Collisa (Outsider Book 1), page 15
She laughed at him. “Of course they can. Most humanoid races can breed together. What kind of idiot doesn't know that?” Her smile widened. “And you heard me say how fecund bunny girls are. Just a hint of cum anywhere near her pussy and she'll get pregnant for sure.”
“Then why did she tell me it was safe?” Dare demanded, raking his fingers through his hair.
The farmwife sobered slightly and gave him a curious look. “Did she say she wouldn't get pregnant?”
He hesitated. “Well no. I said I was coming, she talked dirty about me doing it inside her, and I asked if it was safe. She laughed and said it was, then called me silly.”
Ellui had started to laugh again as he spoke, and as he finished she fell to the ground and began rolling around in unrestrained mirth. “She probably didn't understand the question, and thought you meant the potential for danger from a wandering predator!” she gasped. “Bunny girls don't consider pregnancy a risk, they consider it a great success! They'll go out of their way to make it happen since they're always eager to have children. Usually just the precum will do it, so if you penetrate her or even touch her entrance with your cock at all, it's almost guaranteed you've knocked her up.”
She gave him a mock sympathetic look through her chortles. “Unless she's already carrying some other horny local's child, which doesn't seem likely given how desperate she was for you to mount her, you'll be a father in five to ten months.”
Dare glanced helplessly into the forest. “Should I go after her?” he asked uncertainly. “I mean, if she's carrying my child then it's my duty to take care of them.” Honestly, while it would disrupt his plans for his life in this world, or at least significantly change them, the prospect of marrying the gorgeous bunny girl wasn't the most unappealing one he'd ever heard.
Ellui scoffed. “Such a noble sentiment, if you mean it. But you really don't know anything about bunny girls, do you? Remember how I said there's 7 females for every male? They don't really get the concept of marriage and certainly not monogamy, and are usually content to raise their children alone or as part of a warren with mostly other females and children.”
That was a relief to hear, although he still felt guilty. “But will they be okay?”
She motioned derisively at the forest around them. “Did you see her teeth, by any chance? They're herbivore teeth. Grass eater teeth. Cunids have no problem surviving out in nature, and prefer to live a carefree, natural life. Usually close to humans or other intelligent races, who'll hunt the dangerous monsters and provide them with plentiful lovers.”
Dare mulled that over. A more primal part of him was pleased at the thought that the pale woman was carrying his child. And imagining the voluptuous bunny girl round with his baby made his cock twitch appreciatively.
Still, he felt a bit guilty at the thought that he wouldn't be part of his child's life, and wouldn't be able to help out with it.
Then something Ellui had said snagged in his mind. “Wait, what do you mean five to ten months?”
The farmwife looked at him like he was a halfwit. “Five months, as in how long it would take for her to give birth to a cunid child. Obviously.”
Dare silently cursed his lack of knowledge of this world. “Could you explain it all for me? You know I didn't even know humans and other races could breed.”
She shook her head. “My dear, sweet, ignorant trapper. You're lucky you're so cute and have such a big cock, or I might lose hope in you.” She sighed. “Almost all humanoid races can breed together. To the point that females of smaller races, even much smaller ones, can accommodate far larger cocks to make it happen without any discomfort, just like she was a woman of that larger race. And childbirth for a smaller female having a larger race's offspring will be just as safe as for a female of that larger race. It's a ##### ########.”
He blinked as her last words fuzzed, just out of comprehension. “A what?”
The farmwife looked at him impatiently. “A ##### ########. Part of the foundation of the world that defies rational explanation.”
Was she trying to say something like world feature or game mechanic? Something everyone was probably at least in some way aware of, but that the system wouldn't allow to be openly acknowledged because it would break immersion?
“Anyway,” she said, “with most of the races, mating results in an equal chance to have a child of either race. A few races can produce hybrids, for instance goblins that produce hobgoblins with humans, but races like that are rarer and cunids aren't one of them. Same with other beast folk.”
Ooh, other beast folk. Did that mean there were catgirls and dog girls and fox girls and lizard girls and maybe dragon girls out there? Or even others?
Dare nodded thoughtfully at her explanation. “So Clover could either have a human or cunid child?”
Ellui shook her head again. “Bunny girls are one of the exceptions. They'll usually have a cunid child, and probably a girl with the 7 to 1 female to male ratio. On the rare occasion they have a baby from the father's race, with whatever female to male ratio that race is known for, the warren works together to raise a child that has more challenging dietary needs. The child is welcomed into the warren, and only a few ever opt to leave and seek out their own race.”
He couldn't blame them. Especially if the child was male; in the warren he'd never want for lovers offering wild sex, and they'd all live carefree and happy.
Hell, if Dare had the option he'd probably be happy to live among bunny girls too.
Then a thought struck him with sudden uneasiness. Babies weren't the only consequence of sex. “I hate to ask this, especially after the fact,” he said slowly, “but do I have to worry about STDs?”
The farmwife stared at him blankly. “Estedees?” she repeated in bafflement.
