Inquisitor Miles and his silent and larger partner entered the room standing at the edge of my bed. Sally moved out of the way for them without saying a word, which told me everything I needed to know.

These guys were dangerous.

“Mr Akabane, I’m glad to see you’re recovering well.” The sunglasses wearing man said in an official I don’t really give a shit tone.

He really did look like a magic FBI agent in his black suit. It was embroidered with black stitching which swirled down his arms. It was the kind of suit I’d imagine Dumbledor might have worn if he was trying to be a little less conspicuous.

“I’m certainly getting there.” I said, playing up the croak in my throat. The pain had mostly subsided now, likely due to Sally’s potion, but the more pathetic I seemed the less they’d harass me… hopefully.

“You sound awful.” Miles replied casually, cupping his hands in front of him. “However, we do need to ask you a few quick questions if that’s ok?”

I nodded, eyeing up his partner as slyly as I could. The man was as tall as he was broad. Definitely the type to give Sally a run for her money. The steroid abuse must have been rampant in Havar.

He hung back near the door. Mimicking Miles’ stance and staring directly ahead, looking over the top of the rest of us. He looked more like a shady nightclub bouncer than a fed. I wondered if he was the bad cop when informants refused to play ball.

“Can you tell me, in your own words, what happened when you fought the dragon please Mr Akabane?” Miles asked, shooting a warning glance at Sally.

“Which time?” I croaked.

“When you killed it.”

“I didn’t kill it, I’m pretty sure that honour belongs to Director Lucas.” I replied smartly.

No son-bitch is gonna catch me out with leading questions like that.

“Is that why you’re the one sporting the dragon’s eye then?” He asked coyly, gesturing to my newest title reward.

I feigned a look of shock, looking around the room at the others. Bell struggled to keep a straight face.

“What dragon’s eye?” I practically shouted. “I’ve only just woken up! Someone get me a mirror.”

The inquisitor sighed, rubbing a slow palm across his face.

That’s right buddy, you wipe the stress headache away. Where I’m from we call those the Kaleb special.

“Mr Akabane, please can you take this seriously. I understand that this isn’t the best time but I’m just trying to do my job.” Miles said exasperatedly, peering at me through pleading eyes.

Before I could answer, the indomitable fed by the door glanced my way and, in a deep voice, said:

“We can always do this the hard way.” There was a menacing undertone to his rumbling voice.

Sally tensed up and I could see she was ready for a fight. I felt the same way, mentally hovering over my daggers in my HUD. Bell, however, had a different plan.

“We have ways of making you talk.” She repeated in a bad German accent. “Jesus, I didn’t know we were dealing with the gestapo. I heard this place was socialist but I didn’t realise that meant national socialism.”

I chuckled as the tense air in the room abated slightly. The tall man looked confused but before he could retort Miles held up a silencing hand.

“It’s alright.” He let the words hang for a moment, shooting his colleague a look before continuing. “My friend here has a poor sense of comedic timing, please accept my apologies.” He took a breath before continuing.

“So, am I right to say that you didn’t kill the dragon Mr Akabane?”

“Nope.” I lied. “I’m only a temp adventurer, in fact we were out on our exam when this happened. I could barely scratch the thing. The Director was the only one powerful enough to stop it.

“Between me, Sally and the rest of the team, we must have used up all of our collective stamina and mana and we barely left a scratch on it.”

I put on the most earnest voice I could muster. After all the effort Sally had put in to helping to hide my soul attack power it would be disrespectful of me to fuck it up now.

Inquisitor Miles looked at me with appraising eyes. They flashed a blue colour for a moment and somehow I instinctively knew that he was using a skill.

It must have been the effect of my dragon’s eye. It didn’t tell me what that skill was, but I guessed that it was some kind of appraisal skill. It was likely that he was examining my stats or something – though I doubted he could do that in anything other than a limited capacity.

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“Are you a communist sympathiser, Mt Akabane?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I am not,” I replied evenly.

“Alright then.” He said, once again leaving his words to hang in the thick silence that followed. “Thank you for your time Mr Akabane. I’ve also being instructed to give you this letter.” He passed me an envelope with a wax seal on it and then left.

We waited a few moments before speaking. I eventually broke the silence myself.

“Do you think he bought it?”

“Hopefully.” Sally replied, perching back on the edge of my bed, and slumping her shoulders slightly. “At the very least, I don’t think he has a way to prove otherwise and in Havar, that’s good enough.”

“So they weren’t really nazi’s then?” Bell asked innocently.

“I don’t know what that means.” Sally sighed. “I need to make a call.” She stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Whilst she was absent, I took a better look at my letter. It had a sparkling, purple wax seal of an orca on it which I greedily tore into. The tri-folded, thick parchment dropped open.

Dear

MR AKABANE,

KALEB

His Majesty the King cordially invites you to attend a banquet tomorrow evening at the royal palace as a reward for your part in the defence of the city of Havar.

