025 – I’ll be out for a bit

—

[Ha… why can’t my heroines use magic that turns them into animals?]

Magic is supposed to be omnipotent!!!

Why won’t my heroines transform into animals!!

Even a doppelganger can shapeshift into a human, so why can’t a human transform into an animal?!!

I wanted to fulfill my grand ambitions, even if just in this space…

[Comments]

– If my girlfriend could turn into a pet, that’d be so cute lol

ㄴ (OP): Fr, I’d pet and stroke them all day, spank their butt, and do positions I couldn’t do when they’re human lol

ㄴ ?

ㄴ ????????????????

– Furry furry… Wait a sec, you’re not actually a furry, are you???

ㄴ (OP): Love animals. Animals are living beings.

ㄴ You… you genuinely ‘love’ animals…

– There was a magic called Animagus, a shapeshifting magic, that disappeared in ancient times. Since there were originally few people who could use magic, the Animagus art was never passed down, becoming lost magic.

ㄴ (OP): Can’t it be restored?

ㄴ You’d need an ancient being who knows Animagus magic to be alive and meet them, and have the magical skill to be taught Animagus.

ㄴ (OP): You’re saying “no” in a ridiculously roundabout way…

ㄴ Still better than saying you want to do the deed with an animal, straight up

—

Since it was an animal unable to speak anyway, I promptly used my Kidnap skill to summon the cat before me.

Raising both hands, I immediately started patting the cat’s behind, pat pat pat pat.

Myaang?!

Startled by being suddenly summoned before me, the cat whipped its head around.

Yaaong?!

It gazed at me, furiously slapping its rear, with utterly shocked eyes.

“Behave and receive the Butt-Patting Punishment.”

Mya…oong…

And the reason I was so certain that this cat wasn’t a transformed human was simple.

“There’s no such thing as transformation magic into animals at Arcane Campus!”

Well, in reality, transformation magic does exist.

‘Animagus’ – a portmanteau of animal and magus (mage) – is, literally, magic where a mage uses magic to transform into an animal.

But it was one of the lost magics of antiquity, so there was no way a cat with a status window was actually a person.

‘The information I saw while scrolling through the forums way back then is helping me again like this.’

Like a skill that was once unusable suddenly unlocking after a specific action.

The status window must have evolved or been enhanced for some reason, now even showing information about animals.

Pat, pat.

Myaaang- Myaaong-

‘Did killing those Doppelgangers do this?’

The more Doppelgangers I kill, the stronger the status window seems to become.

“Isabella Lilit, what a beautiful name! Who gave it to you?”

“!”

Even though a man she’s seeing for the first time today is enthusiastically patting her bottom, this obedient cat is just too adorable.

As I call out her name, trying to praise her, saying how pretty she is…

“Myaa.. Wait, how did you know?”

A cat who could only meow suddenly learned how to speak human language.

‘…Huh?’

For a moment, all my thought processes froze.

A cat is talking…

Did I mishear-

Pat pat pat pat.

“Even the children who have inherited my blood most purely for hundreds of years don’t recognize me, so how did you know?”

Wow…

I didn’t mishear, huh…?

Pat pat pat pat.

“The last time I heard my true name was about three centuries ago, and now I’m hearing it again here.”

My mind is racing at a tremendous speed.

The Arcane Magocracy is a nation where the possibility of a person being transformed into a cat is far greater than the possibility of a cat being able to speak human language.

Judging by the voice, the cat in front of me was definitely female.

If a century is 100 years, and the last time she heard her name was three centuries ago, then the being before me has lived for at least 300 years.

And as far as I know, the only being who can survive that long is…

Pat pat pat pat.

“…True Ancestor.”

A True Ancestor… the being considered the most noble of all Vampires.

Pat pat pat pat.

“At first, I thought you were just another run-of-the-mill human… but hey, can you maybe stop that?”

“Eh?”

“No, it feels good and all, but… can we maybe wait until I’ve finished explaining before you start again?”

At the same time as my thought processes froze, my body must have started acting instinctively, because I haven’t stopped patting the cute cat’s bottom.

“Ah…”

A sentiment heavy with regret, but an Original Vampire’s command was absolute. There was nothing for it; the butt-pats had to cease.

“..Are humans just strange these days, or is it just *you*?”

“Pardon?”

“Normally, the sight of an Original Vampire would elicit screams and frantic flight, wouldn’t it?”

