“I’m afraid I’ll have to pass,” you decline Gorrazsh’s offer. The orc looks genuinely heartbroken, so you try to explain your decision away by gesturing at Alpha and saying, “You see, this poor ray of sunshine is a shy one and highly uncomfortable around others. It took her a week to get used to my company, and even that was due to Epsilon’s efforts.”

“My deepest apologies, I didn’t mean to intrude,” the orc bows and takes a step back. “We already must have taken too much of your time. May I ask what will happen to the dire wolves that attacked us?”

“I will keep an eye on them, to make sure they do not cause you any more trouble,” you reassure the orc. “You can camp around here—I’ll see to it that no beasts disturb your sleep tonight. And if you do decide to take me up on my offer of guiding you back, we can talk more in the morning.”

“Thank you, kind sir, we most certainly will!” The orc says.

“Very well,” you say and then put two fingers in your mouth and whistle to the dire wolves. “Follow me, the lot of you!”

The leader of the dire wolves stands up and walks toward you. The other wolves follow, and you turn around and walk back to the hill that you descended from.

“Goodnight!” The orc shouts at your back. Without even looking you’re convinced that he’s also waving. “Pleasant dreams!”

“I’d like to skin that little brat alive!” Epsilon finally lets out her frustration as soon as you’re over the hill and way out of the hearing range of the adventurers. “And why are we playing all friendly-like all of a sudden? The whole situation was hand-crafted for some carnage!”

“Because we don’t know what awaits us in Ranville,” you answer. “And if everyone will keep assuming you to be the bandits that you are, then we will need some good word placed for us if we don’t fancy fighting an entire town on our own.”

“And what do you plan to feed our new puppies?” The bunny girl points to the wolves that walk beside you, behind you and all around you. Many of the wolves are still salivating, their eyes jump from the leader of the pack to you, to the tender, naked flesh of the two bunny girls.

“The bunny girls are not for eating!” you say to the wolves in a strong, commanding tone.

“I don’t think that will work for very long,” Epsilon says and you can’t help but agree. Hunger is one of the few things that can quickly override all other thoughts, be it man or animal. And, sooner or later, hunger turns all men into animals. And, while it is an experiment worth conducting—which would win out in the end—your [Submission] or the starving mind, you don’t feel like experimenting with your life on the line.

You cast your [Hellfruit] spell, which is steadily becoming one of your trademark spells, bring the fruit over to the dire wolf leader and command, “Eat the fruit!”

The dire wolf bites into the small object in the palm of your hand and, after barely chewing it, swallows it. Well, at least he didn’t spit it out, you think and ask the wolf, “Is it any good?”

Unfortunately, the wolf doesn’t say anything in return. Epsilon chuckles. Not finding this a laughing matter, you summon another Hellfruit and place it on the ground. The wolf walks closer to the fruit, sniffs it a couple of times, and snaps it into his jaw greedily.

“Alright!” you exclaim satisfied with the answer and use your remaining energy to summon a whole pile of these fruits. A good portion of the energy you used for submissions regenerated, so you end up with about fifteen or so.

“There will be more later,” you say and get up as the other wolves rush in to get a piece. Obviously there won’t be nearly enough for all of them. Strongest will be the first to eat, but that suits you just fine—you need them to keep the others in check.

“Our new “friends” have already set up camp,” you hear Elza’s voice first and then see her approaching from out of the shadows of the surrounding trees. “And I use quotation marks when I say “friends”.”

“We’ll have three days to figure out what to do with them,” you say to Elza over the growling, chewing and snarling noises of the wolves. “Until then we might be able to get some valuable information out of them. I take it that most of the survivors of your bandit exploits usually end up as captives and slaves, correct?”

“Something like that,” Elza says. “I did my best to not stand out. And while it is easy to point fingers at these two, it’s still not a crime in these lands to be a bunnykin. And empty accusations are just that. As long as you don’t piss off someone with power that is.”

“Wait, is it a crime in some places?” you ask and turn to Epsilon. “That orc said your race is rare in these lands. Was it always like this, or—”

“This is not our home if that’s what you’re asking,” Epsilon says.

“And where is your home?” you ask.

Epsilon stays silent for a while and finally says, “We don’t have one anymore… I’ll go gather some firewood.”

You look to Elza for an explanation.

“Their state was a small one,” Elza says quietly. “With the rule of the Demon Lord collapsing, more and more kingdoms rose against him. But when the Demon Lord was finally crushed, there were still many armies left, many kingdoms eager to restore their power, or those that saw a chance to rise to power. Those were the worst years… When former allies tore each other to pieces…”

“I take it their kingdom ended up on the losing side?”

“To put it lightly,” Elza replies grimly and glances at Alpha, who stands not far from you, emotionless and still as a statue. “Though I don’t feel I should be the one telling you this.”

“Chi did mention something about raising funds," you recall. "What were you gathering the money for?”

“Me? I’m just a lowly mercenary,” Elza says with a bleak smile. “You should probably talk to Chi about what she wants. I wouldn’t know.”

You can tell that Elza is not being truthful, but can take a hint that she’s uncomfortable with the topic and let her use that excuse to end the conversation about the bunnies. With Epsilon back, it doesn’t take you long to get a small fire going, illuminating the two dozen of your new companions. Which reminds you to prepare more treats for them once your energy is high enough again.