“Of course I picked the Harem-Master subclass. …Yeah. I know how that sounds.”

“Ed.”

The word hangs in the morning air, drawing confused looks from Kit and Raka before understanding settles.

Kit reacts first, eyes narrowing, lips curling into that sly smirk that usually means trouble. “You’re serious,” she says. “You want Perri... to fight with Ed?”

Perri’s little hands tighten around her staff. “E-E-Ed?” Her ears twitch wildly. “Wh-Who’s Ed?”

Raka rubs at her chin with a clawed hand. “Hmph. He’s creepy,” she says, then bares her teeth in a grin. “But strong enough to keep pests off her while she learns. And he won’t steal her kills if he’s careful.”

My grin widens as the idea settles into something solid. “Exactly. Ed doesn’t take XP. He fights for love, holds the line like a nightmare, and won’t break the level split.”

Kit raises a brow. “Still the creepiest battle cry I’ve ever heard.”

“Maybe,” I say. “But he gives Perri backup while she learns to heal, shield, and burn things down with Sacred Flame. Perri fights. Ed protects. We coach from the sidelines. By the end of the day, our little bunny isn’t going to be level one anymore.”

As if on cue, the Ring of Sanguis warms on my finger. A faint whisper curls through my mind.

“Train... love.”

I hold up my hand so the ring catches the morning light. “See? He’s already on board.”

Kit leans back, folding her arms. “You know, for someone who doesn’t blink, Ed gives off some very intense coach energy.”

Raka snorts. “Ed keeps her alive. That’s what matters.”

Perri looks between all of us, blue, sticky, and completely lost. “Wh-What is Ed?”

I plant my spear in the soft earth.

“Sanguis.”

The ground cracks open in a perfect circle, and Ed rises from the soil like some macabre flower blooming in reverse, thorns curling down his arms, petals of blood-red roses twisting around white bones that glint like moonlight.

Perri looks between all of us, blue, sticky, and completely lost. “Th-That’s Ed?”

The other low-level adventurers stop dead. One poor swordsman actually drops his blade into a puddle with a wet plop.

“Holy shit,” someone whispers. “Is that a... a necro summon?”

Another voice answers, lower and more uncertain. “No, man. Look at those roses. That’s... that’s some high-tier bonded stuff.”

Kit smirks, amber eyes sliding over the gawking crowd. “They’ve never seen art before.”

Perri, on the other hand, freezes with her ears bolt upright, clutching her staff tighter. “He’s so... creepy... but...” Her head tilts a little, voice softening. “...beautiful.”

Ed pivots toward her with that silent, unnatural grace of his, vines tightening along his limbs. Then, in that whisper that sounds like wind through thorns:

“Priest. Safe.”

I step up beside Perri, lowering my voice so it’s only for her. “He’s with us. He’ll guard you. Always. But this fight? It’s yours.”

Then, louder:

“Ed.” I point toward the clearing where three Blue Bubble Slimes wobble under the sun. “Don’t kill. Don’t grab. Keep them off her if they get too close. Understand?”

Ed goes still for a moment. Then his skull dips once.

“Obey.”

The other adventurers whisper again, shuffling back as Ed stalks forward like a predatory shadow. His vines twitch like they’re hungry for violence, but he holds, watching the slimes with eerie patience.

Kit slides up beside me, low laughter in her throat. “We’re making a scene, Master.”

Raka bares her teeth in a grin. “Good. Let them stare.”

The HUD flickers alive.

Ed – Active Summons (Sanguis Bond)

Behavior Mode: Sentinel

Perri takes a shaky step forward, skirt brushing against the soft fur of her legs, staff glowing faintly in her trembling hands. The bond hums as her fear mixes with determination.

The meadow smells faintly of wet moss and alchemy residue, bright pools of azure where slimes bounce lazily like translucent balloons. Other adventurers hack at them in chaotic clumps, some laughing, some cursing, some stuck thigh-deep in goo. But most, at this point, are just watching Ed.

Three slimes jiggle closer, making those wet suction noises as they hop. Perri flinches.

“Sacred Flame, Perri. Now!” I call.

Her lips move quickly in a stammering prayer. Sacred Flame and a beam of searing gold light lances down. One slime erupts in steam and bubbles.

“Yes!” Kit cheers. “Look at her!”

The second slime launches forward like a gelatinous whip, aiming for Perri’s legs. She shrieks, wobbling.

