13- Months Before the Lady's arrival

Mimiru’s day started as normal as any other, she woke up and arranged herself. Equiping her wornbeaten light armor, it was mostly for the sake of having her acknowledged as an adventurer bearing the crest of the adventurer guild on the chest as well as innumerable patches and fixes all over the poor make-believe armor. Regardless she would try her best to keep the hand-out piece in the best condition she could manage, for an proper adventurer a badly maintained piece of equipment was as good as gambling with their own lives. Or so would anyone be able to read on the Adventurer’s Guild’s Handbook of survival. Still she decided to take those words to face value and try not to roll dice with her life.

She then began her self imposed routine. Putting on her long leather boots making sure they weren’t uncomfortable, then checking the contents of her satchel making sure she had the basic necessities, she took and strapped her small shield to her left arm, fiddleing with the straps making sure it was set properly. A quick glance at her small dagger if nothing to remind herself that she did in fact cleaned it and sharpened propery the day before. It was truly a commendable habit she had developed on her own. Which unfortunately was one of the very few things she could say she was proud of.

She went down to the adventurer’s guild lobby and she started pleading with the Guildmaster to please let her pay her stay with honest work.

Among the many services the Adventurer’s guild offered, besides adequate (barely) accommodations for registered individuals and feedthroughs food services. In Mimiru’s case she received an extra special service not offered to many. She enjoyed(¿) the guildmaster’s immensurable[XS1] patience and kindness.

She was basically a charity case for the guild.

“So, more grass picking requests for you eh?” he said, his face didn’t show anger or disgust as one would be to expect when dealing with unwanted freeloaders. He quite understood Mimiru’s situation but he couldn’t quite favor her too much, else he would just spoil her and make her a weak adventurer.

“Y-yes boss. All that you can give me, please! There is a special sale today on meat-filled bread!”

“Oi! Shouldn’t you be thinking about getting stronger instead?”

“W-well yeah, but I finally managed to zero my weekly fees with the guild, so I was thinking I could celebrate a little?”

“You can celebrate once you graduate from the guild’s living rooms, you know?”

“B-but it’s not such a big celebration, right? I mean, it’s just one bread… or two”

“mmph… I suppose if its meat filled, it’s bound to help your growth”

Truly, her situation was bad from an out lookers point of view. She was a young start-up Adventurer with bad luck on the requests she picked, as well as bad results on the jobs she actually fulfilled. Just joining to the Adventurer’s guild, food services, lodging and filling in the registration fees had set her completely in the guild’s debt.

In reality she came from a very impoverished village, even her meager earnings were mostly send as support to her family and friends. No matter the land or country a pretty girl coming from the countryside to a big city is a very common story, more than one eyebrow would be lifted when hearing her story and wondering how come she didn’t get a more reasonable job on any store as a hostess or storefront face (To mention the most graceful and family-oriented accepted possibilities that parents were willing to discuss openly with their children). Taking advantage of a pretty face in order to increase sales was very common practice since the dawn of times after all.

The main reason for her current status as an active adventurer was her special "skill". Since a very young age she had a knack for communication with animals and beasts. If she properly developed her talent, she could be a very successful monster tamer. If she had the money to get registered in the Monster tamer association, by doing it so she could be hired by a noble or even kingdom officials. This would surely help her village and her family in one single move, making money no longer a concern for all of them.

Or at least that was the original plan. The initial registration fee to the Monster Tamer guild was almost all the money her village and her family had gathered to send her off. This steep cost didn’t even cover lodgings, food, clothes or the proper classes on how to advance and use her own skill.

Which lead her to her current situation, the second best choice (or rather perhaps fourth, had she had money for the second or third) was to register herself as an adventurer, learn to use her own skills and earn some money to help with lodging costs. The ideal cost effective plan, as long as one didn’t mind putting their life at risk.

The guildmaster brought a small stack of parchment papers from the back of the counterfront. The sheets were riddled with request information, what to do, what to get, where to go what to expect and a plethora of details that could be life saving (If only all adventurers could read the warnings was an entirely different matter).

