My new captain

-POV Kaelin -

I am currently lying on the bunk bed provided to me by Leon, my new captain, and the man who wants to make me his woman.

Pfft! That sounds so strange to think about! Before lunch, I was just a stranded foxkin dungeon diver who was hated by the general population of this city, and now I am a ship's gunner, and the captain wants to bed me! Ha!

The me of yesterday would never believe it if I told her!

When I stowed away on that ship in the city port all those years ago, I never imagined I would end up in this situation now.

I thought that stowing away on the ship was my ticket out of that place! That all of my troubles would disappear if I did that, I was wrong.

Turns out, it was a pirate ship! One of the crew found me hiding in the cargo hold, and the captain gave me a choice: Work for them or die.

I didn't really want to die, so naturally I decided to work for them. In the beginning, it wasn't too bad; they gave me food and let me sleep in a bed, all I had to do was cook, clean and carry some things.

Then the beatings started.

 One day, I dropped a cannon shell while the ship was in a battle. The shell rolled down the deck of the ship and hit the foot of a crew member. As soon as the battle finished, the crew member kicked me in the back.

I fell to the floor, covering my head with my hands, and he kicked me until I spat up blood, all the while cursing me and calling me names.

When I told the captain what had happened he looked at me, and then backhanded me across the face to teach me to never bother him with 'mundane shit' again.

Once the crew realized that I was fair game, I became their punching bag.

If I made a small mistake, I was beaten.

If I said something they didn't like, I was beaten.

If I looked at one of them funny, I was beaten.

I was once beaten because I talked back to a crewmate in his dreams; the punishment was that he broke my wrist by stomping on it.

One day, the ship docked at a port to resupply. The captain didn't realize that the ship had been tagged as a pirate vessel and quickly came under attack.

I took advantage of the situation and ran off into the city carrying nothing but the crewman's knife I had on my belt.

The pirate crew managed to kill quite a few pursuers and even managed to kidnap some residents to sell as slaves in another kingdom.

The townsfolk must have known I came from that ship because they treated me terribly. Cursing at me, spitting at me, throwing things at me.

One day, Pops appeared and fed me. He told me about the dungeon, gave me a revolver, and showed me how to fire it. I now had a way to make some money for food.

Unfortunately for me, the deeper you go, the more necessary teammates are, but nobody from the city wanted to team with the hated fox girl, so some days I couldn't eat.

I started offering city tours to outsiders on days the upper floors of the dungeon were too crowded to make money, and that is when I met him.

He passed me walking up the stairs, and I could immediately smell that he was different. Not just that he was different to the citizens of the city, but different in general.

He smelled... pure, clean, like he was a newborn. 

When I offered to show him around, he immediately scanned my entire body with his eyes and declared that instead of coins, he would take me to lunch as our first date.

I was initially embarrassed as he had called me a beauty. Everyone else in the town calls me filthy, stinky, or a mongrel.

I took him to a place I have always wanted to go to. He said that budget wasn't an issue, so I took that at face value. He didn't lie.

Not only did he purchase one of everything on the menu for us, but he also spent a few thousand in Pops's shop and reserved a dimensional ring for himself to collect tomorrow.

I've never wanted to be rich, but not having to ever worry about money is a privilege I never imagined myself having.

The biggest shock was when he asked me to join his crew!

He could tell that the people of the city despise me, but for some reason, after I took him to Pop's place, he just came out and offered me the position of gunner! I guess my being a beastkin doesn't even register in his mind!

He also told me he wants me to be the first girl in his Harem, hehehe. He is quite handsome, and I really don't mind if he tries to flirt with me. It's quite pleasant to be called lovely and beautiful as opposed to filthy or flea-ridden, but I haven't fallen for him yet. It's only been a day!

I agreed to his employment terms, and we signed a contract to make sure that neither of us was planning on doing anything bad to the other. I am going to earn 500 gp a month, plus some of the spoils. That would take me more than 60 days of dungeon diving.

On top of that, I get my own bed, and I don't need to pay for anything for myself. Honestly, this whole ship is amazing!

He cooked us dinner after that, and we talked about his future goals.

Basically, he wants to be very strong, very rich, and to have lots of beautiful wives.

I had a shower and then lay down. Tomorrow we have work to do, and I need to take him to the dungeon so he can get some EXP.