Hearing her call, Waled turned around. He watched as the cat slowly walked toward a dark corner of the room, a place untouched by moonlight—but that wasn't the strange part. Waled noticed that even his vampire eyes, capable of seeing in the dark, could only perceive a void of blackness. Unwilling to give up, he activated his magical vision, only to find that the area was a complete void, utterly invisible.
"Some kind of magical concealment?" Waled could only guess, unsure of what it was. At the same time, his estimation of the cat's abilities rose another notch.
After a moment, Silea returned, this time carrying something in her mouth—a tiny kitten, its eyes still closed.
"…?" Waled was puzzled, but when he saw Silea looking up at him, he crouched down and took the kitten into his arms. Despite being held by a stranger, the kitten didn't struggle. Instead, it let out a soft, contented meow.
"We spirit cats have been with you vampires since the earliest records of history," Silea said, her tone tinged with nostalgia as she watched the kitten snuggle comfortably in Waled's arms. "From now on, I entrust my daughter to you."
"Wait, daughter?!" Waled didn't feel a sense of solemnity or responsibility. Instead, he was intrigued and asked, "When did you have her? I didn't know!" His nosy demeanor made Silea momentarily regret her decision. The question was also one she didn't know how to answer.
"Anyway… she's here now. Why do you have to ask so many questions?!" Silea waved her paws frantically, trying to deflect.
"Fine…" Waled gently scratched the kitten's chin, thinking to himself that he wasn't the one at a disadvantage here. Having a familiar that would one day grow to the level of a dragon was undoubtedly a good thing, no matter how he looked at it.
"What's her name?" Waled asked next.
"She doesn't have one. Names are meaningless to us. If you like, you can give her one," Silea replied.
"Really? Then who gave you your name?"
"Your grandfather."
…
So, it turned out that this seemingly unreliable cat was old enough to be his grandmother. Even now, knowing this, Waled still couldn't bring himself to treat her with the respect her age warranted.
As Waled thought this, he prepared to leave with the kitten in his arms. But once again, Silea stopped him.
"Wait."
"Can't you just say everything at once?" Waled complained as he sat back down in the chair, continuing to play with the kitten in his lap. By now, the little one seemed to have taken a liking to Waled, occasionally sticking out her pink tongue to lick his fingers in a show of affection. This made Silea, the mother, feel a twinge of jealousy. Her voice grew louder:
"Where are you planning to take her?"
"Huh?!" Waled was surprised. "Didn't you just say you were entrusting your daughter to me?!"
"I did—but I didn't mean for you to take her away! You're just a child yourself, and a pampered young master at that. How could you possibly take care of someone else?" Silea scolded him. Though her words were harsh, they weren't wrong.
"Then… should I leave her here with you to take care of?" Waled asked tentatively.
"Of course!" Silea replied as if it were obvious.
"But… but then…"
"But what?" Silea leaped onto Waled's chest, grabbed the kitten by the scruff of her neck, and jumped back to the ground. In two quick movements, she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Waled alone. The speed was so fast that Waled barely had time to react. When he looked down, the kitten was gone, leaving him with a sense of loss.
That soft, fluffy, and utterly adorable kitten had even charmed Waled. She was just too much fun.
"Alright, you can come here every day and spend some time with her to build a bond. Once she's a bit older and weaned, she can follow you. That should work," Silea said, watching Waled's reaction. She thought to herself, "That's more like it."
She assumed Waled had grown fond of her daughter, which meant her daughter wouldn't be at a disadvantage with him—though if she knew Waled only saw the kitten as a living stuffed toy, she might not have been so pleased.
At the same time, Waled picked up on a key word in Silea's explanation.
"You said 'weaned'?!" Waled's face lit up with curiosity as he looked at Silea. Hearing this, Silea's face turned as red as a boiled shrimp, and her paws moved so fast they seemed to break the sound barrier. She waved her claws at Waled and shouted:
"Why is your mind so twisted at such a young age?! You're so impure—go, go, go—back to your room and sleep!" Without waiting for Waled's response, she grabbed the hem of his pants with her teeth and started dragging him toward the door. The strength was more than Waled could resist, and he was pulled all the way to the entrance. Only then did Silea let go of his now-torn pants and ask:
"So, have you thought of a name for her?"
"Actually, I already have one in mind," Waled nodded and said, "Look at her shiny, soft black fur, her adorable appearance, and her innocent meows. Especially how incredibly soft she feels to the touch—it's irresistible—"
With every compliment Waled gave, Silea nodded proudly, as any mother would when her child was being praised. But then Waled concluded:
"Taking all these qualities into account, I think she should be called… Meatball—"
Silea's face immediately darkened, and with a loud "bang," she slammed the door in Waled's face, leaving him with a noseful of dust.
"Really, what's her problem?" Waled muttered as he headed back to his room to sleep. And so, the days passed peacefully for a while. With his "adventures" on hold, Waled's sleep schedule improved, and he started waking up earlier.
His life returned to a routine. After breakfast and greeting his sister and mother, he would head to Silea's room to play with Elsa—the kitten Waled had named Meatball. Though Silea had said names were meaningless, she had already given her daughter a name.
Normally, a kitten would be considered a cat after three months, but Elsa was different. Aside from barely being able to open her eyes, her size hadn't changed much since Waled first saw her. When Waled asked Silea about it, he learned that spirit cats grew at a rate similar to vampires.
From ages one to sixteen, they developed at a pace comparable to humans. After sixteen, their growth nearly halted, with only subtle changes occurring over hundreds or thousands of years. Even at the end of their lives, their appearance would remain at a middle-aged level, much like Dean Asta, who had aged prematurely due to illness and injury.
After saying goodbye to Elsa, it was time for Tris's lessons. Waled's progress in magic could only be described as meteoric—so much so that it even frightened Tris. After teaching him intermediate dark magic, Tris began to slow down the pace of her lessons. While Waled's martial skills were hopeless, there was still much for him to learn in other areas.
"To become a proper, respected noble, it's not enough to just know magic and be good at fighting. Even if you're the best fighter, without the grace, knowledge, and demeanor of a noble, you're just a thug. Today, we'll learn the sixth court dance step—and if you dare step on my foot on purpose again, I'll spank you!"