The sizzling of fat in the frying pan was the only sound filling my one-room shack. I cut the pieces of rabbit liver with a precision I could never achieve with a short sword. My hands, those damn traitors that tremble at any sign of danger, were strangely calm now.
"Almost done, Mingau. Almost there," I whispered.
The tabby kitten rubbed against my shins, letting out an impatient meow. He was the only living being in this kingdom who didn't look at me as if I were a error.
"You know, Mingau... they were right to kick me out," I began, the outburst coming out as a tired sigh as I chopped the meat. "The Hero Group... I lasted twenty-four hours. A personal record for humiliation, I'd say."
I shook my head, feeling the weight of the memory. Yesterday, at that time, I was trying to carry the reserve potions for the Rank S Paladin. When a pack of shadow wolves attacked, I panicked. I tried to conjure a Fireball to create a barrier, and what came out? A glowing grape that didn't even singe the wolf's fur, but managed to burn the Hero's expensive leather sheath.
Their laughter still echoed in my ears. "Rank F is too good for you, Alaric. They should create Rank L, for Lousy," the Archer said as he pushed me out of the camp.
"And they weren't lying, were they?" I placed the food on Mingau's ceramic plate. The aroma was incredible, a mixture of fine herbs and perfect seasoning. "Look at me. I have enough mana to cook a luxurious dinner for a cat, but I can't maintain a magic barrier for ten seconds. I'm a waste of space in the guild."
I watched Mingau devour the liver with enthusiasm. At least someone appreciated my existence, even if it was only for gastronomic reasons.
"Real adventurers shed blood," they say. Me? I only shed cold sweat and shame.
"I'm trash, Mingau. Trash that cooks well, but still... trash."
I placed the ceramic dish on the floor and leaned over to watch Mingau. He devoured the rabbit liver with a ferocity I had never seen before. But when he lifted his head to lick his whiskers, I froze.
"Mingau..." My voice faltered. "Have you always had blue eyes?"
They were blue. But not the ordinary blue of a domestic cat. It was an electric blue, pulsing, as if someone had crushed a sapphire and injected magical light into his pupils. The glow was so intense that it illuminated the cracks in my wooden floor.
"And why are they shining so brightly? Did you eat some alchemy herb by mistake?"
Before I could reach out to grab him, Mingau let out a sound that wasn't quite a meow—it was almost like a hiss of static. In a blur of fur and blue light, he took off. He didn't just run; he leaped from the table to the window sill with such perfect trajectory that it seemed to defy gravity.
With a waning momentum, he disappeared into the darkness of the night.
"Hey! Mingau! Come back here!"
I stared at the open window for a few seconds, open-mouthed.
"Well..." I sighed, returning to my mug of weak tea. "Cats are agile, I guess. And fast. It's probably just the moonlight or something he hunted.
I shook my head, laughing at my own paranoia. Even when it came to suspecting my cat, I was a failure. I sank back into my self-deprecation.
[POV: Mingau]
The Cat didn't run across the rooftops like a common animal. He glided through the air, his paws barely touching the clay tiles of the capital. With each leap, the blue glow in his eyes flickered.
He crossed the noble district in minutes, slipping through a half-open window in one of the city's tallest towers.
The room was vast, decorated in shades of pastel pink and cream, exuding an expensive scent of lotus flowers. In the center of the room, sitting in a velvet armchair, was Suzane. To the world, she was the Rank S Mage, the "Black Flames." To the cat, she was just the woman who welcomed him when he grew tired of Alaric's tiny, damp house.
"You're back, Branco," Suzane said in a melodic voice, closing the book she was reading.
She picked up the cat with the affection of a cat lover, but her smile faltered the moment her fingers touched his fur. Her eyes, sharp as crystal blades, narrowed.
"White? Where are your green eyes?"
She held the cat's face, feeling the vibration emanating from his small body. The mana circulating there was dense and dangerously refined.
"This pressure... your mana is incredibly high," she murmured, the rationality of a Rank S taking control. "It's as if you ate dragon meat or drank some legendary Runic-level elixir. Did you eat something strange on the street?"
Mingau didn't respond with a purr. Instead, his ears turned backward. He jumped off Suzane's lap with lethal elegance and lightness, landing silently on the fluffy carpet.
He didn't look at Suzane. His bright blue eyes were fixed on the solid oak door of the room.
Suzane noticed the change in posture instantly. She was a Rank S, but the cat had sensed it first. Someone was there. Someone who had gotten past the apartment guards.
Someone who was hiding their presence perfectly.
Behind the door, the silence was absolute, but to Mingau or Branco, the smell of murderous intent was as strong as the liver Alaric had just cooked.