Becoming a Shadow in the New World

After leaving the convenience store, Sid turned and headed towards the monastery on the mountain.

Isn't it amazing that there's a mountain on an artificial island, and that this mountain has existed for decades, so long that people born on the island have almost forgotten that it's an artificial mountain?

"Meow, meow, meow."

This is an abandoned monastery that should have been forgotten over time and eventually demolished. He was able to discover it because of its unique characteristics.

"Meow, meow, meow, meow!"

"Okay, okay, I bought you cat food. The person who used to take care of you hasn't been around lately. I'm afraid she's starving. Tsk, if she shows up, I'll make her pay me back."

Stray animals are rarely seen on Itogami Island. If one is found, the city management team will come to arrest it. It won't go to any stray animal shelter; it will be euthanized directly.

Most residential areas on Itogami Island have rules against keeping animals, let alone with a dozen or so animals in front of you. Even in some residential areas that allow animals, you would probably get complaints from your neighbors.

Therefore, from a rational perspective, most people on this island would not keep animals, and even if they did, they would not keep more than a dozen.

But there are always some people in this world who are overflowing with compassion. When they see these animals as pitiful, they secretly adopt them, but are forced to keep them outside due to the rules.

In this situation, what could be more suitable to house these kittens who are only a few months old than an abandoned monastery that few people know about?

Humans are both emotional and rational. They may start feeding their pets out of love, but what happens after that?

They might feel it's troublesome, they might feel financial pressure, and then they might give up feeding them, just like how few people can stick to their childhood dreams.

This behavior cannot be called evil, after all, there is no living space for stray animals on this island, and without this behavior, they would only die faster.

But he still felt uncomfortable; his eyes were so pure and innocent.

He was unhappy with this behavior, unhappy with being deceived by those eyes, and unhappy that he used the Shadow Funds he had worked so hard to obtain to buy cat food.

Sid doesn't consider himself a good person, so even though he likes to pet cute little animals and will help find the owners of lost cats and dogs he encounters on the street, he won't actively approach stray animals because he has no intention of adopting them.

He likes to come here to relax on weekends because there are cats here that he can pet without any responsibility. The owner who adopted them has a very pure eye, and he trusts that she won't give up halfway.

So when he discovered she hadn't come for a few days, he felt cheated.

If he doesn't take care of them, these cats will starve to death. He's been enjoying petting them so much, now it's time to pay the price.

A series of footsteps came from the monastery gate, interrupting Sid's thoughts.

Chapter Nine: Natsume Yase

"Give me my money back."

This was the first thing Sid said when he saw her.

With short silver hair, ocean-blue eyes, and a delicate, doll-like face, she had a slight blush on her cheeks and was panting, perhaps because she had been running all the way.

If he were just an ordinary extra, seeing him like this, it would be a miracle if he didn't go up and offer his concern, let alone maintain his original intentions.

Unfortunately, his role was an act. There was no one around, and the person asking for money didn't know him, so there was no need for him to pretend.

"Eh?!?!"

Seeing the obvious confusion and surprise on Natsune Yase's face because of what he had just said, they noticed that she was surprised.

Sid remained completely unmoved, pointing at the kitten eating cat food on the ground, and recounted all the expenses and troubles he had incurred in caring for the cat over the past few days.

"I'm sorry, please accept this money."

When faced with the girl bowing and apologizing, holding her wallet up in front of her, Sid's heart was... no, barely stirred a ripple.

Upon realizing this fact, Sid's pupils dilated slightly, but he calmly took the wallet without showing any emotion.

"That's too much, this is enough."

After counting, he found that there were still hundreds of thousands left after deducting his expenses. Although he was very tempted by this huge sum of money, Sid only took the amount he had spent on taking care of the kitten during this period.

"No, Sid, these were originally for you. I'd like to ask you to take care of them for me."

"?"

Natsumi Yase crouched down, looked at the kittens tenderly, picked one up, took a deep breath, and slowly spoke.

"Brother Sid, I'm leaving this island, and I may never come back."

I'm worried about them, but I can't find anyone willing to adopt them right away, so I'd like to ask you, Brother Xide, to take care of them for me and help me find someone willing to adopt them.

I know Sidge doesn't want to take care of them, but if it's a matter of money, I can help. If he doesn't have enough money, I can bring more.

So just this once, just this once, and we'll wait until we find people willing to adopt them.

Looking at the anxious Natsune Yase in front of him, Sid began to consider the matter in his mind.

Clearly, this is in his favor. Although not many people on the island keep pets, the claim of "not many" is based on the island's large population. Excluding those who are unable to adopt, live in areas where pets are prohibited, or have no intention of adopting, there are still many people who can keep pets.

In other words, if he can find a family to adopt him before he runs out of the money given to him by Natsume Yase, then the remaining money will naturally be his.

