The next morning

I awoke groggily.

“Ugh...ah.” For a few blissful moments I forgot my predicament. Then cold realization hit me.

I am a ****

To the cute cat girl sleeping peacefully next beside me.

What a horrible fate.

But then I realized something else.

Exactly how late was it?

“Aiju, wake up!”

“Nyaaaaaaaooo!!”

Aiju almost jumped trough the roof. “What, what? Enemy? Where?”

“Y-your match.” I stammered out. I glanced at the clock and realized that it was well past 10 in the morning.

Aiju was, without a doubt, disqualified.

“Oh well”, she shrugged, yawned and snuggled back to me. “Didn't have to wake me for this. Pet me.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could Aiju be so nonchalant about the tournament? As I gently petted the happily purring catgirl only one question swirled in my mind.

How could I lose to someone like her?

“Already have what I wanted.” She grinned at me. “You’re good at petting. Want you to pet me all time. When we are not mating.”

“R-right...”

“Enough petting!” Aiju jumped up again, apparently deciding that she wasn't sleepy anymore. “Time to go, follow me.”

“Time to go where...?”

Aiju pointed towards the door “Home.”

I barely managed to snatch my underwear back on as I half hopped/half dressed myself out of the room. “A-Aiju, my clothes!”

“You are wearing them”, she said pointing at my boxershorts.

“T-that’s not enough!”

“It's fine, easy access, I like it.” And as to prove her point she slides her hand inside my underwear and gave my crotch a squeeze.

Thankfully, there weren't that many people in the dorm, but the thought of walking like this outside horrified me. I could only hope that I wouldn't run into anyone who recognized me.

“Well, well, looks like you are having a delightful time with your little ****.”

Oh great.

Beatrice was standing in front of us, appraising me with a smug grin. “Lost in the first round, against a catgirl no less, eh? I must say this new outfit quite suits you.”

Ugh, this was so humiliating.

Beatrice shook her head in mock disappointment.“Meanwhile, I just won my second fight. A rather dull affair, but I suppose that was a given. A pity that we won't meet. All in all, you where a resounding disappointment, Mari Beta.”

I don't think it was possible to hold your nose that high.

Aiju seemed to think likewise. “No time for this...lets go Mari.”

Beatrice teleported herself in front of us. “Just a minute, please. Are you intending to sell him?”

“Sell...him?” Aiju looked at Beatrice in confusion.

“How utterly clueless.” The witch sighed once, but was nonetheless eager to explain. “You get about 200 Gold Coins for him, I am willing to pay you double that. What say you?”

“No!” Aiju refused flatly and hugged me. “Mari my mate, not gonna sell.”

For some reason that felt really good.

“Really?” Beatrice looked surprisingly disappointed. “Such a shame. He would have made for an excellent specimen. Won't you change your mind?”

“I am pretty sure selling slaves is illegal”, I reminded her.

“Honestly.” Beatrice tsked. “Slaves should not meddle when their betters are having a discussion.”

“Mari is not ****. Is mate.”

As crazy as Aiju was, it felt nice to hear that. And I was even more glad that she wouldn't sell me to the creepy witch.

“Can sell you his clothes though. Is smell on them.”

Maybe I should rethink that though.

Beatrice had no qualms jumping at the offer, giving Aiju an entire gold coin for my underwear. The witch made a show of dumping it into the nearest garbage can.

It took a lot of convincing but Aiju finally allowed me to go back to my own room and get my things. Luckily I had a spare shirt and trousers. I also had some leftover money from my victories in the qualifiers (22 Gold coins) and to my great surprise, my two dirks where delivered to my room as well. Well, technically all that stuff belonged to Aiju now, but she didn't seem very interested. I even had to convince her to cash in her own prize money.

After a small(and very late) breakfast we left the city of Rasheul behind. I was suggesting to buy some more provisions, but Aiju wanted none of it. “We hunt for food”, she said. “Important for Mari to learn.”

At the very least I was no stranger to hunting. At least the human kind of it. Now I'm really glad I was able to get my dirks.

And so we walked the southern main road that connected Rasheul with the rest of the free cities. I personally hail from northern Helman, so this was fairly new territory for me. It was a pleasant enough day, if the road was a bit deserted. With the tournament in full swing, that was perhaps not too surprising.

“Where do you live?”, I asked to pass the time.

“Forest...black something, is human tongue.”

“Black Forest?”

Aiju nodded.

Checking my map, that was actually not too far from Rasheul, perhaps a week or so on foot.

But it was also a monster infested forest. Living there did not seem even remotely possible. But then again, for better or worse, my Master was a monster.