Combat Healer Ch. 02

"For my kind, leaders are usually the strongest, but really what makes a good leader is their ability to unite those beneath them. You're like the mortar that binds an impenetrable wall. You hold everything together."

"Huh," I said with a smirk, enjoying the compliment and finding myself impressed that she was so insightful. "Thanks," I added.

She frowned, speaking as if she'd read my mind. "I didn't mean it as a compliment, only a statement of fact."

Ouch. I tried to hide my disappointment.

There was a small part of me that knew what she was implying, in her Oni way, that she wasn't trying to win any favors by flattering me. That her statement was sincere, which theoretically was better than her trying to sweet talk me just to get on the team.

But it still kind of stung a little.

Her frowned deepened, but she didn't say anything else, instead returning her attention to her meal, taking a big bite of her thick soup.

I decided to go ahead and continue reading for real now, since it felt like that was an end to the conversation. I still wanted to know about her staff, but figured I could just ask her when it was time to do her evaluation. For lesser quality objects and weapons, anything common or uncommon, I could usually get some information from my Eye of the Goddess skill, but with a magical artifact it would be difficult unless I saw it in action, since it would undoubtedly be at least Rare grade. And even then, the information I might perceive could be very limited, depending on rarity.

Thus, we sat in silence, with me being unsurprised that she didn't try to continue the conversation, but leaving me sincerely a little disappointed. I almost wanted to admit to her that I did technically have a spell useful in a fight, one simply called 'Stun,' but I hadn't even told my teammates about it even though I did use it occasionally in our battles, so I wasn't sure why I was even considering sharing that information with her.

Of course, the main reason why I hadn't told my teammates was because I knew it was my only way to defend myself in the event we got into a dispute that turned physical, a true possibility when dealing with Oni even though we were friends.

Yet, despite wanting it to remain a secret, I supposed I kind of wanted to share it with her just because she was really hot, and I was more desperate than I realized after going without some pussy for so long. Desperate enough to say almost anything to get her attention again.

Honestly, though, I knew it was better to not put too much trust in this stranger, and definitely not to get my hopes up.

Not to mention, if I was going to be working with her, then it was probably best if I kept it professional anyway. A small part of me wanted to find out if she'd fuck in exchange for a place on our team, but I didn't want to deal with the jealousy that would come when she ended up fucking every guy in this place except me after that.

Because the first time would be in exchange for a favor.

Doubtful she'd do it a second time for pleasure. Plenty of other Oni cocks for that around here.

Dammit.

I needed a drink.

Getting up, I decided to offer, just to be nice. "Want an ale? Figured I'd have one to wash my meal down."

She pursed her pale lavender lips, not responding.

"If I get two, then will you drink one of them?" I rephrased.

"I won't let it go to waste," she replied evenly.

I rolled my eyes, only to go put in my order. Barely a minute later and I was sitting back down, sipping one while she took a big gulp of hers.

Damn, she was hot.

When she tilted her head back to take a big swig, I got a good look at her thin neck, along with all the smooth rosy skin leading down to her massive firm tits, a sort of V shape created by the black leather. In her armpit, I saw the tiniest bit of white peach fuzz as well, though the rest of her appeared to be hairless, apart from the white hair on her head, her thin eyebrows, and snowy eyelashes.

I wasn't surprised though. When I was younger, and around more humans, I'd known human women who tried to shave that area of their body, but Oni women certainly didn't care. Most of them didn't have much hair there anyway. If anything, the tiny bit of soft fuzz in her armpit was arousing in an exotic kind of way.

Especially on her, since the white was so sharply contrasted against her rose-colored skin.

Unfortunately, she caught me looking, though thankfully it was just her armpit instead of her tits. I quickly cleared my throat, hoping to make it seem like I was just staring into space as I thought.

"So," I began hesitantly. "Mind if I ask you about your staff there, since I assume you use that to fight with?"

