Chapter 262: Chapter 261: The Girl Who Raises Cats Chapter 262: Chapter 261: The Girl Who Raises Cats As the days heated up, midsummer arrived before anyone knew it.
This particular day began with overcast skies in White Stone City. The air was thick with humidity, and the weather oppressively hot.
In the afternoon, a breeze picked up, followed by a light drizzle that though less satisfying than a torrential downpour, brought some cool relief.
Pedestrians were rushing in the veil of rain, shouting as they ran back to their homes, while some leisurely nobles called a few friends to drink and make merry in their courtyards.
In rainy weather, most people felt inexplicably lazy, disinclined to work, and found various ways to while away the time.
And Pandora, who was always lazy, was naturally even less active in such conditions, sprawled on the bed fast asleep, too lazy to even turn over.
In the laboratory, the main experimental room.
Cool raindrops tapped against the windows.
Richard stood in front of a window, dressed in somewhat formal, black clothes, gazing through the pane at a few green plants in the courtyard as if admiring the rain scene. However, his mind was silently calculating the time.
Figuring it was about time, Richard turned to look at Pandora on the bed and spoke, “I need to leave for a while, and it might take quite some time. You… behave yourself.”
Pandora gave no response.
“Don’t cause any more destruction, like thinking about tearing the house down or anything. The roof was only just fixed not long ago.”
Pandora continued to give no response.
“If another thief or the like breaks in, then you should stop them. Don’t let them empty out the place. In any case, you should be of some use, right? But don’t be too harsh, leave them alive so I can ask them some questions. What you did to Gutas before was not appropriate.”
Finally, Pandora reacted, turning over unwillingly like a lazy piglet, nuzzling her head into the fluffy white feather pillow in a simple display: I remember! Now go on your way and stop nagging!
Richard looked on and shook his head gently, picked up an umbrella from the corner of the wall, opened it, and walked out with it held aloft.
Stepping out into the courtyard, Richard saw a spacious four-wheeled carriage stopped on the street, which he had previously hired by paying a good sum.
The elderly coachman, wearing a tattered cloak for a raincoat, was hunched up and had been waiting on the carriage for quite some time. Upon noticing Richard, he dismounted and stepped down into the rain, preparing the mounting steps for Richard and invited him to climb into the carriage.
Then the old coachman re-mounted and pulled on the reins, steering the carriage down the street.
Richard, settled inside the carriage, addressed the old coachman, “To the residence of the Great Scholar Socrates.”
“Yes,” the coachman replied succinctly, controlling the carriage to the street corner, then with a tug of the reins, turned the horses left, onto a winding downhill road.
The horses’ hooves, fitted with horseshoes, struck the wet cobblestone surface in crisp “clattering” sounds as the carriage briskly made its way into the distance.
Shortly after, the carriage stopped in front of a rather imposing courtyard in White Stone City.
Richard alighted from the carriage and instructed the coachman to wait. He then approached the porch of the courtyard.
A man stood in the porch, in his thirties and muscular, dressed uniformly as a servant in a gray coarse linen outfit.
Seeing Richard approaching, the other party was somewhat wary, stretching out a hand to stop him and spoke, “This is the home of the Great Scholar Socrates. The Great Scholar is usually very busy and doesn’t meet with others, may I ask who you are…”
“I have an appointment with the Great Scholar,” Richard replied, pulling an invitation out of his sleeve and handing it over.
The other person took it and looked it over carefully, revealing a respectful expression. They stepped aside, making way, and made a gesture of invitation, “Please come in, guest. Someone will serve you inside the house.”
“Thank you,” Richard nodded and stepped through the entryway.
Walking along a pebble pathway, passing through a garden teeming with various plants, Richard entered the spacious living room.
There in the living room, a beautiful girl with a pair of bright, large eyes was standing. Upon seeing Richard, she quickly approached and asked politely, “Are you the guest with an appointment to talk to Grandfather?”
“Yes, I am,” Richard answered, glancing at the girl and realizing she was the granddaughter of the Great Scholar Socrates, and said, “I made the appointment with the Great Scholar for this afternoon.”
“Oh, please come this way,” the girl with the large eyes said after hearing his response and led Richard to an adjacent room, a small waiting room. She gestured toward the seats, saying, “Please wait here for a moment. My grandfather is currently in a conversation with another person. Once they’re finished, he will be able to meet with you.”
“Alright.” Richard nodded, without any complaints, acknowledging his role as a guest who should follow the host’s lead.
As he approached his seat, Richard bent down to sit, then suddenly heard the faint sound of a cat’s meow nearby.
Richard raised an eyebrow, the tension on the large-eyed girl’s face flitted away in a flash as she quickly spoke up, “Uh… I have some things to take care of right now, is it… okay if I go?”
“Of course,” Richard raised his hand, smiling, “by all means.”
“Thank you,” the girl hurried out of the small room.
With the girl gone, quiet settled into the small room. Richard, somewhat bored, looked around to take in the room’s decorations. Then he heard ongoing, faint meows coming from next door, followed by a “Yikes,” which sounded like the girl’s exclamation.
Richard’s eyes flickered, and he slowly stood up. According to his principles, he wasn’t one to meddle, but curiosity got the better of him and he stepped out of the room.
Following the sound, Richard came to the door of an adjacent room. He saw the door was ajar and through the crack, he could see numerous cats moving inside. The cats varied in color, breed, and size—from a little white kitten mewing milkily to an exceedingly large orange cat that seemed to shake the earth as it moved, from a swift, lively tabby to an exceptionally silent black cat curled motionless on the ground.
The girl with the large eyes was now sitting on the floor inside the room, glaring at a tiger-striped cat, puffing up her cheeks, her expression a mix between anger and amusement.
Richard found this surprising.
From what he understood, the customs of the East Coast where he was located mirrored those of Medieval Earth. Most people despised cats, believing them to be malevolent creatures, the pets of devils. Acts of killing or mistreating cats never ceased, although not as rampant as in the history of modern Earth, the situation hadn’t improved much either.
Richard even suspected that an overkill of cats might lead to a rodent infestation, potentially causing a plague similar to the Black Death, which once wiped out a third of Europe’s population on modern Earth. However, considering the special abilities of the Wizards, perhaps the death toll would be lower should such an outbreak occur here.
Nevertheless, keeping cats as pets, and many at once, no less, just like modern Earthlings, was indeed rare in the Wizard World.
Seeing the situation in the room, Richard almost guessed what had just happened. Satisfying his curiosity, his eyes twinkled as he turned to leave.
Just then, the tiger-striped cat confronting the girl with large eyes seemed to sense something, breaking its stare with the girl to suddenly look towards the door.
The girl in the room turned her head, first startled, then a bit flustered as she stood up and opened the door, “Who’s there? Oh, it’s you.”
Richard, who had intended to leave quietly, had to pause when the girl opened the door, and blinked, explaining, “Well, I heard noises from the room that seemed as if you were startled, so I came to check. Say, you’re… not hurt, are you?”
“Uh, no, no hurt,” the girl said nervously, trying to block Richard’s view with her body to prevent him from seeing the cats inside.
At that moment, a cat, quite uncooperatively, called out, “Meow!”