As soon as I woke up that morning, I realized the atmosphere in the house was strangely calm. Too calm, considering I shared the place with Vespera, Elara, and Liriel. Normally, before I even opened my eyes, I would already hear some accident, some complaint, or a spell that had gone wrong. But that day, there was only silence.
I got up, took a deep breath, and felt something that hadn't happened in weeks: my body felt light. Maybe it was the climate of Vailor… or simply the fact that, for the first time in a long while, we didn't have an urgent mission or some monster trying to kill us.
When I went downstairs, I found the three of them gathered in the living room.
Vespera was trying to organize the arrows in her quiver, but of course, she was putting everything in crooked.
Elara was drinking tea with faint dark circles under her eyes, probably still recovering from the mana that kept dropping all the time.
Liriel… well, Liriel was staring at a tiny light floating above her fingers as if it were some absurd breakthrough. For her, it probably was.
I said: "Good morning. No one blew anything up today? Impressive."
Vespera looked at me first. "I almost blew up the kitchen. But almost doesn't count."
"Her mana ran out in the middle of a simple spell," Elara commented, pointing at Liriel with a certain exasperation. "And we still had to fetch water from the street because she evaporated half of ours."
Liriel lifted her chin, offended. "It was part of the process."
I smiled, because to me, that was rest.
When we were about to decide what to do that day, someone knocked twice on the door. Weak and hesitant. I opened it and found a child, maybe eight years old. Simple clothes, messy hair, and eyes full of worry.
"Are you Mr. Takumi?" he asked.
I knelt down to be at his height. "Yes, I am. What happened?"
"Please…" He took a deep breath, as if holding back tears. "My cat is missing."
Vespera looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Seriously? That's it? Today we're babysitters?"
"Hey," I said. "What's the cat's name?"
The boy answered without hesitation. "It's Nino."
Liriel put a hand to her chest, moved. "What a cute name! Of course we'll help!"
Elara sighed. "As long as it doesn't involve giant monsters, I think we won't die today."
The boy continued, his voice trembling. "He went out last night… I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find him. He always comes back, but… this time he didn't."
I stood up and gave him a light pat on the head. "Leave it to us. We'll find Nino."
He smiled, with such sincere relief that even my shoulders relaxed. Missions like that had something special. They were simple, but they affected me.
We went through the streets of Vailor asking the residents. The city was busy, since the festival still left traces of people everywhere. Children running, vendors shouting promotions, guards trying to keep order — a familiar scene and, in a way, comforting.
I asked an old woman who was sweeping in front of her house. "Have you seen a gray cat passing by here?"
She replied: "Gray? Yes, I did, last night! He ran into that alley."
We noted it mentally.
Along the way, Vespera commented: "If I find him first, I want a reward."
"Vespera, you can't even find the target when it's standing still," Elara shot back.
"I hit sometimes!"
"Once in a hundred."
Liriel, trying to help, raised the faint light at her fingertips. "I can use light magic to attract him."
I said: "As long as you don't attract other animals, that helps."
She frowned. "I control it. Sometimes."
We entered the alley the woman had pointed out. Vailor had many alleys like that — narrow, full of boxes, cats, passages, questionable smells, and shadows that moved a little too much.
I said: "Let's search calmly. Cats like hidden places."
Elara raised her staff. "I can use a small detection pulse. It doesn't consume much mana."
"You always say that," I replied.
She cast it. A faint glow spread across the ground… and something meowed in the distance.
We all turned at the same time.
"There!"
We ran. The alley opened into an abandoned yard, full of old planks and barrels. Between two barrels, yellow eyes glowed.
"Nino," I murmured, approaching slowly. "Come here…"
Vespera took an impatient step, making noise. The cat dashed into a hole in the wall.
"Vespera!" I complained.
"I didn't even do anything!"
"You stepped on a can."
"Why was there a can right there? That's not my fault!"
Elara put a hand to her forehead. "My gods…"
We followed the cat through the narrow opening in the wall, entering an old warehouse.
The place was large, silent, and full of stacks of wood. A cold breeze passed through holes in the roof.
There, on top of a pile of boxes, we saw Nino… along with three other cats.
Liriel smiled. "Aww, he made friends!"
I raised my hands so the girls wouldn't scare the group of cats. "Let's go slowly. If we scare him, he'll run away again."
Elara nodded. "Leave it to me."
She approached calmly, lowering her staff. Her almost nonexistent mana even seemed to be an advantage there — nothing bright, nothing frightening.
"Nino…" I murmured. "Your owner is worried. Let's go home?"
He looked at me. Meowed softly.
Slowly, very slowly, he came toward me.
I extended my hand. And he let me pick him up.
It was simple. Calm. Light.
But when I turned to the girls, I noticed something unexpected.
They were smiling.
Vespera, even trying to hide it, seemed happy for the boy.
Elara relaxed her shoulders, as if that was exactly what she needed that day.
Liriel clapped softly, as if she had witnessed a miracle.
And at that moment, I truly felt that small moments like that… were important.
We went back to the boy's house. When he saw Nino in my arms, his eyes filled with tears.
"You found him! You found him!"
He ran over and hugged the cat tightly.
I replied: "He just wanted to take a longer walk than he should have."
Vespera commented: "Next time, put a magical collar on him."
Elara looked at her, indignant. "It's a cat, Vespera!"
Liriel added: "Maybe I can make a faint light for him to follow at night…"
I interrupted before it got complicated. "Let the boy enjoy his cat."
The boy then offered me something. It was a small, old silver coin.
"I… don't have much… but I want to thank you."
I shook my head. "No need. Just take good care of Nino."
He smiled in such a pure way that I felt my chest warm. "I will!"
When we returned to the street, the sun was starting to set, leaving Vailor golden.
And for the first time in a long while, I felt that this — this kind of mission, this kind of day — was exactly what I needed to breathe before the next storm.
Because I knew. I felt it in the flame within me.
Calm never lasted very long.
But for now… everything was fine.