Part Seventeen

I’d taken the next ten minutes to scavenge the bodies of the Mivians for anything of value. Most of what they had on them was just poorly-made jewelry, though that could be useful in its own right. There were a few accessories that looked promising, as well as the Sorcerer’s staff.

Knelsham-Bone Staff

Rank: B

Effect: Increases the potency of all Magics, Reduces the mana cost of all Magics, Provides a bonus to Mana Recovery when wielded,

Description: A staff made from the bones of a juvenile Knelsham, one of the lesser Draconic species. As a Knelsham's bone marrow serves as additional mana circuits, items made from their bones serve as excellent catalysts for casting. In addition, a Aether Core has been attached to further boost the staff's effects.

I have to ask this. Where the heck did those Mivians get this? I’m not sure how it compares to Kalia’s Whitewood Staff, but even I can feel the energy in this thing. No wonder the Sorcerer’s spells were so potent.

Much like its name suggested, the staff looked like someone had taken a bone and turned it into a staff, though since it was for a Mivian, it was more of a wand to me. Intricate glyphs were carved along its length, and a large clear crystal was set into the top of it. That was probably the Aether Core the description mentioned, though I didn’t know what that or a Knelsham were. Not that I cared right now.

I’ll have to see if Kalia wants this thing. She’s pretty attached to her Whitewood Staff though, so she may turn it down. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. Now, what to do with you.

“Kuu!”

The fox had been patiently waiting for me to finish what I was doing, its tail wagging the whole time. But now that I’d turned to address it, it was once again barking at me for attention.

Considering that it had apparently managed to infiltrate the Mivians' barriers and kill them, it was obvious that it wasn’t a normal fox. Not that I’d ever believed that for a second. After all, normal foxes don’t mysteriously wind up on top of you out of nowhere. It must’ve used the same ability then as it used to kill the Mivians. Which meant….

“Are you a Shadow Fox? Because you look like one, but definitely don’t act like one. And Analyze isn’t reacting to you. Ugh, I don’t know. I feel like I shouldn’t keep you around if you’re just going to turn feral at some point, but what if you don’t? There’s already magical metals, so why can’t there be magical animals? Is that what you are? Some kind of magical, hyper-intelligent fox?”

“Kuu?”

“Uh, was that too complex for you?”

“Ku.”

“I see. Well then, are you like the things I ask you to hunt?”

“Ku. Ku ku kyu ku ku kuku kyuku.”

“……….Yeah, I got nothing from that. Haaaah, fine. You can stay for now. But make one wrong move and I won’t hesitate to cut you down. Got it?”

“Ku! Kuu ku kuu!”

Haaaah, maybe the others will have an idea. I can’t say for certain that it is a monster, but neither can I fully deny it. I mean, it did help me out there, and its been fully cooperative with me, so I’d feel pretty bad if I just killed it for nothing. Plus I’ve never seen a case where the System has allowed a monster to avoid Analyze yet. It might fail on some, but it’s never just not worked before. So it’s either not a monster, or the System’s failing. The latter's too scary to think about, so I’ll go with the former for now.

“Okay. After all that, I think I’ve had enough for today. Let’s head back.”

“Kuu!”

***

“How about…Conrad?”

“Kuuuu. Ku.”

“Uh, Walter?”

“Ku-uu.”

“Haaaaaah, then….Sean?”

“KUUUUUUU!”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want that name either. I just, don’t really know any names that fit for a fox. Oh, how about Fitch?”

“Ku.”

On the way back to the base, I’d grown tired of calling it the fox, so I’d finally decided to settle on a name. I’d also done what I’d needed to do to determine its gender, so that happened too. Now I just needed a name for him. But again, I just couldn’t come up with one he liked. I’d already tried all the male fox names I could remember from TV shows and movies (which hadn’t been that many), and now I was trying human names that seemed foxy. Which was different from how that was normally used.

“Well, unless you want to be known as Swiper, I suggest you pick one of the others. Because if we go with that, you’ll have to run off whenever someone says ‘Swiper, no swiping' three times. It’ll be a huge pain in the butt if that happens.”

