*DING!*

Warning, low memory level. Five hours remaining.

“Well,”

Joe let out a resigned sigh.

“This is as far as we go today.”

He plonked his ass on a convenient tree stump by the road and continued.

“Gather up, we’re setting camp for the night.”

“Here?”

The human, whateverhernamewas, asked surveying the small clearing. It bore some signs that people did camp here before. It also showed signs that their Stay was terminated rather violently.

“Yes, here.”

Joe took a swig out of his water bottle then tossed it to his designated bedwarmer. Several unexpected catfights between his slaves taught him it was better not to upset the established pecking order. Be it water, food, equipment or even the right to use Joe as a pillow, everything had to follow a precise order. Even the commands he gave out.

“Make some rounds around the camp and discourage anything that may want to visit us later in the night. Try to limit collateral to minimum this time.”

“Hai, hai masta!”

Neira drank her share then shoved the water to the demi knight and pranced away into the forest.

“Patchwork, you go and get us some dinner before she obliterates or scares away everything edible.”

“Should I refill our stock or just get something for tonight?”

Savil cleared Neira’s drool from the bottle and took a dignified sip.

“Just something for tonight. I don’t think there’s much out here anyway. Too close to the trail.”

She gave him a nod and marched into the forest twilight after fetching her sword from his inventory. Thus, the water ended up in the hands of his only human property. A kind if useless one at that. Even his own combat stats were better than hers. Eh, gotta work with what you have.

“Freeloader, you’re ex-military right?”

It startled her. She almost dropped the water bottle, spilling some of its contents over herself.

“Y-yes.”

“Ever set up a tent?”

“Yes.”

“And it didn’t collapse on you afterwards?”

“No.”

Why did that sound suspicious? Either way, Joe dumped their tent on the ground. Gotta love this magical inventory.

“Then get to it. After you’re done, go fetch some firewood. Oh, and try not to get eaten. My map still shows some monsters in the area.”

Although the red dots were either disappearing or running away from the big green dot with Neira’s name under it. Now that he thought of it, who was the real monster in this forest? Those pipsqueaks never had a chance.

The human warrior drank as well then, unsure what to do, she placed the bottle on the ground and went on to her task. That left him with one last inconvenience to deal with.

“For crying out loud, you know you can unequip that from your status menu?”

The saintness eyes wet round like big saucers. Come on, there’s a limit to how dense a person can be…

“…you really didn’t know?”

Her ears sagged and their insides went deeper pink. A blushing demi. Now he saw everything.

“Fine, I’ll do it for you.”

As her master, Joe summoned her status screen, selected all her equipped items…

“nnnn!”

Loirra rammed him with her bound body, toppling him over from his stump before he could unequip her items.

“The fuck is wrong with you!? You some kind of…”

There were tears in her eyes. The bound demi resting atop him wept. At the same time, his mind realized something. She weighted next to nothing. Even though her entire body rested on his chest, he hardly felt anything. Just skin and bones she was.

“Oy, don’t you dare pull that crying crap on me.”

He spoke, yet at the same time his fingers found the buckles of her muzzle and undid it. Free of that restraint, she flooded his chest with her drool and silent sobs.

“Okay, spill the beans. Did that furball threatened you with something?”

“N-no!”

Such an instant answer.

“Eh. Whatever. Just ignore her. The slave codex won’t let her touch you unless you allow it.”

He freed himself from under her, then got up and sat her on his stump before patting out leaves out of his shirt. Even though he gave her his blessing, the demi made no attempt to free herself from her predicament.

“I deem your punishment sufficient for what you did. You can take it off now. She won’t do anything more to you although, in the future keep your hands to yourself.”

“T-thank you, m-master but if you don’t mind can… can I keep wearing it?”

The eavesdropping freeloader tripped and dropped her firewood she’s been gathering in the bushes nearby.

“Seriously, what the hell did that furball tell you to scare you that much?”

Once more Loirra turned her face away from him and even through her thin fun he could see her cheeks flushed.

“N-no. It’s n-not that.”

Her voice became weaker with each word she said.

“I, I don’t h-have anything else to w-wear.”

She blurted out in an act of final desperation.

“You…”

A prudent demi. So, they do exist.

“M-master? Yiiip!”

Joe grabbed her ears and began tugging at them. He found it one of the few ways he could punish his perverted possessions.

“Listen, I have no idea why that demented god of yours sent you with me and I don’t care but more than that, I can’t do anything about it. You are stuck with us for the time being so at least don’t be a bother. Don’t pull any crazy stunts like you did in the morning. Don’t get in my way. Don’t make me waste my time. And most of all, if you need something, tell me. If something bothers you, tell me. Did it reach into that pea sized brain of yours?”

He rubbed the inside of her ears with his thumbs.

“Y-yes m-master!”

She meowled, through tears while her ears burned with heat between his fingertips. Why did they react like that? Savile once said it wasn’t as much painful as just uncomfortable. Though she did not explain any further.

With a sigh, Joe released the priestess ears then opened his crafting screen and browsed through the list. He should have enough materials for something basic.

One wooden grooming kit. One cotton robe. A stack of demi compatible undies. One journeyman, maple staff. He put all that in her lap.

“Clean up and get the fire going. You can put whatever you don’t need into my inventory, I’ve granted you basic access. Oh, one more thing. Your stats suck. You will die if a wild beast as much as farts your way. You understand that? Good. Never separate from our group. Even if you need to go fertilize a bush, you take one of the furballs with you. If they’re not around then you come to me or her.”

Joe pointed at the human legs twitching under the collapsed tent.

“Whatever that may be worth… anyway go help her after you finish. Freeloader, you got babysitting duty! She’s your responsibility!”

“S-sir, y-yes sir!”

Came from under the tarp. Joe sighed then turned around and walked away, pretending he looked for firewood.

“Thank you master.”

Loirra whispered to no one in particular. With Joe out of sight, she summoned her status screen and removed the leather straitjacket from her equipment slot. Just like Joe said it would, it vanished from her body and reappeared by her feet.

Casting one more glance at her surroundings, she quickly reequipped her restrains. Both her muzzle and straitjacket returned to their previous places on her body although, this time their tightness perfectly matched with her body. The odd feeling brought back her memories of this morning and… conflicting feelings run through her body. She felt both dirty and happy at the same time.

A twig snapping in the nearby bush made her dump everything into Joe’s inventory and equip her new robe.

Pretending not to notice, Joe let his feet carry him away from the camp. One thought run in his mind. He just got himself another weird one.

“E’scuse me my dear good sir. Are you happen to be, you know, the one?”

“No. You got the wrong person.”

Joe fired back even before his mind had a chance to get startled. He did however jump a bit and turned around at the sound of that disembodied voice.

“Are you sure you are not the one? We were told you would have the potato.”

He looked at the line of more than fifty, semitransparent people waiting behind him.

With a resigned look on his face, he pulled out his trusty shovel and the magical tuber he got from darkness. With the slimy potato in his left hand and his shovel in his right hand he raised his arms up and intoned his prayer.

“Wololo wololo wololo…..”