Catch Koma!

“AHHHHHHHH!” A loud scream erupted causing everyone in the castle to quickly attend to the screaming princess. When the knights and maids opened her room door, they found her kneeled on the ground with a terrified look on her face.

“Miss Raia, are you okay,” one of the knights asked.

“K-Koma is g-gone,” she stuttered.

“Koma? Who’s Koma,” another knight questioned. They were all muttering to each other, asking if any of them knew who she was talking about.

“My cat…,” Raia started.

The knights looked at her with confusion whereas the maids had an embarrassed look on their faces.

“MY CAT RAN AWAY,” Raia yelled to the heavens. The knights and maids all stared at her as she rolled around the floor and whined like a baby. Princess Raia was the daughter of King Harold and Queen Renata in the Kingdom of Auvure. She had long, wavy, reddish-brown hair, and warm brown eyes. Her attire included a pink and white floor-length dress which was being dirtied up as she continued rolling on the floor. As a princess, the public saw her as someone who was well-mannered and dignified, but the maids who worked with her knew her as the opposite: a princess who wants to do nothing all day and acts like a typical “commoner” behind closed doors.

Koma was a cat that Raia found during one of her trips to the city one day. After shopping at a vendor’s stall, she noticed a cat that was all alone in a church’s courtyard and it seemed hungry. She gave it some food and the cat quickly became attached to her. She decided to take the cat in and raise it as her own, but after about a week, it suddenly ran away.

“Why? Why must this happen to me? Does no one else feel my pain?” She looked at the knights and maids who had nervous smiles on their faces. “I did everything I could to make her happy. Was I not being too loving towards her? Did I not give her my undivided attention? Curse these princess duties that take up most of my time. If only I could, I’d stop being a princess and just play with her all day,” Raia continued with her dramatic monologue.

“I-It’s okay, Princess,” a maid spoke up with a nervous smile. “We can find you another cat,” she suggested.

“No,” Raia quickly shot down her suggestion. “I want Koma. I want to find Koma!”

“Won’t it be easier to get a new cat? It’ll be too hard to scour the city for–,” A knight started.

“That’s why I want him to do it,” Raia interrupted.

“Him? Are you serious,” the knight asked with a surprised look.

“Yes, the one who is able to handle any job given to him.”

“We’ll need permission from the king himself, and he’s probably busy with the threat of ogres wanting to ambush the kingdom,” a knight replied.

“It’s okay,” Raia smirked, “Father will grant any of my wishes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A knight with brown hair, donned in silver armor, walked into the castle in an urgent manner. In the Great Hall of the Kingdom, the King sat on his throne that was situated near the back wall. When the knight reached a few feet away from the throne, he kneeled down before the King.

“Your highness, you summoned me,” he said without looking up.

“Sir Robin, the best knight of Auvure,” the King had a dignified expression on his face as he looked at the kneeling knight. “I understand that you are currently busy being on the lookout for ogres ever since we received notice of a threat, so I apologize for disrupting you from your duties.”

“There is no need for you to apologize to me, your highness. I’m sure you’ve called me here for an important reason.”

“Well…” The King’s expression turned into one of a doting father and he explained in a goofy sounding voice, “My baby princess has lost her dear cat and wanted me to find someone to help her find it. Of course I couldn’t say no to my baby. So, will you take on the quest to find her cat,” he asked with bright eyes.

“I’m going back to regular duties,” Robin was already up and on his way leaving.

“Wait! Please, hold on,” the King pleaded. “Help my baby find her pet cat, please. You’re the only one who could do this. I can’t bear to see her so hurt.”

Robin stopped in his tracks, “I’m sure you can find someone else to take on this task. I’ll handle something more important, like the ogre threat.”

“Sir Robin, I didn’t want to do this,” the KIng’s tone suddenly turned serious. “If you don’t accept this task, I will tell the guards to put you in prison on account of betraying the kingdom.”

Robin became startled when he heard that and turned to face the King who looked at him with stern eyes. “Y-you can’t do this, can you? T-that’s an abuse of power,” Robin managed to stutter out.

