Chapter 14- Setting Off

I woke up just before the sun started to rise.  I decided to head out now since I said all of my goodbyes yesterday.  As I made my way to the entrance of the shrine, I saw everyone already waiting for me.

“Do you really think you can leave without us seeing you off?” Asked Dad smirking like he successfully pulled off a prank.

“It’s not fair of you to do that Big Sis.” Soleil said as she ran up to give me a final hug.

I hugged her back, then started to explain myself, “I wanted to leave before everyone woke up so that it would be easier for me.  I thought that if everyone saw me off, it would be even harder for me to leave.”

“We understood the reason, but that wasn’t going to stop me from seeing off my only daughter, you know” Mom said walking over to hug me as well.  “Like I said last night, stay safe.  I know you’re strong, but there is always someone stronger.”

“I understand, Mom, I’ll be careful.” I said as I basked in the warmth of her embrace and holding back tears.

“Remember to take care of your weapon.” Blake said, not reading the room.

Ana came up behind him and slapped the back of his head.  “Read the room a bit would you, this is a precious moment between parent and child, and you just ruined it.”

“Sorry.” Was all he managed to say before Ana could continue.

“I’m sorry about him.” Ana said walking up to me and handing me a basket.  “I went and made you a few days’ worth of lunches, I hope you enjoy them.”

“Thank you, I will.” I said as I took the basket from her and put it into my inventory.  “I’ll send letters through the box when I reach the capital, will you deliver them for me, Soleil?”

“Of course, leave it to me!” She said through tears.

“Don’t worry, Soleil, when you go and become an adventurer, I’ll have a spot in my party for you, so train hard, OK.” I said trying to cheer her up.

“You better remember that.” She said as she walked back over to her parents.

“I’m off then, I’ll see you all again someday.” I started walking off.

“You’ll always be welcomed back with open arms.” Mom said as she waved to me.

When I could no longer see everyone, I stopped and slapped my cheeks, “OK, now it’s time to set off.”

I walked over to the entrance of the village and started to look for any wagons that would let me hitch a ride to the capital.  After a while I found a group of people lined up next to a wagon.  I walked over to who I assumed was the driver and asked,  “Is this wagon going to the capital?”

“It is Missy, you need a ride there?” The driver asked.

“I am, is there any more room?” I answered.

“Yer in luck, Missy.  There’s room for one more, the fee is one silver.” He said.

“Here you go.” I said, handing him a silver coin.  “I look forward to travelling with you.”

“No need to be all formal and stuff Missy.” He said with a smile.  “Load up everyone, we set off in five minutes!”

I got into the wagon and looked around at the people I’ll be travelling with for the next two weeks.  There were a few other kitsune along with a dwarf and four humans.  It was then that the dwarf spoke up.

“Good morning, everyone, I’m the leader of the party that was hired to protect you all on this trip.  I guarantee you safety, so rest assured.”

He went on to introduce himself and the rest of his party.  It was made up of a tank, two warriors, and an archer.  After their introduction was over, we set off on a, hopefully, uneventful commute.

“I really need to stop doing that.” Facepalming myself in my head, “Why do I always say something that will raise a flag?”

{I think it’s because you enjoy getting into situations like that.} Tamamo said, giggling.

“Do I really?” I asked in disbelief.

{You’re not a complete battle maniac, but you are skirting the line.} She answered.

“That’s not good.” I said while looking into the distance, trying to avoid accepting the facts.

{Don’t worry, I will love you no matter what.} Tamamo said lovingly.

“Tamamo, why do you always say things that make me want to hug you, knowing I can’t?” I asked while feeling my face heat up.

{Because it’s fun watching your reactions.  You are really expressive when we talk.} She said teasingly.

“Hey, if I get my space magic to max level, will I be able to make a spell that lets me at least see you face on days that aren’t the full moon?” I asked, “While I like being able to talk to you at any time, I would still like to talk face-to-face at least.”

{I think it’s possible, but the amount of mana it would take to keep a spell like that running would be massive.}

“Then what if I used some ice as a medium instead of just space magic and the air?”

{That could work, but at this point in time you still don’t have enough to pull it off.}

“I see.” I said a little depressed.  “Then I will make my short term goal to finally max out my space magic level.”

{Your mood changed again.} She said, going back to teasing me.

“That’s just how I am when talking with you.” I said, my face breaking out into a smile.

We continued on wasting the day talking and flirting with each other while the other people in the cart gave me strange looks. 

Author's Note:

Rejoice everyone!  Classes have been cancelled tomorrow due to bad weather which means I don't have to sleep tonight.  That means I can try to write as many chapters as I can.  Viva la weather.  As a small side note, it has been brought to my attention that the way I set up Luna's stats is a little too crazy so I will be thinking of ways to fix that.  I've already been given some ideas and am thinking up a way to naturally integrate them into the story, so if the next time I write out her stats and they're different from the last time, you know the reason why.  I hope all of you can see where I'm coming from.  Thanks for reading and remember, there's always a bigger Fluff.