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Preparing for another clash of his sword against her dagger, he was caught off-guard as the woman changed her method of attack on the fly, drawing a tiny needle from her pocket before flicking it directly towards his eye.

Emilio watched it approach, nearing his eyeball before unleashing a swirl of wind around his entire body in a panicked effort, managing to blast the small projectile back.

As he breathed out, nearly avoiding the painful assault, there was no mercy in the cat demi-human’s attack as she went for a swipe of her dagger straight towards his neck. It was difficult to track her if not directly observing her, as every step the woman took, no matter how swift, was completely silent like the lull of the night.

This time, before he could respond in his own way, a powerful breath of air swept up the soil and woman alike, blasting her to the side.

“Nice one,” Emilio breathed out, looking to the side towards Melisande.

The silver-haired girl seemed happy with the result, nodding, “Mhm–to your right!”

Just then, he was forced to turn back as the recovery time of the agile dagger-wielder was astounding, forcing him to clash blades with her in a swift exchange before Everett rushed over again.

The dance of blades was intercepted as the burly man slammed his shield down, though was evaded again.

However, this was a misight by the hooded woman as she leapt back, finding the young mage pointing his hand towards her with a spell manifesting in that split-second.

“–!”

Launching forth was a higher-level manifestation of wind magic, a spell known as ‘Storm Seal’, which was superbly effective for opponents in midair, able to completely envelop them in the nature of wind.

The result of the spell was a cylinder of wind in a small perimeter, keeping the woman stuck in the air from a constant gale.

“Uegh…!” The hooded woman let out.

“Nice one!” Everett high-fived him.

Though Emilio was more focused on what was revealed by the wind as it knocked the woman’s hood off, revealing a tan-skinned beauty with flowing, burgundy hair and most of all, two, twitching cat ears.

It was one of his most fundamental dreams in this new life: meeting a cat girl.

Now that the woman was left harmless in the trap of wind, stuck several meters above ground with her hair flowing in the breeze, Emilio made sure to present him and the others as non-aggressors.

“Like I said before, we aren’t here to cause trouble. We saw a camp and assumed it was abandoned. You know how this trial is–it’s life or death, and for most, it’s death,” Emilio explained.

The feline woman looked annoyed, holding back her frustration before giving in with a sigh, “…I see that now. You aren’t like them.”

‘Them’? He thought.

Still, he took this as enough of a sign of peace, biased to the woman’s cat ears and tail, “So, are we fine?”

“Fine,’ the woman coldly affirmed.

As he glanced over to the others, Everett nodded in affirmation of his decision and Melisande shrugged, prompting him to flick his fingers to dispel the seal of wind.

The woman fell, though landed silently on her feet, glaring at the group as they stood off for a minute before finally, the demi-human’s dagger was sheathed.

“I’m Emilio,” he introduced himself.

“Everett! But you can call me Big Ev’!” Everett boisterously added.

“Melisande,” the silver-haired girl introduced, folding her arms over her chest.

Impartial to conversation, the woman, slightly taller than Emilio but a head shorter than Everett, put her hands on her hips, brushing her cloak aside to reveal an arsenal of blades beneath, varying in sizes, “Just call me Yuna. I doubt we’ll be knowing each other for long.”

I knew it…that fighting style and her weapons–she uses the same style as Vandread, doesn’t she? He thought.

“…Look, alright, I’m just on edge recently,” Yuna explained, seeing the looks from Melisande as they all stood there, “Just a bit ago, I was attacked.”

“Attacked? Like, by a beast?” Everett asked.

Yuna shook her head as her tail flicked behind her, “A person–a recruit, like us.”

“Wait…was he wearing all black, and wielding two blades?” Emilio asked.

A look of surprise came in Yuna’s eyes then suspicion as she narrowed them on the young man, “…Yeah, how do you know that?”

Melisande stepped forward, “We ran into him too…Amon. He tried attacking me, but Emilio stopped him.”

This was a revelation to Everett, who seemed ignorant to the fact that there were such events occurring between the recruits themselves.

