Free Web NovelChapter 294: Servant
Not getting any response from the two big foxes, Lucas scratched his head and asked, "Master, did my message not get across properly?"
He was still a novice at using his Soul Sense to project his intentions like this, so Lucas really was worried he had said something wrong.
"No, you’re doing fine, Lucas," Celestina, however, waved off his concerns, signaling for him to just be patient.
A minute or so passed before Frey and Bron came back to their senses, with the former stepping forward and saying, "Forgive us, young human Lucas, we were simply surprised."
"It’s alright," Lucas shrugged, his movements disturbing the napping fox kit on his shoulders slightly, but not enough to wake her from her food-coma.
Seeing this, Frey couldn’t help asking, "How did you end up taking care of the kit of a Great One?"
"That’s... a long story," Lucas knit his brow, trying to think of a simple way to explain Yuki’s origin.
It took a while, but Lucas managed to answer Frey’s question, after which the female Snow Spirit Fox sank back into contemplation.
Knowing that this Sixth Order Spirit Beast was dealing with a lot, everyone gave her some time and space to sort through her thoughts.
Eventually, Frey let out a long sigh and turned to address the leader of the humans, "You were right, Lady Celestina. This doesn’t help us."
If a Great One had really been here, then not only would they have temporarily been safe, there would also be hope for them to return home, but it seemed that rosy future was not to be.
Lucas indeed had the mark of a Great One on him, and he even had the kit of a Great One in his care, but neither of those facts was of much use to Frey, Bron, and their hunting pack at the moment.
"What should we do, now?" Bron, who had been silent for a while, suddenly asked.
He was a brave warrior, but he had never been that great at using his head. Such things had always been best handled by his wife, who seemed to have a gift for dealing with complicated issues.
Even back in their tribe, Frey was often the one sent out to deal with diplomatic issues such as disputes with their neighbours, or negotiating with the humans of Eternal Spring Valley.
The whole idea of trying to travel north to search for their home was also Frey’s idea, Bron and the rest of the pack had simply been following her lead.
If Frey couldn’t think up a solution to their problem, then none of them could.
Frey, of course, understood this, but she too was currently at a loss for ideas.
Just then, Yuki let out a yawn and opened her eyes to discover two big, strong foxes sitting in front of her.
Instead of feeling intimidated, though, Yuki only tilted her head curiously and yipped.
"Hm? Oh, you’re awake, little one," Frey naturally took notice of this and replied back.
*Yip yip?*
Smiling warmly, Frey shook her head, "I’m sorry, we’re not friends with your mother."
*Yip yip yip.*
"Oh? Why do you think so?"
*Yip!*
"Really? You trust him that much?"
*Yip yip yip.*
"Hm..."
Needless to say, Lucas and the others were only able to partially follow this conversation thanks to Frey allowing them to.
Despite being from an incredibly powerful lineage of Spirit Beasts, Yuki was still just at the beginning of the Infant Stage and didn’t have the ability to project her intent through her Soul Sense.
This meant that Yuki wasn’t able to communicate with Lucas and the others in a direct manner, instead just expressing herself with yips and gestures, but now that another member of the Fox Clan was present, things were different.
Frey and Yuki engaged in a brief discussion, after which the former turned to Lucas and commented, "Princess Yuki said that you promised her you would return her to her mother some day, and she seems to have great faith in your ability to do so."
"Er, I did promise... princess? I did promise Yuki I would reunite her with her mother," Lucas nodded, "but as for how long that will take... I can’t say for certain."
"Might I ask how you plan on returning the princess to her mother?" Frey asked curiously as a faint spark of hope flickered to life again in her heart.
Understanding exactly why this big fox was asking him this question, Lucas thought about it for a moment before replying, "Yuki’s mother told me, through her Soul Manifestation, that she lives in the far south, very, very far from here and across a nearly endless ocean. In order to reunite them, the first challenge will be building a big enough fleet of ships to sail across that ocean."
"What is a ship?" Frey tilted her head, never having heard of such a thing before.
