Fox Den (8)

When the oracle first descended, Tara had been ready to take flight with joy. After ending her life as an ordinary fox and being reborn as a spiritual beast by the Fox God Gumiho's choice, it was the first divine voice she had heard in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fifty years.

And there was every chance she might be granted a Fox Bead, as the other successors had been. How could she not have been delighted?

Of course, it did not take long to realize that had been nothing but a delusion.

Guide the young successor. Recalling the oracle that had rung through her mind, Tara found herself thinking, Could even a god go soft in the head?

She knew the thought was blasphemous, but the oracle had been that absurd. Foxes chosen as successors were, at the very least, sacred beings a hundred years old. Tara, who had not even completed fifty years of training, was in no position to teach the likes of them.

I'd be lucky if I don't get attacked for the sheer gall of it.

And from what she knew, most successors who received a Fox Bead became Two-Tailed Foxes — or, more rarely, Three-Tailed Foxes — so being crushed to death under overwhelming spiritual pressure would hardly have been strange. However much spiritual power Tara possessed for a One-Tailed Fox, that advantage held only among others of the same rank.

The number of tails marked not merely the quantity of spiritual power, but the grade of one's very existence. Even a difference of a single tail was a wall that towered high.

Even so, Tara had no intention of fleeing the oracle. From the moment a god had restored her life, that life had no longer been her own. If she were ordered to die, going to her death was her duty.

All she could do was hope the successor she was about to meet would not have a rotten personality.

Fortunately, none of the horrors Tara had imagined came to pass.

She watched the young fox seated before her, fingers wriggling diligently as she practiced Five Elements Daoism. She had only just awakened to spiritual power, yet the way she handled it was not half bad.

She had already grasped Wood among the Five Elements, had she not? At this pace, she might master the whole of Five Elements Daoism within a few hours and move on to whatever came next.

Of course, a successor ought to have been handling such things long before now. Tara let out a quiet sigh to herself.

They had called her a young successor, and young she truly was. For all that she carried a Fox Bead, she still had only one tail, and because she had stolen spiritual power through slaughter instead of proper training, the quality of that power was wretched. The Fox Bead propped it up for now, but she would clearly hit a wall someday.

Not that it's any of my business.

The oracle given to Tara was simply to guide the young successor. Once the work was done, she need only return to her place, resume her training, and wait for the day she herself might be chosen.

The only real pity was that she could not take this enormous divine statue with her. Tara turned her head toward the statue glowing with a luminous violet light.

Fashioned in the likeness of the Fox God, the statue had been bestowed so that Tara might guide the young successor. It would certainly be reclaimed once the task was finished — which made it all the more painfully tempting. If she could draw on the power sleeping inside it, her training would go so much more smoothly.

She had been here only a few days, yet simply training beside the statue had already yielded results utterly unlike her usual progress — gains that would normally have taken at least a month of devoted practice.

And that was not all. Using it as a medium to deploy formations or Five Elements Daoism could produce effects beyond her ordinary limits. Enough, even, to taste a kind of omnipotence.

With this alone, no matter how many humans came charging in…

Tara caught herself mid-thought and turned her gaze on the only human in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the space.

Yeon, was it? She frowned at the human girl grinning foolishly at the successor.

She did not care for this Yeon. Quite apart from her dislike of humans, Tara was a proud fox, and it grated on her that a human was trailing after the very successor she was meant to guide. Worse still, some faint thread seemed to bind the two of them together — a contract, perhaps — and that only fanned her irritation higher.

That was why she had attacked on purpose, even knowing the girl was connected to the successor. The successor herself was only a one-tailed fox, same as Tara; no matter how angry she got, Tara had assumed she could subdue her with ease.

She had not expected the girl to throw herself in the way with her own life on the line.

I simply cannot make sense of any of this.

Why a fox barely born had been made a successor, and why that successor had contracted with a human and gone around with her — Tara could not begin to understand it. And that name, besides… No. Better not to think about that one.

So thinking, Tara quietly watched Choco. Already she was handling Fire with practiced ease. Was it the teaching she received in the statue's presence? Well — this was a space steeped in the Fox God's aura. Even Tara herself had been getting results unlike her usual training.

And just as Tara thought, a window had risen before Choco's eyes.

Thank goodness. Learning this is easier than I expected.

Choco let out a private sigh of relief. Honestly, from the moment Tara had announced she would teach Daoist magic, Choco had been full of worry.

If it had been something physical, she would not have fretted nearly so much. She had always had a knack for bodily things — she had even played something like competitive sports for a while when she was younger — and when she first started Al Fantasia, swordsmanship and the like had come quickly.

Magic had been the same. You just bought a magic book and read it, and the skill appeared in your skill window; effort barely entered into it. With enough money, you could learn any spell you wanted.

