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Cop Craft Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 6

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“Translator: ClefRunner”

“Editor: Weasalopes”

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(Is there no escape route…?!)

An escape route. There was only one.

She could see a ladder right before the mincing device. If she could only grab on to it, maybe she would be able to escape. However, that ladder was there probably for maintenance human workers, and not for a small stray cat that had lost its way. Perhaps she would be able to jump onto it, but whether she would be able to do it while holding such a heavy item in her mouth was a completely different matter—

The sound of the blades kept drawing closer from behind her back.

It was the horrible sound of an engine. Along with a loud cutting piercing noise. The sound of garbage meeting its final moments, getting minced and sliced.

She had to hurry. She had to hurry. She had to jump into that ladder—

Tilarna started running. However, her back legs hurt. They hurt, and they kept hurting but there was nothing she could do about it. Kuroi had been in an accident, and then had been picked up by Kei as a stray cat. She had been somewhat impaired from the very beginning. No, but even a normal cat’s legs would find it difficult to carry a crossbow that heavy while running against a conveyor belt. Extremely difficult.

And much less would it be able to jump straight on top of the ladder while holding onto it with its mouth.

The quick blades were getting closer.

It was impossible. She would go straight into them and get torn to pieces. But if she gave up on the crossbow, then she would have to— well, she could at least try to do something in the body of a cute black cat.

(Ah…!)

Tilarna decided to give up on the crossbow.

She left it behind due to its weight, and jumped onto the ladder from the side of the conveyor belt with all her might.

And then immediately afterwards, the magical crossbow fell from the conveyor, and it got sliced along with mounds of garbage. Tilarna couldn’t bring herself to watch as it soared through the air, and then became part of a massive cloud of dust and debris falling from the blades.

It was over.

After getting thoroughly decimated, the garbage would go past the mincing stage and get automatically carried into a high temperature incinerator to get burnt. The crossbow’s iron bits would get gently picked up by the huge magnet just ahead, and its wooden parts would simply get incinerated. And since it probably contained no plastic or glass elements, there was no point worrying about that part.

At any rate, that crossbow had been destroyed. There was no way she could recover it now. There was a small space beyond the ladder where a small cat could fit and curl up. Tilarna crawled into the crevice, collapsed, and started pondering about what her everyday life would look like from now on.

She would have to turn a blind eye to all sorts of disgraceful behavior coming from her previous body, and then keep on living her life as a cat. Drinking water from small plates on the floor, and eating canned cat food. She would have to spend almost the entire day within a small cramped room, without being able to write a single letter to her family, and having to rely on humans to do tasks as basic as turning the tap for some water.

Her sight narrowed. Her ears started ringing. She started feeling faint.

Was she going to faint at this rate?

Immediately after thinking that, she could feel herself being carried somewhere else. She could feel a vague sensation, almost as if her consciousness was being pushed through a cramped— very cramped tube. It was a similar feeling to the one she had felt yesterday when she got shot by the crossbow and collapsed on the floor.

It was some form of Mildi, which started wrapping up around her own body.

She could swear she briefly heard Kuroi’s worried cries, but even that was trifling.

The loud noise of the garbage disposal plant kept getting farther away, and a nostalgic sound started blending into it— it was the sound of the sea at the port of New Compton, which was leaking into the apartment through the windows. She could hear all of that quiet commotion at the same time.

Instead of having small flesh sockets on her front paws from which she could draw her claws, she now had five fingers.

And her limited hind legs had changed into free and sturdy human legs.

She could see the color red, that she couldn’t with her cat eyes, and then she immediately realized what had happened. Those eyes were indeed human eyes.

And not just that, these are my own eyes.

(Wha…?)

The red thing that she saw first was a man pointing a knife directly at her.

His lips were red. And his eyes were bloodshot. There were scratches on his arms, and some red lettering written on top of his trainers.

She didn’t know that man. He looked asian. And he was pointing the tip of his knife directly at her, while yelling about something. He was upset. Yelling. Filled with contempt. Shouting slurs that creatures known as men would regularly direct at women. All of that was standing there, right in front of her.

At first, Tilarna couldn’t even make out what the man was saying at all. His voice was made up of completely different frequencies from what a cat’s ears would pick up.

She really couldn’t understand a single thing, it felt almost as if she was listening to some foreign language from a completely different universe, but that quickly changed within just a few seconds. It wasn’t Farbani, but at the very least it was English.

「You fucking brat! Fucking bitch!」

The man was insulting her.

「Just be quiet and hand over the crossbow! I know everything. You hid it somewhere around here, didn’t you?! You’re not going to fool me crying all weird like that. Who do you fucking think I am?!」

Her sight was correcting itself and the entire world was starting to become focused again.

This is my own home, the living room from the apartment in which Kei and I live. I know this ceiling well, and I can sort of make out the shape of the furniture.

(So what is…?)

