When we finally had returned to the inn, a distraught Myra awaited us. She stood in front of the building, greeting us with eyes that already were red from crying. Now, that she saw the sorry state I was in and heard my pitiful whimpers, fresh tears began rolling down her skin.

 

“Ahri! What happened to you?! Who did this to you?!”

“She was attacked by a stray,” Cathrina explained as she placed me in Myra’s arms. “She almost got herself killed.”

“What?!”

“Can you heal her again?”

“I will try my best!”

 

Myra didn’t even waste the minute of time it would have required to reach the room they had rented. She placed me on the first empty table she found in the dining area and started to examine my wounds. It didn’t take long for her to reveal the harsh truth.

 

“Her leg is broken ...”

“I guessed as much.”

“We have to straighten the bones...”

“You can leave that to me,” Cathrina suggested, not even hesitating for a second.

“Are you sure? It will hurt her a lot! I don’t Ahri to be afraid of you...”

“Somebody has to do it.”

“We can call Masaru!”

 

They didn’t have to. Before Cathrina could even decide whether it was worth calling him or not, his cursed voice was already reaching my ears.

 

“You found her! Where has she been?! Is she ok? She looks injured!”

“We were just about to heal her,” Cathrina explained, not giving the Hero’s panic-driven questions any real attention.

“I will help!”

「Who wants your help?!」

“My pure Ahri~” His voice turned sweet. “You don’t have to be scared anymore. I am here!”

「You are even scarier than that stray!」

 

Myra and Cathrina couldn’t even tell him off. He just grabbed me, placed me onto his arm and started to pet my back.

 

「IT HURTS! What are you doing, you lunatic!?」

“You are hurting her!” Myra protested. “Her leg is broken!”

“Her leg?!”

 

He became petrified when he realized his mistake. It was just a short moment, not even a breath’s worth of time, but this was far enough for me to attack him back. I squirmed in his arms until I could reach his fingers, then I bit down on them with all my strength.

 

「EAT THIS!」 Chomp! 「BASTARD!」

“My poor Ahri~”

「I’m not your Ahri!」

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“Are you in so much pain you do not even realize it is me?”

「I’m in pain because I can’t bite you to death!」

“Can you hold her while I set her bones?” Myra asked.

“Set her bones?!”

「Set my bones?」

“She will struggle a lot...”

「You won’t give me anything to ease my pain?!」

“We can’t give her alcohol, after all,” she explained as if answering my question. “And I don’t know how well her little body handles drugs.”

The hero began petting me again, totally unasked for. “I just have to hold her?”

“That would be enough.”

 

Under the orders of Myra the hero placed me onto the table and, after I had struggled against his grip, just put his index finger into my mouth, denying me any chance to yell or toss insults at him. Naturally, I used this chance without thinking twice. Once again, I chewed on his finger, using all my strength, anger and hatred.

 

A sharp pain cut off my breath as Myra began massaging my broken leg, carefully relocating the pieces of the fractioned bone. Tears rolled down my fur and onto the hand of the fiend as I tried to fight the pain with more and more furious attacks. He didn’t say a thing, he just stroked my back, again and again, while showering me with pity.

Myra’s next attack came without a warning. She grabbed my leg with both of her hands and, with a crack, brought the last piece of bone into its original position. My eyes went black.

 

⊱————-　❈　————-⊰

 

An almost inaudible series of snores awoke me from my sleep. When I opened my eyes, the hero was gone, I couldn’t see him anywhere. There was only Myra, who was sitting on her bed and leaning against the wall while releasing the shallow breaths that had awoken me. It was impossible to say how long she had been sitting here like this.

 

«Did she keep watch over me?»

 

Myra was a nice girl, even more so when I compared her to other humans and especially the despicable hero she had decided to follow around. She had hurt me, sure, but all of that was her trying to help me, at least I hoped so.

My gaze wandered through the room, searching for signs of the other girls or the hero, but there was nothing. Nobody would disturb us, at least not for now.

I snuggled against her warm skin and closed my eyes.

 

«This is fine...»