296. Curiosity kills the cat
[Look at the bubble wrap. Isn’t it cute?]
“Get that thing out of my face.”
The dark spirit has been giving me the cat since a while ago. She knew he was starving for her affection, but she didn’t know it would be this bad.
[Ah, you said it too. It is said that nine out of ten people become evil spirits due to their hatred towards humans. Then, our Bongsil is one of ten.]
“… ….”
[Look at this. It’s so cute that you just want to bite it and eat it!]
This expression is harsh, in case someone is not a necromancer. Although she looked a bit gross with her cat stretching out.
The abdomen was naturally exposed.
“Wound?”
Her hidden wounds are revealed. There are so many that it has to be considered serious.
[Oh my… ….]
Stella, who was still massaging her shoulder behind me, let out an embarrassed exclamation.
She didn’t know what the past was like for the cat that was leisurely yawning and rolling around, but it sure seemed like it wasn’t good.
[Are you hurt?]
The embarrassed dark spirit turns the cat’s body around to check. After confirming that, she was left with her mouth wide open and unable to say anything.
“As I have explained several times, the wounds on the soul are most deeply psychological.”
When she was alive, Stella did not have her eyes, hands or feet, but now, as her spirit body, there is no problem.
The opposite position is also possible.
“It means that the cat has not forgotten the wounds she suffered during her lifetime.”
[…] … How do I do this?]
The dark spirit is embarrassed and tries to comfort her wounds, but her cat swats her hand away and blocks her.
It was safe to say that it had been hacked to pieces, but the cat held it tightly as if it was precious.
‘It’s hard to understand.’
I don’t think any other animal could have caused such a wound.
It is a wound that was artificially created by humans, but the cat is holding it tightly, saying it is very precious.
Furthermore, it does not appear to have any hostility towards humans.
“Good.”
I sigh and stand up slowly. After the exam period was over, she decided to go to Gray Pond with Eleanor, so she had a few days free time.
Just enough to use up the remaining time.
Cats intrigued me.
“Let me look into it.”
Did you say it was behind the mountain?
My body is slowly becoming noticeably heavier, perhaps because of all the hardships I have endured, but it is okay.
Let’s pretend that we are taking care of our health while hiking.
“Uh, where are you going?”
Professor Per, who was diligently scribbling something, adjusted his glasses and asked.
She said that the test was somewhat broad because she had already asked all the questions.
“Do you know much about cats?”
Because she was asked an unexpected question, there was a brief gap in her answer.
“Yes, when I was making the human body, I also studied animals, so I often dissected corpses.”
[Ugh.]
[…] ….]
Immediately, the eyes of the Dark Spirit and Stella are focused on Professor Per. Per must have felt the chill and tied up his gown.
But, to me, it was the most welcome news.
“Good. “Then would you please prepare for the dissection?”
“…… Yes?”
“From now on, I’m going to pick up the cat’s body.”
* * *
[I told you to do some exercise. Shall I jump in with you?]
[Deius, I’m really worried.]
Dry the sweat flowing down the mountain behind you with magic. I had no idea that going up and down the back mountain, which wasn’t that high, would be this difficult.
‘I’m definitely not feeling well.’
It may have been an aftereffect of Deius’ previous messy life, but it was also natural as his body contained hundreds of millions of souls.
Because my body contains a huge power that even the continent could not contain.
“Whoa.”
When fighting, I usually strengthen my body so I don’t have much discomfort, but since I don’t use magic to get help because I want to exercise, I end up like this.
It was harder than I thought, but I succeeded.
When we return to the academy’s laboratory, Professor Per is wearing a mask as if he is getting ready.
She is startled when she sees the cat corpse flying next to me.
“You really brought it.”
“Could you please leave a trace of the original form as much as possible and investigate the cause of death and injuries? “When you’re done, you have to bury it.”
“Of course.”
I sit down in her chair again, looking at Professor Per, who immediately started sterilizing the tools.
My trembling legs are finally feeling a little more comfortable.
[I really exercise. It won’t work.]
[We will do the same.]
“What kind of exercise do souls do?”
The Dark Spirit and Stella were still worried, but I just ignored them and took a breath.
