Ero-Game: Power and Sword

The boys let me sleep in, but the squirrel woke me up. It literally jumped on my face.
“What the fuck!” I woke up and found that the boys weren’t in bed. The squirrel was screaming at me. I didn’t know what, but it was screaming something. I activated [translator] but immediately regretted it.
“Get up! Get up! Get up! You lying trash!” It was out of its mind.
“God.” I laid back down. It wouldn’t stop jumping on my chest and face. I brushed it aside, but it jumped right back on top of me. “What time is it?”
“It’s late! It’s late! The sun is up! It’s high up!” It screamed.
“I don’t know what that means. What time is it?” I grumbled.
“It’s high up!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll get up. Get off me for a second.”
It jumped off the bed and started pacing the floor. “I could be searching for nuts! I gotta search for nuts! You better get me my nuts!”  It wouldn’t stop screaming.
I slowly got myself to a sitting position and tidied up my messy hair into a bun. I needed to have Garth comb it for me… Or I could teach one of the guys to do my hair… For now, I got up and put on some pants.
“Let’s go! We gotta get my nuts!” It continued to scream.
I stepped out of the room, and it climbed up my body to my shoulder. Now it was real close to my ear and screaming into it.
I walked into the kitchen and looked over at the clock. It was close to noon, and the men were making lunch. The two husbands were doing most of  the work while the older boys were helping them out. I think one of the boys helping out was Freddie.
“Excuse me.” A man passed right by me with a basket of fruits. I was pretty sure that was Gordy. I had vaguely noticed him the day before yesterday, but now I got a better look at him.
And I went back to my room and put on the bracelet of eros that I had taken off last night. “What are you doing!? Why are you going back!?” The squirrel was yelling again. I wasn’t impressed by Gordy’s experience points, but he was handsome. So I thought I’d tease him a little. After I put on the bracelet of eros, I made sure to put on a long sleeve  shirt. Then I walked back to the kitchen again.
The girls were at the dining table being loud. Some of the younger boys were also there, bothering them and being just as loud. The older boys worked at the stove making everyone lunch, but some of the older girls  were missing from the table. I’d guess they’re out on the farm, working. None of them were high-level. Mrs. Hovert was the highest of them all and was only level 14. Just one level away from me…
I really need to increase my level. In Delaron, there are 3 men that I can and is worth fucking at my current level. Then there are about a dozen people that are good enough to fuck. There’s more worth fucking, but just like in the capital, they aren’t obtainable at my current  level. But one by one, they’ll become available as I level up.

The squirrel suddenly stopped yelling at me and said, “Oh, thanks.”
“What?” I looked over and saw that one of the little girls had given it a grape. The squirrel ate it, and as soon as it was done, the happy wide-eyed little girl gave it another grape. A boy followed her example and brought it a strawberry.
“You can have this.” The boy said and handed it the strawberry.
“Hm, okay.” The squirrel said and took it.
“Is it your pet!?” One of the boys yelled at me while standing on a chair.
“Ah, no.” Even older children were gathering now to give it food. “She did me a favor, and I have to repay it.”
A boy pulled on my pants and asked, “Can I pet it?”
“Ah, yeah, sure. Wait, actually…” I don’t need it pissed off more than it already is. “Hey, this boy wants to pet you,” I told the squirrel.
“Don’t play around. We can’t play around. We gotta go get my nuts!” It said.
“Come on, let him pet you. We’ll go talk to the couple about your nuts after lunch.” I said.
“We’ll go after we eat? You’re not lying this time?” The squirrel asked.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll go,” I said.
“Hmm. Okay.”
“Alright, she agreed. You can pet her.” I said to the little boy.
Then I picked the squirrel up, “Wha?” And put it on the dining table. “Oh.”
“Thank you.” The boy politely thanked me and petted the squirrel.
“What? You can talk to the squirrel!?” One of the girls shouted.
“Ah, yeah, it’s a spell,” I said and sat down at the table.
The girl, who’d fed the squirrel first, pulled on my sleeve and asked, “Can you ask her if she likes grapes or strawberries?”
“Ah, sure.” The squirrel was lost in a world of bliss. It laid belly up as it was pet by multiple kids. I poked it and asked, “Hey, what do you like more grapes or strawberries?”
In a calm and relaxed voice, it said, “I like nuts.”
“She likes nuts,” I told the little girl.
“Oh, I’ll go get some.” She ran to her dads and started pestering them.
“How can you talk to the squirrel!?” A girl shouted at me again.
“It’s one of my spells. And don’t yell.” I said.
“So it’s a magician’s skill. So what level did you get it at?” She asked.
“I don’t know. I think it was before level 10.” I said.
“Edna, don’t bother our guest.” One of her dads said as he continued to cook.
“I’m not bothering her! I’m not bothering you, am I?” She nodded at me, wanting me to nod along.
“Hmm. Em. Yeah, it’s fine.”
“See! She said it’s fine!” She yelled at her dad.
“Hmm. Okay.” The father said.
“Can you talk to any animal with it?” She asked.
“I can talk to any creature as long as they’re intelligent enough to communicate,” I said.
“Squirrels are intelligent, huh?”
“Well… intelligent enough it seems,” I said, looking at the stupid blissed-out squirrel.
“Hmm. What other skills do you have?” She asked.
Suddenly a boy jumped at me, pulled hard on my collar, and said, “Jamie won’t let me pet the squirrel. Can I pet the squirrel now! Please!”
“Let go of her, you idiot!” Edna, who’d been asking me questions, pulled him off me and slapped his head.
“He won’t let me pet her.” He started to sniffle.
Edna just pushed him away and said, “Let’s go outside. We can talk outside. It’ll take them another half-an-hour to make lunch.”
“Hm. Okay.” The kids were getting loud(er). The squirrel was enjoying being the center of attention.

