Misery Loves Company

The young man's mind slowly bode farewell to the all too familiar darkness and roused him from his slumber. Still, he didn't open his eyes. After all, if he just pretended to sleep for a little longer, he might not get their attention. For now. Another benefit would be that he didn't have to see those horrid surroundings he had gotten so used to…

'Wait. What is this?!'

Something had changed. In fact, everything he felt was different. His body was enveloped in pleasant warmth, entirely devoid of the rough fabric and invasive insects that had bothered him for a long time. He was still exhausted, but even the waves of pain that had pervaded his body nigh constantly before had receded by a noticeable amount.

After slowly opening his eyes and sitting up, the cat boy noticed that his surroundings were completely different from what he had expected. The room he found himself in wasn't especially extravagant, but it certainly couldn't be found in the lower income-areas of Orario. Compared to the cold and hard stone floor he had used as his resting place until now, the cozy and warm bed felt heavenly to him. Upon closer inspection of himself, he noticed that the dirt and dried blood that he hadn't had the opportunity to wash off in months was gone and his hair smelt… well, normal. It didn't stink, which was a pretty huge improvement. Most of his more severe wounds had been expertly bandaged, while he now wore comfortable, medium-quality cotton clothing.

The entire situation admittedly confused the boy, while his warning bells couldn't help but ring. Very quickly, however, they quietened down again, once he had taken some time to think. After all, if someone truly wanted to harm him, they wouldn't have treated him so well.

"Where am I…?"

Right after he had muttered this question, the door to his room was gently opened and a pretty Chienthrope girl appeared. When she noticed that he had woken up, she smiled happily and turned around to notify her companions.

"He's awake!"

Although he had just seen a beauty, the cat boy stiffened up in fear and worry and tightly grasped his bedsheets. He didn't make a single sound while observing the group of four that entered his room one by one. There was the pretty Chienthrope girl, a rather good-looking human boy, a Hume Bunny boy who kept to himself and leaned against the wall just after he had entered the room and… an enormous rooster with deep-green feathers?!

"Do you like what you see?"

Apparently, the boy had been absentmindedly staring at the rooster for too long, so it puffed out its feathers arrogantly and strutted around the foot of the bed.

"It can talk?!"

In surprise, the cat boy had already jumped backwards, all the way to the head of the bed, which was situated right at the wall. He had no way to escape any further, so he cautiously eyed the self-important bird warily. Before the situation could spiral even more out of control, however, the Chienthrope girl picked up the rooster and scolded it with a dissatisfied frown on her face.

"Hey, don't scare him."

All she got in response was an irritated "tsk".

Trying his best to further defuse the situation, the human boy slowly walked closer to the bandaged young man, having his arms raised and an apologetic, harmless smile on his face.

"There's no need to be afraid, you're safe now. Oh, right. You're probably wondering about who we are. I'm Kalin, this lady here is Mina, the rooster is Averin and the one observing from over there is Jakk. So... what is your name?"

Just like the past few months, whenever somebody was talking to him, the cat boy's instincts were screaming at him that he had to run away, that he was in danger. Yet, his rationality told him that this couldn't be further from the truth. Would those people really have to use tricks if they wanted to harm him? No. His life was in their grasp anyway. Therefore, he might as well tell them. It wasn't like it was any important information anyway.

"... Quinn."

Once he had calmed down again, as he still had to be careful with his injuries and recover further, Quinn sat down on the bed and leaned against the wall, contemplatively staring at the three who had taken a seat at the foot of the bed: Mina, Kalin and Averin.

"Where am I?"

Yet again, he asked this question. This time, however, he finally got a reply.

"You're in a residence that's part of the Twilight Manor, on the Loki Familia's grounds."

No matter what, Quinn would have never thought that he was here, in such a prestigious location. Shock and surprise were evident on his face, while a tiny bit of idolization sparkled in his eyes, as he expectantly asked another question.

"Then… are you part of the Loki Familia?"

The one who answered him this time was Mina, who was happily cuddling with the fluffy Averin.

"Jakk is, but I, Kalin and Averin aren't."

Even though he was baffled that Mina thought it would be necessary to explain that the rooster wasn't part of the Loki Familia - after all, since when could birds get a god's blessing? - , Quinn decided not to comment on it. Rather than focusing on such a minor detail, something else had caught his attention.

"What familia are you a part of then?"

As he still remembered seeing all these faces in the dungeon for a fleeting moment, before passing out, Quinn thought they would have to be adventurers. After all, almost everyone who wasn't part of a familia wouldn't be able to delve too deep into the treacherous depths.

