It’s been almost three months since I first found myself in this world.

I arrived in late February and it’s mid May now.

The time sure flies…

Well, the first month of my life here was especially busy.

Becoming an adventurer, learning how to properly use my powers, thwarting plans of an evil guy who cursed people…

Yeah, a lot has happened in just the first month.

Ugh…

And that curse guy was the grumpiest grump to ever grump, that’s for sure.

Like an angry dog, who barks at everyone who walks by.

Well, at least at the beginning…

But in just a few weeks in his little cage, he has completely mellowed out…

And it’s all because of that creepy little girl we call Spectre.

It’s like, as long as she can be by his side, she doesn’t care about anything else.

I treat those two as a single person at this point.

They even have the same reactions.

Oh, but…

Even though I heard they are more approachable nowadays…

They still hate me with a passion.

Not sure why…

It’s probably because of how I beat them up back then and even crippled both of the guy’s arms.

Well, the one I punched has already been healed, but it seems like the one I used shadow magic against can’t be healed even with magic…

What a messed up ability I have…

But enough of that.

What about me and my party?

Well, long story short, I succeeded in reeducating Ignis!

…

What?

I really did!

I’m the one to decide things now!

…

But the joke is… I don’t talk all that much.

Most of the time, she suggests what to do next and I approve it.

…

Nothing has changed!

How did this happen?!

Why am I so bad at dealing with people?!

Ugh…

Well whatever…

It works, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

That aside.

Cana picked up archery.

And she’s surprisingly good at it.

I just wish she didn’t hesitate when it came to releasing her arrows…

I mean, I get that you would rather be petting those animals than shooting them, but when a bear is charging at you, it’s a different story!

She’s really weak when it comes to animals…

Luckily, monsters don’t qualify as ‘cute animals’ in her eyes, so hunting those has been part of most of our quests lately.

Still…

Even if we have one front liner and two back liners, everyone in our party focuses on offense.

We’re a party of glass cannons!

Sounds like a bad idea, doesn’t it?

Indeed, it is.

I confirmed that notion the other day.

We were out and about exterminating an oversized goblin nest.

And I got so distracted reveling in slicing them up that I didn’t notice one of them coming in to flank the girls.

“Gyah?!”

Cana’s scream made me notice it.

But I was too far away from her to do anything.

By the time I got close enough to be of any help, she…

…

Sat there on the ground, completely unharmed, staring at a headless goblin corpse.

We were all confused by that chain of events.

But of course, at the time, we didn’t have time to investigate what was going on and continued our extermination.

And afterwards…

“Hey, Cana! What did you do back then?”

As always, Ignis asked what dwelt on my mind as well.

“I…”

Cana couldn’t help but stare at her hands in disbelief.

“I summoned… Cerberus…?”

That sentence alone shocked both of us.

How is that possible?

Wasn’t her curse dispelled months ago?

Why can she use her summons?

“Really?! That’s awesome! So, you were like me!”

I wanted to question what she meant by ‘like me’, but I already knew the answer.

Ignis, prior to the curse, couldn’t use magic at all.

It’s the curse that awoke her talent to fire magic.

And even after I absorbed the curse, she remained to be an excellent fire magician.

In other words…

Why wouldn’t the same be true for Cana?

“B-but… how? Why?”

Of course, this is a little different.

Ignis maintained all of her abilities after the curse, while Cana seemingly lost them.

But with this…

There’s a chance her talent for summoning magic isn’t dead, after all!

And if we have those summons, our need for a tank gets solved as well!

Naturally, this is something we went to investigate right away.

“Summoning magic is really rare. Pretty much every person capable of using it became a court magician or something similar.”

And that’s the answer we got at the guild.

In other words, there isn’t anyone we can ask to teach Cana.

We can’t just waltz into a castle where the royal family resides and ask to be taught super rare magic.

…

But you didn’t need to be so blunt with it Mrs. receptionist.

You completely shot down all of Cana’s hopes and dreams.

“It’s okay! You don’t need some old geezer to teach you! You are smart! You can learn it on your own!”

I agree.

I don’t see a reason why she couldn’t learn it by herself.

“O-okay… I’ll do my best!”

That’s the spirit!

