“Do you really have nothing else to do?” Christoph asked, staring up at the ceiling of the cabin.

“What were you expecting?” Emilia replied. What had he been expecting? A life of hard work, perhaps. Toiling in the village for long days with little reward, maybe? Instead…

“Isn’t it your turn to hunt soon?” he asked. He saw her face twist in displeasure, ears swiveling as she frowned.

“Already?” she said. “I suppose so… Can’t I just send someone out to do it for me?”

“You’re too spoiled,” Christoph said, rolling onto his back again. “Leila takes care of the village, and hunting barely even counts as work.” She’d been sent out hunting by her sister last week, returning after barely an hour had passed with a deer-like animal she’d caught in the surrounding forest.

Emilia didn’t reply, curling up to fall asleep next to him on the bed. Although he’d thought of her as a cat-girl since their first meeting, this hadn’t been what he was expecting at all. She was so… lazy. Her condescending attitude had disappeared as well, or was that only how she spoke to her enemies? A knock on the cabin door caught Christoph’s attention, and he sat up as Emilia lifted a limp arm to point towards the entrance. Standing from the bed, he walked to the door and pulled it open.

“Hello,” he said. “Can I help you with something?”

Leila frowned, pushing past him to enter the room and scowl down at where Emilia was still lying naked under the bedsheets. “It’s nearly sundown,” the beast-woman said, kicking at the primitive mattress. “For all your talk about becoming the next lord of the forest, you certainly lead a despicable life.”

Looking over at where Emilia was stretched out on the bed, Christoph couldn’t argue with that. In the mornings, he was sent to fetch her food, which he then fed to her. After that, he dragged her to the stream to bathe, usually having to wash her body as well. In the evenings, they ate dinner with the clan, and although he didn’t have a dedicated place around the fire he ended up feeding her then, too.

Those three activities were the entire scope of Emilia and Christoph’s life outside of the cabin. She spent the rest of her time asleep, and when she wasn’t sleeping it was his duty to keep her entertained. They’d even run into some trouble once after she’d dragged him to the shore of the river to have her way with him. It seemed that even among the beast-clans, such things were best kept to the bedroom. Emilia’s solution to that problem was simple – don’t leave the bedroom. Rather than a master and slave, it was more like she was unemployed on welfare, and he was something between her caretaker and bedwarmer.

“Diana was returned to us today,” Leila said. “I expect you to be there to greet her after her bath.” Christoph shuddered by the doorway as he recalled the ‘bath’ that followed a visit from Bastias.

“Fine, fine, just leave.” Emilia waved a hand at her sister before beckoning to her slave. “Come here, Christoph” she said. “Help me get dressed.”

Christoph sighed as Leila stormed from the room with a cursory look of disgust in his direction. “Coming,” he said, stooping over to swipe her clothes from the wooden floorboards as the cat-girl kicked off the blankets and held her arms out to him. “Just to remind you – Leila warned us about this yesterday and the day before as well. We shouldn’t be late for this.”

“Eh?” Emilia’s ears drooped as Christoph avoided her outstretched arms, legs kicking out in frustration. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll go now.”

…

“What do you think Bastias meant by what they said to Diana?” Christoph asked.

“Mmm? Who cares,” Emilia replied. “That girl they left behind at the ceremony was from up north, too. Maybe that’s why I never liked Diana, they’re all a bunch of fairy-lovers up there anyway.”

Fairies? Despite Christoph’s questions, Emilia usually refused to talk about the world around them. Well, common knowledge was hardly entertaining pillow talk in any case, and conversations like this were rare.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you planning on having me carry you all the way down to the bonfire?”

Emilia stretched out her arms with a yawn as she rode down the wooden steps on his back. “Slaves don’t get to complain,” she said.

Christoph sighed again, but couldn’t reply. No matter which way you looked at it, he was getting a particularly good deal. “Even so, you should think of your image,” he said. “Taking over Leila’s position isn’t going to be easy, you know?”

Because of the way he looked over his shoulder at her reaction, he almost missed the flash of steel as the sword sliced through the air towards his neck. Christoph lurched as he was pushed to the side, and Emilia disappeared from his back a moment before he lifted his arm to protect himself. The sword cleaved into his forearm, clashing to a halt against the crystal bones of his right arm before it was pulled free. The second blade did not suffer the same problem as it plunged into his side, the steel sliding into his body until the hilt came to rest against his bare skin. With a flash of mana Christoph was blown from the ramp, his consciousness fading long before he even hit the forest floor.

…

Emilia drew her knives as her feet touched down on the steps, dashing in quickly to strike at her assailants before they could defend themselves. Her blades crossed over nothing but air as they disappeared, though, the two armored figures suddenly standing meters above her on the spiraling steps.

“Human trash!” Emilia hissed, cutting through her belt with her daggers and letting the leather fall to the ground as poison coated her blades.