Before he got a reply to what he thought to be a relatively simple question, Averin, Mina and Kalin looked at each other with a little bit of helplessness reflected in their eyes. They all were aware that it wouldn't be a good idea to babble out Isaac's secrets to every person they met. Finally, with a resigned sigh, Kalin answered the question.

"That's confidential."

For the already somewhat guarded Quinn, this just rang even more alarm bells, so he eyed the three of them with suspicion in his eyes.

'So you can't tell me, huh?'

Before anyone could explain the situation further, the sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard, which made Mina's ears twitch in response. Then, without any regard for her image, she dropped Averin, jumped up from the bed and hurried outside, with her tail wagging behind her frantically and a bright smile blossoming on her face. A few seconds later, her loud exclamation reached Quinn's ears.

"Welcome back, milord!"

Soon after, he saw a tall young man entering the room, with Mina following him around like a happy puppy. Quinn had raised his guard even more when he had heard Mina's words… after all, wasn't 'milord' pretty much the same as 'master'? So… was this guy a slave owner?! The only thing that kept him from unreasonably freaking out and giving in to despair was that calm and gentle smile on the man's face.

"Let me introduce him to you. Quinn, this is Isaac, my teacher."

Kalin's words were a decent ice-breaker and gave Isaac a premium opportunity to join the conversation, so he didn't let that go to waste.

"It looks like you're doing better now, I'm glad to see it. Seems like these guys did a great job while treating you."

Hearing the apparent care in Isaac's words, Quinn relaxed his grip on the bedsheet a little and cautiously asked about what had disturbed his mind in the first place.

"Why does she call you 'milord'?"

Before Isaac had a chance to explain himself, Jakk, who had been keeping quiet so far, replied in his stead.

"It's a roleplay thing."

Speechlessly, Isaac stared at his roommate, shaking his head in denial. Yet again, before he had a chance to explain anything, someone chimed in. This time, it was the furiously blushing Mina, who was staring at Jakk with a murderous expression on her face.

"It's not!! How dare you disrespect my lord like this?!"

Having already anticipated such a response, Jakk just rolled his eyes and mumbled a few words under his breath.

"I didn't know you were into it to such a degree…"

Although he had been quiet, everyone in this room had pretty good ears, so it didn't escape their notice. Kalin just cracked an awkward smile, while Isaac's smile had turned wry. Now, finally, he had a chance to explain the situation to the confused cat boy.

"I saved her from some slave traders in exchange for her servitude."

Right after these words had left Isaac's lips, Jakk took note of the unflattering choice of words and interjected again, with a cheeky smile plastered on his lips.

"See? It's like I told yo---"

Isaac's sharp glare made the bunny boy swallow back the rest of his sentence.

"Not that kind of servitude."

In response to Isaac's clarification, Jakk raised his arms in a gesture of surrender and complacently chuckled to himself.

This entire exchange didn't help lessen Quinn's confusion at all, but it made him certain that these people… most likely weren't bad people. Right at that moment, when he relaxed a little, a memory he had suppressed so far finally bubbled to the surface. A frail young body, battered and bruised… and dead. Akin to a desperate plea, a frantic question escaped the cat boy's lips.

"M-Millina! Is she really…?"

The one who decided to be the bearer of bad news was Mina, who had just taken a seat again. Nodding sadly, she decided that rather than beating around the bush, she would be brutally honest.

"Yeah, that little cat girl is dead."

It wasn't like the malnourished boy hadn't expected it. Indeed, he had known all along. When he realized it, he had cried his heart out. Now, he didn't even have tears to shed anymore, so Quinn just blankly stared down at his bedsheet, without particularly focusing on anything, and muttered to himself.

"I see…"

After a few moments of silence, with nobody rude enough to interrupt him, Quinn's eyes regained their focus and a small smile formed on his lips.

"Still.. Thank you all. For saving me."

The three who had been responsible for his rescue, Jakk, Kalin and Mina, nodded their heads in response, the latter two even gracing the cat boy with a smile of their own. Before the mood could get too happy, however, Isaac still had a somewhat more serious topic that he needed to discuss with Quinn.

"Do you want to let Millina have a burial tomorrow? As it's a little late today, we probably wouldn't have enough time. But tomorrow, in the late afternoon, we could arrange it."

Shocked, Quinn stared at Isaac, looking at him as if he had just seen a ghost. He had expected his sister's body to have been absorbed by the dungeon already. After all, why would anybody keep a corpse around? And how would they even get it out of the dungeon without attracting attention?

"Where is she? Can I see her?!"

Even though he had already expected this question, Isaac still had to smile wryly, before explaining the situation.

