Five days had passed since I acquired my first Shadow Creature summon in this current form that I occupy, suggesting that for the time being there seems to be nothing too much wrong with my ability, aside from the fact that I've lost contact with all my previous summons. I was able to summon it and unsummon as I used to; there seemed to be no problem with that aspect of the [Spawn] ability. But even so, I still didn't dare to unsummon Crow—the shadow creature summon I have not lost contact with amidst the reinitialization I went through. I still felt like there remained the possibility for me to lose contact with him the moment I did so. Deep in my heart, I think I've actually decided to not unsummon that fellow until I regain enough strength to be strong enough to afford losing Crow. Sigh, this is depressing.
To the old me, Crow was literally a fodder summon, a summon that I finally found use for when I had Aiden—to be his babysitter. But now, weakened as I currently am, this Crow was without a doubt my greatest asset as a summoner, for that was what one could say I was, even though that was obviously not my class. Well, I suppose it wasn't fair to compare Crow to all the other available summons, which were literally just a Shadow Creature variant of a cat. But even though it was not, it didn't mean that the cat was entirely useless. I mean, I had it become my summon for a very specific reason: to investigate what's in the warehouse, something that Crow, considering its shady overly catchy appearance, could not.
Even though as a shadow creature, the cat was still very catchy due to the specter-like appearance proper to shadow creatures that I have no way to suppress, it was still far less inconspicuous than a dust-weathering, jet-black crow. Upon figuring out that there were no changes regarding the level of control I had over my spawns, I sent out my new shadow creature on its first mission. The warehouse being a finished and mostly closed structure with no entrance whatsoever except the tightly shut closed entrance door, it would be unintelligent to be hopeful to think that the cat would almost immediately accomplish it. It did not, but by the Goddess, it didn't take long either, thanks to a peculiar event I took advantage of.
We were somewhere in the middle of the morning, a couple of hours past breakfast. Inside the crèche, just above the refectory, sunlight filtered through fluttering curtains as a gentle breeze entered the room. Today, for the time being, looked like a good day, or at least it would have appeared so if not for the strange gloom that filled the room.
Sitting on his little chair, Aiden held a sheet of white paper before him, his tiny fingers clutching a crayon. His attention was fully absorbed in the task at hand, his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to replicate the shapes his caregiver had shown him moments ago. His concentration remained unwavering despite the somber atmosphere.
The source of the somber atmosphere?
Across the room, the other little girl Aiden shared the orphanage with sat perched on her chair, her small frame slumped with worry. She clutched the edge of the table, her gaze fixed on the caretaker who knelt beside her.
"Lily, where do you think he is? Where's Leodoro?"
The caretaker, Lily, her voice a gentle reassurance amidst Ana's turmoil, replied, "I don't know, Tina dear. But Leodoro will come back. He always does. Cats have a way of finding their way home."
The little girl's bottom lip quivered as she absorbed Lily's words. "But he hasn't come back at all for five days now," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, as she cast a glance—no, actually, with her, it's always a stare at Aiden.
Aiden, who noticed her stare, lifted his attention away from his drawing to her.
What's the deal with her? Does she think that Aiden has anything to do with her cat's disappearance? He obviously didn't. I did.
Caretaker Lily's expression softened, her eyes filled with empathy for the little girl before her. "I know, Ana. I know it feels like forever. But sometimes, things take time. Remember what the director said. But it's too soon to give up hope."
It didn't take me long after acquiring my first summon after my reinitialization to figure out the origin of the chonky cat that I turned into my second "first" summon. The cat, or Leodoro as I realized the very next day after I acquired it, was the little girl's—Celestina, the girl currently staring at us.
Well, don't look at Aiden like that, you're bothering him. He can't bring your cat back, neither could I. My innate ability [Spawn] allowed me to transform creatures I defeated into a shadow creature version of them. I defeated her cat, and even if I wanted to, and I really wanted to, I didn't like the unexpected exposure acquiring the cat I no longer have use for brought about. But there simply was no undefeating it. So, the caretaker Lily was very wrong with her advice; the best time to give up on hoping was a few days ago, and the second best time was now.
Finally retracting her gaze from Aiden, her shoulders sagged. "But Grandma also said he might not come back at all," she whispered, her voice tinged with a hint of desperation.
Caretaker Lily placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "That may be true, dear. But let's hold onto hope a little longer. Leodoro has a way of surprising us, just when we least expect it. Remember, Vanessa heard cat's meowing near the warehouse, didn't she? That had to be Leodoro, so there's a huge chance he'll show up when you least expect him to."