“Kuuu?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t get that reference either if I were you. It’s before your time. Or, currently your time. How old are you?”

“Kuuu. Kyu ku, ku ku.”

“Uh-huh. Okay, this conversation has officially crossed the line from weird, to downright strange. Hm, okay, one last try. How about Regis?”

“Ku? Kuu. Kuuu. Kyuuuu. Kuuuu~!”

“Wait, that last one was a happy sound. Do you actually like that name!?”

“Kuu ku. Kuu.”

“Well I’ll be. Alright then. Now that that’s done, could you get off my shoulder? You’re not a parrot, and I’m not a pirate.”

“Ku.”

“Haaaaaah, you’re a bigger pain in my neck than I’d thought you’d be. Then could you at least stop barking in my ear?”

“Kuu.”

“Okay, just make me half-deaf then. Haaaah, you’re lucky you’re cute.”

At least we’d finally settled on a name for him. It wasn’t the best I could come up with, but it was better than Swiper at least. Actually, that could’ve been kinda funny now that I think of it. Is it too late to go back?

“You know, it’s kind of quiet now. I can’t even hear any bugs or birds anymore. Surely the monsters haven’t eaten all of them, have they? Actually, do they eat bugs? Huh. I never thought about that.”

“Ku?”

“Oh, just ignore me. I do this from time to time. You’ll probably get used to it eventually.”

“Kuu.”

“Why? Well it’s probably just to help me pass the time. I spend a good deal of each day either walking places or waiting for things to happen, so I need to think things in order to not lose what sanity I have left. I mean, seriously. I’m talking to a semi-intelligent fox like it’ll actually be able to follow along with what I’m saying.

“Kuuuuu?”

“Oh look, other people I can talk to instead of the weird fox sitting on my shoulder. Let’s go talk to them so I no longer feel like I have to fill all this silence with inane babble.”

“Kuu?”

After a totally-not-weird-at-all conversation with my pet fox, I happened to notice Gwyn and Gwen coming out of a nearby house. The two of them had clearly just been fighting, as their weapons were out and there was blood on their armor.

Huh, Gwen switched weapons again. Is that…a lance? Like what a jouster would use? It is a bit shorter than I’d expect, but shouldn’t that be harder to use off of a horse? At least the shield makes some sense. Maybe it works for her.

“Oh, Michael. Are you heading back to the base?”

“Yep. I ran into something with more resistance than I expected, so I decided I was done for the day. Also, this fox is a pain in the butt.”

“I see. Then are you going to let it go?”

“…Nah. Not after I went to the trouble of naming him. Say hello Regis.”

“Kuu? Kuu ku kyu!”

“Nice to meet you too, Regis. I hope for long and prosperous relationship with you.”

“Kuu?”

“You two are being fuckin' weird. Its just a fox. Do you really think it can understand you?”

“Well, considering that it may actually be a monster, it might be able to. It certainly seems to know when I’m talking to it.”

“I know we floated the possibility of that, but why do you sound so certain now? I was under the impression that you had yet to decide what it was.”

“Yeah, that was before it assassinated a couple monsters on its own.”

I then proceeded to explain to them what happened with the Mivians, as well as everything leading up to that fight. Regis also helped by barking at opportune moments, further demonstrating his intelligence. It was also adorable.

“Hrm, so you think he’s a Shadow Fox?”

“Or something similar at least. He’d need some kind of movement Skill or magic of his own to get around those barriers. I also can’t see those Mivians just letting him get close, unless they couldn’t see him. I already know that they weren’t exactly observant, so a Shadow monster could have easily ambushed them without getting caught.”

“And yet, Analyze still doesn’t react to him. Peculiar. I’d begun to think that that Skill may be the one constant within this strange and unpredictable world we now live in, and yet it fails us now.”

“To be fair, whatever Regis is may just be new to us, but not the System. After all, Analyze doesn’t work on people or animals. He might just be the magical equivalent to an animal.

“That….would be one explanation. It’s too bad he can’t explain it himself.”

