Chapter 40: Moment of tranquility

Inside one of the inn's private rooms, Shizuku was currently sitting on the floor, looking at and appreciating the little orange furred kitten with white stripes that she kidnapp- who snuck into her room...

"Nyan~". The kitten raised her front paw and meowed towards Shizuku with an aggrieved expression.

"H-how Cute!" Red eyes glowing, Shizuku began to stroke the kitten's fluffy fur.

She thought it was a pity that she couldn't pet Yuki like she wanted to, since she was always next to Nader and Yue. Just the thought of them looking at her and acting like a weirdo embarrassed her.

"Nyan~." The kitten purred under the pleasurable touch and rubbed against Shizuku's thigh.

"Who told you that you were so cute-Nya~? It's a sin-Nya~."

"Nya~?"

"What's wrong-Nya~, are you hungry-Nya~? Shizuku will prepare whatever you want-Nya~."

If one of Shizuku's acquaintances saw her right now, where she was literally acting like a contented kitten and even making quite adorable gestures for a normally serious girl like her, they might be so shocked that their jaws would easily touch the floor...

Her strange performance even earned her a couple of odd looks from the kitten, who gladly rubbed her fur with her slender but firm paws.

However, under acts that could somehow be considered quite cute, the little kitten stopped her action and started walking away towards where the door located behind Shizuku was.

"Where are you going-Nya~?"

Shizuku slowly followed the little kitten figure with her eyes as kitten meowed and headed towards the door with her eyes sparkling with excitement. However, when Shizuku turned her smiling face completely around, suddenly, she was completely petrified in place; afraid to make the slightest movement that might give away that she was there at that moment.

With her rigid expression threatening to break at any moment, and beads of sweat cascading down her body, she looked at the four figures standing in the doorway, looking at her strangely.

Although they had only been with each other for a few days, these few days were enough for them to get to know and become familiar with each other.

At the front stood a boy whose appearance seemed to have been forged in extreme detail by the very God of art that resulted in a masterpiece. The corners of his lips curved upward in an amused little smile, as he thought Shizuku was really quite cute.

Near the boy, naturally, stood a girl, who although quite petite considering her current age, didn't take away from the fact that she was quite pretty. Her normally stoic expression melted into one of compassion that said; 'I understand you completely. No need to explain the details...'.

She didn't even have time to catch a glimpse of the beautiful, voluptuous woman behind the petite girl who was looking at her with curiosity and amusement with her fan covering the lower half of her face before Nader interrupted her.

"*cough* Well. As you can see, our date today is over, and I wanted to inform you that for the next few days we would be staying at this inn to practice our skills, but I guess it was bad timing. Sorry for the intrusion, bye!".

*Bam*

Finished speaking, Nader didn't even wait for Shizuku's reply and slammed the door as if he was running away.

"Nooooo, please kill me! Kill me now…!"

A scream that frightened all the residents of the inn, thinking it was some kind of vengeful ghost, echoed in the surroundings.

***

"I know I said I wouldn't be surprised to see a dragon after finding out Yue was a vampire, but... this really is beyond anything I could have imagined," Shizuku muttered as she looked with unmistakable surprise at the beautiful woman sitting next to her.

This being the tenth day since the woman had joined them, Shizuku had just discovered that her new teammate was none other than a dragon!

This made her remember that each and every one of her teammates was a monster...

"Considering you said that in your world there were no beasts like us other than tales and legends, it's no wonder you're surprised even though you've been living in this world for a while." The dragon woman, Tio, elegantly drank the fruit juice that was served in a cup on top of the long table.

It had been ten days since the time Shizuku had gone through the greatest embarrassment of her life, so much so that she had thought of digging a hole to hide in.

"Oh, quite delicious as always...". Murmured Nader as he shoveled a scoop of rice into his mouth.

Since they had run out of all the food that had been kindly "gifted" to them by Heiligh Castle during these days, they had no choice but to eat the food provided by the inn. However, they all liked it, as they had tasted the food from the inn before.

The most satisfied one, was Shizuku; as, according to her, the meals served by the inn reminded her of some meals in her previous world.

"Nader... give me more."

With a smile, Nader lowered his face to look into the two beautiful red, pleading eyes of the girl who opened her small mouth towards him, asking to be fed.

"Wow, take this." He didn't refuse and took a cut of roasted meat into Yue's mouth, who didn't miss the opportunity to bite and lick his finger.

"Hoho, Nader, you're really spoiling her too much, don't you think so too, Shizuku-nya?"

A voluptuous woman, who had joined the group because of Yue, spoke with a smile and directed a question to the other girl beside her.

The reason Tio was able to join the group even after Nader's several refusals was that Yue had told Nader that she would be a good companion given that Tio was from the Dragon-Men tribe; they were a race that was in themselves proud and wise, so it was quite unlikely that she would have any prejudiced thoughts towards them.

However, Nader more or less knew Tio's intention to join them by the look of hatred that, as soon as it appeared, disappeared at the mention of Ehit. Just for that brief moment, he could conclude that she was looking for someone strong to take revenge, since the dragon race had probably perished under Ehit's manipulations.

Although he didn't entirely like that Tio didn't reveal his intentions other than to accompany them, he didn't say anything or pry too much as it seemed that his beloved Yue didn't care much, even after mentioning his speculations to Yue.

"Well, you'll get used to it with her little flirtations." Shizuku sighed and elegantly sipped her fruit juice with her lips and with a flushed face, she glanced sideways at Tio, "By the way, stop calling me that. Honestly, to you and Yue-san I'm just an object of ridicule to make me remember that day."

The nickname Yue had given Shizuku turned out to be so embarrassing for her that she didn't feel like looking at them, as every time "Shizuku-Nya" came out of their mouths, she was reminded of that day when she went through the biggest embarrassment of her life.

If it was only the two girls who had seen her in her shameful state, she wouldn't feel so embarrassed for so long, but for some reason unknown to her, she felt more ashamed that Nader had seen her. She hadn't even dared to look him in the face for a few days after what had happened that day.

Hearing Shizuku's words, Nader glanced at her and noticed that she was looking at him sideways and then averted her gaze to her food, finding it more interesting.

"Haha, actually, far from looking weird or something, you looked quite adorable and cute at that moment." With a smile, Nader tossed another piece of meat into Yue's mouth as he stroked her chin with his other hand. She was so engrossed under his delicious caresses that she wasn't even paying attention to what was being said on the outside.

"Fue?! Cute?!" Shizuku almost squealed like a kitten whose tail was stepped on.

She quickly wanted to refute Nader's words with "No way am I cute!", but after seeing Nader's beautiful and sincere smile, she was speechless not knowing what to say, embarrassing even more. She didn't know what to do at that moment other than to avoid his gaze.

"Interesting... so it turned out that way." The dragoness nodded sagely as if she had discovered the truth of the world.

"Anyway, it's time for the last day of training."