“Ah-ahn… cousin… we can’t do this!” she panted.
“Why not?” I snickered, my hand reaching up her skirt, aiming for her sensitive areas.
She grabbed my wrist to stop me, but her hand lacked any force, and as my fingers got closer, she could only helplessly look at me with a flushed face.
“U-uncle will be mad if he finds out…”
“Hehe… I won’t tell him, will you?” I asked, my fingers just managed to touch her panty line.
“N-no…” She gasped.
“Then, this will be our little secret.” My lips grew closer to hers.
Her pink, plump mouth parted as she prepared to accept my tongue. Her legs also parted, prepared to accept other things. However, there was suddenly a loud, gross plopping sound.
She suddenly pulled away, shoving my hand out of her skirt and looking around panicky. I gave a sigh. It had taken fifteen minutes of work to whittle her to this state, and it was destroyed in an instant. I knew my cousin well enough that now that she had snapped out of it, my chance at going the rest of the way had flown out the window.
I had been working on my dear cousin for a solid month. When she had come here from South Island, I couldn’t believe how beautiful and mature she was. This was a girl I had once ran around and played with. We had even bathed together. Now, she was a pure, untouched maiden, ripe for the plucking.
Why was I pursuing my own cousin? The answer to that was a simple one. I had already tasted every other appropriately aged woman on the island, and even a few inappropriate ones! When my cousin appeared, I was ecstatic to have one more girl to add to my notch. However, being technically family, she had actually been quite challenging.
Commoner girls were quite easy. If a noble even looked at them, they couldn’t spread their legs fast enough. The boys in town hated me because there wasn’t a single marriable girl I hadn’t already deflowered! However, I was the Governor’s son, which was the highest position on the island, so even while they cursed my name, they would always greet me with respect.
Although I speak so freely of my position, the truth was that North island was rather small. The entire island’s population was in the hundreds. Of the women I slept with, it only numbered eight.
“It was just a slime, you don’t need to worry,” I said, trying to put my hand back on her knee.
She closed her legs and frowned. “A slime? There are monsters in this cavern?”
To finally seal the deal with her, I had taken her to my favorite place on the island, a hidden cove on the north side of the island. There were no vessels north of north island, and so no one typically knew it was here. It was quite the beautiful little place, with a pleasing sound of sea and salt spray, and a small, old dock assembled by someone from ages past. Since nothing came from the north, naturally a dock on the north was stupid. It was no wonder this place was abandoned.
I would never tell any of the girls this, but this is where I liked to pop cherries. Six of the girls had lost their virginity right where this girl here was lying. However, with the indignant glare, she was giving me, it was clear that number seven wouldn’t be today.
“This island is privy to a few beasts.” I shrugged helplessly. “Slimes are as big as they get.”
“Slimes are disgusting things!” She hissed. “They can eat a human in under a minute. How could you take me, your cousin, to such a dangerous place?”
I rolled my eyes. “Slimes are just scavengers. They would only attack you if you literally step on them or you were severely injured. We’re neither.”
“Hmph… father is probably worried about me. Take me back home!”
“Come on… It’s my birthday…”
“Nice try, but your birthday is tomorrow!”
I raised an eyebrow, “Oh? So, you’re saying tomorrow then?”
Her face flushed red, but she didn’t respond. With a sigh, I stood up, brushed myself off, and then held out my hand. She looked up at it through her long eyelashes, sighed, and then took it. I started leading the way back out of the cove, taking the route I had perfected after countless visits. I had even placed several boards to aid in movement. Still, there were a few rickety parts where if you looked down, the sight of the cracking waves and the height were quite scary.
I had set the path up like this on purpose. It was tricky. I had to make it safe enough that the girl wouldn’t refuse to come along. However, it was just scary enough that it got her heart beating. After scaring her a bit, she’d become like putty in my hands, confusing the feeling of fear as a love response.
I stopped, realizing the last board leading out of the cover had a slime on it. When my cousin saw it, she squeaked and hid behind me. I took a step forward and kicked the thing.
“Get the fuck out of the way!” I cursed it.
As long as you were careful not to crack its membranous sack, slimes were very easy to bully. With a kick, the slime fell off the side of the wood platform and tumbled down to the rocks below. When it hit the ground, it burst like a bubble, covering the rocks with its corrosive juices. The exact reason the rocks were so jagged down below was because of these slimes.
