10- After a battle

Ayi found herself in quite a different situation now.

It was actually the same situation, but with just a whole different perspective. It was a deep thought for which she did not care the least bit, all she knew is things were different.

She was not in a dream. This was not a dream, the stinging pain on her cheek was a quite unfortunate and pulsing reminder that this was not a dream. The city guard trying his best to maintain his composure as an authority figure while giving them a speech about the importance of adequate registration of poty-trained mounts? That, that she could believe to be part of some sort of knocked-out allucination.

This was definitely real, her cute little Zoey was real, Feugan was real, the entire kingdom was real. All an impossible thing to believe, a huge thing to happen to a protagonist only in light novels, mangas and animes. But, first things first.

Zoey was real!! The overwhelmingly cute wolfkin maid was real! Was she her… adoptive daughter?! This particular point was very important to Ayi at this moment. It was so very important that the troubled city guard stood for some time wondering if his recommendations and advices were just lost to this particular adventurer. He kept offering advice to the temporarily “AFK” adventurer while she pondered on the finer points of isekai/reborn parenthood/guardianship. It was a whole philosophical trip for which Ayi was not prepared to undertake in the least.

The guard stood there some good time until Zoey herself took the reins of the conversation, Thanking the guard for his services and excusing her mistress during her “deep meditation time”, while promptly making a report on the would-be-robbers that attacked them.

With the guard long gone now, Ayi still trying to wrap her own mind about what was going on, now reviewing her whole morning to this point. Trying to make a list of the most important things that she might have missed, warnings, insightful thoughts that might have popped into her mind while still in her groggy state of self-doubt thinking all was but a dream, maybe there were signs that she might have disregarded. But most important. Zoey was real.

At some point during her inner tribulations about life, reality and uncompromising cuteness, Ayi just did a metaphorical shove-off-the-desk to all her concerns to this point and focused on the cute wolfkin maid that she wrapped with her arms. Which in return yelped in surprise first and then slowly returned the warm embrace.

It was during this time that she noticed that Feugan was close, all to close actually, she noticed this not-so-subtle approach because she suddenly felt his breathing on her shoulder. When she looked to the imposing mount she realized that feugan was sort of looking to the side while having his head down at her shoulder level. The imposing red dragon kinda resembled… a cat asking for some pettings?...

“I have gallantly rescued you”

Ayi’s eyes went wide at this, did she just -hear- Feugan?!, but wait a minute he didn’t move his mout at all! So did Ayi just imagine that just now or did-- Zoey then gave a chuckle that caught Ayi’s attention due to the little girls response, which seemed a little tired as well as a tad strained somehow.

“Yes, Feugan. You have rescued us today. Thank you very much.”

At this particular moment, Ayi was again wondering if she was within a dream, maybe the punch actually knocked her out? Or could have just shaken her too much and she was hearing things?

“I am but an honorable, mighty warrio–”

“Yes, you are lightning and death…” said the little wolfkin with a defeated and slightly tired tone, letting go of her mistress embrace in order to turn torward Feugan, stroking the Dragon’s neck, making him in turn put on airs of graceful acceptance of the praise (which he obviously asked for).

Ayi was already a confused mess before any such interaction like this transpired, her head was now just frozen in a complete overload of information, possibilities, questions.

“D-did Feugan just talk?!”

“Not really-“

“Yes, to let you know I have arrived, you are safe now–”

Zoey then started scratching on a particular spot on Feugan’s neck, making him trail off as he seemed to stretch his neck and slightly close his eyes as the little wolfkin girl started scratching 2 parts of the long scaled dragon’s neck. 

What is this? Is he a cat now?!

The little wolfkin girl gave a tired sigh and then gave a weary smile at Ayi.

“He is your spiritbound Dragon, so the two of you can communicate directly by your link without the need to talk”.

Ayi nodded knowingly, arms in front of her chest, her chin resting on her hand in a deep thoughtful expression with a marked resemblance to a certain famous sculpture.

“WHAT?!¿” 

This was just like in the game!! Feugan was her unique mount she worked hard to train, level and equip, it was part of the story that they were linked. In the grand scheme of things (which made no sense right now to be honest), it would make sense that if Feugan was here with her, they would be soulbound. If things suddenly started going onto such fantasy direction it would just make the right amount of sense? Gosh was this a philosophical question? Was this a fantasy question? Was this even a question? At this point she felt like it made much more sense to accept things as they were pesented to her and just try to move on from there. She pinched her cheek again, commiting the mistake of doing it so on the side of her face where she had earlier showed a fist who is the boss.

