Ch.6161. The Appearance of the White Cat

“Hmm, does it make any sense to summon a mascot like this? Aren’t they supposed to always be by the magical girl’s side? What if a villain attacks and the magical girl doesn’t have her mascot? What would happen then?”

“Oh, it’s fine. Villains aren’t as smart as you think.”

“That’s rich coming from the stupid magical girl who placed the worst, most powerful villain right next to a mascot-less magical girl.”

“Please, what can a harmless villain do? Besides, someone of my caliber can use powerful magic without a mascot’s assistance.”

“How confident you are. So you sent your mascot on vacation to another world, and now you’re suddenly calling it back?”

“Because I need it. And it wasn’t a vacation—apparently some urgent business came up over there. It couldn’t stay here forever.”

“So you’re just calling it without any prior notice?”

“I did contact it beforehand. I asked when you were cleaning, and it said it’s fine now and I can call anytime.”

“You’ve got quite an unusual mascot. Can’t even find its way back on its own.”

“It’s difficult, so could you just call this consideration?”

While they were bickering, the magic circle must have been completed, as a small figure emerged amidst white smoke.

And that small shadow, seemingly glaring at me, positioning itself as if targeting me,

Leaped at my face and pounced on me.

“Ugh, aaack!?”

“You damned villain! How dare you! And you’ve been tormenting our precious magical girl?”

“Mmph?! Pffft! What did I—! You damn not-even-a-cat mascot thing!”

“What? What did you just say?”

“Get off! Go back to your master!”

Hah, hah… It took some time to remove that damned cat.

This doesn’t make any sense.

“See, Blanc? You want to rehabilitate such a violent creature… Hmm? Why don’t we just leave it outside and keep an eye on it? Living together with it seems impossible no matter how I think about it.”

“Jibril. We promised not to talk like that.”

“Seriously. Think about it again. Do we really need to care about such a villain?”

“What, am I bothering you?”

“That’s not it. I’m just trying to be reasonable. A magical girl living with a villain—it’s strange! Just send it to Marina for a thousand years of reflection, and if it truly repents, another thousand years of atonement and then—mmph! Mmph!”

Blanc hurriedly covered the cat’s mouth, but well.

Everyone who needed to hear had already heard.

“Bine… ugh, even if I explain, you won’t understand… You know? That cat is a bit… stubborn, that kind of thing? Just ignore it, okay… um…”

Why is Blanc taking it so sensitively?

It’s not like I haven’t heard such things before.

I’ve lived hearing far worse things than what that stupid cat just spat out—yes, those lumps of sound—and I’ve endured them.

Words like that don’t hurt me at all.

Well, it’s like sprinkling salt on an already torn wound.

Even that salt doesn’t feel painful anymore. But that’s just a metaphor.

“I never listened to that cat anyway. Ah, I saw cushions that mascots use, and I was wondering where they went. So they were all over there?”

“Yeah, that’s right. After Eden disappeared. Apparently something happened over there too. You know? They’re not originally in this form.”

“I’ve heard rumors that this strange talking cat can become human, but was that true? No, isn’t there something more important?”

“Ah, right. Jibril, I have something to ask.”

“What? Things have calmed down over there now. If it’s something that can be asked slowly, there’s no need to rush, right?”

“Well, it’s kind of urgent. You told me about contract magic before, right?”

“Oh, that? Why? Did you fail? Did you become someone’s contracted servant?”

“No, nothing like that. I just don’t think I heard the explanation properly.”

“Hmm? Didn’t I explain everything you needed to know?”

“At that time, my mind was elsewhere. I was really in a state of confusion.”

“Really… Alright. Contract magic is, simply put, like controlling a familiar. Oh, I wonder if you know what a familiar is.”

“Well, I’ve been to your world, so I roughly know what it is.”

“Right. It’s magic created by demons to make loyal slaves who would willingly jump into danger if their master commanded it.”

“Yes, I remember that much. What I want to know exactly is how much control I have.”

“I’m sure I explained this in detail before, but I’ll explain again.”