I continued to lead my cousin out of the cove and then down a path that crossed the island. It was only a twenty-minute walk to get from one side of the island to the other. When the city came into view, I let go of her hand and turned back.
“It’s best if we aren’t seen returning together,” I explained. “I’ll cut across the forest and return from a different path.”
“The answer is yes…” She murmured, still looking down, her face looking embarrassed.
“Yes?” I raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was a question I missed.”
“For tomorrow, on your birthday, you can definitely have…” her face turned red again and she couldn’t say anything else.
Summoning all of her courage, she looked up and kissed my lips, and then spun and ran down the path as if she was in a panic. As for me, a small smirk formed on my face. The slime must have spooked her more than I thought. I hadn’t even meant to appear like the brave hero dealing with that slime. Maybe in the future, I could protect a girl from a slime and be the hero to quickly get in her pants.
Actually, that idea just might work on her. There was one other woman in the village that I had yet to taste. Like cousin, she was rather new to the island. She was a governess who was currently tutoring the local kids. Tomorrow, after turning seventeen and officially becoming a man, I would finally leave this island. The governess had come to take me back to the citadel with her. She came from the citadel, and since she arrived early, she stayed and taught the kids about various aspects of this world.
I was going to go to the citadel to learn as well. Once I finished my education, I’d return to the island and take my father’s place as Governor. It was the way of things. However, I was more excited at just being able to leave. The citadel was supposed to be full of girls my age from all four islands. It would be an exceptionally wonderful four years. However, despite flirting with the governess as much as my cousin, I wasn’t even close.
I had concentrated on my cousin because I’d have the entire voyage back to work on the governess, but now that cousin had offered herself, it was a done deal. As for the governess, if I could engineer a situation where she saw me as a hero, wouldn’t she also come to offer herself? Well, that was my thought, so I quickly hatched a plan in the time it took me to cut through the forest and head into town. There was a small building that had been repurposed as a school. I slipped in the door in the back and listened as all the younger kids sat eagerly.
The beautiful woman was older than Cousin and even me by a few years. This only meant that she was fuller and more womanly. Her maiden’s head was definitely begging to be taken and I was just the man to do it. She was currently in the middle of explaining something in a clear, sexy voice.
“Life, as we know it, is supported by the skill system. Every person and beast is born with a couple of innate skills. These innate skills are what shape us! What skills you have and how you use them will ultimately shape the kind of person you become!”
“What about skill orbs?” A younger child asked, eliciting chuckles from many of the others.
“Have you been talking to the traders down at the docks again?” The pretty governess demanded sternly.
He glanced down awkwardly and nodded. The governess sighed, smoothing her soft features and putting on a more tolerant look. I wasn’t the only man who desired her. Most of the single men had eyed her and sighed. However, the common, uneducated riffraff knew that they weren’t good enough to have her, so they stayed their hands.
“Skill orbs are so rare, they might as well be myths. In truth, no one knows how skills could be turned into an orb. Whether using that orb would, in turn, give you a new innate skill, I couldn’t say.”
“I’m sorry, teacher, I’m still having trouble understanding what you mean by skills? My mom is really good at cooking but when I asked if she had a cooking skill she said no!” A young girl asked a somewhat long-winded question.
“Anyone could learn to cook. Someone with an innate skill in cooking would be a top-tier chef. Everything he made would be of the highest quality.” She calmly explained. “Innate skills take three different forms. Body skills are a fundamental part of who are. They can be things like athletics, an iron stomach, blade skills, increased speed, better eyesight, steel skin… to name a few. Technique Skills, as the name suggests, are skills that you can perform. For example, a whirlwind slash, or a double jump. Magic Skills are just that, the capacity to use mana to perform a type of magic.”
“Could I have a body skill in poetry?” One girl said dreamily, causing the class to giggle.
“It is said that the skill system was given to us to help us survive. Skills are about survival. Regrettably, something like poetry wouldn’t cut it.”
“What skills does the beautiful governess have?” These words were mine, said loudly from the back.
