Cats and Dogs

The training ground was in the northwest corner of the university, right next to the wall.

It was a patch of packed yellow earth, with several wooden posts standing around it. Iron rings were nailed to their tops, hung with wooden swords for training. The ground had been trampled hard, covered in footprints of varying depths and marks left by wooden swords. The air smelled of earth and sweat.

I was sitting in on a swordsmanship class as a family member. The instructor was a human man in his thirties, and he taught basic swordsmanship. It was too simple for a special student, but I needed to learn how swordsmanship was ranked and taught. When Ghislaaine taught me, she never explained why, just said, "All you have to do is cut."

A few beastfolk students were sparring on the other side of the grounds.

Two stood out in particular. One was a silver-haired girl with cat ears, whose mouth hadn't stopped moving since she came in, as if it were spring-loaded. Her tail swished as she talked, and she ended her sentences with "meow." The other was a silver-haired girl with curly hair and dog ears. She was much quieter, leaning against a wooden post and chewing something, probably jerky. Her dog tail swayed lazily behind her.

Silver hair and cat ears, silver curls and dog ears, one ending her sentences with meow and the other with "I say." Those two... no way.

I found myself taking a few extra looks at that dog tail. It was fluffy, with a nicely curved shape, and the rhythm of its swaying behind her somehow made me want to reach out and touch it. People of House Boreas were born with little resistance to beast ears and tails. Even the servants at home were beastfolk.

I took a couple of steps forward and got a good look at their faces.

Three years ago, Rujierd, Rudeus, and I had stayed for a while in Doldia Village in the Great Forest on the Demon Continent as we passed through. There was a little cat-eared girl in the village named Minitona, and a dog-eared one named Tersena. I taught them the Human Language, and I also taught Minitona a few sword moves. Minitona had mentioned that she had an older sister named Linia studying at the university, who spoke just like her.

The cat-eared girl in front of me was probably Minitona's sister.

"Are you Linia?" I walked over and asked.

The cat-eared girl turned her head. Her red eyes blinked twice, and then her pupils suddenly contracted from circles into slits.

"Who are you, meow?"

She looked me up and down, her tail standing up warily. She didn't recognize me. That was normal; she had already been at the university when we were on the Demon Continent.

"You're Minitona's sister, right? I stayed in Doldia Village. I taught your sister the Human Language and a few sword moves."

The cat-eared girl's mouth fell open. Her pupils changed from slits back into circles, then contracted again, then widened. They went back and forth several times.

"The red-haired swordswoman Minitona mentioned in her letters, meow?! The Eris who taught Tona swordsmanship, meow?!"

Her tail suddenly puffed up, then began swishing wildly, and she covered the distance between us in a few quick strides.

"You're Big Sis Eris, meow?! Tona mentioned you in her letters, meow! She said you were amazing, meow!"

The dog-eared girl beside her also straightened up and swallowed the jerky in her mouth.

"...Tersena mentioned you too, I say. The red-haired warrior who taught her the Human Language."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Are you Tersena's sister?" I asked.

"Pursena, I say." She walked over slowly, her dog tail wagging much less rapidly than the cat's. "Thank you for taking care of my sister, I say."

Minitona and Tersena's sisters. Those two little girls who learned to speak from me in the village. They were several years older than their sisters, but they spoke exactly the same way. One went meow this and meow that, and the other added "I say" to every sentence.

"How did you two end up here?"

"We were sent to the university, meow! The elders of our tribe told Pursena and me, 'Go learn something before you come back,' meow!" Linia rattled on. "What about you, Big Sis Eris, meow? What are you doing here, meow?"

"I'm sitting in on swordsmanship classes. My husband goes to school here."

"Husband?!" Linia's cat ears shot straight up. "You're married, Big Sis Eris, meow?!"

"Yeah."

"To who, meow?!"

"Rudeus."

Linia and Pursena exchanged a look. Pursena tilted her head, and her dog ears twitched.

"The boy Minitona mentioned in her letters, I say? The one who was with you, Big Sis Eris?"

"That's right."

Back then, Minitona was always pestering Rudeus to tell her stories, while Tersena listened quietly beside them. It was pretty funny to think about now. The little sisters were much cuter than the older ones.

"Meow! The boy Tona wrote about became your husband, Big Sis Eris, meow!" Linia circled around me. "Tona said you were super cool, Big Sis Eris, meow! You really do have an amazing presence in person, meow!"

"You talk just as much as your sister."

"I was born this way, meow! I can't change it, meow!"

Pursena pulled a fresh strip of jerky from her pocket and held it between her teeth. "You still use a sword, Big Sis Eris, I say?" she asked indistinctly.

"Yeah."

"Then let's have a match, I say."

