Chapter 26 A Cat, a Trio, and the Mage Part 2

*Quuuaaack*

*Tap*

*Quuaack*

I focused, stared at the rubber duck under my paw, slowly lifting it and then,

*Quuaaaack*

This is oddly satisfying...

Water came out of the duck’s mouth; what was the magic item’s only function...

I picked it up before I left the lake and also got from Lamidea the other magic items other idiots used to try capturing her...

*Quuaaack*

“Damn, this gets addicting...” I quickly put it away into my storage, where I had already stored the others.

I continued my stroll through the forest, lost in thoughts, “I wonder what that mage wants to achieve, instigating all these humans to catch one spirit, and with useless magic items at that…”

“Who came up with these anyway? One is a rubber duck, another lets plants grow faster, and yet another one spews endless confetti…”

“The confetti one could be practical if you want to annoy someone though…” I closed my eyes, remembering my days as a human, “It was always a pain to clean up after New Year's Eve…” I smiled mischievously, thinking about who’s house to ruin.

***

As I finally made it through the forest, I could see a small village. “I should find this Jörg first.”

The village was quite old and run down; on every corner lurking suspicious figures, “Is this a bandit camp or do they have a culture to look like thugs?!”

I looked around while walking, until a big shadow loomed over me, “What do we have here? A small kitty all by itself~” The giant man looked down at me, his voice mockingly continued as he called two other humans over, “Do you see this? Wouldn’t make this small thing a nice soup ingredient! Haha!”

I raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed.

“Kekek, right boss, it would go well with what we stole from these dumb merchants the other day.” A scrawny figure covered in a hood replied.

“It’s been a while since I last ate cat, haha!” A woman with an axe over her shoulder added.

“Seriously… is this whole village composed of trios who severely lack mental capacities…?” I thought while I replied to them with a harmless sounding “meow~”.

“Kekeke, i-it doesn’t even realize it will end up as a snack!”

“Meow?” I looked at them with big pure eyes.

“It’s really cute…” The giant man said.

The woman quickly lifted me up, “I bet with these cute looks it will taste great!”

“I don’t think this works that way…” I thought as I played along, getting carried away.

***

We arrived at a rundown house, where they promptly locked me up in a cage. “Be nice and behave kitty, haha!” the giant man said and the three left, leaving me alone.

While waiting for them to come back, I calmly looked around the dark room. The cage I was in stood on a dirty wooden table, next to it an old kitchen littered with dirty tableware… “Urg, definitely not hygienic…”

On the other side, it didn’t look much better; the beds were simply piles of straw…

And next to it were bags with all kinds of stolen goods, “If I were them, instead of stealing useless junk, I would have stolen a comfy bed. Did they never hear of quality of life improvements? I wouldn’t be surprised if their mental and physical health suffers from this kind of environment.”

Before lying down, I cleaned the cages dirty ground with water, and because I got bored with waiting, I graciously took it upon myself to clean a bit. I created water and let it clean not just the tableware but the entirety of the room, and also skillfully opened the barricaded window, “Good air ventilation is essential after all!” I thought as I proudly observed my achievement, the room almost sparkling now.

*Slam*

The now spotlessly clean door opened violently, and a man got thrown into the room, “Do you really think we are this stupid, Jörg!” The giant man screamed enraged.

“Right! All the others that went into this damned forest never came back!” The woman holding her axe, ready to chop some limbs, added.

“If you don’t want to make a ton of money, that’s fine,” the man stood up arrogantly, “then I will ask someone else!” He tried to leave the room, but the three musketeers blocked the door.

“Don’t think you will get away with is!” The scrawny one said before all three of them quickly tied him up, throwing him gagged into a corner of the room. “Hmght! Ghmth!” he complained, whatever that meant.

“Boss, what should we do with him?” The woman asked, caressing her axe in anticipation.

*Growl*

“Ahem, first let’s eat, then we can interrogate him!” He said glancing at me.

“W-Wait boss!” The scrawny one interrupted, “Don’t you think something looks different from before?”

“Huh, what do you-“ he looked around the room, “What! How can it be so clean in here?!”

The tree looked around in awe, “Took them long enough…”

“Instead of eating me, you should thank me for raising your pathetic hygiene standards.”

“W-What?! Who is talking?!” The giant guy said seemingly scared.

“Boss, do you think we have a ghost in here?!” The scrawny guy started to panic.

“Sigh, not again…” I thought to myself and froze the padlock, shattering it to bits.

The trio 2.0 looked at me confused as I stepped out of the cage and sat down on the clean table, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Nox your friendly neighborhood spirit, who, as I said before, cleaned this pathetic place for you~”

“Whaaa! A talking cat!” The scrawny one screamed, pointing at me.

I narrowed my eyes in annoyance, “If you don’t want to freeze to death, then shut it.”

“Boss, what do we do? Can we still eat it?” The woman whispered unsettled.

“Hmgf, hgmpth!” The tied-up guy wiggled on the ground like a caterpillar.

“Zip it, buddy; you aren’t part of this conversation.” I calmly said without looking at him.

