Cursed Heroine

Chapter 61: Shopping and bonding

I eventually got Scarlet dressed for the day and we headed out of her room to join Thessa for breakfast. Yes, most of my time was used to feel her up and tease her a bit. While I took over cooking, Scarlet informed her aunt about my curse while we were eating. She had decided to tell the truth.

“That collar was valuable and it will be difficult to replace it. Whatever, I’ll just slowly extract the loss from her body. I’m going to take Lily with me around the shops to pick up stuff for our trip while you’re tending your shop.”~Thessa

“I suppose you’ll also want to borrow her for the night as well? Just remember to send her back to my bed to sleep before too late, otherwise the both of you won’t be well rested for dungeon diving tomorrow.”~Scarlet

“You’re okay with this?”~me

“Although she’s my aunt, we’ve always behaved more like sisters. Sisters who share just about everything with one another. I know that my aunt wouldn’t bring home a girl she doesn’t like and she was also pretty reluctant to give up that collar. Plus, I can feel that you’re into her through the link.”~Scarlet

While I’m still somewhat gaping at Scarlet’s nonchalant response, Thessa dragged me out after we had finished our meals. We picked up supplies enough for Scarlet and I. Thessa already had bought her supplies some time ago and has them stored in her inventory. She took me to some of her favorite food stalls along the way and did some window shopping in various clothing shops. This feels more like a date.

We also stopped by some furniture shops to order a few things. I wanted to buy a massage table and a new bath for us to use. One that won’t give us splinters if we want to play a round. My stock of qi and mana crystals got nearly used up. The biggest reason for it to cost so much is that I wanted them to coat the inside with a special material that I mixed up which I provided, so it doesn’t have a name yet. It’s composed of about half gold, a third firestone and the last bit is astral silver. Firestone is a type of mineral that passively emits heat when it absorbs mana and gold is a mana conductor that won’t corrode. Astral silver constantly radiates a piercing energy effect on the body which will cause you to feel like mush after a while, but actually nourishes and strengthens the body. This combination of materials will result in an effect like a magic-made jacuzzi that has the feeling of water jets on the body and will require very little additional heating. Of course, this material will only be used as a coating and an obsidian block will be used for the base. Obsidian acts like a magic insulator and can even reflect weaker magic, which causes the astral silver to be even more effective. I know it will work because I’ve already made a small bowl to test it while I was still experimenting at the elven capital.

Wow, I just ranted a lot about my bath. But it’s really important after all. Never get between a girl and her beauty needs! Ah, I just thought of a name for that material. I’ll call it golden starfire alloy. Hehe, I’m so clever. Let me step on you with my heels while you sing my praises! *Ahem-cough* I got a little carried away there. Please just pretend like you didn’t hear me say that.

“That was quite shocking. Was it really necessary to spend so much on just a bath?”~Thessa

“It’s totally worth it. You’ll understand soon enough.”~me(note)

“Shall we go have lunch with Scarlet then? Afterwards, we can finish our shopping and visit the city library.”~Thessa

“Sounds good. Scarlet is currently trying to cook lunch herself and is getting frustrated.”~me(note)

“Oh, is that because of the thing that requires that she let you pamper her?”~Thessa

“Indeed. Let’s hurry back before she ruins all of the ingredients in her failed attempts.”~me(note)

We made it back in time to witness Scarlet pulling a very black something out of the oven. She herself was absolutely covered in various food items. The kitchen was a mess as well, so Thessa volunteered to clean it up while I took Scarlet up to the bath to get washed off. After I had stripped her of her clothes and warmed up the tub, she shut me out saying that she would do it herself. I think she’s a little upset.

“Oh, really? Then let me know when you change your mind.”~me

“LILY, GET IN HERE!”~Scarlet

Ah, that was fast.

I swiftly joined her in the bath and with practiced hands, scrubbed her clean. After drying her, I rubbed lotion with an energizing effect on her body and added a mild perfume that has a calming scent. With her feeling much better now, we went downstairs to enjoy the lunch that Thessa had prepared.

“Your mood seems to have improved greatly.”~Thessa

“Mm. I’m not used to it, but Lily is actually much better at taking care of me than I am. Overall, it’s an improvement. It’s just frustrating to not be able to do these things by myself anymore.”~Scarlet

“The lifestyle changes are sudden. You just need some time to adapt to them, Mistress.”~me

“Leti, this is mostly your own fault since Lily had no idea it would activate her curse. You’ll just have to own up to it and take responsibility for her from now on.”~Thessa

“Wouldn’t it be you having to be responsible instead if you hadn’t given me the collar?”~Scarlet

“Perhaps. No, probably. Definitely. But I would have more graciously accepted her. It’s just too bad that I won’t be able to get my collar back.”~Thessa

She’s still going on about that?! Graciously accept me, what a great way to phrase it. I feel like that kid who got lost in the woods and was tempted into entering a house made of sugar. All just to find out that the resident who invited me in, just wanted to ‘eat’ me! Fufuh, we’ll see just who will be eating who tonight my dearie. Kyahahahahahaaa...AHEM, just forget that last part!

I found a good book in the library after lunch. It listed out the features of the different types of dragons and even had a map of the area that documented which ones lived where. There’s an aerie of crystal dragons in a mountain on the east side. I’ve set my target to them, but I’ll need to reach stage five to have a chance of taming one or even escaping. Dragons apparently are born at stage four, are considered young adults at stage five and are fully grown at stage six. It would be a guaranteed failure if there’s a stage seven elder dragon around, but no one has ever seen one outside the Central Mountains much farther east.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. I made dinner and got Scarlet ready for bed. She allowed me to feed from her and then ended up falling asleep as I gave her a relaxing full body massage to ebb out some of the stress from today. Then I made my way into Thessa’s room.

“I’m going to have you begging under my fingers for me to take you and make you mine. Shall we start with a massage?”~me(note)

“Writing that just doesn’t have the same effect as it would when said out loud. I guess that I should hope that you are successful then. Let me see exactly what I’ve bought with such an expensive item.”~Thessa

I have the perfect oil already picked out. It causes a cooling effect on the skin, but contains a blood circulation enhancer and plenty of aphrodisiacs. This oil basically leaves a person aching for the heat of another’s touch. Her skin starts getting goosebumps as I rub it in, beginning a deep tissue massage. I start with the arms and legs. Then I move to her back, saving the best for last. By the time I flip her over, she’s already breathing heavily with occasional moans. Her attempts to hurry me along are rendered useless thanks to her now feeble limbs. I take my time with her front side, memorizing each and every one of her sensitive spots and driving her to beg for it. Only then do I finally take out a double-ended strap-on to finish her off. Many times.

This was the first time I got to experience the dual cultivation effect. Our energies would flow between us from wherever we had contact and enhance our pleasure. It works really great! In that short time, I got about two days worth of cultivation that was equally spread out between the three main categories. It used up twice the energy that would normally be spent over two days, but no crystals were necessary. And it was way more fun! Thessa even broke through in mind to stage five, but was too preoccupied at the time to notice. I decided to have a midnight snack to replenish my energies. She probably won’t mind and should be back to full by the time she wakes anyways.

Before returning to Scarlet's bed to sleep, I made sure to give her a couple buffs from my divine skills so that she can more easily recover from my massage and the blood loss. I also left behind a couple gifts for her.

Hehehe, I can’t wait for tomorrow to come...