NOVPUB[Here, look at Fluffy II. Isn’t she adorable?]
“Get that thing out of my sight.”
The Dark Spiritualist kept trying to shove the cat toward me. While I knew she was starved for affection, I didn’t expect it to be this bad.
[Ey, you were the one who said nine out of ten animal spirits hate humans and become malevolent. That makes Fluffy II the one out of ten!]
“…”
[Just look at her. She’s so cute, I could just bite and eat her up!]
As expected of a necromancer, even her expression of affection was chilling. The manner in which the cat she held stretched itself also looked somewhat unpleasant.
And with its belly was fully exposed….
“Scars?”
The numerous hidden wounds were revealed, severe enough to warrant concern.
[Oh my…]
Even Stella, still massaging my shoulders, let out a gasp in surprise.
I didn’t know what sort of past the cat, who now yawned lazily and rolled around, had, but it was clear that it wasn’t a good one.
[S-scars?]
The Dark Spiritualist hastily flipped the cat over to inspect it. Upon seeing the marks, her jaw dropped, and she was rendered speechless.
“As I have explained before, wounds carried by spirits often reflect psychological trauma.”
Just like Stella, who had no eyes, hands, or feet when she was alive, but her spiritual form was unblemished, the opposite was equally possible as well.
“That means this cat is carrying scars it refuses to forget.”
[W-what should I do about her then?]
Panicking, the Dark Spiritualist tried to soothe the wounds, but the cat swatted her hand away, maintaining an aloof demeanor.
The wounds were severe enough to be considered brutal slashes, yet the cat seemed to cherish them, almost as if it were protecting something dear to it.
This is truly perplexing.
Those wounds were definitely not inflicted by another animal.
They were clearly man-made, yet the cat clung to them as if they were something incredibly precious.
Also, it did not display a shred of hostility towards humans.
“Alright.”
With a sigh, I rose slowly. I planned to visit Graypond along with Eleanor once the exam period ended, so I had a few days of free time.
Just enough time to investigate since the cat had piqued my curiosity.
“I will look into this.”
She said it was from the hill behind the academy, right?
Perhaps due to all the trouble I had been through, my body was starting to feel noticeably weary, but that was a good thing.
Considering taking a hike as a way to take care of my health, I decided to give it a try.
“W-Where are you going?”
Professor Fel, who had been scribbling away, adjusted her glasses and asked.
Having mentioned that her exam papers were ready earlier, she seemed more relaxed than usual.
“Do you know much about cats?”
There was a brief pause before she answered the out-of-the-blue question.
“Yes. I occasionally dissected animals when studying human anatomy.”
[Ew!]
[…]
Both the Dark Spiritualist and Stella fixed their gaze on Professor Fel, who immediately tightened her lab coat around herself upon feeling the chill.
However, it was the most welcome news for me.
“Perfect. Then could you prepare for a dissection?”
“…Pardon?”
“I am about to fetch a cat’s corpse.”
***
[I told you to exercise! Should I run with you?]
[Deus, I’m really starting to worry about you.]
As I descended the hill, I used magic to dry the sweat running down my body. It wasn’t even a tall hill, but I never expected it to be this exhausting.
My body is definitely not in good shape.
Partly due to the aftereffects of Deus’ previous chaotic life, but carrying countless souls in this body also contributed to the strain.
After all, I was housing a power so immense that even a continent couldn’t contain it.
“Huff.”
I would normally enhance my body when fighting, so there was no major discomfort. However, since I decided to exercise without using magic, this was the result.
It was more tiring than expected, but I somehow succeeded.
Returning to the academy’s laboratory, I saw Professor Fel, wearing a mask, seemingly in the middle of some preparations.
She flinched when she noticed the cat’s corpse flying beside me.
“You really brought it.”
“Please investigate it while keeping its form intact. Check for cause of death or injuries. We will need to bury it once you are done.”
“Of course.”
Watching Professor Fel disinfect her tools, I collapsed into a chair, finally providing my trembling legs with some relief.
[This won’t do. You really need to start working out. ]
[We’ll accompany you next time.]
“Is it even possible for souls to workout?”
Despite their concern, I ignored Stella and the Dark Spiritualist and focused on catching my breath.
“Focus on the cat instead.”
Even with its own corpse in front of it, the cat simply yawned and stretched leisurely.