You will be granted an audience with our illustrious ruler as well as a reward befitting of your heroism.

Please dress accordingly.

Yours Faithfully,

Herbert Codswallop,

Secretary to the King and first minister of the independent nation of Havar.

“Dress accordingly?” I asked the room quietly.

“Oh, you got your king letter?” Bell chimed sweetly. “From the guy with the funny name?”

I nodded, passing her the letter which she scanned briefly and passed back to me.

“I wonder what our rewards will be?” I asked her, already having an idea of what I would like to ask for.

Hopefully this king would be amenable to my request. I doubted it would be difficult or costly for a ruler of a nation, still, I had no idea who this guy was. I’d only recently discovered thar Havar had a king and I’d been here for months.

“I think I’ll ask for a yacht.” Bell said thoughtfully. “I mean they’ve got enough of them in the harbour right?”

Before I could answer, the door opened and Sally walked in. Behind her was a familiar face I hadn’t seen in ages.

Talyor of Taylor’s Tailor followed behind the huge catonid, looking as vibrant as ever. She wore a fitted suit, that kind of reminded me of a zebra, with the sleeves rolled up and a catonid friendly skirt which allowed her fluffy ginger tail the freedom to sway slightly as she walked.

“Well, if it isn’t the town hero.” She said merrily, perching on the end of my bed where Sally had previously sat. “Sis here told me you need something fancy for your audience with the king?”

“Yeah…” I began hesitantly. “But before we get into that, how in the ever-living fuck are you two sisters?”

Sally growled as Taylor held a delicate hand to her lips to stifle her laughter.

I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. For one, Sally had silver hair and tanned skin, yet Taylor had ginger hair and pale, freckled skin.

And of course, there was the obvious elephant in the room…

“So…” Bell began. “You got all the personality and Sally got the compensatory steroids?” She asked the duo innocently.

Sally growled even deeper this time and I was surprised she didn’t hit the fireball mage. She wasn’t exactly known for her lack of violent tendencies after all.

“Something like that.” Taylor replied earning her own growl from her sibling. “Yes, we are sisters. Twins actually.”

I just gawped. I knew that not all twins had to be identical but this was just ludicrous.

“I thought cats gave birth to a full litter?” Bell said, placing her index finger on her chin and tapping lightly. I couldn’t tell if she was thinking really hard, or if she was constipated.

“We’re not cats.” Sally growled, her voice deep with anger.

“What Sal is trying to say.” Taylor interrupted much more patiently. “Is that catonids aren’t the same as cats. We give birth like humans do, usually just one at a time.

“But anyway, that’s not what I came here for. Kaleb, I hear I have you to thank for revenging my store?”

I looked to Sally and she nodded. She must have filled Taylor in on what had happened. I wasn’t sure I was overly pleased having more people knowing about my little secret, but Panda liked her and I trusted Sally so hopefully her sister could keep a lid on it.

“Yeah, something like that.” I replied cagily, scratching at the back of my head in discomfort.

“Well, if it was you, then thank you.” She said earnestly. “That thing nearly killed me when the shop caught fire. Honestly, I was lucky to make it out alive. I was still fleeing from the adventurer district when you guys got here. If it wasn’t for you… then I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

I looked at her silently as she gripped my hand in both of hers. They were warm and soft and she smiled genuinely at me as her yellow eyes looked deeply into mine.

Unsure what to say, I stayed silent, holding her gaze as best as I could. I wasn’t overly comfortable with professions of thanks like this, especially when she was so… alluring.

I had no intention of breaking my wedding vows of course, but I was still a man… and a bit of a nerd at that. Who wouldn’t be at least a little stunned sitting so close to a beautiful cat woman?

If Panda was here he’d be calling me a furry. I admonished myself as I felt a slight heat rise to the surface of my cheeks.

“Well,” she began, letting go of my hand softly and flashing me a fangy smile. “I’ve come to pay my debts and I promise you won’t be disappointed. You’re going to be the bell of the ball by the time I’m done with you!”

“Won’t I be the Bell of the ball?” The fireball mage asked, raising her hand like a schoolgirl.

Taylor ignored her interruption and continued. “I know you like black, so I’ll keep the colour scheme dark. I have a nice enchantment to use as well, which I expect will come in handy for a gentleman such as yourself.”

That’s the first time anyone has called me a gentleman. I’m common as muck. I thought, taken aback. That was probably the strangest thing to happen to me since arriving in Celestia.

“I’ll just need to take your measurements again.” The ginger catonid continued. “It looks like you’ve filled out a bit since last time. I take it you’ve been putting your free points into the strength stat?”

I looked down at my chest and then across at my shoulders and arms. Now that she mentioned it, I had developed some muscles. I looked more like an athlete than a bodybuilder, but still, that was a far cry from the beanpole I had been.

Wait did she say measurements? I groaned internally. Not again!