Chapter 7: Clamor

“Umm…” The ears of the catgirl, whose body was curled up inside the big, coarse, hemp clothing, twitched. The fear and apprehension within her vertical, amber-colored pupils had never disappeared, while a shadow of a male, adult homo sapien reflected within it.    

“Don’t flail about. I won’t be able to do anything if your wound gets infected later.” Ji Bai slightly furrowed his brows. He felt the delicate ankle on his hand trying to retract, yet its owner wasn’t doing so due to a lack of courage. While holding onto the cat-eared girl’s sole with one hand, he gently covered the wounds on her ankle with a handkerchief.   

“Nyaa-au~” The cat-eared girl shivered while her hair seemingly bristled. Her two ears jumped upright, while the shivers on her petite body continued unceasingly. A sizable amount of tears had begun to accumulate within her vertical pupils. 

“Sigh..” Seeing the delicate expression of the girl ahead of him and how her large eyes were trying to hold back her tears, Ji Bai silently sighed. He was very helpless towards kids like them; they couldn’t withstand pain nor hardship, yet their expression made it hard for one to be angry and scold them.    

After being silent for a while, Ji Bai took out a delicate, blue wool ball from his pockets. He then shook it in front of her eyes. 

“Nyaa~ Nyaa?” The cat-eared girl was stunned at the beginning. Her ears unknowingly twitched. Following which, her lustrous agate-like pupils began to rotate together with the wool ball on his hand like a pair of marbles.   

Oh, it seems like it’s effective. If kitties love to play with wool balls, it’s possible that the Asiatic cat-race will be interested in it as well. “You can play with this first. The next bit may be a bit painful. Bear with it a little, okay?”  

“Nyaa-uu??” The catgirl, whose thoughts were held captive by the woolen ball on Ji Bai’s hands, saw him throw it towards her. Two of her claws approached it in an instant and held onto the wool ball flying towards her. She didn’t hear Ji Bai’s warning at all.    

After seeing that the catgirl’s attention was absorbed completely on something else, Ji Bai wiped the sweat off his forehead. One needed to know that the things he was doing now were illegal in the strictest sense. Looking at it on a higher level, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was rebelling against society. If some people whose goals were to make headlines all-day caught on and decide to instigate things, he would probably be labeled as an enemy of mankind. 

Alright. Let’s finish this in a splurt and pray that no other setback appears. Ji Bai thought quietly. Following that, he exerted some force into his hands, held onto both ends of the ribbon and tied a knot. 

“!!??” Nyaaaaa!! Uuuu…” A sharp screech of pain that was similar to the sound cats make while mating broke out into the horizon. It was so loud that even the deaf could hear it. In a wink of an eye, a large hand appeared and promptly sealed the girl’s mouth. 

“Don’t make a noise! Are you trying to kill the both of us?” Ji Bai had suppressed his voice to the lowest it could possibly be as he urged the catgirl. She was holding back the tears in her eyes and had a pitiable expression on her face.

If this screeching was to travel outwards, the criminal charges of him helping the demons would certainly be irrefutable. What should he do if rumors began spreading for a few days and deteriorated into something else?  After suffering untold hardships to get himself back to human society, he had no intention to be labeled as a demon and banished forever!

“…Have you calmed down?” After a while, Ji Bai unhurriedly asked with a vigilant look on his face as he looked at the catgirl that was in his arms whose emotional fluctuation was gradually stabilizing.   

“Mhm, mhm, mhm~” With glistening tears in her eyes, the catgirl nodded her little head like her life depended on it. 

Seeing that the emotions of the catgirl were stable, Ji Bai could relax a bit at last. 

He admitted that his actions were perhaps somewhat crude. He was a knight, not a nanny, and was clueless about coaxing demon kids and making them behave. The only thing he was knowledgeable about was the most efficient way of cutting down demons.   

It was right at this moment that noises suddenly emerged from the entrance of the alley.  

Crap. Did I not stifle her yell properly and it went through at the end? Did everyone hear it?   

“Stay here, behave and don’t move. Wait for me to return.” Ji Bai wrinkled his eyebrows and said to the catgirl before he left. Her injuries had stabilized and he was planning to go out and look at the situation. 

“Are you handing me over to those people, nyaa~?” The young, cat-eared girl curled up her delicate body and said in a timid tone. Her eyes were filled with a look of fear.  

“…I will not be handing you away.” Ji Bai swept the dust off his pants and slowly stood up. He walked towards the alley exit, leaving behind a catgirl looking at him in a dazed expression.      

Ji Bai slightly knitted his eyebrows after walking a short distance. As a matter of fact, he was also stumped; he didn’t know why he would end up in such a situation either. It was already an act of great benevolence to not give the catgirl’s position away. In theory, he had no obligations to help her fix her wounds.  

As he slowly approached the alley entrance, he found that there was no one gathered at the alley corner. Ji Bai finally relaxed, and immediately leaned against the wall, leaning his head out to survey the area.  

At the exact noodle restaurant where he was eating noodles a while ago, four teenagers wearing their formal knight attires were arrogantly standing outside, yelling something. Those four people were precisely the radiant knights that he had seen earlier.