“It’s my kingdom and I’ll abuse my powers if I want to,” the King replied back with a threatening tone.

Robin sighed and finally gave in, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

The King turned back into his doting self and his serious aura changed into a whimsical one, “Yay! Thank you, thank you! This is why I love ruling a kingdom. Oh, I have to go tell my baby after this.”

“I just let the King manipulate me into taking a stupid task,” Robin thought as he was disappointed in himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sir Robin was in one of the many gathering rooms of the castle as he waited to meet with the princess. The room was elegantly decorated with pink and white furniture, similar to the princess’ dress, and had a large portrait of the family hanging on the back wall. Sir Robin had an anxious look on his face as he sat on a pink, plush sofa. “It’s my first time meeting the princess. What should I say? Should I kindly ask her to employ someone else for this? Would she really let me off the hook that easily? Or maybe I’ll just go along with it to get it over with so I can go back to doing more important work. I hope she’s nothing like her father,” his mind was racing with many thoughts.

The door softly opened and Raia stood at the doorway next to the maid who opened the door for her. She walked to the chair that was across from where Robin was sitting and sat down. “You may leave us two alone,” she said, which signaled the maid to leave. There was an air of nobility surrounding her; she looked at Robin with eyes that signaled that she was someone who meant business. The type of person who wouldn’t waste time with those she deemed “unworthy”. “I assume you are Sir Robin,” she said in a serious manner.

Sir Robin felt nervous with the current atmosphere. “Maybe I should just go along with this. I can’t imagine what she might do if I refuse to help her,” he thought. “Yes! I am the knight, Sir Robin, who has been tasked to help your majesty on the quest to find your beloved pet. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me so soon.”

“I see,” Raia stood up from her seat and walked over to Robin. When she was directly in front of him, Robin flinched back a bit, unsure of what was happening. Raia suddenly kneeled in front of him and started crying, “Please help me find my Koma! My precious Koma! She’s so young and small; the world out there isn’t safe for her!” She grabbed Robin by his shoulders and shook him. “Please find her! Please, please please,” she pleaded.

“What is with this royal family,” he thought to himself. “I got it! I got it! I’ll help you find her.”

She stopped shaking him and her teary eyes turned bright. She leaned in towards Robin, “Really? You will?”

“Yes, I’ll do my best to find her as quickly as possible, so I can go back to doing important work,” he thought the last part to himself.

“Hooray! Yay! I can’t wait for Koma to be back!” Raia bounced up and down as she clapped her hands in happiness.

“So, can you tell me what she looks like?”

“Hmmm,” Raia thought hard, “she’s cute.”

“Something more specific than that,” he retorted back.

“Let’s see…She’s a silver cat with a patch of white, fluffy, fur on her chest. She has a mark between her eyes and two tails.”

“Two tails? That’s not something you see everyday on a cat,” Robin muttered to himself as he tried to imagine what Koma would look like.

“Oh, and she’s cute!”

Robin looked at Raia with annoyance as she repeated that. “Well, I think I have all the information I need to carry out this task. I’ll start my search tomorrow,” he got up from his seat and walked over to the door.

“Very well then. I’ll meet you outside the castle entrance tomorrow,” Raia informed him.

Robin stopped in his tracks and turned to face the princess, “I’m sorry?”

“I’ll be going along with you to find Koma.”

“Going along with me?”

“I thought it was already a given that I would be accompanying you on this,” she looked at him with innocent eyes.

“No, no, no,” he quickly declined her offer. “There’s no way I could let you do that. Like you said, it could be dangerous out there. I wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for putting you in danger,” he tried to reason with her. “And knowing how your dad is, I might actually suffer a horrible punishment,” he thought to himself with an anxious look.

“No! I’m coming and that’s final!”

“But, princess–,”

“If you go alone, Koma might think you’re some hunter wanting to kill her and run away from you, especially since you look like a rugged brute.”

