I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

An elderly-looking Meru cat, leaning on an old sparrowstone pickaxe as a cane, approached Yuhka, Rorota, and Rokubei, who were preparing to depart for their third forms, and said to them:

"Rorota, you must be careful when you take Lady Yuu and Rokubei to Kusla Town, meow. Also, have you written down all the things we need to buy, meow?"

Lorota took out a small piece of paper from her acorn pouch, looked at it, and then nodded to the elderly Meru cat, saying:

"Grandpa Village Chief, I've written down everything I need to buy, meow. I just need to sell the materials from those female Rathalos to the Hunter's Guild and then buy some daily necessities that the village needs, right, meow?"

The elderly Melu cat, known as Grandpa Village Chief, nodded and said:

"Hmm, that's all, meow. We should use the remaining money to buy some new kitchen utensils, meow. The number of grills Lady Yoyo brought isn't enough, meow..."

The old Merlin shuddered at the thought of Yuhaka's terrifying appetite. This appetite, comparable to or even more than a dozen hunters, made the Merlins responsible for cooking quite miserable. Although there was no need to worry about the ingredients, since that was Yuhaka's responsibility.

The only good thing is that the Merlin cats who are in charge of cooking have improved their cooking skills.

Lorota looked at the village chief and said to him:

"Okay, we got it, meow. Let's go, Yu-Yu-chan, meow!"

Upon hearing Rorota's words, Yuhaka carried Rorota and Rokubei on his back and flew out from the exit of the Great Falls.

...Yohaka in flight...

Near the edge of the ancient forest, Yuhaka slowly flew down from the sky. After Yuhaka landed on the ground, Rorota and Rokubei, the two Merlin cats, also got off Yuhaka's back.

After Rorota and Rokubei came down, Yuhaka transformed back into his second form.

Lorota looked at Yuhka, who had transformed into her second form, and said to her:

"Yuyu-chan, we're going to the human town of Kussla later. You can't use the second form, you have to use the first form, Meru Cat mode."

Upon hearing Rorota's words, Ehaka transformed into her first form, which was more humanoid. In this first form, only a few parts of Ehaka's body showed monstrous features, making it arguably Ehaka's weakest form.

The Meru Cat Mode that Rorota just mentioned is a disguise move that Ehohaka developed as a reward for taking in the Meru Cats as members of his pack.

Each time Yuhaka joins a new tribe, he gains all of that tribe's biological essence. Thus, Yuhaka gained all of Meru Cat's biological essence.

As for the Merucat Mode that Rorota mentioned... it's basically just having Eyhaka grow cat ears on its head and change its fur color to black. Its tail looks exactly like a Nargacuga's tail. (In fact, if a Nargacuga's tail were shrunk several times, it would look similar to a Merucat's tail.)

However, because she has transformed into her first form, Yuhaka is now completely naked. She doesn't seem to have any sense of being a girl at all and is looking around without trying to cover herself up.

"My Lord, please open the dimensional portal."

"OK, take the things. And put those clothes on that guy Yuhaka. How could I let anyone else see my little girl's body!"

As Zelus complained and the system's dimensional portal opened, a large bag of materials was also spat out. In addition to a large bag of materials taken from the female Rathian that Yuhaka had KO'd, there was also a set of animal skin clothing and a fur cloak made from Suzuka fur.

Rorota spent a little time helping Yuhaka get dressed. For some reason, Yuhaka was a bit resistant to getting dressed, but after Rokubei gave him a special jerky, Yuhaka immediately behaved.

Rorota breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Yuhaka dressed. Yuhaka was now wearing a short dress made of Suzuka skin. Unfortunately, the clothes made by the Meru Cats weren't very good, since the Meru Cats didn't wear any clothes anyway.

Zelus emerged from under Yuhaka's skirt and said to Lorota:

"Looks like I'll have to get a pair of panties for Yuhaka to wear later, but let's deal with the goods and things we need now, so the Merlins who are in charge of cooking won't be exhausted again."

After hearing Zelus's words, Rorota nodded and said to Zelus:

"I understand, meow, God. Rokubei-chan, please help Yu-Yu put on the cloak, meow."

"Leave it to me, meow!"

Then Rokubei stuffed a piece of jerky into Yuuhaka's mouth and then helped Yuu put on her cloak.

Zelus looked at Yuhaka, who was obediently chewing on jerky, and couldn't help but feel a little sad. You are the leader of the cats there, how come you feel like a child being taken care of?

Well... time flies. Rorota, Rokubei, and the disguised Yuhaka arrived smoothly at the entrance of the alley in the town of Scylla.

This is only natural; no matter what, Mewtwo can't enter the town through the main gate, since some people don't have a very good attitude towards Mewtwo.

After all, there are quite a few hunters whose things have been stolen by Mewcat, and some have even had important items stolen by Mewcat. Those hunters have a very bad attitude towards Mewcat.

It was also because of these hunters that rumors about Melu Cat spread among the people, which gave the villagers a bad impression of Melu Cat.

In fact, the Hunter's Guild has tried to eliminate the negative image of the Merlin among villagers and hunters, but unfortunately the effect is not obvious. Even though the Hunter's Guild prohibits hunters from spreading bad things about the Merlin, countless hunters still whisper about it.

For Mewtwos, stealing is a survival instinct. Long before hunters existed, Mewtwos often stole materials from monsters to craft various weapons and items.

Furthermore, hunters whose belongings are stolen by Mewtwo don't deserve any sympathy, because hunters usually check what other monsters are in the quest area before deciding what items to bring when accepting a quest request.

If there are Palicoes living in that area, clever hunters will often carry a bag of catnip to prevent their items from being stolen by the Palicoes. The Palico that steals the catnip will be temporarily unable to appear in front of the hunter due to the effect of the catnip (catnip is a bit like alcohol to Palicoes and Elfs; Palicoes that inhale catnip will basically get drunk, and most importantly, many Palicoes have no resistance to catnip).

Smarter hunters might even trade with the Palicoes for monster materials, information on monster weaknesses, or even the Palicoes' help. Of course, you need to have a Palico with you at all times. Otherwise, if you encounter Palicoes living far from human habitation, you won't be able to communicate with them because they will only meow.

Chapter 12 [Lorota: Where did my big Youyou go?!]

In the town of Scylla, at the location of the Melu Cat's special passage.

Rorota and Rokubei, dressed in the starter set [Chestnut Armor] for Palicoes, warily surveyed their surroundings, while Yuhaka wore a fur cloak made of various monster hides and a strange-looking Palico headgear.

Because we were almost at the town of Scylla, Yuhaka carried a large bag of Rathian materials from the system's dimensional storage. As for why Yuhaka carried it... well, she's very strong!

Soon, Rorota and Rokubei arrived at the entrance to a special passage leading to the Hunter's Guild. Rorota knocked on the door of the passage, and a short, elderly dragon-man emerged from within, looking at Rorota and the others and saying:

"Yo! Long time no see! Cute Rorota-chan and Rokubei, you little rascal."

Upon hearing the words of the short, elderly dragon-man, Rokubei immediately jumped out, pointed at the short, elderly dragon-man, and said:

"Meow! What do you mean by 'troublemaker'?! I'm perfectly well-behaved, meow!"

The dragon-human elder looked at Rokubei with a speechless expression and said:

"Was it that little rascal who stole my Woody Grass Wine last time and then caused such a ruckus in my Hunter's Guild?"

Then the dragon-human elder saw Rokubei looking at Lorota with a serious expression and say to her:

"No way, Lorota, secretly drinking catnip wine is too cunning, meow!"

"It's Rokubei-chan who's drinking the tetra wine—!"

Looking at Rorota's sullen face, Rokubei scratched the back of his head, puzzled, and said:

"Meow? Did I drink it? How come I didn't know?"

Seeing Rokubei's bewildered expression, Rorota suddenly felt an urge to smash Rokubei's head with the bone pickaxe on his back.

...Yohaka looked completely bewildered...

The Hunter's Guild Master of Scylla Town and Rorota and the others chatted as they arrived at the guild's backyard. The guild master turned to Yuhaka, looking somewhat puzzled, and said:

"Speaking of which... who is this... Merlin? I don't think your village has... such a special Merlin?"

Faced with the guild leader's doubts, Rorota quickly explained to the guild leader:

"This is Yu-Yu-chan. It was thanks to Yu-Yu-chan's help that we were able to defeat the female Rathalos that occupied our village."

Upon hearing Rorota's words, the guild leader looked at Yuuyu wearing a comical Felyne headgear and said:

"Yuyu, hmm... that sounds like a girl's name. But I'm very sorry about what happened to your village. Our Scylla town's exclusive hunter was sent out to investigate after discovering traces of a dragon in the Ancient Forest and hasn't returned yet. Also, the recent appearance of the Elder Dragon [Kujira] has caused many high-level hunters to go to the Hunter's Guild headquarters, so they haven't returned yet..."

