"If possible, I'd appreciate it if you didn't let your magical beast suddenly turn massive like that. And stop causing trouble. We can't keep bailing you out of the detention center every two days like this, Sir Atur."
A knight in charge of the jail said that before releasing me and the two sisters, Vierra and Shierra, after we all got arrested for disturbing the public order.
Honestly, who would have thought that the moment Larry showed up, an entire regiment of knights would mobilize to handle it. Fortunately, I stepped up to explain, so we were only held for a bit before being let go.
The reason for them to be this cautious is because of hunting down a very dangerous gang of criminals. Leading those thugs is a North King or something, so they could be on par with the Ultimate Four, kinda scary if you ask me.
"But don't worry Sir Atur, we knights of Holy Millis will bring those lowly scum to justice. You can enjoy your stay at Millishion at ease."
"Ah… okay."
Well aside from that criminal situation which I don't know if it's serious or not since some of them are busy gossiping about me again. Like how I got two baddies or something and to be more crazy is when seeing Larry's true size gave them even more reason to marvel at and fear me. Something like this:
"Whoa, Lord Atur actually has an S-rank magical beast!?"
"So cool, as expected of the Dragon Demon King."
And just like that, my reputation shot up another notch.
Pretty neat, all things considered. But back to the situation at hand—once we got outside, I immediately turned to Vierra:
"I told you it was my 'cat'."
"Tch."
Dissatisfied? Absolutely. Ultimately. But what can you do? Ho ho ho.
Larry wasn't pleased either. It glared at me just like Vierra, but I knew exactly what would make it behave.
"Now, you little pussy cat, follow me into the forest to soak up some sun."
Larry seemed a bit hesitant. The cat looked at Shierra, then over to Vierra. Come on, don't make me look like the bad guy here.
"If you're going, we're coming along too," Vierra suddenly proposed.
"Is it absolutely necessary to stalk me for this cat? Do you two literally not know what fear is? He's literally an S rank monster." I looked at them with a sigh.
Vierra, the girl in the thoroughly provocative bikini armor, tossed her head back. "My sister wants to make sure Kitten is safe with you."
"I'm the one whose safety needs guaranteeing here."
Do you two not see that the only one getting physically abused here is me? Just because I regenerate a bit fast doesn't mean I don't feel pain or losing a huge portion of blood. We Blood Tribes need to drink blood, not losing it.
"But you're Kitten's summoner," Vierra shot back immediately. "Even though I don't know anything about magic, my sister says a master holds the fate and life of their magical beast."
I guess that's true. Honestly, I wouldn't know. Arcantos never taught me whether I could harm Larry or any magical beast I summon through some technique. The only thing he taught me was how to sever the contract so I could live in peace without a mana-drain debuff—something I haven't actually tried yet.
"If you're worried, rest easy," I sighed. "If I wanted to do that, I would've done it years ago."
"But... you abandoned Kitten... and let it starve," Shierra chimed in timidly.
"I was locked up in prison by the Knights," I defended myself.
"Then there's no way we can rest easy letting a convict wander off with our pet," Vierra concluded.
"It's my pet."
"A true master doesn't let their pet starve!" the bikini-clad girl declared with a fierce finger point, looking exactly like a certain lawyer named Naruhodo.
"Meow meow!" Larry agreed, raising a front paw. This demon cat is probably smarter than most humans at this point.
With this kind of conversation, we could probably talk until next year and still get nowhere. They were dead set on tagging along.
Curiously, I thought they'd be terrified of Larry after seeing his true form. Yet, to my surprise, absolutely nothing changed. Even Shierra, that timid mage, was caressing it so affectionately, as if that cat weren't a literal monster capable of pulverizing an entire district of this city with a flip of his hand… I mean pawn.
So, I had no choice but to throw my hands up in surrender.
"Fine, if you want to follow, be my guest. But I have a condition. Just one."
"What is it?" Vierra crossed her arms, clearly finding me a nuisance. "It better not be something unreasonable."
"It's very simple and reasonable. Please put on some decent clothes." I pointed right back at her while keeping my eyes strictly glued to the sky. "Could you put on a coat or something?"
"What? Why?"
Do you even need to ask? Are you kidding me?