“W-wait! But then how come you can hear him too?!”

As the little girl gave a troubled smile back at the question, with her hand busy scratching at the Dragon (that seemed to be puffing full pride each time they mentioned him).

“I cant -hear- him. I can just understand his intentions and feelings. From that it is only a matter of figuring out what he wants”

That got Ayi’s attention, she then remembered that Zoey was supposed to be proficient with beastmaster skills. She just never really paid much attention to this since she focused mostly on how cute she was, and dresses… LOTS of cute frilly dresses. Anyway, yeah... It made a lot more of sense that Zoey could “understand” Feugan then… But just what was going on right now? Ayi gave Zoey a meaningful confused look and then pointed to Feugan, who was still fully engrossed on the little girl’s attentions.

The little wolfgirls eyes seemed to glaze over as she gave a somewhat tired expression.

“Feugan, he…” the little girl took a deep breath and then said in a too monotonous voice “Feugan is a brave and strong warior who has defended us from evil and injustice”.

Ayi couldn’t help to notice Feugan puffed his chest out at such a proclamation… Was Feugan, was he asking for praise? Well it was quite obvious he was… Just… just so many things going on at the same time. So just roll with it? Weirdly enough, an overly prideful dragon was fairly normal when put side to side to everything that had transpired on this day.

And so, the blonde catgirl adventurer and her wolfkin adoptive daughter spent the rest of their morning petting and praising their -brave and valiant- Dragon companion.

9- Too rude awakening

The little wolfkin girl was tightly holding the brim of her mistress clothes, time seemingly frozen in the singular moment in which all those involved were both perplexed and utterly confused, it remained still.

The scene remained still, for what seemed an eternity. Soon going back into motion, as pain gained room against confusion, and a cry full of disbelief and anguish echoed now on the stone walls of the pathway.

Still, mostly surprised by all that unfolded in front of her, a few things had all of Ayi’s attention during this time, much to her own surprise, the stinging sensation of pain on her cheek wasn’t even among the top 5 most concerning things going on right now.

Right now in her own head she was fiercely debating about which one of 2 things happening right now required her undivided attention, if that was even possible within the current situation.

These being namely. First (maybe?), the screaming thug she was holding by his unnaturally-twisted-and-obviously-broken arm, which, given her own posture, she could guess she had reacted with one of the many many self defense techniques she had to relentlessly practice as part of the armed forces training regimen, thus making her the sole individual responsible for his broken limb.

Grimacing in disgust by the thug loudly yelling too close to her, she just let go of the now dangling arm, focusing her attention on the less unsightly Second (perhaps?) object of her attention.

A light blue semi translucent windows seemed to have appeared right in front of her.

A very videogame-like window was right in front of her.

Congratulations!

You have created unlocked a New skill!

-Cruel Retaliation- skill acquired!!

With her eyes fully fixated at this eerie window, several questions came to her mind. The most pervasive and redundant one being simple enough.

“WHAT?!”

“WHAT IS THIS?! HOW?! Well… I suppose I know –how-, but then again, HOW?!”, she thought to herself, within the turmoil of thoughts that her mind was at.

She knew well enough which movement she had used. Years of practicing such movement, just to comply with armed forces standards, didn’t leave her any doubt of where she learned it. Although she had never used it once, and looking at the unsightly screaming thug, with a now useless right arm, pretty much answered the -why-.

As the videogame-like window slowly faded away, she couldn’t help but to fret on the many questions unanswered, which would have to wait.

After all, cowards rarely attack unless they feel absolute superiority is on their side.

Clicking her tongue at the sudden situation, she changed her posture, a well practiced unarmed combat stance, facing the two would-be robbers. A low stance, arms flexed and tense like a spring ready to snap at any moment, without fully realizing it, her big cat ears were turning in a very feline demeanor, instinctively letting her know if there were more people nearby.

Within a heartbeat she had changed gears for the current situation, with one hand she reached back and made sure Zoey was still safely behind her.

Putting idle thoughts aside, her focus was on the two standing in front of her, much to her own surprise she saw how their ugly faces twisted from an aggressive threatening scowl to a confused and then panicked state within a few seconds.

It was then when she heard several hurried steps behind her, she quickly thought about it, the panicked faces of the thugs in front of her made it unlikely to be reinforces for them, maybe a rival gang?. No. The 2 of them, turning heels just started running to the opposite direction.

This was the moment when Ayi couldn’t help herself and turned around to see just who, or what, was approaching them, just as the hurried footsteps started to turn onto a cacophony of weeps and sobs, clamoring for help, crying for mercy.

It was then that she saw what was most likely the rest of the gang running past Zoey and her, paying them no attention, running for their lives now. It was then that she heard them, heavy -Grandiose footsteps of justice-.

“What?!”, Ayi was again surprised and confused, her own thoughts and perception felt, no, they were altered when referring to those footsteps.

It was then that she saw him, coming from the tunnel, behind the helplessly running gang, with a -Majestic grace-.

“Is…Is that you, Feugan?!”

There was no other way to describe it. Her dragon companion, Feugan, was slowly approaching them, with firm and a rather self-important look to himself…

Now, Ayi couldn’t help but to squint her eyes and look with more attention at Feugan as he continued moving toward them in a rather slow pace as he…

“Is Feugan looking at the side… posing?...” Unable to keep her thoughts to herself, Ayi let out such a question, much to which Zoey seemed to react with a soft laughter as the little wolfkin girl relaxed a little.

Now, completely sure the thugs scurried to wherever. Ayi stared at Feugan, which remained on top some stairs on the way to them, maybe just 2-3 steps above them... Still looking to the side, almost like, lifting his chin and… wearing strips of broken leather on top of him?

All sense of danger long left Ayi, she was more confused by Feugan’s looks and attitude right now, was he trying to… to look cool? Where those strips of leather some sort of battle trophies? She remained agape for a moment, and much to her surprise Feugan seemed to puff his chest full of pride.

This majestic scene, full of magnanimousity and confusion would have continued much longer, were it not for a poor poor gate guard that came running, obviously after Feugan.

Panting and wheezing, he lifted a hand torwards Ayi and stood there, still trying to catch his breath.

“Ma… Ma’am! Is… is your mount pooty trained?! If he is not, he has to remain with the other mounts by the gate!!” he cried in an almost desperate for help voice. 

At this, Ayi couldn’t help but to chuckle, to the absurdity of the scene in front of her, as much as the sight of Feugan making an annoyed huff at such a claim torwards him.

8- One rude awakening

Once dismounted and now walking along the cobblestone paved streets of the kingdom, Ayi found herself again in awe by the sheer size of the place as well as the amount of people.

Particularly by the amount of people, which she found staggering. By her own standards, even a small gathering of people was already to be considered a crowd, a crowd she would rather not bother dealing with.

As they got closer to the market zone, they found themselves quickly leaving behind the small wooden houses closer to the gate, finding more stone and mortar edifications, shops, commercial residences and the like.

As they approached the market zone, the flow of people traversing the path seemed to only increase in exponential proportions, the streets were quite big and even with a big part of those paths being occupied by merchant carts and other kind of carriages, it felt like there was still very little room to move around.

Still, holding hands with Zoey only seemed to make the little girl happier, so there was that. By now the little wolfkin girl was taking the lead, practically pulling Ayi along as she would more often than not stop by and look at the buildings, entranced by the amazing level of detail she was definitely not familiar with.

Somehow the trip to the market was quite uneventful, Zoey went straight for a few stalls getting some choice fresh produce from each vendor, handling the transactions all on her own, making Ayi stare at her with a combination of tenderness and pride for the little girl, which at some point Zoey must have realized, because she stared at her and for a brief second she saw not the little girl’s bright smile but a small confident grin as she obviously puffed her little chest out.

A few stalls later, with a basket full of fruits, nuts, and what seemed to be some sort of meat, the both of them were walking towards a nice place to relax. Ayi imagined it was the floral gardens in front of the palace, she recalled the place being popular among players in order to take “cute picnic” pictures. Although she wasn’t quite sure now, because she was pretty sure Zoey mumbled something about “sure victory”.

