The inside of the maid tavern was just as I hoped, a warm ambient room with wooden tables filled with patrons and the smell of cooking. We followed the icy dragon girl towards the back and stopped at an empty table, the chairs were scattered on the ground and there was a stain on the floor showing there had been a struggle. Our host picked the chairs back up and motioned for us to sit.

“I’ll return with a menu in a moment, please make yourselves comfortable,” the dragon maid said.

She curtsied and swiftly marched off towards the back wall, dipping into a swinging door. The sounds of sizzling meat, frying and sweet scents wafted out of the room causing my stomach to growl.

“Josh we literally just ate,” Rolada said, kicking me under the table. “You're going to eat us out of house and home.”

“Sorry, I’m not used to hiking around this much,” I said in my defence. “We might need to buy more than we talked about if I keep going at this rate.”

“We have enough money for food, but building the stuff you guys wanted might sadly need to take a back seat,” Lin said. “We can scrape enough together to get that bathing room going, no way I’m getting through the winter with cold river baths.”

I tapped my fingers on the table and took a look around the room, letting my mind wander. The other patrons were all humans, orcs or goblins with Lin and Rolada being the only beast-kin patrons around. The maids were a different story, bunny girls and cat girls smiled and served sweets and drinks to their customers. The range of sweets was quite impressive, cakes, muffins and apple pie made their way into the room.

Hushed conversation came out of the door behind us and we all strained an ear to eavesdrop. It was harder for me to hear than the girls but I still managed to pick up the gist of it.

Perception : Success!

+1 XP gained.

“Huolong, for the last time they were getting handsy with me. So like Mistress Nila told me, I threw them out. I have customers waiting so if you could please move,” our icy dragon maid said.

“Crescent Sapphire, you have some nerve. This is the third time this week, at this rate she might throw us out. We can’t afford to lose our jobs,” the other woman, Huolong said.

“I’ll act extra nice and maybe I’ll get a big tip, the human looks nice, maybe he's a big tipper,” our dragon maid hissed.

The door opened and we all acted like we were in the middle of a conversation to ourselves. While the maid placed the menus out I took a good look at her. Trying my best not to get caught staring.

The two dragon horns on her head were a deep purple that matched her eyes. The short sleeve maid dress showed off her shoulders, where purple crystals were attached to her skin like they grew out of them. Her long white dragon tail had raised blue bumps running down its length ending in a large crystal cluster at the end. She had blue scales on her cheeks that ran up to her pointed ears to show off her dragon nature. The last thing I noticed was an aura of cold surrounding her, as she stretched an arm past me to drop off a menu I felt the temperature drop a degree or two.

“You can call me Sapphire if you like Master,” Sapphire said, winking at me and giving me a friendly smile. She pushed a lock of snowy blue hair out of the way of her face and asked. “Do you see something you like?”

“Sorry, I just never met a dragon before. It’s nice to meet you Sapphire, I’m Josh and these are my friends, Lin and Rolada,” I said, offering my hand to the maid.

Sapphire took my hand in hers and I felt her soft fingers rub the back of my hand. A shiver of excitement shot down my spine and I melted at seeing her vibrant eyes smile at me.

“What can I get you and your friends tonight Master Josh?” Sapphire asked.

The girls ooh’d behind me and snickered to themselves. I tugged at my collar, feeling hot and asked. “A room for us, something to eat and maybe a few drinks before we go?”

“One big bed is fine for us, and does your tavern have any baths?” Lin asked.

“I can get you a suite with a stocked shower and bath if you wish, Mistress Lin,” Sapphire replied.

“Sign us up then,” Lin said, she gave me a playful punch on the shoulder and grinned. “Josh can pay, well, whenever he lets go of your hands.”

I saw I was still holding the dragon girl's hands and I let go. I rubbed the back of my head and stammered out an apology while the girls ordered some drinks. Rolada ordered a slice of cake to go with her wine and I ordered a batch of small cupcakes for us all to enjoy. After we finished ordering, Sapphire tallied up our total and she handed me the bill. Two silver and fifty copper didn’t seem terrible, and I was willing to fork up the money if it meant I got to sleep in a really padded bed.

“I love your outfit, you look super cute,” Rolada said, squeezing her hands together and letting out a squeal of glee. “I would love to get one like it.”

Sapphire smiled at her and thanked her before dipping out back again. As the dragon girl left another one came out holding onto a silver platter. As she talked to the table near us, I could tell by her voice that this was the other woman she had spoken to.

Huolong was also in a maid outfit, but while Sapphire’s was a black low cut dress and showed off her shoulders Huolong’s outfit was more formal. Her dark red dress was covered with a white apron and meshed well with her features. She had two white dragon horns on her head poking out from her double bun hair style, her hair was a fiery red and matched her long serpentine tail snaking behind her ending in a tuft of red fur. Her arms and thighs were covered in red scales showing off her dragon features.

