The Gentle Hero

He quickly made his way through the streets, during the day on some of the more frequently traveled streets it was packed shoulder to shoulder and people could only move by shuffling along with the crowd. But during the evening, most of the streets would be empty and devoid of life as citizens returned to their homes for the night. The sun was just beginning to dip under the outer city wall of Orario when Yuril arrived at his destination. He skipped up the few stairs and opened the door to step inside.

"Yuril! You are back later than normal, I was starting to get worried!" Syr half shouted as she wrapped her arms around the albino boy and gave him a tight hug the second that he stepped inside the pub, trapping his arms against his sides.

"Sorry Syr… I was doing a little shopping…" Yuril said softly as he let out a slight nervous laugh as he received several glares from adventurers and other patrons in the pub.

Syr pulled back with a curious look on her face, she tilted her head to the side slightly as she reached her right hand out and slipped it inside his jacket. She patted his chest and felt the armour underneath his brown coat and smiled slightly "So that's what I felt, I like it! But I like our hugs more without some dinky armour getting in the way!" Syr said as she leaned forward slightly to get right up in his face to make her point crystal clear.

"Did you get anything else?" she asked him with a bright shining smile.

"Well… there was this really nice knife that I found which looked pretty nice..."

"Oh? Well hurry up, let me see it!" Syr excitedly said as she bounced up and down ever so slightly and Yuril raised his right hand and shook his head to calm her down.

"I… actually didn't get it… I wanted too but I didn't quite have enough to afford it… and the only other thing I could have done was trade in the boots you gave me for it… but I wouldn't have been able to look you in the eyes if I did that… so I held off for now.." Yuril muttered out under his breath.

"Oh, Yuril…." Syr lurched forward again suddenly and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug which earned more glares from several adventurers in the pub that were drinking and dining. "You are just too sweet, Yuril." Syr whispered into his right ear as she blew a small warm puff of air in his ear that made him shiver slightly as it tickled his neck.

He jumped back slightly with his hand over his ear and stuttered incoherently for a few brief moments as Syr had to raise the small wooden tray she held under her left arm to cover her smile and muffle her childish giggles from seeing such an adorable innocent reaction. His cheeks had flamed up slightly and, if Syr was to lower her tray slightly to reveal the lower half of her face, Yuril would see that she was blushing ever so slightly as well.

Yuril, searching for a way to change the conversation as quickly as possible,spoke the first thing that came to his mind at the time "T-that reminds me Syr… I did have a quick question for you though…" Yuril said as he scratched the back of his hair with his right hand, ruffling up his already messy hair.

"Oh? Something wrong Yuril?" Syr curiously asked him as she leaned a little closer towards him, her cheery tone was replaced with one of slight concern and he could see her expression twist into one of worry.

"N-nothing major… just that you said you got these boots from one of the other waitresses right…?" Yuril asked calmly, for a moment Syr looked slightly surprised but that expression faded just as quickly as it came and was replaced with a slight smile.

"That's right, Yuril! They didn't need them anymore, so I thought they would fit you perfectly! There isn't anything wrong with them… is there..?" Syr asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"N-no, no not at all! I still really like them and appreciate the gift Syr, I just found something interesting today while I was doing my shopping… that's all… I was curious why a waitress here would even have anything like it..."

"What is it?" Syr asked as she bent down slightly and examined the pair of black boots on Yuril's feet.

Yuril raised his right foot and tapped it twice in quick succession and the small blade sprang out from the toe and Syr yelped slightly with a slight flinch, in the corner of Yurils eye he could see that Ryuu had turned around from the table she was taking an order at and had her tray pulled back, ready to fling in his direction. However once she saw that it was just him and that Syr was not in any genuine danger, she slowly brought her arm back down and turned around to finish taking the table's order, but not before giving him a sharp glare that felt like it could cut right through his new armour like it was nothing more than paper.

"Well isn't that interesting… I had never known about that, Yuril… otherwise I would have told you!" Syr said with a slight giggle as she did a spin on her toes so she faced away from Yuril. She turned her head to the right to look back at him and spoke softly, using her tray to block out her voice from the others in the pub. "If you want to know more about them I suggest you go ask their previous owner yourself, Yuril." Syr used her tray with her right hand to block the view of her left from other prying eyes as she pointed towards the black haired catgirl that was carrying a load of dirty dishes back towards the kitchen.

Before he could speak Syr did another spin, moving around behind him and giving him a slight push forward. As he took his first step the small blade retracted back into his boot and he heard Syr talking to him softly with a slight giggle "You take a seat Yuril and I will fetch her for you so she can take your order, my treat!".

