“I think I became dumber.” Shizuku rubbed her poor head. Margret was ruthless during training. But Shizuku had to admit she learned a lot. Although she used her blood to create a sword, she was able to wield it as well as any F-rank adventurer by the time the four-hour training sessions were over.

Mei sat on the bed as she did before staring at her strange master, who was pouting and rubbing her head. She learned a few things while her master was training. One was that her master was a summoned hero, and two, her master was kicked out of the church for being a vampire. Lastly, she learned her master was able to understand and change her form as she fought with Margret. Every time she was hit in the head, there was no second time of her being hit in the same manner. Although the results were always the same in the end, her master was still able to learn from her mistakes and adapt to the situation. 

“Mei, I will go get you some food. So eat up, okay? You must eat lots and become strong.” Shizuku scratched Mei’s ears and gave her a warm smile before turning around and walking out of the room. Mei sat there staring at the closed door with a blank expression. But within the quietness of the room, a soft voice could be heard. “A strange person….”

Downstairs, Shizuku walked over to the counter where Margret was talking to a man with a scar on his face. When Margret noticed Shizuku, she smiled and asked: “ Come to get food for Mei?”

“Yes, please,” Shizuku replied with a smile. She looked at the man with the scar on his face and gave a polite nod of the head, which he returned in kind. When she received her tray, Shizuku gave Margret her thanks and said she would return the tray in an hour before rushing upstairs.

“So she is the girl?” Duglous asked.

“Yes, that is Sizuku. Mei is the beastkin girl she bought earlier. You can say that they were destined to meet. Anyway, please keep an eye on her for me, will ya?” Margret placed a mug of ale in front of the man.

“You do not need to bribe me. I would do it for free. Although I won’t say no to free ale.” Duglous quickly took the mug that Margret threatened to take back and took a sip. “I will be sure the guild knows to take good care of her.”

“Thanks.” Margret placed some dried meat in front of Duglous before taking a rag and starting to wipe things down.

- - -

Back in the room, Shizuku lay on the bed behind Mei, who was eating her meal. Mei was surprised at the size of the meal and the fact that it was hot. She had not even realized how quickly she was eating the food as if it would disappear at any second.

Shizuku opened one eye to see Mei shoveling food into her mouth and smiled. Mei probably had not eaten like this in a long, long time. She got up, slipped her arms around Mei’s waist, and rested her head on her arm, looking up at Mei, who was now looking down at her in confusion. “Mei, from now on, you will be able to eat like this. You will never be stuck in a cage again. I will be sure that you never suffer, so maybe one day you will look back on this time and smile from the bottom of your heart.” 

Still hugging Mei’s waist, Shizuku closed her eyes. Mei pursed her lips and swished her tail. It just so happened to fall onto Shizuku, who instantly snuggled into it. 

Shizuku woke up thirty minutes later in slight confusion. She had a dream that everything that had happened so far was nothing but a dream, but when she opened her eyes and saw the rustic ceiling and the blank expression of the fox girl’s face, she understood that everything was real.

“Done?” Shizuku asked as she sat up. She instantly noticed the fluff that was covering her body and smiled softly. It seemed Mei was not completely against her.

Mei nodded and handed the tray over to Shizuku who got up off the bed. “Alright, I will be back. Can you get the bath ready? Then we will get ready for bed.”

Mei nodded once more before getting up and going to the bathroom. Shizuku took the tray downstairs, where the scar-faced many were now sleeping at the counter. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah. This idiot does this every day. He is my only customer who does not even stay here but yet is always here.” Margret replied with a sigh.

“Maybe he has taken a liking to you.” Shizuku teased, which got her slapped in the head. 

“Enough. Go to sleep and get up early.” Margret couldn’t resist chuckling when she saw Shizuku rubbing her head with a pout. 

After washing her fox girl from head to toe again, Shizuku and Mei put their nightgowns on and were about to head to bed when Shizuku saw Mei about to lie down on the floor. “Mei, what are you doing? Sleep on the bed. There is no way I would force you to sleep on the floor.” 

Mei froze in place before turning her head to look at Shizuku in confusion. She did not understand why a useless person like her would get to sleep on a bed. But seeing Shizuku motion with her head towards the bed, Mei had no choice but to listen. She slowly got up on the bed and laid down.

“You know… You can get under the covers!” Shizuku sighed. She walked over and pulled the blankets out from under Mei, and covered the fox girl with them before crawling over her and getting into bed herself. Shizuku snuggled up to Mei and hugged her from behind. “Sleep in peace. I will be here. ”

Shizuku was only being as bold as she was due to the fact that Mei belonged to her. Even when her friends slept over, she never dared to snuggle up to them like this. While she was being somewhat forward, she hoped that her feelings of wanting Mei to be happy were getting through to the fox girl. Shizuku once more fell asleep after feeling Mei’s body heat and warm fluff.

Mei, on the other hand, took a while to finally sleep. She was still confused as to why she was being treated so kindly. But if someone were to ask if she hated this sudden change. She would, of course, say that she didn’t.