The Ancestor's Grand Office

"I never understood why the clan placed so much importance on a talking cat that it even alarmed the Ancestor." Ding Dang Ear chewed on who knew which Holly Leaf as it prattled on to its companion.

Thick sap slowly dripped from the corners of its mouth, staining its whiskers a glossy green.

It had eaten so many leaves that it had stripped bare the side of the holly tree nearest to it. Its bluish-brown branches were exposed to the air, naked and ugly. The bees in charge of receiving guests had long since given up adding honeydew to its leaves. They merely buzzed over from time to time and glared at it viciously.

Of course, that level of disdain and disgust posed no pressure whatsoever to a certain thick-skinned fellow. It even had the leisure to eye the holly tree's thin branches, wondering whether it should pull one off to gnaw on. But after the bees displayed their stingers, the mouse in the Green Vest wisely abandoned the idea.

"...I'm saying, buddy, this is the Magic World, right?" Ding Dang Ear stroked its whiskers and wiped away the bright green sap before turning to Ding Dong Ear and adding bluntly, "The Magic World. What's so strange about a talking cat? We're mice, and we can talk too!"

"Perhaps that's precisely why the elders are paying attention to it." Ding Dong Ear was holding its tail, smoothing its short fur strand by strand as it replied unhurriedly, "After all, once there is a first talking cat, there may be a second or third. Who knows whether a whole group of talking cats will appear a year from now? They're our natural enemies. We must remain vigilant at all times!"

"There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests." Since this involved