Trainer

Anna and Rosa were standing on a field near the castle, waiting for the trainer to arrive. It was early in the morning and Anna was still cringing at what had happened the afternoon before.

Anna, still being a puppy, had fallen asleep in Rosa's arms. 'It's so embarrassing!' Anna cringed in her thoughts, 'I fell asleep in some little girl's arms.' And as if that wasn't bad enough, when she woke up she realized it was the middle of the night, and was still being held by Rosa. When she tried to leave her arms, she discovered she couldn't even budge a little bit. The kid's arms, trapping her like a prison until she woke up, hours later. Any dignity she'd had left had been completely crushed after being used as a pillow by a girl, two years younger than her. 'I'm not a stuffed animal, dammit!' She cried inwardly.

What she didn't know was that Rosa had woken up when she began struggling. She just thought Rosa's amusement, that she felt through the bond, was from a dream.

Her attention then shifted to the castle, it was quite a stunning sight. She'd expected the Demon King's castle to be black twisting spires. In reality though, it was a medieval looking castle made of white stone, surrounded by large fields and lush gardens. However, many parts of the castle seemed to defy physics with many attached towers supported by only a horizontal walkway, even moving slightly up and down. She assumed it had been done with magic. The fields were walled off by stone ramparts and guard towers. The area they stood in was near the base of the castle and had wooden dummies as well as archery targets.

Anna's attention was pulled back as several carriages holding luggage and cages appeared in the distance. They all moved autonomously with magic and were escorted by two guards. When they pulled into the training area, the door of the front carriage was kicked open and a small creature suddenly jumped down.

"Greetings, your highness. I am the Beast Trainer hired by your father, the King. My name is Yogolm, it's a pleasure." Said the small thing that had jumped out of the carriage. He was maybe about a foot tall, had pale, slightly green skin, and a cheerful looking face.

"Good morning, I look forward to learning from you," Rosa returned the greeting simply.

Yogolm nodded, "Alright then, let us begin. Please allow me to inspect your companion beast."

Anna was slightly nervous, but she was more excited to get the chance to learn more about her stats. She looked up at the small goblin creature expectantly.

But when Yogolm saw her eyes, he paused for several seconds. He then began walking very shakily towards Anna, casting a spell with a magic circle forming in his hand. After inspecting her status for a few minutes he walked back into the carriage and closed the door. A few seconds later they heard some incomprehensible yelling tied in with curses. Some minutes passed before he calmly walked back out with some luggage.

Anna looked curiously towards Rosa, but the latter was calm like everything that had happened was within expectation.

Yogolm arrived in front of them and set the luggage down before casually asking, "So a variant Lykaion, huh?"

Rosa responded with a simple nod.

Yogolm nodded in response as if finally grasping the situation. He sat down on the luggage and let out a sigh, finally, seeming to relax.

"Well, holy fuck."

Luckily the guards were standing on the edge of the field out of earshot range.

'Isn't that incredibly disrespectful? Will he be killed or something for cursing in front of royalty?" Anna was shocked by his vulgarity, not seeing the irony.

However, if Rosa cared, she didn't show it. Only wearing the same cordial smile she'd had the whole time. Through the bond, Anna could tell that Rosa was even a little amused by the small goblin's antics.

"Pardon my language, I'm just very excited, you see."

Rosa again simply nodded.

"Alright, let's get started then, shall we?"

After that he got off his luggage, and opened it. However, before he could start going through it, Rosa walked over to him, leaning down and whispering something to him quietly. He showed a confused expression before shrugging, and saying "That complicates things, but if it's what you desire."

Anna looked between them confused, but before she could think about it, Yogolm had taken out a bunch of different pet accessories.

"First, she will need an identifier, so people can recognize her as a bonded beast and won't piss themselves when she grows up. Please choose from any of these," he said waving his hand over the luggage full of different pet accessories.

Anna felt a surge of dread as Rosa felt excited.

After several minutes, Anna had ended up with a large, pink ribbon around her neck. Rosa had taken out a lot of accessories, trying them on before ending up with this one. 'It's like she knew which one I hated the most…' Anna moped. '...' She seemed to realize something. 'She probably did know! This fucking companion bond goes both ways! She knew which one I felt the most humiliated in and picked it!! Doesn't she feel bad about teasing a dog?!? This is animal abuse!!' Anna raged at Rosa, inadvertently identifying herself as a dog.

At Anna's anger, Rosa only felt gratified.

Yogolm had put the rest away and had come out with a large crate that he set down near the base of the castle.

After walking back towards them, he began explaining their training curriculum over the next few weeks.

"First, we'll try to get the young pup adjusted to combat as well as help it level up a little bit. You'll also learn how to use the bond to communicate," saying the last part somewhat awkwardly. "After a few weeks of that, you'll both practice together for a few months, before finally, you'll be taken to a dungeon. That's just a basic rundown, there's a lot more to go over later." He led them over to the crate he'd set next to the castle wall. "For now, we'll start with this," he said as he opened the front of the crate with magic.

Anna had been wondering what he meant by practice, but when he'd suddenly opened the crate, her anxiety spiked. 'Oh god, am I going to fight a monster?!?' Her heart was pounding when suddenly a blue, translucent orb casually hopped out of the crate.

'A slime?' Anna realized. She watched as the soccer ball sized blob hopped around peacefully. Anna suddenly felt stupid for being so worried, especially because she knew Rosa had witnessed it all.

"Try and command the pup. As long as you convey the intention, your beast should understand." Yogolm suddenly began lecturing in a flat tone. "As your companion bond strengthens, communication will become more efficient."

Rosa nodded as she tried it, "Attack."

Anna was feeling indignant over being ordered around, so she simply pretended to not hear anything, and just meandered around.

Sensing her stubbornness, Rosa's smile turned a little sinister.

"Mutt, attack," she ordered sharply.

'This brat...' Anna was deeply offended. But she persisted in her act of ignorance. 'I'll just let her humiliate herself in front of the trainer.' Anna had already been embarrassed numerous times today by Rosa, so she wanted to turn the tables on Rosa.

However, Rosa's mood didn't sour, in fact she started to seem even more ominously happy.

"Hmm, well a naughty puppy should be punished right? Maybe we should get a more aggressive creature for her to fight?" Rosa asked, seemingly delighted by the prospect.

Anna shivered in fear. 'This damn sadistic, weirdo kid,' she grumbled to herself as she walked over to the idle slime. 'If you want to see combat, I'll show you some fucking combat,' Anna swiped the slime with her paw as hard as she could, not sure if she could damage it.

With a loud smack, the slime was sent flying towards the castle wall. Feeling proud she thought 'See? How was that you br-' She was interrupted when the slime bounced off the wall, and came flying back, hitting her right in the head and popping. She fell over backwards, drenched in slime.

She felt like crying.