A part of me is still worried that the other wolves intend to jump in to avenge the defeat of their alpha. This concern proved to be unwarranted. They don't look the least bit eager to fight us. Quite the contrary, they appear to be downright frightened.

"Damn..." the alpha chuckles, rising, unsteadily, to his feet. "Looks like you guys are tougher than I thought. Aren't you going to finish me off?"

"Up to you, Squire. He's your would-be mate. I don't have any stakes in this." Vile says. Slave, predictably agrees, as she tends to agree with virtually everything that the rat happens to say.

"Please don't call him that." I grumble, doing everything that I can to forget that part of the deal. "I can't justify killing him, both because he is a defeated foe who is no longer a threat, and because he had chosen to spare me in the past. It would be dishonorable to not return the favor."

"I only spared you because I was just playing around. I wasn't fighting seriously." the large male wolf says, looking away.

"What a coincidence." Vile grins. "We weren't fighting seriously either. You wouldn't want to see us when we are."

I can't help but smile. Sure, it's quite an exaggeration, but I almost believe it. It was a pretty decisive victory, after all.

The wolf looks to us with confusion before lowering his head, shivering. A part of me expects him to fly into a rage and lash out at us, in spite of his broken body, but instead he raises his head, bellowing out laughter. "Heh..." he says, finally getting it under control. "Fair enough." before looking to face me. "My offer still stands you know. Now, more than ever. You'd be a great addition to our pack, and I could only imagine how powerful the pups we could make would be."

Unlike before, none of the other wolves voice any objections. "I can't." I say to him. "I still have a mission that I need to accomplish."

"And once that mission is completed?" he head-tilts.

"I'll think about it." I say. That isn't a total lie. I doubted that I would seriously consider taking the offer, but I certainly wouldn't stop thinking about what had almost happened to me anytime soon.

"Well, a deal is a deal. We'll escort you and your friends to the other side of our territory. I've got to warn you, though: The depths of the woods are really dangerous." he says. I take this very much to heart, of course, considering the source. I nod in understanding.

As me and my allies walk past him, he speaks up once again, speaking not to me this time, but instead to Slave. "One more thing... you, cat..."

"I have a name, you know." the black cat huffs. "It's Slave."

Much like I had upon first hearing, he pauses to take in the implications of it, and seemingly tries to figure out how that's a less flattering title than 'Cat' before abandoning the matter entirely. "Um, right. Anyways, I've been in a lot of fights before, but I've never met anyone who could take a hit like you. What's your secret?"

Slave looks to Vile for permission, who offers it with a disturbing smile and an encouraging nod. The black cat then looks to either side, making sure none of the other wolves are close enough to hear, steps forward, sits up and begins to quickly whisper into the large, pointed ear of the alpha wolf. He wears a serious expression, nodding along at first, before his nose begins to crinkle, his tail lowers and he begins to look much, much more concerned before finally pulling away.

"Ugh, I get it!" he says, visibly shuddering. "I think I'd rather stay weak."

The black cat just smiles knowingly, and actually looks rather proud of herself.

"Alright!" Vile says, raising a tiny fist to the air as she hops off of my back and returns to Slave's. I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be a stain left in my fur where she had sat that will be surprisingly difficult to remove. "Operation: Preserve Squire's Maidenhood is a complete success!"

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"That was not our primary objective here." I say with a sigh.

Vile looks rather confused. "Really? Because that's what it was called in the quest log."

I'm about to roll my eyes and give another exasperated sigh until I look to Slave who wears a serious expression and nods in agreement. I can tell that she's telling the truth. It also does solve the minor mystery of how the rat knew what my name was, despite me never having said it. That's when I realize something else.

"Wait, quest log? So that's why you came along? Because it was a quest? Because I had an exclamation mark over my head?" I say.

"Well, yeah. Turned out worthwhile, too. That fight gave a ton of experience points! Way more than the usual weakling adventurers that we fight!" the rat nods. "Why do you ask? Do you have a problem with that?"

For the briefest of moments I do, but then realize that it is rather silly to. I constantly went out of my way to help people visibly in need. If anything, the fact that they chose to accept the offered quest is a good thing. "No, it's just..." I pause, trying to think of something more elaborate to say, but in the end just settle on, "Thank you."

That's when another realization comes to me. "Wait, if it was a quest, does that mean that I need to give you some sort of reward?" I ask. I have no idea how the logistics of such things work. Still, all the quests I have done offered at least a little something extra.

I have a sneaking suspicion that she was initially going to say 'no' but immediately changed her mind. Rat expressions are difficult to read. They always look kind of sinister, like they're up to something, but perhaps that's just how all rats look. Or maybe they are, indeed, always up to something. Who knows.

"Yes. Yes you do." she replies with a wide, overly toothy grin, which would be a lot less unnerving if at least most of the teeth were pointed in the proper directions.

"Uh, I don't really have very much... ooh, I have a beginner's sword!" I say. I don't even need to see her disappointed stare to tell that it wouldn't be very suitable. It's way too large for even Slave to use, let alone Vile. "Um, how about some gold?"

"I'm a rat. What do I need money for?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right." I say with a sigh. "How about some slime! I've got lots of that!" I say, genuinely excited this time. At first I felt compelled to just eat all of it right away, so it wouldn't go to waste, but ever since I'd gotten my bag, I made a point of storing some away for a special occasion. I'm surprised at her reaction, the way she draws back and crinkles her nose. I thought that rats were known for eating pretty much anything? "I'm sorry. That's really all that I have."

I lower my head in defeat. It feels wrong to not properly reward a successful quest, even if I didn't realize that I had offered the quest in the first place. Looking up, I'm both relieved and disturbed to see her twisted, wicked looking smile.

"Don't worry. Let's just say that you owe me a favor."

"Alright." I say, happy at first, before I give the matter some more thought, "So long as you promise that you won't ask for anything perverted."

I hoped that she would take offense at the statement. Instead she smiles softly, leans towards me and says, "I wish that I could promise that. I really do."

I lower my head in defeat once again. The quest is already done, so I don't exactly have much leverage for negotiation. "Okay, fine. What do you want?"

I anticipate an immediate and horrific answer, but instead she gives the matter some thought, before shrugging. "I haven't decided yet. I'll figure it out later."

I nod, both a little bit relieved and a little bit concerned, but then take in the implications. "Wait, does that mean you still plan to travel with me?" I ask.

"Of course! A favor is a precious thing, and I can't risk you dying before you pay up." The rat says. "Why? Is that a problem?"

I, too, give the matter some thought, smile and shake my head. "No. That's not a problem at all." I say as the three of us step out from the wolf pack territory and into the heart of the Abyssal Woods.

Squire has completed the path of Humility! Squire has attained Paladin rank 5!

Squire has learned the "Aura Bolt" ability!

Hmm, I wonder why that happened? Maybe it's from fully accepting their aid and welcoming the presence of my new allies. Maybe it's just now I have truly accepted that not only can I not do everything on my own, but more importantly, that I don't need to. Either way, even if things haven't turned out quite the way that I had originally expected, I'm not complaining.

---

Slave: "Next time on 'An Adventurer's Best Friend": Vile offers Squire some much needed lessons about combat and statistics..."

Squire: "Yay!"

Slave: "...and I'll personally teach that home-wrecking bitch a lesson she won't soon forget!"

Squire: "Um... yay?"

The Training Arc: Other stuff happens in it, too, I promise.