"A meal is HOW much?" Wise asked in disbelief, putting her gloved hands on her hips.
The red-haired girl in her red and gold outfit stood in front of a food stand in the town of Mamadan. They sold the best dumpings Wise had ever eaten here, and she had volunteered to pick up some for everyone back at the inn. Secretly, Wise had planned on sneaking one or two for herself on the way back, but her devious plan was running into a serious problem.
"500 gold." The NPC behind the counter answered, smiling politely.
"That's ridiculous! It was only 50 last week!" Wise said shrilly, feeling her cheeks blooming with color.
"Our prices are pegged to the overall economy of the game world." The NPC explained, still smiling.
"Bah!" Wise hissed in annoyance, turning on her heel and causing her long twin-tails to drift behind her.
There was nothing to do but head back to the inn. Prices around town were ridiculous. This game was seriously screwed up if the economy could pinball around like that. Granted, this was a closed beta and they were only test players, but still. What were they supposed to do when every meal would threaten to bankrupt them?
"Shirase! I want to talk to you!" Wise called out in the middle of the seemingly busy street, though whether it was truly busy or not depended on whether the NPCs were counted.
A window appeared out of thin air in front of Wise. A beautiful woman with long purple hair was on the other side of it. Masumi Shirase was wearing an expensive dark blue suit and her usual expressionless face. The GM of this still-unnamed game was quite odd, but at least she was attentive to user requests.
"Hello, Test Player Wise. I am Shirase. How may I assist you?" Shirase asked evenly.
"You can tell these dumb NPCs to lower their prices! How can one meal cost more than we get out of an entire dungeon?" Wise asked angrily.
"I cannot alter specific in-game prices, Test Player Wise. But I can offer an explanation. We have decided to raise overall prices dramatically to simulate the proliferation of Real Money Traders, which have appeared in every MMO to date. We wish to see what test players will do when rapid inflation sets in so that we may better understand our options when this game goes live." Shirase explained in the same flat, even tone.
"So...what are we supposed to do?" Wise asked blankly, having needed a moment to take in that lengthy explanation.
"That is for you to figure out, Test Player Wise. We encourage you to be creative. Have a nice day." Shirase answered flatly, signing out at the end of her sentence.
The window vanished as soon after. Wise scowled and starting walking once more. Be creative? Easy for Shirase to say. Wise was plenty creative, of course, but maybe it would be best to ask the rest of her party what their suggestions were. They were waiting for her at the town inn. That was both good and bad. It was good that they had already locked in cheap lodgings, and it was bad that Mamako would no doubt insist on strategizing in the hot springs together.
Wise stepped out of the changing room with a sense of resignation. Why she had to do this all the time was beyond her. Mamako, Masato, Porta, and Mehdi had already settled in the hot spring before her. Because of Mamako's steadfast belief that they would all bond quicker if they were naked, nobody was allowed to wear a towel. It wouldn't be a problem if Wise could have gotten over herself and stepped into the hot spring before everyone else. But no, she had to dawdle and waste time wishing she didn't have to get naked at all.
Mamako had her long brown hair tied up to keep it out of the water. She was looking at her son with a blissful smile on her face, and while Masato had the same shade of brown hair, he was doing his best to ignore his mother's presence. What Masato was doing instead was thoughtlessly looking at Wise, standing on the edge of the hot spring with her towel still on.
"It's okay, Wise-chan. You can come in." Mamako said gently, pulling her son into her breasts to block his view.
Wise nodded and took off her towel. She slipped into the water as quickly as she could. Masato was struggling to get out, and Wise only barely managed to hide beneath the water before he got free of his mother's embrace.
"Well, I told you earlier what Shirase said. All the prices for basic goods are going to be high now. What are we going to do?" Wise asked to everyone around her as soon as she settled in, frowning.
"We could always clear more dungeons." Masato remarked, cluelessly as usual.
"Hmm. Dungeons mainly provide experience and gear. It wouldn't be optimal to do that if we're trying to make more money." Mehdi said in a considering tone.
Mehdi was smiling in her seemingly pleasant way, but Wise knew better. The blue-haired girl had a very unnerving personality hiding beneath the surface. Equally bothersome to Wise was her chest, which rivaled Mamako's in size. It was the other reason why Wise disliked getting naked in front of everyone else; her own breasts were...not as large as they could (and hopefully would someday) be, and they looked especially woeful in comparison to those two.
"I could make more items." Porta offered, splashing a little water around.
The pink-haired middle schooler wanted to be as helpful she could. Wise was grateful for Porta's efforts on behalf of everyone else, of course. Their party would have disintegrated into acrimony a long time ago without Porta's incredibly helpful item management and creation. And privately, Wise was grateful that there was someone around who was not perennially outshining her in the bust area.
"You could, but they don't sell too frequently. We wouldn't be able to keep up with our expenses." Wise explained, softening her frown.
A glum silence fell between them. Nobody seemed to have any ideas. Except for Mehdi, maybe. The blue-haired priestess had a thoughtful look on her face. Just as Wise was about to ask her if she had anything to say, Mehdi spoke up.