“Eh? Do I look that threatening,” he thought to himself with a bewildered expression.

“If I go with you, Koma will recognize me and it’ll be easier to get her back. Just let me go with you! That’s my only condition.”

Robin sighed, “If it’ll make this whole thing go faster, then I’ll accept those conditions. But, don’t get in my way.”

“Fine, fine! You won’t even know I’m there,” the princess brushed off his demand. Robin let out a sigh and left the room, leaving Raia by herself. She let out a smirk, “I have the perfect plan to capture Koma back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin was waiting outside of the castle door with his arms crossed, impatiently tapping his foot. His face expressed annoyance as Raia was late. “Royalties; they act as if other people’s time aren’t as important as theirs,” he grumbled to himself.

The castle door finally opened and Raia came out in her distinctive pink and white dress, but this time she was carrying a large bag on her back. “I’m ready,” she confidently declared with a smile. Robin looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hold on just a minute. What is all that,” he referred to the large sack behind her.

“This? Just a few things that I think could help with our search. I packed it all by myself,” she had a proud smile.

“And what things did you bring?”

“Just a few toys, some food, her favorite blanket, a few rats she’s killed recently and haven’t finished eating, oh and I couldn’t forget her favorite resting cushion.”

“Get rid of all that,” Robin quickly demanded.

“Eh??? But, these could help! It’ll make this quest go by quicker.”

“I don’t care. Bringing all of that will only slow us down. And who knows, maybe it’ll go on longer than you think, you’re only going to tire yourself out faster.”

“I was actually thinking you could carry it,” Raia let out a sheepish smile.

“That gives me more reason to reject it,” Robin retorted back. “Seriously, on quests, we must travel light and only bring the necessities. Judging from everything you just list, none of those things will serve us any good.”

“B-but, what if Koma is hungry or badly hurt or she may be tired. Can’t I just bring her something?” The princess pleaded with puppy eyes.

Robin looked at her with a mix of sympathy and annoyance. He let out a sigh as she was able to persuade him, “Fine, one thing only.”

“Great!” Her expression changed into a pure smile. “Then,” she dug into her bag, “I’ll bring this!” She got out a small silver book and presented it to Robin.

“You weren’t even going to bring her some food or anything like that,” Robin retorted. “What is that anyway?” He snatched the book from her hand and examined it. “The Elian Gospel? How could this book possibly help us on our quest?” Suddenly, Robin had an epiphany, “Wait, maybe the princess was born with some divine blessing, from the Elian Gods themselves, that could help us out. She’s not as useless as I thought,” he thought to himself.

“She just likes this book for some reason,” Raia explained, which shattered Robin’s expectations.

“Never mind, I should’ve never gotten my hopes up,” he thought.

“The first time I saw her was at an Elian church when I was out in the city. She looked really hungry so I gave her some food and she instantly took a liking to me. Now, when we go out, she would always want to go back to that church and we’d spend a lot of time there. Sometimes I think to myself, ‘Hold on, did I just steal the church’s cat,’.”

“I thought royal people were supposed to be smarter than this considering the education they receive," Robin looked done with Raia, but then he had another epiphany. “Wait, I think I may know where Koma is.”

“Really? You think you can find her?”

“Based on what you told me, the only logical solution is that Koma might’ve gone to that church by herself and maybe they took her back in.”

“That may actually actually be true. Thinking back on this, if I had just told the other guards this, they could’ve found her easily and you wouldn’t have to be bothered with this task,” she looked as if she was in deep thought. “Well, that doesn’t matter now,” she brushed off the thought with a smile.

“She really doesn’t think things through,” Robin felt his patience was wearing thin.

“Well, I can show you where the church is, so just follow me!” Raia started on her way out the castle.

“Please, let her be there so I can go back to doing my job,” Robin muttered to himself.

Raia and Robin had entered the city after walking for a few miles. It was a bustling area with many merchant stalls, owners calling out to people to get some business, people going about their day, shopping or looking around, guards trying to keep the peace by surveying the areas, and a few kids running around, playing with each other. Raia smiled at the sight in front of her because seeing everyone happy meant that the kingdom is doing a great job for its citizens.

