"Did you remember everything I said?" At the luxurious Hall family villa in the Empress District, Audrey placed a Rubik's-cube-sized package into the leather pouch hidden within the long golden fur of Susie's belly, asking with a trace of worry.
Although this was a work by Mr. Seddes, it was the cheapest piece among all of Audrey's bags. Well, after weighing the options, she felt a bit sorry for Mr. Seddes.
"I know. Bury the package in the woods, then hide quietly to see who comes to pick it up." Susie nodded obediently, repeating Audrey's instructions.
Audrey heard Susie's words and nodded slightly, then emphasized again:
"The other party highly likely knows about the existence of Beyonder animals, so you must act as much like a dog as possible."
"But I am a dog." Susie found it a bit difficult to understand the meaning of Audrey's sentence, just as if you suddenly heard someone telling you to pretend to be a human.
"Well, let's leave it at that, then. Just be careful." Audrey was momentarily lost for words, as she didn't know what it meant to be 'more like a dog' either.
So, she could only trust Susie!
"Good luck!"
...
Through a hidden small hole in the outer wall of Earl Hall's luxury villa, a golden retriever squeezed out. It must be said that not only cats, but dogs might also emerge from holes that seem much smaller than their bodies.
Pricking up her ears and looking left and right, Susie surveyed the surroundings warily--though it wasn't her first time--before trotting away from this secret exit.
Despite Audrey's solemn words, Susie's adventure was unexpectedly easy. About five minutes later, she had arrived in the woods where she frequently went for walks. Like others of her kind, she quickly dug a hole and poured the small package from the leather pouch into it.
After finishing this, Susie carefully covered the soil back up and even stepped on it a few times for good measure before trotting off to hide in a nearby bush.
With only a pair of canine eyes showing through the gaps in the leaves, she quietly waited for the person to come and pick up the items.
If Audrey knew how Susie was keeping watch, she would likely want to perform a 'instant faint' move learned from her etiquette teacher. But in Susie's understanding, this was how a dog should observe secretly. If Audrey hadn't told her to hide well, she probably would have just sat by the roadside, waiting while basking in the sun.
Although it was a stakeout, Susie's observation didn't last long. About ten minutes later, Susie's nose twitched slightly, and then, a black figure entered her field of vision, 'My goodness, it's a cat?!'
Susie almost yelped in surprise but immediately pressed her mouth shut with her paw. The black cat that had entered Susie's vision seemed completely oblivious, walking with an elegant pace as if a king inspecting his territory.
Originally, Susie suspected she might be overthinking it and that this might just be a passing stray. But soon, she saw the cat arrive at the spot where she had buried the items. After a brief sniff, the cat dug up the soil with an elegance completely different from that of a dog.
For a moment, Susie felt a spiritual shock. Was it possible to dig a hole so elegantly?
Susie crouched in the bushes, quietly watching as the black cat pulled the package from the hole with almost no dust on its body. However, just as it dragged the small package out of the hole, the cat suddenly turned its head and shot her a glance that seemed to convey disdain.
'It found me!' Susie was startled by Lily's gaze and immediately turned to flee back to the Hall villa. Lily, meanwhile, let out a scornful cry, picked up the package in her mouth, and ran toward the west.
...
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Inside the music room of the Hall villa, the melodious sound of the piano was graceful and moving. But just as the piece approached its climax, a series of discordant barks disrupted the music.
Audrey, who was practicing, stopped her hands abruptly, her beautiful brows furrowing slightly. She looked at Susie, who was crouching at the door with her tongue out, and showed a helpless expression, "Susie, interrupting someone's practice is not something a lady should do!"
"But I'm just a dog," Susie said with a bit of a grievance. Audrey was momentarily speechless. She looked around, then beckoned to Susie: "How was it? Did you see the person who came for the items? What did he look like?"
"I didn't see anyone. It was a cat that came for the package." Susie described her findings with a somewhat strange grammar. Audrey's small mouth opened in a most unladylike manner, enough to see her uvula.
However, she quickly realized her lapse in etiquette and closed her mouth, saying in astonishment, "You mean, a Beyonder creature like you came to pick up the package? No wonder when I asked about pets drinking potions, Mr. Devil reacted differently from Mr. Hanged Man..."
"I don't know if it's a Beyonder creature, but I seemed to be discovered by it. And that cat is very similar to you."
"How could a cat look like me?" Audrey was a bit confused by Susie's poor grammar. Susie shook her head and said, "It's not the looks, it's the feeling... Right, like you said, that cat is like a lady..."
'A lady-like cat? Which pathway could it be?' Curiosity sprouted in Audrey's heart, and she even developed the idea of exchanging experience on raising Beyonder pets with Mr. Devil.
...
On the other side, Lily had already returned to Snow's home with her Sequence 8 potion materials, her face wearing a human-like "praise me" expression.
This was her first "independent" mission. Even though she still carried a trace of Snow's will, the fact that she hadn't received direct commands throughout made her very proud.
"Well done." Snow, having withdrawn his mental imprint, placed Lily on his shoulder and scratched the little one's chin with his forefinger. Then he unpacked the package, placed the Beyonder materials into a tin box, sealed them with spirituality, and stored them in the basement. Although Lily acted as an Assassin every day by catching mice, she still had a long way to go before complete digestion.
"Meow~~" Watching Snow busy himself, Lily suddenly let out a somewhat tsundere cry and then proactively rubbed her head against Snow's cheek.
Snow was stunned for a moment before realizing, "I know, I'll give you a bath in a while. You didn't even go to catch mice today... Seriously, I've never seen a cat like you who loves taking baths..."
"Meow-uu!" Hearing Snow's words, Lily showed a disgusted expression, turned and jumped off Snow's shoulder, purposefully brushing his earlobe with her tail.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]