn't telling me, it was because it was a bad idea to tell me.

Haruhime let out a small laugh at that. "Perhaps, goshujinsama." She stared down at the tea. "I had not realized how much I would miss her presence. She was very kind."

I shifted awkwardly. Should I order Julia to start visiting Haruhime more often? That didn't really seem like a good idea, just leaving Cass alone to be a vigilante. It wasn't like her visits to Haruhime were going to result in the girl getting free any sooner. "She is. What sorts of things did you normally talk about?"

"Oh. She told me stories of heroes, for the most part," Haruhime said. "They were very strange and foreign, and I don't think they were actually true, but they were very nice regardless."

"Hm. Well, where I come from, there weren't any gods or falna," I told her. "But I know a few stories of heroes, sure." Most of my interest in history emphasized more systems than individuals, and most stories of heroes I liked tended to be on the more ambiguous end as a consequence, like Rokossovsky, who was tortured by the NKVD but ultimately remained loyal and even became a Marshal of the Soviet Union. "I could tell you about..." I searched around in my memory for someone more appropriate. "Jan Zizka or Chiune Sugihara, to start with. They're probably not quite the kind of heroes you're used to, but they might be interesting."

"Thank you, goshujinsama," she said, with a small nod. "That sounds very pleasant." She paused. "I apologize; you have spent money on me, and you are only considering what I want... what is it that you want?"

I thought about just telling her that I didn't want anything; then I remembered that I wanted to save her from a fate worse than death. "What can you tell me about your familia?" I asked.

"Ah... they are mostly Amazons," she explained. "Ishtar doesn't normally use her charm magic on us, but I think Tammuz is probably charmed by her. She will use it if someone causes enough problems for her... but the only person I can imagine doing that right now is Phryne."

"Really?" Phryne was allegedly a rapist, but given that Ishtar had mind controlled Tammuz and Haruhime didn't seem to consider it unusual, rape didn't seem like something the goddess considered worthy of note.

"Yes. The Ishtar familia is a business. We control more than forty percent of the income of the Entertainment District. To put it simply, it is not in our business interest to have Phryne around, except as enforcement against the potential actions of a high level adventurer." By that point, I had seen Phryne, if only for the briefest of moments, so I knew she was very unattractive. She was the female version of the ugly NTR bastard. In more ways than one, it seemed.

"She hasn't charmed her into submission yet," I pointed out.

"Yes. Ishtar is willing to be flexible with her children. I can only guess at such matters. She has not charmed me, or Phryne, despite the problems both of us could pose to her." I didn't ask what those problems were, not wanting to highlight the mild confession of her true situation. "Perhaps she is simply a merciful goddess."

"It seems more likely she can't do it to everybody, or it actively requires work to maintain," I said. Haruhime gently shrugged, doing interesting things to her pert breasts. I studiously avoided looking. "How long do you think Tammuz has been in her thrall?"

"At least as long as I have been here; for years, if I am to borrow the recollections of others. He entered the familia as attached to Ishtar as he is." In other words, she probably thought he was sexy, mind controlled him, and kept him as her pet ever since. My hand balled into a fist at the thought, and Haruhime tilted her head. "Have I offended you?"

"No. I just- don't like rapists very much." Maybe it was hypocritical, but it was hard to look at Julia, Erza, Cass, Noriko, and think they were my slaves, whereas apparently everyone in the Ishtar familia assumed that Tammuz had been mind controlled into submission. (The one you would most likely think of as my mind controlled slave, Julia, was actually the most ornery and difficult to control of all of them, ironically.)

"I... am afraid I do not understand," Haruhime replied.

"Tammuz. She's having sex with him, isn't she?"

"Oh," Haruhime said. "I see. I did not think of it that way. You are very perceptive, goshujinsama." She paused. "Now I feel sorry for him. If there does come to be a war between our familias, I think it is likely he will perish." She paused, looking down at her tea. "I am sorry. Would you mind telling me the story of your Chiune Sugihara? His name reminds me of my homeland; perhaps his story will as well."