She caught me checking her out and flashed me a toothy smile as her orange slitted eyes looked me over in return. She tucked a strand around her pointed ear and hummed as she returned out back with her empty silver platter.

“Rolada, I think we found out what kind of girls catch Josh’s eye,” Lin said.

“Cute maid girls? Or dangerous dragon women?” Rolada asked. “Does he know they are both level eight and way out of his league?”

I spun around and gawked at her. The fox girl wiggled her ears at me and I felt her tail playfully swat at my legs. I cleared my throat and asked. “You said they are level eight? Why are they working here instead of adventuring? Also how can I figure out people’s level without asking?”

“Not everyone likes to dig around ruins like us, if anything you could probably hire them to come home with us I bet,” Lin smirked. “Get called Master Josh every day as two hotties attend you.”

“It’s a skill you can learn called identify. It’s just one of those things that come up, but it’s not always spot on,” Rolada said with a shrug. “It’s usually within a level or two, but most people just swap info if you ask.”

“We might not have enough money to feed ourselves this winter, let alone two more. We would have to take on that job with Rodney if we wanted to afford that,” I said, crossing my arms. “I just think dragons are really cool and wanted to take a look at them.”

As Sapphire returned with her own silver platter I did my best to avoid gawking at her and thanked her for the glass of wine. I paid the bill and slipped her an extra silver coin as a tip. She curtsied again, lifting her skirt and showing off her thighs above her long socks and the dragon scales adorning the sides of her legs.

I saw a magnifying glass icon appear over Sapphire’s shoulder and I mentally tapped it. A loading bar appeared and filled up, after which I got a pop up.

Crescent Sapphire, Level 8, Frost Swordmaiden

Warning!

You have been detected examining this creature.

The girls pointed out my reddening face as the dragon maid raised an eyebrow, and left us to relax with our drinks. Sapphire had a happy skip in her step as she tucked the tip away into a small pocket and the three of us heard her talk to the other dragon girl out back.

Our eavesdropping was interrupted by a familiar goblin girl dragging a chair over to sit with us. Tiff, the one that had been managing the door earlier today, wore her own maid outfit and in her hand was a tankard of ale. She looked slightly drunk with flushed pink cheeks.

“Doing a job for Rodney eh? Tomorrow is my day off and I wouldn’t mind making some cash with my pals,” Tiff said, leaning to the side and sloshing ale onto the floor.

“You know Rodney?” Rolada asked. “He seemed kind of crazy.”

“As sure as Heinekia has fat tits, but if you don’t feel like working for the corporate shills in Tired Lad, he’s one of the bigger solo players on the street. So what do you say, I got two other guys I know needing a lucky break, we can split the rewards equally,” Tiff said.

“We were thinking of doing his job since we needed his wares, and we are a bit strapped for cash,” Lin said defensively. “Why are you drunk on the job?”

“Nila is a good gal pal of mine, but in regards to payment we can take a flat rate. Come on Joshie, I heard you like helping cute girls out of a pinch,” Tiff said, raising her drink.

More hands to do the job could be better, and I was really hoping to get everything we needed for the shrine. I looked at my friends and saw them both nod, a mad mage sounded bad but if it was six on one then he would probably cave and cough up the cash. I leaned over and we all clicked our glasses together.

“Alright Tiff, in the morning let's meet up here and walk over to Rodney. If we are lucky we might be able to squeeze a bit more payment out of him.” I said. I reached out and took a cupcake, popping it into my mouth. “These are fantastic.”

The rest of the tiny cakes vanished and Rolada scarfed down her cake in record time. Tiff headed back to work, promising to be there in the morning. I still had a few worries, but maybe we could press more info out of Rodney tomorrow, we might have overreacted.

Sapphire came back, giving us a key and offered to take us to our room. I finished off my wine while Lin downed the rest of her rum and let out a belch. We fell in line with the dragon maid and headed upstairs. The wooden walls were varnished and covered in little carvings to give it a sense of grandeur. The effect was impressive and I felt like I was in a four star hotel as we walked down the padded carpets to our room.

Lin stuck the brass key into the door and opened it up to reveal a fine room. A queen size bed covered in thick plush blankets and pillows took up the far side of the room. A chair and desk with candles on top of it for late night reading were placed beside the bed. A door at the back was opened showing off a rather modern looking bathroom that interested me.

“Thank you Sapphire. Sorry again about the staring,” I said, offering her another silver coin.

She took the coin and let out a low laugh. “It’s not the first time my sister and I get all the attention in a room. I’m just glad you are far more polite than my last patrons.”