But Ed moves like a storm breaking silence.

Vines snap forward. Thornlash. The slime jerks sideways, smashing against a boulder so hard the thing bursts in a wet splat. The third he catches in Rose’s Embrace, holding the little jiggler out for Perri to pop.

Perri stumbles back, staring. Ed turns his skull slowly toward her and says, in that thorny whisper:

“Safe.”

I grin, even as the other adventurers look on, horrified but envious.

“This might actually work.”

What follows turns into a blur of blue slime, shouted coaching, and the strangest kind of teamwork I’ve ever engineered.

Perri casts Sacred Flame again, and this time there’s real confidence behind it, a sharp little prayer, a lance of gold, and two slimes burst mid-hop in twin sprays of steam and goo.

Ed body-checks one so hard it splashes three gawking adventurers by the fence. They sputter curses. Kit nearly folds over laughing. Even Raka loses enough composure to bare every tooth she has.

Perri gets stuck once, all the way to her hips, blue slime clinging to her like syrup. She squeals, ears flailing wildly, and Ed tears the thing off her with a violent snap of vines, holding it in the air like a wet balloon before pulping it into the dirt.

I spend half the day barking corrections. “Focus your chants. Hold that barrier longer. Again. Faster. Don’t panic just because it jiggles at you.”

Raka tosses her a waterskin between pulls, grin sharp and approving. “For a priest, you fight mean.”

Kit slips in close whenever Perri starts to wilt, whispering things in her ear that turn her cheeks pink even as she throws another Sacred Flame hard enough to pop a slime in a hiss of gold and blue.

By dusk, the meadow is streaked with fading mist and twitching slime remains. Perri stands in the middle of it all, blue to the elbows, ears dripping, chest heaving, and glowing with the kind of exhausted pride that only comes after earning something the hard way.

The HUD pulses.

There she is.

Perri – Level 3

She feels it, then looks at me, then at the others.

“I... I did it,” she says, beaming through the goo. “I didn’t even drown in slime.”

Ed lumbers up behind her, roses shedding faint petals in the sunset. His voice slips out like wind through thorns.

“Strong.”

The bond answers with a warm, proud hum that runs through all of us at once.

And for the first time all day, I let myself believe.

Yeah.

This is going to work.

So we call it there and head back to the Feisty Dwarf, tired, filthy, and absurdly proud of our little rabbit.

The next morning, over a stacked table of breakfast, we gathered.

I set my mug down and looked between all three of them, letting the plan settle into place before I said it out loud.

“Alright,” I said. “Here’s how this is going to work.”

Kit leaned back first, eyes narrowing in that sharp little way she gets when she knows I’m about to start arranging the world like a puzzle. Raka’s ears flicked once, patient and steady. Perri, still blue in spots and sticky enough to shine at the elbows, clutched her staff with both hands and tried very hard to look ready for whatever came next.

“We’re not doing this in one day,” I told them. “Not properly. Perri needs levels, reps, confidence, and enough time for her hands to stop shaking every time something jiggles toward her.”

Perri opened her mouth, closed it, then nodded anyway.

“We train in the Slime Meadows during the day,” I went on. “I stay with Perri. Ed stays with Perri. We drill casting, movement, panic control, all of it. No shortcuts. No stupid heroics. If she’s going to stand with us in Bushman Forest, she earns it.”

Raka’s grin flashed slow and sharp. “Good.”

I pointed at Kit and Raka with two fingers. “Meanwhile, the two of you handle the apartment.”

Kit blinked. “…Seriously?”

“Yes. Seriously.” I leaned back a little. “There’s no point in all four of us standing in a field watching the little rabbit turn blue for hours. One coach, one creepy bodyguard, one priest. That’s enough in the Meadows.” I glanced at the two of them. “You can get more done in town than you can sitting under a tree making fun of her.”

“We were helping,” Kit said.

“You were laughing.”

“She was very blue.”

“She was very sticky,” Raka added, completely unrepentant.

I pointed at them again. “Exactly. So while I’m out there helping her not die, the two of you will find a place and get our home ready.”

That gained their attention.

I felt it through the bond before I even saw it in their faces—Kit’s spark flaring into curiosity, Raka’s steadier pulse turning thoughtful, Perri’s soft little gasp of wonder as the word Home turned into something bigger in her chest.

