"So how did things go?” Sekh purred while latching onto me in bed. 

Pulling her head towards my chest, I began to gently rub the top of the leopard girl’s head. 

“Pretty well so far, but I’m not sure how long that will last.”

“I’ll throw in a prayer for you then,” Sekh said while ruffling my hair with her hand. 

“That sounds great,” I replied warmly. “And let me know when you and Zeph are going out to do stuff. I’d like to come along if it’s within my schedule.”

Smiling mischievously, Sekh cupped my cheeks with her hands, drawing herself within breathing distance of my face. 

“You’re super cute today.”

“That’s only natural,” I responded, a little bashful from her teasing. 

A burst of cheery giggles erupted from Sekh, her tail now swaying back and forth excitedly. 

“I really love it when you’re like this, all cute and blushing. Oh! Is that a pout that I’m seeing?”

“No,” I denied, looking away to hide any evidence.

Spurred on by this, Sekh pulled herself on my chest and began to prod at my face. 

“You are pouting, hehe. Now stay still for a bit so I can engrave this in my memory.”

“Good grief,” I sighed happily. “You really are enjoying yourself.”

“Am I not supposed to?” she asked cheekily. “After all, the gap between flustered you and the normally confident you is really attractive.”

“Do you fantasize about it?” I quipped with a wry smile.

Caught off guard, Sekh blushed a bit while initiating a tactical retreat.

“Umm…yeah. I actually do.”

“Got your cute side to show up too,” I declared teasingly, provoking a pout from Sekh.

“I guess we’re both like that then,” Sekh conceded, faking grumpiness.

“I think you should include the two other people with us,” I remarked. “One person has a gap wider than her own bust and the other changes as easily as the wind.”

“That is true,” Sekh commented. “But I only really like it when you get flustered. It’s probably because it happens a lot less with you.”

“Makes sense,” I added. “Personally, I like seeing cute girls blush and get all shy.”

“You’re incorrigible,” Sekh laughed, her tail coiling around my leg.

“You were supposed to say that you love me anyways,” I retorted while nuzzling my chin against her head.

“That’s already an established fact,” Sekh answered. “Stating it would be redundant to say the least.”

“Huh, that’s a funny way of saying I love you,” I replied with an almost shit eating grin.

“If you don’t shut up I’ll force you to with a kiss,” Sekh retorted.

“Really?” I teased before suddenly grabbing Sekh and pressing my lips against hers.

A little surprised, Sekh squirmed for a bit before relenting and going with the flow. After entwining our tongues for a while, the two of us broke off, our eyes still glued to each other.

“Looks like another win for me,” I said cheekily as I tapped her on the nose.

“Losing isn’t so bad, you know?” Sekh told me warmly. “Now let’s go to sleep, you’re going to need the rest.”

“Mmm,” I hummed while using Sekh as a hug pillow, the two of us soon drifting off to sleep in each other’s embrace.

The next day, I woke up early in the morning to prepare for my new work as a committee member. But before I left my room, I made sure to pull the blanket up to cover Sekh and plant a light kiss on her forehead. 

Since I normally wake up the earliest, I only had the servants to keep me company when I started eating breakfast. However, Cadmus soon came down after a while to join me for breakfast. And by the time that the two of us were ready to head towards the castle, Quintus arrived, still groggy from sleep. 

“Should we wait for him?” I asked Cadmus.

“There’s no need,” he answered. “Now let’s get going, we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Taking a short walk to the castle, the two of us headed straight towards the great hall. There, Cadmus led me towards one of the rooms on the upper floors. It was a very standard room compared to the others, reasonably sized with wooden interiors and a modest set of furniture. 

“Documents and records should be laying about in the office,” Cadmus told me. “As for the specific locations, I haven’t got a clue. The old man who used to work here didn’t tell me anything important.”

“Not the type of adventure I was expecting,” I remarked. “But maybe it'll be fun.”

“Let me know when you’re finished deluding yourself,” Cadmus added. 

“Maybe till the afternoon,” I said while thoughtfully looking up. “I’m assuming that you won’t be helping me?”

“You assumed correctly,” he replied. “Well I don’t mean as though I don’t want to help you. It’s just that I have a fair amount of work as well.”

“Let’s have a race in that case,” I suggested. “Last person to finish has to talk with Porcius and Sempronius.”

“So we’re competing to see who has to suffer, right?” he asked. 

“Is that a yes or a no?” I pressed him. 

Cadmus simply began bolting out of my room. It was only when he was down the hallway that I heard him speak. 

