Raya picked up the pawn in front of her queen and moved it two spaces forwards. "See how you like that one."

Butler, sitting on the counter, took one look at her move and using his mouth, moved one of his own pawns diagonally past hers, before capturing it.

Her shoulders drooped. "Damn, you already know en passant too? You should be the one going to the local tourney instead of me."

"Meow."

"Sorry, Neko isn't here. Can't translate."

One of the servers, dressed in a white apron and a headband with fake fox ears slipped behind the bar counter. "Table 12 wants another round. Three G-lites and…" He glanced down at his notepad. "A Crown Prince."

"They always convert the Crown after a while." Raya turned around, her fluffy tail swishing, and picked up some clean glasses to begin filling up at the taps. "And then they go to the Butler branded one. Sorry big guy, maybe we should continue this later."

Butler hopped off of the counter, his large stature immediately obvious to the patrons he strode by, watching the dozen or so other cats entertaining them. He mewed at Arthur, the white shorthair cat lounging in the middle of one of the longer tables, asleep next to a cup and saucer of tea, and made his way up between two patrons to paw at the latter's face.

Raya smiled along with the customers, and finished pouring the last beer in its different glass from the other three. She placed them all on a tray, which the server picked up.

The front doors at the opposite end of the pub swung open, and a man clad in thick fur coat and goggles waddled in, taking off his goggles with gloved hands and stuffing them in a pocket. The other customers paid him no mind, but Raya recognised him right off the bat from the photos she had seen.

He approached the bar, his tactical boots thumping on the heated wooden floors. "This place is kind of hard to get to."

"Worth the trip though," she broadly gestured at all of the customers at this time of day. "Thought when you'd turn up it'd be with Kofuku."

"She's busy. Family stuff."

"Well, welcome to the Foxhole!" Raya shook her tail from side to side and the fox ears on her head stood up, as if to punctuate that. "What can I get you?"

"Not here to drink, I'm afraid." Wyland pulled off his gloves and set them from the counter. "Is Lucas in?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me this is about the body," she said, lowering her voice. "Thought the Marshal was handling that."

"He was, and then it went all the way up to ministerial level when they found out the guy-" Wyland cut himself off, glancing over his shoulder. "Is there somewhere else we can go to talk?"

"Me or Lucas?"

"Either? I assume you both know what he found."

"I could use a break. Sec." She pulled open the door beside the one that led into the kitchen, and poked her head in, shouting upstairs for Lucas, before coming back out. "He'll be a moment. Sure you don't want anything?"

"I can't drink alcohol so…something nonalcoholic?"

"There's a lot of drinks I can make virgin. Mulberry Charge? Ten-Armed Demon? Oh, there's this thing called a Starlight Meteor which has a ton of lime in it, but we don't get that much lime usually so it's on- and off-season. Got lime now though."

"I think I'll just have a cola."

Raya smiled. "Garuda?"

"Do you have Yellowstone? It's fizzier."

"We don't really buy Tartarus stuff but I can take a look." She ducked under the counter to the row of fridges at floor level. "Hmmm…"

Butler mantled back up onto the counter, his paws making next to no noise, and stared at Wyland. "Meow?"

He hesitantly reached out and rubbed the big cat's head. "And I thought he was big in the pictures. This is like a whole child's worth of cat. Human child I mean."

Butler leaned into his hand, purring.

"Lucas does like calling himself their dad. Guess that makes me a cat-mom." Raya put the off-yellow can of soft drink on the counter. "Found one."

"Cheers." He cracked it open, holding it next to his ear to hear the fizz. "How many of them in total?"

"Twenty-one…twenty if you don't count the two cats that are identical as different."

"Twins?"

"Not that simple."

Wyland turned around to get a look at the other cats. "That one is…" He pointed at the calico that was napping on the blades of one of the ceiling fans, which turned slower than the others. "Oh that one's Daedalus." He pointed at another one, pitch black, hiding under a table. "Who's that?"

"Gorgon. Laser vision."

"Laser…you're kidding."

"I'm not."

"And they're all yokai?"

"The proper designation from Kofuku and D4 is bakeneko or 'changed cat'. Though Lucas prefers to call them-"

"Yokats!" Lucas said, bursting through the door, a colourful scarf draped over his shoulders and a laboratory flask in one hand. As he set the flask down behind the bar, what looked like soot kicked up inside it, and coalesced into a vaguely feline shape with glowing yellow eyes.

"Is that-" Wyland began.

"Brynley," Lucas interrupted. "He was getting bored of the TV upstairs so I thought I'd bring him down to play with Butler or something. And you are…" He furrowed his brow as he tried to recall their last meeting. "Wyland! Barrett's assistant right?"

"You can both call me Danny."

Raya took off her apron and handed it to Lucas. "Hold the fort for a moment. There's some important stuff I need to talk about." Walked around the bar and opened a door to a side room a crack just to check it wasn't occupied, before ushering Wyland in.

It was a small guest bedroom, with a small armchair facing a television on the opposite wall and a glass-and-wood coffee table. A potted plant sat in the corner, next to the bathroom door. Wyland circled around a bit, before falling into the armchair. "This is bigger than a Lodge dorm, what the hell?"

"How the hell does one body go up to ministerial level?" Raya crossed her arms.

Wyland produced the PDA he'd been given, parsing quickly through the data on it and turning the screen to Raya. "He was identified as Marlbourgh Knessant."

"Who?"

"I said the same thing when I read it on my way down here. He's…well, he was a magnate in one of the southern cities." He turned the device back around to double-check. "In Osseira. Of one of the biggest banks under Geoagris Financial's umbrella."

"...how the hell does someone like that end up out here?"

"That's what Barrett wants to find out. With your help, which is why he's not here."

"You know I know where this is going, right?"

Wyland stared at her for a long moment, before sighing. "We don't know what happened. We have to entertain every possibility."

"And what happens if we just don't acknowledge this tantrum from what, his family?"

"They haven't done anything yet. Right now he's been on vacation somewhere without anyone else knowing where, but it's only a matter of time until we can't keep this secret anymore. If it's a yokai that did it, they're going to want consequences. And since this is private land, I'm not sure what we can do if the Knessant Group decides to come down here and start their own investigation."

"Barrett thinks it's one from the village?"

"He doesn't know, but I seriously cannot read the guy so I don't know. He'll be here once he speaks to the Marshal. I know Lucas doesn't like UHE business but…we kind of need your help. You know the area, the village…"

"You want me to bring Barrett up there?"

"He's not a murderer."

"He's killed a lot of magical creatures. He's Wild Hunt for fuck's sake." She rubbed her chin. "They're going to be able to tell on account of all the blood on his soul!"

"We just want answers. Fastest way is to have Barrett take a look around, and then he'll be out of your hair."

Raya put her hands on her hips. "Fuck. You know I really thought moving here really was the end of this sort of shit."

Wyland visibly shrank into his armchair from discomfort. "I'm really, really sorry. It's just what I was given."

She sucked in her teeth. "Did Keel tell you what Knessant is funding?"

Wyland shook his head.

"Typical," she breathed, the ears on her head drooping. "I need to talk to Lucas about this. Just tell us when Barrett gets here, and then we'll decide."

"T-Thanks."

She left through the door, still muttering to herself, leaving Wyland in the guest room alone with his can of cola.

He just hoped he hadn't just fucked it all up.