It was early in the morning, the feeble sunlight barely piercing through my window to brush against my skin as I lay in bed. But my main concern was not the winter weather. Instead it was the leopard girl currently straddling me, her butt providing an ample cushion atop my abdomen. 

“You woke up really early today,” I said while reaching up to pat Sekh’s head. 

The leopard girl purred gently as I caressed her, stopping only to bend down and peck me on the lips. 

“Of course. You did promise to spar with us today since your arm just recovered,” Sekh said gleefully. 

Since Loukas’ arrest it's been three and a half weeks, time having flown by without me realizing. Despite this, things had mostly remained the same. So life was going well for the most part. I spent most of my days working for the Doux while squeezing some time out to train my companions and help Minerva with work. And my arm had also returned to normal a few days ago, most likely the result of Sekh and Minerva buying so much milk for me to drink.

As for my finances, my current funds are sitting at 33 solidi, 61 denarii, and 46 numi. Since my new job was netting me quite a serious amount of money, I had decided to splurge some extra cash on various things such as alcohol and sweets during the three and a half weeks.

Additionally, the news of Loukas’ arrest sent a shockwave throughout the province’s administrators. Due to this event, instances of corruption had shown signs of decrease, as numerous officials discreetly raised income projections. Of course there’s always corruption, but it was still shocking to see the projected yearly income jump by a 100 solidi. More shockingly, a number of officials had even been betrayed by their own colleagues, a number of allegations sporadically arriving at the Doux’s office during the three and a half weeks. I had actually led many of these investigations, the result being rather mixed. Some were indeed guilty, while other situations were more murky, possibly the result of people trying to pawn their crimes off to an unsuspecting individual. 

With a gentle smile on my face, I nuzzled my head against Sekh’s chest. 

“Let’s stay like this for a bit,” I proposed to Sekh. “It feels way too nice right now.”

Sekh giggled happily, her tail lazily sweeping about. “I’m really happy that you’re warming up to morning cuddles. Though I feel like you’ve been getting a bit more lax recently.”

“That’s true,” I replied warmly. “But it’s not as though I’m getting lazy and skipping training. I’m just trying to enjoy my life to a fuller extent.”

“Hehe,” Sekh laughed lightly. “You know, we could start the morning off with some more enjoyment in that case.”

Wearing a coy smile, Sekh began to trail her finger from my chest down towards my crotch.

“It’s better that we don’t,” I said reluctantly. “We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

In response, Sekh pressed both her hands against my chest and began to lick my face, her tongue gently raking against my skin. 

Since both my arms are functioning now, I wrapped them around Sekh’s shoulders and brought the ball of fur closer to me, my mouth now adjacent to her ear.

“Tonight,” I whispered alluringly into Sekh’s ears, sending a slight shiver down her spine. “Besides, don’t you remember the last time that we got frisky in the morning? You were blushing red for all the wrong reasons that day.”

Upon mention of our bath time fiasco a while back, Sekh froze up and her face turned steaming red. 

“I thought we promised not to talk about that,” Sekh said while averting her eyes. 

“We didn’t,” I curtly informed her. “But if you want, I’ll make that a promise from this point on.”

“Please do,” Sekh muttered.

Seeing that Sekh had become surprisingly dispirited, I decided to try to cheer her up. 

“It’s alright,” I cooed as I began to tickle her. “Everyone should have forgotten by now and I love you regardless.”

“That’s... not a...good apology,” Sekh periodically said in between bouts of tickle induced laughs. “It’s...not...fair.”

Unable to resist any longer, Sekh tumbled backwards while laughing profusely. Since I was trying to follow the catgirl to tickle her, the two of us began tussling around atop the bed with one another, our gleeful giggles echoing throughout our room. 

It took a few minutes or so for our fun to die down and for us to regain composure. But once we were preparing to head downstairs, Sekh had pretty much returned to her normal cheery self, not a hint of the gloominess remaining. Still, I was quite surprised to see how strong her reaction was. I can only hope that she hasn’t developed a fear of maid outfits. 

“I’m holding you on that promise about tonight,” Sekh said while nudging me on the side as descended the stairs.

“How about a wager then?” I said with a wry smile. “If you can beat me in a best of three matches, then I’ll do whatever you want tonight.”

“And if you win?” Sekh asked while tilting her head. 

“Who knows,” I replied with a mischievous laugh. “You should just focus on winning.”

“I really hope you’re not a closeted deviant,” Sekh sighed exaggeratedly. “But even if you are, I’ll still love you. Unless you’re into some really messed up stuff.”

“Maybe you’ll find out tonight,” I said slyly. 

