After washing up, Itefeil carried the utterly dejected La Luna out of the bath. She dried her own hair with hot air, then used it to dry La Luna’s fur, who was standing nearby and shaking water off like crazy.
“It’s getting late. Good night~”
Itefeil returned to her room and flopped onto the bed with a soft thump, rolling around several times. After seeing Itefeil head into her bedroom to sleep, La Luna quietly snuck back into the room full of books.
(Tonight, I’ll start by finding a way to control the magic that automatically strengthens my body…)
As La Luna’s body became more demonic, her limbs had indeed grown stronger and bulkier, and her claws and fangs had sharpened. But gaining these things at this stage wasn’t a good thing. This world had magical beasts, and La Luna suspected that her path of strengthening was clearly headed toward becoming one of them—with no turning back.
But life for magical beasts in this world was far crueler than La Luna had ever imagined. Everything she’d seen that night while crouched outside the forest was still branded into her mind.
Though La Luna’s body was young and vigorous, her thoughts lacked the drive of youth. In her previous life, she’d lived all the way to old age before realizing that a quiet, steady life was best. She’d once thought about going out and making something of herself after being born into this world, but after that night’s shock, she’d calmed down and realized that nothing mattered more than staying alive.
(Keeping things peaceful as they are now is the best way to live.)
That was what La Luna thought.
And that was exactly why La Luna had to deal with the demonic changes in her body as soon as possible. Otherwise, she might end up destroying this peaceful life with her own hands. She quickly flipped through the other books in the series on the fundamental structure of magic, but none of them mentioned magic that strengthened the body. Aside from basic magic runes and instructions on how to use them, La Luna couldn’t find anything useful.
Suddenly, as if she’d realized something, La Luna smacked herself hard on the head.
“Meow, meow!”
(Damn it, it’s obvious this book on the fundamental structure of magic is meant for humans to study—but I’m not even human! What the hell am I going to find in here?)
Once she’d figured that out, La Luna put all the books back where they belonged and began searching along the bookshelves that covered the entire wall.
《An Introduction to Magical Beasts》
At last, amid that vast sea of books, La Luna found a series that might have something to do with strengthening her body through magic. She eagerly pulled out a book, then floated back down to the floor.
That’s right. After experimenting several times, La Luna discovered that using levitation magic to fly herself around was a lot of effort for very little gain. When magic acted directly on her body, the equation for the magical reaction was body weight × soul mass. Moving an object with a soul using magic or mental power came at a very high cost.
But if she used another medium—for example, casting the magic on a book and riding on it—the equation for the magical reaction became book weight + body weight. Compared with acting on an object with a soul, using magic to control the weight of an ordinary object consumed so little energy it was almost negligible.
“Meow, meow, meow.”
(Magic really is a wonderful civilization.)
After getting the book, La Luna used magic to turn the pages one by one. It was bound to be another sleepless night.
…………
At daybreak the next morning, Itefeil stretched in bed, then slowly began to perk up.
There were two reasons she’d gotten up so early today. First, she usually worked late into the night and never got enough sleep. When morning came, she’d be exhausted and wish she could stay curled up in bed a little longer.
The second reason was that today was her first official day on the job. Last night’s events were still fresh in her mind, and Itefeil was going to show those people just how good she was at holding a grudge!!
The thought that she’d soon be able to use her position to settle a personal score—no, to rid the people of a menace—left Itefeil so excited she wanted to run straight to the police station and open an investigation. But first, she had to get herself looking presentable. She was one of the police superintendents now, after all. She couldn’t look so impatient.
“La Luna? La Luna?”
When Itefeil reached the living room and didn’t see La Luna, she didn’t think much of it and went to make breakfast. That little furball would come running as soon as she smelled the food anyway.
In the study, La Luna stared wide-eyed at the method described in the book. The page showed two pictures: one of a beast, and one of a human who still retained a few beastlike features. The artwork gave La Luna a headache, but by putting the words and pictures together, she arrived at a shocking conclusion.
“Meow?”
So magical beasts here can actually cultivate into human form?
“Although these are rare in this world, I still believe it’s necessary to record them. Some magical beasts are born with powerful bloodlines or great magical power. When their magic is abundant—or even overflowing—they can alter their bodies further. Many choose to keep their original appearance, or become even more ferocious, while strengthening their bodies. But a small number of magical beasts can take on human appearances. They can even infiltrate human society and learn to imitate every word and deed of humans. In the end, aside from certain physical traits, they become ‘monsters’ indistinguishable from humans. They belong neither to humanity nor to the magical beasts. Yet they possess both human intelligence and the bodies of magical beasts. Many of the ‘heroes’ in human history who surpassed ordinary people may in fact have been magical beasts in human form.”
“Some magical beasts in human form may never be discovered by humans in their entire lives. But their lifespans far exceed those of ordinary people, so they don’t settle in one place for too long, lest their identities be exposed. I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of a magical beast who had taken human form. He had a cheerful, optimistic personality and was no different from an ordinary human. It was he who shared this knowledge with me, giving me the chance to write this book.”
La Luna felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. She’d finally found a way to control her magic and strengthen her body—and on top of that, she’d learned she might even be able to turn back into a human!
“Meow!!”
(But… the requirements listed here are kind of terrifying…)
La Luna flipped to the next page and finally found the required magic value. It was given in a unit she didn’t recognize, preceded by an unbelievably huge number…
(Forget it. I know how to control my magic now. As for that unit, I’ll check the books on the fundamental structure of magic when I get back…)
Hopefully, this unit isn’t anything ridiculously huge…
