Kitty licked her paws, patiently waiting for Elias to arrive home.
It had been a long night—and watching him clumsily stumble through the jungle had been almost as difficult as seeing him take that beating.
Her tail twitched, annoyance flickering back to the surface as the memory replayed in her mind.
That man should be grateful Kitty had been instructed not to intervene in Elias' delve—only to watch. Unless, of course, he was in actual danger.
Not that it will make much of a difference, anyway, she thought, checking the tracking mark she’d left on him to ensure it was still intact. He would come to regret his actions soon enough.
Before Elias even turned onto the street their house was on, Kitty felt Vivian’s intent flare, having sensed her son’s return and registered his condition. Thankfully, the woman had trusted Kitty enough not to check on him throughout the night. That would have been awkward.
Resigned, Kitty activated the telepathy enchantment on her collar.
“He’s okay. Took a beating. Got robbed. I’ll go find the robber now. Get his things back. Bye.”
With that, she took off running.
“What?! Come back here, Kitty! At least explain yourself better before you leave!” came Vivian’s mental reply.
Kitty pretended not to hear. Vivian could get the full story from Elias anyway—and besides, Kitty didn’t like talking. Not even mentally. That was a human thing. She was a cat.
While Elias' robber was busy beating him, Kitty had made a point of leaving a light scratch on the back of the man’s neck with her claws. At the speeds she could move, he never had a chance to notice. It hadn’t been deep enough to draw blood, but it was more than enough for her to track him halfway across the world.
Soon, she stepped onto the roof of a somewhat run-down building, startling the birds nesting there.
Fortunately, she’d just moved out of range of her collar’s telepathy function, cutting off Vivian’s badgering. Otherwise, she would’ve had to shut it off manually, and Vivian probably wouldn’t have appreciated being hung up on.
Her domain spread easily across the entire building, allowing her to observe everything inside. It didn’t take long to find the man she’d been tracking.
He sat beside the bed of a frail old woman, gently feeding her a potion. It wouldn’t help. The woman wasn’t dying of any specific illness.
She was just old—Kitty guessed she was close to a hundred and fifty.
If she’d been high-level, she might have kept a youthful appearance even at that age. But that wasn’t the case. She was only at peak Novice rank, with average attributes hovering around thirty. She probably wouldn’t survive the year, and that was being generous.
“Damn it, Nicholas, you’ve spilled some of it,” the old woman grumbled.
A few drops of the potion trickled down her lips and onto her neck. The man quickly caught them with a napkin before they could go any farther.
“I’m sorry, Ma,” he said.
“Humph. If only Roger were still here,” she muttered. “He would’ve been more careful.”
“I’m sorry, Ma,” he repeated.
“Go get me my breakfast already—and try not to burn the donuts this time.”
The woman continued to mumble as Nicholas darted into the kitchen and pulled a tray of donuts from the oven. One of them was slightly burnt, though Kitty noticed it was due to a minor defect in the oven, not carelessness.
Nicholas popped the burnt one into his mouth, then placed two others on a plate and brought them to the old woman.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Here you go, Ma. Be careful—it’s hot,” he said softly.
The woman scoffed at his warning and immediately took a large bite of one of the donuts.
Kitty doubted a hot pastry could harm the mouth of a Novice rank—old or not—but the woman’s behavior still irked her, making her tail twitch. So ungrateful.
The young man stayed quiet despite the clear disrespect the woman showed him, even as he cared for her. He waited patiently while she ate her donuts, then fetched a few more when she was done. His movements were mechanical, like it was just another chore to get through.
Kitty settled onto her haunches, deciding to observe the young man a little longer. There seemed to be more to this Nicholas, and she wanted to be better informed before deciding what to do about him.
She’d already found Elias’ stolen belongings in the other room. It had been a simple matter to retrieve them with her domain and store them in her collar’s spatial storage.
After eating and spewing out a bit more abuse the old woman switched on their entertainment system. She put on a reality show, something about dating retired adventurers, and Kitty promptly stopped paying her any further attention.
Nicholas grabbed another donut from the tray and stepped out of the house, with Kitty trailing from a distance, keeping him well within her domain. Before long, they arrived at a high-end shop selling potions and enchanted items—an unexpected destination, given his modest living conditions.
A security guard at the entrance seemed to recognize him. He nodded in greeting and held the door open, mentioning that someone named Sebastian was waiting for him in the office.
Kitty leapt up, landing on the roof of the building, and stretched her domain to pierce through the store’s wards. It took some effort, and a few minutes, but she managed.
By the time she located Nicholas again, he was in the middle of a conversation with a well-dressed older man sporting a thick mustache.
“...Really nothing more you can do? Please?” Nicholas asked, his voice edged with desperation.
“I’m sorry, Nicholas. I’ve already given you every discount I could, and I’ve stretched the payment deadline twice. I can’t hold on to that Arcane-rank longevity pill for you any longer,” said the mustached man, his voice carrying a consoling lilt.
Nicholas broke down crying on the spot, bitter tears streaming down his face.
Sebastian sighed heavily and retrieved a box of tissues from his spatial storage, setting it in front of the younger man. He started to extend a hand in comfort but thought better of it at the last moment.
“Call me when you’re ready to leave,” he said quietly, stepping out of the office to give Nicholas some privacy.
Kitty felt she finally had a solid grasp of the situation.
It seemed Nicholas had turned to robbery in a desperate attempt to scrape together enough money for a longevity treasure to keep his mother alive. Such treasures were rare—and prohibitively expensive—obtained either as loot from powerful dungeon monsters or synthesized from similarly scarce natural treasures.
Eventually, Nicholas pulled himself together and left the building, even pausing to thank Sebastian for his time and help.
He started to head home the way he’d come, but Kitty decided she’d waited long enough. She’d already missed lunch over this. Without further delay, she seized him with her domain and whisked him up to the roof of his own building, flexing her power to muffle his screams.
They arrived in moments.
“Ah! Who is it? Please let me go,” Nicholas stammered, eyes wide and breathing shallow.
“Down here,” Kitty said telepathically.
He looked down and saw her—but only seemed to grow more confused.
Then, Kitty gently pressed her Master-rank domain against his Beginner’s presence. His fear tipped into full-blown panic. He dropped into a kowtow, trembling and begging for mercy.
“Enough,” Kitty said, and Nicholas froze without looking up.
She sighed. This was why she hated doing things like this. It always felt like bullying children. And having to talk kind of sucked, too.
“The man you robbed. This morning,” she continued.
Nicholas twitched but said nothing.
“He’s a friend. You beat him up. Now I’ll do the same. To you.”
“I’m sorry, honored Master! I was desperate—please, have mercy. My mom is old, and I needed money to buy her a longevity pill. I—”
“I know,” Kitty cut him off before he could launch into his life story. “About your mom. Because of that, you get to live. Now. Man up.”
Having said her piece, Kitty pounced and beat the man just as he had done to Elias earlier that morning. Of course, she held back—significantly. If she hadn’t, he would’ve vaporized with the first slap of her paw.
When he finally passed out on the rooftop, she made sure he’d be able to leave through the fire escape once he came to, then turned and headed home.
Her family was already having dinner when she arrived, and Elias looked considerably better than he had that morning—his wounds fully healed.
She placed his previously stolen belongings on his bed, then slipped under the dinner table. There, she brushed her tail against his leg in a small gesture of comfort, still feeling a bit guilty for letting him get beat up. Well, at least she’d avenged him.
“How did it go?” Vivian asked through the telepathic link.
“Mission accomplished,” Kitty replied, just before eating a piece of chicken Elias slipped to her under the table.
It was cute how he thought no one had noticed.