Earth's SSS Pornstar to SSS Combat God in Another World-Chapter 36: Dinner with the Capybara Men

Joji and his cohort regrouped on solid rock, lungs burning and clothes damp with swamp sweat.

They stood at the edge of the old sinkhole and looked down.

Far below, the boar king churned in rage, bristles matted with mud, its ball shaped charge reduced to a furious pacing circle at the bottom.

It snorted up at them, stamping and scraping as if it could bully the earth into giving it a path.

Lilina leaned over the edge and stuck out her tongue, making faces with the fearless cruelty of a girl who survived a calamity.

Walter hovered a step back, hands lifted like a man surrendering to a judge.

"That was my mistake, good sirs," he said, voice thin with apology. "Who would have thought such a large tree would topple so easily?"

Joji scoffed. His fist itched to knock sense into the fat man, the same way a man knocked mud off boots. He even half raised his hand.

Then he remembered Sir Engine and the mission tied to Walter’s neck, and his hand lowered again, slow and unwilling.

He vented his anger into a cough.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Joji said. His hand waved in the air with practiced magnanimity. "Don’t mind it."

Alaric looked at him. The look was small, but it carried weight. He had seen the fist.

He had seen the restraint. He had heard the gentler tone Joji used on Walter, as if there was something hidden between them.

Joji saw the sourness Alaric tried to swallow.

"What?" Joji said. "Are you jealous? Are you a woman?"

"How I wish," Alaric replied, rolling his eyes.

When it was clear the boar king could not climb out, they moved on.

The afternoon gave them nothing but buzzing mosquitoes and the wet slap of mud. The insects adored Walter.

They found every patch of soft skin and treated him like a feast that kept walking.

He swatted and cursed under his breath and somehow still managed to look offended that the swamp would dare touch him.

By dusk, orange firelight winked in the distance.

Joji and Alaric both knew the Lost Boy’s Marsh held many beastmen tribes.

Most were peaceful unless a traveler went out of his way to provoke them or hunt them.

Peaceful did not mean harmless. It only meant they had rules and expected you to respect them.

They followed the fires and soon small circular huts came into view, built for warmth and dry feet.

Brown furred beastfolk moved between them with calm purpose, carrying bundles, tending pots, dragging wood as if night itself were just another chore.

They stopped when the Joji’s party approached. Eyes lifted. Noses twitched.

Then the tribe went right back to their work, as if strangers were common and trouble was optional.

Capybara Men.

Joji had heard the stories. Kind, steady, eager to help. Too eager.

Humans had tried to own them for it, and many enslaved capybara folk died of exhaustion because they did not complain about work, they only did it, and did it until their bodies quit.

The smarter slavers did not let them die, not out of mercy, but because capybara folk learned quickly and made fine assistants in a hundred tasks.

A capybara youth approached and offered baby potatoes still dusted with soil, holding them out with both hands like a gift.

Walter accepted with a grateful nod that looked too polite for a man who had nearly gotten them all killed.

An elder arrived next. He wore a simple wrap and carried himself like someone used to being listened to.

When he spoke, it was in clear human words, enthusiastic and bright.

"Visitors from afar," the elder said. "What is the reason for your visit to our humble tribe?"

"We’re just looking around," Joji said, already rummaging through Walter’s bulging bag like it belonged to the group, not the man.

He pulled out a sack of wheat and added a small pouch of gold on top of it, heavy enough to clink. Payment and respect in one gesture.

Then he went straight to what his party needed.

"We need a guide through Lost Boy’s Marsh," Joji said. "We’re going to the County of Fellbarrow."

The elder’s whiskers twitched with delight.

"Is that so? Come eat first," the elder said. "We are having a feast today. Boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, even salted potatoes. How good, right?"

Joji nodded and sat where they indicated, on a low stool near a table being set outdoors.

Torches hissed as they were lit. Nearby, capybara men coaxed frogs into a shallow pool under the flame with sticks and soft sounds, and the frogs took to it like they had been hired for the work.

They swam slow circles and snapped up anything that buzzed too close.

Walter watched a fat mosquito vanish into a frog’s mouth and felt something warm loosen in his chest.

For the first time all day he did not have to slap at his own skin.

Joji watched with quiet admiration. Clever hands. Gentle hands. The kind of hands that survived swamps.

As food was set down, the elder leaned closer, voice casual, eyes sharp.

"Is the route to Fellbarrow the only thing you came for?" he asked.

Joji heard the opening. The marsh did not give gifts freely, but it did trade.

He wanted more than directions. He wanted something that could make them stronger, and if the swamp offered it, he would take it.

"Is there something that opened recently in Lost Boy’s Marsh?" Joji asked.

The elder brightened, as if pleased by the question.

"Yes," he said. "The Lady of the Swamp opened her mansion a few days ago. It is worth a visit."

Joji and Alaric looked at each other. They had never heard the name before.

"Tell me more about this mansion," Joji said.

"It is no secret," the elder replied. "You can acquire beasts there. Unique items. The great lady likes to trade."

His gaze traveled over Joji, up and down, assessing.

"You may even be deemed handsome by her," the elder said, eyes gleaming. "Who knows? She may take a fancy to you."

Joji felt it in his belly, half anticipation, half dread.

His mind wandered to an old tale from King Arthur, the Lady of the Lake, breathtaking and enchanting, a mysterious sorceress with gifts.

And if the mansion truly offered beasts, then somewhere inside might be a mount worth his time.

Something with bravery and stamina, with the will to carry him through distances and battles.

Joji kept his face calm while his thoughts leaned forward, already walking toward the Lady of the Swamp’s door.