She didn’t disappoint me, after all. I didn’t know what was different after my admittance, but after this Rosha lost that self-sacrificing air and, as her sister wanted her to, as I wanted her to, relaxed. Despite my lack of practical experience, I knew the basic mechanics. The rest I substituted with enthusiasm, and to my delight and a blinding rush of lust, soon enough Rosha responded in kind.

The first time I came on top of her, so fast that I wasn’t ready for it myself, and it did little to take the rush of blood out of my ears. Then, with that scowl again, Rosha took the lead. “It’s my responsibility to whoever else you will pick up to at least teach you how to satisfy a woman,” she said and proceeded to show me just that. I was a quick study, and the learning itself was my pleasure. ​​

We ended up lying in a sprawl of limbs on Rosha’s narrow and unpleasantly hard bed. My arm was Rosha’s pillow; our legs were tangled together. She was lying with her eyes closed, and I wondered if she fell asleep. I felt like falling asleep myself, though another part of me wondered if Rosha would be up for another go. If I would be up for another go. My body was lax all over, but a part of me told me that everything was possible.

I grinned. Everything was possible, yes. Our contract was only for one time, and we did three, and I was sure she knew it.

“Are you satisfied now?” Rosha suddenly asked me. I watched how her blue eyes slowly opened and prided myself at the haze of sated lust I put in there. Even if Rosha was frowning again. “Is this all what you are up to in here? Sex, food—”

“I also had booze on my list, but I didn’t get to it yet. But it’s just something for my free time. My primary goal is to find these bastards who call themselves gods and kill them.” With how relaxed I felt, it was hard to bring the rage that simmered in me to the surface. This was very telling. Yes, sex was a powerful thing. “No, if I just kill them, they will simply return to Heaven… No, I want to kill them dead. Eat their souls and leave nothing behind.”

“You want to kill gods?” Rosha raised her head up to stare at me in shock and disbelief. “This is impossible!”

“I will make it possible, whatever it takes,” I told her with grim determination I felt.

Rosha’s head fell back, and for a while she stayed silent. “I will root for you, Voren,” she finally said. “They really ARE bastards.”

This was unexpected. Now it was my turn to look at her in surprise. “I thought you, humans, worshipped them.”

Rosha scoffed. “If there was much to worship them for. The Adventurers’ Guild they established bleeds standalone crafters like me dry. It bleeds everyone it can dry. All adventurers work for the Guild, and most of them sell the materials from monsters only to the Guild, too. And Guild adds their own markup when you want to buy materials from them. I either have to raise prices for items above the Guild’s in order to account for it, or sell my wares almost for the cost of the materials. And why would anyone come to me for expensive items if they could buy cheaper from the Guild’s craftsmen?”

“Of course, they are bastards here, too. Once bastard, always a bastard.” I nodded wisely. “Why won’t you change a profession, then, Rosha?”

“This is the only craft I know. Weapons, armour… I wouldn’t even make a decent maid. I tried.” Rosha sighed. “Then, maids and waitresses don’t earn enough for me and my sister. And adventuring is just too risky. So I took a loan from the Guild and built my own shop. It’s been tight, but… I had enough to pay off interest from the loan, at least. Recently, Risha got old enough to work, too… until she met Teren.”

“Teren.” I hummed, speculating. ‘Hard time’ Rosha mentioned, Risha’s visible fear of me despite her overall friendly attitude, Rosha’s hatred for Teren… “Did he **** her?”

The tension in Rosha’s body, and the fury in her eyes, were my answer. “I see. Well, he won’t be a problem for you anymore, or for anyone else.”

This made Rosha relax gradually. “Did he die painfully?”

“I didn’t torture him, but he didn’t die in his sleep. Do you want more details?”

“No,” Rosha said after a brief pause. “I’m just glad he died. He won’t to that to Risha or anyone else again.” She paused again. “It was good, after all, that you just wanted sex from me for it. I would need every bronze coin now.”

I propped myself up on my elbows. “Business not going well?”

Rosha scowled. “Even worse than before. After the poor harvests last year, there’s just not as much money everywhere. People buy food first, then have nothing left for my wares later. Most of my customers were just simple people who wanted a simple sword or leathers against bandits, or to sharpen their tools. Now they all can’t spare money.”

She fell silent for a minute, thinking hard about something. I watched the creases of her face, then my eyes moved lower, to the creases and valleys and hills of her torso. I was contemplating burying my face in her chest when Rosha spoke again.

“Voren… I have another deal for you.” She rose a little too and smiled bitterly when she caught where I was looking. “I think you will be pretty interested in it, too.”