✦ Welcome to the Silver Cat! ✦

"Talk about your dreams after you pay the rent, meow."

If you look at the counter in the morning, there's a high chance the landlady is asleep.

Using the ledger as a pillow, Or curled up in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Silver-white hair with cat ears and a tail.

She looks like a girl of about ten no matter how you look at her, but—

Mimi, 36 years old.

She is a full-fledged adult and the merchant actually running this shop.

She gets genuinely annoyed if you treat her like a child.

She keeps the books with a sleepy face, Never forgetting rent, tabs, or the price of a broken chair.

And at the Silver Cat, she's usually the first to speak whenever someone says something stupid.

When Roy talks about his big dreams:

"Pay your rent first, meow."

When Seto lists his logic:

"If it's a theoretical success, why is the ceiling scorched, meow?"

When Raul sets down a bag of gold coins—

Her ears perk up.

Chime.

"...How much?"

The smallest, most world-weary landlady supporting the daily life of the Silver Cat.

By the way, she hates hot soup.

Because of her cat tongue.

"My comeback story starts here!"

If there's a man checking his adventurer gear since morning, it's usually Roy.

Roy, 23 years old.

And he really was in the Hero's party once.

Up to here, he sounds cool.

The problem is—

He was actually removed for a total lack of ability.

No conspiracy. No jealousy. No hidden talent.

The Heroes were quite considerate and even gave him severance pay.

Still, he thinks:

"Which means the big turnaround is next!"

An old sword is a legendary weapon.

Making eye contact with a beauty is a fated encounter.

Seeing a dangerous request:

"This is where my power awakens!"

Nothing awakens.

Even so, the next morning:

"I grew from yesterday's defeat!"

He wakes up full of energy.

In a way, the most unbreakable man at the Silver Cat.

As Mimi says:

"He's an idiot who never learns no matter how many times he loses, meow."

"This is a fated love! ♡"

A perfectly dressed noble lady descends from the second floor early in the morning.

Lize, 18 years old.

DA daughter of a Baron.

She loves looking cute and is incredibly weak to refined, handsome men.

She wasn't kicked out of her house.

In fact, she's quite loved.

It's just that,

Between dresses, Jewels, Hair ornaments, And tea parties,

She spent so much money that she was told:

"Try living on your own for about six months."

An allowance still comes.

And every month, it vanishes beautifully.

What she believes in most right now is:

Her fated love with the Prince.

He spoke to her kindly once.

That was enough.

"The Prince surely sees a future with me too... ♡"

He has an official fiancée?

"That woman is the villainess!"

By the way, that Duchess is actually a very nice person.

Perfect in etiquette, social grace, and service.

When she falls in love, it all goes out the window.

As Mimi says:

"She's an idiot whose brain goes on vacation when she's in love, meow."

"I'll pay for it."

The door to the Silver Cat swings open with force.

"Yo!"

If a tiger-beastman comes in acting way too energetic for the morning, it's Raul.

Raul, 22 years old.

The scion of a great merchant guild and the owner of the Silver Cat building.

Expensive clothes. Gold ornaments. A fine physique.

He thinks of himself as:

"A wild and sexy man."

If he finds a woman he likes, he flirts immediately.

"You're looking cute today."

"I can't do fur, sir."

"Whaaat!?"

He's reasonably handsome if he stays quiet.

The problem starts when he opens his mouth.

"Whose birthday is Foundation Day again?"

"The country's."

"Oh, right."

He has money. He has connections. He has initiative.

And when he's bored, he uses all of them to cause a scene.

If Roy says "Let's do it!", he says:

"Sounds good!"

And they go for it.

He doesn't panic when problems arise.

Because he has the magic words:

"I'll pay for it."

In that moment, he and Mimi reach an understanding remarkably fast.

As Mimi says:

"...Just a plain idiot, meow."

"Ahaha... I was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings, after all."

A horned woman carrying food, doing laundry, and tending to drunks at the Silver Cat.

Vera, 21 years old.

She's a live-in maid now, but—

Former 4th Seat of the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings.

Moreover, the Demon King is her biological uncle.

Doted on since childhood, she was made a Heavenly King through pure nepotism.

She herself thinks:

"I was really out of place there..."

And she truly believes it.

The other three were genuine monsters.

It's a fact that Vera was the weakest.

However—

She is easily the strongest at the Silver Cat.

She carries heavy ale barrels with ease.

She ushers rowdy drunks out with a smile.

Still, when praised:

"Eh, isn't this normal...?"

She genuinely tilts her head in confusion.

If she fails:

"Ahaha... I really am no good, am I?"

She immediately puts herself down.

At home, she was praised for everything and hated being overprotected, so she left on her own.

Now she takes care of everyone, while she's the only one who thinks she's unreliable.

So, if she smiles and says:

"Let's stop that now, okay?"

You'd better stop.

As Mimi says:

"She's an idiot who still doesn't realize she's strong, meow."

"Look! I made this!"

A silver-haired boy reading a book while munching on bread at the Silver Cat.

Seto, 17 years old.

A scholarship student at the Magic Academy, specializing in alchemy.

The youngest son of a family that has produced knights for generations, but a bookworm who is the polar opposite of his father and brothers.

When his father said:

"I won't pay for your research."

He replied:

"Fine, I'll earn it myself."

And started working at the Silver Cat.

His salary mostly disappears into books, equipment, and chemicals.

So he's always broke and hungry.

He's smart.

He's foul-mouthed.

If he hears a mistake, he corrects it even if not asked.

"Facts are facts."

Yet, when his expertise is praised, his mood visibly improves.

When a new invention is finished:

"Look! I made this!"

—Usually, something happens.

He's normally the one saying "It's dangerous, stop it," but—

If someone says, "Are you scared?"

He goes, "...Huh?"

And a few minutes later, he's the one making it with the most intensity.

As Mimi says:

"He's a slightly smart idiot, meow."