With a sigh of mixed relief and concern, she took the pachments from the guildmaster as he handled them from behind the counter of the guild. It served as a business reception and bar as well, the risk-riddled nature of adventuring made it if anything a necessity to have strong beverages[XS2] at the ready.

The muscular weather-beaten man remained behind the counter, looking at the young Monster Tamer (to be) girl as she left the building off to do the most dangerous ingredient-gathering requests that he himself could bear to let her handle. He sighted and poured himself a small glass of the less fancy (yet really potent) spirit they had available, gave a small silent prayer to the fates and gulped it down.

Mimiru had realized the requests were easier each day, her monster empathy skill was really coming along after all. Many of the quests she was handled coincided with areas infested with a lot of aggressive critters and smaller beasts. While any capable adventurer would be able to deal with them, most would either decline such jobs because they considered themselves above such tasks and the other half decided they would rather not deal with enraging a nest of monsters by mistake and risks their live while trying to acquire materials for basic aid ointments. This danger was ever present to her, but she had the possibility of using her monster empathy in order to either soothe a monster’s aggressive nature, to convince them she was not a threat or in the worst case scenario, make the monsters feel like she was not worth chasing for too long (she was constantly frustrated by a monsters definition of what “far enough” was). So her plans were actually quite on the spot. She was honing her monster empathy, experimenting on her own and adquiring valuable experience in the matter. But the money, by the fates! Where was the money?!

After a long day of collecting barely enough herbs and materials stated on some of the guild’s quests, she decided it was probably enough, prooobably enough to cover her daily fees at the Guild. Which was fortunate actually because the overall mood in the woods was that of high alert and unease. Almost as if an even bigger predator was now roaming around. Mimiru was shuddered at the thought, she really hoped there wasn’t such a bigger threat in the forest, and if there was such a dangerous being capable of putting the whole place under high alert. She was sure she didn’t want to meet such a best ever if possible!

As she was about to go through the wall’s southern gateway she was surprised by an odd sight that made her against her best judgement draw closer to the action taking place.

A red winged dragon was by the gate. Big wings folded to the sides, a long tail with a threatening looking spiked tailtip, a muzzle showing sharp fangs as a pair of fierce golden eyes peered at the guard while the Dragon was sitting on its hindlegs, resembling an annoyed lion somehow. The Dragon mount was having a stare standoff with one of the gate’s guards.

“… Papers, please?” said the guard, in a manner that seemed to indicate this wasn’t his first attempt at communication. The massive guard already made for an imposing sight. Mimiru had experience his threatening-calm-face more than once, in her very first interaction with him. She had panicked and had even tried to use her soothing skill on him.

In front of the Bulky and stoic guard was a red dragon mount! They were supposed to be super rare! A mount for kings or knights hand picked (or was it, claw picked[XS3] ?...) by the hero god king of Dragons! To see one on its own was not only rare, it was unheard of to see one alone without a rider. Well, while it was possible and even heard of situations where a mount would be able to separate from their partner in order to request for help, their size made them more than able to carry their wounded partner on their back (or five people if needed) and rush them back to safety. But in this particular situation Mimiru couldn’t see any sort of worry coming from the dragon,

“It… no, it’s a him. He… feels, annoyed, forgiving and… beautiful?..” She said outloud, making the guards and a few curious passerby's stare at her. Without realizing, curiosity got the best of her. Having slowly walked closer to the dragon while trying to make sense of the Dragon’s unique intentions that baffled her as she had never dealt with a non-human creature with intentions beyond a crude set of survivalistic hungry/angry/horny.

{“Majestic! While beautiful indeed, we cannot brush aside the more profound sense of the gallantry from my visage”}

Congratulations! 

By your Interactions you have gained a system upgrade. 

Congratulations! 

