"You aren't human, are you?"

Sophia and Fen had successfully saved a group of beastpeople from a couple of rock golems that were too much for them to take on. Then, she was confronted with a question the girl had no idea what to reply to.

"Ah, you don't have to answer if you don't want to!" The cat-girl, Chiyo, quickly offered Sophia a lifeline. "It's just that I've naturally gotten curious about our savior… You do look like a human, but-"

"Yes, I know what you mean. I've met some humans before and almost killed them because they were so… so…" Sophia was getting angry from merely thinking about them again.

"I get you!" Chiyo sympathized with her, even without knowing any details. "So… you really are not?"

"It's a bit, let's say, complicated," Sophia thought about a way to excuse herself out of it. "Yes, I do look like a human, but… I've come from a very faraway place, and aside from the aforementioned look, I have nothing in common with these… things." She didn't lie, only kept things vague.

"Looks of a human, but different… This extreme power," Chiyo was mumbling to herself. "Coming from a faraway place… From a different continent, maybe? Sophia, could it be… Are you a demon?"

"Eh…?" She hadn't expected that. "Uhh, err, If I were to say yes now, j-just asking, of course, what would that entail?"

"That's awesome!" Chiyo took it as a confirmation instead, and her face lit up. "I've never seen one before! So cool!" The beastfolk apparently harbored no ill will towards demons, and Fen later told Sophia that female demons typically look like humans. In contrast, male ones mostly had a pair of horns on their heads and occasionally a tail. Also, as usual, only the human race hated the demons because they were scared of them and their power.

"Ahaha…" After a dry laugh, Sophia decided to roll with it, not correcting her assumptions simply.

"What does a demon do here…? Don't you guys live on an entirely different continent?"

"Ah, well, I got bored and decided to travel the world." Not caring anymore, she just told whatever, though the core of her reply wasn't actually wrong in a sense.

"So free! I'm kinda jealous!" She had accepted her answer. "Where are you headed, then?"

"Well, I tried visiting a human city not too long ago, but… big mistake."

"Yeah…" She had an understanding expression.

"I was thinking about visiting the nearby beastfolk city next."

"Really? Do you mean Raumont? That's where the three of us are from."

"Oh, it might be. Do you think Fen and I can enter the city?" Sophia was getting slightly optimistic.

"Just enter?" The cat-girl stared at her. "We're heading straight to the next bar and drink until the following morning!"

"Naturally, it's on us!" Rashk agreed to her companion's plan.

"That's the very least we can do!"

"Fen…" Sophia addressed him in a quiet voice.

"Hmm?"

"I think I might like the beastfolk."

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As the group got bigger, Fen and Sophia couldn't keep going with their usual speed because the beastpeople, or anyone, really, wouldn't be able to keep up. Thanks to that, reaching the city today had become impossible. The group decided to camp together once it was starting to get dark.

"Sophia, are you okay with meat?" Chiyo approached the duo once her group finished setting up the camp. "I don't have to ask you, Fen, right?"

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"Sure, why?"

"Rashk spotted a kow and went hunting it, so I wanted to ask if you want to eat together with us."

"Ah, so you can hunt kows, huh?" She once more was remembering the encounter from not too long ago.

"Sophia," She sighed. "I know you saved us while we were losing against a monster, but a kow? Please."

"No, it's just… I ran into a group of humans that was unsuccessfully ganging up on a kow before. I honestly have no idea about the power scaling around here…"

"That's just humans being exceptionally weak as usual."

"Ahh, I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, yeah, Fen loves kow, and so I'm, by force of habit, perfectly fine with eating it."

"Great!" Having confirmed that, Chiyo happily went back to Masi, who was in the process of starting a fire.

"What a busy girl."

"Yeah."

Rashk came back not too long after while dragging a freshly slain kow. Once it was ready to be grilled, everyone gathered around the fire.

"Err," While they were eating, Masi addressed Sophia for the first time. "Is it true that demons are powerful enough to use chantless magic like it's no big deal?" Being the magician of their party, he was interested in a rumor he had heard before.

