I started going through Jacque's shambled recollections to see if he had any memories of a cat.

There were many cats in Jacque's memories, but most of the memories were blurry and inadequate. But there was one cat that Jacque remembered clearly.

It was a medium-sized black-furred and fluffy cat with a sweet facial expression and hazel eyes.¹DING! DING! Siberian Cat won!!! It was named Ebony.

It was Jacque's pet cat from the age of six till it died of a disease when he turned thirteen. He was pretty attached to it, so he remembered it vividly even six years after it died.

"I'll pick you, then."

I thought and tried to imagine myself turning into Ebony, the cat.

With the same ease as before, my form twisted and turned. After only 3 seconds, where once stood an Imp, now stood a fluffy cat of similar size.

However, I did notice a particularity. In front of the mirror, my fur was snow-white, similar to my Rat form, and my eyes were of the same bright shade of grey.

"Is there a reason why my color is white by default? Can I change it?"

Thinking to this point, I tried to change the color to black, but it didn't work.

"Weird... perhaps it has something to do with my inexperience as a shapeshifter?"

With only myself as a teacher, I could only leave things at that and move on to other things.

"Now, then. Because shapeshifting only took a few minutes, I now have time to experiment with invisibility."

Thinking up to that point, I tried to use the same method as with shapeshifting. That is, imagining myself turning invisible.

This time, however, I was not as lucky as before. I couldn't will myself to turn invisible. In front of the mirror, I was just as bright-furred and snugly as before.

However, that was within expectations, as shapeshifting was too easy to achieve for my taste.

"From now on, I shall practice turning invisible for one hour per day, assuming I have the leisure. For now, however, I shall use my new form to explore the outside world. But first, I need to do something about Jacque's belongings."

I thought as I stared at Jacque's belongings.

"From Jacque's memories, the place I am in now is an abandoned temple in the middle of the slums, and while the locals believe it to be haunted, I can't guarantee that nobody will enter this room. Also, from his memories, there are hundreds of gold coins inside his purse, a small fortune that can feed a frugal man for years. He also has many other items, including the demonic spellbook, and there is even an item that is worth thousands of gold coins inside, a mithril box the size of a cubic foot."

My gaze then landed on Jacque's purse.

"Also, this enchanted purse only has a temporary enchantment called [Deep Pouch], a 1st-circle ritual spell that expands the inner space of an object while dividing the weight inside to a tenth of the original, up to 200 pounds of items. However, this enchantment only lasts for three days at most. I need to extract and place all the items somewhere safe, but where..."

I began to think as I scanned the rather empty room when my eyes landed on the dilapidated bed frame at the center. Or, rather, I looked at the floor underneath it.

There was a floor teal moved to the side, revealing an empty hole around one cubic foot in size.

A memory surfaced in my mind about it.

"Fixed statue. Ghost. Final Regrets. Reward. Hidden hole in the floor. Mithril box. Sacred Amulet. Hm... this can work."²Reference to Arc 0 Chapter 4

Without any hesitation, I transformed myself back to my Imp form and fished out the small mithril box from inside the purse. Even with my current color-blindness, I could tell that it was a masterful artwork from all the intricate carvings on it.

I then opened the box, revealing a small space inside, and I then took out all of Jacque's gold coins from various containers, about 875 gold pieces. I barely managed to fit them all inside the box, now weighing around 13 pounds, making it difficult for the tiny me to lift it.

Disgruntled, I could only take the gold coins out of the box again, and then place the less-than-two-lb box inside the hole in the floor, a perfect fit. I then took the effort to place all the gold coins inside it again, closed the box, and placed the loose floor teal on top of it, disguising the box and making it almost impossible for anyone to discover it unless they already knew about its existence beforehand.

"Good, I handled the most valuable items. Now I need to take care of the rest of the items. Hm... if memory serves right, there is a wrecked cellar in this temple. Maybe I can hide everything within the wreckage?"

