Part Fifteen

With the Kobold nest cleared and looted, we decided to return to our base for a well-deserved rest. Dividing the loot up would come later, as we were all exhausted from staying up most of the night.

Despite the fact that I regularly had difficulty sleeping, the events of the last twenty-something hours had rendered me tired enough that my chronic insomnia wasn’t an issue. I fell asleep soon after my head hit the pillow. Hours of comfortable sleep awaited me, but they were quite fleeting.

When I first woke back up, pleasantly comfortable and relaxed from slumber, I had yet to realize that something was rather odd. You see, I’d gone to sleep without a blanket, but something soft and furry was currently nestled up against my stomach. That wasn’t really enough to alarm me, though. My sister had owned a cat, and I’d often awake to find it curled up on me. For some reason, that cat had liked me the most, even though I interacted with it the least.

No, it wasn’t until I remembered where I was that I became alarmed. After all, I wasn’t in my childhood home, but in a house in a monster-infested town. The odds of a random cat just slipping into the house, and it just deciding to come lay on top of me were pretty slim. Though, I could believe that a cat would do that. They were wily little creatures.

I opened my eyes and glanced downward, only to lock eyes with the creature sitting on my chest.

“…!”

“…”

“…?”

“…”

For a moment, I’d thought a Shadow Fox had somehow gotten into my room, but closer inspection revealed that its fur wasn’t black, but more of a very dark brown. Also, its eyes still had irises that were a deep reddish-brown instead them just being of completely black. Actually, come to think of it, Shadow Foxes probably went a little overboard with the black coloration.

“…!?”

“…”

“Uh, come here often?”

“…”

Okay, this is getting me nowhere. I did not sign up to have a staring contest with a fox pup, no matter how adorable it was trying to be. It was just sitting there, staring back at me with an unblinking gaze. Honestly, this was pretty creepy.

“Okaaaay…..I’m gonna need you to move real slow like, and get off of me. Can ya do that for me little guy?”

“…Ku?” Ah, it spoke! Or barked, or did….whatever that sound was. I don’t know. I’m not an expert on foxes.

“Uh, please?”

“Ku.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Ku.”

“Yeah, I’m not getting up anytime soon, am I?”

“Ku.”

“Say that one more time, and that shall be your name for the rest of however long we know each other.”

“………Kyu?”

“……Did, did you just….understand me?”

“Ku.”

“Okay, your name is now Ku.”

“Kuuuuuuu….”

What the fuck am I doing? I’m having an actual conversation with the fox pup that just randomly decided that my chest was its bed. Also, Ku is a terrible name for a fox, or anything really. I need to figure out what’s going on.

I tried to sit up then, but the pup clung to me and started yipping in fear. And since I didn’t particularly want anyone to see whatever this was, I had to lay back down to prevent the fox pup from making a very weird scene. I did get the chance to look at my watch though, and confirmed that it was just after noon, which was around the time we’d all agreed to get up.

Uh-oh. If I know anything about how these kinds of situations work in novels, someone’s going to barge in here within the next minute or so, discover the fox pup, which will become a whole thing. So sorry Ku, but you’ve got to go.

I reached for the pup, intending on picking it up and dropping it put the nearby window. Was that cruel? Yes, but I never asked to wake up with a fox pup sitting on me in the first place.

“Ku? Ku!”

Unfortunately, when my hand had nearly reached the pup, the dang thing bounced forward and began rubbing up against me, just like a cat that wanted attention. Now since I’m a normal person who in no way associates cats and foxes to be similar at all, this caught me slightly off-guard.

Huh? Oh, it’s kinda cute like this. No! Don’t be distracted by the cuteness. The window's right there. Open it up, and fling the nuisance out. Hurry, it’s the only chance!

I once again tried to pick the pup up, but I was unfortunately too late. Just as I was about to slide the window open, my door flew open, and Alicia ran into the room before stopping dead in her tracks. And all I could think was…

Why does she keep doing that? She could at least knock before opening the door. One of these days she’s going to catch me changing or something. Wait, shouldn’t that be the other way around? I’d like to file a complaint with whoever's writing this script.

“Ku!? Kyu!”

Upon seeing Alicia, the fox pup wiggled out of my grasp, dropped back onto the bed, and then proceeded to push its way under my leg.

“…Uhhh, what the heck's going on in here?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

“Kuu! Ku ku kuu!”

Haaah, what even is my life anymore?

***

An emergency meeting was called soon after that, because well, random foxes were apparently a big deal. The five of us gathered in the living room, with the fox placed on the floor in front of me, though it kept trying to get back into my lap.

“”””…?””””

“So, this is a thing that’s happened to me. Uh, does anyone have any questions?”

“…How about why? Why do you have a fox with you? And where’d it come from?”

“All good questions, all good questions. But unfortunately, I don’t have any answers for ya. All I know is I woke up, and there was a fox pup sitting on me. Also, it seems to really like me for some unknown but highly annoying reason.”

“Kuu! Kyu!”

“See? I’m also certain that it somehow understands me when I talk about it. But uh, did anyone check to see if we missed a window or something? Because I really don’t understand how it got into my room.”

“Hm, I’d think it was a monster if not for the fact that Analyze doesn’t respond to it. Which means it’s probably just a normal animal. A normal animal which somehow made its way into a barricaded building, went upstairs and got through a closed door…….so, not a normal animal?”

