Free Web Novel“Black cat?”
Hearing those two words, Vieya no longer hurried to leave. She picked up the flatcake and milk, sat down in the armchair, and said,
“Did you find some lead about that cat? Inside the city, or outside? Hm... that cat hasn’t caused too much trouble, right?”
“Well...” The old abbess suddenly hesitated, as if holding back something hard to say.
Vieya felt a bad premonition, her brows slightly furrowing. “Go on. I can take it.”
“Ah, it’s not exactly a great disaster. The portrait we were given wasn’t very accurate, so I can’t be certain that the cat in question is the one you’re looking for.”
The old abbess let out a long sigh. “A few days ago, restaurants around Nick Street started having thefts—food mysteriously going missing from their kitchens. At first no one paid it much mind.
After all, things have been chaotic lately. If food was lost, it was lost, and none of it was precious enough to make a fuss about. People didn’t have time to chase down a thief, so the matter was left at that.”
“But last night, a fat cook on his way home after closing was suddenly beaten up by a cat.”
Vieya swallowed back the mouthful of milk she almost sprayed everywhere and covered her mouth to ask calmly, “Could you tell me in detail?”
“According to that fat cook—his kneecap shattered—he was the last to leave, planning to put some leftover fish into the freezer for the next day. But as soon as he opened the freezer, a black cat leapt out!”
“The freezer was cold enough already, so the fat cook got such a fright he dropped the bowl in his hands. Then he remembered how food had been going missing in the kitchen recently, especially fish. Realizing the truth, he got angry and tried to catch the fish thief cat and give it a good punishment.”
“But he didn’t expect that cat to be terrifyingly strong. With one swipe of its paw, it ruined his knee, then opened its mouth wider than any ordinary cat, baring sharp teeth, as if it would eat him.”
The old abbess shook her head with a sigh. “That fat cook said he almost died at the cat’s claws, if not for the cat’s accomplice showing up in time and calling it away.”
“Oh, right. The accomplice seemed to be a child... and they’ve been deliberately avoiding humans. If not for last night’s accident, we wouldn’t have discovered them at all.”
“Mysterious child, terrifying cat, stealing food...”
Piecing together what she’d just heard with what she’d learned from Jiele Xiyin, Vieya could be almost certain: the black cat’s accomplice was the little Demon King who had fled to human lands.
What she once thought would be like searching for a needle in a haystack—finding her daughter she had never met and whose face she didn’t know, a search so hopeless it could drag on until even she despaired—
Now, when she had resolved to stake all her time and life on finding her daughter, news of the girl appeared before her so simply.
Her heart pounded wildly. Vieya fought hard to suppress the excitement welling up, slowly rose to her feet, unaware that her hands were trembling.
She looked at the old abbess, steadied her breathing a little, and asked,
“When did this happen last night? Which district?”
“Vieya, you seem rather agitated.” The old abbess shook her head lightly. “Nick Street. If I recall, you even have a house over there. As for the time, around midnight... hm?”
Before she finished speaking, she noticed that Vieya’s figure had already vanished, leaving behind half a cup of still-steaming milk on the table.
“Ah, the young people from the Royal Capital—so abstract in their actions. Running off for a pet cat without even finishing breakfast, and without shutting the door!”
...
Nick Street.
“Have you heard? The Reversal Hero and the Star Hero met successfully on the frontlines, crushing the demons! The monsters were beaten like stray dogs, scattering in defeat...”
“Sigh, if only I could join that war. I heard the adventurer next door applied to the front, scavenged a lot of high-level monster materials, and sold them for a good pile of gold!”
“I wouldn’t envy that. For every ten adventurers, only three come back... better off safe here!”
“Tch, look at you, so spineless.”
“Spineless is fine. By the way, you know Old Barrel? Why hasn’t he shown up today?”
“No idea.”
“You’re talking about Old Barrel? Last night after work he got his bones broken by a cat. He’s laid up at home.” ƒгeewёbnovel.com
“Broken bones?”
“By a cat? That big of a cat, to call it a monster?”
“Shh, not even as high as your calf. Just the size of a pet cat... but I heard it belongs to some big shot from the Royal Capital. If you catch it and report it, you get a reward of 100 gold coins!”
“100 gold! Damn, that dead cat’s that valuable?”
At the restaurant door, idle employees gathered, gossiping.
In the distance—
A hungry little girl huddled behind a trash bin, her stomach growling, a black cat perched on her head.
“Cat-sis, why do they want to put a bounty on you?”
“Don’t know, meow.”
“Then why did you hurt people? Weren’t we just going to take some stale bread and leave... ugh, the wild fruit in the human city is so sour and bitter, it tastes awful.”
“Meow, hurting people wasn’t our fault. That stinking cook lumped his own stolen food on us. Audacious bastard. Breaking his leg was mercy, meow.”
“Shh, Cat-sis, someone’s coming. How long do we have to hide here? What if we’re found?”
“Found? Then we’ll kill whoever finds us and feed them to the fish. Hmph... Just hang on. Once it’s mealtime, the cooks will be too busy with smoking pans and clanging ladles. Then they’ll behave. Meow~”
The black cat lazily flicked her tail, inwardly planning to sneak into the restaurant kitchen later to grab some dried fish.
Speaking of which, if the report from her fur-clone in Deerhorn was true, then Her Little Majesty’s mama should already be on the way back, right?
The black cat thought to herself.
Hopefully she wouldn’t be blamed for making the Little Demon King scavenge trash for food. But really, who told you to spend all the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ money on booze, leaving not a single coin behind!
That house might be big, with many rooms, but every one of them was empty. Aside from empty wine bottles, there wasn’t a bite of food to be found.
A hard cat’s life—living so long only to end up babysitting.
The black cat sighed, her golden-red beast eyes casually lifting toward the restaurant in the distance. She was calculating how long until mealtime when suddenly a familiar figure appeared at the door, speaking with the gossiping cooks.
“Meow!”
The black cat jolted, all her lazy sleepiness gone. She sprang from the little girl’s head in a crouch.
“Meow! Stop eating wild fruit—your mom’s here!”
“Eh?”
