After being Reincarnated as a Cat Girl, I Somehow obtained a Unique Subclass

the Game Changes

The two made their way towards the armory, as Zatiel talked, “Well, my father would be very pleased, I think. I'm sure I will have no choice in the matter, but it doesn't trouble me… besides you never said how you answered your father's question.”

Prince Samuel laughed and replied, “I told him you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and that I fell in love with you at first sight.”

She nearly died on the spot and her legs momentarily went weak, but she held back her frantic emotions and replied, “I would be willing to accept a formal engagement for now. I'm still very young in some ways. I have the life experience of an eight year old.”

He became serious with her, as he made his argument, “You seem more mature than that to me. I understand and it feels strange imagining you my sister's size, but I only know the person I have met. That's who you are now and nothing else matters to me. To be honest, I selfishly insisted you be mine if marriage was proposed.”

She grew curious of the emotions behind his words and inquired, “Why be so selfish?”

“Because I wanted to fight alongside you and keep you safe forever. Our kingdom's head sage informed us that my hero ability gives me a matching lifespan of the demon lord I face, which is immortal. If I have to live out life alone losing everyone I love, then I would choose to love the person I wanted and not regret it.”

She searched his eyes as he spoke, but looked away as she answered, “Well, we wouldn't be alone. I've got eternal youth too, but I think it works differently. Just promise you will take good care of me, hero.”

The two split up inside the armory and met back up at the entrance, after gathering more weapons. The young prince kept his word and taught her the basics of pole-arms, using a glaive she found on the back wall. She told him about feeding mana to the enchanted gear, but insisted they should not feed the weapons during practice.

Samuel was very attentive and a good teacher. He had already taught her two basic stances, several strikes, and a technique for parrying by the time food was prepared for all of them. The entire group met up at the tavern for food, once finished the group split up and took baths at the hot springs.

The maids had cleaned rooms at the nearby residences, and everyone found a private room. Several days passed like that, as she insisted on everyone learning as much magic as possible. Samuel caught up on his reading and trained Zatiel with curved swords, both one-handed and two-handed.

A steady stream of beastkin warriors began to move into the sanctuary. Shortly after she agreed to the engagement, Samuel produced an expensive ring for her and insisted on moving things along with the plan to improve Everila's army. Zatiel felt like she had no choice, but to agree.

The prince left to report to his father and came back with a date the two were expected to show up at court. A day that was fast approaching. The group had just finished applying runic magic to the entire party the day before, when a messenger arrived from Eden to escort them.

As Prince Samuel led her out of the Adventurer's Guild in Eden, he spoke in haste, “I believe a dress will be needed, Milady.”

The messenger paused, but continued to lead them into the noble district. They arrived at a dress shop, and Zatiel spent a large sum; before she was taken by force to another room and stripped down once more. The woman took the dress to alter it, while another woman came to cut her hair and style it.

The process was life changing, being asked what she wanted and happily given exactly what she asked for. She ended up with a short style that was a little longer in front, then the woman braided the sides for her and tied her hair back with the braids. She even applied a little makeup, before the dress returned and she was quickly dressed.

The woman who dressed her led her out and helped her pick out some dress shoes too. The prince stood waiting by the exit, but had changed his entire outfit into a suit for court and now adjusted his cuffs. She forgot this side of nobility, being a backwoods noble that rarely attended court.

Her heart started to race a little, as they left the shop and started towards the castle. The castle in Eden was built around a giant tree said to give birth to the great forest the beastkin called home. There are three more trees like it in the Elven forests, but they were said to be a little smaller.

Looking at the tree now, she doubted anyone had actually taken proper measurements of it. The entire noble district was beneath its shade and only the castle itself rose above it ever so slightly. They climbed the stairs and entered the hall, before Samuel smiled at her and reassured her.

“You look great, milady. Don't worry about anything.”

Zatiel blinked at him and smiled, but her attention was quickly drawn to her parents approaching from literally nowhere. Her father looked her over with confused eyes, while her mother just looked deeply hurt. Rafiel Vexica could not hold back the words any longer.

“Who took your awkward years from us?”

She went red in the face, and forced a reply, “Mom, not in front of the prince. It kind of just happened, no one took anything from anyone.”

Her father, Nadrio, gave her a stern look, but said, “This is not what I meant, but good job I guess. We need to talk later.”

Her mother looked at her father taken aback and said, “Good job?”

“Yes, dear. Let’s go-”

Her mother looked at her with sadness, as father guided her away, and said, “You will explain what happened…”

Zatiel sighed and looked at Prince Samuel with sad eyes, as she begged, “Can we retreat now?”

He shook his head and took her arm in his, as he led her to the throne room doors. The proceedings were short, the king announced her as the first beastkin Grand Sage and her engagement to Prince Samuel. Afterwards several tables were brought in all at once, while a band appeared and started to play music. Food was brought out with chairs, as the tables were quickly set.

Zatiel had to dance with Samuel, as others began to dance in the large space left open between the long tables. He properly explained a lot of what was expected of her at these sort of events. She felt terribly inadequate the whole night, but he was a true gentleman the entire time.

They ate and stayed for a while, before quietly excusing themselves. Zatiel was all too happy to escape and found herself running towards the adventurer's guild, which had become her own personal gateway to home. Samuel quickly chased her onto the magic circle and the couple teleported back to the sanctuary.

Zatiel changed and visited Venice, where she offered Dargun Felsmith a job as a blacksmith forging enchanted equipment in her village. She had to explain everything again, but the dwarf accepted the terms and sent word to his nephew to come take over his shop. By the time she had him moved in and set up at the sanctuary's forge, it was coming time for the new semester to start at Venice Academy.

She started attending classes for everything she could - noble etiquette, dance, charm, concealment, history, trap detection and disarming, cartography, military strategy, and combat with all the weapons she chose. She felt no need to further study magic for the time being, but the group began raiding the mithril mine once a week for materials. Time itself slipped by like that rather all of a sudden and before Zatiel knew it a year had passed.

During which time she upgraded her class to an Adapt Grand Warrior Sage of Darkness, while she had upgraded her class again into Grand Warrior Sage of Darkness by the end of the year. She had gained a lot of experience from practicing all her skills and had grown closer to the prince from shared combat and practice. She felt confident in her abilities and decided it would soon be time to declare war like she was asked to do by the king.

She asked Samuel to meet with her at the sanctuary and informed him they had one more thing to do before she was ready. Having commissioned her blacksmith to make high-quality gear, they enchanted it for the soldiers, and had sages begin the process of casting runic magic on everyone too. With a small army of warrior sages covered in runic magic, all she needed to do was confront the demon lord.