Ignoring looks from people on the streets was something Cless could do with marvelous ability. But that day was one of those when she couldn't avoid being bothered by them. Maybe it was the fact she was covered in blood and bruises or that her clothes were in tatters and unfitting of a woman or maybe even the big wolf also covered in blood walking by her side. But whatever the opinions of the townsfolk were, nobody bothered her.

Until she reached the Beaten Hare inn, that was.

"Cless! My inn is not a hospital!" Karen roared from the door. Cless heard Balthus laugh inside.

"Hello, boss Karen. I'm sorry but I had nowhere else to send them. I'm also sorry I ruined my uniform."

Karen looked at her scantily clad and bloody figure and pulled Cless inside. Silverfang followed into the inn. Karen wasted no time in healing her niece.

"Heal!"

Cless wounds closed and some caked blood flaked off.

"Go to the bathing room and clean yourself, Cless. I will have Josefine take a spare set of clothes to you."

The tap room was taken by the guild members, all of them in mixed stages of weariness but none of them in any danger. "Is Lyle alive?" She asked.

"Lyle is upstairs sleeping. He was too worn out but boss Karen healed him. Kelly is with him," Martin reported.

"Thanks, Martin. Is everyone else accounted for?"

"They sure are, guild master. Some of us went home to get cleaned up but as you can see most of us just wanted to get wasted on your coin."

Cless giggled and saw Josefine walk past her with some mugs of ale. "Keep up the good work!" She hollered and Martin and other guild members raised their mugs.

Cless was going when Karen noticed the odd creature, "Where are you taking this wolf?"

"I'll clean the bathing room afterward, but please can I wash Silverfang? He doesn't shed fur..." Cless turned to the wolf, "Do you shed fur?"

The wolf shook his head. He even scratched behind the ear with the rear paws to show that no fur came out.

Balthus stood up from his seat and came near to take a good look at the wolf. "Cless, what is this?"

"Silverfang is a wolf I tamed using my Skill, master. He is completely harmless to us. Can I go take a bath and get some clothes on? I'm really dirty and almost naked."

Balthus snickered, "It seems you fought well. Go ahead, we'll talk later."

Cless crossed the corridor to the bathing room. There was no plaque by the door, so she set the 'under maintenance' one and locked the door behind them.

She undressed while Silverfang sat by the door. Looking at the state of her clothes, Cless saw that she could only save her panties and with that much blood on it, she wanted to get rid of it. She bunched up the clothes and tossed them into the stove for heating up water. She set the kettles as she always did.

"Silverfang, do you like hot water baths?"

She turned around to ask the wolf and she was disturbed by what she saw. Not only the wolf was staring at her with hungry eyes, but he was also having... an erection. Silverfang's penis was fully raised, popping out of the foreskin. Cless instinctively covered herself.

"Silverfang? What are you thinking?"

The wolf shifted. First, he went with the hybrid werewolf form, but it didn't stop there. The fur was drawn inside the skin and soon he was a naked boy with wolf ears and a tail. he looked like one of the fictional beastkin races Cless often read about in her fantasy novels. She couldn't help but stare at his figure, the well-proportioned and chiseled muscles demanding attention. Even in this shape, he was still sporting full mast.

"I'm sorry, mistress. I can't speak in wolf form. But I never tasted hot water. Is it too different from the stream water?"

Cless tried to avoid looking but her eyes kept betraying her. "Why are you naked? Why are you staring at me?"

"I have no clothes, mistress. And I am looking at you because the mistress is very beautiful."

Her heart was pounding. She was naked in the bathing room with a handsome wolf-man and her mind was boiling more than the water in the kettles.

"Cover yourself, Silverfang. And avoid looking at me."

"As the mistress wishes."

Cless turned around but realized she was showing her butt to the wolf and wolves liked to smell butts. She didn't know what to do, but when she turned around Silverfang was covering his privates and his eyes with his hands. She stopped to take a good look at his body. She felt drawn to it like a moth to the candle. There was not a single scar on him. She approached and touched his abs. She ran a hand through his chest and sighed.

Silverfang called her beautiful. That was a first.

"Tell me, Silverfang. Do you think I am beautiful? Why?"

"The mistress is an awesome alpha. Fierce, ferocious, and still caring for her own. I am honored to serve under such an alpha. If the mistress wants to mate, I'll be glad to indulge."

The Lycan's answer made her move back, slip on the wet floor and fall on her butt. "Ma-mate? You mean, have sex with you?"

Silverfang's answer was given in a completely explanatory tone, without a hint of sarcasm, innuendo or lewdness. "Yes. I can smell the mistress and know she wants me."

"N-no. No mating. Not now. I need time to think. Silverfang, change back to a wolf. Now. Please."

He shifted. Now that Cless noticed, the blood on his fur dropped on the ground, Silverfang's wolf form was unblemished after he shifted.

"Get here, Silverfang. I am going to wash you. No mating. No." Cless was dizzy. She kept repeating it like a mantra.

She absentmindedly washed the big wolf and was startled when Silverfang shook himself spreading water everywhere. At least he shed no fur. Or mated. Cless washed in that state of tension where she wanted to think about something but also wanted not to.

The staff door opened and Cless yelped and jumped up. Josefine showed up and closed the door as she saw the big wolf growling with his hackles raised.

"No. Silverfang, that's Josie, she is a friend. Lie down now and stay quiet until say so." She went for the door, opening it and finding a scared girl on the floor. "Josie! I'm so sorry Silverfang scared you, I was distracted and you startled me when you opened the door. I'm sorry."

