The Tanaka Family Reincarnates - Chapter 14
Chapter 14 – A Huge Cat
“As always… it’s so big…”
The three siblings had come to Joshua’s house.
The mansion of Palace’s most wealthy merchant was of a size and level of luxury that even the feudal lord’s mansion couldn’t match.
The drawing-room they passed through was inside a mansion, and the tea served was marked with the Royal Emblem of the King’s Household.
“I have kept you waiting! Emma-sama!”
Joshua entered in high spirits and gracefully pushed William, who was sitting next to Emma, aside to sit.
“Joshua. This black tea is delicious.”
Emma laughed, unperturbed, as she drank her third cup of tea.
“That’s a relief! I will prepare it as a souvenir for you.”
Joshua gestured at the maid with a smile.
“Joshua, we are here today for a request.”
Emma stared at Joshua intently.
“I accept!” answered Joshua with a bright smile.
“You haven’t heard the request, you know?”
William retorted in exasperation.
“There is no way I can refuse a request from Emma-sama!”
Emma’s request is a reward to Joshua. After he witnessed Emma’s popularity at the last tea party, he realized he couldn’t take it slowly or be stingy with his efforts to woo her.
“A cat?”
After listening to Emma’s request briefly, Joshua was surprised.
“So you like cats? Emma-sama? … I will give one to you as a present right away! How many would you like?”
“Joshua… What we requested is… to introduce us to a merchant who deals with cats…”
George also retorted in exasperation. They couldn’t have their father’s birthday present be given by Joshua.
“But… one cat price can buy a house, you know?”
“Ughh”
Joshua could afford it, but it would be too expensive for the three siblings.
“There are no businesses in Palace that deal in the cat trade, so what with the communications and organizing the transportation, would there be enough time?”
In reality, it would be a challenge. The concept of keeping a cat in a rural area like Palace was unheard of, because right now, cats were luxury goods for nobles who didn’t need to worry about food, monsters, or money.
“Even though before (in our past lives), we could just adopt a stray cat…”
Emma missed her past life. Especially since their parent’s house was in the countryside, there were many stray cats, and before she realized it, those cats had already become her pets[1]. Even though now, too, they were in the countryside, the lack of cats here was a severe problem for the Stuart family.
[T/N 1: Here, it is implied that Emma/Minato would feed stray cats food, which meant they returned to the house regularly. So they became
‘pets’ without her noticing.]
A world without cats is like bubble tea without the tapioca pearls.
“Stray cats… Ah! There’s a rumor about stray cats.”
Joshua started talking more about it.
“A few years ago in the Skyte territory, there were a series of cat sightings. It was said that they had escaped from a mansion somewhere, but nobody claimed to be the owner. It was even said that the cats went hunting for monsters in groups?”
“But… cats are valuable, wouldn’t they be captured by someone?”
There was no way that a cat that was worth a house would be left alone. The sale of one was likely to make more money than finding buried treasure or winning the jackpot in a gambling game.
“It seems that the cat was particularly huge and nimble, so no one could catch it.”
A cat that could hunt monsters could surely avoid getting caught by humans.
“A huge… cat.”
Emma’s eyes shone.
A huge cat… What a wonderful phrase.
I want to enjoy the fluffy fur.
“Skyte territory… is very far, nee-sama.”
William saw Emma’s shining eyes and reminded her.
For the time being, the siblings asked Joshua to get them a cat catalog, then went home.
The three siblings were never given pocket money. Instead, if there was something they wanted, they would ask for it from their father, so he would buy it, and happily, too. But this was different.
The three discussed ways to raise money on the carriage returning home, but couldn’t come up with a good idea.