“Alice, have you prepared everything?”

 

“Yes, Okaasan.”

 

“Remember that if things get tough, we will always be here for you.”

 

“Thanks, Otousan.”

 

Today marks the day I became an adult and this means that I can finally start on my To-Do list for this other world. For the past 5 years, I have been training and preparing for this day. I could finally start on my adventure to not only uncover the truth behind the ‘disaster’ that killed my parents but also to find the person that killed me in my past life.

 

“Are you sure it’s fine to not tell Chael about this? I mean he does treasure you a lot and who knows how he’ll feel after finding out you left without leaving a word…”

 

“I--It’s fine… I am sure he’d be fine without me… Well, I am gonna get going now.”

 

“Make sure to stop by the next time you are in the city okay?”

 

I hugged Chael’s mother for a short moment before walking out of the house and continued onwards. After walking for a couple of minutes, I looked back at the house that took care of me after my parents passed away.

 

'Thank you for taking care of me'

---

As I was reminiscing about my life in the city while advancing through the streets, I observe the hardly changing morning routine of the citizens. Smelling the wonderful aroma of food that comes from food stalls, I decided to buy a chicken wrap since they seemed delicious. Taking a bite, I was surprised to find the chicken tender and juicy and the veggies still slightly crisp and well-seasoned. Tempted to buy another one, I shook my head to resist the urge. I then remembered that I should hurry if I want to reach the next town before dusk

 

Briskly walking towards the city gate, I saw a figure of a man leaning against the wall beside the gate with his arms folded. The closer I got to the gate, the clearer his figure becomes… It was Chael dozing off while leaning against the wall. He seemed to have a rucksack and has his longsword on his back.

 

‘Was he perhaps waiting for me…?’

 

Shaking my head, I continued walking and the moment I passed him, someone grabbed my shoulder and looking back, it was Chael who seemed irritated for some reason. I turned towards him with a questioning gaze.

 

“Alice… How could you ignore me like that?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Chael furrowed his brows at my reaction. Although I am happy that he was waiting for me. I tried to hide my true feelings. While he was having trouble trying to say something, I continued to walk through the gate and then Chael shouted my name from behind while running towards me.

 

“Alice! I--I wan-- No, I--I will follow you… I want to be with you forever”

 

Half expecting the first part, the second part though took me by surprise completely. The confession caused my face to turn beet red and I tried not to meet his gaze by covering my face. Looking at my reaction, Chael soon noticed what he just said after catching up to me and had trouble trying to figure out what to say.

 

“A-Ah I-I me-an-- It-it’s a misunderstanding…”

 

Uncovering my eyes, I see Chael flapping his arms about and his mouth was open and closing like a goldfish while trying to find words to say. His movement was quite awkward which made me unintentionally giggle.

 

“Wha-what I wanted to say was-- Ehh… Alice, why are you laughing?”

 

“Fufufu-- I mean it’s funny to look at you all flustered and you know… I don’t actually mind if it isn’t a misunderstanding you know? After all, we are family no? Without you, I would still be lamenting over my misfortune.” 

 

“A-Alice…”

 

Hearing what I said, Chael muttered my name. I then gestured to him that we should start moving. Realizing that the people around us gazed warmly at our exchange, Chael and I awkwardly start to walk and it was kinda embarrassing for us. There was even a middle-aged man who seemed to be a traveling merchant that congratulated Chael for some reason.

---

A hour has passed since we left the city but we did not have any conversation throughout the entire time. Feeling as though this will continue on until we reach the next city, I tried talking to Chael.

 

“So uh... Chael-niichan, how did you know I was going to leave the house and be independent?”

 

“... Remember that time when there was a ragged kid that was being hit by some adults? When you saw him being saved by the female knights, your eyes were shining and you seemed as if you wanted to join them… and I heard that you first have to graduate from an Academy as one of the top 3 to get an invitation… also when I meant top 3, it doesn’t refer to the top 3 females.”

 

“...”

 

“Umm… Alice? Is something wrong?”

 

“N-nothing is wrong. I-It’s all fine.”

 

‘It seems like Oniichan doesn’t know the real reason as to why I left home but should I just play along? Well, I mean, the nearest Academy would be in Alryne which would roughly take me two weeks by carriage at the next town…Might as well give it a try, I also heard that there’s a library only for students there which I would probably need to go if I want to conduct my investigation..’

