Alpy376

Sorry for the delay, I've been pretty busy lately. I'll still try to keep up the schedule, but as you all saw the past two times I should have released, it might not always be possible. Thank you to those of you who have been patient with me, and enjoy the (admittedly shorter than I had hoped) chapter.

Only a few short minutes after the meeting room was emptied, my companions entered and we began our discussion, starting with a summary of foxkin's more recent past. Essentially, the foxkin used to be divided into four different tribes: Fire, Frost, Lightning, and Earth. Since magic is easily influenced by the people and land in the place someone is raised, then somebody born with the ability to use magic would nearly always be attuned to that of their home, but outliers like Freiya who use other kinds exist as well. 

That said, the chief families of each tribe would have a hereditary magic pertaining to their village's element. The Fire tribe had Sacred Fire magic alongside regular Fire. The Frost tribe had Frost magic and the Ice division of Water. The Lightning tribe had nearly no mages, but their chiefs could use Lightning magic. The Earth tribe had Ore and regular Earth magic.

The hero who recently saved the foxkin from some kind of calamity - one of which I was not given the details about - aided in the founding of the United Tribes, and when that happened the members of the former tribes all came here to the former Fire tribe's village. The old Frost village is to the east, and that's where the chief is being held captive by Shadows. 

After the brief history lesson, Kinokara kicked off the real discussion.

“So, the Frost village. If I remember right, the buildings are all packed together. Wouldn't that make combat harder for us?”

“Yes. I grew up there, so I know my way around. For anyone else though, it'd be easy to get lost even without the current circumstances. It may end up easier if we took less people…” When she said that, Freiya turned to my teammates. “You two may need to stay back here. Will you be fine with that?”

Rick simply nodded with a grunt, but Luci put some extra effort in her answer. 

“First, I want to know if you and Kinokara can keep up with Mira in a fight.”

“Mhm. You've probably heard rumors that Mind magic isn't useful in combat, but those are just rumors. And Kino's no pushover when it comes to her swordsmanship either. In short, we can.”

“Hm… Alright then, I'll trust you on that. As long as you bring Mira back to us safely, then I'll stay behind.”

“Thanks for understanding, little Dell.”

I almost forgot that Luci and Freiya already knew each other. Maybe I should use that nickname sometime…

“It's probably best to leave as soon as possible. We can discuss more on the way. Kino, Mira, are you ready?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Then let's go.”

Freiya stood and walked towards the door, and I quickly followed her. Kinokara was right behind me. We ended up finding Adrian to have him drive us in the wagon he brought my party here in. We climbed in the back and we're already heading out less than an hour after walking through the village. As we did so, I noticed small strange doors a short walk away from the shrine in the central plaza. The doors didn't lead anywhere; not into a building, and not even through a wall. I was about to ask about the random gate as we passed through the larger one that led out of the village, but Freiya broke the silence before I could.

“Okay, we have plenty of time until we're there, but I think it's best to start discussing the village and how we plan about doing this now.”

“I agree. It's probably best for Mira to know the basic layout of the village, and I only went the one time, so I could use a refresher as well.”

“I second that.”

“Okay then, that's good. I doubt you'll have trouble with the layout because of where you're from, but you, Mira, might have some trouble. I doubt you've heard this word before, but the Frost village would be what's called a ‘city.’”

“Ah. So it's basically just a really big village?”

Freiya seemed shocked for a moment.

“I'm surprised you know what that means… Unfortunately, no. It's not the size I refer to, but the tightly packed buildings. I'm sure you've noticed that the village we just left had a lot of room to walk around, but it'll be a little difficult to move around in the Frost village unless you're sticking to the main street. Of course, we won't be going through there.”

Kinokara - seemingly understanding of the previous statement - responded.

“I take it the street's gonna be packed then? We'll have to find our way through less conventional paths then.”

“Yes. We'll still be seeing some combat, but they simply won't be able to fit many enemies where we're going. It's probably best to save Mira's mana until we figure out what led the Shadows to abduct the chief.”

“So we're thinking there's something bigger in play? Like maybe a Goliath or something controlling them that I'll need to fight at some point.”

“If I could tell you that, I would, but it's best to not take any chances.”

“Okay. So we'll just have to follow you around until we find your chief?”

“Mhm. You and Kino will be following behind me through the village. I'll be leading us with my Mind magic, and if it works properly, we'll be able to avoid combat entirely until we reach our destination.”

“What spells are you going to use?”

