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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Dragging the weight on my leg and feeling like I was doing a workout, I arrived in front of Saten’s room.
But before entering…
I looked down and said,
“Estia, let go now.”
“No~! Give me holy water~! I want it~!!”
“You just had to answer the question correctly to get holy water. It was simple. But you got it wrong.”
“B-But you could have let it slide just this once!! Just this once…”
“If I let it slide once, it’ll become twice, then three times. Just let go, Estia.”
“Y-You’re so mean… My holy water…”
Perhaps because she couldn’t win against my stubbornness Estia let go of my pant leg with a dejected expression.
Just how desperate was she?
Her grip had been so strong that it left a clear handprint on my pants.
‘Well, I feel a little bad for her…’
I should give her another chance to make amends.
Besides, the time was approaching for Estia to go completely crazy.
It was time to give her a dose of holy water.
I tried to help Estia, who was lying on the floor, chanting “Holy water! Holy water!”, get up.
“Get up, Estia.”
“No~! I won’t get up until you give me holy water~!”
“Then I’ll give you a chance to make amends. If you succeed, I’ll give you holy water.”
“…Really?”
I would give it to her even if she failed, but it was better to keep that a secret.
Estia jumped up at the mention of holy water.
Just how much did she crave it? Her mouth was already watering.
Estia asked, her golden eyes shining,
“Y-You’ll give me… holy water…? R-Really…?”
“Yes, I’ll give you holy water. If you complete this mission.”
“I-I’ll do it, even if I don’t know what it is! I’ll do anything! Holy water! Give me holy water!”
…I would never be able to allow Estia to sign a contract.
She would probably even sign a waiver to give up her body parts if I offered her holy water.
Feeling a headache coming on, I gave her the task.
“It’s not difficult, Estia. It’s a simple task.”
“I’m good at simple things~! Tell me what it is! I can do anything for holy water!!”
“Then that’s good to hear. All you have to do is simple.”
“Go to your room and pray until Saten’s lesson is over. You can take a break or not. It’ll take about one to two hours, so it’s not a bad prayer time. The posture doesn’t matter. True faith can be expressed in any posture, through heartfelt prayer.”
Of course, the probability of Estia failing was close to 70%, but at least it would give her time to figure out what she was doing wrong.
Failure was a stepping stone to improvement.
“Estia, you can lie down on your bed and pray, or you can roll around on the floor and pray.”
“W-What, brother, that’s too easy! It’s like taking candy from a baby! A Saintess is good at praying~!”
“It’s not ‘taking candy from a baby,’ it’s ‘a piece of cake.’ And if you spill even a single drop of holy water when I come back to check on you, you fail.”
“It’s the same thing anyway!! I understand, one drop!! I’ll go pray now!! Holy water, here I come!”
Slam!!
Estia quickly dashed into her room.
Praying faster wouldn’t grant her divine power, but her determination was commendable. It would work out somehow.
With those thoughts in mind, I knocked on Saten’s door, where she was waiting for her lesson.
Knock, knock-
-Come in, Mister.
Had she heard our conversation from outside?
Hearing Saten’s confident voice, I opened her door without hesitation.
Saten sat on a chair, her expression blank as she looked at me.
And on Saten’s lap…
“Meow-!”
The black cat…
Blackie was greeting me.
‘…At least it’s alive.’
Thankfully, it hadn’t been killed by Saten.
It was truly fortunate that it didn’t become a test subject.
Looking at the creature that would be the key to Saten’s lesson…
I started the emotion lesson, which held the key to Saten’s future.
Emotion lesson.
Simple, yet difficult.
It would be hard for Saten to truly understand emotions with her heart, but it would be relatively easy for her to grasp them with her head.
My goal was to help Saten understand emotions, at least intellectually.
And for that, Blackie was the key.
I looked at the cat on Saten’s lap and said nonchalantly,
“You two seem to be getting along. The cat’s even sitting on your lap.”
“Yes, it seems to like me. It’s strange. Does it feel threatened by me as a living being? It’s even acting cute.”
“Hmm, I see…”
Well, it seemed like they were getting along.
