(Wn) Chapter 207 (1/2)

The Black Cat Tribe and the Goddess

We headed back over to Ru to the Goddess

「I aood health」

I’d yet to switch in the Evolution Concealotten, so Ruure out that Fran had evolved

「Nn Thanks」

「And it appears that your evolution came with quite the pleasant surprise…」

Rumina trailed off and and reazed at Fran Her emotions were clear from the look on her face She was both pleased and shocked

「I… I had failed to even fathoerkin」

Honestly, I, as a non-beastkin, didn’t really understand just how erkin, and thus, I didn’t feel the sense of impact that should’ve acco to realize that Ruer Black Catkin a aze

Thinking about it a bit more deeply caused ends, especially seeing as how even Ruerkin

『So what exactly does one need to do in order to evolve into a Black Heavenly Tigerkin in the first place?』

「Hmm… It fortunately appears that I have becoiven her evolution」

Right, I re mention of that

「Black Catkin must fulfill three requireerkin The first two are nuic stats in particular The third is the ability to use Lightning Magic」

Equipping me allowed Fran to fulfill all necessary conditions, especially seeing as howability made it so that my skills were treated as if they were her own

「I never did suspect that you would fulfill all necessary conditions despite my awareness of Master’s abilities Rather, I did not expect the conditions to take the bonuses provided by his abilities into account I believe that you, Fran, are the first Black Heavenly Tigerkin not to be of the royal bloodline」

『You serious?』

「Indeed I a one another was nothing short of a miracle」

『That’s what the Goddess said too』

「You’ have heard the Goddess speak!? Does that mean you have met with her!?」

I once again was left feeling a bit bewildered because of how Ru closer to Fran with her face face painted full of shock But again, I ed toit through Rueon Master, and therefore, one of the Goddess of Chaos’ kin In other words, there was basically no reason for her not to be a devout believer

「Not me Only Master」

「M-Master, could you please elaborate!?」

Though I are of her circu about otten the Black Tigerkin all fired up and excited

Like, seriously, what the hell? I’d been expecting Ruiven that she see the Black Cat Tribe for the past 500 odd years She’d administered a collective punishment that involved pretty much all the tribe’s members despite the fact that many of them them hadn’t deserved to be held responsible In fact, the decision seemed to have been one made and mandated by the former royal family

I decided to ask Rumina for a bit of an explanation, which in turn made her switch to an expression that was much more difficult to read

「I do adht on at least one occasion… However, one reatly from us mortals」

Some Gods, like the God of Nature, were so fundamentally different from the races that they held no tolerance for their actions As a result, the punishments and retributions delivered by Gods like the God of Nature were often considered harsh and unjust

I re mention of stuff like that back on Earth, and so, I honestly wasn’t all that surprised by it I’d heard arded the Gods as unreasonable because the two parties weren’t able to co Thus, different, inhu different, inhu I'd expected from the start

「The Goddess of Chaos is one of theGods, as she shares many a similarity with the mortal races」

The hell’s that supposed to mean?

「It was none other than she that deprived the Black Catkin of their ability to evolve and wiped all memories of their evolutions」

『Wasn’t that just her oppressing you guys?』

「I believe it to be the opposite」

Apparently, the Goddess of Chaos had done a lot for the Black Cat Tribe as a whole Many of the other Gods had deed to talk theet the other Gods to agree to a coe for a difficult trial and the erasure of any and all lory

「The Gods miscommunicated and misunderstood each other They had only robbed the non-beastkin races of their memories The few Black Catkin that had avoided the Gods’ retribution still knew of their evolutionary methods Likewise, the same applied to all the other Beastkin races Thus, the Black Cat Tribe found itself capable of passing on its knowledge through works of literature」

『So how’d all that knowledge and stuff end up getting lost between then and now?』

「That was in fact a result of the actions perpetrated by the new Beast Lord and his subordinates, the Blue Catkin They stole and erased all the literature and records they could while selling the Black Cat Tribe’sany infor to the Black Cat Tribe’s evolutionaryso, prevented our tribe’s newborn e of time amplified the effects of their bans and ultimately eliminated the very notion that we Black Catkin were capable of evolution」

『Alright, I get that I can totally see why you hate both the Beast Lord and the Blue Catkin, and that allI don’t get How do you not resent the Gods for what they’ve done? Like, seriously The Divine Punishuys ended up turning into slaves for as a whole 500 years』

「Don’t understand either」

Fran agreed withthat happened, but Rumina, who happened to know much more than us, didn't

「Undoing the Evil God’s seal and thereby endangering the entire world is an act that merits none other than our tribe’s coiven the choice, I would prefer to describe the span of time that has elapsed as a mere 500 years as opposed to an entire 500 years」

It wasn’t until Ru the entire world that I realized the weight the Black Cat Tribe’s sin, and a bit of further thought led me to realize that 500 years wasn’t actually all thatthere were elves and whatnot

「I would also venture to claim that we, as a tribe, deserved to lose access to the throne and descend into slavery Our behaviour was once nothing short of tyrannical, as evidenced by our downfall We would have been assisted by many a tribe had we been reasonable rulers and beloved by our people I do pity our tribe’s modern members, I lament the need for them to bear their ancestors’ sins, but even so, I harbour only the slightest bit of resentment for the Gods」

She, unlike us, didn’t really feel that the Gods were in the wrong In fact, she seerateful that the Goddess of Chaos hadthe Black Cat Tribe to extinction

「I believe that should function to answer your questions Might you noilling to elaborate on the Goddess’ words?」

I figured that there wasn’t really any point in being all secretive around Ru I'd been told

That said, half the stuff the Goddess told me was stuff she definitely already knew, so I kinda expected the conversation to end up revolving around evolution and the fact that the Goddess had jackedskill

『The weird part is that we’d kinda already defeated so in the past…』

There was no way Rynford wasn’t at least an A ranked threat, and ere 100 sure we killed hi able to evolve in spite of that didn’t really make all that much sense

「Was that act one you accomplished with the aid of any other individuals?」

「Yeah, we had a few other adventurers help us out」

「I believe that is why The condition allows only a single individual to evolve Thus, the curse should only be undone in the case that one functions to defeat an A ranked Evil Being as an individual」

In other words, anyone that wanted to evolve would have to clear the trial's conditions without any help

Ruized to Fran as I shi+fted topics brought up the Black Cat Tribe’s sins

「I am sorry」

「Nn?」

「I was once in a role akin to that of one of the royal family’s advisors Despite my position, I was unable to convince the royal fa so, incurred their displeasure Thus, I was reain eon Master Since then, I have si more」

「Not your fault」

「That is not true, not even in the slightest! It should have been possible for e their minds!」

Ru her, and had likely been on her mind for the entirety of the past 500 years I could tell that she’d been blaht it was her fault, and not the Gods’, that the Black Cat Tribe had been forced to suffer

That would explain why she was so eager and willing to harm herself in order to help Fran evolve She definitely had taken a liking to Fran, but that wasn’t all She’d also wanted to atone

「I would… also like to apologize for putting you in danger’s wake」

Hearing me describe my conversation with the Goddess had caused her to issue yet another apology with her face paled It seeed to incur the Gods’ wrath

「Not your fault No mistakes」

「That is not true My considerations were far too shallow」

The look on her face was terrifyingly sincere

「Iyours is a mistake that that my life alone would not suffice to correct」

「Ru not allowed」

Fran gazed at Ru about Ru hada sense of sorrow

「There was nothing else I could have possibly done for you」

「Don’t need to do anything」

「I…」

「Staying by h」