She flinched slightly, before slowly setting her mug down and reaching up to wipe her full pale lips with the back of her hand. "I understand some of the things you've told me are technically secrets, like about you helping with another's Focus, or that you can do..." She lowered her voice more, glancing to the side briefly. "Class evaluations." She cleared her throat. "And I appreciate the show of trust. But I'd prefer not to share information about my weapon unless I'm going to be a part of the team."

I took a sip of my ale as I considered that. "The only issue is, even if your skills alone were less than I'd prefer, the right kind of weapon could drastically change that opinion." I paused, smirking slightly as I continued. "So then, the question is. How confident are you in your abilities?"

It was a challenge, and she knew it.

She pouted slightly, almost seeming a little annoyed as her lavender bottom lip stuck out the tiniest bit, while her gold eyes narrowed. "How much of a display would you need to see in order to formulate an opinion?" she wondered.

"You're worried about others seeing," I assumed.

She nodded slowly.

"Not much," I admitted. "Honestly, if you can just activate it without causing any destruction, then you can show me in my room..." My voice trailed off, hoping she didn't take that the wrong way. Then again, if she did take that the wrong way and still agreed, maybe I was okay with that.

Instead, she frowned. "So then, you're aware it's more than what it seems."

I sighed with a shrug. "I didn't want to be rude. But yes."

She nodded again. "Very well. Let me finish these last few bites and I'll show you."

I hesitated. "In my room?" I clarified, just wanting to make sure we were on the same page.

She rolled her gold eyes. "Yes," she said simply, picking up her bowl to slurp up the rest.

As I watched her chug her ale after she finished off the soup, her crimson neck pulsing in waves as she swallowed with her head tilted back, kind of wishing it was my cum she was swallowing, my stomach began forming knots wondering what would happen when we got behind a closed door. Realistically, I assumed she'd show me her weapon and that'd be it, but if she was willing to fuck a human for an education, then was it possible she was assuming that was what I was suggesting?

Sex for a spot on the team?

And if that was indeed what she was prepared to do, then should I try to stop it from happening to delay the jealousy and pain that would come later? Or just let it happen and enjoy an amazing fuck while I could?

I honestly wasn't sure.

Granted, I also had to remember that she probably wouldn't be hanging around forever either way. She just needed a temporary way to make some coin while she searched for her mystery person.

Once we were both finished with breakfast, I grabbed my tome while she grabbed her leather bag and midnight staff, with us proceeding to head up the stairs to the massive second floor full of reserved rooms. In many ways, Remnant was set up on the right side like a tavern and inn, and a business with offices on the left, there being two main entrances to the massive building, though pretty much all of the second floor was rooms. Of course, we still had to pay for our stay, as well as for our food, so it wasn't like anything was free, though things were easier here in many ways.

For me personally, it felt more like a home, whenever we were back in town.

Once we got to my dark room, I dumped my book on the small table, and activated the yellow Light Crystal attached to the wall to illuminate the dark space. It was bright outside, being early morning, but with no window to this particular room, the somewhat expensive magical item was necessary to prevent the space from being pitch-black when the door was closed.

There were a few such crystals illuminated in the hallway, so I was able to see just fine prior to illuminating this one, having about the same brightness as a couple oil lamps.

After turning it on, I sensed that it was running a little low on essence, so I took a second to refill it with a lingering touch, before moving to plop down in the wooden chair by the desk expectantly. I assumed it would be in bad taste to sit on the bed on the other side of the small room, figuring she'd opt to stand either way.

Mel entered a little hesitantly at first, before closing the door behind her on her own, and then depositing her bag next to the bed.

She then sat down, much to my surprise, holding the long metal staff across her leather-clad thighs.

Shit, she had nice thighs. Almost all muscle too, which was hot as hell.

When she didn't say anything, seeming almost pensive, I raised my eyebrows, trying to use all my willpower to prevent my cock from raising instead.

She cleared her throat. "Care if I ask you a question?"

I shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead."

She seemed to hesitate, before speaking as if she'd changed her mind about asking what she initially intended, using a diversion instead. "So tell me more about your education here," she blurted out, seeming really uncomfortable for the first time.

