"Are you the owner of these creatures?" The golden-haired girl looked at Bloed and asked. "I'm curious, what are them?"
Bloed furrowed his brows. His first reaction was to use his eyes to grasp as much information as he could from the fox.
One second later, though, his frown became deeper.
That girl… Bloed could feel nothing.
He could not feel mana or energy fluctuations of any kind coming from her. However, that was impossible. In this world, practically every being had mana inside their bodies.
Thus, unless the girl was manaless like him, she was a very powerful powerhouse able to control her mana perfectly.
A demigod. And probably one stronger than Sebastian or the others demigods Bloed had met until now. Although Bloed was not sure exactly how strong she was, just judging by her control over mana, he had the feeling she was the strongest person he had met until now.
"Who are you?" Bloed asked warily. At the same time, he used his mind to send a message to Regina.
Danger.
The girl frowned. Then, she stared at Bloed with a look of interest.
"How strange… That fluctuation just now… It was not mana, right? Moreover, you have such a pure and powerful soul power, and your mana feels weird… It's completely different than normal practitioners. It's almost as if your cultivation is soul-power-based instead of mana-based… And your eyes… They are so beautiful but so unnatural. How peculiar... Tell me, Mister, what are you?"
Bloed kept an indifferent look on his face, but inwardly, he was shocked. This girl, she had seen everything about him with just a glance!
It was as though he was naked in front of her golden-colored eyes. Fortunately, she did not manage to discover he was manaless, but she noticed practically everything else.
Fortunately, reinforcements came at that moment.
Without a warning, Regina appeared in front of Bloed. The silver-haired girl created two blades of energy in her hands and stared at the girl in front of her with wariness.
"Master, are you alright?"
"I'm alright, don't worry. It's just that this girl… She is dangerous."
Regina nodded. Her gaze was fixed in the fox in front of her, ready to move at any moment.
The fox-eared girl, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow when she saw Regina. Soon, though, her eyes opened in disbelief.
"You… You are not human… What are you? How can you be alive with an incomplete soul?"
"Miss fox girl, I don't think it's impolite to ask for the secrets of others," Bloed grunted displeased.
The fox girl was startled. Almost instantly, she nodded and bowed apologetically.
"You are right. I'm sorry… It's just that I rarely meet so many peculiar things so I was too excited. My name is Eve, Eve Moonglow. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Bloed, and she is Regina."
Eve nodded. She then looked at Regina and frowned. "Miss Regina, can you please lower your weapons, I don't have any intention to fight you."
Regina did not move. Instead, she used her mind to ask for Bloed's opinion.
Only when Bloed nodded, Regina's blades vanished.
Eve stared at the two of them strangely and furrowed her brows. "Soul connection? No, it's different, but also the same… Besides, Miss Regina's soul power is very strong… Even stronger than mine… How is that possible? A special training technique?" The fox girl, Eve, whispered to herself in confusion. When she was unable to find an answer, she looked at Bloed and Regina again. "Mister Bloed, Miss Regina, what kind of technique do you practice?"
Bloed's expression was strange. This girl… Did she just ask them for their technique just like that?
In this world, cultivation techniques were some of the best-guarded secrets. Telling someone else about your cultivation technique was the same as telling him about your weakness.
When Eve saw Bloed's expression, she noticed her mistake. She instantly bowed slightly with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, my mistake. That was impolite of me. How about this? Ask for anything you want. I'll give it to you in exchange for the technique you practice. Besides, I'll swear in the name of the Goddess Evanesse I will not leak it."
Evanesse? Moonlight Glow's Goddess?
Bloed was speechless. Who in the hell was this girl?
She even dared to use the name of a god so casually.
"… I'm sorry, I'm not selling it." Bloed said after a sigh. His gaze towards the girl, though, had changed from one of wariness to a strange one.
He had realized what kind of person she was.
Curious, strong, smart, but unaware of the ways of the world. She probably was a powerful demigod that did not care about normal conventions.
That was the reason why she reacted as she did. She did not have bad intentions; instead, she was just acting to satisfy her curiosity.
"That is regretful." The fox girl sighed in disappointment. But then, her gaze moved to the two metallic pets in her hands. "Then, what about them, can you give them to me?"
"I'm not selling them either… Miss Eve, can I ask why you are here?" Bloed asked.
"Oh, that… I was just passing by when I noticed your pets. I was curious about them, so I stayed here. Hey, what are them? They did not have souls, so they are not living beings… Are they golems? Puppets? No, they are different… Their shapes are very detailed to be golems, and their movements are too independent to be puppets… Moreover, they look like they have emotions. If not that I can see they did not have souls, I would have believed they are real living beings."
"They are robots, a kind of construct," Bloed replied. "Their behavior is controlled by AIs with their own personalities, so they are practically the same as living beings. Miss Eve? What are you doing?"
"Oh? Sorry, I wanted to see how they work."
"... Miss, they are not toys. Please, stop shaking them."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful. Robots? What is that?" Eve was groping each part of the mechanical puppy as though a curious child. She even ignored the last part of Bloed's words.
The poor Tito seemed like it wanted to cry.
Bloed smiled wryly. Talking with this girl was truly hard.
However, Bloed was not bothered by that. Instead, he was looking at the fox-eared girl in front of him with a curious expression.
Now that he had determined that the girl was not an enemy, Bloed started to consider other things.
For example, Charise's words before leaving Diadel City.
'Try to get the recognition of the fox, huh.'
Although Bloed was not completely trustful of Charise and the Church of Fate's intentions, the truth was that she had helped them a lot in Diadel City. Thanks to her help, Sebastian (and with a bit of luck the Kingdom of Alterna) stopped harassing them.
At the very least, Charise did not seem to have harmful intentions towards him.
In other words, following her advice could be a good idea.
But–
'So she is the fox, huh?'
Looking at the powerful, but a bit of an oddball, fox girl in front of him, Bloed had the feeling that getting closer to her and gaining her recognition was going to be easier than he thought.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels