‘You cursed yourself, didn’t you?’

Say what?

How did she come to that conclusion?

“C’mon, say it! You messed up and ended up cursing yourself!”

I’m confused…

As is the curse guy.

“Y-you… weren’t you…”

“Charmed? Hahaha… are you stupid? You think that would work on me?”

No, wait.

Why DIDN’T it work on you, then?!

Lately, I feel like everyone but me has some hidden aces up their sleeves!

“Well, come on! Say it! ‘I-am-a-lo-ser!'”

“Shut your trap! How do you even know about it?!”

This is getting a little out of hand…

Dammit…

I came here to hear the grand story of gods and chosen ones…

And now, I’m listening to bickering of a lose- err, the curse guy and a rude catgirl.

“M-master… you are cursed?”

With a hint of annoyance, he glances at the girl clinging to him and then averts his gaze again.

“Yeah, a curse that’s impossible to remove and doesn’t even show up in the status!”

Oi, seriously?

Why would you curse yourself like that?

“Because god thought it would be funny to set it up this way… I made a single tiny mistake and ended up like this!”

Oh…

So that’s it.

Hmm…

It makes sense, I guess.

If you are given a strange new ability, you would naturally want to try it out.

But with a dangerous ability like this…

What if you accidentally set the target to be yourself instead of whatever you meant to curse?

“S-so… what does it do?”

Cana asked carefully.

“Hell if I know! Probably makes everyone want to turn on me!”

No, as I said…

The only reason those two ‘betrayed’ you is because you kept them on a leash with that charm!

“Ahahaha… well, aren’t you in luck? That cutie over there can suck it up for you if you beg really nicely.”

I don’t need him to beg…

Also, don’t say ‘suck it up’!

That’s way too easy to misunderstand!

Matoto glances at me momentarily, but turns his head away again with a scoff.

“I told you it’s impossible to remove!”

“Hahaha… you idiot… you can’t use logic when dealing with her.”

Hey!

What’s that supposed to mean?!

“My aether crystal is supposed to seal every skill and curse… and yet, she broke through it.”

That…

Right…

How DID I break through it?

At first, I thought you can’t seal god-granted skills, but…

Seeing so many reincarnators, it’s hard to believe she never tried it on them.

So, why am I the first one to break out of it?

Is it because of this ‘chosen one’ business…?

He stares at me silently, expression still full of hostility.

“… do whatever you want.”

Oi…

Are you a tsundere?

That feels really out of place…

Moreover, I hate when people can’t be honest!

“… well, you can do it later. The city lord probably wants to see you first.”

Veras spoke up again, reminding me of the city lord.

Oh yeah, the guildmaster told me something about that, didn’t he?

And I guess if I want to remove this guy’s curse, I will take a bit, so I ought to do it later.

…

Hmm?

Wait…

Didn’t someone say Spectre’s curse got already removed?

I don’t remember spending a whole lot of time with her though…

Definitely much less than with Ignis, that’s for sure.

“Hey Nina… shall we go then…?”

Are you unconfortable here, Ignis?

I guess that’s understandable…

Alright, fine!

I’ll figure this out later!

Let’s go meet that lord guy first.

It’s better than dealing with the curse guy.

… probably.

I haven’t met the lord yet.

Argh, whatever!

“Let’s go.”

I turned around and beckoned to Ignis and Cana.

Without any further discussion, we left.

I think the catgirl yelled something creepy at me, but…

Whatever!

Ignore it!

“Meow!”

As Kuro jumped on top of my head again, Ignis and Cana followed after me.

Our departure from the base was very silent.

Those two probably still have the curse guy on their mind.

Seriously…

He made THAT Ignis feel bad!

What a guy.

…

Anyway, these random people in the base are getting annoying.

Can’t they tune it down with those hostile stares of theirs?

They are the ones sent by the city lord, right?

He should really tell them so stop being so rude…

Honestly!

Are they angry that I didn’t go to their boss right away and instead went here?

Ugh…

Well, at least there were none of them in the prison area.

I guess they are forbidden from entering there?

After finally exiting the base, we headed straight for the city lord’s mansion.

Of course, I had no idea where that was, so I let Ignis lead the way.

As we walked through the city, a few people looked at me and began whispering among each other.

It reminded me of the werewolf incident in Buanna…

Which was the curse guy’s fault as well, wasn’t it?

Huh…

Wait…

Did he single-handedly make me into a hero in two different towns?

Wow.

Now that’s what I call an efficient villain!

On our way to the mansion, I remembered I haven’t checked my status in a while.

Name: Nina

Level: 16

Strength: 32/32

Endurance: 34/34

Speed: 46/46

Magic: 27/27

Equipment:

Kat underwear

Kat dress

Kat ear headband

Kat gloves

Kat slippers

Enchanted handbag

Skills:

Cat soul+

9 lives

Special:

Blessing of the Kat

Hmm…

Oh?

Level sixteen?

I remember it being stuck at fifteen for a long time.

Looks like I finally broke through that wall.

Good good…

Now let’s see.

Did I randomly get another cat soul variant?

Available variants:

Panther soul

Tiger soul

Cheetah soul

Lion soul

…

Huh?

…

“Hmm? What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

…

Not one, but two new variants?

Where do they keep coming from?!

Wait…

Cheetah soul…

Why do I feel like I already had that…?

I…

I used it, didn’t I…?

After knocking our Matoto and Spectre and running out of magic…

It turned on automatically…

Right, right…

Why is my memory from that time so blurry?

I feel tired just trying to remember…

Ugh…

What does it do, anyway?

Cheetah soul

In addition to cat soul effects, it allows the use of flow magic and enhances agility.

Flow magic…?

“Nina…? A-are you alright?”

Sorry Ignis, but…

“Give me a second…”

I know we were on our way to the lord, but…

Whatever!

I used him as an excuse to leave the cat base anyway!

He can wait!

I want to get to the bottom of this!

Lion soul

In addition to cat soul effects, it allows the use of aura magic and enhances all senses.

Aura magic…

Again, something really vague.

What does flow and aura magic do?

And more importantly…

Where did all of this come from?!

Ugh…

I slowly start walking again while holding my head.

“Nina, seriously! What’s wrong?”

…

Hmm…

Maybe she can help me figure this out?

“I got two new cat soul variants.”

“Eh? Y-you mean more of those scary forms?”

Scary forms…?

Well, I guess she only really saw panther soul.

Of course, she would call it a scary form.

“Well… that’s… uhh… good for you?”

That’s not the point!

“I’m wondering where they came from.”

“Oh, that’s… hmm…”

She put a hand on her chin and fell into thought.

“It must be because you beat that guy, right? That god, or whatever is rewarding you for punishing bad people!”

…

I regret asking you.

Or rather, didn’t you feel bad about the whole situation just a minute ago?!

How can you already be joking about it!

“Umm…”

Cana raised her voice.

“Isn’t it… the curses?”

The curses?

What are you-

“Y-you absorb curses… is what he said, right?”

…

Absorb curses…

…

That’s…

I…

I noticed panther soul in the medical facility after facing off against Cana and Fenrir.

Which was after I supposedly absorbed the staff’s curse…

…

And tiger soul…

I found out about that after finishing the ogre subjugation with Ignis.

After absorbing her curse…

And now…

Veras said Spectre’s curse was gone…

And Matoto mentioned he had a curse that wasn’t visible in the status screen…

Therefore, he wouldn’t know if it was gone…

After beating up those two…

I gained two more variants.

“N-Nina?”

…

It’s not the blessing!

It’s cat soul!

It absorbs curses and turns them into variants!