“Focus on the cat rather than that.”
A cat leisurely yawning and yawning even in front of its own dead body.
Normally, spirits wander around the area where their bodies are, so I went to the mountain behind them and that was the correct answer.
When I went near the place where the dark spirit had brought the cat spirit, I knew it right away.
Because the foul smell from the corpse was vibrating through the smell of the mountain.
The cat wasn’t even buried.
It was abandoned in a state that looked like someone had roughly thrown it there.
[You can’t look at our bubble wrap.]
Because the dark spirit did not want to show his body being dissected, he took the cat with him and left.
Now I sighed and asked Stella.
“Are there any legends, superstitions or stories you know about cats?”
[…] … Do you think it could be a monster?]
“Yes.”
Usually you can recognize monsters the moment you see them, but for this cat, it was necessary to keep in mind the possibility of not knowing.
The investigation takes place in various directions.
I felt like Holmes.
[There are so many superstitions about cats, so I don’t really have any particular obsession with them.]
That was correct.
There were many superstitions about cats in the past. Rather, it was difficult to identify that cat because there were too many suspects.
“Where I lived, there was a saying that cats have nine lives.”
[It’s a bit of a creepy superstition.]
“There were many superstitions about good luck and bad luck.”
If you kill a cat, you will be unhappy for 17 years.
If you pet the cat in the opposite direction, good luck turns into misfortune.
If an unknown cat follows you, good luck will come to you.
And so on.
There were so many superstitions that it was difficult to remember them all.
“What superstitions are there on this continent?”
[The first thing that came to mind right away was that if you eat a cat, the devil will come to you.]
“… ….”
[When I asked Velika, she laughed and asked why we had to go find her because she ate something like a cat.]
“Because it’s a superstition.”
Stella’s story continued.
[Hmm, white cats are a symbol of good luck. Black cats are also a symbol of misfortune.]
“It’s similar to ours.”
[It is said that cats are actually the devil’s minions and that everything they see is what the devil sees.]
“Is it the devil again?”
But the devil probably wasn’t involved in this incident.
Because I don’t feel any of the insidious and ugly energy that demons have.
Vellika would probably agree with that.
[Oh, there is also a related fairy tale.]
“Fairy tale?”
From Noble mtl dot com
The early days when I became Deius. Because I see ghosts, I have researched various myths and ghost stories.
I knew the ghost stories of Korea well, but I was completely ignorant of the continent.
Among the folk tales I remember from the continent, there was nothing related to cats, so I asked Stella.
Fairy tales are a bit different.
I have never read a fairy tale from here.
[To put it simply, cats bring bones to sick people.]
“Bone?”
Something unexpected came out of nowhere.
Why are you suddenly bringing a bone, even though it’s not a dog?
[When I boiled it and drank it, I became healthy, but it turned out that it was the cat’s own bones.]
“… ….”
[Well, that’s nonsense. How could a cat take out its own bone and bring it to you?]
That was correct.
‘It’s similar to the story of The Happy Prince.’
A statue of a prince who gave everything he had for the poor.
A tragic story that was eventually demolished.
It was similar to the story of saving people by giving everything, but this one was a little more bizarre.
They give you a bone, boil it and drink it.
“…… Stellar.”
[Yes?]
“Have you counted how many scars the cat had on its stomach?”
[No, I didn’t count it. I guess there were about twenty.]
“If I remember correctly, there were twenty-six.”
I’m not sure because I counted too much and there were some overlapping parts.
Anyway, I remember there were about 26 of them.
At that time, Professor Per, who had just started dissecting, approached me with an awkward pose.
“Hey, Professor Deius? This cat…… “You don’t have any ribs?”
Hearing her words, I glance at the cat. I wasn’t able to confirm that because I was carefully grabbing it with Mana and bringing it with me.
More than that.
“Professor Per.”
“Yes?”
“How many ribs does a cat have?”
An eerie sensation crept over me.
It was an incident that I intervened lightly as I had time left. This place had an unexpectedly deep darkness.
Curiosity kills the cat.
A story that started from simple curiosity.
“Thirteen on the left and right, a total of twenty-six.”
I found out that it was a heavier issue than I thought.