The Primal Hunter

Jake was no expert in friendships. He would never claim to be. But what he did know was that the scalekin called Nella was definitely not a friend of Meira. Now, while Jake did want to just barge in and raise hell, he chose to listen to Izil and acted with thought. At the very least, he should give them a chance to explain themselves.

The door was already ajar, and they soon detected Jake as he got closer. It was almost comical how the facial expression of the scalekin changed when she detected Jake and Izil coming. Rather than a sneer, she turned to a neutral smile, trying to look like less of a bitch.

“My Lord,” Meira greeted her once he entered. He had seen her running back and forth collecting books, and yet she didn’t carry even a hint of discontentment.

“Ah, good to meet you-“

“Shut the fuck up,” Jake said to Nella the moment she started speaking. His aura flared for a moment with killing intent as Izil took a step back along with Nella. The only one of the newcomers who stayed unaffected was the half-ogre, and the reason for that was simple enough.

[Scalekin – lvl 152]

[Half-ogre – lvl 190]

Utmal, as she was called, was far stronger than any of the others, and Izil’s assertion she was more of a bodyguard than anything else was very likely accurate.

Nella still stood frozen as Jake spoke and Meira looked extremely surprised, if not downright horrified.

“Meira, have you ever had any friends before?” Jake asked her.

The poor elf now looked even more confused as she stuttered. “I… I don’t think so?”

“Then let’s have a brief lesson on what friendship is,” Jake said as he turned to the scalekin. “Tell me, do you consider Meira here a friend?”

Nella, surprisingly enough, didn’t raise a ruckus but merely responded honestly. “What a nonsensical question. Of course I don’t. Now, if you weren’t so rude despite it being our first meeting, I would maybe consider offering you the honor of my frie-“

“You can shut up again,” Jake cut her off once more, getting a very angry glare from the half-ogre, which he completely ignored.

Meira looked entirely taken by surprise after Nella answered. Jake nearly felt like she was about to cry, but instead, she just nodded with realization and bowed. “I apologize if I misunderstood, and-“

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Jake also cut Meira off.

Izil finally decided to also get involved after the initial shock of the situation. “Nella, at least admit you did purposefully make her believe you were friends, even explicitly stating it to make her give you things.”

“You just have to get involved?” Nella scoffed. “And yeah, I did. What of it? This is the Order of the Malefic Viper, if you haven’t noticed. Are you seriously trying to act like lying for personal benefits is some kind of heretical sin or something? You people are beyond me; it is her fault for being a gullible idiot, not mine.”

She then turned to Jake and smiled. “Don’t blame me for taking advantage of your little pet project. Is it not your fault for being too wasteful?”

is my fault for not being more observant of the trash I allow her to drag home,” Jake

Lord, I-“ Meira began, and Jake was honestly a bit frustrated as he knew what

yourself down and stop thinking everyone can treat you however you want. Stop thinking you are lesser than them. I am not having you learn and take lessons for fun but for your own sake. It is about time you have some damn

treat you as lesser than them, what does that make you? What does that make me who choose to believe in you? What does it make your

was simply too different from what it had to be to survive. Not just in the Order but in the multiverse. If his gentle approach didn’t work, he would go a bit harder. Even after everything, Meira still viewed herself as lesser than practically everyone else. He

was just disappointing to see that

speaking of getting squashed, the two unwelcome visitors

like you tend to just squander and have their feeble egos broken as they begin to fail. So what if you have a backer? You are still nothing,” Nella said with a

bother with a little whore like her. You waste time and resources on useless things. I don’t even get what you are trying here? Sure, yeah, sorry for hurting your fragile ego by messing with what’s yours. I had my fun with your whore while it lasted, and

you-“ Izil began

to approach you to do some networking with the Altmar empire, but you are just too damn infuriating to deal with. Always having to be the hero and protecting the little elf but never even daring to really speak

her to keep talking. The reason was simple enough: he needed Meira to hear. While she had initially seemed like she wanted to explain things away and even excuse Nella, he now saw a far different expression. It was hard to read but definitely a mix of anger and crying. What he was certain of

pointed out her own lack of truly standing up for Meira. Jake chose not to judge this particularly harshly as at least it seemed like she

respect the confidence,” Jake said with a smile. “The confidence to

were allowed to come here. Are you so

to the side, also sent Jake a warning using telepathy. “Be careful. Any violence, especially killing, goes against the rules, and

rules,” Jake said as he walked over to Meira. He saw her still looking utterly lost with tears in her eyes as he spoke. “Meira. These two aren’t your friends. They never were. Don’t consider this a tragedy but merely a teaching moment. Believe it or not, in spite of our unconventional relationship due to the contract, I consider you a friend, which is also why I want to

had talked about. “Izil and I spoke just before coming here. She offered to buy your freedom and make you a part of the Altmar Empire. Even take you back there. With the status of a citizen of the Empire,

the subject change, and surprisingly, Nella

smile. “The Altmar Empire has an official decree to free any elven slaves, and the second I found out you were one,

price for her freedom - for the complete annulment of the contract. We

Nella both looked surprised, but not as much as Meira. She stared between Jake and Izil before asking Jake. “You want

the Order and then annul the contract. I want you to be free and make your own choices, and this will be the first time where I will truly ask you to choose after I made you choose your own lessons. You don’t need to

Jake but said: “Lord Thayne” and not any of her usual go-to’s.

sure you can go to the Altmar Empire safely. You will be able to finally be your own person. Meira, you are far more skilled

she said decisively again before finally

turned to Jake. “Damn, you must be a good

Meira said, standing up for herself for the first time. In a weird way,

Seriously, is your dear master some limp-dicked loser who can’t even get it up? Or does he swing the other way and

you suck!” Meira practically yelled,

and shook her head. Jake was still looking on a bit proud before nodding. “If that is your choice, fine. But the part about being freed and becoming a member of the Order is non-negotiable unless you can find another way to safely be freed. We can

new to the whole making choices thing, but Jake believed in her. Also, while he wasn’t exactly keen on the two of them, the one they had wronged the most was Meira, not him. So even if Jake had a way he wanted

about my seniors, I am beginning to question what error in judgment one must have made to pick you. I also find it laughable how you think you are some big-shot who is in charge here. If you truly try to start shit, it won’t just be your ass, but your backer’s on the line, as

had the clear read on them that they were truly just taking this as some kind of entertainment. Perhaps messing with Meira had just been some way for them to pass the time

to ask for compensation for wasting my time. The level of delusion you people have is