FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The port part of the city was full of people as usual. It had the biggest port in the Eastern Empire. Its name was changed to New Mekkan because four of ten residents were Keidran or human. Everyone with some knowledge about society knows that the city had a problem with fighting between the species. Basitins were attacked in non-Basitin districts and many Keidrans and humans (non-Basitins) had problems with finding a job and huge taxes.

There were rumors that non-Basitins buried the hatchets and formed a militia to defend themself. So the tensions were high and could easily escalate.

So Boris wasn't surprised when Basitins were following him and his friend with suspicious eyes.

Yuri felt a little uncomfortable "What's their problem?"

"Don't you know what happened recently on the island?"

"Templars happened" Yuri said without thinking,

"Exactly. Basitins doesn't trust us because of them. Add recent events and we have the recipe for disaster"

"What events?"

"Attack on Basitin sergeant and me throwing Angie to the sea"

"Oh yeah" he chuckled, "That was awesome"

Few minutes later, both soldiers were in front of the female barrack.

The East Basitin architecture wasn't the most beautiful. The grey stone walls with watchtowers were their biggest trend since... forever.

The two Basitin women were guarding the entrance.

"Shit" Boris cursed,

"What's wrong? You entered before"

"There were no guards yesterday"

"So what now?" Yuri asked his friend,

"I do the talking, you..." he had a problem with finding the words, "be yourself"

"Hey!" Yuri took the friend's word as an insult. After all, the captain ordered them to behave and act incompetently.

"Ok, tell me one, only one example when you were doing your military duties professionally"

The soldier opened his mouth but no words were heard. He only frowned.

"Good. Now let's go"

The boys got closer to the guards. They immediately crossed their spears, blocking the way,

[Hold it!] The woman said in her language, [State your business!]

"What did she say?" Yuri asked his black-haired friend,

The Basitins' faces showed confusion, "Wait" the female guard said in human, "You don't know Basitin?"

Boris sighed, [I'm sorry for my friend. We're from the human garrison. We're to talk with a certain Basitin]

[What's her name and rank?]

[Corporal Angela Merrison]

The name shocked the guards, [What do you want from her?]

[Important stuff which we can't say]

"For the Masks' sake, please, speak in human!" Yuri had enough of not understanding what they were talking about,

"Sorry. Corporal isn't in barrack right now"

"What! Where is she?!"

"I don't know" she said, "By the way, why are you wanted to go into the female district?"

Yuri came up with an idea and, Yuri being Yuri, he said without thinking about it,

"Boris is her girlfriend"

The Basitins dropped their spears and their jaws opened, "Wh...What?!"

Boris, shocked as well tried to say something but Yuri stomped on his feet, "Yes, they're both shy because of what Templar did recently. You should understand it. So.... can we go in?"

The girls looked at each other, [We'll get in trouble if we let them]

[...Let them]

[What?!]

[Nothing is happening lately. If we won't let them in, we're going to bored ourselves to death]

[And if we let them in, they will be beaten to death!]

[It would be interesting...]

[You know I can hear you, right?] Boris broke the whispering between two Basitins.

They straightened up and blushed a little, "W-We told you that corporal isn't here!"

"We know" Yuri said, "But we're still insisting"

The female Basitins looked at each other once again and shrugged, "Corporal's cabin is in the right building, first floor, end of the corridor, door to the right"

Both humans thanked and went into the military building.

"Seriously?!" Boris whispered,

"At least they let us in"

"Angie's gonna kill me..."

"See? You're even talking like a married man"

Boris didn't respond, only hit his friend in the back of the head.

They reached the corporal's door but it was locked,

"Can you unlock it?"

"Sure" Yuri reached into his pocket and took his lockpick, "Give me a moment"

And a moment later, the door was wide open, "That was too easy"

"Basitins aren't the most subtle species. After all, they literally broke the door in our cabin"

"Maybe we should steal everyone in the barrack? You know, to be even?" even though, Yuri said that sarcastically, he didn't mind doing that,

"The guards already saw us, remember?" Boris destroyed his friend's dream.

The cabin was a spacious room with two bunk beds and four wardrobes. Every bed has a nameplate on them: on the right bed there were "A. Relia" and "L. Eviat", on the left one - "C. Brindan" and "A. Merrison".

