Adrest and Belle were currently standing in their yard, staring in disbelief at the spectacle in front of them.

There lay a dead fiery red bear, nearly the size of their house casting a shadow over the building. It had cuts and burns all over its body. One leg was missing, and what appeared to be the finishing blow was a large chunk of the bear’s throat ripped out violently.

Adrest recognized it as an A rank monster known as a Scarlet Rent. They were rare since each roamed a huge territory and would kill each other on sight. They were one of the hegemons of local beasts, each had the potential to reach the very ceiling of A rank, but as their bloodline was still too ordinary, they would never be able to take the step into S rank and above.

The most gruesome part of this ruler’s corpse, however, was a gaping hole in the middle of its chest large enough for him to be able to walk into, not that he particularly wanted to. He quickly found both the culprit and the reason for violence as Alissa came swooping down through the trees as a terrifying and majestic dragon, carrying a gory and glimmering round jewel a few feet in diameter.

She released the core mid-air which landed with a hard crash, then she shone too brightly to look at directly. The light faded to reveal the impish beauty who lightly landed along side her prize.

“Ta-da! Meet the kind beast that loaned us his core for our anti-spy formation. He took a little convincing, but saw it was for the greater good in the end.”

Adrest felt that if this guy had a grave, he’d be rolling in it after hearing Alissa’s summary of the fight. He was also once again amazed at the woman in front of him. Since she rarely transformed, he tended to forget that she was a beast that could tear him to shreds with a single claw.

The beast in question trotted up to Adrest, “Well Adrest, are you properly awed?”

Nodding he replied, “Because of how you always act, I forget just how amazing you are.”

“Is that a complement or insult!?”

Adrest had to dodge several blows for that, but felt it was worth it. All the while, Belle stood back enjoying the everyday scene and curiously taking in the deep red core that was glowing a bright red half stuck in the ground.

Alissa, seeing the girl stare at the prize, stopped her assault and sent out a long arc of lightning that vaporized the viscera and blood that still clung to it. Leaving behind a bright nearly perfect sphere that pulsed red. The core radiated power into its surroundings, sending a shiver up Belle’s spine. As a demihuman, and a rabbit one at that, she was particularly sensitive to auras from apex monsters like the Scarlet Rent.

Alissa waved her hand, and a slight wind blew around the gem, isolating the aura from the rest of the world.

“Now after dinner, I’ll be busy for the rest of the night and some of tomorrow. Big Bro Ady, I’ll need you for a few hours towards the end so sleep in my room tonight while I’m etching the circuits and runes.”

“You got it.”

At this point they had ended up sleeping in the same bed more than a handful of times, so sleeping in her bed while she worked wasn’t anything he felt awkward about.

While Alissa headed inside to work, Belle helped Adrest drag the huge corpse near the pillar. While the shadows were slowly enveloping the giant carcass, Adrest was fantasizing about the amount an A rank monster was worth, it had to be over a hundred thousand (lp) right?

Quickly, the body sank into the ground completely and Adrest excitedly walked over to the Lodestone with Belle following curiously. Opening the menu, Adrest’s eyes went wide not with happiness but disbelief.

Adrest had been saving up more (lp) since his spending spree with the house, and had managed to get back to a little over 12,000, but after devouring the Scarlet Rent his points were only sitting at 35,517. There was no way an A rank monster was worth a measly 22,000 or so.

His face went dark as the likely reason came to mind. Alissa had taken out the core of the Rent. It made sense, the Lodestone is a magic artifact after all, so it must prioritize mana rather than the body itself.

Belle saw his face but had no way to know what he was looking at, as the menu only appeared in Adrest’s mind.

“What’s wrong Big bro Ady?”

Adrest snapped out of his thoughts at the questions and turned off the menu before explaining the situation to Belle, she had already been taught about Lodestones and their abilities so she generally understood what he was saying.

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“At least you still got a bunch of points for doing nothing big bro.”

Adrest laughed at the frankness of the doll of a rabbit and agreed, he didn’t lift a finger and still got weeks’ worth of points.

“As usual, you’re right Belle. Since it’s just you and me for the rest of the night, how about you choose dinner?” Adrest was not very picky about what he ate, so it was usually up to the gluttonous dragon or the rabbit to decide.

“hmm. Can we have steak and eggs?”

Adrest considered the suggestion, not a very healthy meal but Belle was growing like grass after a rainstorm, her unhealthy frame now completely filled out with thin but defined muscle. It was completely normal for her to nearly always be hungry, so Adrest shrugged.

“That sounds good to me, think you’re up to finding an Idren alone or do you want me to go with you?”

