I am sorry that this did not come out sooner than how I had planned. All of my stories, all of them including the 7 or so chapters that I had written were lost after I had upgraded to windows 10. I have no idea why but when I upgraded: all of my personal files, including the already finished 20 chapters of Kismet Online, had disappeared. I guess it was also my fault for not creating backups so I cannot really blame Microsoft.
Because of the incident: I had lost some of my motivation and all of my notes as well as the map that I drew of the [Kingdom of Aura]/[Japanese Server] so rewriting this was somewhat problematic. I am sorry if this was not the best of the chapters I have made.
Enough of me ranting: go on and read.
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***Lyra, Lyra’s hideout, Aura***
“How the hell do you know that my name is Lyra?!”
Lyra, the red haired girl in tattered rags, was surprised that such a dangerous person knew of her name. She was also experiencing a tiny bit of terror since judging from how he was able to create such a suffocating aura with such ease earlier. He was not normal.
She sat up slowly. Seeing as she can’t escape, she chose to stay beside seated on the oddly comfy tails that were somehow supporting her weight. If she died, she might as well die on something that made her feel rich, right?
“Your name is… Lyra…?” The male sounded rather surprised. Wasn’t he the one that was looking for her?
“Yeah… What of it? If you’re going to kill me, just make it quick.” Lyra, though she was scared at the thought of being ended, put up a ‘brave’ font. She had no family, she clearly had no friends and no one cared for her. IF she dies here then at least she can hope to be reborn into a rich family or at least a normal one where she wasn’t abandoned.
Lyra stared at the male defiantly, well… at least she thinks she was looking at him defiantly, taking note of his facial expression that began to relax. Gone were the surprise and the cold look in his eyes as it was replaced by something like a mix of neutral and happy at the same time. For some reason, looking into his eyes caused her to feel slightly shaky so she looked down onto her lap instead.
She felt herself being gently laid down on the ground by the snow white fox tails. Just from this alone tells her that he was a [Foxling], an arctic one at that. But then again there were plenty of white [Foxes] around, maybe he mutated due to over-absorption of mana?
‘Wait… Does that not mean he is even more dangerous than I thought?’ slowly, Lyra began to feel the dread creep back into her heart. She watched as the male slowly sat down on the ground without much care but not before he pulled back his tails and positioned it behind him.
Then she realized something, well… two things: He had NINE tails instead of the usual one tail she sees on any [Demi-Human] and he was just… sitting there. Staring at her as if he was making sure he was not mistaken.
Under his scrutiny, she couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. Sure, she may not be just bones but she was still a female. She had her… complexes but due to her fear of being killed if she suddenly made a noise: she just hugged her chest to hide her almost non-existent assets.
Even though she did so, the stare never went away. He sat there, staring at her, for long periods of time before he suddenly stood up causing her poor fear clenched heart to almost jump from her chest. She reflexively closed her eyes tightly and waited for the death that would inevitably come.
She waited… and waited… and waited… but nothing came. Taking a chance, she opened one of her eyes and peeked at the white haired male who made odd hand gestures as if he was operating some kind of terminal. Could he be… an [Adventurer]?
Probably noticing that she was looking, the male flashed a kind smile at her before continuing with operating the invisible terminal. It was odd since usually the ‘terminals’ they were using would be at least translucent to allow anyone to know they were searching through their [Inventory] as they call it.
Feeling slightly reassured that she was not going to be killed, or rather: she would live a little longer, Lyra got into a more comfortable position where she was hugging her knees to her chest and continued to stare at the male as he operated through his invisible ‘terminal’.
“You can eat those fish if you want…” Suddenly hearing his voice, Lyra was caught off guard and flinched. “It’s going to be a while before I find what I needed to find…” he finished as he stared intently at his ‘invisible terminal’. “My name is Hayato by the way…” he added as a last bit before really focusing on his, probably, [Inventory]
Lyra moved her gaze to the fish over the fire and then to the white haired male. He didn’t seem to be paying her any mind so quietly she used another [Skill] she acquired when she found an odd book in one of the former abandoned homes in [Asvarre].
“[Advanced appraisal]…” She whispered as quietly as possible. A small window that pops up only to her when she uses the skill appears before her.
