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On this day, residents near Chiba's Soubu High School felt more or less something was amiss.
Crows, which usually only lingered at designated garbage disposal sites, suddenly began appearing in flocks, flying everywhere.
Stray dogs, always hiding in the shadows for fear of being caught and taken to the shelter, also roamed the streets as if searching for something.
Rats from the manholes brazenly appeared on the roads and sidewalks, scaring the JK young ladies into screaming in terror.
Even though the streets didn't seem to have any major problems, the abnormal behavior of these animals still made the residents worried.
"It's definitely an earthquake coming," a housewife with a knitting bag in the shopping district declared confidently. "When I used to live in Fukushima Prefecture, before the big earthquake, it was just like this: rats running around, cats and dogs barking, crows covering the sky… Oh my goodness…"
Those around her also agreed with her statement and began lamenting the unfairness of nature, and incidentally, condemning the City Hall for taking taxpayers' money and not doing anything useful.
Asakura glanced at the crowd, centered around the housewife, who were spreading panic, and silently walked through them, continuing to follow the map in his mind, searching for the task target.
No matter how dull he was, he had already realized from these abnormal phenomena that his current task was probably not as simple as he initially thought.
But at this point, giving up the task and letting his two hours of hard work go to waste also made him feel a bit unwilling.
Considering that task difficulty seemed to be linked to the generosity of rewards (unconfirmed), he decided to bite the bullet and continue.
Squeezing into a narrow alleyway, he maintained a steady pace.
At this moment, the marked target in his mind hadn't moved for a while, so it seemed to have finally stopped.
However, Asakura noticed that the closer he got to the target on the map, the more animals appeared near him.
Could it be that these crows, stray cats, and dogs were all guarding his task target?
Even if he had some trump cards, wouldn't it be too reckless to be an enemy of so many animals?
Although many complex thoughts flashed through his mind, Asakura ultimately did not stop his steps.
He had now arrived at a small park near the outskirts of Chiba City.
In the originally unremarkable park, every tree branch was now covered with crows, stray dogs roamed outside the park, every drain opening was crammed with dark masses of rat heads, and inside the park was a large group of stray cats on high alert.
"Are they two factions…?"
Asakura observed for a moment and understood the current situation.
The crows, dogs, and rats were one faction, while the stray cats were another.
At this moment, the two sides were in a standoff.
The stray dogs and rats dared not enter the park casually, while the cats, while guarding against them, also constantly climbed trees to drive away the covetous crows.
However, it currently seemed that the stray cats' situation was not optimistic; their morale was clearly lower.
If the number of stray dogs wasn't fewer than the stray cats, those stray dogs would probably have already broken into the park.
Asakura thought for a moment and didn't dare to use the main entrance of the park, instead climbing over the not-so-tall fence next to it.
As a result, he was immediately targeted by several cats.
They all arched their backs, their fur bristling, and let out menacing hisses.
Asakura subconsciously pinched the loose end of the bandage on his left hand but didn't rush to untie it.
He just said to the cats, "Shhh, don't be scared, I'm here to help you…"
Actually, he wasn't sure which side the Nameless Magic Book was on—of course, it was also possible it wasn't on either side—but that didn't stop Asakura from saying so first.
After all, being attacked by so many cats at once would indeed be troublesome.
He had thought his words wouldn't be that effective, as most cats' intelligence wasn't very high, and few could understand human speech.
However, to his surprise, after he said that, the cats seemed truly appeased, and their attitude towards him softened considerably.
Although they still watched him warily, they no longer showed such great hostility.
One tabby cat even turned its head and made a 'follow me' gesture towards him, then deftly slipped into the park's bushes.
Asakura hesitated for a moment about whether to follow, but then the faint sound of police sirens came from outside the park.
Indeed, so many animals gathered here would surely attract the attention of ordinary people, and it was predictable that people would choose to call the police.
Although he didn't know how the police would deal with these animals, Asakura didn't want to deal with them.
So, he gritted his teeth and followed the tabby cat.
Unlike the mini-parks typically built in residential areas, which only have sandpits and a few pieces of exercise equipment, this park, despite having 'small' in its name, was actually quite large due to its proximity to the suburbs where land prices were much cheaper.
After following the tabby cat through the bushes, turning left and right for a while, Asakura's view suddenly opened up.
What appeared before him was a patch of clover about five or six square meters, and in the middle of the vast amount of clover was a dilapidated shrine.
At this moment, a small black cat was lying in the shrine with its eyes closed.
It wasn't a completely black cat; its four paws had adorable white 'socks,' making it a typical 'black cloud treading snow' cat. Its body was quite petite, appearing not yet adult, but there was clear blood on one of its paws.
At this point, on the map in Asakura's mind, his own beacon finally overlapped with the marked target. It seemed the small black cat in front of him was the objective of this mission.
Asakura went up and examined it carefully, discovering a clear bite mark on its hind leg, likely from a stray dog.
The tabby cat looked at Asakura and softly meowed.
"Are you asking me to save it?" Asakura whispered.
It was unclear if the tabby cat understood; it just stared at Asakura with its round eyes.
Asakura scratched his head and, without further ado, picked the small black cat up from the shrine.
The small black cat must have fainted, as it didn't stir even when held.
Asakura, however, felt as if he was holding a furnace, with a scorching sensation passing through his clothes from the small black cat into his body. Fortunately, this feeling wasn't too uncomfortable and was within a tolerable range. In fact, after getting used to it, there was even a strange sense of pleasure...
[Mission complete. Obtained 'Miss Fix-It's Essence of Dittany Potion Notes', 3 portions of Essence of Dittany raw materials (already delivered to the Association Clubroom)]
The map in his mind instantly disappeared, and along with the mission completion prompt, Asakura heard the sound of a new mission activating.
[Mission: Successfully brew a potion once]
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