Chapter 120
The next thing I saw after opening my eyes was a single long passage .
“What is this place?”
I looked around but my surrounding was covered by thick fog . All that I could see was the passage continuing forward and a tiny light orb floating before us as if it were telling us to follow it .
“This is a strange place, Desu . ”
I heard ru’s voice coming from my earphones . It seed like she was safe . Well, the word ‘safe’ itself doesn’t have much sense when talking about AI . I turned to look at the tiny light orb floating before us . It didn’t seem to be created from magic, but it was pretty beautiful . I believe this is the so-called Fireball Youkai . I kept gazing at the tiny light orb with a curious expression when suddenly Karen opened her eyes finally and spoke in curiosity .
“What is this place?”
“I don’t know . ”
She asked the sa question as the one that I asked a few monts ago and I answered her with a shrug . We ca here following the fox who pleaded us to help him save soone . I guess if we continue to walk through this passage, we will probably arrive at the desired location . That is the only possible option I could think of, now that the fox is nowhere to be seen .
“Let’s keep walking for now . ”
“Okay . ”
“Understood, Desu . ”
ru and Karen agreed with and we started walking inside the passage .
I wonder how far we walked .
As the scenery surrounding us didn’t change, it was hard to judge how far we have walked .
“This passage is so long . ”
“Too long . ”
Karen and I complained while we were still holding hands and walking towards the path . If he were going to ask us for help, he could have just teleported us near the exit of this path . As I kept on complaining to myself and sighing, a large shadow entered my field of vision . It was a huge Shinto Shrine archway leading to a building that looked like a Shrine . It looked like it was our final destination .
The more we walked towards the path, the more the building beca clear and visible . It was at that ti that I realized that that place was our destination . As we walked towards the end of the passage, we could notice that the fox, we were following, was standing at the exit of the pathway and waiting for us .
“You finally arrived- . I’m sorry-, I didn’t bring you here directly because I was in a rush . ”
The fox lowered his head and apologized .
“That’s fine . More importantly, what is this place?”
“This is our den . ”
The fox briefly answered my question and started walking .
“Let’s go . Ouka-sama is anticipating your arrival . ”
Speaking in a way as if it was pressing us to hurry, the fox stepped inside the shrine . We naturally followed it all the way until it suddenly stopped and shouted .
“Ouka-sama!! I am back!!”
The high pitched voice of a child reverberated in the surrounding . Silence followed that shout for a short while which made suspect the whole situation, but before I started to increase my wariness, a different voice reverberated from the other side .
“Welco back, Naya . ”
At that mont, the fog drew back from the place we were standing and our vision beca clear . Only after that happened that I was able to notice that the Youkai behind the humble female voice was standing in front of us . Its shadow was around 40 cm taller than and it emanated a sowhat odd ambiance .
I narrowed my eyes and stared at the shadow until the fog completely disappeared . Finally, I realized that it was another fox . Though, this ti its size was way over than that of a normal fox . It was big enough even for to ride it . The way it stood, while waving its 9 magnificent tails, emanated a great sense of dignity . Without a doubt; it was the well known and prominent nine-tailed Youkai fox .
“Where were you all this ti? I was really worried . ”
“I’m sorry-”
As the little fox got scolded by the nine-tailed fox, it apologized but it didn’t look like it was sorry at all . They then started having a conversation and I took another look at the place in the anti .
Could this be a different world?
The ground was no different than the one on Earth, and trees were surrounding the place . The passage we walked through to arrive here had already disappeared . I tried using my Space Magic skill to get more information, but I still had no clue about where we were . In other words, this place is neither Earth nor it is another world . When I concentrated my attention, I notice a few small foxes like Naya gazing at us from a distance .
“That’s a human, right?”
“Yes, this is the first ti I saw one . ”
They talked to each other in a low voice tone while still concealing themselves . I felt like I turned into so weird creature .
“There are a lot of them, huh . ”
“Yeah . ”
Karen also seed to have noticed the foxes that were hiding in the bushes . I replied to her as I looked at them with an unwitting smile . The way they restlessly show only their head was pretty adorable . A few monts later, Nayama and the big fox nad Ouka finished their conversation .