Truly ironic. The very next day after I acquired Leodoro as one of my summons, a concern voiced by the girl over the cat not returning to her room as usual indirectly helped Leodoro, who was now one of my Shadow Creature summons, to accomplish his mission -- a mission he'd been waiting for at least a day to fulfill. Waiting for the opportunity to have him sneak into the storehouse, I had Leodoro lurk nearby, waiting for someone to open the sealed storehouse so he could infiltrate and investigate. As it happened, his meowing was noticed by one of the orphanage's caretakers, who was already aware of the disappearance of Leodoro, Celestina's cat.
One thing led to another, and with a little interference through what I could have my summon do through [Spawn], the caretakers assumed that the cat might have found its way inside the warehouse. This assumption led them to open the warehouse to find the missing cat, granting Leodoro the opportunity he'd been seeking for his mission. I assumed it would take Leodoro some time to pull it off, but ironically, with his former master's interference, it took far less time than initially assumed.
Had it not been for the gloomy atmosphere she brought along over her missing cat and the occasional glance, or rather stare, she threw in Aiden's direction, I would've definitely felt a little thankful for her unintended help.
To be frank, this took unexpected proportions. When I decided to turn that random cat into one of my spawns, I didn't expect it to belong to the girl. Of course, I wasn't bothered by a little girl's moaning over her missing cat; that I could care less about. What was unexpected, however, was the reaction of everyone around, which, considering what I found inside the warehouse, left me a little confused about how I assumed this orphanage worked. First was the amount of care over this missing cat, which brought about concern from the orphanage residents.
Sure, I didn't know about the cat; to me, it was just a random cat. Perhaps it held some emotional value for everyone in the orphanage, but barely a day into its disappearance, it garnered so much attention that I quickly came to understand that it was not about the cat but rather about the person complaining about the cat's disappearance -- in other words, Celestina, who, through the person she referred to as "Grandma," made the cat's disappearance everyone's problem.
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***
After dinner, as the twilight cast its gentle shadows across the orphanage's courtyard, Aiden and the girl found themselves back in the familiar embrace of the crèche, the vicariously-planned routine of their evening rituals guiding them forward.
Aiden was playing in his corner as usual before being led to bed when, out of the blue, the girl approached. "Do you have a cat?" she inquired, her voice filled with an obvious and badly concealed accusation.
What’s with this girl? Still thinking that Aiden stole her cat or something? You had the caretakers check his room already, what else are you looking for?
Though Aiden was a little surprised by the question that seemingly came out of nowhere, his face brightening with a smile, nodded eagerly.
Why are you nodding? Why are you nodding you’re making yourself look suspicious.
"Yes, we have a big cat. His name is Tiger."
"Tiger..." she repeated the name softly, her thoughts wandering.
"Yes, Tiger, he’s big and black," Aiden continued, his words filled with the pride of ownership. "He and Wolf always sleep outside. Ah, Wolf is big and black too. Maa said they're too big to be inside and that their duty is to protect the house."
"To protect the house..." she murmured, having seemingly forgotten the purpose of her question.
"Yes, that's what Maa said they do. They protect. Crow, Owl, and Snake, on the other hand, are there to play with me," Aiden added, his voice tinged with excitement at the mention of his shadow creature companions.
A moment of silence settled between them. At that moment, I prepared myself to intervene to ensure this conversation, clearly innocent in Aiden's eyes, didn’t stray into territory I didn’t wish it to go. Right now, I expected the girl to either follow up with an accusation of him being a liar or questions about Aiden’s creatures. Surprisingly, that did not happen. Breaking the quietude, Aiden posed a question of his own.
"You have a cat?"
Boy?!
Why are you asking that? You know her cat’s missing and she’s even accused you of holding her cat captive, now you’re asking that. Do you want to look like some sort of sadist who enjoys seeing his victims suffering? I couldn’t help but scream internally, but surprisingly, the girl's answer to his question was not what I imagined it would be.
She nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Leodoro," she replied.
"What does he do?" Aiden pressed.
She hesitated for a moment, her thoughts seemingly drifting back to what she remembered of the cat. "Grandma said I can keep him. He plays with me, sleeps with me—" she began.
"Maa said that when she's not there, I can nap on Snake," Aiden interjected, his words flowing freely with the innocence of childhood.
Celestina blinked, taken aback by Aiden's interruption, her gaze narrowing in puzzlement. "Is Maa like Grandma?" she ventured, her curiosity piqued by the notion of similarities.
