Sorrow from a Single Praise
Somehow, just one word of "good job" made a wave of sorrow crash over me. I slowly pulled up my pants, muttering under my breath.
"You didn't have to hit me that hard..."
"That's the only way you'll learn not to screw up next time."
"......"
I should've just kept my mouth shut. Cancel that. I take back what I said about him being different from Lucas.
Every time the fabric brushed against me, it stung, making me flinch. Awkwardly holding a half-crouched pose to keep it from touching, Terria asked,
"You still wanna go out?"
"Why do you think I put up with all that crap? Hand it over. Now."
He snickered. "Pfft, alright. Here."
Terria pulled the artifact from his bag and handed it over. Whatever. I pursed my lips in a pout, sulking hard.
Activating the artifact, a soft veil of mana wrapped around my body.
"How's it feel? Can you see anything?"
"Seems to be working fine. Check the mirror."
Sure enough, no tail or ears in the reflection. I could feel they were still there on my body, but they weren't in my line of sight. The sensation was weird—like an optical illusion.
Of course it was. This artifact wasn't Humanization Magic. That spell forcibly alters your physical structure, but the artifact just distorts vision. It was like the disorientation after swimming in the ocean all day, your body still rocking with phantom waves. Wearing it too long would probably make me nauseous.
"Remember what you said? If you mess up again, you get punished."
"...Shut up. I know."
I remembered it crystal clear. In that sense, this was my ten-spanks-on-the-ass artifact. I couldn't lose it no matter what. It wasn't that expensive, but I clutched it like it was priceless. Terria noticed.
"Alright, let's wash up and head out. You go first."
I grabbed some clothes and a towel and shuffled into the bathroom. My legs felt weak; I gripped the sink and let out a heavy sigh.
Stripping down and twisting to check the mirror, my ass was swollen bright red. It still burned where he'd hit me. And my pussy...
It was wet.
My oblivious tail wagged nonstop, clueless that it was to blame. That damn thing. If I could, I'd chop it off.
I screamed loud enough to shake the bathroom. "Aaaah!"
From outside, Terria chuckled. "Want me to hit you more?"
"Shut up!"
With the artifact on, no one batted an eye at me. Nobody knew I was a fox-beastkin slave. Unless they used precise detection magic, there was no way to tell. I looked like a normal assistant.
Ariel's research assistant.
"What now?"
"What do you mean, what?"
"Wanna stick together?"
I probably wouldn't get kidnapped anymore, but I still felt uneasy. Just in case. And... I didn't want to get punished.
Even without magic, Terria in Ariel's body wouldn't be messed with lightly. After a moment's thought, I replied,
"Yeah, let's."
The Blue Tower Lord had a ton of lectures to attend. They weren't strictly mandatory, but showing up couldn't hurt, so it was best to go whenever possible. Some I could join as an assistant, others I couldn't. My position made it ambiguous.
We stuck together when we could, split up when we had to.
"Blue Tower Lord, it's been a while. And who's this stunning beauty...?"
Some mages hit on me now and then.
"My assistant, Terria."
"Ah, I see. If it's not too forward, may I invite you both to dinner?"
His eyes raked me from head to toe. And he was old enough to have grandkids. Creepy as hell.
But I had no good comeback. It wasn't outright sexual harassment—just a dinner invite. Hard to call out.
This happened because Ariel's face wasn't well-known. Almost no one knew I was a slave.
"Are you two... together?"
"I have a fiancée."
"Of course, but plenty of men keep mistresses. And your assistant here has the kind of beauty worthy of being called a magnum opus. Haha."
Magnum opus referred to the process of creating the philosopher's stone—a masterpiece. Since the stone was theoretical, it became a symbolic term. Alchemists used it for something awe-inspiring.
It was a compliment, sure, but coming from this leering pervert? Not flattering at all.
"Terria's just my assistant."
"Y-yeah. We're not... together..."
We answered almost in unison. The perv blinked at us, baffled.
Terria shot me a look like, What the hell?—like I was crazy.
Or maybe a bitch. I signaled with my eyes. Just play along.
Is that how you really feel?
Are you nuts?
Then why say it?
To shake off this creep, duh.
Felt pretty sincere for that.
We locked eyes intensely for a good while until the perv cleared his throat awkwardly.
"You two seem awfully close."
"Yeah, we get that a lot."
Terria played along smoothly. I barely touched my food before excusing myself. The meal was fancy, but tasteless. I wasn't even sure if it went in my mouth or my nose.
The perv was more discreet than he looked. No juicy gossip about our "relationship." Still, rumors spread faster than feet, so I worried it'd reach Clechia's ears.
Luckily, Clechia—elemental magic specialist—skipped the alchemy conference. But who knew when she'd barge in to see Ariel? I agonized over how to handle it, then decided to cross that bridge when we came to it.
Interpersonal crap was harder than alchemy. No wonder most mages were personality wrecks.
And Lucas. Running into him would've been awkward, but we didn't cross paths for the rest of the schedule. Maybe he was avoiding us.
Soon after, an official protest document arrived from the Red Tower.
"That crazy bastard."
"We stepped in shit."
Cheeky Lucas was as brazen as his ugly mug. The demands were outrageous—anyone could see that.
"This is over half our tower's annual budget."
"We'll haggle it down. They screwed up too, so we can negotiate."
We picked it apart point by point. In the end, we got the compensation down to a reasonable level.
What puzzled me was how cooperative Terria was. He deferred to my opinions on most conference issues. Given what he'd done before, it was baffling.
The reason was simple.
"Hngh... Ahh...! Y-yes, too rough...!"
Every night, Terria groped my breasts. His logic? He was handling work diligently, so he deserved something.
"Where's it feel good? Here?"
"I don't know...! Stop touching so much, ahh...! Nngh... Do you like this? Hnngh...!"
I had no idea why it had to be my tits, but I let him have his way. By the end of the foreplay, my face was a sloppy mess, panting... but he never pushed further.
"Yeah. So soft and squishy, I can't stop."
"You sick perv. Ah... Hnngh, haaah...! Hnnght."
I'd groped plenty of women's breasts before, but only for foreplay. Never felt good from my side.
Whatever. Now his hands slipped under my clothes, touching bare skin. Circling my nipples gently, then flicking—waves of pleasure hit harder than expected.
All I could do was surrender to him, letting out dazed moans. My will had nothing to do with the sounds spilling out.
"When you cum, you say it, right? You know the rules."
"Y-yes! Nngh... C-cumming...! Cumminggg, haaaah...! Haaangh...!"
At climax, he'd pull back, satisfied. What satisfied him? No clue. But every night, it felt like something inside me chipped away a little.
That was it, though. No other demands. No dog impressions at meals. And the mood...
It felt good. Too good. I was getting used to the caresses, and that scared me.
But I never asked for it first. Never would.
Days passed uneventfully, making all our past drama feel faded. Like the calm before a storm.
As the week's conference wound down, the day of Ariel's lecture dawned.