She offered her hand and the other girl took it. "Your clothes. Cless, that is a monster."

"Well, it is a tame one. See? I am with my back to him and he didn't try to eat me."

"Whatever you say, Cless," Josefine replied with a clear desire to be elsewhere really fast. "Can I go now?"

"Oh." Cless released her arm. "Of course, Josie. Thanks for everything."

The barmaid fled through the narrow corridor and Cless closed the door behind her after getting back on the bathing room.

"Silverfang, do not growl or threaten people. I was just startled, there was no danger to me."

The wolf whimpered.

Cless finished washing the room and drying herself and the wolf. She looked at the towel and found no fur. Maybe Karen would let her keep Silverfang. After she cleaned up the bathing room and set everything in place, she dressed up and looked at the wolf.

"Come with me. Let's go talk to my aunt and my master. Silverfang, you have to play nice with the people or they will separate you and me. I don't want that, do you?"

The wolf shook his head.

"Good. So you need to be friendly and... Know what? You just don't attack anyone, don't raise the heckles, don't growl, don't raise your lips to show your teeth. No barking or howling either. Make as little sound as possible. And when you stop, I want you to put your tongue out like this." She imitated a dog panting. "And when someone talks to you with a soft voice, you tilt your head like this. Can you do that?"

The wolf nodded.

They reached the taproom. Several guild members were passed out on the tables, Josefine was at the counter cleaning stuff as always and Karen was talking to Balthus. They stopped the moment they heard her footsteps.

"Cless, we need to talk." Karen gave her the 'you are in trouble miss' look.

Cless gulped but joined them at the table. Josefine looked at her but Cless gestured to say she wanted no drinks. She was sure Josefine didn't want to serve Cless. They would have to talk about it. Her skittish behavior earlier, the scare at the bathing room... Cless really wanted to be friends with Josefine. Beside her, SIlverfang sat and stuck his tongue out.

"Yes, boss Karen. What do you want to talk about?"

"Who's the Lycan?" She pointed at Silverfang.

"His name is Silverfang. The guild captured him in the woods and I contacted him. For life. In exchange for sparing him and the wolf pups in the woods."

Karen leaned and glared at the wolf. "Silverfang?" The wolf tilted his head. "Who is your alpha?"

The wolf raised a paw and placed it on Cless' leg.

"Lycans are berserkers. They are uncontrollable, Cless." The girl placed a hand on the wolf's neck and pulled him near. "They are driven by the desire to destroy and consume. They are worse when the moons are full like tonight."

"Silverfang is bound by my Skill, aunt Karen. He is harmless now."

Karen sighed. "Then again, there is no known Skill that can transfer Stat Points. How many do you have left?"

"Twenty-five." She whispered. "I leveled up to twenty-one today."

That Cless went from level one to level ten in less than a month was already surprising but not unheard of. Some from nobility did use mercenaries to tenderize monsters for quick ascension, but to go from level ten to twenty-one in a single day? Preposterous.

Karen only had one question, "How?"

"I released the last boys from their servitude contract for seven thousand Experience Points per year. Four years from six boys. They all decided to stay in the guild though."

"Why wouldn't they?" Balthus questioned. "The guilds usually don't even consider entrants unless they are level thirty."

"Then why don't people form guilds more often?"

"Because it is a big bother. You have to care about lodging, logistics, supplies, repair of equipment, and mediate internal conflicts. At least you have your Skill to help curb people in."

"I'll try my best. But aunt..." Cless sucked in a lot of air to calm herself down. "Can I keep him?"

"Yes, Cless. Pets are allowed in this inn. You will need to go to the association to register Silverfang as your tame monster."

"Let's get going," Balthus tapped Cless' shoulder. "We can visit the association, get the mutt registered, grab something to eat, and then go train.

They bought a thick leather hound collar for SIlverfang and Cless retrieved her ID tag. They registered Silverfang at the association and after eating some meat and vegetable barbecue on a street stall, they left for the woods to train. Balthus had a big leather bag full of training weapons. Cless trained with the bow, club, spear, and quarterstaff that afternoon.

Cless returned to the inn. She sent Silverfang to her room and helped in the taproom during the evening. She was dead tired when she made to her room. Cless opened the door with dread, half expecting to see it completely destroyed. She found the wolf sleeping on her bed. Silverfang raised his head but returned to sleep when he noticed it was just Cless.

"Good evening, Silverfang."

She changed into her pajamas and pushed the wolf aside, lying next to him. She was too tired to berate him and send the wolf to sleep on the floor. And he was so soft and warm. She remembered to adjust her Stats before going to sleep and set both Strength and Agility to fourteen.

Cless cuddled with the wolf and slept like a baby.

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 21 ( 222,139 / 231,000 Exp)

Class: Warrior 3 (3,606 / 6,000 Exp)

Profession: Warmaster 6 (17,123 / 21,000 Exp), Weaponmaster 6 (17,123 / 21,000 Exp)

Base Stats: Strength: 14 — Agility: 14 — Health: 21 — Intellect: 20

Available Status Points: 19

Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ]

Proficiencies:

General: Prayer: 3 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 2 — Math: 2 — Reading: 4 — Forestry: 1

Social: Leadership: 8 — Intimidation: 8 — Negotiation: 5

Combat: Sword: 4 — Dagger 2 — Unarmed: 7 — Tactics: 3 — Bow: 4 — Spear: 3 — Maces: 3 — Staff: 4