A Hundred Gold Coins
"They watched it for days, and it never turned back into a human. So it has to be an ordinary tiger—though they say there's something very special about it."
The words that followed left Bariya speechless, appalled to the bone.
Selling a tiger, bold as anything, in tiger territory?
"If the Caliph found out, he would never let it stand."
The middle-aged man seemed shaken as well. His voice wavered.
"Of course they're selling it behind the Caliph's back. Word has only been passing quietly among the highest ranks of carnivore beastkin who are on bad terms with the tigers. People like us."
"If they're caught, they certainly won't be granted an easy death. Bold of them."
"That's how sure they are the money will be enormous. Land one huge score and run far enough, and you're fine, aren't you?"
"What kind of tiger is it, exactly?"
"I don't know either. That's what makes me even more curious."
The young man's delighted laugh sent heat flaring up Bariya's spine.
These are seriously awful people!
"Well then, it's about time. Let's head to the auction house. Finish the job quickly, and then we'll go look for the wheat-haired girl."
The young man and the middle-aged man left their seats.
Even then, neither of them had the faintest idea that the wheat-haired girl stood within arm's reach.
I'd love to rat every last one of them out to the Caliph.
They had said they were on bad terms with him. If this came to light, surely both sides would be ruined.
The trouble was that she had no way to reach the Caliph right now.
Nothing else for it.
So, for the moment, she would focus on what she could actually do.
Bariya at once began to move with care in the direction the two men had gone—not out toward the edge of the village, but into the heart of the streets. A tiger, the creature she had come to like second only to wildcats, was in danger. She could not pretend she had never heard. Nor could she stand by and watch villains on bad terms with the Caliph get exactly what they wanted.
Tracking the young man's unusually strong pheromone, she bounded from rooftop to rooftop, and stopped above a back alley.
"What's a young lady doing all alone in a place this dangerous?"
"Anyone can see you're from a fine house. Wandering about without a guard—what's the point of that?"
Three or four hulking carnivore beastkin had a woman surrounded, crowding her as if to cow her.
"Here to join the auction, miss?"
"Coming alone. Quite bold of you."
"What were you planning to do if you ran into dangerous people? How about we escort you nicely, all the way to the auction house?"
"It'll only cost a very small service fee."
At the textbook lines of a thug, Bariya's face creased. The young lady looked as if she had money, and they meant to squeeze some out of her.
Bariya snorted and dropped straight onto the biggest man's head. She unsheathed her claws and drove them, without mercy, into his scalp.
"AAAAAGH! What the—crazy! Get this cat off me, now!"
His whole face was drenched in blood. At the scream, his companions scrambled to tear her away. Before those filthy hands could touch her, Bariya pulled her claws free and sprang down in front of the woman.
"Meow."
She cried it with perfect composure. The man whose scalp she had shredded glared at her, huffing and panting.
"Th-that crazy little cat—catch it and kill it!"
Catch me? Don't make me laugh.
Bariya snorted, just about to call on her Authority and put every one of them to sleep.
"It's dangerous!"
The woman she had kept behind her, so the Authority would not catch her up, lunged forward.
"Mrrp!"
Bariya startled. There was no time to stop her.
Whack!
The woman's fist crashed into the face of the man still pouring blood.
Crash!
He flew backward and slammed into the opposite wall.
Bariya froze. The thugs who had been reaching for her froze. Not one of them moved.
Something cracked. Then, with a heavy slump, the man plastered to the wall folded and hit the ground.
"Did he just take one hit and go flying......?"
"A-an Authority? Does she have one?"
The thugs stared at the woman, pale as paper. Bariya was no less stunned.
Whether they stared or not, the woman clenched the fist that had sent a massive carnivore beastkin flying in a single blow.
"Unless you want to be hit again, get out. This instant. I will not chase you."
"F-forgive us!"
Only then realizing the woman was no easy prey, the men hastily hauled their unconscious companion onto their shoulders and fled. They were taking him along even now. So they had a scrap of loyalty after all.