"A ship is... a large vessel that can float on water," Lucas answered succinctly.
"Oh, like how pieces of ice sometimes break off and float atop the ocean?" Frey tried making sense of the description in terms she could relate to.
"Something like that," Lucas nodded, "Only a ship is human-made and can be controlled, rather than just floating about aimlessly."
"I see," Frey smiled, a glint flashing across the depths of her eyes, "So, if you were able to build a ship big and strong enough to take the princess back to her mother, could you also take us back to our tribe?"
"Uh... that depends," Lucas pursed his lips, "Where exactly is your home?"
"North of here," Bron answered in a gruff tone, joining the conversation from the side.
He didn’t like humans, nor did he like the idea of relying on them, but if that was their only option, then he was willing to compromise for the moment.
As for whether he thought a young pup like Lucas could really help them, Bron wasn’t sure, but Princess Yuki seemed to trust him implicitly, which made him a little curious about why.
On the other hand, Lucas felt a bit helpless after receiving this kind of non-descript response; after all, there were a lot of places ’north’ of where they currently stood.
Wracking his brain for a bit, Lucas turned to Frey, the more helpful of the two foxes, and asked, "How do you know your tribe lives north of here?"
"Because of the stars," Frey responded, "We were trying to follow them back home, but I guess we’re further away than I originally thought."
Raising his brow, Lucas was quite impressed with Frey’s deduction. This was actually the same method he used to determine the rough position of the tropical land Redwood Town had been connected to during the Spatial Storm.
Continuing down that line of thought, Lucas inquired further, "When you first arrived here, was the time of day different?"
"Yes!" Frey nodded, surprised that Lucas actually knew this, "Our pack was out hunting with the sun near the top of the sky when a snowstorm suddenly hit. We tried to seek shelter in a nearby ice cave, but before we knew it, we were thrown into an unfamiliar forest and it was somehow the middle of the night."
So, they experienced a near 12-hour time difference... Lucas calculated, his brow furrowing slightly. If the difference in time-zone was that large, it could only mean that Frey and Bron’s tribe lived somewhere on the opposite side of Servist’s northern pole.
As for how far beyond the northern pole, Lucas had to think about that for a while before asking, "In your tribe’s homeland, is there a period during the year when the sun never sets?" freewebnσvel.cѳm
"En!" Frey nodded enthusiastically, "It’s only for about 10 days each year, but during the warmest months, that really does happen!"
"Wait! You’ve clearly never been to our tribe before, so why do you know about that?" Bron snarled suspiciously.
This young boy seemed to know far more than he should, both about their arrival here and about where they were from. It was unnerving and made Bron somewhat uncomfortable.
Before Frey could scold her husband, however, Yuki growled angrily from Lucas’ shoulder, clearly displeased that this big new uncle was being mean.
"No no no, I meant no harm to your servant, Princess," Bron hurriedly apologized.
Yuki was no match for him in terms of strength, but the innate aura of her bloodline still sent chills up his spine.
It was like when a strong, adult commoner was suddenly addressed by a 5-year-old imperial daughter. Even if the girl was personally small and weak, her background alone was enough to cause any commoner, no matter their strength, shiver unconsciously.
Lucas, on the other hand, had his face twitching quite uncomfortably. He hadn’t missed the ’servant’ part of Bron’s response, and he wasn’t dull enough to not understand what this meant.
Damn cake-eating fox! I save your life, feed you, bathe you, take care of you... Going over everything he had done for Yuki so far, Lucas suddenly felt his heart sink when he realized he really was acting like her servant.
No! That’s wrong! I’m her... her guardian! Yes! That’s it! I’m just looking after her until I can return her to her mother! Lucas tried to convince himself, though he wasn’t being very successful.
After a futile internal struggle, Lucas slumped over a bit and sighed. It seemed he would have to teach Yuki a lesson about just who was in charge between the two of them, but that was an issue for later.
Right now, Lucas had a new deal to negotiate, one that would saddle him with another heavy future burden, but would probably be quite beneficial to him in the short term.
