“Oi kid! Why are you up and awake! Better yet, how the hell are you even moving around!” Grunt shouted.

The two boys laughed awkwardly as they went over the events within the tent. Grunt was completely paralyzed when he heard that the energy gathered by familiars can be used to heal the master but the boys weren’t sure how they do it. They only said Ash poked a spot on the seal and that energy flowed through Xero’s body making him heal at an astonishing pace and reenergizing him.

Grunt became serious to this, “Summon the little devil.” he said.

Although reluctant Xero summoned her.

“Kya~! Master you meanie~! Trapping me in that dark damp place~!” She said as she jumped at him and hugged him and didn’t release him.

Grunt wasn’t sure if he should laugh or not because of what he just heard. His face kept twitching through but eventually he forced the laugh down.

“Girly, tell me how you released your energy into Xero?” Grunt was finally able to get the words out and Ash stopped and looked at him for a long moment.

“Oh I remember who you are now, old bear why do you care?” she asked bluntly.

“...Old…” A vein appeared on his forehead, “I… want to know… because no one did it before.” He forced the words through his grinding teeth.

“Oh well yeah. Of course no one but a demon would dare do it, after all the energy is what they use to evolve.” She said after hearing that.

“Wait! What!?” Xero shouted.

“Oh don’t worry master, I have enough mana stored in the seal to make me reach level 30 with me doing nothing as long as master grows stronger. After that I can even evolve with the remaining energy before I actually have to do anything.” She said and laughed.

“Oh so that is why Night is so lazy!” Ernest suddenly realized.

“Night?...” Ash muttered and frowned before her mouth grew into a grin. “That bastard put master through so much pain! If I don’t at least cut off his balls and make him eat them I won’t be satisfied!” She said as she held her hands in front of her and seems to be thinking of grabbing something when suddenly her nails all grew several centimeters into sharp blades and she did a ‘Kukukuku’ laugh that sent a shiver down the three men's spine. After a moment her nails returned to normal and she turned and smiled at Xero happily. “At least now master has some incentive to grow stronger~!” She said.

“Don’t think you're getting off easy girly! Although your strength will naturally grow as the boys limits release your own that doesn’t mean that you will stop training. Now that you have real intelligence you will train with the sword and I will make sure to tell the academy to prepare our best swordsman instructor.” grunt said.

“Oh right Grunt, she has three new innate spells after I woke up.” Xero said and explained them all.

“Oh so she really is a skill type, a full blade master at that and not only that but she has that sword transport skill. Huh… Kid summon it.” Grunt said.

Xero was caught off guard but then nodded and pulled his sword out of his magic bag and pointed at Ash.

A moment later she held her hand together and a small bit of mana was used and a small pocket knife in the shape of a sword with a little hilt and guard and all. Still injecting mana three more formed before Xero stopped.

“Why did it make more instead of grow?” Xero asked.

Ash grabbed than and handed one to him. “Because you need to feed it mana directly.” She said cheerfully and gave one to the others.

The three look at each other confused before they start to make mana flow into the sword. Very quickly it grows to the size of a short sword, then regular sword then long and finally great sword but what was amazing was that the weight didn’t change. It was almost as if there was no weight to it even at this size.

“Master let it go.” Ash said and looking at the others they shrug and being careful he let it go beside him and the sword only dropped a few feet before the blade began to change into a thick double edge sword sword but there was 20 cm of flat space along the middle that could be used to stand on.

“Wow.” Xero muttered.

“Master doesn’t need to be shy! Try it!” She said and flew behind him and picked him up easily and dropped him on the sword and he stood on it with one leg in front the other at the base of the sword before the hilt.

“Eh! What?!” Xero almost lost his balance and tired to lift his leg but the sword suddenly lifted his leg and suddenly flipped as the sword followed his front leg. “Ah! Get me off!” He shouted and suddenly as the sword became parallel with the ground before it suddenly shot forward and left him. Ash flew rapidly after it and grabbed it before dragging it back.

“Master you need to be careful.” She said playfully.

“Don’t joke! How do you control that thing?!” He asked shouting.

