3 - Learning Magic nyaa~

003 Learn Magic nyaa~

Siblings: “Mom!”

As I was stunned into a daze by Mother’s magic, my siblings rushed towards her. When I snapped out of it, I also started running over to Mother’s side.

Boycat: “Mom, can I eat it?”

Girlcat: “Mom, I’m hungry.”

Mother: “I see. I was thinking of bringing it back to eat, but shall we eat one of them here?”

Saying that, Mother cut the wolf up with her claws to make it easier for us to eat it.

Siblings: “Yay!”

“Ya..Yay!”

Mother: “There is a lot so let’s dig in”

Mmmm, it was so delicious when it was freshly hunted…. For some reason, it tasted so much better than the other food. If possible, I wanted to season it with salt and pepper before digging in. Speaking of which, Mother released something like a wind blade just now, right? If that was magic, wouldn’t it be possible to create fire as well?

I saw something that was written in a light novel that I borrowed from my grandson in the past. The contents told of a young person who went to another world who went adventuring with the magic they learned. I didn’t remember the way to use magic written in that book though…. I should have read it a little more carefully. Apart from me, my cat family was still relishing the food deliciously.

Fuuu. I am so full. So satisfying.

Everyone looked so happy with a satisfied look on their faces. The wolf was picked clean, leaving nothing behind. Again, I wondered if that was what cats do normally.

Boycat: “I am so full!”

Girlcat: “I can’t move anymore.”

Mother: “We don’t have time to rest, we have to return soon. The smell of blood will attract other creatures here. Come on, let’s go.”

All: “Yes Mom.”

Mother picked up the remaining wolf in her jaws and began walking back. We followed suit and went home with her.

The next day, Mother began her lecture on hunting.

Mother: “What did you think of yesterday’s hunt?”

Boycat: “It was amazing～”

Girlcat: “It is cool!”

“Erm, you were very strong～”

I didn’t really know what to respond, so I just said something fitting. If I tried to imitate my sibling’s actions, I should be able to get by without being suspicious.

Mother: “Did you carefully observe the way to hunt?”

Siblings: “Yes!”

“Ye, Yes!”

Mother: “Just like that, the basics of hunting is to get as close as possible without being noticed and kill in a single blow. Since you must bring it down in one strike, you need to aim and bite at the soft part of the neck. Just like this….”

Approaching in an instant, Mother bit into my neck.

“Funyaa～”

Mother: “Just like this, you see.”

It didn’t hurt just like play biting, but it felt ticklish, and I let out a strange voice.

Mother is big and gave off a strong aura, so I wished she would stop using me for practice.

Boycat: “Mother is so fast!”

Girlcat: “That looks comfortable.”

“Funyaa～”

Mother: “Playing time ends here. Next, do you all know what I used to attack the second prey?”

Boycat: “Errm～, the wind went fwoosh!”

Girlcat: “It wasn’t fwoosh, it was fisst!”

Boycat: “Yep yep!”

Boycat imitated Mother with flashy gestures and Girlcat tried to express the attack. Just now, I felt Mother’s gaze on me. Was it just my imagination?

Mother: “Well, it is something like that. That is what we call Magic.”

Siblings: “Magic?”

“Ma..Magic?”

Yep. I knew it.

Mother: “That’s right. It’s Magic. It is convenient for attacking prey that you cannot reach from a distance.”

Boycat: “Can I do it too?”

Girlcat: “What about me～?”

“Me..me too?”

My siblings looked at Mother with shining eyes and pressed her with questions. I also imitated them and asked Mother.

Mother: “Mom is taught by Mom’s Mother and became able to do it, so you will be able to do it too.”

Boycat: “Yay～”

Girlcat: “How is it done～?”

Mother: “First, you need to start feeling the mana inside your body. After that, imagine it in the same state as this and let it out of your body.”

While saying that, Mother shot out a Wind Cutter of the same size as yesterday towards a big rock. The Wind Cutter gouged out half of the rock and the wind dispersed.

Siblings: “We will try～”

“I..I’ll try it～”

My siblings began immediately. Boycat began to put a lot of effort into it while Girlcat quietly closed her eyes.

Boycat, that’s too much effort!

At this rate something different would come out instead. At this point, Girlcat was pretty quiet. With her eyes closed, she was concentrating. Was this right?

Ah! Mother’s eyes begin to look scary. Since it looked like I would get scolded at this rate, I also began to do it seriously.

Mother: “Hey! Concentrate more on doing it.”

Boycat: “Even if you say that, I don’t really know how.”

Mother: “Like I said, in your body…”

Mother tried to explain by gesturing, but it doesn’t seem to get across. Well, it might be difficult to be able to do it with just that explanation. I better get started too, before Mother becomes angry at me.

Feeling that mana in my body…is it this? It feels like there is liquid sloshing around inside. I see, this is Mana.

