Kira and the others had been lent 2 rooms in a small Inn, it was nothing fancy but it was cozy nonetheless, Kira had opted to share a room with Yin to help her feel more secure and Nox and Aether had only found it natural to bunk together.

After having been offered a rather decent size dinner with the villagers, Yin had looked like she couldn't get away fast enough, so Kira had asked if they could borrow a room for the night to which the old lady had more than willing to help them get accommodated immediately.

"Lady Kira, I still cannot understand why you lower yourself to pretend that it isn't humans you're dealing with, there is absolutely no need for someone like you to bother with something as foul as the human race"

Yin exclaimed once they were alone with much more force than she normally would.

Kira had kind of anticipated this question since hearing Yins perspective of humanity all the way back in the shrine, It's really not that long ago but to Kira, it felt much longer due to just how much had happened.

"Yin, would you be open to hearing a different perspective of how to view the human race?"

Yin gave a slightly surprised reaction, as she had never thought that Lady Kira would be investigating and studying a race so far below her that she would be able to teach her anything she didn't know already, but thinking about it since it was Lady Kira maybe she could explain why humans can be so cruel without the collective races having made an alliance to eradicate them already.

After Yin gave a court nod with big round eyes Kira continued

"First of all, I think it would be more accurate to pity the human race than to fear them.

That is not to say you shouldn't respect their capability to create destruction.

The Human race is rather unique in the way that its most defining characteristic is its lack thereof, of course, most humans are very territorial and have a unique tenacity to do whatever they have to get by, but the most defining trait would be that they have for the most part abandoned instinct, it doesn't mean humans as a race doesn't have certain instincts but many simply choose to not listen to them, instead, the race has the unique aspect that it contains both predators and prey, there are humans who consider themselves above everyone else including members of their own race, and as such will do cruel things even to the members of their own race, while at the same time there are humans who will willingly sacrifice themselves for the sake of a complete stranger.

Here is where the problem with the human condition arises, their biggest strength isn't their physical prowess, or their ability to weave magic but their ability to make and handle tools, this also uniquely means that those humans who are born with resources gets an upper hand, and as humans values are often shaped by their upbringing, will it often be those least respectful towards the human life who are willing to do the cruelest things to obtain what they desire hence they will have even more, and they will go on to teach their kids the same values.

While you will often find that those humans who grew up in poverty and not having anything will also be those who will share their food because they know what it is to starve, this is the human condition, their behavior is shaped by their experiences, and as such because those growing up without ever having experienced starvation and always had people throughout their life doing their bidding in hopes to earn scraps they only experienced what it is to be in power, but never experienced being at the mercy of someone else.

You might fault them for this, but humans lead very short lives and their biggest fault is they often can't comprehend something they haven't experienced themselves.

Voldum likely got everything he could ever want but heard the whispers of someone claiming his dad was weak for adhering to the treaty with your clan, instead of just taking what he wanted, just like everything else in his life, hence his only focus was to show he wasn't weak, he has had everything he ever pointed at, and suddenly he was told he couldn't, so he felt offended and upset because he couldn't understand it.

Here comes the problem, because humans' strength is in tools, it's people like voldum who decide who gets to eat and who doesn't, someone who doesn't value life itself and has never understood hunger.

While those who understand the most are also the most powerless to do anything, and those very few in the middle who understand it to some degree are often swayed by being provided resources in return for not acting, it's this whole structure that makes humans seem so very cruel while it's truly only a few who are raised to be so.

However the very last note is the same thing as I mentioned before, humans aren't very good at dealing or considering anything outside of their understanding or experience, hence why you will see otherwise kind humans be willing to stand by while injustice is happening to other races, it is truly unfortunate but this trait is so extreme that humans will do the same to their own based on silly things like if their skin color is different or if they are from another kingdom and speaks another language or dialect, hence why we initially disguised ourselves, humans are weak and due to this weakness are they often hostile to what they don't understand, this doesn't mean they are inherently evil but to me is truly why I believe they should be pitied as it is the biggest sign of just how weak and fearful they are"

Yin nodded her head, surprising Kira as she expected Yin to be a bit more reluctant.