Even though I’m going about it in a roundabout fashion, my intent is to encourage Sekh and the other three to try their best against me. Naturally I’ll have less unusual prizes for the other three, but I had far too much fun fooling around with Sekh. 

By the time that we got downstairs, Zeph, Justin, and Irene were already there, slouched over the couch waiting for us. It was a little surprising to see how eager everyone was to spar with me. Fortunately, I had spent the last three days readjusting myself to combat so I’d be able to meet their expectations. 

“So how are we doing the sparring exactly?” Zeph asked when Sekh and I got to the first floor. “Don’t tell me I have to fight in melee.”

“Do you want to?” I teased her. 

“I’d like my pride to stay intact,” Zeph retorted. 

“What a shame,” I said in fake exasperation. “I’ll let you off for today then. The plan is to have Justin and Sekh spar against me in a best of three, while you and I will have another archery bout. If any of you beat me, I’ll buy you dinner tonight.”

“How come I’m getting left out?” Irene wondered. “I want a chance at dinner too.”

“Archery competitions get weird when you allow crossbows and the like,” I informed her. “But you can join the melee competition if you want. It’ll be a three against one.”

Both Justin and Sekh silently warned Irene by shaking their heads. But despite this, Irene decided against their advice. “You know what, I’ll do that. I know I’m going to lose, but I want to get experience fighting a skilled fighter in melee so I won’t be a burden later on.”

“Now that’s the spirit,” I said encouragingly.

As the four of us walked towards the public sparring fields, I noticed a slight tugging feeling on my sleeve.

“Hey, can you go easy on Irene?” Sekh quietly requested. 

“Somewhat,” I whispered back. “I don’t want to treat her as though I’m looking down on her, but I’ll make sure to not injure her.

“That’s good,” Sekh purred while rubbing her head against my body.

Soon after, the five of us arrived at the practice grounds. And luckily for us, the place was mostly empty. 

Once we finished stretching and warming up, the four of us doing the melee combat began to armor ourselves. Although everyone else had simple gambesons, I decided to wear my hauberk to give the others more breathing room when fighting me. Additionally, the four of us were all using blunted practice weapons, which I had borrowed from the citadel’s armory.

“Good luck,” I announced before we began our first match. 

“Thanks, we’re going to need it,” Sekh joked. 

The three of them took up formation in front of me. Justin stood in the front with a spear and kite shield, Irene in the back with a staff, and Sekh on the side with her typical small shield and short spear. As for me, I just leaned against the winged spear that I was carrying.

Unsurprisingly, my ruse didn’t manage to provoke the three, only drawing looks of caution. Well it was a bit of a cheap tactic, but I wanted to try it regardless. Seeing that my idea was not working out, I decided to advance cautiously. 

Perhaps they had devised a plan before, because the moment I stepped forward, all three jumped into action. Justin charged forward with Irene supporting him from behind. Meanwhile, Sekh prowled on the sidelines ready to strike at any moment. 

I wondered if I could break the defenses of their frontline before Sekh could pounce on me. I doubt it, but I wanted to test the mettle of the two former rookies anyways.

Rushing forward, I unleashed a flurry of thrusts at Justin, forcing him on the defensive. And although both Justin and Irene tried to stab at me, I could confidently deflect Justin’s spear with my own while dodging Irene’s attacks.

Right on cue, I could make out a furry blur from the corner of my eye. Well I had known that something like this would happen. In fact, it was part of my perfectly reliable and well thought out plan.

Instead of feigning ignorance, I pretended to react slowly in order to draw Sekh in. She had already seen me looking at her, so just ignoring her would put her on guard. 

Yet as I was focusing on Sekh, Justin and Irene attempted a daring move. Coordinating with one another, they tried to use both of the spears to pin my own. Although it would normally be a prudent move, against a much more skilled opponent like me, the maneuver could leave a gap to be exploited. And although I could have done it, my attention was still on Sekh so I only managed to prevent myself from being locked down.

As the cat girl closed in on me with the intent to strike, I swiftly twisted my body away. Unfortunately, Sekh reacted in time and redirected her movement to match me. Yet in that brief moment that Sekh was changing her course, the butt of my spear struck her in the abdomen. Right after, I spun my spear and tapped her on the shoulder with the blunted head. Although I could have tapped her neck, I didn’t want any accidents happening. 

Despite taking out Sekh, I had no time to rest. The other two quickly attacked me from two sides. Now, I was the one put on the defensive, barely avoiding and parrying a barrage of thrusts. Even for someone like me, the situation was untenuous. 