This was one of the things I had always wanted to ask, and I finally knew what it was now. As I had nothing to do since I was born, whenever I was free, I would be playing around with it. Just by moving it around, the thing I was doing to entertain myself seemed to have also helped nurture it.

Oh well, let’s try it out now.

Hmm, like this… imagine it going out like Mother’s Wind Cutter, aiming at that rock…… and fire!

Fooosh…boom!

Boycat: “Wow～～～～!”

Girlcat: “Brother, amazing!!”

“Ye, yeah…”

I managed to do it easily…. Moreover, it was faster and sharper than Mother’s Wind Cutter. The big stone was beautifully split in two. Mother looked over at me, seeming to want to say something. I must come up with an excuse quickly……

“That, that just now was…funyaa.”

Mother: “Ara ara.”

Siblings: “Are you okay?”

Wha..what’s this…. my strength is…… I’m losing consciousness…

“Mmmm….that was a good nap. Funyaa～”

After I opened my eyes, I sat up as I let out a big yawn. While looking around at my surroundings, I noticed that there was nobody inside the cave. Hmm? We always get up together in the morning.

Where is everyone?

Speaking of which, I didn’t remember falling asleep yesterday? If I remember correctly, yesterday, Mother was teaching magic…… Ah! When I used the same magic as Mom, I suddenly lost consciousness. Was that a mistake? Did they think it was strange? Nobody was around…… what if, they left behind the round and mysterious cat with two tails behind and went somewhere else?

I rushed out of the cave and began searching around outside. They were not there…. Where did everyone else go…?

“Nyaa～……”

Drooping in front of the cave entrance, I let out a sad noise. Ever since I was born, someone was always by my side, so my loneliness overwhelmed me. There was no point in being depressed here. I’m sure everyone was just out hunting.

Let’s think positively!

Come to think of it, it was the first time I had so much time alone. Let’s take advantage of it and practice magic now. Yesterday, I must have fainted while practicing magic. If so, I might have overused my mana and collapsed because of that. I used up mana on the Wind Cutter without thinking about it, so today let’s adjust the mana used little by little.

Firstly, I should check the amount of mana used. Hmm, the mana I had increased since yesterday. There seemed to be more of it in my body than normal. It could simply be just due to me growing up, so I would have to observe more to know. Then, first, using about 1% of mana, I would try to attack that rock. It WAs a square rock about a meter long, so if I can damage it, it should work on prey too. I imagined the speed and shape… and shot it!

Pyuu～

“That’s just a breeze!”

That won’t do.

I unintentionally retorted at my own mistake. It was said that you tend to speak to yourself more often as you grow older, so I need to control myself. As expected, the amount of mana used just now was too little.

Next, I will try using about 10%… and fire!

Foosh! Boom!

Ooh! It seemed to have penetrated about half the rock. The speed was fast and the power was decent. Let’s use this as the base and when I needed more power, I just had to add more mana. Currently, the limit was 10 shots, but eventually, the magical power would increase, and the number of uses would increase as well. For the time being, let’s practice shooting two or three more shots. With the same amount of magical power as before, aiming at a new rock… This time, I fired twice!

Foosh Foosh! Boom Boom!

Ooh! It broke in two! It seemed I could use magic better than my siblings. Was it because I am a Nekomata? As expected from a Youkai! It seemed that having an extra tail was not in vain or just for show… yeap… Let’s leave this talk aside. Just talking about it was making me a little sad.

Magic… it often appeared in the games that my grandson invited me to play with. There were many kinds of magic inside the game. Fire, Earth, Water and Lightning, there should be many types of magic that exist. I wonder if they exist here as well? Oh yeah! If you could use fire magic, you could roast meat! I had to try it out by all means. I tried limiting my mana usage to 1% the same as before. From there, I imagined a lighter’s flame igniting in front of me!

Crackle!

I managed to do it easily! It’s a BBQ festival!! Beef Steak, I want to eat a Beef Steak!

How unbecoming of my age. Since I could use fire, I should try using the others as well. Let’s try using water magic that seemed to be useful in everyday life, such as for drinking or bathing. Combining it with fire magic, you could make a nice bath. What a wonderful thought. Since water would not cause much damage to the forest, I will try to use it with 10% of my mana. Imagining a sphere…

Splash

It came out! However, it was smaller than what I imagined it to be. It seemed keeping it afloat was not easy. I could feel the mana decreasing. Even though I used the same amount of mana as the Wind Cutter, it was less than half the size of it. Since I didn’t really know why, I would try thinking about it later. For the time being, let’s dispose of this water without letting my family see it. I could throw it into the bushes over there.

Heave-ho……

Bashaa!

Siblings: “Nyaa!!”

My sibling’s voices… Oh no!

I ran in the direction of the voices, and there I found two pitiful cats soaked with water sorrowfully standing there.