Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 78- Horde Preparation

[Keeno POV]

The next day, we had a late start due to accidentally sleeping in.  When we did manage to get up, we quickly got ready for the day and left the inn.  After Pram asked around a bit, seeing as she was the most approachable of our group, we made our way to the Guild branch.  It looked like the one I saw the first time I arrived in Nidavellir.  When we walked inside, we got the usual stares that we promptly ignored, as we made our way to the staircase that led to the adventurer area of the Guild.

Once we were down there, we made our way over to a free reception counter.  The floor was somewhat barren of adventurers, though seeing the size of the caravan from a week ago, it made sense.  Anyway, when we walked up to the counter, the receptionist that was stationed there gave the usual service smile, though, as usual when someone sees me for the first time, she flinched, though, as a professional, she hid it well.

“Welcome, is there anything that the Guild can assist you with?”

We flashed our adventurer cards before I started speaking.

“Not sure if the Guild is aware of it or not, but on the way to this city, we found that the area was pretty much completely barren of any wildlife, animal or monster.  This led us to the conclusion that a possible horde is forming.” (Keeno)

“As you can see, there aren’t many adventurers around at the moment, so this hasn’t been reported yet.  Thank you for the information and we’ll send out some people that have experienced hordes before to survey the area and see if this information is good, or just a false alarm.  The Guild asks that you stay put in this city for the time being and, if this information turns out to be good, we ask that you assist in the defense of the city, if not, you will still be paid for the warning.”

The three of us nodded and I signed the paperwork for reporting things like this that the receptionist handed to me.  We moved away from the counter and walked over to the request board to see if there was anything we could pass the time doing, seeing as we’d be stuck here for a while.  After a while of browsing, we picked a few in-city delivery quests to do.  After officially accepting them, we left the Guild to get them done.

Like this, a few days passed when the Guild called in all the adventurers present in the city.  When we arrived, the ground floor of the Guild was filled with people while a large, muscular man with dark skin, pointed ears, and blood red eyes stood looking over everyone present.  A little while after a few more people arrived, the man stepped up onto a small, raised dais in the front of the room.

“Everyone quiet!”

At his shout, the small amounts of chatter stopped completely.

“As you are all aware, there was recently an exodus of adventurers from this city.  I’m sure you are all also aware of the large caravan that departed from here before those adventurers.  While things like this are fairly commonplace, it has been a while since such large caravans have gone through this area.  And, when large groups get together and travel, they obviously need to sustain themselves.  In this case, they did so too much, overhunting many animals.  For those of you that know what this entails, get ready, for those of you who don’t, a monster horde is forming, and we need to shore up the city’s defenses.  We’ll be working with the knights stationed here to defend the city.  We’ll be splitting things up, those of you with earth and other support magic, go to the city walls and consult with the knights there, those of you who can use healing magic, head to the floor below us and get the briefing from the other healers.  Those of you who are combatants, stay here and split into three groups, one for mages, one for physical warriors, and one for ones that can use both.”

“Guess I’m heading down, see you two later.” (Pram)

Pram and the other healers headed downstairs while Freya and I moved to the group of people that use both magic and physical abilities.  When we got there, a few people flinched back while others started to stare at my two tails.

{*grumbling noises*}

While I could hear faint grumbling noises coming from Ama, she didn’t say anything due to there being several angels nearby.  Turning my attention back to the man that was organizing everyone here, he was looking around making sure everybody was in their proper groups.  Once he decided that everything was good, he started speaking again.

“Alright, mages, you’ll be joining the mage knights on the wall and, once the horde arrives, will be in charge of providing bombardment support, archers will do so as well.  Physical only fighters will be the vanguard and our first line of defense.  The mixed group will be between the wall and the vanguard, provide support where you can and don’t let any monster through.  Due to the nature of hordes, we don’t know when it will come for the city but be prepared to deploy at a moment’s notice.  For now, that’s all, when you hear the bells, run to your stations.”

The dark elf man then stepped down from his dais and was quickly approached by several people who started asking questions.

