The door opened and in walked a young tertiary carrying a bundle of clothes, an Adventurer's starting equipment.

She was a little slow to realize that she was not greeting a child but a full-grown man. Pawel slowly sat up on the slab and turned to face her.

The girl looked a little bit like Zofiya. Several years younger. Dressed in a novice's robes, not that a tertiary of any age would wear any different. Her emblem marked her as one of the Thoros Faithful. It would seem Pawel's old Patron had not forgotten about him. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

However, he was not thinking of Thoros. His attention was on the girl. Looking at her, Pawel felt something come over him. It would happen from time to time. Not just with him, but with most Adventurers. Knowing you were different, knowing you were stronger, it would do things to your head. You would stop seeing the NPCs as people. They were just things. You could do whatever you wanted and there was not much they could do about it.

He got up and approached the tertiary. She was transfixed at the sight of him, staring at him wordlessly. She probably had never seen a man before, not in this state. That only served to inflame him further.

He held her by the chin and got a closer look at her. Big, pretty eyes. Freckles. Hair just a bit on the curly side. The very picture of innocence.

He leaned in and kissed her full on the lips. Those lips of hers were quite soft. Her breath tasted of anise, alexanders and honey, a popular mixture to freshen the breath. She did not try to pull away, did not try to resist him, either because she did not object or because she was too taken by surprise to react.

While he held her back with one hand, the other went for her breast. Getting a good feel for it, he could tell she was not binding her breasts. Not all girls did. She let out a little whimper. No doubt it was her first time for this sort of thing.

As fun as it was groping her, Pawel's hand moved down to the knot on the cincture at her waist. Untying the knot one-handed was easy enough.

Though he did not stop kissing her, during the brief pauses for breath, the girl attempted to ask, "What...? What are you...?"

With the cincture off, he took hold the girl's robe and pulled it off in a single smooth motion. Again, she did not really resist, yet she looked surprised all the same when the robe came off. Her face turned bright red as she covered her breasts with her arms. This, however, left her completely defenseless below the waist and so Pawel had no difficulty yanking down the sacred breeches.

The girl now had to devote one of her hands to covering her nethers, but as before, keeping her hands occupied covering herself left her defenseless against Pawel's next move. He scooped her up and carried her over to the stone slab. It was not quite a goose down mattress, but it would do.

He did not waste any time getting to it. Getting her this far was all the foreplay she was going to get. He plunged right in. It took him a moment to remember that there was a little more work involved with virgins, but he was careful not to go at it too hard. No matter how much he saw the girl as a mere thing, no matter how much his passions burned away his reason, he did not actually want to hurt the girl. No more than was inevitable at any rate.

Some girls were screamers, either because they reacted that strongly or because they were putting on a show. Not this one, though. She was trying hard to stifle her reaction. Given who she was and where they were, it was not much of a surprise.

During some of his 'research', he had heard stories of tantric sex that would go on for hours, days even. He did not last nearly that long, but he did not let it wound his pride too much. Being released from over seven years of blue balls was reward enough.

And with that release, the red mist swirling about in Pawel's brain started to clear. He looked at the girl, panting from her ordeal. Her breasts were just the right size, not too big and not too small. Not quite as perfect at Zofiya's, though, but he was biased. (Jun's were fine, too, just a little on the small side.) Honestly, he could probably go for another round, but once was enough. Now that the heat of the moment had passed, the feelings of guilt started to creep in.

The girl was still breathing heavily, so stunned by what had happened that she could barely speak.

Given what happened, you would expect there to be a fair bit of venom packed into her words, but her tone was more one of disbelief. From start to finish, her brain could not seem to process what had happened.

The girl was too honest for her own good. It made Pawel feel even worse about using her the way he did.

As the realization of the implications of what they did started to dawn on her, the girl sat up with a start and clung to him.

Pawel put his arm around her, feeling twice the heel for playing the gallant when all of this was his fault, and told her, "You're gonna be fine. No one has to know."

He held up his free hand and the old technique came back to him as if not even a day had passed. A gust of wind filled the vault, causing the girl's hair to whip about and further scattering the clothes that had been left on the floor.

Although the girl was surprised at first, it only took her a moment for her to realize it and she said, "That was the most elementary wind spell, the first thing wind mages learn."

Mustering some courage, the girl then said, "You... You have to take responsibility for this."

The girl blushed for a moment, but quickly remembered her purpose and asked him, "Then are you a fool?"

Reflecting on what he had done, Pawel admitted, "I am. Look, it's not that you're not attractive or anything, obviously, but like I said, you wouldn't be able to have kids with an Adventurer and besides... there's someone else."

The girl's eyes widened.

Pawel laughed.

Pawel held her by her shoulders and said, "Hey, hey, hey. You're not the one in the wrong here, okay? It's all me. I'm the asshole here, got it?"

She looked up to him and asked, "Then what will you do for me?"

He let the girl go and she donned her robe, girded herself with her cincture once more and stepped out of the vault. Once she was gone, the reality of the situation sank in, as did the likely consequences. He found himself repeating what he said the moment he awoke, for it was no less appropriate now.