Chapter 2054: Why Can’t She?

The Library in the Tiny World’s main house began to fill with people as everyone sensed that Karl had made some sort of breakthrough, but what they found when they arrived was not some dignified ceremony, it was Cara and Dana wrestling on the floor, as the badger attempted to place a collar on the mage’s neck.

Lala smiled. "Are we playing a new game? What are the rules?"

"Dammit, get the badger off me," Dana insisted.

"Oh, that’s not a new game, you’re just playing it differently."

From outside the door, there was scattered laughter, then Lotus ran in with a cupcake in each hand, and Cara gave up on tormenting Dana for a few minutes.

"Fine, but this isn’t over. You heard the system, it’s highly recommended."

Dana rolled her eyes, and carefully examined her body now that she was no longer Soul Bonded to Karl, but bonded to him the same way as his beasts. She could also feel the difference, an aching hole where the Soul Bond used to be, but a new mental tickle in the back of her mind, where the beast bond had formed.

She could also feel that the mana in her body had improved in quality by a sudden jump the moment that she was bonded.

It would continue to grow more quickly than usual, thanks to the higher quality energy inside the space than anywhere outside. But the sudden jump from the bond had been unexpected.

"What caused the change? Everyone in the Tiny World felt Karl’s aura surge," Lala asked, as she accepted one of the two cupcakes from Cara.

Karl cleared his throat, "The Soul Bond was fraying, and we had to break it to prevent it from unravelling and causing real damage. That’s the surge that you felt.

Everything is fine and balanced now."

Lala frowned, "How did that lead to Cara collaring the Dana Mage?"

"I substituted a beast bond with the Soul Bond, to minimize the damage. That makes my Dana Mage OUR Dana Mage in Cara’s mind, so she decided to give her new sister a little welcoming gift."

Again with the laughter from outside the door, as the rest of the bunnies and residents from the Tiny World listened in without causing more crowding in the Library.

"Oh! So The Dana Mage is now Sister Dana. That’s wonderful news. We will hug her and pet her and keep her company."

Dana laughed and hugged the bunny. "You know I’m still the same Dana, right? I’m not regressed to a child, I just changed the way that I’m bonded to Karl."

Leo popped out of his space with a smile. "No, the bunny has a point, you’re the newest to join, so that makes you my little sister."

The size difference between them was comical, with Leo’s Tortollan humanoid form barely reaching Dana’s waists and appearing to be a young child. Calling Dana his little sister when she appeared old enough to have young children of her own was a real stretch.

Though, with the slow aging of Immortals, Dana’s youthful appearance could mean anywhere from sixteen or eighteen to about forty, so if they were the same species, it wouldn’t be impossible for Leo to be her son not her older brother.

"Do you see what you’ve started?" Dana chided Karl.

"I claim no responsibility for the hierarchy between siblings. They’ve always organized it by arrival date, or Cara might have her position changed, since she was partially grown before I met her."

In her space, Rae snorted in amusement. That was not possible. There was no way that Cara would ever be considered her elder sister. She could be Remi’s older sister all she wanted, but not hers.

Older sister implied responsibility, and Cara was not the responsible one.

Dana was, though.

So, perhaps her position as the youngest sister might be reassessed. She had been with Karl longer than any of them but Hawk, though her position wasn’t fully secured until today.

Dana sent an amused thought to the spider.

[ Not secured until today? Then what was I before? ]

[ A half bonded pet Dana Mage without a space. Now that you’ve got a Dana Space, you’re officially one of us, not just an outside associate of the Karl. ]

Dana sighed.

[ Oh, so now I finally count to you? Fine, be like that. ]

Thor laughed as his sisters bickered. The Dana Mage was definitely one of them, no matter how she tried to object later. He didn’t see what she didn’t like about the collar, though. The one that Cara picked looked good on her, and it matched her outfit.

That was what an accessory was supposed to do, right?

He had asked Tessa about this in the past, and she had assured him that necklaces and other accessories were supposed to match the outfit, and the outfit was supposed to match the complexion and colouration of the person.

So, it shouldn’t be a problem. ℴℴ𝘮

Dana sighed, as she realized that all of the beasts were beasts, and did not see any issue at all with a collar, the way that a human would. Especially a human female. There were implications to this that she was not willing to get into.

They could go talk to the succubus about it.

Or Opal.

Opal laughed as she realized what Dana’s objection to being referred to as a pet was, and that it wasn’t actually anything to do with Karl or them, but the way that the Academy’s tutors had been preparing her for a life as an Idol, dancing to someone else’s instructions, like a trained pet or a puppet, before they realized that she was actually going to be powerful.

That deep-seated aversion to being referred to as a pet or property was not going to go away.

And Dana had only begun to think about all the other implications of wearing a collar like so many of the Succubi did.

Dana frowned, as she couldn’t reach out and slap the Fae for going down that route when Opal was hiding in her space.

This was going to be a long day.