"As you can see we have a simple wooden wall, but it has stable battlements and arrow holes, and more importantly, expands with the territory limits. A new and strange system feature if you ask me, but useful to say the least." Her host, he'd introduced himself as Aki on the walk towards their town, explained.

Melala was honestly still processing everything. She had been prepared to lose and fight for her people in different ways, though she had had a bit of a scare when their warchief showed interest in her half brother instead, but the current situation was just too good to be true.

His resilience and power were ridiculous, and their seer had informed her he was actually a mage through some silent communication. She had thought him overconfident despite his controlled gait and constant attentiveness to his surroundings, that had been her doom.

Despite using all the active effects of the rings and amulet she'd gotten from the tutorial he had still outlasted her in a straight fight.

And now he wished to refuse her services. It was humiliating in a way, but mostly she worried that his words would not become reality. Without a concrete guarantee, how could she expect her clan to simply live like normal? What if he decided to take those rights back? What if their rivals bought them from him with more benefits than they could provide?

"Straight away we have some guard posts, an inn that hasn't actually seen much use and some fields that are supposed to be tilled, though it isn't like everyone wants to be a farmer now that the system is here."

"Not all can be warriors. As the population grows, some force will be needed to dedicate itself to the project, and these fields will not be enough." She pointed out.

"True, and I hope that my appointed chief doesn't take long to deal with it, but my people are used to an easy life, they may be too prideful to put themselves into it without any perceived threat. With some luck the people coming will not have that problem, but It is better to be prepared for the worst case scenario." He spoke strangely, but clearly had more wisdom than his youth would suggest.

She was quick to point out that one of her companions was formerly a task master for a plantation, however his answer was much shorter and evasive this time. Was an administrative position impossible then? Or did he already have someone in mind?

Going forward, they ended up reaching what she could see was the actual urban part of the city, a circumference around the walls basically empty for obvious reasons when one considered the monsters the system released all around. Just passing the gates had given her a notification about no monster spawning inside of it’s perimeter, so it was obviously better to live inside a properly established village than to risk it.

“And here we have some simple housing, part of it being made by myself before the village gained the ability to construct for itself, but I didn't have much time, so only three and a half homes were completed before that happened. By the way, although most buildings are for housing, many of the side streets have spaces for small business planned already, plus some public bathrooms all around so there is no public defecation or the like. Did your civilization already have plumbing and sewage systems or…”

“We did.” She quickly confirmed, though she felt he was not talking about the giant tasks made on settlements much bigger than this one.

“Ok. So this is the main street, you can basically find one of every store here. From clothing to alchemy, from weapons to toys, though that last one was mostly installed because it was a bonus, and we do have children here, so…” He shrugged, and she did understand the feeling. It seemed a bit ridiculous. “Right now i’m taking you to a restaurant, so please do tell me if there’s anything you can’t eat.”

“What do you mean?” Why would she not be able to eat food?

“Can you drink milk?” She nodded, still confused. “Sea critters, meat, mild stimulants…”

“Stimulants?” She blushed, both hoping she’d understood him correctly and not.

“It’s a weak poison, to make your body awake but not harmful unless you drink ridiculous amounts of it.”

“I have heard of drugs that do that, but for a normal meal that’d be a bit…”

“Don’t worry, humans also think our own habits are strange. Anything you want to eat specifically?” He asked, stopping at the door of a small building with far too much glass in it.

“Anything is fine.” She said, honestly intending to choose the same dish the warchief ordered. After being handed the menu, she didn’t even pretend to understand what the ingredients were. Their meals were delivered almost immediately after the request, the payment apparently coming from her host’s account through the system or something. The food was rather strange, and she couldn’t really tell what it was, but then again, this was culinary of a different world, so she should try it at least once.

She immediately regretted that decision after putting one of the cut pieces in her mouth however. The meat was filled with oils, had too strong a flavor, too much salt? and was far too tough. Still, she didn’t spit it out and instead started pecking on the far more normal dressing, which was rather good if too little.

“You should stop relying too much on the system for direct translation. Try to read more into the other person’s cultural background and mannerism.” Aki suddenly pointed out, taking the beef from her plate. “If you can’t even enjoy a piece of loin than you sure as fuck are not talking about the same meat i was. You just don’t have the proper teeth for it either”

“Loin? As in from a dead person or animal?” She asked, pretty sure her face blanched as what she just ate threatened to come back.

“Humans loathe to eat anything slightly sapient or that looks like us, though I imagine at least the first one will change soon enough, but yes, animal meat.” He nodded. While putting more meat in his mouth as calmly chewing.

