Black Cat

Huh?

What?

I look at Ophis, who is comfortable sleeping on my lap. She curls up like a cat and even releases low purring noises making her look like a cat even though she is a Dragon.

"She is Ophis?"

I look at Valerie and Cris, who look at the little girl on my lap in disbelief.

"Yes. Believe it or not, this little girl is Ophis."

"I see. I don't know that Ouroboros Dragon has a form of a Little Girl."

Slowly I pick up Ophis from my lap and put her down next to Kuroka.

"Mu? No… Warm. Calm. Mu…"

Urgh.

I never thought that Ophis could pout like that. I can feel my heart get stabbed by an invisible sword after seeing her pout with a little bit of tear on her eye.

"Emmm, why do you want to sleep on my lap?"

"Mu?"

"Yes, you are Ophis, right? I thought you are busy taking care of your organization."

"No. Zevim, do it for me."

"Then, back to my earlier question, why do you sleep on my lap?"

"Mu? You are warm, calming, soothing, mysterious, cloudy, protective, and destructive. Comfortable."

Can she feel my flame? Not only that, but she also says that she finds it comfortable?

"Mu. Move, Kuroka"

Eh?

I looked down, and to my surprise, Kuroka slept on my lap without me knowing.

"Move"

"Meow~."

"Mu… Move"

When Kuroka sees dark energy begins to release from Ophis's body, she immediately walks away from my lap. After moving Kuroka from my lap, Ophis immediately sat down on it.

"Kuroka, huh? Then you must be the infamous Nekoshou."

After I say that, Kuroka begins to transform into her humanoid form. Unlike her cat form, where she has a form of a black cat with golden eyes, in this form, she is a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs, and hazel-gold eyes with cat-like pupils. Her attire consists of a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono features a red interior, and it is open at her shoulders, giving view to her large breasts.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lexian Vongola. As you know, my name is Kuroka. Nice to meet you."

I nod at her and give her a little smile.

"Nya? You didn't intend to capture me?"

"Why should I?"

"Nya? I have a massive bounty on my head, you know?"

"Meh. We are a natural party. If you didn't attack or have ill intent toward my land, my people, or me, then we are good."

"I see. Then is it okay for me to stay here from time to time?"

"Sure. There is a group of Nekomata who decide to make a home here after they wander around Europe."

"Nya?!? There is another Nekomata in here, Nya?"

"Yup. You can find them on the west side of Faysummit. They are the ones that built a hot spring resort in this city."

Around a month ago, Carol brought back a pack of Nekomata into our city. They are a pack that instead goes to the underworld they decide to go to Europe and search for a place they can call home. However, even after years of searching for a suitable home, they cannot find it. The reason is that the monsters around Europe are somewhat Territorial and didn't want to share their home with other races.

Not only that, for some reason, Nekomata gets hunted down by the other races when I asked why the elders say that Nekomata has a unique characteristic that lets them reproduce an offspring that can combine both Nekomata and that said race characteristic.

For example, if one of the Nekomata has a child from a devil, then their child has a low chance of becoming a Devil that can use Chakra.

After hearing their story, I decided to invite them to become the citizens of Faysummit. To this day, they still stay inside my land. To this day, there are around 127 Nekomata that consists of female Nekomata, but there are two Male Nekomata inside my city.

"That's good… That's good."

I smile at her and try to pick the snack next to me, but I can't find it. As I look down, I see Ophis stuffing her mouth with the snack I bought earlier.

Welp, it looks like I will not eat that snack after all.

"So, What is your goal coming here? I thought you guys would attack me after I defeat Cao Cao and his minion of a misfit."

"Nope~ The one that ordered the Hero Faction to 'investigate' this city is that stinky old man."

"Stinky old man? You mean Rizevim?"

"Eh? Do you know him? How?!?"

"Heh. I meet him when I rescue my little sister, Valerie, here."

"Oh! You are that 'Little Bastard' he is talking about."

"Little… Bastard?"

"Yeah, that old man keeps ranting about how his plan is ruined because of this 'Little Bastard' stole something important from him."

Valerie. So the reason why he decided to order the Hero Faction to 'investigate' the Faysummit is to try and take back Valerie from me.

However, why didn't he order an all-out attack? ….He still wants to maintain his anonymity. He didn't want to create a great war between him and the entire world… Yet.

"... That bastard wants to take Valerie, huh."

"Nya?"

"The thing that he says something important to him is not a thing. What I take from him is Valerie when he tries to extract her Sacred Gear."

"That…"

"The thing that he wants is inside Valerie. If he takes it away, it will kill her immediately, so I can't let it happen."

"I see. So that is why you decide to fight him even though you know that you will lose."

"Heh. If he fights me seriously from the beginning, then I will be dead before I could even say my name. I only distract him long enough to rescue Valerie from his clutch."

"Then we are the same, Nya~ I also distract my former master long enough, so he did not use my sister as an experiment!"

"By killing him?"

"Same Difference!"

I smile at her.

"Speaking of Sacred Gear. How do you extract Jeanne Sacred Gear without killing her?"

"Now, I can't say our secret, can't I?"

"Puh~ Stingy~."

"Hahahaha, Sorry about that."

"I understand, Nya~ Something like that will make the other faction coming here and try to take that with a peaceful way or the opposite of that."

"Yeah…"

"But... Poor Jeanne get kicked out by Cao Cao after her Sacred Gear is taken from her"

Wait. What?

"Can you repeat that?"

"Nya? Jeanne-chan get kicked out from the Hero Faction after her sacred gear get taken away from her"

"Is this true?"

"Yes. I saw her begging Cao Cao not to kick her from the Hero Faction, but sadly, for her, Cao Cao decided to kick her out anyway even though she already promised to search for a holy or demonic sword for her to use."

I… I don't know how to feel about that. On the other hand, it was her fault for attacking us, to begin with, but at the same time, I can only blame Cao Cao for it. He is the one that gives the order to attack.

"Kuroka, Can you tell me the location of Jeanne?"

"Nya? I don't know. The last thing I remember, she has an intention to come to Romania and beg for you to return her Sacred Gear."

"I see."

I don't know if I can return the Sacred Gear to her. I don't know if she uses the same Sacred Gear to attack my land once again.

*Grrrrr*

I look at the direction of a growl. The one that growled at us is Mordred's stomach complaining about not being fed.

I chuckle at the Mordred red face before placing Ophis away from my lap and look at my companion and guest, then say.

"Look at the time. Do you guys want to eat something? Of course, you Kuroka and Ophis can come as well."

Seeing them nodding at my question, I smile at them and lead them toward the castle.