We decided to camp early for the night—partially because we happened to find a decent source of fresh water at this mountain lake, but mostly because we didn’t want to lug around a raptor that apparently had ‘dinner’ written all over its big feathery carcass.

It was just as well, since my body still wasn’t used to this kind of hiking for hours on end. My lack of a proper sports bra was also taking its toll, but the others didn’t need to know that much…

Alice was probably as exhausted and sore as I was, but she still had the energy to promise she would brew us some stamina potions and remedies for sore muscles from herbs she had gathered along the way.

Viela didn’t complain about muscle fatigue, but she did joke about having me carry her in her fox form tomorrow, so who really knew how she was feeling…

At any rate, while Titania got to work plucking the feathers from her kill and getting it ready for cooking, the other three of us gathered firewood for the night’s campfire. Actually, we needed enough wood for two; a big one for heat and roasting fresh raptor, and a smaller fire for Alice’s brewing purposes.

I had been wondering what the young witch’s alchemy set looked like, and the results were… unsurprising. Alice pulled out a small cooking pot from her rucksack that she proudly declared a ‘cauldron.’ Appearances aside, I already knew that her skill for making potions was no joke.

When I turned around to call for Titania to bring her fire making tools over here, I noticed a flash of light flicker behind me. I caught Viela standing up by our freshly lit campfire, but she wasn’t holding anything in her hands…?

“Viela, you can cast fire magic?” I couldn’t help asking.

The fox spirit held a finger up to her lips and winked at me. I felt a chill of goosebumps rising on my arms at the thought of how much I still didn’t know about her—and everything she could do.

Still, to think that there was someone in my party who knew fire magic, and she could probably even teach me! Oh, the possibilities!

But then again, considering where and how Viela had taught me those other lewd things that one night, maybe asking her to be my teacher could have some dangerous side effects…

Actually, I still have those other three new spells! Tomorrow I’m not going to get distracted by anyone and I’ll start practicing them already, damn it!

***

Amazingly, even with her chosen method for cooking the raptor, Titania refrained from making a single ‘spitroast’ joke the whole evening. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it looked like she really wanted to…

To everyone’s surprise, Freya had been unusually quiet ever since the ‘raptor incident.’ The snow leopard spirit kept to herself, watching over her cubs while loitering near our camp. She had even finally agreed to wear some clothes, although it was just one of Titania’s shirts. Since the lancer was pretty tall, the shirt was far too big for the shorter snow leopard spirit, but that way it just barely covered Freya’s essentials.

I couldn’t help noticing the way her long furry tail pulled up the back of the shirt over her rear. Suddenly, it made a lot more sense why Freya really wouldn’t want to wear pants. As Titania handed everyone a chunk of freshly cooked raptor meat, I stole a glance at Viela—just for research, of course!

For the first time, I noticed the fox spirit wore her shorts a little low on her butt, just so her fluffy tail could poke out over them. Interesting…

Wait, what the hell am I doing? What’s with this awkward atmosphere while we’re all eating?!

I cleared my throat. “Ahem, as our party’s leader, I’d like to thank Titania for this meal that… actually tastes kind of like chicken. And with that kill, that means she won the contest and we should all be good, right Freya?”

“Hmph!” she huffed. “I never agreed to anything.”

The snow leopard spirit agreed to our free food easily enough, though…!

Viela couldn’t let this opportunity to have some fun go to waste. “Oh, that’s right,” she said with an impish grin. “You remember our little deal, don’t you, Kitty? Since my ‘champion’ won the contest, I get to ask you to do something for me.”

“Wh-What?!” Freya stammered. “That wasn’t even a part of the deal, fox!”

The fox ignored her. “Let me think… first, I’ll have you sit in my lap, and then I’ll gently stroke your hair, and then you’ll purr for me like a good little kitty…♡!”

Freya’s cheeks went beet red. “F-For the last time, it’s not ‘Kitty!’” She sprang upright and thrust a finger at Viela. “Pervert fox, fight me already!”

I had to facepalm. This was almost, almost actually getting better…

I glanced around for a safer topic to chat about. I saw Alice kneeling down on the ground playing with one snow leopard cub. It almost looked like she had been trying to teach the cub how to sit—until she gave up and started feeding it small bits of meat anyway, too overcome by the fluffy, meowing cub’s irresistible cuteness.

