I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 3
Consulting With My Family
Amy’s mother had readily agreed to her request for getting a pet. But her father set a condition for her.
There was no guarantee that the allergies from their past life would not suddenly inflict them in this life as well. As long as there was a way to prevent this, her father wanted to do so. And if they couldn’t prevent allergies then they’d have to arrange some sort of medicine or treatment.
So, he told Amy, before she could get a pet, she had to learn ‘magic’.
If she could learn healing magic, she’d be able to heal her allergies by herself. Moreover, if she also learned cleaning and defense magic she’d be able to take preventative measures to a certain extent, and stop the allergies from appearing. With that said, he conveyed the need for her to learn magic before she could think of adopting pets.
“Dear, can’t you use your magic tools to make something for allergies?”
“Well, I’ve always worked in a mechanical field, even in my past life, so I’m not well-versed in areas dealing with medicine and healing. Besides, this world doesn’t have the concept of ‘allergies’ to begin with so there are no magical tools for it.”
On top of that, the conflicts with neighbouring kingdoms had settled down recently, so there was no need to develop offensive types of magical tools in the near future. Hence the overall budget for the development of magical tools had been reduced greatly.
But it’s good to have peace, the Northland Count muttered pleasantly to his wife and daughter.
“I can understand why the budget is more focused on the knights and magicians’ divisions. One reason is that they are important for the defense of our kingdom. But, also, developing human resources takes considerable time and effort. There isn’t enough budget left over for me to research magical tools dealing with things that are not recognised in this world. Our department is already on a tight budget as it is.”
“That’s a tough situation.”
“Umm, well, isn’t it better for me to learn magic than to waste money on pointless research?”
Amy couldn’t help but agree to her father’s condition when she saw her mother who was mercilessly teasing her bitterly smiling father.
Speaking of their family relations… nothing much had changed between them ever since she regained the memories of her past life. The only thing that was different was that now, when she was alone with her family, they would sometimes start reminiscing about their past lives, and her speech would mix up with that of her previous life.
The time she had spent here, since being born in this world, had permeated every corner of her body. Even if she wanted to change herself, she couldn’t.
The past was in the past after all; it was no match for the present.
Though that was only one part of her. Amy was honestly relieved that she didn’t have to completely change the way she currently was.
She had been worried that she wouldn’t even know where she’s standing if everything up to now was replaced by the past.
Her brother and her parents had felt the same way when they’d first regained their memories, and they had chosen the same path as Amy. Having her family close to her helped a lot. Although she still had some doubts, she was able to accept both her past and present without too much of a confusion.
Mentally, Amy had suddenly become more mature by gaining the memories of her past life. So she should appear calm and collected compared to other children of her age. However, she had always been reserved in front of other people so, outwardly, her personality hadn’t changed much from before. The only change was in her taste in accessories and dresses; she now preferred simple styles that were more suitable for an older lady. Her maid and other servants just thought, “it’s a bit early but she’s at that age, huh”, and didn’t seem to be too concerned about it.
“Okay. I will work hard to study magic. Then it’s okay if I get a cat, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll look for a teacher for you. You should start by learning the basics of healing magic first. Once you’ve done that you may keep one cat. We can ask Hal to judge whether you’ve learnt it properly or not.”
“You’re going to ask brother?”
“Yes. He’s always getting injured in dungeons so he should be very familiar with how healing magic works.”
Her brother was still young, so he had to go with a group of several people to hunt beasts in forests or dungeons. Among that group, there would always be someone who could do healing magic.
Although Amy’s brother, Harold, had never gotten a life threatening injury from his expeditions, bruises, cuts and abrasions were common for him. He was always being healed by magic so it was true that, in this house, he was the most familiar with healing magic.
When her brother came home the next week, he laughed and readily accepted.
“Ok, then contact me once you’ve learned it. I’ll come home without getting healed there, so I can see your healing magic.”
“Um, if you get a serious injury please get it healed first and then come home. We can just injure you again here. How about pushing you down the stairs, or accidentally slicing your hand with a paper knife?”
“Hey, that’s not what I signed up for.” Harold rubbed his forehead as his mother teased him mercilessly.
Amy also took the opportunity to talk about the otome game from her memories.
She told her brother all about the game, but her brother wasn’t really interested in a game targeted towards women, so his reaction was rather weak.
“There was a person on the screen who looked like you, brother, and he had a scar in this place.”
She pointed out the place with her finger, tracing it from the end of her eyebrow, over the edge of her right eye, to the top of her cheekbone. It was a thin scar in the shape of a line. It made the character look like an ‘adventurer’, and also gave him a bit of a ‘playboy’ vibe.
