It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 102

Dad.

It was the first time I had called Jackal that in front of others. I hadn’t even called Karis ‘Mom’ before.

When I was temporarily adopted, they both told me to use whatever term felt comfortable.

I had been comfortable calling them Jackal and Karis for over ten years, so suddenly calling him ‘Dad’ now, at the end of my temporary adoption, felt a bit strange.

But surprisingly, I didn’t feel like I had made a mistake.

The only thing that bothered me was the thought of Icarus, my real dad.

But Jackal was my temporary dad, and he had played that role wonderfully since I first arrived at the Gridwolf mansion.

‘He even generously shares his fur every birthday.’

Looking back, Sir Elliot was just telling his friends to introduce Jackal as my temporary father.

He seemed a little surprised when I called Jackal ‘Dad,’ but he didn’t seem to think he had misheard me.

‘…But looking at his wolf ears, it seems like Jackal likes it too.’

His wolf ears twitched slightly, like Theo and Deon after a round of frisbee.

I didn’t know Jackal could make such a kind face. He was always kind, but his expression was usually stern.

“Kitty’s dad, Jackal Gridwolf.”

Jackal said as he was introduced, shaking hands with each of the cats in the carriage.

The word ‘temporary’ didn’t come up.

By the time he finished shaking hands, the atmosphere inside the carriage was very cozy.

“Then I’ll see you at the food storage.”

“No, we’re almost there, so I’d like to get out and walk a bit.”

“Then I’ll wait outside.”

Jackal stepped out of the carriage. The cats’ eyes sparkled as they meowed.

“Kitty, you’re not scared of wolves? Amazing!”

“I’ve been with them for ten years.”

“I can’t believe I actually got to see Jackal Gridwolf in person.”

“He’s a good person.”

“Yeah, he seems to love you very much.”

So it seemed to others too.

I felt a strange tickle on my face, so I quickly got out of the carriage. I wanted to look around before arriving at the food storage anyway.

My cat friends led the way, explaining everything, and Jackal stayed close by my side as we walked.

“Soft Paw, that’s where we used to fish with our tails. Remember?”

It had already been ten years since I was exiled from the cat territory, but surprisingly, I remembered everything as they explained it.

Even though time had passed and things had changed, some things remained the same.

‘So this is what it feels like to return home.’

It was a happy thing to have memories to reminisce about with every step I took.

As we approached the food storage that Jerian had abandoned, Jackal spoke.

“Kitty, you don’t look so good for someone who’s happy.”

“Ah.”

Could he see the traces of my sobbing from last night because of Ethan? I didn’t want to explain the reason, so I rolled my eyes. Jackal gently pulled on my cheek.

“A daddy wolf knows everything.”

He must really like the title that had slipped out.

“If you need comfort, you can always hug me and act spoiled.”

“I’m an adult now, you know?”

“My arms are wide so I can hug you even after you’ve grown up.”

What a kind wolf.

I wrapped my arms around one of Jackal’s arms. He was so sturdy that I ended up hanging off him as we walked.

“Even though my temporary adoption is coming to an end, you’re always so kind to me.”

“……”

His magnificent golden eyes gazed at me with a somewhat mournful light.

Theo, Deon, and Karis had all looked at me like that whenever I talked about what would happen after my temporary adoption ended.

“Kitty. Are you going to settle in the cat territory when your temporary adoption ends? You have friends here, and blood relatives… or so I’ve heard.”

It seemed Sir Elliot had finished his report in the meantime. I answered honestly.

“It wouldn’t be bad to do that, but I’d like to take some more time to think about it for now.”

“Alright. There’s still plenty of time left until your temporary adoption ends.”

“Plenty of time…”

Just as I was about to correct him, saying that there was only about a year left, Jackal tightened his arm around me, lifting my feet off the ground.

He was silencing me like this.

I chuckled and jumped a few more times before leaning against his sturdy arm. Jackal was always dependable.

“I’m a little hungry right now.”

“I asked the cats to prepare some food for you. It would be nice to have a meal together.”

“Yay! Really?”

Jackal led me and my friends somewhere.

Wolf knights wearing bandanas were busily cooking in a large open space near the food storage.

Some cats were giving the wolves recipes.

‘He prepared food for the cat shifters for me.’

I felt a lump in my throat at Jackal’s consideration.

“Thank you, Jackal.”

“Eat as much as you want, Kitty.”

“Yes!”

My friends, who had regained their strength, returned to their human forms. It was very enjoyable to talk and eat with them at the same table.

If I settled in the cat territory after my temporary adoption ended, maybe I could have times like this occasionally, even if not every day.

And… could I call Karis ‘Mom’ before my temporary adoption ended?

Calling Jackal ‘Dad’ and calling Karis ‘Mom’ were completely different issues.

