The Missing Interpreter and the Coliseum

“Want to die without a sound~?”

From its exclusive dialogue when it appeared, I definitely remembered it speaking the human language.

‘You vulgar and rude vampire bastards! Let me go right nyaaow!’

Perhaps infuriated by being suddenly kidnapped, locked in a cage, and treated like an ornamental beast, it only spoke in the beast-kin language.

‘Take away this filthy meat! It makes my stomach turn!’

…Wait, come to think of it, what the Skollcat liked was…
At the sudden memory, I rummaged through the golden tray laden with delicacies and shook what I found.

“Skollcat! Do you want to eat this?”

What I picked up was a cherry tomato, placed next to a thick cut of meat for decoration.

“Goodness, would the Cat God eat such a garnish?”

The Empire vampires looked at me pathetically, wondering what I was doing, but I steadfastly turned a plate vertically, pushed it through the bars, and dropped a few cherry tomatoes onto it.

‘…….’

At some point, the hissing had stopped.

Tap, tap, roll, the sound of the small fruits falling onto the golden plate was the only thing echoing in the room.

‘…….’

The Skollcat, who had been glaring at me while sitting on a cushion that looked better than my bed, vanished with a swoosh.

“Gasp!”

Following that, its sharply raised scorpion tail struck down onto the plate I had put inside with a clack!

…Munch, munch.

Its sharp fangs moved up and down.
Leaving behind the numerous delicacies, the Skollcat was only picking out the cherry tomatoes I had offered, spearing them with its tail to eat.

“H-how?”

Loktis, who had been watching the scene with his mouth agape, turned to me with a face of disbelief.

“How did you know? The Cat God’s dietary preference?”

‘Guys, what’s Skollcat’s favorite food?’

It was a system that was discarded due to bug exploitation, but in the early days, there was a buddy system called ‘Bloodkin.’
It involved summoning a boss monster as an ally, and you could give gifts to your Bloodkin while progressing through quests.

[Question] What’s Skollcat’s favorite food?
Content: It doesn’t eat fish and gets angry when I give it meat; if I starve it, it might get sulky and not fight for me, what should I do?

▷ Comments (5)
[TsunderePing: You can just search for it; cherry tomatoes gogo]
[CantHoldBack: I gave it kumquats~! It eats kumquats well too! ^0^]
└ [NationalSpellingChronicle: The official name is Fortunella.]
[BuffThisTooTryIt: Anything less than cherry tomatoes is trash]
[GanevsMiddleLeg: Any small, round fruit will do. It prefers those so it can spear them with its tail]

Unlike its appearance, which was exactly like a cat, the Skollcat peculiarly liked small, round fruits.

【HOT】 Tanghulu Skollcat (Views 9,344,453)

Because of this, a short video of it eating cherry tomatoes skewered in a row on its tail once went viral.

“Would you like to try this too? It’s sweet and sour.”
‘It’s yellow and weird, nya! Isn’t it spoiled?!’
“It’s called a kumquat because it’s as precious as gold.”
‘…Hmm. Give me more, nya.’

Thanks to that, I was easily able to get close to him.

I was the only one who could properly understand the beast-kin language it spat out in its anger, and the Skollcat refused to converse with the Empire vampires due to its grudge against them for kidnapping it on their own accord.

“His Majesty says he would like Shinbi-nim to be Skollcat-nim’s interpreter.”

“Interpreter?”

“You just need to convey the Cat God’s will to us. In return, he says he will no longer request any holy artifact commissions from you.”

“…I’ll do it!”

Naturally, thinking this was a great deal, I volunteered to be the Skollcat’s guardian.

It seemed much easier than running around trying to find artifacts while receiving Baalzeph’s wicked quests, and I firmly believed that Karvan would be arriving in a few days anyway.

Taking care of the Skollcat wasn’t as easy as I thought.

‘How many times do I have to tell you to take the stems off, nya?! Do you want to be skewered instead?!’

True to its lore of becoming an outcast because of its fierce and sharp beastly nature, its temper was extraordinary.
It was quite difficult to please, causing me a lot of grief.

“I apologize, but His Majesty is currently busy and an audience is impossible.”
“The Divine Outcast says he wishes to see him now, though?”

On the other hand, things became very easy for me.
With just the words, ‘Skollcat wants to do it,’ everything was a free pass.

‘Can you stop attaching that word ‘outcast,’ nya?! Every word out of this guy’s mouth is outcast, outcast!’
“Uh, then what should I call you? Skollcat?”
‘Kyaaaaak! Don’t treat me as an equal, nya!’
“O-O Cat God. Please do not be angered. Very well. P-please enter.”

The Empire vampires, who couldn’t understand what he was saying, were terrified the moment the Skollcat opened its mouth.
And understandably so. Even I, who could understand him, was scared.

‘Hey, you vulgar vampire. Kidnapping this great me is an offense worthy of gouging your eyes out, but I was also getting tired of playing along with the Awakeners, nya. Since I was kidnapped, I’ll push all the responsibility onto you, so in return, provide me with as much fruit as I want, nya.’
“What is the Skollcat-nim saying?”
“…He says he’s angry about being brought here by force, but he’ll use this as an excuse to rest for a bit, so he’ll let it slide if you just give him cherry tomatoes.”
“Ahah! How merciful you are indeed! Please rest comfortably. We will provide you with anything.”

