Several days had passed since I summoned Noir, and I was spending a blissful time at home, leisurely petting Noir while reading a book.

“Nya~”

From what I’ve learned over these few days, aside from being very smart and being able to use magic, Noir isn’t much different from a normal, friendly cat. When summoned, he freely basks in the sunlight and purrs contentedly. Also, he seems to like being stroked under the chin, and when I do that, he happily purrs.

As I continued to play with Noir, it gradually became fun, and in the end, I even forgot about my reading and enjoyed playing with a plant that resembled a cat toy, which I had found on the roadside the other day.

“That’s right, Noir. Want to take a little walk outside?”

“Nya, nya~!” Noir meowed joyfully and jumped onto my chest.

Carrying Noir, I went to the living room, told Father, “I’m going for a little walk,” and left the house.

Well, I said a walk, but where should we go… I know! I want to know how strong Noir is, why not go outside the capital and fight some monsters?

We quickly moved to a grassy field where monsters are likely to appear.

After walking for a while, we spotted a monster.

“Gyah, gyah!”

“Oh, a stray goblin… Noir, think you can win?”

“Nya!” Noir let out a strong ‘Leave it to me!’ like meow, and confronted the goblin on his own.

“Geh, geh, geh!”

Oh, the goblin is laughing triumphantly. It seems to be mistaking Noir for a normal cat.

The goblin raised its club high and tried to crush Noir. Just before the club collided, Noir let out a ‘nya’. The next moment, something like a black blade appeared in front of Noir, slicing the goblin neatly in half…

‘Seriously?’

Being slightly stunned by the sudden event, Noir rubbed against my leg as if seeking praise.

“Su-superb, Noir. Well done.” For the time being, I pat his head, and collected the goblin’s corpse. “But, if he can use such powerful magic, I wonder what level of monster he can defeat…”

“Nya~?”

“Alright, Noir. Let’s go explore the forest next!”

“Nya~!” Noir meowed cheerfully, so we set off for the forest with high spirits.

After that, Noir battled various monsters. From low-level monsters like wolves, killer bees, and boars, to large species such as orcs, bears, and ogres. Every monster is basically defeated in one hit, so despite his cute appearance, you can tell he’s quite powerful.

“Is Noir actually super strong?”

“Nya, nya~”

We continued to defeat the monsters in the forest without any problems, and eventually, I concluded that Noir has enough combat ability to easily win against the monsters in this area. ‘This is an unexpected gain. If I have Noir with me in the future, it will be much easier when we get monster subjugation requests.’

“Well then, I was so engrossed in hunting that I forgot to eat lunch… There’s a lake ahead, let’s eat lunch there.”

“Nya~”

And so, we moved through the forest to the lake.

Monsters rarely appear at the lake, so it’s a resting place for adventurers. We can eat our lunch there in peace and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

When we arrived at the lake, I took out a packed lunch box that I had prepared in advance from my “Useful Box”. I opened the lid, divided the sandwich in half, and gave one half to Noir.

“Let’s eat.”

With that, I clasped my hands together and took a bite of the sandwich. Noir, perhaps hungry from the exercise, was eating with gusto.

When Noir finished eating before me, he rolled over to show his belly. Does he want me to pet him?

While petting his belly, I leisurely ate my lunch.

“Phew, that was good. Noir, what should we do next? Shall we head back?”

“Nya, nya~”

When I asked, Noir meowed while looking deeper into the forest.

“Do you still want to explore? Okay, let’s go.”

I put the lunch box back into the “Useful Box”, and started walking.

Heading deeper into the forest, stronger monsters started to appear progressively. Orcs and Ogres, troublesome even for lower-ranked adventurers, were spotted in groups.

However, Noir fearlessly dispatched these monsters with his shadow magic.

“Noir, how strong are you…”

“Nya~?”

“Don’t make that ‘what?’ face. I guess…we shouldn’t let Noir fight in front of Leticia-san and others. It might deflate their confidence…”

Well, maybe it’s time to head back…huh? Noir seems to want to tell me something.

“What’s up?”

“Nya nya!”

“Eh, you want me to link our magic powers? Sure, why not…”

Understanding Noir’s intention, I link my magic with Noir’s as he wished. Then, for some reason, I saw my own figure in my field of vision.

Is this…am I sharing Noir’s viewpoint?

“Wow, this is amazing… Noir can move within shadows, this can be used for reconnaissance when needed… Noir, you truly are talented.”

“Nya~”

Praising Noir and ending the shared vision, Noir began to rub against me.

As we returned home safely through the forest, Father who was exercising in the yard, called out, “Welcome back. You’ve been out for quite a long time.”

“Yes. I wanted to see Noir’s combat abilities, so we went into the forest.”

“I see. So, how was it?”

“He was incredibly strong. If he were an adventurer, I think he would be at least C-rank. He was taking down Orcs and Ogres with a single hit.”

When I said that, Father looked at Noir, his eyes wide, “Such a little guy took down Orcs…”

Noir, seemingly happy, let out a “Nya~” and entered the house. Following him with Father, we found Noir peacefully sleeping on a cat cushion we bought the other day.

“He looks just like an ordinary cat like this…”

“That’s true. But, he’s really reliable.”

In order not to wake Noir, I began preparing dinner quietly.