"So cute," Maya said.
Malin turned his head, suddenly thinking of a question... Do cats in this world eat mice?
The answer to this question came quickly when the mouse girls saw Maya; they all had expressions of resigned acceptance of death, until Faye explained with a smile and repeated it to Malin. Only then did Malin find out that the relationship between the Mos Rat-people and the Pansear Cat-people wasn’t good during the Middle Ages, and there were frequent conflicts between them where each had their victories.
In that era, the Mos Rat-people had strong physiques and their offspring were born with Spell Talent. All this changed when their deity was corrupted by Chaos. The Mos Rat-people began to slide toward the abyss, until their deity was ended by the Nameless one embodying the Lord of Justice.
However, after losing the nourishment of Chaos, the bloodline of the Mos Rat-people began to degenerate. They were originally like humans, part of the black-iron race, but after hundreds of years of degradation, they became small in stature, lower in intelligence, with no children born with Spell Talent, and even their reproductive aspects became more beast-like than human.
But it’s said that in the last fifteen years, the degeneration of the Rat-people’s bloodline has begun to slow down. Although it hasn’t improved, the mere fact that it hasn’t worsened is considered a blessing to the Rat-people.
And this was all because, supposedly, the Nameless one had extended a helping hand to the Rat-people.
He allowed the wise and the Clergy who survived into the age of civilization to regain their strength and spread his faith among the Rat-people.
It is said that this didn’t sit well with the Cat-people of The Great Forest Land, but the benefits of what the Nameless one did were clear for all to see—at least the residents of The Great Forest Land could tell that the Rat-people were less prone to courting death after relearning human speech.
However, the family structure of the Rat-people is matriarchal, with male Rat-people being even frailer than the females, which made Malin reconsider his previous idea of having them work in factories—it would be impractical for those not even reaching one meter twenty in height to do much; they couldn’t just be brought over to be cute.
Moreover, even if they could be cute, Malin still thought someone like Maya was more adorable.
As for why... well, do we even have to say? The tails of the Rat-girls are bare, not inviting anyone’s touch, whereas Maya, the little leopard, has a fluffy and adorable tail; Malin could use it as a scarf without any trouble. From that perspective, there was simply no comparison between the two from the start.
With these thoughts, Malin followed Logan off the train to meet his guest.
Seems like his name is Cohen Vanter, right?
I hear he’s the eldest son of an Earl, lucky dog.
Logan and a boy exaggeratedly hugged each other.
Watching the two of them embrace and even share a kiss, Malin stepped back two paces. When they ended their embrace, the boy named Cohen finally sized up Malin: "By the way, Logan, where is Mr. Malin, the little giant you mentioned?"
Logan was momentarily stunned, following Cohen’s gaze to Malin, then quickly turned his head towards him: "The one you’re seeing right now is Malin."
"...He’s the giant?" Cohen confirmed Malin’s height and then his complexion changed looking at Logan: "Cousin, you didn’t lie to me, right?"
Malin rolled his eyes.
Logan, just how many cousins do you have?