The reception room was as dim as ever, and more than a dozen Extraordinary individuals were seated as before, some concealing their faces, others utterly unconcerned. Yet everyone keenly noticed that today's host seemed a little different.
Although this host had only presided over two or three gatherings, and usually kept his face hidden beneath a hood, they still sensed that something was off.
After racking their brains, several particularly observant Extraordinary individuals finally found the reason: today, the cat on his shoulder had a different expression from before!
Though the notion of "a cat's expression" was rather strange, they could clearly feel the change.
During the previous gatherings, the cat had always looked at them like they were "a bunch of poor bastards—" but this time, they even felt as if the cat were looking at each of them as a "mountain of gold."
What has gotten into this cat?
The Extraordinary individuals who noticed the cat's unusual state secretly speculated, but none of them considered it unimportant. At the end of the last gathering, one unlucky fellow who had tried to provoke the new host had had his throat slit by that cat in a single move.
Could it be that Mr. V has been short on money lately?
Some people thought this to themselves, growing tense at the same time. The cash they had on hand might not be enough to provoke this gentleman into killing them, but if the value of their Extraordinary Characteristics was included, weren't they each a mountain of gold?
"Stop it!" Sno rubbed Lily's head. After taking a stroll through the factory district and docklands today, the little creature had immediately revised her understanding of money.
With the "stupid witch" as her example, Lily had always thought that these people—whose transactions were