It was the evening of the next day before Adrest groggily woke up, his head was heavy and eyes burned in the bright afternoon light. He was confused at the unfamiliar surroundings, but quickly realized that he was in Alissa’s room still.

He slowly got out of the bed and changed in his own room before going down the stairs. Seeing the main room was quiet and empty, Adrest headed outside. There he followed the sound of Alissa explaining how to efficiently use mana when reinforcing the body.

He walked around to the large open field behind the house, where Alissa was showing the bare minimum amount of support her arms needed to become stronger, focusing on individual fibers of muscle. It would be a long time before Adrest and Belle were at that level, but being able to examine a technique at such high level was very beneficial to the two.

Alissa smiled, like a flower coming into bloom when she saw Adrest approach and Belle bounded over when she saw who was nearing. She tightly hugged the still tired Adrest and smiled up at him.

“Thank you for the hard work Big bro Ady. Alissa said that because of you, we’re safe now.”

He patted the girl on the back saying, “Alissa did almost everything, I just sat there and stayed still.”

The woman in question walked over adding, “I couldn’t have done it without you. How is your body?”

“I’m still tired but my body feels great actually.”

Alissa nodded, happy that the medicine had worked as intended, she inspected him, and was happy to see everything had gone as planned and gave the good news to Adrest.

“Congratulations Ady. You’re a little above average now, Mr. C rank. But don’t get cocky, from here on out it gets exponentially harder and harder to grow.”

Adrest was shocked at the news. He had presumably been F rank when brought here, only a handful of months ago. While his speed of progress was not unheard of, it was still extraordinary even compared to the whole of the continent.

But it also made sense to Adrest. He had a Blessing, the best teacher available for thousands upon thousands of miles, and all the medicines and advantages he could ask for. If he weren’t advancing fast, something would be wrong.

He smiled at Alissa and Belle who seemed as happy as himself at the news.

“Thank you Alissa, I’m sure you helped somehow. At this rate I’ll only need a few more years to be catch up to you.”

Alissa laughed like Adrest was telling a joke, explaining, “I’ll force you into A rank within 3 years whether you want to or not, but by then I’ll already be S rank myself. You need to work hard Ady if you want to close the gap. But don’t worry, you’ll get there eventually.

Adrest took the challenge in her words, knowing that with as long as high ranked individuals lived and doubly so for beings like demons and dragons, he would be on the same level as Alissa someday.

“Normally I’d make you fight me a few times to get a sense of the changes in your body, but you should rest for today, just sit down and watch the rest of the lesson. Then Belle and I will handle dinner.”

Adrest did as ordered, happy to listen in on the peaceful tutoring for another thirty minutes or so, before Alissa sent Belle off for some fish. Headed inside, Alissa set some root vegetables to boiling, and soon Belle returned with a large basket of cleaned fish.

Adrest was soon devouring plates as fast as they were given, not realizing how hungry the ordeal made him. The other two were happy to let Adrest eat as much as he could before tending to themselves, and soon Adrest was stuffed full.

Feeling like a new man, Adrest was wide awake and playing games by the fire with the other two late into the night. Belle was exhausted around midnight and barely made it up to her room before falling asleep.

Seeing Belle sound asleep, Alissa pulled out a green bottle of wine and two glasses.

“It’s a big occasion to jump into C rank, congratulations again Adrest!”

She handed the half-filled glass to Adrest, who lightly tapped his to her own drink, before taking a large mouthful. It tasted like blueberries and vanilla. Dangerously delicious.

Alissa seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she finished her own glass, before refilling both.

“We also have to celebrate that everything for hundreds of miles around is officially ours now. Here we make the rules, it’s the same even if an S rank shows up!”

Adrest was in awe and didn’t hold back his compliments. They quickly finished the first bottle and popped open the second.

This bottle tasted of tart cherry and cinnamon. Adrest had to admit, Alissa really had an eye for alcohol, if dragons were known for hoarding wealth, then she would be known for hoarding alcohol.

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They played a few rounds of cards before Alissa lost focus and they started telling each other stories. Alissa wanted to hear more of the books Adrest had read in his previous life. She found them really entertaining and was happy to tell Adrest about places she had been to while traveling with her father, and some of the places he’d sent her to train.

They spoke and drank until the sun rose and emptied several more bottles before headed up stairs to sleep. Adrest making sure not to leave a mess for Belle in the morning, as she would surely be the first to wake.

Alissa pouted as she waited swaying at the top of the stairs.

“Adyyy, hurry up.”

Adrest stumbled around cleaning the last of the mess and climbed up the stairs where at the top Alissa pounced on his back, sending him stumbling forward to regain balance.

“I’m tired, carry me the rest of the way.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Adrest got his ear twisted painfully for that one, trying extra hard to not yelp and wake up Belle.

He got to Alissa’s room and sat her down on her bed, as he was standing up to leave, a pair of thin, tanned arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him back.

“Ady sleep here, you’re so warm and comfy.”

Adrest was happy to accept the force pulling him back and rested comfortably with Alissa hugging him from behind tightly. Thinking he could get used to this, Adrest was drifting off to a comfortable sleep when Alissa whispered into his neck.