The giant man stared at me in silence…

I stared back…

…

“…”

“Um… boss?”

“…”

“I’M SO SORRY!”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He fell down to his knees and looked back at the other two. “Get down! Now!”

They looked confused, but did what he said…

“This is… unexpected…” I thought as I stared at the trio kneeling in front of me.

“I’m so sorry for not recognizing such a noble being as yourself!”

“Huh… well, I didn’t expect you would…”

“This is inexcusable!” He grasped, “We even tried to eat you!” He smacked his head on the floor.

“You can punish us as you see fit! You can freeze us or take our heads!”

“Boss… W-What are you saying…? What is a spirit anyway…?” The two of them whimpered.

“Umm…”

“You idiots,” he turned around, “Spirits are noble powerful beings! You should never anger them!”

“Boss, how do you know that…?” the woman asked.

“R-Right…”

“My granny told me! And she was always right!” He looked up in tears and folded his hands together, “May she rest in peace!”

“Oh~” The two looked at him totally convinced…

“…”

“I did not expect this…” I thought, observing them as they consoled the crying giant.

***

Sometime later~

“Done crying?”

“Yes, sniff. I’m fine now, sniff.” He reached his hand out, “Thanks for the handkerchief; do you want it back?” He held the wet and with snort filled handkerchief towards me…

“Y-You can keep it…” I said while backing away.

“Anyway…” I looked at them still kneeling, thinking, “What to do with them… at first I wanted to freeze them for attempting to eat me…”

I paced around on the table, the three observing my every move fearfully.

“Hmm…” I stared at the tied-up guy, then back at the trio and sat down.

“Will you three answer my questions?”

“O-Of course, we are more than happy to be of help to you!”

“This guy over there is Jörg, and he was luring other people into going into the forest, right?”

“That’s right!”

“H-He wanted to introduce us to a mage that could help us catch a spirit…” the scrawny guy added.

“But boss said it is a trap, after so many of the other guys not returning!” the woman said, her axe at the ready.

“Do any of you know where to find this mage?” After I asked, all three shook their heads.

“Then get the info from that guy; I take it that this axe is not just for show.” I looked back at him, who started to sweat profusely as the axe woman smiled in anticipation, “That’s one hell of a scary grin…” I thought before adding, “Ah, right. Don’t do it here; I just cleaned after all.”

“Right,” the giant sprung up, “I know a nice alley where no one will disturb us!” He and the scrawny guy picked up the in panic-squirming man and dragged him out, the axe woman following them happily.

As I observed the scene, my tail wagged slowly. “Somehow this trio of weird idiots is growing on me.”

I jumped down the table and followed them…

[The thereupon following scenes are removed due to being too violent…

*screams in the background*

“Ahem… I mean, everything is sunshine and rainbows!”

*obstructs readers view*

“Look!”

*points behind you*

“A unicorn chasing after a cat with a rainbow trail, isn’t that cute and wholesome!”

*glances back and forth*

“…”

*awkward silence*

“Seems like it’s over!”

*Bows before the reader*

“Until next time, bye-bye!”

*The man vanishes into thin air*]

After asking the guy nice and politely, he happily shared his knowledge with us. According to him, a mysterious hooded figure, claiming to be a mage, offered him quite a sum of money for leading bandits to them with that story about capturing a spirit.

“O great spirit, what do we do now?” The giant asked as I backed away from the alley so as not to let my paws get stained with red liquid.

“He spilled where to find this mage, so can we-?” The woman stared at her axe, carefully rubbing off the liquid.

“Yeah, let’s get this over with so I can go back to sleep.” I, motivated turned around leading the way, the three musketeers following closely.

***

Near the forest, a bit away from the bandit village, stood a small abandoned shack; the mage should be hiding inside.

“Hmm…” I stopped in my tracks and observed the shack closely.

“What’s wrong?” The giant came to a halt behind me.

“R-Right, what are we waiting for?”

“There is an unusual flow of mana coming from inside…” I said to the trio, continuing the sentence in my thoughts, “… it’s probably a trap; as soon as you open the door, magic will activate… and there is a person inside, likely the mage…”

“And what does that mean?” The three stared at me with question marks.

“It means you should take the lead; after all, I can’t open a door with my paws.” I said uncaring of what might happen.

“Then let’s go, you two!” The giant motivated, rushed toward the shack.

“Yes! Let’s bash their head in!” With axe held high, she ran after him, followed by the scrawny guy, “H-Hey, wait for me!”

I observed the silly trio “…”

*BAM*

They kicked down the old wooden door and rushed inside.

A flash of white light erupted from within, followed by their screams…

“Well… thanks for deactivating the trap~”

I quickly entered the house; inside, I could see the three bound together by a magical rope. “So the trap wasn’t deadly; how lucky!”

On the other side of the room, hid behind a table turned shield, emerged the hooded mage.

“You bastard!” The three tried to free themselves from the rope, but it just got tighter the more they struggled. “You are the one who killed Bob and the others!”

“You will pay for what you’ve done!”

“Come closer, and you will get a taste of my Miralda!”

