Chapter 77: The Length Of Her Body
Braum finished explaining the rest of the process, but the part where you retrieved the Gem Heart was a bit hazy. There were different ways to do it, but there was a general principle that everyone followed.
The Flexil stayed inert until one of their gems were taken, and after that, it was a race back to the ship. Each group had its own way of doing it, but the general consensus is that tying a rope on yourself was the best route.
That was fine, but the average depth was fifteen meters, and that was a long distance to hold your breath. On top of that, the ship had to be anchored in a place that could get away safely, so it was a long trip, and this is where people start to get creative.
The same people that made the Air Juice Gloria had mentioned also somehow figured out how to bottle air into small canisters. These could then be used for more air, but the containers were large like oversized wine bottles.
Not only were they large, but the price made it so you could only use one per heart. Each bottle contained three breaths of air, and they cost one platinum coin per bottle.
The gem hearts were worth five but two-fifths of every gem heart was given to the boat and crew. Then you needed to get the Gem cleaned, another two hundred gold, and then you had to rent equipment.
In the end, you could make about fifteen hundred gold, which was good, but if anything got damaged, broken, or lost, you paid for it. The repairs weren't cheap, and it didn't matter whose fault it was. As Braum said to us, this was risky business, but if everyone got one that went in then you could have a good payday.
But then that led to the next problem, everyone had to get one. For each person that didn't get one, they would have to pay one platinum for the air tank and the cost of the tools rental, plus repairs.
So if only two people went down, and only one came back with one, then the profits could end up being zero. Not only that, if someone died, the party was reasonable to pay for replacing the lost equipment. That alone could put a person in debt, and that was not a position that a person wanted to find themselves in, according to Braum.
After we finished listening to Braum, the six of us were shown to a room to change. Lesha was all smiles the entire walk from the front of the boat, and I started to get nervous. Just what had she picked out that had her almost splitting her face with that smile.
The deckhand, Wocky, these people all had weird names, but he showed us to our room to change and then left us. I was forcibly pushed into the room and stubbled a bit.
"What is your problem woman? I am feeling very uneasy with the way you have that goofy grin plastered on your face!" I said squinting my eyes.
Instead of replying, Lesha reached into the bag she had brought and pulled out two pieces of red cloth. I looked at her flatly, but I still took the clothes, and that made her smile even brighter.
I sighed, there was no getting away from this now. This damn woman! When I was single, I would have just tied the bottom of my shirt to keep it from riding up and a pair of cut-off shorts.
"Lesha, this is a pair of underwear with a see-through skirt with white flowers somehow dyed into it. You can expect me to wear this?" I complain trying to figure how the top even went on.
Lesha gave me a dark expression.
"If you are worried about the boys looking, Gloria already said she would smash in the head of the first person that learned any of us. I picked it out and I want to see you in it, so don't be your growly self and just try it on!" Lesha said growling at me.
I sighed and looked over to see that the other girls had already changed in the time that I had been complaining. I started to undress, but it was a bit weird and I had to turn around.
Women or not, these ones liked girls, and for me, it was almost like they were men. I slipped the bottoms on and the skirt was not as transparent as I had first thought, but this top half of the suit was a mystery to me.
"Here, let me help you," Lesha said, sliding her hand around the sides of my ribs to cup my breasts and squeezed playfully.
I breathed in sharply at the feeling of her cold hands and the sensations of her gentle playing. I quickly glanced back, but the girls were gone, they must have snuck out. I leaned back and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of Lesha's hands, but they have pulled away too soon.
Lesha took the red cloth from my hands and started to turn it around so the lighter side was facing me. She still had her arms under my own, and she pressed the cloth to my breasts and then pulled back from me. She pulled the two strings at the bottom of the cloth around my back and I felt her tie them, but my breast fell out of the cloth, giving a little jiggle.
I pulled the cloth back up to cover myself while Lesha reached over my shoulder to grab the last string and tired it behind my neck. When she was done, I looked down to find most of my chest actually covered.
"See? It's not that bad, right? I know you wouldn't want to like what I am wearing, so I got you this because I thought you would look cute in it. I was right," Lesha said as I turned around to find her in a soft blue bikini that showed a lot more skin than mine did.
"Do we have to go out right now?" I asked hopefully as I ran my eyes over the length of her body.