A Deal with Her

Gurgle gurgle…

Even though I was exceptionally shocked by the current situation, my body was unexpectedly honest. It couldn’t be helped; I had only eaten one meal of dead fish yesterday, so this bowl of grain porridge before me was practically a heavenly delicacy.

“Meow…” “Meow meow…”

My cellmates’ gazes swept over without any concealment. It made sense; there was no way they could ever be full on the measly scraps they usually received.

“Sabulaisa…”

Slowly bracing herself up, the woman in front of me spoke to the side of the cellmates in a cold tone.

“Lock death.” (Luokesi)

Even if I couldn’t understand the literal meaning, seeing the cellmates so terrified that their tails stood on end, that sentence was undoubtedly a threat.

Judging from the context… it was a warning not to intimidate me or, perhaps, not to steal my food.

The captain—the snake-woman—smiled at me, and after leaving behind a trail of riddles and threats, she departed. I watched as the cage door was locked again and saw them off into the distance. Until they had completely vanished, I didn’t take a single sip of the porridge in my bowl.

Just now, she said something to those cat-people, didn’t she? And judging by their reaction, they clearly understood her. Which means…

Leaning against the fence, my gaze fell upon my three cellmates—the two females and one male—in the distance. Although their eyes remained fixed on the porridge in my bowl, the fear filling their eyes made their shoulders tremble slightly, rendering them unable to move.

“Meow… cough cough!” “Cough cough meow…”

Among them, the pair huddled close together showed symptoms of illness. As for the other one—is it bad to use “one”? Whatever. The other female cat-person with medium-length brown hair and dark eyes still had a bit of vitality in her gaze; being younger, she looked relatively energetic and didn’t seem to be sick.

If it’s an airborne contagion, being careful is useless anyway… Sigh, I’ll just have to stay on edge within what I can control.

I beckoned to the young cat-girl who was also eyeing my bowl of porridge with predatory intent.

Come here.

She seemed shocked by my gesture; her tail and ears stood straight up. She appeared hesitant, but now wasn’t the time to wait on her mood.

Hurry up and come over. Don’t you want to eat?

I waved my bound hands forcefully toward myself and tapped the bowl of porridge.

“Meow, meow!”

She seemed to understand my meaning, but she still looked around cautiously… likely confirming whether the crew had truly left. Although I was 100% sure they were gone—otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this so brazenly.

“Meow.”

She came over, finally. However, her gaze remained locked on the food. As she crawled closer, the “gurgle gurgle” coming from her stomach grew clearer.

“…Nuo, nya? Meow meow?”

She had crawled right in front of me, but she didn’t ignore me to crudely snatch the bowl. Instead, she pointed at the bowl and then looked at me, appearing extremely cautious.

I thought she would just grab it and start devouring it like a glutton; she’s unexpectedly polite.

Her hands were clasped over her slightly rising chest. Looking at her this way, her slender fingers weren’t much different from a human’s, except for those ears, the tail, and… the constant “meowing.”

Truly, she is not human.

Lamenting this in my heart, I used my core strength to sit up straight, bringing my face close to the girl’s.

“Meow, meow?”

She was startled by my movement, her shoulders trembling slightly; perhaps the snake-woman’s words from earlier still held some lingering terror.

I pointed to the porridge in the bowl, then pointed to my own mouth.

“Meow… meow?”

No, my meaning is…

With my rope-bound hands, I pointed at myself, then at her. I pointed forcefully at my mouth and, finally, let out a distorted sound of syllables directed at her.

“Teach… speak.”

That was the first time in my life I had ever uttered words in the language of the Demon Race.