Published: September 10, 2025
This is Satou. I've occasionally heard rumors whose true nature differs depending on who you ask, similar to old yokai tales. Usually, it's the case of "seeing the true form reveals it as withered pampas grass," I suppose.
â—‡
"Tama is full of energy!"
Despite being surrounded by hostile catperson tribe villagers, Pochi looked somewhat happy.
"Tama is the only one~?"
"Of course! Tama is the only one in the whole universe!"
Tama protested, and Pochi immediately withdrew his earlier statement.
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
A short-tempered tiger-striped catperson yelled at us.
It was a bit hard to catch, so I mentally adjusted his words.
"Hey, hello. We are—"
"Shut up! Humans, get out of our village at once!"
The tiger-striped catperson was unapproachable.
The catpersons behind him gripped farming tools like hoes and sickles, radiating hostility.
"Uh..."
I didn't think they could harm us, but it seemed better to come back another time.
"Nyu!"
Tama stepped forward and struck a pose as a greeting.
—That was a greeting, right?
"Nyah!"
The catpersons raised their hands like cat paws, stood on one leg, and all said in unison.
Yeah, I had no idea what that meant.
"Nyo!"
"Nyua!"
"Nye!"
"Nyoa!"
"Chea! That’s right!"
After that, they went through a series of incomprehensible gestures—Pochi even joined in midway.
Finally, both sides, drenched in sweat, exchanged a warm handshake.
"Very well. I will allow entry if you are a group who knows the catperson customs."
A catperson who seemed to be the village chief, with a crescent moon pattern on his forehead, said so.
I'd never heard of such customs before.
It seemed Tama had made acquaintances including catpersons in the Labyrinth City, so maybe someone taught them these customs.
"Tama, well done."
"Hehe~ Tama did her best~"
"Good job, Tama."
I rubbed Tama’s head.
"Pochi too! Pochi did his best!"
"Yes~ Support, thanks~?"
Pochi jumped up and down in excitement, so I used the other hand to rub Pochi's head as well.
â—‡
"So, Tama and the others, why did you come to this village?"
The crescent moon catperson asked Tama.
Though “-bou” sounds like a boy’s nickname, in this village, all young children are called “-bou” regardless of gender.
"I'm going to draw the Shrine of the Sacred Beast~?"
"The shrine? Why such a thing?"
"Well, I was asked to~?"
Tama tilted her head slightly.
"Can I draw it?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Thank you~"
Tama sat down with her legs stretched out, took sketching tools from her Fairy Bag, and started drawing the shrine.
Still very skilled as always.
Judging from the shrine’s orientation and the arrangement of the surrounding villages, the Sacred Beast probably resides in the blank area west of here.
Coincidentally, that was also the direction where we saw the black shadow earlier.
"Could that black shadow just now be the Sacred Beast?"
Arisa, who was looking in that direction, said as if she was thinking the same.
"That was the Sacred Beast?!"
A calico male catperson snapped.
"Isn't it?"
"No way that monster is the Sacred Beast!"
"—Even if you say that, we have never seen the monster’s true form nor the Sacred Beast’s form."
I calmed the angry calico boy down.
"What does the Sacred Beast look like?"
"It's amazing! Huge, strong-looking, really incredible!"
The calico boy struggled to express the greatness of the Sacred Beast with his limited vocabulary.
"I get that it's amazing, but what kind of animal does it resemble?"
"That's obvious!"
The calico boy declared challengingly.
"A pure white tiger!"
"A pure white stag!"
At the same time his voice rose, a middle-aged beastman’s voice overlapped.
Turning around, it was a deerman.
"No! It’s a pure white fox spirit!"
Next to the deerman, a foxman woman claimed.
"No! It’s the White Tiger!"
"The noble stag, I say."
"The fox spirit, I tell you!"
The three argued.
"What does this mean? Are there three types of Sacred Beasts?"
Arisa said with a confused face.
"That's possible, but let's deal with this first."
Tama’s ears twitched nervously as she continued drawing the shrine.
We shouldn’t disturb her focus.