Kiel waited under the tree for the two adventurers for close to twenty minutes before he started to wonder if they were going to sleep in there. Thankfully another ten minutes later his patience was rewarded when he saw them exit the building.

He didn't even have to approach them as the fire mage screamed in surprise when she saw him. She was loud enough that about everyone turned to see what spooked her so badly.

She pointed at him and said something to her companion, though the archer did not share her enthusiasm. Of course, the mage dragged her towards him and she begrudgingly followed.

Of course the first thing the mage did was kneel down to pet him. Only instead of doing that, she wrapped her arms around him and picked him up. He had to hold his instincts back because the body of a frail mage would not handle a scratch from his claws the same way monsters did.

She held him close to her chest and he had half a mind to teleport away. After she started suffocating him for a full two seconds, he gave in and teleported on top of her head.

She tried to get him a few times, but he had the advantage. A few teleport dodges later she gave up and he proudly claimed her head as his throne. She continued walking with her archer friend who was looking at the two of them in worry and morbid fascination. He was fairly sure he saw her shaking her head several times when her mage friend wasn't watching.

Finally after a few minutes of walking they arrived at a small house. The mage reached inside her robe and got the key for the door. Opening the door to the small house he was greeted by rows and rows of books stacked on top of each other. Frankly it was horrifying - the condition the mage let her books lay in, that is.

If she wanted to read a book close to the floor it would very likely cause an avalanche. He wondered where the invention of bookshelves disappeared in this world, but further inside the house there were proper bookshelves. It only made him more irritated though because she willingly let those poor books languish on the floor like that, and close to the entrance no less!

The girl opened the door to her bedroom all too casually, plopping right onto her bed, cat in tow. If he wasn't a cat they would be having a very different discussion about who she invites to her bedroom.

He was going to jump off the bed and explore the rest of the house, but once he felt how comfy it was, he decided to stay for a few minutes longer by her side. He didn't know how, but these guys made beds better than they did on Earth. Though the beds he'd slept in thus far consisted of large trees, the ground, and ground with somewhat softer grass.

He had to fight in order not to fall asleep, so he was thankful when the girl got off from the bed and started searching for something in the drawers on the side of the bed. He was interested to see what the fire mage wanted, so he waited patiently as she pulled something from a drawer.

Seeing what it was, he clenched his paws, his claws unwittingly tearing the fabric of the bed. A small collar like the one he saw the hawk wearing on its neck. Although he liked the girl, if she forced it on him, he would defend himself.

The archer burst into the room and it was then he realized he'd been hissing. Looking at him, she seemed to apologize and then did something he didn't expect. She conjured a small ball of fire and burned the accessory to ashes.

That did mollify him, but he was still annoyed at the suggestion of a collar. Seeing the mage's hands trembling, however, made him feel bad, so he decided to drop the matter.

The archer wasn't the same, however, and this time she didn't leave the side of her friend. The two had a small argument after that, but it seemed like the mage wasn't seeing reason as her friend grew increasingly frustrated.

In the end, however, she stood in a corner of the room, watching her friend rummage another drawer trying to find something. Kiel was silent in the meanwhile as he started feeling a little awkward. He created a bit of this mess, but honestly how did they expect him to react to an item used for pets of which was clearly magical in nature in a way he couldn't understand.

Finally after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, she emerged from being half buried in a drawer full of junk with a glowing stone. That made the archer's expression change, but she didn't say anything.

Tentatively she approached him, holding the stone in front of her. He didn't move and she sat down in front of him. She said something in the language he'd come to understand was the common tongue they spoke in this region, and something unexpected happened.

The stone drew from the ether around it when the mage finished speaking, he was offered a strange system message.

You have been offered a contract!

Ah, yeah no... I'm not signing this without my lawyer looking it over first.

When he focused on those words, he understood it worked on intent. If he accepted he would be bound to whatever contract she created for him. Frankly he wasn't sure how this was better than the collar.

Accepting a contract in a language he couldn't even understand was entirely out of the question... but it gave him an idea.

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Melissa was honestly scared seeing how the cat reacted to the collar. She wasn't sure what spooked it and that was the worst part of it, "You should give up Melissa, this is a wild monster. You see how it reacted to a common identifying artifact," Cassandra said behind her for the hundredth time.

"No, and you're wrong about it too. It saved my life back then. You can say whatever you want about what happened, but I know what I saw. And besides, it didn't attack anyone in the city, that's a point in its favor," she replied, her head buried in her drawer as she tried to find an item she never thought she was going to use.

"Found it!" she exclaimed as she unearthed an almost ordinary looking stone. Cassandra was startled at that, "Where did you find this?" she asked, while she fought a war inside of her to remain calm.

"My old master gave it to me and I threw it in a drawer years ago. A stone of binding, the forgotten relative of oaths," she replied. "I think some branches of the guild still use it though."