Her smile this time looked measured and I noticed we were the only ones in the hallway as my friends had started to investigate our room. There was a cold edge to the dragon girl and I felt in danger. It could just be her cold personality, or it could be her measuring me up too. I told myself to keep acting polite and get to my room as quickly as I could.

“Thank you again and have a great evening,” I said, sliding towards the door.

“Have a good evening Master Josh,” Sapphire said, bowing one last time.

As she walked away I saw her tail give off an annoyed flick. Frost collected on the carpet in her wake and I closed the door behind me. I felt like the whole polite act she had was just that, an act. There was a cold fury under the surface of her and it honestly kind of scared me. More so because I could feel it inside me too, buried deep down.

Shaking that thought quickly I found the girls face first into the soft mattress and hugging the big pillows. They seemed to be in a blissful heaven so I left them to their own devices and went into the bathroom. It was a fairly sizable bathroom, with a standing shower surrounded in glass, a huge tub, a toilet and a sink. Everything was the usual porcelain, but there were a few different features.

Ingrained in the taps there were tiny crystals, one blue and one red. From them I felt a change in temperature, one cold and one hot. There were brass pipes going to the faucets and hidden behind them against the wall were grey boxes that hummed with magical power. I studied each of them and could see how they all worked, routing water through them to heat or cool them down with magical power, it was very impressive.

Successfully added to building recipes.

I blinked a few times and saw that the room layout had been added, with the costs associated with each. I grinned to myself realizing I could get a nice comfortable bathroom too when we got back to our home base.

On the sink I could see three sets of packaged toothbrushes and toothpaste to go with each. A grinning green goblin on the packing showed off his pearly whites for the Tired Lad brand. Under the sink I could see dozens of bars of soap and sample size tubes of shampoo. My hands twitched and I remembered the tough days after dropping out of my college. I took half of the soaps and stuck them in my bag to take home. I didn’t feel too bad claiming all the samples as I did tip the dragon maid well.

After brushing my teeth I also stuffed the brush and toothpaste in the bag too, completing my theft. After doing my routine I stripped down and went to turn on the shower. I stood in the nude looking at the confusing dials and started to play around with the knobs, howling in pain as super hot water made me jump. The water quickly changed to polar cap ice water as I overturned the knobs. After struggling with them for a minute I finally got it to a nice comfortable temperature I could enjoy.

“Just like visiting grandma’s place with terrible plumbing again,” I chuckled.

The door opened and I covered my junk as I saw Lin walk in completely nude. She picked up a toothbrush box and waved to me. After she finished brushing her teeth she got in the shower with me and scoffed.

“It’s not like I don’t know what it looks like Josh, relax,” she said, when I uncovered myself she groped her own breasts and watched my member rise. “It’s that easy huh?”

I turned and faced the cat girl head on. “What are you planning here Lin.”

This time it was her turn to look embarrassed. Lin took a lock of her white snowy hair and twirled it around her finger as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. She sighed and clapped her hands together deciding to tackle whatever she was thinking about head on.

"Over the last couple of days I've been trying to flirt with you, I've tried to be pretty blunt about it too, sleeping in the same bed, but apparently to no avail," she huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Do you want to stay as we are, or be nap pals?"

“Well I… think so,” I said, taken aback by her blunt question. “Why ask now all of a sudden?”

“It’s been a while for me, and I’ve never dated a human so I was unsure of how to approach it.” Lin put a sharp nail on my chest and snorted. “Then I decided to give it a shot, and I’ve been curling up and rubbing against you for three days. Yet you still haven't even tried to grope me once. I will say I’m impressed by your resolve.”

“So just like…this?” I asked, opening my arms, cascading hot water between our feet. “You decide the best time to ask if we want to be partners is in the shower.”

Lin rolled her eyes, and swept her soaked hair out of her eyes. “Listen, we are adventurers, taking things slow isn’t really in our job titles.” She tapped her nails down my arms. “So, what do you say? Want to be special friends? I’m not asking for anything permanent, just if you want to be in an open type of relationship. If you end up having interest in another girl too I won’t have any issue with it.”

“I was unsure if you were still interested after you found out I was a keeper,” I said. “I would- hmph!”

Lin placed a finger over my mouth to shut me up and leaned in close as if to kiss me. I closed my eyes as words failed me and tried to kiss the cat girl only to feel the world twist around me. Lin grappled my arms and took me to the ground of the large shower, pinning me to the ground.

“Speaking of that, if I top a keeper and make him blow his load, do I earn a bunch of experience?” Lin asked, humming to herself.

She squeezed her knees around my hips and started to grind against me, forcing my cock between her thighs, rubbing against her sex. Heat trailed out of her as the lustful cat girl let her tongue loll out of her mouth.

I pushed against her arms but felt her greater strength and agility out do me as I failed to turn the tables around her. I smiled at the challenger and winked. I pointed a finger at her and let my smile widen.