“Want to move over there and wait for Pram?” (Keeno)

“Yeah.” (Freya)

We moved over to the side of the room next to the stairs Pram went down earlier.

“So…what’s it like?” (Freya)

“What?” (Keeno)

“…Be…Having two tails.” (Freya)

“It’s interesting.  Now, ask what you were originally going to ask.” (Keeno)

‘Fine, but I’m not saying any of it out loud.’ (Freya)

‘That’s fine, though it won’t stop any of the angels in here from listening in.’ (Keeno)

‘I don’t care about that I just don’t want Pram to hear.’ (Freya)

‘Then ask away.’ (Keeno)

‘How do I go about…finding out how she feels about me?’ (Freya)

‘Well, first off, Pram is basically an open book, so as long as she doesn’t outright reject you in any way, you’re good.  But seeing as that isn’t what you are asking really, I need to know, are you in love with her, or are you just nervous about something regarding that time you slept while hugging her tail?’ (Keeno)

‘Yes, it’s the second thing…I think.  I don’t know if what I feel is love or not, and even if it is, I feel that we need to…become more acquainted before anything happens, but for the most part, I’m worried I overstepped when I did that with her tail.  For my people, being allowed to touch another’s tail is basically only things married couples do, and seeing as I slept while hugging her’s, I feel like I invaded her personal space too much for someone that hasn’t even known her for a long time.’ (Freya)

‘Freya, you are overthinking this way, WAY too much.  I mean, you’ve seen her sleeping while hugging one or both of my tails pretty much since the day we met.  You know each beastkin race is different when it comes to things like touching their ears or tails.  Like us kitsune, touching our tails are fine, but our ears are off limits, Pram told me once that, for snow leopard beastkin, touching their ears and tails are fine, but biting or nibbling their tails are a big no for anyone not married or are children, so as long as you didn’t do that, you are fine.  Now, on the topic of you being in love with Pram, I’ll let you figure it out yourself.  But I will tell you this now; if you are in love with her, never, EVER break her heart.  I don’t care if you are going to become what you are, I won’t forgive you.  Pram is my best friend, sister in all but blood, and one of the few people I’ve seen with a Pure soul, if you hurt her like that and it taints her soul, I will make sure you regret it.’ (Keeno)

‘I understand your warning, but I also object to even needing it.  I am NOT like the ones that raised me, I’ll make sure the person I fall in love with, Pram or not, will be the happiest person in the world, I would never betray them.’ (Freya)

‘Perfect.  Of course, that’s just on my side, one day when you meet her family, you’ll need to get their approval as well, though if you manage to get mine, theirs will be a cake walk, and, you are close to getting mine.’ (Keeno)

‘…’ (Freya)

I glanced over at Freya and saw her cheeks were tinged slightly red and one of her ears was twitching.

‘Hehehe.’ (Keeno)

A little while after this discussion, Pram emerged from the stairs.  She looked a bit sleepy and, once questioned about it, we learned that the one leading the healers is some old man that takes too long to get a point across and has a habit of going on tangents unrelated to the current subject.  After going over our stations for when the horde arrives, we left the Guild.  About two days later, the vibe of the city completely changed and early that morning, before the suns rose into the sky, the emergency bells started ringing.

Chaos Realm:

Luna: So, how long do you think Freya will be in denial that she loves Pram?

Velvet: I don’t think she’s in denial.  She does have some feelings for Pram, but she doesn’t know they are love just yet, like she said.

Soleil: No, she’s definitely in denial.  She just doesn’t want to think about how she fell in love with the first person who’s tail she hugged.

Luna: And on Pram’s side, it’s a wonder how she hasn’t noticed this.  I mean, all of us can clearly see it, but she hasn’t.  It’s like she’s a romcom protagonist.

Luna, not everything is like a school romance light novel.  She’ll notice before the 7 thousandth chapter.

Luna: She better, I hate how those stories do that.

Well, I’m sure once Keeno and Amaterasu get fed up with Pram’s denseness, they’ll make their move.

Velvet: I feel like they are just going to tease them until they get together.

Soleil and Luna: That’s one of the best ways to go about it.

Velvet: Of course the two of you would think that way.

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