They arrived at Balnenko Harbor.
It must have been the busiest time of the morning.
The place was full of fishermen and wholesalers who'd come to buy their catch. The loud cries of the sale echoed across the docks, and dock workers unloaded goods from the first merchant ship to stop that day.
Sadly, there was no sign of Miche anywhere.
Her voice had suddenly fallen silent, which made finding her location that much harder.
Wolf looked around.
He saw a group of brick warehouses.
They seemed mostly empty.
If slavers had caught Miche, that would be exactly the kind of place they'd hide her—at least for now.
Without any particular reason to think so, Wolf broke into a run toward the warehouse district.
* * *
Miche was locked inside a steel box hidden in one of the warehouses.
It seemed she'd been caught by slavers who sold phantom beasts and other high-value strange animals illegally.
Balnenko had grown rich over the years, with merchants having more and more power. But where there was light, shadows only grew deeper.
The underworld had grown right alongside the city's growth.
It was a large town. Everywhere you turned, there were places for bad people to hide.
If you had a name for yourself, you'd have pull with the officials. In this town, it was common for those who were supposed to follow the law to actually be working with the criminals.
The ones who'd grabbed Miche were almost certainly part of that crowd.
From the voices she could hear outside her box, the phantom beast had a pretty good idea what she was dealing with.
She'd screamed and howled at first, but then she fell quiet.
Miche could have broken out of a steel box like this any time she wanted, if she'd been serious about it.
But she didn't.
"Maybe this is for the best..."
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, she thought, if she just let the slavers find her a new master. Even if it turned out to be some strange noble who had a thing for... mating with beasts, it would still be a hundred times better than being in that manor.
And besides, if Miche was gone, Miranda would be relieved.
She curled up inside her cage.
"Sorry, old man..."
She closed her eyes. Turned her back on hope. On the future.
Her thoughts drifted in a world of darkness.
Then—a voice.
A voice calling her name.
It wasn't the old man.
It wasn't Miranda, either.
"Miche! I know you can hear me!!"
Her ears twitched.
In the dark steel box, where only the faintest light came through, she turned her head.
It was Wolf.
The new person in the house—the one who'd moved into the manor.
The one who'd thrown her in a bath.
She listened harder.
Along with Wolf's voice came the violent clanging of metal being struck.
A sound she'd heard countless times on the battlefield.
It didn't take her long to realize Wolf was fighting someone. The slavers' operation, most likely.
She heard dozens of footsteps.
And against them all—just one man: Wolf.
"Has that blockhead lost his mind or something?"
Impossible.
There were over fifty enemies out there.
And yet—Wolf's voice still echoed from a distance.
The fierce clash of blades rang through the air as he fought on.
"Miranda's waiting! Let's go home together! She doesn't hate you—she never did! She thinks of you as family! She told me so herself—you're precious to her!"
Lies.
"That woman lost family once before—are you going to make her lose another?! She told me how much it hurt when the old man passed! But she said she was able to keep going because she had you!"
Lies.
"Wake up, damn it! You—you KNOW Miranda loves you, don't you?!"
Wolf's cry echoed through the district.
In that moment, memories surged through Miche's mind like a flood3—
She remembered saying goodbye to her master she'd been with for over fifty years.
By the time Miche returned, he was already badly hurt. It was too late to save him.
With magic beasts closing in, he'd spoken his last words, barely holding on to life:
'Miche... I've had it. Leave me behind and go—'
'No, Master! I can't—I can't leave you!'
She'd grabbed his collar in her mouth, tried to drag him. But she had nothing left, either.
She'd used too much strength in the fight before. She couldn't even keep her phantom beast form—she could barely hold her cat shape.
'Miche... I'm... giving you... my final order.'2
'Don't say that! Don't say 'final'—give me orders forever! As many as you want!'
'Hah... you impossible cat, that's quite the generous offer.1 ...But fine. I have just one wish. Listen carefully.'
'Yeah... anything. I'll do anything you say. So please—just wake up!!'
Miche screamed, tears streaming.
And the master smiled.
The expression was so peaceful it made her angry.
And then he spoke—no, he asked—one single word:
Take care of Miranda...
So now, Miche stood.
She let out a sharp breath.
She scratched her own head with her back leg, as if scolding herself.
"Almost—I almost didn't do Master's orders again."
She should have known better than anyone how foolish that would have been.
"Still got plenty of fur left on me, and here I am going stupid—ain't that a laugh, old man?"
And then—suddenly—Mike's body began to glow.
* * *
Wolf had headed for the warehouse district and gotten very lucky.
