Chapter 171 Shirou Has a Cat
Following Merlin down the rabbit hole, Jeanne d'Arc Alter only felt herself continually plummeting. Dozens of seconds had passed since she jumped, but she was still falling, not knowing whether the underground space below was hundreds or even thousands of meters deep.
"Waaah!" Jeanne d'Arc Alter crashed, making a large pit upon landing, sprawled on the ground.
But that Merlin, who had ears like Fou, bounded and transformed into the size of a rabbit, walking towards a door ahead.
However, the door was too small. Even if Jeanne squatted down, she couldn't squeeze through. Just as she was about to set the door on fire, she saw a glass bottle on a tree nearby, with 'Drink Me' written on it.
"Jeanne d'Arc Alter-chan, it says 'Drink Me'," Da Vinci from Chaldea suddenly popped out to remind her.
"Shut up! I've studied, I can read now!" Jeanne raised an eyebrow. If she hadn't considered practicality and learned English, she really wouldn't have understood.
She reached out and grabbed the glass bottle from the tree; inside was apparently some kind of magical potion.
"I didn't expect this world to be so strange. Even that secretive Merlin has been summoned here. He doesn't seem strong from the magical energy reaction, though. What a strange place. It looks like I need to collect more data about this world and analyze it properly."
Da Vinci snapped out of her contemplation and happened to see the girl's actions, exclaiming in surprise, "Ah... Does this child not consider the possibility of poison or anything? She's just picking up the glass bottle and drinking it..."
Jeanne took a sip of the magic potion. Along with the glass bottle in her hand, she began to shrink. Her height was now slightly shorter than the rabbit-sized Merlin earlier. Now, passing through that door was more than sufficient.
She ran through several strange places. There were strange animals and birds, strange rooms, and finally, she found the garden where Merlin-rabbit was, where several people were having a tea party.
"Merlin! You bastard! I told you not to run off!" Jeanne d'Arc Alter angrily raised her flag and directly set it on fire towards him.
"Calm down, calm down. This is unavoidable. I was summoned to play this kind of role, wasn't I?" Merlin used an illusion to dodge the attack, spreading his hands.
"Speaking of which, aren't you playing the White Rabbit? Why are you here having a tea party?" Da Vinci's screen manifested at this moment, asking curiously.
"Oh, isn't this Da Vinci-chan? Long time no see. I'm the White Rabbit serving as an attendant to the Queen and the Duchess. But here, I'm the March Hare, drinking tea with beautiful ladies. Come, Miss Jeanne d'Arc Alter, how about you join us for a cup of black tea? Is that alright, ladies?"
Merlin looked towards his tea party companions.
On one side was a girl in a dress, wearing a tall hat, with long red hair and two dragon horns growing on her head. On the other side was a beautiful princess with purple eyes and long black hair, wearing pajamas like a fat pink bat, looking worn out as if she had been gaming all night, wearing glasses.
"Hmm, the more spectators the better, right~! Osakabehime " Elizabeth, the dragon girl in the tall hat, smiled at her friend sitting next to her.
"Oh, oh, sing, sing! Mad Hatter~! Zzzzz" The girl next to her leaned on the table, clapped her hands twice, and then started snoring, falling asleep.
"Ahahaha, in that case, I'll start the show right away~! Be honored to be a new member of the tea party. I, Lady Elizabeth, shall present the best song! It's a shame my dear and biggest rival aren't here." Elizabeth picked up a spear-like microphone, laughing.
"Eh? Is she going to sing?" Jeanne d'Arc Alter looked over and asked in confusion.
"Come, come, please have a seat." Merlin eagerly pulled out a seat for Jeanne.
"Ah, Jeanne d'Arc Alter, all the best. I have a small matter to attend to, so I'll disconnect the communication for now." Da Vinci gave a dry laugh and directly cut the connection.
"Well then, today's idol Elizabeth-chan's concert starts now, Aaaaaaah~!" The girl sang loudly directly into the microphone.
Next, Jeanne only felt her ears ring. Sound waves and shockwaves rushed towards her. Even her beautiful silver long hair was blown backward.
If the white light emitted by saints and holy women made her feel sick, this sound now made her tremble. The roar of a giant dragon or the howl of a fierce beast could not shake the girl's heart in the slightest, but this sound wave, and the red-haired girl intoxicatedly singing there, truly startled her now.
"Eh, eh? What's going on?!" Jeanne cried out in surprise. She looked at the others, only to realize that only she was being ravaged by the sound waves.
"ZZZZZ..." Osakabehime, who was catching up on sleep on the table next to her, put on pink headphone-style noise-canceling earmuffs.
And Merlin, who had maintained a smile, had now sealed his rabbit ears and his human ears with magic, all four ears.
