When the party began, Zelef ’s cooking was brought out.Wow, so this was the food made by the royal head chef. I had eaten some of his regular dishes before, but I had never had the chance to try his party food.All sorts of delicious-looking foods were lined up on the table.The food was arranged beautifully. It was colorful and pleasing to both the eyes and nose. It was definitely not just a regular lunch set.Once all the food was set down, we were told to help ourselves, so everybody engrossed themselves with eating.I didn’t know what the proper etiquette was, but I assumed I could just eat normally.When I looked at Marie beside me, I saw that she also looked troubled and was looking at me. She shouldn’t look at me, I had no idea how to properly eat at a noble’s party, either.All we could do was watch how other people ate and mimic them."Should we just eat like Noa?"I offered an option.We were both sitting diagonally across from Noa, who was enjoying her food using a fork an
Since everybody had finished their cakes, it was time to hand over the plushies.Still, unlike the cake, there was a possibility that Misa wouldn’t like them.Even if she did, she might act all grown-up and say something like, 『A plushie? I’m too old for things like that.』It was a bit late to consider this now, but 10 was a delicate age.Although there were people who liked plushies even after becoming adults, there were also some children who didn’t like them even while young."Misa, can I ask you something? Do you like plushies?""Plushies…? Yes, I like them. I take good care of the dog plushie my mother bought for me."As soon as she said she liked them, Marie and I felt a sense of relief."Okay, there’s one more present we would like to give you.""You have more?!"I took out the plushies from the Cat Box and handed the Kurone plushie to Marie while holding onto the Shirone plushie myself. This way, it would look like we were both giving Misa a plushie.As soon as I took out the
There were many people opposed to placing the Iron Golem at the entrance as Gran was thinking about doing."Father, please don’t put it at the entrance. People who see it will be scared.""Isn’t that fine?""No, it is not. If you’ll insist on putting it at the entrance, I will tell Nicole to take it home with her."As more and more people objected, Gran had to reluctantly give up on putting it at the entrance.After talking it out for a bit longer, they decided to place the Iron Golem in the middle of the hall on the second floor.It was not a place guests visited often, but if Gran ever wanted to show it off, he just needed to bring them there.Everybody agreed that this was the best solution, and for some reason, I ended up being the one who had to set it up there."We can’t move such a heavy object that easily."They told me. Since I didn’t have any other choice, I put all the golems back into the Cat Box and went upstairs to the hall, where I set the tough-looking one up at a plac
As I ran back to the mansion, I kept calling Marie over the phone, but there was no response.I was practically sprinting at this point and soon reached the mansion.Where was Marie?!I saw the guards posted by the gates like usual, and they were really surprised to see me appear so suddenly."Where’s Misa?!""Misana-sama?!"The guards didn’t understand what I was asking them.Had nothing happened here?However, if that was the case, where were the girls?They had gone to check Misa’s flower bed together.I thought about questioning the guards further but realized it would be quicker to just look for the girls myself, so I ignored them and jumped up all the way onto the roof.After looking around for a bit, I spotted the flower beds on the left side of the mansion."Marie!"I jumped down from the roof and landed next to the flowerbeds, which held many beautiful, blooming flowers.Only then did I notice that Marie and Noa were collapsed on the ground right next to one of the flowerbeds
As I swung my arm back to take my anger out on the toad man, Eleanora appeared at the entrance."Nicole, wait!"Just because she told me to wait didn’t mean I was going to stop."Ugh!"I sunk a Cat Punch into the toad man’s stomach."I was too late."No, she made it in time. Because she had suddenly cried out to me, I only used half the usual strength.As proof, the toad man didn’t fly off after getting hit. His internal organs didn’t burst out, either. Instead, he just passed out on the spot, foaming at the mouth."Eleanora ? Why are you here?""I was on my way back from the Commerce Guild and saw you riding Kurone with a crazed look on your face, so I decided to run after you. There was no way I could not follow you after seeing you in such a state."A crazed look? Had I really been making such a scary face?I thought about it for a second. Yup, I probably had been.The girls had just gotten attacked, so it would have been more strange for me not to look mad."Please don’t make the
When we asked the toad man where the other children were being held, he just told us to look for them ourselves.Eleanora was mad that he refused to cooperate, but we had plenty of ways to look for them.I could use detection magic or have Kurone and Shirone sniff them out. Just as I was about to tell that to Eleanora , a short-haired maid in her early twenties raised her hand."I know where the children are.""Ruufa!"The toad man scowled at the maid, but Eleanora just doused him with some more water to make him shut up."You know where they are being held?""Yes, because I prepare their meals for them.""Ruufa, you know what will happen if you betray me, don’t you?""Please, stop making your crime worse. I will properly atone for mine.""Don’t you dare. Who do you think is paying off your parents’ debt after they ran off and left you with it?""You, Gerardo-sama…""What do you think you are doing, then?!"As the toad man cried out, Eleanora summoned a big tide of water and completel
"We need a horse carriage, so go and prepare one!"When we brought the children back above ground and to the entrance of the mansion, we saw Cliff giving orders."You Finally came back, huh."Cliff came over once he noticed us. He looked a bit fatigued.I helped the two boys off of Shirone and asked Misa to watch over them."Cliff, you’re here.""Yes, I arrived not too long ago."Cliff answered Eleanora then moved his gaze to Misa and eventually to me."Nicole, thank you for saving Misana. This will be a great relief to the Faren Gramm family.""How is Noa doing?"Marie had woken up before I ran off while Noa hadn’t yet regained consciousness."She’s fine. She woke up right after you took off."Thank god, Noa was fine, too.If she wasn’t, I might have decided to rampage a bit more.With this, I now had one less thing to worry about."That reminds me, did Gran not come along?"Eleanora and I looked around but did not see Gran .We figured that since his granddaughter had been kidnapped
"Nicole, I’m sorry, but could you please not walk around town in your Cat maid outfit for a while?"He was basically telling me not to walk outside anymore; I wouldn’t feel safe going outside without my Cat maid outfit on."Nobody will know it’s you if you just wear a different outfit."That wasn’t the problem; my life would be in danger if I left my Cat maid outfit at home.There was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t try to pick a fight with me on the streets.I also wouldn’t be able to protect the girls without it. If something bad happened, I would just be a sitting duck.I knew that there was no point in arguing, though, as Gran had no idea why I had to wear my Cat maid outfit all the time.There was nothing I could do… I really didn’t want to trouble Gran more since he was busy dealing with the toad man’s family."Okay, I’ll just stay holed up in my room until it’s time to return to Crimonia, then.""Nicole, you plan on staying in your room until you leave?"He shouldn’t underes