Since he said I could have anything, I asked that the duke give me a noble table. That made the members of the court gasp. The duke looked at me seriously. "Kyo, do you understand how serious this request is? My realm is a domain for humans in service to the king. As a nekojin, you will be the only noble of your kind. Even then, you will only be able to access the lowest rung of the nobility." I asked what the lowest rung would be. He told me that was knighthood. I nodded and said "That sounds fine. I want that. Make me a knight please." "You can't be serious, milord. A cat as a knight will never be accepted by the people!" one of the courtiers said. I just looked at the duke. The duke looked at me and said "Are you sure there is nothing else that you want? Nothing at all?" I sighed and said "No. I want what I want. Make me a noble or apologize for lying to me." That made the courtiers really angry at me. The duke glared at me and said "You dare demand an apology of me!? You must be out of your mind." I replied "You promised me anything. You lied to me. Make me a noble, milord."
There was a moment of silence. The duke walked up to me and said "You will not be eligible to enter any of the knightly orders of this kingdom. However, if you want the standard servant and pension, you shall have it. Now kneel." I did that. The duke pulled out a sword and dubbed me a knight. I rose and some members of the court looked disgusted. I was told to wait for the stablemaster by the duke as he shooed me off. Since I was dismissed, I left the room. 2 hours past before he came. When the stablemaster came to get me, he said "We noticed that you do not have a mount. We have a solution for this." When we got to the stables, 2 centaurs were presented to me. One was a beautiful female with onyx black hair and tail. The fur on her barrel was a shiny chestnut brown. She had a pair of deep blue eyes. The other was a male with light brown eyes. His hair and tail were the color of wheat. The barrel was a snowy white. Their horse halves looked more show horse than work horse. "These 2 will be able to serve or carry you in a carriage." he said as he clapped his hands together.
Underwhelmed with the gifts, I nodded to the stablemaster and looked at the centaurs. Demos and Sofinna were their names. I had them follow me and I put them in the backyard. They were quiet and did what they were told to do. At least they were well trained. I sighed as I entered the house. There was no real need for them here at the moment and it was mostly a spur of the moment gift. Having them was fine, so I did not decline them. As a newly minted knight, I could not appear to be ungrateful. I did not want to lose what little favor I had with the duke's family. Consequences that I did not want to deal with might be visited upon me if that happened. It was the next day that there was a knock on my door. This time, it was not me that answered the call. I was getting sick and tired of whatever scheme this was. I called the city guard beforehand and told them to wait in my house. It was only a single squad of men, but they did have the silver weapons needed to deal with the wererats. As they opened the door, the young drider lunged with a quick, powerful bite to the neck. It was brutal.