“It’s on! But wait for me to get to my office, I want this to be a fair competition.”

“I don’t even know where your office is!” I shouted back at him before getting ready to work.

In spite of the childish nature of this competition, I had fairly good reasons for doing so. Since I probably have an absurd amount of work ahead of me, similar to Cadmus, I thought it would be a good idea to create an incentive for us to work faster. And although Cadmus is most likely a responsible and hard working person, I have no doubt that I would create a few too many rest periods if I find the work particularly unappealing. 

Soon, I realized that giving myself a serious incentive was quite necessary. Although I found the required documents after turning over most of the shelves and the whole desk, this was only the beginning of my struggle. So after obtaining all the documents, I ended up spending nearly half an hour sorting the stack. 

And in order to verify the information on the papers, I had to go around the great hall looking for staff who were involved with the documents. Fortunately, there were almost no issues that had to be resolved apart from some minor corrections. But I was more surprised that there were any mistakes to begin with. And I ended up having to run around the castle, so that wasn’t the most beneficial thing for me.

Around lunch, Cadmus and I regrouped with one another, Cadmus looking quite a bit more energetic than me. 

“Can I say that I’ve already won?” Cadmus said jokingly while we were eating some stew at the castle mess hall. 

“Never underestimate an weary opponent,” I told him. “I might feel like shit, but I have no intentions of losing.”

“Well I have no intention of attempting to convince those two clowns that I call colleagues,” Cadmus remarked.

Bolstered by our competitive desire to avoid speaking to the two committee members, Cadmus and I quickly finished our lunches and returned to work. Pushing myself to my limit, I spent the time until dinner running about as fast as possible. Most of my tasks involved inspecting the equipment that would be used in the exam, evaluating the personnel that would be assisting me, and preparing documents where the results would be recorded. Of course I didn’t bear the brunt of the work and I was mainly supervising people who were responsible for the individual tasks, but I was surprised by the bureaucratic need for an overseer to double check things that seemed redundant. Well, they seemed redundant and for the most part were, though I had cases where I actually found a mistake that had just popped up or had been laying around for years. 

Arriving back at the Considias’ house for dinner, I was fairly exhausted at that point, my body weary from work. Even so, I had brought back a pile of papers that needed reviewing and signing so I could expedite my efforts. 

“Azel, you ok?” Sekh asked me when I had got back. 

Looking at Sekh, I noticed that her hair, or fur, had an unusual sheen and her lightly tanned skin appeared smoother than normal. Naturally I had to check if this was the case and after caressing her for a bit I confirmed my beliefs. 

“Did Cornelia take you somewhere today?” I asked her. 

“Yup,” she replied happily. “All of us went to a milk bath today, even Minerva. But unfortunately for you, I’m the only one you can fondle.”

“I’m going to take full advantage of that then,” I remarked. “As for me, I had a full day of work, just work. It wasn’t even something fun, I literally went around signing papers and checking to make sure that exam preparations were in the correct order.”

“That sucks,” Sekh commented. “In that case, would you like a massage later tonight?”

“I would love that,” I answered. 

Dinner that night was enjoyable as always. There were fresh greens, savory soup, and a few imported items. Minerva seemed particularly cheerful, most likely refreshed from taking a short break in her studies. But unfortunately for her, Cadmus had not been dimmed by his workload and tried to pick fights with her, though his wives took rotations of reeling him in. 

Sometime after dinner, I went upstairs to talk with Minerva before I had my promised appointment with Sekh. And as for the contents of our early night tryst, I just needed for Minerva to contact her former teacher so I could bring that person together with Cadmus for our mission. 

“When do you want to meet him?” Minerva asked when I brought up the topic. 

“The day after tomorrow,” I told her. “A couple days after that would be fine as well, though I’d like as much time as possible to work with.”

“I’ll inform him tomorrow,” she replied. “Don’t worry, if things are normal, he won’t be busy. Unless he considers his garden more important than spreading his teachings. That might be possible.”

“The eccentricities of this city never fail to disappoint,” I remarked with a wry grin. 

“Well one doesn’t end up as the greatest city east of Megara without standing out a bit,” Minerva said proudly. 

“Is it worth the cost?” I teased. 

“You’re just exaggerating,” she complained amiably. “And even if we are unusual, I think it’s worth the price, however small that it might be.”

“I respect that,” I replied with a chuckle. “Anyways, thanks for the help. And let me know when I can help you out.”

“Of course,” she answered. “But make sure to spend some time with Sekh as well.”

“How convenient, that’s what I have planned next,” I informed her. “In that case, I should get to my task as fast as possible.”

