Chapter 321: Right of One of Four

———Rizi———

<12: 07 pm>

Damn, why am I the only one not able to sleep easy at night? Sure, this place hasn’t been invaded yet, but that’s just because of what happened yesterday. Should I just play along with that? Maybe I shouldn’t speak on that at all.

‘Well that’s good to know.’ I typed into the group chat. I probably shouldn’t worry them with what happened yesterday, they all probably heard about it at that point. Not to mention they might not believe me about what happened. Maybe Lrem and Idea would, they seem to have some history with danger as well, at least jumping into it proactively and coming out unscathed. That’s the impression I got. One is probably more of a musclehead and the other is the brain.

Even without the whole invasion being intercepted business, there is something weird going on in this town, and that’s one more thing I don’t need them to even needlessly think over.

*Rub* *Rub* *Rub*

“Mhmhm…” Viln continues to mumble to herself while rubbing my fluffy ears and body while I continue chatting with the group. I know I think about this plenty of times, but I really hope no one walks in on this. “So how have your friends been doing so far?”

“They seem to be fine, nothing worth worrying about.” I answered. From all the chatting there is no indication of looming danger. Perhaps if I were to demand a video call I can better ascertain that but I also don’t want to look like such a worrywart. It’d be especially ironic considering I’m the one who went missing for a week from their perspective. Obviously many of them have been gone for longer, but that was during the time where there wasn't any fear of anyone biting it. “Hey, no touching down there.”

“Come on, I already locked the door, no one is gonna see me do that.” She casually said while mindlessly rubbing my body.

“Doors are so easy to break nowadays…” I helplessly pointed out while continuing to chat with this old group of friends. “Are you sure you don’t need to be doing anything else today?”

“What? It’s not like the town is damaged in any way, the amount of casualties is also surprisingly low as well, so not a lot to worry about, surprisingly.” She dismissively said. It’s a good thing she doesn’t use that tone in public, otherwise mutiny would’ve broken out every other day.

“Because of a lucky encounter, or maybe unlucky on the other end is more appropriate.” I pointed out. With such a terrifying ability he clearly thinks he can mow down everyone in his way, but it seems that the idea of there is always a bigger fish never occurs to him during that time.

“Either way, it’s a win for everyone in the alliance. I’d say that is something to celebrate and not stress ourselves over. Isn’t that why you’re talking with your online friends again?” She argued. “Today is the day everyone can relax! I think we all know that things are getting quite desperate for those old folks. We should relax for now to have the energy to deal with that.”

“You’re really letting yourself go today…” I can’t help but to snark at that.

*Ring* *Ring* *Beep*

“What the hell are they calling me for?” Her mood quickly dropped the moment someone started calling her. She obviously can’t refuse as the leader and someone everyone must defer to. A lot of things can be thrown away for her goons to deal with but talking isn’t one of them. “What? A peculiar mousegirl? Is it maybe THAT one? …Seems to match the description? If it’s that one, I told you to not interfere! Why the hell are you talking about this! …Yeah, later.”

“That mouse?” I felt a bit of chill upon digesting what was being said.

“Yeah. The one you have warned me about and became a bit of an urban legend.” She answered as she continued rubbing my body to relax into a puddle.

I didn’t actually expect her to come here, if it’s actually her. That’s an absolutely insanely unlikely thing to happen, and yet it did…

<<< 8 Days ago <<<

———Rizi———

<5: 04 pm>

Hopefully tomorrow’s meeting will go well. There’s a serious chance of an ambush and the like. It might honestly spell disaster for everyone involved.

…This is also probably the last day I should be active online for a while, so maybe I should go chat with the squad while I can, and hopefully those won’t be my last words.

‘Anyone on right now? Been a while since I chatted here.” I typed into the chat group.

‘Hey! It’s been a good while, right?’ Kara is the first to speak up. Pretty rare of her to speak nowadays with all the streaming and being under public scrutiny. A lot of weird things seem to happen around her. ‘What are you online here for today? Weren’t you busy with stuff you can’t talk about?’

‘I have free time as well, you know? It’s not like I’m stuck with a job all day every day.’ I typed back. ‘I’ll be busy for a long while after this, might as well visit for now. I’ll probably forget to post here with how much headache I’ll be in soon.’

‘Is that so? Pretty rare for anyone to have stable jobs nowadays.’ She remarked.

‘Oh Nowcat is online.’ Jack chimed in. ‘What is this about stable jobs?’

‘I never said it was stable…’ I pointed out. ‘It’s important stuff so I’ll be preoccupied for a long time. It’s all that is.’

‘Hopefully nothing dangerous. Those kinda things happen way more often as of late.’ Kara remarked. ‘Not where I live, but just in general.’

‘Yeah, thanks for the reminder.’ Jack typed, no doubt feeling a bit annoyed by Kara’s subtle boasting. Everyone more or less knows her living condition by now, from envious onlookers to her supporters. It’s such a safe place that I don’t think anything short of an army can threaten it. With the current affairs growing more and more violent I don’t see how they can afford to send troops there for… I don’t really know.

‘Anyway, dangerous or no?’ Kara asked.

‘No idea. Shouldn’t be? Or could be?’ I honestly don’t know how it’ll turn out so I can only muster that confused message.

‘What kinda rubbish is that?’ Seemi said. ‘Alright time to pull up the manual again for what to do when you’re in trouble.’

‘We don’t have that.’ Kara pointed out.

