A Warrior Exiled by the Hero and His Lover - CH 195

I opened my eyes slightly. And the first thing I noticed was Frau peeking out.

—My Lord, he’s awake!

—Kyui!

I stared at the ceiling while trying to remember why I was lying down.

The ancient demon king Ios had come and wanted to murder Grandmother Tamamo…

Now I remember! I had been fighting against Ios!

I tried to get up, but a terrible pain invaded my whole body.

—It still hasn’t healed completely, please rest.

Kaede came running to me and made me lie down again. She also used healing waves to relieve the pain.

I checked my arms and other parts of my body, but there were no serious injuries. However, those blows were deadly enough to leave me completely sore and tired.

—How long was I asleep for?

—Twelve hours, I think.

So, it’s early morning the next day. We seemed to have been transported to the realm of the white fox celestial beasts and it was night.

—Wow!

Kaede and Frau hugged me.

—I am so happy that you are still alive. Please don’t do something rash like that again.

—Yes, I thought you were dead.

—I’m sorry I worried them.

Her eyes were red and swollen.

I felt deeply sorry for the trouble I had caused. Apparently, it’s not easy to die anymore.

—Let the boy continue to rest. I will leave him in someone else’s care.

Grandmother Tamamo said as she entered the room.

—No, I want to take care of the teacher.

—You can do it after you have rested. Someone take Kaede to her room.

—Huh!? NO! Master～!

A pair of white foxes entered the room and dragged Kaede away. Frau and Panda went after her.

Grandmother Tamamo, who was still in the room, sits upright with a tense expression on her face.

—Thank you for saving me. I’m pretty sure I’d be dead now if it hadn’t been for you.

—There’s no need for any of this. I only fought because I didn’t want Kaede to be sad. If you want to thank someone, give it to Kaede.

—You’re right, even so, you saved my life.

Tamamo bowed her head to me deeply.

She is just like Kaede. She’s so polite, and sincere with her feelings. Being someone else she would have ignored me because of her pride. But she took the trouble to come and thank me in person.

—By the way, that lightning was a great help. If you hadn’t blinded him, it would have been me who would be dead now.

—Oh, you didn’t notice?

—What?

—…No, nothing, forget about it.

Eh? What do you mean by that? Now I’m curious.

But then I stopped caring when I felt a bug crawling around my waist and scratched.

The reconstructed main hall is now complete. Yatsufusa grandfather ushers us in with a satisfied expression on his face.

—We have done a much better job than before. It won’t be necessary to rebuild or remodel this place in a thousand years.

—I don’t think anyone has asked you to improve it. But thanks anyway. You two, go get the dimensional mirror.

—Yes.

A mirror was brought to the center of the main hall at Grandma’s request. This mirror is the entrance to the heavenly realm.

According to Grandfather, this object is actually not a mirror, but a portal. He had given me a detailed explanation about such an object, but I did not understand it at all.

—I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly, I didn’t know that the demon would come back so quickly.

—It’s not me you should apologize to. It’s Toru-sama.

—It’s all right. Grandfather apologized to me many times already.

When grandpa came back, he apologized to me so many times that I was already dizzy. I really didn’t mind at all, as the fish he brought was really delicious.

—And is your body feeling much better now?

—I’m not completely healed, but I don’t feel much pain anymore. And luckily my body always recovers quickly from serious injuries.

—That’s good to know.

I thought I saw Grandpa Yatsufusa and Grandma Tamamo exchanging glances. Maybe they are still worried about my injury.

—I have something for you, boy. Come with Kaede to my room.

After those words, the three of us proceeded across the mirror to the realm of the celestial beasts.

We arrived at the huge room I was shown when I first arrived here.

Grandma Tamamo proceeded to sit with her back straight, very different from our first meeting.

—I have something for you on your journey.

—Does that mean I can go on a trip with the master?

—You were going to go anyway, even if I stopped you. Besides, Toru-sama is a man who has never betrayed your trust, and I see nothing wrong with leaving my family in his care.

