Combat Cat Maid !! Nicole

Chapter 68: City on the shore (Part 5)

I decided to leave all of the things regarding the Commerce Guild to Atora-san and began preparations for the bandit subjugation.

I said preparations, but it was just eating a meal.

"Missy, are you really going to exterminate those bandits?"

The muscled uncle said to me, looking worried.

He must have overheard my conversation with the Guild Master from earlier.

"That’s right. But before going, I will eat your delicious cuisine first, Deiga-san."

"I am happy to hear that, but for someone like missy to do such a subjugation, it will be dangerous."

"No problem. I am an adventurer, and you already saw my summoned beasts, didn’t you? I have those guys, so I will be done with this in no time."

"I see. Then, when you come back, I will make you the best meal I can with the ingredients I can procure."

"Then I have to hurry and defeat them rapidly, so I can eat it."

When I left the city, I summoned Shirone.

Now, let’s go subjugate some bandits!

I went to the place where the bandits were said to appear.

I followed the coastal road at a horse’s running speed.

The salty breeze felt really great.

If it was just a little warmer, I could go for a swim.

I was sure that Fina had never seen the sea, so it would be great if we all came here in the summer. Still, I hadn’t swam since my primary school lessons.

More importantly, did any of my acquaintances know how to swim?

Of all the people I knew in Crimonia, I didn’t think there were any.

Well, just playing on the sandy beach could be fun too. I decided to leave the future to the future, and concentrated on the bandit extermination.

I didn’t know when the bandits would appear, so I activated detection magic.

The map was not filled in around here, so I would be following a black road from here on.

Further down the road on the black map, I saw four signals.

The bandits?

An ambush?

Would they attack an opponent riding a cat, though?

Well, if they were bandits, I just had to capture them and ask them about the location of their base, and if they were not bandits, I would just ignore them.

As I followed the road while not really caring about who they were, a few human silhouettes came into my view.

I saw the forms of four people who seemed to be adventurers.

One man and three women, so looking at it from a man’s point of view, it was something to be envious of.

Was this party one of those that society called a harem party?

When they saw me, the adventurers drew their swords and raised their staves, preparing for a fight.

Was it possible that they would attack?

As I approached slowly, the man blocked the path.

"Could you get out of the way, please?"

I could pass them on the side, but I decided to ask them to move first.

The adventurers stared at us.

"Why is there a cat here?"

"It’s my cat."

"Isn’t it dangerous?"

"As long as you don’t attack him suddenly, it is ok."

"If you don’t have any intentions of attacking us first, we won’t attack you either."

The man lowered his sword.

After seeing him do so, the other party members, lowered their weapons as well.

"Let me warn you first, there are bandits who come out a little further down the road, so it’s dangerous to go there."

"I know. I am on my way to subjugate them after all."

"Are you serious?"

From behind the man, a long haired woman who was holding a staff asked me, looking surprised.

She seemed to be a mage, looking at her clothes and weapon.

"They are not opponents who can be killed by a girl like you, you know."

"Even though I look like this, I am an adventurer, and I have this child, so there is no problem."

I patted Shirone’s head.

"Still, you should abandon this subjugation. We searched for them for several days, but we didn’t manage to find them. It’s possible that they are already gone."

"That would be fine by me as well. However, if they are still here, this child will find them, so I will try and search for them myself."

I couldn’t really tell them that I had detection magic, so I didn’t talk about it.

"So, could you let me go through, please?"

"Can this cat really find the bandits?"

The female magician asked me.

"If you are right, and they are not here anymore, it won’t be possible, but if they are still around, he will be able to find them."

After hearing those words, the woman started thinking about something.

"Could you let us tag along with you?"

"You guys?"

"Yes, if we went back without finding any clues, it won’t leave a good image of us, since we said that we would exterminate those bandits."

"Tomeia?"

After hearing her say that so suddenly, the man called the woman’s name.

"But, am I not right? We couldn’t find the bandits by ourselves. However, if we are with this cat, it might be possible to find them. Isn’t it our time to help?"

"We don’t know if it can really find them, right? Don’t you remember how much time we spent searching for them?"

"This won’t take much time, right? It’s just to make us sure they are really gone."

"Still…"

"What will the two of you do?"

Tomeia turned around and asked the remaining two members.

"Let’s see. We still have some food left, so I don’t really mind going along with this."

The swordswoman answered.

"If sister Tomeia wants to go, I am okay with going as well."

"The other two gave their approval, so what will you do, Blitz?"

"I concede. I will follow you. A man not going even if four girls are going, that’s something I can’t allow myself to do."

He said, giving up.

"So, will you allow us to accompany you?"

"You would be a burden, so I refuse."

"You say some harsh things. Despite how we look, we are rank C adventurers, so we won’t be a hindrance."

"All of you are?"

"The man and I are rank C, but the two at the back are rank D. By the way, is it okay to ask for your rank?"

"It’s rank D, though."

"Rank D, you say?"

"That means I am a higher rank than you, so I don’t think I will be a drag."

It turned out to be a pain in the ass.

I really didn’t want other people to see me battle.

While thinking about what I should do, an idea came to my mind.

"If you deal with the aftermath, I am okay with it."

"Deal with the aftermath?"

"I believe there should be some women who were captured, so it would be of great help if it’s not me, but adults like you who will help them."

If there were women captured, they probably went through hell.

I had no ways to help those women, and no idea how to deal with the situation.

"Understood. We will take the responsibility for taking care of the women."

After they gave their approval, we started to introduce ourselves.

The man was named Blitz, and he was supposedly the leader of the party, though it seemed that the one who was giving out directions was the female magician, Tomeia.

Then there was the other magician, Ran. She was younger than Tomea, and seemed to be in her early twenties.

The swordswoman, Gumoris, was around the same height as the swordsman. She had darkish skin and a somewhat large sword.

"Also, can I ask something?"

"Yes?"

"What are those clothes you’re wearing, Nicole-chan?"

I knew they would ask.

"I have the Divine Protection of the cat."

"Divine Protection of the cat?"

"When I wear these clothes, I become stronger."

That was the new excuse I had thought of.

It wasn’t like I was lying.

In fact, I really received this divine protection, even though I sometimes thought of it as a curse.

"Does such divine protection really exist?"

"The fact that this child listens to me is proof, isn’t it?"

I pointed at Shirone, who I was riding on.

They were making strange faces, so I couldn’t really tell if they believed what I said.

This was my first time seeing something like the Divine Protection of the cat as well, you know.

Manga, anime, novels, games, movies. I indulged myself in a lot of fantasy things, but I had never seen something like this before.

"Did you come to this city alone, Nicole-chan? Don’t you have any other party members?"

"It’s just me."

"It’s great that you weren’t attacked by the bandits then."

"That’s because I climbed the mountain range from Crimonia."

"That mountain range?"

They looked at the mountain range that we could see from here.

We could see that there was a lot of white snow around the summit.

"By the way, this one really is a calm child. What is his name?"

She asked, looking towards Shirone.

"Shirone."

"Can I touch him?"

"Sure."

After I gave her permission, she started petting Shirone while walking.

"Can I do it too?"

The other magician, Ran, wanted to pet him as well, so I gave her permission too.

"So soft. What kind of fur is this? It feels like I am touching a high quality one!"

"Is it really okay?"

Blitz watched the two girls, worried.

"As long as you don’t harm me or this cat, there is no problem."

The two female magicians were enjoying the sensation of the fur.

When we had advanced halfway towards the mountain, my detection magic found two people.

There were no other signals.

Were they guards?

It would be great if my detection magic had a wider range.

Still, it was really useful, so I shouldn’t be that greedy.