In the warehouse behind the Gray Rat Tavern, several rusted iron cages were piled in a corner.
Inside one of them, an orange-haired cat-eared maiden was curled up—it was the missing Tata.
She looked especially wretched now. Her once-smooth orange short hair was a complete mess, her face smeared with dirt and marked by several fine streaks of blood. Several other cages nearby held equally frail-looking demi-humans. Most of them stared blankly ahead, as if they had already given up resisting. "Hey, kitty. Boss Claw said he's giving you one last chance."
A human guard rapped the iron bars of the cage with his baton, producing a clanging sound. "Hand over that money you hid, and we might consider giving you a more comfortable cage."
Tata raised her head. There was not a trace of fear in her slit pupils—only blazing fury.
"Pah!" She spat viciously. "Keep dreaming!! Tata's money is for Yuna, meow!"
"Yuna?" The human guard sneered. "Save it. She was sold off ages ago. Even if you gave her that little bit of money, it'd be like pouring it into the sea." Tata's body jolted at those words. "Y-you said... what? Didn't you say it was a secret missi... You bastards! Liars!"
"Tsk tsk, how naive." The halfling woman guard named Littlefoot toyed with the dagger in her hand, her face full of mockery. "Boss has really been patient with you. And here I was, even letting you have that fat sheep who looked like he had a Dimensional Bag."
"What good did letting me have him do... He saw right through it, meow!"
"Oh?" Littlefoot grew even more interested. "That capable? What happened after that? Didn't you follow him?"
Tata turned her head and ignored them.
She remembered the Mistress who had let her crimes slide,