The fact that Kaede could now continue to travel with me and with Grandmother Tamamo’s acceptance, brought a big smile to my face.

Kaede became a valuable companion, and also an important member of my family. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye to her.

—I have two things for you. One is this.

Tamamo holds out a rectangular wooden box. We opened the lid and saw that it contained a scroll.

—The scroll containing the secrets of the clan?!

You are now a full-fledged white fox. You have reached level 50,000 after the last battle. Now, I want you to show me your nine tails.

Before I knew it, Kaede’s tail expanded significantly, and suddenly, nine tails appeared like the petals of a flower.

The temperature of the room drops drastically and an enormous amount of magical power gushes out of Kaede.

—Eeeh!

—Kyui!

—I’m sorry. It seems that, if I relax too much, the magic gets to seep out.

—Kaede, your tail.

—I’ve leveled up and that’s caused my body to undergo a physical transformation. I am now a white fox with nine tails.

Your body originally already contained a very high potential. And that is why there has never been a physical transformation.

—Back to the subject at hand, in the scroll you will find a list of the techniques I have devised. Each of the White Fox’s spells was created to defeat an enemy with great power.

Kaede unsealed the scroll and opened it. It was written in letters she did not know and could not read.

—There is a magic called ‘ice world’, what does it do?

It is a technique of self-destruction, the most powerful magic that can only be used once in a lifetime to finish off any enemy. I recommend you not to use it, but if you have no choice but to do so, that’s up to you….

Grandmother Tamamo didn’t say anything else, but then she stared at me, her gaze was as if she was pleading  me to never let Kaede get to use that magic.

So I nodded silently.

I will protect Kaede, even if it means losing my life.

—And the other thing I want to give you is too big to bring here? So follow me.

Something too big? Will you give me a gold bar?

—An egg…?

A large egg, about five meters long, laid next to the main room. The surface was white and reflected the light as if it had been polished.

—Kyu! Kyu, Kyu!

—Eeeh!? What’s wrong!?

Panda pulled Frau off of him, and approached the egg with great speed, and then began sniffing it as he circled it.

—Possibly this is a fortification egg?

—Originally, the beast you have with you were only created for support, but without any fighting capabilities. But when the war began, their nature began to change. They were given the ability to fight, and fortification eggs were also produced to evolve their abilities.

After that, the image of each of the beasts I own appeared in my head.

They all look cute, as if they were a pet. Maybe that was their original nature?

Grandmother Tamamo continued to tell her story.

—Towards the end of the war, the most powerful enhanced eggs were created. And with them came their own special beasts. However, these beasts put so much emphasis on their enhanced form that their pre-enhanced form became the weakest of all.

—That means…

—Exactly.

Panda is the most powerful beast in the world? Panda had always been worried about not being able to build as he wished in the party, but now that he has so much power….

Both Kaede and I were very happy. But the happier of the two of us was Frau.

—That’s great, Panda! You’re the strongest of the whole family!

—Kyui!

—That’s right! Uggh…

—Kyuuuuuuu!!

Frau and Panda started crying.

—That won’t be so easy, though, kid. The beast needs to spend a lot of time inside the egg, minimum one week, maximum one month. So I recommend you to start your journey and leave it here.

—Do you want me to go and leave Panda?

—Don’t worry about that. He’ll know where you are by your seal. As soon as he hatches, he’ll come and join you. You go on with the journey.

Panda flies to the egg with moist eyes. He felt a strong will to want to be strong, even if it meant he would be left behind.

—Remember to come back with us, Panda!

—Kyui!

—I can’t wait to see you stronger, Panda.

—Kyu kyu!

—I’ll be waiting for you.

—Kyu!

Panda proceeded to dive into the egg.

The lid is gently closed and a bulge appears on the surface of the egg. Steam is expelled from the protuberance and the pulsation starts.

It’s a strange feeling to start a trip without Panda.

—Frau was left without his comfortable bed.

—Kyu!

I could hear Panda’s angry voice from inside the egg.