Hard Earned Coin

Kosuke agreed to go back into the drawer.

He even climbed back in of his own accord, after handing over the needle he found in there as a gesture of good faith that he wouldn't try to break out again.

"Wait," I said as he was about to close himself in.

He gave me a hesitant, cautious look.

"You can stay—but only for a little while. And only because Leilei is sleeping and covered!"

He smiled. Seemed overjoyed, until he saw my expression, then quickly turned and hopped out of the dresser as though he were afraid I'd change my mind at any second.

He came over and plopped down next to me, and we sat in awkward silence, staring at the wall for an irritating amount of time before I finally got annoyed waiting on him to break the ice.

"Let's get this over with. How did you get here?"

"Well, after you—"

"Stop," I demanded, "I really don't want to know." That was the truth, I just couldn't bear the awkward silence anymore, and I couldn't think of anything else to talk about.

"I'm sorry," he said. "What would you like to talk about?"

I sighed, he was truly hopeless. "What are your plans, now that you're here?"

"Well..." he said, "my only goal is to fulfill my promise to you, so that's my plan."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Being that that was another life, I'd say you are now free from that vow."

He was silent for a long moment, as if debating to tell me something that was pressing on his mind. Then he shook his head and looked at me, resolute. "In that case: I hereby swear my vow anew. I will follow you, and serve as your most faithful minion. Until the ends of Yrr..." He looked deeper into my eyes and added—and I couldn't help but speak these next words in unison with him:

"..and beyond."

His tone was solemn and serious, mine was sarcastic and mocking.

"Oh, you're getting along now, how cute!" chimed in Leilei from out of nowhere.

She was sitting upright and smiling at us, apparently finished with her nap. She picked up Kosuke and lovingly squeezed him against her cheek.

He just stared speechless in front of him—mouth open—locked in a state of bliss from being handled so affectionately by such a beautiful, naked woman. Somehow, he was blushing, despite not having any blood.

"Okay, back to the drawer," I snatched him from her grasp then dropped him in, slammed it shut, locked it, and fought the urge to swallow the key.

***

As the sun began to shine through the window, I felt like an old woman—as if all my powers had left me. I had to make absolute sure that I was never outside of an inn when dawn came.

That would be catastrophic.

Leilei hung some curtains up then climbed into her bed, patting the space next to her invitingly. I'd planned on sleeping on the floor, but I couldn't deny how much cozier this seemed.

As the last strands of consciousness left me, I crawled beneath the covers and snuggled into her warm, green, jiggly embrace.

***

We awoke late in the afternoon. Leilei made us breakfast: raven eggs and pumpernickel toast with indigo berry jam and deer milk to wash it down. That might sound weird to you, but it was unbelievably scrumptious. I was mainly just happy that I had any taste at all. I'd read so many isekai stories where the MC became so video-gamified that they were no long able to enjoy things like sleep or nourishment.

That would have been too much like my previous life...

Kosuke, however, didn't seem to need to sleep or eat, which I found profoundly off-putting, knowing that he'd be fully awake, roaming around the entire time I slept... We couldn't count on having a lockable drawer to stow him in at every inn we stayed at. Perhaps I needed to get some kind of cage...

Anyway, it was evening by the time we had everything packed, cleaned and ready to head out.

The goal? Well, we were going to take the tunnel—the one made from the giant hollow log I mentioned earlier—to the capital, Yore. I was going to put up my spare dolls for auction, and also see about getting a new Schema to start making some more powerful minions.

That made Kosuke nervous, of course.

Well, he could technically level up and become more powerful himself, but I had serious doubts about how effective a sock monkey could be, despite how much experience he gained, and despite the quality of gear he was equipped with. "We'll just have to see..." was the best answer I could give him when he expressed concern over what would happen to him once I was able to create some better dolls.

It was the honest answer, in any case.

We left the inn, just as the last rays of twilight faded behind the giant stump of Yore, just beyond the Western horizon. I felt the power, which had left me when dawn broke, course back into my veins. I couldn't suppress my own wicked smile.

A smile fit only for a Night Witch.

Everything just felt so... right.

Although only Night Witches had this particular quirk of having her powers so temporally dependent, the denizens of the Fae Alliance seemed to have more of an inclination toward night life anyway.