The governess looked back at me and then couldn’t help but wear a small smile. “Miles, you’ve chosen to join us? You will need to know all of this if you wish to be successful in the citadel. You should have stayed through my lessons for the last few weeks.”
“Hehe… please, governess, how could I pay attention when I would be distracted by such beauty? Besides, I’ve been tutored and understand the basics.”
The governess cocked an eyebrow as she looked away from me and towards the class, addressing them instead of me. “I can tell you all that the governors son here has two skills. One, of course, is a glibed tongue.”
She had spoken it like a joke, and the kids in class giggled accordingly, but I had a slightly ugly expression on my face. The reason behind that was that the governess was completely correct. Glibed tongue was one of my innate skills. I supposed this contributed to how I was successful with women. Unfortunately, my failures with the governess might be exactly because she knew I had the skill.
As for my other skills, it was called flee. When running away from a fight, I’d get a speed boost and a higher chance of managing maneuvers that got me out of tight spots. It was a coward’s skill, and I absolutely hated it. Why couldn’t I get any active skills, like skull crusher or something like that? Well, I told no one about this skill, but the governess was giving me a knowing look. She was definitely teasing me on an issue I had no humor about. I was definitely going to take her cherry, even if I had to force it!
“I’ve come to speak to you privately, actually,” I said, pushing down all of my resentment and shooting her an innocent smile.
“Oh? Very well, please wait outside and I will come when I have time.” She responded shortly, not giving me any room to argue.
I bowed politely and then closed the door, secretly gnashing my teeth irritably. Other than my mother, no other woman on the island had the right to make me wait, let alone insult me in such a manner. However, she wasn’t just anyone. She came from the citadel. That meant that she had status here. I had no choice but to treat her with respect.
After grumbling irritably for a few breaths, I managed to swallow my irritation. After all, she was a beautiful woman, even if she thought a bit too highly of herself. When she was bent over receiving my cock, she wouldn’t have such a haughty manner about her. I quickly got past my moment of unsightliness and then started plotting how I was going to seduce her.
When she finally came out into the hall, she crossed her arms and looked me up and down, pursing her deep red lips. “What is it? I’m busy with class, so this better be important.”
“Ah…” I put on a fake expression of embarrassment. “I had heard the misses enjoys to look at ruins from the old world. North island has always had a story claiming that an ancient treasure was buried under the island by our ancestors.”
At first, she was frowning, but a mention of our ancestors instantly caused her eyes to glow for a moment before turning suspicious. “If true… this would be an important find… for everyone living on the Heaven’s Sky Archipelago.”
“Heaven’s Sky?” I asked, not even wanting to try to repeat the last word.
I had never heard this term before, so it left me a little confused. She quickly shook her head, her expression changing as if she was looking down on me. It definitely caused me some anger.
“Nevermind that, are you saying you’ve found a treasure?” She demanded.
I lifted up my hand and pulled out a trinket I had found. It was incredibly old and also very filthy, but the governess didn’t hesitate to snatch it from my fingers. It was a figurine of a fat person sitting down. However, all features or expressions had rubbed off with time. She glanced over it and after a moment, gasped.
“It’s plastique!”
“Hmm?”
“Plastique! An unnatural substance, made by our ancestors! If you’ve found this, then what you say may be true…”
“I-it is true!” I said indignantly.
I had found it up on the dock in the cove one day. I already knew it was ancient, but I had no clue if it was connected to the old dock in the cove. There was a path leading down, but it was swamped with slimes, and a single misstep could cause someone to lose a finger, a hand, or even a leg. That’s why I didn’t head down very far myself. However, if I took her along, the chance of playing the hero and winning her heart was likely. And, even if she still resisted, it was secluded, so I could just push her down anyway.
Women were funny about having sex. Once they lost it, they definitely wouldn’t talk to others about it. Even this proud girl wouldn’t say anything to anybody once I had per virginity. How else could I have slept with eight women in an island of only 200, if those women didn’t remain tight-lipped about it? Of course, I told the guys about it, but they’d never be brave enough to ask a girl, and she’d never tell him the truth if he did.
She played with her hair as she thought carefully about my suggestion. After a moment, she gave a slight nod as she made her decision.
“Tonight then?”
I nodded, “Tonight!”
Tonight, I was finally going to taste this woman.