Rick could only glare at the man standing opposite to him. “I don’t care, I am leaving as soon as Monica’s fully healed.”

Next to him sat the aforementioned feline. Cross legged, her claw gripped his hand. It had not let go for an instant since entering the Hunter’s building. It still wouldn’t let go, even as two healers grumbled and fumed over her, tending to the injuries that littered Monica’s body with glowing hands and ointments.

“You’re safe here.” Huge frowned, massive fists clenching tightly as his jaw set.

“Until the Baron makes a move. I’m betting soon.” He pointed out. “I’m here mostly hoping some legal charges can be put into motion. Alice is in there and I’ll be fucked if I leave her to her luck. I’d have stormed the place if it weren’t suicidal.”

“If you give Monica the chance to finish shifting into a Sabertooth, it wouldn’t be too harebrained an idea.”

“Irene!” The Major hissed, head snapping towards the red-skinned naked woman standing in the corner and staring at the wall.

“I was meaning to ask about that.” Rick could only frown. “Monica started growing and getting stripes, what’s all that about?”

“A shift.” Huge made a vague gesture at Monica. “When a maiden moves down the path set by their genus. The process takes a day or so. Like an Elf turning into a High Elf once she’s become powerful enough.” A sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Look, Rick, I’ll be the first to admit that we can’t touch the Baron, but your position is in legal limbo right now. As the leader of the local Hunter division, I can at least put you as probationary reinforcement for the upcoming second wave. Not even the Baron would be insane enough to try to go against us during this state of emergency.”

“You do that.” Rick nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll put as much distance between myself and that psychopath as I can.”

“He’s right in fearing the Baron, that man’s obsession with White Claw makes it unlikely-.”

“I KNOW!”

Huge’s voice rose to a roar, his hand slammed against the wooden table hard enough everyone in the room short of Monica bounced in shock. The feline herself regarded Huge for a long second before she opted to return her focus to the piece of dried meat she was eating. Bribing her with food had been the better way to convince her to let the other maidens heal her.

“I know.” Huge repeated, lowering his head, breathing in and letting it out in a slow sigh. “Rick, you understand that you’re not the only one in this picture? Miss Catherine is insisting to join you, Tomas and Mr. Gabriel are insisting to join her. I can’t just sit and watch four humans potentially throw their lives away like that.”

That made him grimace. “I told Kat to stay.”

“And she has clearly heeded your words as much as you are heeding mine.” The man gave an unamused look. “I’d arrest the lot of you, really, lock you up so tightly the Baron wouldn’t be able to touch you until the Earl himself shows up to judge his sins. But with White Claw at your side, it would likely mean I’d have to send half the maidens in this building to their deaths.”

“I wouldn’t-.”

“Rick.” The man glared at the teacher, crossing his arms. “’Would’ means little in the face of ‘could’. Being right means nothing if you’re powerless to do anything about it. As the one in charge of my subordinate’s wellbeing, it’s my duty to take such things into consideration.” There was a pause before he frowned, glancing over his shoulder towards Irene.

Rick had to guess the psychic had told him something. Huge’s lips pursed as she turned back to face the chemistry teacher.

“Fine, I won’t stop you. I will send two maidens to keep Miss Catherine and Mister Gabriel safe.”

“Safe from what?”

“From whatever might pose a threat.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking far calmer than a second ago. “Look, if you’re going to do this, you better do it right. You’re going to need to head hard South, cross the river, and stay the fuck away from Astunes. There was a first feral wave that moved down the river on the Eastern side a day ago, but the scouts haven’t spotted a second one.” A slight shake of his head. “The river should stir the wave that’s going to hit you to continue West. And White Claw’s territory is in that direction, so there should be less ferals. It should make it easier to wait things out until we resolve the situation legally.”

“I-.”

“The instant this feral mess is over, I will be pressing charges of attempted murder of a human woman on the Baron. We’ll be sending the claim to the Earl through the radio. And to do that, I am going to need Miss Catherine as well as you. Alive. My word alone is near meaningless against a noble.” His eyes grew serious. “Do you understand why I’d rather keep you nearby?”

“I do, and I still think it leaves me entirely at the mercy of that asshole.” Rick shook his head. “In this case, the one that cares the most about collateral losses.”

“What in the Neigix shit do you mean?”

“Monica being here puts you in check.” The teacher frowned slightly. “Because fighting her here would kill or seriously wound many bystanders you care about. Doesn’t that mean you’d be in the exact same situation if the Baron showed up with a bunch of his guards and were willing to duke it out? He wouldn’t even need to fight, only call your bluff.” A scowl. “As far as I can tell, some of the students are here, so if I were in that kind of situation, I’d have to stop Monica from fighting to protect them.”

Huge’s eyes widened, he shot to his feet. “Are you saying you’d-?”

“I think I’m going to lean into your own line of thought here.” Rick answered. “I’m not trusting whether the Baron ‘would’ and am considering that he ‘could’. Because I’m sure he ‘will’.”

The two men met gazes the silence in the room only interrupted by the sound of Monica tearing into the dried meat. Rick felt his back tense as his eyes remained fixed on Huge’s, the larger man staring back at him in turn. Rick wasn’t entirely sure he’d been able to hold that gaze if not because of the two meters-and-change tall feline holding his hand at that very moment.

The taller man was the first to relent, closing his eyes and sighing, shoulders deflating. “Do you know the differences between the Hunters and the Army?”

The question took Rick by surprise, the young man shook his head. “Besides status?”

“While Hunters might be trained to protect human life, the Army trains their Knights in combat against dangerous elements… but especially against tamed maidens and humans.” His eyes ahead, locking onto the teacher’s with a dangerous edge. “In such a fight, the quickest way to bring the battle to a close begins by killing the human.” Huge’s focus turned towards Monica. “You only have one fighter, the easiest way to kill you would be to have two or more threats coming from different directions. As fierce as Monica is, it would push her to be defensive.”

“And that means that so long as they don’t know where the humans are, Monica will be able to go all out.”

“Do keep in mind that the Major was merely talking about how a hypothetical tribe of smart and experienced ferals would engage someone like yourself and your maiden.” Irene’s voice rang from the corner, the fact that she’d not turned to look their way at all was slightly unnerving. “Under the hypothetical of needing to bring down such a tribe, the Hunter manual does provide several suggested pieces of gear, such as using a scent-killer.”

Huge let out a booming laugh, glancing over his shoulder over towards the corner Irene was currently occupying before looking back at Rick. “And that’s why you should always make sure to keep people smarter than you around.”

With a slight nod, the young chemistry teacher’s mind flickered through another thought, his eyes moving to Monica as she continued to eat with a voracious appetite. For a long second, he pondered on the thought. “What’s the situation regarding guns?”

“Only guns Hunters need would be elemental ones, and those are outside our budget. It'd cost me less to buy a dozen maidens than an elemental bullet.” Huge didn’t miss a beat, then frowned, coughing. “If… ferals happened to kill a knight and take their armor, then it would be hard to kill them from a distance. Knight armor is enchanted to absorb energy out of projectiles. Nothing absolute, but enough that arrows would just bounce off. Lances and spears could even be deflected to a point.”

A slow nod, Rick’s grip on Monica’s claw tightened as his brow furrowed.

“And how much protection does the armor give against fire?”