Carrie-Anne: "Last time on 'An Adventurer's Best Friend', after blundering around uselessly for several chapters, Squire finally meets her savior in the form of a dashing and cunning rogue who helps her to bypass her obstacles, and teaches her the flaws of her conservative, buttoned-down lifestyle!"

Squire: "Okay, I get the joke that these recaps are supposed to be useless, but I really with they'd paint me in a more favorable light."

---

"We still need a strength based member." Vile says.

This is the first time any of us had spoken since we had left the walled city. It's rather convenient that the scent trail has taken us along a well traveled road, lined with increasingly browned grasses as we continue forward. We hardly encountered a single monster, and those we had were certainly not threatening. As we walked, we also regularly passed by mounted horsemen in full plate armor who eyed us, myself particularly quite closely as we passed. I suspect that they were just jealous of the fact that my sword was so much nicer than theirs.

"What are you talking about?" Carrie-Anne the crow asked. She had continued to rest uncomfortably atop my back, but it wasn't so bad. I'd already gained a few HP bonuses from her talons. It's such a good trade off in exchange for a bit of pain and I almost look forward the the occasional sting. Is this how Slave got started, I wonder? Gradually growing to associate pain with the pleasure that comes from personal growth, that in time the growth didn't even matter? Maybe I should put a stop to this, but then I wouldn't mind having a few more points of HP.

"Party balance." The rat replied, simply. "We've got an intelligence based fighter, myself, an agility based fighter, you, and an endurance based fighter, my loyal pet Slave. We're still lacking someone that's physically powerful, though."

"I'm strong!" I say with an excited wag. I'm still not the best when it comes to numbers, but it's clear that my strength stat is considerably higher than that of anyone else in the group.

"None of us are all that big." The crow says, "It's no surprise that none of us are exceptionally strong."

"I'm strong!" I repeat, having assumed that nobody had heard me the first time.

"Yeah, but that should make finding a strong party member all the easier. We just need to find a creature much larger than ourselves." the rat said.

"I'm... strong?" I say once again, with significantly less confidence this time. I think a part of me knows that I'm not all that strong, and I have been feeling a little insecure about the comparatively higher stats of my allies.

"No, you're more of an all-rounder." Vile said to me, looking me over from her place atop the back of her black cat servant.

"I thought she was a faith-build?" Slave asked, looking back over her shoulder to her mistress.

"No... well, sort of. Technically, that is her highest stat, and it does empower her paladin abilities, but it's not really her focus. Paladins, physically, at least, don't tend to be a class with a lot of respective strengths and weaknesses. She's a faith build in the same sense that you're also an agility build: It's a strong trait that you have, but it isn't your primary characteristic."

"I have no idea what any of you are talking about." Carrie sighed, shaking her head.

"Anyways, my point being, someone that's really strong would round out my harem nicely. We could also use a man in the party. A really huge one." Vile nods, her forelimbs folded across her chest as she stood high atop the black cat, "Also, one that happens to be physically large might be nice."

Slave tenses up a little at that remark, for some reason.

"A creature that is much larger than the rest of us might be able to hit hard, but it would dramatically reduce our maneuverability and stealth, if needed. Being smaller has no shortage of advantages. There are a lot of places that creatures like us can fit into that something larger could not."

"You'd be surprised as what you can get to fit into a small place with enough effort." Vile replied, to which Slave nodded in agreement. "Still, you're not wrong. It is, admittedly, a little bit impractical, but what can I say? I've always been something of a size-queen."

I furrow my brow in thought before finally saying, "I don't know what that means."

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"I envy you." The crow replies, not helping at all, before she looks back to the rat with a confused expression, "Wait, I thought that you were into... you know... women?"

At that remark, the tiny rat puffs her chest out and smiles proudly. "I am like the willow tree. Ever which way the wind blows, I bend."

"Gross." Carrie sighs. "Thanks for telling me that."

I don't entirely understand the conversation, but feel the urge to come to the defense of the rat anyways. With a single glance, however, it's apparent that it's not necessary, Vile looking quite happy. I suppose that the idea that a creature like her might take 'gross' as a compliment is far from the strangest idea in the world.

"I don't think we need another party member. There are significant diminished returns when it comes to group size." Slave replies, having looked more than a little bit uncomfortable with the recent turn in the discussion, "We'll have reduced experience rewards, be more susceptible to AOE attacks. Not to mention the fact that it would make the combat rounds drag out even longer than they already are."

Carrie looks particularly confused by all of this, but says nothing.