I frowned, wondering what was actually on her mind, since she was acting a little weird now.

Focusing more intently on her, pretending to be thinking about her question, I decided to go ahead and try to give her abilities a closer look.

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Melantha

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STATUS

Race: Re'ju

Gender: Female

Class: Mage

Focus: Battlemage

Ailments: Fatigue (minor), Intoxicated (minor)

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ATTRIBUTES

Strength: 15 (Lv. 7)

Dexterity: 13 (Lv. 7)

Fortitude: 18 (Lv. 9)

Wisdom: 18 (Lv. 8)

Intelligence: 19 (Lv. 8)

Charisma: 13 (Lv. 8)

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Total: 96

Rank: A Tier

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Level: 47/50

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Her stats were about what I'd expect to see for a well-rounded A Tier Oni. Our mage Shel was similarly well-balanced, having no stats 20 or higher, but still being S Tier like myself and Jackel. Alternatively, the Oni brothers were A Tier and B Tier, but both had two attributes 20 or higher. Specifically, in attributes that mattered to their Class and Focus.

It was also interesting to note that Mel had a slightly lesser Strength number than me, being 15 whereas mine was 16, because it was actually possible that she might be stronger, considering that Oni appeared to have a different modifier than humans. At the very least, I knew for a fact that an Oni having an 18 in Fortitude was much different than a human having an 18 in the same attribute, not that I could compete either way, considering my Fortitude was only 12, which was about average for a typical human male.

At the very least, while I had no doubt that Mel would beat me in her capacity to sustain damage, the truth about which of us was actually stronger was kind of up in the air at the moment.

I also wasn't surprised about her overall level being at 47 out of 50, considering I was at 47 as well, with all my other teammates being roughly in the same range. The primary reason for us all getting stuck around that spot was because of the double-edged sword of having high Essence Affinity. On the one hand, it was possible to have accelerated growth, and it was therefore common for a person to get close to one's max potential before the age of twenty-five, so long as they put in the work.

However, the downside was that achieving those last few levels was nearly impossible, since gains were quick in the beginning and began slowing down a ton the closer someone got to their maximum potential. Going from 40 to 47 could take a couple of years.

But going from 47 to 48 could take that same amount of time, and going from 48 to 49 could take half a decade.

Like, my strength was at level 7, which was associated with a value of 16, and because Strength wasn't related to my Class, combined with the fact that my combined level of 47 was already so high, I could train for six or seven years before gaining just one more level in strength.

And it was the same for Jackel, who was the most unique of us all.

His level was 53 out of a maximum of 55, which was a phenomenon I'd seen only in a few elves, having a higher max level than most, though the exact same problems still plagued him. He had pretty much reached his maximum potential, and now his only way to gain battle prowess was to hone his skills, and possibly learn new ones through more training and experience, which was thankfully still possible to some extent.

Focusing on Mel again, instead of the information flowing into my mind, I recalled that she was a little tipsy, having minor intoxication listed in her ailments, and thus possibly more prone to a slight lapse in judgment.

It made me wonder if that had anything to do with her current behavior.

At the very least, she was being extremely patient with my response to her inquiry about my education.

I sighed as I finally replied. "I mean, it was pretty standard stuff. Healers do a lot of meditation, as well as a lot of practicing various spells by using themselves as test subjects." I paused. "Obviously, the best motivation to develop the first and most basic healing spell is an injury to yourself, so cutting an arm or leg to practice is pretty standard. More motivation that way. I didn't have to do any of that though, since I could already use a lot of healing spells." I grimaced. "I had to deal with a lot of jealousy coming from all those women though. Men aren't supposed to be good at healing magic, so having a man show them up didn't exactly put me in their good graces."

Although, what I didn't say was that a lot of those women also hadn't gone through the hellish trials I'd suffered, with many complaining about having to damage their delicate skin to learn their craft like the little insufferable brats they were.