He stumbled for a few seconds before he regained his footing and took a seat at a square table meant for four people, he sat in the seat farthest from the wall facing the entrance. He waited for a few minutes before the black haired catgirl, Chloe, walked over with a small paper notepad in her hands and a tiny smirk on her face. "What would meow like to drink to start?" she asked him softly with a slight purr as her ears twitched and tail swayed from side to side behind her.

"Just a glass of water is fine for me Chloe, thank you." Yuril said calmly as he returned her small smile with a tiny friendly smirk of his own.

"Are meow sure? Syr said that she would pay for meow today, meow could get something… meow know… that's actually tasty…".

"I know, but I am fine. Really, I wasn't even that hungry or thirsty to begin with…."

"If meow says so, I will be back soon." Syr did a slight nod of her head to the albino boy and retreated to the kitchen for a moment to retrieve his requested beverage. Chloe Rollo was another waitress that worked at the Hostess of Fertility, while she was a catgirl Yuril had noticed almost immediately that her speech was more seasoned than Anya's had been.

Chloe returned less than a minute later with his plain glass of water, she set it down on the table and leaned forward slightly with a small smile on her face. "Syr said that meow have a question for me nyah?" Chloe said in a peculiar tone.

"Oh, yes I do actually… these boots used to belong to you right?" Yuril extended his left leg out from under the table and Chloe nodded to him as she stole a quick glance down to his feet.

"Yes, they used to belong to me. Syr had them for a while but they belong to meow now." Chloe said with a slight chuckle. Syr had likely told the albino boy that she had given them to her because she no longer had any use for them, but in reality the black haired cat had simply lost the spare pair of boots as part of a bet during a particularly tense game of poker one night between the waitresses. They held games once every two weeks regularly and the catgirl had been feeling lucky only to lose all her Valis is just a handful of turns, doubling down she placed her extra set of footwear into the pot to try and buy her way back into the game but she just ended up losing them as well to the poker faced grey haired waitresses.

"I was wondering… why would a waitress ever need a pair of boots with a toe knife in them, were you an adventurer at some point or something along those lines…?" Yuril said calmly as he pulled his leg back under the table and sat up in his wooden chair slightly. He reached out and picked up the glass cup and took a sip from his water while he waited for a response.

"It's not very polite of meow to be asking about my past, meow know?" Chloe said with a sly smirk as she placed her one hand on the table and leaned closer towards the boy.

"S-sorry, I shouldn't have asked you su—"

"Buuuuttt I suppose I can tell meow about my past in exchange for one itsy bitsy little favour." The Catgirl said as she continued to lean closer towards the young boy, licking her lips with her sandpaper-like tongue and purring softly. As she continued to lean forward, Yuril in turn leaned back in his chair more to try and keep an appropriate distance between the two of them.

"Wh-what would that be, exactly?" Yuril asked as she continued to inch towards his face with her own and he arched his back to lean farther back in his seat.

"Let me have one tiny squeeze of meower soft tushy." Chloe said as she leaned closer to the innocent albino boy.

Yuril stuttered for a few moments as he tried to fully comprehend what it was exactly the catgirl had meant, as she leaned towards him he continued to lean back in his chair. The front two feet of the chair lifted off the ground with how far he was leaning back and he reached a point of no return and he started to fall backwards in his seat, only to be stopped by Chloe as she reached out past him and grabbed the backrest of the chair. Her face was only a few inches from him as she was the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground.

"I-I-I… I..I th-think that I will h-have to pass… I-I am good not knowing i-if thats wh-what it would take…" Yuril stuttered out as his face started to blush a light red.

"Well, that's fine. I will eventually sink my claws into meow, just meow wait and see." Chloe said with a small giggle as she leaned forward suddenly and gave his left cheek a small lick before letting go of his chair and letting him fall backwards.

Yuril fell to the ground with his chair, he tried to reach out and grab the table to stop himself but it was just out of reach and he crashed to the ground with his seat. Yuril took a few moments to collect himself as he rubbed the back of his head where his skull briefly connected with the floor. He groaned softly as his brain processed what the catgirl had done and his left hand slapped his cheek. "Wh-what did you d-do that f-for?!" He hastily asked as he looked up at the blackhaired catgirl that was smirking down at him on the floor.

"Marking my territory nyah, can't have Anya or some other silly catgirl taking meow from me when I am not looking." Chloe said in a cheeky tone as she did a small spin in a circle that made her waitresses uniform lift up slightly and caused Yuril to shut his eyes, making the waitress giggle slightly. "Oh, Syr also wanted me to tell meow that she would be waiting for you in the attic to spend her break with meow, better hurry Yuril…" she said in a soft voice before walking away, leaving the albino boy laying on the ground intermingled with his chair and stuttering.