touchnovel Chapter 156 The Man Chosen by the Cat
Chapter 156 The Man Chosen by the Cat
Chapter 156 The Man Chosen by the Cat
The meeting lasted until midnight before finally ending, with everyone yawning and returning to their respective resting places.
Dulin canceled his previous rental of a room. He had his own carriage in the caravan, so he went back to sleep in it. The woman with the sword pitched a single tent in a corner of the caravan and lived a very simple life.
Gebu used the company's money to buy the most luxurious tent he could afford. It was over 20 square meters in size, made of thick, warm fabric, with partition curtains and an openable skylight. In the middle of the tent was a lightweight copper fireplace with a chimney extending from the skylight to prevent smoke from accumulating inside. This way, Gebu could boil water and cook without leaving the tent.
One corner of the tent is a workbench for alchemy/herbalism, while another corner holds bartending equipment. Behind the curtain lies the sleeping area.
Goblins no longer sleep on hay and animal skins; instead, they use goose feather pillows and blankets.
If possible, you shouldn't make yourself suffer.
He even built a small house with an opening at the entrance of the tent, stuffed it with some dry grass, and let the little girl sleep there—unfortunately, the little girl didn't appreciate it and ran over to complain to the knife-wielding woman, saying that Gebu made her sleep in a doghouse.
Hey! This is much better than the living conditions of the tribe back then, how could you call it a doghouse?
Did I live in a place worse than a dog's back then?
Under the woman's contempt, Gebu had no choice but to buy his hostage a cotton sleeping bag and let her sleep at the foot of his bed—turning her from a watchdog into a pet.
The hostage slept quite quietly, except occasionally she would talk in her sleep and call for her mother. Whenever this happened, the goblin would use a telepathic spell to say in the little girl's mind, "Don't think about it anymore, your mother is gone."
Then the hostage would quiet down. It always worked. Gebu thought he was doing a great job, a master at understanding children's psychology, practically a model parent. The little hostage was incredibly lucky to have met him.
I know you want to thank me. You're welcome, my dear little ticket.
Little hostage: "I really thank your whole family! You stinky Gebu!!!"
The little girl looked at the overflowing chamber pot at the tent entrance and pinched her nose, feeling like she was about to vomit.
These guys were having a meeting in the tent in the middle of the night, not letting her in to cause trouble. Little Tani was already holding back her anger, and then seeing this big surprise that Geb had left her—she was about to explode with rage.
But we have to do it whether we want to or not, otherwise Gebu will scold us.
She gripped the edge of the chamber pot with both hands, suppressing her nausea, and carried it outside the camp. She poured it into the sewer by the street, then drew a bucket of water from a nearby well and rinsed the chamber pot twice before feeling a little better.
Looking at the clean chamber pot, Tani felt a sense of pride—but suddenly her nose tingled with emotion.
I'm a respectable young lady from a wealthy merchant family; I've never suffered such humiliation. If my mother were still alive, she would never have made me do such a dirty thing.
Mother----
The more she thought about it, the sadder she became. She squatted down, hugged her knees, and her eyes reddened.
At that moment, a sharp meow came from the wall beside them.
"Meow"
Ok?
Tani looked up and saw a shadow flash across the wall.
There's a cat?
Tanya suddenly forgot her sad story. She loved cats, but her mother was allergic to cat fur and had never allowed her to have one. Going to the other extreme, whenever she saw a furry thing on the street, the little girl would always want to touch it.
Tani ran toward the direction of the meowing cat, making sucking sounds as she approached.
The cat seemed to be responding to the little girl's call, but she could only hear it, not see it. The little girl followed it into the alley, deeper and deeper, until the caravan's tents disappeared from sight.
After walking for a while, Tani became a little scared.
"Kitty, where are you?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Meow."
A cold wind swept through the alley, making the little girl's hair stand on end, and she hugged her chest tightly.
A shadow with cat ears was cast on the ground in the corner.
The little girl looked around, shivered, and hesitated to go any further. She stood still and said, "Come here, kitty."
The shadow's cat ears twitched, but it didn't move.
"Are you scared? I'm scared too. Come here, I'll take you to a safe place."
The cat ears twitched again, and this time, the shadow moved closer.
The shadow stretched long in the candlelight, and for a cat, it was rather large—were those its limbs?
The calico catwoman peeked out from around the corner, staring at the little girl with her heterochromatic green and blue eyes, baring her sharp teeth.
"Come here, little one," the catwoman beckoned, mimicking a little girl's tone.
"Ew!!!!"
A little girl let out a horrifying scream! A dark figure rushed out from the end of the alley in an instant. A flash of white light appeared in front of Tani, and the scream stopped abruptly. A soft, fleshy mass covered her mouth, while another hand gripped her neck.
"Hmm"
"Tsk, human cubs, what a nuisance." The catwoman said impatiently, extending her claws. Tani felt the sharp bone claws on her face, took a deep breath, and dared not utter another sound.
"Fina asked, 'Zizai, do you understand if you nod or shake your head?'"
Tani's eyes widened, and she nodded in horror.
"Hey, is Zizai in cahoots with that goblin-smelling guy?"
Tani hesitated for a moment, then nodded. The woman's chest was furry, making the little girl's head itch. The catwoman let out a long "hmmm." Tani secretly looked up at her chin, meeting the beastwoman's downward gaze. The calico catwoman's pupils were wide like discs, one blue and one green, both beautiful and frightening.
Catwoman tilted her head.
"Does Stinky have magic powers?"
"Stinky" must refer to Geb, the little girl thought. Strangely, Tani never thought Geb had any strange smell, except for a faint herbal scent.
Catwoman lightly scratched Tani's neck with her paw. Tani panicked and quickly nodded.
The calico catwoman blinked, moved from behind the girl to in front of her, her hand still covering the girl's mouth.
"Have you ever seen magic like Chou Chou turning himself into a halfling?"
Tani nodded again. The catwoman's gaze made her uneasy, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. The woman's half-human, half-beast appearance was beyond the little girl's comprehension; she hadn't been this afraid when she saw Gebu's true face.
The woman in front of her was like a cat toying with its prey (she was indeed a cat), and Tani felt an uncontrollable, innate fear, too afraid to even run.
"Fina, let go of Zizai, Zizai, stop barking," the catwoman said.
The little girl nodded again; she hadn't made any other movements since seeing the catwoman.
Catwoman loosened her grip and saw that the little girl wasn't making a sound, only sobbing. She placed her paws on either side of Tani's cheeks, leaned closer, and brought her face close to the little girl's.
"Zizai, don't be afraid. Zizai will take Fina to see the goblin magician. Fina won't kill Zizai, for now, probably."
After saying that, the catwoman "Fina" stuck out her tongue and licked the tears off the little girl's face, leaving a red scratch on the little girl's face with her barbed tongue.
"Hmm...salt."
Catwoman looked at the dumbfounded little girl, smiled inexplicably at her, and her sharp teeth gleamed with a pale, cold light in the moonlight.