Chapter 8

Unfortunately for Rayner, this world didn’t have umbrellas.

The sheer volume of rain the sky dumped on him and his current companions obscured his vision and forced him to trek up a hill to see where he was going.

Rayner found a job thanks to the recommendation of the whitesmith he assisted at the caravan. The job was to protect a monster cataloger named Kata. He researched the twisted monsters that still inhabited the area which the miasma had originally affected.

Three others were hired on for the job. A team of two young men that looked like brothers along with a woman with many swords strapped to her back.

The woman, Krisa, said, “It would help if we knew what we are looking for.” She raised her voice to be heard over the downpour.

The monster cataloger lay supine with his ear to the ground listening for something. The man did many strange things like that during their short time together and Rayner was beginning to wonder if he were mad.

Clothes muddy, Kata got back up and looked to Krisa. “I’m looking for nothing in particular. I’m a researcher, not an explorer. If I happen to find something interesting, then I will look into it. If not, then I will write that there is nothing here of note.”

Krisa grimaced.

It wasn’t as if she cared about Kata’s work but they had been contracted to protect the man until he completed his work. Without a firm idea of what that was, it left them all stuck out in the rain until Kata decided he had no more use of them.

Kata hadn’t tricked them but he did use their desperation for work to his advantage.

Jose, one of the men claiming not to be brothers, pointed to something off in the distance. “I see a large snake over there. Should we check it out?”

Did Jose make things up in order to hurry the mission along? Either way, it was better than staying on the hill.

As they approached the snake, Rayner suddenly knew what they would find. With that realization, Rayner knew where they were.

That hill they stood on moments ago was the hill the dragon he and Axel had fought wrapped itself around.

It didn’t take long for him to confirm this.

While difficult to see in the rain, Rayner was close enough to see its scaly serpentine body.

Kata jumped with glee and rushed closer to the dead dragon. His hand ran along its length and his face peered so close to it that his nose touched the monster’s skin. “A worshiper must have dug their blade into its side and cut along its length. It would have taken great deal of force to pierce its skin.” He turned back to them and noted, “Unlike popular belief, dragon scales are not particularly hard but their skin is thick and tightly packed in layers. The scales act as films for each packed portion of skin.”

Well, that explained a lot. Rayner wondered if Kata had a book to sell. He would love to read it.

Krista called out from the head of the dragon. The party moved to the dragon’s head.

Krista pointed at its bashed-in face. “More than one worshiper did this. Its face was bashed then sliced with a small blade or dagger.”

“Why does any of this matter? Is this what you were looking for, Kata?” Rayner said.

“As I said, anything interesting. This counts. How one, or two, worshipers slew a dragon is of great interest to me. While not incredibly powerful monsters, they are hard to kill due to their thick skin and few worshipers want to fight them.”

The other non-brother, Cory, said, “They steal EXP. It’s not worth it to fight them.”

Jose added, “Agreed. Can’t pay me enough to do that. I worked hard for the EXP I have.”

“Fine. Any chance one of you has a blessing or a skill to shield us from the rain?” Rayner said.

They all shook their heads. Damn. “Well, we are going to get ill if we stay in this rain. Let’s go to that tree line and make camp and hope the rain doesn’t collapse the tent!” Rayner yelled over the rain as the downpour increased.

They had to drag Kata away from the dragon corpse. Once reaching the treeline they used the branches to set up a large tent to protect them from the rain.

Inside of the tent, the force of the rain was such that it sounded like rocks were being thrown atop it.

A small lamp was placed at the center of the tent and its glow was such that it lit all corners of the tent and bathed the entire party in warmth.

“Damn that’s cozy,” said Jose. “I need to get one of these.”

“Too bad. It’s mine. I got a dozen curses spending my coin on that lamp and now it’s paying off,” said Krisa.

“Well, I’m glad you did.”

“Me too. So, after the rain lets up. What do we do next?”

Kata brooded in a corner because he’d been dragged away like a curious child from the dragon. He perked up when she mentioned their future plans. “The dragon is not native to this country. It’s far too unique for this little land. It would massively disrupt the local monster ecosystem.”

“Sounds like a reason to move in to me,” said Cory. It was easier for Rayner to think of them as brothers, no matter their protestations.

Growing eager, Kata joined them, sharing the lamp’s warmth. “Well, for one thing, monsters worship gods, too. And those gods would actively seek to push out a monster that didn’t belong. Also, monsters don’t like foreign monsters jutting into their local conflicts and would work together to attack them.”

“I’ve heard of this. Monsters do fight each other more than we humans fight them; the tribal monsters sometimes work together to drive out outsiders. I don’t think the goblins, kobolds, and other minor monsters of Alta could do that to a dragon though. It also doesn’t explain why one would be here,” Cory said.