"Her body is currently safely stored away. It would be a little awkward to take it out now, especially because we would have to clean the area afterwards… You can see her tomorrow, okay?"

Admittedly, Quinn was everything but happy. After all, he really wanted to see his sister. Still, he could also somewhat sympathize with the situation of these benefactors of his. It might just be for a stupid-sounding reason like 'having to clean up the mess after exposing the corpse', but it made sense. Also, he didn't want to be too selfish. Therefore, Quinn nodded in agreement.

After wishing Quinn a good rest and continued recovery, Isaac told him that they would talk again tomorrow and left the room, which prompted Jakk to follow along after waving a short goodbye.

Even after the two had left, Averin, Kalin and Mina still remained in Quinn's room for a time and kept him company. They were just talking about their own experiences, not even expecting the cat boy to answer any questions they might have. Just like this, without Isaac even having to tell them that they should try to rope the boy into his forces, they had already started forming a bond. All of them had been miserable at some point in their life, so that was what they connected over. Although Quinn didn't speak about his past, he sometimes smiled a little when the three were talking about some of their happier memories.

-----

As his rented residence had its own kitchen and supplies, Isaac didn't have to worry about his student and subordinates not getting any dinner. After all, they weren't allowed to take part in the daily familia dinner in the canteen, as the space was somewhat limited in the first place. Speaking of which, after they had eaten, Jakk went on his merry way to the dungeon, trying to squeeze in some more training before going to bed. Isaac, on the other hand, spent a few hours talking to Ais and her friends. They weren't doing anything special, just playing some card games, but it was still a relaxing, enjoyable experience.

By the time he had wished them a good night and retreated to his room, it was already almost 9 p.m.. Of course, he hadn't been slacking today. Ever since he had come back from the 24th floor of the dungeon, besides the time he had spent actually sparring against his students, Isaac had been carefully circulating his drops of mana. He had even tried to do so in combat, but he soon realized that he wouldn't yet be able to focus on both tasks simultaneously to a sufficient enough degree as to not commit any mistakes. Sure, if he cheated and used more 'mental power' than his current body and brain would allow, he could easily do so. But that would go against his principles.

In any case, even though the efficiency had been reduced significantly when he was circulating the drops in the background, without fully focusing on them, for the five hours he hadn't been fighting since earlier today, the number of drops he managed to circulate had reached 862.

Even now, Isaac didn't know what kind of help this ability to circulate drops of mana would be, but the more, the better, right? Also, as he currently wasn't otherwisely occupied, he took this opportunity to have a look at his Status.

[ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

[ Familia: Loki Familia ]

[ Affiliation: None ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: Unable to measure ]

[ Charisma: 19 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-0 (+ 687) (2250 x 1.25) ]

[ Endurance: I-0 (+ 674) (2250 x 1.25) ]

[ Dexterity: I-0 (+ 694) (2250 x 1.25) ]

[ Agility: I-0 (+ 686) (2250 x 1.25) ]

[ Magic: I-0 (+ 682) (2250 x 1.25) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Divine Blood ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Huntsman: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

Although none of them had been able to sufficiently pressure him yet, the monsters he had been facing these past few days were a lot stronger than Isaac, stats-wise, which gave him a lot of excelia. Still, until he ran into a brick wall that he couldn't reasonably overcome otherwise or the excelia gain slowed down significantly, there was no need to update his Status.

One thing he had taken note of was that his Divine Blood's all stats-buff seemed to have been ignored by the laws which governed the allocation of excelia. Because of this, he was treated like someone who was 25 percent less powerful, which gave him a lot more excelia than he had expected to gain. Were gods exempt from these laws or was there another reason for this? For now, he couldn't be sure.

Another thing that perplexed Isaac a little was that his Huntsman Development Ability hadn't increased in rank yet, even though he had slain 9563 Level 1 and 1487 Level 2 monsters so far. Just how many more would he have to kill until he saw some improvement here?

As thinking about this any further would just be a waste of time, Isaac got rid of these distracting thoughts, blurred his existence and picked up Averin in his room at the base. Because he had informed the rooster about their nightly dungeon excursion in advance, Averin had retired to his room rather early today. So, after notifying the rooster of what he was about to do, Isaac teleported to where he had stopped his dungeon exploration and AP farming session the last time.

Once they had arrived, Isaac put Averin down on the floor, as he had decided to allow the rooster to hunt monsters alongside him while they explored today. Looking at the staircase leading down towards the dungeon's fourth floor, an almost imperceptible, but genuine smile flashed across his lips.

"Let's continue."