Hiiro and Cats

It was obvious to Mallory even if she did not have a well trained eye to spot talent that those among those that had signed up were lacking in talents.

It felt like she had saved up her spare change for to be used on a gacha game and very low luck.

The few draws that she could get were all of the lowest quality when it came to the potential of each of them when it came to their overall usefulness in a fight.

If the draws were rated by colours then they would be between grey, green, blue, purple and orange.

The grey meant that they were completely worthless and were not even worth paying attention to since they would be of no help to her while orange was the highest tier of talents and skillsets that they could possess.

The race of Tia and her knowledge with herbs had helped a little to make up for her lack of experience so she had qualified as a green for the time being until Mallory had further time to assess her capabilities.

Maeve had been determined as a grey until Mallory was able to find something that she was able to do which could contribute to the group.

Jaco that she had met had been put into the category of grey too due to him appearing to be someone that was showy and was lacking in abilities.

He appeared like some spoiled rich young master that had a lot of free time so he had come forward to go on adventures and pick up girls along the way.

The final person was judged as another grey but she had let him speak up first rather than pass by him.

He was very thin looking and had darkened skin while he had looked like he was in his mid to late teens.

His clothes were dirty and damaged, his cherry blossom pink hair was a mess too as it had not been cut so his bangs his hid his eyes behind them as he kept his head lowered. "I.. I am Hiiro. Former slave and I can do some odd jobs."

Mallory nodded and kept the way she had ranked each of them the same for the time being until she could see their true value much later.

Her finger pointed towards Hiiro, Maeve and Jaco. "You three will work as temporary supporters until you can show me what else you have talents in. Tia is in charge of collecting and identifying herbs when we are out and attending to wounds or other problems."

Jaco had showed a shocked appearance as he had declared dramatically. "How.. could I be a mere supporter? Do you not see this great Jaco's greatness?"

Mallory let out a tired sigh and responded. "Each of you will join me during a task and will be providing the minimum support needed. You will be judged based on how you perform and get along with others. If you pass then I will approve of you gaining a status."

She had ignored Jaco while explaining the other details then had said. "Everyone is at the same starting line and has to prove their own worth. Nobody is getting favouritism here and each person has a job to do. If you cannot do this much then you will only get in the way."

The way that Jaco had waved around his rapier was like he had only practiced with a sword when he was playing with it when he was alone but he did not seem to have had the persistence to continue training on his own or getting his own teacher.

There were no calluses on his hands which was a sign that he had rarely practiced the sword so it did not matter much if the sword in his hands was a very high grade one since he would not know how to use it.

Jaco and Tia seemed to have come from average or higher up backgrounds so them coming to Mallory was surprising since they should have been able to live stable lives without doing things that put them at risk.

Maeve and Hiiro were the ones that had more tragic backgrounds where they one was a former slave and the other was a formed trainee that was brought up in a brothel.

If the thoughts of Mallory were correct then Hiiro must have been among the slaves that had been set free in the past after she had affected certain events enough to bring down several slave dealers and owners.

She did not wish to judge everyone too early but it did seem like three among them were more suited to the tasks ahead while Jaco would be annoying and cause problems.

"Mallory-nya!"

"Lory-nya!

"Mall-nya!"

Three others had appeared behind Mallory who were a small team that had been assigned to her during the mission.

There were quite a lot of cat people within the Seshat Familia compared to other races while most of it was primarily made up of humans.

The factions that had been made up within the Seshat Familia had some smaller groups that did their own thing and went on adventures of their own or had just stuck to the groups that they had preferred to be a part of.

There were some much smaller groups that were unaligned with the larger factions within the Familia and they had rarely showed an interest towards others but Seshat had pushed one of those small groups towards Mallory in order to get them more acquainted.

One female and two male cat people had been a part of a team of three and had also expressed a small amount of interest in the proposal that Seshat had brought forward.

All of them seemed to be in their early to mid twenties in terms of age and Mallory had been told that one among them was a level two while the others were level ones still.

The female had shown an excited expression as she was the first to move forward. "Nice to meet-nya! I am Nia-nya!"

Nia had a very adorable appearance and was very pretty but slightly smaller for most girls her age while she had short black hair, dark eyes, black cat ears and a black cat tail too.

She was dressed in simple leather clothing with some light weight armour to protect her more vulnerable places and she had a black great sword that looked too big for her to be able to carry and swing around.

She pointed towards the two male Cat people and introduced them. "This is Noire-nya and Fitz-nya! Noire-nya is my younger brother-nya! Do not let his appearance fool ya-nya! I am the older one-nya!"

Noire was taller so Nia had only reached up to his shoulders but he had similar looks and other features that had resembled his sister but he looked a little more mature and manly than her. "Hello Mall-nya! I have heard about ya-nya! You use a spear? Me too-nya!"

The spear that he was holding was a little shorter in length and was a lot simpler than Valis since it was built for quick and effective piercing attacks that could be thrust forward with better control over it before being able to pull it back quickly.

Fitz had coughed to draw attention to himself and went on to explain. "Fitz is my name-nya.. I prefer to use my fists and claws."

He had a long pair of gloves and arm protectors on his arms while he had a slightly more muscular body than the other two in the team which showed that he was more suited to the role of a brawler or martial artist.

He had messy short brown hair and dark eyes while he looked a little normal in appearance compared to the brother and sister that had far more attractive facial features.

Mallory had shown a small smile as she had greeted them. "I hope that we can all become good friends and partners."

She had been a little happy to receive such a group to assist her even if there was only one level two among them.

They seemed to be very familiar with each other and from what she had been told by Seshat, they had made an excellent team when they worked as a team of three so they should be helpful to her.

They had varying styles that had allowed them to utilise their agility and speed in different ways.

Any weaknesses that they may have possessed on their own could have been made up by them covering for those weaknesses in a group.

Mallory raised her fist and said excitedly. "Now we should go and get the others before we leave here."

It was peaceful within the city so it could be quite boring and uneventful at times so it was exciting to be sent towards a new adventure.

Mallory was paired up with three Cat people, a Bull race girl, a half Dwarf and five humans.

They had entered a carriage after packing what was needed inside and had headed outside of the city gates while Mallory had followed behind on her bike.

Swaine, Franco and Almura were getting to know the new people that had joined the group but they were paying a little attention to how each of them was adjusting due to the request that Mallory had made of them before they had left.

Mallory pedalled on her bike behind and thought to herself. 'Boosting these newbies should earn me some more Excelia for sure. Heh heh heh..'