Cat Princess and Human Knight

What's more terrifying than scolding? It's being ignored.

Sophia, who came out of the main castle, looked unwell. Yi Yin noticed something was wrong and, taking advantage of the Ironthorn Knight's distance, asked in a low voice.

"What happened? Did you really get scolded?"

Sophia frowned and shook her head, as Luna behind her spoke.

"It's worse than being scolded. We weren't mentioned at all during the entire meeting. Marquis Iron Oak didn't even lift an eyelid in our direction. They acted as if our support troops didn't exist."

The Ironthorn Knight leading the way seemed to twitch his ears, but he kindly pretended not to hear and quickened his pace to lead the way further.

Sofia shook her head and said.

"Luna, this is the territory of the Marquis of Iron Oak. Be careful what you say. If the cat overhears you and misunderstands, it will cause trouble if word gets out."

Luna was still unconvinced and wanted to say something more, but Bell pulled her aside. She glanced at the grinning orange cat paladin, snorted, and ignored him.

Seeing that Luna was unconvinced, Sofia tried to persuade her.

"This is not the Marquis of Iron Oak's fault; it's because I brought too few troops, which were insignificant."

猫族社会的大部分地区还处于封建庄园经济，小型庄园大约50到150猫，中型庄园大约150到300人猫，大型庄园大约300到600猫。

Despite being a viscountry, Huru County only operates one medium-sized manor, which is actually quite small.

After the previous generation of the Huru County Lady married into the royal family, she neglected to manage her territory, resulting in the viscountry being in a semi-abandoned state.

The military force of a typical manor consists of the lord and his family members (5 to 10 cats), plus servants, armed guards, etc., totaling 10 to 20 cats.

Therefore, as a viscount who owns a medium-sized manor, Sophia should bring at least fifteen cats as her regular combat force for this mission. With the support of two farm cats for each support unit, that's another thirty cats.

In a situation like this, where the entire region's nobility is mobilized, it would be a serious dereliction of duty for Sophia not to bring fifteen war cats and thirty laborers.

Sophia could only pay for the military with five tons of corn, which reduced her military obligations to some extent. She then headed north with only two knights, Luna and Yiyin, and a dozen or so laborers.

As for Bel, this paladin, he was purely a figurehead, a religious figure incapable of fulfilling military duties.

The problem now is that Duke Snowclaw accepted Sofia's five tons of corn, but kicked Sofia to Eagle's Beak Pass.

Marquis Iron Oak couldn't get any food, but he still had to accept the so-called reinforcements from Duke Snowclaw. Who wouldn't be angry in such a situation?

The fact that the Marquis of Iron Oak didn't fire Sophia on the spot already shows that he clearly distinguished between public and private matters.

Sophia explained to Yi Yin in a low voice, and Yi Yin listened with a wry smile and shook his head. His own short-legged cat was really as aggrieved as a ball, being kicked around by people.

Just as the military conference ended and the Ironthorn Knight was leading a few men back to their camp to rest, a loud bell suddenly rang out from the main castle.

Gazing at the large bronze bell swaying in the distance, the Ironthorn Knight's expression changed drastically. He walked back to Sophia's side and said in a deep voice.

"There's been an emergency. This is the call for an emergency meeting. We must go back immediately."

Sophia blinked blankly, looking troubled, and Yi Yin sighed.

"I'll go with you this time."

---

The Norman-style domed fortress built by the cat tribe is large enough to allow Burmese cats, each over a meter tall, to enter and fight inside.

Although Yi Yin's height of 1.83 meters makes it inconvenient for him to move around, he can still sit in the lobby and listen to the meeting with Sophia while keeping a low profile.

It was rare to see the short-legged cat looking troubled, and Yi Yin couldn't bear it.

Sofia is cunning and heartless, making her a good candidate for politician, but she's ultimately a female cat who doesn't understand the nature of the military.

Luna is incredibly powerful, but she was born as a royal princess's guardian knight, not a military noble, and her experiences and personality are completely incompatible with those of soldiers.

