In theory, going to sleep out in the wilderness, in this unknown world, and without securing a proper shelter prior to the night was akin to a death sentence. It was one of the major “don’t do this” points on the leaflet Sava Megacorporation graciously shared with Leo.

And yet, here he was, in the company of three strangers that he still couldn’t really trust and a small pack of three dogs that turned out to be some sort of mystical beast, with nothing to call shelter.

‘It all depends on the circumstances,’ Leo thought when he graciously accepted the offer of the fluffiest of the dogs to rest his head on its side.

There was some stuff over in the supply crate that could serve as a pillow, but nothing that could ever come remotely close to the comfort level of just cuddling up to a dog. And when Leo pulled out all the blankets that he found within the crate…

Everyone within their ragtag group ended up following their animalistic desire, opting to just bunch all together and use the saved blankets to create the most basic cushion.

It wasn’t about making their sleeping place softer, but about cutting off the direct cold that would radiate from the ground and steal any bit of warmth they could save by bunching up like that.

With all of that in mind, it was impossible for Leo to have a good night of rest, something he severely needed. The exhaustion from the nanites overdose coupled with the leftovers of the sleeping agent still lingering in his bloodstream and then spiced up by all the tense events of the past few hours to create a state where only Leo’s will to see things through allowed him to stay awake thus far.

And so, when he laid his head down on the side of the majestic, Gray Edgehound as Camila called them, the young man hoped to recover just the minimal bit of strength he needed to keep going. A task that should prove extremely hard to achieve, given how uncomfortable it was to suddenly find himself pressed between both of Camila’s servants and with the pup of the pack of the mythical hound deciding that his lap was its designated sleeping spot.

By no right was Leo supposed to wake up refreshed. Yet, when the rays of the morning sun fell down on his face and pulled the young man from the realm of dreams…

Leo found himself surprisingly well-rested.

‘Rise and shine sunshine,’ Leo called out in his thoughts, slowly prying his eyes open only to be met with quite a ridiculous situation.

Over the cold night, their whole group ended up bunching even closer together and turning into a mesh of legs, paws, heads, and tails.

Leo didn’t even need to move a muscle to realize that if he happened to be in need of relieving his physiological needs… then he simply lacked luck, for there was no way he could leave this mess of tangled bodies all on his own.

This was a task that required everyone’s cooperation. Trouble created by everyone’s natural instincts to bunch closer over the source of heat in a natural desire to combat the cold. Yet, the only source of heat within the group… were the bodies of others.

And so, Urk who laid down to sleep on Leo’s side was currently sprawled over the entire group, his arms holding on to the alpha hound as if the hound’s body was just a pillow while his legs were locked underneath Zion’s hips, who somehow teleported from Leo’s left to the young man’s right.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

With her subordinates shifting, Camila lost the wall of flesh that protected her from the dangerous stranger, herself ending up cuddled up with the hound pup within the cradle of her embrace, all the while her legs interlocked with Leo’s while her face pressed tightly against his chest.

‘This is quite a mess, isn’t it…?’

The only member of this ragtag group that remained as it was was Leo himself… and the fluffy dog that lent its side for Leo to rest his head at. And as Leo looked around, it turned out that the fluffy dog was also the only one, beside Leo, to wake up.

For a moment, the young man looked into the dog’s dark, strangely hypnotizing eyes, only for a small, helpless smile to creep up on his lips right as the doggo pried its mouth a little as it put on a happy look on its snout.

The mother of the pack then turned her head away before opening up her jaws wide as she yawned… Only to curl her neck around and rest its chin down on Leo’s shoulder.

Petrified by the change, Leo froze just like any sane human would do when a cat would come to sleep on their lap.

Unable to move in fear of disturbing the majestically adorable dog’s rest, Leo just… gave up.

Rather than trying his best to escape from the mess, he opted to just close his eyes down and enjoy the last few moments of proper rest he could get in the following days.

The late talk that he had with Camila after settling the matter with the clothes opened a huge number of avenues for Leo to follow.

He could cash out on the favor he gained by slaying the girl’s pursuers by having her guide him to the city, teaching him some local common sense, and then giving him some money.

He could decide to join hands with her, help the girl reclaim her inheritance, and then possibly cash out on a much more valuable reward while also enjoying the favor of a local powerhouse. By doing so, he could create a nice nest for himself in this world, from where he could enrich the locals first only to then make himself filthy rich in the future.

Then, there was the third option, of just taking whatever Camila had to offer, be it in terms of physical rewards or knowledge, before leaving and trying to start anew in this world, without the burden of being around people who knew he wasn’t of this world.

Leo’s thoughts drifted into the perfect emptiness of his mind, with only those three options flashing before his imaginary eyes.

Depriving himself of all the senses that connected him to the outside world, Leo kept trying to come up with various scenarios that could challenge the worth of each of the paths he could take.

Yet, regardless of how wrong and pretty much cliche it appeared to the young man, making friends and then staying within Camila’s orbit seemed like the best choice, regardless of the circumstances they could encounter down this line.

“Haaa…” Leo heaved a long sigh, raising his hand up to wipe it down on his face. “No one said this is going to be easy, huh?”

Only once those muttered words left Leo’s mouth, did the young man realize a massive achievement he completed without even thinking about it.

‘I freed my hand!’

That alone was a great success, an achievement that allowed him to start working his way out of this tangled mess of limbs and bodies. Yet, right as he was about to make his first move in an attempt to regain his freedom, a task that grew more and more urgent as the pressure on his bladder kept increasing, he sensed a movement.

A movement right up close, just a few inches below his chin.

A movement that directly signified Camila, who snuggled up to Leo’s side during the night and now cradled the pup in between the two of them like a mother of a small child holding it in a loving embrace while snuggling up to her husband…

A movement that meant Camila was waking up.

And so, done with taking every issue thus far head-on, Leo decided to take the coward's way out… and not move at all, opting to pretend he was still asleep and thus innocent of whatever Camila would think upon seeing the mess she ended up in the middle of.

It was a fool's hope... but with nothing but some slapstick, animated entertainment from the bygone era to sweeten his days before life forced the young man to pick up work at a trash recycling factory, it was the only hope he had for surviving the coming storm.