“Curious are you? Greater Illusion. It's a fifth tier spell, and with it I can create just about any kind of illusion I want. I'll be making us completely invisible and undetectable to the Shadows if that answers your question.”

“I probably sound like I'm interrogating you or something right now, but I have just one more question.”

“Ask away, we have time.”

“You said before that you're at the sixth tier in Mind magic, so I was wondering if you could teach me when we get back. I have plenty of money saved up, so I don't really care about how much you're asking.”

“Hm… I'm not concerned about how much you can pay… I'll think about it. For now, we need to make sure we can ‘get back’.”

“Right, I understand.”

She must not be very confident about teaching people, then. There wasn't much else to discuss in terms of our plans, so we spent the next while getting to know each other.

Kino - she insisted that I call her that - took a while to tell me about her brother, who's name is one that I've heard several times already: Kenshi Ryuto. From what I gathered, he was an amazing person. When the four Kitsune tribes were threatened recently, Kenshi was the first to take action, taking up his sword to protect the Fire village when a fateful encounter with the chief cost the lives of his parents. He failed to save the former Fire chief - the father of the current one - but he was able to save the rest of the village. After traveling between the other villages, he managed to bring them all together as one, and that's how we now have the ‘United Kitsune Tribes.’ Finally, while he didn't survive the fight against the leader of his enemies, neither did his opponent, so he was successful in the end.

Otherwise, the only truly notable things Kino told me were how they spent nearly his entire life learning swordsmanship together, and that he was the only person before me who could use all six elemental magics. Kino said that she'll show me the shrine dedicated to him when we get back, although I do wish he was still around so I could meet him. He seemed like he was a really nice guy.

When the sky began to turn red at sunset, Adrian stopped the wagon.

“This is as far as I go. The village isn't much further. Good luck, and make sure you come back here at a reasonable time.”

“Of course, thank you. Mira, Kino, let's go.”

Freiya jumped out of the wagon, and the two of us remaining weren't far behind. 

“Stay close to me. From here on out I'll be using Greater Illusion to mask our sound and make us invisible, but be careful not to be spotted anyway.”

““Got it.””

Freiya's eyes began glowing again as she began her incantation, similarly to when she used Clairvoyance.

“I call upon you, Lord of Mind! Grant me your supreme power of deceit! To protect my allies, and to manipulate my enemy, your power is second to none! Greater Illusion!”

When she finished, her eyes stopped glowing as if nothing even happened. She turned and started walking down the road, and Kino and I wasted no time in following. After a while of walking, the sun was already gone, leaving us in darkness. As I could just barely make out traces of a village up ahead, we left the road and entered the forest. 

“Listen up. Just a little ways down the wall, there is a large crack that someone could barely squeeze through. There was a guard stationed to watch it until we could get it repaired, but those repairs never happened, and I'm guessing whatever’s in charge of these guys doesn't know about it. That's going to be our entrance.”

We nodded in silence, and continued following our temporary leader. Sure enough, we came across a crack in the wall, and approached it. 

“Kino, you go first.

“Okay.”

The smallest person in our group had no trouble fitting through. It only took a minute, and Freiya motioned for me to go next. It was considerably difficult for me to get through. Nearly every angle I tried ended up with my chest getting in the way, but I figured it out eventually, meeting Kino on the other side. I turned around, and Freiya seemed to have about as much trouble as I did. After a while she made it through, and we took our positions and started moving again.

The streets in the village were really tightly packed, so we had to move in single file behind Freiya. As we progressed further into the mass of buildings, I could feel my heart pounding from the adrenaline of sneaking around in enemy territory like this. Also as we progressed further, I could make out Darkwings flying around above us, and occasionally we'd pass a Shadow on the ground. The Greater Illusion worked as intended, and we were never spotted.

That remained to be true for a while, but changed when we came across a group directly in front of us, blocking our path. Freiya was the first to react, as she told me what to do almost immediately.

“Mira, we'll need to take care of them to move any further. My Clairvoyance is telling me we're almost there, but attacking will break the illusion I set up. We'll have to be extra careful from here on out.”

“Got it.”

I drew my sword and cast Divinity on it, running in behind the Shadows and killing two of them in one swing. The rest of them noticed me, but it was too late and they all fell within seconds. Freiya took up her position in front and led us further down the narrow alleyway. Soon, she led us out into a clear spot on the main street of the village, in front of a large mansion. 

“This is it. My daughter is here in this mansion.”

I gripped my sword, and prepared for what was to come.