Ugh, I have that nasty taste in my mouth that you get from sleeping. Some call it morning breath, but I prefer to call it drago—

“KITLING!”

….Funny, I thought I heard that before I went to bed too……..

WAIT, WHAT!?

*GUFFWWAAAHH!!*

My thoughts have been derailed!

“Mom….can’t…..breathe…..”

“Oh! Sorry Kitling!”

*HUFF*

“It’s ok, I’m fine.”

“OH! I should go tell the Master! He’ll be so happy to hear you’re awake!”

And then just as quickly as her embrace, my mom disappeared.

Hm? That’s odd, I’m on something soft…..furthermore, isn’t it a bit warm in the shack?

As I wiped away the bleariness from sleep, I saw a plain wooden wall in front of me and positioned slightly to the left of it was a door.

Is this the Baker’s house?

My gaze shifted downwards to what I had been sleeping on. It was soft and creaked slightly, it was a real mattress on a slatted frame!

I quickly shuffled back down into the covers and rubbed my shoulder-blades into the mattress as I snuggled in.

AAaaHHH! Though I have only been in this world for two weeks, a bed like this feels amazing!

Though it is nothing compared to the Tempurpedic I had previously, it is leagues better than the cot that was thinly filled with old straw that I had previously slept on.

I could feel myself growing tired….so….sleepy……

Darn it….I could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs. Most likely they’d come in here.

My ears flattened in annoyance.

I was so comfortable!

And now the door opens, lo and behold! It’s my mom with the Baker……and Claura?

The Baker directly walked to the bedside and sat in the chair that my mother must’ve been previously occupying.

“…Kitling, are you really alright?”

Tsk, this guy bothers asking a stupid question like that. What does he think? I passed out and the woke up here!

“Yes master, I feel fine.”

He leans back into the chair and looks relieved.

“Ahhh, that’s good, that’s very good.”

Oh? It’s good for you, you say? Well isn’t that just great, I’m so happy for you……

“Anyways kitling, about that food….errr…..brownies was it?”

Aahh and now we get to the crux of the issue, the reason why he was treating me so kindly.

“Be at ease master, the recipe is still safely locked in my head.”

I leveled him with a calm and collected gaze. I now had the advantage, my beach head had been captured and my troops

were ready to storm the beaches of Normandy!

I watched as the shock of my actions registered on his face. From his point of view his slave just cut him off and replied in

a way that could be perceived as rude. To him, it was like I sprung two heads.

“Furthermore, there are other recipes tucked up in here as well.”

I tapped the side of my head at this and delivered a malicious smile. I had previously thought that maybe appearing the loyal slave and lulling him into a false sense of security would be the best route….

However……

That was most definitely not my style. Rather I think this way would be better, while not feeble minded it was easier to guess who out of the two of us had the greater intellect.

That may sound pompous, but in this case I don’t really care. I will corner and trap this man who claims to be my master

and then grab my freedom.

…… Ah! Now he seems to be furious.

Ha, I suppose that is to be expected. Ahwell, time to finish trapping this greedy but honest baker.

“You…..how dare you speak like that towards your master!?”

“Because, I have something master wants.”

“What was that?”

His brow furrowed deeper as he glared at me. I could detect Claura’s heart rate reaching a break neck pace. Actually, my

mother’s was doing the same!

“I have the means for you to potentially becoming one of the richest bakers in all of Snaga. Enough so that you may be

able to become….a land-owner.”

At the mention of becoming a land-owner the Baker’s expression stiffened. The similarities between this world and the

middle Ages of Earth were pervasive, one of them being that only nobles or the very rich were capable of owning land.

Therefore, the prospect of earning enough money to own land was a very enticing one.

“Furthermore, these are means known only to me. Therefore I naturally hold the upper hand in this deal. Currently the

only possible way you could effectively retaliate against me is killing me. Selling me off would give someone else the

ability to gain the fortune that could’ve been yours and beating me would forever seal my lips. That…is why I believe I am

allowed to speak to you as an equal.”

