Dragon's Tale 43 (Patreon)

I was tempted to let out an appreciative whistle as I watched Theodora shedding the rags she had been wearing, revealing her pristine skin underneath, the light olive tone adding an exotic taste for my viewing pleasure. After living all my life in the north, her tastefully tanned looking was a sip of freshwater. 

No wonder the slavers never punished her even after she tried to escape. While the slavers were cruel —sometimes needlessly— even a semi-successful one like the ones that had captured me was aware of the value of such a beautiful slave, and her upper-class upbringing just enhanced her value further. Even the slightest wound would have reduced her market value significantly. 

My mouth started to water as she freed herself from the oppression of her shirt, revealing her tits, perfectly sized to fill my palm with no excess, exquisitely perky. I bit my lips to not to make any noise even as I made a show of browsing the documents on the flimsy desk, while I kept my eyes firmly on the mirror, watching as her loose pants went down, revealing her stunning legs, toned to perfection. Apparently, the slavers gave her the baggiest clothes they had to limit her attractiveness, but with a limited effect. 

She tried to fix her hair before she pushed her underwear down. Normally, it should have been an unimportant detail, but things changed when it caused us to make eye contact through the reflection in the mirror. She let out a cute gasp as she wrapped her arms around her chest, her face blushing immediately. “No,” she gasped in shock. 

I just smirked as I turned to look at her, wearing only her bulky underwear, her arms hugging her body tightly, unaware of the popping effect it created with her breasts. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have peeked through the mirror,” I said with an exaggerated apology, which sounded sincere, but considering I was actually facing her while she wore almost nothing, it wasn’t particularly effective. I might have actually pulled back if she had shown any hint of actual panic or trauma, but the cute blush she sported told me a different story. 

She said nothing, waiting for me to turn back, but I decided to tease her a little, and not because I wanted to see her naked body —at least, not just that— but due to a desire to test her attitude a little. She had just declared that she wanted to work with me, and before I could reveal any secret to her, I needed to know more about her personality. 

Teasing her under the circumstances might not be the best choice, but it was certainly a fun choice. 

“W-will you turn your back?” she stammered after a minute, the hesitancy adding a beautiful cadence to her musical voice. 

“Sure, if you want me to turn back,” I said with a smirk, suddenly twisting the narrative. She froze at my words, realizing the implied subtext. 

“I…” she started, only for her voice to fail midway, her noble upbringing fighting against the rush of emotions she had been feeling. The attack and the rescue were confusing enough without suddenly introducing a sexual angle to our little game, but I was certainly selfish enough to put that on the table if she wanted to use me as a shield for whatever trouble she was escaping from, to a point that she preferred to stay with a complete unknown like me rather than trying to make her way back to her family —if she had any remaining family. 

“You…” I said as I crossed my arms in a way that mirrored hers, making her blush even harder. 

However, her overwhelmed state didn’t last long, self-control exerting itself once more. At that point, I expected her to kindly ask me to stop teasing her, and prepared to turn, which was why her words surprised me greatly. “N-no touching,” she stammered, her blush getting even thicker. 

“As you wish, princess,” I mocked her, only for her to flinch at the last word. It wasn’t a big flinch, almost impossible to catch in the dimness of the tent, and she managed to hide it almost immediately, but my senses were too sharp to miss that. Maybe I shouldn’t have focused on that, but after several days that passed without the gentle touch of a beautiful woman —especially after I got used to a very busy schedule thanks to Lillian and Astrid’s enhanced libido and competitive nature— I was more interested in the way her arms fell on the side, once again revealing her spectacular breasts to my gaze. 

She said nothing, her momentary flinch superseded by the way she took a step forward, a simple yet elegant move that could be only possible through years of dance training. The step made her breasts jiggle just enough for my mouth to water. I sat on a nearby crate, watching as she turned to the side before pushing down her underwear, partially revealing her perky ass while hiding her core from the view. 

As I watched her, I could feel my body heating up, my instincts flaring once more. 

After living with them for more than half a year, I didn’t want to call them foreign instincts anymore. As I got used to them, I was having an easier time controlling the urgency they created, begging for me to step forward and dominate the naked beauty in front of me, but that didn’t reduce the burning desire it awakened. 