Speaking of learning one’s abilities.

I tried doing it as well.

…

No, I don’t mean moving my tail!

I mean, cat soul variants!

Sure, they all have a serious drawback, but…

Each of them provides me with unique magic.

Yeah, that’s right.

Shadow, blaze, flow and aura magic…

I’ve asked around and nobody seems to have heard about any of these.

Which means they are all even rarer than summoning magic, or maybe even completely unique to me!

How can I miss out on something like that?!

That’s right!

This is why, I’ve been practicing!

The results: I’m able to activate panther soul at will now, and cheetah soul will activate whenever I run out of mana.

Tiger soul and lion soul though…

I couldn’t make them activate no matter what I did.

…

Oh, but.

Saying I activated them doesn’t mean I learned how to cope with their drawbacks.

Though, fortunately, cheetah soul only makes me sleep for one or two days now.

As for panther soul…

…

“G-get away from me! Argh!”

“Calm down, you piece of trash. I’m trying to help you.”

Argh, this idiot won’t stop thrashing around.

I thought he wants the shadow out of his shoulder, so he can move again!

Seriously, if it weren’t for me wanting to practice removing those shadows, I wouldn’t even bother.

“Guargh!”

“M-masteeer!”

“There we go.”

I yoinked it back and absorbed it.

Why he is writhing in pain down there?

He has no balls whatsoever.

Truly a piece of trash.

…

And what about the spectators?

Your horrified gazes are annoying.

I just helped him, you know?

Or are you staring because you still can’t believe my skills can’t be sealed by this thing?

“I-is it done…?”

“Yeah.”

I answer Ignis and then turn to the pitiful pile of meat on the ground before lightly kicking it.

“Hey you. Try moving your arm.”

It stares at me in anger and fear, but obliges anyway.

And voila, although it’s shaky and his face is twisting in pain, it can move.

Good.

Looks like killing and destroying aren’t the only things I can do in this form.

Now then…

Turning back is…

A bit trickier.

Other than emptying my mana and inevitably turning on cheetah soul, I can close my eyes and try to calm down.

I guess it can be called a type of meditation.

Well, let’s do it then…

They won’t let me out of this cage until I turn back.

Technically, I could slip into the shadows and easily escape, but…

I don’t want to stay in this form anyway.

And that’s about it.

Panther soul is the only one I can more or less keep under control.

I still have no idea what ‘flow magic’ from cheetah soul even is.

And the other two won’t activate.

Well, at least something.

…

What am I whining about?

Panther soul is really powerful!

Shadow magic can pierce an ogre’s skin and the wounds it causes are incurable by anyone other than me!

How is that lackluster?!

…

Well, it’s not.

Compared to those around me, I’m very strong.

That isn’t what’s bothering me.

The problem are the other ‘chosen ones’.

I might be strong in relation to average people, but what about people who also have a god’s blessing?

If it really does come down to a battle to death, I need to be prepared.

And if I don’t have mana to use panther soul and its magic, I will be at a significant disadvantage.

That’s why…

I decided I need a weapon.

And guess what?

There’s a reincarnator who has the ability to create weapons!

The problem is…

He’s very uncooperative and hostile to… well, everyone.

But luckily, he has a weakness.

That’s right…

One thing that can make him cooperate with us.

And that one thing is…

Spicy food.

He loves it.

…

Yeah…

I don’t understand it.

We brought him some piping hot and super spicy meal and he happily made a weapon for each one of us!

Cana got a cool looking bow with white wing patterns.

Ignis got a staff with a skull, which radiates red light from its mouth and eyes.

And I got a short sword… with a cat on it.

And the whole thing is colored pink for some reason.

Is he harassing me?

The space between the hilt and the blade is occupied by a smiling cat head.

And apparently it’s pink because of the metal used.

Some whatchamacallit gibrish-ium, which is one of the sturdiest metals in the world, he said.

But still…

I’m not a fan of pink color.

So what did I do?

I painted it black.

With shadow magic.

Yep.

Nothing wrong with it, right?

Now I have an ultra-sturdy black sword that inflicts a status effect, which makes you unable to heal!

…

…

…

That sounds like an item that would drop from the final boss!

How did this happen?!