Even if there are expenses before finding someone willing to adopt her, there are still hundreds of thousands guaranteed. No, Xia Yin can get more, so it's over a million.

He could even be a little heartless and take the money and then ignore the cat's life or death, and nobody would know, since Natsumi Yase had already left the island by then.

and so……

“Well… okay, I’ll try my best to take care of them and find them adoptive homes until you come back.”

Of course he agreed. Why would he refuse when he could get hundreds of thousands for free? Of course, he couldn't just take the money and leave it at that. Neither Sid, a minor character, nor Sid, a Shadow-level powerhouse, would do that. That would be too despicable.

Upon hearing Sid's reply, Natsune Yase's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and she smiled gently.

"Thank you, Brother Sid."

After saying thank you, Natsumi Yase continued to check on the cat's body. After all, she had absolutely no experience in taking care of a purebred cat, and there was no guarantee that something might have gone wrong with it these past few days, leaving a problem.

Seeing this, Sid could only shrug and turn back to petting the cat. The adorable creature, with its fluffy appearance and top-notch touch, was simply irresistible to him. If it didn't take up his training time and a lot of money, he would have liked to keep one.

Unfortunately, this kind of good thing that relieves most of the stress without spending money is about to end.

"By the way, why did you ask me for help? We don't know each other at all. Xia Yin, aren't you afraid that I'll just take the money and then abandon you?"

This is Sid's true thought. Despite his apparent familiarity with Xia Yin, they had only known each other for a few months.

In fact, he and Xia Yin probably didn't talk as much as they did today in a whole week. Usually, he would come here on weekends to pet the cats and relieve stress, while Xia Yin would take care of the cats. They barely exchanged a few words throughout the day.

They know absolutely nothing about each other—who they are, where they live, which school they attend, what they like to eat, and apart from both liking cats, the names they give each other are probably fake. They are just strangers who know each other. That's probably their relationship.

"No, because... Sid is a very gentle person, and Sid likes them very much too."

"???"

It has to be said that Natsune Yase's answer successfully baffled Sid.

Sid really wanted to ask Natsune Yase if she was blind, how could she associate him with the word "gentle," which is completely incompatible with him?

Sid recalled his identity and what he had done over the past year.

He recruited an international terrorist organization, almost sent the entire Eurasian continent flying into the sky because he thought it was cool, turned a blind eye to natural disasters that could destroy the world, and is still wanted by the police (but only wanted), etc.

Ha, he's such a gentle person, it's as ridiculous as the existence of the Diablo Order.

The worst thing is when the air suddenly goes quiet, especially when you're having a good conversation and suddenly you don't know how to respond. But there's nothing you can do; you really don't know how to reply for a moment.

"Coo coo~~"

Fortunately, the sound coming from Natsume Yase's stomach broke the awkward silence.

"Mmm... I, I..."

Well, instead of feeling relieved, Natsune Yase blushed and instinctively covered her lower abdomen with her hand. She stammered out what she wanted to say because of her embarrassment.

"Did you rush over and not have time to eat?"

There are generally two ways to deal with such a shameful and embarrassing situation for women.

The first option is to deliberately tease someone about it, which can be an opportunity to deepen the relationship between two people who have a good relationship.

The second approach is to pretend you didn't see it and move on to the next topic instead of dwelling on it.

He wasn't the type to make fun of a girl's embarrassing moments, and even though his relationship with Natsumi Yase should have been pretty good after the recent request, he still felt that this behavior was a bit nasty.

"Hmm... um, I haven't been here for a while, I'm worried something might have happened to them."

Seeing that Sid didn't seem to care much about what had just happened, Natsune Yase, who had been feeling ashamed, gradually calmed down and began to explain the reason.

"..."

"Brother Sid, I have some questions for you. If your family..."

"Stop, stop, stop, Xia Yin. Rather than letting me know about your family affairs, I think what you need right now is to fill your stomach."

Actually, he wasn't interested in other people's family affairs. He was too familiar with these kinds of things. Nine times out of ten, something must have happened to Natsune Haze's family, and it was most likely related to her absence these past few days.

But he didn't want to care at all. It wouldn't give him the chance to become a shadow form, and it would also waste his time. He would change the subject now and then slip away without giving Xia Yin a chance to speak.

"Here, watermelon juice. I didn't bring any food with me, so I'll replenish my sugar levels first."

Luckily, he had bought the watermelon juice earlier because he thought it would be too much trouble to go to the convenience store again on his way back. Otherwise, he might have had to spend money to treat Xia Yin to dinner. As for the watermelon juice for the devil tonight, he would buy it at the convenience store on his way back.

Thinking this, he took the watermelon juice out of his backpack and tossed it to Xia Yin.

"Hmm! What's wrong, don't you like it?"

Whether it was Sid's imagination or not, when Xia Yin took the watermelon juice just now, her already delicate and fair skin seemed to become even whiter.

"No, how could that be? I really like the things Brother Sid gave me."