“Oy, freeloader! Oy! You alive?”

A padded hand slapped her out of oblivion.

“Five more minutes Rii, I just had that dream…”

Annette rolled to her other side and curled up in a ball. Nothing bothered her more than getting up early in in the morning.

“Oy… Oy! Don’t five minute me! Get yer fat ass up freeloader! Oy!”

“Five minutes mom… just five more…”

“Oy!”

The girl snored happily.

“Just my dumb luck, another cursed human to take care of…”

With her ears dropped and a heavy frown on her muzzle, Savil howled in annoyance. Dragging the humans behind her, she went towards the twiggy looking priestess. The poor Twiggy did all in her power to stop people from stuffing themselves with raw meat. With mixed results. Several greedy youngsters puked their guts out in a corner then, went back to the waiting line for a bowl of watery stew.

“O holy one, if I may have a moment.”

“Y-yes?”

The Priestess shuddered at that. Savil noticed her own wrists appeared thicker then the waist of the woman standing before her in the grey robe. Truly, that must have been her imagination. The wind raffled the near empty robe while the woman had trouble staying anchored to the ground in this gentle breeze.

“Is there a place I could safely deposit those two?”

She gestured towards the unconscious humans. For the sake of those around them, Ding-Ding censored Joe’s face with a colorful mosaic while his jaw rebuild itself.

“They will remain useless for the next several hours and I would like to put them somewhere they won’t bother anyone.”

Well, perhaps even longer, depending on the strength of the potion she dunked over her master’s face.

“G-given the circumstances, I am sure the Inn will spare you as many rooms as necessary. We are all in debt and…”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Savile interrupted her.

“Leave the sob speech for this guy here,”

She pointed at Joe’s body hanging in her grip.

“I’m just following orders.”

With that, she turned on her heel and headed towards the indicated building.

The inn doors stood wide ajar and welcomed her with the emptiness of the ground floor. The innkeeper and whoever else stayed in here, left and queued in the plaza to receive food, hastily cooked in the communal kitchen set up by the town’s fountain.

Leaving a silver coin on the counter, Savil marched up the stairs and into the first room that appeared unoccupied. She stripped them and tossed one atop the other onto the small bed then covered them with some of the furs from Joe’s item box. The approaching night seemed to be of the colder variety and those bare-hides hardly could handle any cold.

With shitty master secured, now all she…

The human woman moaned and wrapped herself against Joe’s motionless body. His pillow skill felt amazing and just the memory send shivers down Savile’s spine.

When it came to night shifts, Neira monopolized all of their master’s bed space as the designated bedwarmer but now…

She hastily unbuckled her armor.

*DING!*

You are now under the effect of Perfect Pillow Skill Lvl. 972 Sweet dreams active Stress relive active Stamina recovery active Intermediate Mana recovery active Advance Healing aura active Instant nap active Flea repellant active Mosquito repellant active Minor time bubble effect active (1.5 : 1 ratio) Sensitivity boosts active Friction negation field active Improved effectiveness of repeated motions active “Just right” Active “That’s the spot” Active Mood +10 000 Well rested status in 5h 59min 59s

Five more minutes it is.

***

Standing amidst the sea of endless tentacles, Kunfayo watched the man work. The youngster, engrossed in his work sat in a corner, surrounded by multiple floating screens, oblivious to what transpired around him. On the screen lines of runes zipped by, sometimes pausing while the man tweaked this or that.

“THE TEA IS READY.”

He went back to the table and took his seat, right along the Death and Tentacle. Death poured him a cup. Instead of her usual robe, Today she wore an oddly shaped black garment, wrapped and tied around her waist.

“Thank you. I must say, an interesting design that is. New fashion?”

“THIS? OH, THEY CALL IT A KIMONO. SOMETHING YOU SHOULD WEAR DURING THE TEA CEREMONY. ONE OF MY LAST CLIENTS INSISTED UPON ME WEARING THAT. NOT THE MOST POLITE OF SOULS I’VE MET BUT, HE MADE QUITE GOOD TEA.”

“Indeed, humans and their traditions never case to amaze me but,”

He gave a long sad look at the tentacle and the eye above them.

“I would never imagine…”

“T-that’s already in the past. T-this and that happened… ha… hah…”

The monstrosity let out an embarrassed laughter and stuffed her face with a cookie. Just before the cookie reached her mouth, it swelled to the size of a moon.

“ARE YOU SURE SHE WOULD COME?”

Death asked after liberating a cookie from its earthly shell.

“Yes, she will. She might be fickle about her ways, but she owns me a favor.”

“IS THAT SO? I SEE.”

“Now this is an unexpected company. Old man, you had picked my interest with your request but this…”

A voluptuous woman in her late twenties appeared out of nowhere, wearing nothing more but a short sheer dress.

“Oh dear…” The tentacle shuddered. The newest guest gave her a long look then seated herself in the last chair.

“So,”

She spoke opening the board on the table. Her eyes caught the sight of a marvelous pawn sitting in the corner.

“What shall we be playing?”