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For several days, Master of the Ramazit Tower had noticed strange smells in his home. When he sniffed, his nostrils flared and he smelled a whole range of odors.
Is this the smell of wool? But it was warm and no one wore wool... The smell of milk on the sixth floor? But the kitchen was on the third floor...
Rolan began to suspect that something was really wrong when his boots were hit by a suffocating wave of acrid ammonia...
"Zurgan! This must be burned." - He kicked off his boots in disgust. - "I think we should call the ratcatcher."
A few days later, the Archmage was working at his desk in his office. Suddenly, a dozen sharp little needles poked into his tail.
"Aah! What the hell?" - He turned sharply, sparks flying from his eyes.
He saw a little black kitten playing with his tail as if nothing had happened, oblivious to his screams.
"So that's the rat." - He grabbed the kitten by the scruff of its neck and wondered what to do with it.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of women's voices outside the door:
"Where is he?", "Smoky?! Kitty, kitty, kitty."
Lia and Tav burst into the office without knocking.
"Rrr... Rolan? And we, uh..." - Lia failed this improvisation.
"And you're here looking for this monster? Did I get that right?" - he held out his hand with a squeaky lump.
"Rolan, please be gentle with him," - Tav intervened with a guilty look - "his traumatized mother was almost out of milk and we were fed them..."
"Them!? So them... how many of them are there? Do you know what they did to my favorite shoes? Which you gave me by the way?!" - While Rolan was talking, the kitten clung to his sleeve and crawled onto his shoulder.
"Tav, do you smell that disgusting odor? Oh! Of course you don't have the sensitive nose of a tiefling, but believe me, it's ..." - The kitten dozed on Rolan's shoulder and nestled into his neck, its tiny body rumbling and vibrating monotonously.
"What are you doing?" - he asked the furry creature rhetorically. But then he stopped himself. No cat had ever rumbled so close to him.
The Archmage felt a sensation he had never felt before. He began to calm down and didn't want to scream anymore. The kitten's purr worked better than any tea. Rolan got his feline dose of serotonin. And a shoulder massage with his little paws.
"Anyway. Show me how you feed them."