“I wish you godspeed then,” Minerva joked. 

Being a normal person, I didn’t run downstairs to meet with Sekh. However, I was quite excited to have a cute leopard girl squeeze the aches out of my back. And I was not disappointed when Sekh promptly plopped herself on my back.

“So do you want a regular massage or a breast massage?” Sekh asked playfully, her tail prancing about. 

“The former,” I answered almost immediately. “Tits are nice, but I really want these aches gone.”

“Your wish is my command,” Sekh declared while laughing. 

After a very well earned massage, I decided to just go to sleep in preparation for the following day. Just like the previous day, I woke up early, ate breakfast with Cadmus and headed towards the castle. However, yesterday’s hard work paid great dividends since I had managed to clear a majority of my tasks. As a result, I managed to finish everything around an hour after lunch. And right when I finished, I made sure to go check with Cadmus on the matter. Considering how he hadn’t approached me, I was most likely in the clear. 

“Hello,” I said ominously while entering his office. “Are you finished yet, brother-in-law?”

“No,” he replied in shock. “Don’t tell me that you’re done.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I chuckled. “Because I happen to be finished with my own preparations. All I have to do now is talk with Minerva’s teacher, convince Marcus, and then conduct my portion of the exams.”

Cadmus looked at me glumly, his mouth slightly ajar.

“I should’ve known. The military part of this is always the shortest. There’s barely a written section and most of it is just examining an applicant's physical ability and skill. Meanwhile I have to prepare for a horrifying amount of poetry, arithmetics, and literature. On top of that, I have to coordinate with the rest of the committee on these things.”

“Well you’ll have to coordinate with a certain two individuals more,” I remarked. “Besides, I think you have a higher chance of swaying them. Just a little higher.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal anyways. We pretty much know that they won’t budge. All I have to do is not instigate them.”

“A mighty task considering their disposition,” I told him. “You have my prayers. As for me, I’m going to enjoy taking a well earned break.”

“You want to help me instead?” he suggested. 

“Yes and no,” I answered cryptically. “I’ll help you out later, but I need to rest a bit for now so I can be more efficient. Just bring home whatever you need me to do.”

“Fine, I’ll take it,” he conceded. 

Heading home, I found Sekh and Zeph lounging in Zeph’s room, the two eating snacks and drinking tea with each other.

“You’re done already?” Sekh asked curiously.

“I’m just too good,” I remarked with a broad smile. “Do you two want to go do something right now? I’m free until dinner.”

“You can join us,” Zeph suggested. “Sorry, but we’re  a bit lazy today.”

“That’s fine,” I said while grabbing a spot on the bed. “Time spent with you two is time well spent.”

“Agreed,” Sekh commented cheerily.

“I’ll interpret it as a gesture of friendship,” Zeph said suspiciously.

“Well what else would it be?” I retorted. “Now can you pass me a cookie?”

The three of us continued like this until dinner, providing me some much needed mental relief. As for Cadmus, he returned home with a stack of documents in tow. Considering the expenditure of paper throughout most of the world, I’m surprised the orcish kingdoms aren’t richer than they already are.

Due to my time off, I had sufficiently recovered to be a meaningful aid to Cadmus, the two of us blitzing through the papers with relative ease. As a result, I could go to sleep earlier and Cadmus had spare time to play with his kids.

It was around morning of the next day that Minerva and I went to meet her former teacher, a southern elven noble by the name of Atticus. And because of his noble status his home was quite conveniently near us in the city.

Similar to the Considias’ house, Atticus’ house was also quite the lavish building, though a fair bit smaller in comparison. When we arrived at the residence, the servants warmly waved to Minerva and led us inside to meet with their master. Said individual was found relaxing out in his garden under the morning sun, his silver hair glistening from the light.

“Teacher, I’m back,” Minerva said while waving at the elderly dark elf. “And I brought the temporary committee member.”

Jumping up excitedly, Atticus went towards me to shake my hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, hero of the spear. My student told me that you wanted to discuss the government exam this year, is that correct?”

“Yes,” I replied while shaking his hand. “How much do you have planned anyways?”

“Mostly some theories I wanted to test on a larger scale,” he informed me. “But that’s not important, I have a fair amount of notes on changing the grading for the mock report. I find the current focus on style to detract too much from concision. Although I also believe that use of emotional appeal should be emphasized more as well.”

“That seems good,” I remarked. “I think it will be a better idea to go into specifics when you meet the rest of the committee, especially since they’re more knowledgeable than me. Is that alright with you?”