“Easy, the front leg lifts the front up and down, if you lift the leg as if you are going to step it will follow. If you pressure the front leg it will push the front down. To move forward you need to pressure the back leg a little.” She explained. “Oh right! They will last only 1 hour before vanishing if it’s not master using it so just be warned~!” She told the two others.

“So… we can use these for one hour?” Ernest said and suddenly the sword grew and kept growing into he had to hug it to hold it.

“Wow.” He muttered and let it go.

The sword began to tip away from the camp and then settled down 30 cm off the ground and the huge sword formed a flat base.

“Wow…” Grunt said.

Ernest jumped on and looked around. “How do I control this?” he asked.

“When it gets to this size its at the circle on the handle.” Ash instructed. The three of them walk over and see the space there and Ernest stands on it and feels his body get into place.

“Hey, can’t this be used to fight?” He asked.

“As long as you're skillful enough then yes.” Ash replied.

“Hey Ash, why do you have wings and a transport spell?” Xero had to ask.

“Well, obviously it’s to carry master around.” She said cheerfully.

He blushed and scratched his head.

“Oi kid, I’ve been meaning to mention it but are you going to keep calling her Ash? It seems rather rude since she isn’t an Ash Golem anymore.” Grunt said.

Xero blinks and nods, “I guess you’re right.” Xero said and thought, “Well since I got used to calling her Ash let's keep that part, so how's about Ashley.” Xero asked.

“Ah~! Such a cute name~!” She suddenly said and fidgeted in the air. Xero looked away because she was still naked and kept scratching his head.

“And her last name?” Ernest asked.

“Does she need one?” Xero asked.

“Yep!” Grunt shouted, “Most familiars that gain sentience should always be given a last name. It usually follows a theme of their evolution or how they were first called.” Grunt explained.

“Oh… so something like Ashley G Olem or something?” Xero asked.

The two of them just stared at Xero dumbly. “Kid… you're really taking the easy way out of this aren't you?” Grunt asked.

“Naming isn’t my forte okay.” Xero crossed his arms.

Suddenly Ashley slammed into Xero and wrapped her legs around his chest and hugged his head tightly.

“My last name will be masters~! Since I’m masters one and only wife~! So nice to meet you old man~! I’m Ashley Null!” She said with the brightest smile in the world.

The two froze before they fell on the ground laughing with all they had. Xero on the other hand had his face stuffed in her budding breasts and was pinned and couldn’t push her off. Her strength was many levels ahead so there was no contest between who was stronger. Even as he pushed he watched where he touched because as an 11 year old he was starting his puberty and the current situation was far from letting him keep his sanity.

“Let… go!” He finally squeezed out the worlds as he pushed her and his arms suddenly slid from her sides and she gripped him harder causing his mouth and nose to be closed.

“No~! Master! As your wife I want to always be like this~!” She said.

Xero tried to grab anything to help and suddenly he touched something that was swinging behind her which made her mutter an ‘eh?’.

“M-master don’t!” she said studdering.

Hearing her studder he felt it was his own way out and gripped stronger and she yelped but her leg and arms gripped harder almost making him let go. The tail began to slid out but the final little barb hooked his hand and he suddenly gripped it.

“KYA~!” She suddenly gripped harder.

Crack!

The sound of cracking bones sounded from Xero before Ashley released him but he fell down in an awkward pose having fainted at the last moment while Ashley fell down huffing with twitching and while her tail was still in Xero’s hand no longer gripped but something showed that was dangerous if it was the other children.

Ernest himself was suffering with the show and Grunt quickly stood up and removed a blanket and wrapped the girl before he called his familiar and used it to cast a healing spell on Xero and took them both to their tent.

Several minutes later Xero slowly woke up.

“Let me go!” Ashley’s voice was heard and he turned to see Grunt holding her from the collar of a robe that seemed eerily familiar.

“Oh you're finally up kid. We got to talk about the serious problem of this girls nudity.” Grunt said.

Mentioning the fact made the girls stop and look down. “Old pervert.” She said.

“SHUT UP BRAT! Anyway kid, you should know that monsters aren’t born with clothing, born with weapons yes but clothing no. You need to get something for the girl to wear. I dug around your things and gave her your school robe since she li…”

“It still has master's smell so I feel so nice covered in masters warm robe.” She said and wrapped herself and took a big sniff.