But Daoist magic belonged to neither category. Tara would mutter something like an incantation, and then Choco had to circulate her spiritual power and copy it. On top of that came a flood of abstract instructions — visualize something rising from the earth, spread your energy through empty air and condense it, and so on.

Fortunately, thanks to the Fox God's statue, she never found herself stuck and straining. Even a clumsy mental image produced results almost at once. The flames cycling over her palm right now were proof enough.

At this rate, hunting shouldn't be a problem going forward.

She had learned only two of the five elemental attributes, but even that was plenty.

And she no longer had a fox's body — she had a human one now. Instead of only lunging in to bite, she could swing a sword. She would be able to grow far faster than before.

Regardless of Choco's private calculations, Tara's Daoist magic lesson pressed on without pause.

Earth, which received all things and released them. Metal, which transformed freely at will. Water, which condensed and bound together.

Choco did not fully understand every principle, but simply following along was stacking proficiency steadily higher.

"I'm not sure whether you've actually understood any of this…"

Tara eyed her with open suspicion — until Choco demonstrated each form of Five Elements Daoism one by one. Only then did she nod, grudgingly convinced.

"With this much, you could at least go around calling yourself Lady Gumiho's successor without total embarrassment."

"So we're done now?"

"We've finished the most basic material, yes — and frankly, this is about all I can teach you. The rest you'll have to grasp yourself through repeated training."

As she spoke, Tara flicked a finger toward Yeon, who was nodding off. A nail-sized lump of spiritual power struck the drowsy girl's forehead dead-on, snapping her head back.

"Gyah!"

"Of course, as a successor, you'll no doubt surpass me in no time. I'm still just a fox without even a Fox Bead, after all."

"Haha…"

That sounded like it had a barb in it. The thought crossed Choco's mind, but she chose not to say it aloud. She did not consider herself especially sharp, but even she could tell this was not the moment to poke at it.

Watching Choco pat Yeon — who was clutching her forehead with a wounded look — Tara finished what she had to say.

"I don't know when it will be, but if you ever come to Mount Alfre, seek me out. I'd like to see what kind of growth you've achieved."

Mount Alfre was a name Choco knew. A mountain blanketed pure white in eternal snow. Its recommended level was only around eighty, but between the weather and the piled drifts, getting around there was pure misery.

Come to think of it, fox monsters lived there too — foxes with fur as white as the perpetual snow, looking just like Tara.

She wondered why she had not made the connection at once, then recalled Tara's size when they first met and decided it made sense. A body that massive was something you saw on ogres, not an impression you associated with foxes.

"I don't know when it'll be, but I'll drop by if I think of it."

"'If I think of it'? Isn't that a little halfhearted?"

Tara grumbled discontentedly at Choco's answer, but it could not be helped.

Mount Alfre was infamous for abysmal hunting efficiency — not because of the monsters, but because of the climate and terrain. Endless blizzards for all but one hour of the day, and silent ambushes from monsters lunging out of visibility so poor you could barely see what was right in front of you.

Once was more than enough of that experience.

Remembering how her arms and legs had gone stiff with cold even in full winter gear, Choco gave a full-body shudder.

"Well, I never really expected a fox of successor caliber to listen to a mere One-Tailed Fox like me."

"I was just talking. I will come find you."

"Yes, yes. Of course you will."

Tara answered curtly and scattered spiritual power to draw a formation. Choco could see it clearly now — natural enough, now that she had fully mastered the handling of spiritual energy. The formation's effect was… expulsion, was it? Petty to the very end.

"At any rate, when we meet again, I hope you'll look a little more like a proper successor than you do now."

"Then maybe next time you could treat me a little more kindly…"

"That would depend entirely on what kind of figure the successor cuts, wouldn't it?"

With a snickering laugh, the formation was about to activate — and in that same instant, the Fox God's statue, which had sat still until now, began to shine. Not the soft glow from before, but a clear, unmistakable radiance.

Choco stared at it, then turned dazed eyes on Tara.

"…Did you do that?"

"That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't m—"

She, too, sounded bewildered — and then a burst of brilliant light flooded the space in an instant. Choco felt her vision flicker and her consciousness nearly cut out, but she recovered almost at once.

"W-what just happened?!"

Yeon came to her senses a beat later and cried out, but there was no one left to answer. The scenery before their eyes was no longer the fox den, but the forest — the exact place they had been before chasing the fox inside.

Tara had completed the expulsion formation before the statue flared, so emerging outside was only natural. Even so, Choco could only lower her head with a thoroughly blank expression.

Shrunk down to the same size she had been in her fox form, Tara was clutched against Choco's chest, wailing.

Th-this is a scam!