By your Interactions you have raised your Monster Empathy skill! by +0.3

“Thesyetemwhatnow!Majestic?!didyajusttalktome?!” She stammered all her words together into a beautiful one liner sentence that bards all over the world were starting to use to cheat rhymes, when out of time to properly create a beautiful and more sensitive ballad. In her case she sputtered words in a nonsensical way that could never be used by a bard. Her utter confusion still not sure where she should be focusing her eyes to. The red Dragon in front of her, the dangerous-annoyed-looking guard, or a translucent blue glowing square in front of her, which she had never seen or heard about before in her entire life. Probably the later. Quite alien to her, very possible magic nature too, therefore too expensive for her to even look at. Crap, should stop staring at it then! Magic is always expensibe, better to avoid it altogether.

“Oe! Ya dem Guil’masters proteegee! ya kno dis bum here? His bein’ here all mornin makin me annoyed” Said the imposing guard, standing well above her height, almost twice her height in fact, with a psyque that shouldn’t be possible without a lot of training and/or inhuman genes. Making her glad to have such a convenient Orc-sized distraction to avoid incurring in any sort of fees per magical usage of any sort.

“Oe, boss you aint supposed to let her know about the coot watchin her” came from a different guard.

“tsk. Dat’s dat coot’s problem”

{“BUM?! Regal mount! Majestic noble companion! Gallant adventuring partner would fit even! Had he the need to look for titles at all! Mmph!”}

Congratulations! 
By your Interactions you have raised your Monster Empathy skill! by +0.3

“N-noble companion? Adventuring partner?” Mimiru repeated. Fully focused on not paying attention to the magical glowing blue square scam in front of her. Still, confused by her newfound capability to understand an ‘enlightened beast’. Which was in reality the core essence of all monster tamers. She had just never encountered herself with anything but wild animals and small monsters, both didn’t need (or had) a higher intellect or the need to convey intentions beyond the four F’s of common biology. So the Dragon intentions reached her as clear as speech because he himself intended so. Probably. The city guards were just unprepared for such encounter.

“Oh, one of dem adventuring beasties eh?, tsk. fine! girlie make sure you take’im to the ol’coot!”

“M-m-me?!! T-take him to the old co-” She stopped herself almost biting her tongue, feeling like she almost got trapped into a prank by calling the Guild master such names, in public!

“gah! To the guild master?! Me?! Surely that’s not my responsibility!”

“Ah?! Whats that lil miss? Where else woul ya be goin if not da adventurer’s guild? Eh?! ‘Sides ya can talk with it, so ya will have to speak for ‘im nyway no?!”

“T-That’s… that’s right…” She tried to defend herself from the obvious power abuse taking place. But the guard was inherently right, she was to head back to the guild as soon as her requests were taken care of. Specially if an enlightened-beast was heading there, there were not many capable monster tamers within this part of the city, and while the nobles had beast tamers at their back and call, hiring one would be expensive. Anyway, this was a great opportunity to increase her skills! Probably. And maybe she could claim a commission for her services! Or maybe just an extension on further payments to make… Having set her mind on the task and trying her very best to forget the fact that she had just been outsmarted by one of the brutish gate guards, she nodded at the guard and then looked straight at the Dragon and motioned to invite him to follow her.

“T-this way please!” She said, making a clumsy curtsy she had practiced on her own whenever she thought she needed more manners in order to be in the big Kingdom City. She felt that if she was to be playing a escort she might as well do it properly (and charge properly if possible too!)

In response to the courtsy, the Dragon seemed to puff his chest. He nodded in acknowledgement and standng up, started following the little monster tamer (to be).

While trying to not think of being outsmarted by the guards. It never occurred to Mimiru that not even once the dragon said he was an adventurer, or that he wanted to go to the adventurer’s guild.



[XS1]Adventurer’s managed to pass this phrase in public even through lie detection magic if anything because it hold the same sense that a handful of sand has an immensurable amount of sand grains.

