Watching the hooded girl storm off, I decided that we should just follow after her.

Hey, that's a possible cat girl! I'm not going to just let her walk off now, am I?

Amber and Lea also followed behind me without protest, though I'm pretty sure Amber was doing so because she was expecting a continuation of the fight.

"You gave up pretty easily there," Amber commented as we followed behind her.

She said nothing until we were out of sight before she stopped to turn around and fact us.

"Why are you following me?"

I looked at the others who looked back at me.

I wasn't about to admit to her that I was following her because I saw her cat ears and I wasn't letting a cat girl just walk out like that.

But what else could I say?

Lea came to my rescue, "We were concerned if you were alright after that man pulled such a thing on you."

She placed her arms on her hips, "Oh really? I thought you might be trying to get me to pay you for wasting your… Hold on… Are you a real Alv?"

Lea didn't seem surprised by her question and simply gave her a nod, "Yes I am."

The girl then took a moment to look at Amber and I before checking our surroundings to see that no one else was paying attention to us.

She then narrowed her eyes at her, "How have you not gotten swarmed by others then? Pretty sure the humans here would be clamouring all over you if you were an actual Alv."

Lea simply pointed at her neck where the slave collar was.

The hooded girl narrowed her eyes slightly before turning to face Amber and I.

"So that's it huh? Are you planning to enslave me too?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "How did you even come to that conclusion?"

"Why else will you follow some stranger that you just met for the first time?"

"I don't know? Maybe I thought that you could guide us around or something?"

"Do I look like a tour guide to you? Because if you didn't realise this from what happened earlier, I just got fired from my job as a mechanic."

"And you don't seem to be that upset about it?" I pointed out.

Sure, she seemed unhappy about it, but she accepted her loss quite easily as compared to how combative she was earlier while she was arguing with him.

Her face quickly changed into a mischievous smile, "Heh~ Well let me just give you a piece of advice. Don't screw over someone who knows your business better than you~"

I was about to ask what she meant when I heard a loud 'boom' emanating from behind us.

When I looked over in the direction of the sound, I realised there was now a small plume of smoke rising up into the air.

"Did you cause one of his power armour to explode or something?" I asked.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Pfft~ What do you take me for? I'm not that vindictive. One of them was already on the verge of blowing up which was why I was there in the first place. He stopped me from fixing it so it has nothing to do with me~"

She may say that… But I have a feeling the truth is actually deeper than that.

The girl then gestured at Lea, "So what's her deal then? Why are you parading an Alv slave like her around?"

I blinked, "I am not parading her around though?"

Lea also added, "And I am following Captain of my own accord. She had rescued me from a black market trader and I am indebted to her."

The hooded girl raised an eyebrow, "Really? First time I've seen an Alv who is happy to be enslaved."

Lea shrugged in response.

That's news to me… Lea certainly didn't seem that bothered by it and was even prepared to sleep with me too.

The girl then pulled up her hood and… There it is! The cat ears! I knew it!! They're so cute!! Look at them twitching slightly when she revealed them! I want to pat her head so bad!!

"I guess you already realised this but I'm a Maochatte," She explained, although I only half heard her since I was too busy looking at the pair of brown cat ears that were peeking out of her head of brown hair.

I managed to return to my senses quickly to ask, "So why the hood? Do they not like you here?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Is this your first time here or something?"

"Yes?"

"That explains why you're not even concerned about letting your Alv slave walk around in full view either. If everyone around knew I was a Maochatte, I would be getting stares and idiots asking me if they could touch my ears or my tail. Hmph! How would you humans like it if I asked if I could touch your boobs and ass all the time, huh?"

Amber giggled, "I wouldn't mind Tera touching my boobs and ass all the time though~"

She ignored Amber's comment and stuck out her hand towards me, "I've not introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Ries Balade, but you can just call me Ries. I'm a mechanic, as you might be able to tell."

"I'm Tera, a Mercenary. This is Amber and Lea, both part of my Mercenary team."

She then pulled up her hood again before nodding at Lea, "Just a word of advice from me… You might want to cover her ears because there's definitely going to be people who would try and take her from you."

"Thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind," I thanked her with a nod of my own. "Although I would still want to ask if you could guide us around for a bit?"

"You want me to guide you around? Why should I?"

"I'll pay you for it?"

She chuckled, "Are you like some naive noble who came out to play Merc for fun? Did you think I would accept something like that? Why would you even trust a stranger to guide you around?"

"Because you seem to know about all of these things better than us?"

"Uh-huh… Still doesn't mean I have to help you though? I'm not interested in doing it for money either."

Ugh… I guess I'm being too much of a creep now aren't I? I'm only approaching her because I'm seeing an actual cat girl for the first time in my life.

I turned to the other girls, "Alright… I guess we'll just have to go look around on our own. How about we--"

I didn't get to finish my words before a shout came from behind, "There she is! That's the terrorist!!"

We turned to see the salesman from earlier pointing a finger at Ries, his face contorted In rage. Behind him were four armed guards who looked almost as pissed as he was.

Ries furrowed her brows at him, "Oh, I'm a terrorist now?"

"Of course you are! You blew up my merchandise and attempted to derail this hotel's good name! I saw her fiddling around at the back of my stall earlier but I thought she was just a thief I scared away! You guys need better security! I'm demanding compensation from this!"

Oh wow, this guy's a professional scammer for sure. He really came up with a story like that so quickly?

One of the guards started approaching her, "You're coming with us right now."

Ries fumed, "Oh hell no! That bastard is lying! I was supposed to do maintenance on the machines but he fired me before I could! If he didn't, I would have been able to prevent this! He's just trying to take advantage of you guys to pay for his stupid decisions!"

The guard paused and narrowed his eyes at her, "Do you have proof?"

"Yeah! He has my employment contract!"

Everyone turned to him and he scoffed, "Oh please, at least use a better lie. I've never even met you in my life! And everything was blown up in that explosion so I lost everything!"

I understood the hidden meaning behind that statement. He meant that even the evidence she was relying on had been consumed by the explosion or he had taken advantage of it to get rid of it.

The guard turned back to Ries, "Well?"

There was an edge in his voice and I realised he did not care about the truth behind it and just needed someone to blame. So if Ries did not have anything else to prove her innocence, he was prepared to make her the scapegoat.

Amber then leaned over at that moment, "I have a video of your argument if you want it~"

Ries swivelled her head to face her, practically demanding for the video with her eyes.

Amber raised a finger, "Not so fast~ You'll have to pay for it by becoming our guide~"

"I'll do it! Hurry up!" She agreed immediately.

Oh wow, that was a quick change of heart…