"Not to mention how tall he is! I thought our Moubyss men were big, but they're like Hova next to him!"
"I wonder what our children would look like…"
"You? Don't you have a husband already?"
"Hmph, can't a lady dream?"
Pretending he couldn't hear them, Minos just made his way through the crowd, finally arriving at the same hotel he had first come to with Hyth.
His spatial ring had been destroyed by the Abyss Flame previously, meaning he was once again broken, so he couldn't use the teleportation formation even if he wanted to.
He couldn't even stay at this hotel, but luckily the lobby was open, so he decided to have a seat and think about his future plans.
"Excuse me, Sir, are you by any chance a Nine-tailed Cat-Human Hybrid?" A young lady asked, her eyes shining as she looked at Minos's nine tails that were busy twirling behind him.
"Yes." Minos lied, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to explain, not to mention even if it were, he wouldn't.
It was fortunate that he had controlled the Abyss Flame to retract into his body, otherwise it would be even more of a hassle to explain.
"Really! Amazing! What's a royal like you doing out here?" The girl asked.
From Minos's memory, he knew the Nine-tailed Cat-Human Hybrids, or the Nine-tailed for short, were the royal bloodline of the Cat Kingdom, so her question wasn't too out of place.
Of course, he wasn't actually royalty nor did he have any association with the Nine-tailed Cat People, so he had to lie again.
"Just here on business."
"Business? What kind of business could you have here?"
Minos wasn't in the mood to answer a hundred and one questions, deciding to dismiss her with some excuse, but before he could, two large guards quickly ran up behind the woman.
"Sorry about that Sir, our Miss is very curious by nature, please excuse her." The larger guard said.
"Hmph, didn't I tell you two to leave me alone?"
"Ma'am, it's our job to guard and protect you. Besides, we have important business to attend to."
"Who said I wasn't talking to him about business? Who could better lead us in the Thousand Forest Continent than a Nine-tailed themselves?"
"... Miss, are you serious?"
"Why would I be joking? We need a guide, and I just happened to stumble upon the perfect one, win-win!"
"Even so, he's royalty, he doesn't have time to waste on us!" The guard said in exasperation.
"I know he is, but since he's a royal of the Cat Kingdom, he's going to have to head back eventually, so guiding us shouldn't be much of a problem!" The young lady replied back.
At this point, the two of them were completely ignoring Minos, as if he wasn't even part of the discussion.
Letting out a sigh, Minos was about to get up and leave, but before he could even take a few steps, the lady shouted out to him.
"Wait! I know a royal like you can't be bothered with busy work like this, but I promise I'll make it worth your time!"
"My time? Is anything worth a noble's time?" Minos said as he put on an act, not really interested in continuing this conversation.
Turning around, Minos began walking away, the young lady looking at his back indecisively, as if not sure she should say what she wanted to say.
"... Wait, I'm willing to support you during your fight for the Nine-Tailed Emperors Inheritance! You just help to guide me and my men in exchange."
"The Nine-Tailed Emperors Inheritance…?" Minos asked as he turned back towards her.
The Nine-Tailed Emperor was another one of those famous figures he had read of in the past, a legendary character who established the Nine-Tailed Royal Clan and united the Cat-Human Hybrids to form the Cat Kingdom.
"That's right! My family may not be the strongest, but I'm sure any help at this stage is critical." The young lady replied.
At this point, Minos was completely confused, after all he was neither a Nine-Tailed Cat Person, nor was he part of any inheritance fight, so everything she just said might as well been gibberish to him.
However, by this point, he was already invested in the act and somewhat curious as to where this could go, so he decided to keep playing along for the time being.
"First of all, tell me why you need to go to the Cat Kingdom so desperately?"
"It's simple, the battle for the Nine-Tailed Emperors Inheritance is a huge event that only happens once every hundred years, and me and my family want to get a slice of the pie."
"My father originally sent me to invest in the Ninth Prince, but as soon as I saw you, my gut told me you were a better fit." She answered.
"Miss, are you insane! How could you go against your fathers demands?" Her guard nearly shouted at her.
He could put up with her tomfoolery from before, but to suddenly change the person they came to support, that was both impossible and frivolous!
"Relax, has my instinct ever been wrong?" The young lady said, causing both her guards to go silent for a moment.
"As appealing as that sounds, I'm not actually part of the royal family, so I'm afraid I couldn't help you either way." Minos replied.
"That's okay. The Nine-Tailed Emperor himself set that rule that as long as one had Nine-Tails, they could join the battle!"
"Even so, I'd still have no supporters other than you, so even with that rule in place, my odds of winning are slim to none." Minos kept pushing, wondering why she was so hard-set on him.
"Don't worry, as important as supporters are, it's ultimately your own strength that will decide who the next Nine-Tailed Emperor is, and I can tell you're strong!"
"You're quite the talker, but tell me, why are you so adamant in choosing me? And don't say your gut, I don't believe in nonsense like that."
"... I can't tell you…"
"Then I'm afraid we have no deal." Minos replied succinctly, immediately walking off.
"Dammit, fine! I'll tell you, but you have to swear on your soul you won't reveal what I say to anyone else."
"No problem." Minos said, making the oath.
Of course with his Eternal Flame Aptus, even if he broke the oath and his soul was destroyed, he could just recover like nothing happened, so these oaths were worthless to him.
Of course, the young lady in question had no idea about that, after all who could ever guess that an Aptus as heaven-defying as Minos's could even exist?
In her eyes, Minos had made an oath that could never be broken, so with a sigh of relief, she whispered something to him that only he could hear.
"It's my Aptus, I call it Future Stock, and just as the name implies, it lets me see how 'valuable' a person's future is, whether they're worth investing in or not, but you… You are priceless!"
"Priceless?" Minos replied, not understanding what she meant.
"Exactly as it sounds, you have no price, I can't see your future stock no matter how hard I try, and that only ever happens when I try to peer into people with higher realms than me."
"But given that I'm already in the Aperture Opening Realm, that would imply one of two things. Either you're in the Avatar Shadow Realm, or you're simply immune to my Aptus, either way, you're extraordinary!" She said, her eyes sparkling as she spoke.
"I see… Your Aptus is very special, it's not often you stumble into one with future-foreseeing properties." Minos said.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" She replied, raising her head in pride.
"Tell you what, I'll join your little expedition, but in exchange, I want you to become my person, permanently." Minos said, his piercing blue eyes staring the young lady down, causing her to blush.
"Y-Your person… Fine, but I'm still young, you'll have to at least give me a few years." She said shyly, her head lowered.
"... That's not what I meant, I just need your Aptus, more specifically, I want you to use your Aptus whenever, and on whoever, I want you to. Deal?"
"... Deal, but are you sure you don't also want me, I'm really beautiful, consider it a two-for-one!"
"Not interested."
"Why? Do you not like human girls? Are you more interested in Cat-Human Hybrids? Don't worry, I've got a pair of cat-ears that look dead on!"
"Still not interested."
"I can even wear a tail!"
At this point, the two guards could only look on with gaping mouths, having no idea how things had even come to this.