“Now, enough about me, you surely have your own dreams do you not?”

The two were guided to the building by the cheery laughter of children who were carelessly playing about with no worries in the world. Although the building wasn’t the highest quality thing in the world - simply made from wood lightly gathered from nearby - it did not matter to the children. Many of them even had various handmade toys produced from the very same wood that made their home.

Alice could not help but turn her head towards the children (of course her eyes were closed so she didn’t accidentally reduce them to pulp) as they played around happily. She herself could not find it within herself to smile so carelessly, however. Instead a small frown formed on her face.

Afterall, these were the children in the best situation, they had been brought in by the cat so that she could allow them to grow up away from the harsh world. If they were so happy here… What was it like before they came here? There was no way the goddess could deny the talents that the little black cat possessed thus it begged the question of what it was like for children without her - someone that she now recognised as potentially the strongest existence alive.

If partly due to her own arrogance.

In situations where Cheshire was unable to help children; what was it like for those children? What was happening to those who got left, abandoned by everyone, having to rely on themselves for life. Was the situation of those with both parents around much better than what she was seeing here or was it horrifyingly worse due to their pitiful strength?

“What this world needs is a true god…”

“Hm~?”

The cat looked curiously over to the goddess who randomly just said that after a good minute of silence between them - even having arrived at their destination by now. An eager little kid handing over a smoking pipe to Cheshire as Photon stood over a large pot with a ladle in hand. Stirring a steaming meat stew that made all the kids eagerly jump around in an attempt to see inside the pot.

Some of the more adventurous ones even climbed up the giant with nimbleness that suited a child raised by a cat like Cheshire.

”Someone who seeks to do what is needed and not what they desire to do at the moment of time; to forgo personal pleasures for the betterment of mortals. A being above worldly desires, their only desire being the betterment of the mortal realm, with no mercy to anyone who would get in the way of that. I believe that is my birth right which I will claim no matter how much blood I need-! ”

*BANG!*

“Right, I think that’s enough!”

Before she could continue professing her desire to spill the blood of all the primordial gods who dared get in her way; the large lion slammed the pot onto the large table where they were sat. All the kids eagerly descended up the pews set up by the table - the heroic figure quickly filling bowl after bowl of delectable food that made Alice’s nose twitch. Still, he wasn’t done, continuing to lecture them as he served up a meal to the people of the orphanage with a clearly experienced hand.

“There are plenty of children around that do not need to hear all about your brutal revenge, especially when they are trying to eat, so leave it till after dinner!”

Hearing a radiant lion cub tell her what and what not to do left the goddess pouting - brow furrowed in obvious protest even if she did indeed go silent.

Thankfully (for her) the lion was not petty so placed a bowl in front of her without so much as skimping on the meat or broth. And the goddess could only compliment his culinary ability. Being able to perfectly bring out the taste of the meat while keeping it nice and tender - to the point it seemed to melt in her mouth.

Although she did find herself with more questions as she turned to see that the little black lioness was just sitting there with a little flame hovering below the bowl of her pipe. Setting alight a weird orb that was inside of it before placing it between her lips. Peacefully smoking while watching all those children eating with a smile that was a mixture between pride & disgust but Alice assumed that was due to a lot of them being messy eaters.

Especially those who were unable to obtain a humanoid form.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Why are you not eating?”

Her question instead got an unsettling silence from the surrounding children who looked between the both of them - Photon rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, The only one who seemed fine was the cat who just silently smoked her pipe with her usual smile upon her face now that there was no sounds of eating to be heard. Really taking her time as she sucked that smoke as deeply into her being as she could until the entirety of that orb had been melted.

“Pfaw~ it is quite simple; I cannot eat.”

“... What?”

“My stomach has never been able to handle solid foods, I have never even had the chance to taste watery porridge let alone meat, since the day I was born. Even drinking is something I need to be careful about due to how weak my body is. As such I came up with a method to concentrate medical properties into something I call a “pill” which I then take orally as smoke.”

Alice could only furrow her brow upon learning more about this cat; the more she knows the less it makes sense that she is even alive let alone as strong as she is.

“Of course it requires a deep understanding of your respiratory system to manage the intake of the pill so it would likely be best just to take it as it is. You absorb the properties easier when it is converted to smoke, however it is also easier to waste the content from going into qi deviation like a fool. Well, even despite that, there is always the risk of deviation as well as building up impurities that are naturally present during the pills creation.”

The goddess was officially confident that she had little idea about anything that the little black cat just told her except that qi deviation was probably bad. She never really had any use for medicine due to her body being mystical even when compared to other divines. There has never been someone born with a more efficient body, even if she was believed to be an early hatchling with no ability to grow strong, thus she never had a chance to learn anything about medical practices.

She wasn’t even able to use the healing arts that Mother had developed due to her mama’s untimely demise. In addition to a lack of need. If she never needed it… Why teach her about it? It would be far more efficient just to teach her all about other matters then maybe some back to the art of healing later.

Then there was yet another question…

“Why are you telling me all this?”

That finally gave Cheshire pause as she slowly turned to look at Alice - next turning to look at each of the shining eyes of the children. Each looking towards her with curiosity as well as wonder at what wisdom she would bestow upon them all. Meanwhile Photon just returned to eating with one hand (due to the other firmly planted on his face) after letting out one long sigh.

“So you know how much of a genius I am chehehehihihi~!”

Her annoying yet still arrogant laugh only stopped when she began coughing; a scene that got many of the children to panic with some trying to hit her back because they’ve seen adults do that. Thankfully the older kids got everything under control. With no help from the lion who seemed already used to the shenanigans of his older sister.

“Well, let’s see if we can set you up with some nice skills, we’ll head back to the training field once this is all over little Alice~!”

She didn’t know how someone of 5 feet could call her ‘little’ yet she decided to let that slide.

“Ah~ that reminds me that we found something before we found you~!”

Quickly stumbling up from the table only to vanish into one of the adjacent rooms - a few moments later she came out with a far too familiar hat to the goddess. A tricorn hat that looked far too large in the hands of the little cat. Although Alice didn’t care about that; quickly reaching out the hat to look over it in silence for quite some time before finally hugging it to her sizable chest.

“Something important then?”

Alice didn’t even reply with her words; just nodding while tears softly formed in the corner of her constantly closed eyes.

“Very well~.”

Picking her pipe up from the table as she began to walk away, the children quickly got back to their noisy selves, all the while Alice just silently sat there taking in the feeling of hat.