‘Oh dear. I’ve got another worry.’

I tried to push away the 잡념들 [japnyumdeul – idle thoughts] and continued eating and talking.

Ethan and Catherine were watching me from afar.

* * *

“Go get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Thank you so much, Soft Paw!”

After the meal, Kitty’s friends returned home. They had been captured and experimented on by Jerian, so their families must have been very worried.

For now, I would let them rest comfortably at home, and then tomorrow, when the sun rose, I would begin investigating Jerian’s experiments.

‘So I need to focus on my work.’

Kitty tried not to look at Ethan as she grabbed her bow.

Elliot, Jackal, Clide, and Ethan were all standing in front of the food storage.

Kitty slipped between the large Elliot and Jackal. Lifting her chin slightly, she felt like she had become a very strong shifter.

“Miss, did you enjoy your dessert?”

Hushka, who was a little behind, treated her like a child, which slightly ruined the mood.

“Yes. I didn’t know you would prepare cat pudding. It was so melty.”

“It was worth preparing the special recipe. I’ll pass it on to the Gridwolf kitchen.”

“Ah.”

Now I can eat cat pudding to my heart’s content.

Kitty smoothed down her ears, which had perked up with satisfaction, and shifted her gaze. A group of cats were unconscious in cages.

As Kitty gripped her bow tightly and headed towards them, Jackal sighed and said,

“Jerian used Bluemoon.”

“He seemed to have no qualms about doing bad things.”

Zhiing—

Magic gathered in Soft Paw’s hand holding the bow. Now that she had inherited her mother’s keepsake, she could gather magic much faster.

‘Could it be that Jackal couldn’t kill the cats because he was thinking of me?’

It wouldn’t have been easy to inflict minimal damage on the crazed cats to knock them unconscious.

“Thank you, Jackal. It must have been hard.”

Jackal slightly rolled up his sleeve and looked down at his forearm, which was covered in cat scratches.

“When you were little and we played tag, it was worse than this.”

I felt very sorry when I thought about how the knights who had dealt with the cats must have had just as many scratches on their forearms.

Kitty decided that she needed to apply medicine to Jackal and then focused her mind. Clear magic rippled out like concentric circles, covering the unconscious cats.

The clear magic cleanly removed the madness of Bluemoon.

The cats stretched out more comfortably.

“Please release them carefully when they wake up.”

“I will.”

“Then now…”

Kitty shifted her gaze to the huge building in front of her. There was no shifter living in the cat territory who didn’t know this building.

Jerian’s food storage.

Just thinking about the time she had spent there made her frown.

“After several checks, we found no explosion magic or surveillance magic. However, faint magic is leaking from somewhere underground.”

Ben, Clide’s aide, reported. Clide scratched his head.

“It must be a signal from the surviving fox shifters.”

Jerian didn’t seem to have left nicely. We had to rescue them as soon as possible.

“Then let’s go in.”

Under Jackal’s command, everyone moved in an orderly fashion.

Hushka and Welsh mobilized merchants to secure all of Jerian’s accounting records and various documents.

The remaining members carefully searched for anyone left in the food storage and were busy looking for the entrance to the underground laboratory.

“You have to be careful because there’s Bluemoon’s magic left everywhere.”

Kitty walked around among the people, purifying the madness that Jerian had left behind.

He had prepared a refuge and a way to escape in advance, but he didn’t expect to leave so hastily, so Jerian left quite a few things behind.

‘This place hasn’t changed much since then.’

The interior was still luxurious according to his taste, and the office was full of various luxury goods.

Kitty was appalled to see twenty cat brushes of different colors.

It was hard to tell whether it was an office desk or a salon for grooming fur.

‘He makes the cats work and then spends the money all by himself.’

While giving out rations the size of rat droppings.

Kitty slammed the desk with Soft Paw. Then, there was a strange sound from the wooden top.

Clatter—

Clearly a sound that a mechanical device would make. Clide, who had rushed over after Kitty called him, narrowed his eyes.

“This is a magical device. How did you find it?”

“Cats have excellent intuition.”

It was a lucky guess, but Kitty answered shamelessly.

Clide chuckled and unlocked the mechanical device. It was a highly advanced magic circle designed to only work when Jerian’s hand touched it.

“I was knocking on the floor from the first floor, thinking it was an underground laboratory, but he hid the entrance on the third floor.”

As he wielded his magic, a narrow spiral staircase appeared that only one adult could use.

The fox shifters, sensing the leaking magic, flocked like clouds.

“Clide, there’s definitely…”

Ben trailed off.

If Clide came into close contact with fox shifters with such strong magic, Clide’s mana core would definitely be completed.

‘If that happens, he’ll have to leave the Gridwolf mansion.’

Sure enough, complex emotions flickered in Clide’s eyes.