Today is the day Father takes Mother and me to Themescara City.

  It's a half-hour walk to the gates, but ten minutes by carriage, which isn't that far, really. We do take a carriage, though. The same one Father takes in the early morning when he works.

  The view isn't too much to look at, since I can already see this entire area from my home; the Great Plains settled next to a large forest that borders the village and a large walled city in the distance.

  "You excited, Luxa?" Father asked, pointing out my swaying tail.

  "Yes!"

  Once we arrived, we were quickly processed through the gate despite the line to enter the city. One of the perks of Father being a City Guard, I guess.

  After a brief introduction to a human gate guard, who my Father is friends with, we enter the west gate.

  I was instantly blown away by the many people and tall buildings. While not skyscraper level by any means, the houses are taller than I expected, averaging around six or seven stories.

  And the people… I scrunch my face and instinctively open my mouth to let the scents pass over my vomeronasal organ. My first flehmen response.

  "Yahkk!"

  Unfortunately, the sheer amount of different scents in the city was not too pleasant to taste.

  "Hahaha! That was my first instinct, too. Try not to analyze the city scents, otherwise, you'll get a mouthful of gross." Father laughed.

  "Yuck!"

  You couldn't warn me about it before we entered the city? Useless Papa!

  We walk along the roadside as I hold both of my parents' hands. I may be ten years old, which means I'm a little too old to hold onto my parents this way, but…

  I'm short. For my age, I mean. An average ten-year-old girl would be around four and a half feet tall.

  Hmm… my parents are average height, I'd say… Father is even taller than some human men. Mother stands around the same height as most young women we pass by.

  Am I gonna suffer from dwarfism?!

  …God, I hope not.

  Maybe it's just another Cat Furlian biology thing. I'd have to look it up in the library.

  Before my parents head there, though, Father takes us to an Inn-slash-Restaurant. We hadn't eaten breakfast before we left, after all.

  Apparently, this is the breakfast he eats whenever he has extra money.

  It was delicious. Never did I think I could miss scrambled eggs and thick-cut bacon as much as I did now.

  Next, we stopped by a large park to settle our stomachs. I played with a small group of other commoner children, despite not being as comfortable with them as I did with my friends in the village.

  Most of the children were human, with just a couple of Furlians, one Ram and the other a Dog Furlian.

  The humans smelled kinda weird. I didn't like it much, but it wasn't necessarily unpleasant or gross, so I'm able to ignore it without much thought.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Ready to go, Luxa?" Mother called out.

  "Yes, Mama! Bye, guys!" I wave my hand farewell to the other children and run over to my Mother's side.

  "Are we going to the library, now?"

  "Yes, we are. Just remember not to break any books! They're expensive!" Father warned.

  "I know!"

  We walk through the common district and enter the middle district, where the quality of clothes of the people walking around becomes more apparent.

  Lower nobility or rich commoners, maybe?

  I noticed a couple of the older humans in nice clothing glance at us with a weird look on their faces, like they drank something mildly bitter.

  …?

  What's their deal?

  As we passed a few buildings, Father pointed to a sign with a drawing of a sword and a wheel.

  "See that? It's the Adventurer's Guild. It's where people from all over gather to get Quests or Dive in dungeons."

  "Coool!"

  We pass by a myriad of different people in armor ranging from mage robes to heavy plate armor. There were a mix of humans, different Furlians… I think I spotted an elf or two, as well as some dwarves!

  As much as I'd like to enter the place, I'm still just ten years old. I can't wait until I'm older!

  "Look, Luxa, that's the library." Mother pointed to the largest building down the road.

  It was a huge, individual building with a statue of an open book set above the entryway.

  "Wooow!"

  It was easily six stories high, but wide, too. It's got to have at least 300 or 400 thousand books!

  I'll never read them all… how sad…

  Once we enter, I immediately drag my mother around through all the rows of bookshelves. Luckily, this place worked like a modern library, with named sections.

  Fortunately, it seems Mother taught me how to read. I mean, I remember the memory, but it's good to actually confirm I can read. We have no books at home for me to have tested, anyway.

  The first section’s first; History.

  This place is Themescara City, the main city of Themescara County, where the Count lives, and the sixth largest city in the Kingdom of Valtovia.

  This County borders the Empire of Alemania, a country currently neutral to us.

  The current King of Valtovia is King Raen Alacosta of Valtovia. A few decades ago, the King implemented a meritocratic system that helped impoverished Furlians of the time. And now we are equal to humans because of this.

  "What a good King. I'd like to meet him one day." I muttered.

  Continuing through the history books, I came across a few sections for the History of The Adventurer's Guild.

  -Organized over one thousand years ago, The Adventurer's Guild stood as the most neutral company in the world, employing millions of people from different origins without a speck of discrimination. To this day, the Adventurer's Guild stands as a grand example of pure meritocracy.-

  A good history to have. It seems I can sign up to be an adventurer when I turn 13. It used to be any age a few hundred years ago, but too many orphan children signed up and died while out on low-rank quests.

  Next, was biology. After a few dozen minutes of browsing, I found a few books about Furlian Biology.

  "Cats… cats, where are the cats… there!"

  Hmm… It seems some Furlians, like cat or dog Furlians, stay small as children until they rapidly grow when they're older than ten or eleven.

  So… a year or a bit more and I'll grow taller? That's a relief…

  Enough with biology! Onto the most important section of all!

  Magic!

  While none of the books available were actual grimoires that taught spells, it's still useful to learn how to detect mana and all that jazz.

  -To manipulate mana for spell execution, the novice mage must first open their veins to the ambient mana in the atmosphere.-

  The book claims that everyone is capable of some type of mana manipulation. Even the most talentless mana user can open their veins and at least use physical enhancement magic.

  It also explains that individuals always have affinities to different elements. That's not to say a person is locked to just one affinity, it's just that they have an easier time with their particular elemental affinity.

  For example, a master mage with a high affinity for fire will be able to cast water spells, but his strongest water spell will be nowhere near his weakest fire spell.

  I wonder what my affinity is. According to this book, children are checked for their affinity when they turn thirteen. I guess I'll find out in a couple of years.

  In the meantime, I can still train my veins to take in the mana in the air, circulate it, and color the mana with my soul. For a mage to become a master mana user, one must constantly train to increase the size of their mana veins.

  Increasing the size of the veins basically means more mana; more MP in game terms.

  Training is as simple as meditation and sensing the mana in the air.

  Meditation is something I'm good at, and I'm confident in my keen senses, both my catgirl senses and the senses I trained while in the Marines in my past life.

  "Luxa, it's time to go."

  "Huh?!"

  I look out the window and notice the warm orange tones of the setting sun.

  "Aw…. Okay."

  I can always come back to this library another time.