She vomited there and then. A ball of water appeared out of nowhere, encapsulated it and froze before anything hit the ground.

“Sorry about this. I had to make sure you understood that we are rather different despite outward similarities. Do you still wish to accompany me?” He questioned and she reflexibly nodded before proceeding to down several cups of water. His serious demeanor didn’t betray any joy or pity for her disheveling, but she would not give up from just this. “I will be taking these for later then.” He said, storing his food, plate and all, inside of a cleverly hidden compartment of his brittle and cracked armor. Then he ordered a potato salad for himself and a mixed one for her. Whatever those were, they were very much better than eating corpse meat.

They spent a bit of time talking about the food, which was quite a lot better, and she even ate hers with some soy sauce. She could stomach peppers apparently, but didn’t particularly like them.

“So, now that we’re done eating, please, do tell me who is Melala of clan Var?” He asked with a calm smile.

“That would be me?” She said with some confusion.

“And what will you do now that you have joined this community?” His smile changed a bit, but she was unsure as to what it ment.

“Work towards securing a stable position for my kinsmen. I don’t plan to stop just because we have a modicum of safety, we still have to maintain that.” Her seriousness seemed to have gotten across, so she continued. “If possible I will help with combating beasts, but I am a leader first and foremost, duelist second. It would be my honor to help plan or assist in the development of the village and it’s ventures.”

“I see.” He nodded. “I will not bother you anymore then. Come, let me show you the rest. It’s not much, but the hunter’s guild, communication center, nexus and mines are all important assets you will want to be conscious of. Perhaps you would like to get your class first?” As he offered, she couldn’t help but ask something she’d noticed for a while now.

“I am certainly interested, but I beg to question why you don’t have a class yet?” Her question was the most polite she could make it, but still, she started regretting it after saying it. Aki acted so familiar and casual that she mostly let her guard down.

“Because when you get a class you can only get class skills unless you complete some extra long path and receive a special reward of sorts. It’s one of the first things explained to you before selecting it, so it’s no big secret.” He shrugged, smirking at her tension. “Guild or class?”

“I think i won’t be getting my class yet.”

……

[Congratulations! You have completed the Controlling path (250/250)! +10 to Control. +1 to control per level. All mana costs are reduced by a tenth. A tenth of the willpower score now also contributes to spell power]

They had talked about several topics, mostly involving the village, the integration of their populations and any future farvits, her view of Robert, so on, so forth.

Maybe that was why she still insisted on sleeping with him. He hadn't been direct enough for her to realise he was not interested in her as a person. Perhaps this was for the best though. The duel had clearly not been enough.

"Melala, I know you will use the duel as an excuse for this, so let me give you a chance." As they were right outside his room, Aki stopped and turned to the woman silently following him. "You wish to bed me, correct?" She reluctantly nodded, seemingly embarrassed. "Then I will give you a test. I will bath you, cloth you in a special apparel and treat you like a screaming toy for hours. I will not give you pause however, nor will I stop even if you pass out. It will hurt, it will be degrading and it will make you question many things by the end of it. If you can satisfy me then I will take you as mine. Otherwise, no deal." Pausing for effect, he saw realisation settle on her face. "Do you still wish to come in?" She nodded.

Aki was not ashamed of losing his virginity like this. While he would like to claim it all an act to fool the extremely single minded hare, that would be a big, fat lie.

He enjoyed every moment of it. Had her HP not started dropping rapidly, he would have liked to continue expressing his love for ass, but while he had wanted to act tough, that didn't mean he enjoyed taking pain past the threshold of pleasure, nor did he wish her harm.

After healing, cleaning and properly clothing her, he left a paper note explaining it'd been a marvelous night, but she had not made the cut.

He wished he was better with such political nuances, but as it stood, he could only rid himself of her with pure force and several potions.

As it stood, he was sitting on several hundred skill points for fucking a hare into submission with a dick that was most certainly not pornography material.

The whole affair had lasted for six or so hours, thrice the time spent into their little walk over the village. By that point he had been using blood magic to keep himself healthy and ready.

To his own surprise however, no one came to complain, which made him later find out that his room was sound proof. A nice surprise really.

A nicer surprise was the fact that Robert had rented him a room at the inn, and after a quick nap, he was awoken to tell the man about their bunny problem.

She'd be a nice ally, but there was no way he would actually be interested in someone so selfless they would barely introduce their own personality through hours of prodding.