“I was getting to that. What you said is right, monsters of different species or clan will gang up on outsiders. The main reason the dragon being here is so strange is that Alta lacks the food dragons like or the entertainments.”

“Entertainments?” said Jose.

“I think he means EXP,” Krisa said.

Kata nodded. “I do. Dragons like to inhabit places where worshipers have great amounts of experiences. Mostly Inimi lands, where all citizens are combat worshipers if they hope to survive.”

Rayner took note of what he said of the Inimi’s worshipers. It meant that they were a fighting culture where every citizen was expected to do battle.

They heard a noise outside and paused. They waited a moment longer and when no danger came, they relaxed. They didn’t go looking for the source of the noise.

If they went searching for every bump in the night, they would never get any sleep.

Calming after the fright, Kata went on. “Alta has nothing to offer the dragons other than safety. The Coalition was getting fed up with them. They had started to kidnap virgins.”

“I thought that was just a rumor. How does a dragon kidnap a person?” Krisa asked.

“Threaten others to do it for them,” said Cory.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Damn cowards.”

“Oh, so you would have fought the dragon for a maiden?”

“If she was cute.”

They all chuckled in agreement. If only they knew.

Rayner had an orgy with the virgins he’d rescued from the dragons.

“Seeing the dragons has given me a goal. A proper one. I do know you all want to head back after all.” They nodded so hard their heads almost came off. “I actually have always had a goal in mind but seeing the dragon fills me with the belief that it is possible.”

“Spill it out!” Krisa said, impatient.

“I want to know why the dungeon formed and how that formation was halted. Bear with me. Why did the dungeon form in that location and not where we camp tonight or on the hill for that matter? Is it random?”

All except Rayner paused in thought, looking for the answer. They would find none.

“Not my field of expertise. Let’s tuck in. Anyone up for sex?”

“No, thank you, dear,” said Kata as he nestled under the covers. Cory and Jose declined as well.

“Just you and me then.” She looked to Rayner casually and begun to remove her clothes.

Normally Rayner would have declined. Hell, he almost couldn’t believe his ears.

But he’d changed since coming to this world and as she pulled her shirt up to reveal her small but shapely breasts, their smooth contours highlighted by the lamplight, his pants began to grow tight.

This was no seduction. She wore no come hither look on her face and she didn’t tease him with her form.

Rather than try to entice him, she crawled with confidence over to him while he stared at her.

Her breasts swung as she moved on her hands and knees over to him. “The others are already asleep; I have another item that allows for the dampening of sounds of a sexual nature. I got it as payment for a job a prostitute couldn’t pay for.”

He continued to stare as she pressed her hand on his crotch and felt for him, judging his shape and length.

Pleased, she smiled and pulled the hem of his pants down so his hard cock was exposed to the light of the lamp and her curious eyes.

When she placed her bare hand on him, he shivered. Her hands were rough from years of swordsmanship but she still deftly stroked him, bringing him to his full length.

“I don’t want to do all the work.” She turned around so that her behind faced him, snug in her tight britches.

The same feeling came over him that he experienced during his first night with Sasha. Krisa clearly wanted him. So different from the girls of his world that endlessly teased and suggested interest.

His morals and corporate teachings taught him to keep his distance from the opposite sex to avoid lawsuits.

Even Axel advised against getting too close to girls.

Not here.

No endless texts. No drama. She was horny and so was he. That was all that mattered.

With a grunt, Rayner shuffled on his knees and jerked her britches down to expose smooth cheeks. He took them in his hands and massaged them with his palms before pushing her forward until the side of her face pressed into the ground.

“Took you a while but—oh! That’s good,” she moaned out, her eyes closed in pleasure.

Rayner pressed his face nose-deep into her sex, lapping at her while still using her ass as a handhold to eat her out. He wanted her wet for him, needed her to drip for him so that she could take all his girth.

She writhed in place and her legs shook. Rayner’s hold on her was all that kept her in place. When he heard her breath hasten, he knew she would cum.

It didn’t take long. Not wanting her to finish yet, he disengaged and wiped his wet mouth with the back of his hand.

“Why did you stop?” she said, dismayed.

He answered by entering three fingers into her and fucking them into her.

Her body lifted slightly, so that she squirmed on his fingers. Her pussy dripped with each stroke of his fingers, reminding him of the rain outside.

When he was sure she was ready, he took her once again by the hips and pulled her to him before ramming himself into her with a forceful grunt.

He didn’t take time to savor her wet walls that already spasmed around his cock. He wanted to cum in her quickly. It had been days since he’d last been with a woman.

Living at a brothel had spoiled him.

Rayner pushed into Krisa rapidly. The slap of their hips drowned out the raindrops on the tent roof. She’d long since stopped trying to muffle her moans in favor of gasping into the earth floor.

Grunting, Rayner teased her. “What was that about you doing all the work?”

He pushed another inch into her so she could not quip back at him.