Tale of Discovery

Chapter 231: Alliance ; Alluring Fox ; Family Picture

Walking through the gateway created by Yuno, I find myself in the wooden house in Kyoto.

Then, I make use of Clairvoyance to examine the state of affairs, only to be a little startled by the sight of numerous Youkai training their powers and abilities.

Fortunately, they're training in a secluded section, so there won't be any supernatural-related news anytime soon.

As I continue to look around, my sight comes across Kunou who is making her way back to the main house.

Seeing that, a small smile forms on my lips before I exit the house and 'jog' over to her.

Before Kunou can realize what's going on, I've already swept her off her feet and holding her in a princess carry.

Initially, she was extremely distressed, but upon realizing that it's me, she pressed her head against my chest.

"Hello, Kunou. Have you been doing well?"

"Mn," she hums as confirmation before asking, "Are you here to see mother?"

"Yes," I respond, "She is in the 'main house', right?"

"Mn," she hums once again before closing her eyes, seemingly enjoying the way she's being held at the moment.

The smile on my lips grows as I begin walking toward the main house while attracting the attention of anyone within the vicinity.

Soon, I find myself right in front of the main house's door. Telekinetically opening the door, I step inside without hesitation and make my way to the room Yasaka would converse with me in.

Unfortunately, Yasaka isn't there, so I set Kunou down and sit close to the round-table in the room, intending to converse with her while waiting for Yasaka.

"Say, Kunou," I begin, "What's your ability revolved around?"

Hearing this, Kunou's fox ears pop out and twitch as she directly begins to demonstrate her ability.

Raising her right arm, Kunou has a serious look on her face as a ball of blue flames surround her hand.

"Interesting," I say with an intrigued expression, "Hurl it at me."

An odd look appears on Kunou's face upon hearing my words. She glances at the flames surrounding her hand then at me before she does as she was told.

Seeing the ball of flame approaching me, I attempt to manipulate it using Pyrokinesis, but it seems to not register as flames that can be influenced.

Sensing the potency of the ball of flame, a grin forms on my lips as I raise my hand and grasp it while covering my hand in Destruction.

My action results in the ball of flame 'exploding' before disappearing without a trace.

Kunou who had a slightly anxious expression on her face before is now looking at me with awe.

Seeing this, I issue a light chuckle before saying, "I can tell that your fire isn't normal, but not in what way. Care to tell me?"

As a response to my inquiry, Kunou opens her mouth to respond, but before she can utter a word, a voice resounds in the room, "That's foxfire."

Turning toward the source of the voice, I am met with the sight of Yasaka gracefully entering the room and making her way to the round-table.

"Good morning," I greet her while smiling.

"Good morning," she greets back with a composed look on her face.

Observing her closely, I notice that the aura she is giving away right now is different from before.

For some reason, I'm more comfortable with her the way she is now.

"So, Mr. Victor, what has brought you here today?"

"Are you aware of the matter with devils planning to wage a war against me and the other two 'major' factions?"

Nodding her head, Yasaka says, "Two days ago, a representative of one of the devil clans visited us in hopes of forming an alliance with us for the 'inevitable' war."

"I see. Did they offer any interesting insight to tempt you to accept their offer?"

"Indeed. They claimed to have the support of an Asgardian goddess and some other gods as well as... a 'Phantom'."

Upon hearing the last word, I squint my eyes and ask, "Did he go into any detail regarding the Phantom?"

Is it a Code or an Unknown? Other beings are unable to differentiate between our existence, making it quite troublesome to figure out my opponents' identities.

At this moment, I feel a slight nudge on my shoulder before Kunou moves over and takes a seat on my lap.

Letting a small sigh, I pat her head while gazing at Yasaka and saying, "How did you respond to their offer?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Yasaka says while smiling, "I rejected it."

"Wouldn't have been better for you to show uncertainty?"

"It might indeed seem like that would be for the best, however, the reality is quite different. By showing our standing, they would have to think twice before launching an attack on us. After all, from what I could tell, they were afraid to face you without proper preparation."

"Not surprising," I say once Yasaka is done explaining, "They're most likely just a bunch of headstrong cowards."

At this moment, Kunou gets off my lap and leaves the room without uttering a word, baffling me a little.

A few seconds later, Yasaka lightly chuckles and says, "I see that Mr. Victor gets along very well with my daughter."

"Well," I say with a serene expression, "I treat her like I do my real daughters."

"I see," Yasaka says with an understanding expression. From the looks of it, she thinks that I'm speaking of all my female angels through my usage of the word 'daughter'.

There is no point in clearing this misunderstanding as the reality is much more confusing. I mean, there is Irene and AI who both act as the souls of my system. At first, the two of them seemed to be one entity, but after a while, I found out they were separate beings.

AI is an 'artificial' version of Irene. I'm curious regarding what is that has made her be categorized as artificial. Was she creating differently from Irene?

Shaking my head to clear my mind of such thoughts, I say, "Ms. Yasaka."

The dignified woman is a little startled by me calling out to her in such a direct manner, but she quickly regains her composure and responds, "Yes, Mr. Victor?"

"I am sure that you know of the reason I am here by now."

"Correct. You're here to see if we will pledge our alliance to you."

"So?"

"Naturally, we were already planning to do so."

Hearing her response, I beam a smile and say, "Very well then. You know who to call for once an issue arises."

