'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.'

That's quite the famous line, but I guess it's true.

Kent's second life as a cat started out heroically, defeating reincarnators who abused their powers, and putting them in their place.

But eventually, he created a shady underground organization, and used the captured people for experiments, working in collaboration with the government.

Huh...

Why do I feel like that if I didn't have my feline charm he would have attacked me as well?

...

Well, never mind.

Back to the important stuff.

Apparently, there is a tribe of cat beast people near this country's capital city.

And they worship a god who is neither Nix, nor Torta.

A third, unknown god.

Kat...?

...

Well...

Mable got this information from a merchant, whose friend was recently in the capital, where a few of those idle rumors went around.

In other words... 'a friend's friend's friend heard something'.

Yeah.

Not a very reliable source of information.

But, it's the best lead I currently have.

So, yes.

After we greet Mable's parents and all that, my goal is to visit the capital and try to find this tribe.

That's my current plan.

In the meantime...

There really isn't much to do anymore.

We have already exhausted all attractions of this city.

I even went ahead and took a goblin den extermination request and finished it in a few hours!

I am THIS close to going back to the cosplay shop and trying everything in there out of boredom!

Ugh...

Baiting kidnappers?

Been there, done that.

I expected the twins of justice(lol) to heroically save me again, but they didn't show up.

Maybe they left the city already...?

That's kind of disappointing.

I know they would be annoying, but...

Anything would be better than this boredom!

Mable's mom and dad!

Hurry up and arrive, will you?!

It's already been seven days!

What?

A delay of a day or two is normal?

I don't care!

Come on now!

"Meow...?"

Tell me Ku-Kent.

Do you have an underwater organization as well?

Please send your catfish spies to investigate how much longer we will have to wait.

What?

There is no such thing?

Hmph...

How disappointing.

Well, do you at least have a branch office of Cat mafia in the capital?

Let me onto some of those cat tribe gossips.

I really wanna know if they are true or not.

"Meow."

He drew out a paper.

'I sent someone to the capital yesterday'

Oh, good.

But the capital is really far away, isn't it?

About a week on carriage from Kalamas, or so I heard...?

It's just waiting, waiting and more waiting these days...

Three days later.

We all started to worry whether something happened.

And our worries were spot on.

We came into the guild after our breakfast, and ran into a commotion.

After asking around, we found out what happened.

This morning, a man sailing on a single plank reached the port.

'Our ship got attacked by pirates.'

That's what he said.

...

The man was a merchant.

A business partner and a friend of Mable's parents.

They sailed aboard that ship together.

But the ship sunk and everyone aboard got captured.

Only he managed to hide in the water and barely swim his way back to the port.

...

What...

The hell...?

Pirates?

The ship sank?

Everyone got captured?

Are you kidding me?

This is just...

...

I don't think I have ever seen Mable cry.

That huge gorilla crying just doesn't look right.

The sight of Ignis and Cana consoling her also seems...

...

Well...

It's not that odd, is it?

Unlike me, who never liked her parents, and didn't get new ones here, Mable grew up with these people.

And she loved her parents.

But now...

Ugh, dammit!

We gotta go and rescue them!

I just hope these pirates didn't-

"FRET NOT! FOR WE HAVE ARRIVED!"

A familiar voice resounded in the guild, drawing everyone's attention.

It's those two kids playing heroes again.

“That’s right!”

“In the brightest day!”

“In the darkest night!”

“Do not dismay!”

“For we, will fight!”

“”WE ARE THE PHANTOM HEROES! THE TWINS OF JUSTICE!””

This again...

Why are they coming out now?

I'm seriously annoyed...

"We shall rescue the innocents!"

"And defeat the evil pirates!"

"We won't even ask for two cents!"

"Leave this to us! The justice's pilo-"

"Shut up."

My silent, yet oppressive whisper silences the twins.

In fact, I feel like everyone in the guild made a step back when I said that.

"H-how dare you interrupt-!"

"You think this is a game?"

I interrupt them again and cross my arms as I stare at them.

The two of them shrink under my stare as I approach them.

"O-o-of course not! We-"

"Then stop trying to feed your own ego."

"W-we're not feeding our ego!"

"T-that's right! We just want to help!"

Help, huh?

Then why are you disguising yourself and always doing everything on your own?

That's not helping.

That's just trying to be in the spotlight.

"Oh really? How long did it take to come up with those rhymes just now?"

"E-...er...umm... f-five minutes?"

"That's five minutes spent on boosting your ego instead of helping."

Hmph...

Looks like that shut them up.

Well, whatever.

If I spend any longer here, I will become a hypocrite.

"Mable, Ignis, Cana."

"""Y-yes?!"""

...

"What's with you lot? Why are you staring so much?"

"Your... hair..."

My hair?

What's up with my-

...

Did my hair grow in volume?

Or rather, it's like my hair is floating, expanding into all directions.

What is-

Gah, never mind!

We can't be losing even more time now!

"Never mind this. Let's get the details of where the ship sank and set off."

The girls didn't respond and silently followed me.

As I made my way to the counter, everyone moved out of the way automatically.

The receptionist seemed very nervous while she told me the details.

And as I collected my thoughts and prepared to leave the guild, one of the twins called out to me again.

"Wait! We're going with you! We'll prove that we aren't just boosting our ego!"

"Suit yourself."

I didn't slow down or turn around to respond to them.

There's no time to lose with their childish games.

According to the information I got, it's been over two days since the pirates attacked and captured everyone.

On our way to the harbor, I tell my plan to the girls.

"Mable, get us a ship, a captain and a crew, I'll come with you. Cana, Ignis, go to the city and buy a compass and a map of the sea if you can. Don't waste time if you can't find the map."

""Y-yes!""

We split off.

Me, Mable and the twins head to the docks.

Right as we arrive, Mable catches a nearby sailor and asks him whether there's a ship we could borrow or buy.

He sends us over to another sailor, where Mable starts negotiating.

Since I wouldn't be much of help with that, I walk near the water and lean in to look at myself.

My hair...

Looks ridiculous.

It's shorter, but every strand stands on its end, making it seem like it has more volume.

Rather, it looks like...

A lion's mane.

Well...

Figures.

Status.

Cat soul+(Lion soul on)

As expected.

This is lion soul.

But...

That's wrong, isn't it?

I'm pretty sure female lions don't have manes.

And it must look pretty dumb to have this mane while wearing a dress.

Add this to my list of complaints for Kat.

"A'right, you've got a deal, lil lady!"

"Thank you very much!"

Hmm, seems like the negotiations are done.

Now we just have to wait for Ignis and Cana.

"Hey ya dogs! Prepare 'er to set sail! We'r goin on a rescue mission!"

"""Aye sir!"""

Hmm, the captain has quite the loyal crew, doesn't he?

Well, he better.

We're paying quite a bit for this.

"We're here!"

Good.

They have the compass and the map.

Now, nothing is stopping us.

If I'm not mistaken, this lion soul enhances my senses even more.

I hope that's enough to find them.

If not, I'll need to think of different plan.