Yimi had finally figured out what felt off about this world's mana. The "opening" used to release mana had become strikingly distinct—even important—as if it had turned into a gate.
And then there was her own massive reservoir of mana. Her ordinarily calm Third Magic mana, after adapting to this world's rules, would actually overflow on its own if left unchecked—almost like the divinity that radiated outward after she'd set aside the Spear of Longinus. She had to convert her mana back to the Holy Grail World's type to keep it in check.
The people of this world weren't nearly as strong as she'd initially expected. Running into something as troublesome as that giant whale right at the start had led her to assume everything else would be on the same level.
"Since you're a demi-human, then there's nothing for it. After all, the fault lies with my sister for making rude comments about someone's appearance out of nowhere."
The speaker was the third cat called out during the fight—Tivey. Unlike his two siblings, he wore a monocle on his face for easy identification.
Unlike what their childish appearances would suggest, the three of them combined were undeniably powerful. But for some reason, even the high-cost Resonance Wave they'd unleashed was treated as a null attack.
Yimi had also discovered something very fun about these three look-alike cats: when she'd just ordered The World to smack one of them on the butt, the other two grabbed theirs at the same time.
"This has nothing to do with Mimi! It was Hetaro who said there was a really ugly cat outside. Otherwise, Mimi was already about to go to sleep." Mimi fired back in her peculiar accent.
She even pointed her wand at Yimi, utterly defiant. "Even though it's thanks to that weird Divine Protection of yours, a loss is a loss. Whether you let us go or spare us, that's up to you."
"Hm?" Yimi looked down and thought for two seconds, unable to wrap her head around it.
"B-but shifting the blame at a time like this is going too far! If we trace it back carefully, all I said was that there was a really ugly cat outside. It was Sis who said she'd never seen a cat that ugly—which is a more severe statement. And I never specified which cat was ugly. She jumped to the conclusion it was her. Plus, she was approaching our residence in cat form at night, which is clearly suspicious behavior."
Tivey nodded, analyzing coolly. "Right. How could a normal child beat all three of us? She's obviously been sent by another candidate to spy on us, skulking around disguised as an ugly little cat—"
He was still calling the kitten ugly!
In her entire year-plus of life, cat ears and all, every world she'd visited had people telling her she was a cute little girl. She had never once been called ugly before.
Yimi raised the hard-soled leather boots Marisa had given her as a parting gift and kicked Mimi's butt as hard as she could.
"It was clearly Tivey who said it, so why'd you kick Mimi?!"
Though Tivey would feel the pain too.
"Hmph. Hold still." Yimi crouched down, rummaged through storage, and pulled out the markers that Junko had picked up for her on the way home from work. She selected the black one and leaned in toward Mimi's face.
"Ge' away!" Mimi flailed her little fists in resistance, but couldn't fend off the kitten's mischievous hands.
She drew a dark circle right around Mimi's eye.
"Congratulations, Host! Achievement unlocked: 「重福省帆」 Reward: Portal Energy 5%"
"Meow?" Yimi stared at those four characters—they didn't form any phrase she recognized. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't connect them into anything meaningful with her limited knowledge. But unlocking an achievement was a good thing regardless.
"All right, that's enough, little one."
A booming voice momentarily drowned out even the sound of rain hitting the ground. At the same time, a broadsword whose detachable blade could double as a guillotine came to rest lightly against Yimi's neck—a rude gesture, sure, but gentle enough not to let her small shoulders bear its weight.
Yimi ignored the blade that might nick her throat and turned her head curiously to look at the newcomer.
A giant, over two meters tall (~6'7"). Also a beastman, but unlike Yimi and the triplets, this one wasn't just ears and a tail—he was practically a canine with a human frame, covered in thick fur, with a long snout to match.
"Dog!" Yimi pointed at him.
Seeing her complete lack of danger awareness, the beastman hastily pulled the blade away. "If you're just looking for shelter from the rain, our eaves are pretty wide. If you're here to gather intelligence, heading back now would be the better choice."
You couldn't blame him for being on edge. Iron Fang—that was their affiliation, or rather, their job. Though called a mercenary outfit, they served exclusively under the Hoshin Company as Anastasia Hoshin's dedicated mercenary force.
The long version went something like this: a few months ago, the royal family of Lugunica—bound by covenant to the Divine Dragon—had been wiped out entirely by a plague. The Dragon History Stone then prophesied that five Dragon Maidens would compete in a Royal Selection, with the victor becoming the new ruler to renew the covenant.
The triplets whose butts Yimi had kicked jointly served as vice-captains of Iron Fang—in other words, bodyguards for one of the five, now effectively four, candidates: Anastasia.
Perhaps it was all coincidence. But a child who could turn into a cat happening to skulk around their perimeter, and happening to beat all three triplets in a fight—that was bound to invite suspicion.
The beastman's gaze drifted to Mimi with her freshly drawn dark circles.
He kind of wanted to laugh.
"I want to ask, a question." Yimi capped her marker and turned to face the three identical little cats.
The beastman rested the blade tip on the ground. "A messenger from one of the other candidates? Cute little girl, sure, but this way of saying hello doesn't exactly make you likable."
Yimi pointed at the triplets. "Achievements—are there, any other hints?"
She hadn't forgotten her reason for wanting to find other cats.
"..."
Dead silence—or rather, nobody understood what she was talking about.
"What's an 'achievement'?" Hetaro raised a small hand.
"Achievements are achievements. Are you guys, really cats?" The little cat crossed her arms, convinced these three cats were very strange. "Then how did you, turn into human form? Don't you have, a System?"
"Host is not advised to disclose the System's existence to others."
"A system? You mean some kind of financial management framework?" Tivey adjusted his monocle.
"No System?" Yimi was beginning to realize something was wrong. "Other cats, don't have one either?"
Since the System had warned her before not to talk about it to others, she'd genuinely never discussed these things with other cats.
"What a strange thing to say. Do you mean 'Gate'? But then what's this 'achievement' thing? It sounds bizarre. You wouldn't happen to be the Witch Cult's lapcat, would you?"
"Witch Cult?"
Another name Yimi had never heard. All Yimi cared about was that the cats in this world were all wrong.
Yimi stared at the three cats in front of her for a long moment. Three cats who had mocked her looks.
With that thought, Yimi raised her boot at lightning speed and kicked Mimi hard in the butt one more time, then turned and bolted.
"Hey!"
"Don't chase her. Just stay inside on a rainy day." The beastman grabbed them by their collars, watching Yimi's retreating figure with a thoughtful expression.