The fact that these two female cats weren't kicked out of a military meeting of a group of men is already a sign of their chivalry.

But expecting them to take those two female cats seriously is absolutely impossible.

Only real men understand the responsibility and stubbornness of men. Historically, the few women who could manage men were essentially more manly than men themselves.

Sofia and Luna may grow up in the future, but at this point they are clearly not qualified.

Marquis Iron Oak, seated in the main seat, subconsciously glanced at the human knight behind Sophia; Yi Yin's enormous height was a source of pressure in itself.

No cat-like creature wants to offend a human. It's like how fishermen at sea treat the Dragon King: they don't expect your help, and they'll be grateful if you don't cause trouble.

The noble cats were actually quite annoyed by Yi Yin's insistence on squeezing into the cat society.

It's like the commander-in-chief of the entire army, who commands a million soldiers, but gives the order to move the machine gun position five meters to the left. What are you expecting your subordinates to think?

Like a dog catching a mouse—meddling in other people's business! They don't care about what they should be doing, and they meddle in things they shouldn't be!

That's the feeling Yi Yin gave Marquis Iron Oak: You don't want to be a high and mighty human, but you insist on coming down to the mortal world and wallowing in the mundane affairs with the cat people. Are you out of your mind?

Shaking his head, forcing himself not to think about that troublesome knight, Marquis Iron Oak solemnly looked at the cat tribe below the steps.

It was a tall Norwegian Forest Cat. He looked disheveled, but his eyes were bright and piercing, and he exuded a sense of power.

His left arm was roughly wrapped in strips of cloth, and blood was still seeping out from between the strips, with a few drops even falling to the ground.

"The Marquis of Iron Oak said loudly."

"I'm really sorry to have to bring everyone back after the meeting just ended."

The reason is this cat in front of me, from a nomadic cat pack. My soldiers found him on the northern outskirts when he was being hunted by the Fireblade Clan.

Hmph, impressive skill. You managed to escape from the swords of three Fireblade Sword Saints. You're quite remarkable.

My soldier told me, "You have important military intelligence to tell me?"

I hope the news you brought is truly important enough that it was worthwhile for me to recall you all.

The tall Norwegian Forest Cat bowed and said loudly.

"I am Durotan, son of Galad and chieftain of the Frostfang Clan. I have come to tell you that the nomadic cats have decided to launch a full-scale attack on the Shattered Hills."

Before Marquis Iron Oak could react, a nobleman sitting to his left or right retorted.

"impossible!

Last winter's white plague was so severe that we calculated the nomadic cat population's food reserves, and that at least 20% of the shortfall would need to be replenished to survive the food shortage.

Only a pack of nomadic cats would go mad to launch a large-scale invasion of the Shattered Hills; the only place that could satisfy their food shortages is Starfall Plains.

Marquis Iron Oak nodded slightly.

Nobody is a pushover. Military aristocrats, with their heads down, are bound to be meticulous in their work.

Numerous spies operate in the southern oasis settlements of the vast plateau, and they are not entirely unaware of the nomadic cat populations.

Food is fundamentally different from daily necessities such as salt, iron, tea, and cloth. At most, a lack of salt, iron, tea, and cloth would lead to hardship, physical weakness, and susceptibility to illness.

But a lack of food is a matter of life and death.

A 20% food shortage doesn't mean everyone should eat less; it just means the food should be distributed evenly.

Rather, it means that only if 20% of the cats starve to death will there be enough food left to feed the rest of the cats and ensure their survival.

The nomadic cat population is approximately 100,000, and the population of the scree hills is also around 100,000.

If the nomadic cats are trying to steal food from the 20,000 cats in the scree hills, they're practically forcing the entire scree hills to fight them to the death.

This is a war of life and death; both sides will fight to the death.

Why would they leave the flat, food-rich Starfall Plains to plunder instead of the rugged, food-scarce Rocky Hills? How is that possible?