Even Baalzeph was no exception.
Whether he was afraid of the Skollcat or truly intending to treat it ‘with the utmost respect’ as he said.
Even a simple hiss made him act like an overzealous butler, ready to die for it.

“In commemoration of the great Cat God’s decision to stay in Midvalen, I intend to provide some entertainment.”

When the Skollcat complained of boredom, he even declared he would open the ‘Coliseum,’ which had been closed for a long time.

【The Coliseum of Midvalen is scheduled to open soon. Show off your strength against the Representatives of the Gods and grasp honor and glory! (※ Prizes provided just for participating! Can acquire temporary Midvalen citizenship while in ‘Candidate’ status! However, we are not responsible for any follow-up processing in case of death.)】

The ‘Coliseum’.
It was a tournament-style solo PVE content where players could receive rewards if they won without dying against randomly matched NPCs or monsters.

In the Coliseum, the use of resurrection-related artifacts or potions was prohibited, and mana and health were only restored at the end of each round. Since you had to compete purely on base stats, it was extremely disadvantageous unless you were a melee character with high health.

It was fresh and fun once or twice, but from a player’s perspective, fighting artificial intelligence with penalties wasn’t very popular unless you needed a damage meter or wanted to test a skill build.

“I’ve come to apply for the Coliseum!”
“Let me fight the damn Awakeners fair and square!”

But from the perspective of NPCs (Non-Player Characters), it seemed to be incredibly popular content.
As soon as the official notice was sent out, all sorts of NPCs and monsters flooded in, and the checkpoints of Midvalen were on the verge of bursting.

“Shinbi-nim, could you please help us? Even with translation magic, there are many things where the context is completely lost, it’s driving me crazy.”

Because of this, Loktis, the Knight Commander of the Empire, who was on the verge of tears, asked me to handle the inspections of the beast-kin entering Midvalen.
I didn’t have anything in particular to do anyway, so I accepted without much thought.

【…The ‘Thick Fog’ weather condition is lifting….】

When the clear bell rings, the constant fog lifts, sunlight pours in, and the central gate of the city opens.

If you walk straight down the red carpet-like path of blood-red roses, there are desks placed here and there at the end of the Empire knights lined up on both sides.
This is Midvalen’s checkpoint, Eve Square.

“If you feel they’re being troublesome, just raise your hand. We’ll drag them away immediately.”

This place, Eve Square, is where the Empire vampires train or spar, so it is not considered a neutral city.
That meant weapons could be used here.

“If you don’t like them, you can cut them down yourself.”
“…Can I really do that?”
“What can they do? The inspector finds them suspicious.”

If so, it meant the other party could also draw their weapon, so I didn’t understand why they had to go through ‘immigration’ in such a dangerous place.
Anyway, my job was to sit at this ‘checkpoint’ and deal with the beast-kin.
In short, it was an office job.

At first, I thought it was just a piece of cake.
All I had to do was sit still, sip tea, and talk, so it seemed much more comfortable and stress-free than when I was running around looking for artifacts.

‘You’re telling me to carry luggage?!’

Bang!
The beast-kin who slammed the table huffed.

I could feel the Empire vampires, who were conversing with the respective races they were in charge of in other lines, glancing at me.
Since this happened dozens of times a day, they just looked at me once as if taking pity on me and then focused on their own roles.

‘How dare you, how dare you tell me, the great me, to carry luggage…!’

The beast-kin with ash-grey skin and a horn sprouting from his forehead was also true to his role.

‘Wench! Do you even know who I am?!’
“Yes, I know. You said you were from the Rhino Tribe.”

‘…Here we go again.’
I sighed deeply, plucked the stem off a cherry tomato from a full basket, and stuck it onto the swishing scorpion tail.
The fruit that was hanging red like Rudolph’s nose disappeared in a flash.

‘You’re telling me, such a person, to pull out my naaaails?!’
“Not pull them out, clip them.”
‘It’s the same thing!’

To do hard labor, it was naturally more comfortable to clip your nails short, and they would break anyway while pickaxing or carrying loads.
If they broke like that, it would hurt the person themselves, and the flying shards could injure those around them, so we recommended clipping them, but it was always like this.

‘I don’t mean it in any other way. As you know, Midvalen is a neutral city where many races gather, so you must follow the common rules. Since beast-kin naturally have superior physical abilities, it’s dangerous….’
‘Daaangeeerous?!’

He got angry as if he had been asked to strip naked, and I always broke a sweat trying to convince them.

‘You are currently in refugee status, so until you acquire official citizenship, scouting or dispatch missions are difficult. To do odd jobs, your nails must be short….’
‘I’d rather you pull my hair ouuuut! It’s a disgraaaace!’

Watching the chief of the Rhino Tribe yell at the top of his lungs about how humiliating it was, I suddenly remembered that man.

‘Is this what you were so terrified of.’