"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 come 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, Amene."
Lawrend turned around and urged Amene before leaving the room.
Once they were outside and the door was closed, Amene turned around and looked at Lawrend in a panic.
"H-He saw us doing it?" Amene 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 remember it, but it's only making me more embarrassed!" Amene lightly screamed 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..."
Amene 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!"
Amene nodded her head somewhat energetically. This was her way of trying to forget about it.
Lawrend brought Amene outside of the inn. It was daytime and numerous people were walking through the streets.
*Zun*
Amene 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…" Amene 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 time seeing her tribesmen being treated like slaves.
"Let's go," Lawrend pulled her with him.
"I want to free him," Amene 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," Amene 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…" Amene 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?" Amene 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…" Amene responded with teary eyes.
"That's good. You must train hard. You use the bow, right?" Lawrend asked her.
"Yes," Amene nodded her head slowly.
"You need to become a Grand Mage-level Bow user at least," Lawrend said to her.
"That's very high…"
Amene 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 become stronger than them, you can do anything you want," Lawrend said to her.
"I understand," Amene nodded her head with determined eyes.
"Let's go. I will introduce you to someone," Lawrend said to her and pulled her with him.
Amene didn't resist this time. 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 name, "Cat Inn."
"This is it," Lawrend said to her.
"Huh?"
Amene 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.
"Welcome 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 me!"
Grape pulled Lawrend with her. Consequently, she also pulled Amene who was holding Lawrend's hand.
"W-Woah!"
Lawrend almost lost balance when she suddenly pulled him. As for Amene, 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 someone," Lawrend ignored her words and said to her.
"I-Is that you, Grape?" Amene asked her in disbelief.
"Who?"
Grape turned her head to Amene in surprise. She was surprised to hear her name from someone she never told it to.
Amene pulled down her hood and showed her face and cat ears to Grape.
"Amene Lana!" Grape exclaimed 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!"
Amene embraced Grape tightly. She was unsure before, but after seeing her reaction and the way she looked like, Amene was sure that it was Grape.
"Amene… 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," Amene explained to Lawrend.
"Oh!" Lawrend exclaimed in understanding.
"What happened to you, Grape? What are you wearing?" Amene asked her as she examined her body.
"It was hard at first but… I somehow managed. This is my outfit every day.. A maid uniform," Grape responded to her.