[Table]Roasted Moonlight CarpType:ConsumenableDurability:1/1Rank:BlueEffectsSTR +3 permanent
AGI +2 permanent
INT +4 permanent
EXP gained at night +5% for 4 hours
Advanced appraisal leveled up!
Beginner, level 5, 0%
Lyra blinked. The fish had more effects than when she made them herself. Was it perhaps because they were prepared by someone else or was it because her skills weren’t high enough? She did not know but nonetheless: she was grateful that she was able to eat them.
Saying a small prayer, she bit into the fish. To describe how the fish taste: she did not know how (Author: neither do I really…) but one thing she knew of: The fish tasted even better than when she made them. True it was two months ago since her last [Roasted Moonlight Carp] but she still remembers the taste of the fish when she made it.
Hearing a small chuckle, Lyra turned her head towards the white haired male who had a soft smile on his face. It was not a smile of mockery but simply a smile; A genuine smile.
“So, how was it?” He suddenly asked. “Was it good?” He changed his question to which Lyra could only nod to. She didn’t know whether it was because she had not eaten anything the whole day or maybe it was because his [Cooking skill] was high but she does know that the fish was tastier than when she made it.
“It’s… good. Better than when I make them…” she added the last one silently.
“I am glad that you find them tasty.” Again, Hayato simply smiled at her. It was odd… having someone smile at her because the only smile she got were lecherous smiles from old perverts or no smile at all. She never had anyone smile this much at her so it was somewhat unnerving.
“You know…” Hayato began, catching her attention. “…You look just like my sister back home. So when I saw you, I was bit surprised and I almost dropped you. For that I apologize.” Hayato lowered his head.
Unsure how to react: Lyra just stared at the male as he raised his head again. Silence washed over the two as they simply sat at their respective seats. Neither made a sound and the only thing that did not realize the situation was the crackling fire the made a few crackling noise every once in a while.
Lyra, whose very nature does not like awkward silence, began to feel restless and seeing as there was something that could allow her to break the silence: took it. She would save regretting it if he doesn’t answer her.
“So…” She began, catching Hayato’s slightly wandering mind. “…You said something about me resembling your little sister. Can you tell me a bit about her? I mean; if you mistook me for her then she must be one heck of a person.”
Realizing that the girl was trying to break the silence, Hayato let out a small smile and then answered: “She is actually…” Hayato began with a smile. “A clingy child she was. I don’t think there was a time she wasn’t with me when I was at home other than when her friends come over to play.”
Lyra focused her attention towards the male as he talked about his younger sister. She was not really a listening type but listening to the white haired male, that she just met and almost stole from, talk about his younger sister and his other family members with a such a genuine smile: she couldn’t help but pay attention.
“…Now that I think about it: Why did my brother and I constantly did those outrageous things when we were younger? I don’t know but I do know that we end up having fun even after getting scolded by our parents or the elder instructors back then.”
Lyra laughed at what she heard from the male in front of her. His past, his time when he was a child, was simply an adventure every day. But then she realized something: He mentioned up until he was nine years old but he never mentioned anything when he was ten and jumped until he turned nineteen.
“Hayato, this might sound uh… intrusive… but what about when you were 10? From how you were living your life: It must have been a bigger adventure, right?” Lyra almost cringed when his happy smile turned melancholic. She almost slapped herself right then and there if it weren’t the fact that he continued his story.
“Well… I guess you could say I… left the house.” This caught her attention. What could he have done to get kicked out of the house? He was pretty much a perfect child from what she heard in his stories so… “It happened one night, I didn’t know what was happening but I did know that the thing I did was not something wrong. I guess it was just complicated…”
Silence washed over the two over again but this time it wasn’t as long as it was before since now; Hayato was trying to stop the awkwardness.
“E-enough about me… What about you? From the direction I you came from, you came from [Asvarre], right?” Hayato tried to make it seem nonchalant.
All of the happiness she felt from listening to Hayato’s stories instantly vaporized from her body as all the bad memories of being bullied and almost starving to death came back to her like water breaking through floodgates.
“I was abandoned as a child, left to rot in an orphanage that didn’t care what happened to me, ran away from said orphanage at the age of 9 and lived a life of a street rate for 8 and still…. Am…” Lyra, again, wanted to punch herself. She knew Hayato had only wanted stop the awkwardness but she had just… let that out.
