It was really striking just how small Tabitha was, even compared to Louise. Once we were alone, I took the time to search her body over, and found a wand concealed on the small of her back, along with a dagger hidden in her boot. Not the sort of thing I'd expect to find on the person of a daughter from a noble family. Curiosity piqued, I checked her over a little more thoroughly, and found a surprising number of what were obviously battle scars. It was curious, but none of my business.

After putting her clothes back on I briefly considered binding her arms and legs with cord, but then noticed Sylphid in the corner of my eye. The dragon might attack me if it though its master was in serious danger, and I didn't want that. Not only was Sylphid a friend, I doubted Louise would accept any explanation for any serious injuries to the familiar or Tabitha. Indeed, from what I'd learned thanks to me being a familiar, Louise might even be culpable for any harm I did to them.

Yeah, it would be in everyone's best interest if I was just able to talk to Tabitha and convince her to see things my way. If worse came to worst, the slave curse was always an option…

She came around slowly, and pretended to still be asleep after she did. She was trying to squint at me through her eyelashes without her glasses. With her thrashing about thrashing about so much, I thought it best to take them so they weren't accidentally broken. While pretending to be asleep, she tried to get her other hand behind her back to find her hidden wand.

"Uh, no need for that." I told her, and held her weapons up for her to see. "I uh, found that one already."

Her eyes opened fully now, but she was still squinting at me so I offered her glasses back, and wordlessly she took them. Her face was normally very neutral, and even now I couldn't quite read her.

"You want these back?" I offered them to her. "Just hear me out before casting anything again. I really don't think there's any good reason for us to fight."

She didn't say anything at all, but technically I did attack her and I was willing to bet that was where her mind went. Also, I did kill Mott.

Actually, I better just try a different tact... "So… Kirche is your friend, and you probably don't want anything bad to happen to her."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeah, I feel the same way about my friends. Listen, Louise had no idea where I was and what I was doing when I… dealt with Mott. If what you say is true in that mages are held responsible for a familiar's actions, if you tell anyone she'll be punished. Do you guys do hanging here? Or is it like my world where the nobility gets the guillotine?"

She stared at me for a long moment. "Why Mott?"

"I'm sure you've heard his reputation. He was going to do horrible things to a servant I met here, another friend of mine." I could tell her that I tried to spare him, but I doubt she'd believe me or be interested. "That's it. I'm not going to threaten you or your friends, or anything like that, but if you come after me other people are going to get hurt, you'll even implicate yourself through Sylphid."

For just a second, Tabitha's eyes darted to the right and down, before looking back up to my face.

"So how about instead of that, I help you." I smiled at her. "If you keep coming hunting with me, Louise, Kirche, Flame and Sylphid we're all going to get a lot stronger."

There was a pause as she considered my offer. "How?"

"Come with me and I can demonstrate." I looked over to Sylphid who was watching us warily. "Actually, with Sylphid's help this should be even easier."

The dragon might not have had enough strength to carry too many people, but it was certainly able to take off with just me and Tabitha who were both quite small. Through the thin tree cover we were able to spot a wild boar snuffling through the undergrowth.

"There's one!" To be heard over the wind I had to shout very loudly. I was just thinking about the best way to deal with the creature when Tabitha suddenly started chanting a spell.

The helpless boar squealed as it was lifted into the air by a whirlwind. Tabitha shifted slightly in her saddle, and without a word said to her, Sylphid began to dive. The flailing hooves of the boar did nothing to dissuade the dragon, who swooped in and plucked the best from the air with its talons. I couldn't see exactly what happened over the back of the dragon, but for a moment it's screams intensified and then stopped, as an XP notification popped up into view.

Shortly after Sylphid brought us into land, and without waiting began to devour the carcass.

"Uh, I can get some of that?!" I called out to her, but she ignored me. "Just some of the bones, or maybe the hooves? I'm sure the tusks would work, too." Tabitha didn't offer any help either, and when I approached the bloody mess the dragon growled at me. "Alright, alright."

I guess there'd be no material for Louise this time around…

While Sylphid enjoyed her feast I went to talk to Tabitha.

"You should be level two now, the distance between level one and two is tiny." Tabitha wasn't a hero, so she couldn't very easily check her stats without an appraisal spell or the help of an hourglass, but she should have seen the XP notification and her level rising. "Enough XP raises your level, and by raising your level enough you can become many times stronger than you naturally would be."

She stared at me, and I got the impression she didn't quite believe me.
"I promise it's not an illusion I cast." I thought for a moment. "But if you like, we can go hunting for the rest of the afternoon, and see if we can't level you up a few more times. You will notice the difference when we get back, I promise."

After a moment she nodded.

Once Sylphid was done I collected what scaps I could for Louise, which didn't amount to much other than some hair and cracked bones. Really, was it too much to ask for a tusk? I'm not even sure why the dragon would want to eat hooves.

By the time the sun had set, Sylphid was feeling quite full and my sack of materials for Louise was full of all kinds of red scraps. Just because I didn't want to come back completely empty handed I collected some leaves and a few stones from a river. Naofumi had used such materials, but they weren't very good shields if I recalled. Still, the small stat boost that came with them should amount to something at least.

I'd managed to climb a level, which meants Louis should have as well, while Tabitha and Sylphid were getting close to level five. It's amazing how much more quickly you can travel with a dragon, hunting was so much more convenient.

Just like that, things calmed down between me and Tabitha. She never promised me she'd stay silent, but I doubt she would be inclined to blab on us, especially after I spotted her experimentally lifting up a chair before breakfast, counting how long she could hold it up for. Louise in particular seemed thrilled by her new found strength, bending a spoon at breakfast one morning by pressing against it with her thumb and pretending it was an accident. Really, she was such a simple girl.

Soon enough a week had passed in relative peace. It wasn't possible for Louise, Tabitha or Kirche to always hunt with us, but the three of us familiars were going out every day. Apparently XP could travel across the familiar bonds regardless of distance, which made it quite a powerful ritual. The only problem was our XP gains became less and less efficient as time went on. The monsters we were fighting just didn't have the strength to challenge us, and the distances between our level ups were only getting further and further apart. It wasn't too bad though.

By level twenty I was back in my adult form again and able to wear my old adventuring clothes. For some reason Louise glared at me when I tried them on, then insisted she wasn't angry at all when I asked her about it.

It would have been nice if the peaceful days like these could have lasted...