“Let go—!”

I came from this way right? Yeah, this way seems right. I should run into Auden like this.

But what do I do with the siblings after that? I could just let them go. They are no more my responsibility than I am theirs.

“Are you lost?—owowow! Stop~!”

“I’m not lost. Your brother might be though, so I’m just looking for him.”

I figured I should at least bring the two siblings together, one way or another. However, it looks like that emotional wreck lost his way.

Well, I could find him with my sense of smell, so I guess I’ll just head to the main road.

“Can you let go now—?” She complained.

With an exaggerated sigh, I released Elaze’s horn. Following that, the youth reached up to her head, and began poking at the horn on her head. She gave a weird expression that seemed somewhere between confusion and worry.

“Was that not there before?” I asked. She did seem confused about it earlier, didn’t she?

Elaze didn’t bother to gaze my way, and merely shuck her head slightly. “Nope… It feels different from mother’s too,” She said.

Her mother’s? “Your mother has a horn too?” I asked.

“She had 3,” She corrected.

So she’s some kind of fay, then?

I see… A race that develops secondary physical traits later in life. They’re not unheard of, but they are somewhat rare.

But one that grows horns over time?

I have no recollection of such a race. But then, following her appearance, it’s likely a fay tribe from the east. Jenn’s books don’t cover much about the East, and Jenn himself has never travelled that far either, so I don’t know where I could gather information about her race.

I’m curious because I want to know what sort of power this girl has.

She’s a dangerous wildcard until then.

She unlocked some sort of power, and it allowed her to wreak carnage back there. Or at least, I believe it was her. It could have been a monster of some sort—it would explain why there were no other bodies in the area.

But if a monster was willing to eat her pursuers, why not her?

An alternative to the first option is that her power actually vaporized her enemies—which brings me back to her being a dangerous wildcard.

I legitimately don’t want a possible ticking time bomb laying around, who may or may not cause unexpected damage at a moment’s notice. I already have me around.

“So, you two were running away from some people, right?” I asked, deciding to ascertain the situation. “What did they want you and your brother for?” I considered the possibility had to do with the pair being Fay of some kind. However, going by Elaze’s reaction, it wouldn’t have been feasible for people to point them out. That is—unless their mother’s status as a fay became known.

The fact they’re foreigners shouldn’t really factor in. People are certainly xenophobic, but they shouldn’t be chasing them out of a village for that.

But I shouldn’t exclude either option, as it may have involved a xenophobic extremist group.

Wait... I should probably stop guessing these extreme ideas. Next I’ll come to the conclusion that she’s actually an alien princess running away from bounty hunters from another world.

Wait, is she?

As I took a glance over to Elaze, it seemed she was in deep thought, unsure about how to answer my question.

“I have no idea,” She said, after a long pause and a shrug. “I don’t think we did anything to insult anyone. Auden and I just take care of a little shop in Karinth.” She explained. Karinth was the third largest town in Senilea, and largest in the region. So they came from there, huh?

Elaze continued her story.

“But just the other day, a man comes into the shop while I’m in the back, taking care of some chore the manager gave me. He takes a look around and spots Auden. According to him, as soon as they made eye contact, his arm was around Auden’s throat, and asking questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“I dunno. Auden couldn’t remember. That boy gets forgetful when he’s panicked,” She said with a laugh.

“So? What happened?”

Elaze laughed as she remembered the scene. “Well, I heard the commotion. Thought it was someone trying to rob the store, so I did what the manager always said to do in that case, and grabbed a sword.”

“There was a sword lying around the shop you were working at?”

“Of course. It was a weapon smith’s shop,” She stated, as if I was supposed to know that tidbit.

“Anyways,” She continues, ”Big guy doesn’t even notice me as I come into the store from his side. Oh, I was pissed when I saw him holding Auden like that.”

“And you stabbed him?” I asked.

“You ever try stabbing someone with a good cloak of Spirit Force? It’s like poking a rock. I’m not even trained,” She said in a self-deprecating manner.

“So how’d you get away?”

Prompted by my question, Elaze stopped walking, and grinned.

She held her hands before herself, and grasped an imaginary pole—like grasping onto a sword in both her hands. She then pulled back the phantasmal sword, and got into a some-what familiar stance—with her legs apart and the “sword” to the side of her body, she reminded me of a baseball batter, wielding a bat.

“Like this,” She said, as she swung the imaginary sword—bringing it down to the ground, and arcing it back up.

...

…

—A low blow to the groin.

“I felt that,” I said as I crossed my knees, and a shudder traveled up my spine.

“Well, he sure did. For good measure, I went ahead and bashed his head with the sword, before Smith Krook came in after hearing all the noise. He took a look at the nearly unconscious dude on the floor, and then told us to leave, cause there would be more. And there were.”

Oh? A clue then?

“So some sort of gang is after you and your brother?”

“No way,” She denied, before dropping a bombshell of information, “Those were totally Karinth town soldiers.,”

What. Did. You. Just. Say…?

“Ow ow ow, let go! Let go!! Let goooo~!” Elaze shouted as I pulled her horn roughly.

“Hey… Elaze? You’re not some kind of criminal, are you?”

“N-no way! I couldn’t possibly be!” She denied profusely.

“Oh?” I exclaimed exaggeratedly, pulling her horn down below my eye-level. “So there’s no reason that the authorities might want to capture you?”

“W-well…” So there is something!? “Ow ow! Don’t yank it like that!” She cried.

“Well you see, I’m in something of a pinch, aren’t I? Abiding a criminal can be a crime itself, you know?”