"Well, yeah, we don't want a full army or anything, but I imagine that one more member, just to round things out wouldn't hurt." Vile nods, "So what should we look for? How about a bear?"

"Ugh, no, no bears." Slave says, frowning. Perhaps this was based on some experience which happened before I met the small cat, but if not, it's surprising that she still held such a grudge against the blade bear. I guess it makes some sense, considering how it had treated the rodent figurine which, in Slave's mind, most likely acted as a sort of symbol representing her rat mistress, but honestly, I can't really see the comparison.

"Slaves don't get a vote." Vile replies, plainly.

In response, Slave softly whines and looks back at the rat with wider eyes than she should have been physically capable of, and a pouty expression upon her snout. To my surprise, Vile actually fidgets in the face of the cuteness attack, before letting out a dramatic sigh, "Okay, fine! No bears! But don't ever do that again!"

The black cat looks quite happy at the victory, walking with just a little more bounce in her step. As for Vile, she simply grumbles, clearly not used to such a defeat. To be fair, I don't expect such a thing to be a regular occurrence. Slave can be tough, but that toughness is very rarely directed towards her mistress.

"How about a snake?" Carrie-Anne asks, "They tend to be a nice middle-ground. Physically strong but still pretty mobile and not too clumsy. Plus, I could use a regular source of poison for my darts."

"No!" I blurt out, "No snakes!"

As much as I hate to be prejudiced, I've had too many negative experiences with them to ever trust one to travel alongside me.

Vile looks a little surprised by my reaction, but still nods in agreement. "Yeah, the only really physically strong snakes in this area are trinity serpents, which have all of the drawbacks of having three extra creatures in the group instead of one, and very few of the benefits. Plus, they're so dumb that they even make Squire here look like a genius in comparison."

I smile proudly. I've never been called a genius before!

"Ooh, how about Squire's ex-fiance? He was pretty tough!" The rat beams as the idea comes to her.

"My what?" I ask, thinking about it, before shuddering and shaking my head as I realize who she's talking about. "No! No way! We'd have to go all the way back through the spider filled woods!"

That was, quite obviously, not my primary objection to her idea, but it sounded reasonable enough.

"Yeah, I don't really want two dogs in the group." Slave said. I have the sneaking suspicion that 'even one is too many' was the close to that thought within her mind, but didn't reach her mouth. I appreciate that. Ever since our encounter through the forest, she's clearly been making a strong effort to be polite to me, even if, to some extent, it goes against her true nature.

"Wait, back up a little bit... Squire had a fiance?" The crow said, looking to me with wide eyes.

"Oh yeah. She basically beat him up and left him at the altar." Vile answers back, "With our help, of course."

"That's not an even close to an accurate description of what happened." I grumble, embarrassed.

"It's a little simplified, but the basic beats are there." Slave nods. "After the fight, I saw him crying when he thought that nobody was looking."

I sigh and narrow my eyes at the black cat. Her expression and body language may fail to betray it, but I choose to assume that she's joking.

"Well, we need something!" Vile exclaims, seemingly running short on patience.

"Why don't we just do what's worked so far?" I ask.

"Oh, really? And what's that?" The rat asks back.

"We just keep doing what we're doing, and just wait until an hour of need when we'll conveniently stumble upon someone both powerful and reliable!" I smile.

"That's kind of stupid..." Slave says, "...but not exactly inaccurate. Squire does kind of have that way about her. It would also be a lot easier than just finding someone of a specific species who won't slow us down and works well with the group."

"Fine, fine." Vile sighs, shaking her head, "But when we do find someone, if it isn't a guy who's seriously well hung, I'm going to be really mad."

I simply blink. I can't deny that someone who is good at climbing trees and hanging from branches might be a useful addition, but it seems strange for that to be the primary concern of the rat. Oh well, she's a strange creature in general, and difficult to understand even at the best of times. Either way, I trust her judgement. The group has helped me out quite a bit thus far, so clearly, a well hung male is exactly what I need to help me realize my true potential!

---

AbyssalWood Alpha: "Oh, my dearest Squire... how could you leave me? How could you crush my very heart beneath those lovely paws of yours?"

Wolfess1: "Ugh, is he still going on about this? I didn't even think he liked her all that much."

Wolfess2: "I think he just doesn't handle rejection very well. Some 'alpha' he turned out to be..."

AbyssalWood Alpha: "Hey, there's nothing non-alpha about a man being in touch with their emotions!"

Wolfess1: "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry."

AbyssalWood Alpha: *sniffles*