 

I wondered if I should tell him, but I sensed something was wrong and got ready to draw my dagger. Seeing that I was cautious, Chael stood in front of me, holding his longsword at the ready. As I looked around, I heard rustling coming from the bushes to our left. As I slowly approached the bush, one hand still on the hilt, some sort of small animal jumped out, causing me to reflexively topple over.

 

“Alice! Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

Chael rushed over to my side with his sword still drawn while looking at the creature. It seemed to be a small white fox. Looking at its state, I can tell it was running away from something. 

 

“Should we escape Chael-niichan?”

 

“Hmmm… I think that’s a good idea. Looking at the map, there should be a river nearby that we could follow to the next town.”

 

As we were going to start heading towards the river, we heard a growling sound coming from the bush that the fox jumped out from. Facing the bush with our weapons drawn, we slowly backed away from it. What appeared was a wild boar that was as big as I am.

 

“The boar was probably chasing the fox…”

 

Seeing the boar, the white fox scurried behind me cowering. The boar, looking at both me and Chael for a moment, went off not intending to fight. While wondering why, piglets came out of the bush one by one following its mother.

 

“I guess we got lucky…?”

 

Said Chael while we sheathed our weapons. The white fox rubbing its head against my legs as if showing gratitude, stares with upturned eyes at me.

“It seems like the fox is attached to you.”

 

“Well… This is troubling… That aside, let's get moving.”

---

After walking until noon, I turned back to see the small white fox following me. Feeling bothered by the critter, I looked over towards Chael. He merely shrugged not knowing what to do as well. I stopped walking and beckoned the fox over.

 

“Why are you following us little one?”

 

The fox squealed and stared at me. I crouched down to pick up the fox in my arms. I noticed  a black crescent marking on the scruff. Standing up while petting the fox, Chael came closer and took out an adventurer guide book from his rucksack. Flipping the pages and stopping after reaching a point.

 

“Alice, why not just make a familiar contract with it?”

 

“A familiar contract…”

 

Switching my gaze from Chael to the fox once again, the fox squealed once again as if understanding the content of a familiar contract and agreeing to it.

 

“Aaah, fine. You can be my familiar… So what is the procedure?”

 

“It says here… Feed the target a drop of blood and channel your magic into it before giving it a name.”

 

"Hmm…"

 

Touching the marking on its scruff, I was reminded of several names that symbolizes the moon back in my previous life. The fox tilted and squealed once more. Reaching a conclusion, I made a small cut on my finger and put it in front of the fox to which it licked the blood dripping. As it was licking, I channeled my magic into the fox. 

 

"With my blood as the catalyst, I, Alice Amadeus, name this little one, Kuu.”

 

As Kuu’s body glowed and floated in front of me, I could feel the magic from myself being drained. My legs went weak as I then fell onto my knees. Kuu’s body got bigger and no longer fits in my palms. Eight more tails grew on Kuu with her current size easily reaching half of my height. 

 

“Alice, are you okay? Do you need help with standing?”

 

“I am just tired… Need some rest.”

 

“Okay. I will set up the camp for today, you can go ahead and take a rest”

“Thank you.”

 

While taking a seat on the ground while leaning against a tree, I looked over at Kuu who seemed to have finished its transformation and then as my eyes got heavier from the fatigue, I closed my eyes.

 

---

Hey guys! Been roughly 2 years since I went on hiatus and I am sorry about that. I would like to take this time to thank those who picked up and read the first two chapters even though this work was something I did not do any planning for. Currently I am awaiting graduation so I have a lot of free time and will probably get into writing once more.

The main problem I had when I first started with this series was meeting a certain word count per chapter which caused me to go into a writers block on top of being busy with school. I plan to release chapters in a part by part sequence as to prevent myself from being too concerned with the word count.

Aside from this, I might plan to write multiple short one chapter story as part of a shared universe though do not bring your hopes up. I had always been interested in fantasy tragedy settings series and always been a dream of mine to publish my own creations but as I am an amateur, their quality are highly questionable and whether I will have the motivation to work on them is another issue espeically since my attention span is quite short.

Ps. Writing a lot has always been a problem of mine even in school as I mostly lack the capability to express my creativity.