The women I set free are obsessed with me

You can read 155 episodes on patreon and 50 new episodes are released every month. patreon.com/Ashenrose

I opened a cat café in the sixth district, Edenvar.

It seemed too early to buy a whole building, so I rented for now.

The location was good, with shops clustered together and connected to the street for easy access. Of course, the rent was expensive, but it was necessary.

Time was short. If I opened a shop in some corner, it would take ages to gather customers.

In fact, it was a prime location that would be hard to get even with money, but Bolt helped by connecting me with the building owner. Since coming to Vestia, I had benefited from Bolt in many ways.

After renting the building, all that was left was to bring in the necessary items and finish the interior.

"Welcome!"

"Oh my, the atmosphere here is nice. The cat people are wearing maid outfits. What kind of place is this?"

"It's a cat café. A place where you can play with cats while enjoying drinks."

The first floor was a typical cat café.

It consisted of a spacious area where cat people could lounge around and customers could sit and relax. It was accessible with an entrance fee.

The drink menu was limited to simple teas and coffees that anyone could make. It wasn't easy to find staff and ingredients right away.

Despite this, the prices were slightly higher than regular cafés. We had to make a profit on the drinks.

However, there was one product more important than these drinks.

"Warm milk for 1 silver…? Manager, why is this milk so expensive?"

"Ah, that's a drink for the cat people."

"You want me to pay to give drinks to the café staff?"

"It's just a way to quickly close the distance with the cat people. You don't have to buy it if you don't want to."

"Hmm…"

The woman hesitated.

A cat person approached her, laying down on the floor and licking its paw, acting all cute.

"Nyaaa."

"Oh my, are you hungry? Alright, it's just 1 silver after all. I'll have one warm milk, please."

"I'll bring you fresh milk right away."

This was how people interacted with cats on the first floor.

The key was the second floor.

"Ah, there. Right there."

"Does this feel good, nya?"

"Ahh… it's great. Absolutely amazing. I've never had such a refreshing massage before."

"I know, right? The manager came up with quite an ingenious idea."

A space filled with fragrance.

Customers comfortably lying on beds.

Cat people kneading their backs.

The second floor was a massage area connected to the first floor.

If you raised a cat person's affection and were chosen, you could receive a massage on the second floor. The cat people gave back massages to customers using the kneading technique.

Of course, this came at an additional cost.

As it was a massage, it was much more expensive at 20 silver.

A devious double-charging scheme.

You might think it wouldn't be popular, but that wasn't the case at all.

People felt the urge to spend money just from seeing some pretty pixels, but how about a chance to get a direct massage from a cute employee?

This was absolutely irresistible.

We already had regular customers determined to collect them all, touching this cat person and that cat person, which says it all.

Moreover, there were often competitions among customers.

"Rona is definitely the cutest."

"What are you talking about? It's obviously Nero. Can't you see this sleek, glossy black fur?"

"Huh, this auntie doesn't seem to know much. Can you say that after seeing Rona's fluffy tail fur?"

"What a man with terrible taste. Right, Nero?"

"Nyaa~"

They could argue all they wanted.

Nero and Rona rolled around with blissful expressions, eating the snacks given to them.

Feeding the staff with customer money, and the snack money becoming pure profit. It was like printing money.

As I looked around the shop with satisfaction, Seira approached me.

"I can hardly believe what I'm seeing."

"Haha, no need for compliments."

"I'm not talking about you, but them. Why exactly are humans pouring money into this?"

Seira asked a fundamental question.

Cats were at the top when it came to being finicky among animals. It wasn't for nothing that people say they would have gone extinct if they weren't cute.

Yet humans poured money into getting attention from such cats. They were overjoyed when a cat rubbed against them, even if it was usually aloof.

"You don't get it. That's the whole point of keeping cats."

Even after I said that, Seira still didn't seem to understand. It was the difference between humans and beastkin.

Just then, Bolt entered the shop as the door opened.

"Hey, Karami. I've finished everything you asked for."

"Is that so? It was done much faster than I expected. You did it anonymously, right?"

"Of course. No one will know you're the manager."

"Thank you."

"I must say, your business sense never ceases to amaze me."

As Bolt and I exchanged words only we could understand, Seira gave us a suspicious look.

"What scheme are you plotting now?"

"It's nothing special. Just…"

I looked at the shop across the street that had started construction and said,

"People really love to compete."

***

Two weeks after opening the cat café.

The shop had stabilized quite well.

We hired staff to sell high-quality tea and coffee, and brought in a few more cat people.

It was quite entertaining to watch the expression of a male customer change in real-time as he said, Finally, I've collected them all. I have no more regrets here.

Yet he still came back, busy trying to win over the new cat people.

I just gave a little hint to the newcomers that it would be shameful for a cat to give in easily. They'd figure out the rest on their own.

Customers of all ages and genders steadily visited. I thought it was a smooth-running tycoon business.

"Get the owner out here!"

Until one day when a commotion broke out outside.

