Chapter 40

Regina hurriedly clung to Noah’s arm as she watched Snow dangling and scampering up right in front of her eyes. Snow, suddenly grabbed, also struggled just as much.

“No, Mr. Noah!”

“Meow! Let go of me, human!”

But Noah didn’t release the cat, raising it even higher to avoid her hands. If this fairy cat were to escape, the first to get hurt would be Regina right beside him. Even if a fairy couldn’t kill another fairy, that didn’t mean they couldn’t injure each other. Even if they didn’t die, they would still feel pain.

“Even if you can somehow communicate with the cat, it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s not dangerous! Really!”

As Noah, who was much taller, raised his hand holding the cat high, Regina jumped up and down stretching out both hands. Realizing it wasn’t working, she suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

Startled by this, Noah lowered his arm, and taking advantage of the weakened grip, the cat swiftly kicked Noah’s hand with its hind legs, spun in the air, and landed on the floor.

“What…”

“Snow, quickly come here!”

“Meow!”

At Regina’s call, Snow dashed over and snuggled into her arms. She quickly hugged the cat tightly and ran into the inn as if escaping.

Despite claiming to be almost eighteen, her behavior was no different from that of an early teenager.

Noah, dumbfounded, watched Regina’s retreating figure. Seeing her hurriedly entering, seemingly afraid he might chase after her, he swallowed a sigh that had now become a habit.

* * *

Regina, who had fled inside, received the room key from the innkeeper. Then, clearly angry and grumbling, she went up to the second floor.

“Really, killing isn’t some children’s game. Threatening to kill at every turn! Isn’t that too much? I was a fool to think even for a moment that he might be a good person.”

“Yes, Regina. You’ve finally realized it! You were truly a fool. When that man was in mortal danger, you should have run away instead of saving him.”

“…Your tone is a bit offensive, Snow?”

“My tone isn’t what’s important right now, Regina. Think about it. If you had run away then, by now, neither you nor I would be under any threat to our lives, living comfortably with our legs stretched out, don’t you think?”

“But if I hadn’t helped then, Mr. Noah might have died?”

To Regina, who was still speaking with lingering attachment, Snow patted his own chest with his front paws, as if exasperated, and said:

“Originally, whether human or cat, once born, one should live on their own. In this already difficult world, helping or being helped is a luxury. If that man had died then, it would have been his fate, not your fault. Each to their own survival, you know what that means? Repeat after me, each to their own survival.”

“…Each to their own survival?”

“Your life is your responsibility.”

“…Your life is your responsibility?”

Though it didn’t seem quite right, Regina inadvertently repeated Snow’s words. He smiled happily and patted her leg with his front paw.

“That’s it, Regina! How delightfully ruthless? Ah, it feels so refreshing. Come on, let’s quickly pack up and run away together. I don’t want to stay even a day with that barbarian who lunges to kill me the moment he sees my adorable face!”

“…”

“Regina, I said pack up quickly? Why are you just standing there?”

They say a meddling sister-in-law is more annoying. Regina pinched Snow’s cheek with two fingers and released it as he excitedly ran around near her luggage.

Snow jumped with a yelp and looked up at her with a betrayed expression, as if asking what that was for.

“You sarcastic cat.”

“What? What did I say? I only spoke the truth.”

Snow, who seemed offended, meowed long and was about to leap out the window when he spotted Noah still standing in front of the inn and came back.

“Weren’t you going to leave?”

“Hmph, I’m tired. I’ll go out later when that scoundrel leaves. And I’ll be back in the evening, so make sure to prepare my food. By the way, I like dried anchovies.”

Snow hopped onto the bed and settled down. Regina passed by Snow and put her luggage on the table, taking only the wanted poster with Rose’s face and her wallet.

“Okay, then let’s go out together later. It might be dangerous if Mr. Noah is nearby.”

“Regina, are you going out too?”

“Yes, I need to go into town to find someone. I’ll be back before dark too.”

At her words, Snow, who had been listening with his eyes closed and ears perked up, raised his head out of curiosity. He put his nose to the wanted poster she was holding and looked up at Regina.

“Are you looking for the human on this poster? If that’s the case, I might be able to help.”

“What? How can you?”

“Almost all the cats in this area are my subordinates. I can ask around. In exchange, I hope you’ll share the reward accurately.”

He licked his front paw with a cute face while making a very practical suggestion. Regina quickly nodded.

“Okay, I will.”

“Good! Then lend me that poster.”

Saying the contract was sealed, Snow got up from his spot and came down towards Regina’s feet, walking in a figure-eight between them.

“Oh, okay. But I only have this one copy, so it can’t be lost. Ah, I’ll put it in a small pouch and hang it around your neck.”

“Do that.”

Snow lifted his head up as Regina put the pouch around his neck.

Seeing her loosely close the opening so that the poster could be easily inserted and removed later, he meowed briefly in satisfaction. Then he hopped back up to the window and first checked if Noah was still there.

“Hmm, that scoundrel is gone. Good, I’ll be back quickly then, Regina, you wait here. It takes some time to gather my subordinates.”

“Okay, got it. Thank you, Snow.”

At Regina’s thanks, Snow arrogantly shrugged his shoulders and went out the window. Standing on the short roof below the window, he suddenly turned around, poked his head back inside and spoke.