“Let’s go get some Auvure pastries!” Raia declared.

“Did you forget what we came here to do?” Robin tried to get her back on track.

“Right! We must catch Koma! And then we get pastries,” Raia looked at Robin with a determined expression.

Robin sighed, “Fine, but only after we catch her.”

“All right then, we’re almost at the church, I think…,”

“You think? I thought you knew how to get there!”

Raia let out a sheepish chuckle, “Well, usually Koma is the one leading the way.”

“What about the first time?”

“I was just taking a random path and stumbled there,” Raia innocently replied.

“Just try to remember the path you always take,” Robin felt as if Raia was testing his patience.

“Hmm,” Raia closed her eyes to try and remember certain points in her daily walks with Koma that could give her a clue. She opened her eyes and exclaimed, “Plumberries!”

“Huh?” Robin was confused at what she just blurted out.

“Plumberries! There was always this pushy fruit salesman that wanted people to buy his plumberries.”

“All right, I guess we need to find him in order to get closer to our destination.”

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you know where I could find plumberries?” Raia went up to an old woman who was walking past them.

The old woman looked at Raia with confusion, “Plumberries? Ah! You mean Barry, the fruit salesman. Turn left at that textile stall over there and he should be within that street. You’ll know it’s him if you sense craziness in his eyes,” the woman informed Raia with a sweet tone.

“Thank you, old lady. I’ll make sure the kingdom grants you a handsome reward. Come Robin, I know where it is now!” Raia started running towards the direction the old lady told her.

“Hey, slow down!” Robin followed from behind.

“Girls these days…always wishing they were a princess,” the old lady chuckled as she watched the both of them run away.

Raia and Robin followed the lady’s directions and they entered another part of the city that looked similar to where they were before. Rows of merchants were lined up and the streets were busy with many citizens shopping around this area too.

“Berries! Get your berries! Hello, sir, you look like you could use some berries! This is a goldberry, eat it and good luck will come to you!” A loud voice could be heard above the sounds of the city. “Hello ma’am, I have just the thing for you! This is a birthberry! Eat it and you can give birth at ease and as an added benefit, your baby will come out healthy.”

“There!” Raia pointed at the stall and ran up there with Robin following behind. Raia looked around but didn’t spot any churches around the area.

“So, where is it?” Robin asked as Raia looked confused.

“It should be close to here. I always remember passing by this man every time we go,” Raia tried to explain herself.

When they arrived, the man noticed them. “Oh! Hello ma’am! Have you finally come to buy yourself some berries this time! I have many, many, many, many different types! And maybe your boyfriend here could use some too,” the man had a crazed look in his eye just like the lady said.

“Eh…no, thank you!” Raia politely declined his offer.

“Come on, I’ll even give you a special couples discount if you buy 5 pounds of berries from me. A special deal just for you,” the stall owner kept leaning towards Raia who seemed fazed by the man.

Suddenly, a punch was blown towards the man’s face and he was knocked down to the ground. “She said she didn’t want any,” Robin had an angry frown upon his face.

“Wait,” Raia suddenly remembered something. She remembered the first time she and Koma came to this area. When they arrived at the berry man’s stall, the same thing happened to Raia where she felt uncomfortable with the stall owner so Koma jumped out of her hands and pounced on the guy’s face, giving him multiple scratches all over. Koma quickly ran away in the other direction while Raia quickly ran after her. After a few minutes of running, they entered an empty alleyway where the church stood at the end of it behind an empty courtyard. “I know where it is now! Follow me!” Raia started following the path in her memory.

“Huh?” Robin took off without any further question and followed behind Raia. Raia turned right into an alleyway. “Hey, slow down,” Robin yelled out from behind. By the time he caught up to Raia, she was standing in the church’s courtyard.

“Here it is! The church,” Raia exclaimed proudly.

