I laid Davna on the ground, stepped right through the barrier and walked over to Lizei’s tree. Once more, I knocked on the wood.

Lizei crawled out, as expected. She did not look any more awake than earlier, despite the relatively long break.

“Mashter! Already dun?” she asked, canting her head to the side.

I nodded. “Indeed. And so, drop the barrier and heal Davna’s wounds.”

“A’ight. Can do? Can do!”

With a motion of her arms, the pillars of wood retreated into the ground, and the lattice of magic spun between them dissipated into the air.

“Manipulating barriers is one thing,” I said, “but at the very least, open your eyes when you heal people.”

She let out a curious cry, but complied regardless. For a few seconds, she stared at my face in wonderment, particularly my cheek.

Then, without much of a warning, she wrapped her arms around my waist in a hug.

Not sure how to respond, I simply looked at her for a few seconds.

Eventually, I spoke up. “... What do you think you are doing, Lizei?”

“Hugging Mashter?”

She reminded me of a certain Kobold.

I peeled her off me and pointed in Davna’s direction. “Her wounds,” I said as I put Lizei on the ground once more and walked away.

I was not ten steps away when I stopped once more, since Charlotte approached me. I gave her an acknowledging nod.

“Thy sorc’ry has gott’n quite pow’rful, if I may say, M’lord,” she said, proud as if it were her own.

I nodded. “Well, it is so-so. How is the sword? I do hope you will be able to draw out its full potential—it would be a mighty waste otherwise.”

“If I may be so bold, M’lord, I do b’lieve I shall be able to meet thy exp’ctations,” she said, a sly smile on her lips. She held the sword up to her face and made a cut in her wrist, as she usually would.

But rather than forge a full sword or set of arms from her blood, she simply ran her blood through the canals in Lifedrinker’s blade, as if to fill it up.

Deep red symbols lit up along the blade’s side, and Charlotte’s mana ran deep through it.

“Splendid, Charlotte.”

“ ‘Twas an acc’dental discov’ry. I was simply trying t’ make the blade feel more nat’ral, so ‘twas quite s’rprising when its effect act’vated.”

“Hmph. To discover such a thing by coincidence… Perhaps I should say ‘as expected of you’. Regardless, make sure to use it well.”

“Thou art too kind, M’lord. My blade is thine.”

“It is my sword, Charlotte.”

I ignored her stifled giggle and once more turned and walked away.

Although I did not have a particular destination in mind, I wandered the halls of the castle.

That activity was put to an end in a particularly empty hallway, when a pair of milky white, black-covered arms wrapped around my chest from behind.

Obviously, I knew who they belonged to.

“... Is something the matter, Lady Entropy?” I asked, trying to prevent a smile from breaking out on my face.

No response.

“... Lady Entropy?”

She tightened her grip.

After several seconds of silence, she finally answered. “The Dryad did it too, right?”

“Oh my. Are you perhaps envious, Lady Entropy?” I asked, smirking.

“... Yes.”

Her unexpectedly straightforward answer caused me to stiffen. I cleared my throat.

“Well, I suppose I do not particularly mind, but…” I said, closing my eyes in sagely contemplation.

“Hm?”

“Although this hallway is empty right now, that is no guarantee it is not in use, no?”

I could feel her arms stiffen slightly. It became yet harder to stifle my smile.

“Ah,” I said, “that being said, I promised you a present, but would you perhaps like me to-”

I could feel her shake her head before I could even finish my sentence. Quite disappointing, but honestly not very surprising—if anything, it was predictable.

“Oh? I had not even finished my sentence?”

“We can read each other’s minds, remember? So I knew what you were going to say. And you don’t need to do that. Because that’s…”

Her naturally soft, toneless voice shrunk even further, to the point of silence before she could finish her sentence. I knew what she was going to say, but could not resist such an opportunity. “That is?”

“That’s…”

Without saying a word, I waited.

“... It’s embarrassing.” Her voice, though the same as ever, felt a bit smaller, a bit more frail than usual, and while the words perhaps weren’t the most goddess-like, I felt they suited her rather well.

I couldn’t resist the urge to smile, so I covered my mouth with my hand.

So precious.

With a cough, I attempted to change the subject. “I… I wonder where Alpine has disappeared to.”

“Don’t change the subject after making me say something like that.”

Of course, I failed.

It was not until a few minutes later that I realised I could just have used [Pokerface] like I usually did.

Although I had asked the question with an ulterior motive, that did not necessarily mean I did not want its answer. Thus, after a few more minutes, I clapped my hands to summon a maid.

She curtsied, and I nodded. “May I be of assistance, Master Astaroth?”

“Take me to Alpine,” I said, “I need to speak with her.”

“Ah, right this way, Master Astaroth.”

I thought I spied a hint of fear, or perhaps guilt, in her expression. I decided to pay it no mind as I let her guide me.

As a matter of course, Lady Entropy walked alongside me.

We ended up in one of the castle’s many courtyards, where I quickly discovered the reason for the maid’s earlier expression—a scene which rendered me speechless.

Certainly, she had guided me to Alpine.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But it was far from alone.

At a glance, I counted at least ten Ghost Maids, surrounding it from all sides, each attempting to give it a different foodstuff. There was a large variety, including things like leftovers from the kitchens, loose bones, and even what appeared to be whole meals specifically cooked for it.

For at least thirty seconds, I observed this situation, and not a single person other than the maid who had taken me here even noticed me.

