"Speaking of which, there's one more matter. Shade, last time you said your cat could turn into a toy and follow you through the Door of Time."
After that brief reflection, the witch continued the topic.
"Yes."
Shade nodded.
"That's probably because it's rather simple-minded."
"Meow~"
The cat squirmed on his lap, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"So I have a new idea."
Miss Galina reached out to Tifa. Tifa took a dark brown glass wine bottle, one Shade found very familiar, from the pocket of her long dress. Inside was a pure white cat even smaller than Mia.
The Outlander narrowed his eyes.
"That looks familiar."
"I was quite lucky. Some time ago, I bought a half-finished bottle of the potion Cat in a Bottle from the Local Black Market. This potion had expired thirty years ago, and the seller said it had once been contaminated but was later purified. But that doesn't matter. The Council has potion masters. I gave the black-market seller one-sixth of the finished potion and acquired it for practically nothing."
The witch's fair hand gently shook the wine bottle. The white cat "slumbering" inside immediately melted into liquid. Shade was now almost certain that this was the bottle of potion Priest Augustus had once shown him. (Note)
Who would have thought that, after all these twists and turns, it would appear before him again?
"Miss Galina, you mean to..."
Shade already more or less understood.
"This precious potion is now basically usable. But because it had been expired for far too long, its effects have been greatly diminished and can only last less than three minutes. I want to conduct an experiment."
She pulled out the stopper and looked at Shade. He praised her.
"You really do have ideas."
"Yes, I want