{Alex}

It was morning and I woke to a strange cold wet feeling on my side. Lily had demanded that Gen stay the night cuddled between us and I couldn’t say no to her or the boy. It was a nice feeling. Waking up to realize he had pissed the bed in his sleep, less so. I got up and woke the other two. Gen on realizing what he had done, had started crying. “Lily please go get him cleaned up, I’ll clear the bed.” She blushed as she picked up Gen and moved to the bathroom. She froze when she heard a thump in the hallway and my protective nature kicked in. I pushed them behind me and walked slowly to the door. On pulling it open, I sighed with relief. It was Uta. She had tried to come to her brother’s rescue and had passed out on her way. I grabbed a blanket so my piss-stained clothes wouldn’t get on the woman and carried her back to her room. In the light, I could see she had long matted, rust-colored hair with two long ears. A thin matted tail hung down just past her bare back. She was nude as her clothes were far too stained and torn to be saved. I hope this world didn’t have a Chris Henson. Something about a man in his twenties holding a underage girl who was nude didn't feel right. She didn’t wake up on our trip back. She needed to wake up soon so we could get some food in her. It wasn’t right to see someone's skin and bones like this. She had to weigh no more than sixty pounds. I tucked her back in and went to the bathroom. Lily came out in only a towel, and I tried not to get excited because she had Gen in her arms. The last thing that one needed to see was me pitching a tent. I kissed her cheek as she went by, making her blush, and went in to get myself cleaned up.

{Uta}

Uta had heard her brother crying. She was in a strange house, a strange bed, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was he was crying. It was a struggle to make it out of bed, a nightmare to make it to the door, and far too much for her to make it down the hall. Her body gave out and everything went black. She smelled something nice just under the knockout odor of her brother’s urine. She couldn’t open her eyes, but she felt someone lift her gently and place her back in the bed. She smelled the piss but couldn’t smell fear. Her brother would pee the bed sometimes and it would smell like this. Is that what he had been crying about? She hoped so. Her head rolled to the side, and she failed to open her eyes. She was just so tired, so weak. She had pushed herself so hard for so long and now she was paying the price. Now all she wanted was food and to sleep. Someone came in and touched her arm. She struggled to open her eyes and saw a strange man sitting by her bed. “I’m going to feed you. You need to eat. Do you understand?” She saw her collar glow and her mouth opened. “Not what I wanted, but it will work.” He pushed a spoon to her lips and tilted it. Warm beef broth slid down her throat and she started crying. He was being nice to her. Who was he? Why was he being nice to her? He just fed her slowly making sure to wipe her chin when the broth dripped. When she was done, he stood and smiled. “Good. Rest if you can. Oh, and forget any orders that anyone has given you in the past.” Her collar glowed and he left her alone. He smelled like a bunny and orcs. Her brother’s scent also clung to him, but not in a bad way. She just lay her head back feeling some of her strength return, but it was only enough to keep her from passing out again. He was right, she needed sleep. Did she die in that caravan? If so, why was her brother here? Oh yeah, they were joined if she had died, he would too. She lay her head back and was soon asleep again. She woke when she heard someone coming. It was a small thin bunny woman, and she was holding her little brother. She reached out and he jumped into her arms. She expected the pain to make her pass out again, but nothing hurt. Yeah, she was sore, tired, and very drained, but it didn’t hurt. She looked at her arms expecting to see sores, but only long-healed scars remained. “Now Gen, be nice to big sis Uta. She is sick,” the bunny scolded. Gen looked at her and his lip quivered.

“I’m sorry big sis Uta.” He hugged her and it warmed Uta’s heart.

“Pleasure to meet you finally. You can call me Lily.” The bunny said holding out her hand. Uta took it and felt the warmth and kindness coming off the bunny. Where was she?

“Gen are you okay?” She asked looking at her brother. He still had his collar, but his eyes were clear, and he seemed able to talk and move freely. Did that bastard sell them? Her brother nodded and pulled back looking into her eyes.

“You like it here. They have toys and food. Master looks mean, but he is nice.” He was talking so fast and Uta just smiled at the flood of words. He seemed happy and healthy.

"Would you like some food? I know Master fed you," why did the bunny seem upset when she said that? "I could go get you more if you want it?" Uta just nodded. The bunny left and Uta looked her brother over. He didn't have a mark on him. It was strange. She swore he had a bleeding sore on his back, but it was gone.

"Gen, what happened?" she asked.

"I was sitting and then I was walking and then I was here." she rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"After that Fuzzball."

"Big sis Lily gave me food and a bath. Master gave me toys." He leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "Master can do magic. He got mad and his hands sparked, but he didn't hit me." The boy was going a mile a minute. It made her laugh. God, it felt good to laugh.

"Slow down, fuzzball." she tickled him. It took almost everything she had but hearing him giggle was worth it. The bunny returned with a bowl of broth. It smelled so good.

"This is big sis, Lily, she is very nice and smells nice. She didn't even yell at me when I peed the bed." Lily blushed and looked away.

"Yeah, this morning was a little crazy." Uta bowed her head at Lily. It looks like she and her brother were in a good place. "How did you end up in those linked collars?" Uta's mood fell, and Gen started crying.