As soon as we stepped out the back door, we saw Sterling.
“Sherrie! You’re up.” He said with a smile.
“Yeah, what are you up to? And where’s Otto?” I asked.
“We’re helping out. We got to play with the animals.” He said.
“Play?” That didn’t sound like helping.
“We cleaned out their living space too!” He said. “We helped them clean out their poop and everything.”
“Oh, okay.” I scratched my head. “And do you know where Nikola is?”
“Ah, Woodie and the others are helping out with us. But… Nikola isn’t there. I think she went out. You know, wearing the bracelet.”
“Hm. Right.” There nothing’s close by, though… Is she going to go knocking on houses? “Whatever.” I didn’t even want to think about it. In  a sense, I should be cheering it on since she’s doing her job and trying to level up, which is good for the team. As long as she doesn’t  expose the bracelet, it should be fine since the worst that could happen around here is she gets beat up by some possessive higher leveled woman. “So, where’s everyone else? Aren’t they coming back for lunch?”
“That’s what I came to check,” Sterling answered. “Aunty Lovise wanted to know if lunch was ready.”
“Tell mom it’ll be another 30 minutes,” Edna told him.
“Oh, okay.” He said to Edna and ran off.
“So, what other skills do you have?” Edna asked again. I didn’t really want to answer her and looked out at the farm and the distant mountains. This was a beautiful place. The weather was nice, the wind was cool. Clouds drifting above the mountains. “Are you a summoner? They have a  lot of skills that affect monsters and animals, right?”
“No, I’m not a summoner,” I told her. “And tamers have more skills to interact with animals.”
“Don’t summoners have those kinds of skills too?” She asked.
“Yeah, they have some spells like that, but most of their spells are for,” you guessed it, “summoning creatures.”
The little girl that’d fed the squirrel first came running out the house with a bowl of nuts. She’d broken the shells and put them in a bowl. “Do you think she’ll like these?” She asked, showing me the bowl of nuts.
“Yeah, probably,” I said.
“Janice, stop bothering us. We’re having an adult conversation.” Edna told her.
No, we’re not, I wanted to say. Janice stuck her tongue out at her and ran back inside.
“So should I become a Summoner or a Tamer?” She asked me.
“You’re asking me if you should become a magician or a martial artist?” Tamers fell into the martial branch, and summoners fell into the magician branch.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“It depends,” I said.
“On what?” She asked.
“On a lot of things,” I said.
“Like what!?” She demanded. I sighed. I looked at the beautiful scenery again. “Like what!?”
I sighed. “When I get to Delaron, I’ll buy two books, one on tamers and one on summoners. And I’ll send them both to you.” I said.
“Oh. Okay.” She crossed her arms, nodded, and looked at the scenery with me.