If he actually got injured in such a place he could be in danger of losing his eyesight. Amy suddenly became worried.
“Is that so? Hmm, I have been injured on my face before but it’s never been deep enough to leave a scar. What’s more, if you get healing magic done on the spot it shouldn’t leave any scar. Then, I probably let it scar on purpose?”
“On purpose? But why?”
“Hmm… because it’ll attract the ladies.”
“What a childish thing to do. If you go out of your way to get a scar for that reason then I, your mother, will be very sad.”
“Hey, I haven’t done it though. Besides, I already have a girlfriend.”
He had replied in a panic, but when he mentioned his girlfriend her name was different than the one he’d told them before. Her brother ended up being thoroughly interrogated by their mother.
The Northland family did not treat marriage as a political tool, and basically recommended freedom to love. It was also a long standing policy of their parents to not force them to get engaged until they turned 18 years old. The recent engagement of Amy with the Third Prince was quite irregular for this family.
That being the case, as long as he was responsible about it, Harold was also allowed romantic pursuits by himself.
“I didn’t cheat or anything! But you still want me to apologize, I didn’t do anything bad!”
“Isn’t it because brother is too busy hunting magical beasts? If that’s all he does it’s not surprising she bade him adieu and left.”
“I-I can’t help it! I like hunting!”
“…… Harold.”
Her brother cowered like a rabbit in front of their mother’s narrowed eyes. Amy thought he looked a lot like him from the past life when he used to get scolded by mom for spending the whole night playing games instead of doing homework.
That’s how much he liked it, so it was only natural that he would be so obsessed with hunting now too. In fact, he actually worked quite hard to establish himself as a reputed adventurer.
“I’m telling you, she’s the one who said she liked my dual swords! But then she claimed she gets lonely when I go to dungeons and to spend more time with her……isn’t it impossible for me! What could I do then!?”
“Anyhow, brother, even when you’re on a date I’m sure you just talked about methods of skinning animals or something.”
“What!? Girls like jewels and stuff, right! So she should be happy talking about stuff she likes!”
Amy sighed. She would really like to know which girl would be happy to hear about the gory details of defeating a magical beast, chopping it up and taking out the jewels and raw materials from inside it.
“Ufufufu, Harold? You better fix that habit. There is a limit to things, you do know that right?”
They had always been a lively family, even before they regained their memories, but they had now become more comfortable with each other. Amy felt very happy with this.
In the end, Harold had to listen to the admonishment of his mother on behalf of his ex-girlfriend. Although he had to sit on his knees and explain himself in one way or another, he went back to school happily.
Meanwhile, Amy immersed herself in the study of magic.
Until now, she had never hated studying magic. But now a cat was on the line. She had to take her studies seriously now.
In just half a month, Amy progressed at a speed that quite alarmed her private tutor. He started teaching her at an even higher level of magic. However, there was one thing that didn’t go well.
It was perhaps thanks to her mother’s blood, whose side of the family was quite advanced in magic, that Amy’s magical energy was of a high-quality. However, the quantity of it was small, and so the output of her magic was not stable.
The amount of magical energy itself depended largely on a person’s constitution and age. It was not something that could be improved with more control or magical skill. No matter how hard she tried, all it did was make her hungry; her magical energy did not improve.
Amy was still ten years old. Her magical energy should increase with time, but waiting for it to grow was frustrating. Like this, her dreams of getting a cat kept getting farther and farther… thinking of this made her feel more depressed. The answer to this problem came suddenly from an unexpected place.
Although her magic study had come to a halt, her plan to ‘eat a lot and get fat’ was progressing quite well. The Northland family’s cook was quite skilled. On the orders of the Countess, he made hearty food that would nurture the body in a healthy way.
She gained weight evenly; Amy herself could see the change in her body. Her face also got rounder, and her previously cold features started giving off a more friendly vibe. She looked more amiable now.
It was when her dresses became so tight that they had to call for a seamstress to alter them, she began to feel a change in her magical energy.
As she gained weight, the development of her magical energy became more stable in proportion to the gain. Until now, using her magical energy had been like sprinkling drops of water from a watering can. But now it had turned into a tap.
It seemed like the foundation of her magical energy stabilized when she gained weight.
After all, everyone has their own unique magical energy, so it must be related in an inseparable way to the body that housed said energy. Amy thought it was much like the vocal range of opera singers.
… When she ate, both her weight and her magical energy increased.
After noticing that, Amy added one more plate of food to her meals.
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Until now, she had never hated studying magic. But now a cat was on the line. She had to take her studies seriously now.
*she had hated