Mother Said, "Learn a Trade." (1)
- A family register? What’s that, meow?
"It is a document used to officially register you as a resident of our Lord's Castle. It records things like your age, which village you live in, and what kind of work you do."
Aiden’s tone was polite, but it was so strictly professional that it left the listener wondering whether he was actually being respectful or just going through the motions.
The Cat-folk were no different.
"Are you telling us, the Cat-folk, to enter a system that you humans made up on your own whim?"
A beast-kin with a striped tail stepped forward and growled.
However, Aiden was a civil servant tempered by 21st-century "I pay my taxes, so I'm your boss!"-style nightmare complainants. A little growling, which was neither spitting nor slapping, didn't even leave a scratch on his heart.
'Compared to those complaints, this is practically polite and classy.'
Aiden’s internal "favorability points" for the beast-kin increased by 10.
"That system, sir, is not necessarily a bad thing."
"W-who is your 'sir'!"
"Don't be like that, come over here and listen for a moment. Now, once you're registered in the family register, obligations do arise—like military service or taxes. But being able to use social infrastructure as if it were your own? That’s a bigger deal than you might think."
"Don't come any closer!"
"Yes, yes. I'll explain from here. Our North isn't very developed yet, but life will gradually get better. We’re going to pave roads, build post stations, and run public carriages. Is that all? If a village is attacked from the outside, the center will dispatch troops to protect you, we’ll share a market so supplies are plentiful, we’ll teach you farming and technology, and we’ll even provide education! Oh, and if life gets tough, we offer emergency relief support, and also—."
The Northern residents, who had been tense and clutching their weapons at the appearance of the Cat-folk, felt a bit deflated by Aiden’s attitude.
They had expected a battle to break out at any moment, so hearing about the reasons for the Lord's Castle's existence was, well, unexpected.
But,
'Ah... so that’s why we pay taxes?'
'Now that I hear it, it sounds pretty good.'
'If they do all that for us, what does the Lord live on?'
The hunters, moved by the benefits of the Lord's Castle that they hadn't even known about, were swayed. Most of it was still just a plan, as there wasn't enough money to realize it yet, but they felt as if they were already enjoying all those things. Their shoulders straightened, and a sense of pride began to bloom.
"Ahem! Actually, this hunting competition was hosted by the Lord's Castle, wasn't it?"
"That's right. Our village wasn't registered in the family register until this spring, but after all the residents registered, we were able to use the market. The merchants didn't throw their weight around, either."
"Is that all? They even shared seeds and seedlings we’d never seen before. The officials dispatched from the Lord's Castle even taught us how to grow them!"
"And this meat! They gave us this meat for free because the event ended safely."
The residents chimed in one by one.
Since the Lord's Castle didn't have much money yet and hadn't carried out many projects, it might have looked like "that's that," but the important thing was that the residents realized their increased life satisfaction was the result of the Lord's Castle's administrative projects.
- So, the reason you gave us this meat is because we registered in that family register thing, meow?
The yellow cat, who had been watching silently, twitched its nose as if intrigued.
"To be precise, it is to celebrate the safe conclusion of the monster hunting competition. Of course, the qualification for participating in the competition is that the village must be registered, so it amounts to the same thing."
- Monster hunting? Ah! So you humans were the ones who caught the monsters on purpose, meow!
The yellow cat’s eyes closed in satisfaction, and it began to purr.
- Thanks to that, we finally tore those spider bastards to shreds, meow.
"Ah."
He couldn't know exactly what had happened. But in that moment, Aiden spotted the wounds hidden beneath the yellow cat’s fur.
'Could it be?'
The skin of the dozens of Cat-folk who had revealed themselves was the same.
'These are fresh wounds.'
Come to think of it, they looked quite exhausted. A thick, heavy fatigue that made it seem like they could collapse at any moment. Muscles pushed to their limit were twitching, and the skin under their eyes was dark and sunken.
'I don't know what happened, but it’s clear they had a pretty big battle with those spider things.'
Perhaps their appearance before the humans wasn't just out of curiosity, but to finish the battle. They had been unexpectedly helped by the humans who were disrupting the rear while hunting monsters, but since they didn't know the humans' intentions, they might have come to check.
'If we had been hostile to them—.'
There was no need to look further. The Cat-folk, who weren't human and had never entered the human system, would have likely launched themselves into battle once more with their exhausted bodies.
Thinking that, sweat trickled down Aiden’s spine. Combat was definitely not his specialty.
'Ugh. I want to hurry back to the Lord's Castle and look at some paperwork.'
He made a mental note to add hazard pay for his next business trip.
Still, what he needed to do right now was clear.
"Jamie."
"Yes!"
"Bring all the remaining herbs and bandages."
"Pardon?"
"We need to start relief efforts."
In a disaster situation, you’re supposed to help everyone, whether they’re good citizens or illegal residents.
"Kyaaaack!"
"Stay still! If you mess this up, you might limp for the rest of your life!"
"Grrr-."
"...But is it right to put a splint on a cat like this?"
"Kyaaaaaack!"
As representatives of their respective villages, most of them were capable of basic first aid. Due to the poor state of the territory, they couldn't even dream of expensive medicinal herbs or potions, but to the Cat-folk, who usually just licked their wounds, even simple treatments like cheap herbs, bandages, and splints seemed like miraculous medicine.
- Thank you, human!
The yellow cat, now covered in ointment, spoke in a cheerful voice.
"The ointment is getting tangled in your fur, is that alright? If you transform into a human like other Cat-folk—."