“Sexually transmitted diseases,” he clarified. “Diseases carried only through sex that usually affect the genitalia and are often incurable.”
She shuddered. “Gods, what an awful thing. I've never heard of it before and wish I hadn't.”
Dare perked up, feeling a surge of excitement. “So you've never heard of anyone getting a disease from having sex?”
Ellui looked bemused. “Not unless they fucked a monster that spreads a disease debuff or something,” she said wryly. “Although no idea why anyone would ever do that.”
That was great news. Especially since Dare had already fucked two women and a bunch of slimes without even considering the possibility; STDs didn't tend to come up in most fantasy games.
One of those nasty real world things you wanted to escape when you played them.
Dare finished cleaning himself off, wrung out his soaked tunic and pulled it on, kicked into his shoes, and bundled the rest of his clothes under one arm. Then he started for the clearing where he'd left his pack. “Well, take care,” he told Ellui as he passed her.
“Ah, don't be like that,” she said, hurrying to fall into step beside him. “I'll keep you company, and you can tell me all the juicy details!” She nudged his arm teasingly. “Did you take her from behind? From the front? Did she squeal? Was her pussy tighter than mine?”
He grimaced. “I don't want to be rude, since you've been very helpful to me with information,” he said as politely as he could. “But you're married and I fucked you without knowing that fact, which makes being around you right now really uncomfortable. So I'm going to leave now.”
The farmwife laughed. “What, you're going to run away like a little boy?”
“If you say so.” Dare sped up to his usual jog, which he doubted the plump woman could keep up with for more than a few minutes, if at all.
“What, you'll just leave me out here where there might be monsters or bandits, you son of a bitch?” she shouted.
Considering she'd already been out here, she must not think it was all that dangerous. Still, Dare slowed down enough to keep her just in view, in case she really did run into trouble.
He needed to wait for his clothes to dry a little before he went into the village anyway.
Chapter Seven
Healer
The trip to Lone Ox was awkward with the unpleasant woman following behind, always smirking when he glanced back at her. He retrieved his pack, walked on to the outskirts of Ellui's farm, and once there dressed in his wet clothes and continued on, giving the place a wide berth.
Nassor was out on his porch again when Dare reached his house. Although the older man immediately perked up when he saw the tusks poking out of Dare's pack. “So you got them, lad!” he called eagerly. He whistled in appreciation. “Good ones, too . . . I'm going to be able to carve some truly fine pieces with them.”
Dare wasted no time handing over the tusks. Almost as soon as he did he heard a triumphant trumpet sound and the text “Quest completed. A Boaring Request. 500 experience earned” popped up.
Nice. That was way better experience than for the basic achievements he'd gotten so far. Although still not a huge amount compared to what he needed to reach Level 6.
The woodcarver handed him his knife, and Dare took a moment to admire it.
Utility Knife, Level 5, Journeyman quality. Six times the damage of his stone knives. Dramatically more durability. No quality penalty for skinning and crafting.
It was beautiful.
He pulled his main hand stone knife from the leather sheath he'd crafted for it and tossed it in his pack, replacing it with his Utility Knife. “Thanks,” he said, offering his hand.
“And thanks to you,” Nassor said, admiring the tusks. Then he set them aside briskly. “Suppose you've got some more things to sell me?”
Dare did. He sold a bundle of Boarite tusks and a few other bits of monster loot. The Woodcarver seemed a lot more amenable to buying things now that he had his tusks; a reputation boost from the quest?
He even paid more.
“Take care, now,” Nassor called as Dare walked off, their business completed. “You see any more boars like that one, think of me for the tusks. I can't give you another knife but I'll give you its value in silver.”
Good to know.
Dare made his way to the tavern next, selling the boar meat and a few other pieces of monster loot. Then he asked the tavern keeper whether he had all the ingredients for a BLT on hand.
To his delight the man did, aside from mayonnaise unfortunately. Although he had butter, which was a decent substitute.
The man seemed fascinated watching Dare slice bread (with his new knife), then put the ingredients between the slices to make a sandwich. Apparently that sort of thing wasn't done in Lone Ox. Although after watching Dare's obvious enjoyment, it was likely the tavern keeper might copy his idea.
And he'd have plenty of bacon with the meat Dare sold him.
The final stop was the Mayor's, where Dare reported his progress on the bandit camp. Or lack thereof. The portly man was disappointed to hear Dare was going to have to gain more levels before he could even consider doing anything about the place, but he accepted it.
He also held to his agreement to buy all of Dare's trash monster loot.
Dare headed back to his camp excited about his first quest completed, his new knife, and the superior items he'd be able to craft with it to replace his inferior gear. It would take some work, but it would be worth it in the long run.
He checked his snares, harvested a few small game and a lucky catch of a deer, cured the meat, hides, and sinew, and then called it a night and went to bed.
✽✽✽
Dare gained 3 levels over the next ten days.
It was, understandably, taking longer with every level. Not quite double the time with each, but close.
First things first he'd made a better bow using his Utility Knife, as planned. It actually received quality bonuses twice, since he skinned the leather and chopped and carved the wood with it, which all received a bump in quality, and then used the knife to make the bow, again giving it a quality bump.