“So, it wasn’t even near that guy’s stall?”

“No, it turns out we always avoid him by taking the opposite way! I just remembered his voice because it’s always so loud when we go there,” Raia explained with a sheepish smile.

“I slugged the guy for nothing, then! You better do your best to not get me in trouble for this!” Robin held up a fist as a threat.

“I’ll just tell father that he was obstructing your duties.” Raia brushed off Robin’s anger.

Robin let out a sigh of frustration, “So, where is she?” He changed the topic to calm down.

Raia looked around, “She always loved to nap near the front door.” Raia’s expression changed into a smile when she spotted Koma right where she expected her to be. “There she is!” Raia approached the sleeping cat and squatted down near her. She gently nudged the cat, “Koma. Koma, it’s me. Wake up.” The cat slowly opened its eyes and let out a big yawn. When it realized that Raia was near it, it quickly got up and jumped onto Raia’s lap. “Aww, you miss me too, don’t you.” Koma and Raia cuddled with each other.

“So, we’re done here right?” Robin interrupted their moment.

“Mm, let’s get Koma home now!” Raia had a giant smile on her face that made Robin feel like everything that happened today was worth it.

“Come on,” Robin went up to Raia and held out his hand for her.

Raia looked at him in awe and as she was about to take his hand, Koma jumped out of Raia’s hand and scratched it, causing Robin to quickly retract his injured hand.

“Ah! What was that for,” he kept his injured hand close to his body. Koma was in a pouncing stance and looked at Robin with a threatening glare.

“No, Koma! He’s a good guy! He helped me find you,” Raia explained to the cat. Koma slowly backed away and took off running towards the city. “Koma!” Raia yelled from behind. “I told you she might think you were a rugged brute that wanted to kidnap her!” Raia ran off in the same direction as Koma.

“Don’t just make it my fault!” Robin also followed after Raia and Koma. “Your cat needs better training on how to interact with people!” Robin scolded Raia once he caught up with her. Both of them were running in the city chasing after Koma. They were trying their best to dodge citizens and not cause any damage to anyone’s stall.

“Don’t tell me how I should train my cat! I bet you don’t even have experience training anything.”

“Tell that to the thousand of guards who keep you safe everyday,” Robin retorted back.

“W-well. Cats are harder than humans, okay!”

“You couldn’t come up with anything, could you?”

“Quiet! We’re focusing on the wrong thing.”

Up ahead, two guards were talking to Barry, the berry stall man. “This guy just came up and attacked me out of nowhere while I was just trying to draw in business,” Barry explained to the guards.

“I see, and what did he look like?”

“Uhhh…” Just then, Robin and Raia ran past him. “That’s him! That’s him right there,” Barry pointed at Robin.

“Eh? Was that Robin,” one guard asked the other.

“I think so,” the other guard replied.

“We’ll do a thorough investigation and update you when we find the culprit,” one guard said.

“That was him right there! Go chase after him!”

“Sorry, we can’t just apprehend innocent citizens like that.”

Robin and Raia reached the end of the city area and were now headed towards the woods surrounding it.

“We have to catch her before she ends up deep in there. There’s been threats of ogres in the forest,” Robin informed Raia.

Raia let out a scream, “ No! Koma! Please don’t become ogre food!”

Koma kept on running away without pause. The three of them were deep in the forest now. Around them stood lines of tall trees with some branches obstructing their paths. They jumped over rocks and logs and tried their best to swiftly navigate through the forest.

“You know, for someone so sheltered, you don’t seem to be scared of this dangerous forest,” Robin pointed out while panting.

“If it’s between me and my cat, nothing will faze me,” Raia said as she swiftly jumped over a log.

“Maybe I should be the one training your men,” Raia turned to smirk at Robin and suddenly hit her face on a hanging branch.

“Princess, are you okay,” Robin stopped to check on Raia.

Raia had an expression that was a mix of annoyance and anger. “I am so done with this!” She quickly got up and shouted, “Koma! When I get you back, you’re going to be getting a huge punishment!” Raia started running faster than ever as if using her anger as fuel.

