"Inner peace... Inner peace..."

Dante chanted mentally to himself with his eyebrows pinched together. He meditated as he recounted his previous training. Just like when training with a sword, one must treat this kind of situation with a level head.

It requires you to be calm... Calculating... Any wild and out of control thoughts will surely change the outcome of the battle to not be in your favor.

Yes. To master the sword, one must first master inner peace.

Seri grabbed onto him tighter and wrapped her leg around him as if ensuring he couldn't move. She snored peacefully while holding onto him.

He pinched his eyebrows even tighter. INNER PEACE. INNER PEACE.

Dante had no idea how he got into this situation. Seri had turned over to fall asleep. Suddenly, she sat up with her eyes closed and mumbled in what sounded like a foreign language. Then she crawled over, pushed Dante away from the fire, took his spot, then suddenly attacked him with her embrace. All while she was still asleep!!

When Dante tried to get out of her grasp, her hold on him tightened so strongly that Dante thought she was a boa constrictor.

No matter how hard he tried to get out, her grip on him only got stronger.

Eventually he gave up trying and started meditating. His mind was in such a frenzy, he had to keep reminding himself to stay level headed.

But the temptress was too strong.

"Heh..."

He glanced down and saw her smiling and chuckling in her sleep. He began to wonder what she was dreaming about. It was probably something good. He guessed she was dreaming about winning a competition.. Or even being the top student in the academy.

"Cookies..." She mumbled and started drooling.

He suddenly wanted to slam the back of his head on the hard ground beneath him.

Food!!! She was dreaming about food!!!

He sighed. Why is she so easily enticed by food?

Dante began to worry about someone deceiving her in the future by using food. He had to make sure he stayed by her side in the future to prevent that.

But before that... He needs to think of a way out of this situation!

It was bad enough that she had held him so closely when they fell off of the cliff... That alone made his inner thoughts go crazy.

...He was still mad about the sword though...

Then to make everything worse, it started raining and they were trapped in the cave together. Naked. And THEN she had the audacity to try and look at him!!

His head was thrown into a frenzy once more recounting the memory. He smacked it against the ground trying to dispel it.

For the sake of his innocence, he needed to get out of Seri's hug.

However, that was easier said then done.

His arms had already fallen asleep under her snake-like grip. There was only one thing he could do... That was try to wake her up, then pretend he was sleeping, so that she wouldn't feel as embarrassed.

"Seri.." He whispered almost too afraid to wake her up.

Nothing.

"SERI!" He shouted.

Nothing.

"Seri? Want some cookies? Go get the cookie!!"

Nothing.

He screamed, "SERI WAKE UP!"

She giggled while still asleep, "Noisy alarm. I'm not going into work today. Boop~"

She booped his nose.

His eyebrow twitched. How come she's so hard to wake up?!? She always comes to class clearly looking like she never slept at all. He had assumed that meant she was a light sleeper and had a hard time falling and staying asleep.

Of course, Dante didn't know that it was actually caused by Seri staying up late reading her adult romance novels...

He wondered if it wasn't because she was a light sleeper, then maybe she just needed human touch to fall asleep?

He nodded to himself. That will be good to know for the future.

He shook his head in defeat. When is this going to end? It's not that he didn't like it... In fact, he liked it a tremendously... But he was worried that Seri would overreact and then shun him.

After all, most girls in this situation would cry and claim he stole their chastity. Even though all it was is cuddling...

Seri wouldn't do that... Right?

He decided to count sheep in an attempt to fall asleep... However, dawn came and she still made no effort to move.

How long does she intend to sleep?! Until the afternoon???

____

I yawned and burrowed my head into the soft bed.

"Ahh~ I feel so refreshed. I haven't slept that good in years."

Suddenly my eyes snapped open.

Wait. Soft?

Wasn't I sleeping on the hard ground??? How did it get so soft!?!

My head slowly raised upward. Dante was laying beneath me breathing evenly with his eyes closed peacefully.

