I currently sat before Princess Aire, while holding a warm cup of tea. I sat on my knees, in a pose I know is rather well known in the East, back in my own world. Though, I merely did it to complete the image of a Kitsune I have in my head.

It's even the reason I looked for tea.

Well, it wasn't really tea. Actually, I don't really know what tea is. I've only really ever bought tea as powder or tea-bags, and never did much research on it. I have a wealth of trivia, but even I don't know everything.

Do you need a specific kind of leaves, from a so called "tea plant" for it to be called tea? Or is it just about the method it's made in? I didn't have the internet to find out.

Well anyways, it's some kind of drink, made from the leaves of a local plant.

As it turns out, this world doesn't quite have a concept of tea. Or at least, if it does, the society I live in has never heard of it. It's a big world, and it's not like I live on the sole continent. There are supposedly two known continents and several large islands, and it's possible that a tea-like drink has already been produced.

It makes sense though. I'm pretty sure tea in my old world was something that originated from Asia, and was only popularized after it was imported into Europe.

Besides, how many people are likely to just put special leaves inside of heated water?

Because I've had quite a bit of time in the last two weeks since Princess Aire arrived, and Lein's soldiers appeared, I did a lot of experimenting.

I went about looking for different plants, especially those with exotic scents. Sometimes I tried mashing different types together, and mixing them in water.

I eventually found a shrub at the corner of a mountain some distance away from the village. It wasn't quite like tea that I could remember, but neither was a lot of familiar food I've eaten. Still, it had a nice aroma when brewed, and gave a strange calm when I drank it.

When I found this shrub, I went ahead and looked for more, examining the environment they grew up in, and how they reproduce. Of course, it's only been a week since I found them, so I've mostly just been taking notes. I'm not at the level where I can mass-produce anything, but I thought it'd be interesting to introduce this as a beverage.

Thus, a game of patience between me and nature began.

Well, at the moment I have enough to have "tea parties" like this. Though, we're in a cave, lit by so-called light-orbs, a common magic item among the wealthy who can afford them. So this scene is not very elegant.

Still, the Princess seemed to enjoy the tea, which I was quite pleased about.

"So," She began with a hesitant expression, not sure how to say what she wanted to. "I heard from Aniel that you brought something... interesting," she said.

"Ah, you don't have to worry about that. It was a person I wanted him to heal," I said cheerfully.

"So I heard. But why did you risk bringing them here?" She asked worriedly.

"They were unconscious," I said with a shrug. "Besides, they were someone I needed to interrogate. After all, they were an agent of Lein," I explained.

She widened her eyes, and seemed almost absentminded enough to drop her cup, but she didn't.

"Why would you bring someone like that here?!"

"That's why I came to talk to you," I tried to answer, but she merely responded with another question,

"Where are they now?"

"Like I said, it's a secret. They're not really needed anymore, you know?" I said with a smile. "They're not a threat as they are now. However, it's likely your pursuers already know that I am assisting you," I informed while taking a sip of my tea. "If that's so, you don't have much time, so I'd prefer if you got going before they took someone I know hostage,"

Aire showed her surprise, before considering my words.

"I'll need to consult Aniel," She said.

"Do as you wish," I said, "But I'd prefer not to involve the villagers too much."

"You're fine with us just going as is?" She asked. "Aniel hasn't given you what you wanted yet."

"It's fine. I've provided you information, shelter and food, but I doubt that boy feels that is equal trade for his knowledge. He hasn't had the chance to use my image for his cause, and it's possible he won't have to, once you have the king at your side."

Aniel had proposed using my "influence", to gather up strength. I may not be well known, but being a Kitsune in a country that regards Kitsune as higher beings, it wouldn't be hard to gather followers to build up an army.

At the time though, he did not know that the King was alive and not in the hands of Lein.

I told them myself, because it gave them reason to stay, and to remove the soldiers who've taken residence nearby. At the same time it meant that the soldiers would be staying, and with that Aire's group could crush them, and any coming reinforcements.

Simply put, I didn't have too much confidence in being able to build up an army with my image alone. As such, I thought it would be better to put them in a position to weaken Lein, and thus gain "favors" over time.

However, I did not expect the arrival of another Spirit.

Sentra is a mind reader, who seemingly knew I hid Princess Aire.

