I woke up sufficiently toasty, fairly clean, and overall cozy enough to justify the trouble it took to sleep on the warmth box, although I didn’t feel very well rested. A hand was slowly and soothingly going over my fur, adding tremendously to the coziness. I let out a long yawn, arching my back and stretching my paws in front of me. The hand stopped petting me, pulling back as I lazily opened a single eye to see who had been so bold as to pet me and wake me up.

It was a girl, probably in her late teens judging by how exhausted and slightly grumpy she looked. She had murky green eyes, shoulder length brown hair, and was carrying a large tan sack in one of her hands, with another on the ground next to her.

She looked at me apologetically. “Sorry, but I kind of need you to move for a second.” Huh? No. Not happening. I was staying on the magic radiator, you’d need a crowbar to scrape me off of here if you wanted me gone. I curled up, tucking my face into my paws a bit as I promptly ignored her. However, that proved to be a flawed strategy, as I felt my body leaving the surface against my will. I squirmed a bit as I tried to escape her clutches, but her grip was firm and unwavering against my struggling. She placed me gently on the ground and turned back to the warmth box.

After running her fingers across the side for a moment, she put both her hands on a groove I hadn’t even noticed before and pulled up. The top of the box (MY BED!!) swang open on a hinge, spewing out the smell of burning garbage and revealing an inside that I probably would have found very interesting if I had been able to see it. But alas, I had been deported to the ground level. I meowed at her in indignation, causing her to giggle a bit.

“Sorry to disturb you, kitty!” Good. You should be. “But I gotta do this, Mom and Dad will be super mad if I just leave the trash out overnight.”

She picked up one of the sacks as she spoke, untightening the cloth keeping the mouth of it closed and pouring the contents into the box. There was some paper and a few shards of a broken plate, but the vast majority of the stuff being poured in was food. Leftover bones, leafy vegetable tops, half eaten bread, unused cuts of meat, all of it was poured into the box.

I had had exactly one croissant all day, which really wasn't doing much for me, and here she was right in front of me throwing out enough food to feed me for a month. Who cares if it was trash, some of that had to still be good, right? There was still the second sack, maybe I could get a juicy steak from that.

“Could you spare me some food please? You’re just going to throw it out anyway, I’d really appreciate it.” I meowed.

“Well aren’t you a chatty cat! Don’t worry, you can go back to sleep soon.” She said as she dumped the entire back full of home cooked leftovers into the box, clearly not able to speak cat. She closed the lid with a thud, wiping her hands on her dress before bending down and picking me up once again. I flailed around futilely just like the previous time, she could at least warn me first! My back paw, the one with the splinter in it, brushed against her dress as I tried to escape, staining it with a small smear of blood.

Unceremoniously, she placed me on top of the box, which I assume was some kind of magical dumpster. After petting me a few more times she gave me a small wave goodbye, grabbed her now empty sacks, and turned away, making her way back down the alley. Maybe if I stealthily followed her, I could steal some of her food? I didn’t want to make a habit of stealing, but she clearly had more than enough. She hadn’t turned the corner yet, I could still catch up to her.

I jumped off the box, trying to silently slip to the ground. Cats were fairly supposed to be stealthy, right?

Well if they were, I had failed them as a species. Upon landing, my injured paw hit the ground. I yowled out in shock as searing pain shot up my leg, collapsing to the ground as it gave out. Shaking, I pushed myself up from my crumpled position and started to limp forward towards her, my leg awkwardly sticking out to avoid putting any weight on it.

My steps were slow and didn’t cover much distance. I had two hours of sleep in me, I couldn’t use one of my legs, and I was beginning to think that a croissant wasn’t the most nutritionally balanced meal for a cat. About halfway down the alley, I couldn’t go any further. I was simply too weak. Nothing to do now but curl up on the damp, disgusting ground and go to sleep, I wouldn’t even be able to jump back onto the cozy dumpster.

I heard footsteps approaching me. Looking up, I saw the girl walking back to me. She had been barely 10 feet away, and probably saw my whole extended failure. Great. She crouched down over me, her eyes shimmering with worry.

“Are you alright?” She asked tentatively, looking down on me with pity. “Ooh, wait, your paw is bleeding! And you don’t look very well fed either…” She scooped me up in her arms, which I didn’t bother to struggle against for once, and carried me gently down the alley. “Don’t worry little guy, I’ll get you fixed up!”

By fulfilling the required criteria, you have unlocked a new skill: Pathetic

Huh?

A light blue rectangle with white text had appeared before me, floating in the air in front of my face. Was this one of the skills Radia had told me about in the dream? I swiped at it in curiosity but my paw passed through it as if it wasn’t there. What kind of skill was Pathetic anyway? Really just not fitting for someone like me, but maybe there was some hidden meaning behind it.

I focused on the notification, which it seemed the girl couldn’t see. If I wasn’t able to touch it then it had to operate based on my thoughts, right? I thought about the Pathetic skill, hoping for more info. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it sounded?

Success! The notification rectangle changed!

