Chapter 19 – Older and Younger Brother On the Go
We were running on the road leading to the town, but… we stopped at last.
Did Emma just run at that speed without getting lost on this road, which we usually only took by carriage?
My lungs are gasping for air, I have a *hah* *hah* strange breathing sound, and my sides are unusually painful.
When I was using my sword like a cane to rest my tired legs, my younger brother William, who went ahead a little while ago, totteringly walked closer while holding his side and breathing *hah* *hah* heavily.
“Nii-sama…”
I greet my younger brother with a bitter smile.
“We can’t catch up to her at all. Emma… I hope she is not hurt.”
I wonder what is happening to Emma.
・・・
Half-asleep and half-awake, I felt like I could hear a faint cat’s crying sound. If Emma could hear it too, I don’t know what she would do.
Maybe thinking the same thing, William also opened his room door at the same time.
It looked like the cat sound also reached Emma’s ears as we feared it.
I thought I could make it in time by the time Emma went out of the mansion.
After all, she is only an 11-year-old girl, George has confidence in his physical strength as he always trains. Even so.
I couldn’t catch up with Emma running in the garden.
When we leave the garden and arrive on a straight road, I will speed up steadily.
I was contemplating for a moment whether to take a horse from the mansion to chase her. But I guessed it’s dangerous to ride a horse in the dark. I thought that she wouldn’t be able to keep that speed for too long, but it was me who can’t keep up instead.
・・・
We couldn’t hear the cat’s crying sound anymore.
I look at the forked road in front of me.
Even if I split up with William here, there will be other forked roads ahead.
We can’t pursue her beyond here.
When Emma is too focused on one thing, she causes problems every time, but most of the time, she is followed by George and William.
I thought she will be better when Minato entered, but the attachment toward cats is within Minato. Due to Emma’s concentration and mysterious running ability, it has become impossible for her brothers to follow.
I have to return to the mansion, wake father up, and ask the servants to help search. Whether it’s Emma or Minato, the safety of my precious cute little sister is my highest priority.
“William, let’s give up. For now, go back to the mansion and report to father.”
Even if I got scolded to death, it can’t be helped.
Whether it’s the Tanaka family or Stuart family, father’s doting on his daughter never changes. Somehow, both families tend to only have men in their lineage. Both Emma and Minato are the long-awaited baby girl, so the whole clan takes care of them specially.
“Uhh, nee-sama… At least be safe!”
Even if you scratch your knee like that, our punishment is inevitable. Even so, George and William are both men of the family, and Emma is cute, so they will only complain but still accept the punishment resignedly.
The only one who gets angry at Emma is our mother. I have to get Mother to scold her properly this time.
I turn my heels around and head back to the mansion while dragging my aching leg.
As the moon that had been hiding from earlier comes out and illuminates our way back, it will be easier to search later.
I think that I should return to the mansion as fast as I can, but I can only walk sluggishly as my breathing and my legs are at its limit.
For an instant, I feel something passed by soundlessly.
I feel the wind and put my guard up.
“Nii-sama! William!”
I heard Emma’s voice.
When I looked up, at the end of the road, there were four… big cats that weren’t here before.
It was bigger than the monsters George met during hunting.
Emma is riding on the back of a fluffy white cat.
Princess Mononoke
“Are you Princess Mono**ke!”
(T/N: Princess Mononoke, a Ghibli movie)
I retort instantly.
“Meow”
A black cat approaches me. It’s huge.
“Ni–nii-sama! H-he looks like Koumei-san!”
William points to the calico cat that is coming closer to him and yells.
I see the black cat approaching me to see if it’s really true.
……
……
“Ka-? Kan-chan?!”
“Meow♪”
The black cat meows as if answering.
Wait a moment. Calm down. Koumei-san and Kan-chan are supposed to be dead.
I have to look more closely.
……
……
The cat… Emma’s riding is… Chou-chan?
……
Another one with a large spider on his back is… Ryuu-chan?
Huh?
“Our cats reincarnated too!”
Emma reports with a 120% smile.
” “Uehhh?!” “
I’m in sync with William.
These huge cats are our cats?
Whether it’s silkworms, spider, why do creatures in this world grow huge so easily?!
My brain can’t catch up to process this information.
Kan-chan bite my waist playfully from behind.
Or so I was thinking, it lifts me.
“Woah!”
When I look at William, he is also being lifted by Koumei-san the same way. It’s a position like carrying a kitten.
Emma looks at the eastern sky and speaks.
“We’ll talk more about it later! It’s going to be dawn soon!”
With Emma at the lead, we are taken to the mansion in an instant, considering how we came. ‘Why are we the only ones being roughly treated!’ William complains.
‘Maybe because other than Chou-chan, everyone has short fur that’s hard to hold on to.’
When Emma says that, Ryuu-chan, who isn’t carrying anyone, answers with a meow. It’s a little strange that we can have a conversation.
・・・
When we entered the mansion, the four cats carried us until Emma’s room soundlessly.
As the three siblings are utterly exhausted, they fell asleep side by side in Emma’s bed just like that.
Surrounded by four huge cats and one big spider.
I had a fluffy dream while being happily surrounded by fluffy things.
The next morning, we are woken by the scream of Martha, who came to wake Emma.
Eventually, we confessed and got scolded, but when our parents saw the cats, they, especially Father, were happy at this reunion while crying.
・・・
After being defeated by Kan-chan, the men who attacked Emma were wrapped in spider’s thread and is lying in the park.
I heard that the sentence for those men is three times heavier than usual because they attack Emma in addition to trespassing the territory.
After that, the cats are actively participating in monster hunting, and our father Leonard change the Stuart count family crest to a cat design.
Dresses with the Stuart family crest on its lining fly off the shelves, and the four cats are acting as our Maneki-neko for a prosperous business.
(T/N: Maneki-neko or Beckoning Cat is believed to bring customers or bring prosperity to the business. Commonly put at the store door or cashier.)