The first man he'd questioned turned out to be one of the slavers—and he'd walked right into the middle of their operation.
Over fifty men came out from the shadows of the warehouses, attacking the strange stranger who'd come asking about a phantom beast.
Too good to be true. Wolf silently cursed his daughter Reminia for her improvements making things this easy.
Luckily for Wolf, the thugs were no match for him.
He'd cut down half of them in the blink of an eye.
Then—one of the nearby warehouses began to glow pale blue.
With a sharp crack, the brick wall exploded outward as something came flying through.
Whatever it was tumbled into the middle of the fight between Wolf and the slavers.
Smoking and hissing, it turned out to be a steel box.
A huge hole had been blown clean through it, as if a cannonball had been fired from the inside.
Empty.
The slavers stared in shock.
Wolf stopped mid-swing, his blade stopping.
A presence. A great presence came from the warehouse.
Wolf understood at once—because he'd felt the exact same presence only a few days before.
From the dust-filled warehouse came a great beast, standing as tall as a man.
Each strand of its white standing fur stood on end like a blade.
Electricity crackled constantly around its huge, smooth body.
It walked toward the slavers with casual ease.
The men pulled back from the beast that had appeared out of nowhere, as large as they were.
The white beast slammed a front leg against the ground.
A wave of lightning spirits rippled across the earth, spreading outward—and went straight through the slavers' bodies.
"GYAAAAAH!!"
Their death screams echoed through the warehouse district.
Those who tried to run were instantly caught by vines of lightning.
One by one, they fell to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the whole operation was wiped out.
"Miche? Is that... you?"
Wolf spoke to the white back.
He noticed the color of those sharp, pointed eyes.
Violet and green—different colored eyes.
And those eyes turned toward him.
"Not bad, I guess. I mean, you were actually struggling with these low-level guys?"
Apparently, this was Miche's true form.
Gone was the cute cat—the soft, fluffy fur.
In its place was pure nobility.
"They weren't much."
But then—two shadows dropped down toward Wolf and Miche.
Masked figures, dressed head to toe in black, attacked from above.
Probably hired muscle for the slavers.
These weren't the same level as the normal thugs. The way they moved their feet, the energy—all of it was B-rank equal.
They didn't flinch at facing a phantom beast.
They cut off Miche's escape routes one after another, raining down attacks.
"Hey! You okay, Miche?!"
Wolf caught one of the black-clad attacker's short swords with his steel blade.
No matter how strong she was as a phantom beast, Miche had been out of fighting for over a year. It was hard to think a beast would get rusty, but these black-clad fighters were a hard warm-up.
"Pfft. Quit worryin' about me and worry about yourself."
She gathered lightning in front of her nose and let it loose at the attacker charging at her.
He dodged at the last second.
Miche clicked her tongue.
"Hey, adventurer. These guys're fair game, right?"
"Well, ideally, we'd take them alive. But with this type, if you show them mercy, you never know what kind of payback you'll get."
"Then give me the order."
"Order?"
"Phantom beasts don't give a damn about life or death, good or evil. We're forever. That's why we let our masters decide. My soul's decided—right now, the only one I can trust with that choice is you, Wolf."
"You're taking me as your master?"
"Don't get the wrong idea! My master is—well, it don't matter. What's your call?"
"Understood. I'll give the order."
Wolf nodded deeply.
For a moment, he thought he saw Miche smile.
She bent low.
At the same time, she let out a growl—and her whole body began to glow pale blue.
The crack of a thunderclap split the air as lightning burst around her.
She was no longer a beast—she was a huge thunder god.
Even the bodyguards pulled back.
A voice came from behind their masks:
"You—don't tell me—you're Eregil—the Thunder King?"
"Aw, you know my old name? That's kinda nice."
"Eregil!!"
Wolf shouted before he could stop himself.
Eregil—the Thunder King—was a name even Wolf knew.
A famous phantom beast famous for having killed more magic beasts than any other in history.
"Miche is the Thunder King?!"
"What's it gonna be, Wolf? Give the order already."
Wolf pulled himself together. He raised his hand.
"Miche, the Thunder King—I give you permission to destroy them!! "
She flew—faster than a bullet, faster than that. She struck the first bodyguard.
He couldn't even dodge—it was as if lightning itself had bared its teeth.
In an instant, half of the man's body had been burned away.
"UGHHH!"
The remaining bodyguard ran in panic.
But once the thunder beast's switch had been flipped, there was no way it was going to let its prey escape so easily.
Against the bodyguard running at full speed, the beast easily appeared in front of him.
It scratched the ground with its front leg, as if enjoying his fear—and then—
Light.