Pathetic

Level - 1 of 5

Effects - Passively ensures that others will assume less of your strength and regard you with more pity than usual. Skill gained due to your proven incompetence and general inability to survive without help.

Nope, just as bad as it sounded. Who knew emotionless notifications could be so condescending? This sounded downright useless. Although I was currently getting carried by someone who had taken pity on how pathetic I was, so maybe not entirely terrible.

Still, having my first skill be Pathetic of all things stung. I know I decided to just live my life and not fight the Demon King, but was a cool skill too much to ask?

My internal complaints were interrupted as the girl shifted me over to one arm, probably to open the door of the building we were approaching. A large sign hung above the door reading Adventurer’s Guild and Tavern. The sign had a depiction of a sword and a shield on one side and a foaming mug of ale on the other. Some muffled conversations could be heard from the inside. As she opened the door, the smell of freshly cooked foods wafted out.

The inside of the building was warm and had a rather merry atmosphere. To the left there was a counter without anyone behind it. Shelves lined the walls, holding an assortment of weapons, bottles of colorful liquids (potions, perhaps), and various miscellaneous traveling supplies such as rope, packs, and water flasks. To the right, the side we had entered on, there were wooden tables, chairs, and booths occupied by a few groups scattered about enjoying their food and drinks. Some quiet, laid back music played, the melody drifting over the room. There was a bar on the far side of the room, with a pale, scrawny man behind it absentmindedly polishing a mug. He looked up at me and the girl as we approached, his mustache twitching a bit as he furrowed his brow.

“Hello Mina.” He said dryly, although with no shortage of fondness. Guess I knew the girl’s name now.

Mina took a deep breath. “Hi Dad! So, um, this cat. Can I keep it? It was on the incinerator, it’s injured, and I think it could use some good food. I promise I’ll-”

“Absolutely not.” He stated authoritatively.

“C’mon Dad, why?” She pleaded.

He seemed tired, as if similar conversations had been had before and he knew how it would play out. “It’s already hectic enough around here. Maybe if we had another person working the front, but do you really want to manage a cat and work?”

“I’ll work just as hard as always, I swear! And it won’t be forever, just until the injured paw heals up. Look at it! No cat could last out there with such a grievous injury.” It was just a splinter, but I appreciated the exaggeration. I looked at Mina’s dad innocently, my Pathetic skill taking effect.

He was silent for a moment, thinking it over before sighing in defeat. “Fine. But you have to go ask your mother first, she’s in the kitchen.”

“Yes!!! Thank you Dad!” She said excitedly, racing behind the bar and through the door to the back.

We entered the kitchen where there was a strong looking woman with her brown hair in a bun piling dishes into a vat of foamy water. She looked up as we entered, giving a warm yet slightly cynical smile.

“Let me guess, you asked Dad about keeping that cat, and he gave in and told you to ask me first.” She said in a joking tone.

Mina hesitated. “Um… yes?”

Her mom thought for a moment, looking over me and pausing when she saw my bloodied paw, clearly not heartless enough to deny a poor injured cat shelter. “Yes.” Wooo! “But you have to take care of the cat alone, your father and I aren’t going to be able to help much with it. You know how busy we are. Make sure it doesn’t break anything or cause any trouble and you can keep it.”

Mina was nearly bouncing with glee. “Thank you thank you thank you!!!” She squealed excitedly and grabbed a few scraps of meat before carrying me out of the room, past the bar, and up a flight of stairs in the corner of the tavern. “I can’t believe they both said yes!!” She raced down a hallway and brought me into a bedroom, opening a closet door to reveal a few bottles which she began to rummage through. The door had a mirror on it, letting myself get a good look at my new body for the first time.

I was a small black cat. I was fairly small in size, had black furred triangle ears, and green cat-like eyes. Because I was a cat. Crazy. I didn’t really feel overwhelmed by the change, I had kind of had a day to get used to it. Definitely still a big deal and not underwhelming, it just didn’t feel incredibly important anymore. I guess I was just normally whelmed?

“Aha!” Mina exclaimed as she pulled a small blue glass bottle out of the closet, reaching in and grabbing another darker blue bottle as well. The mirror caught her eye as she closed the door. “Ugh, did I get your blood on my dress? Gonna have to wash that out I guess.”

She cleared some bottles off of a table and placed me on it. “Alright, this is a sleep potion mixed with a painkiller which may dampen the effects, the cat is way smaller than me, and it takes about 10 drops to knock me out. Painkiller should get a bit more since it is a bit less potent…” She continued to think aloud for a bit before dripping one drop of the light blue liquid and three of the dark blue onto the meat scraps, putting them on the table in front of me. “OK kitty, eat up! Don’t want you squirming around while I’m getting rid of the splinter.”

I sniffed the meat suspiciously. Normally I wouldn’t eat food I had literally just seen someone lace, but hey, it was just gonna make me go to sleep faster. That was pretty much the best possible outcome from eating. I chowed down on the meat and felt drowsiness begin to set in as Mina giggled a bit, petting my back gently as I curled up and promptly passed out, the sleep potion taking its effect.