18 Catmod

The situation between the two magicians became a bit awkward after the elimination of the Qlipoth. It's a bit sudden for the two to suddenly get some misunderstanding after one work and the current situation is pretty troublesome that any little irk happening between the two would cause the situation to worsen. Kazuma has no idea what to do next especially since Kazuma generally avoids confrontations and troubles from his peers.

"Hey, cut me some slack alright? I am still starting out in this job and besides, you were the first to leave me without even saying anything. If you have told me the plan in the first place, then we will not have this kind of complication in the first place!" Kazuma clicks his tongue, frustrated by how Moonlight is quite disappointed in his actions.

"Just because you don't know the plan doesn't mean you should charge ahead and do it yourself. As I said before, we are a team, we don't compete on who kills it first which is why I am disappointed."

Kazuma has no idea what to say to Moonlight anymore. For him, he just did what was currently the best option. As for Moonlight, it seems she is more well-versed in teammates who already know how they act and seems to have forgotten about Kazuma being a newbie.

Just as it seems like the situation is going to be overwhelming for them and anytime a spark might cause a fire between the two, someone decided to intervene.

"You two, I guess it's time to stop. Go back to the clubroom and we will discuss this matter there."

The two were surprised, but as soon as Moonlight saw a black cat currently licking his paws, she immediately recovered. However, Kazuma who just started out started looking around, trying to find who was speaking.

"Who's there?!" Kazuma almost panicked.

"Hey, Malkuth Trainee, here, look over here. It's me speaking."

Kazuma traced the source of the voice and soon, his eyes landed on the black cat perched on the wall.

"A-are you the one speaking?" Kazuma asked.

"You might be called a weirdo for speaking with a cat but yes. I am the one who is indeed speaking."

Kazuma was totally surprised and backed off for a bit after the cat started speaking. "T-the c-cat is talking!"

Moonlight immediately stepped in to explain. "Don't be surprised by this. He is an important member of the club. And although he is a cat, he is a highly respectable cat. Don't worry too much about him. Anyways, let's go back. It's getting late and it's much better if we wrap things out.

Moonlight nodded and she followed the cat who nimbly jumped off the wall and walk off in the distance, leaving Kazuma a bit confused about what is going on. But he soon recovered from that and followed the two back to the club room.

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"And so, it's my late introduction to you, but I am the moderator of the group chat, and also the sub-leader of the club room. You can say that I manage and handle things here whenever Mr. Voltaire and his wife are not around to handle things. Although my current name as a cat is Luther, I am called Catmod in this club so it would be best to call me Catmod but it's also fine to call me Luther. Whichever suits you, it's fine," Catmod introduced himself while sitting at the table, licking his paws nonchalantly.

"When you said earlier that there is one more member that I didn't know, you mean Catmod?" Kazuma asked.

Voltaire nodded. "Indeed. Because of Catmod's survey job around the campus, he didn't get to come back during lunchtime. However, thanks to his survey results, we have found the latest Qlipoth you guys have destroyed. And that's a good thing that the Qlipoth has yet to enter the maturity stage and has yet to consume malice that will become big trouble in the near future. Without his help, we are just going to face the demons a lot sooner than we should and we will face them in dangerous forms."

"My work is much harder to do by humans as they are more susceptible to the Qlipoth's detection. Since I am a cat, I am capable of bypassing that, making me a very valuable asset in locating Qlipoths that have been forming left and right or are just about to form," Catmod proudly added.

Catmod then turns to Kazuma and Moonlight who are now under his scrutiny.

"I heard a promising new magician appeared and so I thought it would be good to see how good he was. I can see his potential, but he is still so lacking in multiple departments and one of them is teamwork. You two are too sloppy during both works and I must say that if not for the swift destruction of the Qlipoth, you two would either be dead or in a big pinch right now. And I am not happy about it."

Catmod went down from the table and climb on the chair that Moonlight is sitting in. "Moonlight, I expected more from you, being the senior magician. But your selfish behavior seems to have acted once more. I don't mind you being selfish or loner from time to time but when you team up with someone, talk with your partner or groupmates, and perhaps the trouble that happened today won't happen again."

Moonlight didn't say anything and only lowers her head, probably due to the shame of being reprimanded by a cat in front of everyone. Catmod looks at Kazuma before jumping to the chair he was sitting in and climbing on his shoulders.

"You are still quite a newbie in this line of work and you are brash but I can understand that. However, you are also like Moonlight, both of you have loner tendencies. You should have realized immediately before attacking that there is a chance your companion will attack as well. You should've waited for your companion to appear, observe the enemy and fight it out together even if you both have complicated personalities. So for now, this performance will be marked an F. Do it better next time, and perhaps my view of you would get a bit better."

Voltaire shook his head but he still decided to give out the result of the request.

"Well, even if you guys have misunderstandings right now, you guys still managed to eliminate the Qlipoth, therefore, that is still counted as a mission complete. However, next time, if you two are going to team up once again, be sure to talk properly and don't just think for yourselves. Anyways, with the problem solved, everyone is dismissed. Good work everyone."

Hearing that, the rest of the club members left, leaving only Kazuma, Moonlight, and Catmod who is currently licking his paws while glancing at the two. Moonlight was the first to stand up from the two. Carrying her Katana, she looked at Kazuma and shook her head before heading out.

Kazuma can only sigh in disbelief. His first job of cooperating with someone and he already made someone mad at him. Although he is not affected by it that much, she is someone who he will get to be a someone who will join on requests. If their first impression is already a rocky start, it's gonna be hard later on.

"Ugh... this is the worst..."

Kazuma got up as well and left, carrying his bag. He is exhausted and perhaps only the warmth of home might change everything. He left the clubroom, with only Catmod remaining.

Catmod yawned, looking at the doorway where Kazuma and Moonlight left before he slowly turn transparent and disappeared.