It really wasn't even a challenge.

The one I leapt at immediately crumpled underneath me and both of his arms were broken when I stepped on them.

My tail then whipped out and smacked another one trying to jump at me from behind in the face, sending him rolling towards the clown boy.

Two of them tried to rush towards me from the sides, their fists raised to punch me.

My own hands shot out and caught their fists, twisting it to break their arms.

Leaving them to wail out in pain on the ground, I turned to face the one dressed in plate armour who was probably their tank.

He was rather slow in that armour so it gave me all the time I needed to duck under his punch and deliver my own punch into his chest, caving in his armour.

He gasped and backpedalled away from me while clutching at the armour currently crushing his chest, clumsily ripping the top plate off.

My attention was directed away when I heard the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath.

The one who drew the blade charged at me with his sword raised,anger plastered on his face and clearly intending to attack me with that weapon.

Alright, since they were the one who drew the blade first…

I stretched out my hand and used [Shadow Forge], creating a battle axe made of darkness to appear in my grasp.

I lifted it over my head and the man quickly skidded to a stop a short distance away from me, backing away while tossing his weapon aside with his hands raised in surrender.

Turning to look at the last one who was their mage, I saw him quickly cancelling the fireball magic and also dropping his staff to raise his hands in the air.

At least these two know when they are outmatched, unlike these two who are still raring to go…

The one I had smacked with my tail got up, joining their tank to continue attacking me.

I waited until they got closer to me before smashing the battle axe onto the ground in front of them, the force enough to create a tremor that caused the two of them to fall flat on their faces.

Dematerialising my battle axe, I walked up to them just as they were trying to get back up again.

I kicked one of them across the face, breaking a few teeth and rendering him unconscious before stepping on the other one with my heel.

He let out a scream as the tip of my heeled boots crushed his hand, pinning him to the ground.

I even dug my heel in for good measure, causing him to scream even louder before breaking off into whimpers.

"Want to try again?" I asked.

He quickly shook his head, already sobbing pathetically.

I then turned to the last two who had surrendered and crossed my arms, "I think I mentioned something about receiving an apology or I'll break all your limbs?"

The two of them got the message and quickly fell to their knees with their heads pressed against the ground.

"We apologise with every fibre of our being!!"

Meh, good enough I guess. They're going to have to deal with the rest of their friends being in this state anyway. Have fun dragging your tank back into the city and finding a healer.

For now, I turned towards my companions to see their reactions.

Well… Aside from Katsuki who was looking at me in awe, the others were gaping at me in disbelief.

I then shifted my gaze to the clown boy and he flinched when he realised I was looking at him.

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"Wha… What do you want? You can't do anything to me, you peasant! I'm the young master of the Leo family! If you do anything to me, you can forget about even stepping foot in any of the major cities around here!"

I grinned at him, "Oh, don't worry young master Leo, I wasn't thinking of doing anything to you at all, you don't need to be that nervous. I believe all this was just a misunderstanding right? This problem is all because of a misunderstanding between you and these Mercenaries… Right?"

He looked around and realised the people who were queueing up to enter the city were also looking at him, all of them having seen the entire affair.

Obviously his own image is already tarnished so if he were to try and speak out more against me, it'll just make him look worse. I'm already giving him a way out by pinning the blame on the Mercenaries that attacked me instead.

"That… I… Hmph… I suppose so."

My smile widened, "Then perhaps, it would be wise to pay them the money you owe? And maybe just a small reward for the Meslatar who saved you?"

He gritted his teeth but relented, digging out a few silver coins to pass to me and the two Mercenaries who were still kneeling on the ground.

When he was reaching out his hand to pass me the money however, I grabbed him and pulled him towards me so that my face was up against his ear.

"This is my one and only warning, clown boy. Mess with me again and I'll cut off your limbs and let monsters feed on you before sending your corpse back to your family. You think this world isn't big enough to hide me? Your family can spend their time hunting me but you'd be fucking dead, you understand me?"

He shivered but said nothing so I pulled him in closer and tightened my grip on him.

"I said, do you understand me?"

"Ye… Yes…" He croaked.

