It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 89

“Today, we take the first step to repay the humiliation of decades ago!”

In the center of the training grounds, Lord Hogwood declared in a voice as large and booming as his physique.

Woof woof woof—!

The wolves responded with howls of agreement to Lord Hogwood’s statement. Their voices were filled with deep anger and resentment towards the leopards.

I felt uneasy thinking about the memorial stone filled with the names of the wolves who had suffered at the hands of the leopards.

Meowww!

I added a howl, wishing them a safe campaign. Lord Jackal, standing next to me, gently placed his hand on my head.

“Excellent howl.”

“Do you think Lord Hogwood will think so too?”

“He certainly will.”

Lady Caris was deep in thought with her arms crossed. Judging by her noticeably darkening expression, she seemed to be recalling the day she buried Deel once again.

I quietly approached her and took her hand.

Squish—

“Ah……”

“Lady Caris, your hands are cold.”

Lady Caris smiled bitterly and gently touched my cheek.

“Thank you, little one.”

Soon, Lord Hogwood and the knights charged towards the leopard territory, kicking up dust.

Half of them were black-furred wolves brought by Lord Hogwood, and the other half were gray-furred wolves from Gridwolf.

In addition, a fox squad under Cleed’s command followed to provide magical support.

‘The biggest variable in the fight against the leopards is Bluemoon.’

Even if Cleed gave them an item imbued with my mana, as he had glimpsed in the Mana Record, it was only a temporary measure.

Therefore, the meeting that Gridwolf would hold with the merchants from now on was very important.

* * *

“Lord Jackal and Lady Caris will be here soon.”

After moving the location to the conference room, Sir Elliot guided us. The heads of the merchant guilds responded with smiles, indicating they were willing to wait as long as necessary.

Surprisingly, all the guild leaders Hashka brought were dog beastmen. Moreover, Lord Jackal and Lady Caris said that they were all trustworthy individuals.

Well, no merchant would do anything to displease the wolves, whose power had grown even stronger through the alliance.

As I peeked at the unfamiliar faces, Hashka noticed me and excused himself from the guild leaders.

“Just a moment. It seems the young lady is looking for me.”

“Lord Hashka, you wouldn’t allow us to bring the young lady over here to talk with us, would you?”

“Haha! Of course not, you guys.”

Hashka spoke in a joking manner, but there was a hint of firmness in his tone.

The younger and less influential guild leaders whimpered at the dignified voice.

“You’re really too much.”

Although not as much as the wolves, the dog beastmen seemed to care a lot about power and hierarchy.

After all, if they incurred the displeasure of Hashka, who controlled the largest merchant guild, it could cause problems for their future business.

As I was thinking about this near the dog beastmen who were exchanging stories about running their guilds, I felt like I had become a great guild leader myself.

“Young lady, did you come to see me?”

Hashka, who had approached me, greeted me warmly as if he had never shown his authority so firmly.

The warm smile that Grandpa used to give when looking at his grandchildren could be seen on his face as well.

‘Ethan said that a great merchant must be able to play different roles depending on the person.’

In that sense, Hashka was truly a great merchant.

I hadn’t yet abandoned my ambition to start a business in the future and accumulate more wealth than Jerian, so I wanted to earn some points.

“Lord Hashka, I’m glad to see you again. The merchants you brought must all be as skilled as you, right?”

I used the ultimate survival strategy of a small animal after a long time. Hashka smiled so deeply that wrinkles formed around his eyes.

“Indeed. I am overwhelmed that you think so highly of my colleagues. As expected, the young lady has a great eye.”

Hashka also showed his merchant-like smoothness towards me.

As we were flattering each other, I could feel that both of us wanted today’s meeting to be favorable to each other.

Soon, Lord Jackal and Lady Caris entered, and we began to discuss how to use the merchant guilds to put pressure on Jerian.

Lady Caris was the first to speak.

“Let me say this in advance, you better not think about changing your mind in the middle.”

A voice filled with the subtle threat characteristic of wolves.

“Besides, Jerian doesn’t get along well with our Kitty here either.”

Even though it was temporary, Lady Caris was saying that I was also a member of Gridwolf.

As if reminded of how much wolves cherish their families, the guild leaders nodded calmly.

Since merchants are merchants who calculate profits, they would not be able to betray the wolves.