The whole time I've been standing in the middle of the street talking to this girl, over a hundred guys have been gawking at us. A few are even pretending to have conversations just to ogle her. They might not hear it or simply don't give a damn, but what those creeps are whispering is anything but pleasant. She might not feel embarrassed, but I sure am feeling it on her behalf.
But saying that outright wouldn't do, so I had to beat around the bush a bit.
"I am a faithful and exceptionally moral follower of the Millis religion," I said, placing my right hand over my heart with utter sincerity. "I do not wish for my traveling companions to dress inappropriately compared to everyone else."
"As long as you don't have foul intentions, it doesn't matter what I wear," she retorted.
"Meow!"
"See? Kitten agrees."
Shut your fucking mouth, you damn cat!
"Besides, even though you claim to be so pious and upstanding, haven't you been staring at my chest this whole time?" Vierra shrugged.
"Because it's right at eye level. Sorry for being short."
And also because it keeps bouncing around right in front of my face. Annoying as hell. I'm a man after all, not a eunuch or gay. No matter how much of a gentleman or how virtuous someone is, they're bound to be drawn to a fine pair of breasts.
And the worst part is, her chest really is magnificent.
Ahhhh, damn it! Stop thinking dirty thoughts! Look at that, I'm already getting judged with contempt.
Even though it's been years, getting hit with that classic look of female loathing still makes me highly uncomfortable. Well, whatever, at least she hasn't called me scum or anything yet.
But man... am I seriously debating the freedom of dress code? This isn't 21st-century Earth. I remember back when I was teaching high school, I had to listen to a fellow teacher argue with a female student over the length of her skirt. Back then, I supported the provocative side because it pleased my eyes, but now I finally understand that teacher's perspective. Sometimes, us men are just worried about some perverted bastards staring at young girls with malicious intent.
But given her rebuttal, she's probably had plenty of people lecture her on this before, so she knows exactly what to say. For her to be this stubborn, there must be a reason behind it.
What could it be? Because it's her primary fighting style? If so, she could just say that and call it a day. Or is it just a personal preference? I know people in this world are pretty loose when it comes to romance, but it's rare to see someone who enjoys dressing provocatively just to look down on anyone who glances their way.
Truly baffling.
"Whatever, fine. In that case, you two have to walk ten meters behind me."
"Fine by me!"
And so, I could finally head out into the forest to sunbathe. Though it seems keeping a ten-meter distance didn't do much when everyone was staring at me and Vierra like they all knew we were together anyway.
Seriously, my life is nothing but a sequence of disasters.
Other than that, everything was pretty unremarkable. I walked to the edge of the forest and found an open spot far from the sight of ordinary folks, just like I usually do. Ideally somewhere with direct sunlight unblocked by foliage. I didn't want to damage the environment for personal reasons.
And just like always, I prepared to do the final thing I needed to do.
"Eek!" Shierra suddenly let out a flustered cry.
Meanwhile, Vierra hurled a rock straight at my head right as I had my pants halfway down. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Why are you suddenly stripping, you pervert?!"
Look who's calling me a pervert—the girl wearing nothing but bikini armor. Ironic, isn't it?
"I'm about to spontaneously combust, aren't I? If I don't take off my clothes, I'll burn through a perfectly good outfit," I explained flatly. "Or maybe you two can give me the money to buy a new set. Then you can see my burning my ass off without any problem."
After all, I've been spending a fair amount of money on various things lately. Like funding Talhand's smithing, for instance. It didn't seem like much, but when I double-checked, I realized I'm on the verge of bankruptcy. So I need to scrimp and save.
That's right, I've actually started taking financial responsibility. Character development at its finest, right?
"If not, you two can just take that wretched cat to some other corner," I suggested. "Can you just leave me alone to burn in peace?"
"Fine, let's go."
Vierra immediately dragged Shierra away.
"..."
I was just joking; I only wanted to find a clever way to dismiss those two, not actually strip entirely. The clothes I'm wearing were gifted to me by Lord Lan Xin after all. It's completely fireproof; he even said if you throw it into a volcanic crater, it absorbs magma like a sponge absorbing water instead of burning—top-tier stuff. So I didn't actually need to strip down to sunbathe.
It's not like I have a fetish for exposing my body to nature. I literally only bathe inside inns and have never stripped naked in rivers or streams out in the open.