With that thought in mind, I put the rest of Jacque's belongings inside the purse and dragged it outside the wrecked door, entering a large temple hall.

As I entered the hall, I noticed that moonlight shined through some broken windows, making this room dimly lit, instead of the almost complete darkness of the previous room. However, this dim light was like sunlight in my perspective, and I saw this room as if it was brightly lit and full of color.

The windows were cracked or shattered, and the benches were old, broken, rotten, burnt, or even missing. The walls, pillars, and ceiling showed dangerous signs of cracks and burn marks, threatening to collapse. Only the well-made alter was somewhat intact with only a few fine cracks on it. Also, dark patches were staining the floor, pillars, and altar, as if blood has dried on them, and nobody bothered cleaning them up.

"So I CAN see in color. Good. I was beginning to worry I would be stuck being colorblind for life. This place is a shithole, though."

I didn't waste any more time, however, dragging the purse to the temple's cellar. As the cellar was as dark as the room I woke up in, my vision returned to being black and white as I scanned the room.

Broken and rotten wooden barrels and piles of debris filled the room, and there was also a hidden hatch there I remembered being a sort of escape hatch for thieves in this city. Jacque had used it two 10-day-weeks before his death.

The memory of him running for his life in the old sewer system is still fresh in his memories.

Shaking my head from unnecessary thoughts, I started taking Jacque's belongings out of his purse and placed them on the floor one by one. My movement suddenly paused when I took out a thick tome that I recognized as the demonic book that Jacque used before.

I felt two contradictory feelings toward the book. On the one hand, I felt a sense of connection and kinship with it, yet, at the same time, I felt a sense of revulsion and disgust.

"I understand why I feel a sense of connection with it, as I am now a demon, but why do I feel disgusted? Is it because of Jacque? Or something else in play?"

With no one to answer my questions, I could only discard them. I then took all of Jacque's belongings and hid them inside the debris, making sure that even if a thief exits through the escape tunnel, he won't notice the items.

Only then did I heave a sigh of relief and slight exhaustion.

"This will do for now. When I need these items, I can come back to retrieve them."

Nodding to myself, I shapeshifted into cat form and entered the temple again. It was still the dead of night now, with the moon high up in the sky, giving me a vision as clear as day.

I then walked to one of the broken windows and leaped up to the window sill, using my feline claws to cling to it and climb up.

What I saw outside was what you would expect a slum to look like at night. Aside from the dilapidated communal houses and flophouses barely having any lit light, I could hear the sound of bats flapping their wings in the sky and a few rats skittering here and there across the shit-stained street.

However, it did surprise me that the horrible smell of the slums did not affect me at all, as, in Jacque's memories, Jacque was so disgusted with it that he wore a perfumed cloth over his face when he traveled here in disguise.

"Likely my demon physiology at play."

I figured as I started to stroll the night streets.

As I walked, a thought flashed through my mind.

"That reminds me. What happened to the sacred pendant Jacque wore? Was it destroyed? Yeah, probably. He wore it on his neck at the time, so if I can't find it, it is likely destroyed."

However, it was only a thought, and it passed as quickly as it came.

I continued strolling across the night street, occasionally passing by a frightened rat or some drunk homeless guy still holding a bottle.

Suddenly, I stopped my steps, and I smelled something nice. Something delicious. It was calming, soothing even.

"What is that nice smell? Where is it coming from?"

With that thought, I started greedily sniffing the air as I followed the scent to its origin, like a child that smelled fresh cookies.

My fluffy paws quickly led me to an alley, where the pleasant aroma intensified and thickened. With it, a certain noise came within earshot, one that sounded familiar.

Pa* Pa* Pa* Pa*

"Hah! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

The labored breaths of a man and the sound of flesh slapping against one another filled the air.

"Is that what I think it is?"

I asked myself as I walked to check what was going on.

The wonderful smell grew richer and richer as I proceeded deeper into the alley and closer to the sound until I came to a stop in front of something.

