Shadow

*Sweep, sweep*

It was the middle of the day. I was busy sweeping up the dining hall. This would normally be a huge task for just one person but thanks to my stats I could do it relatively easy. My high dexterity made the process incredibly swift.

I was dressed in a black maids outfit complete with a white apron. I’ve always wanted to try these type of clothes but after you’ve had three boys you kind of lose confidence In your body. The clothes were perfect for house duty and it’s not like they were super slutty. If anything I’d call them cute.

The dress came down to just above my knees. Underneath was a bunch of petticoats making the skirt super fancy and puffy. Its nice being young again. I’m a thirty four year old in the body of at least twenty. I’ve spent a good amount of time looking at myself in a mirror. It’s still hard to believe.

I wish I had some help. Now that I think about it wasn’t there another cat girl to help with this sort of thing? Cooking cleaning and looking after master was a lot of work. Especially when Master insisted on going on her little adventures. Just the other day I caught her bringing in a bucket of sand. Apparently she was gonna make a home for a crab she saved from one of the seafood restaurants.

I put a stop to that immediately and we ended up releasing it into the wild. There is no beach or ocean near here. That crab was probably eaten by a mob by now, but I wont say that out loud. Don’t want master to cry…. Again.

I know I said master acted like one of my boys but I’m starting to think she might actually be worse. There’s something wrong with her. It’s like she switches from an innocent child to a grown adult. I get needing to act like a kid so her anxiety doesn’t paralyze her, but sometimes it feels like she tries to get the best from both worlds. It seems like she’s only an adult when it suits her.

Speaking of which it’s been about an hour since I last saw her. Not much time for her to get into trouble but still more than I’m comfortable with. I’d better make sure she isn’t about to blow up the castle or something. Like when she tried firing off spells to test out there potency. Indoors.

I took my apron off and headed down the hall. If I was master I’d probably be in the lounge playing games. That’s where I went except she wasn't there. I checked the guild tab. It said she was in the castle.

Party chat:

Shadow: Master, what are you up to?

Aku: I'm busy.

Shadow: Where are you?

Aku: throne room.

Shadow: K

What would she be doing there? Regardless of what she might have been up to I needed to make sure nothing had happened to her so before she could hide anything I headed her way.

The throne room was much bigger than the dining hall. That was where I met up with master. She was standing on a chair leaning over some kind of tank. She was wearing a big black hoodie and a pair of black tights. On her feet were some white sneakers.

This outfit was different from the one I saw her in. I lifted the back of the hoodie to make sure she was actually wearing something underneath. Surely enough there were a pair of shorts there. It startled her and she finally noticed me.

“What are you doing?” I made sure to sound strong and assertive.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Making a habitat.” She pulled a bucket of water out from her inventory and started to pour it into the tank. The tank sat on top of a table.

“Uh-huh…. Why?” I was getting a little irritated. I had a feeling she’d brought something else into the castle.

“For my new friend of course.” She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a bag of water. Inside was what looked like a chubby goldfish.

“How many times do I have to tell you stop bringing animals into my house!” my voice wasn’t to loud but it was stern.

Master looked at me like a deer in headlights. Did she really think I’d be okay with this? How many times can you do the same thing and get told no before you finally get it.

“But shadow! You said you didn’t want crabs in the house you never said anything about animals!” There she went again acting like a child with no common sense. If she wanted to act like a child then I’ll treat her like one.

“I don’t care what I said I don’t want animals in my house. Now if you don’t get this stuff out of here you can spend the rest of the day in your room.” She was all flabbergasted.

“What! But Shadow what about Squishy!” She started crying.

I pinched the bridge between my eyes. “Squishy? You named it.” I looked the goldfish over. It looked kind of cute. It wasn’t a cheep goldfish. This little guy looked round and pudgy. What was I supposed to do with it. I wonder if the store would take it back.

What do I do? First it was that dog. Then the rat. Oh and let’s not forget that raccoon. Not to mention the crab. Now she wants this fish. I sense a pattern. Master really wants a pet. As far as fishes go there fairly easy to look after. Feed them and clean the tank every once in a while. Maybe if I let her have this one she’ll stop bringing random pets home.

“Okay, you can keep him.”

“Yes!” She did a little dance before continuing. “By the way Squishy is a girl.”

“How can you tell?”

“See, it has a hole.” Master pointed at a spot on the fish.

“Master, that’s it’s mouth.” She blinked and finally realized.

“Ooooh! So these are it’s eyes.” She giggled. “Squishy looks funny.” Was she acting? She got what she wanted so why was she still playing dumb. I swear! This is the same person that can do crazy math in their head yet they couldn’t even tell that was a mouth. Sometimes it's like she actually is a child.

“Let’s make Squishy’s home. Hand me the buckets and I’ll pour them in.” Master smiled and nodded. One after another Master pulled buckets out of her inventory handing them to me. I poured them in one after the other. There were so many. It must have been a lot of work to fill all these buckets up. Where did the tank come from anyway?

Once it was done Master started pulling out all sorts of things to decorate the inside of the tank. Items including rocks, a plastic castle for Squishy to live in. A chest so Squishy can keep her stuff in, some coral for color and to top it all off a magical filter that would keep the tank clean forever.

“Okay, now for Squishy.” I looked to Master reaching out with my hand.

Master shook her head hugging Squishy to her small frame. “I wanna do it.”

“Okay, you can do it.” I lifted Master up so she could put Squishy in her new home. She complained about being treated like a kid to which I ignored her. Honestly I think Master might actually be a kid in the old world.

Squishy was set free. Well not really. She was put in her tank. Immediately the fish swam around getting to know her new surroundings. Master just about had her nose against the glass watching the little goldfish swim around in child-like joy. In turn watching her brought a smile to my face.

“Quick Shadow! We need to feed her!” Master looked worried.

“What, you just got her in the tank are you sure?” Master nodded. She then pulled out a small vile of fish food and tried to stand on the chair again. I grabbed her from the back of her hoodie and pulled her off.

“Don’t do that it’s dangerous. I’ll feed Squishy.” I took the food from her hands, read the instructions, then gave the fish food a few shakes over the water. Squishy jumped into action eating up the meager fish flakes. Master still looked upset.

“What is it?” I asked.

“She needs more food.”

Aww, Master was worried Squishy wasn’t getting enough to eat. Maybe she’ll learn some responsibility from owning a pet. I gave the fish food another shake over the water. Squishy immediately ate the food.

“Shadow. She needs more she’ll never be big enough if you don’t feed her.”

Something didn’t sit right with me. “What?...”

Master tugged on my shirt. “If we don’t feed it more then Snowball won’t have enough fish to eat.” Master looked genuinely worried.

“Master…. You know…. There’s a lot of things wrong with what you just said.” Master tried to think for a second before coming to realize what I meant.

“I…. Yeah what was I… ah. I’m kidding. Did you really think I was gonna feed Squishy to my toy cat. Don’t be silly.” She smiled and blushed then ran off to another part of the castle.

I looked to Squishy. She seemed none the wiser. Was Master gonna fatten this little guy up and feed her to her cat plush doll? Nah, couldn’t be.