Alice, Shi'an, and Sóley walked up to Mars and Louise. Mars recognized Alice before saying: "Hey! I remember you!”

  Louise perked up at the friendly face, her usual cheerfulness starting to return as she greeted Alice with a smile: "Hi!"

  Mars just nodded with a hint of a smirk: "Nice seeing ya again."

  Alice sheepishly grinned right back, waving a little as she came over with her friends.

  There was a moment of small talk as the rest of the group introduced themselves as well, but before long, Mars turned her attention back to Alice: "So, you've got a pretty good memory, huh?”

  Alice laughed a little, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah. I mean, you’re kinda hard to forget, especially when you look like this." She gestured vaguely at Mars’ whole aesthetic with a playful grin.

  Louise snorted before chiming in: "That's for sure."

  Mars rolled her eyes but didn't deny it, because honestly? Fair point.

  Alice blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, but then she laughed it off with an awkward chuckle.

  "Oh! Uh...right, yeah." She scratched her cheek sheepishly before gesturing to Shi'an and Sóley behind her. "These are my new friends. Shi’an, she's a Void Mage from Heiguo—and Sóley here is Phenomena City's mayor."

  Shi'an gave a polite nod while Sóley just smiled warmly at Mars and Louise: "Nice to meet you both properly."

  Both Mars and Louise exchanged nods in return, greeting Sóley with polite smiles of their own.

  Mars, ever the blunt type, got to the point pretty quick: "So...you're a politician."

  Sóley chuckled at the straightforwardness, unfazed by Mars' tone. "That's right, I've been the mayor of Phenomena City for six years now."

  "I see. Now onto the real question: what's up with the friggin' micro-kini armor there?”

  Sóley's smile widened into a sly grin, clearly not at all put off by the blunt compliment.

  "Oh, this?" She spread her arms, putting the extravagant outfit on full display. "You like it?"

  Mars arched an eyebrow, unable to hide a smirk at the mayor's shamelessness. "Well, it's...certainly eye-catching.”

  Alice couldn’t help but snort at the exchange, while Shi’an just sighed, like she was already tired of this conversation before it even got going.

  Louise, meanwhile, looked amused by Sóley’s outfit and leaned in slightly: "Wait…is that actually practical for fighting?"

  Sóley let out a lighthearted laugh, her eyes gleaming as she twirled around so the others could admire the back as well.

  "Of course it is!" She struck a mock-heroic pose, her hand on her hip and the other dramatically in the air. "It's flexible, easy to move in, and not to mention, "

  "And easy to take off,” Mars finished with a smirk.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Shi'an groaned. "NO. PLEASE don't encourage her."

  Sóley feigned being offended with a pout, dramatically placing one hand against her chest in mock-indignation.

  "What? Are you saying you don't like the view?" She struck another pose, this one showing off her, well, everything.

  Louise tried (and failed) to stifle a giggle while Mars just rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong, it definitely looks good. Just not exactly the first choice most people would pick for, y'know…combat.”

  Sóley huffed jokingly, pretending to take offense but clearly enjoying the banter all the same: "Hey, don't underestimate the power of a little skin showing off in battle! Distracted enemies are much easier to defeat, you know."

  Shi'an just facepalmed while Mars let out a scoff: "Yeah, because distracting your opponents with your half-naked body is such a great strategy.”

  “Oh, come on! You guys are acting like I'm completely helpless here! Besides, I have to wear this, because…”

  …

  Mars and Louise both stared at Sóley for a moment, clearly processing the information.

  Louise was the first to find her voice, her earlier giggles forgotten: "Wait, so you're saying…wearing less makes you stronger???"

  Shi'an just facepalmed again. "Yup. That's exactly right."

  Sóley nodded with an amused little smirk, clearly enjoying the impact her revelation had.

  Louise's eyes widened as her imagination started to run wild, but Mars was still trying to process this new knowledge. "Hold up...so, if you wore literally nothing...you'd be completely untouchable?"

  Sóley's smirk widened into a shameless grin, clearly amused by Mars' question: "That's right. I'd be the strongest I could possibly be if I went completely bare-naked."

  Mars just stared at Sóley for a moment before finally muttering a single word: "Wow."

  Louise, meanwhile, was still stuck somewhere between shock and excitement. "That. Is. AWESOME." She practically had stars in her eyes now. "Man, I wish I had that ability…."

  Sóley had to bite back a laugh at Louise's enthusiasm. "Yeah, it sounds cool on paper...but it does come with its own set of, ahem, challenges."

  Shi'an, of course, had to chime in. "Such as being ogled at ALL THE TIME." She shot Sóley a knowing side-glance.

  Sóley let out a long-suffering sigh, her smirk turning into more of an exasperated expression.

  "Yeah…unfortunately." She crossed her arms under her chest (which only drew more attention to them). "But hey, it’s the price I pay for being the strongest mayor in Phenomena City history!"

  Mars just gave Sóley an impressed nod: "Damn right it is."

  Mars then looked over to Alice. "So uh, Alice. What're you doing here in Phenomena City, eh?”

  Alice grinned, clearly happy to explain. "Oh! I'm actually here on a mission, me and my friends are trying to hunt down and defeat the Seven Deadly Sins and find the members of the Shadows Searching in the Night." She gestured toward Shi’an next to her before continuing:

  "And we kinda ran into Sóley when we first got here…which was pretty lucky because she helped us get settled in quickly."

  Mars snorted, unable to resist making a quick jab: "Lucky, huh? More like you just bumped into the hottest mayor in the Euphoria by chance."

  Sóley just rolled her eyes with a little huff, used to Mars' bluntness by now.

  Meanwhile, Louise's face lit up at the mention of the Seven Deadly Sins. "Wait, you're hunting down the Deadly Sins? You serious?!”

  Alice beamed, clearly happy that Louise seemed so interested. "Yep, we sure are!" She held up a hand and started ticking off the Sins on her fingers. "We're looking for the Sins of Pride, Greed, Wrath, Lust…"

  Sóley nodded as she finished the list: "And Gluttony, Sloth, and Envy."

  Louise's eyes were practically glittering with excitement: "So do you have leads on where all of them are? Or is it just a huge hunt-and-search kind of thing?"

  Alice rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly: "Uh, the latter, unfortunately. We've been running around practically everywhere trying to find out where those slippery guys are.”

  Mars grunted, shaking her head slightly. "Good luck with that. Those guys are slippery bastards when they want to be."

  Louise just pouted a little, clearly not discouraged. "Yeah, I kinda figured that much…"

  Sóley, meanwhile, just chuckled quietly. "You're not wrong there, but…"

  She paused, a thoughtful look crossing her face for the first time in this whole conversation. "There might be a way to narrow down the hunt, actually."

  Mars perked up, instantly interested: "Oh, really?"

  Alice looked at Sóley with intrigue: "What did you have in mind?"

  "A swift capture, that's what," a voice came from behind. Not just anyone's voice, though, but Chelsea's. Before Alice could reach, Alice's hands were put behind her back by an unseen force and cuffed by Chelsea's signature gears…