Swordsmaster Fox-girl

 

Three months or so had passed since that fateful day, and we were now on a mountain pass, close to the border of the Beastman Kingdom of Ravrt.

Yes, I was exiled from Vetrix Empire entirely, not just the Leinfall Duchy. Apparently, the Empress was too scared of Herald to do anything…

The past three months had been…tough. We were a four-person band, and we only had a Gold. So, being the most experienced with traveling in the group, I had to ration everything carefully.

Of course, I prioritized Nowa over everyone else.

‘Isn’t that right, my dear little sister?’

As if answering my thought, Nowa snuggled even closer to me. We were wrapped in a blanket and stayed inside a wagon.

Edward and Violette were outside, driving the wagon, doing whatever siblings like them did.

Today was one of the rare days that I didn’t have to worry about much, so I finally had time to spend with Nowa and open my Status.

[You’ve angered the Monarch of Violence. Be prepared to pay the price.]

‘...I’ll leave that alone for now.’

[Unique Constitution - {Curse of Expressionlessness (weak)} has been converted to {Ice-cold beauty} due to your trait, {False pragmatist} and an insurmountable surge of emotion.]

‘What?’

{E} [Ice-cold beauty] (Passive // Active)

Passively makes the user more attractive and sets her neutral expression to boredom at the cost of making it harder for strangers to approach her. When used as an [Active] skill, the user’s facial expression is eliminated. Due to the trait [False pragmatist], this skill does not remove or suppress the user’s emotions.

 

‘This is…interesting.’

No wonder Violette had been telling me that I was more expressive in the past months. Still, this skill was…how do I put it… Garbage.

Being attractive out here without any power to back it up? Certified death sentence.

The only silver lining in this situation was that Nowa was sticking with me much more frequently now.

“Nee-chan,” Nowa suddenly said, interrupting my thought. “Where friend?”

‘Ah, she’s talking about my swords…’

Yeah, so, during her time at the mansion, she accidentally saw Nira and Aerin. I swear, her footsteps were as silent as a cat’s.

Anyways, she became quick friends with them. When she tried to tell Mom, she just disregarded it as her making imaginary friends.

Much as I wanted Nira and Aerin to keep Nowa occupied, I couldn’t summon them no matter what. Nira was probably mad at me. And as for Aerin, Nira probably banned her from contacting me.

It made sense. I’d be pretty mad too if I were them.

Sighing, I hugged Nowa even tighter and went to sleep.

…

..

.

.

..

…

….

Large torrents of wind suddenly splashed on my face. The first thing I saw when I opened my eye was the dark and starry sky. What? The wagon’s roof was blown off?

Soon, several mask-wearing men jumped in the wagon.

I didn’t even bother to ask who they were since their coming into this wagon and waving their weapons around was enough confirmation for me.

‘Bandits…and here I was wondering when I’d run into them.’

“Nira, come!”

But nothing happened. The bandits were just staring at me as if I was mad.

‘Nira, I’m not fucking with you! This is serious! Don’t make me do it!’

No answer.

‘Alright then. [Forced Summon]!’

But…nothing happened.

‘Huh?’

No time to think about it now. Clenching my fist, I punched one of the men in his chin. Good thing they were underestimating me.

The bandit whom I punched dropped his sword. ‘Nice, finally, a weapon!’ But as I was about to grab it, I…froze. 

My hands trembled. The image of me impaling Mom overlapped with the sword. ‘W-What? Me, afraid of swords?’

I gritted my teeth and turned away from the sword, just in time to notice a bandit making his way toward Nowa.

“YOU LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!”

The bandit jolted up in surprise at my sudden shout. Big mistake. He’d just given me enough time to knock his teeth out with a punch.

With the threats now temporarily gone, I swooped in to pick Nowa up and hurriedly got out of the wagon.

I saw red.

Red of blood,

And red of rage.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”

He could don as many layers of cloaks and hoods as he liked, but those damned orange eyes, I could never forget. Herald—!

The bastard brought his hands up and slowly clapped.

“Well, what do you know, you actually survived the attack.”

“Where’s Violette and Edward!?” I hugged Nowa closer to me.

“You are in no place to ask questions.” Herald chuckled. “Well, time for the final gift.”

“W—”

But before I could do anything, he raised his foot up and kicked me down the seemingly bottomless cliff behind me.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Good luck.”

Shit! That bastard was actually right! I had no time to think about killing him when the ground was fast approaching. Mustering as much Aura as possible, I used [Star Steps] over what felt like a hundred times.

When my Aura ran out, I burned into my Mana. It was wholly inefficient, but it was all I had.

I hit the ground rather hard. The tree branches broke my fall somewhat, so I suffered nothing but a few fractured bones.

But I wasn’t the source of my own concern. I quickly looked at Nowa, who was in my embrace, and checked her for any injuries.

“Haaah, good, you’re fine.”

It was a miracle that someone as fragile as her could survive the fall with nothing but bruises.

Still, I felt sharp pains in my heart whenever I saw her bruises. She…didn’t deserve any of it. My fault, it was always my fault.

“[Minor Heal]”

Her body was back to perfect condition, but I had now officially ran out of Mana and Aura. Any more and I’d go into Mana-depletion.

“Sorry…but I have to…sleep…for…a…bi—”

But I shot my eyes open when I felt a sharp pain in my back. On instinct, I kicked Nowa again and scurried against the nearest tree.

I looked at Nowa again. She was squirming on the ground, wincing; on her hand was a knife with a bloodied tip.

‘D-Did she just stab me?’

Wait, no, that wasn’t important! I’d kicked Nowa! Suppressing a gasp, I swooped in to hug her.

“N-Nowa, I’m sorry.” I quickly muttered a spell. “[Minor h—”

“Stop!” Nowa suddenly shouted. What was plastered on her face wasn’t the naive smile that she always had, but a darkened expression of confusion. “W-Why? Why don’t you hate me?”

“Why would I hate you?”

“I tried to…”

“You’re the only one I have left,” I whispered. “Whatever you do, I won’t hate you for it. I know that you have some kind of… urge to stab things. If it makes you feel better, you can always stab me.”

Nowa dropped the knife to the ground and muttered, “Nee-chan is stupid.”

“I know…” I smiled.