“If only some of my men could be as resilient as her,” Robin thought as he was dumbfounded by her determination and speed. Nonetheless, he continued on running after her.

After running for some time, Koma reached an open field with trees encircling it and stopped in her tracks. Raia and Robin finally caught up to her and were panting hard from all of the running. “Koma! As your owner, I demand you to stop,” Raia yelled out. The cat didn’t even look back at her or give any reaction. Koma was looking around the area with a concentrated expression as if she was hunting for prey. “Koma, do you hear me? I’m talking to you.”

“Hey, calm down. She’s not moving anymore so you can just go and grab her,” Robin suggested.

“Ah, you’re right! Koma, I’m coming to get you,” Raia said in a doting voice as she walked towards Koma. Suddenly, the ground shook and stopped, making everyone startled. “What was that?” Raia asked Robin whose hand grabbed the hilt of his sword.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Robin had the same expression as Koma as he concentrated on his surroundings. The ground shook multiple times again; Robin unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him, ready to attack. “Princess, stay behind me,” he ordered Raia.

“But Koma–”

“I’ll grab her for you. But, for your own safety, I need you to get behind me now,” Robin raised his voice as the shaking intensified and in front of them stood three large ogres whose height surpassed the trees around them. “Princess,” Robin yelled out as Raia stood frozen, out in the open.

The ogres let out a thundering roar making Raia and Robin cover their ears. WIthout a moment in between, one of the ogres, taking advantage of Raia’s vulnerable state, swung his fist onto the ground.

“Princess!” Robin looked in horror as Raia was about to get seriously injured. Even though he knew he might not make it in time, Robin ran towards her to try and push her away. Suddenly, a dome of light surrounded Raia and Koma making the ogre’s fist flinch back due to the impact of the hit. “Princess,” Robin was stunned at what just happened.

Raia opened her eyes and noticed the light around her. “I’m alive? I’m alive! Look, I’m okay,” she yelled out to Robin like a happy child showing their parents a new trick.

“What happened,” Robin asked as he was amazed at the turn of events. “Wait, maybe the princess had this hidden power inside of her and it only activated now because of the danger she was in,” Robin thought to himself.

“I don’t know! It just happened!” The dome of light disappeared around them. The ogre lifted up his fist, ready for another attack. “Maybe I do have powers after all! Haha!” Raia looked proud of herself.

“Watch out,” Robin yelled out as the ogre was dropping his fist onto Raia again.

“I got this! Shield me!” Raia raised her hands towards the sky. A ray of light shot at the ogre’s oncoming fist causing it to flinch back again. “Huh, not what I wanted. Maybe it’ll take me some time before I can fully control these powers then,” Raia looked as if she was deep in thought.

Robin was dumbfounded by her and then noticed something out of the ordinary. Koma’s eyes and fur were glowing a bright yellow color. “Hey! It’s not you that have powers! It’s your cat! Your cat is the powerful one!”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Cats can’t have powers?”

“Look there!” Robin pointed at Koma.

“Cats with powers–,” Raia looked at Koma and her expression turned to amazement once she witnessed it. “My cat has powers! My cat has powers! I have a magical cat,” Raia yelled out to Robin with a child-like sense of awe.

“I really shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up about her! Even a cat surpasses her,” Robin thought.

A magical circle appeared in front of Koma and sent a large ray of light towards their enemies. The ogres shielded themselves from the attack but still received some damage from it. One of the ogres grabbed a tree and threw it in their direction. When the tree was directly above them, Koma created another dome of light, one big enough to where it reached Robin who was a few feet away from them; the tree hit the dome with a loud thud before bouncing off to the side. When the dome of light disappeared, Koma was panting hard and fell to the ground. “Koma!” Raia went up to her and put her on her lap. “Robin! Koma is down, what do we do?”

Robin let out a groan of frustration as he couldn’t think of a plan. “Go! Go back to the castle! Alert everyone what is happening and send some of the men here. I’ll try to hold them off as long as possible.”

