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A stray cat forced to steal in order to survive?
Weston let out a soft sigh in his heart.
Back around the time before and after the war in the Kingdom of Fiore, he had seen quite a lot of people like this in major towns and villages!
After the war, with the support of the guilds, the economy recovered, and situations like this gradually became rarer. Who would have thought that after coming to Edolas this time, he would run into such a distressing matter again...
"Then how do you plan to deal with it?"
Weston would not indulge in empty sympathy for others, saying things like "he looks so pitiful, just let him go," because that would be unfair to the merchants here whose interests had been harmed.
"How to deal with it, huh..."
"At the very least, break one of his hands as punishment!"
Steal something, and a hand gets broken?!
Weston's brows immediately knitted together, and he found it hard to accept.
For a cat that looked like it hadn't even come of age yet, such a punishment was far too severe!
In the Kingdom of Fiore, the law's punishments for criminals were relatively light.
Those people Weston had encountered back then who stole things, because they were forced by circumstances and also affected by the war, all received very light punishments—most were just imprisoned or fined, and the most severe were only sent to labor reform.
Thus, seeing everyone now shouting about beating and killing an undergrown little cat, he could not help but feel compassion.
At this moment, Edolas-Yuri and the others also walked over and heard the merchant's words, falling silent for a time.
Weston immediately pulled him aside and asked in a low voice, "How does Edolas law handle situations like this?"
Edolas-Yuri answered honestly, "This cat is of the Exceed race. At present, the Kingdom of Edolas does not have clear laws related to them, so they cannot be convicted. But likewise, they also do not receive the protection of the law."
"So that's how it is..."
Weston muttered, lowering his hand.
Letter Magic · Smoke!!
A magic array quietly surfaced from his palm, gathering into the character "smoke."
In the next moment, large amounts of white smoke surged up on the street, blurring everyone's vision.
"What's going on?!"
"Where did all this smoke come from?!"
"This is bad, I can't see anything!"
"Don't panic, block the road, don't let that kid get away!"
Puchi—!
A faint sound of something cutting through the air was drowned out by the crowd's cries.
A few breaths later, the smoke dispersed.
The white little cat was already nowhere to be seen on the street, and Weston's group had also vanished without a trace.
On the other side.
"Thank you so much, benefactors, for saving me today. I, Morgan, will definitely repay this kindness in the future!!"
The white little cat knelt on the ground, earnestly offering his thanks to Weston and the others.
"Your name is Morgan?"
"Yes!!"
"Why did you steal things?"
"Because I was hungry."
"I... seriously… you're really straightforward."
Seeing his dignified and forthright demeanor, Weston was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Ahem… if you were hungry, you could look for work!"
"With work you can earn money, and with money you can buy food."
Morgan shook his head. "I can't work."
"Huh?!"
"You're not missing any arms or legs, why can't you work?"
Morgan continued, "Because I still have to take care of my younger sister who is gravely ill."
Weston raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're not lying, are you?"
"Of course not!"
"Benefactors, just follow me and you'll know!"
As he spoke, Morgan turned and walked away.
Weston exchanged glances with the others, and they all followed.
"Um… there's something I've been really curious about since earlier. Why can cats in this world talk?"
Mavis curiously sized up the little cat's back ahead, her eyes blinking and shining.
"Not all cats can talk!"
"They are called the Exceed race, a very rare race in Edolas."
Edolas-Yuri's voice came from the side as he introduced this special race to everyone.
"The Exceed race?"
"I've never heard that name before."
"Earthland doesn't seem to have creatures like this?"
Mavis showed a thoughtful expression. She had never seen this name in books before, and thus was filled with curiosity about this unfamiliar race.
Edolas-Yuri continued, "The characteristics of the Exceed race are their cute appearance, the ability to speak, possessing magic power within their bodies, and the ability to fly."
"They can actually fly too?"
You must know, "flight" has always been an ability greatly yearned for by humans who live on land.
Even in Earthland, a world of magic, those who possessed the ability to fly were extremely few. Therefore, a race like the Exceeds, who could naturally fly and also had human-level intelligence, would definitely attract all humans to flock toward them.
"That's right!"
"But because they differ greatly from the humans of this world, they do not enjoy normal civil rights, and can only live scattered in the wild."
"I've heard rumors a few times before about them appearing in human towns, but none of them were good things..."
Living scattered in the wild?
It seems that in this era, the Exceed race had not only yet to package themselves as gods, they hadn't even established a proper tribe!
After Edolas-Yuri's introduction, everyone became even more interested in this special race.
Especially Precht, who had the strongest research-oriented mindset, felt intense curiosity about the origins of the Exceeds. "They possess magic power within their bodies? And are different from Edolas humans and various creatures? Could it be that they are an alien species?"
"Well… that's certainly possible!"
Edolas-Yuri's eyes lit up brightly. "I hadn't thought about it from that angle before, but this 'transfer' incident made me realize that there are other worlds like Earthland. Then maybe the Exceed race really are immigrants from another world!"
Before long, the group arrived at a forest outside Torea town.
On a thick, sturdy tree, a crude little wooden house had been built.
The wooden house was not large, but for the size of the Exceed race, it was already more than sufficient.
Weston and the others couldn't enter the wooden house, so they had Warrod move several nearby trees over, then extend, thicken, and interweave their branches to build a spacious platform.
The group then sat down around the wooden house on the platform.
Morgan carried the items he had stolen earlier from the street into the house. A few minutes later, he pushed out a little cat sitting in a wheelchair.
"This is my younger sister. Her name is Sura!"
"I don't know exactly what illness she has, but she often suffers pain all over her body, and even getting out of bed to walk is very difficult."
Sura was also a white cat. From her appearance, she looked a bit younger than Morgan, and her face was pale, her steps unsteady, her limbs weak—indeed the look of someone long plagued by illness.
Everyone exchanged glances, believing Morgan's earlier words a bit more.
Weston didn't say much, directly activating the Super Archive to scan Sura's physical condition.
Half a minute later, the results came out.
"This… this is… magic power deficiency syndrome?!!"
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