"We are here." Celia said happily as they reached the settlement that was as silent as it was when they left. No, it was even more silent and eerier as it was nighttime and there wasn’t a single light inside the whole settlement.
"Are you sure that people are living here?" Leo asked as he looked at the settlement that felt more like a ghost town than a place with living people.
"Well, it’s normal considering the latest things we went through. First the attack and then our fight. I guess anyone in their position would be overly cautious. Even if we need to hide like rats… " Celia said sadly as she tried to defend her fellows’ behavior.
"Don’t worry, you are safe now. There won’t be any need for this again." Leo comforted her as he could see she was really hurt to see her fellows in such a situation. Though, inside, he wasn’t really approving of their behavior. It wasn’t appropriate to let themselves go so much after suffering a single setback. Holing up inside their supposedly safe settlement was definitely not the best way to solve their problems.
'They should have at least put someone on guard duty.' He thought as he scanned the settlement and found many presences hidden inside the numerous houses scattered around the settlement. Though they were relatively weak. The strongest being a rank D weaker than Celia.
"I wonder. Let’s go." Celia shook her head, her mood still a little heavy after she was reminded of those bad memories.
"Guess it’s not easy to be a leader." Leo thought as he quietly headed towards the two sisters’ house.
After walking for a few seconds, they quickly reached the house.
"It looks like you won’t be able to join us inside." Celia apologetically said as she jumped down from Leo’s back and then helped Leila and Sheila down.
"Not necessarily." Leo chuckled as he remembered one of the abilities that the system granted him. He was able to take the form of any of his previous evolution whenever he wished to. All he needed to do was to wish for it and he should be able to easily switch between his various forms.
Without hesitation, he wished to turn back to his shadow cat form. Immediately after, under Celia’s astonished eyes, his body started changing. First, his wings were retracted inside his body, then his body started to shrink slowly, and finally, his fur regained its previous gray color. In a short second, the fearsome and gigantic Lion was gone, replaced by a slightly cute and seemingly harmless gray cat.
'Well, that was easier than I thought.' Leo muttered as the transformation didn’t turn out to be a torturous experience. Luckily, he was spared the whole bone-cracking and howling episode. While it was a little painful, it was nothing he couldn’t cope with.
'Though it is a pity that I can’t make use of this during a fight.' He muttered as he felt the change his body went through. After his transformation, he noticed that he lost almost a third of his power.
With such a huge part of his power gone, he would have no choice but to give up on his dream of being a calamity-shaped cat. Just imagine the expression of his opponents if a supposedly weak shadow cat burst with a dragon-like power. He was sure it would be a blast. It was unfortunate that he would be unable to enjoy this. Still, it wasn’t all bad news as two-thirds of his power inside a sneaky body like that of a shadow cat would still be useful and deadly in many kinds of situations. All he needed to do was to avoid being noticed by someone too powerful.
"Whoa, you can do that too? Could it be that you are a shapeshifter?" She asked as she curiously looked at Leo who had suddenly regained the appearance he had before ranking up. Even his aura was exactly like his aura before.
"No, that’s just a little trick. I can only switch between two forms." He smiled as he once again got used to his shadow cat body. To be honest, he preferred this body as it was a lot lighter and easier to move with. 'If only I could keep my whole power in this state.' He mumbled sadly.
"You sure have a lot of tricks." Celia smiled as she watched Leo play around. 'Come on, let’s go inside." She said as she opened the door and picked Leila up before walking inside followed by Leo who was dragging the unconscious Sheila.
"I guess I would need to apologize once she wakes up." Celia said as they put the two unconscious girls down. "I mean, there was no need to knock her out. I shouldn’t have vented my anger on her." She confessed.
"Don’t think too much about it. I am sure she won’t hold it against you as long as you apologize." Leo said.
"I hope so." She said as she took a strange pearl from inside the storage ring and poured some of her mana inside. Afterward, the pearl lit with a bright glow, lighting the previously dark room.
Creak. At that moment, a soft sound sounded behind them as Maria seemed to have noticed their presence and came inside the living room.
"Maria…" Celia called emotionally as she looked at her sister.
"SIS!?" Maria shouted as she bolted through the room and threw herself into Celia’s embrace. "Sob, sob, sis, you are finally back. I was so worried, sob. You were gone and then there was a big fight outside. Sob, I was so worried that something may happen to you." Maria said as she sobbed and hugged Celia tightly.
"There, calm down, I am back now. Nothing is going to happen to me." Celia said as she hugged Maria back and comforted her.
"Hum." Maria nodded as she gradually calmed and freed her sister from her thigh embrace. "Sis, where did you go? What happened outside? Was it you fighting?" Maria asked as she looked at her sister curiously.
"Nothing much. There were some bad guys outside and we had to chase them away. Everything is fine now." Celia said as she patted Maria’s head.
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"Hum, but sis you shouldn’t do anything like this again. You worried me too much." Maria pouted as her eyes glistened, tears threatening to spill once again.
"Alright, everything you want." Celia said helplessly.
"Oh! Then teach me how to fight. I want to be able to help you next time." Maria asked as she stared at Celia with hope-filled eyes.
"Maria, we will talk about this later."
"But, I just want to help, you always say we will talk about it but we never do." Maria said as she glared at Celia.
"Alright, I will teach you." Celia said through gritted teeth. It was clear she wasn’t enchanted by the idea at all. But for some reason only she knew, she decided to grant her sister's wish.
"You, why are you always like this? I just wanted to…."
"I said I will teach you." Celia said.
"Seriously!?" Maria asked as she looked at her sister as if she was seeing a ghost.
"Yes."
"Yay, you are the best sister in the world." Maria said as she hugged Celia.
"Maria, you are crushing me." Celia said as she struggled to escape Maria’s embrace.
"Ah, sorry, I got too excited. Say, where is Leo?" Maria said as she let go of her sister and started looking for Leo.
"I am here." Leo said. All this time, he quietly watched the sister, and to be honest, he had to say that he once again felt envious as he watched them talk together and show so much care for each other.
After all, who wouldn’t want to have someone showing concern for them after going through a life and death battle? Leo certainly wouldn’t reject the idea of having someone waiting for him and wishing for him to be safe. Unfortunately for him, he was still a lonely existence in this world and he didn’t think anyone would care that much about him. Thus he could only silently watch as he was fed dog food by the two sisters.
"Oh, what happened to you? Why did your appearance change once again?" Maria asked as she looked at Leo.
"What is wrong with my appearance? Wasn’t it how I looked when you kidnapped me?" Leo chuckled.
"I… I didn’t kidnap you." Maria retorted as she blushed furiously.
"I know. Besides, don’t worry, nothing happened to me." Leo said with a smile.
"Ah, I’m relieved then." She let out a relieved sigh and then turned to look at Leila and Sheila. "Who are they?" She asked curiously.
"Some friends we picked up. Now, enough with your questions." Celia said. "Did you eat already?"
"No, I couldn't."
"Let’s make something then." She said. "Is there anything you would like?" She asked Leo.
"I won’t say no to some fish balls." Leo said.
"Alright. We will be quick." She said as she dragged Maria away.
"Ah, finally some time alone. Time to check my progress this time." He muttered as he stretched his back and laid down comfortably.