Chương 346: (339) 5.35. Cat Got Your Tongue?

Vin spun around, his golem arm already flaring blue and ready to defend against whatever surprise attack was in store for him. Yet rather than an assassin with a knife ready to stab into his back, his eyes found a thin beastkin with a mischievous mirth in her eyes as she hopped back a few steps.

"Woah, there, no need for that!" she laughed, leaning on her staff as she grinned at him.

"It's just some friendly fun between mages, no need for the tier 9 response!" Vin stared at the surprise beastkin, blinking in shock as he took her in. Unlike Waltz and the other beastkin he'd seen, who wore loose, billowy clothing so as not to pinch the fur growing along their entire bodies, this woman had decided to go with the capillan approach to dealing with clothing. Meaning she wore nothing at all.

"Uh…" he stammered, quite unprepared to suddenly find himself speaking with a fellow mage, much less one who didn't seem to mind roaming around in the nude. Thankfully, as a beastkin, her dark fur covered everything that would have needed to be blurred out back on Earth, but it wasn't at all like the capillans and their mass of unruly hair.

He could easily make out her curves under her thin layer of fur, and from how she stretched against her staff like an actual cat, he had the feeling she was well aware of what she was doing. Once the initial shock of meeting her was past, he cleared his throat and shook his head, grounding himself. He'd encountered far stranger things on Edregon than a nudist beastkin, and he wasn't so much of a prude as to let that facet of her appearance distract him. Not to mention, he was already spoken for.

"You're not one of the rankers," he said, glancing back at the floating ball with a crudely drawn face on it.

"Which means you're from the alliance, I take it?"

"Indeed I am," she smiled, arching her back as she used her staff to scratch in between her shoulder blades, never once removing her gaze from his own. He didn't know if she was trying to seduce him in earnest or just playing around, but Vin frowned as the act caused her to thrust her chest out. He wasn't a fan of these kinds of games, and he was rapidly growing to dislike the surprise mage.

"I suppose the two of us could go find a private room somewhere within the keep to... learn more about one another, if you'd have any interest."

"Look, would you knock it off with the weird, 'trying to be sexy' act, or whatever it is you're doing?" he decided to come out and ask.

"For one, I'm already seeing someone, and for two, I find it rather annoying."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she sighed, putting her staff back down and waving a hand lazily. Vin blinked as thin strips of clothing appeared out of nowhere, binding her chest and covering her groin. It wasn't much, but it was at least a small step up from total nudity.

"Thank you. Now then, in the least offensive way possible, why are you here?"

"You said it yourself, I'm a member of the alliance," she said, her cat-like eyes peering into his own.

"It is quite literally my job to monitor the rankers and ensure our alliance is holding strong. Imagine my surprise while wandering around the halls taking stock of the goings-on within the keep, I'd run into a brand-new human mage I've never seen before. Naturally, I thought I'd have a little fun. You're clearly not a ranker. So who are you?"

"I'm Vin, an Explorer from the east," he said, noting how her eyebrows shot up at his declaration.

"I'm searching for a few of my people who went missing in a magical accident. Three of them are within this keep."

"Three humans who appeared out of nowhere with no knowledge of the System whatsoever?" she asked, nodding slowly.

"Yes, they are being kept within this keep. I've been studying them over the past two weeks, attempting to learn from them. They had a strange scent of magic on them that I am unfamiliar with, despite being one of my people's strongest mages. And now here you are, displaying that very same strange magic the moment you felt threatened."

"What, spatial magic?" he asked, thinking back about how he'd reacted to the invisible artifact and realizing the first thing he'd done was summon his staff.

"You guys don't have that?"

"Magic capable of teleportation?" she asked.

"No, we do not."

"Lucky for you, I happen to be on rather good terms with a Dimensional Mage," he said, unable to keep himself from grinning.

"I'm willing to bet she'd be more than happy to give you guys a crash course in the basics, in exchange for something."

"Something like giving up the three humans I'm trying to learn from?" she purred, actually purred like a literal cat while leaning her chin on the top of her staff as she watched him.

"How convenient for you to just so happen to know someone skilled in the magic I desire."

"It's true," he shrugged.

"You saw my own spatial magic. She's the one who taught me the spell. I'd be willing to give you the runic formation in exchange for the three humans, but I don't actually know how to teleport. If that's what you want, you'll need to learn it from her. After I bring the humans back home, I can return with her to show you what you want." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Unfortunately, Vin had long since allowed the runic formation for Dimensional Shift to fade from his Iron Mind passive, freeing up space for other spells he'd actually been interested in working on. Seeing as Lumel was practically always nearby, he hadn't thought it would be an issue at the time.

