"That's good. I will try to convince the academy that you succeeded in the special mission even though Logan is 'missing'," Joseph said to Lawrend.
"Thank you, Mr. Joseph."
Lawrend bowed to him respectfully. This would alleviate Lawrend's concerns about failing the special mission because Logan didn't co back with them
"Mm. The Purple Thunder Grand Mage has high expectations for you."
Joseph nodded his head.
"Do you have any other questions?" Joseph asked.
"Ah, no."
Lawrend shook his head.
"Very well. We will leave tomorrow. Enjoy your last day in the city," Joseph said to him.
"Alright. I got it," Lawrend replied with a nod of his head.
"Let's go, Ane."
Lawrend turned around and urged Ane before leaving the room.
Once they were outside and the door was closed, Ane turned around and looked at Lawrend in a panic.
"H-He saw us doing it?" Ane asked him in a stutter.
"He did..." Lawrend replied to her with a wry smile on his face.
He didn't expect that Joseph had planned to watch them from the start.
"Ahhh! I can't rember it, but it's only making more embarrassed!" Ane lightly scread in despair.
"Don't worry about it. He didn't watch us on purpose," Lawrend reassured her. He was sure that Joseph is not that kind of a person. At least, he hopes he didn't watch the whole thing.
"Okay..."
Ane nodded her head reluctantly. She could only try to not be too bothered by it.
"Let's go buy you a maid uniform," Lawrend said to her with a smile, and he grabbed her hand.
"Okay!"
Ane nodded her head sowhat energetically. This was her way of trying to forget about it.
Lawrend brought Ane outside of the inn. It was dayti and nurous people were walking through the streets.
*Zun*
Ane suddenly turned her head to the right. She stared at a demihuman catman that was carrying sacks upon sacks of rice.
Her eyes widened and pain gripped her heart.
"Heuer…" Ane murmured bitterly.
A few days ago, she was too nervous to pay attention to her surroundings when they first arrived in the town. This was her first ti seeing her tribesn being treated like slaves.
"Let's go," Lawrend pulled her with him.
"I want to free him," Ane said to Lawrend as she resisted his pull.
Realizing that she won't budge, Lawrend turned around and stared into her eyes.
"You can't," Lawrend said to her solemnly.
"I… I will," Ane replied with gritted teeth.
"You aren't even as strong as your Tribal Chief. What makes you think that you can liberate a demihuman in this town?" Lawrend asked her seriously.
"But he is my fellow tribesman…" Ane replied to Lawrend as tears slowly started to fall from her eyes.
"Once you're strong enough. I will help you," Lawrend said to her.
"How long would that take?" Ane asked despondently.
"Depends if you train really hard. If you don't, it will take many many years," Lawrend replied.
"I don't want that…" Ane responded with teary eyes.
"That's good. You must train hard. You use the bow, right?" Lawrend asked her.
"Yes," Ane nodded her head slowly.
"You need to beco a Grand Mage-level Bow user at least," Lawrend said to her.
"That's very high…"
Ane felt like she was dealing with an insurmountable mountain when she heard his words.
"That's normal. The humans of this town are very powerful. Most of them are here to earn a quick buck by catching demihumans. If you can beco stronger than them, you can do anything you want," Lawrend said to her.
"I understand," Ane nodded her head with determined eyes.
"Let's go. I will introduce you to soone," Lawrend said to her and pulled her with him.
Ane didn't resist this ti. She allowed Lawrend to pull her with him. They went through the streets. She saw many demihuman slaves, but she didn't say anything.
They stopped in front of an inn that had the na, "Cat Inn."
"This is it," Lawrend said to her.
"Huh?"
Ane blinked her eyes in confusion.
Lawrend didn't reply to her. He pulled her inside with him.
Once inside, they were greeted by a catgirl in a maid uniform. This catgirl is very familiar to Lawrend.
"Welco cust— Lawrend!?"
Grape was just about to greet the usual way when she realized that it was Lawrend.
"It's been a while, Grape," Lawrend greeted her with a smile.
"Master, follow !"
Grape pulled Lawrend with her. Consequently, she also pulled Ane who was holding Lawrend's hand.
"W-Woah!"
Lawrend almost lost balance when she suddenly pulled him. As for Ane, she was shocked speechless when she saw the outfit Grape was wearing.
Grape brought them into an empty room upstairs.
"I missed you!" Grape shouted exaggeratedly.
"Actually, I'm here to introduce you to soone," Lawrend ignored her words and said to her.
"I-Is that you, Grape?" Ane asked her in disbelief.
"Who?"
Grape turned her head to Ane in surprise. She was surprised to hear her na from soone she never told it to.
Ane pulled down her hood and showed her face and cat ears to Grape.
"Ane Lana!" Grape exclaid in shock.
She turned her head to Lawrend and said, "You already found her?? That was so fast."
"A lot of things happened," Lawrend replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Grape!"
Ane embraced Grape tightly. She was unsure before, but after seeing her reaction and the way she looked like, Ane was sure that it was Grape.
"Ane… It has been 4 years since I last saw you."
Grape returned her embrace with a relaxed smile on her face.
"The two of you know each other?" Lawrend asked them in surprise.
"We do."
Grape nodded her head.
"We used to play with each other back in the tribe," Ane explained to Lawrend.
"Oh!" Lawrend exclaid in understanding.
"What happened to you, Grape? What are you wearing?" Ane asked her as she examined her body.
"It was hard at first but… I sohow managed. This is my outfit every day.. A maid uniform," Grape responded to her.
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