"It was me, my fault." He said as she hugged her brother.

"No, it was those bastards. they tricked him into eating an apple and then convinced him that he had stolen it." Gen was crying fully now.

"My fault." She started rocking, holding her little brother.

"Not your fault. Once they had the collar on, they called me over. He would have died if I didn't put the other one on." Gen had tucked into a ball again. He was so small.

"Now that is just rude." The bunny said with a huff. She puffed out her cheeks making Uta smile. The bunny hugged them both making her brother the middle of a happy sandwich.

{Alex}

"Runt, get in here." Boss called me in, and he was not happy. We had just gotten in and he was already yelling. "Gorloth stay out. I need to have a word with our hero." The way he said that last part made me cringe. I closed the door and sat down. "Contract magic. Until you leave this room neither of us will be able to lie. If I like what you say, you will be able to keep your job or be given a raise. Do you agree?"

"I agree." I felt the familiar feeling settle on my shoulders. this time I didn't have to change my mask.

"Now Runt, do you want my job?" I frowned at him.

"I already told you no. Fuck off with trying to pawn that off on me." With a sigh, he sat back and smiled.

"What is your plan for me?" I smiled and laughed, and he squirmed, a little uncomfortable.

"I want you to put up with two hundred idiots." His jaw dropped as he looked at me.

"Two hundred?" I nodded,

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"Yes. My grand evil plan, you want to know it?" He just nodded looking at me worried. "Don't interrupt my monologue, please. My grand evil plan is to make a wolf and test it by winter. No interrupting please." He had opened his mouth to ask something and closed it. "Yes, by winter, and then by spring have it ready to show. I suspect we will get orders there for more wolves that we can easily sell for seventy-five gold on average. We may charge ninety for the first, but I would like to keep my prototype. With that how many wolves can we put out a year?" He just sat there. "You can speak."

"I don't know. Maybe one or two."

"Try five and that is if I drain every ounce of mana this town has to offer. that puts us at three small mithril and fifty gold a year." His eyes started to bug out. "That sounds like a lot but remember that is if we kill ourselves. Not sustainable. If we use the money coming in to expand and have the grunts prep and assemble parts, making me spend half the year working on the engines, how many do you think we could make then?"

"No fucking clue."

"Around twenty a year." He propped his head in his hands covering his eyes. That comes out to one large and three small mithril a year. Now the limiting factor at that point is materials. We could use our new power to get more metal and cores, but even then, we run into issues of the town being able to support our needs. I don't want to move, I will limit things so I can roll out new products to the masses." He didn't look up but moved his hands to the back of his neck and rubbed it.

"What the fuck? I mean it, What the fuck are you?"

"I told you day one what I wanted. this is the first step."

"I can't afford you."

"Fuck that. You can't afford three silver a week?" His head shot up looking at my grinning face. "I get more than enough for my odd jobs and have started getting requests for dolls. People have started calling me the toy maker. It is enough to live on and even let me play a little, but I don't want toys. I want Knights. If I work for you, people will bother you and leave me alone."

"On the topic of knights. We got that one out there off the fucker you killed. Don't upgrade it. We are going to try for a quick sell with the next caravan." I just nodded at him. "Good now fuck off and go build your monster." That went well. I walked out into the shop and started bending metal into the shape of the chest. I would worry about armor later, right now get the chest frame up.

It took two days to get the frame up, Battery and Gorloth kept passing out on me and my bracelet kept draining. Finally, Gorloth got pissed and demanded I use the small engine. I was a little upset that I had not thought of it first. Once he did that, the rest of the body's frame went together at the cost of a few small cores. I would drain my bracelet, use the engine to recharge it, and repeat. It was much faster, and the others just fed me metal. It was faster as long as i remembered to pull on the engine, bracelet and didn't pass out. At home, Lily, Uta, and Gen seemed to be getting along. Uta still had to stay in bed to regain her strength but was looking better each day. Woodcutter made blocks for Gen and the small boy was a ball of energy. It was nice to come home to see Lily chasing him around the house or playing with him. Gorloth and Orga would be moving back tonight, and Gen would be sleeping with Uta tonight so maybe my dry spell would be over soon. Sadly no, I did a tweak to a part of the frame and failed to notice that both my bracelet and I were drained and passed out, hitting my head on the floor. My last thought was well fuck.

I woke at home with Lily lying next to me. It was early morning, and I must have slept through the night. Gen was lying on my other side drooling on my chest. I sent my mana into him and froze. The boy had a core. I did not plan on that. How did he have a core? His mana channels were still closed, but he had a small core. would it grow with him? What type of mana would he have? I would need to get my claws on some of that fruit. Like hell, I was putting my boy through flooding his mana channels the way I was opened up. I couldn't remember if I had checked Lily and sent my mana to her. Sadly, no core. I wonder if Gen's sister had a core. Now for the bad part of every morning. trying to dislodge myself so I could go to the bathroom.