Instead of going for Irene like they would expect, I rushed at Justin. Knocking his spear aside my own weapon’s haft, I locked the youth in a sort of grapple. Because he hadn’t suspected such a course of action from me, Justin was unable to muster his full strength, allowing me to toss him to the ground. And for good measure, I tapped his groin with my spear before jumping away from Irene, who launched an attack at my back. 

Having avoided the blow, the hardest part was over for me. Now facing Irene in a one on one, I proceeded to just attack her relentlessly. Surprisingly, the girl held out for a little while before I gained an advantage and took her out. 

“It’s ok, free dinner is still a possibility,” Justin said optimistically after our bout had ended. 

Meanwhile, I was rubbing the place on Sekh’s stomach where I had hit her. 

“You ok?” I asked gently. 

Pouting, Sekh pulled on my cheek in dissatisfaction. “I’m not that fragile. Besides, you already held back so it only hurts a little.”

“Sorry, I got a little worried,” I said while smiling.

Before we started the next match, I took out my shield from my stash of belongings. So instead of fighting with a two handed spear, I had now shifted to a shield and spear loadout. 

“We should have expected this,” Justin sighed. “It’s not like him to let us have it easy.”

“Of course,” I chuckled. “What’s the point in letting you habituate yourself with one type of opponent. Afterall, versatility and consistency are some of the most important things for surviving a real fight.”

The next fight was much more unremarkable then the first. Instead of trying some risky tactics, I just danced around my opponents, using my shield to render all attacks useless. Inevitably, the match ended due to a battle of endurance, with me coming out as the victor. 

“You’ve all improved quite a bit,” I said once we were finished. “Just keep it up and you’ll be excellent fighters.”

“Looks like you’ve won the bet then,” Sekh remarked tiredly. 

Pulling her aside, I whispered in her ear. “Well I feel like giving you that reward since you've been working really hard lately.”

“No thanks,” Sekh replied curtly. “I want to feel like I’ve earned my reward. So you’ll have to wait until I can order you around.”

“Guess I’m going to try my hardest to prolong it then,” I told her. 

“Hey, you ready yet?” Zeph suddenly called out. “Or are you scared that you’re going to lose.”

“Zeph, we were having a moment,” Sekh complained. 

“It’s fine,” I sighed. “I shouldn’t keep her waiting for too long.”

Taking out my bow, I strode over to the archery butts in preparation for my battle with Zeph. 

Things started out as expected. The two of us consistently made perfect shot after perfect shot within the shorter distances. Realistically, it would be better to say that we were warming up during that time. 

Things only began to kick off when we reached the one hundred fifty meter mark. There, I began to slip up. The first two hits were eights though I struck a bullseye for the last one. When I checked on Zeph, she had struck a seven, a nine, and a bullseye. 

“Just like the tournament,” I quipped when we realized that we had tied. “Want to do the two hundred meter competition again?”

“Absolutely,” Zeph said eagerly. 

Unlike the tense atmosphere of the tournament, our current competition had a rather lax air. Zeph and I simply just took up our bows and took our time shooting.

“I won, I actually won!” Zeph loudly declared when we went to check the butts. 

“Congrats,” I said warmly. “What do you want for dinner then?”

Well she had won by exactly one point, but I didn’t feel like bringing that up. To be exact, I had made two eight point shots and a nine. On the other hand, Zeph made a seven, a nine, and a bullseye. 

“I want a whole roast duck,” Zeph told me happily. “And some sweet wine from Aeolia.”

“Sure,” I replied.

Since we were finished with our matches for the day, the five of us stretched then went back to the Bureau. There, we proceeded with our morning routine of bathing then eating breakfast. 

“Everyone I have bad news,” Minerva announced just when we were starting breakfast.

“More work?” I asked.

“Someone get arrested?” Sekh wondered. 

“Not even close,” Minerva said while putting her hands together. “The government exams in Tyros have been moved to an earlier date. So I have to leave within this week to make it there in time.”

Zeph raised her hand with a deadpan look. “How exactly is that bad news?”

“Well if you guys want to come with me, then you have to leave earlier than before,” Minerva replied. “Plus the mountain pass between Safra and Darses might have some snow.”

“That’s good news then,” Sekh said excitedly. “I can finally see some snow.”

“I’ll have to ask the Doux for leave in that case,” I remarked. 

“You don’t have to go,” Minerva said. “The roads are fairly safe now, since you’ve increased guard patrols. And I’m perfectly capable of going by myself.”

“But it’ll be more fun if we go,” Sekh said cheerily while I nodded my head in agreement.

“I assume the two of us will be staying here?” Irene asked. 