- Ah, I can't do that, meow.
"Pardon?"
- I ate something a while ago that hasn't digested yet, meow. It’s hard to transform until it’s fully digested, meow.
"By any chance, was that 'a while ago' forty years ago?"
At Aiden’s question, the yellow cat blinked its eyes.
- I think that many winters have passed, meow.
The speculation that there was a beast in these mountains that had eaten a spirit herb, and that the beasts had been in conflict with monsters for decades, was about 80 percent correct.
'To be precise, it wasn't a beast, but a Cat-folk. Well, is that roughly the same thing?'
But he shook his head. A beast doesn't add +1 to the population, but Cat-folk do. This was an important issue. Taxes, he needed taxes.
"Then, was the conflict with the monsters over the mine also because of the spirit herb?"
- How did you know, meow?
The yellow cat stopped purring and its golden eyes gleamed.
- That’s ours. If you covet it, it’s war, meow.
"We do not covet it. What we covet is not the spirit herb, but the mine."
- I don't know why you humans like rocks so much, meow.
"We don't have strong teeth or claws like you do, after all."
Clack-!
Perhaps liking Aiden’s glib talk, the yellow cat extended its razor-sharp, dagger-like claws and proudly reflected them in the moonlight.
"We need that mine."
- If you need it, you need it. You don't need permission. The owner of the mine isn't us Cat-folk, anyway.
"I want to make a deal."
- We have nothing to give you humans, meow.
"You have your labor."
If handled well, it was an opportunity to handle the hiring of prison guards and the development of the mining village all at once.
"Become official residents of the North. Our North welcomes you all."
- Meow?
Aiden made a decision. He would definitely bring these cats into the fold of the North. What did it matter if their race or culture was different?
'There are Chinatowns and Koreatowns, so what’s the big deal about a talking cat village?'
A globalized, civilized person of the 21st century doesn't just discriminate against races over things like that.
"It's a home, a home!"
"Nyaaaang!"
One day, when summer had truly begun. The construction of the Cat-folk village was finally finished. The thirty-plus Cat-folk couldn't stop laughing, clearly satisfied with the houses that looked similar to human villages but had a slightly different flair.
"Here is the document stating that the construction payment will be made in spider exoskeletons. You can place your paw print here."
- Meow!
They decided to pay for the twenty or so houses and the large open space with the hard exoskeletons of the spider monsters they had caught earlier. According to the merchants, if processed, they could be used as material for armor.
- Meat! Where is the meat, meow? You said you’d bring it today, meow!
"That's right. So we caught plenty of these walking cow-heads, too."
But what the cats were really waiting for was the meat. Meat raised by humans, dripping with juices and with less of that gamey smell!
"Here it is. Sheep, cow, pig, duck, turkey, chicken... I've brought them all by type. This side is smoked meat that can be kept for a long time. I’ve also brought salt, charcoal, and cooking utensils."
The merchant couldn't stop smiling at the large transaction. The official watching the scene, calculating how much the taxes would be, was also overflowing with happiness. The Cat-folk, having learned the taste of meat, would voluntarily catch monsters in the future, so the taxes would only increase.
"Now, now. Draw it quickly."
"I've already finished the sketch."
Aiden watched the scene from a distance, along with the Lord's Castle's No. 1 promotional artist, who was diligently capturing it in a drawing according to Aiden’s orders.
"You have to draw it so it’s clear that the Cat-folk have entered the North's fold. You know, right?"
"Of course. I won't forget to include the population survey right here next to it."
"Hmm, hmm. Very good. Oh, you there. Hurry up and hold that banner!"
At Aiden’s urging, two low-level officials quickly held up a banner with colorful letters written on white cloth up to their chests.
The words written on the banner:
[The Empire's First: Success in Attracting a Cat-folk Village! The North Opens a New Horizon for Multi-racial Coexistence!]
The achievements of a civil servant must be captured in a photo, as is the custom.
'I can't let someone else steal the work I’ve done.'
Every wage earner is probably like that, but it’s even more so in public office. If I don't show off the work I did myself, it becomes someone else's achievement in an instant. Even if he wasn't greedy for money, Aiden was overflowing with greed for work; having someone else’s name stamped as the representative of a project he had spearheaded was the most unbearable thing in the world.
- Administrative Officer, you’ve come, meow?
"Village Chief, have you been well?"
The yellow cat was the leader of the Cat-folk. It had naturally taken office as the village chief of the Cat-folk village, but Aiden briefly worried about how to arrange the seating if they ever had a village chief meeting later.
- When are the guys who committed crimes and are coming to work in the mine arriving, meow?
"They will arrive soon. The guards will be coming with them, so I would appreciate it if the Cat-folk could keep an eye out so that no one escapes."
- Of course, meow. But are you sure that just for that, you’ll bring two carts of meat every month, meow?
"Considering labor costs, it’s a profitable deal. Haha."
Just as Aiden and the yellow cat were sharing a friendship that transcended species, the prisoners had just been told that the place they would be working was a mine.
"N-no way!"
"A mine! A-a mine!"
There are levels to forced labor. Farming is the easiest. Then comes logging. Salt farms are starting to be called the worst. And the undisputed No. 1 is, of course, the mine. It was only natural that the prisoners who had used tricks to get transferred to the North because they heard substitute labor was possible would be foaming at the mouth at the sound of mining labor.
Meanwhile,
'A mine?'
An old man, his body a wreck from long imprisonment but his eyes still sharp, curled the corners of his mouth crookedly.