Cat soul absorbs curses.

Now I know why every variant has a nasty drawback...

Each of them originally came from a curse, after all!

Everything suddenly makes sense!

Argh...

What's up with this, though?

Why would Kat give me an ability like this?

Could he actually be some sort of evil god of curses...?

...

Well, whatever the case, he's a jerk.

This only adds a few minutes of my angry shouting to our next meeting.

Now then.

With one mystery out of the way, I guess we ought to head to the city lord's mansion.

Well...

I'm not looking forward to it.

I hate having to deal with such people.

But the matter of fact is, there's a cat sitting on my head.

And that cat has a deal with this lord guy.

One that allows him to operate a secret underground cat mafia in this city.

There's no need to fear anything, right?

Yep, maybe I won't even have to talk to him at all!

Let's go then!

Before we reached the mansion though, my nose picked up a familiar smell.

I stopped in my tracks once again.

"Nina...? Something wrong again?"

"... brace for impact."

"Huh?"

Ignis wore a stupefied expression.

But that soon disappeared as a familiar voice entered our ears.

"Niiinaaaaaa!"

There it is!

A giant red demonic monkey appeared!

And she's running straight at me with her arms wide open!

Cat soul, activate!

I'm not losing to that this time!

Oh!

She jumped at me!

Perfect!

Now she can't change her trajectory!

Alright!

Side step it!

Grab her arm and leg...!

Aaaand, do a somersault!

Haha!

There we go!

I neutralized the threat!

I won't let myself be crushed this time!

...

Hmm, maybe that was too rough?

It made quite the loud crashing sound...

Nah...

I bet she's fine.

...

Hmm?

I feel like I did this kind of maneuver to someone else not too long ago.

When was that...?

"N-N-Nina! You are mean!"

Oh, look at that!

She's completely unharmed!

As expected of a gorilla.

I bet she used her cheat skill to soften the landing.

...

But, wouldn't that completely gouge out the earth below her?

"NI-NA! Are you listening?"

What?

Of course, I'm listening!

I have enhanced senses!

I'm listening more than anyone else ever could!

"Ah whatever... I'm just glad you're finally awake."

Oh, she gave up on hugging me!

I won!

Nice!

I'll take your facepalm as a compliment!

"Oh, but that new form you showed us before going all comatose... don't you dare ever use that again!"

Huh?

You're saying the same thing as Ignis.

And I still have no idea what you're talking about.

"Y-yeah! Don't do it!"

"I... I also think you shouldn't use it..."

...

Oh right.

Cheetah soul, right?

I think that's what they are referring to.

Well...

Don't worry.

After all, I have no idea how to actively turn on any of the variants.

So banning me from using it is like banning me from getting a cold.

I can't really control it, you know?

And anyway, why are you all so scared of it?

I wish I could remember what I did...

But I guess forgetting is the drawback...

Or maybe the drawback was the coma...?

"Anyway, where are you headed? There's... something I wanted to discuss with you."

Oi, why the serious face again?

I might be semi-used to it, but you're scaring poor Cana.

"We were on our way to the lord's mansion. He wanted to talk to Nina, apparently."

Oh, Ignis is used to it as well?

Not bad.

Also, thanks for being my mouthpiece.

"The lord, huh... alright, let's talk later then. See ya!"

What?

You're just gonna leave now?

Well, alright.

...

Hmm...

What does she want to talk about, I wonder?

Eh, it's all of the reincarnation business I bet.

Whatever!

Let's g-

...

Umm...

You know.

People have been staring at us before this, but...

I feel like it intensified now.

...

It's because of the gorilla-shaped imprint in the ground, isn't it?

Yeah...

She DID use that cheat skill of hers after all, didn't she?!

I thought she wanted to keep her abilities secret!

Isn't she contradicting herself now?

Argh, whatever.

It's her problem.

Let's get out of here!

"Let's go."

I beckon at Ignis and Cana and we sprint away from the crime scene.

Yep, let's not worry about it.

I'm sure the ground will even out again quickly enough.

It's no concrete, after all.

In no time at all, we arrive at the mansion.

Wow...

Now this...

THIS is what I expected when I first saw Deliah's home.

It's gigantic!

Deliah's mansion can't even compare!

Just look at this!

Guard armed with fancy-colored armors!

Giant garden with countless people tending to it!

And the main gate is made out of gold?!

...

Well, it's probably just gold-coated and not pure gold, but still!

"Hello."

I approach one of the guards.

"State your business."

"Oi, wait. Look at that. It must be her, right?"

What are you pointing at?

Oh, my tail?

Sorry, but even though I can move it, it's just as fake as the ears.

Although you can't see the ears since Kuro is resting on my head.

"Excuse me, but are you Nina? The adventurer?"

"Yes."

"I see... well, the lord has been expecting you... however, he is currently busy. Would you mind waiting in the reception room?"

Oh, what?

He's busy?

Well, darn...

I guess it's only natural.

This isn't a game, where all NPCs just stand in one spot, ready to respond to you at any moment.

... didn't I reprimand someone about thinking reality is a game a moment ago?

Well, anyway!

"Sure."

"Alright. This way then..."

One of the guards lead us through the gate and into the garden.

But the moment the gate opens, I don't even take a single step and the overwhelming surge of scents from all the blooming flowers rush past me.

My eyes tear up and I reflexively inhale with my mouth.

"A-ah...!"

"Huh?"

"ACHOOOO!!!"

...

There's snot all over my glove now.

And I seem to have thrown Kuro off.

...

What the heck?!

How dare you use my enhanced senses against me again?!

Weaponizing flowers isn't fair!

As my eyes tear up and another sneeze gets ready to rip, I grab my headband with the other hand and pull it out.

"N-Nina? Are you alright?"

No, I'm not!

I already had my enhanced hearing used against me, but this is just ridiculous!

Urgh...

Okay, I think the second sneeze is subsiding.

There won't be another round of this...

Argh, dammit...

Everyone is staring at me.

Was that sneeze really that loud?

Please stop staring!

And also, can someone give me something to clean my glove?

This is really gross!

...

"Here you go."

"T-thanks..."

We went inside the mansion and settled in the reception room.

One of the maids was kind enough to wash my glove before returning it to me.

Argh...

I didn't expect this.

Am I alergic or something?

I didn't really wander around flower gardens that much back on earth, so...

Wait, that wouldn't really mean anything anyway, would it?

This isn't the body I had back on earth.

No, I bet it's this headband's fault!

Argh!

Kat!

Why did you give me this headband if a simple flower can nearly kill me?!

Enhanced senses suck!

...

But if I don't wear this, someone might try to use charm on me...

And I won't be able to detect my enemies before they ambush me...

Damn it!

How do dogs do it?

They can sniff out criminals, but flowers don't kill them!

This is not fair!

Stupid dogs!

You make me look bad!

...

Sigh...

"Meow...?"

Oh, hello Kuro...

Don't worry.

Everything is fine.

I just got a little worked up.

Yeah...

I just have to take off this thing whenever there's a flower field.

Simple enough, I guess.

...

What's taking the lord so long?

I forced myself to come here and he can't even make some time to meet me?

Hah, what did I expect...

He's someone who got bribed by a cat!

That already drops my impression of him to rock bottom!

...

Finally, the door opens and a maid enters the room.

"Excuse me. Miss Nina, lord Kalamas is expecting you."