A Clichéd Heroic Rescue

That's it? What happens next?

Lorne looked utterly bewildered.

He asked the same question again, only to find that the box no longer responded. He wanted to try once more.

But then he remembered that the Appraisal Glasses had said the Wish-Granting Box could only be used twice a day, so he swallowed the question on the tip of his tongue.

After several days of testing, he made a discovery.

Lorne found a flaw in the Wish-Granting Box: it seemed unwilling to answer the same question twice.

Even if the steps it provided were incomplete, getting the full solution apparently required rephrasing the same question, or incorporating the previous step into a new question, for a chance of receiving the next step.

Over the next two days, he asked several more questions about the notebook's whereabouts.

But the instructions either told him to go to Iron Cross Street, just as before, or failed to appear at all.

Lorne also discovered that although the Wish-Granting Box could be used every day, it consumed a considerable amount of spirituality. After using it once, he needed the better part of a day to recover.

No wonder I felt so groggy before. Could that be why I lost the notebook? Lorne wondered uncertainly.

Looks like I'll just have to go to Iron Cross Street when the time comes and see what's there. With no other options, Lorne could only follow the box's instructions and plan to visit Iron Cross Street at the appointed time.

He went downstairs, intending to get dinner at a nearby restaurant and bring back some food for Lucky, that lazy cat.

As soon as he reached the hotel entrance, the receptionist called out to him.

"Mr. Dysenk, your room booking expires tomorrow. Would you like to extend your stay?"

"Uh, another week's gone by already?" Lorne scratched his head. He had already extended his stay several times, a week at a time.

Time really flies!

Wait, doesn't that mean I paid this month's rent for the place on Rose Street for nothing? The thought left him a little distraught.

That's all money!

Mrs. Griffin won't refund the rent, will she? Remembering his uncompromising landlady, Lorne abandoned any thoughts of getting a little something back.

After all, that landlady took contracts extremely seriously. Once one was signed, she would enforce it to the very end. He certainly did not dare get on her bad side over something like this.

Especially when she might be a powerful Beyonder.

"Um... would you like to extend your stay?" Seeing Lorne standing there without moving, the receptionist asked again.

"Ah... of course. Another wee... no, make that two weeks."

To be fair, the rooms at the Azure Hotel were quite comfortable. They were a little small, but clean and tidy, so Lorne had grown accustomed to staying there.

At least it was more comfortable than his old university dormitory.

There were reasons he had stayed this long without leaving.

For one, the trouble involving the Silver-Haired Woman in Backlund might not have fully blown over yet.

For another, Lorne still had to find his notebook connected to Antigonus. He had a feeling it would be difficult to recover anytime soon.

Although continuing to stay here meant wasting money on rent, that expense was a drop in the bucket compared with the notebook's potential rewards.

"Lucky, I'm back!" Returning from the restaurant, Lorne walked into his room carrying a pile of food.

"Meow." After calling out once, Lucky fixed her eyes on the food in Lorne's hands.

"You greedy little cat."

Watching the orange cat lower her head and dig into her food, Lorne's gaze gradually softened.

"Maybe this isn't so bad."

At that moment, he seemed to forget that he was still fleeing for his life. He forgot the worries of losing his notebook, forgot his transmigration, and forgot that he was no longer in his original world.

"Ah, fate really is a strange thing!" Thinking over everything that had happened lately, he could not help sighing.

A few days later...

Iron Cross Street was a neighborhood in one of the less desirable parts of Tingen City.

There was even a faint smell of rust in the air.

One day remained until the ten-day deadline given by the box.

Lorne planned to visit the neighborhood in advance, hoping to discover something unusual or find a few clues about the notebook.

This time, he had deliberately brought Lucky along. Animals naturally had keener senses than humans, and she might notice things a person would overlook.

Besides, he was searching for an item related to the supernatural. If anything unexpected happened, Lucky, his "Assassin" cat, might prove useful in surprising ways.

"Wild Heart." Lorne studied the sign in front of him, then pushed open the door and entered the bar.

Bars were often the best places to gather information. Sometimes, there was no need to ask around; listening to other people boast could give you exactly the information you wanted.

