Every cat I’d ever met could speak cat language.

But for some reason, this one didn’t.

“Me, meow!”

“This one.”

We tied it up tightly with Levinas’s special vines.

We wrapped the thin vines around and around until it looked like a cocoon.

Since Levinas’s vines were tough and strong.

Even someone with great strength couldn’t easily escape when tied up like this.

“We caught it!”

“Got it!”

Levinas and Gaeul cheered.

I felt a bit proud thinking we’d caught the culprit.

“Here’s the thief.”

I showed the bound figure to our client.

But for some reason, he didn’t look pleased.

“Children, that’s just a regular cat…”

“N-no, this cat is the real thief.”

“……”

The client looked doubtful.

Feeling wronged, I shook the fake cat in front of his eyes.

“Look. This is clearly a fake cat.”

“It looks like a real cat to me…”

“No, it’s not…”

Shake shake shake shake-

I gently shook the fake cat.

I thought some stimulus might reveal its true form.

But it just meowed and gave the client pitiful looks.

“Kids, stop bullying the poor cat…”

“No, really, this is a fake cat…”

I turned the vine-bound creature to look into its eyes.

The corners of its mouth turned up, as if mocking me.

“…!”

This was definitely a fake cat.

But it was pretending to be an innocent cat being bullied.

Thanks to that, I was made out to be the bad guy picking on a helpless cat.

I stomped my feet in frustration.

“Kids, that’s enough…”

“This really is a fake cat!”

“It is!”

When Levinas and Gaeul joined in expressing their frustration, the client looked troubled.

It seemed we’d been thoroughly fooled by the fake cat.

**

A request to find a stolen artifact.

The client who made the request called.

“What…? The children…?”

Yoo Sang-ah looked around with a troubled expression as she took the call.

At the word ‘children’, the office staff turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

I’d never seen big sister Sang-ah so flustered.

Momoa stopped working to look at her.

Even Sophia, who had been sorting mana stones, worried something might have happened to the children.

“What is it?”

“Well, apparently the children are bullying a cat…?”

“…Could it be a voice phishing scam?”

There was no way the children would bully a cat.

That’s why Momoa had to agree with Sophia.

“Right. The children would never bully anyone.”

“No, it’s really the client calling. He says the children are claiming a fake cat stole the artifact…”

A fake cat?

Though she wasn’t sure, at least Gyeoul and Saebyeok were experts when it came to cats.

“Then it must be a fake cat.”

“That’s probably right?”

“Yes, we should send someone. Are any guild members free?”

At Sophia’s question, Yoo Sang-ah and Momoa shrugged.

Guild members would make time for the children, even if they had none.

“I’ll look for someone who’s available.”

“Thank you.”

Momoa started making calls.

For identifying a fake cat…

A mage or fellow beast-kin would probably be best.

**

“Reveal your true form!”

Levinas showed her anger in front of the fake cat.

She waved her fists but couldn’t bring herself to actually hit it.

“King, it won’t reveal itself. What do we do…?”

We shook it roughly and yelled at it.

We even glared at it menacingly.

But no threat made it reveal its true form.

With the client sighing heavily beside us, we felt completely wronged.

“If you don’t reveal yourself, Levinas will bully you really badly!”

“Yeah, our Levinas means business when she gets serious.”

So how are you going to bully it?

When we all turned to look at Levinas, she hesitated.

“Um… well… that… t-tail…! Levinas will grab your tail and spin you around…!”

Levinas raised her eyebrows fiercely.

It was the scariest threat she could think of.

But the creature just kept meowing pitifully.

“Ugh…”

Levinas slumped in defeat when the threat didn’t work.

Just as I patted her shoulder to comfort her:

“Kids.”

We turned at Jung Yu-na’s voice.

She was walking toward us waving, with Encia beside her.

My tail wagged happily at seeing them.

We ran to them carrying the fake cat.

“We rushed over when we heard you were bullying a cat.”

“N-no… this is a fake cat…”

My wagging tail drooped in frustration.

Jung Yu-na chuckled and patted my head.

“I’m kidding. If Gyeoul the cat expert says it’s fake, then it’s fake.”

“Indeed. Imitating a cat in front of Gyeoul is laughable.”

Thankfully, Jung Yu-na and Encia believed me.

Let’s see, Jung Yu-na muttered as she examined the cat.

“Yes, it’s definitely fake.”

“R-really?”

The client who wouldn’t believe us believed Jung Yu-na.

I felt slightly annoyed, but Jung Yu-na was a renowned mage.

Our position as novice adventurers was different.

“Yes. Seems to be some kind of transformation magic…”

“I-I’m so sorry, children.”

The client turned to us.

His face showed deep remorse.

None of the children were angry at his apology.

They just puffed out their chests proudly.

I giggled watching them, then approached Jung Yu-na.

“So how do we undo the transformation?”

“Hmm… maybe we should try threatening it?”

“Threats? We tried that but it didn’t work.”

“Well, let me try once more. Kids, could you cover your ears for a minute?”

Cover our ears?

What could that mean?

Though I didn’t understand why, I covered my ears as she asked.

Mumble mumble-

Jung Yu-na said something to the cat.

I could have read her lips but chose not to.

“…!”

As Jung Yu-na continued speaking, nearby Encia’s face grew pale.

Her perked ears and tail started trembling, then her fur stood on end.

‘What’s going on?’

What could she have said to frighten Encia like that?

Just as I wondered, Jung Yu-na signaled we could uncover our ears.

“As expected of the Fire Witch…”

When I uncovered my ears, I heard the client’s frightened voice.

And then…

“Okay, okay! I’ll undo the transformation!”

The fake cat suddenly started speaking in human language.

I wasn’t too surprised since I’d somewhat expected it.

“What did you say to the fake cat?”

“Hehe, Gyeoul doesn’t need to know.”

“O-okay…”

What could she have said to make it reveal itself?

It wouldn’t talk even when we threatened to spin it by the tail.

If it was scarier than that…

As I pondered this, we untied the vines binding it.

Light began emanating from its body as it slowly grew larger.

“Ah! The iron helmet!”

The iron helmet we’d been searching for was on the head of the transformed figure.

But something was strange about their appearance.

A tall woman easily over 170cm.

Her eyes were vertically slitted.

“Ahhhhh!”

Levinas screamed and jumped behind me.

She buried her face in my back, trembling.

“Levinas, what’s wrong?”

“Bad snake…!”

“Bad snake…?”

I quickly examined the woman called a bad snake.

The fierce-looking beast-kin did remind me of the snake beast-kin I’d seen before.

“Bad snake…!”

“Bad…!”

“Snake?”

The children were wary while Jung Yu-na approached the snake.

Jung Yu-na smiled at the snake.

“Should I do it for real this time?”

“O-okay, okay, please don’t…”

The bad snake beast-kin backed away startled by Encia’s smile.

Then her body started shrinking again.

The snake beast-kin transformed to about 130cm tall.

Jung Yu-na looked surprised at the child-like appearance.

“A-a child…?”

She hadn’t known their true form was a child?

As we backed away examining the snake beast-kin:

“Small bad snake…!”

Levinas hid behind me, scared even of the young snake beast-kin.

“Small bad snake…! Small… waaah!”

Perhaps because she’d heard many stories about bad snakes from Levinas?

Gaeul sounded the alarm while Saebyeok bared her teeth defensively.

In this chaotic situation, the young snake beast-kin burst out laughing.

She seemed satisfied seeing the children afraid of her.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep