Building Trust
She didn't know why, but at that moment, it was like Minos and the statue of the Nine-Tailed Emperor overlapped, the two men becoming one.
She wanted to argue with him a bit more out of her stubborn nature, but she just couldn't find the words, overwhelmed by this strange sight.
Her heart, that was originally covered tightly in what she thought was an unbreakable shield, cracked, Minos having snuck his way in without her even knowing.
Of course, this change was weak, so weak that even Princess Asumi didn't realize it, but it was real.
Like a seed, it was only a matter of time for it to germinate and grow into a mighty tree that shaded the forest.
But growth took time, however even so, the change was just enough for Princess Asumi to take a chance.
"Okay, but from now on, no more betrayal between us!" She finally replied after a long pause.
"Only trust between us." Minos smiled, extending his pinky figure, which just confused Princess Asumi.
"What are you doing?"
"Just hook your pinky with mine."
Despite still being confused, Princess Asumi returned the gesture, hooking her pinky with Minos's.
As the two were hooked, Minos raised them up and broke them off, Princess Asumi just staring at Minos, as if to ask what just happened.
"Where I come from, that's a way of creating an unbreakable promise between two people."
"Is it? What a curious custom, but I have to admit, I like it." She said, unconsciously returning Minos's smile.
The two seemed to reconcile at the perfect time, because not long after, Ryold re-appeared above the statue, ready to announce the results.
"Ahum." He cleared his voice, instantly silencing the loud crowd.
After looking around and making sure everyone was silent, he began speaking, and without any surprise, Minos placed first.
Right behind him was Princess Asumi, which wasn't unexpected, though getting second place again made her face twitch slightly.
With the announcement complete, the massive crowd began slowly dispersing, of course this was mostly due to the urging of the Forbidden Soldiers, otherwise Minos would have likely been surrounded from all sides.
"Minos, Minos!" A voice shouted from behind, Minos turning around to find Tylia running towards him.
"How did you do that!?" She asked with shock, having not yet accepted what had just happened.
"Who knows?" Minos smiled, though he wasn't lying, after all even he would have never expected today's results.
"However you did it, good job! The game is as good as won now! Hahaha" Tylia said, laughing happily.
"It's not over yet, we've still got the Battle of Strength remaining." Minos replied, shaking his head slightly.
"You're saying that like you're weak!"
"Weakness is only relative to who you're up against."
"... Can't you just learn to take a compliment? Anyways, Suki is still waiting for us back in the palace, so let's get moving."
"May I join you?" Princess Asumi suddenly asked from the side.
"You are… The Sixteenth Princess?" Tylia replied with some surprise.
"That's right, but you can just call me Asumi, no need to be so formal."
"Alright then Asumi, you can come along."
…
Stepping into the palace, the first thing Minos did was look around at the grand architecture, not surprised at the luxury of the place.
He'd been to a few palaces in his lifetime, but had yet to actually see one on the Nine Continents, much less in the style of the cat people.
Yellow was the dominant color here, and it seemed in general the cat people saw yellow as a royal color.
The designs were also quite unique, the floors paved in an unknown leopard-like fur, a style that humans would probably find tacky.
Most interestingly, rather than having stairs, there was a large pillar in the center of the room that connected to all the floors, seemingly intended to be climbed, which made sense given cat people loved climbing.
"Cat people have pretty interesting designs huh? Though it'd be nice of them to install some stairs though, after all not all people are so proficient in climbing."
"To be fair, humans aren't typically allowed in the palace, and most of our meetings with humans don't happen here." Asumi explained.
"Just means you should be more welcoming to humans!" Tylia said, not fond of the blatant discrimination.
"These are our customs, they aren't so easy to change." Asumi replied, though it wasn't clear whether she agreed with Tylia or not.
"Forget that, Suki is waiting on the third floor, let's go." Tylia said, not even bothering to climb the pillar and instead using her cultivation to fly up.
Normally such a thing would be considered extremely disrespectful, but considering the circumstances, Asumi decided not to say anything, just following her up.
Minos was the last, and while he could fly up like Tylia, he decided against it, after all if even Asumi was climbing, how could he not?
With a flick of his wrists, his long claws extended from his fingers, which he promptly used to easily scale his way up the wall.
As he was climbing however, he noticed the interesting nature of the pillar, its material having an extremely strange nature.
Not only could his claws easily sink, but as he pulled them back out, the material immediately closed back in on itself, as if it was healing.
"What is this stuff?" He couldn't help but ask somewhat curiously.
"Oh this pillar? It's made of Cathonite, a very rare ore with equally rare qualities." Asumi answered.
"Cathonite? Can it be used to make weapons?"
"Given its extremely pliable and regenerative nature, it's not really very useful on its own, though our weapon masters have been trying to fuse its properties with other tougher ores to create something superior, though even after hundreds of years, they've had little to nothing to show for it."
"Interesting…" Minos said, thinking to himself how fun it would be to get involved in such a project.
While he was thinking that, the small group of three arrived at the third floor, forcing him to clear his thoughts.
Though as he turned towards the third floor, he was a bit surprised to find a large group staring back at him.
At the center of this group was the king, who was looking towards Minos with an affable smile.
Jumping from the pillar and onto the floor, Minos wasn't quite sure what to say, though fortunately Suki relieved his awkwardness.
"Minos! Come quickly, my father wants to meet you."
"So you're the one called Minos, what a powerful young man you are!" The king said with a joyous laugh, struggling to pat Minos on the shoulder, who was around two-heads taller than he was.
The nine-tailed weren't usually so tall, only standing at around 180 cm on average, shorter than a lot of other cat-human hybrids.
To meet one Minos's size was incredibly rare, and even the king couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't a pure nine-tailed, inheriting his height from elsewhere.
Regardless, his nine tails were proof enough of his lineage, so whether he was mixed or not was irrelevant, the king mostly interested in his future.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, your majesty." Minos said.
"Hahaha, the pleasures are all mine. Come, meet my family." The king laughed, introducing Minos to everyone personally.
Even though Suki also wanted to chat with him, especially after today's events, he could only watch as his father paraded Minos around like he was some sort of rare treasure.
Tylia and Asumi were similarly unable to keep following behind Minos, so they could only join Suki, which was especially awkward for Tylia given the cold relationship between the two siblings.
Of course Minos wasn't thinking about this, instead distracted by all the new faces and people he met.
These were the true elite of the Cat Kingdom, and it went without saying that if he wanted to run the kingdom efficiently in the future, he needed to know these people well.
"Like that, you've met most of the people you should know, of course there are a few faces who couldn't make it in time, but you'll meet them eventually." The king said before continuing.
"Now that we've got that out of the way, it's time to talk for real… Come with me." The king said, his happy voice from before turning solemn.