James's dream drifted off in darkness and soon he found himself awoken by rays of sunshine entering a window. His hands were covered in some sort cold crusted goop.
Bringing his hand to his nose he sniffed and almost gagged.
'What is wrong with me, did I really jerk off in my sleep? Also why is there so much, it's everywhere..'
James sat up as he looked around, he was in a king sized bed with giant posts in all four corners. A couple bookshelves adorned the walls along with a few paintings.
'I guess it wasn't a dream then, I really did get isekai'd'
James pulled off the covers to find that he was still wearing his shirt turned underwear. James fell back into the bed and screamed into a pillow as he realized he went gallivanting through town like some sort of pervert.
'I have to get out of here.. I need to run away, what the hell was I thinking. There were so many opportunities to ask for clothes and the thought never even crossed my mind.'
Seemingly hearing his muted scream, Veronica opened the door. Her slim silhouette surprising James as she wasn't wearing her armor. Tight black clothing hugged her small upper body and thin waist. Her legs however were thick and juicy. James could swear he could see her ass from the front.
Veronica looked around the room, seeing that there wasn't any life threatening danger she stonily said, "The washbasin is full, get in before the enchantment magic wears off and it cools. There are a change of clothes in there as well." Saying this she 'Hmph'd' and left the room, slamming the door.
'How did I piss her off now? I just woke up!'
Sitting back up, James begrudgingly got out of bed and did as he was told. After cleaning and dressing himself, he finally got a proper look at his appearance in the mirror.
A youthful face, clear of his ever present dark circles back on earth, looked back. His hair was the same side parted dark brown. Same brown eyes. Slightly cleft chin. Same lip-
James studied his lip scar for a moment as he realized it was on the wrong side of his mouth. Not only that but his face was noticeabbly more angular, giving a model like appearance. While the lip scar bothered him, James put it out of his mind as he gave himself a strong 9/10, that was the highest rating he had given himself in a while.
James had to admit the clothes he received were quite comfortable. His white cotton shit was collard and had a breast pocket in which a neatly folded velvet handkerchief rested. His trousers were a sleek black dress pants style with suspenders. He ditched the provided glossy black dress shoes in favor of his original, much muddier, running shoes.
His dress was very business casual, but it had a refined quality to it. Combing his hair slightly, James was satisfied with result.
'Get ready world, James is coming through.'
Stepping out his room he saw on either side of the doorway stood his two protectors. Emily was in same outfit as yesterday but Veronica was wearing something new.
His earlier assessment of her bottom didn't do it justice. It was a work of art, how one could be so slim and have such big backside was a mystery to James. But he wasn't going to question it, just heavily appreciate his gift of eyesight.
On her back a bow and quiver were secured and at her side rested a short sword. Wondering at her change in attire James asked, "I like your new outfit Veronica! But why'd you change from the heavy armor from yesterday?"
Veronica blushed a little before regaining her composure, "Well I was obviously on duty yesterday so I had to be in uniform. And since my class is [Scout] and my duty is to protect you, I changed into an outfit suitable for my class, obviously."
Her words were a little cold and James was blown away by her rapid change of heart towards him.
"Um Veronica you know I lost my memories right, I don't know anything about something like that." James said a little hurt and confused.
Veronica had a look of panic as she noticed her words were a little unreasonable, "I'm sorry James, I didn't mean it like that."
James felt a little foolish as he thought he must've been overthinking it and said, "It's fine Veronica, but I need to let you know I think you look amazing in it." He gave his trademark winning smile at the end of his words.
Veronica seemed very happy to hear his words but her face suddenly turned blank as she responded with a 'hmph' sound.
James, blown away by her wishwashy behavior turned to Emily who seemed to be avoiding eye contact.
"Good morning Emily, how'd you sleep? I had this crazy dream I'll you about later."
As if stunned by electricity Emily managed out a jumbled, "Sleep.. oh yes I slept good, thank you for asking. In fact I slept like a log, I don't think anyone could woke me up. My sleep was so deep and heavy, even if someone played with my body last night I wouldn't have felt a thing!" Her voice getting higher in pitch as she kept talking.
"O…kay.. well that's good to hear I guess. So ladies are there any plans for the day or are we free to do as we wish?"
"Your schedule is clear for today James, I only ask you show yourself around town a little. A male is quite the attraction to breath some life into the economy." James heard a familiar voice from around the corner.
Lady Justine walked into view a moment later, "Though please don't oathbind any more of my higher level guards. They're hard to come by around here." She said this with a smirk.
James started rubbing the back of his head, embarrassed, while saying, "My apologies Lady Justine, Emily was just too good for me to pass up."
