Pushing the door open, Leion stared at the snow-white outside.

It was a lot calmer than he imagined.

Dragging the bedsheets out the door and onto the porch, Leion threw them down the short flight of stairs before him.

Taking a short pause to rest his already exhausted body, Leion observed his surroundings.

It really was beautiful.

The wooden cabin stood alone on the barren, snow-covered peak, like an isolated beacon at the edge of the world. Built from rugged, dark wood, it rose high above the ground, leaving a small hollow of snow beneath it. Icicles clung to the roof, glistening against the intensely blue, sunless sky. Below, on the ground, the snow lay undisturbed, blanketing every surface in a smooth, pristine layer, free from footprints or paths. Fog pooled around the mountains, cutting their forms in half and hiding them in soft obscurity.

Here, atop the peak with nothing else in sight, the cabin felt oddly detached. Surrounded by a stillness so deep that it seemed frozen in the silence of an endless winter.

Breathing into his hand, Leion continued his observation.

It was also cold—very cold. Colder than anything he has experienced before. Intuitively, he knew it, but despite that, his body didn’t seem to react too negatively.

‘I guess this body does come with some perks’

Trudging down the steps, Leion moved beside and passed the sheets. All he had to do now was find where to hang them. With his bare feet not leaving any prints or breaking through the snowy layer, the task seemed simple enough. He wouldn’t be sinking fighting the snow.

Scoping around, Leion was quick to realise the obvious.

There was nothing around.

‘Seriously, where does she expect me to... You got to be joking’

While there was still nothing around, Leion’s new sharper eyes were quick to spot something. A string. Tied to the two wooden pillars supporting the back of the house, a thin string-like line was hanging. It was raised a not so insignificant amount off the ground. There was no way he would reach it.

Dragging the sheets, Leion set them under the string before collapsing in the snow.

‘Why am I doing this again?’

Was that stew worth this? Eating was clearly second to sleeping and dreaming. The net benefit of figuring out a solution to this would merely result in a food reward. If Leion was to compare the effort to attain the act of eating as opposed to sleeping, then sleeping would win. It was easy to sleep. In fact, it was something that could be achieved where he very laid.

Closing his eyes, Leion let his mind roam.

‘I wonder, where does she get that milk?’

The stew tasted like a mixture of milk and meat. A surprisingly good combination considering that the meat was raw. Having such a good combination felt great, although it did raise some important questions. A few of which, like changing tastes, could be answered swiftly, but regarding something like the actual sourcing of the meal…. To put it simply, Leion is still yet to see a proper milk-producing creature.

‘What am I saying? It’s not like she can’t…’

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As soon as the gross thought passed in mind, Leion shut his eyes tighter.

There was nothing to see here.

Just darkness.

Ah, yes, completely nothing. Thinking about it, it was perhaps one of the main features this world shared with his last. There was nothing worth seeing here. Sure, it was a bit prettier, but that was about it. Leion’s dreams still reign supreme. A place where he was king would always be better than reality.

“What are you doing?” (M)

Eyes flying open, Leion sat up and turned to face the voice.

He hadn’t even heard her coming.

“I-I was thinking!” (L)

“Thinking?” (M)

Standing up, Leion quickly collected himself.

“Yes, the string is a little too high for me to reach.” (L)

“Hm.” (M)

“So, what solution have you thought of?” (M)

“Well… I was still in the process when you…” (L)

Making a gesture with his hands, Leion internally let out a sigh. It was a bit of an old trick, but it still did work often. By subtly blaming the other party, he could shift any perceived blame or grip with his work onto the interrupter's insistence to annoy him. It was a particular strategy effective on nosy bosses who didn’t want to be too involved.

The tiger woman held Leion’s gaze for a moment. Without speaking a word, she lazily pointed a finger towards the sheets. The sheets, as if possessed, floated up and merrily hanged themselves.

Leion stared.

It was more than a little unexpected.

“Do that next time.” (M)

The tiger woman began walking back to the porch.

“W-Wait! How… how did you do that?” (L)

Running up after her, a genius idea bloomed in Leion’s mind.

Imagine how quickly he could finish his daily chores if he could do that?

The tiger woman paused. She looked down at Leion.

“How?” (M)

She seemed to taste the word as it left her mouth.

“Yes, please show me the way, Master!” (L)

The tiger woman gave Leion a strange look.

“Very well, I’ll teach you.” (M)

“Thank you, Master! You won’t regret this!” (L)

A routine had started to take shape.

As he swept the floor once again, Leion reflected on the past three days. Each day was nearly identical to the first. His mornings began with sweeping, clearing away every visible speck of dirt. More than once, though, he was forced to start over when the tiger woman appeared, insisting it wasn’t done right.

Once she left—off to do who knows what—Leion would use the time between her departure and the completion of his chore to sneak in a nap.

When she returned, she would feed him half of his meal and then order him outside with the blankets. Though he still couldn’t master whatever skill she used, he had at least found his own method: climbing up and hanging the blankets, one by one. The process was tedious and slow, but his new claws made it barely manageable.

After completing that last chore, Leion would walk back into the cabin, finish his meal, and knock out in the laps of the tiger woman, only to then wake up the next day and repeat.

It wasn’t that bad—except all the time Leion worked. On a normal day, Leion got to spend the majority of it asleep. Now, the only thing left to do was find ways to decrease his working time.

‘If only she would actually teach me’

Despite his “Master” agreeing to teach Leion her way, she was still quite far from actually fulfilling her words. Whenever Leion brought up the topic, she would either pretend she didn’t hear him or just say later.

Usually, Leion wouldn’t be too excited to learn something new—doing such things required great effort—but this was magic. A skill that could potentially allow him to live the easy life. The most desirable life.

Stopping briefly, Leion stared as the front slowly creaked open.

‘No! Not again! It’s too early for her to already be back!’

Throwing himself to the ground, Leion sought to protect his little pile of dirt.

Alas, it was in vain.

A cool, fresh breeze blew all his efforts in mere moments.

‘Oh, come on!’

The sound of footsteps landed in front of Leion.

He could feel her looking around.

“Were you sleeping again?” (M)

“I-I wasn’t! The wind… It was the wind!” (L)

“The wind again?” (M)

Wincing slightly, Leion reframed from letting out a curse. You get caught lying once! Just once! And people hold it over you like you’ve committed the greatest sin in existence.

The tiger woman, ever cool and calm, spoke,

“You will finish later. Get up. We are leaving.” (M)

Her curt words didn’t leave room for negotiation.

Leion frowned.

The more he interacted with her, the less he understood her. She was a weird mix of quiet, cold, and stoic. In these past few days they’ve been essentially living together; they hardly spoke to one another. It was not through a lack of trying on Leion’s end. Time and time again, he tried to engage her in conversation. Build some rapport for future benefit. But, time and time again, she’d shut down any conversation. Giving one-word answers or none at all.

In short, she couldn’t hold a conversation. It was like she’d never talked to a person.

“Ah, oh, okay... alright... I get it.” (L)

With his most charming smile, Leion continued,

“Is it okay if... I don’t come?” (L)

The tiger woman lowered herself and, before Leion could mount a defence, sent a devastating chop to his head.

“No.” (M)