Ping!

It was a sound that Rino was used to by now, but he only grew irritated at the timing. Noir and Rino were snuggling by the fireplace and talking about the things Rino did when the system updated some new quests.

Reluctantly, Rino pulled one arm away from the snoozing cat and checked his notification.

===

Side Quest #16

Objective: Catch Birds

0/5 Birds

Reward: Dream Catcher Blessing

===

There was still about a day before the daily quest could update, so Rino was waiting to know what else the daily quest wanted him to do. He expected another weapon crafting quest, but this cycle back to animal hunting made Rino curious.

Still, there was a master of hunting birds in his lap, and Rino knew how he wanted to spend his limited time with Noir before he left. Initially, he thought he would give Noir the grand tour of the province he named after the lovely cat. However, that could wait for now.

Even without him acting as a tour guide, Erika would be able to give his friend a satisfying introduction to everything Rino did here. 

However, bonding time with an activity that Noir might enjoy did not come so easily. Whoever was in charge of handing out the side quest this time deserves a raise in Rino's opinion. They were almost playing cupid for his relationship troubles with Noir even though it was a platonic one. As an awkward socialiser, Rino was thankful for the opportunity.

Ordinarily, he would entrust this to Fowler and his friends. However, Rino wanted an excuse to go out with Noir to hunt for fowls. With the cat's abilities, Rino would complete the side quest in a few hours. Unless Noir suddenly decides to hunt a phoenix, Rino had faith that this wasn't a difficult quest to complete.

Besides, they could roast a few delicious birds and share them with Kragami in the swamp when they were done. Rino wasn't sure if cats could drink beer, but he wanted to let the finicky cat know that there was good food now.

By the time Noir woke up, it was night again. Rino counted down the hours before his daily quest updated and asked if Noir was ready for a hunt together. Bored of staying indoors now that he could roam around with his incarnate body, Ace automatically agreed to go for a hunt.

Ark could not blame the god of prayers for offering to help Rino with his assigned side quest. It might be cheating, but this might be a good way for Noir to earn Rino's trust and cast any suspicions of Noir's background away.

Stephanie watched them race through the forest and mock king toads from above with her brother. Phil was busy making last-minute landscaping arrangements for the new site that Ark wanted Rino to travel to. Honestly, the goddess thought that it would be easier to simply remain in this quadrant and expand the kingdom from the home base than establish the basics all over again for further development.

She simply could not understand why raising animals, and farming crops had to be done in separate regions.

As the sibling gods watched Rino and Noir work flawlessly in a wordless team to take down their prey, the side quest updated punctually. Yet, Rino ignored the quest notification and hunted for more.

The pair ended up with five fire pheasants, three brown quails and two pseudo hawks that they took over to Cypress County. It was at that point that Noir questioned Rino's naming sense.

"Spudville, Cypress County and Noir province. I won't even get started on the names you gave your subordinates."

Rino did not look abashed at all as he sauntered out of the little tree tunnel to holler at his magic teacher.

"Master hunter Noir brought some gifts for the housewarming party! Can we have some beer to enjoy with the roasted pheasants?"

That naming sense… Ace shuddered and thanked his luck that Rino named him Noir instead of Gatto. That would be ten times more embarrassing, and he did not even want to get started on names like Mutt, Gnut and Fowler.

The necromancer hobbled down the stairs to greet them and saw the black cat on Rino's shoulder. It looked so comfortable as it yawned as if it belonged there. Amused, Kragami introduced himself, and Noir made a face.

"What kind of name is that? Did this kid name you too?"

Stunned, the necromancer raised a brow. "It's the magician name I chose before walking down the path of a necromancer."

At that, there was an awkward silence between Noir and Kragami. The cat swore that if he was not covered in black fur, the red blush would spread all the way to its tail from that assumption.

Honestly, he should have asked Phil about what happened in the last two weeks when he was busy attending to the spike in prayer requests. Even Stephanie barely left her workstation to attend to the soul matching system. Rino enslaved many souls, and the goddess was stuck updating her outdated archive. Only Ark monitored Rino's quest progress, with Phil keeping an active eye on the lich's real-time activities. He really should have asked Phil for a summary of what Rino did than make assumptions to save himself from shame.

It took Aiden's appearance with a pitcher of potato beer to break the awkward tension. While Kragami and Noir reacquainted themselves after that awkward introduction, Rino stealthily checked his completed side quest and claimed his reward.

[You received a permanent Blessing [Dream Catcher]. You can now dream in your sleep.]

Rino read that automated message once, then twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Then, he laughed in a very disturbing teeth-clacking manner that made everyone in Kragami's outdoor kitchen pause.

Raising his mug of potato beer, Rino grinned widely, although nobody could tell.

"Cheers!" he called out.

Not knowing why Rino was in such a creepily good mood, Kragami and Aiden humoured him. Only Ace smirked to himself as he pawed at the roasting pheasant before licking his dirtied fur to taste it.

It was a good thing Rino liked the reward. Even if he could no longer hear Rino's inner thoughts as Noir, he could still guess what Rino was thinking and looking at based on his reactions.

"You're welcome," Ace whispered and continued to watch the meat roasting with predatory eyes.