“Technically, that’s true. But Princess Meisian seemed to have given me my reward prematurely even though I haven’t finished my mission yet.”
“Didn’t she already say there’s no need for that…”
“Who knows if she was merely trying to maintain that proud facade of hers.”
“Have you ever considered my feelings in this matter? If you do that…what am I to do then?” Anmi was panicking right now, given how much he sounded like a resentful wife, one might have mistakenly assumed that I had abandoned him irresponsibly.
“Your feelings? HAH!” I coldly laughed. “Did you ever think about your companions when Weiderly forced us into a corner? Did you ever consider my feelings when you switched sides to Gaiuz’s camp?”
“…” He had nothing to say in his defence then. He knew that there was no stopping us now so he merely kept quiet.
‘Heh heh, I’m sure that Elemental Segregation Platform won’t show any mercy then…Anmi, the matter of your betrayal…don’t think for a second that I’ve forgotten about it.’
Leaving aside Anmi, Mo Na excitedly flew onto my neck and plopped herself down on my shoulders: “Mama, we’re going to beat up that annoying Siscon now?”
“That’s right, we are going to beat up that d*mned Siscon, I never liked him anyway.”
“…” Sasani averted his eyes in awkwardness.
“Don’t worry, we weren’t talking about you.” I initially wanted to comfort him some more but seeing all three of his dog heads lower even further, I changed my mind in the end.
Now that the decision had been made, it was simply a matter of enacting it.
The next day, Meisian and the d*mned Siscon proceeded to hold a meeting with their usual arguing before moving on to discuss who should be the Cat King. The normally compliant cat, Gaiuz, who would probably pluck the moon and give it to his little sister if he could, was unusually resolute in his desire not to give up the throne.
Gaiuz swept his eyes over our popcorn munching selves, and then hinted at our existence to his little sister as if to show his willingness to resort to extraordinary measures in order to get his way.
Seeing that however, Meisian merely curled her lips upwards and coldly smiled at her brother. She then swept her eyes over us as well before throwing her brother an equally resolute and challenging stare: “Go ahead then, ask for their aid, I’m dying to see what would happen then.”
“…”Gaiuz paused in shock for a moment, unable to process her inexplicable fearlessness. In his mind, all he thought he had to do was reveal this trump card of his and his sister should capitulate. Even if things didn’t proceed as simply as that, she should at least should have some sort of reservation. In reality, she not only didn’t show any hesitation, she even dared to egg him on.
Faced with an opponent who wouldn’t play by the rules that so happened to be one he couldn’t offend either…what was he do now? Clearly, this was a bad situation for him.
Suddenly, it dawned on him and his face revealed the shock he felt in his heart: “I thought you were there to only visit Anmi yesterday?!”
Lazy to explain herself, she merely smirked at the wide-eyed cat and said: “What do you think?:
“Ahem.” It was at that point that I cleared my throat and drew the attention of those present before slowly walking up to Gaiuz’s platform. Behind me came No.3, Big 4, Sinmosa and Sasani as well. The four of them took up positions squarely in the way of Gaiuz’s escape route, cutting it off entirely. Because of that, everyone(cat)’s gaze was instantly drawn to me.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince, Gaiuz, if you give up your succession rights now, I will show mercy and allow you to leave unharmed.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I will help you leave.” Naturally, that ‘help’ wasn’t going to be friendly.
“…d*mned devil, you actually betrayed me!” As he said that, his eyes blinked twice, first in surprise and then in anger. For one’s hired help to end up helping another instead, was there anything worse than that in this world?
He turned his eyes onto the elder who was still pretending to not see a thing before looking at Lohmi who was already trying to rush to his aid. Given our distance however, there was no way she could reach him in time. Realizing that he was truly at the end of his road, he yelled furiously: “Do you not wish to find out the method of entering Abaddon, NYAH!?”
“I’ve already gotten it.” As I said that, I threw a look at the still silent Meisian. “Yesterday, in fact.”
“Little Sister! You…”
“Truly, this is a bit of serendipitous fortune, nyah.” Just as surprised as he was, she said: “I only expected them to withdraw from this fight, to think they even helped me clinch the throne as well. Is this what the humans mean when they say the world is unpredictable?”
“…” Gaiuz hatefully glared at me then. “As expected of a devil, they are never to be trusted…I’m done.”
