Chapter 28: Fellow Civil Official Girsch

　Henry ran back to the castle and sat down in his seat, his head in his hands.

(There’s no doubt about it. If I think that someone might take Mai-san away from me, I turn into a cat. I had a feeling that this might be the case, but today’s transformation made it clear. Mai-san’s business is to serve customers, so to get jealous of a customer and transform into a cat…is that too petty? Mai-san will dislike me.)

Facing the mountain of papers, he calmed his mind. Work is good. If you get it done, you will  definitely progress.  As he makes progress, new work will come his way, but he can just clear them all up one by one.

　But his relationship with Mai hasn’t progressed at all. Well, maybe it’s progressed by about the width of a finger. They are as close as ever only when it comes to cats.

　　When he finally mustered up the courage to hold her hand in the Couloue district, Mai’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t even seem embarrassed at all. When he told her about the lost child, she gave me a look like, “Oh, I see.”

(Doesn’t she think of me as a man?　Does she think I’m just some cat around the corner?)

“oh, come on.”

“What’s the matter, honors student? Is your work not going well?”

“Oh?　 Ah, Girsch. What can I do for you?”

Girsch is 25 years old, the same age as Henry. He was the same age as Henry, twenty-five, and a civil servant. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is 5 cm shorter than Henry in height, but is a jovial man who takes pride in his beautiful muscles. He is capable, but has little ambition for advancement. According to him, “My salary is not so different from Henry’s, even though he works so hard. If it was three times the difference, that would be a different case, but if that’s the only difference, I want to work moderately and live happily.”

While none of his peers spoke to him because they were put off by Henry’s serious and uptight atmosphere, Girsch was friendly from the start. At first, Henry thought, (He talks to me so casually.), but now he is one of the few people with whom he feels comfortable enough to have a frank conversation. 

“Hey, you know a lot of good restaurants, right? 　I’m getting tired of eating at the castle. Why don’t they change the menu?　I’ve already written three times to the suggestion box. Hey, for the love of all my friends and colleagues, tell me about a good place to eat. Somewhere preferably not too far from the castle.”

“I don’t know.”

“That can’t be true.”

“I know a good place in the coulou district. It’s cheap.”

“It’s too far!　Unlike you, I’m a mere civil servant. I have to be at work at half past one.”

I don’t want to tell him about the hideaway. Even from my point of view, Girsch is good looking and affable. He has never been without a lover. If I saw him and Mai having an intimate conversation, I would feel like turning into a cat again.

Earlier, my body didn’t get hot and I easily transformed into a cat. I wonder if my body has become accustomed to the transformation. My own mother told me that, “ All beastmen repeat it from the age of about twelve or thirteen and then they can change their form at will.”

(Am I still a growing kid?!)

“Well, never mind, I’ll accompany you to dinner one of these days. Ah, yes, that’s not the main issue. Thanks for assigning work to the wizards. We’ve made a lot of progress on the road maintenance. Wizards are hard to deal with, but they are indeed the government’s employees. One wizard can do the work of thirty ordinary people, or fifty depending on the person.”

“Yes, that’s true. But ……competent wizards are few and far between. In the long run, it may be better for the development of technology if we can proceed with the construction without relying on them.”

Girsch’s eyes flutter.

“Girsch, don’t blink your eyes at me. It’s creepy.”

“Henry, you’ve changed. You used to put efficiency first.”

“I’m talking about efficiency. In the long run, I’ve come to think that it would be more efficient to complete the work without relying on wizards to do it for us.”

　Girsch looks at Henry with a straight face. Henry thinks, (He really is a good-looking guy.)

“How long is that long run you’re talking about?”

“One hundred… No, maybe three hundred years, something like that.”

“What?　Are you all right?　Did you eat something bad for lunch?”

“I ate something delicious. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm.”

Girsch suddenly looked out the window.

“Hey Henry, I see some pitch black clouds in the distance. Is it raining for the first time in a while?”

“Yes, it looks like it. It hasn’t rained recently, so there’s a lot of dust and dirt. It would be nice if it rained, so the dust would settle down.”

　Henry, a half-cat beastman, is sensitive to changes in the weather. He felt the weather change from the moment he woke up this morning. Even when he turned into a cat in “The Hideaway,” his whiskers tingled.

“Maybe I’ll go home early tonight.”

“You’re home early every day.”

“Hahaha. That’s right.”

　Girsch said, “Anyway, thanks for bringing the wizards around, man,” and left.

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