Elemental Cats

The purple cat stayed on the rooftop all night. Only moving when Toz's group headed for the guild early in the morning.

While the purple cat followed Toz and the three cats from a distance, it watched how they joked and played with each other on the practically empty streets. The sight invoked feelings the purple cat didn't know the name of and didn't want to acknowledge.

After Toz entered the guild building, the purple cat turned its eyes away and looked off into the distance.

Toz had been told by Rick the day before to come to the guild for his rewards. The monetary compensation for investigating the forest alone would have been enough for him to buy a grimoire.

But now that Toz and the cats had practically saved the entire plane from thunderous doom, the reward they would get was probably more than investigating a fifth level danger zone acting like a sixth level one.

Rick, like always, stood at one of the front desks and beamed a smile at Toz when he came in. After exchanging greetings, Rick led Toz to an office upstairs so they could get a little more privacy.

Snacks waited for them in the room, on a table between two comfy-looking armchairs. Rick had anticipated Toz's arrival and prepared for it.

After both were sitting down, Rick didn't tarry and handed over two spatial rings to Toz.

"Twenty-five thousand gold. Although Mond and I wanted to give you more, those greedy old codgers in the council refused."

That was what Rick said, but he didn't mention how the others, except him and Mond, barely wanted to give Toz a single copper. Most of them didn't believe anything of what Toz had done. Others simply didn't want to hand over such a sum of money when they themselves weren't even getting that much from their share of the Demonic Spark Bear's corpse.

After Rick gave Toz the spatial rings full of gold, he looked a little hesitant, but with Toz's inviting gaze, he revealed a tiny badge. It was an intricately decorated fifth level Explorer's Badge. It was similar to Toz's one but smaller, as if it wasn't made for a human.

"I made this as well. It isn't official, but Lucy deserves a reward as well. It magically attaches to any surface as long as it's provided minuscule amounts of mana. It can even change color to either match the surface it's attached to or back to its original color."

Rick shyly demonstrated the badge's extra functions on his green vest, showing how it blended perfectly with the vest. Rick had carefully considered Lucy hiding without having to remove the badge, despite barely knowing Lucy's name for less than a day.

After hearing that he was receiving a gift, Lucy stopped napping in the familiar space and appeared on Toz's lap before gently jumping over to Rick's side of the table, where he sat down with his chest puffed out.

Rick was happy that his gift was appreciated as he gently placed the badge on Lucy's chest.

Since Lucy wasn't planning on hiding anytime soon, he had the badge retain its silvery texture with the compass design matching the compass part of the Explorer's Guild's symbol.

After seeing the proud look on Lucy's face, both Rick and Toz smiled.

While Lucy was admiring himself in the reflective surface of a decorative vase in the room, Rick looked at Toz again.

"I know you're going to buy a grimoire with the reward money. Unfortunately, I am a mace-wielding fighter, so I don't have any grimoires or sword manuals that can help you, but if you ever need help in the future, or if you need something, go to the Besre Family in the capital and show them this letter."

Rick handed over a white envelope stamped with a sigil that looked either like a sun or the head of a mace.

Toz felt slightly shocked that Rick came from a family that managed to hold an estate in the capital.

He didn't know much except that the capital of the Firebelt Kingdom, Capital of Ruling Fire, was enormous, located on a ninth level plane, and that it was where the kingdom's rulers, the king and queen lived. But having an estate or a family actually within the capital was extremely prestigious and proof of that family's power.

It was the capital of a kingdom that ruled over tens of thousands habitable planes and all the humans that lived on them. Living there wasn't something ordinary people could afford.

The way Toz looked at Rick changed subtly. Rick noticed since he had been worried about it. Power changes relationships, and he was worried that Toz would either distance himself or try and ingratiate himself with Rick because of that letter and what it meant.

But Rick still wanted to help Toz in return for not being able to give him more money or a grimoire, even if it meant potentially changing the friendly relationship they had established.

Thankfully, his worries didn't come true as the only thing that changed was that Toz looked at Rick with more respect than before. Toz had known that Rick was good-natured. But knowing that Rick was so humble despite coming from a family in the capital was almost a different thing entirely.

But Toz didn't think much further as he carefully stored the letter within a spatial ring within one of the pockets in his coat that was designed to be extra secure. Even if the coat would tear, that pocket wouldn't since it was meant to protect the more valuable items the owner of the coat owned.

Even after the official business was over, the two stayed in their chairs, enjoying the snacks on the table and chatting in a relaxed manner. Toz asked Rick what the letter said, upon which the latter said "not much" and refused to elaborate. Since he would find out if he ever visited the Besre family, Toz didn't press much.

When the snacks ran out, and Toz could be sure that Linda's Bookstore was open, he said goodbye to Rick and promised to stop by before he left the city.

On their way out of the guild and on the way to the bookstore, Lucy made sure to properly show off his badge.

While not many people they passed by cared about the tiny black cat with a decoration on its chest, a certain purple cat was slightly interested in it.