Smaller?
Vieya froze. Her head was so full of thoughts of her daughter that she had not even processed the question.
“Smaller, as in...”
The short pink-haired girl thought for a mont, then said solemnly, “Like a child under ten years old. Or is this immature body just your way of returning to the scene of your cris for nostalgia?”
“I didn’t co here to quarrel.” Vieya shook her head and went straight to the point:
“I want to ask for your help. Help find soone... or so monster. But the information I can give is limited, so the search will be difficult and cost ti and manpower. Of course, if you don’t want to, then forget it. I’ll leave right away and won’t cause you trouble.”
“My, my... how could I not help you, dear sister?”
Hua Shiyu quickly hopped off her chair. Looking at the now even smaller Vieya, shorter than herself, gave her an odd sense of amusent.
At first she had been startled by Vieya’s sudden arrival, but once she realized it was only to find soone, she understood.
No wonder.
“As long as you promise one condition, I’ll mobilize every bit of manpower I can to help you find this person—or this monster.”
“What condition?” asked Vieya.
“Let’s not # Nоvеlight # talk conditions first.” Hua Shiyu waved a hand, smiling with narrowed eyes. “You tell who you’re looking for, what they look like. If the search is beyond my reach, then I can’t help anyway. Once I know I can, we’ll discuss terms.”
Vieya let out a breath and agreed at once.
“All right!”
...
Fengxiang Town.
Dawn neared, the wind strong.
Adventurers and Demon-Hunting Knights searched the city. Along every side street off the main road, their people worked.
“Did you hear? So bigwig in the Royal Capital lost his pet cat, so we’ve been ordered to find it...”
“Knights’ armor is supposed to bear heraldry of protection, yet here we are covered in catnip!” A Demon-Hunting Knight grumbled as he rummaged through crates near an alley.
“Ha! Twenty warhorses sniffing cat piss through the streets, three mid-rank mages using tracking spells on trash piles—let’s just hope when the southern defense line collapses, these elites are still busy brushing knots out of so damned cat’s fur!”
“Keep your voice down... want to die?”
“They say the bigwig’s cat can even transform!”
“A cat monster girl?”
“No, not a monster girl. A monster cat that can take the form of a young girl! And its collar is said to be set with a magic crystal and a sealing gem...”
“Holy hell! A magic crystal! One could enchant hundreds of soldiers’ armor-piercing arrows for three days. Those bastards—what extravagance!”
When the convent’s morning bell rang—
The Catarina Convent too was visited by a group.
“Lady Lilian, how did such a ridiculous order pass the Three-Council review?” The old Lord Mayor, hair and beard white, fud. “Should your Holy Church not give us an explanation?”
“Forgive ... this order bypassed the Church entirely, handed down directly. I am equally perplexed.” Lilian lowered her gaze in apology.
The attending priests stood in silence, heads bowed.
Seeing no answer, the old Lord Mayor had nowhere to vent his fury. At last he glared at the statue of Saint Catarina in the center and raised his voice deliberately:
“Honored Lady, pray to the Cat God—for the lives of us lowly commoners are worth less than the fleas shaken loose by a master cat’s sneeze!”
As soon as he spoke, the holy water flasks in the priests’ hands glowed with ominous red light. They knew the blasphemy had reached the divine realm.
Lilian only shook her head faintly and sighed.
The Lord Mayor stord out. According to the damned order, he now had to personally cooperate in this grand task of finding a cat!
“ow~ Achoo!”
At that mont, a black cat perched on a little girl’s head sneezed violently. Rubbing her nose with a paw, her golden-red eyes filled with confusion. What was this? Why so many sneezes this morning?
“Cat-sis, do you have a cold?”
“Nonsense, ow! I, a mighty ninth-tier master, with the body of a Hellcat, how could I possibly catch so laughable human sickness—Achoo!”
No sooner had she finished than the black cat sneezed again, lost her balance, and rolled off the girl’s head.
Fortunately, the girl was quick and caught her before she hit the ground.
The black cat stared up at the sky in mute frustration, a bubble of snot puffing from her nose.
Damned humans—who dared curse a law-abiding, kind, and adorable kitty like her!
“Achoo!”
“Cat-sis, quiet! Human knights are nearby—let’s hide in the bushes!”
“I can’t hold it in, ow...”
Rustling sounds. The girl clutched the sneezing cat’s nose and ducked into the brush, perfectly still.
A knight on horseback, long spear in hand, rode past, his armor reeking of catnip. From the noble carriage behind ca loud laughter:
“What’s this? The Lord Mayor’s guards learning how to clip a cat’s claws? Hahaha!”
The vulgar laughter faded into the distance, along with the reek of catnip.
The girl crawled from the bushes, releasing the cat’s mouth.
The mont her hand let go, the cat yowled nonstop.
“ow ow ow! What’s that sll, it’s intoxicating! ow! Let down, I’m going to rob those knights!”
Smack!
The girl cuffed her on the head, making the cat’s head tilt. “Get a grip, Cat-sis! They’re looking for you!”
The black cat: “c! n! m!”
Smack!
“ow!”
...
Tribunal.
Record Office.
At a custom walnut desk, Vieya and Hua Shiyu sat opposite one another, each with a cup of hot milk, like old friends—though they both looked like elentary schoolers.
Hua Shiyu sipped her milk, then licked a drop from her lips and looked at Vieya.
“My dear sister, if you asked those professions skilled at tracking, perhaps you’d find what you seek more quickly.”
“Forget it. This is already stirring enough attention.” Vieya sighed softly, holding her milk without drinking. “Humans aren’t doing well right now, and I also plan to head to the battlefront myself.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Hua Shiyu suddenly stood, leaning across the table toward Vieya, her pink eyes shining with laughter.
“We’ll do our best to legalize your monster-girl identity, minimize all matters in Deerhorn City connected to you... No, in fact all of this was the work of heretics, and has nothing to do with pure, flawless Sister Vieya!”
Vieya paused. “Was that sarcasm?”
“Oh my, how could you think so ill of ?”
Hua Shiyu tried to reach for Vieya’s hands cupping the milk, but Vieya pulled back. So Hua Shiyu could only pout and say pitifully:
“Sister~ Sister~ All you need do is slay more monsters on the battlefield. You’re so strong, and I like you so much. Leave the rest to ~ With the aid of the All-Seeing Eye, I’ll give you a perfect result!”
“...Mm.”
After finishing her milk, Vieya set the cup and the All-Seeing Eye upon the desk and prepared to leave. She still needed to head to Fengxiang Town—ti was tight.
“Yeye-sis!”
Suddenly, Xiao Lü manifested at the table, clearly wanting to speak. Vieya turned at the door, t her worried eyes, and smiled faintly.
“Goodbye.”
Hua Shiyu: “?” Who was my dear sister saying goodbye to?
She looked at the door that had just shut, then at the green gem and still-warm milk cup on the desk.
“Perhaps... I ought to have answered with ‘Take care’?”
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