Belfar scanned my body with his deep violet eyes. He did not look at me the way a man looks at a woman, No. Instead, his eyes were those of a bandit salivating at his loot.

My stomach felt bitter as a small sense of guilt rippled through my body. Had I made the wrong decision?

“That is a rather peculiar Demi-Human, Father Leo. How much for it?” Belfar asked.

“Is not for sale.”

“That is correct, I am not his property, I am here of my own free will.”

Belfar laughed. “Really, peculiar indeed. I do not know what type of arrangement you have with Father Leo, but If you join my adventuring party, I am willing to give you a better deal.”

“She can’t leave. The matter is of high importance to the church,” Leo responded. His calm voice sounded shaken. As if he was withholding an explosive anger.

“I will leave if I want,” I said. My response made Belfar smile. “But I will not do so until you two tell me how THAT happened.”

Neither Belfar nor Leo understood what I meant until they saw me point my finger at the bloodied cat-girl on the table.

Belfar quickly looked at Leo, then back at me. “The Dungeon did that to her. Feel free to ask her. She has been trained to respond.”

There was no hesitation in his voice.

I stared at the Demi-Human, who by now had been fully healed by Leo.

“Is that true?” I asked. But she did not respond. Her green eyes just stared at me.

“Be more specific,” Balfar asked.

“Did Belfar hurt you?” I asked.

The Cat-Girl shook her head. That is all I needed. I stepped forward, only for Leo to catch hold of my arm.

“Make no mistake,” Leo said. “I know of no dungeon that can make a-”

“Let her go, old man,” Belfar said, grabbing firm the hilt of his sword.

In times of doubt, go with the flow. I told myself. Belfar seemed like the strongest in the room. As such, I hugged his arm.

“We’ll be taking our leave now,” Belfar said. Before indicating that, I should let go of his arm.

Carrying the cat-girl in his arms in a princess carry, Belfar and I walked out of the room. As the door behind us closed, Father Leo seemed to be shaking in anger.

It was close to sunset. The streets of the town were even emptier than before.

“You are an idiot,” Belfar said. “You know that?”

I was baffled by what he said.

“What? How?”

“You made a huge decision without collecting enough information or even giving it a second thought. Father Leo was not wrong.”

“Huh!?”

“The wounds that you saw in my beloved Leah, I made them myself with own my sword.”

I froze in the spot.

Belfar smiled before putting Leah down. She seemed to be able to stand just fine.

“You’ll run back to Leo?” Belfar asked, then smiled. “If you do that, you will turn into his pawn. He is using you and I bet you do not even know how.”

“Screw you, this is not fair. I was living in the mountains. How am I supposed to know about the geopolitics of your worl-.”

“For someone who has been living in the mountains, you sure know quite a few fancy words,” Belfar responded. “However, you are in luck. I love Demi-Humans.”

He pulled Leah by the waist and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Leah purred.

“Help me beat the dungeon of reprisals, and I shall grant you a wish.”

“I am not so-”

“No, no, no. Make no decision until we get to the inn. I want to reward you with a good meal first. After all, is not often that I get to annoy those clowns from the church. Father's Leo face gave me great delight.”

The moment Belfar mentioned the word food, my stomach trembled. Dammit, but I just ate a few hours ago! What is this!? Was my father a demon of Gluttony?

“M-Maaah!”

Leah gave me a hug.

Fritzer

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