Had I known, upon first seeing this cat, that it was an Original Vampire, I, too, would have turned a blind eye and fled into the ether.

It was only because I’d initiated the butt-pats that I now sat, bound by that responsibility.

In my heart, I knew a wrong answer here could mean death… but wait, *she* was enjoying the butt-pats, wasn’t she?!

Doesn’t that make things even?!

“Well… that’s generally the case…?”

Thoughts would remain thoughts, I decided, and began to formulate a reply with the utmost caution.

“You knew my name. How did you come to know it?”

‘*The status window showed me…!*’

“…I simply… learned it.”

“…Instinctively?”

“…Yes.”

*

Isabella Lilith.

She’d given up meticulously counting her age some two centuries ago… Once, she was a being known by the epithet ‘Primal Progenitor.’

Primal Progenitor.

The progenitor and origin of all vampires.

In ages past, a figure of terror to humanity, one who could make even the bravest hero tremble in fear.

And yet, she…

“…Boring.”

…was feeling utterly bored with existence.

“Isn’t there anything interesting to do…”

As a being of intelligence, she desired interaction with other intelligent beings, humans in particular.

But humans, beings prone to fearing the unknown, were mortified by her.

Isabella Lilith could, to a degree, sympathize with their feelings.

They were, after all… so very fragile.

‘Oh…’

If she’d known that a simple tap would result in a *crunch* and a dead human…

She’d wager she would never have touched them in the first place.

“Hmm… what to do…”

Born as an Original Vampire, she wasn’t particularly interested in war.

“Hmm… perhaps I should just make some children?”

And so, the first thing she’d done was abduct dying humans from the Magocracy, resurrecting them as vampires.

A few drops of blood.

If she placed a few drops of her own blood onto the body of a dying human, the next day, that human would awaken as a vampire, devotedly following her.

Being so thoroughly bored, she had decided to create vampires like herself to lead an interesting life.

“I honor your grace, Mother.”

“Uhm… uh-oh… that…”

“Remain seated. I shall exterminate those vermin who slander our Mother.”

“No, no… I just want something… entertaining…”

“You desire amusement. Shall I drag humans here alive and flay them before your eyes, Mother?”

“Oh… uh… be gentle, a little…”

“To worry for us even to that extent…! “

The vampires born from her fingertips were so very bellicose.

Like zealots, they would end their own lives at a single word from her.

“…”

At first, Isabella was intrigued, finally having children to converse with.

But in the end, Isabella tired of all her children’s adoration and fanaticism, the choice she made was…

– I’m just going out for a bit.

Leaving a note that she’d be out, she’d use Animagus magic to transform into a cat and visit the Magic Kingdom.

*Myaaow~*

Humans weren’t frightened when they saw her as a cat.

Though the adoring looks they gave her also grew tiresome after a while.

But watching the lives of humans, with each day unlike the last, was more interesting than the monotonous existence of a vampire.

‘Humans, huh…’

Feeling intrigued by humans, she returned home and began to create a new lifeform.

“What are you doing, Mother?”

“I’m making a creature that’s similar to a human.”

“…What is the reason for this?”

“Because humans are fun. If I make these, I won’t have to go for walks, see? I can just lie down at home and watch something interesting, right?”

“Leave it to us! We shall craft the ultimate lifeform to please our Mother!”

Hearing them so eagerly promise to create an entertaining creature,

I thought it would be amusing to watch their creation.

My children, born from my fingertips, were successful in creating another lifeform.

“We call them Dopplegängers.”

“Oh, what are they like?”

“They can transform into an identical copy of any human they come into contact with for 15 seconds or more.”

“Ooh!”

“Therefore, we can infiltrate them into the Magic Kingdom and conquer all humans!”

“..Huh?”

She had simply forgotten.

That her children… were maddeningly bellicose…

“…Boring.”

Watching the Dopplegängers was entertaining at first, but they too lived the same monotonous life, which soon bored her.

‘I want to watch a scandalous love affair.’

The human she watched two days ago had shown the exciting display of cheating on his wife with another woman.

A curiosity stirred within her, wondering if that man had been caught by his wife with his girlfriend by now.

My children, my doppelgangers, never presented me with such amusements…

‘…Unacceptable.’

Scratch, scratch, scratch…

Isabella, leaving behind a hastily scribbled note, departed the vampire den.

– Briefly stepping out.

And so…

From the perspective of the Trueblood vampires, it had already been some five centuries since Isabella’s little outing.