[XS2]Honey-based ales had been their strongest beverage until the introduction of “spirit drinks” which in turn made to the development of even some extraordinary healing concoctions, said to heal even your very soul. As long as being blacked-out unconscious and getting carried back to your bed wasn’t a concern.

[XS3]In reality, dragons went by neither. Their phrase of choice was something along the lines of “god’s picking” but when it refered of their 'All-father Hero God King’s' choice, it was VERY redundant. They left the task to the “faithful” to try and enounce all of their god’s titles adjetives and pronouns without breaking into a laughing fit, whenever they had to address him.

12- Have some Mercy

The exterior of the Apothecary was in itself an odd sight, weird in the sense that it was actually quite the non-descriptive store front, it basically seemed to be a normal shop from her world (if a store from her world suddenly decided to start selling colorful drafts and parchment scrolls, that is), a big window showcasing different potions with a price tag under them and scribbles on what Ayi guessed was the local written language. “Please be something easy to learn”[XS1] was her honest thought when noticing the different labels.

In a rather lucky, painfully and ironic turn of events, the price tags on the items were actually really easy to understand. This was done on purpose, with the intention to let the mainly illiterate adventurer population and mercenaries out there to known the prices in an easy to understand fashion. Ayi quickly grasped this intention and couldn’t help but to feel both grateful for this and rather troubled by her inability to read.

Just by taking a quick glance to some of the potions showcased, she could also now tell that the merchants were trading by using copper, silver and gold coins. An educated guess lead Ayi to believe there would be higher denominations roaming around, being this the case for a plethora of scenarios. Also, it would be outrageous to see some healing potion with a price going beyond the double digits on gold coins. She gave a wry smile, as she couldn’t quite help but to feel a certain sense of dread and familiarity upon noticing the cost of what seemed to be minor healing potions, they were incredibly expensive, the cost of some of the medicines was even higher than their weight in gold. It brought her memories of the cost of medical attention in her former world.

The inside of the shop was actually quite what she expected, more or less. The interior of the shop was furnished mostly on wood, there was what seemed to be crystal showcases, making her wonder how advanced was the technology in such regard, a vague memory seemed to flutter somewhere on her mind. Some youtube video, a documental detailing how making fine glasswork was a quite tasking and resource intense for medieval-like civilizations, “then again, maybe with magic? Most likely, yeah.” She muttered under her breath. It seemed like an acceptable answer. “Ok, a wizard did it”[XS2] she decided then, dropping the subject and letting her thoughts move on.

A quick view on the shelves and showcases told Ayi most of the information she needed to know, medical concoctions were on the expensive side of things, thinking back on their trip through the markets, Zoey had gotten several things, fresh produce, some meat and grain with maybe a few silver coins? She wasn’t really paying much attention to the transactions back then. She then made a mental note to take such matters more seriously from now on. The real problem right now was the local currency, she was not really sure if the manor contained all her previous possessions, and even if it did, she was not sure the coins would be the same at all really. It was actually safer to asume it wasnt the case, but then again where did Zoey get money then? Food and medicaments were an issue that needed a more permanent solution than "We are ok because we have some money for now". She stared at her hand and flexed it slowly, she then moved her shoulders almost expecting pain to suddenly haunt her back. Thankfully nothing of the sort happened, she let a sigh of relief. Still amazed all of this was actually happening… of course it would have to dawn on her when money was involved. That’s how you knew for certain you were alive, money issues would start coming out of the woodwork.

While all those inner ponderings and tribulations were taking place in Ayi’s head, Zoey was already talking with the clerk in the rustical (although rather clean) apothecary, the little wolfkin was already showing the torn note to the clerk that Ayi herself had failed to notice until now.

“Miss, good day to you. A guard sent us here, my mistress was hurt while defending us from some ruffians. Here” She said after a courtsy bow and greet, then she passed the note to the clerk behind the counter.

“I see… so that big oaf still hasn’t found it in himself to do his job properly” The clerk then stood up. With a clear sight of her, Ayi could see she was a young looking tall blonde lady in what seemed to be a lab coat.

