"Caeth, welcome back!"

"Caeth, how's your hunt?"

Almost every local of this town recognized each other, hardly would find someone that ignored a person who walked down this street. I flashed a smile toward them and sometimes stopped to chat a bit.

Being a hunter had its perks; just like adventurers, mercenaries, or knights, we faced dangers almost all the time, even yesterday I was this closed to die.

A Hunter was someone who hunted monsters, sometimes even dangerous races like goblin or orc, and later traded their limbs or organs for a sum of money.

An Adventurer also the same, but what they traded instead was the information of uncharted places or a new element of certain areas, they were either hired or found it on their own accord.

Mercenary was a sellsword, they were hired for many purposes like escorting a merchant, protecting someone or something, even sometimes hired by the kingdoms to join the war.

Knights were the kingdom's army, their duty was to protect the security of their lands or did whatever the kingdoms told them to do.

To be able to become a part of one of these dangerous professions, I was proud, and the people around me also looked at me in awe, not all of them had the courage to face danger on a daily basis after all.

"Yo, Caeth, looks handsome and macho like always!"

"Hello, Mr. Oak."

The man in front of me called Darryl Oak, he ran a construction business, compared to him, my figure appeared much skinnier and shorter; if not for his sunny-like smile, I thought he was mocking me.

Darryl Oak was the friend of my parents, we were quite close to each other, I liked to play with him back in the past.

"How's the hunt? Catch anything new?"

Many of these people rarely went out of the town, they heard the outside news mostly from the visitors or travelers, their life was content in here after all, why need to look for other places?

Therefore, they hardly knew that each hunting ground mostly impossible to have different kinds of monsters or races to hunt.

"Just like usual; 2 Orcs and 3 Sandmouse..."

A Sandmouse was a bipedal monster but could also run all fours, it'd a size as big as a half-grown man, most of its underside was brown skin with a white underbelly. It had a sharp muzzle, with peach-shaped red eyes, and a thick tail.

Its back covered in sharp, brown quills while its paws and feet supported two large claws. Its favorite attack was to roll at the enemy at high speed and hit them with its sharp back.

It's a difficult fight honestly, but Jewel and Olivia were fast enough to damage the monster before it could do much in return, Nyantaa could easily overpower it.

"Well, tomorrow, we will hunt in a different place."

"Really? Where?"

"Old Woodland."

Darryl knitted his eyebrows, looking at me with slight disbelieve, the news about the animal in the forest had been around for a year, it's only natural for him to also know.

I felt warm over his concern, but I told him not to worry much about it, I am confident with the strength of my party members.

"Is that so? But remember to tell your parents before you go,"

"Of course..."

Heez, I felt still like a toddler who couldn't act unless my parents said so, one of the reasons why I want to become a Hunter, to feel the freedom and act without constraint.

I accidentally yawned, not because I was bored to talk with Darryl, but due to the two hours trip this morning and having multiple intercourses yesterday, well technically, one was only Olivia sucked my flute, but the climax was still overwhelming.

"Alright, I won't stop you any longer, go home and have some rests..."

Thankfully, Darryl understood my situation, though he probably never expected my two-timing love life.

I bid goodbye and continued walked down the street, it wasn't long until I saw a house with floating steam out of its chimney and arrived in the front of it, I opened the door.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome back~"

"Way, brother come home!"

I heard abrupt footsteps coming from the kitchen area, small thumps collided with the oak of the house's floor, he jumped toward me as soon as he flushed out from the left corner.

"Hooah, Abel!"

I prepared to support him, but the little guy still managed to push me backward, hit the front door of the house.

Heez, what food mom had been feeding you... or a better question... how many?

"Caeth, tell me your story!"

Abel's puffy cheek groomed in red, it's like an excited piggy over a puddle of mud.

"Later alright, I need some sleep..."

"Aww..."

I walked toward the room at the left side of the house, a middle-aged man sat on a wooden chair while reading a piece of papers on a table, his right hand grabbed a thin knife, slicing a bread of a sandwich, then he replaced the knife with a fork to pick the slice and eat it.

A woman stood not far from him, their age barely distinguished from each other, she cracked an egg, poured it toward the frying pan.

"Caeth, how's your hunting?"