Rorota and Rokubei showed no anger in the face of these things. Rorota simply shook his head and said to the guild leader:

"Grandpa Guild Master, you don't need to worry too much about the village. Although a female Rathalos appeared, it's fortunate that nothing happened to us. But now, let Grandpa Guild Master take a look at this shipment, meow?"

"Uh, really? Haha, then let me take a look at this shipment."

Although the guild leader said that, he still felt a little ashamed. The village of Rorota and her family had done so many things for the town of Scylla, but they couldn't offer any help when Rorota and her family needed it most. This made the guild leader feel extremely heartbroken. However, many hunters from other places have recently come here. Hopefully, these hunters can help Rorota and her family.

"Hey~"

Yuhaka placed the Rathian material package he was carrying on his back on the floor of the guild's appraisal room. The guild leader took out a piece of Rathian carapace from the package and said with some surprise:

"Oh! This female Rathalos's carapace is surprisingly good!"

Rorota, Rokubei, and Yuhaka looked at the guild leader with puzzled expressions, while Rorota, standing to the side, said to the guild leader:

"Grandpa Guild Master, isn't this just an ordinary female Rathalos carapace?"

The guild leader shook his head and said:

"It's not that simple. This female Rathalos's carapace is much harder than that of a normal female Rathalos."

"If my eyes are not mistaken, the female Rathalos you hunted down was probably close to being a high-ranking monster."

Rorota and Rokubei looked at the guild leader with somewhat surprised expressions and said:

"Top position?!"

“?Owo——owO?”

Yuhaka looked at Rorota and Rokubei with a puzzled expression, turning her head from side to side. The guild leader rubbed the rough surface of the female Rathian's carapace and said:

"Yes, that's right. If given some time, this female Rathalos could very well become a superior being, even stronger than an ordinary female Rathalos..."

Then the guild leader looked at Yuhaka and the others with some curiosity and said:

"By the way, how did you guys defeat this female Rathalos? Could you tell me in detail?"

After exchanging a glance, Rorota and Rokubei told the guild master some fabricated battle details. After all, Rorota and the others couldn't possibly tell the guild master about Yhaka's true existence, since Yhaka was their clan leader.

After hearing what Rorota and the others said, the guild leader, who had believed them, looked at Yuhaka with an "I see" expression and said:

"I see. No wonder you were able to defeat this female Rathalos. It turns out that this female Rathalos had already been injured by other monsters before."

In that case, the guild leader could also guess how Rorota and the others easily defeated the female Rathian. This wasn't without reason, since a female Rathian that was about to become a high-ranking individual leaving its territory to come to the border of the Ancient Forest was either due to food issues or because it was being driven away by monsters even stronger than the female Rathian.

Well... in this world, there are quite a few instances where very strong monsters are attacked and injured by even stronger monsters, and then escape to other places only to be killed by low-level hunters who are tasked with exterminating them.

The guild leader was used to this kind of thing. After all, as an old dragon who had lived for hundreds of years, he had seen many similar things. So the guild leader didn't ask too many questions about it.

After calculating the value of a large amount of Rathian materials, the guild leader handed over a large sum of money to Rorota. Because of the higher quality of the materials, Rorota and her companions received much more money than with a typical Rathian, which made Rorota very happy. Rorota turned to Rokubei and Yuhaka and said:

"Rokubei-chan, Yu-yu...chan?"

When Rorota saw that Yuhaka, who had been standing behind Rokubei, had disappeared, Rorota immediately sensed that something was very wrong.

Chapter 13 [Question: What's most likely to happen at a corner?]

"Milia-chan~ This is your reward, hey~ please keep it safe, don't drop it."

The mascot girl at the Hunter's Guild front desk handed a small bag filled with Z (the currency in the Monster Hunter universe) to a female hunter wearing a regular hunter outfit.

"Thanks, but Weiss, could you please stop talking to me like that, like you're trying to scare a child...?"

The hunter known as Milia looked at the mascot known as Weiss with a complaining expression and said this. However, in response to Milia's complaining look, Weiss simply smiled and placed her hand on Milia's chestnut hair, saying to her:

"Well~ if Milia could grow 30 centimeters taller, I wouldn't have to talk to you like a child anymore~"

Upon hearing Weiss's words, Milia immediately felt a huge "X" appear above her head. Was it her fault that she was only 148cm tall? It wasn't like she was destined to be that short.