“Human, I am indebted to you for saving Naya . As the leader of these children, I give you my sincere gratitude . ”
“Don’t worry about it . I just found him by incidentally while taking a stroll . ”
When I replied to Ouka who expressed her gratitude to , I felt that Karen added a bit of strength in seizing my hand . I turned to look at her and noticed that she was faintly trembling . It looks like she got intimidated by Ouka’s pressing aura . Ouka seed to have noticed that as well and uttered with a regretting expression .
“I apologize . It seems that you’re are not very pleased with my current appearance . Please let change it now . ”
Following that line, Ouka started emanating a very bright light . Her outer appearance that was of a nine-tailed fox began shrinking gradually until it turned into the shape of a person . After the light disappeared, she had completely transford into a shrine maiden with fox ears .
“Is this alright?”
Even her voice changed to correspond with her current appearance as a woman . I answered her while still being dumbfounded . I didn’t expect her to transform into a human . I should have predicted sothing as cliché to happen, but still; witnessing a fox transforming into a human in reality is quite stunning . I kept gazing at the Ouka with an astonished face . She was shorter than in height and her hair had the sa yellow color that she had on her fur . Her chest was reasonably puffed and she exuded a neat and clean ambiance of an elder sister .
“Um, is there sothing wrong with my appearance?...”
When I kept staring at her for too long, she asked while making an awkward smile . Karen who was trembling just now seized by my hand .
“What are you fascinated by?”
“Nothing, really . ”
I was just surprised to see her turn into a human . I’m definitely not fascinated by her . I asked Karen who was glaring at to move her hand, but she refused for no reason and kept seizing by my hand . She probably doesn’t want to get so weird passion for animals . What a good little sister . Despite trying to make her let go of , she kept teasing while resisting seriously . It’s like I’m feeling pain, but it sohow ticklish as well . Ouka who heard our conversation giggled, seeming amused .
“You are getting well along . ”
Both of us turned to see Ouka watching us with a gentle smile on her face before we both felt embarrassed and stopped pinching each other . Anyway, we went a little bit off topic .
“So, Ouka sama? We ca here because the little fox asked us to follow him...”
“Hey, hey, Ouka-sama . ”
“Why are these humans here?”
Right before I was going to get into the core of the matter, the foxes who were watching us from afar rushed near Ouka and interrupted .
“There is no need for fear . These humans are not evil . ”
“Waa! There a lot of foxes!!”
“A, hey, Rouga!”
After the foxes showed up, this ti Rouga appeared without my permission . She probably got too excited from finding new creatures . Rouga ignored my words and approached the little foxes . On the other sides, the foxes were wary of her at first, but once they guessed that she’s wasn’t harmful, they approached her as well and started to get along in the blink of an eye .
“Yeay!”
“Ahaha!”
“This is fun!”
So lively and energetic . They already started playing with each other . Ouka seed to be surprised as well, but she eventually watched over them running with a warm smile .
“I didn’t expect that you would have your own shikigami . And this enormous spiritual power; I understand why Naya was too excited . ”
Well, Rouga is just a familiar . Instead of trying to fix her misunderstanding, let’s just get into the actual reason for which we are here for . I heard Ouka muttering to herself sothing about my magic being useful for sothing, but I just went ahead and asked her for what they need .
“So, Ouka-sama . About the reason the little fox brought us here...”
“Ah, yes . I was about to forget about the reason you are here for . Also, it’s fine if you just called as Ouka . I don’t mind being called that way by humans . ”
After finishing what she was saying, Ouka changed her laid-back expression into a serious one and continued .
“This mountain is going to collapse in the very soon in a near future . ”
————————————————————————————-
Bonus
Surprise attack
“Yeaay!” ← Rouga
“This is fun!” ← foxes
“They are so lively . ” ← Yato
“Well, they are still kids, after all . ” ← Ouka
“It feels good to be young . ”
“... Yeah . ”
“I will look for a chance in tonight and bite them away when they’re sleeping . ” ← Rouga .
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