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Cop Craft Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 5

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“Translator: ClefRunner”

“Editor: Weasalopes”

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The opening that Tilarna (the cat) had jumped into consisted of a pit filled to the brim with garbage. All the garbage from the city would be collected, and thrown into the pit, after which it would be picked up by a large crane and carried over to a conveyor belt. Then after going through several automatic machinery, it would finally get carried to the incinerator.

The space below the opening had around the volume of a multi storied apartment, and an elongated shape. Two of its sides were interrupted by six openings, and garbage kept pouring nonstop from them. At the moment, garbage was only coming down from another hole.

Even a human would be lucky to just get badly hurt after being slammed by all of that. A creature as small as a cat had no chance.

「No way…」

Mr. Powell looked at a dumbfounded Cecil, and almost sympathized with her slightly. He looked around awkwardly, and then started working on a nearby console.

「Well, uh… in any case, we could still look for the cat. There are security cameras all over every line, so maybe… we could at least try to find the body somewhere」
「Please do so…」

She had never performed an autopsy on a cat. What should she do?

Cecil started thinking completely out of place thoughts like that, as she pulled out her phone, and started sluggishly using it. She was calling Kei Matoba. Despite it being Tilarna’s own request, she now deeply regretted not contacting him from the beginning.

Kei answered immediately.

「Hey Cecil, what’s up?」
「Kei. You see, it’s about Tilarna…」
「Ah, what’s up with her?」
「….」
「What? I’m driving right now. I ended up getting involved in some dumb incident so… I’m kind of in a hurry」
「Hey Kei, calm down and listen, okay?」
「? Ah,,,」

And then Cecil summed up everything that happened that day. How she received a call from Tilarna while working. How Kuroi’s soul had switched places with Tilarna. And how they had chased the crossbow that had caused all of it in the first place. And then finally about the end.

「I know it’s unbelievable but it’s true… Hey, Kei. I think it may be over for Tilarna. I don’t even know how to apologize to you right now. I never thought it would ever come to something like this」

Said Cecil sobbing. Kei Matoba on the other end simply replied comprehensively.

「No. It’s okay, it’s magic after all. I have to believe you」

He said without a hint of pain. But he still was Tilarna’s partner. He probably was going to need even more time than her to let it sink in. It probably was something his previous self could not foresee at all.

「But, in that case this whole thing became a lot more complicated. The one at home is actually Kuroi inside Tilarna’s body, right? I thought something was off since this morning.」
「Yes. But… but she’s probably staying there like a good girl」
「No that’s not it」

Kei’s voice had turned a lot more urgent.

「Her staying there like a good girl is exactly the problem. If it were Tilarna, then I was thinking that maybe she would be able to hold her own against “John” but… this is bad」

The car’s engine that Cecil could hear over the phone suddenly got louder. Kei was probably accelerating right now. As his voice started mixing in with the background noise, it became a lot harder to make out what he was saying.

「In any case I need to hurry. Cecil, I’ll call you back later.」
「Wait, Kei?! But right now over here at the garbage incinerator… you know, what about Kuroi’s…」
「Eh? Ah.. you don’t have to worry about that. Tilarna is in that body, right? In that case she will probably figure something out」

And then he immediately hung up. He was not worried about their situation whatsoever.

(In that case Tilarna will probably figure something out, even as a cat, huh?)

That response was probably the biggest shock Cecil had received in that entire day. It felt even more outlandish than the existence of that strange magic she had encountered.

「Kei…」

But I get it. Kei is trying to protect my feelings, thinking about how we used to be together, by telling me that he doesn’t care about Tilarna at all. He’s trying to avoid hurting me. And I’m reluctant to think that his comment was simply a display of his complete trust in Tilarna’s strength. That thickheaded thinking is so like him.

Tilarna is a good girl. The kind of girl that would probably never end up getting involved in a relationship with him.

I know that already… but, even then, I can’t just stay here waiting with a smile. No matter what, these terrible and filthy thoughts keep clouding my mind. Even though I hate being like that, I still can’t help but feel pain. I don’t even have any lingering feelings for him or anything. We broke up because I just thought that he was too much. But stil—

「Right there! I can see a cat!」

Shouted Powell, who had been struggling hard against the console and monitor in front of him for a while. Cecil felt 99% glad that Tilarna was still there, but the remaining 1% was feeling slightly disappointed.

And Cecil Epps felt profoundly disappointed at herself for that.