Her tone was as flat as if she were saying, "Nice weather today." But she had already taken a wooden training sword from a post and was holding it in her hand.

Linia's eyes lit up. "Yeah, yeah, meow! Have a match, meow! Pursena's gotten really strong lately, meow. She's beaten lots of people at the university, meow!"

I took the wooden sword off my shoulder and stepped into the middle of the grounds.

Back then, Minitona had held a wooden sword like it was a broom, but her sister looked like she knew what she was doing. She'd probably gotten into plenty of fights at the university. Pursena's grip on the sword was much steadier than it had been when she was leaning against the post, her center of gravity lowered and her back leg slightly bent. It was a beastfolk warrior's standard opening stance.

Pursena moved first.

She was faster than I'd expected. Her wooden sword slashed diagonally upward from the lower right, carrying an unreasonable amount of brute force. Against an ordinary student, that blow probably would have been enough. An average person's reactions simply couldn't keep up.

Against me, though? Hah, it was nothing.

I turned sideways, letting her sword sweep past the tip of my nose. The wind from the blade lifted the red hair over my forehead.

Then I smacked my wooden sword sideways against her forearm.

Arm Slash. The most basic introductory move of the Sword God Style, striking an opponent's forearm to take them out of the fight. When Ghislaine taught it to me, she said it was a move "even an idiot could use."

Pursena's fingers went numb. The wooden sword flew from her hand, spun twice in the air, and stuck into the dirt at the edge of the grounds.

She dropped to one knee, her right hand clutching her left arm, her red eyes wide.

Fast. Much faster than Minitona had been back then. But it still wasn't enough. If it were Rudeus, he'd definitely be faster. He managed it every time, so I had to get stronger. Strong enough that he wouldn't need to stand in front of me.

"...So fast, I say."

I slung the wooden sword back over my shoulder and turned to Linia.

"What about you?"

Linia's cat ears were already standing like a pair of flagpoles, and her tail had puffed up into a brush. She backed away two steps, muttering things like, "How did Pursena lose in one move, meow?" and "That's not fair, meow."

"Are you coming or not?" I asked.

"N-no, I'm not, meow!" She turned and ran.

Cats really were fast when they ran away.

I didn't chase her. I just took the wooden sword off my shoulder, pointed its tip forward, and leaned slightly forward.

Killing intent.

Sword Saint Rank killing intent didn't require an actual swing of the sword. Its sheer force alone could make the legs of swordsmen below Advanced Rank go weak. Ghislaine had used it on me before. The first time I experienced it, I'd landed right on my backside. Now it was my turn to use it.

Linia's feet suddenly stopped. Then her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground with a thud.

"Nnya... I can't move, meow..."

Her cat tail was pressed tightly between her legs, her whole body curled into a ball, her silver cat ears drooping to either side of her head.

I withdrew my killing intent, walked over, and held out my hand to her.

"We'll do this again next time."

Linia looked up at me for two seconds. Then she reached out a clawlike hand and took mine.

"...You're so scary, Big Sis Eris, meow."

"You'll get used to it."

Pursena got up and went over to pull her wooden sword out of the ground, her left arm still trembling slightly.

"Big Sis Eris, I won't lose next time, I say."

"Your opening stance has too big a flaw. You lean too far forward."

"...I'll work on it, I say." She nodded seriously, her dog ears swaying with the motion.

These two, one talked enough to drown a person and the other was as quiet as a rock, but they looked like they knew how to fight. They were much stronger than their little sisters, even though they couldn't take a second move either.

After training, I washed my face at the well beside the grounds.

My hair was wet and stuck to my neck, water dripping from its ends. A patch on the back of my training clothes was soaked with sweat, and the breeze made it chilly.

"That was an impressive sparring match."

And getting to be so close to such cute beastfolk girls was really great! If I could keep one... no! Keeping both of them would be even better!! I'll ask Rudeus later!

The voice came from behind me. I turned around. It was the swordsmanship instructor, with a neatly trimmed short beard and a university instructor's uniform, a wooden sword tucked at his waist.

"Thank you." I wiped my face, my tone flat.

"Is your swordsmanship the Sword God Style?"

"Yeah."

"But some of your moves don't quite follow the standard Sword God Style patterns. The way you release your killing intent... is a little different." He hesitated. "What kind of real combat have you experienced?"

I didn't answer.

Three years on the Demon Continent, the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw, the Teleportation Labyrinth, the Hydra.

Those weren't things I could explain in a single sentence.

"Nothing special."

I hung the wooden sword back on the post and turned toward the university gates.

Rudeus would be in the research room until late. On the way back, I'd stop by the market and see if they had any fresh fish. Aisha's fish stew was pretty good. The last batch had tasted too bland, though, so I'd have to tell her to add more salt.

"That's what I'll do."