“He tried. Its just too complicated a topic to convey with barks and yips. All I know is he seems to know what he is, and that he also likes me for some unknown reason. Oh, and he’s insatiable when it comes to food. I think he ate like thirty Vormice when I took him back to that nest I burned when we were done. Little glutton.”

“Kuu?”

“Wow, that’s…a lot. Will we be able to feed him?”

“I think it’ll be fine. I’ll just let him gorge himself on whatever we kill, and that’ll probably be okay. Feeding him elsewhere could be a problem, but here it shouldn’t be.”

“Ah, okay then.”

“So, what were you two up to?”

“My sister was complaining that the magic exercises she was taught were too hard for her, and that quote ‘sitting on her ass all day was going to make her lazy and fat'. So I conscripted her into an impromptu hunting mission. Which I dare say was a major success.”

“Huh. You know, between the five of us, we might actually depopulate this town if we stayed here much longer.”

“Hahah, I suppose we would. Not that that’s much of a feat when the town was nearly empty when we got here. Speaking of, have you seen any other signs of suspicious activity?”

“Not really, though there was those Mivians, but they could’ve just migrated in from somewhere else. I have been finding more of those miniscule Gems of Hatred, which is a big help as they’re necessary for a spell I want to try out.”

“Ah, that’s right. You also have a Grimoire. If only I was as lucky.”

“Huh? Wait, does that mean…? I guess you did hang around Kalia for a while. It would only make sense for you to have Awakened at some point. Can I ask what kind of magic you got?

“You can, though it’s nothing special. My school is called Reinforcement Magic and according to Kalia, it focuses on just that, reinforcing things.”

“Reinforcing? So it...repairs stuff?”

“Aha, while I can see why you made that connection, it’s actually much simpler. It seems to simply strengthen something’s innate qualities, like enhancing the sharpness of a weapon or the toughness of a shield. Though I can’t say for certain as I’ve only discovered two spells even after all my efforts. How Kalia managed as many as she did is beyond me.”

“Yeah. I didn’t really realize just how amazing that was until I actually started learning magic myself. Some of the spells I’m trying are hard enough even with my Grimoire. I don’t know how she did it, but….”

“She truly deserves to be called a prodigy, if only she could see that too.”

“Why are the two of you kissing her ass when she’s not even here? Fuck. If you’re gonna stand around, then I’m goin' on ahead. I don’t have time for this shit.”

She stormed off before either of us could reply.

“…..Is…she always like that? So easily…annoyed?”

“Mn, mostly. Though I believe it’s gotten worse the last several weeks. Giver her time. She’d nearly achieved one of her dreams, only for it to be cruelly ripped away. Plus she’s also struggling to become stronger. Anyone would be irate in her place. Honestly, she’s coping with it a lot better then I expected her to.”

“I see. She does know that this isn’t a sprint, but a marathon, right? It’s been nearly five months since I hit C-Rank, and I still haven’t gotten to the next one. Even getting this far won’t be easy.”

“…Five months? But that would be….. She’s always been impatient. Like I said, give her some time and she’ll cool off. She’s rather affable once you actually get to know her.”

“I guess. It’s not like I’m the easiest person to get along with.”

“I don’t think you should out yourself down like that. You may be than little rough around the edges,, but that doesn’t make you hard to get along with. On the contrary, I find you to be rather agreeable, if a bit hot-headed. You clearly care about Alicia and Kalia, and are even willing to listen to things that make you uncomfortable. Those are admirable traits from someone in your position.”

“Uh...thanks? ……I’m just….gonna go over….there now. Uh, bye?”

“Hahahahahaha.”

“Kuu? Kuuuu!”

I’d run off so quickly that Regis fell off of my shoulder, and had to scramble after me to catch back up. Something about hearing such honest praise had set off a weird reaction in me, and I’d just needed to get away.

Gah! Emotions, my one true weakness! Must, find, things, to kill, to suppress, emotions. Or maybe just…something to drink. Haaaaah, and I don’t even like alcohol. I just need a drink.