I sat up abruptly. Don't tell me...

I looked to the spot I had occupied while asleep.

Did I... Crawl over to him and attack him in my sleep?!?

I glanced at him blushing from shame and embarrassment. And this fool just slept right through that???

I raised my hand and smacked his cheek hard. The sound echoed throughout the cave.

"I know you're not asleep you idiot."

He opened his eyes in response. His cold golden eyes looked upwards with a blank expression. A red handprint was forming on his cheek.

"..."

I crossed my arms in irritation, "Did you really think I wouldn't figure out that you were trying to trick me with that atrocity you call acting?"

He sat up and rubbed his cheek. He responded indifferently, "How..."

I rolled my eyes, "There's no way you could sleep through such a thing without being woken up. Aren't you the best Knight in the entire kingdom?!"

He suddenly felt uplifted by the compliment but made no reaction.

I glanced at him, "Plus... You look like you didn't sleep at all..."

"..."

"But why didn't you just wake me up if you couldn't sleep??"

"I tried."

"Well next time try harder."

He stared at me with cold eyes. He continued to watch me with silence. I suddenly felt like the air was getting heavier.

"What." I responded impatiently.

"You aren't mad?"

I flinched in surprise, "Why would I be mad? I was the one who attacked you. Shouldn't you be mad at me?"

He thought about it for a moment. Then nodded. He replied indifferently, "That's right. I'm mad. You stole my chastity. Take responsibility."

My mouth immediately dropped in surprise. My face exploded in embarrassment. "WHAT?!"

He repeated himself, "Take responsibility."

Wait wait wait!!!! Aren't the roles supposed to be switched here?!? Shouldn't that be something I would say!?

My face twitched awkwardly, "Where the hell did you learn to talk like that!?"

"Mary."

F*cking Mary. Of course.

I stood up still flustered and crossed my arms trying to hide my embarrassment.

"Stop spouting stupid things and let's go already."

We walked out into the sunny forest. Dante followed behind me smirking. We walked along the river for hours.

"Ughhh. My feet." I complained.

"..."

"Ugggh my back..." I flailed in exaggeration.

"...."

"UGHH! My eyes!!" I batted my eyes pretended to be in pain.

"..."

"I'M DYING!"

"We aren't stopping."

I whined, "Whyyy not? I'm so so tired! Can't we just take a short break?"

"No."

"Daaaaante-"

He stopped and turned around, "It's your own fault for getting us into this situation. You should have let me-"

He stopped abruptly.

I closed my eyes in irritation and stomped my foot, "It's not my fault! It's that stupid bears fault!! Mega bear? Yeah right. More like idiot bear. I bet no bears like him so that's why he's all irritated and moody. Just because he can't have descendents doesn't mean he should take it out on us!!! He should be called the little b*tch bear..."

I stopped my rant noticing Dante's frozen face. I frowned, "He's right behind me, isn't he."

He nodded stiffly.

I slowly turned around. The Mega Bear was standing right behind me, practically breathing down my neck. He licked his lips.

When the f*ck did it get behind me?!?

I gulped as I slowly took a few steps backwards. I spoke with a fake smile, "Oooh... Hey mister bear... Long time no see... You look as lovely as ever. You see, me and Dante were just talking about how amazing you are... Such a nice shiny coat... I bet all the female bears love it..."

It roared so loudly my hair flew back. "RUN!!" I turned around abruptly and took off.

Dante ran alongside me and I could feel the earth shake as the bear was quickly catching up to us.

I sobbed, "Don't eat me!!! Just eat Dante!!! I promise he tastes better than me!! I mean look at all that lean muscle!!"

"..."

Dante gave me an irritated glance. The bear pounced, causing us to change direction. As we ran, I shouted to Dante, "Hey, don't you think this is weird? It feels like he's leading us somewhere..."

Suddenly we were met with a large cliff face in front of us. We were completely surrounded by walls of rock, impossible to climb. I gulped and we both turned around to see the bear closing in on us chuckling evilly.