"Lady Kira, I desire to hate humans for what they did to my village, but even I understood that many humans are suffering equally by humans hands, what I don't understand is what happened to their kinship, while you say its because they fear even themselves due to the color of their fur I don't get how?"

Kira scratched her head not sure how to answer.

"Yin, how did you know that you should submit to me?"
Yin gave Kira an odd look if she had asked something truly stupid.

"I sensed your power of course"
Kira hummed in acknowledgment.

"Now imagine you couldn't sense my power or anyone's power what would you do?
would you try to fight me to see which of us was stronger?"

Yin gave a shocked expression.

"There is no way I could win against lady Kira!"

Kira smiled,

"You're missing my point, what I'm trying to tell you is humans mostly rely on tools so even if the person looks fragile they don't know if the person has something that can threaten them, and the less they know the more scared they become, and different skin color or language means they are from further away and might have tools they hadn't even heard of yet, hence this sows the seed of mistrust even amongst their own race.

For other races, they know with almost guarantee that we will be superior in raw strength, and they don't know if we are kind of cruel since they know even their own race can be both, so why shouldn't that apply to other races as well?

Yin nodded.

"If I understand what lady Kira is implying is that human insecurity causes mistrust and fear

And it is that exact fear someone like Voldum can use to convince other humans to group together and attack both other humans and other races, simply because they don't understand them and don't know how powerful they are"

Kira nodded, "Very astute, humans in power will often manipulate those with less power with promises of resources, food and supplement it with fear and false stories of those they desire to target, those who speak up will often get the same treatment by the person leading it and the other humans will go along with it due to fear

Think of it this way, imagine another race settled close to Inaris shrine, and then one day cubs started to disappear, you could just go over there and sense how weak they are hence knowing they likely couldn't even hurt the Cub, to begin with even if they tried, but then imagine you couldn't sense their power, and someone powerful in your own race told you it was definitely them.

They are strange and they are evil!

While the truth was that it was that exact powerful person who was the reason for the disappearing cubs but you didn't know this.

Now imagine other kitsune in a village nearby told you that the race that settled definitely wouldn't hurt anyone.

But this same powerful guy points at that Kitsune village and tells you that the other village had colluded with the new race and been bribed to help kidnap the cubs.

Would you stand up and defend this strange race, and if you didn't defend them did that make you evil?

That right there is effectively one of the most common tactics evil humans use to manipulate the normal everyday human.

Effectively very few humans are like that, but exactly because humans are weak and fragile do they tend to let themselves get manipulated very easily, and that I personally don't think you can hate, but rather should pity.

Of course, you can hate the evil human who manipulates the others, but I don't think you can hate all the weak humans who get manipulated due to fear, and my rough guess, is for every 100 humans who let themselves manipulate there is only 1 evil human, then there is also those who don't let themselves manipulate but unfortunately are they often also those exact humans in the weakest position incapable of doing anything.

This village would be a great example of that, their own children are being taken and they are unable to openly revolt because the evil human, in this case, Voldum will simply spin lies and manipulate those in the main city.

This is why I believe that helping this village is worth it, they are in a situation that isn't their fault, and the person causing it just so happens to be someone who also hurt you, besides helping them is going to make getting to Voldum easier."

Yin nodded.

"I'm deeply sorry lady Kira, while I get what you're saying logically can I not help but recall how all the humans who invaded my village was cruel and disgusting, while you are right humans are as numerous as ants and I only saw a very small portion, it doesn't make it easier for me to forgive them"

Kira got up and padded Yins head, very much to Yins surprise.

"Yin, I never demanded you forgive them, all I was trying to do was simply to provide you some insight towards the human race, they are a race who doesn't have it easy, while they might be numerous it doesn't mean they are individually strong, all I ask is you try to accept that when I interact with humans will I judge them based on their individual actions and not on their race as a whole, because to me would that not be fair when you have a race so split as the human race"

Yin leaned into Kiras' hand while looking out the little window in their room towards the moon hanging high in the sky.

