"Come here, kitty. Let me pet you."
Inside the monastery, Cid had a cat in each hand, gently petting them while wearing a strangely satisfied smile.
"Good, good. Don't worry, I'll find families to adopt you soon. Stop licking me."
Cid stood up and set the two kittens that had been sitting on his knees onto the ground. He took out a piece of paper and wiped the spots the kittens had just licked wet. Then he moved to a hidden corner of the monastery and pulled out a bag of cat food.
Don't ask whether the kittens would secretly eat it if he left the food here. If these palm-sized little creatures could break the seal he placed on it, he would write his name backward.
As he poured the cat food into a bowl, Cid called out to the kittens nearby.
"Come on, come on. Time to eat."
Hearing his voice, the kittens that had been wandering around and playing quickly gathered together to eat.
Watching the warm scene of the kittens lying on the ground and nibbling their food, Cid suddenly felt that something was off.
"1, 2, 3… 23."
"......???!"
"1, 2, 3, 4… 23!!!"
Cid instantly snapped out of his peaceful cat-petting mood.
One kitten was missing.
If he remembered correctly, Kanon Kanase was raising a total of twenty-four cats. But there were only twenty-three here.
Damn it.
Just yesterday he had used an example about one cat in the group wanting to run away while talking to Kanon Kanase. And now one had actually disappeared today.
What kind of luck was this?
Did his words literally come true?
No. More accurately, he had been unbelievably unlucky all day.
First, he was disturbed in the morning and several parts of his body were crushed into pulp. Then his sister suddenly descended from the sky and looked like she planned to stay on Itogami Island, meaning he would probably have to deal with her for a while. After that, he failed the weekly Eminence in Shadow trial because of a false alarm, which raised Kojou Akatsuki's suspicion toward him. And now one of the cats Kanon Kanase paid him to take care of had mysteriously disappeared.
Ahhh…
Tonight he would sneak off Itogami Island and return to his usual line of work to relax a little. Hopefully he could catch a big one tonight to soothe the frustration of this terrible day.
Even while thinking this, Cid's feet didn't slow down. He immediately ran toward the monastery gate.
If the runaway cat made it down the mountain and someone with too much free time reported it to the stray animal control department, then with good luck he might find it again at the animal shelter. With bad luck, he might only receive a corpse.
After running out of the monastery, Cid paused and turned back to look at it.
He had never placed marks on the kittens or memorized their scents. The reason was simple. A pile of ruins blocked the exit of the monastery.
For humans, stepping over it was easy.
But for the kittens, with their current size, crossing the rubble to leave the monastery was basically impossible.
This one runaway kitten was probably just an accident. It was likely the only one that had developed a little faster. From what he could see, the others still couldn't cross the rubble.
But what if?
What if he went through all the trouble of finding the runaway kitten and bringing it back, only to discover another one missing?
There wasn't enough time now to mark them one by one.
So…
"Barrier."
Cid casually waved his hand.
A faint, invisible barrier appeared out of thin air and covered the entire monastery. After a few seconds, it faded and disappeared into the void.
Magic.
Amazing, isn't it?
"All done. The sooner I find it, the sooner I can come back."
After setting up the barrier, Cid ran down the mountain without even looking back.
If a student from a magic academy were present and witnessed what he just did, they would probably be completely stunned.
He made no special movements, chanted no spells, and simply waved his hand to deploy a barrier. Even the barrier's anchor points weren't in physical space but in the void itself.
At that point, they might start wondering whether the God of Magic himself had appeared.
For Cid, magic was the greatest benefit he gained after the worlds merged.
In his understanding, magic only had three essential components.
Magical Power.
Knowledge.
Control.
Magical Power is the foundation of magic. Knowledge forms the structure. Control fills and shapes the spell.
Everything else such as gestures, hand signs, and incantations are merely auxiliary tools.
Yes.
They are simply aids for the third element: control.