“N-no! You’re wrong. There’s no way they could have known about the scam,” She suddenly said.

“Scam?” I asked.

“F-first, let go,” She pleaded with teary eyes.

I looked at her with scrutinizing eyes. What am I to do?

Simply put, both of them were brats. Elaze and Auden. Or rather—they’re teenagers. Effectively troublemakers by nature. This society doesn’t have the concept of a “teenager”, so they’re technically both adults now, but Auden is an emotional wreck, and I can already tell Elaze can’t keep her hands to herself.

She mentions a scam, and it hardly surprises me.

However, why would they injure her to such a degree for something like a child’s scam?

If what she says is true, then there’s an issue with the story somewhere.

What’s missing?

With some reluctance, I released Elaze’s horn, and turned my eyes forward. As I began walking, I waved my hand for her to follow.

“So? Tell me what else you have to say?”

“Auden!” Elaze shouted excitedly as her brother came into view.

The boy had somehow gotten so far off track, that when I came upon his scent and began tracking him, we found ourselves making circles, and even coming upon the road, multiple times.

His sense of directions were so skewed, that he actually ended up walking towards Karinth.

And as we came upon the boy who was wandering aimlessly through the forest, I found myself witness to the reunion of these twins.

I learned from Elaze’s story that the two were actually fraternal twins. They didn’t quite know their father, but their mother took care of them until a few years ago, when she died from sickness. A crowded orphanage took care of them until several months ago, when they decided to take care of themselves, and were hired by an old Smith willing to teach Auden the trade, and kept Elaze around to do miscellaneous tasks.

That said, it’s not easy to live like that, so Elaze began scamming people on the streets to make enough to live. How much exactly? She wasn’t specific about it, but she sweared that it shouldn’t have been enough to kill her over, and that she was subtle enough, that she figured the city guards wouldn’t notice.

As I considered the information, I called out to the siblings.

“Ok, so I helped you two back together. Let’s get moving,” I said casually.

Elaze looked to me as she hugged her brother, and questioned, “Where too?” The two didn’t have many other places to go to. They didn’t know their father, and any family on their mother’s side would be completely unknown.

It’s not as though I could take them in; I live outside because I feel like it, but I doubt the two would adapt to just sleeping out in the forest with me. It probably wouldn’t be very polite to just ask the villagers back in Ohen to take care of them either.

So, I can’t just take care of them like nothing, can I?

Well, I probably could, if I had people build me something like a shrine or temple, but I feel that I would hate myself for ordering something silly like that.

However, I had to do something.

“To Karinth,” I said.

Elaze scowled at me for even suggesting returning there.

“Weren’t you listening? People want to kill us there!” She said, breaking away from Auden, who was still processing the reunion.

“Yes, and I can reason with them,” I explained. “I am a Fox Spirit, after all? We’re sort of a big thing, around here.”

Elaze opened her mouth to retort, however it was Auden who spoke up first. “Umm… Thank you for helping my sister,” He began in a low voice, avoiding eye contact with me as his face turned red. “But, when is the last time you were in Karinth?”

“Never,” was my answer.

Auden nodded, and explained.

“A few years ago, I think, you could have walked into Karinth, and asked for a throne in your honor,” he said, fidgeting with his fingers. “But Lein outlawed worship of other spirits,” He explained.

I see. So, only worship Lein himself, huh?

But, Lein has subordinates that are Spirits, too. So it’s not like I’d be hanged or anything like that for just walking in.

“And? I’m sure I can weasel my way in, and ask about your situation.” If it’s a natural born Senilean, then I can’t imagine they would deny a Fox Spirit. A ban on worship rarely kills a religion in just a handful of years.

Besides, this situation is bugging me. I want to know why these two are being pursued. Or perhaps, I’m just curious in the… potential of these twins…

“And if you can’t find out anything?” Auden asked worried.

“Well, if things go sour, I could probably protect you long enough to get you some place safe,” I said with a shrug. It couldn’t be that hard to watch after some brats.

Ah… I made another promise…

Elaze seemed to calm down from seeing her brother try to talk to me with a beat red face. With her own pale face and blue eyes, she looked at me and asked, “Why would you help us?”

Good question…

“Dunno… Bored I guess?”

Author Notes:

I'm alive! Mostly. I just finished writing, and decided now (4 in the morning) was as good a time to post a chapter as any other.

Anyways, this took a while for me to post. There are a number of reasons for the delay.

There were like, two or three versions of this chapter, and I really wasn't sure how to write it. On top of that, I lost a TON of motivation soon after posting chapter 32. And then I was dragged onto a cruise a week ago, so I did have some time constraint. But mostly it was motivation. I know where I want to take the story, but I have trouble typing it all down.

Anyways, there's something I want to clarify. It seems that there's a slight bit of confusion, because of the uneven cast of characters. I've avoided answering questions about it in the past, partly because I wasn't sure myself, and partly to just keep it ambiguous. But I think I need to clarify now, before my motivation gets shot again.

There won't be a harem. While it seems I've already surrounded Toyaru with a few girls, I don't actually plan to give him something like a harem. Why? No particular reason. I guess I'm tired of writing about harems, while not actually having the skill to flesh out more than one girl anyways.

If there's any sort of romance... Well, I'll just let people keep guessing.

On another note, sinyueliang drew our little shota kitsune, Toyaru!

Spoiler :

As someone else wisely said, "The 'kawai as fuck' level on that is over 9000!" (paraphrasing, of course)

And as always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated and encouraged!

Leave a review or comment to let me know what you think of the story, and how I can improve!