A bolt of light struck the man.
In the next moment, the bodyguards had gone from this world entirely.
"Strong..."
Even Wolf was left breathless.
It was clearly among the most powerful things he'd ever seen.
Slowly, Miche's standing fur began to settle.
By the time she reached Wolf's side, she'd already returned to her Persian cat form.
And the first thing she said was:
"I got one thing to tell you."
"What? There's more?"
"For the record—I don't like Miranda."
"Huh..."
"Her food's terrible. She gets mad if I pee on the floor. She's always trying to push me into a bath."
Miche lifted her head.
Her eyes were fixed on the manor up on the hill—Miranda's manor.
"And yet, I love Miranda."
Wolf shrugged, a smile pulling at his lips.
Her nine tails swayed gently.
Showing off her fluffy behind, she started walking home.
Summary:
Wolf arrives at Balnenko Harbor searching for the missing phantom beast Miche, tracking her to a warehouse district where slavers have locked her. While Wolf fights through the slavers, Miche has a memory of her dying master's last request—to take care of Miranda—which gives her will to act again. The unresolved tension remains: whether Miche can fully accept Miranda's love and make peace with her sadness and the present.
Trivia:
Miche's true form as Eregil the Thunder King is a famous phantom beast known for killing more magic beasts than any other in history.
The old master's last words used the word "ordered" but the small note reading shows he actually "wished" or "requested"—a key difference Miche felt guilty about for fifty years.
The warehouse district's brick building and merchant-corruption setting show Edo-period Japanese merchant towns, shown here as a general fantasy port city.
Wolf's daughter Reminia's improvements are directly credited for making his fight against the slavers unusually easy.
Miche's change comes not from battle need but from emotional release—believing Wolf's words about Miranda's love.
The Persian cat form at the end is a planned contrast to the scary Thunder King form, showing Miche's double nature.
The nine tails mentioned at the end confirm Miche is a nine-tailed phantom beast, a detail not previously stated.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Literally "big serving dish," meaning a generous or large offer. The dying master uses it to accept Miche's desperate offer to receive unlimited commands from him.
2 ↩ The word "ordered" with small reading "negatta" (wished/requested). This shows the master wasn't giving a command but making a dying request—a key point in Miche's guilt.
3 ↩ Literally "running horse lantern"—a zoetrope, making the feeling of one's life flashing before one's eyes. Shown here as "memories surged like a flood" for ease of reading.
Notes:
• Miche - A magical cat-beast called the Thunder King. Friend to Wolf. Playful, takes fun revenge on the receptionist. Famous phantom beast known as the [Thunder King] (Regulus). Different colored eyes. Former familiar to Rocalo Visto. Feels guilt over Rocalo's death. Can speak human language and is understood by Wolf. Fluffy fur. Howls like a dog when emotional. Phantom beast in the form of a Persian cat. True form is a huge white beast called Eregil, the Thunder King. Served her late master for over fifty years before being taken in by Miranda. Struggles with sadness and guilt over her master's death. Uses rough, casual speech with cat-like sounds. Phantom beast looking like a white cat with nine tails. A lynx or nekomata type creature. Has long fur, short legs, and a scary presence. Was owned by Miranda's late husband and is very bad-tempered. Phantom beast lynx with different colored eyes (purple and green). Long-lived but emotionally young. Speaks with a rough, country dialect. Conflict with Miranda comes from guilt over her husband's death. Tsundere nature.
• Wolf - A 42-year-old former A-rank adventurer now operating at SSS-rank levels, he retired to Nicalas Village to raise his daughter, Reminia, as a humble farmer and craftsman. Though soot-stained and calm, this protective, curly-haired father possesses immense, beyond-human strength. A pragmatic, understated mentor, he leads by example, balancing quiet devotion with the quiet authority of a seasoned guardian.
• Miranda - Older widow and Mike's owner. Former beast tamer's wife. First strict but shows deep love for Mike. Sees Mike as family and the only remaining link to her dead husband. Older wife of the famous thunder beast tamer Rocalo Visto. Lives alone in a big house. Uses a cane. Stern face that softens around Mike. Grandchildren have built a big house and are coming to take her in tomorrow. Owner of the manor where Mike lives. Mike's master's daughter. Appears only through others' words and memory.
• Reminia - Fifteen-year-old Great Hero of Straval and researcher of the Double World Theory, this willful, intelligent girl sports striking red hair, amethyst eyes, and a slender build. A dedicated protector of her father, Wolf, she balances a tomboyish exterior with immense, limited-use magic—including holy relics and teleportation. Her speech shifts between analytical precision and deep devotion to him.