Ch.296296. Curiosity Killed the Cat

[Look at Ppoksil. Isn’t it cute?]

“Get that thing away from me.”

The Dark Spiritmaster has been shoving a cat in my face for a while now. I knew she was starved for affection, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.

[Come on, you said it yourself. Nine out of ten become evil spirits due to hatred toward humans. So our Ppoksil is that one out of ten.]

“……”

[Look at this. It’s so cute I could just bite it and eat it up!]

Her expression is quite brutal, as expected of a spiritmaster. The cat she’s holding out stretches long, which looks somewhat creepy.

Its belly is naturally exposed.

“Wounds?”

Hidden injuries are revealed. Countless ones, serious enough to be concerning.

[Oh my…]

Stella, who’s still massaging my shoulders from behind, lets out a startled exclamation.

I don’t know what the cat’s past was like as it lazily yawned and rolled around, but it clearly wasn’t good.

[W-wounds?]

The flustered Dark Spiritmaster quickly turns the cat around to check. After confirming, she stands with her mouth agape, unable to say anything.

“As I’ve explained several times, wounds carried by souls are most deeply rooted in psychological factors.”

Just as Stella had no eyes, hands, or feet when she was alive, but has no issues now as a spirit.

The opposite is also possible.

“That cat hasn’t forgotten the wounds it received when it was alive.”

[W-what should I do about this?]

The Dark Spiritmaster panics and tries to comfort the wounds, but the cat swats her hand away haughtily.

The wounds look severe enough to be considered mutilation, yet the cat seems to protectively clutch them as if they’re precious.

‘Hard to understand.’

I don’t think those wounds could have been inflicted by another animal.

They were artificially created by humans, yet the cat clutches them as if they’re extremely precious.

Moreover, it shows not the slightest hostility toward humans.

“Fine.”

I sigh and slowly stand up. Since I’ll be going to Greyfond with Elenoa after the exam period, I have a few days of free time.

Just enough time to spare.

The cat has piqued my interest.

“I’ll look into it.”

The mountain behind the academy, was it?

My body is noticeably getting heavier from various hardships, which is just as well.

I might as well go hiking and take care of my health while I’m at it.

“Um, where are you going?”

Professor Per, who had been busily scribbling something, asks while adjusting her glasses.

She had mentioned being rather free since she’d already prepared all the exam questions.

“Do you know much about cats?”

There was a brief pause before she answered my unexpected question.

“Yes, I studied animals alongside human anatomy, so I occasionally dissected their bodies.”

[Ugh.]

[……]

Both the Dark Spiritmaster and Stella immediately fix their gazes on Professor Per. Per tightens her lab coat, seemingly feeling a chill.

But for me, this was actually the most welcome news.

“That’s perfect. Could you prepare for a dissection?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m going to retrieve a cat’s corpse now.”

* * *

[You need to exercise. Should I run with you?]

[Deus Verdi, I’m really worried about you.]

I use magic to dry the sweat flowing as I come down the mountain. I didn’t expect climbing and descending this not-so-high mountain to be this exhausting.

‘My body is definitely not in good shape.’

It’s partly an aftereffect from the previous Deus’s chaotic life, but it’s also natural considering I’m carrying hundreds of millions of souls in my body.

After all, I’m containing an enormous power that even a continent couldn’t hold.

“Phew.”

When fighting, I usually enhance my body, so I don’t feel much discomfort, but trying to exercise without magical assistance has left me in this state.

It was more difficult than I expected, but I succeeded.

Returning to the academy’s laboratory, I find Professor Per wearing a mask, apparently in preparation.

She startles when she sees the cat corpse floating beside me.

“You really brought one.”

“Could you examine it for cause of death or wounds while preserving the original form as much as possible? We’ll need to bury it when you’re done.”

“Of course.”

I sit back in my chair, watching Professor Per begin sterilizing her tools.

My trembling legs finally feel a bit better.

[You really need to exercise. This won’t do.]

[We’ll exercise with you.]

“What kind of exercise would spirits do?”

