Meili Portroute. Age twelve. From outward appearances alone, she looked like an ordinary, delicate girl with a cute face—and twelve was her genuine age.
Abandoned in the wilderness as a small child, she should by all rights have been eaten. But because she had been born with the Divine Protection of Magic Manipulation, she wasn't—instead, the Witchbeast that found her carried her home and raised her as a queen. She had never experienced human connection.
Until Elsa—the Bowel Hunter Yimi had put down—appeared one day, slaughtered every Witchbeast by her side, and took her away to work for 'Mother.'
From that day on, she had imitated Elsa's manner of speaking and moving. Now the model was gone.
Their first meeting had been brutal. The terrifying 'Mother' had transformed her into a swarm of frogs—a whole mass of bodies sharing a single consciousness—and warned her that if even a single frog escaped, she could never be changed back. Because of this, Meili had spent her life in constant fear of her, never daring to refuse.
She must have dreamed of this, because when she woke, her body gave an involuntary shudder.
"Mm..."
Being captured looked too much like being brought before 'Mother'—had the similarity triggered the nightmare?
The sky was still dark outside. Because she was only a child, she hadn't been subjected to rough treatment—but her Miasma Aura—the emanation that drew Witchbeasts—meant she was kept under soft confinement in the Manor's lowest level.
She hadn't struggled much. Elsa was dead. She had failed her mission. Going back meant enduring Mama's cruelty. Then again, she was just a tool—no matter how thoroughly they interrogated her, she had nothing useful to give these people.
But what would happen here?
In the dark corner of the room, a pair of eyes blinked open. These, naturally, belonged to Yimi—who had decided at some point in the night that sleep was not for her.
Kill 'em dead. Kill 'em dead.
In cat form, she moved across the floor toward Meili with the elegant, unhurried gait that only cats possess. She would not allow a second Diego Brando to appear before her.
As if sensing Yimi, Meili turned her head.
"Come here. Pspsps." She reached out a hand.
"..."
Yimi froze mid-step.
"You're not a Witchbeast?"
Just a regular cat, it seemed.
Meili scooped her up off the floor. Then she pursed her lips in disapproval. "You're a cat but you're so chunky—are you really not a Witchbeast? Fine. Your name is 'Fat Pig' from now on."
The timid act from earlier in the day was gone. In its place was Elsa's deliberately languid tone—vowels stretched, a lightness that concealed something sharper underneath. This was Meili's real self.
She glanced at the door. No sign of it having been opened. The cat had probably slipped in while food was being delivered—a build like this could only belong to a house cat.
She carried Yimi back to the reasonably comfortable bed, rested her chin on top of Yimi's head, and closed her eyes—using the warmth of a small body to settle the anxiety of waking somewhere unfamiliar.
"Thanks for coming to keep me company," she said, barely above a whisper. Her hand moved gently over the fur on Yimi's back—once, twice—and then she curled around her and tried to drift back to sleep. "Just let me hold you a little. Please..."
She hadn't been killed on the spot for what she did. But she didn't know what morning would bring, and the nightmare had done its damage—right now she was genuinely scared. And this scared version was the real one.
"Meow?"
She'd wanted to kill this cat—or so Beatrice had claimed. And now she was acting like the world's most devoted cat lover. Cats couldn't understand it. Had Beatrice made the whole thing up?
"Ow!"
Natsuki Subaru, who had appointed himself butler the moment he walked in the door, was discovering that potato peeling was harder than expected. There was no safe peeling knife in this world—just a plain blade—and somehow, a single potato had already cut his hand three times.
"Barusu, useless as ever." Ram bandaged his hand without expression. "An injury like this—just have Emilia-sama treat it, won't that do?"
"Ram-tan just doesn't understand. This kind of mark—the kind that proves you actually tried—I kind of like it, actually."
Subaru said this while examining his hand. When he looked up, Ram was staring at him with undisguised disdain.
"Did I just get profoundly misunderstood?"
"No misunderstanding." Ram placed Subaru's peeled potato in the bowl and handed him another one.
"I've already fully mastered the Potato Peeling Skill. Shouldn't I be learning something more advanced?" Subaru hadn't forgotten that his reason for becoming butler was to investigate Roswaal's secrets.
"Trying to run before you can walk. That's unexpectedly fitting for an insect." Ram set down her own potato and presented Subaru with another. "Then let's start with the advanced technique of skipping the second potato to peel the third directly."
"What's even the difference?! At the end of the day, the only skill the actual maid Ram-tan has is peeling potatoes!"
Hearing that, Ram lowered her head and fell into thoughtful silence.
"Argue with me at least a little—"
"Mm?" From beside them, Rem let out a very small sound.
"What's wrong, Rem? Did Barusu contaminate the fresh air?"
"The supplies I had planned for have run short." Rem shook her head lightly.
Ram nodded. "Roswaal-sama is away on a long trip, but two and a half people have also been added to the household. I failed to account for that in time."
Subaru raised an eyebrow. "'Two and a half people' is a bit much, isn't it—even if Yimi is small and a Demi-human, 'half a person' isn't something that should come from the mouth of a beautiful girl—"
Rem and Ram looked at him for a long, silent moment.
Ram nodded. "That was poorly worded of me."
"It was poorly worded of Elder Sister," Rem echoed.
"Wait—is the 'half a person' actually me?" Subaru caught on.
"Your imagination." Rem picked up her basket and headed out to buy supplies.
"Let me help! Don't let the looks fool you—physical labor is actually my strong suit!" Subaru hurried after her. Getting on their good side first seemed wise.
If it weren't for Diego hanging over his head—the one who had already killed him once—a life like this going on indefinitely would honestly be fine.
Too bad Yimi had vanished somewhere last night. He hadn't dared raid Diego's room on his own.
He didn't notice the look Rem directed at the scent clinging to him—subtle and thoroughly disgusted. Subaru attempted small talk with her the whole way and got nothing but perfunctory replies.
"The mud monster from before!"
Before they even reached the village, Petra came running toward them, face tight with worry over Meili.
She grabbed Subaru's sleeve. "Yesterday a blonde girl took Meili away. She said she lives in the same place as you—have you seen them?"
"She's safe, don't worry. The girls back at the house aren't exactly welcoming toward her, but she's safe." Subaru gave Petra's head a quick ruffle.
Immediately after—from somewhere in the forest to their left, a flock of birds burst up into the sky.
"What was that?" Subaru frowned toward the treeline.
He didn't know what had happened, but every film and TV show he'd ever seen used scattering birds to signal that something very bad was approaching. Whatever was in that forest right now was not small.
"Petra, Rem—run back to the village!"
"Oh my~ little mister, you're supposed to lure them in closer. It's so boring working with outsiders like you."
A boy stepped out of the underbrush in a meandering stroll—ragged clothes, skin rough and chapped, dirty hair hanging all the way to his knees. He turned playful eyes on Subaru.
"Eat, chew, bite, gnaw, nibble, chomp down and grind to mush—binge and devour."
"Who are you?" Rem pulled Petra behind her, turned a look of revulsion on the newcomer, then glanced at Subaru.
The boy opened a mouthful of jagged teeth in a wide grin. "Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, [Gluttony]—Lye Batenkaitos."