The real reason I wanted those two girls out of the vicinity was because I needed to concentrate. If Vierra accidentally moved around and distracted me with her massive tits, I might actually end up dead. Seriously, no joke. This whole burning under the sun business is more dangerous than you may think.
So I had to drive them away just to be absolutely safe.
"Alright, let's do this."
Then, I took a deep breath to shut down my Blood Tribe Battle Aura of mine.
It was an agonizing process, but it was also the only way for me to recover a decent chunk of mana after overexerting myself for several days. Larry could feel it too; my cat let out a comfortable purr for a moment before expanding into its true form.
I had no idea what those two girls were doing, because at times like this, the only thing I could do was focus entirely on the mana conversion. This bone-chillingly painful process dragged on for half an hour, and once I was done, I tracked them down by following the noises they were making.
"Finished?" Vierra asked.
"Yeah." I nodded.
By now, Larry had shrunk back down. The cat was sound asleep in Shierra's arms. I could see its black fur had become exceptionally glossy, looking bursting with vitality.
Seeing it so happy brought a small smile to my face.
"Kitten is staying with us," Vierra announced.
I didn't even care to argue and agreed instantly. "Be my guest."
Right now, I just wanted to go back to my room and sleep for a very long time after the exhausting past few days.
...
On the way back to the inn, we accidentally took the same route. Naturally, we maintained a safe distance so nobody would think we were walking together.
"What do you want now?" Vierra glared at me again. "According to Miss Roxy, you're staying at an inn in the residential district, so why are you following us?"
"I need to see my uncle for a bit."
I had intended to head back to my own inn in the residential district but detoured to the adventurer's district instead. My goal was to meet up with Paul to discuss some matters regarding our upcoming departure, especially about Norn's and Aisha's situation.
That inadvertently caused me to share a path with those two girls quite by accident. I completely forgot that the sisters were part of Paul's squad.
"Then could you stop looking our way and back off a bit further?"
"Uh... no problem." I actually stepped back.
Honestly, I didn't get why they were so guarded against me. I hadn't even looked toward Vierra enough times to count on one hand, purely because I didn't want my little brother getting hard. If anything, I was only looking at Larry being carried by the younger sister, Shierra. And she was dressed perfectly normally, so what was the issue?
These people are bizarre.
A short while later, I arrived at the search team's inn.
"The leader's been out since morning. Probably doing some paperwork," the only one from the search team in the inn noted.
And just my luck, Paul wasn't at the inn.
I guess I'd come back another time. I didn't want to hang around these weirdos any longer anyway.
"Paul! Where's Paul?!" But just as I was about to leave, a man rushed in frantically.
He was a skinny fellow, though you could see defined muscles tracing his toned arms. He didn't look much different from the majority of adventurers I usually see, except for one thing—his face looked exactly like a monkey's.
Looked just like Lupin III.
Maybe he's a demon or something. Oh wait, did I just accidentally being a bit racey here?
"The leader's out," Vierra replied. "What's the rush, Geese?"
"Pant... Just now, Fauna and Orp found traces of some of the missing people... Huff..." Geese gasped out of breath. "But then they got caught up in a dispute, and both of them were dragged away!"
"What!?" Vierra immediately bolted up. "Where are they!?"
"In the alley behind... the Flying Turtle tavern... pant."
"Alright, Geese, help me find the leader." The bikini-armored girl instantly snatched the sword from the table and sheathed it at her hip. Then she turned to the other two in the tavern. "I'll head there to assess the situation and track their trail before we lose them. Halrad, Shierra, follow me."
"Okay!"
"Yes…!"
A fight huh? Should I intervene?
Probably I don't need to. Given how they reacted, they've likely got plenty of experience with these situations. Besides, I don't exactly have much stamina or mana left to keep fighting; what I need right now is rest.
For their level, maybe someone like me is a little bit overkilled. Not to mention those girls are kinda 'not on good terms' with me.
So, I just quietly left the inn and headed back to where I could crash and sleep like a log until the next day.
Unfortunately, just two hours after I left that place, when I'm having a meal something bizarre happened. The mana inside my body plummeted catastrophically, to the point where it became hard to breathe and my head is spinning like I am hanging on a ceiling fan.
"Help! Please… don't! Don't touch me!" Then a girl's voice cried out, echoing through my head.
And for the very first time, I could clearly feel the sheer despair of something horrific taking place.