“Our home,” Perri repeated quietly.

I nodded once. “Cleaned up. Furnished. Simple. Functional. Big table. Real storage. Bath if they’ve managed it.” My mouth curved a little. “And a bed that doesn’t squeak like it’s dying every time somebody breathes too hard.”

Kit snorted into her drink. Raka’s tail thumped once against the bench.

“And until it’s ready?” Perri asked.

“We’re still at the Feisty Dwarf,” I said. “Train by day. Eat, bathe, and sleep there at night. Same as always. Only difference is now we’re building toward something instead of renting around it.”

Kit propped her chin in her hand. “So let me get this straight. You want me and the wolf to go find and make a den pretty while you and our new little priest spend all day in slime together.”

“Functional,” I corrected.

“Mm.” Her smile turned wicked. “That’s what I said.”

Raka folded her arms. “I can do furniture. Heavy lifting. Bed frame. Table. Anything that needs carrying.”

Kit glanced sideways at her. “Curtains?”

Raka stared back. “You do curtains.”

Perri looked between them, wide‑eyed. “You’re really doing all that… for us?”

Raka gave her a look like the answer should be obvious. “For pack.”

Kit reached over and flicked one of Perri’s ears. “For home.”

I let them have the moment before I brought the room back to the practical part.

“Day one,” I said, and all three of them looked at me again. “We keep it simple. Perri trains in the Meadows with Ed and me. Kit and Raka go meet the landlord, handle coin, make sure we’re not moving into a glorified broom closet, then start getting the place in order.”

“I can do that,” Kit said.

“I know.”

Raka nodded once. “Done.”

Perri straightened, fingers tightening around the Ashwood Prism Staff beside her knee. “And me?”

I looked right at her. “You survive the day. You listen. You cast when I tell you. You stop apologizing every time a slime gets on you. And you learn that being scared isn’t the same thing as being weak.”

Her throat moved when she swallowed.

Then she nodded.

“I can do that,” she whispered.

I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table. “No,” I said quietly. “You can try that.”

Perri blinked. “That’s… less reassuring.”

“It’s more honest.” I reached over and tapped the end of her staff. “You’re Level 3. You’re new. You’re going to get slimed. You’re going to panic. You’re going to mess up chants and forget your footing and maybe cry once or twice if the day’s unkind.”

Perri’s ears drooped.

Then I grinned.

“But,” I said, “you’re also going to keep getting back up, and by tonight you are not going to be the same girl you were this morning.”

That brought her ears back up.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Raka rose first, collecting the last of her food like the conversation was finished because, to her, it was. “We’ll head out,” she said. “Start looking for a place. Come back before dark.”

Kit slid out after her, stretching like a cat in a sunbeam. “I’m buying at least one thing that serves no purpose except making it feel like ours.”

“Not too much,” I warned.

“No promises.”

“That’s not how warnings work.”

She leaned down, pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, then another to Perri’s temple just to watch the little rabbit go pink again. “Try not to drown in slime while I’m gone.”

Perri clutched the staff harder. “I’m not going to drown in slime.”

Kit’s grin turned bright. “That’s the spirit.”

Raka stepped around the table, paused beside Perri, and rested one big hand on top of her head between those long ears. “Burn them first,” she said. “Panic later.”

Then she and Kit were gone, pulling the morning air in after them as the Feisty Dwarf kept roaring around us like the whole world hadn’t just tilted into place.

For a minute, it was only me and Perri at the table.

She watched the door after them, then looked back at me. “They really mean it,” she said softly.

“About what?”

“About me.” Her fingers curled around the edge of the table. “About pack. About home. About all of it.”

I studied her for a second.

The little rabbit was still blue in one ear.

Her staff was clutched so tightly in both hands she looked like she thought somebody might take it if she relaxed.

“Yeah,” I said. “They do.”

She looked down at her breakfast. “I’ve never had people say things like that and mean them.”

“No,” I said quietly. “I know.”

By the time I stood, she was already pushing herself up too, trying to look brave before the brave part was actually required.

I smiled despite myself.

“Come on, little priest.”

She blinked up at me. “To the Meadows?”

“To the Meadows.”

She took one breath, squared her shoulders, and nodded. “And Ed?”

“Will be right there with you.”

“Day two,” I say.

Perri grips the staff tighter, ears high now despite herself.

“Day two,” she echoes.