"I think running a business might be our best bet." Mehdi said a touch slyly.
"LIke a cafe or an inn?" Mamako asked gently, tilting her head.
"Yes. Except there's a lot of those around. It might be tough to get something like that off the ground. And we'll do need to do it quickly, right?" Mehdi remarked pointedly, looking around at everyone else.
"Unless we want to survive on berries and mushrooms." Wise said blandly.
"So...what about another kind of business? I've heard that women test players can make a lot of money by doing...certain things." Mehdi remarked, finishing delicately.
"What things?" Porta asked innocently beside her.
"Oh, don't worry. You won't have to do them. Just leave that to Mamako-san, Wise-san, and myself." Mehdi said with a smile, padding Porta's head.
Wise gaped at Mehdi. Was she suggesting...? Well, Wise didn't want to think about it too deeply. That was crazy. It had to be against the game rules. Granted, Wise hadn't seen anything to that effect, and the development team did tell them to be creative... But no, that was just nuts. Nor was she the only one who thought that.
"Wait a minute. Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Masato asked in disbelief.
"It's okay, Ma-kun. Just let mommy handle it." Mamako said sweetly, once again pulling Masato into her breasts.
Masato struggled once more, but unlike last time, it seemed that his mother was not going to humor him. Her much high strength stat meant that Masato could not overpower her, and as he could neither speak nor hear, Masato was effectively shut out of the conversation from then on. Wise didn't mind. Masato was a distraction that she could do without at the moment.
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes for Ma-kun. If we need money and this is the best way to get it, then count me in." Mamako explained serenely, still holding her struggling son between her breasts.
"Alright then. I have enough from my mother to put a down payment on a newly constructed building. We'll need more girls eventually, but we can start with just us three." Mehdi continued, still patting Porta's head.
"Hold on. I haven't said that I'm doing...whatever it is we're doing!" Wise protested shrilly.
"You don't have to, of course. But why not? It's not like you'll be using your real body. This is just a digital representation of it. You can sleep with a hundred guys here and it won't have any effect on you in reality." Mehdi contended soothingly.
"Yeah, but..." Wise mumbled, frowning once more.
"Wise-chan, I wouldn't approve of this normally, but it's important for all of us to do what we can." Mamako said encouragingly.
"All of us? Even Masato? You're comfortable with him seeing...that stuff?" Wise asked skeptically.
"Hmm. I suppose I would prefer if Ma-kun did not see anything naughty. Shirase-san! Can I ask you something?" Mamako spoke up to the empty air, looking expectant.
Sure enough, a window appeared in front of Mamako. The window was translucent, which meant that Wise could see it even on the opposite side of it. Shirase was there just as before, and impressively, her studiously blank face persisted, despite the provocative sight of Mamako holding her son between her breasts amid his continuing (and entirely futile) efforts to escape.
"Hello, Test Player Mamako. I am Shirase. How can I help you?" Shirase asked tonelessly.
"Hello, Shirase-san! I was just wondering if there's any kind of parental controls available in the game. I would like to prevent Ma-kun from seeing anything lewd, if possible." Mamako asked serenely.
"We have a parental setting where any nudity is obscured by large pixels in the sight of the subject. Would you like to activate this setting for Test Player Masato?" Shirase answered at once, showing no surprise at all.
"Oh, yes! That sounds perfect." Mamako replied happily.
"Very well. Changing Test Player Masato's visual settings now." Shirase declared flatly.
Mamako finally released her son's head, which meant quite a bit of complaining of out him. Wise was quite pleased, though. Why bother hiding her nudity now when Masato could no longer see it? Wise grinned and stood up out of the water boldly, making no effort to hide anymore. Masato turned to look at her and...blushed. Wait. That wasn't what Wise was expecting.
"Test Player Wise. Be advised that changing visual settings requires one minute to complete." Shirase declared with just the barest hint of amusement in her voice.
Wise went pale and ran out of the hot springs as fast as she could. Mehdi laughed at her, of course, but Wise simply had to get out of there. How could she have sex with strange men when she couldn't handle being seen naked by them? All the rationalizing in the world about how it wasn't her real physical body wasn't going to help. Was it?
Wise gaped at the newly constructed building Medhi had purchased for them. There was nothing here a couple of days ago. The building had sprouted up out of nowhere as soon as Medhi bought it from the Land Permit Office. From the outside, it looked like an inn. But there were certain touches that would hopefully let customers know that this was something else. Things like the red velvet curtains that adorned the windows, and the provocative sign over the door that proclaimed the place to be "Medhi's Secret Garden".
"Let's go inside, shall we?" Mehdi suggested cheerfully, leading the way inside.
Wise followed at Mamako's heels. Porta and Masato were already inside, having begun work on the place earlier today. Just because the building came pre-furnished didn't mean that it didn't need additional work. But that was Masato's problem. Porta, for her part, was hard at work constructing the items Wise, Medhi and Mamako would need to fulfill their roles.
"Ah, this is looking better already. Thank you, Masato-kun." Mehdi said brightly as soon as they were inside.