“Goodnight Adrest. I’m happy I found you.”

Feeling touched, Adrest answered, “I’m really glad you found me Ali.”

The arms hugging his torso tightened comfortably around him in response. They only loosened a bit even when Alissa’s breath was slow and shallow, sound asleep. Adrest enjoyed the silky hair tickling his neck, and the light flowery perfume Alissa always wore before falling deeply asleep.

It was around noon before Adrest woke up with a headache from the bright light leaking in from the window. His slight shifting was enough to wake the dragon that still hugged him tightly just long enough to say a sentence.

“Yaa-wn, morin’ Adrest. I’m hungry…”

Smiling, surprised that Alissa was not embarrassed, he patted the small hand on his chest, “I’ll go make something, go back to sleep and I’ll wake you up when it’s done.”

The hands locking him down released. As Adrest got up, Alissa yawned one more time and moved over to the warm spot Adrest had been laying on, falling asleep yet again.

Adrest smiled at the beautiful scene taking it in for a few seconds before going to make something.

Once down the stairs, he saw Belle sitting on a chair reading. She saw him and smiled, “Good afternoon Big bro.”

“Hi Belle, what’ve you been up to today?”

“I woke up a few hours ago and have just been reading this book on history Big sis gave to me, waiting for someone else to wake up.”

Adrest made bacon and egg sandwiches for the three of them, as it was quick and delicious, and gave two to Belle before grabbing a stack for the surely starving dragon.

“If you’re still hungry I can make more, I’m sure Alissa will work us hard today too.”

Belle nodded, “Thanks Big bro, tell Big sis I said good morning.”

“You got it.”

He waved at Belle who was eating at the table and headed back upstairs.

Adrest opened the door to see Alissa still sound asleep, and he set down the food before gently waking her.

“Time to get up Ali, breakfast will get cold.”

The sleeping beauty slowly opened her eyes and flashed Adrest a bright unguarded smile, looking like an innocent fae in that moment.

“Good morning Ady. I’m starving.”

He pointed to the three sandwiches on the table, and she took a long moment to stretch before hopping out of bed and bouncing over to the table picking up the plate and a sandwich.

Taking a bite, Alissa “So good! Thank you Adrest. Now shoo, I have to get ready.”

Shaking his head with a smile at being dismissed just like that, Adrest left and went to eat with Belle who was still nibbling on her first sandwich, seeming to have been waiting for Adrest to eat.

As the pair finished eating together, Alissa came down the stairs empty plate in hand.

“Morning Belle!” Alissa ran over to hug the albino rabbit before sitting down across from Adrest.

“Today is going to be fun. First, Adrest is going to be sparing with me for a few hours to completely adjust to his body, and you’re going to be taking notes on how we strengthen our bodies throughout Belle.”

Seeing the two nod Alissa continued, “Then this evening, Belle, you’re going to be hunting a Steel Rat that is just barely C- rank. I’ll only give you a general location, it’s up to you to remember how to track or lure it. And Adrest, yours is going to be a surprise.”

Adrest got chills at the way she said the last sentence but tried to not focus on the unavoidable. Instead thinking of how he was going to survive the next few hours.

As Adrest predicted, the next 3 hours were filled with pain, he was more bruised than not, with a few cracked bones and plenty of scrapes. Alissa had been happy to hit him harder to match his new strength, and she seemed as zealous as ever to strengthen him.

He sighed in relief at the pillar as the cool shadows healed his injuries, as if they never existed. While he was there, Adrest took the time to see if anything had changed in the Lodestone since he reached C rank. He was pleasantly surprised to see the area under the stone’s control had increased two-fold, now about ten miles in diameter.

He also saw a new tab labeled Vassals. Clicking, revealed three grey rectangles and a blinking 0/3 across the screen. Curious what it meant, Adrest wandered over to his infinite source of knowledge.

Said purple haired source was sitting on a boulder kicking her feet while waiting for him. Alissa lit up seeing him come back, excited about her surprise, but Adrest asked first.

“Hey Ms. Alissa, the Lodestone says I can select up to three vassals now, what exactly does that mean?”

Adrest had to duck back from a flurry of fists, which he knew he’d get by calling her Ms.

The two done with banter, Alissa answered, “Every Demon King needs strong underlings, right? Those are Vassals, they are chosen by the Lodestone’s ruler and through the stone the King can give out all sorts of Blessings.”

An idea of a super powered guard dragon popped into mind and Adrest asked, “Could I choose you to make you stronger?”

The dragon tilted her head in thought for a few seconds before answering.

“You wouldn’t be able to afford any Blessings that could affect me, and that’s assuming the stone right now could handle a Blessing that strong transferring through it.”

The logic made sense to Adrest, so his short lived dreams were dashed cruelly. Before he had time to dwell on it, Alissa grabbed his arm happily.

“Your surprise is starting to run around, so we have to move quick.”

That was all the warning he got before they shot off in a direction with Adrest flying in the air behind Alissa. When Adrest was able to get his legs under him once again, he froze up seeing a giant black and white bat resting nearby. It was easily the size of Adrest and the power coming off it intimidated him greatly.

“That’s a Zen Bat, they’re rare and really fast, be careful and have fun!”