Kasei and Ed were on a train. The golden-haired man was leaning his head against his hand and looking out the window. The redhead was sitting next to him and she was getting impatient.
“So then...” she said. “What do we do?”
“This thing talked about our country.” Ed said “That this is where the finals will take place. And also, that we have to find a seal. I don't know how and I don't know where.”
“Argh, why does it have to be so difficult?!” she started whining.
“It’s no wonder, looking at the prize for winning this game. We need help, someone who might know what to do well…”
“But who could know about it?”
“Probably families like Kavaru, I guess, at least. I think we should go to the capital. Arthur can give us access to the books from the Great Library, maybe we can find something there. But getting there will take awhile, so it is wise to stop somewhere and check the area. For the seals, of course. I think it will have the same kind of aura as that deity.”
“So which city should we choose? We've already passed Virtice, Pel...”
“Nayo. There’s a lot of nobility and priests there, so maybe the deity left something there.”
“So there's still some time before we get there.” She smiled, but her smile quickly faded when she remembered something. “Hey, Ed... I have a question for you. Don't you really have a dream? Aren’t you... unhappy about what's going on?”
“Unhappy?” He asked with amazement and then sighed. “It's true that all this is tiring me out, but... At least, I will clear my conscience by winning what's due to Peter. What the deceased Ian wanted. I know it won't be easy at all, but I have to do it. My... honor as a brother depends on it. And when Peter and you are happy, I will be too.”
“PFH!” She looked away with a red face. “You don't have to be happy because of me, you idiot.”
“Ha!” He smiled meanly. They spent a few more minutes teasing each other.
After less than an hour the train stopped, and Ed and Kasei went onto the platform. The city of Nayo was quite big, but also very clean. New, beautifully painted buildings, decorated streets and a peaceful rhythm of life were the symbols of this place. Aristocrats, wealthy people without a family and priests lived here, ordinary citizens in most cases were only guests. Ed thought that there might be a seal here. Logically speaking, it's more often the poor people that have wishes they can't fulfill, and here, where beggars live in the shade of splendor and wealth of others, it was likely that the deity would decide to throw them a piece of meat, which would mean the seal. They walked through the city together, seeing beautifully dressed women, well-groomed men and children running in different directions. At one point Kasei noticed that one of them had fennec's ears and laughed. She continued to see people without animal ears, or with ears of a wolf, a cat, a mouse or even of those, which she did not know the name of.
“I wonder if they're magicians or weapons.” Kasei thought.
“Well.... Did you know that according to Rin Kavaru, that famous historian, people with animal forms were once the only ones who could use magic? In addition, they fought with people. Only after some time did they realize that humans and they actually had one thing in common... And they began starting families together and then they created weapons.”
“You know, Eddie...” Kasei laughed nervously.
“I'm listening.”
“I wanted to say that this story sounds great, but then I had a vision of how my ancestors came into being...” She blushed. “I mean, you know, a man with an animal form... and how they had to start families with people...” She giggled and covered her face with her hands. Ed stopped and thought about it when he suddenly went red himself.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“I must admit that I wondered about it once myself, although the law forbids... you know, those things, under the form of an animal. But let's hope that our ancestors did nothing strange with animals. Nor with animal-people. Because both are zoophilia.” He laughed a bit. “Although many think that animal-people were created at the same time as humans, or by magic. But according to some beliefs, your race is a gift from god, or something. Of course I denied it before, but now I’m wondering if it could be true...”
“I still don't believe it! The philosopher Edward is thinking about the existence of gods!” she joyfully shouted and went further ahead.
“I am not a philosopher” he whispered with a smile. Kasei was walking when she suddenly bumped into someone and fell. Ed quickly ran up to her.
“I'm sorry!” said the redhead. Ed came up and picked her up.
“Edward!” exclaimed the person that the girl crashed into. She was a woman with blue hair and cherry eyes. She was dressed in an extremely elegant silver dress reaching down to the ground, but her arms were completely uncovered. “I didn't expect to see you here!”
“Lady Elizabeth of the Bas family?” he asked with a smile.
“Lady, lady, feh! You used to call me auntie! How you grew up, I last saw you many years ago when Carolina brought you and Pereter here!”
“Peter.” He corrected.
“Ah, Peter! My poor memory!” She laughed. “What brings you here?”
“Actually, we’re here temporarily. We want to get to the capital, since I have to take care of a few things.”
“Oh, I understand! You know, you can stay at my home then. Today we’re having a ball, it would be nice if you came by! Oh, with her, of course!” She pointed to the redhead. “Well... who is she? Your fiancée?”
Kasei started fuming. Ed laughed seeing her reaction.
“YOU MORON! WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?!” shouted the animal-eared. “WHAT FIANCÉE?!”
“Oho? So you're not his future wife?” asked the confused blue-haired woman.
“No, no” Ed quickly explained. “That's Kasei, my weapon. She is only ten years old.”
“Ten? Oh, then it's a few more years before looking for a husband! But, what, Ed, are you going to marry her someday?”
“Heh, heh... No” he answered with a bit of annoyance.
“I WOULD NEVER MARRY SUCH A DORK!” she screamed.
“What a sweet girl!” said Elizabeth with a smile. “So Edward, will you come home with me, or do you want to look around the city?”
“We will go with you. Come on, ‘Fiancée’” he teased Kasei.
“One more word and I'll cut off your tongue.” She threatened and Elizabeth laughed. Then Kasei changed into her animal form and jumped on the gold-haired man's shoulder. She whispered in his ear:
“Hey Ed, but are we sure we're doing the right thing? We were supposed to look for a seal.”
“Thanks to this, we will camouflage ourselves a little bit.” He whispered. “We don't know who might already know about us being part of the game, and during the ball we can always sneak out and sniff around...”