The buildings were beginning to look familiar as he closed in on Knock’s smithy. He had only gotten lost twice on his way, but he was certain he was almost there.

Akane... Akane the lazy gluttonous fiend was sleeping curled around his sweaty neck. Kai was used to her behavior, but he wished she could have at least helped him find Knock’s place. At this point, after spending so much time with her, he knew she understood everything he was saying. The adorable little fox was intelligent enough to not only comprehend what he said but respond. She was truly a strange being. Almost every monster Kai had fought to date didn’t possess a modicum of sentient, comprehensive intelligence. They were all driven by instinct instead.

He had no idea why she joined him here in the capital. Perhaps it was at his grandfather’s request, or she was motivated by seeking out new exciting foods outside of the village. Both seemed probable. Even after 16 years of knowing her, he was still learning new things about her, like her distaste for super spicy food. Kai couldn’t deny he found amusement at her antics when she had tried some super spicy ramen the other day. But for as great as her companionship was, she drew a lot of attention.

“At last!” Kai yelled. He had been searching for the last hour, even though it should have taken him only 20 minutes to walk there. Akane growled lightly, possibly warning Kai to keep quiet and not disturb her nap on his shoulders.

He walked up to the massive steel door and rapped his knuckles against it.

No answer.

Knocking once more, he finally heard someone call out, “what’s the password?”

Password? Oh, that crap again.

“I’m not doing it Knock, open up please.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Password,” came his gruff voice through the metal door once again.

“Knock. Knock...” Kai felt a small piece of him die inside. He was glad no one was around to see this.

“Whose there?”

Kai banged his head against the metal door. “No more please.”

After a few seconds, the metal door swung open effortlessly. The giant Knock stood in the door frame looking down at him, with pity in his eyes.

“Kid, you need to lighten up. Being so serious all the time can’t be enjoyable.”

“I’ll take it under advisement,” Kai said dryly.

Akane vanished from his shoulders, teleporting onto the ground before she began walking through Knock’s legs into his smithy.

Without missing a beat, Knock smiled, “Come on, the armor is ready.”

Nine pristine, plainly designed, dull-white armor pieces appeared on the table causing an instant reaction in the room as the lights dimmed significantly. Bright ethereal wisps formed as they danced across the armor in a random pattern. Kai’s breath was taken away as the beauty of it.

“Turns out alderlite is quite adept at absorbing heat as well as light, making it difficult to smelt down. I had to... acquire a different method of smelting the ingot. It is one of the most beautiful metals I’ve ever worked with.”

“They look amazing,” Kai spoke honestly.

“Glad you like them,” Knock chuckled.

Kai picked up the helmet examining it. The non-reflective white metal looked clean and smooth as he turned it over. He noticed there were two small wings on the helmet, one on each side near the top.

Sensing what he was looking at Knock said, “I had a little bit of extra metal, so I added a little flourish.”

Kai nodded, it looked impressive. A true warrior’s helmet. Turning it around, the inside was layered in red material. It felt cool and fuzzy to the touch.

“Giant Fire Salamander leather, resistant to heat and should give your noggin a little cushion if you get hit too. Ah but don’t actually get hit in the head if you can avoid it. I have no idea how this armor will do in battle.”

“How do they hold up against attacks?”

“Knock yourself out,” Knock said with a grin.

Kai groaned a little but proceeded to drag his sword out of his scabbard. Akane sat on the table five feet away watching the two quietly observing.

Taking a stance, he raised his cold iron sword above his head, aiming at the breastplate. It was the largest piece. Activating his heavy blow ability, he simultaneously slashed downwards. The sword clashed into the chest piece bouncing off. Examining it closely there was a tiny mark where the sword connected, not even deep enough to be called a scratch. No actual damage could be seen.

Knock whistled. “Wow. Nice blade, cold iron, right? And that attack was much stronger than I would have guessed a Foundation realm kid would have. Made my heart race for a second,” he said that last part with a smirk.

Kai’s looked at his sword, finding it likewise undamaged.

“Kai, if you don’t mind me asking. Is the sword the only weapon you use?”

