玉蒲团之云雨山庄

That night, everything seems normal.

"I\'m bored! Let\'s take a stroll, Alina, Belle," My best friend, Xena invite us to take a stroll.

We came from a family of merchants, and our parents are best friends with each other since before they became merchants. Since the three of us are close in age, we became best friends with each other in no time at all.

Our families are not as wealthy as the merchants that have assets as much as big nobles like dukes and counts, but we\'re wealthy enough to have several firms in different cities.

Every time there is a big deal with large firms or nobles, our parents will travel themselves together to strike the deal personally, and the three of us would follow them to learn more about business and to get experience.

"Then let\'s have a dip at the river, my body feels kind of sweaty because of the trip, you know~" I touched my skin that had become slightly greasy.

"Eh~ I haven\'t finished reading my book, though~ You two can go to the river,"

"We won\'t be getting into the river if we wait for you to finish your book, Belle. You keep on re-reading it back and forth, after all. And you might find a magic plant that you could use for your alchemy experiment as well, you know?" (Xena)

"Hm... Fine then," Belle closed her book and stands up.

"Yeay! Now let\'s go out of this cramped carriage and enjoy the night!" Xena cheerfully exits the carriage.

"Lady Xena, where are you going?" One of the guards from Xena\'s family firm that guards the outside of our carriage asked her.

"I\'m going to the river with Belle and Alina. Tell mom and dad about it, okay? And make sure no one peeps us, I\'m thinking of having a bath to refresh myself as well, after all," (Xena)

"Understood, my lady. But please don\'t take too long, even though we\'re camping at one of the safest spots, it\'s still a forest. It might be dangerous. I\'ll station the other guards to guard the perimeter of the river, if anything happens, please raise your voice," The guard reminds Xena.

"Yes, yes. Geez, you\'re such a worrywart. It\'s not like this is our first time camping outside, we\'ve been following our parents on this kind of trip since like 10 years ago anyway," (Xena)

"It\'s better to be safe than sorry, after all, my lady,"

"Yes, yes," (Xena)

"Please don\'t take her words personally, Mr. Lyle,"

"I understand, lady Alina. It\'s my everyday job anyway,"

"Thank you as always, Mr. Lyle," (Belle)

"You\'re welcome," (Lyle)

After that, we bathed and have fun at the river, thinking that the trip will go normally as it usually goes.

"Belle! Did your breast get even bigger again!? How nice! Did you take medicine to make it bigger?" Xena widens her eyes when she saw Belle\'s womanly asset.

"Is that so? I didn\'t find any medicine, though. But no wonder it felt like it got heavier lately. But rather than my body, I find Alina\'s slender body more lovable, though~" Belle shifted her gaze to my bare body.

"Ugh... I know you mean good, but somehow that words hurt my pride..." I cover my modest chest as I stare at Belle\'s big asset before me.

"Hahahaha! You\'re too conscious about it, Alina! You\'re more than beautiful already anyway, if you got a big breast as well, it will be unfair!" (Xena)

"Hearing the words beautiful from the both of you didn\'t make me feel better at all..." I muttered bitterly.

*Sniff!* *Sniff!*

After finishing lamenting my lack of big breast genes, I noticed that Belle is sniffing on the air.

"What\'s wrong, Belle?"

"Doesn\'t it smell like smoke?" (Belle)

Now that she mentions it, a faint smell of smoke is indeed could be smell.

"Hm... The information is unbelievably accurate," A hoarse and scary voice suddenly appears from near the bushes.

!?!?!?!?

The three of us immediately take our clothes and hide our bodies with them in surprise.

"E-Eh? Whose voice is that!? Lyle! Lyle!! Is there anyone there!?" Xena called Mr. Lyle and the other guards, hoping that they come rushing to her voice.

But no one came.

"It\'s late, young miss. The whole forest is sleeping, let\'s not wake it up, okay?" The hoarse voice sounded again.

We follow the direction of the voice, and slowly, a figure appeared from the darkness.

His body is huge, there\'s a big scar on his right eye. His appearance is just like what stories will define about bandits.

"Y-You... Who are you!" I asked the man with a demanding tone, while my hands gives a signal for Belle to ready her spells.

"You\'ll know soon," The man answered shortly.

Soon?

"But sure, not only do they have lots of money and goods, they even have such good women as well. They\'ll definitely sell well, so you guys, don\'t you dare damage the products, you hear me!?" The man uttered with a loud voice.

"P-Products...?" (Xena)

After that, dozens of men appeared surrounding us. Belle launched her spell and managed to kill three people, and with the martial arts Xena and I learned from our instructors, we managed to take down another three people, but that\'s it.

The enemies are dozens, there is nothing that three girls from merchant families could do to defeat dozens of men alone.

Because of our resistance, they roughed us up after they captured us, and we got forced to service them in all kinds of ways, but they try not to damage our faces and skins, and protect our virginity to make sure our price didn\'t drop.

In one night, our world turns upside down.

****************************

"-Ina!"

"Uh..."

"-Lina!"

"Huh...?"

"Alina!!" Xena\'s face entered my vision as I opened my eyes.

"Xe... Na...?"

"Wake up! This is our holiday, we\'re going to take that quest we took and gather the ingredients for Belle\'s potions, remember? The madam will be mad if she knows you sleep too much, you know?" (Xena)

I shifted my gaze, and saw that we were not in the river nor in the slave cage. It\'s our room. Our personal room.

"Ah... We\'re no longer at the river... Nor that scary cage, huh...?"

"Alina... Did you dream about that day again?" Xena stared at me with a worried look.

Looking at her worried look, my emotions overflow, and the tears start to fall profusely from my eyes.

"Alina..." (Belle)

"There, there. We\'re safe now. There\'s no need to be scared anymore," Xena took my head to her bosom and started to caress my head.

Xena\'s smell and touch quickly soothes me, and after a while, the tears finally stopped flowing out of my eyes.

That\'s right.

We\'re safe now.

After getting captured by the bandits, the three of us got confined to one of their bases. We spent our days forced to service the bandits there, and not long after, a slave trader took us to the auction to sell us off.

We could remain sane because we\'re together, but after knowing that we\'re going to be auctioned and realizing that we might be forced to separate from each other, our last fortitude breaks, and we gave up on hope.

But somehow, like a miracle, we got bought by a kind and gentle mother-like figure. She\'s the owner of a high-class brothel in the mercenary city.

At first, we thought that we were going to be ordered to become prostitutes by getting forced from the slavery magic contained on the crest imprinted on our back. But the madam take care of the three of us like her own children, and didn\'t force us to do anything.

\'If you want to be free and get out of here, then pay me the money I paid to buy the three of you. And I\'ll let you go and release you from the crest as well,\'

That was madam\'s words of hope that make us fighting until now.

"Sorry, we start late because of me,"

I apologized to the both of them as

"It\'s fine, Alina," (Belle)

"Yes, it\'s fine. Last week, I got through the same thing and you\'re the one who hugs me and soothes me. It happens to all of us," (Xena)

"You\'re right..."

"Now, let\'s go. The quest might take quiet time, if we go even later, we might not able to finish it today," (Xena)

"True. We need to gather the ingredients for my potions too, after all,"

"Yes. Let\'s go!"