“Yeah,” Minerva answered, not even bothering to extend a consolatory invitation. 

“Sekh and I will go,” I informed Minerva. “I don’t know about Zeph though.”

“I’m invited?” Zeph asked, evidently confused. 

Sekh stared down the white haired girl with a look of mild disappointment. “Yes. We’ve agreed on this a long time ago. Do you not want to come?”

“No, I want to go,” Zeph stated while waving both hands vigorously. “I’ll start packing my stuff right away.”

Sekh and I looked at each other, both smirking from Zeph’s awkwardness. 

“We’ll keep things tidy back here then,” Justin declared with a thumbs up. 

“Thanks,” Minerva replied. “I’m also going to ask Edwin to check up on you two. If you ever need help just ask him.”

It’s more like she’s having Edwin monitor them to make sure they don’t do anything ridiculous, but I’m glad she wasn’t blunt about it. From what I can tell, the village couple seem like good responsible people, if a bit too earnest.

Later that day after lunch, I went over to the citadel to ask Isaac for a vacation. Due to how familiar that the two of us had become, I didn’t even have to wait for permission to enter his office. Instead, I had reached the point where I could just casually stroll in. 

“Hello,” I said while waving to Isaac. “I’ve come to ask for a vacation.”

“How long?” Isaac asked, surprisingly calm. 

“Three weeks, maybe a month,” I told him.

Isaac scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment before answering. “That should be fine. You’ve been a really big help recently so we don’t have quite so much work. But I can’t pay you while you’re on break.”

“That’s fine,” I replied. “I’ll be leaving within the week.”

“Have fun with your break then,” Isaac told me. 

“Thanks, you took the news surprisingly well,” I replied.

“Well I expected you to want to enjoy some time with those beauties around you,” he explained. 

“Very true,” I said while laughing. “Good luck with your work while I’m gone. I’ll also drop off all my documents before I leave.”

With that out of the way, I was now mostly ready for my trip to Tyros. 

That night before dinner, Sekh and I were walking through the streets to buy Zeph’s prize.

“Does she like anything else in particular?” I asked Sekh while we were on our way to buy some roasted duck.

“Hmm,” Sekh hummed while putting a hand on her chin. “From what I remember, she seems to really like lemon cakes.”

“Then let's get some for her,” I replied.

“How come you’re spoiling her?” Sekh asked curiously.

“I wanted to congratulate her on her victory,” I answered casually. “It seems to mean a lot to her, so I’d like to put in a bit more effort to make it special.”

“You’re really sweet,” Sekh said warmly.

“Maybe I am,” I commented with a cheeky smile.

Dinner began right when we made it back to the Bureau. Although I went to get food exclusively for Zeph, Irene had finished making the sweet pea soup with baked bread and roast chicken.

“Zeph, we have your food!” Sekh called out when we entered the kitchen. 

When I laid out the duck, wine, and lemon cakes in front of her, Zeph gave me a curious look. “Did you buy these lemon cakes for me?”

“Yeah, Sekh said that you like them,” I answered.

“Uh, thanks,” Zeph said while awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. “Well you didn’t have to, but I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, I’m just glad that you’re happy,” I replied. “By the way, you look really embarrassed for someone who only got extra food.”

“I’m not,” Zeph mumbled before slinking behind the roast duck in an effort to hide. “I’m really not.”

longer

Hey, author here. Although unrelated to the chapter, I wanted to rant a bit about antiheroes. From what I've noticed, it's a fairly popular tag on this site, and a very popular trope used in stories,  particularly in more modern works. However, the definition is rather vague, with most sources describing an antihero as someone who lacks traditionally heroic qualities. Of course these qualities are very dependent on the times, such as ancient Greeks defining heroes as simply very powerful beings that could be anywhere on the spectrum of morality. Therefore, I've noticed that the term can be used on quite the wide array of characters. For instance, there's the common "I do what others won't" edgy antihero that we're all familiar with,  the jerk with a heart of gold, and many other possibilities. Personally, I always consider my protagonists to be antiheroes, not because they're edgy, but because they're meant to have a grey morality. In fact, I actively try to avoid making my protagonists edgy badasses since I really, really, dislike that archetype. However, I'm extremely fond of funny assholes who do morally ambiguous things  but are still good people who want to better the lives of those around them. One of my personal favorites is Satou Kazuma from Konosuba, who fits the previous description exactly. I've always liked characters in that vein because of how similar they are to real people. Not some paragon or op edgelord, just a slightly abrasive person with a reasonable sense of right and wrong, but not rigidly inflexible in their morals. Anyways, thanks for reading this not so little rant.