"...So, you have everything we need?" Kayda said, taking a seat next to me on the chair.
"Yes, I do," I said, not taking my eyes off the fire.
"So, can you take out the tent?" Kayda asked hesitantly.
"Can't do that," I said, shaking my head.
"Why?" Kayda said, tilting her head at me.
"I don't have one," I said, trying to hide my smile.
"don't joke with me," Kayda said, looking at me skeptically.
"Remember, I like to sleep outside at night. Why would I pack a tent?" I said, shrugging.
"Because I am with you, do damn fox," Kayda said, grabbing my ear making me yelp.
"Ow, stop. I was joking. Stop it hurts." I whined, trying to get her to let go of my ear.
"You were?" Kayda said, surprised.
"Why are you surprise. You really got to learn when I am playing with you." I said while glaring at Kayda.
"True, I do need to learn that. Anyways can you take out the tent?" Kayda said, rubbing her head awkwardly.
"I will do that when we are going to go sleep," I said, looking at the fire again.
"Why only then?" Kayda said with a raised eyebrow.
"...my ear hurt," I mumbled, rubbing the ear Kayda pulled.
"that's your fault," Kayda said, looking away.
"Probably, but do you always have to pull my ears?" I said with annoyance.
"Well, it's your only soft spot," Kayda said, looking back at me with a smirk.
'At least she doesn't know about my tail.' I thought, relieved.
"Excluding your prideful tail, of course," Kayda added.
'I stand corrected.' I thought, annoyed.
"Prideful?" I asked, a bit confused.
"Yes, I heard that only the person you love is allowed to touch it," Kayda said with a prideful smile.
"That... Amiri told you, didn't she."? I said dejectedly.
"Yes, and where you told a young child that she was too young for you," Kayda said, still holding her smile.
"Well, that's true she was too young," I said, remembering the child that grabbed my tail on the train.
"But you ageless, aren't you? In other words, even a toddler could have been your mate someday." Kayda said with a wise tone.
"Could, hahaha. Your quite confident, aren't you." I said, giving Kayda a smirk.
"Of course, I am. After the last month, I know we are meant to be." Kayda said, smiling at me again.
"You sound like one of those girls that get so obsessed with their crush and say all these cliche things," I said, looking at Kayda as if she was stupid.
"Ugh, that's true. I did sound like that, didn't I," Kayda said, getting depressed.
"Umu."
"Anyways, have you thought about a plan for how we can continue to use the crimson bandits?" Kayda asked, intrigued.
"Hmm, well, at this moment, they are probably looking for the bomb in Wendy's body. Alas, they won't find anything as I never put something into her. Well, not they would have found it anyways even if there was something." I said, shrugging.
"You didn't do it?" Kayda said, a bit surprised.
"No, I didn't have enough mana left for that," I said, weighing.
"Oh," Kayda said with realization written all over her face.
"Anyways, if we want to use them to their full power. We will need to gain their trust. Now to do this, we will need to get rid of their bad names and bounty. The name we can't really help with but the bounty we can." I explain, not taking my eyes off the fire again.
"We can't get rid of their bounties," Kayda said, shaking her head.
"And why is that?"
"Because there is a lot of procedures that go into making a bounty," Kayda explains, making me more confused.
"Yeah and?"
"You don't have a strong enough connection to do it."
"I might, but Dan will have one," I said with a beaming smile.
"Aah, that I don't think he will," Kayda said skeptically.
"He will. I have a deal with him." I said, waving her off.
"You might have that, but we are talking about a bandit group that has done multiple wrongdoings over the years."
"That might be so, but they do run 70% of the kingdom's orphanages. Why not use that to our advantage. To get the bounties of them." I said, shrugging.
"That just sounds like you want to make child soldiers," Kayda said, narrowing her eyes at me.
"We still need to work on the finer details, okay," I said, looking away.
"Whatever, how are we going to make them change. It's not like we can do it over a few months. It will take years." Kayda said, getting onto the main subject again.
"that's true. It will take some time, but it would be worth it. The bigger problem will be the rebellion or a coup Grandenzils' underlings might try and do." I said with a thoughtful look.
"that's another good point," Kayda said, falling into thought.
"Yeah, and this is where we come in. We can make this easier by taking Sammy and Wendy into the black ops for now. More specifically, my squad. Not as hostages, though. Aah, that's right, there might be more that we will need to take in. Back to the main subject. If they are gone, I am pretty certain Grandenzil will do her job with ease." I said, ending my rant and explanation with a devil smile.
"You think? Hmm, I guess you're right. Suppose Grandenzil precious people are out of the crossfire. She can go mad and clean the place up." Kayda said, snapping her fingers.
"Umu."
"Do you have any other plans?"
"Yeah, I want to go and destroy all the black pillars that was made by the devil cult," I said hesitantly.
"Because it is fading your curse?"
"I actually think it's evolving it," I said casually.
"Evolving it? ... wait, you want to make it worse!?" Kayda yelled, standing up before grabbing my shoulders.
"Well, I don't think it would be bad if it evolves. I mean, my curse only amplified my pain and reduced the amount of experience I get for each kill. What can something like that go to." I said, shrugging.
"even more pain and less experience!" Kayda yelled, shaking me vigorously.
"Exactly, I am ageless, so something like that is nothing, and I can't feel pain anymore, or well, I can. I just learned how to ignore it," I said, smiling at Kayda.
'Well, it is a problem as I want to get stronger faster, but I think the curse will change into more like a blessing for me.' I thought, holding my happy smile.
"But that's not a good thing, Kitsuna," Kayda said with a worried expression.
"What is a good thing in my life, Kayda?" I said sarcastically before adding the last part mimicking a wise old sage. "I don't mind the pain. There was a saying in my old world. If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger."
"that's a stupid saying, and you shouldn't listen to it," Kayda said, disappointed.
"What!? It's not stupid. It's the truth." I said, surprised.
"No, end of the discussion," Kayda said, looking back at the fire.
"You are ending it like that," I said, baffled.
"Yes, now no more talk about something so stupid," Kayda said, looking away.
'Is she that worried about me? Or Is she being serious right now?' I thought while staring at her.
"..."
'She really is sometimes confusing. I can't get a read on her emotions at all right now.' I thought, putting my hand under my chin while resting my elbow on my leg, still staring at her.
"..."
"..."
"For crying out loud, stop staring at me like that!" Kayda yelled, taking me by surprise.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just confused. Why are you saying it's a dumb phrase?" I explain, waving my hands defensively.
"Sigh, it's not a dumb phrase, but it is not, and I am not something you should live by," Kayda said, looking at me sternly.
"Is that so?" I said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, it's a phrase that can get a person in more trouble than its worth."
"I will think about it," I said, standing up. Walking a few meters away from the fire, I took out the tent and set it up for Kayda before changing into my fox form and lying down around the entire camp.
"You really just going to go and sleep like that?" Kayda said, not moving from her seating position.
"Nope. Good night." I said, closing my eyes.