Black Panther

After the banquet, Altair stayed behind to discuss the implementation of the "plan" with Uncle Leif for a long time. She left his house at ten that night.

The basic plan had been settled. The day after tomorrow, Altair would invite them to take part at a banquet.

The next morning.

In a training room at the Sheffield Family's estate, Altair had just finished a session of "Combat Jujutsu" and was tidying her clothes when her "Combat Studies Teacher," Anastasia, spoke from behind her.

"Looks like you're about to surpass me at jujutsu."

Watching her teacher, Altair smiled faintly. "I don't feel that I've reached the level you mentioned."

"The main reason you might think so is that when we first met, I knew nothing. I've only just started getting the hang of a few techniques."

"If you went all out, I don't think I could last very long against you."

Altair's words did nothing to change Anastasia's expression. As silent as ever, she said, "Of the nobles I've taught, you've lasted the longest. You've also put in the most effort."

Altair felt no pride at hearing that. "I'm not learning this to prove anything. I have my own reasons. Other people's business has nothing to do with me. I only need to know what I need."

Perhaps it was because of that answer that Anastasia, who was indifferent to everything, looked at her a couple of times. Then she folded her arms and said, "Actually, there's no point in you learning this."

"This isn't the world it used to be. No matter how well you learn combat skills, they'll only ever be an auxiliary measure. Just like all those cold weapons, they'll end up in museums, relics of the past. This is the age of firearms."

"And you're a noble, even a 'female' noble. You need them even less."

As she listened to Anastasia, Altair glanced at the training room's weapon-lined walls, where there was every kind of weapon imaginable: longswords, greatswords, lances, spears, and more.

Altair neither agreed nor disagreed with Anastasia. That firearms were stronger than cold weapons was an accepted fact among ordinary people in this world, but this world was anything but ordinary.

Altair slowly walked over to the wall and ran her hand over the cold weapons. "Teacher Anastasia, I remember you're a Beyonder too. Do you really agree with what you just said?"

"You must have seen High Sequences, or even Demigods, in action. Do you think technology today could deal with beings like that?"

"There's no denying that firearms can crush Low Sequences. But as for Mid Sequences, as long as they don't want to fight, there's no way to keep them from escaping. Of course, there's one exception: if that Mid Sequence is crazy enough to take on an entire army. As for High Sequences, the military would have to deploy war machines on a massive scale. Demigods and Angels, strictly speaking, are no longer even human..."

"And this only applies to Beyonders without special abilities. If you run into a Beyonder with an ability that's hard to predict, firearms lose most of their advantage—or even all of it."

Altair's speech did nothing to make Anastasia go easy on her during training. She trained her just as hard as before.

By the end of her morning training, Altair was drenched as if she'd just been caught in a downpour. After showering and changing, she invited Anastasia to stay for lunch and only then saw her off.

Watching the carriage disappear into the distance, Altair, who'd been thoroughly beaten, finally breathed a sigh of relief. She felt she'd talked too big that morning and brought this suffering on herself just to show off.

Now her whole body ached. Her hands had been trembling even while she ate. All Altair wanted was to return to her room and soak in a medicinal bath to ease the pain.

After seeing Anastasia off at noon, Altair returned to her room for a nap. She woke up at two in the afternoon.

Perhaps because her recovery had improved, less than two hours of rest had been enough for her body to return to normal. At least her hands had stopped trembling.

Downstairs, she saw the little maid Vera teasing the "gift from her great-uncle" that Altair had brought home the day before.

The gift really was unusual: a leopard cub with an unusual coat, a "Black Panther." Just as its name suggested, it was completely black, like a big black cat.

Altair wasn't sure what family it belonged to. Under the sunlight, no spots or patterns showed, making it hard to tell. It might even be a new species. After all, who knew how much time had passed since the era she knew?

Perhaps because the little Black Panther had only just been born, or perhaps because of the Beast Tamer's innate ability, as soon as Altair let her out of the cage, the cub clung to her, demanding that she play with her. The night before, it had taken a lot of effort to tire her out enough for Altair to get some rest.

As for whether she'd received professional training, how could a leopard the size of an ordinary house cat, still a cub, have been professionally trained?

Perhaps because the little maid had spent so much time with Altair, the little Black Panther now only let the two of them touch her. She wouldn't let anyone else near her, and sometimes even attacked them.

Altair liked the Black Panther a lot. Since she was still a cub, she looked like a little black bear that had stolen a kasaya, and was incredibly cute.

Since leopards were felines, she had most of the habits of a cat. Whenever Altair massaged her, she let out a low "hrr, hrr, hrr." Whenever she had nothing to do, she'd come looking for Altair to give her a massage.

A name? Altair hadn't thought of one yet. For now, she just called her "Black Panther."

When Altair reached the bottom of the stairs, she clapped her hands. Hearing the sound, the Black Panther ran over, hooked her claws into Altair's clothes, and climbed up.

Holding the Black Panther, Altair said as she walked, "Looks like I'll have to trim your claws regularly. Look what you've done to my clothes."

The Black Panther tilted her head slightly in Altair's arms, playing dumb as she let out a "hrr, hrr, hrr," hoping to get away with it.

Looking at her, Altair knew she understood what she meant. It seemed she'd inherited the Beast Tamer Potion's abilities perfectly.

In a few months, when she was a little bigger, Altair could give her a Potion. But just thinking about it left her a little puzzled: which Potion should she give her?

Most of the Omniscient Almighty Five Families were out of the question. Spectator Leopard, Sailor Leopard, and Knowledge Leopard simply weren't suitable.

The Coward Three Families, the Seer, the Door, and the Marauder weren't suitable either.

Mother Nest, Devil, Order, and Fate weren't much better.

That left some Pathways of Space-Time-in-One and Natural Disaster as possibilities.