Just like that, Meisian became the final winner of this fight while the biggest loser had to be…Anmi…
The next morning, Gaiuz brought his men(cat) with him and left, spirits low. As for us, we were in the process of leaving as well when Meisian came to see us off with Anmi in tow.
“Won’t you at least stay till the ceremony is over?” She smiled at us as she said that. “You have all done me a great service, how about staying for the coronation at least, nyah.”
“I’ll pass, besides the sooner we enter Abaddon…I think Anmi doesn’t welcome us anyway.” Having said that, I turned around to face a sullen Anmi and smiled: “Remember to get along well her Highness~”
“…I will.” He glared at me through gritted teeth before finally harrumphing in displeasure. If looks could kill a person, I would have undoubtedly been turned into mincemeat by now. However, just the thought of his future misery on that platform was more than enough to wipe away any sort of dissatisfaction I had of him.
“Mister Mo Ke, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you help me?”
“Oh that, it’s actually really simple.” I gave Anmi the sweetest smile ever and said: “Because Anmi scammed us twice.”
“Is this payback, nyah…” Anmi said with a crestfallen face.
“Hahahah, so that’s why.” As she laughed, she shook her head at my unexpected answer before half-jokingly saying to Anmi: “You really can’t offend a devil, nyah.”
With regards to that, all Anmi could do was quietly sob.
Having said our farewells to the two of them, we proceeded north, first towards the territory of the Purgatory Warhorses.
Speaking of Warhorses, there was still that matter of Sinmosa and Sasani. The couple followed me into the territory of the Shadowcats out of gratitude. Now that we had reached the borders of Warhorse territory however, their debt had been fully repaid. Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind having a couple of Five-stars fighters like them on my team but at the end of the day, they weren’t my subordinates and I couldn’t force them to follow me. Thus, I decided to broach this subject to them.
“Sinmosa, now that we’ve gained a lead on Abbadon, my favor has basically been repaid. What are your plans from now on?”
“Plans?” She fell silent for a moment before exchanging a look with her husband. The two Cerberuses then proceeded to converse with barks.
“Mama, Mo Na doesn’t want to be separated from Cinderel!” Realizing that she might have to leave Cinderel behind, she tightly hugged the little puppy and then said thusly in a sobbing tone: “Mo Na wants to be with Cinderel!’
“Ruff ruff!” Cinderel stuck out her pinkish dog tongue and licked Mo Na on the face as if she was trying to comfort her.
“Sweetie, Cinderel isn’t your pet, she has a family as well. Kids should follow their parents, just like how you wouldn’t want to be separated from Papa as well. Got it?”
“Mhm, Mo Na will always be with Mama!” She nodded her head in what looked like comprehension and confusion at the same time.
“Cinderel is just like you as well, so you mustn’t be too willful.”
“Mhm…*weep* *weep*…but Mo Na doesn’t want to leave Cinderel…” She sadly nodded her head but no longer insisted on keeping Cinderel.
Just as I was done teaching Mo Na, the Cerberus couple seemed to have finished their discussion as well.
“Mister Mo Ke, I’ve discussed this matter with my husband. Seeing as we have nothing planned at the moment and our ‘situation’ has already been exposed to clan, we’ve decided to follow you for now since we no longer have a home in the clan. Who knows how long the road to the palace is but I’m sure it won’t be a smooth one. With us two protecting you, it should be somewhat easier…assuming you don’t mind of course.”
“Of course, why would I?”
‘Nice, here I was worrying that I would have no bodyguards too.’
“With your help, I’m sure our travels would be a lot easier, well, I’ll be in your care then.”
“You’re too kind, had it not been for Mister Mo Ke’s help, Cinderel and I might have…” She threw me a grateful look before continuing: “Such a small matter simply isn’t enough to repay the debt we owe you.”
“There’s no need for such talk of debts, we are companions aren’t we? Helping each other is only to be expected.”
“Companions?”
“That’s right, isn’t helping each other what it means to be companions?”
‘Bodyguards secured!’
“Woooo, this is great, Mo Na doesn’t have to separate from Cinderel anymore!” With that settled, Mo Na began flying around me in excitement while Cinderel happily chased her in circles, barking in excitement form time to time.
‘Come to think of it, if we had to pass through Warhorse territory as long as we travelled north, didn’t that mean their territory was bigger than either the Hellhounds or the Shadowcats, seeing as it bordered both?’
Truth be told, that fact didn’t surprise me in the least bit. After all, horses needed a field to run around in, as for cats and dogs…they were a lot cheaper to raise…