With her insistence on looking at the whole place, almost too different to how Ayi remembered it, she soon found that Zoey had taken a different route to what she recalled being the shortest path to the palace and the gardens, but sure enough to lead you along more of the fancier and prettier residences to walk around.

Soon after a little stroll along the nicer part of the kingdom, Ayi now managed to pull the little wolfkin girl behind her, soon finding herself compelled to go and take a brief look at the craftsman guilds near the docks, mostly out of curiosity to see the place. Now that everything seemed much more detailed and with a “new light” as Ayi figured for what was going on, she was soon wondering how the places she spent the most time at, looked like.

After what was definitely not a little walking and sightseeing, the two of them soon found themselves lost in the smaller pathways and alley-like detours within the port and craftsman areas. Unfortunately, all the walking around the less savory parts of the city soon incited the wrong kind of attention.

While walking around one of the smaller pathways still trying to find their way back to the palace, they were soon stopped by two thuggish looking men, Ayi was at first amazed on just how cliché they looked for the role they put themselves at, it took very few words from them for Ayi to know they were quite on point about how a robber would talk and threaten others.

She honestly didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying, it was quite obvious what they wanted, and most important what their role was in her 'dreams'. She wasn’t happy, or proud of this part of her nightmares… It was just how they usually went, regardless of how she felt about it, the silver lining was that at the very least she would get some degree of cathartic relief… Even if feeling a little guilty about the vindictive role she always took.

At this point she was just staring at the two thugs, waiting for the moment the face of the pair of lowlifes would just suddenly convert onto those faces of the malicious self-important buffoons she once had for coworkers…

But. It just never happened.

Their faces weren’t changing at all! She also soon realized a prickle of pain on her hands, as she had tightened her fist to such degree she was hurting herself, getting distracted then upon noticing Zoey taking cover behind her, soon realizing the panicked face of the little girl as she was trying her best to hide from the ruffians.

One of the thugs, tired of not having any response, just dropped his charade and took onto his hands the action he was sure it would bring results. Moving forward towards the both of them, with all the experience of someone that claims that which is not his, with a brute display of his force, threw his fist at Ayi.

It was then, several things happened just in the blink of an eye.

Zoey’s shrill cry, Ayi finding her view turned around all too quickly to understand what was going on, marked pain on her face, and a sickening crunching sound that echoed in the small pathway, making all those involved have their blood run cold in an instant.

7-Dozing on cloud 9

Zoey was enjoying herself on her mistress arms. Trying her darnest best to focus on mentally reviewing the schedule she had planned for the day.

First!, A nice walk throught the market for some prime fresh food!, Second!, a brief stop for a picnic at the popular floral gardens, Third and final step!, a deluxe dinner that would surely make her mistress super happy! Yosh!

Still completely too distracted, she soon realized that her mistress was dismounting Feugan. Completely beffudled she was barely able to utter a confused sound when Ayi took her on her arms taking her down of the saddle.

It was that brief joyous moment when Zoey, on her mistress arms, she quickly changed her opinion of the day so far. Despite all her past distress, it was indeed a really good day.

But! the ride was all too short!! She was sure Feugan was the one to blame on this!! Surely he wanted to show off just how fast he would be able to take them to the kingdom! So while the trip was rather peaceful and not tremulous at all, it was too fast! Way too fast!! Read the mood please!!!

Well, the silver lining of all this was that mistress Ayi held her tightly against her during the whole trip… She was actually quite happy about that, so maybe Feugan going extra fast wasn’t such a bad thing…

Having arrived at a fraction of the time any mount would have taken to arrive from the mannor, she let a sigh of defeat over the subject and focused on what was going on.

Still in a brief dazzle of joy, she then realized that a guard had stopped them and Feugan was being taken to the mount’s pen.

“Oh… yeah… I guess Feugan is a mount… er, Mistress, shall we continue to the markets?”

She stated this trying to get a hold of herself and be as professional as possible after completely disregarding everything that was going on around them.
She had panicked a little at that realization and while Ayi was looking on the direction of the stables as a guard was escorting Feugan, she took advantage of this and quickly checked her attire.
A strategic stroke here and there to unwrinkle her little maid outfit, she pulled at the lacey armbands to straighten, rearrange and accomodate them as well as her headband, she checked her hair quickly as well. It was futile… She sighed, defeated by sheer the amount of inadequate points of her attire that she was unable to fix.