Lumina approached Fran before I could answer. “You’ve…evolved…” She stared at Fran. Her eyes were red with happy tears.
“Thanks.”
“Even so…this is—” Lumina fell silent. She examined Fran from the tip of her ears to her fingernails. “No… did you…? You’re a Black Sky Tiger!”
I didn’t know what the big deal was, but the Black Sky Tiger was legendary among beastmen. Lumina herself was a mere Black Tiger. She gazed at Fran with respect. The Black Sky Tiger Evolution was definitely a bigger deal than I thought.
What are the requirements to turn into a Black Sky Tiger?
“Hm? It looks like I can tell you, now that Fran has evolved.” The goddess had made good on her word. “Thunder Magic, along with sufficient Agility and Magic.”
Fran met those criteria as long as she equipped me. Then again, Skill Sharing allowed my skills to be her skills, to the point that they could be used for special Evolution.
“I didn’t think you could fulfill these requirements, even with Teacher’s help. You might be the first Black Sky Tiger outside the royal family.”
Okay, that’s impressive.
“Indeed. It is a miracle that Fran managed to meet you.”
You know, the goddess said the same thing.
Lumina’s eyes went wide in shock. “The goddess said…? Did you meet her?!”
“What happened, Teacher?” Fran asked.
“Yes! What happened?”
I told them everything as Fran and Lumina crowded over me. Lumina’s excitement was palpable, but she didn’t look like she held any resentment for the goddess. I thought she would’ve hated the gods for cursing her tribe…but I suppose they brought the curse upon themselves.
Lumina scrunched up her face when I asked about that. “I am not without resentment…but the minds of the gods can see further than man’s.”
There were gods who were fundamentally different from humanity, such as the nature gods. The punishment these gods dealt was inevitably inhuman. I had heard similar tales back on Earth, and it was magnified here, where the gods were unambiguously real. Their vast minds were too much for humanity to grasp.
“More to the point,” said Lumina. “The Goddess of Chaos is among the more humane.”
She is?
“She was the one who took away the Evolution of the Black Cats and wiped the memory of their crime and their curse from the other races.”
I don’t see how that’s supposed to be merciful.
“But it is.”
While the other gods were calling for the extinction of the Black Cat tribe, the Goddess of Chaos insisted on the lighter punishment of removing Evolution. Harsh as her punishment was, it was better than being wiped out.
Why wasn’t that knowledge passed on to the current generation of Black Cats?
“Because of the Blue Cats and the new royal family. They destroyed the chronicles of our Evolution, enslaved the Black Cat tribe, and forbade anyone from talking about Black Cat Evolution. The knowledge of the conditions was never passed down, and the new generation eventually forgot that they could evolve at all.”
The gods might have instigated their divine punishment, but the reigning royal family and the Blue Cats made the situation worse.
That doesn’t change the fact that the gods were the one who punished you. Don’t you resent them for letting the Black Cats be enslaved?
Fran looked at the floor. “I didn’t know.”
This was the first time she had heard the reason her tribe could not evolve, and she was conflicted. The Black Cats were partly to blame for committing such a great sin, but it was understandable she might resent the gods for burdening her with a debt she hadn’t directly incurred.
Lumina shook her head. “It’s a miracle that the Black Cats were allowed to exist after unleashing the power of the Evil One. The gods sealed him away for a reason, and the Black Cats endangered all living things. Remember that it has only been five hundred years.”
The world could’ve ended five hundred years ago. To an elf, that was a short time.
“Besides, the usurpation and slavery of the Black Cats were only the fallout of our transgression. If our rulers had been kind and just, the other beast tribes would’ve come to our aid. I am ashamed that our children have to bear the burden of our sin…but I do not resent the gods for what they did.”
If anything, Lumina felt indebted to the Goddess of Chaos for preventing the extinction of her race.
I told Lumina and Fran about the rest of my conversation with the goddess, although Lumina already knew most of the information. I skipped the part where the goddess took away Awaken, and talked about Evolution instead.
We’ve beaten an A-Threat Fiend before, but…
Linford of Bulbola was at least an A-Threat, so why didn’t Fran evolve?
“Did you do it alone?”
“We had help from other adventurers.”
“There’s the problem. To break the curse, you must defeat an A-Threat Fiend entirely on your own.”
Fran needed to solo the thing. Lumina suddenly bowed her head.
“I apologize.”
“Hm?”
“I used to be an advisor to the royal family. I was dismissed after failing to convince the king to refrain from his crimes. I became an adventurer, came to this land, and eventually became a Dungeon Master.”
“But it’s not your fault.”
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if I had stopped them!”
Lumina had been carrying this burden for five hundred years. The Black Cat tribe might not be in such a sorry state if she had stopped them. She blamed herself more than she did the gods, which was why she put her life on the line to help Fran evolve. She enjoyed Fran’s company, but more than that, I think she was looking for a chance to atone.
“I put your life in grave danger…” She knew that the gods might have punished Fran for the things that she had done. She turned pale and bowed her head.
“It’s not your fault, Lumina.”
“I wasn’t thinking.” Her expression was grim. “I care not for my own destruction. But if anything were to happen to you, even death would be insufficient penance!”
“Lumina, please don’t die.” Fran looked at her with sorrowful eyes. She had
