Chapter 19

Georg ran down the road leading to the town, but... finally, his feet came to a stop.

Emma, who usually only traveled this road by carriage, had dashed through it without hesitation at that speed.

His lungs were gasping for air, making strange wheezing sounds, and his side ached terribly.

Leaning on his sword like a cane to rest his immobile feet, he saw his younger brother William, who had broken away earlier, walking slowly with his hand on his side, wheezing.

"Brother..."

He greeted his brother with a wry smile.

"I couldn't catch up at all. I hope Emma is safe."

What was happening to Emma?

In a half-dream state, he thought he faintly heard the meowing of a cat. If Emma could hear it too, who knows what she might do.

William must have had the same thought, as he opened the door at the same time.

As feared, the meowing of the cat had reached Emma's ears as well.

He thought he could catch up to Emma before she left the mansion.

After all, she was just an 11-year-old girl, and Georg was well-trained and confident in his stamina. But he couldn't catch up to Emma running through the garden.

Once she reached the straight road, she accelerated even more.

He considered going back to the mansion to get a horse, but riding in the dark would be dangerous. He tried to catch up, thinking she couldn't keep up that speed for long, but it was he who couldn't keep up.

The meowing of the cat had faded away.

He looked at the fork in the road ahead.

Even if he and William split up, there would be several more forks ahead.

He couldn't continue the chase.

Emma, who often got so focused on one thing that she caused problems, had usually been covered by Georg and William.

He thought things had improved since they moved to the port, but her obsession with cats was still there. With Emma's concentration and mysterious leg strength, this was no longer a problem they could handle alone.

They had to return to the mansion, wake their father, and get the servants to help search. Whether it was Emma or the port, the safety of their precious little sister was the top priority.

"William, let's give up. We need to report to Father first."

He knew he would be scolded severely, but there was no choice.

Whether it was the Tanaka family or the Stewart family, their father's doting on his daughters was the same. For some reason, both families tended to have only boys, and Emma and the port were the long-awaited girls, treated specially on a family-wide scale.

"Ugh, Sister... please be safe!"

Even a slight scrape on the knee would result in severe punishment for the brothers. Still, as the men of the family, Georg and William would accept the punishment, no matter how much they complained, because they loved Emma.

Only their mother could scold Emma. This time, she would have to give Emma a thorough lecture.

He turned on his heel and dragged his aching feet back to the mansion.

The moon, which had been hidden, now shone, illuminating the way back, making the search easier.

He wanted to return to the mansion as quickly as possible, but with his breathing and legs at their limit, he could only shuffle along slowly.

He felt something pass by silently.

He sensed the wind and braced himself.

"Brother! William!"

He heard Emma's voice.

Looking up, he saw four... large cats at the end of the road where there had been none before.

They were larger than the monsters Georg encountered during hunts.

Emma was riding on the back of one of the fluffy white cats.

"Are you kidding me, like in 'Princess Mononoke'!"

He couldn't help but comment.

"Meow~"

A black cat approached him, rubbing against him. It was huge.

"Brother! This one looks like Komei!"

William pointed to a calico cat that was rubbing against him.

There's no way, he thought, looking at the black cat rubbing against him.

...

...

"Kan-chan!?"

"Meow~"

The black cat meowed in response.

Wait. Calm down. Kan-chan and Komei were supposed to be dead.

He had to look more closely.

...

...

Emma was... riding Chou-chan?

...

The other large cat with a spider on its back... Ryu-chan?

What?

"Our cats reincarnated too!"

Emma reported with a 120% smile.

"Wh-What!?"

William and he echoed in unison.

Were these large cats their cats?

How could silkworms and spiders so easily become this huge in this world!?

His information processing couldn't keep up.

Kan-chan bit his waist gently from behind.

Before he knew it, he was lifted up.

"Whoa!"

William was also lifted up by Komei, in a position like carrying a kitten.

Emma looked at the eastern sky and said,

"We'll talk later! It's almost morning!"

With Emma leading the way, they were transported back to the mansion in an instant. William complained about their rough treatment.

Probably because the others, except Chou-chan, had short fur and were hard to hold onto?

Ryu-chan, who wasn't carrying anyone, meowed in response. The fact that they could communicate was a bit strange.

Once inside the mansion, the four cats silently carried them to Emma's room.

The three siblings then collapsed, lying side by side on Emma's bed, surrounded by the four large cats and a large spider.

They fell asleep happily, surrounded by the fluffy creatures, dreaming of more fluff.

They slept soundly until Martha's scream woke them the next morning.

In the end, they confessed everything and were scolded, but their parents, especially their father, wept with joy at the sight of the cats.

The men who had attacked Emma were defeated by Kan-chan and wrapped in spider silk, left in the park.

Their punishment was tripled due to the crimes of illegal entry into the territory and attacking Emma.

Later, the cats excelled in monster hunting, and Father Leonard changed the Stewart family crest to a cat design.

Dresses with the Stewart family crest on the lining sold like hotcakes, and the four cats also served as lucky cats for business prosperity.

The Tanaka family was known for being a bit sloppy.

He, too, was a cat lover and suspected that he, like others, had cat-related items.