"Lady Kira, thank you very much for being so kind, and granting me the deepest wish of my heart, even if my mom is dead, I will at the very least be happy to know that her killer won't get away"

Kira honestly wasn't keen on the aspect of taking a human life, it is not that she was some Saint but most people usually made mistakes out of desperation and she didn't feel that being quick to remove their way to repent was the way to go. However there were certain things to Kira that could never be repeated, and that included those who laid their hands on children, she might have desired to get revenge for Yin, as he had clearly traumatized her and done something unforgivable, it was however the second it had come to light that he was breaking Kiras number one biggest taboo it became personal.

-------------------

Somewhere deep in a nearby forest:

The old village head was looking around anxiously, that dark-haired girl had definitely noticed her, the only thing that saved her was the kid somehow was unwilling to leave the Fox girl.

Out two demons came followed by the 3rd who was clearly the one in charge.

"Apologies, but I'm taking the risk of insulting our masters' name, we can't go forward with the plan!"

The old lady's eyebrows raised intriguingly.
"How come if I might ask?"

The leader gave a snarl.
"Don't play us for fools, we know you're harboring that monster in a tiny girls skin in your village!

While we couldn't feel anything as she let go of her power, we investigated the area afterward, and it is something that is simply impossible to fight against, even a fraction of the lingering magic would likely be enough to take on my lord himself, if there was any way to harness it that is."

The old lady just smiled, she had suspected as much, she didn't know the true vastness of the girls' powers, but when someone got as old as her, you became adept at telling from how others acted, while the girl physically seemed to resemble the tiny one who kept glaring at her, it was very clear that she was closer related to the Dark and light-haired girls, she couldn't quite put her fingers on what, but once again she would be foolish to not follow her gut feeling.

"It is ok, I was actually intending to call off the deal anyway as that girl you call monster proposed a better solution than we had in mind, also I don't know her relations with demons so I would rather not accidentally upset her."

The leaders' eyes softened.

"Thank you for not taking slight with our failure or using it to slander our name and our pride, we completely understand your concern of wanting to appease that girl, take this as you will, but we demons aren't known for cowardice, but neither will we fight a losing battle, and that girl is so far out our league it is not even funny.

We will see to it that our master knows that your favor will have to be redeemed in a different way at a different point in time.

If you have nothing else we will take our leave, we have to warn our lord"

The old lady simply gave a nod as she watched the big muscular demon give a formal bow that should be impossible with his stature and take his leave.

As they had completely left the old lady sighed in relief, she couldn't imagine what would happen if the demons had attacked the carriage with that girl inside of it, she had never once in her life seen a demon of his rank afraid.

"So the old miss wasn't as ignorant about where your boys had disappeared off to as she leads on huh?"

The old lady quickly turned around towards the voice but didn't see anything.

"Honestly the young fools should be happy to have you, a quick guess is you would have the demons knock out your boys and attack carriage in their stead, the question is how did demons of that rank come to take order of a frail old village head?"

The old lady turned around once again to where the voice had come from this time and as if stepping out of the darkness herself she saw the dark-haired twin, no. dark wasn't right, it was midnight black, and her eyes just as dark.

The best way she could be described was as Darkness itself personified, and she was extremely beautiful.

"I ... wish y.. your group no harm"

The old lady stammered, she couldn't remember the last time in her life she had been this afraid.

"I am not going to harm you, but I'm going to get extremely upset if I find that you're abusing my adorable little sisters' kindness towards you"

Nox said giving the old lady a cold glare.

"Couldn't dream of it, I came here today to stop the original plan, otherwise they would have attacked the carriage with her in it, their Lord was someone I saved as a young adventurer and I had coined in the favor he owed in an attempt to save the kids in my village, and those fools ready to throw their lives away, I absolutely swear I have no ill intention towards you and yours"

The old lady felt a bead of sweat run down her back.

And with that, the girls' demeanor totally changed.

"In that case, please go on also thanks for your lovely hospitality, I should get back to the others"

Giving a wink she Vanished once again as if she melted into the darkness.

"Oh one last thing, I apparently forgot to put up my illusion again before moving out, please forget what you saw ... OK?"

Before the old lady could answer the air had again gone completely quiet, saying "Yes" out in the air seemed odd as she had no clue if the girl was still here.

One thing had become absolutely certain, she should not get on their bad side.