「猫又との遭遇」

The traveler bid farewell to the boy and walked into the deep parts of the forest alone. It was a beautiful and dynamic forest, with lots of sounds mad
e by insects and birds. He saw no monster but lots of man-made traps in bushes and roadside. They seemed to be set up to catch animals.
Ordinary villagers seldom came to the forest, but hunters saw that as an opportunity to catch more preys.
As the traveler squatted down to check the traps, he heard something sharp piercing through the air behind him. He quickly rolled away, and saw a few b
amboos canes stuck into the land where he was standing.
He looked up at the direction where the canes came from, and found a pair of red, resentful eyes among the leaves not far away. The pupils had become s
lit in the sunlight. Two long and thick tails hung from the branches and struck the tree trunk occasionally as their owner made warning sounds.
It was a nekomata. These monsters were often described as friendly and kind; many books wrote that they would transform into young girls and approach h
umans. However, this one looked very aggressive for no reason.
The traveler quietly moved a few steps to one side, so he could see the nekomata's hidden body among the leaves. Its right rear foot seemed to be heavi
ly injured. No wonder it was only warning but not attacking.
He thought of the traps along the way. Could this nekomata be those hunters' target?
It wasn't a good time for monsters, especially for those who could transform into girls - they could sell a very good price in underground black market
s. With this in mind, it was not difficult to understand where the nekomata's hostility came from.
"Um, I didn't come to catch you... But you probably won't believe me, will you? Haha..."
The traveler laughed awkwardly as the cat started hissing immediately when he opened his mouth. Seemed it had zero trust in humans.
He quietly took a bean from the sleeve and threw it under the tree while the nekomata wasn't paying attention. It quickly sprouted and grew into a vine
that spiraled upward along the trunk.
To distract the nekomata even further, the traveler took out an amulet he picked up from a trap just now. It had a very ordinary style and looked quite
dated. The embroidered text was difficult to distinguish as the amulet was soaked in blood.
"Do you recognize this?"
When the nekomate saw the amulet, it suddenly went berserk and tried to pounce over with an injured leg. However, the vine entangled it first and slowl
y sent it to the traveler.
"I knew you could..." He flipped the amulet around and thought for a while as his fingers massaged the two embroidered characters. "I shall use it then
. Hope it can make the spell work better."
Holding onto the amulet, he started chanting a complicated, difficult spell. Light red energy started to emit from the nekomata's body and flow into th
e amulet.
Soon, there was only a cat sleeping calmly on the ground. The traveler walked up and tied the amulet on its neck, then gently stroked its head.
After the nekomata was sealed, the vine also retracted and turned into a lovely girl.
"Master, why did you put a seal on it?"
"Right now, it has too much hostility toward humans. Instead of simply telling it that there are good people in the world, I prefer to seal all the bad
memories away and let it re-learn how to live with humans on its own. Nekomatas have a natural affinity with humans."
"But... seals are like honey, they will eventually expire. One day, all the memories will break the seal and come back. What shall we do then?"
"Let's hope that it has enough inner strength to fight the memories by then. Fate can never be predicted."
Still confused, the girl squatted down and patted on the cat's head too. "Welcome to the Mahjong Soul Shrine, little kitty."