Puss was lying on a bed in the hotel room he had rented, thinking about the day he'd had.
He was alone, as Tornado was currently in the hotel's luxury stable, being pampered like a princess.
The two of them had just returned from Vivianne's workshop, and after the discovery of what was needed to repair the frog, the plans were practically set, and a new journey awaited them.
"Dragon scales… will I have to meet Fiona this soon?" he murmured, his expression complicated.
Various thoughts ran through his mind, many of them hesitant.
Sighing bitterly, he turned his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, trying to push away those complicated thoughts and simply fall asleep.
Time passed, and helplessly, he opened his eyes.
With nothing to do, he pulled up his status.
[Host: Puss in Boots
Age: 15 years
Status: 9 Lives Remaining
Talents:
Mutant Cat (Gold): Level 7 (Progress: 82%)
Natural Swordsman (Gold): Level 7 (Progress: 85%)
Furry Lover (Silver): Level 1 → 7 (Progress: 57%)
Lucky Feline (Gold): Level 3 (Progress: 41%)
Equipment: (+)]
Looking at the third talent, Puss couldn't help but salivate and remember the month he had spent with Elizabeth, Anna, Agnes, and Beatrice.
And now, staring at his large empty bed, he couldn't help but feel lonely.
Sighing and reluctantly closing his eyes, he slowly drifted off into dreamland while remembering the girls.
…
The next day, he got up early, checked out, and headed for the stable.
There, he saw Tornado sleeping standing up, with pickles on his eyes and a green facial mask on his face.
Helpless, he rubbed his head.
"Tornado, wake up!"
Puss called loudly, which made the horse's body twitch, and then he raised his front hoof, lifted the pickle off his left eye with it, and looked at Puss with confusion.
"It's time to go. You can enjoy it more later. We've got a long journey ahead." Puss rolled his eyes and moved toward the saddle.
Tornado yawned, baring his big teeth, then rubbed his face against his leg, removing the facial mask and the cucumbers from his eyes.
Then, lazily trotting over, he came to Puss and let himself be saddled.
Checking the straps and seeing everything was in order, Puss leapt onto Tornado's back and headed for the streets.
It was still very early, and there weren't many people on the streets of Far Far Away.
Riding Tornado, they headed to a shop that Vivianne had recommended earlier.
The shop was quite charming, with white walls and red roofs, located on the main street.
Above it hung a wooden sign that read: [ Sir Googles' Maps Store ]
Puss scratched his chin, amused by the name.
Dismounting from Tornado and leaving him waiting outside, Puss moved to the front of the shop and pushed the door open.
Ding! Ding!
The sound of bells filled the place as the door opened.
Standing at the entrance, Puss's green eyes, beneath the brim of his hat, carefully scanned the environment.
Piles of scattered paper, shelves full of books, some pieces of armor and weapons decorating the walls, and in the center, a huge stack of papers stood.
And from that exact stack, with the rustling of pages flying upward, the head of an old man popped out.
"Oh! A customer!" the old man—a short fellow with a white beard—jumped out in a strange outfit colored blue, red, yellow, and green.
Smiling excitedly, he ran up to Puss—who wasn't much shorter than him—and immediately grabbed his hand, shaking it up and down.
"Hello, dear friend! I'm Googles. Are you here to buy or sell information?" the old man, now identified as Googles, asked with a grin.
Puss was amused by the man's enthusiasm, and by his clothes—a clear parody of the colors of that famous search company from his previous life.
"I'm Puss in Boots, and I came to buy. Vivianne recommended your store," he replied, while Googles looked surprised, then smiled foolishly upon hearing the name.
"Ah! So you know the lovely Lady Vivianne, the dream woman of the entire kingdom! When I was younger, I was one of the many who fell in love with her too. Sadly, I got old and she stayed in the prime of her life… haah, not like I had a chance anyway." He smiled gently and shook his head, not seeming too down about it.
Puss scratched his neck, a little embarrassed.
Vivianne truly was a sight to behold, and even he couldn't stay indifferent to that beautiful woman—probably the most beautiful he had ever seen.
"Oh, sorry, dear customer, for making you listen to the ramblings of this old man." Googles, realizing he had been rambling, playfully tapped his head and apologized. "So, my feline friend, how can I help you today?" he asked kindly as he turned and invited Puss inside.
