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Alice stood outside a building, the rain pouring against and running down her cloak. There was a sign on the building besides its front door. She didn’t know what the words meant, but even if she couldn’t understand the language, it was easy to recognize the spoon and bowl carved onto the sign. It was a place to eat—she hoped. With her luck recently, it could be a general store. Alice walked up the steps and flinched when something rubbed against her leg. It was a cat. Now that she thought about it, there were seriously a lot of cats inside of this town or city. “Oh, that’s a cute little kitty.” Alice crouched down and rubbed the cat’s head. Alice chuckled. “Who’s a good kitty? You are, aren’t you? Meow.”
The cat stopped rubbing its head against Alice’s palm. It pulled back a bit and sat on its haunches, staring into Alice’s eyes before opening its mouth. “Girl, did you just meow at me?” And something that was definitely not a meow came out of it.
Alice’s brow furrowed. She looked around, but there was no one there except for her and the cat. “Um. Meow?” she asked. “Meow, meow?”
The cat’s eyes narrowed. “I’m going to scratch you if you meow at me one more time.”
“Are you … a talking cat?” Alice asked. It seems like she was wrong; there was magic in this world. Cats could talk.
“All cats can talk,” the cat said and rolled its eyes. “But you’re the first human that can understand what I’m saying. Usually, I have to scratch at the door or food cabinet to be understood, and even then, humans can’t understand anything else.”
Alice’s brow furrowed even further. Could it be…? There was a translating magic on that unreasonable dragon’s portal? If so, why would it translate cats but not people? Oh. Maybe it was focused on translating animals only because the unreasonable dragon would want to talk to dragons, not humans. “Just wondering, but can you understand what humans are saying?”
“Of course,” the cat said and raised its front paw. It licked the back of it a few times before placing it down. “Cats aren’t as daft as you humans are. We understand humans perfectly fine, yet humans can’t understand us. There’s simply a difference between our species’ intellects.”
Was a cat calling her dumb? No, it was calling the people that couldn’t understand it dumb, so that didn’t include her. “Do you think you can help me out?” Alice asked and reached into the pouch hanging from her belt. She pulled out a stick of jerky and offered it to the cat. “I’m from a foreign land, and I can’t understand what anyone’s saying. Do you think you can translate for me?”
The cat leaned forward and bit the jerky, taking it from Alice’s hand. It purred and munched on the stick, holding it with its front paws to make sure it didn’t fall on the wet ground. “I suppose I could do that. It’s not everyday you meet a listening human.” The cat took a few bites of the jerky, then a few more bites once it couldn’t get any piece of it off. “My name is Burc.”
“I’m Alice,” Alice said. “Nice to meet you, Burc.”
“Likewise.” Burc held the piece of jerky in his mouth before stepping towards Alice. He bent his hindlegs and jumped, landing on her shoulder. He mumbled through the jerky in his mouth, “You’re a bit small. Not a lot of space to carry me, huh?”
Alice frowned. “I’ll buy a bag to hold you in later.” She straightened her back, careful to keep Burc from falling off. “Is this place a restaurant?”
“Yes,” Burc said and stuffed the remains of the jerky into his mouth. “It’s one of the best spots to pick up food scraps. Of course, being the greatest cat in the region, this spot is reserved for me.”
“Greatest cat in the region, huh?” Alice mumbled to herself and raised an eyebrow. Burc did look pretty majestic. He was a white cat with lots of fur, and a huge puffy tail. Compared to the cats back on the eastern continent, Burc’s fur coat made him seem like royalty. “I can believe that.”
Alice pushed open the door to the restaurant and was greeted by a mostly empty room. There was just one person behind the counter; he was sitting down with his head tilted back, his closed eyes facing the ceiling. Alice took a seat at the counter and cleared her throat. The man flinched and sat up. He reached up and dragged his hands down his face before taking in a deep breath. He said something, and Alice turned towards Burc.
“He said, ‘Welcome, what would you like to order?’” Burc leapt off of Alice’s shoulder, landing on the countertop. The owner of the restaurant didn’t shoo him away, stroking his fur instead. “And now he said, ‘I see that Mert likes you.’ He calls me Mert, by the way.”
“Tell him I’d like the house special,” Alice said. Instead of translating, Burc stared at Alice. The owner of the restaurant stared at Alice too. Her face flushed red. “Right, you can only tell me what he’s saying and not the other way around.” She looked for a menu but couldn’t find one. There weren’t even drawings of the meals either. A sigh escaped from her lips when she realized she’d have to resort to the most barbaric method of ordering food out there. She made eye contact with the owner and pantomimed an eating motion.
“He’s asking if you’d like a drink too,” Burc said.
Alice nodded.
“He said it’ll be ready shortly.” Burc yawned and stretched his front paws out while arching his back. “How long have you been here that you can’t understand what anyone’s saying? I’ve seen kittens smarter than you.”
Alice’s expression darkened. “I’ve been here for less than a day, alright? And just because I don’t understand what anyone’s saying doesn’t mean I’m dumb.”
Burc stared at Alice. Then he nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”