I captured her, as I couldn't simply release her to reveal any information. However, that also means that pretty soon, the camp of soldiers will begin to wonder where their Fox Spirit has wandered off to.

If they suspect she has been taken prisoner, or killed, then they may begin taking more dangerous actions. I'd rather they didn't come after my precious people, so I want them killed before that.

I feel that I would be riddled with quite a bit of guilt if people I knew died because of my careless plan.

Thus, I'll aide them in their attack on Lein's camp, however I'll make sure to keep myself from being seen. After all, I don't quite want to be affiliated with the royalty of Senilea. I am merely helping in order to obtain Aniel's knowledge.

"I find it hard to assume that you would do so much without having received anything yet," Princess Aire said, after a small sip of her tea.

"It's true that it pains me to see such knowledge go, however it's not as though I've received nothing," I said, as I produced a metallic disk from my sleeve. It was a coin-like object made from a silvery metal like chrome or zinc, and had a number of holes along the inner circumference, likely for threading a string or wire through it.

Aire clearly knew what it was, as her eyes widened.

"That's—"

"Aniel went ahead and lent it to me for the help so far," I said, "At least I won't be held back by injuries any longer."

"So he gave you healing magic?" She asked, to which I nodded. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

I shuck my head with a sigh. "I wanted to learn how his magic works. But I can already tell from just looking at how plain this coin is, I won't be able to gleam anything useful from dissecting it. I want to know how it's created, and how it works. And Aniel knows that this knowledge is worth many fortunes. Especially with someone like myself," I explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me, what do you think would happen if any kingdom acquired the method to produce any number of magic items?"

"They... They would flourish. They would become a powerful military force able to take on any number of nations."

"And why do you think Aniel did not hand over that knowledge to your father? Surely if he did that, your right to succession would be guaranteed."

"Because... He said it would be better to instead restrict this to only elites. Himself and a small army, and instead demonstrate their capabilities."

"But why wouldn't the king be told anyways? He doesn't need to distribute the knowledge to gain your father's favor. The fact you had a follower with such capability would be enough. Yet he chose to hide it."

She looked down at her cup, as if in thought.

"I don't know why," she admitted.

"It's because he doesn't want to destroy the world," I explained. "A power which can create an unlimited number of magic items. The potential for its power is boundless. After all, consider this magic coin, which can accelerate ones healing, and repair even the worst of scars. I do not know what principle it works on, but what if he could make it restore vital organs or replace limbs? Or what if you could raise the dead? Worst; what if someone discovers a way to destroy the world many times over?"

—After all, with magic it wouldn't just be theoretical to produce thousands of nuclear bombs, and destroy all life.

In my old world, terrorist attacks have yet to utilize nuclear weapons, for the sole fact that obtaining enough of the radioactive material is not easy.

But if one was to utilize magic, you could easily either gather it from the world around, or possibly even produce it with fusion.

I thought something along the lines of spreading this knowledge to all major powers would do some good, with the fear of mutually assured destruction. However, Aniel has had much time to think this over.

This world is not developed enough for such a tactic to work, and developing it to such an extent in his life time would be near impossible. On top of that, because it's so easy, if the knowledge fell into the wrong hands, calamity could very easily spread.

Sure, the people of this world don't quite yet have the knowledge to understand the power of the atom, but it's a real possibility. Besides, there are many other weapons of mass destruction you can produce with this magic.

So I understand why Aniel would want to keep it secret.

"I never considered such a thing was possible," Aire said with wide eyes.

"Of course. Aniel right now possesses the knowledge and means to end the world. And he's scared of that possibility. As such, he will not give such knowledge lightly. However, I have plenty of time. Aniel won't die so soon."

—"However, warn him that there are those who can peer into his mind. Such beings should be avoided at all costs. It would be nice if he didn't cause the end of times because of carelessness."

The conversation ended with that, and I decided to make my way out after saying my proper goodbyes to the princess.

I decide to check on the village once more.

I've slowly come to learn about the strange bond that I've formed with various people. As I become aware of it, I learn that I can peek at these people individually. Observing the state of one I have bonded with will take quite a lot of practice. For one, I don't really see through their senses or anything. Instead I merely receive an unfiltered stream of their emotions. Not even concrete thoughts. At the moment, nothing quite seemed like anything was wrong, but I decided to see for myself, after stopping time.

I didn't want Lein to spot me entering the village, nor did I really want any of the villagers to know.

