But she didn't so much as budge, hardly responding to you and not noticing Cattleya in the shadows behind you.

However she did ask you to order your beguiler to reveal herself, as she didn't like the sensation of being watched.

In response, you asked Mel to make herself visible.

The racoon was considerate(?) enough to tell you that Mel was doing too well— almost mirroring the bunny woman's words concerning Cattleya— and that the sudden absence of magic could be suspicious to knowing passerby, beguilers, and those sensitive to magic.

But she soon became quiet, nearly stumbling back as she saw Cattleya come out of the shadows.

You asked her again about hotels and which she could recommend. She murmured something about "if you want it cheap, there's Moose Motel or Bed and Barn. Rostchilde's clique is stopping by Centria. At least one of his inner circle is currently here. Cards and wheels abound." She smiled. "Now, will you say a farewell, or will you sacrifice what you have on a mere chance?"

Before you could ask her to elaborate, she scurried away, taking the effort to avoid Cattleya as much as she could and, after taking a turn behind a building's corner, disappeared without a trace.

"What the heck was that about?" Mel said.

"Not sure." You responded. "Catty?"

"I've heard raccoons can be a bunch of sneaky cunts, and I know they call themselves somethin' else, but I 'aven't seen much of her kind to know anythin', sorry guv." Cattleya meowed.

"Don't worry about it." You assured her.

Well, either way you felt like you were getting closer to something.

Cattleya, though already more than a month pregnant, was nimble and stealthy enough to keep herself on the rooftops. She easily shadowed you, and was a moment's notice away in case you needed some muscle.

Mel, on the other hand, didn't need to do anything fancy. With a spell that came to her as easily as a second nature, she was completely invisible. Mel extended this effect to the two of you as well. She claimed this was good practice.

The places you visited were good and bad, and then there were places you felt like you were just asking to get mugged by being in them. More than once Mel gave a few warning shots with an illusion of her gun, and Cattleya used her feline instincts and night vision to its fullest degree.

Eventually you end up going through an alleyway. It was there, in the distance, that you saw a bald man, no older than you were, beating the shit out of some dwarvish woman while yelling obscenities at her.

Still under invisibility, you silently get Mel and Cattleya to follow you.

You've seen bastards have push around innocent women before, with Aila being a recent example, but wasn't this a little too extreme? Well whatever, you were always down to saving women like some average isekai prota-

"Master, please wait." Mel's voice urged in a whisper.