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Chapter 74
At that moment, the cat…
“I wanna get out! I wanna get out!”
…was clawing at Dain’s face with its sharp claws, even through the thick gloves that held it.
“Aaahhh!”
Dain hastily protected his face, but his forearms beneath the gloves were exposed.
Scratch!
The cat tore into his flesh with its hooked claws and landed on the ground.
It didn’t get far before it was caught in the giant net.
“You crazy cat, seriously!”
Blood dripped from Dain’s forearm.
Seeing this, the doctor’s face went pale.
“Sir Dain! We need to disinfect that immediately!”
The doctor rushed over with clean water in hand.
The other doctors did the same.
“Hurry, disinfect it!”
“Prepare the injection quickly!”
…Wasn’t this overreacting just for a scratch from a cat?
“Ah, well… it’s just a scratch from a cat. You don’t need to go this far…”
As Dain tried to awkwardly pull away, the doctor grabbed his arm firmly and shouted:
“Just because it’s a white lion doesn’t mean it can’t carry rabies!”
“Eh?! White lion… rabies?!”
Rabies—a disease with no proper cure!
Come to think of it, he had felt a little feverish since the bite on his forehead…
“Ugh! My God! No! I can’t go like this!”
Dain frantically pulled up his clothes, begging for his life.
“I haven’t even witnessed all the miracles of the saintess sent by the god of alchemy yet! I can’t die like this!”
“Wait, calm down. Wait, sir Dain!”
Only after three burly men held him down did Dain’s terrified flailing finally stop.
“Sniff… Doctor, I’m going to be okay, right…?”
He clung to the doctor’s forearm while examining his wound.
“We’ll do everything we can to save you, so please… let us handle this arm…”
“No! Effort alone isn’t enough! It’s not enough!”
But the more the doctors tried to pry him away, the tighter Dain clung, like a leech, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads.
Maybel had come out of concern, but ironically, she was fine while Dain was seriously injured.
Meanwhile, the cat caught in the net… no, the white lion, had its fur bristled and eyes alert.
The girl had been missing since earlier.
It was clear that a large human had taken her.
The white lion’s nerves were on edge, its worry for the girl heightened.
Then—
“There she is!”
The girl’s voice rang out, clear and distinct, unlike in the cave.
Even while tangled in the net, the white lion turned toward the voice.
At that moment, its pale sky-blue eyes widened.
“Cat!”
The girl, mounted as if riding a giant human, waved toward them.
What was even more astonishing was the color of her hair.
It hadn’t just been black in the dim cave.
Under the warm sunlight, her hair was a striking, mysterious color.
Such a vivid shade of purple—it looked like flower petals!
And her eyes?
They curved like crescent moons, glittering with colors as dazzling as bird feathers.
Admiring the beauty, the white lion’s heart sank.
How had someone with such eye-catching colors survived until now?
It had been traded countless times just for being white.
It had seen countless animals with all sorts of fur colors… but purple like this? Never before.
Perhaps this girl had endured an even harsher life than the lion had.
The thought made its heart ache for her.
At the same time, the lion felt admiration—the girl had survived so much, and yet here she was, confronting humans boldly!
She was truly an extraordinary female.
Truly, a creature of her kind!
The white lion, tangled in the net, flopped over and acted playfully toward Maybel.
“Wuaah~”
“Yes! I’ll untangle you right now!”
“Wait, it’s dangerous!”
Zigmunt barely held Maybel back as she tried to jump down.
Dangling in midair, she was scooped back into Zigmunt’s arms.
“Hyaaah!”
How dare she try to get to it!
The white lion hissed at Zigmunt, but he didn’t care.
“We don’t know what diseases it may carry. We need to examine it first.”
“But… it looks so pitiful like that…”
Maybel looked at the white lion with a tender gaze.
“Look at over there,” Zigmunt pointed toward Dain, who was crying as he received treatment.
“You don’t want to end up like him, right?”
“I’m fine! It listens to me really well! Right, cat?”
“Meow~”
The white lion purred obediently in response.
If Dain, who had been bitten, clawed, and chewed by the lion, had seen that, he would have fainted backwards.
“And it’s still just a kitten… can’t you at least untangle it from the net?”
Maybel looked up with pleading eyes.
Zigmunt knew all too well that she could weaken him with that look.
“Ugh…”
As if struck by a divine attack, he reluctantly conceded.
“Alright. You watch from here. I’ll handle the untangling.”
“Yes!”
Zigmunt set Maybel down on the ground and moved toward the net.
Whish!
Without even touching it, the lion shot out of the net in a flash.
“Damn!”
Zigmunt tried to catch it, but the lion leapt straight into Maybel’s arms first.
“Cat!”
“Nyaa~”
Maybel hugged the white lion tightly.
Despite the short time apart, the lion purred contentedly as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s see… are your injuries okay? Why didn’t you get treated?”
Maybel gently lifted the white lion by its armpits to check its scruffy body.
She had worried when she saw the blood pooling on the floor after it had hit the wall.
Luckily, there were no visible wounds.
“How about your legs?”
Turning the lion over to see its belly, Maybel checked its hind legs.
“Huh?”
The previously twisted hind leg was now perfectly fine.
Even though the folds of her dress still held it tightly.
At that moment, a thought flashed through Maybel’s mind.
‘The moment it licked my finger, an incredible light spread out.’
After that light, which apparently no one else had seen, her injuries had completely healed.
‘Could it be… this lion did that?’
Perhaps that was why its broken leg and the scratches from the wall were all healed.
Maybel whispered in a voice only the lion could hear.
“You… is your ability ‘healing’?”
Just as Aselt could petrify humans, and Kellic could relay visions through magic stones…
Could it be that the lion’s power was to heal wounds?
Now Maybel was certain the white lion was a beastman.
Yet the lion gave no response.
It only flicked its tail back and forth.
Meanwhile, Zigmunt, watching the scene, thought with a darkened gaze.
‘But why… does Maybel keep calling it a cat?’
Why did the lion make sounds like a real cat?
‘No, did I see it wrong?’
But looking again, it was clearly a lion in her arms.
Its large face, rounded ears, blunt nose, and lion-like round pupils—
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s definitely a lion…’
And a rare white lion at that…
Moreover, the lion had been wrapping its tail around Maybel’s arm.
This was a mating display behavior common among feline species toward favored companions.
Suddenly, a reasonable suspicion struck Zigmunt’s mind.
‘Could it be that the beastman thinks Maybel is of the same kind as itself?’
So it was acting coy because it was smitten with her?
No wonder Zigmunt’s insight was uncannily accurate—he truly was the Grand Master.