“Ah, about the reward ratio, I’m a conscientious cat, so I won’t ask for much. Let’s just make it 50-50.”

“Huh? Okay. That’s fine.”

Regina, who didn’t care about the reward anyway, nodded reflexively, and Snow asked with a serious expression:

“But who’s the 50?”

“…?”

For a moment, Regina blinked with a blank expression, wondering what he meant. Seeing this, Snow giggled.

“Silly Regina.”

Then he pulled his head back and ran off beyond the roof. Only then realizing she had been teased, Regina ran to the window with a reddened face and poked her head out, but he was already walking far away on top of a fence by the road. With his tail held high.

* * *

-Bang, bang!

Meanwhile, Noah had come to the empty lot behind after asking the innkeeper for a place to practice shooting. As he practiced with the new gun he received from Maverick, he paused shooting for a moment due to the unfamiliar sensation in his hand.

“The gun’s recoil is weaker than expected. But its firepower is incomparably stronger.”

Moreover, bullets usually fly in a straight line, but due to the strong explosive force at the muzzle, these bullets rotated in a spiral.

Normally, the recoil would have blown his shoulder off or shattered the gun, but both his shoulder and this pistol were fine.

“Is this the power of the Black Star Fragments?”

It was so realistically impossible that Noah found it difficult to shake off the awkwardness even after firing the gun. It was truly magical. A power that doesn’t exist in this world.

“…Well, the existence of fairies is unrealistic to begin with.”

He too had a time when he found it difficult to accept the fact that he was a half-blood of the Black Fairy.

That sense of dissonance when fairies, which only existed in fairy tales, suddenly appeared before his eyes. The process of denying and denying again, and finally having to accept it, was truly painful.

He smiled wryly, recalling the sensation of that moment when he crossed from reality into the world of unreality.

‘Do you know how, how difficult it is for me?’

Yes, I know. He did too. If he and Regina hadn’t been natural enemies, perhaps instead of targeting her life at their first meeting, he might have comforted her. He might have gently consoled her, remembering his own experience, telling her not to be afraid.

Noah, recalling Regina’s frightened purple eyes, shook off his idle thoughts and picked up the gun again. He aimed at a small stone placed on the opposite side and pulled the trigger. Bang, the bullet flew and shattered the stone in an instant.

Star fragments clearly extracted from the Black Fairy King. Whatever its true nature, its power was overwhelmingly strong.

-Bang, bang bang bang!

He stared at the rotating bullets and fired continuously. The more he shot, the more the unfamiliar sensation became familiar to his hand.

Not knowing when the Black Fairy might target him again, he needed to make this weapon perfectly his own before then. As he was now, he would struggle to defeat even a strong mid-level fairy, let alone a high-level one.

Noah’s hand gripping the pistol tightened.

* * *

There was a gaze watching this scene from a tall tree. A small bird with white feathers stared intently at Noah in the empty lot with its shiny black eyes, then fluttered up. After flying for quite some time, it landed on the fingertips of a delicate woman.

“Good job.”

The pale-skinned woman whispered softly as she raised her hand as if covering the white bird’s eyes. Not long after, a black shadow slipped out of the bird’s head and seeped into the woman’s palm. At the same time, the bird’s eyes, which had been black, changed to a light blue color.

“How was it? Abigail, did you find them?”

At the question directed at her, the woman turned to look at the boy sitting beside her.

“Yes. I found them, Asel.”

Abigail nodded after remaining still for a moment with her hand on the bird’s head. She needed time to absorb the memories from the bird.

“They’re in Hoern territory now. But are you really going to chase after them? If we get caught acting on our own without telling Sasha, we’ll be in trouble.”

Abigail asked worriedly as she stroked the head of the bird whose eyes had returned to blue.

“It’s okay, Sasha wanted them dead too, didn’t they? They’ll be relieved if we kill them instead, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know, I’m still worried. Owen was killed by that half-fairy too, wasn’t he? What if you get hurt?”

“Ha, me? To that wet-behind-the-ears youngster? Abigail, you worry too much. And Owen, as you know, had only recently become human. We can’t compare that clumsy guy to us.”

“Still…”

“Don’t worry, Abigail. I can’t stand Cedric looking down on me! I take on this young form because I like this child’s memories, not because I’m younger than that bastard!”

Asel cut off Abigail’s words, venting his complaints, and stood up. They were sitting on top of a clock tower overlooking the town.

“Asel…”

Abigail’s pale blue eyes filled with worry. Unable to bear that gaze, Asel grumbled:

“Well, if you’re so worried, come with me.”

The sunset gradually began to engulf the town from the distance. Abigail brushed her silver hair, fluttering in the winter wind, behind her ear and nodded.

“Okay, Asel. I’ll go with you.”

The white bird that had left Abigail’s hand spread its wings wide and flew into the red-tinged sky.

“Then let’s leave right away. To Hoern territory.”

As Asel stepped off the clock tower into the air, black shadows gathered under his feet. It gradually solidified its amorphous form and soon took the shape of a bird.

Abigail took Asel’s outstretched hand and stepped onto the black shadow. On the rapidly moving shadow, she calmed her anxiously fluttering heart.