The warmth had put Tibaut to sleep (Thankfully his fireball went out as soon as it was lights out for him) and for the past few hours, he had been in dreamland.

He woke up to find the carriage empty and scanned around to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He also realized why he had such a good night's rest in the first place. The carriage had stopped. It was early morning from what he could see outside and after a few more minutes of enjoying some rest, he finally got up.

"Alright, where did those bastards go?"

He slapped his cheeks to fully wake himself up and exited the carriage. They seemed to be a few meters away from a dirt road and he noticed a river nearby. He saw the horses nearby resting, with one of them eating some grass.

As he looked at the horses, he felt growling coming from his stomach but decided against eating their only form of transportation.

("Man, it's been a while since I've had to eat horse. When I couldn't find any pigs or cows on a farm, these guys would get the job done.") He thought, remembering his time alone.

He was going to walk along the river but then quickly decided against it.

"I know where this is going." He said while staring it down. "I'll walk down the river all clueless then I'll stumble across Tina, Elizabeth or both of them bathing, then get my ass kicked. Sorry world, but I'm not that naive." He said looking quite smug from avoiding this imaginary scenario.

"What are you going on about?" A voice behind him asked.

He turned and saw Elizabeth carrying a few pieces of wood in her arms. Tibaut cleared his throat hoping she didn't catch what he said.

"Putting that aside, are we there yet?"

"Do we look like we're there yet?"

Other than the dirt road there was no sign of human presence in eyeshot other than the carriage.

"How much longer am I going to have to deal with my ass getting tenderized?"

"Until we reach there." She responded.

She began walking somewhere and Tibaut decided to follow. They were in some collection of trees, not quite large and dense enough to be a forest but it was at least able to hide them.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

They approached a campfire with Tina and Jake around with a third figure resting on the floor.

"That guy's our…driver?"

"Coachman."

"So that's what that's called."

Don't worry Tibaut, I thought they were called coaches before googling it.

Elizabeth walked over to the fire and dropped the wood that was in her arms on it. To the side of it was a pot that looked like it had been emptied out recently.

"How much longer are we gonna stay here anyway?"

"Until our friend there wakes up." She said as she turned her gaze towards the coachman.

"Wanna pass the time you lazy bastard," Tina interjected.

"Man, I don't wanna train before I eat something."

Elizabeth handed him something.

"Huh? You brought the rabbit jerky?"

"Don't tell you're tired of it?"

"No, I just didn't think you guys would eat any."

"Unfortunately, when you're in the wild you'll take whatever you can get especially dried food like this."

As Tibaut was about to take a bite, something jumped on him and took the jerky away. He tossed it upwards and it gracefully landed on its feet.

At first, he thought it was some wolf, and briefly considered Lucky following them but soon discarded that idea after getting a closer look at it.

It had the head of a rabbit with the horns of a bull (though substantially smaller) with the body of a wolf. However, it wasn't the size of a wolf Lucky's size and was more similar in size to a husky. Its coat had a similar look to a calico cat with the orange replaced with gray and strangely it seemed quite clean despite a sizable portion of its fur being white. Its paws seemed noticeably larger than a wolf's, despite its size, and it did nothing more than scratch its head with a hind leg while yawning.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Jake walked up to it and viewed it closely. It didn't run away and looked him directly in the eyes.

"I don't know but it seems pretty cute." He said while looking at it.

The girls sat around the campfire with no worry on their faces.

"Is that Bellus?" Tina commented, looking over in interest.

"Let me check." Elizabeth got up and walked over. She pulled Jake aside.

"Um, Elizabeth, what are you doing?" Asked Tina with concern in her voice.

Jake looked over at Tina before taking a step back after seeing what Elizabeth pulled out. She drew her sword and had it held over the creature.

Tibaut looked concerned but with how many animals he killed in the wild and with how hungry he was, he didn't mind some fresh meat. Plus the little bastard stole his jerky, so it was just desserts for all he cared.

Elizabeth swung her sword down with a speed none of the others there could react to and shouting was heard.

"Elizabeth, why the hell did yo- what?"

Tina's complaints were cut off by the sight of the beast rubbing against Elizabeth's leg. Her sword was still in the dirt.

"Looks like you were right Tina. This is Bellus." She said as she rubbed his head. She pulled out her sword, brushed off the dirt and sheathed it.

Tibaut didn't know what to think of the scene in front of him. That attack was something he knew he couldn't dodge yet the creature came out unscathed and didn't try to fight back.

"What the hell is that?" He asked

"Bellus?" Jake said. "As in, Mythical Beast Bellus!?"

The animal seemed to react to its name and let out a delicate-sounding "Aro" sound.