Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru! (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter SS4

Lefille and the Quest to Round Up Cats? 

Suimei had asked Lefille to find and collect some stray cats, and she was currently preparing to do exactly that in the southern part of the imperial capital. 

For the sake of capturing the culprit behind the coma incidents, Suimei had suddenly requested that she do something that appeared to be completely unrelated. Collecting cats in order to catch the criminal was strange indeed, but even if Lefille didn’t understand the meaning behind it, she knew it must be important if he’d asked her to do it. Based on what she’d seen of Suimei so far, she at least understood that much. 

And as she got to work... 

“I see... Strays are unexpectedly hard to find.” 

Even though she felt like she saw them all the time when it didn’t matter, now that she was trying to find them, they were surprisingly difficult to track down. But since cats liked to lounge around in their favorite spots during the day, if she could at least figure out where they gathered, it would somehow work out, but... 

“When it comes to places stay cats gather, that would be thickets and back alleys, right? Now that I think about it, I’ve even seen them quite a few times in the garden at the Church of Salvation.” 

Folding her arms in the middle of a street with little pedestrian traffic, Lefille was pondering where she might have the best luck finding some cats. And then... 

“Heh heh. Can I bother you a bit, little lady? Can I?” 

Someone called to her from behind. Turning around, she spotted a plump, greasy man. 

“...What’s with you?” 

“Hey, wanna have some fun with your big brother here? Heh heh heh...” 

“Ugh...” 

With enough viscosity in his high-pitched voice to make her think he might be some kind of ooze creature, the plump man closed in on her. No matter how she tried to look at him, based on the way he was talking, she couldn’t clear away a very visceral sense of disgust. 

“Eheh, how ’bout it?” 

“N-No thanks! I’m in a hurry!” 

While shouting that, Lefille turned and ran away as fast as she could. She never looked behind her even once. When she thought she was safe, she nestled against a wall and caught her breath. 

“Hahh... Just what was that indescribably disgusting man? Hmm, now that I think of it, I heard from Jill that there have been people in the imperial capital with strange tendencies lately...” 

Jillbert was very well informed. She stocked up on information like the affairs of the military police and strange events in the cities. And she loved talking about such things. Based on what she’d said recently, the imperial capital had something of a pedophile problem these days. The man she’d just run into was probably part of it. Rather than goodwill, she only sensed wicked thoughts in him. 

“If I were in my original form, I could have delivered justice myself... How disappointing...” 

With that, Lefille let out a sigh. She’d frantically run away from the situation, so she took a look around to try and figure out where she’d ended up. It seemed she’d made it to a different district of the city. She was somewhere close to the library, the castle, and the high class district. 

Among the stone housing complexes, she could see several small, eye-catching restaurants. It was a nice area. The buildings weren’t too tightly packed together, and the sun shone down here uninhibited. But as she looked to the side, she saw the entrance of a maze—the labyrinthine alleyways common in the residential districts. 

“A back alley? Excellent. If there’s any vacant land in there, it’s probably the perfect place for cats to gather.” 

With that, Lefille reaffirmed her resolve and pushed on. There was a lot riding on this, so she had to put her all into it. 

“Hmm?” 

Walking into the alley, she found a single cat. Did it have a docile temperament? Even as she drew nearer, it didn’t move away. It simply yawned. As she pet its head, the cat closed its eyes like it was smiling and then began purring. 

“It seems like it’ll be easy to bring it along, but it’s not moving at all...” 

The cat showed no sign of going anywhere. Rather than a cat like this, it would likely be better to bring back a more energetic one. Deciding that, Lefille moved on. Further into the alley, she eventually came across an open area. 

“Oooh...” 

There were plenty of cats in the vacant area. Seeing that mass of fluffiness, Lefille unintentionally raised her voice in admiration. It was a much larger gathering spot than she’d expected. She had plenty of choices here. 

“I’m sorry this is so sudden, but please come with me.” 

Without trying to conceal the huge grin on her face, Lefille tried talking to the cat she was approaching. In a gentle attempt to capture it, she stuck out both of her arms and tried to pick it up, but as if mocking her, it easily slipped between her hands. 

“Hmph... With my body like this, this won’t be easy, will it?” 

Watching it run off, Lefille stretched her hands out to try the next cat. With agile movements, it leaped up high atop a pile of rubbish to escape. 

“Ugh... What do I do?” 

Lefille pondered her options with a grim expression. It was then that she stumbled upon an idea. She would never catch a cat that knew what she was doing. She’d have to catch them by surprise. And arriving at that conclusion... 

“There!” 

With a sudden burst of energy, she leaped towards a spot were several cats had gathered. But they instantly dispersed, thwarting Lefille’s capture attempt. 

“Mm—yow!” 

Slamming her head overenthusiastically into the ground, Lefille ended up being the one to let out a sound like a cat. At this rate, she would never get anywhere. 

“Now that I think of it, when people call out to cats, they start by imitating them, right?” 

When she thought about how she’d seen others interact with cats, they were always friendly. It made them easier to approach, so perhaps that would work for her too. But when she tried to imagine herself doing it... 

“Meow! Psst, psst, psst! Here, kitty, kitty! Meow!” 

“L-Like I could do that! I’m an honored swordswoman of Noshias! There’s no way I would...” 

But she was still catless with no hope of making contact on the horizon. The strays all just watched her from a distance. After fretting over what she should do for quite some time, she took a deep breath and steeled herself. 

“Meeeow! Come over here, kitties! Come to me! Meow, meow, meow!” 

She tried her friendliest meowing, putting her heart and soul into it. But the cats only yawned, scratched their heads with their hind legs, or licked their paws. It was like they had absolutely no interest at all. 

“...” 

Though still smiling, Lefille froze up on the spot. Her embarrassment was swirling around in her head. 

“Ugh, what a disgrace...” 

Grumbling out those crestfallen words, Lefille hung her head. It was already almost sunset. She didn’t want to go back emptyhanded, but what could she do in this situation? 

“...I have no choice, huh?” 

With that, Lefille turned around and headed back to the entrance of the alley. Hesitating a bit, she picked up the carefree cat from before and went home. When she arrived... 

Hearing mewing, Lefille headed towards the living room and found Suimei there surrounded by many cats. 

“Meow!” 

“Meow!” 

“S-Suimei-kun, what’s going on here...?” 

“Meow!” 

“Meow!” 

As Lefille stood there dumbfounded, Suimei turned to her with a rather bright smile. 

“Oh, this? I also went around town and brought some back. As expected, it was pretty easy to find a whole bunch of them. Well, the range of behavior for cats is pretty narrow, so I didn’t really have to go out of my way to do much, but... Lefi?” 

“Even though I went through so much just to bring a single one back...” 

Lefille began to vent her anger by repeatedly whapping him. 

“You’re so inconsiderate, Suimei-kun! Inconsiderate, I tell you!” 

Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap! 

“Wh-What’s the matter all of a sudden?” 

“Give me back my pride...” she mumbled, sniffling.