The roar of motorcycles echoed on the road leading to the capital. They were coming from the north, where traffic was sparse, allowing them to quickly reach the rge eastern parking lots.

  The capital had strict regutions regarding motorized vehicles; they were banned from the city due to the narrow pathways that wound through it. Mikki kept her eyes fixed on her tracker. The dot remained stationary as the trio entered the city. The streets were bustling with pedestrians, merchants busy at their stalls, and restaurants welcoming crowds of patrons.

  “This pce is so big… But it’s fascinating how much less developed it is compared to Neko City,” Sara remarked.

  Eliana nodded in agreement. She was from the capital of the Republic, a city renowned for its advanced technology.

  “I wonder why that is…” Eliana looked to Sara, hoping for an expnation.

  “Well,” Sara began, “Neko City was once a colony of the Republic, which focused on technological advancement for decades, building truly modern cities. The Kingdom, on the other hand, formed a few centuries ago. The area was once filled with various tribes, much like the northern part of the continent. Add to that the Kingdom's conservative party, which stayed in power for decades, and the resulting technological g… you end up with a historical capital.”

  Eliana nodded thoughtfully as they continued walking. Suddenly, Mikki came to an abrupt stop. The red dot on the tracker began moving rapidly, likely indicating that the person it tracked was running. Mikki bit her lip and gnced at Sara and Eliana.

  “I have to go!” she excimed.

  Before either of them could react, Mikki took off at full speed. Sara turned to Eliana with a resigned look.

  “And there she goes.”

  “She’s ridiculously fast.”

  “That’s why we always lost to her at cops and robbers.”

  Mikki had bolted, leaving the girls behind. She had no time to waste—finding her little sister was her top priority. The streets were packed with people, so she had no choice but to leap onto the rooftops and sprint across them. Luckily, the buildings were close enough together to allow her to move quickly from one to the next.

  She dashed over a temple without sparing it a gnce, unlike the tourists marveling at it below. She was closing in on the location rapidly. Soon, she jumped into an alleyway and came to a sudden stop in front of a wooden fence. But it wasn’t the fence that had halted her—it was the red-haired maid leaning against it. Mikki couldn’t help but blurt out, “Kaia?”

  The maid looked at Mikki, sighed, and shook her head.

  “Finally, someone from Neko City who doesn’t confuse me with my twin sister… Wait, aren’t you the blonde’s sister?”

  Mikki stepped toward the red-haired maid and grabbed her by the colr.

  “Where is she?!” she demanded.

  The maid quickly raised her hands in surrender.

  “Calm down… She was with me. We were trapped in a cave together, but we had to split up when the guards started chasing us. She headed west.”

  Mikki gnced at her tracker and saw that the maid was telling the truth—the red dot was indeed moving west. She nodded, then looked back at the maid.

  “Sara, my friend, and Eliana are near the eastern entrance to the city. I have to go.”

  Without wasting another second, Mikki took off again, leaving Kaia behind. She couldn’t afford to lose any more time.

  Pov Sarah (B)

  Sarah was running through the city streets, pursued relentlessly by three guards who showed no signs of giving up. No matter how hard she tried to escape, they were always close behind.

  She desperately wished she had her sword with her. She had spent so much time training with her sister to be able to fight and defend herself. But now, she had nothing. All she could do was grab whatever objects she could find along the way and throw them at the guards, hoping to frustrate them enough to give up the chase.

  Instead, the opposite happened. The guards became even angrier with the semi-cat, and one of them pulled out a gun and fired at her. Unfortunately, the bullet struck Sarah directly in the shoulder. She let out a long cry of pain as her pace began to slow. Still, she forced herself to keep running, finally emerging from the alley.

  She stumbled out onto a main street and collided with a woman, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

  Dazed, Sarah looked around, realizing the predicament she had just stumbled into. Surrounding her were several guards, but these were not the same ones chasing her. They appeared to be protecting someone important—a queen.

  The young woman at the center of the group had striking red hair, a crown on her head, and wore a military uniform. The woman Sarah had bumped into was slowly getting to her feet. She seemed to be in her early thirties, with beautiful auburn hair and an eyepatch covering one eye. She wore a nurse’s outfit.

  Panic began to set in for Sarah as she gnced behind her. The guards who had been chasing her had disappeared.

  The queen turned and looked at Sarah with a strict but composed expression. The auburn-haired nurse also stood, brushing herself off before addressing the queen.

  “Are you hurt, Your Majesty?”

  The queen shook her head, indicating that she was unharmed. She then crouched down in front of Sarah, who was completely bewildered. Without saying a word, the queen gently pced a hand on Sarah’s cheek. Her touch was surprisingly soft, almost comforting.

  After a moment, the queen looked at the nurse and the rest of her guards.

  “A poor, lost, and wounded semi-human. Don’t worry, little one. Our country is very welcoming, and we protect semi-humans.”

  The queen smiled warmly and then addressed her group.

  “Our little walk will end here. Let’s return to our hotel and tend to this poor cat. Kety, I’ll leave it to you to provide her with first aid.”

  “Yes, Queen Mia!”

  Kety, the nurse, quickly began to work on Sarah’s wound, creating a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding was controlled, the group accompanied Sarah back to their hotel, where she could receive proper medical care.

  Pov Mikki (A)

  Mikki continued to race through the alleyways, her eyes glued to the tracker in her hand. The red dot had stopped moving, a sign that Sarah had likely stopped as well. Mikki desperately hoped that Sarah hadn’t been caught and had just found a pce to hide quietly.

  She reached the main street, getting closer to the tracker’s location, but still no sign of Sarah. There was a small patch of blood on the ground. Her heart sank as she stared at the tracker, her grip tightening around it.

  With a defeated sigh, Mikki looked down at the blood, feeling a surge of frustration and helplessness. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She had failed to find Sarah. The hope that had driven her was now all but gone. The thought of not finding Sarah—or worse, losing her—crushed Mikki.

  It felt like the same hopelessness she had felt when trying to locate Zye. Everything was slipping away, and she was powerless to change it.