After turning on the lights, I began taking off my clothes to start a makeshift shower, with some Water Magic.

Level One Water Magic - Drizzling Rain.

Well, this is going to get the carpet wet, but...not my problem.

I quickly washed myself off, then got rid of the spell. The Sleepless Starlight actually - thankfully - provided undergarments and pajamas which were hung on the wall, so I just took those and slipped them on. Crashing onto my bed, I sighed.

"Flaria...she didn't come after all, huh?"

I pulled the blanket over me, and sank into dreamlan-

"Psst! Psst! Damn it, you bastard of a master!"

I blinked. Uh...am I hearing things?

"G-Get off of me, damn you! Ugh, I'm suffocating..."

I jumped out of my bed. Quite literally. Only thing I forgot to do was summon my two katanas.

"Who's there?" I asked carefully after turning on the lights that I had legit just closed. Hate when I have to do that.

After a while, a tiny orange bird peeked out from under my pillow. She appeared to be short of breath...but somehow still had the energy to glare at me in anger.

"Er...Flaria?"

"Yes, it's me, you dummy!" she pouted. "Ugh, I almost got crushed there...first you tell me to come here, and then you end up sleeping on me?!"

I scratched my head. "Uh...sorry about that. I didn't expect you to hide under my pillow..."

"Well, can you blame me?! You started stripping out of nowhere!"

Oh, y-yeah...she kinda had no choice but to hide under the pillow to protect her modesty, huh? Despite being a phoenix, she's still female...does it work like that? I don't know...

"A-Ahem, that was my bad," I said, before walking over and sitting down on the bed once more (no, I didn't sit on top of her). "So...you made up your mind to talk?"

She nodded her tiny head. "I realized I couldn't just keep pouting and staying mad at you forever. Tomorrow we're setting off for a new place - a new chapter. We might as well flip the page in our relationship as well."

I blinked. "That's...unexpectedly deep, coming from a bird."

"I'm not a bird! I'm a phoenix!" she exclaimed, quickly going back to her old self.

I chuckled. "There's the Flaria I know. So...you forgive me? I know it's my bad, forgetting about you and all that."

"Yeah...I was a bit selfish too, overreacting and stuff," she replied, averting her gaze.

I smiled. "Alright. Starting tomorrow, we're chill again. As for tonight...I would rather not disturb the girls, so you can just stay with me, if you don't mind."

"Hmph! I won't mind as long as you don't sleep on top of me!" she cried.

"Yeah yeah..." I rolled my eyes and closed the lights once more. This time, for good.

Crawling back into bed - and paying very close attention not to accidentally sit on top of Flaria - I pulled the blankets over me for the second time that night. Flaria snuggled close to me, and I patted her fluffy head before closing my eyes.

"Good night, Flaria."

"Good night...Master."

*****

- The Next Morning -

Under the bright sunlight that the curtains failed to completely block, I slowly blinked my eyes open. I was awake, sure, but I still didn't want to get out of the bed.

Ugh...I forgot to set an alarm last night...uh...what time is it...wait.

...This...why do I feel like there's someone in my bed? It feels similar to Mei Gui...no, slightly smaller frame? Uh...and she doesn't seem to be naked...

I flipped open my blankets, and saw a tiny girl, around the age of 11 or so. She had fairly short hair, cut off at her shoulders, and the hair was a mixture of orange and black. She wore what looked to be a vest made out of orange fur, and was currently sleeping peacefully.

"..." I was too stunned to say anything. At the same time, for some reason, I didn't feel like disturbing her sleep, so I just gently got out of the bed and pulled the covers back over her.

I sat down on the nightstand nearby, and rubbed my eyes.

I don't want to believe it, but...that girl's Flaria. No doubt about that. I can feel our contract - our connection - and no other entity has the same thing with me. Mei Gui and Obsidia's were different, since they had Chaos power imbued. But the relationship between Flaria and I was simply summoned beast and master, making it easy to differentiate from Mei Gui and Obsidia.

But...that said, I never knew she had a human form as well. I mean, I should've guessed it, considering phoenixes were creatures on par with dragons, but...interesting, she took on the figure of her mental age, it seems. Actually, no. Her mental age plus her real age is a cumulative total of about 5, so I'm actually overestimating her still.

Man, if she knew what I was thinking right now, I would be dead many times over. I'm kidding Flaria, I know you're not 5. Relax.

And then, the girl suddenly began stirring, and slowly blinked her eyes open.

"Finally awake?" I asked.

"Yea...wait, why am I in my human form?!" Flaria exclaimed, looking down at her body. Then, noticing me staring, she quickly covered herself up with the blankets once more.

"I was actually going to ask you about that...why didn't you tell me you had a human form?"

"Uh..." she blinked, at a loss for words. After a short silence, she continued. "I-It's complicated."

"Oh? We have time. Tell me the story," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"O-Okay, fine!" she finally gave in. "Basically...barely anyone has ever successfully formed a contract with a phoenix before. You're one of the few people who have managed to do so, all throughout history. But...what people don't know is that when a phoenix truly accepts someone as their master...they actually unlock the ability to morph into the race of their master."

"Huh...so in other words, because you finally accepted me as your master, you automatically turned into a human?"

"Y-Yes, pretty much."

"...Meaning you never really accepted me before, huh?"

"..."

I sighed. "Well, whatever. The girls are going to have a heart attack though."

"U-Um...y-you didn't do anything weird to me while I was sleeping, did you?!" Flaria suddenly yelled, blushing furiously.

I facepalmed. "No, relax. Why would I do something like that?"

"A-Are you saying my body isn't attractive enough?!"

I merely shook my head in resignation and slipped on my usual clothes. As an aside, when I took off the pajamas, Flaria buried her head in the blankets to protect her modesty.

"Now then...I'm going to see if there girls are up already, then go buy a toothbrush and toothpaste. Oh, and a cloth too," I muttered to myself.

Leaving Flaria alone in the room, I exited and gently knocked on the girls' room, directly across from mine. After several seconds, I heard some shuffling coming from the other side of the door, and soon after the door opened, and a still sleepy, one-eye-open-one-eye-closed Feng Mian appeared from the other side...well, that was an overstatement. In reality, she just peeked out her head, hiding the rest of her body behind the door.

"Er...are you guys all awake...yeah, no. Clearly not," I muttered, changing my mind mid-sentence. "Anyway...get dressed, we'll be leaving this city in a bit."

Feng Mian rubbed her eyes. "Mm...okay."

With this, she closed the door once more, and I set off to buy myself a toothbrush and toothpaste...not.

Damn it...I forgot, I'm completely broke. Ah...

"Problem?" a voice suddenly asked as I felt a light shoulder tap from behind me.

I immediately spun around, and saw Xiang Peng, leaning against the wall with a wink. Yep, Xiang Peng - the same girl who had led my squad during the rescue mission...damn, she's so different when not in battle. And her casual clothes...hm, how do I say this, they don't fit my image of her at all.

Of course, there's no way I'm telling her that directly, lest I get my head cut off. She was an Ancestral Mage at this young age, after all.

"...You really need to stop sneaking up on me like that," I said exhaustedly.

"Aiya, don't be so stern. What's the matter in having a little fun?" she shot back with a grin. "If I am correct...you're low on money right now, aren't you, 'Zhang San'?"

She did that quotation thing with her hands when she said my alias, making it very clear she was mocking me.

"...None of your business."

"C'mon now, let big sis take care of you~"

As she tried to place her arm around me, I dodged out of the way nimbly, and began walking away.

"Hey, wait-"

But despite her protests, I continued walking, ignoring her requests for me to stop.