“Oh great.” Xero said massaging his head.

“Yeah I think what master Grunt said should be looked into.” Ernest said.

“I know, but where am I going to get girl clothing.” Xero asked and then paused before looking at Grunt. “Hey do you have any clean pairs of female student clothing for those that need it for training?” He asked Grunt.

The old bear frowned, “Do you think I walk around with girls clothing! The most I carry is training equipment, PE clothing is all stored in school. If you want I can arrange some money and an escort to Niska where you can buy something for her.” Grunt said and Xero sighed.

“That’s fine… I guess, she can stay with the robe… I guess.” Xero said and regretted it.

“YAY! THANK YOU MASTER!” She said and pounced on him.

“Stop that!” he said.

“Eh?”

“Stop being so exaggerated, it's annoying!.” Xero shouted.

She looked at him and smiled, “But I’m just showing my love~!” She said and hugged him.

“Then stop shouting at least and latching onto me with your entire body, would you do the same if I summoned you in the middle of a huge battle while I was in the middle of a fight with someone?!” Xero shouted at her.

“Eh? Of… of course not… master is fighting, I would kill your opponent before hugging you.’ She answered.

He facepalmed himself and looked for help but the two other men in the room looked away quickly and forced to think really hard. Unlike Grunt he couldn’t run away,

“If you stop suddenly jumping on me, shouting your… love to the world, I will let you hold or hug my arm if you are allowed to be summoned but you can’t get in the way when I need to do something and you need to train properly.” Xero said .

“Buuu~~!” She said dejected. Her tail even curled up from behind her and kept swishing around. “Training is useless.” She muttered.

“Oh Girly! Who says! Your skills aren’t gained over night and your sword skills amount to a monkey waving a stick!” Grunt shouted and she turned to him and stuck her tongue out.

“If you train properly…” Xero paused and began to think.

“X-Xero are you here?” Meldie suddenly poked her head in shyly and they all looked at her.

Ashley suddenly glared at her and hugged Xero as if making sure to claim her property in the face of an enemy. Seeing her like this he wondered something and lifted his hand to her head and began to pat at the top of the head where Meldie and halflings would usually be weak at. Her eyes go from a glare and soften into one like half asleep and after a moment she snapped out of it and jumped back.

“What was that!” She shouted.

“Ashley… when you made your body did you read my mind?” Xero asked.

“Yep~!” She said happily.

“Did you also add the spot that halflings like to be pet on?” Xero asked.

She blinked at him and after a moment she looked at Meldie before gulping. “Then let’s do this, if you train properly I will pet your head.” Xero said.

She looked at him conflicted, her intelligence was large so hearing that made her think that she would be pet like a pet but when she remembered the feeling, she found it even better than when Xero grabbed her tail and it was less painful as well. She knew that right now Xero wouldn’t do anything more until she made him fall for her but the thought of training just to be pet seemed wrong like she was letting herself be reduced to a pet.

“You need to kiss me on the cheek and pet me then.” She said with a pout but wouldn’t stop fidgeting.

Xero covered his face “fine.” He was forced to say and turned to Meldie. “Sorry, did you need something?” he asked the blushing halfling.

“Um… I was worried… about you when I saw teacher bringing you back here.” She said shyly.

Xero smiled and she blushed more, “Um… ah I-I’ll go make something for you to eat!” She said quickly and left.

The men looked on strangely while Ashley pouted, “Muu~! Master doesn’t need anyone else making him food! I’ll show that half pint what a wife can do!” She said and jumped out. Instantly around her all kinds of cooking and butchering knives appeared and looking casually Ashley took the Butcher knife and another really long kitchen knife that was long enough to be called a long dagger.

“Oh~! Masters cook wares really are impressive.” She muttered as she looked at the weapons. “I’ll be back in a short while master~!” She shouted and ran out of the tent and vanished from view.

The three men just stayed there and after a moment Grunt looked at Xero with some pity. “I’ll be going about my job, I’ll get you that money after a bit just try to control the girl.” Grunt said and he left.

With just the two boys left Xero finally woke up, “What just happened?” Xero asked.

