Weak to Cute Things
Ah, I'm so weak to this kind of thing.
"Seha, what do you think? Isn't it adorable?"
When I opened my eyes, what filled my vision was a tiny cat.
Fur closer to navy blue than plain blue, with sharp little triangular ears to match. At a glance, it was a baby cat that looked thoroughly haughty.
"You can call it Oceanus!"
"Oh…"
Oceanus looked up at me as if exchanging greetings. Was it curious about a face it had never seen before? I sent back a light smile with my eyes.
But isn't Oceanus a little too grand for a cat's name?
No matter how hard I studied that cute, dainty appearance, it simply refused to match the name. Most people would settle for something like Butterfly or Mochi. Well, whatever — the real thing was adorable, so everything was fine by me.
Myaaaaoow—
With a soft cry, Oceanus hopped down from Soli's hands. It padded over with dainty little steps, then started rubbing its body against my leg.
"Oh my! Our baby is usually terribly shy around strangers. This is unexpected."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Even on the second floor it stuck to my side so constantly it was almost a problem."
As expected, even cats recognize good looks when they see them.
Being chosen by a cat made me feel like I'd accomplished something. A swell of pride hit me so hard my shoulders twitched on their own. I was reaching out as if under a spell when—
"Would it be all right if I pet it?"
"Of course! When it holds its tail up like that, it means it's in a good mood."
I'd asked just in case, but the answer was exactly what I'd hoped for.
"C'mere!"
With the owner's blessing secured, nothing in the world could stop me now. Oceanus climbed right up the arm I'd extended. I scooped it up against my chest, cradling it in one arm, and started stroking it without mercy.
Purrrrrr—
Unable to withstand my ruthless hands, it half-swooned and rumbled with pleasure. The sight pulled the corners of my mouth up all on their own.
"Ah, I'm so weak to this kind of thing."
Ever since my body became like this, I seemed completely helpless whenever I saw something cute. The cat in front of me, the slime on the first floor, the baby wolf on the second — all of them. I wanted to squish them, somehow. More precisely, I wanted to rub my face against those soft little cheeks.
Huh? Now that I think about it, isn't something off?
There was a sticking point if this was just some stray cat she'd picked up off the street. Until now I hadn't seen so much as a single ant, and suddenly a cat appears out of nowhere? That made no sense.
"So where did you get this cat?"
"Ah! I forgot to tell you. Hold on — can you stretch your arm out for me?"
Claiming she had something amazing to show me, Soli issued a suspicious order. I stretched one arm straight out just as she said, still holding the cat in my other hand.
"Not like that — think of it as putting Oceanus between us."
"Like this?"
"Perfect!"
It wasn't as if it took any real strength; I was just holding a cat still. A baby cat couldn't weigh more than a few kilos no matter how you sliced it, and yet my arm was already going numb.
Ugh, this pathetic stamina is the worst.
According to the status window, my Durability was 2 and my Strength was 3 — this body of mine was useless. Maybe the physical training with Ivelin had been too short to build any real foundation. I resolved to start working out properly the moment I got the chance.
"Seha, this is no time to zone out. Look at Oceanus!"
"Huh?"
The cat slowly lifted a white front paw and pressed its soft little pad toward me.
Huh?
Its paw pad began turning blue. And then a torrential downpour came crashing down from the sky with tremendous force.
No, wait — we're inside a building. There's no way we should be getting rained on.
More precisely, the rain was falling only inside the room. It was a phenomenon straight out of magic.
"Well? Our baby isn't just any ordinary cat, you know."
"Don't tell me… a spirit?"
"Bingo! I wasn't actually planning to keep it a secret, but somehow I ended up tricking you."
The culprit behind the sudden downpour was none other than Oceanus.
So the grand name wasn't for nothing after all.
If it wasn't an ordinary cat but a spirit, I could accept it. Water was still gushing from its paw pads — closer to a fountain than anything else, if I had to make a comparison.
"Oh, right! You mentioned before that you wanted to show me a spirit, didn't you?"
"I'm impressed you remember. Back then I didn't have enough mana to summon one properly."
So she hadn't said that for no reason. Who would have guessed a spirit could look this adorable? I'd assumed at best they'd be translucent things floating around in the air — a massive misconception on my part.
Oceanus lay on its back in my hands, waving its paw pads this way and that. I was staring at that precious sight in a daze when a sudden sense of wrongness jolted through my mind and snapped me awake.
