After leaving the clearing, Leo flew for a few minutes and quickly reached the Redwater settlement. As he flew above the settlement, Leo noticed that the atmosphere was different from the one when he left.

The inhabitants of the settlement decided to stop playing dead and many beastkins were walking around. Though most of them were catkins, they weren’t the only ones present. Leo spotted different species like rabbit folk and Worgen.

'I wonder what happened while I wasn't here,' he mumbled as he looked at the settlement from above

‘Well, I will know once I get down. Though I may cause some chaos if I suddenly appear in this situation,’ Leo thought as he was sure the people of the settlement wouldn't ignore it if a big Lion suddenly appeared within their settlement.

‘Alright, let’s sneak in then,’ he muttered as he activated ethereal presence. Instantly, he seemed to fade away from the material world, his body turned transparent, and his presence was reduced to almost nothing. If he wasn’t able to feel his body, even he would have thought that he didn’t exist.

‘Hehe, I seem to have turned into a ghost,’ he mumbled as he waved one of his paws in front of his face.

‘I wonder how difficult it would be to use such a skill by myself,’ he thought as he slowly landed in a space not far from Celia’s house and then returned to his cat form.

“Sheila,” Leo called as he walked toward the lamia who was still training diligently.

“Ah, Leo, you're already back!” Sheila said, surprised to see Leo suddenly appear in front of her.

“Yep, so what happened here?” he asked, turning his gaze toward the people happily interacting around them.

“Oh! After you left, Celia went from door to door to talk to them. I don’t know what she told them, but each of them looked quite happy afterward,” Sheila said as she sat down near Leo.

“I see, maybe she told them about her ranking up,” he mumbled. “Do you know where she is now?” he asked.

“Yeah, she went out to hunt something. She should be back soon.”

“Why didn’t she ask me?” Leo asked as he could have caught something for them if they had asked him to.

 “Don’t know, you can ask her when she comes back,” she said. “What is that thing?” she asked, looking curiously at the big package in front of Leo. She had been trying what could be inside since the moment Leo returned with it, but unfortunately, she was unable to guess what it was and could only ask.

“They are just some beast cores. I got them a while ago,” Leo replied.

“What did you need that many for?”

“Hum, it’s for training purposes,” he simply said.

“Oh, that’s good. Talking about training, I wonder if you can help me with my training,” Sheila asked eagerly.

“I don’t mind. But are you sure you want to train with me?” he asked. “I don’t want to brag but I am quite strong, and it may not help you that much to fight against me. Maybe you should spar with someone of your level first,” he said.

“I know, but I still want to try. I can’t go all out if I am sparring against someone of my level. But if it’s you I can confidently go all out. I just want to try to hit you, one time” she said, her gaze filled with determination.

“Alright,” he agreed, unable to reject her after seeing her dedication.

“Yeah, let’s start.” She cheered happily and immediately grabbed her spear.

“No, no, calm down. We aren’t going to do this now.” Leo hurriedly calmed her down.

“Oh!”

“Yes, remember we need to deal with the orcs today. And you are coming with us,” Leo said.

“I am coming with you? Why would you even need my help?” Shelia asked, her expression one of surprise. It was clear she didn’t expect Leo to ask her something like that.

“Yes, although I agree to your request, I still need to make sure I am not making a mistake. You can see this as a chance to prove yourself,” Leo said, “you can also see it as some kind of training.”

“Alright, you can count on me,” Sheila nodded. As the one who wishes to become Leo’s subordinate, every chance of proving herself was naturally welcome. Also, there was bound to be some strong figure on the orc’s side, and fighting them will surely have a lot of benefits. With all this, she had naturally no reason to refuse Leo.

***

Meanwhile, as the two were talking, some of the residents noticed them and were looking at them curiously.

It wasn’t surprising considering that one of them was a lamia they have never seen before, and the other was, well, a weird cat that seems to have appeared out of thin air. 

Even more surprising was the fact that the two seem to be able to communicate. It should be that. If not, that would mean the lamia was crazy. But they believed it was the former since the lamia girl only started talking after the cat appeared.

“Say, Tiran, who do you think they are?” asked a cute and petite brown-haired squirrel-girl as he looked at Leo and Sheila.

“How do you want me to know?” replied her friend, a young and strong-looking Worgen.

Unlike his petite friend, the Worgen was tall and imposing, his height well above 6ft and a muscular body. As the two stood together, they created a relatively funny sight, but none would dare to laugh at them as they were two of the remaining four rank D of this settlement.

“Hum, I am going to talk to them,” the petite squirrel-girl named Koko said as she was finally unable to reign in her curiosity and decided to talk with the two.

“Koko, you shouldn’t. Celia asked us to not disturb the girl,” the Worgen said as he grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving forward.

“Why should I listen to Celia? Besides, I am just going to greet them,” Koko said as she turned to look at her friend before walking toward Leo and Sheila.

However, she just took one step before a big hand covered in black fur grabbed her arm.

 “Koko, stop messing around,” Tiran said with a serious tone. 

“But I am doing nothing wrong. Also, why are we always listening to whatever Celia says?” she grumbled, apparently dissatisfied with Celia.

“Koko!” the Worgen growled.

“What?”

“Celia is back. Calm down and let’s see what happens first,” he said and the two of them turned to look at the woman who was standing at the entrance of the settlement.

It was a beautiful catgirl with long and curled blue hair freely flowing on her back. She wore a simple long-sleeved white blouse on top of a black knee-length skirt giving everyone the chance to admire her long and alluring legs. On her head, she wore a large black witch hat that cast a shadow upon her beautiful and enticing face, giving a somehow mysterious vibe.

As she stepped inside the settlement, her beautiful blue eyes scanned her surroundings and everyone who was gazed at by them couldn’t help but unconsciously step back, feeling like they were standing in front of terrifyingly hot flames that could turn them into ash in an instant.

‘Oh, good he is back,’ she muttered as her gaze locked onto Sheila and Leo and started walking toward them.

“Show off,” Sheila snorted as she glared at Celia, obviously unimpressed by her little trick.

“I don’t think we were the target,” Leo said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Celia already started moving toward them. As she walked near Koko and Tiran, she stopped for a while and had a short talk with them before continuing to move toward Leo and Sheila.

“So, how was your hunt?” Leo asked as she reached them.

“Annoying. The little girl was right,” Sheila said.

“I am not a little girl,” Sheila retorted angrily. “And obviously I was going to be right,” she added.

Ignoring her, Celia continued, “all the beasts in the vicinity had fled. I had to travel five miles before finding a single boar. I am afraid that the human city near had to deal with a pretty big beast tide.”

As he heard this, Leo couldn’t help but frown a little. “In that case, won’t the orcs run away too?” he asked as it would become troublesome if the orcs ran too. They were an important piece of his plans.

“I can’t believe that this is all that is worrying you. What kind of grudge do you even have with them?” Sheila looked at Leo curiously.

“Let’s just say that they taught me something important and I want to thank them properly. As for the rest, we can take care of them later,” Leo said.

“Okay, if you say so. Anyway, there is no way those harebrained fools would run away. They are the kinds that don’t know when to give up,” Sheila said.

“That’s good then. But let’s not take any risk and attack them as soon as possible,” Leo said.

“Oh, I hope one of you knows where their lair is,” Leo said as he suddenly remembered he had no idea where the orc’s lair was since he used a teleportation crystal and was directly sent to his cave when he escaped.

“What?” he asked when he noticed the girls didn’t answer and were looking at him weirdly.

“Nothing. And the answer to your question is yes,” Celia said with a sigh.