NOVPUB"Wait, Xido Allendale?"
Lanci felt a bit of stress response upon seeing that drama title.
"Holy War Romance," wasn’t that the book Talia had held a knife to his throat to make him read?
He wasn’t sure if that line about wanting "to eat him because he was so cute" would appear during the performance, and if it did, whether he could actually stay seated.
But that wasn’t even the main point.
He saw a familiar name—
Back in the Northern Continent, in the Protoss Empire, he and Associate Professor Xido had spent considerable time together at school, and it was Xido Allendale’s crucial testimony that had backed the Duke Morotian into a corner at the Protoss Empire Congress Building.
"Right, big brother, have you read Professor Xido’s books?"
Elsa asked, curious.
The Protoss Royal Magic Academy was one of the top institutions abroad, recognized by the educational department of the Cerryti Empire.
Author Xido, a historian who had traveled extensively between the North and South Continent, held a legitimate professorship at foreign institutions and had a long-term residence permit in the Cerryti Empire.
"I have."
Lanci answered, his voice somewhat strained.
He meant "read" in the most literal sense.
At that time, Associate Professor Xido had been targeted by Duke Morotian, disappeared without a trace, and after Duke Morotian fell from power, Xido had never reappeared; it turned out he had fled across the sea to the South Continent, no wonder Duke Morotian couldn’t find him.
Lanci thought to himself.
"Can we go together today then? Ursula also gave me an extra ticket."
Elsa’s purple eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked bravely.
If her brother was originally a fan of the original work, he might be interested in this adapted play.
"Sorry... I might need to attend to some official business."
Lanci hesitated slightly, but still shook his head apologetically.
It was the truth.
He also wanted to avoid being alone with Elsa.
As long as she unintentionally brought up the past, if Talia couldn’t read her mind, it might expose them.
"Okay."
Elsa didn’t show disappointment but just nodded obediently.
Nonetheless, Lanci saw her bow her head, her eyes seeming a bit dimmer, and he felt guilty.
If Elsa had been a bit more demanding or more visibly disappointed, but she always cared more about others than herself.
"Then I’ll go first, big brother. We can talk another day when you’re not busy."
Elsa quickly regained her cheerful demeanor, seemingly not wanting her brother to worry, and took a step back, smiling as she spoke.
"Mm."
Lanci nodded, waved his hand at Elsa, and said goodbye.
But after thinking it over, he still hesitated.
"If you leave the monastery, take this cat with you."
Lanci bent down in the vestibule to pluck the Cat Boss out of the shadows and handed it to Elsa at the door.
Ever since he acquired the little gray cat, the Little Black Cat had become far less useful.
"Who is the little gray cat?"
A cold voice echoed in Lanci’s heart.
"One that always likes to run onto me, can cook, do housework, drools over food, and is a bit heavy..."
Lanci hadn’t finished speaking when Talia grasped his heart, making it difficult for him to continue.
"Big brother, what’s wrong?"
Elsa looked concernedly at the black-haired, blue-eyed young man whose condition seemed a bit wrong.
He seemed to be having trouble breathing all of a sudden, but after a moment, he was better and breathing smoothly again.
"It’s nothing, just been a bit too exhausted lately, my heart feels a bit uncomfortable."
Lanci shook his head, brushing off the concerns of the young girl in front of him.
"Lanci, you really deserve to die!"
The mere thought of Lanci secretly sensing her weight every time enraged Talia enough to want to take him down with her.
After all, she was 168 cm tall, and 53 kilograms was quite slender!
"So Tata, you’re already 53 kilograms..."
Lanci realized, he remembered her weighing 52.6 the last time he fed her in the Poseen Kingdom.
"Ah, go die!"
Talia didn’t know why this man always paid attention to these things; she was about to go crazy.
Lanci internally disagreed with Talia but his expression had returned to normal.
"Brother, you still need to take care of yourself, working too hard isn’t good."
Elsa was relieved to see that her brother was alright.
Then, she looked at the adorable little black cat with surprise, having thought that her brother would never let anyone touch it.
A fifth-order Contracted Beast was far stronger than her, who was only second-order.
Her brother giving her this battle-capable cat clearly showed his concern for her safety outside of school.
"What’s its name?"
Elsa asked as she gently stroked the back of the little black cat.
Knowing that the cat’s rank was much higher than her own, Elsa still didn’t feel the slightest bit of fear; it seemed as harmless as a house cat.
"Little Black Bread."
Lanci replied.
"Meow!"
Cat Boss cried out angrily.
As if I’m bread, your entire family is bread!
It was about to retort, but then it remembered that in the Cerryti Empire, it indeed needed an alias, so it held back.
If it rejected this name, Lanci might come up with an even worse one.
Thinking this over, Cat Boss felt that Little Black Bread wasn’t too bad after all.
"Please take care of her."
Lanci winked at Cat Boss.
Suddenly, Cat Boss understood Lanci’s intentions.
Who would be suspicious of such a little black cat?
Elsa would simply love it because it was her brother’s cat.
Maybe Elsa would soon confide all sorts of personal thoughts to it, including memories with her brother.
This move was to dispatch it, the Captain of the Cat Squad, to gather intelligence!
And its task was simply to naturally talk with Elsa and listen to her recount her past with her brother!
Thinking this, it felt again that Lanci was despicable...
Completely exploiting a girl’s feelings.
"Here, take this."
Lanci beckoned Cat Boss with a finger, calling it back to his side, and handed it a Purple Rareness Magic Card.
[Transformation Magic: Human]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Grade: Purple Rareness]
[Class: 2]
[Effect: Allows the user to transform into a human without changing their true attribute or facial features, cooldown time 24 hours.]
[Note: Classic reissue version.]
"Meow?"
The floating Cat Boss looked at the familiar semi-transparent purple card.
It harbored an unknown fear of changing its own form, afraid of falling while walking on two legs and feeling strange about becoming a human.
Thus, despite knowing that Lanci had countless [Transformation Magic: Human] cards, it had never asked him for one.
"Don’t change unless absolutely necessary, because I have registered you as a Contracted Beast of the Saint Kray Monastery. If someone discovers your rank, it would be very troublesome to explain," Lanci whispered into the ears of Cat Boss.
In its cat form, Cat Boss was too harmless, showing no wildness, only the docility of a house cat, unless using eighth-order magic or targeted by extremely powerful identification spells, otherwise, others could not detect its true rank.
But in human form, as soon as it uses its eighth-order telekinesis, it would provoke an instinctive fear in others in the same species, a fear of a lower rank before a higher one, even if its magic strength wasn’t high, its aura was assertive.
In necessary moments, transforming into a human could intimidate enemies.
"Meow."
Cat Boss understood and put away [Transformation Magic: Human].
Although the daytime security in Brilda was quite good, the fact that organizations like the Silvermoon Reform Association could successfully assassinate prominent figures of the empire indicated that dangers still existed.
Having been with Lanci for so long, it had become an expert in bluffing.
"Don’t worry, meow, with this Divine Beast here, there is no need for you to worry or intervene. Anyone who dares to challenge me, I will end their life! The legendary card has been configured with a single click."
Cat Boss raised its head and flicked its tail confidently, assuring both Lanci and Elsa.