The territories of Gridwolf and Wibis spanned across the continent, and the wolves’ consumption power was enormous.

In addition, the rabbit and bear beastmen had officially declared that they would join forces with the wolf beastmen.

No merchant guild would risk losing a large number of customers by being targeted by the wolves.

“Who would dare to betray Gridwolf?”

“Those with such narrow vision would not have been invited to this meeting in the first place.”

The guild leaders quickly tried to please Gridwolf. Thanks to that, we were able to get to the point quickly.

“Gridwolf hopes that by gaining the cooperation of the merchant guilds, we can stop Jerian’s actions without bloodshed.”

Lord Jackal said in a heavy voice. When he said ‘bloodshed,’ one of the dog beastmen with a round, puffy hairstyle swallowed hard.

“D, does that mean we should cut off the food supply immediately?”

“We have been trading with Jerian because of geographical convenience and steady demand, not because we intended to rebel against Lord Jackal.”

……It was a scary voice that was easy enough to misunderstand in that way.

In my eyes, Lord Jackal seemed a little embarrassed, but everyone was frozen and avoided eye contact, terrified.

Hashka, the most daring of the guild leaders, replied in a polite voice.

“If we cut off the food supply recklessly, the damage will go to other cats, not Jerian. These days, the weather is cold, so the cat territory is at its most barren.”

The merchants who frequented the cat territory agreed.

“I know. Such an extreme method has more side effects.”

Lord Jackal also agreed. Everyone had the idea that the food supply problem had to be resolved in order to weaken Jerian’s control over the cats.

‘If it’s Jerian, he’ll ignore the poor cat beastmen the moment the food supply is cut off.’

It was a story that came up once when I met with Hashka late at night and talked.

So, I had time to think about how to solve this situation in many ways.

“I would like to hear what Miss Kittia has to say.”

Hashka said, as if making room for me. His kind eyes were full of anticipation.

I took a moment to organize my thoughts and then answered.

“If we cut off or reduce the food supply, Jerian will start inciting people, saying that it is the responsibility of the merchant guilds that the poor cats are starving.”

Because Jerian always had a remarkable talent for lying.

The more Jerian used his silver tongue, the stronger his influence would become.

“So, I think we need to put pressure on Jerian and prevent ordinary cat beastmen from completely believing Jerian’s words at the same time.”

As long as the cat beastmen depend on him, Jerian will continue to sacrifice them and reign over them forever.

“But the cat beastmen are quite dependent on Jerian, who distributes food.”

“I’ve been thinking about how to solve that problem, and I don’t think it’s impossible if we approach it in the long term.”

I said, looking at the owners of the merchant guilds that had been trading with the cat territory.

“Is it possible to know the amount of food that has been supplied to the cat territory so far?”

“Of course.”

As if it was an expected question, the merchants presented statistical data that they had prepared in advance.

I looked through them carefully. As expected, Jerian had the means to destroy Jerian’s solid control system.

The data showed that Jerian had been buying enough food for all the cat beastmen for a long time.

“With this amount of food, all the cat beastmen would have more than enough to eat. But the cats…….”

I knew it too.

Jerian thought that if each of the cats became prosperous, his control would weaken.

So he deliberately made everyone poor. He only supplied enough food to prevent them from thinking about other things.

“First of all, I think it would be good to let people know that Jerian has accumulated plenty of food in the warehouse and is not giving it to the cat beastmen.”

“But it will be difficult to go against Jerian’s words in the barren season.”

“The reason why the cat territory is barren in winter is because all the rivers where they can fish freeze over. Cleed can solve that problem.”

If the Yaong River didn’t freeze, they could solve some of the food problems by fishing. Cats are animals with excellent survival skills.

Not all cats liked Jerian. There were many who had no choice but to follow him because they could only make a living by following him.

We had to use those people to create public opinion against Jerian. Next…….

“Jerian stays in a huge building called a food warehouse.”

Literally, its main function was to store food, but in reality, it was like a fortress.

“Is it still?”

“Yes. Are you talking about that huge building behind Yaong Mountain?”

“That’s right.”

That building was like Jerian’s body. Therefore, it was also a likely place where secret experiments were conducted using rabbits or fox beastmen.

The imitation Bluemoon that was supplied to the leopards must have been made in the food warehouse.