MONEY-LOVER

"Wow! Joque, you really healed him." I run towards her with a smile on my face.

She met me with a warm hug and said, "Sly cat! I miss you so much!"

I quickly pushed her away and gave her a sullen pout: "You kept on calling me that name!"

"As if I care! Hahahaha!" Her laugh is so irritating.

Geez! She's really fond of making me pissed off by calling me a sly cat. Well, she didn't know that I could transform into a cat and not a wolf anyway.

"Stop gabbling! How is he now?" My question seems to have made her look serious.

"I healed his physical wounds already, and he will be fine for now. However, he might fall into a coma for a few days because his brain stopped working properly for a few seconds already and was very much affected by the pain he suffered recently."

She looked at me, saying, "He was already dead a while ago. Are you the one who revived him?"

Powerful witches were able to bring a person back to life if their spirit could still be sensed, and that was only within 3 minutes after they died. However, only a handful of powerful witches in history were able to do that.

"You don't want to lie, but you also don't want to tell me who revived him. That's why you're quiet!" She shook her head and said, "I really hate your silence!"

"Who revived him is not important. By the way, thank you so much for..." She didn't let me finish what I was about to say.

"Not worth mentioning." Then a cunning smile curled on her lips: "But of course, you have to pay me for my service. I don't need a thank you."

Geez! I wonder how I made friends with a woman who only thinks about money, wherever she is and whatever she does.

"You really never forget to make money out of everything you do." I looked at Feirro and gave him a sweet smile and beautiful eyes, hoping for him to pay my money-loving friend.

He just sighed and shook his head in response. He opened his hand, and a gold coin appeared. "Here!"

He threw it to Joque, and she caught it with her right hand. Her eyes were sparkling while she stared at the gold coin, biting her lower lip.

"Oh! By the way, buy him this medicine when you enter the kingdom of Dolocab." A paper appeared in front of me.

I just took the paper and put it inside my magic bag without reading it. "We will be out to explore the world for three years. Why don't you join us?"

She sighed, "As much as I would love to go with you and make more money..." Gosh, she's babbling about money again.

"I can't defy my mother. I still need to practice more to improve my healing power and help her guard our fortress," she says, her tone is soft yet complaining.

"My mother, our dear fairy queen, still believes the prophecy that within this decade, there will be chaos in Fantasia. A war will break out; a bloodbath will happen once again after a hundred thousand years of peace, and we need to prepare for that."

I chuckled. "And there you are, obediently following her every order and never getting out of this forest for 10,000 years. What an obedient, money-lover domestic cat!" I shook my head, giving her a mocking look.

"You!" She rolled her eyes. "At least I'm not a troublesome, rebellious, sly cat."

I faked a laugh to mock her even more: "Hahahaha! Oh no! Someone's making up a story. Hayss! Everyone knows and respects me with all their hearts in my city anyway. They fear me because I'm the strongest."

I looked at her and said, "Who is the most inferior healer in your fortress again, little domestic cat?" I winked.

"Strongest what? Who is the werewolf who can't transform into a wolf at the age of 18 already?" I clenched my fist upon hearing her words.

"Who is a ten thousand-year-old fairy who shamelessly argues against an 18-year-old beautiful girl again?"

"Oh wow! How dare you use your age as an excuse for your impudent ways? Are you saying that you're inferior to me now and I should give in for you, little infant?"

"Hahaha! Hey, fairy grandma. Who's inferior!? You're really shameless! Hahaha! I just reminded you of your age and that you've never won an argument against me since the first day we met, and you'll never win your whole life against me." I smirked.

I clearly know her temper. She's very easy to piss off, and she's so cute when she's upset anyway. That's why I love it even more to mock and make fun of her.

We're already exchanging frank and personal words while moving closer to each other. I'm really getting on her nerves, and the only way to settle this is...

"Joque!" The fairy queen that looks like a 90-year-old woman in her dark-brown skin full of wrinkles appeared behind her.

She's holding an ancient black staff with a hornbill and wearing a brown, rag-like, shabby tunic dress that reaches down her ankles and whose edges are full of irregular slits.