Outside the shop was a group of middle-aged women.

"What's the matter?"

"Are you the owner of this establishment?"

"I am, but who are you?"

"We're the Beastkin Protection Committee!"

There's an eternal, unchanging truth.

Groups calling themselves '~Protection Committee' are generally not normal. I had an ominous feeling.

"We know everything. You've been kidnapping and abusing cat people, haven't you?"

"Pardon?"

"Kidnapping those poor things and exploiting them as you please. Are you even human? Have you no heart?"

"…?"

What's this?

Did I make another mistake somewhere?

Just like how freeing slave beastkin was considered abandonment, was taking in those living on the streets considered kidnapping?

I glanced inside the shop. While the customers looked bewildered, the cat people, who had no shred of loyalty, were sprawled on the floor, munching on snacks.

Was that how kidnapped individuals behaved?

Oh, I wish someone would kidnap me too~

I'd have no complaints if a pretty older sister or a cute girl kidnapped me. They'd feed me and give me a place to sleep without me having to do anything, like sign me up?

"The people in concern seem fine though?"

"They're delicate creatures who can't express themselves properly!"

Shit, cat ladies.

I had run into trouble.

Was this Rin's misfortune kicking in?

It was best not to escalate things here and try to resolve this amicably.

"Let's say that's true. …What do you want?"

The moment I showed willingness to negotiate, the women's expressions changed completely, as if all their anger up to now had been just a build-up for this. It felt like watching a WWE match.

"Release those children and set them free!"

"That's considered abandonment, you know? I'd be arrested for that."

"How is that abandonment! It's granting them freedom!"

What?

My train of thought got messed up for a moment, but I quickly sorted it out.

Let's break this down: First, these groups typically say bullshit as their default passive. They were collectives that packaged sophistry and stubbornly pushed their agenda forward.

Here's the key point.

Their sophistry meshed with Vestia's bizarre values.

In a world where freedom = abandonment was common sense, the abnormal thinking of the Beastkin Protection Committee was normal by my standards.

It was like negative times negative equals positive!

"Right. You're absolutely correct, ma'am. How can releasing them be abandonment? It's obviously a good deed to grant them freedom."

"Huh? Uh… y-yes. You're more reasonable than I expected."

To finally meet someone who understands.

Archimedes must have felt just like this when he shouted Eureka!

"So you'll release them?"

"No can do."

But not now.

I needed to make money.

"You won't release them? Then pay us adoption and responsibility fees!"

So these cat lady bitches finally show their true colors.

You want to claim ownership now that I've taken in those messy, dusty kids and made them healthy and pretty? If they were so precious, you should have taken care of them from the start.

You're beyond hope.

"Persi, come here please."

I called Persi, who was sitting like an arrogant princess. Persi was the most popular cat person in our shop.

In the back alleys, she had been nothing more than a shabby vagrant, but after a good wash, she became as beautiful as a princess.

"What is it, Boss?"

Kyaa, Boss!

It's got a nice ring to it.

Anyways, that wasn't important right now.

"These ladies want to take you away."

"What?"

"They say they want to send you back to where you came from. If you want to go, I'll let you."

"Sweetie, don't stay cooped up in a place like this. Come with us, okay?"

It was shocking that cat ladies existed in this world too, but the environment was different from Earth.

What I meant was…

"I don't want to. Why should I go with you aunties?"

"Huh?"

The cats here could speak.

Persi narrowed her eyes sharply.

"I remember your faces clearly. You used to come to the back alleys and take my friends away, didn't you? None of the kids who were taken by you ever came back. Where did you take them all?"

"W-What are you talking about? You must be confusing us with someone else…"

"Don't try to weasel out of it. You can't fool our noses."

The cat ladies flinched, their eyes widening.

When they turned around, they saw all the cat people inside the shop glaring at them fiercely. Dozens of cat eyes gleamed menacingly.

"Hm, since you insist, I'll release the cat people as you wish. Ah, but I won't be responsible if they harm you. They won't be my employees anymore, after all."

"N-No need. I mean, it's fine. Our children seem to be doing well enough, so we'll let it slide this time. W-Well then, goodbye."

The cat ladies hurriedly left the shop. As they retreated, they stumbled and fell several times, getting up only to fall again.

Was it the effect of misfortune?

Well, it was all a matter of perspective, so I decided to interpret it as good luck.

***

"Boss, we have a big problem!"

Persi, who had seemed so reliable just yesterday, came looking for me in a panic.

"What's wrong all of a sudden?"

"O-Outside… Outside…!"

I went outside with the staff. Across the street, where construction had been ongoing, a new shop had opened.

[Dog Café]

"To open a dog café knowing there's a cat café here! This is clearly a provocation, nya!"

"Boss, shouldn't you go say something?"

"That's right, meow! Go give them a piece of your mind, meow!"

"Haha… I'm a bit too cowardly for that…"

The cat people looked at me with eyes full of disappointment, but there was nothing I could do.

That shop was mine too, after all.