Why the hell do the animals in this world act like they are human!?

I looked at Dante who stared at the bear with an expressionless face. He didn't look frightened at all.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" I said with a twinge of hope that he had a way to escape.

He answered coldly, "I'm quite worried."

F***CK! WE ARE SO DEAD!

I wanted to cry. I know I said I didn't want to die from dehydration again, but I didn't mean that I would want to die by being eaten alive!!! That seems much worse!!!

I grabbed Dante's hand out of reflex.

ARGH! Why can't I be calm like Dante!? I'm pissing myself over here!!!

An earth shattering beastly roar came from above us. We both looked up to see a golden body soar over us.

The majestic lion landed in front of us, facing the bear. The bear growled at it menacingly.

*Groooowl*

Translation: Get lost! That prey is mine!

*ROAAAR*

Translation: Don't make me kill you.

The bear charged at the lion, and the lion charged back. They clashed in the middle. The lion jumped on the bear and sunk it's teeth into it's neck. The bear growled and clawed at the lion, tossing him off. An intense battle of claws commenced.

I cheered, "Yippee! Go mister lion!! You got this!!!"

Dante just watched the two animals fighting in front of him in bewilderment.

The bear was large and strong, but the lion was nimble and fierce. The bear didn't stand a chance against such a mighty lion. It admitted defeat and ran off yelping.

I clapped in excitement, "You did it mister lion!!! You saved the day!"

I sniffled in pride with shimmering eyes, "I can't believe you still remember the girl who saved you from those nasty Carnies... I guess it really is beneficial to do good deeds."

The lion turned to me drooling with hearts in it's eyes. It licked it's lips.

My smile fell, "God d*mnit."

As the lion pounced at us, I grabbed a large rock, loaded my slingshot, and shot it at the lion.

*SCHWING*

It landed between the lion's eyes with a hollow thunk. The lion made a (Q-Q) face and collapsed on the ground.

We walked over to the unconscious lion. Dante nudged it with his foot. I looked down at it worried, "Did I kill it?"

He glanced at me, "Maybe..."

I sighed, "Ack... I didn't think the rock would be that forceful."

I clasped my hands together and smiled, "Well the good thing is, we must be close to the hunting grounds if the bear was able to climb down to find us."

"..."

I ignored his disappointed look and tapped the lion, "Maybe we should bring it with us. That way William can stop throwing the whole lion thing in my face."

"How."

I glanced at him and stated simply, "Easy. You'll carry it."

"..."

"Come on. If we bring it back, I'm sure we will win the competition."

"I'm not touching that."

I poked the bump on it's forehead, "I don't think it'll wake up anytime soon... Just grab a paw. I will grab the other one."

We both grabbed a paw and started dragging it back. Dante wearily kept his eyes on the lion.

The Mega Bear sat licking his wounds sadly and noticed the two humans carrying the lion. He immediately thought: Yup. Nope. Not worth it.

Eventually we finally found our way back to the camp. Lona was the first to see us. Her worried face lit up, "Seri!!" She ran over and everyone else gathered upon hearing the name.

Lona paused, "Why do you have a lion?..."

I grinned, "What do you think? I caught this all by myself!"

Dante only shook his head.

Millie's eyes widened in surprise, "Seri!!! You got a lion?"

"Fufu." I winked at her, "Of course I will dedicate my kill to you."

The imperial guards tensed up. I quickly waved them off, "Don't worry. It's not dead. Nope. It's very much alive. I brought it back for you, so you should thank me."

They walked over and picked it up. They all had anxious faces as they carried it away.

I shouted after them, "Don't forget it was alive when it left my possession!!! Anything that happens afterwards isn't my fault!!!"

The game master stomped towards me quickly, "You..."

I smiled at him, "Fufu! I won, didn't I?"

His veins throbbed on his forehead and his face turned so red it looked like the color of blood. He shoved his grubby finger into my face.

He shouted, "YOU'RE BANNED FOR LIFE!"

"Haah?!"