45: Dying

After playing hard and satisfying the dragons, Kuuga finally decided to look for the cat.

“Kuuga-sama, are you continuing your walk?”

[Ahh.]

Kuuga would often go out for a walk with Lewis, but it’s only at the level of a change of pace. He always tried to get back quickly since Gadillas might worry.

Seeing that Kuuga still wanted to take a walk, Lewis was amazed.

Since there’s no dictionary at the moment, he didn’t think he could tell Lewis in detail and Kuuga also had no intention of explaining it, so he just nodded and started walking. Now then, he wondered where the cat might be.

He walked around for a while, but the castle grounds was quite large, so it’s quite inefficient. Of course, the other party was also moving, so if he’s unlucky, he might not be able to find it.

[Cat… cat…]

He’s a dog-like creature for the time being, so he wondered if he could find it by smell. Kuuga knew he had a better sense of smell than when he was human. It’s also possible to search by following the smell if it’s an acquaintance.

Kuuga tried to smell his surroundings while twitching his nose. But the attempt ended in a few seconds.

[…I don’t know the smell of cats...]

Lewis didn’t know what’s going on when he saw Kuuga murmur and drop his head.

When Kuuga was wondering if he had to leave it to luck and search every day, he realized that a smell he knew came. Kuuga, looked up around him, and approached a nearby tree by following the scent.

[O~i.]

[Ah, King!]

[King!]

When he put his front legs on the trunk of the tree and shook it while calling out, two familiar birds came down from the branches and landed on Kuuga’s head.

They’re the birds who followed him from the church to the castle on the day of the ritual to choose the king. He was wondering if they only stayed around the church, but it seemed like they also came here to play.

[Did you see a cat somewhere?]

[Cat?]

[Cat! Saw.]

[Oh, you saw one? Can tell me where?]

The birds acted like they’re thinking as they tilted their heads, then said that they saw a cat. When Kuuga became happy at having found a clue, he asked again and the birds tilted their heads once more.

[Cat, there.]

In the direction indicated by one of the birds, there’s a castle wall. He wondered if they meant it was close.

[Dying.]

[D-dying!?]

Kuuga unintentionally screamed at the ridiculous information they spilled out and started running toward that direction. He could hear Lewis’ astonished voice from behind, but he couldn’t care about that now.

Immediately after he started running, he could smell the scent of blood. He traced the smell and corrected his direction while running and found a bloody white cat that fell down at the root of a tree 3 meters before the castle wall.

[Uwa, it’s really dying!]

I have to treat it! But when Kuuga rushed over, he realized that he couldn’t even lift this cat. Can I hold its neck… he thought for a moment but was hesitant to try it since he didn’t know how.

[Lewis! Le—-wis!]

Kuuga paced around the cat and called out to Lewis, who should be following him, because he couldn’t help it by himself.

“Kuuga-sama, what are… wha-, a cat!?”

Lewis, who chased after him in a panic, soon found the dying cat and kneeled down. Lewis should be able to use magic, so Kuuga was hoping that he would use recovery magic or something…

“Let’s take it to a healer.”

[Huh, so Lewis can’t do it himself.]

Kuuga, who knew that he could use any magic if he knew the corresponding formation, finally realized that he made a mistake. He just didn’t know where he made the misunderstanding.

Lewis slipped his hands under the cat and gently lifted it. He then rushed to the castle without burdening the cat.

Kuuga followed after Lewis while worrying about the cat in his hand. He didn’t even know where the healer was in the castle so he couldn’t move ahead.

They arrived at the medical office located on the first floor of the castle and near the knights’ training grounds. It’s bad manners, but after knocking lightly with his foot, Lewis entered and a man in his 60s, who seemed to be the resident doctor, looked back.

“Lord Lewis, what do you… hii! Divine Beast-sama!?”

“Gura-san, nevermind that, I would first like to ask treatment for this child.”

Sure enough, he was frightened by Kuuga’s appearance, but Lewis got in his sight and the man called Gura took the cat without any questions. At that moment, Kuuga didn’t overlook the fact that Gura’s expression was distorted for a moment.

It a face that questioned why he must work for a dying stray cat. The position of a healer made them have high self-esteem and stiff upper lips. It’s probably because of their high position. The man habitually acted weak against those in power, and although he complained, he didn’t have the courage to do big things. He stank of cowardice.

Kuuga looked at him while thinking that this was a weak man he didn’t need to be wary of. Gura called out to a young man, who was also in the room and was organizing some paperwork.

“Shizu, treat this.”

“Eh… y-yes.”

He didn’t want to do it himself, so he pushed it to this young man. Anyone could treat it, Kuuga just wanted them to do it quickly.

As if the tail spoke on behalf of his heart that was starting to get irritated, Kuuga’s tail hit the floor loudly. Shizu, who saw it, received the cat from Lewis in a panic and with a blue face.

Although Shizu had a personality that would pursue anything that he’s interested in, he’s basically a weak-willed person who wouldn’t resist if told to do something strongly. Because of that, he seemed to be used by Gura.

Kuuga wondered if being here at the age of 15 or 16 meant that he’s an excellent healer.

After checking the cat’s condition, Shizu drew a formation on a flat and hard bed with chalk. He then gently laid the cat in the middle of the formation and spilled blood from a small vial, and began to pour magical power.

When the formation received the magical power and began to emit light faintly, three familiar firefly-like lights appeared and began to circle the cat. This time, it’s a blue light.

He saw the cat’s body glow slowly. He was a bit excited, expecting the wound to close, but it didn’t.

“…phew. The deeper wounds are temporarily fixed, and vitality is applied for further healing. After that, if you apply medicine to the wound and make it rest, it will heal in 2 or 3 days.”

[...it’s not what I expected…]

He imagined that the wound would heal because it was magic, but it’s apparently different. From what he heard, it seemed like the wound was sewed shut and something was added to speed up the healing.

That meant vitality was poured into activating the promotion of recovery. Since the patient was dying, he wondered if that meant the healer poured his life force instead.

[I’ll pay for it, but this is like a treasurer paying itself...]

He imagined Merdechalan’s delicate expression when he mentioned this, so Kuuga was convinced that he could use this magic.

When Shizu took out the medicine from the shelf and tried to apply it to the cat, Gura tried to stop it, saying “it’s a waste to use it for a cat“, so when Kuuga growled lowly and hit his tail strongly on the floor, Gura screamed “Hii!” and became more mature. If he’s scared, don’t do unnecessary things.

Shizu applied the medicine on the cat while Kuuga watched so that Gura couldn’t get in the way. At the same time, the blood around the wound was wiped off, and the cat’s body became a little cleaner.

“With this, it’ll be alright.”

“Thank you very much.”

[Thank you.]

Lewis gratefully received the cat and the extra medicine. Kuuga bowed lightly to Shizu then glanced once more at Gura before turning on his heel. Shizu casually looked at Gura, who looked frightened and frustrated.

After leaving the medical office, Lewis visited the servant’s waiting room and prepared a basket and an extra cloth, then gently put the sleeping cat in the basket covered with cloth.

Lewis smiled at seeing Kuuga look at the basket anxiously, then asked, “Do you want to carry it?” Kuuga nodded, then walked over and held the handle of the basket with his mouth.