Chương 152: Epilogue 9: Spa

Tigress accepted the corpse provided for her to build her form, as there was simply not a single human who could provide any kind of challenge just yet. It was a strange experience, being unstoppable by anyone around and yet still forced to wait as attendants and humans in uniform processed her through customs, granted her documentation, guest status, and some sort of deeply complex interface thing that didn't work with magic and somehow contained all of her money.

Or it connected to a place that had all of her money, except that place also didn't exist. Sometimes she missed her cave. Having prehensile fingers came with an ever-growing list of complexities she wanted little part of, yet curiosity needled her. She took a plane which was a tube with wings that didn't need mana to some sort of specially made artificial lake with a 'palace' on top. A nervous human in a boat took her across the placid waters, singing all the while.

The experience was peculiar and not entirely unwelcome if only for the novelty of it. Though next time she'd fly. A large group of attendants welcomed her, led by a man in a very formal dress who exuded quiet competence. Tigress simply allowed him to take charge as he knew what was expected. The open lake setting gave way to a cavernous space, dry and warm, which smelled of flowers. Hidden machines purred to keep the environment just right. Tigress yawned.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The lake setting felt unsafe to her. Back in her homeworld, it would have been the home of aggressively dangerous scaly creatures. Those were the doom of many kittens, and so water like this could not be trusted. This room, however, was more her thing. The orange light's hue reminded her of home. She voiced that remark.

"Of course, madame. Your predecessor was very helpful in making sure we could recreate a familiar and pleasant environment." Tigress frowned. Some of the young ones must have stealthily visited first instead of hunting, the little twerps.

"Was it… Kitten?" she asked.

"Ahem. I believe she was the one dubbed 'Catnip'." Tigress made a mental note to swipe Nezhra next time she saw her. Gently. The man then suggested a program, then he requested that she change back to her true form. This was very, very strange, yet the bath was large enough and there was even a scented wood box in the distance. She assumed her true form, expecting the humans to falter but instead it made them extremely excited.

The pack first urged her to the cold water where they massaged her fur with scented soaps. Normally, the male would groom the female as a gesture of dominance which she strongly disliked, but somehow when it was a gaggle of tiny second ascension bipeds, the treatment went from controlling to gratifying.

They used powerful hot wind magic to dry her which turned her fur all poofy, then there was brushing and massaging of the paws — she had some concerns about hurting them with her claws before realizing her temporary servants were being extra careful. She made another mental note to warn her sisters against abducting large packs of humans so they could be attended to on their favorite worlds. The scented oils alone would be enough to soften the best huntresses.

When she finally settled in the box for a good back brush, she realized the humans had remained very quiet. She did appreciate the quiet. After a last bow, the team retreated, leaving her the cave dominant. Earth did deserve its five stars review.

"Sisters should be limited to two visits per harvest. The covens must agree," she decided.