Grinning wider Justine said with a chuckle, "Oh I bet, Sir James. Last night I heard you couldn't wait to get your hands on your new prize."
James was confused as to meaning of her words but brushed it off while replying, "Am I restricted in moving out of town or anything? I've been itching to grind-, er, gain some exp."
A shocked gasp escaped all three women's mouths at the same time.
"Why in the goddess's name would want to do that?" Justine asked, completely incredulous.
"Because I want to… level?" James responded just as confused.
"But you're a man!"
"And?"
"And well- that's just it! Your a man, you don't need to level. You'll always be protected by guards of a high level, why go looking for danger when you don't have to?"
"But what if I don't have someone beside me, protecting me from harm. Did you forget how I came here yesterday? I definitely didn't have anyone with me then."
Seeing as she was actually losing the argument Lady Justine gave in and said, "Okay fine, have it your way Sir James. But no more than 10 kilometers away from the town. If I hear you went into the deep forest, you'll be restricted to your room."
"Yes! Thank you Lady Justine, you're the best." He ran over to the tall woman and hugged her. Smiling upwards he said, "Lady Justine is so smart, beautiful, and wise."
Thrown off by the unexpected contact, Justine scoffed while saying, "Usually you flatter someone before asking a favor, not after. Also if I didn't know you had lost your memories, I would've taken this as an invitation into the bedroom."
James didn't notice it before but Justine had profoundly red cheeks as she avoided eye contact.
'This definitely granted me a +10 bonus to my manly image.. I need to do this more often.'
"It's not flattery if it's true, my lady." Finally catching her eye and giving a playful smile. James noticed something poking him in the stomach before he backed away.
'I wonder if she's carrying a knife in pants, better keep my teasing minimal with her.'
Turning back to his companions James said, "Alright then, breakfast and then we head out."
————
(10 exp gained)
(530/1000 to level 2)
Without [Entoxicating Scent] active, his exp farming was agonizingly slow. Without the monsters coming to him only a painful trickle of exp was available.
James previous theory was correct however, the slimes when they noticed they were in danger went right for the head. Twice now he had been saved by Emily's fast reflexes.
It wasn't quite midday yet but James needed to shake things up if he was ever going to level. But the only helpful skill in his arsenal was quickly vetoed by himself.
'I really do not want to have to explain this weird skill of mine, plus I want to avoid the awkward mess if it affects them as well.'
Veronica and Emily's strange attitude had persisted throughout the morning. James attempted conversation but Veronica kept giving short abrasive responses. Emily on the other hand, stayed a distance away from him at all times like he was some sort of dirty pervert.
'Well I am a dirty pervert, but how would she even guess that?'
Time slowly passed as James grinded the slime's exp. The trio had inadvertently crossed the 10 kilometer limit set by Justine and stumbled onto a pack of three goblins.
They seemed… somewhat familiar to James? His trio crouched low to avoid being noticed, the goblins were about a 100 paces in front of them, in a small clearing.
Noticing the threat level of goblins were higher than the slimes, Veronica smoothly drew her bow preparing to fire.
James stopped her with a hand and whispered, "Don't kill them, I need that exp."
James was surprised when Veronica fired anyway, shooting three arrows out at a rapid pace.
"Veronica what the hell?!" James snapped.
"I didn't kill them, dummy!" She bit back.
James stunned by her outburst, looked over at the three goblins. Each had an arrow through the knee pinning them into the ground.
'Good lord her aim is impressive. I do wish she wasn't being so mean today though..'
"I'm sorry Veronica, I got ahead of myself. Nice shooting though, you're really amazing!" Hoping to win her back over, James layed it on thick.
"Thank you and I'm sorry as well. I didn't mean to call you names.." Veronica said embarrassed.
"That's okay, I'm glad you did actually. Name calling is what friends do after all."
"Well uh.. friends.. really? Are we friends now.. I thought I was first on the quota.. now I've been demoted to friend.. since have Emily now I guess you don't need me anymore.." She said this as her voice started to treamble and tears fell.
'What the fuck! Does she really hate the idea of being friends with me that much.. I thought we were making pretty good progress too.'
Veronica had sunk to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Uh Veronica, I'm sorry! We don't have to be friends, really. So please stop-" James in an attempt to pull her back up to her feet reached his hand out. His left hand.
Quick as lightning, Veronica snatched his hand in her own.
'Oh for the love of god. Me and my good intentions. She's really going to hate me now.. if she didn't want to be friends this bad, I can only imagine-'
James was shocked out of his internal ramblings when Veronica caught his attention. She still towered over him, even on her knees and after wiping her eyes, brought his hand to her mouth. Maintaining her eye contact, she completed the first step to the oathbinding ritual.
'My heart can't take this! What is with the fickle nature of women in this world!'