Chapter 72 - Chapter 72: The Slingshot - Part 1

Chapter 72: The Slingshot – Part *scratch, scratch, scratch*

As the sun rose for a new day, the sound of scratching was the soundtrack that Olivia woke to. She would have preferred a lovely melody start the day off right, but not everything works out perfect.

But, while the morning didn’t start offperfectlyt, last night was as close as she had gotten to since she came to this world. Not only did she get to spend some very nice quality time with Lyrika, but she also learnt something new about their resident bunny-kin.

That being how much of a voyeur she was.

With all her talk of researching and observing things, Olivia should have put money on it being one of her kinks.

“Urgh, let me stay asleep.”

Olivia poked her head up and saw Lyrika as she turn hers as she groaned at the new morning, trying to find a more comfortable sleeping position. But as she turned to the side, she slowly opened her eyes and saw a sight that frightened her.

“Ahh,” she quickly cried out, which was then followed by her rolling off from where she was laying, knocking Olivia in the head with one of her legs in the process, and falling off the bed with a thud.

“Ouch. What did you do that for?”

Olivia spent the next few seconds rubbing her head, where Lyrika’s leg had impacted. Looking across the room, she saw what had frightened Lyrika so.

Philly. Sitting on the bed and scribbling in her book.

“Are you okay Lyrika?” Olivia asked as the snort lived pain in the side of her head dissipated

“Yes. Aside from my pride.” she gripped the side of the bed and pulled herself back up, “Olivia, what is she doing in here with us?” she whisper shouted as she pointed at Philly.

“I’m writing about Olivia’s penis.”

*Grk* “Wh-what?” Olivia stuttered as she choked on air. “You’re writing about my… Why?”

This sent a blush across Lyrika’s face as Philly’s mention of it, made her think about it and all that they had gotten up to last night.

“Well, I wasn’t able to write down my observations last night during your amorous activities because I was…err, occupied with something else.”

‘That’s one way to put it.’

“So, I’m writing it all down now,” Philly replied while not even looking up from her book.

“Wait, she was with us last night?” Lyrika asked.

“Yes. How do you not remember?” Olivia asked sceptically.

“Well, I was busy. I was focused on… you know.” Lyrika said as the blush on her face intensified.

By this point, Olivia honestly didn’t know what else to say. The situation was much too awkward to deal with this early in the morning, and most importantly, she was way too hungry as well. So, putting food ahead of what would end up as a very strange conversation and probably a thorough analysis of her genitals in Phillys book, she decided to get up, get dressed and get some grub.

…

After leaving their rooms and heading downstairs, they entered the same dining area they did the previous evening and were greeted by a much quieter and calmer sight than they had before. Only six or so people were present, all sitting down for the first meal of the day. These were probably the only ones actually staying in the inn, the rest from last night likely having come from around the village for a fun night. Of which only got partly spoiled by the half-orc rocking up to the place.

Heading over to the bar, thankfully the horrid man for yesterday wasn’t there. They were instead greeted by a woman, who like many others, took some time to get over the fright she felt when she saw Olivia.

“What-what can I do for y-you?”

“Can we get some breakfast?” Olivia just responded calmly, being used to this reaction by now.

“Ah, err, sure. That will be three silver.”

Handing over the coin, they headed over to a free table and waited, which didn’t take long. Before long the woman behind the bar came out holding three bowls and set them down on the table. At first glance it was clear to see this was some sort of porridge. It was a wet, gooey and bumpy mess. And it tasted how it looked.

But, even though it tasted bland and almost horrid, it was still better than the hard tack they would have had to deal with in the forest.

…

“So, are you going to tell us why you came to our room last night?” Lyrika asked as she turned to Philly.

The girl in question just looked back at her as she gulped down another bit of the porridge she was eating.

“…It was for my research. I was observing Olivia’s mating ritual. I did say I wanted to before.”

“That may be…but that doesn’t explain everything else that happened,” Olivia then said with a smirk.

Blush flooded Philly’s face, which also tinged her ears, as she remembered what happened when she entered their room.

“Yes, that was…unprofessional of me and not what a researcher should have done. It-it won’t happen again. You, you have my word.”

“Wait, what did she do. I don’t even remember seeing her come into our room?” Lyrika asked as she frantically looked between Olivia and Philly.

“You do remember saying that she could either stay or leave right?”