‘It’s just one point. Scream loudly in the group chat and someone is gonna bail you out, right?’ She said, probably joking around.

‘Where the heck did you hear that from?’ Jack asked.

‘I dunno some forum somewhere.’ She replied. ‘I mean some of us here have connections, right? Certain someone here has secret connections I bet.’

‘I thought we talk about not pushing the topic further.’ Jack replied.

‘Well it’s just to remind Nowcat that she might find some help here. Maybe.’ Seemi replied.

‘I doubt she needs that as long as she runs away. Those cat legs have some speed to them, right?’ Kara said.

‘Not more than horse legs, I think.’ I replied to that point. Her legs aren’t even actual horse legs just like mine ain’t cat legs. ‘Anyway, I didn’t even say what I was doing, was there anything to worry about?’

‘With those wordings, yes.’ Idea chimed in. ‘Seems like the type that might invite some unexpected players, even.’

‘You mean like those guys?’ Seemi asked. Who are they talking about?

‘Yeah. You know the type. They smell trouble and come in to join in on the bloodshed on one side or take out both. Pretty scary stuff but one could consider yourself fortunate to encounter them.’ Idea explained. Ah, now I see.

It became a rampant rumor as of late. The talk of people with unprecedented power showing up out of thin air and causing a massacre. Not all of them are inhumanely powerful, but they tend to be way above the level of the conflict they’re interrupting. It’s certainly scary, the idea that someone would come in and ruin everything. While the reports on them seem to imply they were fighting against the aggressors specifically, no one can be sure if that’s a guaranteed thing or series of coincidences.

‘It’s not that difficult to deal with. If they’re targeting you, surrender. If they’re not, stop fighting and don’t disrupt them. If it’s the mouse, I hope you don’t make eye contact.’ Lrem suddenly chimed in.

‘The mouse?’ I repeated that part since it seems important.

‘That one mousegirl who seems to slaughter everything in her path. Very few people get a good look at her but she’s insanely strong.’ Lrem explained.

‘Right, that one.’ Idea said, seemingly knowing quite a lot about them as well. ‘Kara why don’t you explain it?’

‘What’s there to say? If you find a mousegirl with a blue dress and red scythe then make sure to not make her interested in you. If that happens make sure to resist or you’ll die.’ That’s… hella scary. ‘Isn’t there a picture of her somewhere on the net? Bring that up and make sure to remember it.’

‘Aside from that what other survival tips should we impart on our dear purple cat?’ Idea asked.

‘Why the hell are you the one saying it? I thought you were the expert!’ Seemi argued.

‘I never declare such a thing.’ Idea replied, which might be true but they are still the clear expert outside of Kara.

‘You sure act like one!’ Seemi pointed out. ‘Also, has anyone here even seen that mousegirl outside of Kara? I bet Kara has seen her.’

‘Who’s to say.’ Idea replied, which makes it sound like they had, but it could’ve been them trolling for all I know. ‘I think just keeping a weather eye out for her is good enough. I don’t think anyone here can comfortably say they can fight off an unknown like that, right?’

‘I sure can’t.’ Jack chimed in. ‘Why isn’t there a comprehensive infographic about her anyway?’

‘Because no one even knows who she is?’ Lrem replied. ‘We know what she looks like, but that’s very little to go off on.’

‘With the power of the internet that feels kinda ridiculous.’ Seemi pointed out.

‘I mean she’s more like an urban legend because of how little sightings she has. The most anyone can ascertain is her general location and that’s it.’ Idea explained. ‘It’s quite convenient for her, but not for us.’

‘I’d rather believe her being the work of government conspiracy than her just being that lucky to evade detection.’ Seemi replied.

‘The world works in quite a mysterious way so I wouldn’t count that out personally.’ They said back. ‘For all we know, she could show up for any of us and this would be a conversation we recalled.’

‘What are you, a fortune teller?’ Seemi said, probably quite annoyed at Idea’s apparent confidence. I don’t even think I’d run into her unless things go horribly wrong, which is obviously something I would rather not let happen in the first place even if I’m not that confident in my own strength to prevent…

>>> Present Time <<<

———Rizi———

<12: 11 pm>

…Why is she coming here when it’s actually peaceful around these parts? Doesn’t that break the pattern? Does she or anyone like her even have a pattern?

“Are you sure this is the right move?” Viln asked as she kept rubbing my fur nonstop.

“It’ll be fine. From what I understand it’s best to not disturb that person even if she is not from here.” I replied. I think I should at least trust those words from Lrem if nothing else. “It’s best to not let our hard work be stifled by being too cautious, that’d be a bad way to go about it.

———Karra———

<12: 20 pm>

“What is Emmie doing there?” I said while staring at the footage in confusion.

“Probably just sightseeing. She found out about the conflicts that happened yesterday with five factions and Terry, so she went to see if there’s anything special or interesting about them.” Wiina answered. “Want me to go reign her in in case your friend gets in trouble?”

“It’ll be fine. Nowcat is probably smart enough to keep our dumb conversation in mind. She’s a… secretary or something?”

“That’s her official role, though I didn’t look too deep into it, as per your instruction.” She replied. “What’s important is her safety, right? Things will get more ugly in the upcoming days, so that should be the main thing you inquire about.”

“I know…” I muttered out loud. “...So what comes next?”

“Well… That just depends on how desperate they’re willing to act.” Wiina answered.