When Guardian got back to his home he fulfilled his part of the deal and handed the fish to the lizards. His next task was getting all of the boxes he had received from the merchant to the market. This time he had opted not to use lizardmen. He did not want anyone associating him with them, not yet. He intended to use the lizards for more shady business. Instead, he hired himself a pair of muscular beastmen. They were not that expensive and were able to do heavy lifting quite easily.

He opened his stall in the market and peddled his goods. He was careful to follow all the pricing the islanders had provided him with. The business went great and his wares vanished quickly. After all, the competition was a lot less fierce since most of the Islanders were not present. The heavy taxes stopped them from trading. But the demand was still there, there were a lot of goods which only these foreign merchants were trading.

Guardian counted his profits in his head whilst heading home, it was late afternoon already. He sat down in the dining room, he felt quite hungry. He had a few fishes leftover from this morning, the ones he did not give it all to the youngsters. He did not want to eat it raw so as agreed he got Tiramisu to prepare it for him.

It took a while but finally the food arrived.

“Here it is. I have prepared it with love.”

What he received was a plate of filleted fish with some fruits and vegetables beside it, the fish seemed to be raw. He had expected her to fry or boil it, but this looked appetising too.

Guardian put a large piece of fillet. He chewed it throughout and swallowed, the taste was pleasing. The fish was marinated in a sour apple vinegar and spaced with a good amount of various spices. The taste was very colourful. His mouth salivated and he quickly gobbled up the rest of it.

“Was it good?” Tiramisu asked expectantly.

“Very. My only complaint is that there was not enough.”

“You sure do eat a lot.” She made a mental note to double his portion size next time.

Tiramisu sat closer to him putting her slender hand on his thigh. Her hand slid slowly towards his loincloth.

“Shall we do it again?” She hissed seductively.

“Mmm?” Guardian was unsure what she was talking about.

Just before Tiramisu could continue her advance a particular boy barged into the dining hall.

“Master, you have a guest.”

“Ah, about time.” He was expecting for the Islanders to come to collect their money.

Guardian went outside to greet his trade partner.

“So did you sell the merchandise?” The beastman asked. He seemed slightly on an edge.

“Yes, of course here is the money.” Guardian handed in the coin pouch brimming with money. “I have already taken my share out.”

The horned man counted the coins.

“Hmm, it seems the right amount. You followed our agreement. There we no problems?” He sounded slightly surprised.

“None at all. Shall we do it again?”

“Yes, of course.”

The man stretched his hand and Guardian shook it. He has gained the Islander’s trust and they made an ongoing deal. Guardian escorted the man out of the slums. He did not do this just because he thought that it might be unsafe for him to walk with all this money alone. Guardian was sweet talking the man so that he shares his connections with Guardian. Guardian wanted him to introduce with his other merchant friends. The more people he made this deal with the bigger the profit he would make.

The talk went well and the Islander promised to mention Guardian to his merchant friends. However, this was not enough, Guardian knew that the time is not on his side and he has to act quickly. He will need to advertise his services. This will have to be done in a secret manner so that the nobles and the guards do not find out. He had already a person in mind.

Iustitia seemed perfect for this job, her kind already dwelled everywhere in the harbour. No one would suspect those girls if they approached the Islanders. They would not offer their body but Guardians services instead. This was also perfect because he would not need to deal with the foreigners face to face. It was better if he was not seen hanging out with them. So he went to the infamous building known as a Slut House expecting to find Iustitia there.

He let himself in and was greeted by one of the girls.

“Hello, handsome. You haven’t shown yourself for a while.” A big breasted tigerwoman greeted him.

“Is Iustitia available?”

“Why would you ask for her? Have me instead! Free of charge.”

The woman puffed out her chest to emphasize her already big tits. Her hand reached to cares Guardians abdominal muscles. He sidestepped her, nimbly avoiding her hand.

“Iustitia!” He shouted out hoping to get a reply.

“Guardian, is that you I am hearing?” Another troublesome woman presented herself, it was Shazzara.

“Where is she?”

“She usually works in the streets, you should know that.” The lizarwoman said brushing off thick white liquid away from her lips and chin.

“Hey, go back to your customer! He is mine this time.”

“No need, I am done with my customer.”

Shazzara did not mention that she forgot to charge the man for her services, however, she did not care about that. The man she desired for was standing here about to be stolen by that bimbo Brita.

“Could you take me to her?” He had asked the girls.

“What is up with you and her? It is always her! This is not fair… What does she have what I don’t?” Brita was making a scene.

