The Tale Of Kitsuna

“Incoming dodge to the side!?” yell of warning came from the other side of the smoke just when the spear hit something.

Boom!!

“They explode. Watch out!?” One scruffy voice yelled, probably the leader.

“What the fuck.”

“You damn fox its friendlies!” Kayda yelled from in the smoke, making my tail go stiff in shock.

“Kayda?” I said, waiting for the smoke to clear completely this time. Sadly, before it cleared, a figure came out running or more stomping towards me.

Slap!

.....

“Ouch, Kayda, you’re so mean,” I mumbled in surprise, feeling a sudden slap on my cheek.

“You almost killed us. What were you thinking?” Kayda said, hitting me over my head again.

“Uh, Kayda, you do know that we are in an enemies base, right?” I said, looking at her like I was wronged.

“You sure about that? We haven’t seen anything. It just looked like an abandoned maze,” Kayda said, tilting her head at me with a thoughtful expression.

“didn’t you see the bodies or any of the broken traps?”

“Bodies? Traps? no, there was nothing.” Kayda said, shaking her head in denial.

“Oh, right, I burned them, Teehee,” I said, laughing at myself.

“Hello, Kayda, be gentle with her. we really are in an enemy base.” The demoness said, coming around the shield wall behind me.

“Oh, An, your here?” Kayda said, confused.

“Jip, that’s me.”

“Huh? I am confused right now.” Kayda said, looking at me.

“Same here anyways. I think we should get out of here. Even with the number of powerful people you brought, this is still not a proper raid.” I said, looking at the 16 adventures behind Kayda.

“that’s true. Let’s get out of here,” Kayda said, turning around.

“Who will take the lead?” I ask, looking at everyone.

“I will be doing that.” A short man said, coming out of the crowd behind Kayda.

Inspecting him, I noticed he had black and brown dog ears on his head.

Nodding, I walked to An and put her arm around my neck.

“Okay, then let’s move,” Kayda said, taking the other side of An.

“I can walk on my own, you know.” An said, complaining, but I just ignored her.

“Walk yes but not run,” Kayda said. Getting in the middle of the group, we all started walking out. Luckily, we didn’t have any problems getting back to the hole where I fell into. The problem came when we needed to get out.

“Kitsu, can’t you make like ice stairs to get us out easier,” Kayda said, looking at the ropes they came down with.

“Yeah, and let everyone up there know we are coming?” I said, staring up seeing a few people looking down the hole with not that friendly gaze.

“don’t worry about them. They are also from the guild.” The dog guy said, looking up at me.

“If you say so,” I said, sighing. I let go of An and walked to the edge of the small platform. Not stopping, a small pillar of ice came out of the wall just under my feet.

“This is going to be a pain,” I mumbled, walking while creating the stairs.

“Alright, guys, let’s go just what your step,” Kayda said, following behind me.

[20 minutes later]

“We are finally out,” Kayda said while helping the last person out of the hole in the roof.

“Welcome back, guild master.” One of the guys at the top said, looking at the dog-eared guy.

“Thanks, Chris.”

“So, what was the situation down there,” Chris said, looking at the hole.

“We found the fox that was missing and the head of the marquis house, An Anabald.” The guild master said, relieved.

“that’s great to hear, guild master,” Chris said happily.

“And things up here?”

“I think guild master must see it yourself.” The guy said, turning towards the fortress, making all of us look in the same direction.

‘Oh damn, that isn’t good.’ I thought, looking at the burning fortress. The thing is, it wasn’t a normal fire but a black fire. It looked and felt the same as my devil magic.

“Kitsu?”

“Yeah, it’s the same.”

“Did you?” Kayda asked discretely.

“No, I am certain it wasn’t me,” I said, not needing to hear the entire question.

“Shit.”

“I agree.”

“... it seems you two know something about this.” The guild master said, looking at us.

“We don’t, but we know what sort of magic that is,” I said, starring down at him.

“Do tell us now.” The guild master said, annoyed.

“Devil magic.” An said, not giving me time to answer.

“Uhm, I think we three should go to the mansion while the adventures stay here and let us know if something changes,” I said, looking at Kayda and An.

“What are we going to do there.” The guild master said, making me look at him again, annoyed.

“Sigh, talk, there are too many eyes here,” I said, gesturing to the roads where a lot of people from the slums were standing looking at the burning building.

“Fine, let’s go.” An said, slinging her arm around me again.

“Kayda, take an on full speed. I will catch up to you.” I said, waving them off.

“Lady An and not just An.” An said, annoyed.

“I will give that up, An,” Kayda said, picking An up before disappearing.

“Be quick.” The guild master said, also disappearing.

“Sigh, they want too much from the non-class person,” I said, running off on the roofs, leaving some stun people behind.

‘I should read those books when I get to the mansion.’ I thought, jumping down the roof into the plaza.

“First, I need food. Can’t do anything while starving.” I said, walking up to the closest meat stall.

“Hello, dear customer, how can I help you today.”

“Hmm, if I said I want to pay for all your food, including the raw meat, how much will that be?” I said, making certain I didn’t scare her.

“... are you trying to take me out of business?” The saleswoman said, looking at me deadpan.

“Uhm, no? Why do you ask that? I really don’t know what it will cost?” I said, confused.

“You aren’t from them?”

“Them?”

‘I guess I found something interesting again.’ I thought, sighing.

“You don’t know, do you?” The saleswoman said, looking at me suspiciously.

“Well, obviously, I don’t know who they are. I am just here for the food.” I said, taking a piece of meat. Sitting down at a chair next to the stall, I add. “Luckily, I have time to listen.”

“You are a weird one, and you better pay for that.”

“As I said, I intend to buy everything and in full,” I said, taking the next piece of meat.

“Aah, be careful that one has bones in it.”

“Yeah, that is the best part of these,” I said swing the meat around before taking a giant bite out of the steak.

“Why must most foreigners be so weird.” The stall woman mumbled, shaking her head.

“You say it like there is a lot of them,” I said, making her look at me shocked.

.....

“You do realize this is one of 3 cities that have a public dock.”

“Public dock?”

“You know the place the boats are and things. Those are called docks.”

“Yeah, I know that, but why is there only 3 public ones?” I said with a confused expression.

“Well, what I mean about the public is that if you’re not registered with the Anabald military, you can only dock at those three docks.” The woman said while taking out more meat from her fridge at the back of the stall.

“I see not a bad system.”

“Not a bad system? Do you know how many problems this system is making? the number of problems this, not a bad system has caused over the years al in the millions I dare say.”

“No, and I don’t really care, and how does this have something to do with the docks.”

“Well, it does have something to with the docks. It’s because of rules it takes some time to restock our meat, and we need to be there in person to order and get it.”

“Let me guess. It’s first come, first serve as well.”

“Yes, we small stalls are having a problem with getting stock because the owners must pick it up.”

“And because you work alone, you need close business for the day to get your stocks.”

“Yes, the bigger stalls and restaurants have people working for them, so the owners have more free time for it, and because they are bigger, the amount of stock is more as well.”

“I see. I will have a talk with the marquis then?”

“That won’t work. We have sent multiple complaints about this, but it is never answered.”

“Yeah, leave that to me. Anyways can I at least have a batch of meat not too much that will bankrupt you?” I said, standing up

“At full price, certainly.”

“Yes, yes, the full price, of course,” I said, nodding while laughing.