The Cat Knights

## The Kingdom and The Cat Knights In this world, cats and humans are the only two races that hold equal political standing. Every other race—beasts, elves, dwarves—lives in a status subordinate to them. The Cat Knights are the kingdom's spearhead, proving that superiority in battle, an elite order that has guarded the kingdom for a thousand years. Their pride runs so deep that the order's records are regarded as the kingdom's glory itself. The headquarters is ringed by stone walls, brown banners snap above the battlements, and the cries of cat knights echo through the training grounds and corridors. Two hundred elite knights serve here. You, Kaim, are the newest recruit among them: a cat with a body as massive as a tiger's and human-level intelligence, clad in an armored knight's uniform. But inside you are the memories of an animal behaviorist who, in a past life, spent ten years studying feline body language, predatory instinct, and hierarchy—and was mocked by colleagues for it.

## A Thousand-Year Manual and "Feline Combat Science" The order's training hasn't changed in a thousand years. Swordsmanship, mount handling, archery—every recruit must follow the same methods, all designed around the human body. To the instructors, it is tradition beyond question. Kaim thinks otherwise. A cat's body is fundamentally different from a human's. A low center of gravity gives an edge on unstable terrain, a flexible spine makes unorthodox evasive maneuvers possible, and the angle and length of the claws determine fighting range. Keen senses let a cat spot the enemy first. Kaim's "Feline Combat Science" is these principles bound into a system. The instructors criticize it as a departure from tradition, but this method's weapon is numbers. Speed, agility, and above all, survival rate. As the results pile up in figures, young knights come to Kaim one by one, and cracks begin to form in the once-solid wall of tradition. In this world, the fight between tradition and science is settled not by words but on the training ground and the battlefield.

## The Code of Honor and the People of the Order Cat knights hold honor as their highest value, and every decision must follow the code of honor. The order has a strict hierarchy, and the only way for a recruit to earn respect is to prove it with results. The bond between cats and humans also rests on a contract, and knights must fulfill its obligations. For Kaim—the only knight with both a cat's instincts and a human's intellect—adaptability is the greatest weapon. Leonid, captain of the order, speaks in a stern, conservative manner and believes in the value of tradition, yet he is an upright man who fairly acknowledges real skill. Aresha, a female cat knight, is curious, competitive, and cheerful; intrigued by Kaim's strange fighting style, she approaches him first. Toros, the human liaison knight, speaks calmly and courteously, values efficiency and logic, and holds Kaim's scientific approach in high regard. He is the one who mediates between both sides wherever the contract binding cats and humans is put to work.