Chương 13: The Man with the Sedge Hat
Mina continued to eye Tarou who was now grooming himself vigorously while waiting for her reply. Her eyes narrowed as she trailed every movement of the mouse's paw.
Crouching low on the ground with her butt up in the air, she was waiting for the perfect moment.
In her peripheral vision, she saw the trees swayed as a light wind swept through the forest but her focus remained on Tarou.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
One...
As she was about to pounce, an irresistible smell wafted through the air, diverting her attention.
Meanwhile, the man with the sedge hat and the bandit chief stood opposite each other. With his legs apart and his body leaning forward, the mysterious man looked at home among the giant sequoias surrounding the area.
Looking at the bandit chief on the eye, the mysterious man broke the almost deafening silence.
"It will be easier to fight on our side. Your enemies will be our enemies."
"I'm honored that a mighty general of Artha takes an interest in the affairs of a deposed noble," the bandit chief replied in a wry voice.
Maintaining a firm tone, the general replied, "The matters of a comrade never escape my notice."
"As they say, in the desert, no man meets a friend."
"We have a common enemy, a more dangerous one within the walls of the empire."
The bandit chief replied with a twisted smile on his lips, "The emperor's concerns are no business of mine. He continued in a frosty tone, "I will not swear fealty to the emperor."
The general nodded his head slowly. He looked at the bandit chief before speaking, "Of all the kingdoms in the empire, Houri is the greatest threat."
The bandit chief fixed his gaze at the skies streaked with a pale orange hue. Emphasizing each word, the general continued, "The King of Houri is a ruthless man."
"To forge an alliance, he promised a married sister to the King of Dinhi."
At the mention of Dinhi, the bandit chief tilted his head towards the general with an unreadable expression on his face, waiting for the man to continue.
"Sent off a bastard sibling to cover deceit."
"And now, he wants his sister dead, pinning the murder to a certain rebel."
The bandit chief stood still. His face turned very furious as his jaw clenched. The general took a step to the side and paused slightly. Paying no heed to the bandit chief, he expressed his views in a reverent tone.
"The man is indeed a wise rule. He would annihilate a threat and gain an ally without sacrificing any member of the royal household."
The bandit chief gripped his arm behind his back as he looked into the cold eyes of the man before him. He opened and closed his mouth without making a sound.
Watching the man in front of him, the general tilted his chin upward and looked the bandit chief in the eye.
"My offer stands."
As the words left the general's lips, the first rays of sunlight bathed the forest.
The early morning hours were quiet except for the rustling of the trees. A few moments later, a soft and soothing sound vibrated, breaking the almost deafening silence.
'Meeeooooooooooow....'
At the sound of the loud purring, a grey mouse snapped out of his daze. Looking frantically from left to right, Tarou realized that Boss did not disappear but was actually somewhere close by.
He was on tenterhooks while waiting for the cat's reply that he did not notice how the cat disappeared.
Guided by his whiskers, the mouse set out to look for Boss. With great difficulty, he finally climbed a log blocking his path.
Balancing on his perch, the mouse clearly saw Boss standing close to a plant with triangular leaves. The scent of the plant was so repulsive he would have sprinted out of the area if not for the shocking scene before him.
"Boss!" he called out with a squeak, but the feline did not even spare him a glance.
The black cat was rubbing itself on the plant with the offensive smell. The cat even chewed on a leaf, releasing an even stronger scent.
After showing such frenzy over the plant, Boss rolled on the ground with glazed eyes and paws tucked close to its body while voicing ecstatic purrs.
The mouse gaped in shock with the sight before him. As if the actions were not offensive enough, the cat even made its way to one of the humans. Tarou had to slap his head with a paw when he saw the direction where the cat was heading.
After studying each man with care, the cat eventually decided that the man with the hat deserved its attention. To his horror, the black cat bumped his head adoringly against one of the questionable humans, purring with each rub.
He couldn't help but cringe.
The cat scratched the man's trousers gently. Boss even blinked slowly while looking up to the man with eyes as big as saucers.
His eyes burned.
'Boss...'
'He shouldn't have asked Boss about what happened earlier.'
'He was too insensitive.'
'He implied a relationship between the two humans...'
'forcing Boss to mark his territory.'
The mouse couldn't help but place both paws on his head while looking at the black cat.
While a grey mouse felt responsible, a certain black cat felt too ecstatic to care. Mina couldn't explain how she felt after she inhaled the sweet scent in the air. She just had to get closer to it.
While rolling around in glee, she spotted two humans across each other.
A little voice in her head reminded her of something. She is yet to bestow her favor on the victorious human.
Mina approached the man with the hat, placing one paw on his boot. To make sure, he did not misunderstand, she even stood on two paws to inform him of her decision.
The man accepted her favor without complaints. When he avoided her wide eyes, she knew that he was the perfect human for a cat like her.
Pleased with her new servant, Mina placed another paw on his trousers and purred to show her eagerness to have him under her wing.
Still feeling the wave of euphoria, she clung on to him to seal the deal.
This human was her's now. She will not let him go.
Meanwhile, the bandit chief looked at the docile cat clinging on the general's trousers with a confused expression on his face. He saw the general's hat tilt downwards.
His gaze drifted from the general and then to the black cat hugging the man's leg ecstatically. He couldn't help but trail his gaze back to the general's face whose expressions remained concealed under a sedge hat.
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