Nodding, he answered, “It’s the weapon I grew up learning.”

“Have you not considered using other weapons? Just imagine the damage you could do with a war hammer or mace.”

“I did think about it. I know bludgeon weapons would work well with my magic too. But I can’t carry that many weapons on me. The more weight I add, the more burdensome it will become in battle, and I already don’t move fast. Especially with my new armor.”

“I understand ya.” He scratched the side of his face with his smithing hammer. “Can you not simply buy an item of storage?”

“I’ll be honest. I have no idea how much one costs.”

“Well… I’m not too up to date on the prices. But a cube just large enough to fit a sword would cost around 2 platinum coins. And they rise in price as the area inside goes up.”

Kai shook his head disappointed. For a moment his hopes had risen. But between school, the new armor, and feeding Akane, he only had about 1 platinum coin equivalent left.

“Shame. Maybe when you save up and buy a ring, you can try out other weapons with your magic.”

Teleporting onto the table, Akane strolled up to the armor and began inspecting it herself, nodding sagely. She placed her right paw on it, causing more wisps to appear. They kept appearing until the once non-reflective armor was beginning to shine strangely. Kai swore he almost saw the armor move only barely off the table. Withdrawing her paw, she looked up at Kai and nodded once, apparently giving her approval.

Knock’s smile became even larger. “Now that we have your guardian’s approval, we can move on to money.”

Kai happily paid the man. Knock spent the next few minutes showing Kai how to properly put the armor on. All in all, Kai now owned an alderlite chest piece, helmet, bracers for the front of his shins and forearms, two shoulder pads with interlocking plates leading down the shoulder, and a tasset cover for the waist. All of his vitals were covered, but he still had plenty of exposed areas.

“You going to wear it back to school?” Knock asked him.

“I don’t think I should.” I’m likely to get ambushed with armor this flashy on the way back. “Is there anyways you can have this delivered there for me? I, unfortunately, don’t have a storage ring yet. And I doubt it’s a good idea for me to be walking around outside with this beautiful armor at my level without supervision.”

“You got a point. Even if this is the capital, it still has its issues. Sure, for one silver, I can have it brought to your academies post station.”

Kai agreed and pulled out a silver coin. He didn’t bring all his coins with him, but he knew he was starting to hurt for coins if he kept spending them at this rate. When living in a self-sustaining village, Kai never had money to spend, so he wasn’t sure if 80 gold coins was a lot or something that could be earned in a year by the average worker. Something told him it was the former considering a meal cost a few coppers.

“Thanks, Knock. It looks incredible.” He held out his hand.

Knock reached out, completely covering Kai’s hand as they shook.

“Good luck kid.”

Stepping out of the smithy, Kai had a wide grin on his face. He started horribly whistling a tune as he made his way back to the academy. He couldn’t tell what time it was because of the enchantments, but he guessed it was a few hours until dinner.

It wasn’t long until he was lost again souring his mood. “I thought that last left would get me back on track,” Kai mumbled to himself.

He grabbed Akane underneath the arms, holding her out in front of him. “Time to pay your rent. Lead me back to the academy.”

The only response he got was a yawn before she promptly fell back to sleep in his hands, her head lulled to the side. He had some choice words for her like “freeloading,” and “lazy.”

“Akane, we can get some food at the cafeteria if you help me find the way.”

She sniffed into the air a few times, before going back to “sleep.” Apparently, that wasn’t incentive enough anymore. But he didn’t want to bribe her with restaurant food for just leading him back to the Academy.

Kai gathered the lazy fox into his arms and picked a random direction. He’d ask the next person he saw for directions, unfortunately, he was on an off-street at the moment, and he had to find his way back to the main road.

Strolling through the streets, Kai was lost in thought admiring the buildings. They weren’t simple wooden houses like his back in the Kitsune Village, but small homes made of stones and bricks. There was a uniformity that made them all look similar, making it easier for him to get lost. Whoever designed this city and buildings sucks. I can’t find my way if everything looks the same.

After a minute he finally found someone and asked them how to get back to the academy. The woman didn’t know the direct way since the academy was in the noble sector, but he got a general idea.

