A Lead's Struggles?- not at all exotic

The sun rose to the sky. The light seeping through the canopies of the forest fell on my eyes. I was drowsy but my uncomfortable sleeping posture caused me to wake up from my slumber. I rubbed my eyes open.

As my eyelids flipped open I was greeted by the sleeping face of Clair. Her face was as fair as ever endowed with a mole. I could feel her breath on my skin as she slept soundly.

'What the hell! Why is she on top of me? She is so damn heavy

I shook her to wake her up.

"Clair .. . Clair wake up, or else I am gonna suffocate to death" Steve claimed.

Clair being the maid she was, was jolted awake by his nagging.

Clair sat up rubbing her eyes, her abdomen rubbing against my belly. Finally yawning from lack of sleep she crawled out of that position. As she did she went over me exposing my eyes to a nice feast.

"Hmm, thank God I felt like I was gonna die, you are so damn heavy," I said taking deep breaths, "of all the places in the forest you just had to sleep here"

"Huff" Clair pouted. She folded her arms across her chest and faced sideways. "How dare you say that! Do you know how scary it is for someone like me to sleep alone in this forest?" she screamed at the top of her voice.

She seemed angry.

"Um ~ okay," I replied having no idea what to say and equally confused.

She pouted yet again.

Scratching my neck I tried to console her.

"Ah~ I won't bring it up anymore"

"Hmm"

"But you better pull up your socks, today I won't share my eh... stuff with you. So you might die from hunger"

Her eyes shot open as realization dawned upon her.

Her pouty face turned into a desperate pleading face. Ow, if you act so cute I might... No, I must stand my ground, it is for her as well.

I whistled away ignoring her as I treaded further inside the forest. I had made a mark on one of the nearby trees to mark our direction of travel before going to sleep.

*

Lapis's PoV

She bit her lips. She was thinking of a world of possibilities and doing anything in her power to scoop out any news of Steve. Steve was really important and the perfect person for her project. She wasn't so haughty to assume that a guy as suited as Steve will pop up if she summoned a second familiar.

The humans who are summoned as humans... it wouldn't be wrong to not call them humans in the first place. Steve was the only exception. Whenever a human familiar is summoned they act like a brainless monkey. They have nothing human-like about them. Scared like sh*t even to the smallest knives, easy to tame with a bit of torture, not being able to even hold up even a proper conversation- that's how human familiars are. Mindless beings that can be easily tamed and made into slaves.

However, Steve was different. He has unexplainable strength for a human familiar. He acted like a fool sometimes but for the most part, his actions are as humanly normal as her. She can't afford to lose him, not when she was so close to the embarkment of her project.

She dipped her quill in the ink-pot.

She was currently writing letters to all of her allies urging for their immediate help for her lost familiar. That is what she was doing ever since she got the news of him going missing.

The curtain endowing the window fluttered in the morning breeze. She has made way for sunlight to seep into her room which is otherwise always endowed with darkness.

*knock* *knock*

He lifted her head and raised her brow wondering who might be at this late hour.

"Word your needs" she shouts out.

"My lady, it is me your servant Clyde, there is some news that might be about the disappearance of your familiar"

"Come in"

The servant pushed open the door as he stepped in.

"Speak!"

"The northern wall... its riddled with holes of some sought. Holes were not deep enough to be seen through the other side but deep enough to be noticeable"

The servant paused looking at his lady. It seems that Lapis wanted him to continue.

"They are more or less at fixed intervals. And I believe that those are marks left by someone who tried to escape the city without being restrained by the city guards"

'Meh? Do thieves use such crude methods these days? And what strength would someone need to cause such a feat?'

Lapis realized that she needs to see it with her own eyes to make sense of what is happening.

*

Clair's PoV

Slash

Clair brandished her dagger taking a kill.

*Pant* *Pant*

She was too exhausted. She was panting for breath. She had been trying to hunt them since she woke and had only been able to kill a few.

The sun was already overhead. She bent on her knees catching her breath.

That devil! He must be laughing at this state of mine. Even if he is a devil at least he looks human so at least he should have some humanity, should he not? How can he enjoy my suffering, making a feeble lady like me go through all this?

What was more annoying was the fact that Steve was leaving pray for her even though she had enough kills to feed herself. She can't help but be on her guard because of that.

[Author: Please give me some power stones UwU. *clasps hands* ]