This "Grandma" being no one else than the director—the old ascetic who, on the day of our arrival, welcomed us to the orphanage. At first, I have to admit it, I never noticed the interaction between the girl and the director, as it was minimal, so I never got to see her referring to the director as Grandma. But with the whole mess around her missing cat, I finally heard it, and at the same time, I also came to notice the level of influence this little girl had over the director. I believe that had it not been for the fact that I heard her referring to the director as Grandma, I would've assumed this influence she had over the director, and by extension, everyone else, was born due to the time she spent alone—as the sole resident of the orphanage. However, the fact that she referred to the director as "Grandma," like a one that is both close and doting to her, made me not even consider that as the primary explanation for everything. If anything, it was perhaps just a secondary factor, while the main one revolved around what made her refer to the director as "Grandma."
I suppose what one would immediately assume upon hearing that is to assume that the director was, in fact, the girl's grandmother. After all, she was in age to be. However, two things made me believe that it was not the case. One, the director was a Verdenkind—a subcategory of humanity that is completely different from the subcategory the girl belonged to. She was, as per what my level 1 [Appraisal] skill allowed me to peek at, a Highbreed. While it was theoretically possible that she had some “business” with a highbreed and thus had a highbreed grandchild, or her child was the one to have had steamy business with a highbreed which would have theoretically given her a highbreed grandchild, it all remained theories. Ones that I knew for a fact were very unlikely, especially due to the following second reason.
Two, the old woman was one of Theta's ascetics, and I knew for a fact that all of them shared the very same story and path in life. They were all little girls that, one way or another, to survive life in Fiendfell, swore allegiance to Theta's dominion, which could be equated in this world as selling one's soul to the devil. Upon swearing that oath, all her ascetics dedicated their lives to one thing: serve her with their body and soul. So really, I doubted that one of her ascetics, especially a high-ranked one like the director, would be just allowed to have children, as those could be used to try something against Theta.
So yes, I had no actual means to meticulously confirm it, but I had my fair share of reasons to believe that there were no actual filial links between the director and the girl. But even if I believed that, I could not find a logical explanation for the current doting stance of the director. Her doting nature was evident, having witnessed it myself, when she mobilized almost everyone in the orphanage to search for the missing cat and personally came, which was unusual for her, to calm the girl down during one of her tantrums.
I was aware that I might be overthinking stuff, especially after what I've discovered inside the Warehouse, but I believed there was another possible explanation for her affection other than the most reasonable one to believe—which was that the reason the director was so caring of the little girl was that she simply liked her. This was, as reasonable as it was to believe, an idea I found outlandish. While I have been raised at Theta's side, it was mostly her Ascetics who took care of me in my most vulnerable ages. I was well placed to know that the way Ascetics were made meant that affection was not really something they were good at. This made me more likely to believe that the reason the director was caring toward the little girl was because this was expected of her, rather than it being something that actually came from her.
Now, I suppose that leaves me with the question: why?
Why? That was a question I have been asking myself a lot these past few days regarding what's going on with this orphanage, and I think I've reached a stage where I believe I can't figure out all the answers to these "whys" I'm asking myself by myself. That's why I have come to a decision—one that I was very reticent to take.
After Aiden's post-dinner activities, which I was afraid might put me in a position where I would once again have to take control, surprisingly, I didn't have to. Their discussion was so surface-level and uncaring for detail that Aiden's description of his summon playmates was just absorbed by the girl without her questioning anything about it. The same thing could be said about the caretaker who watched, but unlike the girl who was too young to care, they instead clearly chose not to.
Once they were done, they were escorted to their respective dormitories. Aiden was brought to his room without much fuss. It wasn't even two weeks, and clearly, he'd already adjusted himself enough to the lifestyle that I no longer needed to take control at this segment of the day. But even so, I still volunteered myself to take over. In spite of already getting used to this new routine, he still struggled to sleep, so I took over and put him to sleep.
As I did, I didn't immediately have his body rest. Instead, what I did was wait. Wait first for the guarding caretaker to take her leave. It took her what felt like an eternity, but she eventually left. As she did, I left Aiden’s bunk bed to retrieve two spherical devices from my drawer. The two golden spherical devices possessed strikingly intricate mechanical designs, belying their apparent magical functionality. Each device, roughly the size of an apple, barely fit in Aiden's little hands. Upon finding which one of the two devices was the one I was looking for, I carefully placed the one I didn't need back into the drawer.
Activating the chosen device required a simple press of a button. Upon initiation, the device emitted a golden ethereal halo that spread outward, creating a mesmerizing aura that expanded and dissipated half a meter from its epicenter. After this transient display, the device returned to its normal state for about a quarter of a minute. Suddenly, the entire surface of the device began to glow, exhibiting intricate patterns that danced harmoniously across its golden exterior. Though no spoken confirmation was exchanged, I knew for a fact that I had successfully established a connection with the one I sought to contact. "It's me," I said, taking a short pause before continuing. "There's something I want to report and something I would like to ask."