“You lot.” My voice, cold as ice, rang out clear through the courtyard. As though by reflex, the maids dropped the food and shot into a curtsy. Alpine quickly gave a salute, as sloppy as always. Even from a distance, I could see its mouth was still filled with meat.

I found it very difficult not to bury my face in my palm, and could not prevent a sigh from escaping my lips. I turned to the nearest maid.

“You,” I said, gesturing around. “Explain.”

“Uh, well, that is, uhm-”

“I cannot hear you. Speak up.”

“Well… Lady Alpine was so cute, we…” she said, though her voice died down and she stopped talking.

How annoying.

“You?”

“We… We couldn’t resist feeding her,” she finally finished, directing her gaze to the ground and only shooting an occasional furtive glance at my face.

I scrutinised her in silence for a few seconds, then shot my eyes across the others. None of them refuted her words, but they did look away when I looked at them.

“Now listen here,” I said, “it is one thing to feed her for me—if anything, that is part of your jobs—but I do not want you spoiling people’s pets. Especially not mine. Clean up the mess. And if I catch you again, you’re fired.”

Given the maids were bound to the castle, and thus unable even to leave, let alone to serve anywhere else, there was only one way to terminate their service. An experience no one would like to undergo.

“Alpine. We are leaving.”

Without giving it the time to speak even a single word, I turned on my heel and, for the third time, headed for the training grounds. From the corner of my eye, I could see it barely had time to swallow the meat in its mouth before running up to me.

“Uhm, s-sir, where are we going?” Alpine asked, a hint of nervosity in its rough voice as it struggled to keep up with my paces.

“The training grounds.” Although only slightly, I slowed down. “It is high time we make you useful.”

It was hard to miss the expectations glittering in Alpine’s eyes. Equally hard to miss, at least for me, were the admiration and slight concern hidden in Lady Entropy’s blank gaze.

«Rest assured,» I thus told her, «when training a dog, discipline is necessary. One could call it vital.»

«I… guess so, sure, but don’t overdo it.»

«Of course not. After all, kindness is also important.»

Lizei appeared to have done a proper job repairing the training grounds—that is, all of the destroyed training dummies had been replaced.

Charlotte and Davna were nowhere to be seen, and it seemed Lizei, too, had retreated into her tree.

Before I could take Alpine to an empty dummy, however, there was a small tug at my cape.

I turned around to identify the cause, and to my surprise, Nexu had approached me.

“Was there something?” I asked.

I was not expecting him to suddenly open his heart to me or anything, but still, his self-confidence was, in a way, a little moving.

“Ah, uh… We’re taking a break from training, so…”

He seemed simply to be speaking justifications, so I did not say a word.

He apparently took my silence as consent. “Uh… The tree girl from earlier… am I the only one who could see all the lights around her?”

“Lights?”

“They’re still there.” He pointed at Lizei’s tree.

I looked, and saw a tree.

It took me a few seconds to formulate a theory. Once I did, I borrowed Nexu’s [Eyes of the Spiritseer], which made some faint, barely brown and green lights appear around the tree.

The brown ones appeared to like me, as well.

“I see, I see,” I said, “those are spirits. Keep training and your ability to see them will improve.”

“Spirits? You mean like elves can see?” One of his ears flicked with curiosity and his tail perked up—behaviour I would sooner expect from a dog than a fennec.

“Yes, exactly those spirits. Hurry along, now.” I gestured in the direction of the head instructor, who looked a little impatient.

“Ah- Yes!”

The speed at which he took off made me question if a beast-person’s physical abilities were supposed to be this much greater than a human’s.

“Now, then.”

I beckoned Alpine over and walked up to a training dummy that wasn’t in use.

“Demonstrate.”

It tilted its head stupidly to the side, with an expression that told me it truly did not understand.

I repressed a sigh. “Your abilities. Demonstrate your abilities. Attack the dummy.”

It got down on all fours and approached the dummy slowly, from what would have been a blind spot. After sidling up to it as if it were stalking the thing, it was at its ‘throat’ with a single leap, although it did not possess the bite force required to bite through the solid wood.

“Hmph. Well, it is not bad… But this stalking style is the style of a solo fighter. It only works in surprise attacks, and does not synergise with allies. In addition, your stealth skills are not enough. To put it simply, you are not fit for this. In the first place, Kobolds are not surprise predators. Your paw.”

It put its paw in my hand.

I pointed to its claws. “See, unlike a wolf, Kobolds have claws that are suitable for rending flesh. Although your cooperation likely leaves much to be desired, what you should focus on first is learning to use these. After all, a Kobold does not possess the biting force a wolf does.”

Much to my surprise, it seemed to have understood everything I said.

“Right, then. Try again.”

I let go of its paw, and it did as I told it to.

Although Alpine appeared to have taken no notice of it, the training grounds had become remarkably silent, and I could feel no small number of gazes on us.

Figuring that ‘strong desires’ would count as ‘prayers’, I decided to try one of my new abilities and focused on the wishes of the demons around us.

The general consensus appeared to be “I wish Lord Astaroth would grant me personal guidance…”

Although it was not unpleasant, per se, it was a little troubling, so I soon decided to deactivate the power for now. Fortunately, it appeared to activate and deactivate at will.

I shot a few looks around the training grounds in an attempt to get everyone back on track before once more directing my gaze at Alpine.