I was about to joke about Freya letting her cubs get spoiled like that, but in a single chilling moment, I realized the other one was missing. The last rays of the setting sun made it harder to see beyond the light of our fire, yet the second cub was still nowhere to be found anywhere around our campsite.

It didn’t take long for the others to catch on to my unease. A second later, Freya spun around frantically like she just realized she had lost track of the most important thing in her life.

“Where’s Sasha?”

She gritted her teeth at Viela and, deciding another argument wasn’t worth it, took off running into the woods.

“Sasha!” she shouted.

“Hey, it’s getting dark!” Titania warned.

Viela rushed to grab Freya by the arm. “Hold on for a minute.”

Freya twisted around in her grip. “I’ll fucking bite you, fox!”

“Just be quiet and let me help!”

When the snow leopard realized the fox spirit wasn’t messing with her this time, she angrily bit her lip and waited.

Viela slowly turned around to face different directions, her fox ears over her head twitching like crazy until she came to a stop.

“That way,” she said with a finger point.

Freya took off running, and we all hurried after her. Alice followed closely behind with the other cub held in her arms.

Crouching down behind a distant tree, I could just barely make out a speck of white and grey fur. A few hurried steps closer and I could see the prowling snow leopard cub’s target: a wild rabbit that quickly turned its head to face our way.

The cub leapt out from its hiding spot to strike, but the hunter was too slow and the prey too fast. The rabbit bolted under a bush and vanished from sight.

“Sasha!” Freya cried.

She knelt down to scoop up her cub into a hug and was met with a disgruntled moan, like Sasha was more annoyed than anything else that ‘mom’ had so rudely interrupted hunting practice.

“What have I told you about running off at night,” Freya continued with a sob. “I know how much you want to get stronger, but it’s not safe, you know it’s not safe! I can’t lose you, too…”

As Freya held her cub tightly against her body, her red cheeks grew wet with fresh tears. Compared to how the snow leopard spirit had usually acted, something about her reaction seemed uncomfortably serious. Even the other cub Alice had set down walked over to offer Freya her own comfort.

“Are you alright?” I tried asking with no response.

“So… those two cubs must be a real handful, huh?” Titania said with a nervous hand on her neck.

Slowly, Freya wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke.

“Three. I had three cubs.”

Oh. Oh, shit…

The four of us glanced at each other for the right words to say. Out of everyone, Alice was the one who finally broke the deafening silence.

“What happened?”

Freya bit her lip as if debating whether to answer. She gave her cubs one last hug, then set them down.

“It was the nightstalkers.”

She let the word hang in the air for a moment before she continued in a low voice.

“It happened about a month ago. I was returning to my den with a fresh kill, a fat juicy ram I knew they were all going to love. It was only sunset so I knew I had to hurry, but I should have had time, I knew I should have…”

Freya sniffled, wiping her face again.

“The moment I saw it heading into the den, I sprinted faster than ever in my life. I only realized too late—it was waiting for dark, it knew exactly where my den was. I don’t really remember what happened then, except I heard the scream, and I tore into it. But it… it got away. I took out its eye, but it took my…!”

In one moment, Freya threw away her pride and threw herself to the ground, slamming her head on the dirt.

“Please, I beg you!” she cried. “Kill them all, you have to kill the nightstalkers! I’ll do anything for you!”

Titania drew a sharp intake of breath, grimacing. “Do you even realize what you’re asking?” she uttered, unable to keep a hint of anger out of her voice. “That’s suicide!”

“B-But, you’re really strong, and you could… probably…”

Freya’s cheeks reddened again, then she looked away and fell silent.

“Okay, can you explain for the rest of us?” I asked.

Titania frowned. “She’s probably talking about the dourlings. They’re the real reason adventurers stopped coming to this place.”

The lancer grabbed a stick off the forest floor and motioned for us to head back. In the light of our campfire, she began drawing a figure in the dirt. Titania was no artist, but it became clear enough that she was depicting some kind of creature that looked like a wolf mixed with a lizard.

“I really didn’t want to say all this,” she muttered, “but I’ll tell you the stories I’ve heard…”

Apparently, a few decades ago hunters first began spotting these ‘dourlings’ in the area. Some people thought they were a mad witch’s experiment gone wrong and set loose upon the Dourland. Others were sure they were hellish demon-beasts summoned here from the Underworld that began multiplying on their own. Regardless, one thing was certain: the dourlings immediately became the unstoppable apex predators of the region.