Magical Power and knowledge cannot be bypassed. If either one is insufficient, magic cannot be cast at all. The only option is to train and improve them honestly. There are no tricks that can replace them.
Control, however, is different.
Control can be strengthened through various methods.
Hand gestures and seals help guide Magical Power and make it easier to manipulate. Incantations combine psychological suggestion with muscle memory, eventually forming instinctive reactions.
But in Cid's eyes, these shortcuts were fundamentally impure methods.
They sacrifice close combat capability in exchange for easier long-range casting. In other words, they lower one's standards.
Hand signs occupy the hands.
Incantations alert the enemy.
Some extremely complex spells even require long preparation times.
Only those who can instantly cast magic at close range during combat can truly be called real magicians.
Everyone else is merely a tool that happens to be able to cast magic.
Of course, these were standards Cid set only for himself.
He understood very well that if he openly voiced such opinions, the entire magic world would probably put a bounty on his head.
After all, by his standards, more than 99.99 percent of people in the magic world would be disqualified from being called magicians.
Even the top elites would not escape this judgment.
They might be able to instantly cast low- or mid-level spells, but when it came to high-level magic, they also relied on shortcuts.
...
"Damn it, where did it run off to?"
Several hours had passed, and dusk was approaching, yet Cid still hadn't found the runaway cat.
During those hours, he had searched nearly every place near the foot of the mountain where a cat might hide. He even checked the animal shelter and the place where cats were euthanized.
He found nothing.
Now he was starting to regret accepting Kanon Kanase's money.
If this had happened two days ago, he would have probably given up already. After all, the cat had run away on its own. It wouldn't have been his responsibility.
But now that he had taken the money, things were different.
If the cat died before he found someone to adopt it, and the cause traced back to his negligence, he would have to apologize to Kanon Kanase, refund all the money, and continue taking care of the remaining cats himself.
A total loss.
Why hadn't he thought of that yesterday?
Money really wasn't that easy to earn.
Just as Cid was beginning to sink into despair, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
He sensed it.
Two humanoid lifeforms had entered the barrier he set outside the monastery.
Damn it.
When it rains, it pours.
There was no time to search for the cat now. If he had to pay compensation, then so be it.
The barrier he placed was a binding barrier. The kind that allowed entry but not exit.
He had no idea why those two people had gone into an abandoned monastery, nor did he care.
But what would happen when they tried to leave and realized they couldn't?
He didn't even need to think.
First they would call someone.
Then the barrier would be discovered and reported to the Itogami Island security forces.
After that, the guards would begin investigating one by one. With modern technology and the fact that he hadn't intentionally hidden anything, they would probably track him down quickly.
And once that happened, his identity as an Eminence in Shadow would be exposed.
No.
Absolutely not.
A future where his identity as an Eminence in Shadow gets exposed for such a ridiculous reason, and he ends up becoming some out-of-control lunatic who rampages and destroys the world like a comedic villain…
No. No. He absolutely could not accept that.
Thinking this, Cid began running up the mountain even faster.
If possible, he almost wished he could transform into Shadow right then and dash straight to the monastery.
"Tap, tap, tap…"
Finally, after more than ten minutes of running, Cid reached the monastery gate.
Seeing that the barrier still hadn't been triggered, he nearly cried with relief.
He casually dispelled the barrier and looked inside the monastery.
To be honest, he was a little curious who would come to such a deserted monastery. Up until now, the only people he had ever seen visit were Kanon Kanase and himself.
Looking ahead, Cid saw a tall man dressed in black priest robes kneeling before the monastery's rusted cross.
Behind him stood a smaller figure wearing a black cloak.
The smaller figure was holding something in their hands.
A fluffy ball.
Wait.
That fluffy ball looked suspiciously like the missing Cat No. 24.
"Hmm…!"
Seemingly drawn by the sound of footsteps, the man who had been praying slowly stood up.
His tall figure turned to face Cid.