“It is,” he told me. “Though many of my plans are still in development so bear with me.” 

“It’s fine,” I informed him. “I'm sure that the other people there will be able to fill in the gaps when needed.”

Well it seems that I’ve figured out why he hadn’t talked to the committee about the matter. The bulk of his ideas aren’t completed yet while the committee normally wants fleshed out proposals. But because we could benefit from some small changes, I think that Atticus has a good opportunity now.

Separating from Minerva, Atticus and I went to the castle to meet with Cadmus after Atticus had gathered his notes and other materials. When we arrived, I found Cadmus in a meeting with the rest of the committee members, something both convenient and troublesome.

“We didn’t call for you, so what are you doing here?” Porcius asked when I showed up.

Quickly scanning the papers arrayed on the table and using the fragment of a conversation that I heard on my way in, I discerned that they were talking about how poetry would be graded on the exam.

“I brought along someone who could be of help in this matter,” I replied while staring down the older southern elf.

“Good to see you, Atticus,” Lucius said from the sidelines. “Are you really finished with all those theories you were working on?”

“Unfortunately not,” Atticus sighed. “But one of my best pupils encouraged me to at least take some action, so here I am today.”

“Then share what you can with us then,” Varro encouraged him.

The room then began to ascend towards a debate about the nuances of poetry, literature, and formal writing. Most of what was discussed was the importance of simplicity while preserving all the important ideas and reasoning as well as the various writing styles present in the region. As for my contributions, I simply sat there and soaked in the information. It wasn’t as though I couldn’t understand, but I’m outright not knowledgeable enough to contribute. And because I didn’t fall asleep or appear like an idiot, I felt as though I accomplished my task.

The meeting ended around lunch, the committee surprisingly happy with their discussion, planning to continue the following day. 

Since I was effectively done for the day, I went back home to consider my course of action for the rest of the day. When I got back, Sekh, Zeph, and Cornelia had already gone off, leaving me with Minerva and the servants.

“How did things go?” Minerva asked me.

“Really good,” I told her excitedly. “They’re planning to continue with the discussion tomorrow and it seems that the committee is welcoming your teacher’s ideas.”

“That is really good,” Minerva said happily. “I personally find Atticus’ plans to be quite promising, but that’s just my bias as his former student.”

“As expected of one of his star pupils,” I teased.

“He still says that?” Minerva wondered as I nodded. “Well it’s nice to confirm that he still holds me in high regards. Oh, sorry to switch topics, but can you help me with horseback riding today? I know it’s a bit sudden so you don’t have to accept.”

“It’s alright,” I replied with an easy grin. “I don't have anything planned right now and I did promise to help you with this.”

“Thanks,” Minerva said warmly. “Just wait for me to change clothes and I’ll go.”

After switching from her dress to tunic and pants, Minerva and I got ready to start practicing. Taking our horses from the stable we led them through the city and outside of the gates into the open plains.

“Good job mounting,” I commented as we were getting ready to ride outside of the city.

“Thanks, but I wish I was as good as you,” Minerva replied. “How do you do it anyways.” 

“A lot of practice,” I answered unhelpfully.

“I should’ve known,” Minerva sighed. “I enjoy riding horses, but unlike you, I’m just a casual rider.”

“It is what it is,” I replied. “Though I’m such a serious rider that I even raced a horse on foot before. Just to make sure I could keep up with my own mount if need be.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she laughed.

“I wish I could have told my past self that,” I remarked. 

The two of us rode around for a while, occasionally doing maneuvers such as jumps or avoiding obstacles. During that time, I focused on observing Minerva’s abilities while trying to present a good example all the while.

Hopping off from my horse, I strolled over to Minerva and began to adjust her posture with my hands.

“It’s mostly correct but your back is a bit bent,” I commented. “I’m not sure whether this will help much for the exam but it should be good in the long term.”

“Umm…thanks,” Minerva mumbled while blushing.

Right, I had just made physical contact with a maiden in love, and a particularly awkward one at that. And although it was rather cute, I’d rather not distract her from the task at hand.

“Here I’ll show you what it should look like,” I said before mounting my own horse.

The two of us continued practicing for a while after, Minerva managing to regain most of her composure that she lost due to absurd reasons. 

“Thanks for today, Azel,” Minerva said warmly as we were leading our horses into the stables. “I really appreciate you helping me with this.”

“No problem,” I replied with an easy grin. “But I’m not sure how much I actually helped you.”

“A lot,” Minerva told me with a gentle smile. “You helped a lot.”