Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 59- Deciding What Needs to be Done

[Keeno POV]

Waking up the next morning, thanks to Ama, I looked around.  Pram was next to me, still asleep.  Huginn and Muninn were vigilantly looking at the hallway entrance.  And Freya was also still in her corner, ears twitching at every little sound.

‘Huginn, Muninn, come here and rest.’

The two hopped over, every tap of their feet making Freya’s ears twitch in their direction.  I stifled laughing at that.

{Keeno, how are you feeling now?}

‘Better…Well, not as good as if I would wake up to you, but good enough.’

{What am I ever going to do with you?}

‘Spoil me rotten like I will you.’

{You’re making me blush.  Why do you have to be so cute when you know I can’t hug and kiss you for being that way?}

‘Cause you do it to me all the time.’

{Fair enough.}

‘So, while I’ll discuss this with the others later, what should we do today, Ama?  Go out and meet the…Sal-something or other Family, or should we go about doing some things to either get more money or just explore around the city and get a lay of the land?’

{Hmmm.  I think you should probably focus on getting a grip on how the city is and getting money.  How much do you and Pram have left?}

‘Not much.  Should probably spend some on getting some clothes to blend in here a bit more, but depending on how much it costs for the two of us, we’ll need to earn more before getting to the point where we’re completely broke.  And no, while I trust Fia, I don’t trust the people she set up to help us.  At least not here after seeing so much corruption is here.’

{Understandable.  Though it was good I told you to get here as fast as possible seeing as you were able to save Freya, I’m starting to think I should have let the two of you earn some money first.}

‘It’s not a thing you need to regret, Ama.  As long as we can earn some mostly honestly here, then I’m fine.  I don’t want to deal in blood money, I get a bad feeling in my gut just thinking about it.’

{Oh, that’s a good term for it.  Anyway, I get it.  And from how you are thinking and a bit of what I’ve understood from your conversation with Freya yesterday, asking for money from the people Fia got to help you will backfire, though, hehehe, you could also accept it and, once you fully ascend and they die, you can exact your retribution on them and all they can do is cower.}

‘Hehehehe.  That’s a fun thought, though really all I need to know is just how hard they’ll probably try to screw us over to give them near eternal damnation.’

{Only near?}

‘Full eternal damnation is reserved for most of Falheim and any other mongrels I meet.’

{That’s entirely reasonable.  So, what are you going to do about Freya?}

‘That’s up to her.  Can’t build trust if we don’t stick together, but it’s not like I’m going to keep her around us if she doesn’t want to.  Though now that I think about it, she kind of has to stick close to us if she wants the illusion on her to stay up effectively.  I’m not great at illusion magic after all.’

{You’re thinking too deeply about it, Keeno.}

‘I do that too much.’

Ama and I continued our conversation until Pram started to stir.  She sat up and looked around sleepily before tilting her head.  She stayed like that for around a minute before her mind completely woke up and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

‘Morning Pram.’ (Keeno)

‘Mornin…my neck hurts.’ (Pram)

‘Well heal it.  You’re the one with the healing magic.’ (Keeno)

‘Oh yeah…Hehe.’ (Pram)

Pram placed her hand on her neck and started to use healing magic.  Once she was done the two of us stood up and moved over to the dust table.  With all the commotion we were making, Freya finally got up.

“…” (Freya)

“If you want to say something, just say it.” (Keeno)

“Nothing much…just…thanks.  For healing me yesterday and fighting with me.” (Freya)

“Of course.  As long as I haven’t seen you doing something irredeemable, then I’ll heal anyone.” (Pram)

“That’s…a naive way of thinking.” (Freya)

“Maybe, but I don’t care.  I’m a healer, I heal.” (Pram)

Freya then looked at me.