Pa* Pa* Pa* Pa*

"Hah! Hah! Take it, you whore! You want my money, right? Then tighten up that loose cunt of yours!"

"Ugh... Yes sir..."

A rough-looking seedy man was impaling a dirty woman on his shaft from behind while vulgarly deriding and humiliating her. The poor prostitute didn't seem to enjoy the deed at all, but she still obeyed the man's commands and desperately tried her best to tighten up her over-used snatch.

As for how I understood their words? It was from Jacque's memories. 

 

"The smell is coming from them! No... From the man, not the woman. Why does he smell so good? He should smell horrible by human standards. It is likely due to my demonic physiology."

I thought to myself as I looked at them while greedily sniffing the nice smell. Somehow, the smell was making me feel more full, if only by a tiny bit.

However, at the same time as I continued to look at the act of debauchery in front of me, two conflicting emotions sprouted within my mind.

"On the one hand, for some reason, I am taking pleasure in watching this man brutalizing this defenseless woman and venting his lust. On the other hand, I feel an even greater sense of loathing toward this act. The first emotion is likely from me being a demon, but what about the other emotion? Is it from Jacque?"

However, although this brought me a great sense of disharmony and contrast, I still didn't plan on going away or doing anything to stop it. I suspected that the smell was coming from the act of the man venting his lust on the prostitute. As for the reason why I didn't get the scent from the prostitute, it is likely because she didn't enjoy the sex.

As I watched the man fucking the woman, a thought sprouted in my mind.

"If this man smells so good, and even the scent is this filling, then how would he taste like? Wouldn't his flesh taste divine? Wouldn't it be really good for me?"

However, as soon as that thought came, my rational mind opposed the idea to the extreme.

"No. Jacque would have been utterly disgusted by the act of eating another man. Even if I am now a demon, eating a person is still evil."

Just as I was in the middle of contemplating the morality of eating a person, the prey in question quickened his pace while panting even heavier.

The woman seemed to recognize what the man was about to do and began to struggle.

"No, wait! Outside! Cum outside! I don't wanna get pregnant!"

"Ha! Ha! Too late, whore! Take it!"

"NO!"

"Ugh!"

However, the man gripped the woman's waist like a vise, unloading his baby juice inside her defenseless womb.

The much weaker woman seemed to have resigned to her fate as she let the man finish unloading himself inside her.

The act of the man forcefully coming inside the woman brought me great displeasure as if something within me greatly hated the act of rape.

On the other hand, when he released his lust, the nice smell that he emitted got even thicker and more delicious. I instinctively breathed in and absorbed the delicious air as much as I could, and as I did, I noticed something happening inside my body.

"I feel myself growing fuller, and even slightly stronger?"

As I thought about it, the man finished unloading himself and pulled out his cum-drenched junk with a nasty plop* outside the prostitute's poor vagina, making some semen drip outside her cunt. The nice smell also greatly dissipated. The prostitute shakily dropped to her knees in fatigue, breathing laboriously.

 

Clatter* Clatter*

"Here, a copper coin. Twice as much as a wretched and useless whore like you deserve, but I feel generous today."

The man rudely dropped four copper coins on the floor, and without caring about the prostitute he cummed and dumped, he walk in my direction, passing by me and completely ignoring my existence.

The woman on the ground wordless stood up and picked up the coins, and only then did she straighten up her messed-up clothes.

"Fucker. Enjoy having Kisser's blight."

She said with a sneer in the seedy man's direction with her middle finger raised.

"Kisser's blight? From Jacque's memories, that is a relatively mild sexual disease that causes the sufferer mild fatigue, fever, and swollen glands until it is cured. She must be a carrier then."

I wasn't afraid of diseases, however, as I was a demon, and demons cant contract mortal diseases. If it was a magical plague, however, one that targeted outsiders, I would probably run as far as my legs can take me.

As I was thinking about it, I saw the dirty and shaky prostitute locking her eyes on me and uttered.

"What a cute cat!"