Again another silence washed over the two.
‘If you any deity out there can hear me: Please remove this awkward silence’ in desperation to remove the awkwardness between the two and it worked.
Several ground breaking noises resounded around the two people by the campfire “Grr…” several feral growls belonging to the newly [Spawned] [Feral Wolves] that were of [Level 38]. The group up of newly born wolves were the same size as normal [Wolves] but were much stronger as they were a rarer species than those of the less rare [Wolves.
“This is not what I had in mind when I asked for help!” Lyra impulsively shouted towards the sky whilst brandishing a [Dull and Rusted Knife]. While she did this, Hayato who didn’t have any weapons on his body was suddenly wielding two lustrous Katana. “Hayato be careful; these monsters are-”
Lyra did not even have time to finish her sentence before the male, whom she was warning, suddenly turned into a white blur and leaping towards the [Feral Wolves] as her eyes could barely follow his monstrous speed.
Jumping in front of a group of five [Feral Wolves], streaks of silver pierced through their eyes, dealing them a swift death by getting pierced in their brains. Not much blood but the splatter of blood on the tree every time the sword moved accumulated; causing the serene looking tree to turn as if it was a prop for graphic horror show.
Lyra, and some of the monsters, was too astounded to move. She had seen some people move speedily both in combat and outside but not once has she seen someone move like Hayato.
Then the white blur suddenly changed its course and stopped in front of her. A blade, red with blood, suddenly came into her vision. She could not move, she could not even react as the blade came closer and closer and then barely missing her head by 3cm and piercing something behind her.
A yelp of pain indicated that a [Feral Wolf] had tried to take her life from behind as she was glued on to the speed monster before her. She couldn’t even say anything before Hayato charged past her and did as he did to the other [Feral wolves] and cleanly killed the monsters by striking through their eyes.
You were saved by luck! Luck+1
She had been lucky…? That meant that if Hayato had not stumbled upon her ‘hideout’ she would have died?
Losing the strength in her legs and her arms; Lyra fell on her backside with her arms limping beside her. She had been almost killed somewhere she was safest… was her realization. It was then she realized that her body and rags were tainted with blood from the [Feral Wolves]. “I…”
Without realizing it: she had escaped death and it was all thanks to the person who had almost killed her when they first met. How ironic.
“Lyra, are you okay? You’re trembling…” Lyra could hear her savior. His voice tinted with worry.
“I…” Lyra took a deep breath to calm herself and then exhaled. “I’m fine… Can’t say the same to my clothing though…” Lyra looked down on herself. Her already dirty rags that barely covered anything were now red. She then gazed at the area around her.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
The [Feral Wolves], monsters that even the guardsmen of [Asvarre] who were known to have the best hunters, were hard to kill because of their vitality but now: they were nothing but carcasses with just a single deep poke on the eye. She questioned whether or not the [Feral Wolves] were the real monsters.
“I think I’m going to get myself cleaned…” Lyra absentmindedly said out loud. She needed something else other than deep breathing to calm herself down. Luckily there was a river right behind the tree.
Standing up; Lyra immediately went behind the tree towards the river to clean the blood off of her. She could hear a faint reply from the male that sounded like: “Right… I’ll clean up the mess here.”
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***Hayato, Lyra’s Hideout, Aura***
Hayato watched as his sister’s doppelganger stood up and declared that she needed to clean herself. Hayato noticed that the girl was trembling slightly as she passed by. He knows that the girl had never been in combat before so it was a normal thing.
“Right… I’ll clean up the mess…” He quietly said before the girl disappeared behind the blood stained tree that he had created.
He stared at the tree for a good 5 seconds before turning his attention to the 15 [Feral Wolves] or rather: their carcasses. He guessed it must have been reflex but he just jumped into the fray and began killing the monsters. He only targeted their eyes because finding a [Feral Wolf] was hard and so he needed to keep their pelts.
Their [Monster material] were ranked rather high so he guessed that he could make some kind of leather armor at a tailor in [Asvarre]. It was not safe to be here anymore since the [Feral Wolves] had spawned here naturally.
So, he began dressing the dead monsters and eventually; within half an hour or so, he had gotten all their meat, their pelts and their fangs and claws. Possibly because of his high [Monster Harvesting] skill: it went by pretty quickly and by the time he was done, Lyra was already out of the river.
