Page 104

Chapter 106/107: A Black Cat

Mid Morning - Late Spring : Home

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“Uwahhh…” *crackle* I let out a long, refreshing yawn as I woke up and broke apart the ice that crystallized over my body while I slept. -Wow, what a comfortable temperature…-

It had been a few days since I returned from Kaelallan at that point, but a majority of that time was spent sleeping in the cave alongside Mother since, not long after I showed her my aura, her sleepiness caught up to her. -She looks like she’s sleeping soundly though…-

Slowly standing up, I quietly stretched and glanced at Ilios, who laid next to me. “Hey, Ilios.” I made sure to keep my voice as hushed as possible. “Stay here and guard them while I go get some breakfast for us, alright?”

He gave a lethargic nod as he repositioned himself and closed his eyes again.

It was really adorable, but I kept myself from bothering him more and made my way outside.

*clunk-fwooosh* A wave of warm air blasted across my body as I hastily got through the door and closed it once again. “Haah…”

It was the middle of the morning, with clear skies and a steady, warm breeze blowing through the field outside the cave. -What a beautiful day…-

Then, after taking a moment to finally shake off my lingering drowsiness, I spread my wings and took to the skies. -Let's see if I can find a bison for Ilios and I…-

But the next several minutes were simply spent looking.

*fwoosh* *fwoosh* *fwoosh* It was a calm day, with a slow, steady breeze and clear skies, but oddly enough, there was still a low fog covering the ground in the forest.

This sight was nothing too unusual for that time of the season, but it meant that my job of finding a bison would get a little troublesome. -Hopefully, the fog makes them more confident to come out into some of the clearings…-

Quickly heading to the fields routinely known to have bison or deer grazing in them, I dove toward the ground and flapped my wings just above the top of the fog. *FWOOOSH*

The fog in the clearing got blasted away as if there was an explosion, immediately revealing a few deer grazing along the treeline and a huge bison in the middle.

My mouth started to water immediately.

*Thump* Promptly landing next to it, I nudged it with my wing and tipped it over.

*snort* It tried to kick me as it went to stand back up and run off, but it was too late. *Shink*

With a quick slash of a claw and a bit of help from earth magic, I went to cut through the bison's spinal cord but instead cut off its entire head. *Thud*

My eyes went wide as its headless body fell limply to the ground. -W..what…-

Taking a closer look at the cut, I noticed it was smooth, even at the cellular level. -T..that was THAT effective against flesh?!-

It was a simple spell I used to shave down things I made, like steel darts, so I could be a bit sloppier when making the objects themselves.

It increased the amount of mana I needed to properly make things, but at the same time, it gave me an insane level of precision without the extra time or the mental drain that would normally follow it.

-But for it to cut all the way through like that…- Looking closer at the opposite side of the bison's neck, it was clear the spell lost some of its effectiveness as it passed through.

But without the eyes of a dragon, it would simply look like a flawless cut. -It makes me wonder…-

Sticking my other leg forward, I started using the spell and slashed the top of my paw.

*Chink* As if I hit it with a blade, a sizable slash immediately appeared in my scales, but it looked more like a deep scratch than anything. -I’m.. not sure what I expected…-

Considering how I normally used it in other spells, (like insanely effective sandpaper) the result made sense. -Regardless.. this could make cutting things precisely pretty easy. I just need to be careful controlling its length…-

But even without much to think about, I ended up spending the next couple of minutes fiddling around with it before finally putting my thoughts aside and flying back to the cave with the bison in hand. -It's a shame this bison didn’t have a core…-

Quickly making it back home, I gently laid down the bison and got to cleaning it.

In the past, Mother would have been the one to remove the stomach, intestines, and a few other organs, since they were considered ‘waste meat’, but today, I wanted to prepare everything myself.

But before I knew it, I had cleaned out the necessary organs and even hung it up on a thick metal pole to shave off the fur and top layer of hide since it had a bitter taste. -This magic is really handy…-

*fwoosh* *fwoosh-thump* Hearing someone behind me, I glanced behind myself and saw Father staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

“What are you up to?”

-Was he sleeping on the mountain?- “I’m just fixing breakfast. You want to try some?”

“Sure! It smells pretty good.”

Quickly cutting him out a decent-sized rib, I created and put a bit of salt on it and handed it to him. “Here, try that.”

He immediately tossed it into his mouth and shattered the rib with his teeth. *CrAcKle* ”Mmm… That’s pretty good. It's nice and tender… You find this guy in the eastern field?”

“Yeah, I think the fog gave him enough confidence to stand in the middle of the field. I was pretty lucky though, it was the first field I checked.”

“Nice!” He paused for a moment as he eyeballed the bison I was still cleaning before eventually laying down and relaxing. “So I'm guessing Zachari is still asleep?”

“Yeah, she looked like she was sleeping really well when I woke up…” Idly shaving the last bit of the bison, I thought back to the night we got home. “She was really tired when we got here, so I hope she can get some good sleep.”

Father’s expression slowly turned a bit guilty. “Y..yeah… She’s still.. paranoid after what happened with Fengari… She didn’t let herself sleep much at all while we were gone…”

“...” I could only stare at Father blankly for a moment as I paused what I was doing. -So.. she didn’t actually get over losing him…-

“She’s just scared to lose you or Krystallo as well, and.. well.. my attempt to reassure her sort of backfired…”

-Ah.. that’s why she was upset with him…- Not wanting the conversation to get any darker, I tried to give some advice. “Well, maybe you can treat her to something nice and get back on her good side when she wakes up.” -I should probably do the same…-

“R..right. Sorry for getting all gloomy.” Trying to quickly change the subject, he put on a forced smile and stood up. “Do you mind if I go get a bison myself so we can eat together?”

It was an odd request, but it was nice to hear. “Sure! I can help you clean it when you get back.”

His smile slowly warmed up as I spoke. “A..alright! I won't be too long!” Finally mustering some enthusiasm, his smile turned genuine, and he took to the skies.

-I wonder what we’ll talk about…- But as I looked forward to having some Father-Son time, I looked back at the bison sitting on the metal spike and noticed it looked a bit pale. -Ah hell, did I bleed it too much?-

Quickly making a pan at the bottom of the spike, I tried my best to save what I could before eventually accepting fate. -I guess I'll have to take some of the blood from Father’s bison and just use it like a dipping sauce…-

Finally finishing up the shaving and skinning of the bison, I reached down and cut off a decent-sized chunk and brought it to the cave.

*clunk-fwoosh* As the warm air around me rushed into the cave, I poked my head in and set down the chunk of meat, motioning to Ilios as I did.

*tap-tap-tap-tap* Seeing him quietly trot over and pick it up, I lightly patted his head and closed the door again to keep the temperature from changing much. *clunk*

“Haah…” I let out a breath of relief as I gently repositioned the 'lock'. -It's good to see Mother is still sleeping well…- Walking back out into the field, I took a moment to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

But that was when I suddenly felt the edge of an unusual aura. -What the…-

Immediately looking toward it, I met eyes with a small black, panther-like creature no bigger than a large house cat.

But unlike its feeble-looking body, it had a massive aura, easily comparable to an A or B-rank monster. -It’s controlled too…- Something about the cat gave me an odd feeling, but I simply couldn’t recognize what the feeling was. -Was it.. drawn by the smell?-

But the instant I even questioned it being anything other than a monster, it darted into the forest, and I lost sight of it.

-Why did its eyes feel so.. human…-