"Hmm…" Sophia tilted her head and glanced at Fen, who gave her a slight nod in response. Guessing it was okay then, she held out her palm and let a small flame appear there.

"Wow!" Masi was in awe.

"So cool!" Chiyo's eyes were sparkling.

"Ahaha…" She once more was made aware of just how out of the norm she was.

"Having power sure is nice…." Masi looked envious.

"Well, your chant for the fire magic's pretty short. Doesn't that mean you have considerable power as well?" The girl repeated Fen's earlier assessment of him.

"No, I'm still no good… Sophia aside, I don't even have the slightest chance against Maya… Not even close."

"I told you to stop comparing yourself to Maya." Chiyo interrupted him. "She's a special case, after all!"

"Still…"

"Maya…?" Sophia looked confused.

"A ridiculously powerful girl in our city. A beastperson from my fellow cat tribe, who was born with enormous magic powers."

"How powerful?" Fen had become interested in the topic.

"Hmm… Not quite as powerful as the two of you… I just noticed, but Fen, you're ridiculous yourself, even for a full beastperson. Anyway, ignoring you two, Maya's by far the most powerful person I ever met. She actually was about to succeed with chantless magic for a single attack when we last saw her a week ago. Other than that, all she ever needed was an activation word for her magic.

"Oho?" The wolf seemed impressed. "She might be one of the strongest from the beastfolk then. A-Aside from me, that is..." Fen almost blew his cover.

"Really? I might want to meet her." Sophia was curious as well. Having another irregular around would make her feel way less out of place.

"Don't worry, she'll find you."

"Eh…?"

"Not only is that girl powerful, but she's also got the muscle brain to accompany it. Once she notices a strong individual, she won't stop nagging you until you agree to fight her."

"Ahh…" Sophia remembered the warning Fen had given her about this exact topic.

"I'll root for you!" Chiyo was already cheering her on.

"T-Thanks…"

"Ah, but don't beat her up too badly… Maya's actually a lovely girl once her fighting itch's been dealt with. She's one of the most caring persons you'll ever meet on the inside."

"Make up your mind, girl!" She had to make a swift retort.

"Ahaha, that's just how Maya is."

"Er, sure, whatever…" Sophia was talking about Chiyo.

"Be a bit careful, though… Maya's also crafty, so take care not to get yourself hurt! I wouldn't want that!"

"I-I see…" Teach her a lesson, go easy, take care not to get hurt. Sophia had no idea what the cat-girl wanted from her anymore.

The two girls chatted until late into the night about this and that. It had gotten so late that Chiyo fell asleep while leaning against Sophia's shoulder at some point. Being in her strike zone or not, Sophia didn't hate the feeling. Though she was embarrassed, the girl had no intention of waking her up, and she spent the night sitting like that.

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On the next day, after the cat-girl finished apologizing to her with a red face, the group made their way toward the beastfolk town. Once it finally came into view and Sophia spotted it, she got excited again.

"Oh~, it's so different from the human city we tried to visit the other day!" The most noticeable change was that this place wasn't contained inside a massive wall, but only a little fence to keep critters like kows and the like out. The buildings also made much more sense, being built in straight lines with good roads connecting every part of the city. "Not having a wall makes the town look so much more friendly."

"Naturally, being walled off would only make us depressed because the beastfolk like to be free. In the first place, there aren't many monsters that a city full of beastpeople has to fear because we are no cowards. And, if there's a monster that we couldn't beat even if we band together, then a wall wouldn't make any of a difference, either."

"Ahh, that's true…" Sophia recalled Fen suggesting simply jumping over or destroying the wall of the human city.

"Well then, let's get going!" Chiyo guided the group toward the main entrance.

Sophia was slightly concerned when the guards looked at her and Fen, but after a hearty Welcome to Raumont, they were let in just like that. She found it even a tiny bit anticlimactic.

Finally inside a city, even though it wasn't the one she had imagined, Sophia was looking forward to exploring it.

"Ah, I have no money!" Unfortunately, her excitement about exploring came to a sudden and abrupt end.