“You gave your axe a name…?” I thought shocked.

The hooded figure came closer, ignoring my presence. “You have no right to be angry!” With their high voice, they screamed loudly and removed the hood.

The three and I looked in surprise as the mysterious figure turned out to be a teenage girl. “Wow, what a plot twist!”

“What?! Didn’t Jörg say they had a deep voice?” The giant blurted out perplexed.

“I changed my voice with illusion magic, you bandit bastards!” Deep hatred welled up from within her eyes.

“Boss, I don’t care who or what she is; let’s take her head for our fallen comrades!” the woman said, holding tightly on to her axe.

“R-Right!”

“Since when do filthy bandits have a sense of comradery?” She mocked them in an angry tone.

“You and this entire dammed village full of criminals will go down by my hands!” Her blond, unkempt hair waved in rage as she pulled out a small dagger, the trio still unable to rid themselves of the rope.

She lifted up the dagger in her trembling hands, “For murdering my family, pay with your lives!”

I could see hesitation in her movements; she was unable to deal the final blow…

“Well… time for me to step in!”

*Boom*

All four, taken by surprise, stared in confusion at the drizzling, colorful confetti. “What is this…?”

“Yes! I finally got the chance to use it!~” I said satisfied as I held the magic item in my mouth.

“Isn’t that one of my magic items?!” She looked shocked at me. “H-How did you get that? I gave it to one of the-“

“Let’s talk about this later~” I interrupted her and put the item back.

Before she could say anything else, I summoned my water, submerging her completely in it. She struggled, grasping for air, bubbles leaving her lungs. Shortly after, she stopped moving, and the rope that bound the three lifelessly hit the ground.

“Wow, you are awesome, kitty!” The woman sprung up.

I stared at her dissatisfied, before the giant corrected her, “What that idiot wanted to say is that you are an awesome spirit!” He gave her a light clap on the back of her head…

“Anyway, I’m done here.” I walked in the direction of the door.

“You are already leaving? You saved us; let us at least thank you!” He looked at me with big puppy eyes.

“If you want to thank me, then do it by never entering the forest, the same goes for your “comrades”. I can’t guarantee your lives if you should be so foolish.”

“Yes, leave it to us; we won’t ever let someone enter the forest again!” the three said simultaneously.

“Good.” I turned around and left; next to me, the girl still floating in the water.

***

*Cough… cough*

“So this is the culprit…” the water spirit observed the girl, coughing up water, skeptically.

“We should drown her! Death to everybody who disturbs the great Lamidea!” Tiny water ball angrily flew through the air.

“Nox, why did you let her live?” She leaned onto the edge of the lake, anticipating my answer.

“Cough, I would like to know as well; I used you spirits to get rid of these bastards after all.” She looked at me with her emerald-colored eyes, “I was sure I would drown at that moment; I never expected you would make it so I could breathe underwater…”

I looked back at her. “I was surprised by your talent at playing dead.” My eyes shifted to Lamidea, awaiting my answer. “As to why I let her live, there is no grand reason; I just feel like it.”

The girl looked at me perplexed, “But weren’t you together with the bandits? If you let me live, I will eventually kill them; I will never give up on my revenge!”

I looked at her calmly, having made myself comfortable on the grass. “That’s fine with me.”

“What?!”

“Why should I care? They made the decision to become criminals and to take other people’s lives, so they should be prepared that someone might kill them for it.”

I started to lick my paws and added, “And you make such a declaration, but it seems that you can’t bring yourself to kill them with your own two hands; that’s why you did it in this roundabout way. With your talent in magic, instead of creating these silly magic items and harmless traps, you could have simply burned down the entire village.”

She averted her gaze. “T-That’s…”

“Come on now, Nox; don’t be too hard on her, she is just a little human child.” Lamidea smiled softly at her, patting the girl’s head.

“Seems like she has taken a liking to her…” I thought diverting my attention back to cleaning my fur, ignoring tiny water ball staring daggers at me and the girl…

“Human child, I have a question.”

“W-What is it? You can ask me anything.” The girl looked flustered by Lamidea’s friendly attitude.

“How did you know I was living in this lake?” She asked calmly.

“That’s, um… My late father told me about a legend. That a spirit dwells in this lake, and if you anger them, they will drag you underwater and drown you…”

“So that’s my reputation among humans.” She went silent but continued after she saw the girl panicking, “They aren’t wrong about that; I do that occasionally to impudent humans, but if I like one, I’m more than willing to help them.” The two looked at each other…

“Hmm… I think that’s my cue to leave…” I stood up, “Good luck with your revenge plans.”

“Oh, you want to leave already? If you want, you can stay and relax here as long as you want.” Lamidea looked at me.

“Thanks for the offer, but I have to decline.” I quickly vanished into the forest. “I don’t want to get involved in this any further and who knows, tiny water ball might murder me in my sleep for unintentionally making them the third wheel…”

I walked deeper into the forest, “Let’s find a nice tree to sleep on, hopefully with no disturbances this time.”

[And that’s how our cat yet again saved the day!]