Mat was battling inside himself, a flurry of thoughts all fighting for attention.

After a short but unbearable time in this weird place, he's finally found 'people' to talk to. Sure, they had on rabbit ears and fluffy tails, but they at least looked like people. These girls could answer his questions- maybe even help him get his bearings.

On the other hand, the cautious person inside him screamed danger. He didn't know them, and they didn't know him. Things could escalate to unintended tension, and out in the middle of nowhere, that was much of a probable scenario.

"Why are they here anyway?" He muttered to himself, letting out a sigh. "And why are they bathing in the middle of the woods?"

Mat waited for the girls to finish, drawing his conclusion. He needed to gather information and get himself back on track, even if he got himself in a desperate situation. He wasn't ready to die yet, but he doubted things would escalate that far. Even if it did, at least he'd die by the hands of cute bunny girls.

That was a joke, dying was not on his bucket list. Not by a mile.

He sat there hidden in the bushes, keeping his gaze elsewhere as he waited, his eyes though unusually insistent on staring at the girls in the river. Still, he kept his composure. He at least had the decency to do that. But he made the huge mistake of ruffling the nearby leaves behind.

The sound caught the girls' attention.

In the blink of an eye, three blades were pushed against the skin of his throat. Not a second passed, with everything happening a blur.

Mat found himself surrounded by the girls, each holding a dagger to his neck. In other circumstances, having naked pretty girls surround him as they did would have been bliss, but with the blood dripping down his neck and the increasing tension of the blades, this situation was anything but that. Things really turned out for the worst.

"Who's this?" The girl from behind whispered into Mat's ear as if threatening to kill, her accent rough and slight Scottish.

"M-Mateo!" Mat coughed.

Scotty's white curls dangled overhead, covering a part of Mat's eyes as her legs wrapped around his waist, keeping him locked in place. She then gestured to another with the greenwhite hair to his left. "Check the sprite."

Greenwhite nodded, catching the light floating beside Mat with a clenched hand before turning back to him. "Say 'status.'"

The blades to his throat pressed deeper. "Status!"

A string of floating text appeared in front of Greenwhite.

"He's a human." Greenwhite said, her eyes moving back and forth between Mat and the text. "His stats are all bad, but he has eclipse-type mana. Nothing we can't handle though."

The many steels pressing against Mat started to loosen. The tension eased up, but they still held the blades against him.

"Why are you here?" The swarthy lady in front of him said, first to remove her blade away from his throat.

"I-I just happened to be in the area." That was the truth. It was a bad and unconvincing reply, but nothing beats honesty. "I was just hungry and thirsty, and my pet wolf guided me to this river."

"Pet wolf?" Greenwhite was the next to take away her dagger.

"Uhm, yeah." Mat took a deep breath, pointing towards the place he woke up in. "Long story short, I found myself in the prairie nearby. I don't know how I got here, but if you could point me to a town or city nearby, that would really be appreciated."

The girls then looked to each other.

"You lost." Scotty said from behind.

"Yeah."

The girls nodded to each other, with Scotty the last to remove the blade brought to Mat's neck. Now that there was nothing sharp pressing against his throat, he let out a deep sigh of relief.

"He's probably a survivor." Greenwhite said. She then turned to Mat with a childlike curious expression. "Which guild are you from?"

Mat paused. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah."

The girls looked to each other again, their faces washed with confusion. Now that everything was said and done, Mat had forgotten that the girls were still buck naked, flaunting their rabbit ears and fluffy tails. Most of all, they were still dripping wet. Mat tried his best not to look, but it became increasingly harder the more time passed.

The girls in contrast didn't pay any attention to their nudity, almost as if they didn't care that Mat was there in the first place. As a man, that sort of stung his pride.

With that being said though, he was still very much grateful they didn't kill him. That would've been very, very, very bad.

"Amnesia?" Swarthy lady said.

"I think so-"

Mat's wolf slammed into the group with a bark and growl, sending the girls back. The wolf then took Mat away in its mouth, careful not to pierce his skin with its teeth before leaping away back into the thicket of woods.

"No, it's okay!" Mat said, trying to calm the wolf down by giving it a pat or two on its snout. The wolf then stopped in its tracks. Now that it had more or less calmed down, he ordered for it to let him down. It followed, dropping him to the grass below.

"Thank you though." Mat said, nudging a gentle fist to the wolf's leg. "I'm glad that you were looking out for me."

The girls started back towards him.

"Your pet wolf?" Greenwhite said with a joking tone.

"Yup."

. . .

The group settled under the shade of leaves, setting themselves around a pot over a crackling campfire with the smell of spice and meat and stew wafting in the air.

"My name's Nian." The girl with the greenwhite hair gave Mat a warm smile. She tied her hair to a messy high ponytail, but even then they still reached up to her shoulders. She had on simple clothes with a linen shirt and short shorts, matching her playful vibe. "I'm the archer of this three-person team. It's great to meet you Mat- and your wolf. Tell him I said hi."

Mat returned the smile, running his fingers through his wolf's fur who laid beside him. "This guy's pretty smart, so I think you can say that to him yourself."

"I'm Ruan." The swarthy lady said. She had long purple hair that was tied up to a bun, matching her mature and sultry feel. She was wiry, with her feminine muscles serving to compliment the sleeveless ninja garb she had on that ran down to her thighs. "Nice to meet you Mateo, sorry about the cut."

Mat traced his throat with his fingers, feeling a shallow cut near the Adam's apple. "Nah, don't worry about it."

Everyone's eyes then fell to the last girl. She was still by the riverbank, washing their equipment with her long white curls glinting against the sunlight.

"And that's Youmu." Nian said with a grin. "She's a serious girl, but she's pretty nice. Trust me on that."