"Ah. He was a diplomat for the nation of Japan. At the time, it was an ally of a country called Germany, which had, for a lot of complicated reasons, decided that it hated this group called the Jews." She nodded along as I set the stage, seeming curious and interested, despite the more political bent of this story, in contrast to the local hero stories, which were all great men killing monsters and the like. Her tail began to wag gently behind her, as I kept explaining, and she leaned forward, slowly revealing more of her pale cleavage. I did my best to keep my eyes on hers, though.

* * *

By the time I finished with the story, Haruhime had wound up leaning forward so far that I could practically feel her breath. "Thank you," she said, pulling back for a moment, then took in a deep breath. "You truly are a kind man. If- you would enjoy my body," she said, reaching for the edge of her top and starting to pull at it, revealing more and more of her breast in a slow, teasing movement. "Then I think... I would enjoy yours, too..." There was a certain something to her features, a sharpness in how she blinked, that suggested she was trying to hold back tears at the moment.

I really didn't know what to do. I had plenty of sexual experience, obviously, but Cass, Noriko, Erza, Julia - none of them had ever been on the verge of tears when they'd been asking me to fuck them. I wasn't sure if I should respect her explicit consent, or stop her. I didn't really know what her emotional state at this point was - would sex with me help it? Hurt it? I probably would have stopped her, but her other hand reached for my shirt, starting to peel it up from the bottom when I didn't resist. As my bare stomach came into view, though- "Hrk." Her hand withdrew from my stomach instantly, quickly covering her mouth as she pulled back, looking queasy.

She actually started crying at that point, and I definitely had no idea what to do. "It's alright," I tried, the cliche response. I really had no idea what else to say.

"I- I apologize," she said, averting her gaze. "I... have difficulty dealing with... men's naked bodies..." she explained.

In idiotic anime logic land, that androphobia would presumably have been the thing that kept her from losing her virginity so she could remain pure for retarded otaku who flipped out about that stuff. I had difficulty accepting such a ridiculous sequence of events could actually be happening, so I reached the other obvious conclusion: it was because, being a slave prostitute, she was a rape victim. "It's alright," I said again. "I honestly, probably would have stopped you anyway. You didn't seem entirely... certain about it."

She swallowed, still looking away from me, her skin a little pale in the face. She quietly tugged her clothing together. "Yes. I- heard, from the Prettiest Princess, that you were a very talented lover, and you have been kind to me. I hoped that... it would help. It appears it did not. I apologize for using you for this experiment, without explaining myself."

"It really is alright. If you want to try to overcome it, I have a couple ideas that might work, but that's entirely up to you. If you don't, we can just talk, and I'll work to save you, and that can be all."

She wore this melancholic smile. "Thank you, goshujinsama. You are too kind to this prostitute." She patted her chest. "My stomach appears to have settled," she said, pulling her clothing back together properly, looking embarrassed rather than sick. "I appreciate your company very much, whatever may come."

* * *

"What would be the problem with me using a Resplendent Destiny, getting close to Ishtar, and then killing her, Bitch?"

"It would be murder," Noriko offered. I'd waited until we were a ways into the Dungeon before asking the question that had been eating away at me ever since I'd first met Haruhime. "Cassandra dislikes killing people."

"Gods don't actually die," I told Noriko, gently patting her head. "They just go back to heaven." Noriko blinked owlishly at that, but Cass nodded subtly.

"Ah, goshujinsama, I thought the same thing, but she's almost always near Tammuz, who is a Level Four. Besides, just dying is too good for her, don't you think?"

I ignored the latter comment. "Couldn't I surprise attack her?"

"The difference in speed between a Level One and a Level Four is incredible, goshujinsama. He would see what you're doing and stop you."

I clenched and unclenched my fist, then sighed softly. "You're probably right. I just... want to do whatever I can to help her."

"You are, goshujinsama, don't worry," Julia said, smiling brightly. "And if you successfully seduce Haruhime, then you can summon my soulmate, can't you?"

"Yes, but I still won't fuck you until your punishment is through," I told Julia, making her pout.

"We'll... become strong..." Cass said, quietly. "Erza... is very strong... already. Don't worry."

I sighed. "You're right." We returned to Dungeon delving, though in the back of my head I was thinking through how to solve Haruhime's androphobia problems, at least so far as I was concerned.