Walking up to the cat, she hesitated. Am I really doing this? Having a companion from the forest was rare for a reason. And things could go wrong even if it accepted the contract. She shook her head. She did not get to where she was without taking risks, and this one was worth it.

She held the stone between herself and the cat, and whispered, "I wish for a contract of equals; I offer my protection and ask the same of you. Do you accept?"

The stone heated up and she felt the energy inside of it reach the cat... only to be rejected thoroughly as the stone dimmed.

Then, the cat did something she would have never believed unless she saw it with her own eyes; it created a contract of its own. The cat meowed in high and low tones, mimicking the way she'd spoken moments prior, and this time a system message popped up on her side.

You have been offered a contract!

"No... don't tell me the cat offered you a contract!" Cassandra looked ready to start laughing. If she wasn't expecting Melissa to reject the contract and the absurdity of the situation, she would have already thrown that stone out of the window, which was exactly when she accepted the contract. The small rock burst into flames and cracked as the contract was completed.

In an instant Cassandra arrived by her side, yelling, "What the hell have you done! We don't have the money to pay someone to break the contract, are you insane?!" she shook her friend a few times.

Melissa shrugged in response, not resisting, "No need, I trust this little one. I owe it my life and besides, I have a feeling it wouldn't choose to hurt me either way. The only clause I can feel is something about communicating."

Focusing on the contract between the two, Melissa couldn't help but laugh out loud. It took her a moment to reply to Cassandra who was now pestering her with questions, as she was dying from lack of air. Finally she managed to gather herself, taking a deep breath as she tried to stop laughing.

She got closer to her friend and leaning forward she whispered in her ear about the cat's request.

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Seriously, is it such a big deal to ask for cooked food in this world?

He shook his head as he watched the girl laugh till she hit the floor. He was honestly getting worried for her, but thankfully she recovered fast. Communicating with the girl was weirder than he'd thought it would be.

He didn't need to know the language in order to communicate with the contract. Intent and meaning would carry over their bond much better than words, though it would take some getting used to, much like everything else in this life.

He had been acting on a feeling when he created the contract and didn't expect it to actually work. How the system understood his meows though was beyond him.

He was surprised enough when it worked, and when he felt the mage accepting the contract, his jaw was hanging open.

It's like accepting candy from a stranger, she has to have more common sense than that.

Now that the contract had formed, though, he could ask her. Receiving the answer needed a bit decoding, but he saw a vivid image of a black cat running up to her as the world space around them started to crumble. Fractions of a second before the unstable space killed her, he arrived, stopping the expanding crack before it touched her.

Melissa, as he learned her name was, prepared him a simple meal while he was exploring their contract. His first cooked meal... he felt like he was going to cry.

Biting into the soft meat, the flavors exploded in his mouth. After so long without cooked food, even week-old leftovers sounded delicious. To add to that, the mage was a surprisingly good cook.

He took his time eating the plate of food she prepared for him, looking over the contract between them.

Being the one that created the contract he held more power over it and he sensed that if he wanted to, he could destroy it fairly simply. It probably wouldn't be easy still, but the mere fact he had that ability eased his mind.

He remembered to ask her to make something for Edel too, and she merrily nodded in agreement.

'Gate. East. Go?'

He asked her through the link when it was apparent they were ready to leave. Unfortunately it seemed like he misunderstood what they were getting ready for. They were getting ready to head out for another mission on the other side of the forest.

Asking them how long it would take, he received shrugs, 'Don't. Know. Luck. Helps.' With those words, she sent images and meaning through their link.

It was a simple foraging mission, and the requester didn't ask for much, but finding the specific flower they were looking for did have an element of luck to it. If they were unlucky it could take them as much as two entire days of searching in the forest.

In the end it was getting late, and if he wanted to reach the part of the river where he stayed with Edel before nightfall, he needed to leave sooner rather than later. He felt strange leaving so soon after forming a contract with Melissa, but he didn't want to leave his friend alone in the forest worrying about him.

Asking Melissa to wrap up the food she made for Edel, he bit into the makeshift bag, carrying it with his mouth. This time he didn't bother with the gate, teleporting straight from the side of the wall. Teleporting where he couldn't see was a weird experience, but one he'd trained for inadvertently when he'd been training to use Spatial Shift twice in quick succession.

He held the location in his mind and teleported out of the city. He didn't know why, but it was a lot more expensive than it should have been, even accounting for the low density of ether. Maybe it's the bag of food that added to the cost...

Regardless, he didn't think about it for long, picking a good pace and heading inside the forest.

If there were any humans on this side of the forest at this time of the day, they would have seen quite the strange sight as Kiel took care not to let the small bag slip from his mouth while he walked.

He already had to readjust the small bag twice because it felt like it was going to fall.

All the things I do for you, Edel...