The response Olivia got was just a shake of her head and a look of confusion.

Taking pity on the girl, Olivia leaned over and whispered in her ear about what had happened, and the unprofessionalism that Philly had shown in her ‘research’. As soon as she told her, Lyrika gave her a look about Philly not doing it again. And Olivia agreed one hundred percent.

A look that just said, ‘Yeah right.’

…

Before long, they had finished their meal and headed out for the next day. There were a few things on the to do list for the day, which was mostly still preparation for saving Ameril. But, there was also one item that Lyrika was thrilled about.

Seeing the Umbrea galloping about.

“Let’s go there now.”

“Lyrika, you know Milly said to go out to the fields after lunch.”

“I know, I know, but…” she turned to look at Olivia’s stoic face, “… fine.”

It was clear to see how eager Lyrika was to see them, but first there needed to take a trip to the tannery for a small piece of leather.

Sure, Olivia could take a piece off of her bag, or buy a waterskin and cut a piece out of it, but it would be best to have it be mad and fit for purpose. Also, she was living in this fantasy world that was like medieval times. She had to see what these places were like at least once.

They headed through the streets which were as busy as ever. Dozens and dozens of people were walking about completing some task or another and like before, she could not see anyone just relaxing or enjoying the day.

‘They’re all such workaholics’

After getting some directions, they eventually ended up travelling all the way to the edge of the village into a section that was sparse in comparison to the rest of the town. She hardly saw anyone walking by, and it didn’t take long for her to see why.

*Gurk* “Wha-what is that smell,” *cough* Olivia managed to say in amongst bouts of coughing and gagging fits.

“I guess you’ve never been to a tannery before. This is how they always smell.” Lyrika said as she held her nose.

“How do-how can they work here *cough* if it smells this bad?” Olivia asked looking at them both, seeing that Philly had the same idea. But even when she went a copied it, it was like the smell had clung to the inside of her nose and would not let go.

“We get used to it.”

All three of the girls turned in the direction of the voice to find a very muscular man standing just out front of the tannery. He was the only one not holding his nose.

“It takes some time, but when you’ve been tanning leather since you were born, the smell means nothing to you.”

‘The only way I can see that happening is if it’s destroyed your sense of smell. Wow, this is horrible.’

“So, what do you three ladies want with my tannery.”

Olivia felt it was a pleasant surprise, especially while trying to keep her breakfast down, to see someone not recoil in fear at seeing her. But that then did bode the question of why he didn’t.

It was possible that, given it had been some time since she had arrived, it had sunk in quickly for some people, this man being one of them and that he didn’t actually care what she was. That, or maybe he thought that with his bodybuilding physic, he could handle her if it came down to it.

Whatever the case, she wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth and so brought up the subject of the slingshot.

She quickly explained to the man what she was looking for, showing him the vine and how it would work. The man was very intrigued about what she had planned and thought long and hard about the type of leather that could be used.

“So, it needs to be light, flexible and durable. I think we have something that fits that description. Would you like to come in and have a look?”

“Is the smell worse inside?” Olivia knew she had to ask.

“Huh…not sure. Like I said I’ve gotten used to it.”

‘My guess is it probably is.’

“No, we’ll wait outside.”

“Ok…suit yourself. Let me go find and cut a piece, and then I’ll bring it out.

Olivia’s overwhelming desire to be able to keep on smelling things in life won over wanting to see what a tannery is like. She was also thankful that the tannery owner came out after ten minutes, which meant they would soon be able to leave and breathe some fresh air.

“Here you go. What do you think?”

Olivia was not an expert on slingshots. Well, she hardly had any experience with them at all really, making them even more so. This meant all she could do was vaguely try and judge whether the small bit of leather would work for it. Taking the piece, it felt soft and not so bad to the touch. It was also light and bent without any issues. No rips formed and it stayed strong as she fiddled with it. All in all, with her lack of expertise on the matter, it seemed like it would do the job.

“It looks great. How much for it?”

“Just twelve copper. It’s such a small piece so it hardly costs anything.”

“Thank you.” Olivia said as she handed the coins over.

“Come back again if you need anything else. Or if you feel like seeing the inside of the tannery,”

Yeah, Olivia didn’t think that would be happening any time soon.

Now that she had the leather for the slingshot, all that was left was to find a stick or branch in a ‘Y’ shape, that was strong and durable.

How hard could that be?