Belle gave off a slight shiver, but steeled herself, “I’ll go alone Big bro Ady, It’s still a little scary, but Big sis would’ve shot off already if there was anything near us. She also said that I had to push myself if I wanted to get over the fear.”

Adrest patted the girl atop her silky and thin snow white hair. Belle smiled at the contact and pushed into his hand slightly.

“You’ll be just fine Belle, but if you cant do it yet, come right back and I’ll be happy to go with you, or just yell as loudly as you can, I’m sure Ali is still paying constant attention to the forest and would love to come swoop you up.”

Belle blushed at the last comment, thinking of how many times she had been grabbed by Alissa and screamed at the sudden shift, even Adrest had bullied her a few times doing it.

Belle half glared up to the older brother “Meanie. I’ll be back with a big Idren soon.”

He watched Belle shoot off through the trees and sighed when she was out of sight. He clenched his fist until his sharp nails pierced his palm, letting the blood drip on the leaves below.

Adrest was livid. It had taken months for Belle to fully come out of her shell, to gain the confidence a girl her age should have. The older pair had spent many, many days helping Belle work through her past traumas, and those bastards undid months of progress.

He could have accepted it if a beast had forced Belle into such a state, after all, there was a certain amount of risk in traveling alone through this forest and beasts can’t be blamed for their nature. Even then, while they had acknowledged the risk, they had thought the chances of it happening were in the single digits percent with Alissa basically clearing the way for Belle.

His heart calmed only after taking a few deep, slow breaths. Adrest looked down at his bloody hands and slowly pulled the sharpened nails out of his flesh, shaking off the excess blood.

With that, he headed back inside to prepare dinner, and to see if he could scrounge up a dessert for Belle since she was trying so hard today.

Only an hour later Belle returned dragging a large Idren through the leaves behind her. She wore a proud smile, a spitting image of her Big sis after bringing back the Rent. Adrest made sure to praise her and helped pull it the rest of the way to a table where they butchered their dinner.

Going inside with a huge stack of bloody steaks, Adrest had a large griddle piping hot and dinner was quickly ready. It was quiet as with just the two of them, but Belle was happy to spend time just with Adrest, especially when he pulled out a chilled vanilla pudding.

"Big Bro Ady this is amazing! Can we have this again during the summer?”

Adrest liked where the girl’s head went, and decided to secretly study different chilled desserts he could wow her with.

“I’ll make it for you when ever you want, just ask.”

The two spent the rest of the night reading and with Adrest telling Belle stories he remembered from earth, she particularly liked the superhero stories he changed around to fit this worlds common sense.

“Yaaawn, I’m really tired Big bro Ady, I’m going to bed. Goodnight, and tell Big sis goodnight for me.”

“Will do. Night Belle, see you bright and early.”

After she had headed to her room, Adrest got up and cleaned the room, stoked the fire as the nights were getting colder, and headed up to Alissa’s room.

Not bothering to knock, Adrest walked into the dimly lit room. The only light came from the open window with three moons shining in the shy, a half burnt candle, and a faint purple glow coming from the complicated patterns and symbols Alissa was carving into the core, sitting in an overstuffed leather chair and looking away from it to greet Adrest, not stopping the carving process.

“Hi Ady! How was the rest of the day?”

Not being shy about it, Adrest sat on Alissa’s bed and half laid comfortably before answering, “Really good, Belle went out to find an Idren all on her own. And I found out she has a soft spot for cold desserts.”

Alissa’s eyes lit up at the mention of dessert and she batted her eye’s at Adrest, “I’m so exhausted staying cooped up here all day, hunched over this core, if only I had something to refresh me, to help me get through the rest of the night.

“Yeah, yeah, I get the hint. Can you even stop halfway through to eat?”

“That’s no problem, I can start and stop as I like for most of this, it’s only a problem if I mess up the carving itself.”

Grunting, Adrest pushed himself up and off the comfortable bed before going back to the first floor and taking ten minutes to make Alissa the last of the steaks and a few eggs, as well as a dish of pudding.

When he reentered the room, Alissa had already set the core down and was sitting at a small table expectantly. She devoured the meal greedily, but never getting even a stray speck of food on herself. When the time came for the pudding, she squealed in delight at the cold new treat.

Seeing the strong reaction, Adrest decided to double down on his plan of making all the frozen treats he could remember.

Adrest lay back down on the bed, with Alissa toying with the giant stone as if it weighed nothing, spinning it on her finger. Adrest clapped at the display, and Alissa gave a mock bow.

“I’ll need you in 6 or so hours, so get comfortable and I’ll wake you up when I get close. Sweet dreams Ady.”

“See you soon Ali.” He teased the girl back, earning a mock glare as the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes to sleep.