Mel frowned. "Oh. I would have figured you had a ton of fun, with all those women to fuck."

I shook my head. "Nope. They ostracized me, for the most part."

"How old are you?" she wondered unexpectedly.

I pursed my lips, confused by why she cared. "Twenty-one. Why? What about you?"

"Twenty-four," she replied, only to shrug regarding the 'why' part.

"So..." I said slowly, uncertain of what was going on. It wasn't like she was super drunk by any means, so I knew her thinking should be clear enough. Yet she hesitated, being slow about probing for information about me.

In the back of my mind, there was a part of me that was thinking about what I knew of Oni culture. Specifically, the part regarding how relationships worked. They were pretty simple about it, compared to humans or elves. For Oni, if you found someone you were interested in, or just found attractive, and who also was interested in you, then you hooked up immediately until you either decided you wanted to be together long-term, or else decided to end the relationship.

They skipped all the hesitation, and just dove straight in, deciding if they liked the temperature of the water only after they were submerged. No sticking their toes in to test the waters first, like humans and elves typically did.

Of course, none of that applied to me, since I was a human and no Oni would ever consider me as a mate. Shit, they wouldn't even consider me an exotic fuck, like how I might consider them. Nevertheless, I was still curious as to why she was asking these questions.

Was she just avoiding a different topic?

Mel took a deep breath, only to sigh heavily. "Sorry. You just remind me of home."

"I do?" I said in surprise.

She nodded. "Yeah, I grew up with humans. I haven't been back, except once in six years, and it's kind of...comforting..." She paused. "Talking to you," she clarified. "Just being around you in general."

"Oh," I said simply, unsure of how to respond to the last part. I decided to focus on the first thing. "That's honestly really surprising that you grew up around humans," I admitted. "I assume both your parents are Oni, right?"

She inclined her chin. "Yeah, both Red Oni, as you might expect, since Oni don't typically breed with others outside of their own sub-race. My parents just really loved humans."

I knew exactly what she was talking about. While clearly Oni of all sub-races, meaning colors, fucked with no qualms, they didn't view 'breeding and mating' the same way. Shel, for example, would never want to father Turg or Dagru's child if she ever decided to settle down. She'd pick a Blue Oni for a mate, although I had heard rare cases of both Oni and Minotaur, specifically the female Holstaurs, mating with humans.

"That's interesting," I replied sincerely.

"Yeah, my dad had a human woman he loved to bed, and my mom had two men she kept around a ton, though pretty much all the adults in the village knew my parents would fuck them if they wanted."

"Ohhh," I repeated, with a completely different emphasis.

She ignored my reaction, her grip still tight on her staff across her leather-clad thighs. "It was nice, though. Living with humans. I've heard horror stories in my six years away from home, of Oni being harassed and tormented in human villages, but I had a lot of human friends -- most of them boys -- and they were always really nice to me."

"That's good," I said simply, wondering where this was going. Was she just opening up because I was comforting to talk to? I mean, not that I was complaining.

I also was aware that what she meant by harassed was different than what Oni did. She was talking more about being actually ostracized and possibly harmed physically. Usually there was no hatred behind the kind of teasing the Oni did to each other, unlike what she was referring to, at the hands of humans.

She smirked to herself, focused on the floor. "Probably helped that I let them play with my tits," she added.

I nearly smacked myself in the face.

Of course the guys wanted to be her friend!

But then something else hit me.

She was alright with doing stuff with humans after all!

That basically confirmed it.

"Wait," I said, before I could stop myself. "So then, if you used to do that kind of thing with humans, then does that mean..." My voice finally trailed off when her gold eyes narrowed.

She scoffed. "That I'll let you play with my tits? No."

Damn.

That wasn't exactly what I was going to ask, but she got straight to the point. But shit, I couldn't help but feel a little miserable now.

Fuck, what was it about me that was so undesirable?! This was almost the last straw! I was about to disappear and move someplace south where there were mostly humans, just so I didn't have to put up with this shit anymore.