“Black cat?”
Hearing those two words, Vyea was no longer in a hurry to leave. She took the pancake and milk and sat down.
“Did you find a clue related to that cat? Inside the city or outside? I hope that cat hasn’t caused too much trouble.”
“This…” The Old Dean hesitated, as if he had something difficult to say.
Vyea had a bad feeling, and her brow furrowed slightly. “Speak freely. I can handle it.”
“Well, it’s not a huge mess. The image provided by the higher-ups wasn’t very accurate, so I don’t even know if that cat is the one you’re looking for.”
The Old Dean let out a long sigh.
“A few days ago, theft cases frequently occurred at restaurants near Nyx Avenue. Food would go missing from the back kitchens for no apparent reason. At first, no one cared. Given the recent chaos, people figured the food had just spoiled or been misplaced. Since the stolen items weren’t valuable, no one spent the time to look for a thief. The matter was just dropped.”
“But last night, a fat chef at a restaurant was suddenly roughed up by a cat while preparing to go home.”
Vyea swallowed the milk she had almost spat out and asked calmly, “Can you tell me more in detail?”
“According to that fat chef who suffered a comminuted fracture, he was the last one to leave the restaurant. He planned to put the leftover fish into the freezer for the next day, but as soon as he opened it, a black cat jumped out from inside!”
“The temperature in the freezer was very low, so the chef was startled and even dropped his bowl. But he quickly remembered the recent thefts in the neighborhood, especially involving fish. Realizing what was happening, the angry chef tried to grab the fish-stealing cat to teach it a lesson.”
“He didn’t expect the cat to be terrifyingly strong. It not only slapped him aside with one paw but also stretched its mouth several times larger than a normal cat’s, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth as if it wanted to eat him.”
The Old Dean shook his head and sighed. “The fat chef said he almost died at the hands of that cat. If it hadn’t been for the cat’s partner appearing in time and pulling it away…”
“Oh, right. That cat’s partner seemed to be a little girl… and they’ve been actively avoiding the Kingdom of Humanity’s residents. If it weren’t for the incident last night, we really wouldn’t have discovered them.”
‘A mysterious little girl, a terrifying cat, stealing things…’
Combining the information from the Old Dean and what she had heard from Hua Shiyu, Vyea was almost certain. The black cat’s partner was the Little Demon King who had snuck into the Kingdom of Humanity.
She had initially thought finding her daughter—whom she had never met and whose appearance she didn’t know—would be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. If her luck was bad, it might even take a very long time—so long that it might even exhaust Vyea’s spirit.
But just as she had resolved to spend the rest of her life searching for her daughter, news of her had simply appeared before her.
Her heart was pounding wildly. Vyea tried her best to suppress her excitement. She slowly stood up, not even realizing that her hands were trembling.
She looked at the Old Dean and slowed her breathing, asking, “What time did this happen last night? Where exactly was she seen?”
“Vyea, you seem a bit excited.” The Old Dean shook his head gently. “It was over by Nyx Avenue. I recall you still have a house over there. As for the time, it was around 2:00 AM last night… Eh?”
Before he could finish, the Old Dean realized Vyea had vanished. A half-finished glass of steaming milk remained on the table.
“Goodness, are the young people from the Capital always this impulsive? To find a pet cat, she didn’t even finish her breakfast. So reckless… she didn’t even close the door when she left!”
***
Nyx Avenue.
“Have you heard? The Hero of Return and the Hero of Stars have successfully met on the Frontline and defeated a large number of the Demon Race! The Demons were beaten like stray dogs, fleeing in panic and retreating step by step…”
“Man, if only I could participate in this war. I heard the Adventurer living next to me applied to go to the Frontline. He gathered a lot of high-level Demon materials on the battlefield and sold them for a lot of gold coins!”
“I’m not envious of that. Out of ten Adventurers who go, only three come back… It’s better to live peacefully like us.”
“Hmph, look at your cowardly self.”
“Being cowardly is fine. By the way, do you know where Old Chen is? He hasn’t shown up today.”
“No idea.”
“You guys are talking about Old Chen? He got a bone broken by a cat when he got off work last night. He’s at home crying in pain.”
“A broken bone?”
“By a cat? How big was that thing? It sounds more like a Demon.”
“No, it wasn’t even as tall as your knee. It was just the size of a pet cat… But word is it’s a pet lost by a big shot from the Capital. If anyone finds it and turns it in, they’ll be rewarded with 100 gold coins!”
“100 gold coins! Damn, that dead cat is worth that much?”
In front of a restaurant, idle employees gathered to gossip.
***
In the distance.
The Little Demon King, whose stomach was growling, crouched behind a wooden crate. A black cat sat perched on her head.
“Cat Sister, why do you think they’re offering a reward for you?”
“I don’t know, meow.”
“Then why did you hit someone? Didn’t we agree to just take some expired bread and leave… Ugh, the wild fruit in the human city is small and bitter. It tastes terrible.”
“Meow, hitting him had nothing to do with the bread. That smelly fatty tried to blame his own theft on me. He has some nerve. Breaking his arm was a light punishment, meow.”
“Oh, Cat… Cat Sister, it looks like someone is coming. How much longer do we have to hide here? What if we’re found?”
“Found? Then we’ll kill everyone who finds us and turn them into fish food, meow… Just hang on a little longer. When it’s time for the meal rush and the kitchens are bustling, those long-tongued gossips will be too busy to notice us, meow.”
The black cat flicked its tail lazily. It was already calculating which restaurant’s back kitchen it should hit next for some dried small fish.
Speaking of which, according to the news sent back by the cat shadows near Antler City, the Little Demon King’s nanny should be on her way back, right?
The black cat thought to itself.
‘I hope Her Highness doesn’t get mad at me for letting the Little Demon King eat off the ground. But she’s the one who spent all the money on booze, not leaving a single coin!’
That house was big and had many rooms, but they were all empty. Except for some empty bottles, they hadn’t found anything of value.
Life as a cat was hard. After living this long, it still had to help take care of a child.
The black cat sighed. Its gold-and-red eyes unintentionally looked toward the distant restaurant. While it was calculating how much time was left until the humans’ mealtime, a familiar figure suddenly appeared at the restaurant’s entrance, talking to those chattering employees and chefs.
*Hiss!*
The black cat was startled, its laziness vanishing instantly. It jumped down from the girl’s head.
“Meow! Stop eating those wild fruits! Your mom is here!”