The woman said without looking at me, her tone was soft like a breeze of wind, meanwhile, the man turned his face to look at me, he flashed a wide smile.

"Well, good, I mean nothing new, oh, I actually saw Jorey with others..."

"Yes, the Garfields' son just advanced to another rank yesterday, they wouldn't stop speaking about it..."

I could hear the gruff tone from my mom's voice, meanwhile, my dad didn't seem to care much.

"Let them be... you also the same when Caeth's rank went up..."

This rank they mentioned was simply a classify of the location based on the habitant, the area geography, and their distance from the closest settlement.

The plain field around Eldorado Town was the beginner rank; the Old Woodland, the beach, and the dryland was intermediate rank, the Silverback Mountain was advanced rank...

These ranks not necessarily the same on each place, for example, there was a town in the Moonlight continent which had two beginner locations, one intermediate location, and no advanced location at all...

Meanwhile, in another place, a town called Drakeville had no beginner locations at all, their monster was simply powerful that immediately recognized as intermediate ranks.

"Well, Jorey is not my son, of course, I am not happy..."

Ah, mother, having spite for others as always, I hoped she wouldn't pass the trait down to Abel.

"Mom, I also want to become a hunter!"

Abel grabbed the thin knife and fork with both hands, started brandishing them as if they were a pair of swords.

I looked at the kid and snatched the items from him, maybe you should learn the difference between the weapon to fight and the tools to eat first.

"Hey..."

Abel pouted at my behavior, sorry kiddo, couldn't afford an accident.

"No, I don't want you to endanger yourself like your brother out there, one child is enough to make me worry all the time."

"Aww..."

Abel immediately became downcast, that's two rejections he received today, the poor kid couldn't just catch a break.

My mom walked toward the table, she put a plate of sandwich and several slices of bacon in front of Abel, the kid's gloomy eyes as if had a sun risen from it, they brightened and glowered with hunger, the kid didn't stop from once second from picking up one of the bacon and chewed on it.

No wonder he got fat easily, at least gave him fresh vegetables, Mom.

"Caeth, sweetie, what do you want to eat?"

"Thank you, mom, but I had eaten on the journey back, I just want to drink some milk and go to my room to sleep."

"Ok, sweetie, I warm some for you."

Mom turned around and went to an upper wooden shelf, she took out a stainless jug from the inside.

Her figure was thin yet actually strong enough to hold such considerable weight.

"Oh, by the way, the Rosenbaurgh invite us to dinner for Minotaur night, we should prepare a gift and food to bring..."

Dad lifted his eyes from the papers and swept his sight to all of us, Mom startled but only for a bit, then she began to ponder.

Minotaur night was one of the sacred events where we reminisced about the legend of Minotaur, it was said, back millenniums ago, there was a child born with a goat-like feature, he had two lump on his forehead akin to a horn, he grew up being shamed and bullied, but he never held hatred for the people, he was given name Minotaur, 'Mino' for Man, and 'Taur' for a goat.

At some point in his twenties, a very terrible monster rampaged and destroyed the town where he lived, leaving only a few survivors, the man swore he would hunt down the monster, even at the cost of his life.

After training and hunting down the trail of the monster for about 222 years, he found the monster in some desert and began to fight to the death with it, the Minotaur was not alone, he was accompanied by his band of men, the victim of the monster's rampage, they called themselves the Great Daedalus, 'Dae' for revenge, and 'Dalus' came from the word 'Dallas' mean Justice.

Legend said that the monster was so powerful that the fight finally only left with Minotaur and a couple of his men, they were so desperate that Minotaur prayed for a miracle, and it was answered.

The Gods dropped a divine weapon from the sky, a sort of double edge ax, Minotaur used the ax to slay the monster, but seemingly the ax itself cost Minotaur of his life, both man and the monster perished that day, leaving few people to tell the story, the heroic tale of a man-goat.

"I want to become the Minotaur!"

Abel's mouth full of sandwich and bacon, when he spoke, a few bits were spilling out.

Lucky that he still a child, an innocent lovable piggy...

"Hey, don't talk like this, it's bad behavior, besides, you can't become someone, all you can is become like them..."

I picked a cloth and wiped his mouth, Abel seemed a little apologetic as his cheek blushed.

"Ok... Abel and I will go to the market, see anything we can buy as a gift, as for the food... how about chicken soup?"