"You search the right, I search the left" Boris said,

He nodded and they started searching for any signs of whiskey or the captain's secret package.

Yuri found the small piece of paper but he couldn't read it because of the language barrier, "Hey, can you translate it?"

"Sure. Let's me see" When he got it in his hands he read it "Lisa, I wrote this in case you forgot where is our party. It's always the island in the north of the city. Just take a boat and swim.

PS: We all agreed that every fourth bottle is going to the island, so don't try to hide any alcohol for yourself, you drunk idiot! Signed, Anne"

"What are waiting for? Let's go!" Yuri headed to the exit,

"Wait a minute! The package can be still here!"

Boris tried to open the corporal's drawer but it didn't budge. Yuri got closer and investigated the lock,

"This lock isn't a half-timbered. It's code lock" he scratched his head, "How the hell that woman has such a fine lock? She has to have contacts"

"Can you open it?"

The lockpicker shook his head, "I don't have the tools to open it"

"So we used the universal method"

Boris grabbed the sword and inserted it in the crevice. He used it as a crowbar and tried to forcefully open the drawer.

*Crack!*

It opened and they found... something interesting.

In the secured drawer was lingerie. But it wasn't ordinarily, approved bylaws underwear. It was imported from the continent, black lingerie.

"And you said that Basitins are proud and no fun" Yuri smirked,

Boris, still surprised by their findings, couldn't form the words, "I... I..." and then, he burst, "Oh Masks! Ha ha ha!"

"What's so funny?"

"I... I sold it years ago!"

"You what?!"

---

3 years ago...

It was a calm night. Few clouds in the dark sky and the white moon enlightened the sea. The small ship without any flag was slowly swimming to the Basitin territorial water. The crew was looking for any Basitin fleet. Luckily for them, they were alone. If someone saw them, the Basitins ships would sink them down or arrest them for smuggling illegal stuff.

"Lights out!" the shout of the captain was heard in every corner of the ship.

The smuggling ship went dark. It made them invisible to everyone.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the cave. The place was far from any city and, most important, ports with Basitin Armada.

Humans put on masks to hide their faces and unpacked the crates with valuable items. The Basitins who were waiting in the cave hid their faces too.

The black market started. Basitins browsed through the inventory under the humans' watch. And the inventory was wide: from the weapons (swords, axes, spears, bows, crossbows, and bombs) through hard alcohol and drugs to the 'improper' clothes.

Boris's job was to make sure that clients will be satisfied and convince them to buy more.

When he was walking on the lower deck, he saw a woman who was looking at black lingerie.

[Who's the lucky guy?] he asked,

the Basitin tale changed into katana, and her face reddened so much that her mask couldn't hide it,

[N-No one! There's no lucky guy!]

He decided to tease her more, [So, it's a girl, huh?]

[N-No! Stop it now!]

The human laughed and said with a warm-hearted smile, [Relax, I'm just joking]

[Hmph!] she pouted at him, [Of course, I won't buy it. How can I make sure it's fit me?]

[There's a changing room with a mirror at the end of the corridor]

[Oh, thank you] still blushing she headed to the room,

[Tch, Basitins] Boris said to himself.

He was waiting at her outside the room, [Something happened? You're there for a long time]

[I'm fine] she shouted, [It's just...]

[You aren't sure to buy it?]

[...Y-Yes]

[C'mon. I'm pretty sure, you look amazing]

The sound of the tail hitting the floor was quiet, yet audible, [R-Really?]

'The fish caught the bait' he thought, [Of course! I mean I've never seen Basitin in the fur but my intuition tells me you look gorgeous!]

The tail hitting got faster,

[If you want, I could give my opinion if you let me see]

[N-No! I-I decided! I'm buying this!]

A minute later, the Basitin left the changing room, [How much for it?]

[16 gold,] he said, [but for you, I can lower the price to 14]

Basitin thanked him and paid. He didn't have any idea that the client's name was Angela Merrison.

---

"No way"

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"Ok, so what now?" Yuri asked,

"They're at the island remember? Let's go!" Boris took the lingerie with him,

"What are you doing?"

"She stole from me, I stole something from her. Plus, it's funny to tease her"

"...You're a masochist"

"Maybe" Boris lightly laughed, "Maybe"

The boys left the barracks and headed to the port.