I wanted to assess the situation without alerting anyone.

But I found nothing out of place.

I found it strange that the soldiers had yet to make a move. Well, it hasn't even been a day yet; it's possible they think Sentra is out scouting.

When I checked on Lein, it seemed to be business as usual.

Looking through the various logs written by the soldiers, I found what I was looking for.

For a moment I wondered if Sentra merely decided to ignore the human soldiers, and scout for me. After all, it seemed she didn't like humans, from our conversation.

However, she dutifully reported her arrival to the captain of this lot, and she agreed to give regular reports every few days.

I thought it might have been convenient if she reported relatively recently, however, it seems that she hasn't been back in about three or so days, which the captain seemed worried about.

She appeared in my forest a little over a week ago. However, three days ago... That should be around when I started catching her scent in my usual hangouts, including inside the village. Did she feel that she was close, and it was no longer necessary to stay in this camp?

She likely had a whiff of my scent for quite a while, but wanted to pin down my routine.

Well, I ultimately captured her, but because she hasn't reported back in a while, it's likely that the captain will need to act under the assumption that she was defeated.

If that's the case, he's going to wait for reinforcements, and then try to take me on.

Eh, it's a bit nauseating reading the enemy's plan to try and corner me with hostages.

I want to kill them all now, but it would be exhausting, and I don't feel my current knife will last for so many necks.

I will leave Aniel to handle them, and I'll take care of anyone attempting escape. I'll be sure to destroy any form of communication they have beforehand. That mostly includes messenger birds, as it doesn't seem this world has developed a form of instantaneous communication.

That said, I don't know if now is the best time to attack. There's no sign of reinforcements, even after 2 weeks. They should have arrived by now. It would be bad if Aniel's group exhausted themselves in one fight, only to be cornered from behind by another fight.

However, that little girl they have with them—the one with the super senses. It should be fine with her around. Maybe.

Hmm, it feels strange, but, somehow I feel like I should have triggered some sort of flag, that would set me on a quest with Princess Aire and Aniel, leaving behind this village.

But Aniel clearly doesn't want me with him, and Aire hasn't even suggested the idea that I go with her. I'm presumably a valuable war potential, but she doesn't seem like she wants to use my power. What little help I've provided seems to just be necessary for them. I can't provide much more without just going out and murdering all of Senilea's enemies, but I'd rather not do something so strenuous with my ability.

Well it's fine. I have plenty of incentive to stay where I am.

Author Notes:

So I've gotten into the habit of posting a chapter a day, excluding Saturdays and Sundays. It's a good system for me, to keep me writing, seeing as I'll probably start procrastinating if I suddenly stop. I'll probably hit a wall when I'm not sure what to write, but at the moment I'm doing well.

So today, on a Saturday, I posted the chapter I had ready for Monday, for two reasons.

The first is that Monday is my Birthday, and I don't want to have to remember to post a chapter on my birthday.

The second is just as a response to the controversy from last chapter. Honestly, I'm sort of interested in how there was two very distinct views on what Toyaru did last chapter. I'm not really going to spend much time to explain Toyaru's motives here in the Author notes; but I'll give my insight.

Toya isn't the hero. He's the protagonist, but he is by no means a hero. Will he protect those he cares about? Sure. Beyond that, everyone can go to hell. People can call him scum for that if they want, but that's more or less how I've built up his personality till now, and I feel I've made that pretty clear. But I'm curious about what people thought Toya was going to do with a Fox who attacked him, bound him, read his mind, and planned to have some people he agreed to shelter, killed? Torture can be considered "too far" by some, but what isn't too far?

That said, I have gone back and edited future chapters I already wrote, mostly to get rid of some ambiguity, and to make other things more ambiguous. But the story is overall still the same, and Toyaru is still not some saint.

If you want a protagonist who is an altruist beyond reason, well there are a number of those here and there.

Anyways, just felt like I'd get that out there. (I ended up writing more than I thought I would, but oh well)

About this chapter; well, you probably won't find out what happened to Sentra until... well, not now. She'll actually be missing for a few chapters.

So then, Feedback and Suggestions are always appreciated and encouraged.

If you like this story (or even if you don't), please leave a review, and tell me what you love/hate, so I can improve! (Or you can send me hate mail, because apparently my friend has always wanted to get hate mail. I can just send him the hate mail.)