"Counter suggestion…" the beastkin said, giving him a teasing grin as something tapped him on the head again. Recoiling from the unexpected touch, Vin spun around to find the identical beastkin now standing behind him, smirking as she lowered her staff to the ground.

"…the three humans remain here with me, until your mysterious mage friend comes and gives me what I want."

"How did you…" Vin glanced forward again, watching as the original beastkin he'd been talking to gave him a small wave before wavering away and vanishing, like a mirage being disrupted.

"I'm a Crafter of Illusions," she said in answer, once more leaning on her staff as she watched him with amusement.

"A mage with a specialization in the light affinity, among others."

"But I could sense your magic from over there, and there wasn't anything behind me!" Vin argued, still staring at the empty space her illusion had inhabited moments ago.

"An illusion is one thing, but how could you fool my magical senses?"

"The same way I fooled your eyes," she chuckled.

"True illusions wouldn't be very impressive if any tier 1 mage could distinguish them with a simple Sense Magic spell, now would they?" Vin stared at the beastkin in horror, realizing this was far more a precarious situation than he'd first expected. Right then and there, he swore a promise to himself that above all else, there was one thing he couldn't let happen. She and Theodore could never meet.

"Now, I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong paw," the beastkin said, holding up a hand as if placing it against an invisible wall.

"I'm Emrelda. Liaison for the people of Locktus."

"Vin. Representative for the people of Terra," he responded, uncertain what to do with her raised hand. A high five felt a tad too simple for an official greeting, but he didn't think she wanted him to shake hands. She must have sensed his confusion, as she smiled.

"On my world, we place our hands against one another in greeting," she explained.

"Ah, okay," he nodded, holding up his hand and pressing it against hers for a brief moment. Beastkin had strange appendages that weren't quite human hands, yet not quite cat paws either, but something oddly in between. The soft pads on her palms were one of the few places on her body not covered in silky dark fur, and he couldn't help but imagine he was touching paws with some sort of giant cat, like a tamed tiger in a zoo.

Emrelda started to say something else, but Tarnis chose that moment to return, his eyes immediately landing on the beastkin.

"Ah, Emrelda, it is good to see you again," he said, nodding toward her.

"I see you have already met our other esteemed guest."

"Yes, quite the esteemed guest indeed," she said, returning the nod.

"Vin and I were just getting to know one another better. He has some magic I am very interested in."

"Perhaps he would be willing to share it with you in exchange for some of your own spells," Tarnis offered as he began leading them both down the hall.

"I won't pretend as if I know how you mages operate, but it is common enough for rankers to trade technique for technique when one knows something another wishes to learn."

"Does your nation have many mages?" Vin asked, curious where they would stand within a nation full of people who focus on physical combat above all else.

"A few scattered here and there between the larger cities," Tarnis explained.

"They are treated the same as any other support or crafter class, and there are certain schools of magic that are forbidden to them."

"Let me guess, anything combat related?"

"Naturally. Blood should be drawn by weapon in hand and nothing else," Tarnis said, as if that were just the natural order of things.

"It is one of the reasons why our people ended up getting along so well," Emrelda said, tapping her staff along the wall as they walked.

"The majority of our mages specialize in light magic, which doesn't lend itself toward combat very well. They are fine with my illusions and invisibility, as they actually enjoy it when I try to keep them on their toes."

"That makes sense," Vin said slowly, watching the beastkin carefully as she walked. He was no physicist, but even he knew a statement as broad as hers couldn't possibly be true. Lasers were nothing more than concentrated light, at least as far as he understood them. If humans back on Earth were able to turn light into something so deadly with the aid of technology, he had no doubt mages with access to the System and magic could do far more devastating things with it.

The fact that Emrelda was keeping a facet of her power hidden from the rankers was a tad concerning, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised, seeing as her whole thing appeared to be illusions and tricks.

"Do tell, Tarnis, where are you bringing our new furless friend?" Emrelda asked as they headed down a spiral staircase, smiling toward a few more support classes heading back up with baskets filled with clothing.

"He and I were still working out the details of an agreement when you showed up."

"A man with detailed knowledge of the world beyond our new borders has just walked onto our doorstep and offered to give that information to us," Tarnis said without turning around, his eyes still cautiously sweeping the keep before him as they walked.

"I was going to go find you first, but seeing as you saved me the trouble, we are now heading toward the ranker king's chambers. I've already sent for our other esteemed guest to meet us there."

"You are convening the alliance already?" Emrelda asked, her feline eyes blinking in surprise as if caught off guard.

"Is your king ready for such a meeting? Vin only just got here!"

"The ranker king is always ready for anything. He is the king," Tarnis said simply. Stopping before a grand door gilded with iron that looked like it had been added purely to make the thing heavier, Tarnis turned to look at them as he pushed the door open.

"I present to you… the ranker king!"