Souls typically lingered around the area where their body was located, so climbing the hill was the right call.
When I went to the spot where the Dark Spiritualist said she found the cat’s soul, the answer was obvious.
The stench emanating from the corpse overpowered the forest’s natural aroma.
And the cat wasn’t even buried.
It was just tossed there, abandoned like trash.
[My dear Fluffy II shouldn’t see this.]
Not wanting the cat to witness the dissection of its own corpse, the Dark Spiritualist led it away.
Finally, I let out a sigh and asked Stella.
“Do you know of any myths, superstitions, or stories about cats?”
[…Do you think it might be a yokai?]
“Yes.”
Yokai could usually be recognized at a glance, but with this cat, I couldn’t rule out any possibility.
I needed to look into this case from multiple angles.
Somehow, this made me feel a bit like Holmes.
[There are so many superstitions surrounding cats, that it’s hard to pinpoint anything specific.]
She wasn’t wrong.
Even in my previous world, there were countless superstitions related to cats. In fact, there were too many to narrow things down to this particular cat.
“In the place I came from, it was said that cats have nine lives.”
[That’s a bit of a creepy superstition.]
“There were also superstitions about them bringing luck or misfortune.”
If you killed a cat, you would have 17 years of bad luck.
Petting a cat in reverse would turn good luck into bad luck.
If a stray cat followed you, it meant fortune was coming your way.
And so on.
With so many superstitions about cats, it was hard to even remember them all.
“What sort of superstitions exist on this continent?”
[The first thing that comes to mind is the belief that eating a cat will summon a demon.]
“…”
[When I asked Velica about it, she just laughed, saying, ‘Why would we go after someone just because they ate a cat?’]
“Well, that is because it is a superstition.”
Stella continued her explanation.
[Hmm, white cats are considered symbols of good fortune, while black cats are seen as harbingers of bad luck.]
“Not so different from where I come from.”
[Some also believe that cats are actually minions of demons, and whatever they see, the demon sees as well.]
“Demons again, huh.”
However, it seemed unlikely that demons were involved in this case because I didn’t sense any of the dark and grotesque aura characteristic of demons.
Velica would probably agree with me on that.
[Oh, there is also a related fairy tale.]
“A fairy tale?”
During my early days as Deus, I had looked into various myths and ghost stories because I could see spirits.
While I was well-versed in ghost stories from Korea, I knew nothing about the myths on this continent.
And among the tales I could remember, none involved cats, which was why I asked Stella.
Fairy tales, however, were a different matter entirely.
I had never read any since my arrival on this continent.
[In short, it’s about a cat bringing bones to help a sick person.]
“Bones?”
Something unexpected just popped out.
Not a dog, but a cat bringing bones? Why would it even do that?
[When the bones were boiled and consumed, the person’s health improved. But it turned out the bones belonged to the cat itself.]
“…”
[Well, it’s ridiculous, of course. How can a cat remove its own bones and deliver them?]
That made sense.
It is somewhat similar to ‘The Happy Prince’.
The story of the statue of a prince that gave everything it had to help the poor.
It was a truly tragic tale where the statue was eventually torn down.
The cat’s tale resembled the story of someone giving everything it had to save others, but this one was a bit more bizarre.
How could it offer its bones to be boiled and consumed?
“Stella.”
[Yes?]
“Did you happen to count the number of scars that cat had on its belly?”
[No, I didn’t count, but I’d guess there were about twenty.]
“If my memory serves me right, there were twenty-six.”
I had counted them casually, though overlapping scars made it hard to be certain.
Still, I was fairly certain they were around twenty-six.
Just then, Professor Fel, who had begun the dissection, approached me hesitantly.
“Uh, Professor Deus? This cat… doesn’t have any ribs.”
At her words, I glanced at the cat. I hadn’t noticed this while carefully transporting it with magic.
More importantly—
“Professor Fel.”
“Yes?”
“How many ribs should a cat have?”
A chilling sense of foreboding crept over me.
This case, which I had simply taken on as a casual distraction, seemed to harbor an unexpected depth of darkness.
Curiosity kills the cat.
And what started as a mere curiosity—
“Cats have thirteen ribs on each side, so twenty-six in total.”
—had revealed itself to be a far more serious matter than I had anticipated.
***
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