kscans

Chapter 458 - The Cat Queen

Parfait was petting the belly of Snow White, the cat tamed by Orion, the leader of the clan "Cats are God." It was a temptation that Parfait couldn't possibly resist.

Similarly, Trachiyo, whom Parfait had tamed, was having her belly petted by Orion. Rick and Chris, who were present, shared the common impression that Orion's eyes were quite terrifying. In fact, she was on par with Parfait, or perhaps even more so.

They petted them for a good ten minutes, and when they were finally satisfied, they made a gesture of wiping sweat from their brows and, for some reason, shook hands firmly with expressions like athletes praising each other's good fight.

"Snow-chan is adorable."

"Trachiyo-chan was cute too."

Rick, who had been watching the two, called out to Parfait.

"Parfait, since you petted her cat, does that mean it's okay to share my information?"

"Yeah, that was the promise. Oh, sorry, I didn't get your permission."

"No, I didn't think you'd be able to resist that, so it's fine."

Leaving aside what was fine, Parfait got Rick's permission and turned her gaze to Orion.

"Orion-san, I'll say this first, but this is just a prediction, it's not absolute."

"Of course. I got to pet Trachiyo-chan, so I'd like you to think of this as an information exchange. Of course, the information I'll give is just my own prediction and isn't guaranteed to be right, but what do you think?"

For Parfait, it was a welcome offer, and Rick was also quite enthusiastic about the information exchange.

First, he shared the predictions based on the information he had.

The island that had appeared in the sea south of Azuma was likely to be the stage for the event, and the expansion of the counters suggested that some kind of quest would be necessary.

Orion nodded as she listened to Rick's story, impressed, saying, "I see, I see."

"Alright, here's the information I've got. Just like you, Rick-kun, I thought something was up at the Tamer Guild because Sagittarius's Zoo was buzzing."

"You judged it from that too, Orion-san?"

"Yeah. That place is usually pretty quiet unless a new animal is born, you know."

Parfait couldn't hide her surprise at what kind of thought process she had. Normally, just because a real-world foundation was buzzing, it was unthinkable to connect it to an AFO-related prediction.

"But I'm not as good as Rick-kun. I'll have you know, I only figured it out because I've been going to the Zoo for years, okay?"

"Oh? Are you an employee?"

"No way, just a customer. When I look at the animals, I forget all the bad things. It's a good way to relieve stress."

"I totally get that."

Since the Zoo required an entrance fee, Parfait couldn't go casually, but she did go sometimes with the free invitation tickets she got from Maris. She would stay there from opening to closing time.

Orion was similar, but she said that recently, the Zoo had been noisy, and some animals she used to see were gone.

"My favorite has been missing lately. Considering the rotation, it should be there."

Parfait thought that knowing the animals' rotation despite not being an employee was proof of how often she went. Orion had asked a staff member if it was sick, but was told it was doing well and would be back soon.

"This is my prediction, but I think they're going to let real animals use avatars in the next event."

"Avatars for real animals...? So you're saying animals will log in just like players?"

"Probably."

An avatar was one's appearance in the game. Players basically played the game with an appearance scanned from their real-life body. Orion was saying they would do the same for animals.

Parfait wondered how that would affect the animals, but according to Orion, the animals probably wanted to run around freely on the earth, not just inside a colony.

The colonies had limited space, and it was too dangerous on Earth. That left only virtual reality. It was often said that humans also used AFO to exercise freely.

Parfait worried if it would be okay since there were differences between human and animal brains, but she reconsidered, thinking that Diite would never do anything dangerous.

That aside, she wondered why Orion thought that animals would log into the virtual reality.

"Um, why did you think that animals would log in?"

"About that, Parfait-chan, do you know a cat named Siegfried?"

"Huh? I do, but you know her too, Orion-san?"

"She's famous, so I guess you know her too, Parfait-chan."

"...Huh? Famous?"

"The Nyanko Kingdom that was said to exist on the island called Cat Island. The calico cat who reigned as its queen, Siegfried. She's wandering the world looking for allies to rebuild her country, which was destroyed by the Wanko Empire."

"...What is that?"

"Oh? You don't know? It's information you can find anywhere if you do tamer-related quests. An island inhabited only by cats, commonly known as Cat Island. There was a kingdom there called the Nyanko Kingdom. The queen there was the calico cat Siegfried."

The Siegfried that Parfait knew was the type to be blissfully happy eating the chopped tuna nekomanma her father made. And to look extremely tired after being petted all over by her mother.

No matter how she thought about it, she wasn't a cat queen, though it was true that her appearance as she hogged the sunniest spot in the shop was not an exaggeration to call queenly. But that was a real-world story, not an AFO story.

Parfait's face was in a state of mental shutdown, but Orion continued.

"That's just the game's setting, but there's a story that the cat Siegfried is logged in."

"A cat is logged in?"

"Right. A real cat is logged in, just like us. I've never met her, but apparently a Named Monster named Siegfried sometimes walks around town, and my clan members said her movements are too realistic to be an AI's actions. If you try to tame her, a Tame Counter activates, and you'll receive a powerful debuff effect for a long time unless you offer food as tribute... just as you'd expect from a queen!"

A debuff. It was a weakening effect that significantly reduced stats like STR and MAG, and apparently, the monster Siegfried used it. And in the form of a counter to taming attempts.

Not just Parfait, but Chris and Rick, who knew the real Siegfried, also had complex expressions. Naming a female cat Siegfried was Maris's sense, and it was unlikely there was another. Thus, they concluded it was the same cat.

However, Parfait had never heard that Siegfried was playing AFO. She only recognized her as a mother of many kittens and Maris's partner.

"You don't believe me, do you? Of course, not all of it is probably true, but there are rumors like that. It's one of the Seven Wonders of AFO!"

"Ah, no, it's not that I don't believe you... It's just, it's a very familiar story."

"Is that so? Well, anyway, that's why I thought a tamer-related event would be related to the Nyanko Kingdom. And I thought the southern island Rick-kun mentioned might be Cat Island. Considering those things and the situation at the Zoo, I thought it might be an event where real animals log in like Siegfried. It's all just my imagination, though."

Parfait nodded, saying "I see." It was the first time she'd heard about the Nyanko Kingdom or the Siegfried in AFO, but when the information was laid out like that, it seemed like a possibility.

"What do you think, Chris-chan, Rick-kun?"

"So Sieg was the queen of a country called the Nyanko Kingdom. Then we have no choice but to help rebuild her country."

"Because this information comes from Orion-san, who loves animals, there are many parts that can be trusted. It's possible that a quest to enter the Nyanko Kingdom will occur. I still think we should complete tamer-related quests."

Chris aside, Parfait thought it was surreal for Rick to say "Nyanko Kingdom" with a serious face, but now that he mentioned it, she also thought that possibility was high. Quests to get permission to enter a specific place were common, so what Rick was saying felt right.

"Then let's stick to the original plan and complete a lot of tamer-related quests."

Chris and Rick agreed with Parfait.

At that, Orion smiled.

"If you'd like, why don't you do them with our clan?"

"Huh? With your clan, Orion-san?"

"Yeah, that's right. Our clan is pretty big, but a lot of the players just dote on their pets, so we could really use some proper combat strength. We'd be happy if you could cooperate with us for the event too... Look, Snow is saying so too, you know?"

After Orion said that, Snow White once again showed its belly on the table and struck a pose, tilting its head.

Parfait managed to endure it somehow, but the moment Rick said, "I think that's a good idea," Parfait was petting Snow White's belly.

And so, the alliance between the clan "Mont Blanc" and "Cats are God" was decided.