Guardian just ignored the noisy tigerwoman and looked at Shazzara expectantly.

“Sss-ure, why not.” She agreed to help him.

Shazzara led Guardian towards the place where Iustitia worked today. Brita tagged beside them unwilling to leave the two alone.

“Let me gues-sss. You are not looking for her usual services-sss?” Shazara hissed out. She was getting nervous around him again.

“He is not?” Brita said in surprise.

“No… I guess I can tell why I need her.”

Guardian explained what he planned to do. After all, he could use these girls too. The more people on his side the better.

Guardian could see Iustitia from a distance, she was standing close to a wall, patiently waiting for a customer. Just before he could greet her she spoke first.

“Brita, Shazza… and Guardian, how unusual. How can I help you this time? What info do you need now?”

He was startled by her ability to pinpoint that it was him standing close to her. He had not spoken yet; she must have picked up his scent.

“Hello, Iustitia. No, I want something else. I want you to offer my services to those foreign horned merchants…”

“They have horns!?” She interrupted him.

“Yes, but that is not the point.” Guardian finished explaining that he wants her to advertise his business services.

“I see. I can do that, sounds easy.”

“Also I want you to ask other girls to help me with this, Brita and Shazzara are already on board. You will be supervising them. I will give you a cut of my profit to pay for your time.”

“Understood.” Iustitia nodded in agreement.

“About that… You do not have to pay me in coin.” Shazzara offered.

“Explain.” He wanted to know what she was offering. Saving some money was always good.

“How embarrass-sss-sing… I want you to fuck me.” She said it quietly, it was almost a whisper.

“Me too! Me too!” Brita started to shout. She regretted not being the one who came up with this, but it was not tot late to join in.

Guardian looked at Iustitia, through her face veil he could see her beginning to blush. ‘Did she want such things too? What was going on?’.

“Hmm…” He cupped his chin in deep in thought. This sounded tempting but also it seemed like a lot of hard work. Probably, paying up in money would be more time efficient. “But why not the money?” He asked the women.

All three women had similar reasons. For Iustitia, it was that she fancied him as a person, he had saved her from being raped and was quite nice to her. For Shazzara, it was that after that time she could not find a beastman endowed enough to satisfy her, not to mention a fact that her pussy still did not see much action and she was perpetually horny. Actually, she had herself penetrated only once after the time with Guardian, and she practically begged her customer for that. There is no need to say that both she and her customer were left disappointed. For Brita, it was that she was just a jealous of other girls, and way too slutty.

“M-My pussy missed you…” Shazzara made a flimsy attempt at explaining why is it she refused to take coins.

“I just want you to feel a real woman. These two have lacking bodies and you need to feel this. I promise it will be good.” Brita turned her round butt towards him and slapped it playfully.

Guardian was getting a headache, he found women so troublesome. Iustitia drew his attention, this was not because she had something to say, it was the opposite. Her head was turned to a side, she was oddly silent and seemed to be concentrating on something, her ears were constantly turning and twitching working hard to pick up noise.

“What! There sss-shall be no sss-such things! Get away from him.” Tiramisu was hissing at all three women. Her whole body stood in an attack position, she was ready to claw at these sluts.

Guardian got spooked by her sudden hissing. ‘Just when did she come here? Was she stalking me?’. He was surprised that he was unable to notice her presence until now. Liazardpeople and especially females had some frightening stalking skills. He made a mental note to be more careful in the future.

“Who are you sss-supposed to be?” Shazzara hissed back. Her tail slammed the pavement.

“His mating partner! Wanna fight?!” Tiramisu barred her sharp fangs and claws at her opponent. She worked hard to get Guardian and she had no intention of giving him to other women.

“I would rather you not!” Guardian interrupted the bickering women. He needed them alive and well.

“Is it true? Is this flat lizard your mate! So that is your preference after all…” Brita was shocked at this.

Iustitia got a grasp of the situation and decided to act quickly.

“Sorry… Let’s start over. I am Iustitia, Guardian's friend.” The only one who remained level-headed so far raised her hand towards Tiramisu.

Tiramisu looked at the beastwoman. She ruled Iustitia as a no threat. After all, she was a furry beastwoman and her skinny tail stood no chance against her shiny and superior lizard one.

“Tiramisu.” She reached her hand to complete a handshake.

“Good good. Now you two, you need to make up. You are making Guardian troubled, can’t you see?”

“Are these women your friends or something?” Tiramisu asked the Guardian.

“Well… more like accomplices.”

“Then, I guess I have overreacted. But they were saying such absurd things. Especially this one! What is your name?” Tiramisu hissed at Shazzara.