“If I dominate a pesky adventurer that has been a thorn in my side, do I level up instead?” I smirked, opening my hand. “Good luck dodging this one, Rope of Binding!”

Lin let go and threw up her hands in the hope of defending herself. Of course without a string the spell didn’t work, but with the distraction I managed to get up and behind the cat girl. I wrestled her until I pinned her arms to her chest, holding them below her breasts. I let my hand take one of her lovely large breasts into my palm and gave it a squeeze.

Lin squeaked as she tried to wiggle out, but she only lightly struggled, instead pretending to be at my mercy. Her ear flicked against my nose, tickling me and making me nearly sneeze. I gently nipped at her ear and Lin stopped as a small moan escaped her lips. She bucked her hips and tried to wiggle free. I let my free hand trail down her flat stomach and thighs.

“H-h-hey there Josh, maybe we can have a reset,” Lin said, quivering as I sucked on her ear. “Oh fuck, that feels good. Heinekia’s fat tits it’s been a while.”

I let my fingers slide between her thighs and as I touched her sex her legs clamped down on my hand. Her strong legs pinned my hand in place, but she was too late as I let my finger rub along her slit.

“Do you like that kitty?” I whispered into her ear.

“Y-y-yes,” she said. As she panted she started to put up less resistance. “Fuck, you have no idea how horny I am. Teasing me right now is mean.”

“I think I do,” I said as I lifted my hand and saw my soaked digits.

The hot water pelted us from above and Lin was a purring ball of bliss in my hands. I pulled her into my lap and kissed her, at first she still wanted to play fight and put up resistance, only to melt against me. When she broke the kiss she pushed me back down and was on top of me again. I raised my hands in mock defeat letting the cat girl take the lead.

Lin straddled my hips and took my erect cock in her tender grip, rubbing under the head of my member with her thumbs. She spread her sex and lowered herself onto me cooing with pleasure. As she began to ride me I put my hands on her waist and kept a hold of her, letting her surrender to her desires.

Lin cupped her breast letting the hot water pool between them as the wet slap of her rump sounded each time she fell against my hips. I could feel the length of her tight sex as she pushed herself down bottoming out against my hip, taking my entire cock. Her eyes closed as she let her body shake as a wave of pleasure took over her. She opened her mouth and moaned as she came, squeezing her legs around me.

I pumped my hips up a few times driving myself in and out causing her to climax a second time soon after. My own lust drove me to the edge and before I could stop myself I felt the pressure build up in me. I half rose and put my hands on Lin’s back, hugging her tightly. As I put my face between her breasts she wrapped her hands around me and dug her hands into my hair as I came inside her.

We were both left breathless after the brief intense moment of bliss. I felt Lin’s whole body shiver as she purred and moaned into my ear. I felt the pleased cat girl lick my hair a few times before she finally spoke.

“Oh gods above it’s been a while, I think you might have just done a dangerous thing there keeper. You are going to have a very horny cat girl in your bed from now on,” Lin said.

I kissed her breasts and smiled at Lin with a dazed expression. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The door opened again and Rolada stood in the doorway with a towel wrapped around her. She tapped her foot against the ground and glared at the two of us in the shower.

“Can you two finish fucking and let me shower?” Rolada asked.

Lin exhaustively waved and mumbled an apology, buying us a few moments to get cleaned up and let the annoyed fox girl into the bathroom. As she passed she looked the two of us up and down, looking impressed with what she saw.

“Want to join us next time?” Lin asked.

“I just might,” Rolada said. Then she slammed the door in our face and swore. “Damn it, you two got water everywhere.”

I collapsed into the huge bed with Lin and felt her falling asleep instantaneously. She hadn’t stopped purring since we got out of the shower and I started petting her back, watching her tail wag. As I closed my eyes I let my exhausted body sink into the soft covers and nearly fell asleep.

The door opened and Rolada walked in completely naked, turning off the lights and getting in bed on my other side. The fox girl gave me a quick peck to the cheek and hummed softly. She leaned over and gave Lin a kiss on the forehead too before snuggling up with me.

“Good night Josh. I’m glad you made her happy,” Rolada said, yawning.

“Good night Rolada, thanks for keeping me alive,” I said.

Rolada tapped my chest a few times and mumbled. “And don’t you forget it, mister. We are all best friends now.”

As I tussled her hair the fox girl started to snooze too and I let sleep take over me. It was odd to have two women in bed now, but I let the scene play out in my head again. I had the rather distinct feeling these two were also quickly becoming involved with one another. Perhaps it was a cultural thing and beast-kin were just polyamorous. As I slid into my dreams the strange series of events played out in my mind one last time. The final image of my two lovely friends snuggling up with me made me feel a sense of bliss.

We just had to do a quick job and return home, what could go wrong?