The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

“Cat’s meow?”

At the perfect timing, as if to interrupt him, a cat’s meow echoed.

But the hesitation lasted only a moment.

After all, stray cats were everywhere in the back alleys, so there was no need to pay attention.

However, the one who reacted wasn’t the merchant.

“Kitty?”

Jungwoo looked over the merchant’s shoulder with a puzzled expression, as if wondering why it was here.

Annoyed by her gaze, the merchant finally turned around to look.

And what stood there wasn’t a cat, but a deer.

“Meow~”

A deer that suspiciously meowed like a cat.

Its body seemed to be made of twisted and tangled small tree branches, forming the shape of a deer.

Or perhaps, plants had grown over a deer’s skeleton, creating this bizarre form.

Naturally, since its body was made of plants, where its eyes should have been were only emotionless tree branches.

The plant deer stared at the merchant with its lifeless eyes.

“Wh-what is this creature!?”

“Meow~”

The plant, shaped like a deer and mimicking a cat’s meow with a mineral-like voice, was eerily unsettling.

The merchant, feeling a chill, pointed a knife at the cat-like creature.

“Good! Kitty! Go call for help!”

“You little brat!”

But contrary to Jungwoo’s shout, the cat either didn’t understand or chose to ignore it, standing still and silently staring at them.

“…Kitty?”

As the cat continued to stare without moving, the merchant, who had initially been scared, regained his courage and let out a nervous laugh.

“Keh, kehehe. What’s this? Scared me for nothing. But this is good. A monster I’ve never seen before will surely fetch a good price. I’ll bury that little boy and take you instead.”

With that, the merchant approached the cat, thinking about how to sell it for profit.

“Come on. Be good, okay? Uncle’s not a bad guy~. Good. Good.”

Hiding his knife, he slowly reached out to grab the cat.

Swish!

Slap!

“Ugh…! This brat! Using tree branches like a whip…!”

A tree branch growing from the cat’s body struck the merchant’s hand like a whip.

The merchant clutched his hand, the impact so strong it numbed his senses.

“You little…! I tried to be nice, but monsters are monsters after all. No respect for humans! Fine! Even if it’s dead, a rare monster like this will sell for a high price!”

With that, the merchant pulled out his knife again, aiming to chop the cat into pieces.

Thud!

But at that moment.

Just before the merchant’s knife could pierce the cat’s body.

A ripe tomato smashed into his face.

“Wh-what’s this? A t-tomato? Why is there a tomato here?”

The merchant wiped the tomato off his face and frantically looked around.

But the only people nearby were Elsee and Jungwoo, whom he had just subdued.

Apart from them, the only creature in sight was the cat.

A hypothesis flashed in his mind.

“Could it be this thing…?”

“Meow.”

As if confirming his thoughts, the cat meowed.

That was the beginning.

Next, thorny vines with a strong rose scent grew from the stems.

The vines wrapped around the merchant’s arm.

“Gyaaah!”

Startled, the merchant cut the vines with his knife.

Fortunately, the cat was still a young monster, so the vines weren’t thick, and the merchant’s strength was enough to cut them.

But by the time he cut the vines, his skin was already shredded by the sharp thorns.

“You damn pest…! How dare you attack a human!”

The merchant screamed, clutching his tattered arm.

But that was just the beginning.

“Meow~”

Thud!

“Gyaaah!”

A walnut, several times larger than a normal one and known as the king of walnuts, swung like a mace and struck the merchant’s body.

“Mew~”

Splat!

“Gyaaah!! My eyes…!”

An orange suddenly grew in front of him, crushed by the vines, and its juice splashed directly into his eyes.

“Meow~”

Thud!

“Huh…?”

As a follow-up, a cluster of blueberries, spinning in concentric circles, collided with the merchant’s head, bursting with fresh juice.

The merchant, experiencing the bizarre sensation of his head being physically refreshed, collapsed with a mild concussion, unable to even scream.

“I’ll kill…! I’ll kill that monster!! I’ll definitely kill it!”

But even at that moment, the merchant didn’t give up. Instead, his hatred for the cat burned even fiercer as he tried to get up.

It was a determination born of sheer human malice.

But at that moment, a dark shadow loomed over the fallen merchant, and he could only stare blankly, forgetting even to spew his hatred.

“This is….”

No wonder, for the last plant the cat had grown was far more dangerous than the previous ones, making them seem like child’s play.

Swish!

A plant with a flytrap-like flower moved its mouth-like part, making threatening sounds.

“Eek!! Predatory Water!”

It was a Predatory Water, a dangerous monster classified as a Silver-level threat, known for devouring animals while also being an expensive, high-grade fruit.

Tomato, rose, king walnut, orange, blueberry, and Predatory Water.

All of them were plants that grew around the Adventurer Guild or had been recently used by Kurt in his cooking.

That’s right.

That was the cat’s ability.

A unique ability inherited from its parent, the Awakening Species Fruit Tree Antlered Reindeer.

While its parent’s ability was to rapidly grow and control seeds in the surroundings, the cat’s ability was to recreate and grow plants it had consumed.

All those fruits were ones Mari had secretly fed the cat during meals.

Mari had been raising the cat behind Kurt’s back, sneaking fruits from meals to feed it, and the cat had recreated those fruits using its ability.

After all, the walnut, orange, blueberry, and Predatory Water were all fruits Kurt had used to make crepes.

Drip.

Drip.

Sizzle…….

The Predatory Water’s drool, or rather, digestive fluid meant to dissolve captured animals, dripped onto the merchant.

Realizing this, the merchant, terrified out of his mind and unable to stand properly due to the concussion, could only crawl away on all fours.

“Uwaaah!!”

“Meow~”

With the merchant gone, only the cat, Elsee, and Jungwoo remained.

“….”

“….”

“Meow.”

The quiet back alley was soon enveloped in peaceful silence.

And then, the plants the cat had created withered and died as if struck by drought, and the cat, exhausted, collapsed weakly.

“Ki-kitty!”

Seeing this, Jungwoo rushed to the cat, but fortunately, it seemed the cat was just temporarily out of stamina. It soon curled up in Jungwoo’s arms, purring contentedly and rubbing against her. Relieved, Jungwoo hugged the cat and whispered, “Thank you, kitty.”

.

.

.

“Huff…! Huff…! What the hell was that monster!!”

How long had he been running in a daze?

As the fear of being eaten by the Predatory Water subsided and his rationality returned, the merchant finally wiped the sweat pouring down his face.

He realized, thankfully, that the monster creating the Predatory Water wasn’t chasing him anymore.

With that realization, the merchant gradually calmed down.

But as he calmed, anger began to rise in his heart again.

“Damn it! Nothing goes right when that brat’s involved! At this rate, I’ll just have to kill her instead of selling her off!”

As expected, the shameless merchant blamed all his misfortunes on Jungwoo once again.

But there was no one there to point out his shameless behavior.

Or rather, there shouldn’t have been.

“…Who are you going to kill?”

“Who else! That damn mixed-blood brat from the Eastern Continent….”

As he spoke, the merchant finally realized there was someone else there and stopped.

“Hoh. Is that so?”

“Y-you…! No, you are…….”

“Still not in your right mind, I see.”

And that person was none other than the unforgettable Lizardman.

The merchant looked at Kurt, whose vertically slit pupils glared at him, and thought.

‘Ah. When a Lizardman’s pupils are vertical slits….’

It means they’re really angry.

That was the last thing the merchant remembered before his consciousness faded.

Hours later, a severely beaten merchant, incapable of doing any more evil, was delivered to the guard station in Astram.

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