"Oh, come on! Not now!" Joque pouted as she turned around. "Mother!" She curtsied.

The queen just shook her head out of disappointment and said, "You're being childish and fighting against your goddaughter again."

Yes, she is actually my godmother. She was once saved by my father from a beast, and that started the good relationship between fairies and our city.

"She's impudent, babbling nonsense against me. She's spoiled by her parents and even you." Joque looked at me sharply.

"What nonsense? She's speaking the truth, and you can't accept that. You said a lot of hurtful things to her, too. But look at her."

They both look at me. I simply smiled at the queen and winked at Joque, who is being lectured right now.

"She's still smiling and taking it lightly because she knows herself better. She accepts who she is, unlike you, who can't accept who you are while not doing anything to make yourself better. You only know how to sleep and slack off from your training."

"Mother!" She looked at me and said, "I'm sulking. Don't call me again to ask for help! Hmph!"

She immediately disappeared, and I just chuckled. No matter what she says when she's mad and throwing tantrums, that's going to pass anyway.

Even though we always end up arguing with each other, she never fails to show up immediately if I need her.

"If you are my daughter too, I'm sure that you and Joque are going to fight like little cute kittens every day in front of me." The queen chuckled, like she was very amused.

"Joque is such a good friend. We just love teasing each other, but in times of need, we always have each other's back. She's the best!"

"You, young ones!" She gave me a sweet smile while transforming into her true form.

Gosh, she's very beautiful in her yellow gown that has golden tassels. Her wrinkles disappeared, and now she just looks like someone in her 20s. Her gray eyes were enchanting, and Joque was very lucky to have inherited her alluring beauty.

"By the way, take this silver bell with you." She's handing me a little bell.

"Once you get out of this forest, your spell cannot reach Joque anymore because of the different barriers I put around our fortress to prevent spies from easily passing messages outside. You can use this bell to summon your godmother in critical times, wherever you are."

I took the bell from her hand and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your kindness, your highness."

"Be safe, little cat."

When I lift my head, she's already gone.

I wonder why these two keep calling me cat. Do they know that I am a witch who can transform into a white cat?

Well, some of the witches in our city can transform into different animals, like a bird and a cat.

The fact that a lot of us were hybrids, half-werewolves, and half-witches that could transform into different forms made us even stronger and more powerful. However, I wonder why my parents never want anyone to know that I can transform into a white cat.

"Ladies talk is so boring!" I just realized that Feirro is already standing at my right side and handing me a green apple.

I take it from him, "Thank you!"

"I just looked for some food a while ago while you were still sleeping. When I got back, you were already helping this unknown man. What happened?" he asked.

I took a smooth furry cloth from my magic bag and put it on the ground, and then we both sat on it.

I took a roasted chicken from also and asked, "Do you want some?"

This tiny magic bag I used to hang on my belt can hold even a castle, and everything that is put inside will be preserved forever. This is a gift from an elf that I saved and brought back to their kingdom a few years ago.

Actually, though it's as tiny as my palm, it weighs what's inside of it too, but its rightful owner can lift it like a piece of paper.

Well, my parents forbade me to go outside the city, but I often sneak out and play with Joque inside the forest; that's how I met that 100,000-year-old elf.

However, I've never been to the kingdom of Dolocab, where mortals live and different creatures like us, vampires, fairies, elves, beasts, and many others secretly mingle with them.

There are a lot of towns, cities, villages, and other kingdoms here in Fantasia where different creatures live with their own kind alone. The thing is, no one has ever made a map of the whole fantasia, and my goal is to make one.

I want to discover those places and creatures that are not in the books and that no one in my city has ever heard of. That's another reason why I asked my parents to let me explore the world for 3 years before I get married and settle down in our city.

My adventure could be more exciting if they didn't let Feirro, my fiance, travel with me, but unfortunately, they won't let me go by myself alone.

They made it an excuse for us to know each other better and have more experience together before we get married, and also for this weakling to protect me when, in fact, I'm even stronger than him.