I finally let him go and gave him a pat on the back too before I took the money from him.

Oh damn, one hundred Creas just like that, it really is easy money.

"Thank you, young master Leo for your generosity," I curtsied before returning to join the rest.

"Who… Who are you… Miss Aster?" Leonard's sister gasped.

I grinned and placed a finger on my lips, "Come now, we still need to turn in our quests! After this, how about we celebrate by eating some meat skewers? My treat!"

The kids quickly forgot about what just happened and cheered at the prospect of eating skewers, already joining the queue once again while ignoring the Mercenaries who were still rolling around the ground in pain.

I turned to grin at Katsuki, "I'll get you a skewer too!"

She bowed, "I thank Mistress for your generosity."

So cute~

*

After turning in the herb quest and selling the Goblin Mana Crystals for ten Decreas each, I was fifty Creas and sixty Decreas richer.

I brought our group to one of the food stalls near the cheaper parts of the city and bought thirty chicken skewers at two Decreas each

I gave four to each of the kids which left me with six to split between Katsuki and myself.

The kids then thanked me once again for saving them and also for buying them skewers before we parted ways.

"Mistress is strong…" Katsuki muttered.

I shrugged, "I wouldn't say that, there are other stronger beings out there compared to me."

"Why is Mistress so nice to those kids though? The strong usually don't act this nice…" Katsuki asked while she took a bite out of her skewer.

"Hmm? No reason. I just thought they were cute. Not as cute as you though! Can I fluff your tail?"

"Mi… Mistress… Please, not out in public…"

"Fufufu~ You actually really like me fluffing it don't you? But why are you so shy about it?"

"Because it's embarrassing, Mistress… If Mistress really wants to… We can go back to the inn and Mistress can fluff me as much as you want…"

I gasped, "Really?! Then let's go back right now!"

"E… Eh? Right now? Umm… If Mistress says so…"

Hey! If I was presented with an opportunity like that, it would be criminal of me not to take it!

I practically dragged Katsuki back to our room in the inn, opening up the door and locking it behind us in preparation for what I'm about to do to her.

"Mistress… Your eyes are a little scary…"

"Muehehehe~ Don't worry about it, Katsuki~ More importantly… Fluff!! Fluff!!"

She sighed and turned around, revealing her big fluffy tail to me and I immediately dove face first into it.

Uwaaa~ It's so soft! So squishy! So fluffy!! This is definitely what heaven feels like!

"Unngghh… Could… Could Mistress… Ah… Please be more gentle?"

"Ufufufu~ You're so fluffy, Katsuki~ Ehehehe~"

"Mistress… Hauuuu…"

I got so lost in the feeling of her tail that I actually yelped when I felt something grab my tail.

Looking down, I realised it was Katsuki holding on to my tail, the Inugami just as surprised as I was about my yelp.

"Erm… What are you doing, Katsuki?"

"I… I thought I would try to understand why Mistress liked my tail so much… So I… Erm… Ah…"

Her hands slipped and brushed against the tip of my tail, sending a weird, ticklish feeling rushing up my spine.

It wasn't by any means unpleasant, nor was it sexual, but it just felt… Well… I don't know how to describe it except for saying it was sensitive.

Thus, I let out another yelp and even jumped slightly from the contact, causing me to tighten my grip on Katsuki's tail.

That caused Katsuki to let out a yelp of her own which in turn tightened her grip on my tail as well, causing a loop of both of us just gripping each other's tails.

I eventually managed to break away at the same time as Katsuki, both of us collapsing to our knees and breathing hard.

"Pant… Pant… Is that… Is that what you feel whenever I touch your tail.. Katsuki?" I asked.

"Unn… The weird… Ticklish feeling? Yes, Mistress…"

"Do you like it?"

"... Yes…"

I took her by her hand and led her towards the bed, laying myself down on the bed before pulling her down on top of me so that her head was in between my legs, allowing us access to each other's tails.

I took her tail in my hands and stuffed my face into it, enjoying its fluffiness while moving my own tail out from in between my legs to allow her to touch it as well.

For the rest of the day, we just laid in bed in that position caressing each other's tails in that position~

Bliss~