Chapter 173: The Fox God and the Gothic Lolita Shadow User
Chapter 173: The Fox God and the Gothic Lolita Shadow User
Caim-san left directly in transition. His return will be in a week's time.
I took Lily and the others to the Beastmasters Guild to summon today. On the way there, I heard about Ix in the info feed. I sent an email to my friends explaining the situation.
It was a good opportunity, but I decided to leave Ix at home. I'm sure she'll be fine, but I didn't want to cause any confusion with the sudden appearance of Ex Machina.
On the way, the girls are motivated to talk about how they will compare their skills with the knights. The tension was low because of the store number. I'm glad I was able to recover.
Today's aim is the dark magic stone.
Yesterday, the lack of summoned beasts at night was revealed and Goblins are good at entangling. So a dark summoned beast would be the best candidate.
I was about to enter the summoning room and create a dark magic stone. During the summoning, intense pressure was generated and the time stopped.
Lily and the others stopped moving and I was the only one who could move.
I looked at the source of the pressure and saw Koihi there. What's going on? I'm not going to do anything.
"You're right. You didn't do anything. I stopped the time"
Koihi is speaking the Kyoto dialect.
"It's not Koihi...possession?"
"No, it's not. Its invocation. This girl can't use it yet, so I forced her to come down. It's harmless, so don't worry"
Invocation? So what you're talking about now is...
"You know what I mean. I'd like to introduce myself again. I'm Sky Fox. My name is Inari. I'm the god of the foxes that rule the sky and the heavens and I'm also the god of agriculture"
The god Inari is here...the god worshipped at Fushimi Inari Shrine. I, It's bad.
"Don't be surprised. You've met someone stronger than me"
You mean the Dragon Kings.
"That's right. I came here today to ask for a favor from you, who has carefully raised my family member and been recognized by the Dragon Kings"
I wonder if it's okay to ask for a favor from God? I don't think it's normal.
"Normally, no. It's forbidden to have anything to do with the earth. But if our family members are in danger, it's a different story"
"Your family member is in danger?"
"That's right. I'm sure you've noticed it too. You must have noticed the abnormal intelligence of the goblins"
It is true that I was surprised by the goblins' tactics, but at the same time I wondered if they had that much intelligence.
"If you have any doubts, you should get the answer"
"...No way, are you saying that there is someone who is giving wisdom to the goblins?"
"You're right. And the culprit is a human summoner"
N, No way...Rook is the culprit!?
"Isn't that the person who is loved by goblins? No it's not him"
Well, no...and Rook has been certified as a goblin favorite by the god Inari.
"I can't tell you who the culprit is, but I'm pretty sure he's the one giving orders to the goblins to kidnap girls from Marlin Village. One of them must be one of my family members"
I wanted to tear him to pieces for harming my family member, but he wanted to sell her as a slave, so I couldn't keep quiet"
I see. And if a human summoner caused the problem, a human summoner should be the one to solve it.
"That's what I mean. Will you take care of it?"
I got the information and more importantly, if Koihi's friend is in danger, I can't leave them alone...I'm sure Koihi will want to help.
"I understand. I'll take care of it"
"That's a good answer. I don't think we have much time. I'll wait until three days later. Do your best. Good bye"
The strong pressure disappeared and time began to move.
"What?"
"Something just happened..."
"I felt a chill..."
Then Koihi collapses.
"Koihi!? Are you okay!?"
"Ha...hahi. I...I'm sorry. I don't have...strength...in me"
Koihi is cramping. She looks like a newborn calf.
"Don't overdo it...look. Rest for now"
I put Koihi on my lap and stroked her head. Koihi squints comfortably, but the others aren't in a good mood. It can't be helped, right? Please be patient here.
Then we'll talk about what just happened. First of all, Koihi freaks out at the mention of the sky fox.
"Sky Fox-sama is using my body!? A, Awawa. W, What am I supposed to do!? Takuto-oniichan"
I don't know what to say...do shrine maidens purify themselves?
"Isn't it okay to leave it as it is? Actually, Koihi was haunted by sky fox as it was"
"I, I'm sure you're right, but...I.I have to do something...emm...emm..."
Koihis tail is running wild. For now, calm down. And when I tell everyone what I heard from Sky Fox, Lily and the others get angry.
"That's horrible!"
"It's unacceptable!"
"It's garbage..."
And although Koihi is upset, she has a strong determination in her eyes.
"That...my friend...Takuto-oniichan! Please! My friendah"
"You don't have to ask. We're all feeling the same way"
Lily and the others nodded.
"Let's kill those goblins and save Koihis friend"
Oo!
To do that, we need to call in some new friends!
I made a dark magic stone and I'm ready. I'm begging you, please make the summoning successful.
When I magic stone summon, black smoke erupts from the magic circle. It's a success, right?
