The Primal Hunter

Jake stood there thinking and going over what the fuck to do next as he heard a meek voice beside him.

“If My Lord wants to…”

He wondered what she meant as he remembered what he had just said. Instantly the situation just turned more awkward as Jake facepalmed. “No… no, I mean fuck me for being in this situation… not to actually…”

For every moment, Jake got more and more sure Villy had to have known and even looked forward to this entire shitty thing happening. Jake could practically see him sitting there laughing his head off at Jake, trying to deal with his newfound circumstances.

Meira at least looked embarrassed too at her misunderstanding, but also a bit relieved and… disappointed? Nah, Jake definitely misinterpreted that.

She clearly wasn’t going to break the silence either as she sat there unmoving, forcing Jake to take the initiative and try to make the situation just a tiny bit less awkward. “Even using My Lord is a bit much. Just call me whatever you want, okay?”

“That would be inappropriate and disrespectful… wouldn’t it?” she asked. The elf looked just as out of water as Jake himself.

Whatever game plan she had was clearly out the window long ago. They both had been tossed into a situation neither was comfortable with, and Jake would do his darndest to at least make it bearable.

“Where I come from treating others overly respectfully is odd, and if we are to live in the same residence, it will get old fast and just make everything weird. No, just call me by my name Jake… well, I use the pseudonym Hunter while within the Order, but considering everything that happened before hiding my name seems pointless,” Jake said as he tried to keep it casual.

Meira still seemed unsure as Jake doubled down.

“Look, I call the Malefic Viper by the made-up nickname Villy and sure as hell am not going to refer to him as Lord or whatever else people use, at least not in private. If I can do that, you can call a fellow D-grade by his name, can’t you?”

That turned out to be a bad idea as Meira whitened even more and looked afraid something terrible would happen. Like divine retribution was inbound. She even looked towards the sky, but nothing happened as Jake once more tried to calm her down.

“He wouldn’t have made me his Chosen and be so casual around me if he was going to smite me for that, now would he?” Jake said, really trying to hammer through he was a casual person.

“I… how can you?” she finally stammered out.

“We are friends,” Jake just shrugged. “I know it seems weird from your point of view, but I am a bit of an odd person, so don’t fret it, okay? Just relax and keep it casual and down to earth.”

He really tried to seem approachable and friendly, but Jake seriously had no confidence he was making headway, and he wasn’t only making things worse. He just wasn’t built for this kind of thing.

His words also clearly didn’t work as she looked as meek as before, now just mixed with a good dose of extra confusion. Jake thought a bit as he said: “Look, how about doing it like this. While it’s just the two of us call me Jake, and when around others, you can call me My Lord or Master or whatever else you find appropriate, okay?”

She finally looked up but didn’t even address what he said, as she stammered out: “Are… you the Chosen of the Malefic One?”

“Wait, you were hung up on that?” Jake asked, clearly not reading the flow of their one-sided conversation very well. “Yeah, I am, at least in the name. Maybe in function, too, as it is a unique title, so whatever way I act is how the Chosen acts? Either way, yes, I got the True Blessing from the Malefic Viper.”

“How?” Meira asked again.

of a long story. Actually, not that long. We met after I did a Challenge Dungeon designed by him. He was a bit of a dick, to begin with, but we ended up vibing and having a good time, and then at the end, he just

Viper said earlier, I am also a bit of a heretic, I guess? I like the Viper well-enough as a person and all, and we generally tend to have a good time, but I don’t really treat him like a god or whatever. Just know that he is fine with it. It is a bit

began to realize bombarding her with ridiculousness was perhaps not the best tactic of calming her down, and he didn’t feel like they were progressing much. Jake thus decided to take it as much down to

got her attention again. “Where I come from, slavery isn’t really a thing much anymore, and when it does happen, it is heavily frowned upon, and let me be perfectly frank: I don’t like it. At a fundamental and conceptual level, I despise it. I want to just rip up that stupid contact more than anything, not because of you, but just because of what it represents. However, it seems that would inadvertently lead to a shitty situation for everything and everyone except my own conscience, so I won’t. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it, and I swear I have no interest in treating you like a slave. As you are stuck

finally seemed to get a response as she looked up: “Please allow me to remain;

“What I am just saying is

took a bit, but she slowly

to do?” Jake asked. “If you weren’t bound by

for a bit before she spoke. “I was trained and raised before that to be a good worker and able to assist someone else… I want to

he didn’t want to press anything more. “Okay, so

almost scared Jake would do anything, which only made everything worse. What the

“Jake,” he said calmly.

She looked up.

me Jake, and I will call you

she said as she fell silent again. It didn’t seem like she got

than keep pressing, he changed the subject as he hoped he had gotten his point through. At least enough for her to process it

so could you maybe show me around the place?” Jake

as Jake stood,

would

as he gently corrected her: “Jake is just fine,

nodded with relief as she led

was walking on eggshells throughout the entire tour, and he did recognize the ridiculousness of the situation. However,

she had clearly assumed for him to be an absolute shitbag, which made Jake wonder how other slaves of the Order and the multiverse as

alchemist of the Noboru Clan. They had instantly stepped through a gate and appeared in a large entry hall leading into a massive hallway with doors on each

and Haruto stepped out of the way to make space for two scalekins laughing as they went into two of the rooms a bit down the hall. In the entry hall, they soon stood a dozen or so people from the new batch from the ninety-third Universe.

finally said as a group of three fellow humans approached her and Haruto. “My name is Jiub, pleased to make your acquaintance. I wonder if I could have a moment of your

she was glad she wouldn’t have to be the first one to approach

she said

notice you seemed to be close with the sole black-token human?” Jiub asked, just as Reika had expected. “My Lord is a gold-token himself, and we hope to make some

nodded but did correct one thing. “I did indeed arrive with him. However, we are at most allies and do not hail from the same factions back on our home planet. I would prefer not to bother him

time, make it clear that she did have an amicable relationship with Jake in case

a bit, but he still smiled. “Nevertheless, it is preferable for good relationships to form. I hope that in the future, we can work together and help each other strive in the face

that they still hoped for an opening with Jake. She knew others had already seen her and Jake exchange contact information, so at worst, they would get someone who knew