Tabula Rasa: Adventures In A New World

“Oh...”

That is all Thea has to say. The noble girl just sat quietly and listened as Krvavy quickly talked about Divine Favour and the points shop that she now has access to.

The fact that Thea isn’t freaking out is quite a relief to Krvavy. The barbarian put a lot of emphasis on the fact that she gets rewarded Divine Favour for doing things that she wants to do. But even then... Krvavy was worried that the girl would think that she only slept with her for the points.

“Do you love me?” Thea suddenly asks, her soft blue eyes and tear stained face staring up at the barbarian.

That question completely catches Krvavy off guard, almost causing her to drop Thea in surprise. Luckily that isn’t exactly possible. After all, the girl is basically sitting in Krvavy’s lap and is essentially being held in place as Khalia presses into her other side. She isn’t leaving any time soon. But if Krvavy had been drinking something she definitely would have just spat it out and started choking.

The noble girl just continues to stare up at Krvavy, searching for answers as the barbarian struggles to keep her composure.

“I...” Krvavy begins, having a hard time finding the right words. “I... I’m definitely broken when it comes to... that sort of thing. I never thought... that I would ever actually fall in love with someone. I didn’t know if I even could. So I... I don’t know. I might love you, but I don’t... I don’t really know what love is like.”

Krvavy pauses and slowly exhales, but none of her girls speak up, letting her continue after taking a few moments to collect her thoughts.

“I definitely care very, very strongly about you. All three of you. I... I would be devastated if I lost any of you. Even Khalia, despite her... not being much of a person right now, which is all my fault...” The barbarian sadly shakes her head. “As for you, my little princess, you can be a bit of a pain at times. But I still enjoy talking with you and being around you, even if I... can be a little mean.”

Thea smiles upon hearing that, and Krvavy realizes that is the first time that she has seen the noble girl like this. Thea isn’t smirking. She isn’t looking smug or arrogant. She is just smiling happily. “You know, I am not sure if I know what love is either,” Thea softly admits. “So how about we learn together?”

Krvavy’s breath catches in her throat. She opens her mouth to respond but nothing comes out, so after a few seconds she wordlessly closes it again.

The noble girl serenely smiles up at Krvavy, with a light blush on her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes. “Are words your weakness, Dragon? Can a silver tongue strike at your heart with more strength than any sword?”

She is teasing Krvavy now, but the barbarian can still feel the sincerity in what she said. Thea is serious about wanting to learn how to love. Together. With Krvavy.

The Drakling leans down towards the noble girl in her arms, lifting Thea up a bit to meet her. Pressing their foreheads together, Krvavy gazes directly into Thea’s beautiful blue eyes, their noses bumping. She doesn’t care if being this close is a little awkward. “Your suitors were all idiots for not wanting to marry you. But I have to thank them, because now I get you all to myself~.” She whispers out, so quiet that her words are barely audible, before claiming Thea’s lips.

The kiss remains rather chaste and brief, but Thea’s face is still flushed a bright shade of red when Krvavy pulls back.

They stare into each others eyes for a few seconds, before Krvavy opens her mouth. “Are you okay? With everything that happened, I mean.”

“I... am not sure.” The noble girl hesitantly responds in a soft voice. “It is a lot to take in. But... I may have... overreacted. I am sorry, I just...”

“No need to apologize. I get it.” Krvavy reassures the vulnerable girl. “It is terrifying when something changes your life so suddenly and by so much, especially when there is nothing you can do about it.”

Thea sighs in relief, relaxing completely into the barbarian’s arms. “I had always wanted magic of my own. Though I never dreamt it would be so... so perverse.” She states, though the sweet smile on her face shows that she isn’t being too serious.

The moment that the two of them are sharing is suddenly ruined, as Khalia has grown far too impatient to keep sitting idly by. Abruptly butting her face in, the Greenskin woman begins licking up the dried tears on Thea’s cheeks, slobbering all over the noble girl.

“AAH! GET OFF!” Thea shouts out, trying desperately to push the Orc back, though obviously to no avail. This beautiful noble isn’t nearly as strong as that dog-like woman.

“Khalia, down!” Krvavy forcibly growls, causing the Orc to pull back with a whimper. “Sorry, we really need to train her...”

“Ugh! It is...! So gross...!” The bratty noble mutters and trembles in disgust as she wipes the blanket all over her face. Her kissable lips press together into an adorable pout, upset over that interruption ruining the mood.

“Ahem, if Ah may,” Beryl speaks up, waiting for Krvavy to nod before continuing. “Ya ‘ave a blessing ta purchase.”

“Right.” Krvavy replies. She does want to upgrade her Naturists Blessing at some point, so might as well do so now that she has the points.

Naturists Blessing II: Blessed by a divine power, you endure all that comes your way. Gain True Defence in proportion to how little you are wearing, the amount of which increases with the quality of what is worn.

And of course she should also check to see what it will upgrade to next...

Naturists Blessing III: 8 Divine Favour. Upgrade Naturists Blessing II to gain additional benefits, attributes, & resistances derived from what is worn, extends True Defence protection to what is worn, and provides 25 Base Armour. Upgradable.

Wow. There is quite a lot going on there, and... all of it seems pretty good.

There is no doubt about it, Krvavy really wants to get this upgrade. Even if just for the ability to give True Defence to whatever she wears. The way she sees it, that is currently the biggest weakness of Naturists Blessing: she could have 90% True Defence, but if her loincloth was destroyed she’d go right back down to the 10% default.