“Is he dead?” John asked, raising his shield as he swung his sword to clear the blood.

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“I am unsure,” Grace replied. “I had no time to charge the blade. For a human it would impossible, but…”

“We will confirm it,” John said. “For now, focus on the enemy in front of us.”

Emilia moved to block their descent. “This is why nobody likes dealing with the human church,” she said. “Are you knights or assassins?”

Her spirit blazed as the Templars moved to attack, intercepting their attacks but unable to land any of her own past their shields. Each blow from the beast-woman pushed them back, but their own blades licked out to slice through her skin with every pass. Ignoring the pain, she focused on wearing down the female, smashing dents into her shield and pummeling her body through the scant protection of her armor.

“Plate metal.” Emilia spat the words at the knights. “The tool of cowards. Something like that is only effective against those weaker than you. Is attacking the weak all that you are good for?”

Ignoring her taunts, the John stepped forwards to swap positions with Grace as she caught her breath. “You know nothing about our church,” John said, and Emilia’s ears twitched as she felt a large amount of mana being released. Where would it-

John’s sword suddenly appeared in front of her face, and she grunted as it sliced through her cheek despite her dodge. She slashed with her daggers, but he was gone again. Before she could react, he reappeared, a downward slash threatening to break through her defense as she caught it on her daggers. He kicked out as she fell to her knees, pushing her backwards as he vanished again.

Teleportation magic. Such knowledge was limited to the gods! To think that the human churches had spread the technique so far down their ranks… Emilia tumbled down the stairs before catching herself, one of her daggers slipping through the planks and falling from sight. Above her, Emilia could see the female Templar with her head lowered in prayer, mana flowing from her body towards her companion. Far too late, the beast-girl readied her blade to defend herself, John’s sword already moving as it thrust towards her from where he had appeared from thin air. Before the blade could strike true, a crash rang out and something slammed into the stairs next to the knight, an explosion of metal sounding as blood splashed down onto the walkway.

John’s arms fell to his side, his sword dropping from his twitching gauntlet as crimson bubbles foamed from the visor of his helmet. Leila crushed his throat with her left hand as she slowly drew her right arm from the gaping hole in his chest, gore splattering past the tortured steel of his ruined breastplate to drip on the boards below. Baring her teeth, the lord of the forest turned towards where Grace had snapped out of her prayer, sword trembling as she stepped away from the beast-woman.

“You disappoint me, Templar,” Leila hissed, tossing John’s lifeless body aside and taking her first step towards the trembling knight. “I had been expecting someone worth so much more than that.”

…

Christoph faded back into consciousness on the cold dirt of the forest floor, groaning as he raised his head. A familiar pounding had settled into his skull. Say what you will about the beast god, Bastias knew how to clear a headache. He tried to sit up, but his arm and legs refused to move. Was he paralyzed?! No, his limbs were not damaged but merely restrained, roped to several stakes that pinned him down onto the ground. Emilia lay sleeping with her head on his chest, gray hair shifting as he struggled with his bonds.

“Hey,” he called out to her. His throat ached as he spoke, and hunger welled up as he moved. “Emilia,” he said, raising his chest from the ground and bouncing back down. “Hey!”

“Christoph?” Emilia blinked up at him for a moment before breaking into a grin. “You’re awake!”

“What happened?” he asked. He could feel the familiar sticky wetness of blood soaking over his lower body and face.

“The church sent some knights,” Emilia said, wiping her face with a hand. “Leila killed one and captured the other. You were injured pretty badly, and…” The cat-girl faded off as she picked herself up off his chest, her face moving towards his until their lips touched together gently. Christoph blinked up at her. Had she been crying? No, that was unlikely. Actually, she had been surprisingly childish at times. Crying over the loss of her latest toy might be something she would do. A crack snapped him out of his thoughts as her hand slapped into his face, and he flinched back into the dirt.

“You bit me!” Emilia said sternly. He bit her? What was he, a dog? “Leila wanted to put you down, you know?”

Christoph frowned. A dog – that’s what you’d say to a dog, right? The cat-girl lowered her forehead to his chest again, hands playing over his body. “You nearly died,” she said. “Leila tied you down and force-fed you some of the knights’ crystals.”

“Remind me to thank her when I see her next time,” he said, leaning his head back onto the dirt. “Can you untie me then?” he asked. “Please? I still need to eat.”

Emilia smirked down at him as she rose to all fours, and Christoph glanced down to where a bandage had been wound around the forearm of her left hand. Had he really bitten her? Emilia pulled one of her knives and began cutting at something out of his line of sight. Turning around, she held a sliver of meat out over Christoph’s mouth, shoving it past his teeth as he fought to keep from choking.

“You should be glad,” she grinned down at him. “Leila looked like she was having fun, so I’ve decided to feed you his time!

Christoph looked up at her smile before swallowing his mouthful with a sigh. “Fine,” he said. “But don’t expect me to say ‘thank you’ afterwards.”