Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 22- Keeno Okami the Snowfire Princess

[Keeno POV]

Fia and Randal’s conversation dragged on for what felt like forever, but eventually they got back on track with the actual topic.

“Apologies, Little Miss Okami.  Where were we on today’s main topic?” (Randal)

“What a Guild card can be used for.” (Keeno)

I pulled my Guild card back out of my pocket and placed it on the table.

“For starters, the main thing is identification.  You can get in and out of pretty much any city or large town by showing it.  It also has a function that keeps track of how much money you currently have saved away with the Guild.  For more specifics, depending on which part or parts of the Guild you affiliate yourself with, it has sub-functions.  Since you will most likely sign up as an adventurer soon, I’ll use that as an example.  The Guild card will notify you of any emergency quest that happens in the Guild nearest your current location.” (Randal)

It was an impressive amount of things, but it also made me curious.

“How does all this work?” (Keeno)

“…” (Randal)

“…” (Fia)

I looked at both of them, but they refused to match my gaze.

“Neither of you know?” (Keeno)

“More like we never questioned it.” (Fia)

“While I don’t think it’s the case with Miss Fiametta, Guild cards have been around since before I was even born, and they’ve been such a normal thing in my life that I just accept it as part of the world.” (Randal)

Fia sent me a discreet sign that this wasn’t a conversation that should be continued right now, so I decided to try and change the subject.  Luckily, Huginn and Muninn stepped in to distract all of us.  The two of them finally couldn’t hold back and flew up to Randal’s halo.  Just before they could touch it, Fia hopped up and grabbed them.

“I deeply apologize for that!” (Keeno)

“Ho ho ho.  No harm was done, so it’s fine.  It’s not like I can feel anything through this annoying ring above me head anyway.” (Randal)

“While he is fine with it, some angels aren’t, so it’s best if you teach these two not to do that in the future.” (Fia)

“I understand.  Huginn, Muninn, I’ll make sure to educate the two of you thoroughly later.” (Keeno)

“Caw!” (Huginn)

“Squawk!” (Muninn)

With that out of the way and the Guild card conversation concluded, I picked my card back up and was about to put it away when I noticed something that I didn’t before.  In the title section, that I assumed would be blank since Fia and Ama reassured me that the Fated One title wouldn’t be seen, was a title that read Snowfire Princess.

“…” (Keeno)

“What’s wrong, Keeno?  Why’d you freeze up like that?” (Fia)

“…Why do I have a title called Snowfire Princess?” (Keeno)

{“Pfffft!”}

“Hoh.” (Randal)

Ignoring that even Ama seemed amused by this, I doubled down on my questioning.

“What is this about, and why am I only now learning about it?  And how long has this been a thing?” (Keeno)

“Ahahahahahahhaha!” (Fia)

“Hohohohhohohohhohohohohohohohohohoho.” (Randal)

Since they weren’t answering my questions and it seemed like they were both getting a kick out of it, I decided that I should get them to focus on the matter at hand.  I let my heat control slip and the room instantly became hotter.  Then, I felt something in my soul yearning to be let out, so I summoned my Cerulean Sunblades, and the heat in the room increased even more.  It was so hot in the room that the ends of Randal’s beard started to smoke.

“M-miss Okami, please calm down.  I’d very much like my beard to stay unburnt.” (Randal)

“Then, Sir Randal, Miss Fiametta, one of you better start answering my questions.  I for one, am feeling quite chilly at the moment, so I may decide to turn up the heat a little bit more.” (Keeno)

Randal’s face broke out into a panicked expression and he started to stammer, though his words were practically nonsense.  It seemed like he took a lot of pride in his beard and didn’t wish for it to vanish in a plume of fire and ash.  Since whatever noises he was making weren’t helping the situation, Fia spoke up.

“It’s something that several of the adventurers started calling you about three years ago when you started milling about on your days off from training.  The title caught on with other people from the Guild, and it spread from there to the rest of the city.  Now, most people call you that, though it’s surprising that you’ve never heard people call you that before.  We assumed you knew and just didn’t care about it.” (Fia)

I mulled over her answer for a few seconds before putting my Soul Weapon away and reducing the heat from scorching to mildly toasty.

“I find that answer…acceptable…for now.” (Keeno)

Randal’s face became visibly relaxed once the heat was reduced and his beard was no longer in any form of fiery danger.  I then stood up and Huginn and Muninn squirmed their way out of Fia’s arms and flew to my shoulders.

“Continue your chat if you want, Miss Fiametta, I’m going home and seeing if Lady Pram is free…Muninn, stay here and report to me later if these two say anything I will find…unsatisfactory about me.  Or if they start laughing again.” (Keeno)

“Squawk, squawk, caw!!” (Muninn)

Muninn flapped its wings once more and landed on Fia’s head before staring at both her and Randal in turn.  I nodded in satisfaction and left the room.  Making my way out of the Guild, I passed several people who started to whisper.  Now that I knew people started calling me by some embarrassing title, I could hear it every time they spoke it.  Every time that happened, I made the temperature rise a little bit around those people, just enough to make them slightly uncomfortable.  Once I was far enough outside the Guild, Ama started to speak again.

{For the record, Keeno, I also assumed you knew about it and didn’t care.}

‘Thing is, Ama, I actually kind of like the title, but I feel like if I didn’t start setting a precedent that I don’t like being arbitrarily called something, then I fear for what the future will bring.’

{I hate to break it to you Keeno, but as a goddess, things like that are going to happen to you too many times to count, so you’d better get used to it.  I mean that with all the love and compassion I can muster, but still, it’s a fact that it will happen.}

‘…*sigh*  I guess you’re right.  But I’m still going to at least try to mitigate it for a while, while I still can.’

{Fine then.  While I still believe you should just let it go, I’ll still support you in your decision.}

‘Thanks, Ama.’

Chaos Realm:

Snowfire Princess really is a fitting title.

Order: Mm-hmm.  Snow and Princess coming from how she acts, and fire due to how warm it is near her at all times.  An actual fitting title for someone.  I always thought adventurers had horrible naming sense.

Luna: I can’t say anything since I agree on the horrible naming sense part.

Tamamo: Agreed.  None of us can name anything well.  Except maybe Atmos.

Order: Honestly, I pictured her to be one of the worst at naming things.

Tamamo: Nope.  That’s why Grey picks up the slack in that department.

Figures.