“Contract magic was originally developed by demons in our world, creating a thorough contract that forces obedience only to the owner. That evolved into the current contract magic.”

“Simply put, think of it as gaining true ownership.”

“Ownership…”

“Ownership of the body, even ownership of the mind. If you wanted, you could change their common sense, make them reveal their innermost thoughts. After all, it’s magic created by demons to turn their captives into slaves.”

“Then, everything Ellis told me was true.”

Blanc continued speaking while looking intently at Ellis.

Of course, Ellis must have felt very wronged, being doubted when she hadn’t actually lied.

“So, I heard you can read minds. How do you do that?”

“Well, I don’t really know either. My knowledge ends with what’s in books. That kind of intuitive skill was passed down orally among demons.”

“Then, there’s something else I was curious about. Ellis said her magical power is fine because of me. What does that mean?”

“Huh? Ellis, that kid. She’s a monster. She can generate her own magical power but still parasitizes her master?”

“Ah… that’s because of certain circumstances. Apparently, Eden’s monsters need the condition of evil deeds to generate magical power. It’s probably a mechanism deliberately put in place to ensure they can only use magic for bad things.”

“Well, anyway, it’s actually possible to a small extent. And it should be possible for you to provide it too.”

“Wow, this magic has all sorts of functions.”

“It’s transferring complete ownership of the core. Of course it does. Even in our world, contract magic is… really not used. At least not the degraded version.”

“Sigh. I understand for now. At least there’s no reason not to trust Ellis anymore.”

“No, I told you everything from the beginning… yet you insisted on not believing…”

“Ellis, quiet. There were reasons for that.”

“While you’re going to attach some weird, nonsensical reasons.”

“No, you were determined to deceive me from our first meeting, weren’t you? And after that too…”

“No, that’s…!”

“Don’t you think you ruined your own reputation?”

“No, ugh…”

“I’m sure Ellis had her reasons. Well. She’s not a bad kid.”

Whether they’re just teasing Ellis, or if Ellis really did go around deceiving people, I don’t know, but based on what I’ve seen of Ellis’s character so far,

I tried to stop Blanc from criticizing her too much.

But what Blanc said next changed my perception a bit.

“No, she definitely said something about robbing a bank, didn’t she? Maybe?”

“What?”

“She said she’d rob a bank and have a happy life on the run with Bine. She even had the adorable idea of storming Marina, thinking you were there.”

“Ah, umm…”

There’s no way to defend this.

Ellis, isn’t this clearly your fault?

“No, that was all a joke, r-really. I wouldn’t… s-seriously do that…?”

“Ellis? Your lies are showing.”

“Wait, I thought you couldn’t read minds yet?”

“No, it’s obvious from your expression.”

“Hmm? That can’t be… I’m so careful with my facial expressions…?”

“Hey, when you observe expressions enough to read emotional fluctuations in Bine’s expressionless face, you can easily judge that much.”

“N-no… that’s not…”

“Anyway, then I can trust you and get an Eden headquarters access pass. We need to schedule that…”

“When is that cat going back to its homeland? I don’t want to see it anymore.”

That rude fake cat should also be considered a priority to remove.

It’s not a cat that should be roaming around this dormitory shedding fur everywhere.

Plus, if it doesn’t like what I’m doing, it’ll cause all sorts of trouble.

It’s worse than sprinkling salt on a wound.

“I don’t want to see you either. Coming all the way here only to see a villain… ugh, my head…”

“Blanc, can’t you do something about that rude cat? It’s so noisy, yapping and chattering.”

“Jibril? Sorry to call you like this, but the kid keeps trying to kick you out.”

“What? If anyone should leave, it should be them. How dare they try to evict the owner?”

“Do you even know how much of a chore it is to clean up after an animal that sheds fur?”

“What? Cleaning? Then, what Blanc has been saying… Wait, Blanc. I’ll go rest in your room. My mind, my head hurts too much…”

Saying that, the strange white-furred cat went up to Blanc’s room.

Annoyingly taking away the same color as Blanc’s eyes.

Ugh, it’s going to shed fur.

After I cleaned so thoroughly.