"It's a glowing cat."

"A glowing cat? Ooh, I wonder how it works..." Fearlessly, Natsuki approached the cat, which did not step back, but only continued to stare us down. She brought her hand to the cat's head, and gently rubbed it. "Oh. It's not a real cat. It's a stone statue..." She sighed, disappointed, and inspected the cat closer.

I moved to the left and to the right, and somehow, the cat's gaze continued to follow me. How peculiar. I've heard that there are optical illusions where portraits can be drawn such that the person in the painting appears to be looking back at the viewer no matter the angle. I suppose that this statue must be working off some kind of similar trick.

"Hmm..." Natsuki frowned. "I can feel some fire-trigram magic, but it's coming from farther down the passage, not from the statue. I think this statue is just reacting to that magic... which means!" She beamed. "Which means we have to go farther in! It's time for our first dungeon expedition! My adventurer's blood is boiling!"

Natsuki advanced one step past the statue, and I, facing the cat face-to-face, was struct by a sudden bolt of fear.

It was a familiar sort of fear. I've only felt this fear once before, but I haven't forgotten its taste since. About fifteen years ago, in the village where I was born. One day— a perfectly normal day by any standard— the bountiful earth split open like a shattered stained-glass window, and in the gaping jaws it turned upwards was an abyss that stretched to Hell itself. I do not mean that metaphorically. Since demons crawled out of its depths, it could not have led anywhere other than Hell. I was very young at that time, so I only have fragments of memories from that day, but I do perfectly remember the fear I felt on that day. Not the fear of death, but the fear of facing down the supernatural, the fear of what exists without according with the laws of existence, the same fear that you would feel if you were to see the God-Emperor with human eyes.

Facing that cat face-to-face, I felt that same fear.

"Natsuki, wait!"

I ran to her and grabbed onto her arm from behind. "Natsuki, we can't. We can't go any farther. I have a really bad feeling about this...!"

Natsuki turned around, and lightly brushed the hair on my head.

"Then, you can go ahead and return to the town. I'll explore a bit. Is that okay?"

"No! I'm scared... I don't want to go alone... I don't want you to go alone..." I was half to crying.

Natsuki smiled, but her eyes were troubled. "Okay. I'm really interested in that cat, but if you say so, let's go back."

I feel bad for putting an end to her fun, but... I can't deal with that cat. That cat whose carved-in expression seems to almost be laughing at those who would dare to go past it... it's not good.

---

We dropped the direwolf's hide off at a tannery close to the town's southern gate, and then headed back towards the guild office.

A few streets away from the office, I caught sight of Agnia with her arms full of bags themselves full of what seemed to be groceries.

"Professor!" I called out.

"Oh, you two." She walked over to us, and then grimaced. "You smell like blood. Were you out exterminating monsters?"

Someone like Agnia should be able to make those bags float in the air, right? Why carry them...?

Natsuki smiled proudly. "Yes. Thanks to your instruction, we were able to defeat an IC4 giant direwolf without issue."

"As expected of my students." She smiled slightly through her grimace. "Did you carve out its eyes?"

"Yes."

"Good. The eyes of giant direwolves are very precious magic catalysts. Under no circumstances should you hand those over to anyone else. When we get to Wetzlar, I'll merge it into the core of your wand, Natsuki."

"Oh, I see. Thanks!" Natsuki beamed, probably more so at the possibility of seeing the process of wandcrafting then at the possibility of obtaining a stronger wand. "Oh, and also, after we defeated it, we found this underground passage, and there was a glowing cat—"

Suddenly, Agnia's arms went limp, and I could hear the clanking sounds of objects clattering against the floor. She grabbed Natsuki by the shoulders and stared vacantly into her eyes.

"What did you do after seeing that statue?"

"Hm? How did you know it was a stat—"

Natsuki didn't seem to be sensing the overpowering pressure leaking from Agnia. It was a sense of pressure incomparably more intimidating than even that giant direwolf's. But I could feel it, and it bore down on me so heavily that I wanted to do nothing more than turn tail and flee right that moment. However, I couldn't leave Natsuki here alone. So all I could do is hold onto her coat from behind, and quiver.

And as I quivered, Agnia cut off Natsuki's words.

"Answer the question. What did you do after seeing that statue?"

Natsuki's expression darkened. It seems she understood.

"...Yuki had a bad feeling about it, so we just turned back."

Agnia released Natsuki, and collapsed into a nearby bench. "Ah... praise the Lord..."

The sense of pressure sizzled away, and I stepped out from behind Natsuki. "Professor, is that cat dangerous or something?"

Agnia breathed deeply a few times, then, beckoning us closer, spoke in a low voice. "The glowing cats are, to put it shortly, the gatekeepers of Hell. If you had gone past that statue, you would have died."

The gatekeepers of Hell. My fear was correct. There's something supernaturally wrong about that statue, just like fifteen years ago. That fear saved both me and Natsuki.

But Natsuki, unappreciative of the situation, simply tilted her head.

"Wait. That explanation doesn't make any sense. If we had gone past the statue, we would have died. Yuki and I clearly aren't dead, so can't you deduce by denying the consequent that we didn't go past the statue? Why did you need to ask?"

"Naive." Agnia said sharply. "As far as I can see, you are not dying by drowning or starving or burning or freezing or choking or bleeding. But, what about disease? Can you be sure that you are not right now dying by force of an incurable disease? My eyes cannot see diseases. That's why I asked."

Natsuki went silent.

"Um... Professor..." I spoke up. "I get the point, but... since we killed the monster that made a nest in the ruins, anyone can easily get into that underground passageway. Shouldn't we like, do something...?"

"Yes. In fact, we are going to go do something right now. It's time for some on-the-job training."

Agnia stood up, and walked towards the guild office, in the opposite direction from the ruins.