“But–.” Koma started glowing again along with a small part of Raia’s dress. “Huh?” She touched the glowing part, which was her pocket, and took out the Elian Gospel which was emitting a yellow light. Raia opened the book which caused a ray of light to shoot up to the sky, creating a series of magical circles in the sky which lined up with each other. Koma’s glow became stronger, until she looked like a ball of light and started levitating towards the circles, which surrounded her with even more light. Raia and Robin stared at the sight in amazement.

“Seriously, what kind of cat did you find,” Robin asked, his eyes still fixed on the scene in front of him.

The light in front of them only got brighter until it was blinding to everyone and in a flash, the magical circles disappeared with a bang; in the sky was a being who was surrounded by a bright yellow aura.

“Koma,” Raia quietly said to herself.

“Monsters like you deserve to be punished for trying to hurt innocent humans.” The being’s eyes were glowing an intense yellow. “Now, begone! Back to the underworld where you belong!” The being lifted a hand up creating, yet, another magical circle which emitted a burning light towards the three ogres, incinerating them until the threat was long gone. The being looked proud of herself for being able to protect Robin and Raia.

“KOMA! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!” Raia yelled to the sky to get the being’s attention.

“Huh?” The being looked down and saw that Robin was in shock over the turn of events while Raia looked annoyed that her cat was gone. She flew down to meet them on the ground.

“Koma! Wait, are you even Koma? What did you do to my cat? Where’s my precious Koma,” Raia seemed furious at the Being.

She let out a nervous chuckle, “Calm down, please. Let me explain. I am the Goddess Eliza of the Elian faith. I came down to Earth in Koma’s form to watch over the people of Auvure more closely. I didn’t mean to stay for this long, but you took care of me so well, I was getting used to the pampering.”

“But, why did you run away then?”

“And why did you attack me,” Robin abruptly asked.

“Once I heard about the threat of ogres, I decided upon myself to watch over the territories they were planning to invade in case of any attacks. I was spending my days there and going back to the church to recharge my powers, that’s why I didn’t go back to the castle. And Robin, the scent of ogre was so strong on you that my first instinct was to attack.”

“So, everything you did, it was to help us. Thank you so much!”

“I got the short end of the stick during this whole quest,” Robin thought in frustration.

“No, thank you for bringing along the Gospel. Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to use my full powers.” As Eliza said that, Raia looked at Robin with a “I told you so” expression.

“Well, now that everything is over, why don’t you come back home with me! Of course, in your Koma form.”

“As much as I want to, I must return back to the Heavens and continue to watch over everyone from there. Although, I wish you would have brought me my favorite cushion before I had to leave,” Eliza had a look of regret while Robin had a guilty look as he heard that.

“But, if you stay, you can watch the people here right on Earth and protect us whenever we have trouble,” Raia pleaded to try to persuade Eliza to stay.

“I’ll be back on Earth again. Maybe not as Koma but I’ll recognize you, Raia. For now, please convert to the Elian faith and worship me as your goddess.”

“Mm,” Raia nodded. “I’ll convert as soon as I get back home.”

“Make sure you bring me offerings every week and take that cushion to my altar too!”

“This heartfelt goodbye just turned into a proselytizing opportunity for her,” Robin thought in annoyance.

“I’ll take my leave now! Thank you for everything you provided for me, Raia.” Eliza started glowing until she became a blinding light and dissipated into the air. Raia and Robin just watched in amazement until they were left staring at the clear, blue sky.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to get you another cat then,” Robin said, his eyes still fixed on the sky.

“No, I think I’m okay now. Koma is the only cat for me. I’ll just wait for her to come back and maybe we can spend time with each other then,” Raia sounded optimistic.

After a few seconds of silence as both of them just looked at the sky, Robin started, “You’re not really going to convert to the faith just because she told you to, are you?”

“Of course not. I just didn’t want to ruin the goodbye,” she replied.

“I knew it,” Robin thought to himself.