The next moment, I dissuade the stiff posture that I had taken for the last minute and say, "Now that formal matters are out of the way, how have you been doing, Yasaka?"

A glint flashes through Yasaka's eyes as she loosens her shoulders as well and responds, "I've been doing fine, however, I would be doing better if you would visit us more often. My daughter often speaks of you and expresses her desire to spend time with you."

"Oh? In that case, would you like to head out for a family outing once again?"

Hearing my suggestion, Yasaka's eyes widen for a few seconds before she giggles and says, "I see that you are very bold with your words, Victor."

Looks like she didn't find any part of what I said discomforting. My usage of the word 'family' paid off well in this case.

Not only that, but she called me informally, which is quite unlike her usual self.

Looking into the buxom woman's eyes, I notice that there is a small glint within them.

The room's atmosphere seems to undergo an abrupt transmission as the two of us continue to look into one another's eyes.

My first thought regarding this is - am I being charmed by some magic?

My seconds one is does that even matter?

Deciding to be resolute in my actions from here on out, I directly appear beside Yasaka, startling her a little.

Then, without further ado, I wrap my arm around her soft shoulder and pull her into an embrace.

Instead of showing any signs of resistance, Yasaka simply wraps her arms around my back, as if she had been waiting for this moment.

"Do you find this fitting?" I bluntly ask.

Understanding what I'm getting at, she simply responds, "It's fine."

Hearing her response, a small smile forms on my lips as I break the hug and move back a little.

Looking into her eyes, I state, "There is no turning back from this, you know?"

"I know," she responds with a mischievous grin on her lips.

Leaning forth, I gradually close the distance between our faces before locking my lips with hers.

Soon after, I feel an extremely soft sensation against my chest as a sweet scent wafts through the air into my nose.

I subconsciously raise my arm and extend it forward before I find my hand sinking inside soft and malleable flesh.

As a response to my actions, Yasaka places her hand atop of mine, seemingly pushing me forth to do whatever I want with the soft mound.

Out of everyone I've interacted with so far, she has the most bountiful of breasts. That, coupled with the alluring scent exuding from her, has tempted me to push her right at this moment and take her.

Alas, before my mind can enter a dangerous state, the sound of the door that Kunou left from opening reaches my ears.

As a response, I break the kiss with Yasaka and move back a little. Gazing at Yasaka, I find her licking her lips while fixing her clothes.

A moment later, Kunou, who is holding a piece of paper, enters the room and closes the door behind her.

She then walks over to us with a bright smile on her lips while hiding the paper behind her.

Despite easily being able to check it out using my senses, I refrain from doing so.

Once Kunou is close enough, an odd look appears on her face as she glances at Yasaka before she shakes her head and looks at my face.

"Do you have something to show me, Kunou?" I say while patting her head.

"Yes," she eagerly responds before offering me the paper with an expectant look on her face.

The moment I set my sight on the contents of the paper, an intrigued expression covers my face as I say in an amused tone, "Were you the one who drew this?"

Hearing my question, Kunou quickly nods her head and says, "How is it?"

"Fantastic," I immediately respond, "This looks incredible. I didn't know you were so good at drawing."

My praises for her aren't without a basis. Her drawing is not a realistic masterpiece, but it's nevertheless a great drawing as I was able to make everything out at first glance.

In the drawing, Yasaka and I are sitting beside one another while surrounded by numerous trees and flowers. The two of us are both watching Kunou who is gleefully chasing after a firefly.

If there is one thing about the image that's worth questioning, it would be...

"Hey, Kunou, why am I glowing?"

Confused by my question, she just tilts her head to the side.

Whatever. It's probably just how she perceives me or something along that line.

"Is this a present for me?" I ask, to which she just nods her head.

Beaming a smile at her, I move Kunou's hair to the side before leaning forth and kissing her forehead.

"Come here for a moment," I say before pulling her close to myself while gesturing to Yasaka follow suit.

Once Yasaka is close enough, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and move Kunou so that she is standing right in front of us and is holding the drawing.

"Smile," I say before creating a rather large photo film.

The two of them do as I instruct them to, while I beam a smile of my own and use Clairvoyance to check us out.

Using Thoughtography, I burn the sight into the photo film.

Done with what I wanted, I telekinetically pull the photo into my hands and examine it before smiling and showing it to Yasaka and Kunou.

"This is my gift for you," I say while handing the photo to Kunou, who makes sure to not dirty it with her dainty fingers.

"One day, you will be able to draw this perfectly. At that time, I want you to recreate this photo as a family photo."

While listening to my words, Kunou had a constant smile face as she inspected the photo, but upon hearing my last words, a bewildered look appears on her face as she looks up at me.

She repeatedly shifts her sight from me to Yasaka and vice versa before saying, "You will..."

Not letting her finish her words, I embrace her and say, "I must leave now. But I promise to return sooner than usual."

Hearing that I had to leave, Kunou's mood dropped, but upon hearing the latter part of what I had to say, her mood brightened up once again as she immediately kissed my cheek.

Smiling at her antics, I pat her head a little before getting up and facing Yasaka.

The two of us lock eyes for a few seconds before Yasaka opens her mouth and says, "You promised to visit us soon."

"I indeed did."

"You better keep it," she says in a slightly pressuring tone.

"I always keep my words."

As such, I bid the two of them farewell before exiting the main house, intending to return to the mansion.