Sound of a Leopard
The powerful and resonant sound of that roaring voice made me feel nauseated.
But I understood that it was intentional — at least the customers never even noticed, let alone got nauseated.
This is the effect of the leopard with a nave-colored body and white dots. They are usually named Shadow Claws.
Though this one has a name — its name is Liora.
Even though the voice was Liora's, she... yeah... she was the one ordering it.
One of the richest merchants in the kingdom are three:
The first one is the Eliott family, the second one is the Roselia family, and last but not least, the Merriiley family.
The girl who is standing in front of me using her kitty leopard to talk to us —
Is one of the daughters of the Merriiley family.
Her name is Ezabel Merriiley.
She is so elegant and a bit carefree in a way where she wears clothes a bit revealing for a noble.
Her chest and legs are a bit somehow over the fashion style — not to mention that it's her... it's her uniform.
Her skin is white and very attractive. She definitely has such a lovely complexion!
And on the other hand...
Zia here was so angry that I felt her anger without even a single glimpse of how she was reacting to all this.
I turned around a bit and leaned back on the chair.
She looked down on the table, her prom-curly ponytail hair just covering her eyes.
---
Ezabel
"Hey, answer me b*tch... Hello there, answer me now..."
Zia just stayed silent, doing nothing but gazing down.
I guess that irritated Ezabel, because she looked at me.
---
Ezabel
"You over there, what's your name?"
"Ohh... Mine... Ohhh it's haa.."
Ezabel looked very annoyed — I mean, she asked me about my name and I just stuck saying
"haaa..."
Like I'm trying to remember my own name.
That's nonsensical.
The leopard slammed the table and with its nuanced voice said...
---
Liora
"Are you trying to make me mad? Do you know who I am?"
---
"Okay okay, just turn this nuance off already. My name is Jane..."
The leopard slowly lowered its head, got back, and slept on the ground.
Ezabel sat down on the table right in front of me.
The table was a bit high, so she looked at me from above and she opened her clothes a bit wide.
I know she is beautiful and all...
But this is way too far — plus, I'm a warrior, and I will continue to be.
I'm not gonna be seduced by this and I don't wanna be...
So I looked away with a neutral emotional reaction — just closing my eyes a bit and forcing myself to act as if I'm smiling was enough.
---
Suddenly, Zia slammed the table.
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Zia
"Let him go now... I said let him go...!"
---
Ezabel began to play with Zia's face.
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Ezabel
"Wow!! You are pretty serious, aren't you? And look at you, so angry, love..."
---
It wasn't much of a deal so I just did what I'm supposed to do...
---
"Nah... Zia, don't worry. She barely did anything. I'm almost bored — let's go out of here..."
---
I was sighing in the middle of saying it — I almost played it safe...
Ezabel's face turned completely into disgust.
Ezabel got angry and prepared her hand to slap me — but Zia stopped her.
A chaos is gonna unfold, definitely, but that's not what I'm concerned about.
As it stands now, I'm an artifact — even though I don't know how.
But that doesn't mean I can't learn to use it.
There is this one artifact named 'Neris' — I can communicate with anything I want, in a telepathic way.
---
I called out to Liora, the leopard she always drags everywhere she goes.
He is hiding his face with its claws and sleeping on the ground.
---
"Hey, you. Liora... Kitty, can you hear me?"
With a very gentle and whispering voice, I said to him.
---
Liora
"What? Who is calling me? Ohhh.... It seems I was right.
I really hated you from the moment I saw you — so you are hiding your full capabilities..."
---
"Nah... It's nothing worth mentioning. I see you're in pretty bad shape, doing all the stuff."
---
Yeah, the two are actually fighting right behind us — and by two, I mean Zia and Ezabel, of course.
The leopard Liora raised his head.
---
Liora
"It's okay... I'm the one and only person acting as a servant — and that's due to my own decisions."
---
Means that he is just acting as a tamed monster as her protection.
He's not. But why?
---
"Why is that? Did you want money or what else?
Why are you serving a girl when you can make a family....?"
---
Liora
"You are right... but there's more to it than that. So it's okay for me..."
---
He got back to sleep.
---
"Hey! You two — stop fighting. Stooooop fighting...!"
---
I needed to scream just so they could hear me.
Zia stopped fighting back and ran toward me.
I raised my hand and called out to her too.
---
"Miss, you too — come over here."
---
She came and said:
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Zia
"My name is—"
---
I cut her off before she could even say it.
---
"Nah, introductions later. What matters must be done first."
---
We sat at a circle table with three chairs on it.
I'm in the middle, and on the left side Ezabel, and on the right side Zia sat down.
I asked the question:
---
"What happened? Why are you two fighting?
Come on, let's be real — we're no kids, are we?"
---
Zia
"She... she's the one who told that kid to come here today."
---
She crossed her arms, hinting at discomfort.
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Ezabel
"I only did it if you were gonna spare him a day or two... You are the reason, after all."
---
Ezabel sounded a bit egotistic, but eyes wide open.
---
Zia
"It's none of your business so stop, okay?
You must support him in moving on — you already know the answer, right?
Nothing good will ever come from this."
---
She gazed down the second she spoke, and her hands shivered...
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Ezabel
"Huh.. so you are suggesting I force him
to move on?
How could I do that — when you can seriously get to enjoy your time with a boy around... huh??"
---
At this point, I couldn't hold myself from blabbering about the one and only thing crossing my mind.
---
"Why don't you shut the hell up, air ball."
---
To Ezabel.