End Online: Volume 5 by D. Wolfin Page B

chest and hiding her body
from my view.
    “Don’t… look,” she mumbles so quietly I nearly miss it.
    “Ah, umm, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to.”
    Her proximity is even more intoxicating, and I gently place one
hand on her back, reveling in the softness of her skin. Without thinking, I
gently run my fingers down her spine, feeling the small bony ridges under the
skin. The girl quivers in response to my touch and her breathing increases
slightly.
    “No… don’t!” She cries out suddenly.
    Before I realize it, a miniature ice spear stabs into my
shoulder. A shocked moment later I experience the pain of actually getting
stabbed and scream in agony. .
    Sound carries through the walls apparently, as Mason and Matrix
come rushing from the next room and start banging on the door and asking if I
am okay. I try to call out but even moving my jaw causes the pain in my
shoulder to increase greatly. Luckily the door is locked, since I don’t know
how to explain this situation.
    “Verde, he isn’t responding. Can you pick the lock?” Comes
Mason’s voice from behind the door.
    “Umm, I’m not sure. Let me try.” The clearly recognizable voice
of our other female companion speaks uncertainly.
    I hear something rattling in the lock and begin to panic.
Forcing my body to move through the pain, I grab the small sliver of ice
sticking into my shoulder and pull it out, the shard crushing in my hand as I
do so. Despite the pain that the ice shard caused me, I did not lose much
health.
    ‘Having a decent strength stat pays off!’  I happily think as the pain quickly fades.
    I hastily grab Fen by her bare shoulders, sitting her upright.
She protests at being moved, but neither resists for long nor  stabs me
with another piece of ice. I hastily pull her dress up and help her tie it up
behind her neck before Verde can unlock the door.
    “I’m fine!” I call out in a panicked voice. “There is no need to
come in!”
    I don’t know whether they are unable to hear me or are
pretending not to, but the noise of the lock rattling doesn’t stop. I get up
off the bed in a rush, opening the menu to equip my armor and cloak as I do so,
and rush over to the door.
    “Sorry, I don’t think I can. It is a private room in an inn
after all. It must be unpickable. Strange, for some reason I thought it was
possible to break into a room in an inn,” I hear Verde say behind the door as I
reach for the handle.
    I pause momentarily, before calmly opening the door to greet the
others outside. I find that it isn’t just Verde,  Mason, and Matrix there,
but Sir Laurence and even CaptainGordon are also gathered around the door.
    They don’t look directly at me, but poke their heads in and look
around the room. Mason and Sir Laurence adopt short, semi-concealed smirks on
their faces. Verde and Matrix blush slightly and avert their eyes.
CaptainGordon is busy craning his head around the others, trying to get a
better view of the room.
    I follow their line of sight behind me, and see Fen blushing
extravagantly while seated on the bed, her dress still twisted around her waist
and revealing her long, slender legs. I’m not completely thick headed, of
course I can tell what they are thinking while looking at this scene.
    “I-it’s not what it looks like!” I stammer as my eyes
frantically dart around in search of an escape.
    “Ahem,” Mason clears his throat, his grin deepening, “it’s not
like what?”
    “Y-y-you…” I begin, but cannot find the right words to say.
    Sir Laurence’s eyes flash as he stares directly at me, “Forgive
us, we heard a cry and thought there was some danger. We immediately rushed
over in a panic, but it appears we interrupted you.”
    “N-no, like I said, there was nothing going on!”
    Mason places his hand on his chin, staring at me as his smirk
becomes utterly wicked, “But you  did  tell us not to come in.
You also sounded quite flustered.”
    ‘So you did hear!’  I
inwardly curse and