Saten’s expression as she held the cat wasn’t bad either.
Even though Saten was generally expressionless, she could subtly express her likes and dislikes.
Judging by her current expression…
She probably…
Liked the cat.
I looked back and forth between the cat and Saten, then asked,
“Saten, how do you feel being with the cat?”
“It’s annoying because it keeps distracting me from reading. Can’t you take it back?”
“Meow-?”
Blackie tilted its head, as if sensing its owner’s intention to abandon it.
Even though Saten said those words, she probably liked Blackie deep down.
Saten might not have realized it, but she was gently stroking Blackie’s black fur.
Her movements were skilled.
It seemed like she had been petting it often in her room.
“Once a master, always a master. You’re responsible for raising it, Saten, since you decided to keep it.”
“…I never said I would raise it.”
“No, Blackie made that choice.”
“What?”
“Saten… you were chosen. You didn’t choose Blackie to be your cat. Blackie chose you to be its owner.”
Saten looked at me, dumbfounded.
“That doesn’t make sense, how can a mere cat choose its owner? You brought it here, Mister.”
“Even if I brought it here, Blackie would have run away if you weren’t here. And most importantly, it’s not just a ‘mere cat.’”
Calling it a “mere cat” was inaccurate.
Blackie possessed twice the amount of mana compared to other stray cats.
It was much smarter than ordinary cats and had a wider range of abilities.
So it could teach Saten…
Real emotions.
I walked over to Saten and looked at Blackie, who was lying on her lap.
“This cat will teach you about emotions, Saten. It’s a special cat for you.”
“Special…?”
“Look, what emotion do you think Blackie is feeling right now?”
“…I’ve never thought about it.”
“Think about it now.”
At my words, Saten looked down at Blackie’s face.
“Purr- Purr-“
Blackie purred like a motor engine.
It looked as comfortable as if it was lying in bed.
Saten observed it and came up with an answer.
“Hmm, emotion… It looks like Blackie is smiling. So it must be happy.”
“Happiness…”
Happiness.
In a broad sense, it could be considered happiness.
It had a smiling face and looked content.
However, it was too broad of a term to be considered the right answer.
To be precise, Blackie’s current emotion was…
“Comfort. Blackie is feeling comfortable rather than happy.”
“This expression is a comfortable expression?”
“Yes, Saten. Look closely.”
Meow-!
I picked up Blackie, who was meowing with a sharp voice.
So Saten could see its expression clearly.
I pointed at Blackie’s face and explained,
“Its eyes are droopy and it keeps trying to close them. That’s proof that it’s in a relaxed, comfortable state.”
“Hmm, comfort. That makes sense. Is this expression close?”
“…That’s a bit off.”
Saten tried her best to imitate a comfortable expression by closing her eyes, but the muscles around her eyes twitched since she rarely used them.
It looked like she might get a spasm if she continued, so I told Saten to stop and placed Blackie back on her lap.
“Anyway, to explain-”
“Observe Blackie, imitate its expressions. And learn what kind of emotions correspond to what kind of expressions. Is that what you’re saying?”
“…You already knew.”
“Yes, I thought about why you gave me the cat, Mister. You said not to use it as a test subject and to raise it properly… The only conclusion I could come up with was ‘imitate the cat’s expressions.’”
She understood me well.
Or perhaps she was just smart.
‘…Maybe both.’
Now that I thought about it, Hare and Saten had been talking about me behind my back.
I should try using the good information Luna gave me.
“Saten, I have a question.”
“What is it, Mister? I want to start the lesson quickly. The lesson time is fixed, isn’t it?”
“…Right, we should start the lesson.”
Lesson time was important.
So I proceeded to explain to Saten about various emotions and what kind of situations triggered them.
To help the emotionless Saten slowly awaken her emotions…
I continued the lesson with Blackie, guiding her along the way.
And…
‘I wonder what they talked about behind my back…’
To think they were gossiping about me when I wasn’t around.
What was wrong with me?
What did I do wrong?
Those questions kept lingering in my mind, bothering me.
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