After this I lean back against the bed post with a satisfied smirk and watch the Baker’s face as it goes through many

expressions. He wasn’t a bad sort of person to begin with, so it should be fairly easy for him to begin accepting this.

After a while, the Baker sighed and looked at me sharply.

“I wonder what happened to that little kitling that was such a good slave before…”

“He never existed. This is what I am, though for you I imagine it’s almost as if a devil is trying to strike a deal with you.”

His expression relaxed a bit.

“I supposed your right.”

In a lower voice, I could hear him mutter, “I suppose this is my brother coming out in him…”

I ground my teeth at that but I endured, despite my new found confidence. I was not certain that picking a fight about that

particular subject would be in my best interests.

“So do you wish to strike a deal with me and make more money than you ever would in your life time?”

He paused and looked at me, his face had a look of resignation on it.

“What is it that you want out of this?”

I laughed slightly at this before replying…

“Oh, I want various things. However, for the price of the knowledge of brownies I’ll request only one thing….This room.”

He looked at me surprised and confused.

“What?”

“I want this room for my mother and myself to sleep in. This room doesn’t contain yours, or Claura’s scent. Meaning that it obviously isn’t occupied by anyone in your immediate family. So, the price for the knowledge of how to make the brownies is……..this room.”

He gained a thoughtful expression at this. He had already recognized the potential earnings from brownies and must now be very interested in gaining the knowledge on how to make them.

“Then….I suppose I’ll allow you to live here.”

Well, it seems he wasn’t quite ready to speak to me as an equal. But whatever, I now have somewhere comfortable to sleep. It’s enough for now.

“I look forward to working with you.”

I held out my hand almost automatically. Like his daughter, he looked at it with an odd expression before returning the handshake. I wonder if handshaking when making deals isn’t a culture in this world….

……………………………

“Aaahh, this is wonderful!”

I reclined back into the bed in what had now become mine and my mother’s room. My mother was sweeping downstairs in the shop and had told me to go off to bed already.

Though I wasn’t very tired, I had found out after the deal with the Baker that I had been asleep for three whole days after passing out in the kitchen. ‘Grand Archive’ hypothesized itself as the culprit due to the fact that the only thing that could’ve potentially exhausted me like that was the special function that ‘Grand Archive’ had performed in order for me to protect Claura.

Damn thing was sometimes more trouble than it was worth!

“But at the very least it’ll perfectly allow me to gain freedom!”

I sighed this out as I rolled over on the bed. I could feel my ears twitch as it picked up a noise.

It was Claura’s heart….uh-oh, I hope she hadn’t heard that. I need to keep that desire under wraps for now.

I lay motionless as I listened to her, waiting to see what she would do. Eventually the sound of receding footsteps could be heard as she retreated to her room.

A few minutes later my mother came in.

She smiled down at me as she gingerly crawled into bed, as if still not believing that it was ok for us to be sleeping in here.

She then curled her body around me with her tail falling over my side and in front of me.

“I don’t know what happened to make you like this….but you’re definitely still my Kitling. So…. Thank you.”

She purred this out as we slowly drifted off to sleep comfortably since for once we were out of the elements and in a proper bed.

For now, everything in the alright in the world.

“Thank you for being my mother.”

Then, I fell asleep with probably one of the most contented smiles I’ve ever had.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Next

Happy Valentines everyone! And sorry for the short chapter. Anyways, hope everyone had a wonderful time, either with their significant other. or for all you singles out there I hope you had a wonderful time with yourself and gave yourself a treat since you deserve it for being awesome! Also I have a question. Who is 'the group'? They all have these blue highlighted reviews on fanfic pages. They seem kinda pompous....but maybe that's just me, at least they are giving a well thought out review of what they thought of the fic and are giving advice on what they think would make it better! Hope to here from you guys, and cya next week!