The upshot was that his new weapon had a modest bump to damage, which let him level up that much faster.
He moved camp to be closer to higher level monsters on the fifth day. For leveling he was doing most of the same things he had been: rotating between spawn points for sentry monsters, and locating another spawn point of slime girls so he could farm monsters coming to get off in them.
Luckily the transparent monster girls seemed to be fairly common. These ones were even Level 6, not that he had any plans to farm them. And green instead of blue, although thankfully still non-toxic. And they'd taken the form of a few other races and body types to enjoy with them.
Another efficiency bump occurred when he came to the realization that hunting game took time away from hunting monsters, while his improved snares passively did the work for him while he could do other stuff. They might bring him game slower, at least until he made a bunch of them, but the value in time saved was by far worth the work.
So he made another concerted effort to make and set more snares.
The upside was he soon had plenty of meat and leather. He was able to make a full set of basic leather armor, and from it rank up the crafting ability enough to be able to make the Level 5 ones once he had enough leather and other materials. He also had plenty of trade goods for when he visited Lone Ox on the fifth day, soon after moving his camp.
He'd have to wait until Level 10 to be able to make a better bow, which seemed like a long ways away. He could only assume that bows he could buy from vendors and crafters filled the in between levels, and honestly with their qualities might've even made the basic bow inferior even at the level it could be made.
Although he was able to make a better knife at Level 8. It required rare gem drops from monsters or that could be found along the river, which would all be combined to make a sturdier blade than stone. Again, it made absolutely no sense but fit with a world designed around video game mechanics.
Unfortunately, that knife was barely better than his Utility Knife. So Dare ignored it and set his sights on Level 10.
That, or he'd wait to buy weapons in the village, or even in the town Nassor had mentioned nearby, now that he seemed to be farming more and better trade goods with his snares and monster hunting.
Speaking of which, it was the tenth day and he had enough trade goods he was actually needing to sort out which ones were least valuable and could be left behind. So it was time for another trip into the village.
That could wait until evening, though, when the villagers would be done with the day's work and more inclined to chat and trade. In the meantime, Dare wanted to do some scouting.
He'd seen a Level 11 bugbear visiting the new slime girls he'd found (which had prompted such a horrifying mental picture he wanted to bleach his brain, even though he hadn't actually seen anything). It was the highest level monster he'd seen, and would point him towards new spawn points to hunt once he gained a few more levels.
So he was going to go explore in the direction the bugbear had gone when it left the river, see what was out there. And if he saw any monsters close to his level he'd kill them while he was at it.
Dare actually found himself looking forward to exploring, even though it slowed down his leveling and he almost never discovered anything that would give him the paltry experience reward. It was just so enjoyable to explore this new world and see everything that was out there.
All the varied terrain even in what was largely a forest setting, the interesting landmarks he found like lakes and waterfalls and craggy hills. The varied monsters, some of which he'd never heard of in any game he'd ever played.
And of course the prospect of what might be over the horizon. The same thing that had him eagerly playing a game late into the night, ignoring hunger and thirst and anything else in his singleminded immersion.
Except this was a million times better.
Dare found the bugbear camp without too much trouble, the monsters inside ranging in level from 10 to 13. And they were monsters; bugbears were usually classified as a subset of hobgoblin in a lot of games, and were often intelligent (for a given value of intelligence) in them.
But on this world they were monsters, slightly different looking than most bugbear art from Earth and apparently with no relation to goblins. Similar to the Boarites.
Two levels higher was still more than he wanted to challenge most of the time, especially since the bugbears had a ranged attack called Throw Debris. Which he guessed meant they grabbed the nearest rock or handy heavy object and chucked it his way.
Dare moved on, finding more spawn points for some sort of venomous flying snake called a Slithin (Level 12-14), a squat, brutish animal called a Dolid Trouncer (Level 9-12) that resembled nothing he knew of from Earth.
He picked off a couple of the Level 9s and found that they were manageable, although their Quake ability had a surprising range and nearly threw him off his feet, as well as applying a debuff that slowed his movement and weapon attack speed.
Speaking of Boarites, he found another camp teeming with Level 15 to 19 ones, as well as a few much higher level leaders. Along with the higher levels, it was a more serious looking place that could've encompassed several of the previous Boarite camp he'd found, and had some odd totems and other decorations as well as a few large structures.
A Boarite city, if a crude one?
Dare marked it on his map with a wide circle for where the outer sentries and patrols roamed, then another circle even farther out for how close he was willing to get to the intimidating place; if he ever cleared it, he'd either have to be much higher level or part of a large raid group.
He backed away from the place and continued his exploration, swinging wide on his way back to his camp to check an area he hadn't searched yet.
Which was when he heard a frantic, distinctly feminine voice screaming deeper in the forest, causing him to twisted towards the sound in surprise and nearly drop his bow. There was pain as well as terror in that scream.
Along with words that, while in another language, clearly marked the person as intelligent.