Indeed, Faunhaven came alive as night fell.

Everyone seemed to be roaming the streets. Pixies, Satyrs, Behemoths and Dryads—all Fae denizens contributed to the vibrancy of the atmosphere.

Even a group of particularly belligerent Behemoths, who stumbled out of the tavern just up ahead of us. There were four of them and they seemed like they'd been drinking, a lot. 

Perhaps I should use this as an opportunity to describe how Behemoths actually look in this world.

Among all the races of our faction, they had the most customization options concerning their appearance. Mainly regarding their hides and heads. All of them were giant (about two and a half meters tall), bipedal, and barrel-chested beasts—but beyond that, each one was essentially a chimera with their own unique appearance.

The group up ahead consisted of one guy with green scales and a rooster head; another had the head of a boar, with thick, bristly hide; another looked like a ram and was surprisingly well-groomed compared to the others; and then there was the largest of them in the middle, that everyone had their gazes directed to.

Obviously he was their leader. He had the head of a bull (only much uglier) and the body of a gorilla. He was shirtless with large gold rings pierced through his black nipples. He had a large gourd strapped to his back which marked him as a Brewer.

For some reason, seeing these boisterous brutes emerging from the bar up ahead, Leilei froze in her tracks, then spun around suddenly with a very nervous look on her face. "Actually, I think we should stock up on some more supplies..." she said, already heading off in the other direction.

"What? Which supplies, we've already gotten more than we could possibly nee—"

"There she is, there's our gorgeous green dancer!" shouted the bullhead, which ignited a round a jeers from his cronies.

Only the ram head remain quiet and composed. He was also the only one who didn't seem drunk. In fact, he seemed rather cultivated and classy, standing with his arms folded and a serious expression as though he were only reluctantly tagging along with this motley crew.

The rooster and pig heads, on the other hand, were cat calling and howling like crazed degenerates.

"What are they—" I turned to Leilei, who was the only green one here, to ask what they were talking about—but she looked like all she wanted to do was to crawl in a hole and die.

"Hey, where's that pretty smile? You wanna make sure we get our money's worth, right?" said pig head.

"Yeah, we just got a bunch of copper pieces for ya, maybe even a couple silver, depending on if you've learned some of those new moves we suggested!" shouted the rooster head.

"That's right, you're still desperate for coin, aren't ya? Well, quit holding up the party," said the alpha brute with the bull head. He reached into his purse, and pulled out a handful of copper coins, "and get back up on that mailbox and dance!"

"Leilei, who are these idiots?!" I demanded. The tiny shred of patience I had for them was already long gone.

She merely squatted down and buried her face into her hands. "T-this can't be happening..." I heard her muttering to herself, profoundly distraught, obviously having some kind of breakdown.

"Leilei! What's wrong?" asked Kosuke as he and I moved to try and console her.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I should have warned you... now your reputation is ruined... being seen with me in public..." she began to sob uncontrollably.

"Leilei, I don't give a horned rabbit's butt about reputation. You need to explain what's going on—right now!" I said, growing more furious by the second. Their whistles and cat calls wouldn't stop and they were all jingling their purses at her.

"Remember... when you asked... how I was able to afford... materials for leveling my Kraft?" she squeaked in between sobbing breaths.

Oh yeah, she leveled up solely through experienced gained from her kraftwork, which would have been an unavoidably expensive endeavor.

Oh...

I was starting to understand...

"I'm so sorry... they said all I had to do was dance on the mailbox... but I forgot I was naked... I was so naive... I didn't understand why they were so insistent about it... but then, since I did it once, I thought there was no harm in doing it again.... and every few days this party comes through... and they... they..."

"They what?"

"Hey, our liquor's wearin' off, get your sweet cheeks up there and start shakin' it already!" demanded the bull head, and then he threw his handful of coppers at Leilei.

"Ow!" she cried out in pain. 

A couple coins struck Kosuke and knocked him off balance. One of them hit me in the cheek. I'm sure it would have hurt, but I was too enraged to feel anything.

"Th-they throw their coins at me like that.... then make me c-crawl around and pick them up..."

I found myself storming straight at the great brute before I even realized what I was doing.