One by one, hunters began disappearing without a trace. Daring adventuring parties had taken it upon themselves to vanquish this new menace, but none of them ever returned. At least, not in one piece—the ‘lucky’ ones who abandoned their comrades to run away and weren’t too ashamed to speak would tell stories of pitch-black scales, razor-sharp teeth, and bloodcurdling howls that words could hardly describe.

“That’s the gist of it,” she finished grimly. “If we’re not careful… there’s a real chance we won’t all make it back.”

A heavy silence chilled the air around us—a chill that not even the heat of our campfire could warm. I found my eyes wandering to the now very dark woods around us. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn I saw a distant pair of glowing yellow eyes staring at us for a moment. When I blinked and tried looking for them again, they had vanished.

“Titania, is this really why you wanted to join us?” I asked. “Because you were concerned about us running into those things?”

Another hand went to anxiously rub the back of her neck. “It’ll be fine,” she said weakly with a slight blush. “From what I’ve heard, they don’t like fire, or light, or groups of people. They’re highly intelligent monsters that are damn near unbeatable in a pack, but they’re not supposed to attack when at least two people are together. So you see, they’re mostly just opportunists… I think…”

For whatever reason, it felt like there was something she wasn’t mentioning. Either way, the lancer gathered her wits and held up a resolute clenched fist.

“No, it will be fine!” she smiled. “Because I’m here, right?”

Titania actually managed to inspire a modicum of confidence in our party this time. It felt as though we could all take a deep breath for the first time in an hour, but there was that other significant issue at hand regarding our party’s ‘guest.’

“Freya,” I began, “if you don’t mind me asking… As a spirit from the Spirit World, what exactly are you doing here?”

The snow leopard spirit perked up at the question. “Do you mean ‘here in this world,’ or ‘here in these goddamn mountains?’” she asked.

“Uh, both?”

Freya sighed, softly petting her two cubs that lay snuggled against her. “I always wanted to explore everything the world had to offer. Everything and everywhere! ‘The world exists to be seen and experienced;’ that was my motto back in—er, what you call the ‘Spirit World.’ I started hearing stories about this world of humans and how much different it was over here, and with a little bit of soul magic training… There’s this shortcut where, after you get summoned, you can break free and go wherever you want if you trick some amateur summoner into stepping into the summoning circle.”

I found myself gritting my teeth together. I didn’t even bother looking at Viela to see if she was grinning from ear to ear.

“But I finally did it!” Freya went on. “I stepped where few spirits have ever gone before and explored this continent from end to end. I saw it all! And then, when I was finally ready to go back home, I… I forgot.”

“What?” I asked. “What did you forget?”

Freya bit her lip, fidgeting. “I forgot the spell to go back, okay?!”

Huh? I hadn’t even thought about how summoned spirits were expected to be responsible for teleporting—or, dimensionally transporting themselves back ‘home.’ I glanced at Viela, but Freya cut me off.

“I don’t need her help!” the snow leopard spirit grumbled. “I don’t want to go back. This place… This is our home now.”

Freya gathered both cubs in her arms, embracing them in a way only a mother could.

But, still…

“Isn’t that kind of stubborn?” I had to ask.

“So what if it is!” she fired back. “This is the only world Sasha and Arwen have ever known! This mountain range will be perfect for them, just like it is for the other snow leopards who still call this place home! Well, it would be perfect for them, if… I mean, there aren’t that many other places in this world like here. That’s why I want you to…”

Freya held her cubs a little tighter. I wasn’t sure what to tell her, but the other three eagerly looked to me for an answer.

Alice’s cheeks were wet with her own tears. Viela’s eyes glimmered with sympathy. Titania looked as though she thought our chances against those monsters would be so bad, if I said that I actually wanted to fight, she would carry us all the way back to the city by herself.

And even then, she still waited for me to make the call.

I took a deep breath. “Look, we only came here to gather some herbs, but we could really use your help. You can be our guide and tell us where to find them, and in exchange, we can offer you food and protection. And when we’re done here… we can take you and your cubs someplace they will be safe.”

I reached out to offer her my hand. Freya chewed her lip for a silent minute, mulling over my offer until her face softened into a smile.

“Alright,” she agreed at last, gently taking my hand in hers. “I’ll do it.”

Malonymous

Bonus art for today: more big thanks to SomeAspid for commissioning another great Beryl sticker from artist Hikari Yumeno!

Spoiler

[collapse]