The inside of the place did indeed look amazing. It was tastefully decorated with plenty of red velvet chairs and dark oak furniture. There was a bar against the wall with many different multi-colored liquors. Standing behind the bar was Masato. He looked quite nice in a white dress shirt with a black vest and black bowtie. If you ignored his glum expression, at least.
"You look wonderful, Ma-kun! Did Porta make you that outfit?" Mamako asked happily, her eyes bright with pleasure.
"Yes. She made everybody an outfit." Masato replied with a sigh.
"Good. Everyone has their own room upstairs. Let's go get changed and come back down. I put up some flyers around the town earlier, so we should get customers pretty soon." Medhi announced, nodding.
"A-Already? I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Wise protested weakly.
"That's okay, Wise-san. You can contribute by scrubbing the floors then. You probably wouldn't be too popular anyway." Medhi said in a falsely sweet tone, curling her lip.
"What!? Of course I'd be popular! I'll be so popular there's going to be a line out the door for me!" Wise retorted angrily, putting her gloved hands on her hips.
"Well, here's your chance to prove it. Of course, if you don't, you'll be proving something else, won't you?" Medhi said silkily, raising an eyebrow at her.
Wise growled and turned on her heel. She stomped up the stairs with her hands curling into fists. No way was she going to let Medhi's words stand. Wise was going to be the highlight of this place! She'd bring in so many customers that Medhi would be forced to eat her words.
Wise reached the second floor and saw a hallway with a number of doors. Gold lettering was on each of them, and Wise found her own name printed on the third door on the hall. She opened the door and strode in, still incensed by Medhi's taunts. Inside was a smallish room with a large, king-sized bed with a dresser and an end table. Laying on the bed was the outfit Porta had made for her.
At least, Wise thought it was an outfit. It was probably missing a few articles of clothing. What was there on the bed was ridiculously skimpy. Not to mention trashy. Wise picked up a dark red tube top that would show her entire belly, a leopard print micro-mini skirt, as well as black pumps that were at least two inches higher than any heels Wise had ever worn before. Rounding out the unbearably slutty outfit was a black bra with straps that would be totally exposed with her tube top on, and finally, a scandalously tiny hot pink thong.
Wise's cheeks were aflame just imagining wearing this. But what else could she do? Go back downstairs with her tail between legs and be confronted with Medhi's no doubt smug expression? Never. Wise took a deep breath and began taking her sage outfit off. In very little time, Wise was naked. She picked up the underwear first and put it on, rueful of the fact that she felt barely less naked than before. The tube top and miniskirt were easy to put on, and once Wise had stepped into her towering black pumps, she was finished.
There was no mirror in the room, which was strange. Medhi had to have forgotten to put one in. It was probably for the best though; Wise would probably lose her nerve if she saw herself in this sluttiest of outfits. There wasn't anything left to do, so Wise left her room and immediately bumped into Mamako in the hall.
"Oh, Wise-chan! You look very pretty in that." Mamako said pleasantly.
Wise was too stunned to answer immediately. Mamako was wearing something that looked a lot more like a nightie than a dress. It was pale pink and had a very short skirt. What's more, the neckline plunged deeply enough to make it seem like her breasts were in danger of popping out at any moment. Mamako was also wearing pale pink stockings that went up to her thighs and some white high heels. Wise's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment until she was able to recover from the sight.
"Thank you, Mamako-san. You look very nice too." Wise replied in a stunned tone.
"Thank you. Let's not keep our guests waiting, Wise-chan." Mamako said sweetly, smiling at Wise.
Mamako hooked one arm into Wise's and led her downstairs. To Wise's considerable dismay, there were already customers downstairs. About 10 men were standing around inside. Some were dressed as soldiers, some as laborers, and some as merchants. Half of them looked up at Wise and Mamako on the stairs, while others were talking with Mehdi.
Wise made sure to keep her legs tightly together as she went down the stairs. With the micro-mini skirt she was wearing, Wise would have flashed her panties to every man downstairs otherwise. As she went downstairs, Wise got a better look at what Mehdi was wearing. She couldn't help but narrow her eyes at her rival. The blue-haired priestess was wearing a very sexy black dress that showed off her curves. It looked expensive, giving her the aura of a high-class call girl. Why couldn't Wise have been given an outfit like that?
Wise kept close to Mamako as they both reached the bottom step. The way the men were looking at them both made Wise feel distinctly nervous. It was not altogether unpleasant to be given such lavishing attention by the customers here, but still, Wise was less than thrilled at the situation.
"Alright, gentlemen. I've explained the prices. Now that my two fellow beauties have arrived, who will you choose?" Mehdi called out to the men, smiling widely at them.
Wise gulped, knowing that the festivities were about to begin. She told herself that it wasn't her real body, that she was doing this for the sake of her party, and that it was an excellent opportunity to learn about sex without risking anything to her person. When she thought about it like that, this whole thing didn't seem as outrageous as before.
Hopefully, this would be a rich learning experience for her and not the debauched, hedonistic mistake Wise suspected it was going to be.