Arisugawa, who objected to the trial of the Kooshi King, claiming it was unfair.
In the center of a strange space to which they were suddenly transported, the Kooshi King smiled with a cup in his hand.
“Well, for the time being, let’s have some tea and talk.”
The cup slid across the table without a sound. The rising steam and the aroma of tea leaves were indeed real.
“Speaking of which, the main topic is that there’s an incredibly vulgar stray cat living nearby. It’s a cat fairy called Ketsy.”
I see, I’m starting to get the picture with this pattern. I’ve experienced a dog-versus-cat battle before.
“You want us to drive them away.”
“Yes, it’s helpful that you’re so understanding. We’re a diligent race, we live by working hard and cultivating our fields. But, incredibly, they steal from us!”
Does Kooshi farm, or is it a metaphor for something? Either way, the task is simple: defeat those Ketsy.
“Will you do it?”
“Yes, on the condition that there will be no death penalty.”
“Deal.”
As the King snapped his fingers, they were transported outdoors again. Before them was, as they had been told, a field. The Kooshi King was gone.
“Hah! I can finally move! I’ll beat that damn dog!”
As soon as she could move, Nina drew her dagger. No wonder it was so quiet; it seemed everyone but me had been frozen. Philiana calmed her down.
“Now, Nina, please calm down and be rational. Didn’t King Kooshi tell us to defeat the cat fairies called Ketsy? And isn’t this the field?”
The field was planted with strange-looking plants bearing fruit they had never seen before. They didn’t know what it was used for, but for the time being, they had to protect it.
“So you were here! Honestly, Father, you’re terrible.”
Was that Lassie’s voice? She must have noticed our absence. Did she just say Father?
“You don’t mean King…?”
“Yes, he’s my father. It’s in bad taste, sending us here like this.”
“Hey, is what you said about the Ketsy true?”
Rassie nodded at my question. It seemed they really did come to steal from this field.
“What grows here is magically-infused grass. The potions made from these fruits are, in a way, our source of power. They come to steal it.”
“Can’t Kooshi use magic? Why don’t they fight back?”
“Yes, they can, but… for some reason, they’ve become strangely aggressive lately. They don’t just run away when surprised anymore.”
Hmm, there seems to be something going on here. First, why do the Ketsy want the magically-infused grass so badly? Are they facing a food shortage? Did their leader change? Perhaps they are seriously trying to gather power and destroy Kooshi.
“What do they do with what they steal?”
“It seems they sell it to someone and then obtain drugs. They’re hopeless.”
Selling it to someone… this grass must be valuable. But to whom?
“How much can those potions made from this plant sell for?”
“Hmm, they’re not normally sold. But their effects are overwhelmingly superior to anything generally available.”
So, it’s either for someone who craves magic power, or for reselling. Alright, let’s investigate that. First, we’ll wait in the field for the Ketsy to arrive, and then we’ll tail them. Come to think of it, wasn’t there a Kooshi who had the ability to turn invisible?
“Hmm, that ability of theirs. But even if they can disappear, they can’t hide their magic power. They’ll surely be detected.”
In that case, we have no choice but to tail them directly. We decided to wait in the nearby bushes. We gathered branches to camouflage ourselves as much as possible.
“Hey, are you sure this will work?”
“Uhm, uhm, I don’t know either.”
Nina moved away from the bushes and sat by a tree. Lassie said they would appear quite frequently later. They’d be waiting for the sentries to let their guard down. The drug that makes them so obsessed must be something truly dangerous.
The field is empty now, but if there are no sentries, they’ll be suspicious. So, we had two sentries assigned. And those two were told to pretend to be spaced out or asleep.
“Ah, hey Arisugawa, they’ve already appeared!”
Just as one of the sentries started to yawn, two eyes were peeking out from the shadow of a tree. Gold shimmered in the darkness.
Thinking they hadn’t been noticed, they emerged from the shadows of the trees. Their figures, rather than resembling cats, looked more like furry snakes. The fluffy masses approached, hiding behind nearby stones.
“Is that a Ketsy?”
“That’s not their true form; they’re doing that so they won’t be detected.”
“Wow, amazing technique. They make no sound at all.”
“I can do that too.”
What?! I thought that was a technique unique to Ketsy. It might be more accurate to call these two cat-like creatures magical beasts rather than animals. The stray cats, weaving through the guards who pretended not to notice, reached the field and changed into their true forms.
