Chapter 28: The First Stop

While Rose and Cole didn’t discuss what happened any further, there was no changing the fact that they shared a very intimate moment. Rose knew she only did what needed to be done, but making another person cum changes the relationship no matter what. Based on the way Cole looked at her sometimes, she was sure that he felt the same way, too. After the debacle with Ivan, though, she had no intention of having a boyfriend anytime soon.

Six weeks after they set out from the capital, the party finally arrived at the northeastern coastal town of Kraken, which served as the main hub for the area. Two handmaidens were there to receive Rose and welcome both her and Cole into the local governor’s house. The handmaidens were tall, beautiful, and completely naked except for some footwear. Their hair even seemed to be tied in the back to prevent it from covering their large breasts. There were more nude women inside as well, many of them casually walking around or having conversations. The men, though, were all dressed as usual, which made Rose assume that the governor here was some misogynistic male pervert.

The maidens led Rose and Cole to a warm, welcoming room that contained its own bath. There was a curtain on one side of the bedroom to separate a smaller bed from the rest of the room. Just as the maidens bowed and turned to leave, another naked woman entered. She was also tall and pretty but older than the two maidens. A handsome, dressed man followed closely at her side, and Rose immediately didn’t like him. Based on the quality of his clothing and the way he carried himself, Rose knew this must be the governor of Kraken.

“Welcome, Lady Rose of House Scarlet,” the man said. “My name is Austin, and this is my wife and the governor of Kraken, Lady Lexa.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rose,” Lexa smiled as she stepped forward. This caught Rose by surprise, but she smiled and held out her hand to shake Lexa’s. Lexa’s hand closed around Rose’s, but not in a handshaking manner. Instead, Lexa closed the gap between them, leaned in, and suddenly, Rose felt the lady’s warm lips press against her own mouth. Rose gripped Lexa’s hand firmly as a tongue pushed past her lips and into her mouth, and it wasn’t until Rose greeted Lexa with her own tongue that the lady finally pulled away again.

“Welcome to Kraken,” Lexa said pleasantly. “I’m sure you’re tired after your long journey, but if you and I could walk together for a few minutes,” she added. Rose followed Lexa out of the room, leaving Austin and Cole behind. Once they were out of earshot from anyone else, Lexa continued. “Thank you for walking with me. I wanted to fill you in on my town.”

Lexa spoke for several minutes about the town of Kraken. She explained that the town was originally founded by women looking to assert certain freedoms for any other women who wanted them. Only women could hold the top official positions and offices, while men could hold lesser positions or be assistants. As part of the culture, Krakenian women shed all of their clothing upon reaching puberty. Krakenian men were only allowed to undress in private. Further, men were only able to touch women with their permission or to protect them from harm or danger. Touching a woman without consent resulted in a painful erection until the man turned himself in at the inappropriate behavior office.

“Do these laws apply to guests as well?” Rose asked.

“They do,” Lexa answered. “The magic allows for a grace period of a few hours, but after that, it will remove any clothes you try to put on.”

Rose returned to her room sometime later and explained the laws to Cole. Because they were usually near one another, Rose also gave Cole permission to touch her. As they dined on a well-prepared meal that evening, Rose’s clothing sparkled and vanished. Cole, sitting across from Rose, averted his eyes.

“It’s okay,” Rose said. “We’re going to be here for at least a week, so you might as well get used to seeing me naked.”

Cole raised his eyes again, and Rose sat up straight as he looked at her. His eyes held on her person for a long moment before lowering to the food on his plate again. Having lived in a boy’s body herself, she wondered how the men Kraken managed to keep themselves from having a boner all day. She especially worried about Cole, who wasn’t used to having naked women around everywhere. They’d both have to make sure to evaluate their arousal every night and relieve themselves.

“A large number of men have formed a faction to change the laws of Kraken,” Lexa said as they resumed business after breakfast the following day. “As I explained last night, these are some of the founding laws of the town, but these men are arguing that they’re unfair and don’t account for equality.”

Rose was sitting across from Lexa at a table with four people. To Lexa’s side was another naked woman, who was the law master of Kraken, and to Rose’s side was Cole. Rose was busy trying to understand the laws and customs while removing her own biases from the equation. The world that she came from heavily claimed to have equal freedoms, but Scarlaria was different. She had seen all manner of things that heavily favored men in some cases and women in other cases. The law master even explained to Rose that another town further west had the same law for women to be naked, except that the law was intended to exploit women rather than empower them. However, the faction of men had garnered enough support to compel a response and ruling from the capital.

Rose felt as if her brain was mush by lunchtime. She went off into the town with Cole to get a better understanding of the townsfolks because, according to her directive, the settling of laws that only affected one town fell within her purview, which meant she couldn’t bring it back with her. Before leaving, she would have to make an official decision. It wasn’t going to be an easy decision either. From what she could see, all of the women in town were happy. She also noticed that here, like everywhere else in Scarlaria, the women had much bigger boobs than she did, even the girls her age. Her small bust seemed to draw a lot of attention.

Another observation Rose made was that while women seemed to own all of the shops and services, the men didn’t appear to be unhappy. If there was such a faction as Lexa described, then Rose was sure that no one she had seen was part of it. Walking around the town naked made it uncomfortable for her to focus. She continued worrying about people staring at her, but aside from the initial gazes, she seemed to be just another girl. It almost felt offensive that men didn’t want to stare at her. Though, she chalked that feeling up to the culture in her own world. If there were plenty of naked women everywhere, then the value of seeing one would drop drastically.