"Hah..."
The woman sighed and turned to Bariya.
Having witnessed that outrageous strength from a whisker's length away, Bariya went rigid all down her spine before she knew it.
"......By any chance, are you Lady Bariya?"
At the woman's form of address, Bariya—who had been hesitating—shifted back into human form at once.
"Hello, Obli."
At the greeting, the woman drew off the robe she wore. A wealth of golden hair spilled down.
Bariya had rushed in, and then stopped to save her, only because she had recognized Obli Glosa.
"Good heavens, it really is you, my lady. You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"
"I'm fine. But how in the world did you recognize me?"
She had been sure Obli would not know her, and had meant only to help and slip quietly away.
I never imagined that Obli was this strong.
Looking at it now, she had not needed help at all.
"The Caliph issued an order to every vassal house to find you, my lady. Your beastkin form matched the one he described, so I asked, just in case."
The Caliph?
Bariya was dazed. She had wondered whether he might look for her, but an order to every vassal house...
"So I came, thinking that if you had been kidnapped, my lady, you might be here. And you truly were."
"Merciful heavens. Thank you."
Obli pressed her hands tightly together, the cry breaking from her.
Kidnapped.
If that was how the Caliph had told it, then he meant to find her no matter what and bring her back. He could have forgotten her entirely, and she would have had no right to mind.
My heart......
It thudded hard against her ribs. She was the one who had turned her back on that place first, and yet here she was, glad of this.
"My lady, come back with me. Everyone is waiting for you."
Obli held out her hand.
To hear that they had not forgotten her—that they were searching—left her honestly, deeply grateful. But if she had meant to return like this, she would never have wounded them and left in the first place.
"......Obli, I have a favor to ask."
She could not lay all of that out for Obli, so she turned the conversation aside.
"They say a tiger is being sold at an underground auction here. I want you to bring the Caliph's people."
"Pardon......? A tiger, at an auction house?"
Obli's face went hard as stone. A tiger beastkin herself, she looked as though she could not swallow her fury.
"Yeah. Not a beastkin—an ordinary tiger, they said. I can't just leave it. We have to find it."
"Understood. I shall send word to the Caliph at once."
"Good. I'm counting on you. I'll go on ahead and start getting the tiger out."
"What? My lady, it is dangerous!"
"It's all right. I'm more capable than you'd think. So hurry, Obli, and go fetch the Caliph's people."
Unlike Obli, Bariya was small enough to slip inside, and if it came to it she could escape with her Authority. Before Obli could catch hold of her, she shifted swiftly into a wildcat and ran.
Obli floundered for a while. Then, seeming to decide it was better to summon the Caliph first, she soon left the spot.
Thank goodness. At least there's one person on my side.
Her heart sat easier than before. And Obli was strong; she would be a great help.
Is this it?
Following the young man's scent, Bariya soon stopped before a building. It was ordinary—neither overly grand nor particularly worn. She had expected something tremendously splendid, hearing it called an auction house. If not for that unusually strong scent, she might never have found the entrance at all, and only wandered the neighborhood.
Whoever that beastkin turns out to be, I'll see him ruined. Call it thanks!
So how do I get in?
The entrance was shut. Knocking would hardly get anyone to open it, and every window was closed. There was nowhere else to slip through. She had just begun to wonder whether she ought to sneak in on someone else's heels.
"What? You're asking if there's a ten-year-old girl here with long wheat-colored hair?"
The building's door banged open, and men with vicious faces stepped out. From their tone and the way they moved, they looked like people who worked at the auction house.
"Too ordinary. Every village has a few children like that. Besides, wheat color is common among tiger beastkin. You won't find her easily."
"For now, just grab anyone similar and send them over. After all, they say if you find that girl in Mariner, they'll pay a hundred gold coins!"
"What? A hundred?"
Greed flooded both men's eyes.
The moment Bariya saw it, a brilliant plan for slipping safely into the auction house flashed through her mind.