The bodily reaction it created was noticed by Theadora, whose gaze locking into the tent in front of my pants, informing her about my impressive size. Her blush intensified even further. She reached for the clean clothes she was about to change —a bunch of clothes designed for men— but she stalled after grabbing the bulky underwear. I watched as she watched my shaft hesitantly, like she was trying to decide something, but unfortunately, her sense of propriety won over her desire and hero worship. 

Still, it wasn’t without a benefit, as she was rather slow as she pulled them on, almost in a caressing manner, displaying her legs for the maximum effect even as she hid them behind the coarse cloth, doing it with such a sheer eroticism that forced me to adjust my pants to save me from the obstructive tightness. After pulling that on, she grabbed the shirt, facing me as she pulled that on with deliberate slowness, as if she was trying to pay back for my heroics, though her gaze dropping down for my bulge suggested that she was also feeling the effects of arousal. 

I was tempted to pull my pants down to give her the full view, but despite the temptation, I held back, even when she gave me a pouty smile as she slowly buttoned up her shirt as she walked around in the room, her hips swaying temptingly. 

“That’s a nice show,” I said lazily as she was halfway in putting up the shirt, hiding her breasts, but still with a large cleavage. “But you can never hide like that,” I added. “You’re too beautiful to pass as a man, and even if you did, I doubt it would protect you from ending in the bed of an aggressive noble.” 

Her blush was spectacular. “What should I do?” she asked. 

“Come here,” I said, patting my knee. She was hesitant as she walked toward me, excitement battling with trepidation, her expression actually making it harder for me to resist the temptation, but somehow, I managed to do so even as she perched on my lap. 

“Are you going to cast a spell to disguise me?” she asked. “That won’t work, not when I’m trying to enter the city. 

“I know,” I answered with a shrug. “That’s an amateur’s way,” I said, once again remembering my grandfather’s lessons. My training wasn’t as detailed in the area of disguise and other trickeries, but still, it included some crash-course details. The most important being my grandfather’s disdain toward the more magical tricks, actually turning your disguise into a lighthouse for any sufficiently sensitive mage. 

Instead, I pulled the bag of makeup I found in the tent, which surprised me with their quality until I remembered they were actually in the business of selling people, which meant the better their merchandise looked, the more money they could make. 

“Let’s make you ugly,” I said with a smirk even as I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer, though still half an inch away from my erection, her naked legs trembling in excitement. I dipped the brush on the concealer, and started caressing her chin, trying to add some clunky shadows that would ultimately look like the early stages of a patchy beard. However, rather than adding a thick layer directly, which would have worked perfectly, I added the thinnest layer possible. 

Why keep it short when I had such a beautiful girl on my lap, with the sight of her beautiful cleavage just a bonus. 

However, as much as I enjoyed her tight ass pressing against my thigh, it wasn’t the only reason to tease her. No, since she declared that she wanted to help me —and doubtlessly use me for her protection at the same time— I wanted to test her. Honestly, despite her beauty, if it wasn’t for her honest dismay when she accidentally triggered the string of the events that caused me to get captured, I wouldn’t have accepted despite the information potential she represented. “So, you want to help me,” I stated even as I caressed her face gently with the brush. 

“Yes,” she answered, losing her stammer immediately at the mention of a more serious topic, though the same didn’t apply to the frustrated arousal that colored her face. “I can help you navigate the upper class of Rome.” 

“That’s a nice offer,” I murmured. “And no doubt, using my help to get away from whatever disaster you’re trying to get away,” I added.

“N-no-” she tried to argue, her stammer immediately back, but I cut her off my tightening my grip around her waist, though considering just how low my hold was, it was more erotic than punishing. 

“Don’t panic, that’s understandable,” I countered, calming her down. “It’s only fair that we’re both benefiting from each other. I wouldn’t want you to work for me just because I have saved you through a lucky break,” I said, which was a little trick. I wouldn’t have rejected her help even if she had been doing it for sheer kindness, but there was no harm in some fake generosity.

“Thanks,” she murmured, losing some of her tensenesses, even when I let my hand slide lower, comfortably resting at the small of her back, adding some more intimacy to the situation. 

“So, what do you have in mind next?” I probed, curious about the way she would think rather than the plan itself, ignoring the throbbing of my shaft, or her aroused trembling.  

“The best way to establish myself in Rome,” she murmured. “They don’t have a lot of riches, but if I could get in the city, I could rent a small estate on the outskirts, playing the role of a young daughter of a minor noble, trusted by her father to set up a small trade business. That way, you could help ” 

I shook my head. “That wouldn’t work very well, with the reputation as a merchant,” I said. It was one of the weird quirks I never understood about society. For some reason, merchants were treated in disdain even when they got incredibly rich, severely curtailing their potential to enter the high society, a place that I needed to enter. 

