[Alysha's Pov]

The king tells bearman and Yuuna to leave the room by waving his hand toward the door while looking at them. They both take a deep bow and swiftly leave.

"So, my good Hero. What brings you here? Have you trained enough in the forest? I'd like to remind you that your training will still last 2 more weeks in any case." The king says, making a smug face.

"Thank you your majesty, but our problem would be this child here. We found her in the forest as she was being attacked by bandits and we rescued her. She doesn't remember anything and we would like to help her."

The king sighs, then says "Hero Masaki, I understand your concern, however, we simply do not have the resources to help every single child or homeless person in the world. I can help her, but you have to understand that this is a special case. I'm also interested in her. Tell me child, are those ears and tails real?" Why does everybody ask that...

"Yes... your majesty, they're real..." Please make it so he doesn't ask me to let him touch them. I'll tear him apart if he does. 

"Is that so. Do you remember anything? Like where you're from?"

"Your majesty, this girl couldn't even remember her own name." Sorry to have lied there, it's that I abandoned mine looong~ ago

"Hoh. Well, I suppose asking anymore is useless. Tell me little girl, Do you perhaps have relations to the Panther King?"

I tilt my head to the side. Panther king? What's that? Is it tasty? 

I'm kinda suprised I haven't seen any particularly disgusted looks amongst humans so far. I thought i'd get shunned. Is it perhaps that beastmen are actually amazing?

"I suppose not. He had two tails as well and they look similar to yours. Well, what do you want to do little girl? I can help put you into an orphanage..." I shake my head at this, point at the sword in blackhair's belt and say "...Adventurer"

They both look kinda suprised at this, with blackhair's jaw literally dropping and the king's eyebrows shooting up.

"Are you shure? Being an adventurer can be quite scary, and a little girl like you shouldn't have to take risks like that."

"...Yes, thank you... I'd still like to though..." I say while looking down, unknown to me, my ears were flat on my head and my tails were completely down.

"Now now, don't worry about it. From what i understand, you've been in the forest for how long?"

Should I tell them? Nah. "... 3 weeks..." Eh, still long but not as long as a month and a half.

"Hoh. How did you even manage to survive for that long in the forest?"

Well, this is troublesome. Why is this guy asking so many questions?

"... Eat fruits and small animals?" The king nods at me and then asked "Raw?" I nod at that. What's wrong with eating stuff raw? I'm essentially an animal, and last time I checked, animals don't have fires to cook stuff. Fire is scary, kill it with fire... Wait, how do you kill fire with fire...?

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Well, I guess you can be on your way. Here, I guess this will be anough for you to rent a lower inn for a month or so until you get established." He throw me a pouch, which i clumsily catch, as I have to avoid ripping it apart with my nails (claws). "And also, try to get yourself some decent clothes. That coat isn't gonna cut it for too long." I look up at the king with a blank look, then look back at myself, then back at him. I tilt my head to the side a bit and he sighs. I mean, I'm not showing anything and it reaches my knees. What's wrong with it?

I bow, and swiftly exit the room. Once I'm out of there, I see bearguy and Yuuna chatting at a corner. I approach them and tug on bearguy's sleeve "...Where is the exit?" I ask him

He looks at me suprised for a second, then simply smiles "Here, follow me, I'll show you where to go." I do as he says and follow him, and after a couple of twists and turns we arrive at the entrance we came in from. Is this place a labirinth? What's up with this overly complicated place.

I go outside, and the guards look at me suprised for a second, then simply let me pass. I wave my hand at bearguy and run to the adventurer's guild. Heh, adventures, here I come... Hopefully I can get a strong monster or bandit group's location and finally eat something worth it. Or maybe I can eat that hero... 

[King's Pov]

It was a rather normal day, I was locked up in my office fighting my worst enemy, paperwork, when I hear knocks on my door. How strange, usually nobody visits me during the weekdays, as I'm always busy.

I say "Enter." and in comes Hero Masaki, The court mage Yuuna is also here, and a good friend of mine, Jack, Is also here. However, the most suprising thing was the little girl that came with them. She had catlike ears and two tails swishing behind here. They looked longer then her entire body, how does she even manage them...?

I look at the Hero with a raised eyebrow, who looks at me like he did something great. I smugly tell him "So, Hero Masaki, I see that perhaps heroes were right. The beastmen from your description do indeed exist, I didn't know." I look at the girl to see that she has a shocked look on her face. Did she perhaps think there were others like her...? Ops.

I wave my hand at Jack and Yuuna to tell them to leave, and they swiftly do. I then ask "So, my good Hero. What brings you here? Have you trained enough in the forest? I'd like to remind you that your training will still last 2 more weeks in any case." He looks at me awkwardly, then says while pointing at the girl "We found her in the forest and rescued her while she was being attacked by bandits. She doesn't remember anything, so I thought to help her out." I sigh and tell him that we can't help every person we come across. It's simply impossible.

I then question her about what she knows and where she was. It's kinda suspicious that a little girl could survive for 2 weeks in a forest filled with monsters. Although it isn't exactly filled anymore, so I suppose I should give her some credit.

The most suprising part is when she said that she wanted to be an adventurer. The problem with adventuring is that it not only requires skill but also a lot of money to begin, as you get very little money unless you do quests from A class or up. 

I give her some silver coins and a couple gold coins, which would normally be a lot, but hey, if I can help out the Hero in getting a positive image on this girl then it's worth it. I think he once said that catgirls are life, so I'm not too suprised he brought her here. 

She bows and runs out of the room with her tails swishing happily behind her. It's funny seeing how her tails and ears reflect her mood so easily.

I turn to the hero, who was still looking at the door she just left from. Thinking about it, I don't think I've heard her name. Also, what did they do to the bandits in the end? 

"Hero Masaki, I suppose you turned the bandits in or killed them right?" He looks back at me, then starts sweating buckets, which pretty much gives away they ended up forgetting about them. You're gonna stay here a loooong~ time my dear Hero...