Get Scarlet back to the twins. I can do the rest.

“First order of business,” you say. “You. In safety.”

“Right,” Scarlet brushes her unnaturally dark hair from her face. “I’m staying with Mikko…And Gwendolion?”

“Correct. The rest of the matter is in my hands.”

She scoffs. “What if you get dusted?”

“I trust you know what to do with the girls,” you slightly pray she does at least. Scarlet doesn’t answer you, but you don’t waste time bickering.

When you return to your room, you find it unchanged. However, Scarlet was suffering from odd behavior. She pointed at obscure things in the street as though they were essential to your situation. They never did, but Scarlet was keen on highlighting them. Beyond that, she constantly stumbled and spoke in a loud voice.

Once inside your room, you had her sit down, and you examined her feet. They were dirty from running in the street, but aside from a few scrapes, there was no visible sign of severe damage.

What did you notice, and how well she kept herself? You didn’t precisely intend to eye her body like this, but you hadn’t been with another human girl in so long that it was almost hard to think about the lack of tail, ears, or even noises she was making as you practically massaged her feet. You glance up at Scarlet in her oversized shirt and form-fitting shorts. Her features were still sloppy from her imprisonment, but she was also shimmering in sweat as the light bathed her from above. Her eyes were closed, and her hands dove to her collar and scratched.

“I need a bath,” she moaned. “I don’t want to sleep in this grit.”

“You can do that,” you say, starting.

“You have clothes that will fit me?”

Scarlet was taller than the twins, but she looked to have shared a similar body type with Arabella. When her eyes opened, however. You saw all the dark blue iris reflecting at you. How did she manage to look so lewd? “Don’t tell me you only have some kind of perverted outfit for me to sleep in.”

You chuckle slightly, drawing your attention back to where they should be. “I don’t know what I have. Talk to the twins.”

“Where are they? Speaking of which.”

“Just start the shower. I’ll give’em the run down.”

...

...

Of course, the whole place is buzzing with bandits. In the mess of it was the boss himself. He stood in the chaos, waving his hands around and pointing fingers. Arabella wasn’t with him, but you didn’t feel that good about it.

You wondered what you should do for a few minutes, but then the raiders started to spread out in groups. This could have been a good time to kill all of them, perhaps while they were disjointed, but then Arabella appeared, naked, of course, but still on her lease. With her were the other women from before.

You half suspected them to be beaten. But, as usual, they seemed to be unharmed. What worried you, though, was the boss waving his hand around with a pistol being white-knuckled. He was yelling, blabbering about something, winging off shots in random directions. Clearly, he was drunk, no better than some of his underlings.

“Come out with my next slaaave!” He shouted, shooting again. The bullet struck some nearby glass, shattering it somewhere. “Come out! I won’t even kill you if you bring back my toooy!!”

Arabella cringed every time he shot, and so did the other women. You tapped your fingers on the rail, wondering how you should go after this. Before leaving, you grabbed your MPL– the same one you used when you first “rescued” Arabella and the twins.

You didn’t tell Gwendolion or Mikko to prepare to leave when you returned, but now you wondered if you should have. The odds of a calm aftermath felt close to null. After getting Arabella out again, you would have to leave as soon as humanly possible.

Behind your concealment, you pinched the bridge of your nose. “Now what, Warren?”