"A Southville beer, please," Lorne said to the bartender behind the counter.

"Three pence." The bartender handed him a glass.

Is it really that much cheaper than in Backlund?

That doesn't seem right.

"Come to think of it, food prices seem to have dropped quite a bit lately, too..."

Early the next morning.

Having found nothing all the previous day, Lorne returned to Iron Cross Street.

Today marked the end of the ten days specified on the slip of paper, and that made him particularly excited.

"Huh?"

His shoulder bag's strap suddenly pulled taut, and a wriggling bulge rose beneath the coarse fabric. An orange paw slipped through the gap beside the clasp and flicked the brass fastening open in three strokes.

Lucky suddenly sprang out of his bag, as though she had spotted some prey.

"Hey, Lucky, wait for me!" Lorne tried to call his pet back, but to no avail.

The "Assassin" cat was even more agile than he had imagined. Before long, she rounded a street corner and vanished from sight.

A brown-eyed girl wearing an old gauze hat and carrying a bag of school supplies hurried down the street. She had carelessly gotten the time wrong that morning, and now she might be late for the first time in her life.

I hope the public carriage is still there...

"Huh?" The girl rushing to school suddenly stopped.

She felt something brush against her leg. Looking down, she discovered an orange cat staring up at her with wide eyes.

So cute. That was her first thought.

Though she had been interested in machinery since childhood, even she could not resist the appeal of cute things.

Her fingers loosened around her faded bag. As she crouched, her knees pinned down her patched skirt, and the cheap fabric rustled against the damp road.

She reached out and gently stroked the orange cat's head. The cat did not dodge, simply sitting there and letting the girl pet her.

"This cat is so soft and warm. She feels even warmer than bread fresh from the bakery's oven."

The girl and the cat remained there in the middle of the road.

"Look out!" Lorne's warning was drowned out by the clatter of horseshoes. A carriage hurtled toward the girl and the cat.

Thanks to his extraordinary "Monster" physique, Lorne reached the girl before the carriage did. Grabbing her shoulder, he yanked her backward, narrowly pulling her out of its path. The girl fell into his arms.

"Um, sir, could you let go of me?" the girl in his arms asked.

Realizing that his current position was somewhat improper, Lorne hastily released her and let her feet return to the ground.

Lorne picked up the gauze hat from the ground, gently wiped it clean, and handed it to the girl.

Perhaps because his earlier actions had been a little improper, he took the initiative to introduce himself like a gentleman.

"Hello, miss. My name is Lorne Dysenk."

"Thank you for saving me, Mr. Dysenk." The girl accepted her hat and quietly thanked him.

"No, there's no need to thank me." Lorne shook his head gently.

"I should be the one apologizing. That cat is actually my pet." Lorne pointed at the orange cat a short distance away.

As an "Assassin," she had easily avoided the carriage and was sitting gracefully on the ground.

Seeing Lorne, she meowed, sprang up, and leaped straight into his arms.

"You little rascal. All you do is get me into trouble." Lorne rubbed Lucky's head, sounding a little displeased.

"So she's your cat. She really is adorable..."

"Oh no, I'm going to be late for school!" As she chatted with Lorne, the girl suddenly remembered.

"The public carriage must have left by now." Anxiety crossed her face.

"Just take a hired carriage," Lorne suggested.

"But... but..." She clasped her hands tightly and said nothing more.

No money? After looking over the girl's clothing, Lorne reached a conclusion.

"It's all right. I'll pay."

Before the girl could refuse, he added another sentence.

"Consider it my apology."

"All right, then. Thank you." Her cheeks flushed slightly as she accepted Lorne's kindness.

Lorne promptly hailed a hired carriage by the roadside. He helped the girl aboard and paid her fare.

Just as they were about to part, Lorne found himself asking her a question:

"Miss, may I ask your name?"

Seeing the concern on Lorne's face, the girl gave a faint smile and replied:

"My name is Melissa Moretti."

"Meow~" Lucky suddenly called out from Lorne's arms. She watched the two wave goodbye, then closed her eyes again.