"Sounds delicious, alright I have to go."

Dad took a sip of his drink then wiped his mouth, he strode toward Mom's side, gave her a peck in lips then patted the head of Abel and mine, he left the house afterward.

He worked in an auction as assistant manager, earning a quite welfare to support our lives.

"Look, Abel, I know you admire your brother, but it's a dangerous occupation, Mom can't see both my children have such a dangerous job, Abel love Mom, right?"

"Yes Mom, I love you, Mom..."

"That's a good boy."

I couldn't help but laugh inwardly inside, Mom used such an old trick, but I also understood her feeling; if I ever had my own children in the future, I didn't think I can even let them became a hunter.

Mom poured the warmed milk into a cup, then placed it on the table in front of me, she made her own breakfast at last, and it just a sandwich with jelly.

This jelly, by the way, came out directly from a monster called Red Punny, it's a translucent jelly-like monster around the plain field of Eldorado Town, they were so common that in his trip returned here, he had seen at least 10 if not 15 along the way.

He didn't hunt them of course, a hunter who could hunt in an intermediate location was impossible to lower themselves to hunt such a thing.

"So..."

I picked the cup and blew the warm milk inside, then I noticed Mom's roguish eyes.

Uh-oh, here we go again...

"How's your doing with Jewel~."

"We are doing fine, thanks for asking."

I threw my eyes to the side, it's never been comfortable for me because Mom eventually asked...

"When are you going to get married?"

"We still young Mom!"

I could never really understand, what's with this idea of a young wedding thing?!

"But you guys have been intimated, right? What if she's got pregnant? Won't it be horrible if it happened outside the marriage?"

That's a good point actually, here a child that conceived out of the wedding arrangement would be declared with unclear identity, despite the couple swore that they never intimate with other people, the law would declare the child as not having a father; although not very important to a common people like them, but to noble, this was a crucial matter, because the child possibly couldn't inherit his or her family fortune.

"Relax Mom, she's been taking a birth control pill, besides, we were being careful, alright?"

"Mmmh, Mom doesn't really like it, Jewel is a sweet girl, what if she's taken by others..."

That's impossible, based on her temperament, the first guy tried to hit on her would be punched to black and blue, she got the title 'Flower-tigress' around here for a reason.

She appeared so sweet around my family was simply to curry favor, a daughter-in-law kind of thing favor.

"What's birth control? Is it tasty?"

See Mom, you just taught grown-up stuff to Abel, could you hold the responsibility if he grew up too fast?

"It's not a food sweetie, it's a horrible thing to prevent someone from receiving a gift, given by a bad person, you should not have any idea with it, okay?"

"Kay..."

"HEY!"

I really had a headache of talking with her, best to retreat quickly into my room, aah, maybe having a dream snuggled together with Jewel on my right and Olivia on my left, Nyantaa could snuggle on the top of me...

That's a beautiful dream...

(***)

Rosenbaurgh family, the house was bigger a couple of times than Caeth's, a slender woman with an appealing curve sank herself in a cool bath, she leaned her head while seemingly in deep thinking.

"That bitch Olivia... how dare she toy around Caeth, simply unforgivable..."

Jewel clenched her fists together, a thick mark was visible on her temple.

"I must not let this continue, Caeth cannot suffer her control any longer..."

"..."

"But... she's been one of us for quite long... and her hunter skill was very good..."

Jewel submerged her entire body into the bath, leaving only a half portion of her head on the surface level, bubbles became to ripple on the calm water.

"Jewel nyaa, I am coming in~"

The door led to toward the room swung open, another gorgeous woman with a bob hairstyle, and the color resembled that of the snow, entering the small place with excited steps, it was as if this place was her playground.

"Jewel, what happened nyaa? You seem down..."

Jewel resurfaced then shook her head, Nyantaa tilted her head in confusion before she grasped a basket of water and flushed her body. The warm droplets of water traveled around her seductive figure, from her lone fair neck, then slipped between the deep valley while hiking the towering mountain, later they entered a bush of white grasses on the triangle-shaped land.

"Hey, Nyantaa, what do you think of Olivia?"

Jewel stared at this she-cat figure as if she was hypnotized by it, her own body was fit and proper, but this cat was simply overbearing.