A few minutes later, Kai was passing a rather large inn when he heard sounds of a struggle nearby.

“Let. Me. Go,” came an annoyed female voice.

A few passersby were looking into an alley before walking away, one, in particular, hurried down the street away from the commotion. Kai peered into the alley seeing three male individuals crowded around a young female. The alley was fairly well lit because of the enchantments overhead, making it so the light shined straight down at different angles.

“Hold on sweetheart, Henry has taken an interest in you. You should hear him out,” one of the men spoke his voice deep and heavy.

The man who Kai assumed was Henry, was decked in a blue silk collared tunic with short orange hair like a carrot. He had a leer on his face, that instantly made Kai want to punch him. The guy blatantly ogled the girl, who appeared even younger than Kai, which meant she probably didn’t even have any magic yet.

[Human - ???]

Kai made a face of disgust. “How cringy.”

The comment didn’t go unnoticed, as the noble turned around, “Who said that!” His eyes focused on Kai.

Kai now had the attention of all four individuals in the alleyway. The three men were glaring at him, while the young girl was silently pleading with her eyes. Small tears fell as her wrist was being held by the of the large men to the side.

Kai looked to his sides to see if anyone was going to help. But no. Everyone who had been looking down the alley had backed off, leaving him alone and the complete focus of the group. Akane remained sleeping in his arms, unbothered by the tension.

“Leave. This doesn’t concern you,” commanded the smallest of the group, still only a few inches shorter than Kai. The two “minions” had swords attached to their belts, while the leader possessed no weapons, but had a ring, which probably had a weapon inside. Kai was beginning to learn, that items of storage weren’t as rare as in his village, at least for the average nobility or wealthy individual.

The two minions looked like bodyguards but didn’t address the man as lord, so it was likely he wasn’t a noble. Kai tensed when the small man started moving towards him. He didn’t know what to do. He just hoped the person who ran off earlier was getting the guards. This was one of the moments he knew he should mind his business, but his feet remained firm on the ground.

[Human - ???]

Shit. Even the bodyguard is beyond my identification range. Kai squeezed his fists hard, nearly drawing blood as he turned away and began walking down the street once again. There was nothing he could do.

The three men laughed as Kai began walking away.

Kai’s eyes darkened. His expression grew more turbulent by the second. He was angry at himself for being so weak. Angry at those assholes for preying on a young girl.

His mind was spinning trying to figure out what to do. The sad new truth of being reborn was that he was powerless now; he couldn’t even protect himself if anything happened.

“Not my business. I’m no longer a hero,” he spoke to himself quietly trying to convince himself. “Not my problem. There were plenty of other people there, someone will do something.”

He heard a scream.

The next thing he knew he was back at the entrance to the alley, the young girl was on her knees, arm being held above her head by the goon who still held it. Her eyes were squeezed in pain.

“Hey!” he yelled. “She said to let her go,” Kai’s voice demanded authority.

The reaction he received was not one he was expecting. They all started laughing, except the girl who looked up with renewed hope in her eyes. Kai grimaced at the blatant disregard.

“Look! A white knight has appeared,” Henry slapped his leg, obviously finding it funny that Kai would interrupt.

“The guards are on their way. Leave her be,” Kai lied. He had no idea if anyone was coming to help, but he had to try something.

Another round of laughter rang out. Kai narrowed his eyes as the small man started approaching him once again.

Akane mewled as he set her down gently to the ground. Her eyes remained closed, ignoring all around her. He silently dragged his cold iron sword out of its scabbard. The small man looked back to his boss who nodded once. A cruel smile graced the small man’s face, as he drew a wicked-looking blade out with teeth meant for sawing, not slicing.

Somehow during the distraction, the girl had pulled her wrist out of the large man’s hand before she bolted away without looking back. Kai sighed with relief, but it was gone a moment later. Henry’s eyes simmered with undisguised anger.

“Take his hand,” he ordered to the small man.

Kai’s eyes went wide, he widened his stance as he prepared for an attack. His magic was prepped, ready to be activated at any moment.