Eris communicated with Tessa via ring to let her know of our earlier than expected arrival. Tessa waited for us in the opening of the warehouse garage door.

“Welcome home, master.” After Tessa greeted me, she greeted the others and took my equipment inside.

I sat on the couch in the so-called living room and sighed thinking back on the events that occurred. It wasn’t even midday yet. Tessa prepared some of the leftovers from last night, serving me a plate and leaving the rest for everyone else to partake when ready.

I had Eris join me to eat together, she didn’t object and set down the items being sorted.

“Eris and I will be going back out. We will escort you to the outpost. Give the money to Tessa or any of us for the materials you wish to have, no rush.” I let Veera know our plan. I wanted to make sure she was safe back at the outpost. Not only that, but I wanted to head back out to the snow biome with only Eris this time. I wasn’t quite in the position to be able to protect everyone else and my poor judgement almost cost us this morning.

Veera linked her communications ring with Eris and Tessa, letting them know she would keep in touch for payment among other things. I talked with Tessa to see how she was doing on her training regimen. Taking the time to spar with her some more since Veera and Alexa needed more time separating the cart inventory.

We fought barehanded like before, making sure to dodge and not to get hit this time. I asked about her day while reminding and fixing her form. She didn’t have much to say and focused on trying her best to land a hit. I didn’t expect much improvement in a single day to be honest.

She really took the training to heart though trying her best to resolve any wasted movements. At this rate, she’d be able to hit me in the near future. I’ll have to find a way to dampen her blows. We stopped after roughly ten minutes and went over to have a separate talk with Alexa.

My initial goal was for all my slaves to learn martial arts and to be proficient in combat without the need for magic. I explained that training would consist of everything Tessa had to do, plus her own magic training which she would have to improve herself. Mentioning that Eris may be able to help her on that front and for bigger issues that she couldn’t handle, we would have to figure it out later. It felt like I wasn’t giving her a choice, but her immediate agreement made me feel somewhat at ease.

Alexa was to join Tessa on her workout routine every day and after a couple of days would follow up with a progress check. Then as deemed ready would start learning martial art techniques. Eris washed up then finished eating, arriving by my side for everything I explained to Alexa.

“Want to join us on exercising every day? I’ll carry you whenever we travel on our hunts.” I smiled at Eris expecting to be ignored while offering an incentive I already provided on repeated occasions. Eris seemed interested and it was never part of my plan to force the training regimen onto her.

“Okay, remember what you said for later.” Eris took the bait or did I happen to fall into a trap?

“Great, also are you okay with going back out to the snow biome after we part with Veera?”

“I’ll follow you. Don’t worry about needless thoughts.” Eris stated her stance in the matter.

We walked over to Veera who finally relaxed on the couch after sorting everything in her cart. Tessa had gone to serve her a beverage and make sure she felt comfy. “Sorry about earlier. I acted on emotions and ended up scaring you.”

“No need to apologize. I should be the one to, it was my fault you ended up killing them.” Veera was more composed now that she had some time to gather her thoughts.

“They were never intending to let us go without a fight. I’m glad Eris was able to heal your injuries.”

Veera must’ve caught a solemn expression on my face as my mind played through the event and stayed in silence.

“Whenever you’re ready, we’ll head back to the outpost.” Now that everything was clear, I gave Veera some time before we departed.

Alexa and Tessa waved us off and we neared the noisy commotion of the trading outpost, passing through its massive gates. Things looked rowdier than normal and I was afraid it was connected to us. I shoved this thought away from how frightened the survivors were when I let them go. Regardless my nerves were on edge with my guard up for any type of surprise.

We followed Veera to her stall as she set her cart inside, overhearing some of the news as to why things were so lively today. Talk about the military encountering trouble in the snow biome and sightings of a Siberian tiger. It wasn’t much of a stretch to combine the two together, leading me to believe that the explosions back then were caused by the military who were now under the threat of the tiger.

“I’ll drop by your place to visit Tessa and Alexa later and hand over the money. By the looks of it, the two of you are heading back out there. Please be careful, both of you” Veera noticed the one rucksack on my back and offered to give the money to Tessa later today.

“Thanks for doing that, you’re more than welcome to stay at our place whenever you need.” I was more worried that Tessa and Alexa may become bored at home and hoped Veera could make it livelier for them.

“Okay, I’ll keep you to that.” Veera left it at that as we parted ways.