A Depressing Task

Alisha passed me the quest paper and the copper plate with my adventurer details. "This plate is your identity within the city, it will also wave the entrance fee at the walls. The paper needs a signature, and the quest is all yours."

I signed my name and then was off to find a cat. As I left the building, several adventurers hollered out good luck and that I would need it. The more I hear about this quest, the worse I feel.

I turned towards the statues, and on top of the magic caster was a grey cat having a bath. I stood frozen, and it looked at me mockingly and continued its bath. As soon as I moved closer to the statue, it stopped and jumped across the stairs to the head of the second statue.

I was tall, but the cat would be out of my reach even if I jumped. I couldn't help but marvel at its athleticism as it landed cleanly on the statue and then dropped onto the street. It took off running, and I cursed under my breath and ran after the cat.

It had three advantages over me. It was faster, smaller, and knew the city better than I did. It was pulling further and further away from me; I had no choice but to assign my precious EXP to Dexterity. If I didn't, I would lose my gold and potentially my future in the city.

I gritted my teeth and added the three points. Suddenly, my 7 Dexterity jumped to 12 with the bonus from my sword. I was no longer falling behind; I was gaining it! "You're Mine, Fluffles!"

I dove at him. I was close enough; it should have been an easy catch, but he jumped in the air at the last second. Instead of snatching him into my arms, I threw myself onto the ground and rolled a few times. The cat landed on the ground, walked over to me, and licked my face.

I brought my hands around it to catch him, but he just dodged and started to walk away while looking back at me. "This is clearly a taunt. This cat is taunting me. I will catch you, fluffles. I swear it!" I pushed myself to my feet while ignoring the stares and snickers of the passers-by and chased after him again. He watched me get up and started to run away back the way we came.

I had to dodge people and animals as it raced through the streets; it seemed to be making its way to the market area. It was playing fair, too; it could easily climb buildings and escape that way. I could only rationalize it if it were enjoying the chase. Then I realized this wasn't reality; it was a game.

Of course, I couldn't catch it; it wasn't meant to be caught. I just have to play with it; eventually, it will come to me! Or at least I hope so. I dove at the cat again when we rounded the corner to enter the market. As expected, it avoided my tackle easily, and my tumble didn't cause any problems to anyone despite the market being packed.

I had an idea of how to complete the quest. The cat came up and licked my face, and sauntered away. This time, instead of chasing after it right away, I got up and looked around the marketplace. After finding what I was looking for, I walked to the stall.

Turning back, the cat had climbed up a building and was watching me from above. I approached a stall selling roasted fish. "How much for two fish?" I asked the merchant.

"It is 1 Silver for two, or I can do a family discount and do four fish for 18 Copper." "Just the two, please." I passed over a stack of copper coins and received the fish. I tore off a piece of one and placed the remainder in my inventory. I thanked the man and walked over to the area below the cat.

"Want to resume our game?!" I yelled up at him. Some people were looking at me strangely for screaming at the sky, but when they looked up and recognized the cat, they understood instantly. The strange looks turned to ones of amusement and sympathy. To my dismay, though, the cat didn't come down. It just stared at me.

And then it started to continue its bath.

There was nothing I could do aside from staring at it wide-eyed and waiting for it to be done. Fluffles continued his bath for nearly an hour. The entire time, I sat and watched. For those who have never watched a cat have a bath, it's awkward. Worse than making eye contact with a pooping dog. After a small eternity, it ended; the fish in my hand had long gone cold, and my hope had long vanished.

The damn cat slowly descended from the building and walked over to me. I didn't move because I gave up. If it wanted to go, it could go. Defeated by a cat. A house pet. Defeated by a domesticated killer.

As I was having these thoughts, Fluffles, the diabolical mastermind, crawled into my lap and started to eat the fish out of my hand while purring.

I couldn't even be happy about the quest. The crowd's laugh and the futility of chasing the feline had stomped out my excitement about the rewards. Looking at the fluffy ball on my lap, I sighed and stood up. 'Might as well complete it. Depressing as it is, it sounds like I'm not the only one who was morally defeated by this feline.'

The people around me cheered when they saw me walking back with the cat. This had the opposite of the intended; catching a simple cat was an achievement. 'This should be some kind of orientation or hazing.' I laughed in self-deprecation as I walked back to the guild.

No matter how many people I passed, they all stopped to say something like "Congratulations for catching the cat" or "Looks like he escaped once again, I see." It seemed like they weren't lying; this could be a gold mine of a quest if you were willing to keep getting your ego destroyed by a cat.

The darned thing wasn't even pretending like it was sorry. It was just sleeping in my arms as though it had perfect faith that it would be safe. I guess it did have that guarantee; few people would be willing to deal with the consequences of offending his owner.

Ten minutes later, I arrived at the guild building. I pushed open the door, and a few eyes turned to me. Then, as I expected, the laughter began. The few who first saw me started to laugh; this prompted others to turn and laugh. Soon, I had all of the guild laughing.

But a Viking wouldn't be affected by this. 'I'm the Viking; I can't let some giggles get to me.' I kept my head high and walked over to Alisha. "I found a really fast cat." I set fluffles down on the counter as I spoke.

"Indeed you did." Barely holding in her giggles, she managed to eke out a response. "I will bring this little troublemaker up to the guild master. This is your reward for your troubles." With the cat in her arm, she reached under the counter and placed a small pouch and a scroll on the table. With that, she left to go upstairs with the cat.

I peeked inside the pouch and saw the glint of silver and gold. 'Perfect, this should be able to get all I need for my first adventure.' I placed the coin in my inventory; it seemed to separate it from the items, which I found quite handy. I now had nine small gold coins, 20 silver and five copper. It was also kind enough to provide a total sum in copper; I had 1,105 C.

'Not too shabby for day 1. I wonder how the others are doing.'

I grabbed the paper and put it into my inventory. A few seconds later, a pop-up from the system appeared saying I had completed the quest.

{{Quest completed. Escaping cat}}

{{Rewards: 1 Large Gold Coin, 1000 EXP, Viscount Brawson's Favor.}}

I pulled up my character screen and was shaken by my realization: I had gained another Large Gold coin?!