After asking around in the Guild, we find that knowledge about this cat doesn't seem to be widespread. Only a handful of the adventurers, staff included, seem to even be aware of the cat's existence and none of them have seen her recently. I propose the idea of splitting up to cover more ground, but Lia turns it down with the flimsy excuse saying I would get lost. I've come to accept that I don't have a good sense of direction, but I don't think that's the real reason for not wanting to split up. I think I have a good idea over why she doesn't so I just leave the topic be as we head over to some of the factories that are outside the cities.
With the quest from the Dux, we were able to enter most of the factories with relative ease to ask the workers who were on break if they had seen anything on their commute that might be related to the missing cat of the Laevinus family. As we expected most of them knew nothing about that matter, but one guy had something that might be a lead of sorts. He mentioned that we saw a group of people that looked like poachers or something similar. He didn't pay it too much attention since he was walking to the factory to start his shift and they had disappeared into a nearby forest.
After getting the directions from the worker, I take charge to head over to the forest to look around, but I'm quickly stopped by Lia.
"As much as I want to, I can't trust you to not get us lost," Lia says with her hand on my shoulder.
The forest isn't too far from our current location, only five minutes down the path for it to come into view. As we begin exploring the forest, I turn to Lia saying, "Remember to take note of those factories that wouldn't let us in. They might be involved in the manufacturing of the guns, so we should sneak in at some point."
"Don't worry, I thought something was suspicious and made sure to remember their locations. The Dux should have quite a lot of weight, especially within his own territory, so ignoring a matter related to him without any signs of shaking means there is a high probability of there being orders from someone of a higher rank of nobility. Anyways, how much do you know about the Sabre-toothed Lynx?"
"It's a big cat with a pair of large fangs."
"So basically you know nothing. Here's what I know, in the wild they are commonly found in the company of various other monsters and seems to be something of a leader to them. It isn't known yet how they get other monsters to work with them but this trait makes them difficult for adventurers when they come across a Sabre-toothed Lynx. They are generally not too aggressive as long as their territory isn't being encroached on. While not common they do sometimes show up as pets for nobles like the one we are looking for, but I don't know anything about how their temperaments change when being kept as pets, especially from birth. Just keep in mind that we might have to fight it, so whatever you do, don't kill the cat."
As we delve deeper into the forest I begin to hear strange sounds, but when I questioned Lia about this she didn't hear anything. I tried to ignore it, but the deeper we got the more I could identify what it was that I'm hearing. The cries of a child, "I want to go home," it constantly calls out.
"I think we're getting close," I say to Lia.
"How do you know?"
"I've been hearing a voice in my head for a while now and the deeper we go the clearer it gets. It sounds like a child crying, yelling out that it wants to go home. I'm fairly certain it's the cat Felis."
"Interesting, I would assume this is how the Sabre-toothed Lynx communicates with other monsters. A kind of telepathy that is restricted to nearby monsters. Of course, this is if what you are hearing is indeed Felis. For now, it's the best lead we've got so let's follow the voice. Since you're the one who can hear it I'll follow after you, but please don't get us lost again."
"Relax, I can at least follow what's right in front of me."
Following the sound of the voice, we arrive at a small clearing near a cave. Hiding in the shrubbery, we find that outside of the cave in the clearing is a group of people carrying all sorts of tools. Looking at them, the first word that comes to mind is 'poacher', they've got unused traps laying in front of the cave and all of them have some kind of weapon. Their appearance is pretty rough and the fact that they're hiding out in a forest means they probably aren't professional hunters.
Looking into the cave, I can see several cages each one with some kind of monster in it. It doesn't take long for me to find the missing cat. Grey and white fur, blue eyes, two big fangs, and is pretty big if she wasn't laying down she would probably be a litter shorter than my shoulders or close to Lia's height.
I wonder if I can communicate with her? I've recently gotten to learn about telepathic communication thanks to the Soul Connection. Using the same process I use to speak with Lia but instead, I focus in on the voice, calling out, {are you Felis?}
{*sniff* Who are you? Are you another bad person?}
{I've been asked by Dux Valerius Laevinus and his grandson Tiberius Laevinus to save you.}
Excited from hearing their names, Felis suddenly gets up hitting her cage, drawing the attention of a couple of the poachers in the cave, "Shut up you damn cat! Just when are the Boss and the others going to be back with the transport? I'm tired of having to wait around here fending off monster every few hours."
"If there aren't any accidents they should be back soon. So just put up with guard duty for a little longer."
{Where are Grampy and Big Brother! I want to go home!"}
{Calm down... actually don't calm down, make more noise and distract more of those guys. It will make it easier to save you.}
Listening to my advice, Felis lets out a loud roar, bringing every one of the poacher's attention on her. Turning to Lia I say, "Here's our chance, let's move."