"Waaah, you bastard! Tell me quickly! Where exactly is this place? I don't want to stay here for another moment!" Jeanne, frantic, covered one ear with one hand and grabbed Merlin's collar with the other, dragging him towards the edge of the garden.
"Now, don't be so agitated. The Black Mud Heroic Spirit here is very well hidden. It's almost impossible to find him. But if you want to quickly see the young man you're thinking of, it's not entirely without a way," Merlin coaxed the girl.
"What do you mean? Shirou isn't supposed to arrive in France until tomorrow, is he?" Jeanne released her grip on Merlin's collar and asked.
"Indeed, that's the reality. But there's no way to enter this world through real-world means. I'm sure you've sensed the abnormality of this world," Merlin looked at the girl and asked.
"Entering here, I feel like everything is very strange, an unreal sensation," Jeanne said. She herself, before receiving affirmation from the young man, also felt like a phantom or a dream-like illusory existence, so she was very sensitive to this feeling.
"It's hard to distinguish between real and fake. If you ask why, this place is actually a world between reality and dream. I think as soon as Shirou gets close to this country, he'll quickly be drawn in. So, I think going to meet him is also an option," Merlin smiled.
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At this moment, at Bristol Airport, the flight to Paris, France, officially began to take off.
Yesterday, because of various antics and then being caught by his classmates who insisted on holding a farewell party, which resulted in him having to cook, he ended up staying up very late and was somewhat sleep-deprived. As soon as he sat down on the soft seat of the airplane, Shirou felt very sleepy. Leaning against the chair, he unconsciously closed his eyes.
At this time, in the void of Paris, a ripple of magical energy undulation spread out in the formless space. This was not something harmful, only a kind of sound wave that caused drowsiness, allowing the people in the bustling metropolis to get better sleep.
Elderly people sitting in chairs or on sofas at home started dozing off. Pedestrians on the street yawned and covered their mouths in unison. White-collar workers in office buildings lined up at the water dispenser or restroom to wake up.
The magical energy fluctuations in the sky were like countless invisible hands, trying to pull everyone in the areas they reached into slumber. One of these hands touched the passenger
plane in the distance, pulling the sleeping young man into the world within the alternate space.
In his dream, Shirou only felt himself being drawn to a marvelous world by something. There were rare, extinct animals like dodos here, and many of them could even talk. Strange things kept happening one after another.
His identity in this world seemed to be the unappreciated youngest son of an ordinary farm family, born into a farming household.
At this moment, Shirou was sitting on the ground, daydreaming, when a malicious male voice reached his ears.
"Hey! Idiot, how long are you going to sit there spacing out! Everything has been settled, hasn't it?"
"Shinji?" Shirou looked strangely at the arrogant seaweed-haired man standing there.
"Shinji? Who's that? Whatever! Since the old man is buried, and we've already split the family property, you have no more connection with this house! Take the property allocated to you and get out immediately!"
While Shirou was still in a daze, Shinji, using an unknown source of strength, pushed him out the door. Bang, the door was tightly shut.
It was then that Shirou sorted out his thoughts. In the family he was in, after the death of both parents, the brothers split the property. The older son, Shinji, took over the house and the fields, while he, as the youngest son, was only allocated a cat.
At this moment, a pink cat playing on the grass outside the door, chasing butterflies, ran over when it saw its master.
"Master, where are we going from now on, nya?" The cat affectionately ran up and hugged its master's shoulder, asking.
"Eh?" Shirou examined the being that ran up to him. It indeed had cat ears and a cat tail, and its hands and feet looked like they were wearing claw-shaped gloves, but it was wearing a maid outfit and apron like a family restaurant waitress, with big round eyes and fluffy pink long hair. By all appearances, it was a girl.
"Meow, meow?" The cat tilted its head, squinting its eyes, rubbing against the young man, in a cat's affectionate manner.
Shirou gently pushed away the girl in the apron and asked in confusion, "Um... May I ask who you are?"
"Meow, meow? Master doesn't recognize Meow, nya?" The cat looked very hurt, with tears welling up in the corners of its eyes, looking pitifully at the young man and asking.
"Eh, eh? Ah, ah... It seems there was something like that? I'm sorry..."
The corresponding memories flashed back in Shirou's mind. As the youngest son, he helped with farm work and chores every day but received no recognition. The only thing that comforted him was the family cat that was closest to him.
When he had free time between farming seasons, he would play with the cat. In winter, they would huddle together under a tattered quilt to keep each other warm. Their experience of living together since childhood had forged a deep bond between them.
"Wait? That's not right?!" Shirou exclaimed in shock.
"Meow, meow?" The pink-haired maid-cat wearing an apron tilted her head endearingly.
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