~o~O~o~

Apparently cats’ eyes were able to read English characters as well.

There had to be some sort of emergency escape from that pit, just in case anybody fell from the opening. Which was why reaching that area designed precisely for emergency exits wasn’t going to be extremely difficult.

And on top of that, she wasn’t a cat. She was a proud Semanian. Something like this was not going to be a problem for her.

Garbage kept pouring all around here from above. If something like that fell on her head directly, it would be over in one hit. The smell was awful. She wanted to throw up. In any case, Tilarna (the cat) managed to escape to safety in the emergency escape area, and she started searching for the crossbow from there.

But she couldn’t find it.

No matter where she looked, it was an ocean of garbage. Everything was a different color, and all sorts of shapes were blending together into a single body, squirming in waves, almost like a grotesque monster. No matter how much she focused on it, it didn’t seem like she would be able to find the tiny crossbow in there.

(No…)

Think. All the garbage that fell from that truck is right here. And the hole that I fell from into this pit is right next to me over there.

I can’t rely on my eyes. Cats’ eyes are not that great to begin with. And I can only discern so many colors when compared to human sight.

The smell! That’s right, it’s Branii.

I can’t just rely on my nose. I need to sense the Rahtena. I may be a cat, but I must be able to do it somehow. Rahtena is not something you sense with your body, but something you can perceive with your soul.

Just by trying, it shouldn’t be too hard to find it. It makes sense. Considering the awful stench in this room, there was no way that I would be able to use my nose anyways.

The traces of a long lost magical power. That Branii, I can feel it coming from within the trash. Right there! It’s not that deep yet. I have to dig it out from down there somehow…!

And at that moment, Tilarna heard a very loud noise coming from above her head.

The huge crane was coming down. It looked like the arms from folkloric ancient dragons. Its four claws would descend and grab hold of large amounts of trash. And somewhere within its claws was the source of the Branii that she had been sensing.

(This is bad…)

She had no time to waste. Tilarna ran on top of the garbage pit with all her might. Her back legs were hurting terribly… and then she leapt hoping to reach the claw that was quickly gaining altitude.

(Get there…)

And for less than a hair, her own front claws managed to latch onto one of the mechanical claws. And then she finally managed to pull herself on top of the crane fueled by adrenaline.

The wiring creaked and the crane swung from side to side violently. And then it kept rising upwards as it held on to a heap of garbage. In just a few seconds it went up the five story height of the garbage pit. And just like that, the crane began moving horizontally, as it moved past the large openings from which garbage was still pouring down into the pit. Below it there were several huge conveyor belts. And then Tilarna started falling just as she was attempting to reach the large steel frame next to her.

Garbage was being carried to the back of the building. Tilarna didn’t know exactly what was going to happen to it next, but she had at least heard that it would get incinerated after being sorted into wood and paper, metal and glass. The garbage on top of the conveyor was still not sorted. The detailed sorting process was probably what would come next inside all of that huge machinery.

While being carried by the belt along with the garbage, Tilarna kept trying to search for traces of Branii.

It still remained somewhere. But where? Where was it—

Right there…!

She could feel the trace of Rahtena coming from beyond a mountain of used cans and glass vases. She decided to ignore the pain in her back legs, and run towards the middle of the garbage pile. She must have dug out a large amount of paper scraps and pet bottles until she finally found it, the small crossbow.

Tilarna jumped at it, and pulled it out of a pile of soggy paper scraps that were sticking to it. But her front paws weren’t enough to do it. Despite how awful the idea was, it seemed like she would have to pull it out with her teeth.

Kuroi’s body was small. So even though the crossbow must have been about the size of a Dorini handgun, it still felt terribly heavy. There was no way that she would be able to carry it in her mouth, and move freely at the same time.

「Ugh…!」

And it was right then that Tilarna noticed a very real imminent danger just ahead. As the conveyor belt kept moving forward, Tilarna and the crossbow were still on top of it. And just ahead of them was the mincing area for garbage. Several sharp blades were rotating very quickly, Chopping all of the garbage that fell into them into small pieces. No matter what the item was; old TVs, libraries or furniture. All sorts of different things would get completely destroyed within seconds.

(This is bad…!)

While biting on to the small crossbow, Tilarna tried running while opposing the conveyor belt. Several times. But she couldn’t run. She couldn’t outrun the conveyor belt. Her back was still getting closer and closer to the mincing blades every second.

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