However, nothing else happened during the meal, and the two of them finished lunch as usual.
They both finished lunch as usual.
“Then let’s start searching for the client’s cat separately.”
Outside the dining hall, Liyakade looked up at the tallest Clock Tower in the Academy.
There was still plenty of time left in the afternoon.
“Let’s meet back here at five o’clock. If you find it, you can rest first and come back at five. I’ll head that way.”
“Okay, then I’ll search this side, Miss Liakade.”
The two parted ways.
Liyakade passed by the Maine Coon still stuck in the tree.
When it saw her, it started meowing again.
Liyakade felt pleased hearing it.
Anyway, she decided to leave it there until evening.
Liyakade continued using Wind Elemental Perception to sense the surroundings, searching every little movement like a small animal.
She searched one area after another.
By the end of the afternoon, Liyakade had found quite a few cats, but not the client’s cat.
At five o’clock, Liyakade and Alice met up, and neither of them had found any trace of the cat.
“Sigh, thank you for your hard work, Alice-chan. I’ll take care of the rest myself.”
Liyakade looked at Alice, who was drenched in sweat after searching all afternoon, and wanted her to go back and rest.
“Mm.”
Alice nodded.
She knew she was already out of stamina.
Unlike Liyakade, she couldn’t use Magic to aid her search, nor did she have the stamina of Liyakade after her Bloodline Awakening.
Staying here was useless, so she accepted Liyakade’s suggestion.
“Then I’ll go back first. Should I ask Princess Field to help you too?”
“Uh…maybe she can just give me some money instead, hahaha.”
Liyakade joked, then said, “It’s fine. No need to trouble both of you. I can handle it alone.”
“Alright, then Miss Liakade, remember to go back and rest early too.”
“Mm, bye-bye.”
After bidding Alice farewell, Liyakade began to ponder where the client’s cat had gone.
They had already searched the entire Academy.
Since they didn’t find it, it was likely outside the Academy.
Once it left, it would be hard to find—maybe it was in the Royal City, or perhaps it had run to the Back Mountain.
Liyakade thought the Back Mountain was more likely.
After all, with so many people in the Royal City, a cat’s instincts would probably tell it not to go there.
Thinking this, Liyakade started heading toward the Back Mountain.
***
The sky was completely dark by now.
Transparent moonlight shone on the path of the Back Mountain.
The faint sound of insects echoed through the forest, and fireflies provided tiny points of light in the darkness.
Suddenly, a clear bell rang out.
A brown Maine Coon with a collar bell leapt out, but instead of landing on the ground, it floated in midair.
“Got you.”
A white head poked out from behind the bushes—it was Liyakade.
“Sigh, I can finally call it a day.”
Liyakade relaxed at last.
Now she had enough funds for the next few days.
She didn’t know what was wrong with the client’s cat for running all the way to the Back Mountain.
The Maine Coon, now restrained, kept waving its paws as if threatening Liyakade to let it down.
“Tch, stop struggling. There’s no way I’m letting you go.”
As if it understood Liyakade’s words—or maybe it realized it couldn’t overpower her—the Maine Coon drooped its paws in defeat.
Just as Liyakade thought everything had ended smoothly, the Maine Coon suddenly let out a terrified cry, as if it had seen something terrifying.
Instinct warned it of approaching danger.
“Hmm?”
Liyakade set the Maine Coon down and turned to the thicket she’d just passed.
The released cat darted behind her.
“What’s going on?”
Liyakade frowned.
If the Maine Coon sensed danger, she certainly felt it too.
Continuing to scan the area with Wind Elemental Perception, she found something disturbingly wrong.
Moments ago, the forest had been empty, but now there were creatures here that shouldn’t exist—Monsters.
Liyakade stared at the thicket.
The Monsters stared back, both sides on edge.
***
“Roar!!!”
A Monster in the brush couldn’t hold back any longer.
With a roar, several deep-black, wolf-shaped Monsters burst out.
Liyakade reflexively swung out a Wind Blade.
As it neared the wolves, the pack suddenly plunged downward, merging into the shadows.
“Shadow Wolf?”
The shadows on the ground surged rapidly toward Liyakade.
She threw the Maine Coon onto her shoulder and jumped back into the air.
The shadows closed in.
The Shadow Wolves leapt out of the darkness, fangs bared at Liyakade, as if they could rip her whole arm off.
“What brainless Monsters.”
Liyakade sneered.
She swiftly unleashed several more Wind Blades, slicing the leaping Shadow Wolves into pieces.
They thought Liyakade, suspended in the air, had no way to evade.
But she didn’t need to.
By leaping from their own shadows, they’d separated themselves from their source.
Returning to the shadows midair was impossible.
They were the ones without escape.
Liyakade landed lightly.
The remaining Shadow Wolves, seeing this, no longer dared approach.
But Liyakade wasn’t about to let them go.
She conjured a whirlwind, launching the Shadow Wolves skyward, and a gust of wind tore the rest to shreds.
The Maine Coon, seeing this, seemed completely terrified.
She quietly jumped down from Liyakade’s shoulder and followed behind her.
“Heh, that’s better. Good girl.”
Liyakade, sensing no more threats, knelt and stroked the Maine Coon’s back.
But…why did Monsters appear on the Back Mountain of the Academy?
Liyakade’s expression grew grim.
In the Original story, she had never heard of anything like this.
Could it be that her involvement had altered the World Line, plunging everything into an Unknown Timeline?
Liyakade looked at the fragments of Shadow Wolf sinking slowly into the earth, anxiety growing within her.