“Everyone’s life would be much easier if he wasn’t so incredibly shy. Here sweetie, please hold on to this” Without explaining herself at all, she gave the little wolfkin girl a small bottle just as she moved closer to Ayi. To that uncomfortable closeness that Doctors seem so privy of. With the little wolfkin now holding a small oinment bottle, she put her hands on Ayi’s face touching the afflicted cheek. Thus, breaking the scarce personal space she had left.

With no warnings of any sort she just touched her face all over the aching cheek. Applying some of the ointment she had given Zoey to hold, then she seemed to chant something. The apothecary clerk (quite possibly a cleric of some sort) had a faint and gentle glow around her while just as Ayi could feel a warm sense of relief on her face. And just as quickly as all this went on, the cleric lady gave a satisfied nod, a soft pat on Zoey’s head along with a knowing smile. As if telling the little wolfkin girl that everything was fine, regardless on how the treated affliction wasn’t even on her to begin with.

With a newfound bustling energy, Zoey gave the cleric her brightest 10/10 smile. Sure kill. no prisoners.

“Thank you very much Miss! Now my Misstress won’t have any bruises right?!”

That got Ayi’s attention. Was that Zoey’s main concern? She hadn’t been preoccupied by such a thing, at all, ever. It wasn’t a matter of having a comely face to showcase or not. It had always been more a thing about being surrounded by people she just couldn’t relate to, on so many levels.

Ok. Such a gloomy subject could wait for later. The pretty cleric lady gently rubbing her chin had priority for now.

“O-Ok t-thank you very much Doctor! How much do we owe you?” Said Ayinna, Zoey did her best to not giggle (too much), as she realized her dear mistress would also yelp when startled.

“Umm? ’Doctor’…? My... now that’s a tittle I haven’t been called in some time now. ‘Piedad’ will suffice for you sweeties” With the declaration done, she then showed both parent and daughter, the bright smile of a mature Lady who had battled death itself and found the joy of helping others.

The apothecary Piedad seemed to glow again at that moment. Zoey felt like she had found another good role model in her life. Ayi felt like she had seen a glimpse of how angels should look like. Feugan scoffed, feeling left out of this scene as he wouldn’t be able to pass through the small doorway. Humanoid lairs have the darnest small entrances sometimes.




[XS1]It was actually quite simple, based on multicultural interactions and grabbing the simplest rules, but Alas, Ayi never had the aptitude for languages

[XS2]While Technically true, the glass was done by a glass-smith who happens to be a retired wizard. While it’s often discussed if he uses magic to make the glass, he limits the usage of magic to just fire up his shop’s giant glass oven, and sometimes to start the fire for his kettle. “I feel more accomplished this way” he often comments.

11- Inner City Woes

Not too long after the thugs had made themselves scarce, a city guard arrived to the scene, Ayi noticed his presence because she could actually feel the intense stare upon them.

The guard stood within the same tunnel Feugan came from, even though he had said nary a word it could be easily seen he was without a doubt part of the inner city guard. With the main factions of guards involved in the city being the City Guard, the Royal guards and the Holy knights [XS1] . He stood there, wearing a simple yet well maintained studded leather armor, bearing the colors of the city guard, a hauberk underneath, unadorned simple yet sturdy gaunglets and greaves, with a hand placed on the hilt of a longsword at his left hip, a small shield bearing the City’s shield of arms strapped to the left arm. A quick glance at him told Ayi this man was no pushover. While seemingly just standing still, Ayi was certain she was already engaged in a battle of sorts, the two of them measuring each other. Without breaking eye contact, the imposing dark haired man lifted a hand pointing towards Feugan.

“Oe. Is your lizard mount here poty trained?!”

And there it went, all sense of danger and combative pressure whatsoever, washed away in the so ever constant waves of randomness that kept slowly eroding at Ayi’s sense of normality. She truly believed that even in fantasy worlds, there would have to be a modicum of normality, but this very day in which she was given the chance, everyone just kept trampling over her beliefs.

