CH 438.1

May I have your permission?

Teacher Neil who stood up excitedly noticed Kurogane and others staring at him, so he quietly sat down. Good grief.

“Yes, well… her size is currently being restricted by a magic tool, so she’s just a black cat, but her original appearances are that of a pitch-black Magic Beast…”

“Restricted to a cat form by a magic tool!? Just why would you…? Still, a pitch-black Magic Beast who becomes a black cat when its magical power gets restricted… is it perhaps a Nightwalk Leopard…?”

Although it was not a third one Teacher Neil expected, he was still mumbling to himself with interest.

“Nightwalk Leopard is a big cat and it’s a very ferocious Magic Beast. Their pitch-black bodies allow them to merge with the darkness of the night. It says in books that there was a period of time where nobles hired adventurers to hunt them down because of their beautiful fur, so their numbers have decreased by a lot and are considered a rare species now.”

“Is that so…”

Heeh… Kaguya’s fur was certainly in a bad condition because of malnourishment, but nowadays, because of the nutritious meals and frequent brushing, her fur is silky smooth and shiny.

It’s not like I don’t understand the nobles’ desire to obtain such fur, but that fur is that beautiful because it belongs to a living, healthy being. No one seems to understand that!

“You said it’s not able to return to its former form because of the magic tool? Why bother doing that?”

“That’s…”

I explained briefly that Kaguya had targeted me for my magical power, but we had managed to turn the tide around and capture her alive, and that I couldn’t just let her go, but I didn’t want her to end up being culled either, so I rewrote the conditions of a magical tool that happened to be in my father’s possession and put it on her to render her powerless.

I also pointed out that this process was as good as signing a contract, so we eventually formed one.

“How surprising… so Miss Cristea, you also have the ability to make Magic Beast abide by you? That’s incredible.”

“No, that’s not it… it was an accident, just an unexpected coincidence.”

It was just a coincidence that the well-known sumo wrestling technique of my past life called “Nekodamashi” worked, or that I happened to have the aphrodisiac mushroom in my hand.

It was a little difficult to explain, so I skipped that part.

“But how did you come into possession of such a magic tool?”

“I was born with a high amount of magical power, so my father feared that it could get unstable and asked Teacher Marlen to create a magic tool that would suppress it in case of emergency. In the end, there was no need to use it, but he told me I could use it on Kaguya after rewriting the conditions and changing the ownership to me…”

When I explained that, Teacher Neil was staring in amazement.

“A magic tool made by Teacher Marlen!? I see… if that’s the case… however, Teacher Marlen most likely didn’t think it would be used on a Magic Beast either… I also never thought that the magical power controlling ring could be used in that way.”

… There are no people who would try to capture Magic Beasts alive by cutting off their magical power in the first place.

No, there’s one here. It’s me.

“I see… Nightwalk Leopards are dangerous and I could normally allow it to stay only in a cage, but it’s currently in a black cat form… it does not possess its original offensive capability, does it?”

“No, she’s as strong as a normal cat. Instead of culling her, I made a necessary measure to keep others out of danger by limiting her magical power when she has malicious thoughts. Of course, I made it possible for her to attack when her life is in danger.”

“Eh… doesn’t that make her a bit pitiful?”

“She almost took my life. These were necessary measures to help her avoid culling and to stop her from hurting others.”

“Ehh…? Doesn’t that mean she can’t be who she is?”

“Yes. Because she is originally a dangerous individual.”

“It’s a waste of a rare Magic Beast… but it could be a valuable resource…”