"Olivia nyaa?"

Nyantaa put her paw on her lips, her eyes looked toward the ceiling.

"I like her nyaa, she's cool nyaa..."

"I-I see..."

Nyantaa grabbed a bar of soap and wiped her body with it, the fair-skinned figure became smooth and slick.

"What if... this just an if... what if she's done something horrible... what's your reaction to it?"

"Nyaa? Olivia did something horrible?"

"It's an if!"

"Mmmmm..."

The she-cat closed her eyes while using shampoo to wash her hair, her face made a difficult twist.

"Nyaa... it's too vague... give me an example..."

Jewel sighed, who made the cat not very sharp.

"Let's put it this way... there was a man who... slept with the wrong woman... and then the woman blackmailed him into her bidding..."

"Hmm... who's this man, and who's this woman, nyaa?"

"Well... let's say this couple is... Caeth and Olivia..."

"Ngyaa?! Caeth and Olivia slept together?!"

"It's only an example, an example, you say you need one!"

Jewel threw a bar of soap and hit the she-cat's head, the latter slightly tumbled down while having a sweatdrop.

Later, Nyantaa and Jewel entered the same bath, the size was not big but enough to accommodate two people, as long they didn't mind several parts of their bodies got touched with each other.

"Mmmnyaa, blackmail is bad nyaa... it's a form of bully nyaa..."

"I know right, such a person is so despicable..."

Nyantaa let out a purr, she leaned toward the bath tube while having both eyes closed, it's like she's slowly drifting to sleep.

"But Olivia is a good person nyaa... there is no way she's doing blackmail..."

"Good person and blackmail had nothing to do with each other- oh wait, how do you know she's a good person?"

"... Prrrr... Zzzz..."

"..."

Jewel's body slightly trembled, her vein popped out from her temple then she extended her hand and pinched the cat's ear.

"Nyantaa, wake up!"

"Ngyaaa?!"

The she-cat snapped open her eyes and dropped her jaw, then she groaned pitifully due to the pain on her ear.

"How could you fall asleep in the middle of a conversation like that?!"

"N... Nyahaha... it's too comfortable nyaa... sorry, Jewel nyaa... um, what we do talk about again?"

Jewel deeply sighed, this was painful...

"You just said Olivia is a good person, why?"

"Why nyaa... err... Nyan a couple of days ago saw Olivia helped an old lady returned to her home nyaa..."

"Just that? Nothing seemed so special about it..."

"Nyan also saw she rescued a cat from a tree nyaa..."

"Well, anyone could do that..."

"Nyan also saw she's doing people laundry nyaa..."

"Wait, what, people's laundry?!"

"Nyan also saw she's baking cookies for free nyaa..."

"Wha... free cookies..."

"Nyan also saw she massaging people's shoulder for free nyaa..."

"..."

Jewel rested her chin on the edge of the bath tube, there was a gloomy aura looming over her head.

"Perfect... simply to perfect..."

"Jewel nyaa, are you ok?"

The chestnut-colored hair young lady bit her thumb, from the looks of it, it's quite painful...

"Unbelievable, there is no way such a perfect person could exist!"

"I don't know about perfect nyaa, but Olivia nyaa simply won't do blackmail nyaa..."

"How can you know all about this anyway?! Were you stalking her or something?!"

"Nyaa?"

Nyantaa knitted her eyebrows, the smooth forehead wrinkled like crumpled cloth.

"I think... that's because Nyan saw Olivia nyaa with a male at that time..."

Jewel startled, quickly perked up her face close to the cat, started shouting and scarring the latter.

"Was that Caeth?!"

"No, no, nyaa, Nyan don't think he's Caeth... this man is tall and valiant looking nyaa..."

"Eh?"

"Nyan thought he was Olivia's boyfriend nyaa... so Nyan decided to stalk them around the town..."

"What did you find?"

"Nothing nyaa.., I got distracted by the fried fish and one moment later they were gone."

Jewel stumbled to the side, forehead slammed against the wooden wall of the room.

"Mmmm but the fried fish was delicious nyaa... Jewel, let's have some after we exchange- nyaa?"

"You... you..."

"Um, Jewel nyaa are you ok nyaa?"

"You stupid cat!"

"Ngyaaa?!"