I was more careful moving forward and had the cockpit finished by the end of the month. It was almost fun time for Lily, and I was eager to see how wild she got this time. Now that she was sleeping by my side every night, I could only wonder what I would wake up to. Lily was nice enough to get a big crate of the fruit and everyone was eating three a day lately. I had passed out again at work and was dragged home by Gorloth. This time I woke up at night in my bed. I had lost a bit of weight and didn’t have a lot to begin with. Boss came to me that night. “Runt you are staying here for the next two nights.” I tried to protest but couldn’t leave my bed. “Contract Magic. You cannot come into work for the next two days and in exchange, you can keep your job. Agree?” I frowned at him. “Don’t test me, Runt. Agree.” He growled down at me.

“Fucking fine. I agree.” I knew I couldn’t step foot in the shop for the next two days. This was so unfair. I had finally had my metal and had only just started.

“Good. We are getting a caravan in two days, and I need time to hide that monster. You need to heal up so I don’t start getting a reputation as a slave driver.” this was not fucking fair at all. I just growled as he left. Maybe Lily had a part in this. Surely, she wanted me at home for the moon. Both were right though. If I was to make this happen, I would have to be at peak health. I was doing things wrong and dumping all my time and mana into the wolf. I was needed here too. I can’t keep them safe if I’m dead.

The next morning at breakfast, Gen came to me. “Master,” I frowned at him.

“You call Lily big sis; can I be big brother?” His collar glowed and he beamed up at me.

“Big brother, my chest feels funny.” I put a hand on his head and looked through him. No, everything looked in place. Must be his mana coming to life. About fucking time.

“Come to my office with your favorite Knight toy.” He nodded and ran off. Uta looked at me like she wanted to hit me with something. When had she turned from a far too skinny sixteen-year-old into a legal lewd-able woman? Now she had long rust-colored hair like her little brother, but with long ears like a fox or wolf. Her tail was now long and bushy and seemed well loved.

“What the hell do you think I’m going to do?” I frowned at the beautiful dog woman. She put her hands on her hips and responded in a surprising Southern US twang.

“I have no clue, but if you want some fun, use me or that bunny who is drooling over you.” Safe to say, this confused the hell out of me.

“Don’t tell me you respond to the moon too?” she just blinked at me.

“That is a filthy myth about us beast folk.” Suddenly Lily broke into the room, blushing madly.

“Don’t listen to her Master. She is still recovering.” Uta just smiled at Lily and went back to learning to cook from Orga. I just sighed.

“If you two want to know, Gen’s mana channels may have opened, and I want to teach him how to use his mana.” Both just blinked at me blankly.

“That’s it?” Uta asked.

“Once you are of age, you may try to join Lily and me, but I like my women over eighteen.” She blushed and looked away before responding.

“Does that mean I can join you two tonight?” My jaw just dropped. “It may not look it yet, but I’m nineteen.” Lily hid her eyes behind her ears and blushed madly. I just shook my head, trying not to get worked up. That is an issue for later me to deal with. Walking into my office, I found Gen sitting on the floor with his first Knight toy. He loved that thing so much. I had used the other collar to make a pair of makeshift controls for the disk and powered it with my tiny engine prototype. It would be an okay training rig to show him the basics for now. I would need a small bit more silver steel to make the foot pedals.

“Place the doll inside the disk and watch.” the boy did that and I grabbed the controls making it move slowly and crudely. My table would need a lot of work and I was not skilled in any way as a pilot. “If you want to play with your Knights this way, you need to learn to control your mana.” He just beamed up at me, his eyes wide as he watched the toy move. It was like I had told the lad that we were going to Lego Land and that he could fly the plane to get us there. “Now sit on the floor and close your eyes.” Uta had moved to the doorway to watch us. It was cute how protective she was of him. Once the boy was ready, I held out the repaired mana nullifier. “Take this and put it on and take it off until you can feel the difference.” He did so five times in a row before looking up at me.

“The rain feeling gone when shiny thing on.” He said with a frown. “No like.”

“I don’t like them either, but I need you to keep it up until you can feel it closely. Tap your hand on the floor to make the rain sound for me.” He did it once more focusing closely. Then he reached out and started patting the floor. “Good.” I started tapping my foot to add to the sound. “When,” I halted, making my words match the beat. “When, I, say, push, push, your, mana, into, your, hands, now, push,” I said the last word with a gust of air making him stiffen up a little. I watched in wonder as blue sparks flew from his fingers into the air. “Good job” He opened his eyes and started giggling and jumped up stamping his feet. The sparks faded and he looked up at me frowning. “No. you did amazing. Remember that feeling. This will make it easier next time.” I pulled him into a big hug and Uta just looked at us, tears flowing from her cheeks. She just turned and walked away not saying anything. “Good job Gen. You did magic. From here it just takes practice and time. Do you want to know a secret? He just nodded at me beaming. “I want to build you a Knight one day. One that will make all other monsters scared of you.” I started tickling him and he giggled and writhed in my hands. It would take time for the boy to learn, but he had a core and could easily become the key to a weapon that could make dragons fear us. That or just become a good kid who broke the hearts of a number of noble women. I would do my best to make him a beast noble like his big brother was going to be. Lily was going to have some work to do teaching us both how to read and write in this world.