“I can’t get all the blood off my clothing … I guess I’ll just have to make do with what I have…” Hayato heard the girl mumble to herself as she came out from behind the blood-spattered tree. He sighed at the sight before him. “What?”
The girl was still wet. Her hair soaked by the river water was slightly glistening under the moonlight but his problem was not that. It was the rags that she called clothing that clung to her body. True: she may not have any… obvious assets… she was still a girl.
“Go back behind the tree and use these…” Hayato opened up his [Inventory menu] and took out the spare shirt he had and a pair of [Leather tights] that he would never, ever wear due to it being… overly tight.
“What? I’m too dirty to look at?”
“No… it’s just that someone might get a heart attack, or rather… die from loss of blood if they saw you that way.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just get into these and while you’re at it; dry your hair with this…”
Hayato quickly shoved the clothing/armor as well as a towel in her arms and shoved her back behind the tree. He could hear a few incoherent mumbling but seeing as he was slightly rude: He purposely did not listen in.
After a few minutes of clothing rustling; Lyra finally came out from behind the tree. “This shirt is a little too big… Don’t you have anything smaller? It keeps falling down…” Lyra fixed the shirt as it briefly showed the white skin of her shoulders.
“That is why we are going to [Asvarre]. You need a new set of clothes as well as a better weapon.” Hayato, who had been waiting by the fire pit, stood up. “No complaints. You look too much like my little sister for me to ignore you so whether you like it or not: You are coming with me to [Asvarre].”
Hayato ignored the smile that almost formed on his face when he saw her reaction.
Which was just her looking stupefied. So without saying anything, Hayato turned around, put out the fire with dirt and then began walking towards the general direction of [Asvarre Village].
“Hey! What gives you the idea that I am going to-” “The wolves might spawn again…” “…”
Hayato purposely brought up the subject and smiled as he could hear quiet shuffling following behind him. “I hate you…” hearing her saying such a thing caused Hayato to smile. It worked, even if it increased her dislike of him.
=======One hour later======
Hayato could make out a small wall made of wood. He was sure that it was [Asvarre Village], otherwise known as simply [Asvarre].
“Well… It looks safe enough…” Hayato commented earning no answer from the still miffed red head beside him. “Oh don’t be like that now. I have the perfect cover for you!” Hayato noticed that the girl was slightly interested so he told her who she was going to be. “My little sister: Ayra.”
“You really think these people are dumb enough to believe you brought along your little sister? I saw you passed by the village. You were alone. No one’s going to believe-” sadly, Hayato could not hear the rest of her complaints as a guard at the top of the wall noticed their approach.
“Who goes there?” His high pitched voice showed that puberty was either very late or counter-productive for him.
“Just two [Adventurers] coming back from a [Subjugation quest] from the Capital!” Hayato answered the guardsman loudly.
Without batting an eyelash; the gate guard nodded towards him and his redheaded partner; signaling that they are allowed to enter through the, now, opened wooden gates.
“I am surprised [Bandits] have not raided the [Village] yet…” Hayato could not help but nod to his sister’s mirror image. The guardsman was too lenient and was probably shirking his duty.
Without stop, Hayato made his way towards the [Inn] that he had stayed in. He had to coerce his ‘little sister’ to enter the inn, which apparently had kicked her out earlier. “Trust me on this; they won’t realize a thing.” Hayato smiled towards her and entered the inn followed by said girl, albeit she was grumbling something incoherent.
He did not bother the other guests who were busy getting drunk and went straight to the counter where a man in his late fifties was writing into his notebook. “Two rooms for the night.”
“Sorry lad, only one room available.” The elderly man answered and raised his head from the notebook with a smile that was until he saw the red head with an adamant look on her face. “You… I thought I made it clear that you weren’t welcome-”
“Excuse me sir, do you know my little sister?” Hayato quickly interjected. “She just got here after a battle so she’s a little bit tired.” Hayato made sure to direct an almost unnoticeable killing intent towards the old man. Good thing Hayato was already smiling, or not he would have broken into one when he saw the old man stiffen up.
“I-I am very sorry dear customer… It was just… She…”
“It is fine… So that will be… [5 copper]”
“Valued customer… That is a little bit-”
“Oh, I thought that would be enough since you had threatened my dear little sister.”