***

“Garth,” I said over the lunch table, “after lunch, go check when there’ll be a carriage to Delaron.”
“Yes, master.” He said.
“Is this our new pet?” Otto asked, stroking the squirrel’s head.
“No, I got to help it get back its nuts. Then it- Oh right, Mrs. Horvat, do you think you can let this squirrel use a small section of your  barn?”
“My barn?” She asked.
“Yeah, you see…” I explained to her the problem I was facing.
“Mom, let’s let her stay here!” Janice nodded vigorously. The squirrel continued to nibble on the nuts she’d given it.
“Ah…” Mrs. Horvat wasn’t so sure.
“Please, mom! Please!”
“Yeah, mom! Let it stay! It’s cool!” The kids started shouting at her.
“All of you quiet!” She yelled at them. Then she asked me, “How much room are we talking about?”
“Ah…” I wasn’t sure, but “It isn’t much.” It shouldn’t be much.
“Pe…” The children continued to scream. She looked at her pleading kids.
“Ha, fine. It’s just this one squirrel, right?”
“Yeah. And its nuts.” I said.
“Okay.” She agreed. For a second, I thought I’d need to pay her a monthly fee or something. I internally smiled at the kids.

***

The kids followed me when I went to the old couple’s farm. Otto and Sterling came along too.
“So, this is the place? They have your nuts?” The kids asked the squirrel.
“What is that kid asking me?” The squirrel asked.
“They want to know if this is the place,” I said.
“Yes. The dog won’t let me go near the barn.” It said.
“What did it say?” One of the kids asked.
“It said, yes,” I said.
“Oh, okay.” The kids said.
One of the kids ran forward and knocked on the door.
“We’re going to remove acorns from here?” Sterling asked as we waited in front of the door.
“Nuts.” I shrugged. “All kinds of nuts and seeds, I think.”
“Hm. Okay.”

An old woman opened the door. “What’s this?” She asked. “Kids from the Horvat house?” Then she looked at us. “But who are you guys?” Then she ogled Otto and Sterling before saying, “And you’ve got two handsome boys with you.”
“Mrs. Ayton, we need to go to your barn!” One of the kids yelled at her.
“What’s that little one? Why do you need to go to the barn?” She asked. An old man came up from behind her.
“Why don’t you let them in, dear? I’ll make them some lemonade.” Mr. Ayton, the old man, said.
“Okay. Come in, children.” Then she looked up at Otto and said, “And you too.”
She held open the door for us, and I walked in with the kids. When Otto passed by, she groped him.
As soon as we were inside, I tried to explain why we’d come. “Ah, you see, this squirrel stashed a bunch of nuts in your barn…”
Mrs. Ayton rubbed up against Otto and Sterling while I talked and kept harassing them. It was kind of annoying to watch. Not just for me, but Mr. Ayton didn’t like it either. But he looked the other way. It was also annoying for Sterling and Otto, but she continued to cop a feel. I considered marching out the door with my men and maybe sneaking in later to get the nuts.
When I finished, she brushed Otto’s hair and said, “You boys want to help this squirrel out? So kind and handsome.”
“So, will you help us?” Otto asked, smiling. He was using it to his advantage.
“Sure, anything for you cute boys.”
“So, it’s the dog that’s been causing all the problems.” Mr. Ayton said.
“Yeah, looks like it.” I talked to him since Mrs. Ayton didn’t seem to care that much and was groping my boyfriends.
The kids gulped down the lemonade and were ready to run out to the barn.
“Amy!” He yelled at his wife. “Let’s go help the kids!”
I thanked him internally.

She sighed. “Yeah, yeah.” She followed her husband to the barn. The dog came running out, and he attached the chain to its collar. It barked at us, but he held it off.
We walked into the barn, and I asked the squirrel, “Where is it?”
“It’s up there.” She pointed up at the second floor.
We climbed up this thing that looked like something between a ladder and a staircase to the elevated section. The squirrel led us to a corner, and sure enough, there was a big pile of seeds and nuts there. It was enough to fill up half a carriage.
“You collected all this, Ms. squirrel?” Janice asked.
“Yeah, she did,” I answered for the squirrel.
“We’ll need a lot of buckets to carry this to our barn,” Edna said.
Some of the kids tried scooping it up with their hands, and the squirrel yelled at them. “Don’t drop any, you humans! You need to carry everything! You better not drop one!” Not that they could understand  what she was saying.
“Kids, stand aside for a second.” I got them to stand far enough away from the pile of nuts. Then I activated [energy manipulation, telekinesis] and lifted up half of the pile. The squirrel ran back up my body and onto my shoulder.
“Don’t drop any!” It instructed me. It was annoying.

I moved most of it. Some of them carried a little bit with their hands. Then some like Otto and Sterling used buckets.
As the day came to a close, we managed to move everything to the Horvat barn.