“It seems Ashley believes the little halfling is a love rival, with what I have seen, I’m not really sure if I should congratulate you or pity you.” Ernest replied.

“Don’t you suffer as much as me?” Xero asked.

“Nah, the Holy Institute is a pain when it comes to relationships, dating and marriage conditions follow the procedure of the church from the follower that is being courted. It’s like what happened to Master Grunt, his story is legendary in the Institute since Miss Madrid used the honor bound code to try and force his hand into marriage. If it was the Goddess of Love’s church the courting party would need to cause the other to fall deeply in love for the goddess to approve. Each have their own conditions, I am training for the Church of Light, my conditions simply need me to love my companion and it doesn’t accept forceful methods or coarctation.” He said.

“So you have it lucky.” Xero said.

“Not really, besides myself, Night also attracts waves of girls from the dark faction. A Demon Angel would attract a huge amount of attention but…” He sighed, “I like someone but she is far beyond myself and shows no interest when I try to court her. You're probably luckier not having to abide by the codes of the gods to marry but I am curious about the love between familiar and master. I have heard of such things happening when strange and unique monsters are summoned but who would have thought that demons could work like that.” He said in shock.

“Please don’t bring it up.” Xero said dejected and got up. “Also don’t you have your own jobs to do?”

“I was told to take care of you by Master Cress, Night is currently being punished for what he did so there is nothing I can do.” He said.

“Are you a good swordsman?” Xero asked.

“Don’t look down on me.” He said grinning.

“Shall we try out that confidence then?” Xero replied and the boy raised his brow and gestured to the entrance.

They exit and wielding their swords they begin to spar.

***

Outside, flying in glee while holding a large butcher knife and long kitchen knife Ashley was flying very quickly over the forest.

Her pointy ears picked up all the sound within 1 kilometer, her sense of smell told her of all the creatures within the same distance but her eyesight was the true gem of her talents.

The white slit in her blue iris tightened, within her own world the world was formed of countless lights. The sky was green, orange and blue from the wind, fire and water mana in the air. The earth was brown from the earth mana, the trees were a blend of green, blue and brown from the water and earth mana and their mixture making nature mana. All around her were countless dots that were living creatures but she disregarded the weak ones and kept flying.

“Hm hm hmmm~! I’m gonna get~ something good for master~ then I can get praised and earn his love~!” She sang out of tune with no particular music besides something random in her head.

Suddenly she stopped as her nose picked something up. Turning to the left and looking into the river 100 meters away was a huge aura.

Within the water it looked distorted but focusing her eyes the figure focused and her stomach began to growl.

“Prey~!” She said as her hunter's instinct kicked in.

This ‘prey’ she found was an Elder Alligator Dragon. Adult Alligator Dragons maxed at level 10 but if it becomes an elder dragon it can grow up to level 20 at least and their size is equally as big.

Her drool formed at the side of her lips but she suddenly snapped out of it. “No! This is for master!” She shouted but the vicious shine in her eyes was still there and she grinned showing the pearly white fangs in her mouth. The seemingly normal kitchen utensils slowly covered with a faint glow. This was basic mana coating that was once the basis for knights to fight. Strangely when the mana covered the knives it suddenly shook and grew longer and sharper over the blade making cutting edge that was similar to a sword.

She flashed like a blue blur and suddenly the water surface splashed as she impacted it. Not a moment later the water erupted as a roar mixed with a his came from the Elder Dragon as it began to fight.

It spun and splashed, snarled but suddenly the water became quiet. Slow a small blue head with short black hair popped out of the water and a grin appeared on her lips as she started to float out of the water. In her hand was the tip of a tail and she grabbed it and supported it on her shoulder.

“Heave Ho~!” She playfully said and she pulled and soon the 40 meter long body of the Elder Alligator Dragon appeared being lifted by the little girl. “Lunch GET~!” She cheerfully shouted and turned towards where she felt the seal was and her master and took to the air pulling the dragon that was now completely covered in cuts and was bleeding. The dragon was actually still alive due to her wish for ‘freshness’ for her master and so she simply cut the joints and spine immobilizing the dragon and bring it back alive for the best quality.