She was back in her own body. She didn’t know the reason. However, this situation was—

「Dahshikína Kithenya!」

Tilarna raised her voice in celebration. Praising Goddess Kithenya with the most sacred words she could give to her, as there was no true way to express her own feelings at the moment.

Oh! Kithenya, thank you. I don’t even know what’s going on anymore, but I am filled with joy at the moment. Surely it was your holy will and benevolence that helped me save my body from rotting away in this land of barbarians.

「Dahshikína Kithenya! Dahshikína!」

She shouted over and over, while gently stroking her own face. Her body was hurting all over. She only had some shallow scratches and small bruises, but she could imagine what had happened to her body. In any case, the most likely option was that she had been hit by the man standing right in front of her.

「… what’s even happening, all of a sudden?」

The man was staring at her blankly. His extremely agitated attitude from earlier seemed to have calmed down slightly, and now he was just looking at her in confusion.

Who is this person? Why is he in my house? And why did he— well, why did he hit Kuroi?

「Hey. Are you fucking mad? Just calm down already. And just give me the fucking thing already」

The man grabbed her hair, and started pulling on it forcefully.

「As long as you bring it here, I’m not going to hurt you. Although… now that I think about it, I may just end up having a little fun with you after all. Huh? I mean, just looking at your lewd outfit… hehehe」
「Don’t touch me」
「What?」

Whether it was just her pure, horrifying rage, or some muscle strengthening Mildi without a spell, she sharply kicked the man with her right leg. She felt a mushy and unpleasant texture. Her toenails were stabbing his chin. But she couldn’t just let him faint that easily, so she shifted her leg slightly.

「…guh?!」

The man fell on his back, grabbed his own chin, and retreated slightly. In the meantime, Tilarna grabbed a bath towel lying on the floor next to her, and wrapped it around her naked lower body. It seemed like the man had done nothing to her yet. That was close.

However, I can’t forgive him. This man saw me. He saw my… well, my bare butt and everything else!

I can’t let him live!

「I don’t know if you’re a thief or what… but you better prepare yourself」

She announced, as she wiped the tears of embarrassment and frustration from her eyes.

「Wha— what…? Hey, stop that. A small girl like you can’t—」

But he immediately received another kick, this time straight to his temple. The man bent backwards, and slammed straight into the wall. The knife he had been holding in his hand went flying off somewhere.

「Wuh…」

She then grabbed the man by his throat. He started panicking, flailing and wriggling his limbs.

And then she started ramming him against a nearby column. And then a second and third time.

She had cast some muscle strengthening Mildi. She would probably be able to beat a pro wrestler at arm wrestling.

「S- spare me…」
「I won’t」

The man sank to the floor, and then she grabbed him by the ankle. She then pulled him through the air like a rucksack, and started slamming him against the floor. And then again, and again for a third time. This time she was feeling a good rhythm along with it, so she slammed him yet a fourth time.

「Please… stop…」
「I won’t」

She once again grabbed him by the neck, and forced him to stand up, and then punched him right in the middle of his torso. She could feel several of his ribs.

Yet she wouldn’t yield. The man kept screaming defenselessly, yet she wasn’t having any fun. What fun was there in watching a crushed cockroach struggle and wriggle. Who would enjoy something like that?

「Eek… ah… forgive…」
「Listen to me, you bastard! My Krége is not even worth using on useless maggots like you! So I’ve decided to simply batter you to death!」
「Please don’t…」
「Also, I can’t deal with killing you right here. It would be too troublesome. So we’re going downstairs. I’m sure that even if pieces of your brain scattered all over the place there, I would have no trouble just cleaning them up later」
「Help me, anybody! Help…!」

Tilarna grabbed the crying man, and left the room. And after throwing him down the staircase, and watching him tumble down, he tried to get away, by barely crawling.

「Hmph」

Tilarna started looking for something around the garage after walking downstairs past the three stage staircase. She then finally found the shelf where Kei kept his DIY project tools, and some other mechanical stuff he tinkered with occasionally. And there it was… something perfect. It was a steel tool that resembled an alphabet letter “L”. For some reason Kei had called it “something similar to a crowbar”.

(So it’s not a crowbar at all?)
(I’m not really sure. But in any case, it kind of works like a crowbar)

That was his answer.

Well, in any case, regardless of the name, it would work.

She started swinging it in practice as she got closer and closer to the man who was crawling on the floor, covered in his own blood, snot and tears.

Yeah. This weight will do. It’s really good actually.

「Any last words?」
「Stop… Help…」
「Well, it’s not like I was going to let you say anything anyways. Alright, die. Die like the filthy nameless insect you are, without receiving an ounce of respect」

And casting him an inhumane glance that only Semanians were able to give, she got ready to swing the tool at him.

「Eek…」
「Alright, here I go. In the name of Lord Béyada’s calamities!」
「Wah, aahhh…!」
「Stop, don’t kill him!」

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