“He-He certainly is!!, He might not look like it but Feugan is properly educated and respectable citiz… er... dragon!” exclaimed the little wolfkin maid.

Ayi found herself again at a loss of words, not because of the whole exchange, truly it was praise worthy for Zoey to be standing up for Feugan, as he himself had no way to defend his own honor on the matter. But, truly, Feugan, are you a little kid? One doesn’t really need to be a beastmaster or a dragon expert to realize you are angry and fuming over there.

“What does she mean ‘might not look like it’?, I am but a gallant noble warrior dragon at the service of my master”

Ayi, slowly covered her face with her hands, she took a couple slow deep breaths, then she gently patted the little wolfkin girl’s head and earnestly replied to the guard.

“Yes… he is… But more importantly, some lowlifes just attacked us, they tried to rob us and I had to defend us until Feugan came to assist us”

She tried to not sound angry while stating her words, she half-expected the guard to find them guilty of something with no fundaments, or accuse them of lying to him just to avoid some sort of ticketing, execting bribery of sorts to let Feugan roam the streets. The guard stared at her again, then he turned his gaze to a spot on the paved floor, there was a big puddle of blood, most likely from the offender. The guard took a few steps drawing closer to Ayi, disregarding Feugan completely almost as if a dragon the size of a midsized car (and quite possibly the same weight) was no real concern at all.

“Ok now, hear me out here, I ask of Y’ALL to please not be usin any’all skills of tae ‘Brutal Series’, at least within the inner city walls, I daen care if ya do it outside tae walls or even in da palace, but dis is de sort of stuff that scares tae citizens, ill hafta do a lotta paperwork everysingle time to boot too. There already bein some discontent on why is ‘adecuate’ for dem adventure’s ta use selfdefense when dem taxes be payin for us guards. otarwise tae general population will think start thinkin any (and all) adventurer could be the infamous vigilante…”

At this point the guard kept staring at Ayi, she then realized he has been leading the conversation to this specific point, quite possible suspecting of her being the aforementioned vigilante, after retaliating on the local criminals. Being targeted and attacked by ruffians was bad enough, but suspected of being an ill reputed character (and on day 1!) by local authorities was a really bad twist of events.

Facts that were not as disturbing as the guard’s intense gaze fixed on her, or as how it seemed like he was blowing steam through his nostrils while he kept impatiently taping his foot on the stone floor, or was he scrapping something off his sole?, while looking at her with eyes full of suspicion. Wait, what is he? a bull? The intense glare on her made it feel like she was looking straight to the face to such a fierce animal somehow…

With a last exasperated blow of steam from his nostrils (just how?!), the guard looked to the side with an annoyed look on his face, taking a leather-bound notebook from his pack, upon opening and flipping past a few pages he proceeded at writing something in it, tearing the sheet and giving it to Ayi.

“Its ways difficult tellin dem good ‘venturers from bad ones, please daent be commin here makin mah job non any hardr!”

With that said he just went and left, not the same way he came from, but rather following the path the thugs went away. Ayi was barely able to do anything else but to watch him leave as she was still very confused by the huge change in the guard’s manner and way of speaking , did he just drop all formalities once he deemed her not to be the supposed vigilante?

As the guard became closer to the alleyway, Ayi could almost swear she heard him sniffling once he got to the alley, but she wasn’t quite sure, as the guard just left with a swift bold pace as if he was convinced he wouldn’t get lost in the labyrinthical inner streets and countless alleys within the kingdom’s inner city.

Still somewhat confused by the sudden rush of actions and responses performed by the guard, Ayi took a look at the torn paper in her hand, it only said a name and address. She was of course again confused on what would all (and she basically meant ALL of the guards actions meant) mean, then again she just had begun to accepting this was a different world just before the guard appeared, so by now she was just coming to terms on accepting the unexpected and be prepared.