“She’s completely sane, right?” (Freya)

“More so than I am.” (Keeno)

“…” (Freya)

“Our sanity aside, we need to talk about what to do from now on.  Pram, we need to go around the city for a few days to figure out the layout first as well as get more money.  Plus, we should go and get some clothes that match the place, so we don’t stand out as much.  Though money and information are more important.” (Keeno)

“Got it.  Guess we need to find the Guild.” (Pram)

“…Are you not going to ask me to show you around and stuff?” (Freya)

“I mean, if you want to that’d be great, but you have your own circumstances and it’s not like you’re in our party.  You’re free to do so or not.  If you want to up and leave go for it, neither of us will stop you.  Though if you do, I’d suggest you go and settle down in Solheim.  It’s a bit cold there, but you get used to it pretty quickly.” (Keeno)

“Yeah.  And if you ever go there and decide to stay, look for the Karlan family, they’ll help you out.  Just let them know Pram and Okami sent you their way and they’ll help you with anything you need.” (Pram)

“So, there are Families in other countries to…” (Freya)

“Not the kind you’re thinking of, when Pram said that she meant her actual family.  The kind that isn’t tied to stuff like the ones here.” (Keeno)

“…” (Freya)

“Anyway, I’m hungry.” (Keeno)

I pulled some of our preserved food out of my storage ring and placed it on the table, glad that it wasn’t possible for things to go bad when they were stored in there.  I took out enough stuff for three people and Pram and I immediately started eating while Freya just stared at the food then us several times.

“You people are so weird.” (Freya)

“It’s called trust, Freya.  Sure, we only met yesterday and haven’t really gotten to know each other, but I’m absolutely positive you deserve at least the same amount of trust a normal person would give to someone they just met.  If you want to think it’s weird, we’re not stopping you, but if you’re ever going to make it outside this country, you’ll need to learn too at least do this much.” (Keeno)

“And besides, out of anyone in this world, Okami is absolutely trustworthy.  Though now that I say that, it doesn’t really sound super convincing coming from me.” (Pram)

I started patting Pram’s head.

“It’s fine, Pram.  I get what you were trying to say.” (Keeno)

“…So, are the two of you lovers or something?” (Freya)

““Nope.”” (Both)

“We’re more akin to sisters than anything.  Childhood friend is too lukewarm a word for it.” (Keeno)

“That isn’t to say I didn’t once feel like that, but I’m over it, though now Okami teases me with that fact a lot.  But I agree with her, sisters in all but blood.” (Pram)

“…So that’s what trusting someone is like……Got it…I’ll help the two of you out, at least as long as you stay in Vanir.  After that I don’t know, but I want to at least try this trust thing.  Though I would like to ask for your help with keeping myself concealed.” (Freya)

“Easy.” (Keeno)

“Oh, but before we head out and do anything, there is one more thing that I forgot to mention yesterday that you need to be very careful of here in the capital.” (Freya)

“And that would be?” (Keeno)

“The Hunter.  An assassin unaffiliated with any Family and is more like a ghost than anything.  It’s the one thing that every Family is afraid of due to how unpredictable it is when it appears.” (Freya)

“If it’s so unpredictable, how do we make sure to stay away from it?” (Pram)

“I don’t know, I was just putting the information on the table.” (Freya)

“Thanks for telling us.  Now eat and we can go and start getting things done.” (Keeno)

Freya nodded and started to eat the stuff I gave her.

Chaos Realm:

Luna: Payto, here. *Tosses scroll over*

*catches* Hmm? …AH!  Hehe.

Atmos: What’s that?

Gift from a friend. *opens scroll and places it on the tv* And there.

Order: Oh, was that a gift from Crimson?

Yep.  Now we can watch stuff that goes on in his Sea of Chaos too.

Order: How fun.

Luna: Yeah, apparently there was some special wolf girl over there that has been ignoring her Fluff, so I had to scold her.  By the way, thanks for letting me do that when I overheard the two of you talking about it.

No problem.

Luna: Oh, and on the way back I Fluffified him.

Pffft.  Ahahahahahahahaha!

Order: Hehehehehe.

Atmos: So, when do we get to watch?

Hang on and I’ll finish up with the fine details.