“Truly I am sorry dear customer… It is just-”
“I guess I’ll just spread the rumors that you water down your alcoholic beverages to-”
“YES, it will be [5 Coppers] valued customer! It’s the left door at the end of the corridor upstairs.”
Hayato exchanged the 5 pieces of copper for the key to the room and without remorse; went up the stairs next to the counter, followed closely by the red head disguised as his younger sister.
infamy+1
“Don’t you think [5 Copper] is a bit too much?” Hayato could hear the pity in Lyra’s voice.
“I think it’s a pretty fair price seeing as he was charging others 15 more coppers for watered down drinks and unhealthy food.” Hayato answered with a shrug as he stopped in front of his designated room.
Hayato quickly unlocked the door with a click and opened the door. “Go on and wait for me here. I have a little business with your Village Chief about some matters…” Hayato handed over the key to his red headed partner and left her behind as she stared at him from the door way.
========================The next day===============================
***Lyra, Asvarre, Aura***
Lyra woke up the next morning to see her temporary ‘older brother’ reading a book on the single chair in the room, which happened to be facing her way. “You didn’t stare at me the whole night did you?”
“No, I just got back an hour ago. You were pretty much a dead log. Couldn’t get you to wake up at all so I went and sold some stuff to the passing merchants…” Hayato answered after folding the corner of the page he was reading and closing it. “Today, we get you new clothes and a better weapon.”
Lyra sighed. She had hoped the male had forgotten about what he had said the night before but seeing as she was now his temporary ‘little sister’: she would not be able to say otherwise. She was slightly worried about his demeanor.
“Now that you’re awake: go and take a shower. Your new clothing is on the table so put those on and I’ll be waiting for you outside the [Inn].” Hayato made the book he had in his hands disappear into his [Inventory] and left the room after showing her where the new clothing was.
She was just grateful that he did not give her any frilly dress to wear. She hated dresses.
=========few hours later==============
“I cannot believe the people in this damn village believed your story… If it was me: I would have kicked you out of the store with how you were spewing out those lies of yours…” Lyra messaged her forehead. Every shop they went to, every diner and even the merchant stalls believed the story of her being his little sister even with the difference in hair color and stature.
“It’s not what I used for the lie; it’s how I use the lie to make it believable.”
Lyra merely rolled her eyes at her ‘older brother’ and his argument. Even if she did like the idea of having such a powerful person as a brother, she did not like the idea of being a replacement. They had been shopping for supplies and her weapon and clothing for a few hours now. Apparently she had slept until 2pm and he just let her.
She had not realized it the night before but apparently: her height was just around his chest. She felt small and she did not like it at all. Especially since the male in question pats her head nonchalantly at times.
Stopping in the middle of the village to rest a little, Hayato made a sound of realization. “Oh, and a student of mine is going to come today so I’m going to introduce you to her” Hayato suddenly announced. “Her name’s Yuka and she’ll be here in… three, two, and one…”
As soon as Hayato stopped counting, a blue orb of light appeared two meters away from the two as a female figure was slowly being reconstructed by said blue light. The female was slightly taller than she was but when the construction of her body and clothing finished: Lyra’s eyes could only stare at a certain area on the female’s chest.
“Oh instructor, I didn’t expect you to still be here….”
“Actually I am already done the [Subjugation Quest]. Did Cairne not tell you?”
“No, he didn’t… and who’s this?”
Lyra chose this time to act the part of his ‘clingy little sister’ and pulled on his sleeve to get his attention, which worked.
“Yes…?”
Lyra’s eyes again wandered from the other red head’s facial features to her chest area which, compared to hers, was more bountiful. “I don’t really know why but I’m already starting to hate her…”
Noticing where she was looking at: the female named Yuka hugged her chest tightly. “Just where do you think you are looking at?!”
-Chapter End-
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As usual: Constructive criticism is welcomed. I would appreciate it very much if you were to tell me on what I can improve with the story. Seeing that I have lost 6 chapters for Kismet Online: Root alpha, the 14 very delayed chapters of Entferner and 2 of the recently made Kismet Online: Tyrant Gale: The help with how I can improve this story will help me a lot.
Thanks for reading this, if anyone does read this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.