“Ya must get tha’ one next!” Beryl insists, as soon Krvavy reads the description out to her.

“Well...” The barbarian begins, a bit hesitant despite how much she agrees. If Krvavy keeps buying new perks as soon as she can then she will never get her Inventory...

“No.” The tomboyish Elf doesn’t let her continue. “Do ya ‘ave any idea how much more powerful tha’ is?! Every facet o’ it is great, especially tha’ Base Armour!”

“Look, I get that you don’t want me to get injured, but I ca–”

“Ya don’t know wha’ base armour is, do ya?” Beryl interrupts, speaking in a rather deadpan tone.

Krvavy just stares at her Elf, blinking slowly.

“Ah don’t mean any offence!” The tanned tomboy quickly states, lifting her hands up in surrender. “Most people don’t put much thought inta armour, let alone base armour! So Ah just–”

“Just... explain what is so good about it then...” Krvavy sighs, willing to hear the Elf out.

Beryl smiles as she begins her explanation. “Well, ya know ‘ow armour reduces damage by a flat amount before resistances? But only if the attack hits through the armour?”

Krvavy didn’t actually know that, but she had a rough idea that was close enough to being right. Good to know for certain now though.

“But no matter ‘ow good tha’ armour is, its protection can be negated by goin’ around it. Fer example, a breastplate won’t stop ya from takin’ damage if somethin’ can get beneath it, or if ya just get hit where it doesn’t cover. And tha’ is the same fer more natural armour, like yer scales.” Beryl plainly points out.

Do Krvavy’s scales have armour? They are kind of soft, but are definitely tougher than her skin. So it would make sense... But she can’t seem to see how much they would have: no window pops up into her vision when she thinks about it, Inspect doesn’t show any values, and it isn’t with her resistances...

“But base armour is different, as it applies to yer entire body. Even yer squishy insides.” The Elf emphasizes, intensely looking Krvavy in the eyes. “It will reduce all damage by tha’ amount. Well, almost all, as there are still some things tha’ can bypass it... Like True Damage and certain enchantments... But still, it doesn’t ‘urt ta ‘ave the extra protection!”

“Okay, I’ll consider it.” Krvavy replies. She can see how useful it would be, as any damage under twenty-five just won’t affect her. And while it isn’t all that much, it would add up in a fight... “But it’ll probably be quite some time until I even have enough points to get it.”

“Ya sure? Isn’t there anythin’ else ya want ta do that’ll give ya some favour?”

“I don’t...” Krvavy begins but almost immediately pauses, looking around the living area. “Actually... This is my– our home, but it doesn’t really feel like it. So I’d like to do some renovations. You know, wall it off and put some windows in so that we can look down into the grotto, replace the campfire with a fireplace, make the bed into something better than just a pile of furs and blankets, and even add some other rooms like a kitchen and a proper bathroom.”

“Oh, tha’ sounds wonderful!” Beryl lovingly coos.

“It will take ages though.” Krvavy sighs back. “I hardly had enough mana to get a single section of the railings done in a day...”

“Well...” The tomboyish Elf starts, a playful smile dancing across her lips. “Yer little wife ta be could ‘elp wit’ tha’~! Ya could take ‘er down ta the hot spring and ravish ‘er while she does ‘er new magic~!”

Thea’s face flushes as she angrily looks up at Beryl. “I am not going to just be some tool used to regain mana!” She defiantly states, pursing her lips into an adorable pout as she once more acts like the brat that she is. Wonderful~.

“Even if it means gettin’ ta sleep in a proper bed wit’ walls around ya?” The Elf teasingly questions.

“Ugh...!” Is all the noble girl can respond with, choosing to bury her face against Krvavy’s chest.

“Look, I’m not going to focus entirely on renovating the place. I don’t even really want to start that today. Though I should probably at least spend the mana I have...” The barbarian shakes her head. “I honestly don’t want to do anything else today...” Even ignoring the recent whirlwind of emotions that swept through her mind... she is still really sore.

“Tha’ is fine.” Beryl reassures her. “It is ‘ardly even noon and ya ‘ave already done so much! Ya came back ta life, ya helped Khalia get better, ya got tha’ new weapon, ya pounded Khalia fer hours, ya ‘ad a ‘eart ta ‘eart wit’ Thea, then made love ta the girl... Ya’ve more than earned a rest.”

“New weapon?” Thea curiously speaks up, lifting her head up from Krvavy’s bare breasts.

“Oh yeah, you haven’t seen it. Watch.” Krvavy sticks out her arm and manifests her Soulbound weapon in her hand. The large axe towers over them, standing tall above their sitting forms.

“Wow...” Thea breathes out, sounding genuinely impressed. The perspective makes Krvavy’s axe seem even larger and more impressive to the noble girl.

“Cool, isn’t it? I can’t wait to actually get to use it.” The barbarian comments as her weapon fades away.

“If ya want ta spend the day relaxing,” Beryl gently speaks up after a few moments of comfortable silence, “how about Ah give ya a massage? Or maybe we can go back down ta the ‘ot spring?”

“Maybe later.” Krvavy quietly responds, shoulders slumping as she rests her chin atop Thea’s head. “I’m alright just cuddling for now.”

Beryl nods and moves in closer, pressing against the barbarians side.

This might be Krvavy’s life now, so she had best make the most of it. But she doesn’t have to start doing productive things right now... She is content with just sitting around and enjoying the presence of her three wonderful women.

Krvavy closes her eyes and relaxes.