Since I’ve come to realise this yesterday, I decided to try and fix the fact that I wasn’t really that aware of my Guardians’ background and even what their personalities were like.

So I decided that at least for the next few days, I would spend time with them just to get to know them.

The first one I am dealing with right now is the one that I have just figured out had some hidden kink that they had been wanting to indulge all this time.

I’m talking about Kris of course.

I checked his schedule today and it seems like he was scheduled to patrol the rift that we were still keeping open on the island. Specifically, he was supposed to check out an area that the Bunarfs had found that might be a new mining site but it may be infested with Anomalies so he would go and check things out first.

I met up with him just as he was leaving his room and I noticed the first big change about him.

While he was wearing most of his normal gear that he would use when he was expecting a fight with his shirt, jacket and greatsword strapped to his back... The bottom half of his outfit had changed.

Instead of the normal pants and sports shoes, I’m looking at a skirt that reached to his upper thigh, a pair of black tights that ended at a pair of heeled boots.

His ears perked up when he saw me, "A... Ah! Master! Good morning to you~"

Oh gods... He’s really going to call me that?

I nodded at him, "Kris. I see you’ve decided to change your outfit..."

He actually blushed and looked down, as though only just remembering what he was wearing.

"Y... Yes... I umm... I thought that since I have your approval... I might as well just go for it... It’s actually better for me, you see..."

I raised an eyebrow, "Better for you?"

He turned around and pushed out his ass towards me, showing me his tail that slowly snaked out from under his skirt to curl up into the air.

Which... Also had the effect of lifting up his skirt to give me a rather clear view of his ass and I have to say he does have a really nice ass. Not on Olivia’s or Ava’s level but they were definitely round and more than a handful.

He shook his bottom at me, "See? I have space for my tail instead of worrying about it getting caught on the waistband of the pants. Sure, there’s specially made pants for us to deal with this problem but... They aren’t as cute as skirts you see... So... I really prefer wearing skirts instead..."

"Ah..." I answered him eloquently.

I mean... What else was I supposed to say here?

He turned back to face me, "Umm... So... Is there something you need, Master?"

I gestured towards him, "You’re going to patrol the rift, aren’t you?"

"Ah, that’s right. It shouldn’t take too long. Even if there’s Anomalies, I should be able to handle them pretty easily enough. If there’s anything wrong, I will call for help. Unless... Master wants me to have a partner?"

I shook my head, "Not necessary. I will accompany you on this patrol."

"Eh? I mean... Not that I don’t want you to but... I feel like this may be too inconsequential to take up that much of your time, Master?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "And what could I be busy with my time with, pray tell?"

He opened his mouth before closing it, probably realising that I didn’t really have anything else to do that needed my attention.

I shook my head, "You don’t need to worry. Just take it that I’m just choosing to accompany you because I’m bored."

A familiar smirk appeared on his face, "Oh? Are you really that bored, Master? Or is it maybe... You’re interested in me?"

He even wiggled himself in front of me, trying to act cute.

"Hmm... That’s right. I’ve become interested in you. Especially since now that you look so cute," I teased him back.

Unexpectedly, he actually blushed up to his ears and he hid his face behind his hands, "Wa wa wa... What are you saying, Master! You’re so shameless!"

So he’s the kind who can dish out but not take it, huh?

I chuckled, "Come on, we should go, shouldn’t we?"

He recovered quickly as he turned back to me, though he was pouting a little while his cheeks were still slightly flushed.

"You know, Master... You’ll get in trouble if you tease someone too much..."

"I could say the same to you. In fact, I would say that was your retribution for doing all the teasing you have done so far."

Without waiting for his response, I turned around and summoned the teleportation door in front of me to teleport us to where the portal was.

I then opened the door and gestured towards it, "Cute ones first."

Kris puffed up his cheeks but said nothing as he strode forward, stepping through the doorway without a word.

The fact that his tail was swishing back and forth happily kind of gave it away that he liked what I was doing though.

We took a moment to do an equipment check before heading into the portal proper.

For today, I was not walking around as the Mortal God but as ’Qing’ instead, so I had my sword on my waist while I was clad in my leather armour. I thought that it would be better if I were to be seen walking with Kris as Qing instead of the Mortal God or it might get awkward.

I looked to the side to see that the Gatekeeper was still where we were keeping it, the Anomaly currently locked up in a cage that ensured it could not go anywhere even if it wanted to.

We had also set up an automatic kill switch that would blow up the cage alongside the Anomaly should it ever manage to break free somehow. Or we could just trigger it remotely if we need to kill it quickly while away from the rift.

Still... Judging by the rift, we’re not expecting the rift to stabilise anytime soon. By our estimation, we should still have about six months at the safest and more than a year and a half if we’re pushing it.

We’re not planning on leaving it open for that long of course. Just long enough for the Bunarfs to mine out all the useful minerals here that would keep us going for the foreseeable future would be sufficient enough.

I looked at the cat boy beside me as I fiddled with my sword’s pommel, "So where are we headed to?"

Kris pointed in front of us, "Just up ahead. We’ll be going to where their colony used to be. They dug into where their water supply used to be and found another tunnel that led into a cavern where there’s supposedly some rare minerals. They had to turn back though because their scanners also supposedly picked up the signatures of Anomalies as well."

"So we’re already expecting a fight then."

"Seems like it," Kris muttered, pulling out his greatsword to rest it on his shoulders.

We walked side by side and headed on the path towards the Bunarfs former colony, the path lit up by lights that the bunny girls had set up.

I decided I might as well just approach the topic head on and asked Kris directly about his past.

"So... I guess outside of this, we don’t really know each other, do we?"

He tilted his head at me, "Do you mean the fact that I like cute things or..."

"More than that. I mean... I know you were a former prince but..." I trailed off, letting him decide if he wanted to answer my unasked question instead.

There was a short pause before he let out a sight, "Yes... Former prince... Of a Kingdom that failed to protect its people and fell to these Anomalies..."

I averted my gaze, "If I remember correctly... Didn’t you lead your people to this World through another portal?"

"Lead? Ha ha... That’s a funny way to put it... I was not the one leading. My sister... She was the one leading the group. She... She... She was... I was..."

I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "If you don’t want to talk about it..."

There was a pause before he shook his head, "No... This is not something I’ve never talked about before anyway... You have a right to know, Master... After all, you own me now~"

He looked up to smile at me, but I could tell that the smile did not reach his eyes.

Still, I let him compose himself to start telling me his history and how he had come to Earth...