I ignore the concerned Dark Spiritmaster and Stella, just focusing on catching my breath.

“Focus on the cat instead.”

The cat yawns leisurely even in front of its own corpse.

Souls usually wander around where their bodies are, so I went to the mountain and was correct.

When I went to the place where the Dark Spiritmaster said she brought the cat soul from, I could tell immediately.

The stench from the corpse was overwhelming, cutting through the mountain air.

The cat wasn’t even buried.

It was just thrown away, as if someone had carelessly discarded it.

[Our Ppoksil shouldn’t see this.]

The Dark Spiritmaster, not wanting to show the cat its body being dissected, takes it away.

Finally, I sigh and ask Stella:

“Do you know of any folklore, superstitions, or stories about cats?”

[…You think it might be a monster?]

“Yes.”

Usually, I can recognize monsters at a glance, but with this cat, I needed to consider all possibilities.

I’m investigating from multiple angles.

I felt a bit like Holmes.

[There are so many superstitions about cats that nothing specific stands out.]

She was right.

There were many cat-related superstitions in my previous world too. There were actually too many possibilities, making it difficult to identify this particular cat.

“Where I lived, there was a saying that cats have nine lives.”

[That’s a somewhat eerie superstition.]

“There were many superstitions about luck and misfortune too.”

Killing a cat brings 17 years of misfortune.

Petting a cat backward turns good luck into bad.

If an unknown cat follows you, good fortune will come.

And so on.

There were so many superstitions that they were hard to remember individually.

“What superstitions exist in this continent?”

[The first one that comes to mind is that eating a cat will summon a demon.]

“……”

[I asked Vellica about it, and she laughed, saying why would they come just because someone ate a cat.]

“It’s just a superstition.”

Stella continued:

[Hmm, white cats symbolize good luck. Black cats symbolize misfortune.]

“Similar to our side.”

[Cats were also believed to be servants of demons, and everything they see, demons see too.]

“Demons again.”

But demons wouldn’t be involved in this case.

I don’t sense any of the sinister, vile energy that demons typically possess.

Vellica would probably agree.

[Oh, there’s also a fairy tale about it.]

“A fairy tale?”

In the early days after I became Deus, I researched various myths and ghost stories because I could see ghosts.

While I was thoroughly familiar with Korean ghost stories, I knew nothing about continental ones.

I asked Stella because I couldn’t remember any cat-related folklore from the continent.

But fairy tales are different.

I’ve never read fairy tales from this world.

[To explain simply, it’s about a cat bringing bones to sick people.]

“Bones?”

That came out of nowhere.

Why would a cat, not a dog, bring bones?

[They boiled them and drank the broth, which made them healthy, but it turned out those were the cat’s own bones.]

“……”

[Well, it’s nonsensical. How could a cat remove its own bones and bring them?]

She was right about that.

‘It’s similar to “The Happy Prince” story.’

The statue of a prince who gave everything he had to help the poor.

A tragic tale ending with the statue being torn down.

It was similar to the story of someone giving everything to save people, though this one was more bizarre.

Giving bones, which people boiled and drank.

“…Stella.”

[Yes?]

“Did you count how many scars the cat had on its belly?”

[No, I didn’t count them. Roughly twenty, I’d say.]

“If my memory serves me right, there were twenty-six.”

I counted them briefly as I passed, and there were some overlapping areas, so I’m not entirely certain.

But I remember there being about twenty-six.

Just then, Professor Per, who had just begun the dissection, approaches with an awkward posture.

“Um, Professor Deus? This cat… doesn’t have any ribs.”

At her words, I glance toward the cat. I had carefully carried it using mana, so I hadn’t noticed.

More importantly:

“Professor Per.”

“Yes?”

“How many ribs does a cat normally have?”

A creeping sensation came over me.

I had casually gotten involved in this case because I had free time. But this place held an unexpected darkness.

Curiosity killed the cat.

A story that began from simple curiosity.

“Thirteen on each side, for a total of twenty-six.”

I realized this was a heavier matter than I had thought.