---

"Huff...Is that...huff...island is close?"

"C'mon Yuri. We've been paddling for ten minutes"

"It's...easy for you...to say...huff...because you did that...before"

One long argument later, they hit the shore.

"Whew! Finally!" Yuri wiped the sweat from his forehead,

"You stopped halfway. I did the paddling"

"Shh! You heard that?" they heard someone was singing, "Let's go!"

Boris sighed and followed his friend.

The boys found a big group of Basitin women near the campfire. There was a huge box with magic runes which make music. The party started recently. Only a few empty bottles were lying on the sand, and they hadn't been drunk yet.

"I stay here" Yuri said,

"What? Why?"

"I can't speak in their language. Now go!"

Boris grumbled a little and headed to the fireplace.

They found Angela drinking whiskey with a white-furred Basitin.

[You were right, Angie] the North Basitin said, [Human beer is the best!]

Boris and Yuri decided to get closer from their back. Boris bowed a little and asked the girls,

[Enjoying my whiskey, girls?]

Angela turned around and saw him [Oh...erm...Hey, Boris, what's up?]

[I wouldn't be mad if you and your friends stole only my stuff. But you also broke into the captain's safe!]

[What are you talking about?] she realized and turned to the other Basitin [Lisa! What the hell did you do?!]

The North Basitin was walking away, [I don't wanna be between you and your boyfriend so...]

The both of them shouted in sync, [We're not the couple!]

Everyone stopped talking and turned to them. Even Yuri who was outside understood that.

They looked at each other and blushed, [Back to the safe]

[What about it?]

[It was something in it. A package. Did you steal anything like that?]

Angie thought a little, [Well...we found a weird wooden box with Templar crest on it]

[Yep, that should be it]

She gave him the box.

[Thank you] Boris was about to leave the party,

[W-Wait!] Angela stopped him, [If you want to stay...]

When he saw her flustered, he replied with a smirk, [Wait. You want me to stay?]

[Well, it was your beer and I feel guilty about this]

He took a step closer. They were so close that Basitin's fur touched his armor, [Is that the only reason?]

Angela's face reached a new level of redness, [P-Please stop doing that!]

He laughed, [It's so easy to tease you!]

Seeing that the embarrassment was changing into anger and including with it the punching, he decided to back off, [Ok, I stay]

[Wait, really?]

[Really. I just return the box and I come back]

As Boris was moving away, Angela felt something. She had never experienced that kind of feeling but she like it.

---

Meanwhile, Yuri was waiting at the boat, impatiently hitting his leg like a rabbit. Boris showed up with a weird box in his hand.

"Here you go. One secret package" Boris loudly announced,

Yuri wasn't impressed, "Took you long enough"

"I didn't see you trying to retake the stolen goods"

"My specialty is unlocking things, your specialty is smuggling"

"Just take it to the captain" he threw the box,

"Woah!" he caught it in midair, "Careful! It can be fragile!"

"It isn't!" Boris argued with his friend,

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because opium isn't made of glass!"

Yuri's eyes widened up and his hands were trembling, "O-Opium? It's a fucking opium?!"

He barely kept his hands under control to open the wooden box.

The box contained green plants with round ends. There was no doubt. It was opium, the most infamous drug on the continent.

Boris closed the box, "Yes, it is. Now shut up!"

"You fucking knew it?!"

He didn't respond.

"Oh, Masks... You and the captain are smuggling opium to Basitins"

"Since when did you become religious?!"

"Since the time when I discovered that I can be hanged if anyone finds out about it!"

Yuri's worries were reasonable. Opium is addicting that can bring any human or Keidran to the brink of death if they won't take another dose. It's forbidden to grow it and sell it under the threat of a one-way ticket to gallows.

"Listen, it's ok" Boris tried to calm down his friend,

"How the fuck is it ok?!"

"The laws are applied to the continent. Not here"

That made Yuri keep his shit together, "Ok...ok...But it's still dangerous"

"Believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't be here. Now go give it to the captain. And remember, you saw nothing!"

Yuri nodded and got ready to swim back to the port, "Why aren't you going?"

"Oh, Angie asked me to stay. How could I say no?"

Yuri scoffed and swam back to the main island. Boris went back to the party.

To be continued…