Emilio saw this as an opportunity to lessen the abrasive coldness between the two parties, “Hey, why don’t we work together? You’re alone, right? It’d be a whole lot safer in a group.”

This offer was an unspoken agreement between the three as they all knew well the dangers of the Valley of Parmesus, though it was difficult to predict if the feline rogue would be open to such a thing.

“–” Yuna looked at them silently, beginning to turn away.

As Emilio was about to try and win her over with further words, it was Melisande who stepped forward.

“It was scary, wasn’t it? Being all alone here…Even if you act tough, I know. Never being able to get a full night’s sleep, having to look over your shoulder…Even if you’re strong, having others with you is a good thing. We can look out for each other.”

It was spoken straight from the heart, said confidently, though with reflected experience as the silver-haired, rookie mage placed her hand over her heart.

Good going, Melisande, Emilio genuinely thought.

This mutual experience seemed to open up the lock on Yuna’s heart just slightly, “I can take care of myself….but, I suppose it’d be a bit less of a hassle if I had other eyes watching out.”

The decision didn’t seem to be made out of the benefit of herself as Yuna moved her mask down, adjusting her dark-red scarf as she looked away. It was difficult to read the woman, but it seemed Melisande’s words dug up something in Yuna.

“Great!” Emilio smiled.

Just like that, the young Dragonheart found himself one step closer to his dream of getting close to a real cat girl.

It was convenient enough as Yuna already had a workable camp built, leaving Emilio free to build protective walls around it, which took some convincing for the cautious demi-human to agree to.

“You’re from Yulagsdra? Is that far from here?” Everett asked, taking a spoonful of the vegetable and rabbit stew that Yuna had made.

There was certainly a lack of general etiquette in Everett’s hometown as he spoke while chewing, causing droplets of food to spit it.

Yuna didn’t seem too keen on sharing, specifically with one with a clearly large appetite like the shielder, though shook her head while sharpening her dagger, “It’s a direct neighbor to Vasmoria, but they’re separated by a dangerous stretch of water, so there’s not much travel between them.”

“‘The Foul Sea’, right?” Emilio asked.

The kingdom of Yulagsdra was one that stood out to them among the civilizations he read about: the land of demi-humans, abundant in many tribes of humans mixed with beast traits, said to house grand beasts that would be considered high-end threats if occupying the mainland.

“That’s right. You know your stuff,” Yuna confirmed, “It’s said to be where an old river god died, cursing its waters and the life within it…most boats that try to pass through those waters are capsized or outright wiped off the map. They say that the dead god still lurks in the depths.”

Looking over at the girlish ‘eep’ that sounded out from the story that sounded fitting for a campfire talk, Emilio found Melisande to be sitting there quietly and curious to the story, leaving the one responsible for the noise to be Everett, who hugged his knees.

Really, man…Emilio thought.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…” Yuna turned her sharp eyes over to Emilio.

He looked up nervously, “Yeah?”

“Why’re you shirtless?”

“Oh, err…well,” He scratched his neck with an embarrassed chuckle, “It got burned off.”

Yuna looked at him silently for a moment before going back to cleaning her weapon, “Ah. I see.”

The cat woman stood up without a word, moving over to a bundle of leaves she had gathered previously, for a reason unknown to him, before beginning to fiddle with them.

“What’re you doing?” Melisande asked curiously, watching.

“Making a cloak,” Yuna answered without looking back.

“A cloak?…With leaves?” Melisande tilted her head.

While Everett was too busy stuffing his face with the hearty stew, Emilio moved over as well, watching as the demi-human woman swiftly crafted the cloak, presenting an actual, serviceable cloak of leaves, which she handed over to the young Dragonheart.

“For me?” He asked, accepting it.

Yuna stood up, “…Don’t take it as an act of kindness. If we’re going to be working together, it’ll be troublesome if you’re encumbered by the weather.”

Even though she said that, they all saw it as an act of kindness as Emilio threw it around his shoulders, allowing the neatly-connected leaves to cascade down his shoulders in a natural cloak.

“Thanks,” he said, looking down at his new covering.

Yuna didn’t respond, simply pulling her scarf over her mouth as if keeping her emotions up her sleeve.