"Hold on a second! Isn't this getting dangerous?!"
The water Oceanus was spraying had already flooded the floor and was climbing past our ankles. Only then did Soli seem to register reality; she hurriedly stopped the little one.
"Wait! Stop for now!!"
In an instant, Oceanus vanished from my hands — and was nestled in Soli's arms. At the same time, the fierce fountain cut off as if it had all been a lie.
…
Once we'd barely gotten the situation under control and I looked around, my room was a complete disaster. For once, Soli was reading my mood. She carefully started making excuses.
"Sorry… I just got completely distracted…"
Maybe it was thanks to the water that had been gushing so hard moments before. Combined with the light coming through the window, a beautiful rainbow had formed. It only stretched about the length of the bed, but still.
"I can see why you'd get distracted. The rainbow's gorgeous!"
"I wasn't talking about the rainbow. I meant you…"
"Huh?"
"No, I was looking at the rainbow! We don't get to see them often, so I just zoned out staring at it."
Something feels off about that.
It felt like she'd started to say something and then mumbled her way out of it. Soli wasn't the type to lie to me, though, so it was probably just my imagination.
"So what do we do about this?"
I'd accepted the apology, sure — but that didn't restore my ruined room.
"Good question… This feels weirdly familiar."
It looked a lot like the time I'd used fire magic in my room. Back then the fire detector's sprinklers had gone off and flooded everything too.
I'm pretty sure Rigore even warned me not to use magic…
What had Rigore said again? He'd put on that solemn face and told me something like,
Haa…. Looks like I'm in for another round of dirty looks.
I was sighing inwardly when Soli, watching my reaction, carefully offered an explanation.
"Honestly, Oceanus wasn't originally this strong? And with how little mana there is on a rest floor to begin with, my own mana could only manage humidifier-level output at best."
"Really?"
According to her, the magic the spirit had just displayed was abnormally powerful.
Well, Soli had zero reason to fire a water cannon into my room.
If she'd wanted to show me a rainbow, a little restraint would have been plenty. The strange part was why it had suddenly gotten stronger now of all times.
"Maybe it was influenced by you, Seha?"
"Me? Now that you mention it, I feel like something like this has happened before…"
When was it? Back when people suddenly started bowing to me?
Not just those people — Soli had said her stats went up thanks to me too. So it applied to spirits as well. That was a new discovery.
Discovery or not, the room was still full of water. Couldn't we just have Oceanus suck it all back up?
"Could the spirit absorb the water again with its power?"
"That might be a bit tough…"
So that was a no-go. Instead, Soli floated a new proposal.
"Or how about we plant the seed in here?"
"In here? There's nothing but water."
"Yeah. There's this thing called hydroponics — a way to grow plants without soil. Of course I've never done it myself; I only ever watched my mom do it."
Now that I hear it, that actually sounds pretty decent?
I liked that we could check right away without having to go anywhere annoying.
"So I just toss the seed into the water?"
"Hmm… I don't think it was quite that simple…"
Can I really trust this?
Soli's lack of confidence made me anxious too. In times like these, asking an expert was the surest bet.
"Did you call for me?"
If I try hydroponics, will my seed grow nice and fast too?
"Good grief. Raising a plant is not nearly so simple."
The World Tree scolded me like I was hopeless, then vanished on the spot. In the end, I got no proper answer.
"Want to just try it once?"
"Sure! It'll work out somehow."
If it didn't seem to be working, we could always fish it back out. I set the seed on the water's surface without a care.
"Yep. Nothing's happening."
"Even if you'd planted it in the ground, nothing would have happened right away."
Naturally, there was no change whatsoever. If sticking a seed in water made it sprout instantly, the world would have ended a long time ago. Growth that fast and a single rainstorm would turn the entire planet into forest.
"Shall we go fill our stomachs first?"
"Whoa! It's already this late?"
The clock hands were already pointing to lunchtime. They say Koreans run on rice power, right? The mess that had already happened couldn't be helped — food came first.
I wonder what the newly transformed cafeteria has for lunch?
Breakfast had been that good; there was no way lunch would let me down. I took Soli's hand and was about to leave the room when an indescribable unease settled over me.
You won't suddenly butt in while I'm talking with Soli, right?
"But of course not. What exactly do you take me for!"
I've got a bad feeling about this.
A sinister premonition told me some clueless interloper was about to crash my peaceful meal with Soli.