In the center of the black smoke, a girl with long, dark hair and wearing a gothic lolita outfit appears. Oh, the lolicon title...no wonder.
The girl opens her eyes. Her eyes are jet black, but she looks sleepy. Is she okay?
"...Are you the one who summoned me?"
"Yes. I'm Takuto, a summoner. You are"
"...Dragonewt"
I thought she was different because of her gothic lolita outfit, but she's a dragonewt!?
"...Name"
Ah, yeah. Her name...emm black, right? Noir comes to mind as a black girl's name but I'm not going to use it as it is. Alright, I've decided.
"How about Nowa?"
"...Nowa. ...I like it"
I'm glad she likes it.
"...Nii. Nice to meet you"
Guhaa!? I got blitzed in the heart!
"A rival appears for Koihi"
"Eh!? I, I can't lose! I'm the best younger sister to Takuto-oniichan!"
I don't know what you're talking about...huu. It's okay. I was just taken by surprise. No problem.
Now, let's check out Nowa's status.
Name Nowa Dragonewt Lv1
Vitality 10
Magic Power 22
Strength 5
Defense 5
Agility 14
Dexterity 25
Skills
Shadow Manipulation Lv1
Shadow Detection Lv1
Shadow Movement Lv1
Shadow Hiding Lv1
Stealth Lv1
Mimicry Lv1
Night Vision Lv1
This brings the total number of summoned beasts I can summon to 7. Then comes the info.
You've made a contract with three different dragonewts. You have earned the title Dragonewt Summoner
Another title. I checked it out.
Title Dragonewt Summoner
Effect: Increases the abilities of dragonewts you've made a contract with (medium).
This title can be obtained by making a contract with three different dragonewts.
I'm not sure how much this increases their abilities. Well, if it makes us stronger, I'm all for it.
Now, Nowa doesn't have any weapon skills. Instead, she has a lot of skills that I don't know, unlike Lily and Ion.
"You don't seem to have any weapon skills, how do you fight?"
"...Like this"
When Nowa held out her hand, which was not sticking out of her gothic lolita outfit, her shadow changed its shape and moved in different ways. That's interesting! The shadow can become a spear, a sword, or even a shield. It's true that you don't need a weapon for this.
However, it seems that she can only control her own shadow and the range she can extend depends on the area of her shadow.
So, for now, she can only fight in close quarters.
Next, shadow detection seems to be a skill that detects the number of enemies with shadows. And with shadow movement, Nowa suddenly disappears. Eh? Where did she go?
"...Here"
"Uwaa!?"
Nowa is peeking out from my shadow. I'm scared.
"...Prank, successful"
Nowa likes to play pranks even though she doesn't talk much?
But this skill seems to be super useful. Let's hear more about it.
"Can this skill be used to move to any shadow?"
"...No, it can't. Only the shadows of Nii and Nowa"
It's not that useful.
"Can I move into Nowa's shadow too?"
"...You can if Nowa takes you"
Well, it's Nowa's skill, so there's that.
"By the way, how long are you going to stay in my shadow?"
"...I want to stay forever. I'll live here"
She's going to say she doesn't want to work in the future.
"Get out"
"...Ya"
Oh, she ran into the shadow. I'm going to have a hard time.
So I ended up catching her with meat as bait. Apparently, she could smell it even from the shadow and it was funny to see her trying so hard to get her hands out of the shadow.
"...That's unfair"
"I don't want to be told by someone who runs into my shadow. Or was it your shadow hiding skill that made you run into the shadows?"
"...Yes"
"Does that mean you can hide in other shadows?"
"...Yes. I want some meat"
Yes, yes. I'll give you some. Now let's see some mimicry.
Then black smoke came out of Nowa and when the black smoke cleared, Ion was there.
"Why me!?"
"...Suusuu"
"Don't make your skirt flutter!"
"Takuto-sama, you saw it?"
"Takuto-san!!"
Setia and Ion get angry with me. You can't blame me for this...
But they look exactly alike. Transformation was obvious because of the fox ears and such, but this one only has a different voice, but the rest looks perfect.
By the way, it seems she can't change into me. She said she can't change if there's a height difference. Safe!
After confirming Nowa's ability, I tried to summon a soul by list summoning, but failed. I'm really glad I went to the Deep Red Wilderness yesterday.
Nowa is clearly an assassin and spy type. I mean, I think she's more of a ninja than Hokage.
I'll have to do some prep work, but thanks to Inari God's information and Nowa's, I've got a solid plan for getting past the goblins.
I'm going to give them hell.
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Author note:
This was the chapter where the sky fox Inari and the dark dragonewt Nowa appeared. This is my first attempt at writing in Kansai dialect (Kyoto dialect), so I had to do a lot of research and conversion. I would appreciate it if you could let me know if there are any oddities.
I was really torn between a Kunoichi costume and a Noi costume. But I decided to go with the gothic lolita costume, which is a silent character with no hands.