“You know, it kind of looks familiar. Foxes aren’t normally this darkly colored, are they?”

Considering that the pup's fur was a brown so dark it looked nearly black, I wasn’t really sure. Most of the foxes I’d seen were reddish-brown, but it’s not like darker variants can’t exist. As for it looking familiar, well, I’d already drawn the comparison to it being a Shadow Fox, sooo….

“Kuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”

“Stop it, you. You’ve caused enough problems.”

“Kuuuuuu.”

“Oh, just let it onto your lap already. I’m pretty sure its harmless, and its making me feel sorry for it when you’re being so mean when all it wants is for you to hold it. Hug the fox dangit.” “Kuuu!”

I sighed to myself as I beckoned to the pup, who gleefully jumped up onto my lap before curling back up into a ball. Contented sounds were soon coming from it, though it never took its eyes off of me. In fact, I’d say it trying to ignore the others more than it was trying to watch me. Obsessive little thing, ain’t ya?

“So, does anyone have any ideas what to do with this fox? Because I’m not really looking for a pet right now.”

“…I think this is something you’ll have to solve on your own. He seems pretty attached to you for some reason. And I doubt he’ll comply if you try to abandon him somewhere. Hm. Maybe he imprinted on you?”

“Ugh, I hope not. This is just an extra complication I don’t need.”

“Well, maybe this isn’t a bad thing? Uh, I’m sure there’s something to gain from having this cute little fox around. Do you think he’s old enough to eat solid foods?”

“Maybe? I have some jerky left over from breakfast, so maybe he’ll eat that?”

I pulled said jerky out of my bag and tore a strip off before offering it to the fox, who then promptly leaped at my hand and snatched the jerky away. Watching it gnaw at the jerky was kinda scary given how sharp its teeth appeared. The scrap of jerky, about as long as my finger, was gone in seconds. And then, the begging began.

“Ku? Kuuu!? Kuuuuu!?”

Each subsequent whine became more and more sad as I denied the fox its jerky, until it actually began crying. It only took a few seconds before those tears got to me, and I handed over the rest of the jerky.

“Kuuu~!”

“Okay, even I’ll admit that that thing’s freakin' adorable. Where do ya think it came from?”

“It is pretty odd that it just showed up out of nowhere. While I can’t tell why it followed you, it probably doesn’t have anyone else to take care of it. It’s likely that its pack was attacked by a group of monsters, leaving this pup on its own before it could take care of itself. If we leave it alone, it’ll probably end up starving to death or being hunted by something else.”

“That’s….so sad. Nothing this cute should have to suffer like that.”

Ah, Kalia’s definitely the type to dote on any pets she’d have. Heck, I bet she'd use baby speak with them too, and that’s just wrong. Like, really, really, really wrong. It’s almost as bad as dressing your pets up in costumes. They don’t like it people!

“Burp! Kuuuuuuuuuu~.”

Having finished its jerky, the fox proceeded to curl back up in my lap and purr contentedly. Huh, I probably shouldn’t keep referring to it as ‘the fox'. I’ll need to think of a name for it…..wait, why am I acting like I’m actually going to look after it?

“Okay! So since we’ve decided on what to do with the fox, we should move on to more important matters, like where we’re going next.”

“Wait, what? When did we decide that? And why do I have to watch it?”

“I mean, is it really that big of a deal? He seems to like you for whatever reason, so I’d imagine it’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like it’ll be forever. Just look out for him for a bit. That should help him get to a point where he can take care of himself. Does it really harm you in any way? All you really need to do is feed him on occasion, and how much can one fox really eat?”

“Ku?” Not the puppy-dog eyes.

“Haaah, fine. For now. The second it becomes an inconvenience, I’m cutting it loose.”

“Agreed. Now then. We all know that London is off the table, but we should really discuss our next destination. There’s three main routes we can take, and each has their pros and cons. First, we could head east along the coastline. There’s a number of towns and cities along the way, so we’d have ample opportunities for scavenging. However, it would also potentially bring us closer to whatever’s been happening here, as I doubt any of those towns are far enough away to be exempt from these events.”

“Uh, let’s not do that. Something tells me going that way would just be dumb. We want to get away from whatever's happening, not closer.”

“Right you are Kalia, right you are. Route number two is the exact opposite. We’d head west along the coast away from London. The only caveat is that there’s fewer large towns along this route, meaning less opportunities for scavenging. And the third route is the middle ground. We’d head northwest from here, heading towards Bristol and possibly Wales, though how far we’d get would depend on our progress each day. There’s also the possibility that the shadow's influence reaches that far, though we won’t know until we get there.”

“Hm, I’d actually like to see how far this reaches, so I’m favoring the third route. Besides, large cities should have plentiful monster population to hunt. With those Kobolds dead, there’s not really anything here that’s a challenge.”

“Yeah. All that’s left is a bunch of small Demi-Human tribes and Beast packs. I imagine that’ll change, but not if we’re still around.”

“Might as well. We came out here to kill shit, so not killin' shit don’t make any sense.”

“Kalia, any objections?”

“No, not really. Just…could we leave tomorrow? I’d like the time to think about something before we start moving.”

“Agreed. We could all use some down time. I imagine all of us are at least a little tired from last night. We should all take today to train or rest or whatever, and tomorrow we’ll begin moving.”

Hm, guess I’ll figure this fox out today then. I’m not sure if I’m going to enjoy this part.