“I know,” she answered. “But I don’t have a lot of options, not without enough money to spread around, and maybe bribe a couple of officials.” 

“Hmm,” I murmured, trying to gain some time while considering the merits of giving her some of the hard-earned loot I had gathered while hunting back in the mountain. They consisted of a range of rare magical reagents, and represented a lot of money —not to a point of rivaling the net worth of a lower-rung noble family, but enough to fake being one for a few months if one being smart enough. While it was early to trust her with such a significant wealth, my decision to go undercover as a gladiator made it ill-advised to bring them with me into the city in the first place. The slavers missed the significance of the bag, but I wasn’t willing to risk the same for the gladiator school. 

I expected them to be smarter than a bunch of slavers. 

I could either bury them in the countryside, or give some of them to her, risking her possible disappearance. With a full purse, backing me in a dangerous scheme would inevitably be less attractive. However, before I could make a decision, she shuffled in her place, her naked thigh rubbing against my bulge, making it throb with excitement. I could have ignored that as an accident, but she repeated the same again a couple of seconds later. “You seem uncomfortable. Is there anything I can do to help?” 

“Nothing,” she murmured, then her blush bloomed a little as her eyes slid down. “Isn’t it uncomfortable?” 

“The tightness of the pants, or my erection itself?” I asked, amused. I would have given her points for an excellent attempt of manipulation, but with my hand pressing against her back, I could easily sense her out-of-control heartbeat, spiking as she brushed against my shaft. And while it was possible to fake expression, the same didn’t apply to bodily reactions. Maybe it was the hero worship, or maybe it was just that she hadn’t experienced such closeness with a man before, but regardless of the reason, she was showing clear signs of attraction. 

“The first one,” she answered with a rapidness that betrayed that she wanted to answer the alternate. 

While I had decided not to push her more under the circumstances, to respect her possible stress as well as considering the time pressure of the circumstances, but her words were making resisting her rather difficult. “A bit,” I said. I was tempted to pull it down to sit more relaxed manner as well as treating her to a nice sight, but I was afraid that if I did that, things devolve to a point that would occupy me until the first rays of morning. So, rather than pulling down my pants to follow her invite, I changed the subject. “Actually, I have an alternative idea,” I said even as I summoned my backpack, and flicking open the secret compartment. “What if you had some decent funds to start with.” 

“That would be much more convenient. With this, I can rent a decent estate that’s worthy of a foreign noble that’s trying to penetrate into the polite society. It wouldn’t give results immediately as people of Rome don’t hold the foreigners in high esteem, but still, much better than a merchant,” she said immediately as she examined the contents, though I noted the absolute lack of awe on her face. It was clear that it wasn’t the first time she was holding a fortune in her hands, which, combined with her earlier reactions, suggested that she was coming from a much richer family. Combined with her reaction to the word princess, I was starting to suspect that she belonged to one of the small independent kingdoms between the Republic and the Empire. That, or one of the city-states that still maintained their nominal independence. 

“That would be nice,” I said, approving her decision. After that, despite the sensual aura in the air, we discussed some of the vital details of the plan —or more accurately, Theodora explained while I listened, as I didn’t have the sufficient knowledge to assist her decision-making, and didn’t trust her to actually trust her on my actual objective. She just knew that I needed to access some patrician estates, and nothing else. As we discussed, I helped her to finish dressing, buttoning up her shirt by my hands as well as finish applying the disguise make up —and solidifying it with magic— so that she could pass for an effeminate man for a few days, giving her the opportunity to arrange her guard and other vital components. 

After that, I helped her to choose a horse, which was untouched in their pasture as the other slaves I had freed were too focused on escaping to actually steal anything from the camp, afraid that they might wake up the guards. “Be careful,” I said as I squeezed her hand. 

“I should be saying that to you,” she answered with a smile that tried to look brave, but flickered nonetheless. “The Colosseum is a dangerous place, and with the wards, you can’t rely on your magic to survive there. Be careful.” 

“As you wish, milady,” I said, giving an exaggerated bow before sending her off, before I turned my attention back to the camp. I needed to set up a few things to create a compelling story for the slavers. Luckily, I already had the most critical component for it.