It’s quite remarkable how even though she prepared her mind and heart for this, on such an almost unhuman degree, that it would have set her as a top poker player in her former world (if she could play cards at all, that is). She would never be able to accomplish an estate where she wasn’t utterly confused by the actions and plans of her friends within this new world.

“It is most likely the address of a healer, Mistress”

Now again, quite confused, just now by a whole different person, Ayi looked to Zoey with a big bright, bold-lettered and non-existent (yet so very present) "How do you know this" sign on her face.

“I-I could feel the intention of the guard to have your injuries treated, after he was not suspicious of you anymore that’s it. He was quite fixated on the zone where that scoundrel landed a hit on your face!” answered the little Wolfkin maid, to the very obvious question plastered on her Mistress’s face.

Ayi nodded, taking her cute child’s words at face value, completely disregarding the fact that Zoey didn’t actually answer the “how” in the question, she just repeated “It’s ok, it’s a fantasy world” in her mind a couple times to calm herself [XS2]. 

So she took the little wolfskin’s hand, then nodded to Feugan acknowledging the gallant dragon mount and then they headed to the address they were given. They would need to stock on medicines at some point anyway, or at least she was sure that even if she had some in her mannor, but not being sure of anything anymore, it would be wise to get an idea of what the local medicines were like, how much they cost and even the scarcity of them. Items to keep your health top notch were always in demand for those involved in the adventuring business. So, all in all, this was a very agreeable turn of events. Thank you… nameless mister Guard… shoot…

“Zoey, did you get the name of that Guard that came just now?”

The little Wofkin girl perked up her fluffy ears and her eyes widened upon realizing what entailed on that question, after being given such favorable treatment by a guard with which they might end up meeting on a common basis, it would be rather rude to just call him “Mister Guard”. Upon putting her head onto the task, she realized she had been calling him “Mister Guard” for over a couple weeks by now. Awkward.

“N-no, I didn’t… b-but! We could introduce ourselves properly and give him a 'thank-you gift' of sorts for all his help!”

Yosh. Good save Zoey!

“I-I see. Hmmm… yeah, it’s a good idea, thank you, Zoey” Ayi smiled warmly and gave the little maid a gentle pat on her head. Such a good little girl.

In reality, all the guards on the southern side of the kingdom knew fairly well who Zoey was, just like all the merchants in the south district too. An unknown new face like Ayi’s would have required a lot more inquiries about where she came from and what were her business and intentions in the kingdom, it was not uncommon to see new adventurers come to the kingdom or to stay within the city, but they were to be properly questioned, then guided to the closest guild, so they could fill in their paperwork and be at either the adventurer’s guild or even the mercenaries guild, someone would fill in the adequate forms so they could be reluctantly received at the internal affair offices, filed by triplicate and most certainly lost in the inner archive. Ah, bureaucracy.

The only reason why they went in so smoothly was because the stationed guards at the time were quite delighted on the happy face on -their- “Snow maid princess”, having just assumed she was finally being accompanied by her so awaited Mistress, they just happily let them go through as they began filling in the paperwork for a newcomer to the kingdom on their own volition, while basking in the memory of the brightest smile they had witnessed to date. Triplicate D-20 forms were a small price to pay for the brightest smile in the kingdom during a cool winter’s morning [XS3] .

---

 [XS1]It is worth mentioning that while the Holy knights had as much authority as the other 2 factions, they were rarely seen within the city and more oft than not would be found in expeditions and holy missions. On the other hand, Mercenaries hired by nobles were easier to find within the inner city, but their authority or lack of it, lead them to just be figures of order within the territories and neighborhoods of their employers.

 [XS2]This would turn into a sort of Manthra for Ayi, repeating it over and over the craziest the situations turned around her.

 [XS3]Without knowing of it, Ayi had the vouch of one of the most influential persons within the kingdom. The “Snow Maid Princess” fan club had an extensive list of good natured people (and quite a number of doting idiots among their ranks too) with connections built on years of trust and care for others. Meetings held on Tuesdays and Saturdays, must have a recommendation.

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.