“They were only teasing Guardian. That was all.” Iustitia offered an explanation.

Shazzara approached her Tiramisu carefully.

“SSS-Shazzara.” She offered her hand for a handshake too.

The two lizardwomen shook their hands forcefully. Both of them let a high pitched growling sound, their tails were restless; they were still agitated.

“And this one?” Tiramisu offered her hand to the tigerwoman. She tough that she was even more unappealing than Iustitia, she was way too fat not to mention those ugly lumps on her chest.

“Eh… Brita. But Sorry… I am not shaking it. I do not know where it had been.” Her pride disallowed her to shake hands with someone of lizardkind.

“The nerve!”

To begin a greeting with shaking hands was too casual and businesslike. Shazzara only did that because Iustitia started it and Guardian seemed to approve.

“Now, now. There is no need to fight. As you see she is my…” Guardian paused to think. He did not think of Tiramisu more than a convenient person to have around but he had to be careful with his words.

“His mating partner. So you better remember to keep your hands off.” Tiramisu finished the sentence for him.

“I still don’t want to believe it.” Brita complained. She failed to understand why Guardian would commit himself to one partner and especially a lizardwoman.

Iustitia bent her body forwards slightly and sniffed the air towards Tiramisu.

“Unfortunately this seems true. Is it not Guardian?”

“Ehh?.. Well…” He thought some more and then it clicked to him. “Yes, she is. That is why you will have to take money, Okay?” He used Tiramisus proclamation to his advantage.

“Yes.” “Agreed.” “I have no problem.” The girls agreed.

Of course, they would not stop their attempts to steal Guardian away, they just pretended that they will.

“Okay then. You can start by contacting the foreigners now. Iustitia, I leave you responsible to sort out finer details, if there are questions use Ithayiga as my messenger. I will send the boy regularly to your place.”

Guardian left the women and proceeded towards his base. Tiramisu clung to his arm forcefully, unwilling to let go.

“Guardian?”

“Yes.”

“I really do not like that liazardwoman, Shazzara. I dislike how she looks at you. She was tainting the whole area with her dirty smell of heat.”

“Was she?” Guardian failed to pick on that. Maybe lizard noses were more sensitive to particular smells.

“Terribly so. She was lusting for you. Also, she said something disturbing…”

Her words allowed him to finally confirm that Tiramisu had stalked him and even listened to their conversation too.

“Like what?”

Shazzara’s words ‘My pussy missed you’ reverberated in her head again and again.

“Did you fuck her before? Answer me truthfully, I will not get angry.”

Even if she did get angry Guardian would not care, he would find a way to deal with that.

“I did.” He had no reason to lie. She would find it out one way or another, she was a cunning woman.

“Did you come inside?”

“I did.” He could not understand where this was going or why she cared about it.

Tiramisu’s tail dropped all of the sudden, she clung to him even more tightly. Guardian noticed her reaction and looked at her face. She seemed deeply saddened by his past actions, she looked like she was about to cry.

“That must be not too long ago, no? Her belly is still flat.”

“Well, yes.”

“I see, I see.” Tiramisus expression twisted to a scarier one.

The rest of the way back home they remained quiet. His ‘mate’ seemed to be deep in thought. The reason behind it was that Tiramisu feared that Shazzara will be the first one to give him children. Tiramisu would lose her position and she could not allow that to happen. She had to do something about that, she had to be the only one who bears Guardians children. Of course, she was still ignorant about the fact that two different races could not have children.

The evening came and Guardian has sent his lizard helpers to collect the crates from the Islanders. He trusted them to be able to carry this task alone. He would not be able to supervise them all the time after all. He had his research to do, it was new magic skills he wanted now the most. As before he promised food as their payment.

The time went by and one of the lizard kids barged in his study, even though he had warned the lizardpeople that they are not allowed to come there. However, the kid had a good reason.

“Your stuff! They stole it!”

“What?! Who!?”

“The men, they attacked us from the shadows and took it all. We stood no chance.”

Guardian looked at the young lizard, the kid looked rough. There were bruised and cuts on his body, he clearly had been in a fight. Guardian regretted his carelessness, it was unwise to leave younglings with no guard. The little ones were sneaky and he trusted their skill, but if someone already knew their route they would not be able to avoid the ambush. He wondered if somebody noticed them last time or if he just got unlucky.

“Show me where and quickly.”

The pair rushed towards the place there liazardmen got ambushed. Guardian hoped that it was not too late to recover the goods, otherwise this will screw him up big time.