"Don't worry. Well, I'm looking for a map to the location of a dragon," Puss replied calmly, following the old man, who stumbled and nearly fell upon hearing what he wanted.
"Err… could you repeat that?" Googles looked at him, stunned.
"I want a map that'll lead me to some dragon's lair," Puss repeated, shrugging.
Sir Googles stared at him, bewildered, and scratched his head anxiously.
"Err… you're sure you want that?" he asked, confused, but Puss simply nodded.
"Well, if that's the case, please wait a moment." Seeing there was no mistake, the old man helplessly nodded and walked toward a pile of papers, beginning to search.
As he searched, he picked up a sheet in each hand, skimmed it, then tossed it in the air, shaking his head and muttering as he dug deeper into the stack.
"Not here!"
"Not this one!"
"Doesn't look right!"
"Ah, so that's where this went! But nope, that's not it..."
"Huh? Isn't this the lucky sock I lost about 40 years ago?"
Puss's eye twitched as he heard the old man's muttering. Helpless, he glanced around the shop and then saw a bench and a wooden table just the right height for him.
Walking over and sitting down, he waited patiently for Googles.
It didn't take long before a shout echoed out.
"Aha! Found it!"
The eccentric fellow's head popped out of the paper pile, his arm raised, holding a single sheet, and he excitedly ran out of the pile.
Puss waited as the old man hurried over and placed the paper on the table.
Looking over it, it was a very detailed map, showing a path beginning in Far Far Away, passing through a mountain called Blistering Cold, a plain called Scorching Desert, and ending with a red X marked in a place called Dragon's Keep.
"Dragons are endangered creatures, and it's rare to even hear of one. The only info I have is about this one," Googles said with a serious look.
Puss scratched his chin—it wasn't different from what he expected. Though the information wasn't surprising and there weren't other dragons listed, he still needed the map to reach Fiona's tower.
"Sir Googles, I'll take the map. But aside from that, I heard from Vivianne that your store isn't only about maps, but also information." He looked at the short old man with a thoughtful gaze.
"Oh, that's right. I'm the greatest information broker in Far Far Away… or maybe the whole world. My dream is to gather knowledge from all over the world in my shop—every map, every bit of lore. And one day, whenever someone wants to know something, someone else will say, 'Why don't you ask Googles?'" Googles said, revealing his dream with passion, his eyes distant and a hopeful smile on his face.
Puss smiled and nodded.
"I believe you can do it." He smiled warmly at the old man.
Googles, seeing that there was truly faith in the cat's eyes—instead of disbelief and mockery like he usually saw in others when he shared his dream—couldn't help but grab his own wrist and sway side to side with his head down and his face blushing like a little girl.
Puss's mouth twitched at the sight of the old man acting all bashful.
"Ahem!" Puss coughed into his fist to get Googles' attention.
Googles snapped out of it with the cough, but didn't seem embarrassed at all and grinned excitedly.
"So, my dear friend Puss, what else can this old man help you with?" he asked, patting his chest confidently.
He now seemed much closer after Puss showed belief in his dream.
The cat didn't mind and asked for a moment, then stepped outside the shop to fetch something from Tornado before returning.
When he came back into the shop, there was a book in his hands—the same fairy tale book he had bought earlier.
Reaching the table, he opened the book and showed a story about a blonde princess waiting for her prince.
Googles looked curious but confused about why Puss was showing him that.
"What I want to ask is if this tale…" He pointed to the pages with the sleeping blonde princess, "… is related to this one."
Puss's hand then flipped the pages forward, revealing another story very similar—except this time, it clearly featured a red-haired princess who turned into an ogre at night and was locked in a castle, awaiting a kiss from her true love.
The night before, Puss had flipped through the fairy tale book and found that indeed, both stories were there: the one shown in the opening of Shrek 1, and the one shown in Shrek 2.
That had made his heart race and deepened his suspicions.
Googles scratched his chin as he looked at the two tales Puss mentioned. Though confused as to why he was asking, he still thought deeply.
"Uhmm… if I'm not mistaken, the second tale is about Princess Fiona, born around 18 years ago, and her subsequent disappearance. The tale of her being locked in a tower is indeed from about 10 years ago… but this first tale…"
The old man ran his hand over the book and flipped back to the blonde princess's story.
"… is a tale dated near the founding of the kingdom of Far Far Away, hundreds of years ago…"