I was dragged to the guard barracks; I say dragged but in reality, I happily followed them like a loyal puppy. I adapted to the fact I was being arrested to a terrifying degree; I feel like I should be more worried but the twins’ assurances kept me happy. One good thing was people kept a distance, since I no longer had a veil, I was gawked at with lecherous eyes much more but two amazon bodyguards made for very effective deterrents. It helped me take in the town I lived in now that I was not jumping at shadows.

The word I would use is quaint, the design was medievally fused with modern-day architecture, and it worked in a Frankenstein kind of way. There were stalls littered across the marble road, the weird thing about them was that every one of them was manned by women who looked good enough to be on a fashion magazine but when so many were this attractive the novelty would wear off quickly. I was not there yet to be sure but my standards would become warped soon enough.

There was silence between me and the twins but I needed them on my side as soon as humanely possible. So, I did the thing most gamers would do in my place, I stacked the deck in favor. I used both “happy conversation” and “love talk” which now acted like buffs instead of being active skills that directly changed your partner’s mood and devotion. I found this out at my house along with the fact that instead of them being usable once between delves they now had a cooldown time I was instinctively aware of. Again, it affirmed to me that not everything was like the game and my knowledge of the game may be a double-edged sword so I kept my reliance on that a bit lower than I probably should.

I braced myself as my mouth had a mind of its own so when I opened it, I would not immediately want to kill myself.

“Umm. What are your names?” I could feel my voice and presence resonate with my power which I innately knew only the wielder could feel. My voice was louder than I expected because along with the twins multiple pedestrians looked at me with glazed wanton expressions, they looked like they were caught between a rock and a hard place, as they looked like they wanted to come close to me but the two massive titans made them extremely wary. It seemed that fear won out as they tore their eyes from me and went on their merry way.

This was the first time I was using skills but the lack of any fanfare made the novelty of using made it rather mundane. The resonance of power did not feel like some alien force of untold power. No, it felt like moving another limb. Honestly expected more of a visceral reaction than I saw heroes feel when they use a magic power for the first time. But I could lament on it later now I needed to woo two women.

“Huh? Oh! Ahem! My name is Audrey!” answered the first with excitement whose name I now knew to be Audrey. The surprising thing was their names are never mentioned in the game. Dialogue with them was always with the two of them together and their name was just the twins. I was mildly surprised they even had names.

“And mine is Brianna!” answered Brianna.

“Do you like working for the guards?” I asked both to carry on the conversation and genuine curiosity. Their backstories could be considered shoddy at best in the game and I always wondered why they sacrificed themselves for the mayor. The mayor was an evil incestual rapist but these two did not give off that evil vibe that most cronies of the mayor did, even inside the game, though they were considered the least fleshed out non-generic characters in the whole game.

“Not really. It is just a form of stable pay,” said Audrey inching closer to me.

“Yeah. The pay itself is pretty good.” chimed Brianna following her sister’s league.

“Why? I thought being a delver is the best job ever and You two look very strong.” not my best attempt at a sneaky compliment but the way they were already swooning over me I think it already did its job.

A slightly pained expression crossed both their faces as they both said in unison.

“We couldn’t find a team...” melancholy wrapped those words like a depressing blanket. Though I could feel my skills combating that dark haze.

“Why? I thought delvers would love to have frontline fighters like you two to join their harem.” I asked, a delve need to need at least one group of four if it followed the game but it was hard to imagine nobody wanting these two to join them.

A sad smile broke their lips and they hesitated to answer. Every question I asked seemed to only sadden them further and my powers fought hard to keep their spirits up. A mix of my powers and my charisma must have won that battle as Brianna answered.

“The world hates us.” there was hate in those words just sorrowful acceptance.

“Yeah... People don’t like us,” replied Audrey lost in her depressing thoughts.

“But I like you?” I answered questioningly. I was not saying this to placate them either my traits made sure I liked most people regardless if they were evil. These two did not feel evil at all.

“Really...? We just met, what possibly could you have found out about us that would make us like you.” Brianna asked accusation lacing her voice. Wow, these women had very low self-esteem, moments ago they were dying to get to me like them, now when I said I liked them they thought I couldn’t possibly like them. One thing kept me going, however, there was a very small tinge of hope in her voice.

“Umm. Ok. You are very strong and nice people. Even when you think I am a criminal you are not treating me harshly. When new women meet me, they always try to paw at me like I am some sort of toy. I wore that disguise because of how I get gawked at. People always tried to take advantage to have sex with me. You are guards by law since I am considered a criminal you have the authority to use me as you see fit but till now all you have done is protect me from strangers like real big sisters.” I tried to speak my heart out, there was slight duplicity there I knew but at the same time it was not intentional as my traits made me speak truthfully in favor of women for better or worse.

As I finished two warm pairs of arms wrapped me in a gentle embrace. Did this count as pawing at me? At that moment I found it hard to care.