Not at all bothered by the mans gaze Theia simply bid the man farewell and turned to leave.
"Madam... I do not dare give you commands, but may I suggest concealing your aura a bit more? I have noticed that these villagers seem to be deaf to the flow of magic however the animals here seem not to share this trait..." Spoke James in a rather quite manner as to not alert the passing townsperson that his Mistress was the one causing trouble.
"What aura are you talking about? I hav-" Realization finally dawned upon her as her gaze drifted down towards the book bundled cutely in her tail.
"Oh.... b- but I don't know how... the book said I can control it to some degree but it never went into further detail.. Mother never taught me how to wield magic either... she said it was to dangerous..." While walking along the side of the street and mumbling to herself about this newfound problem of hers a horse drawn carriage came to a sudden stop next to her and James.
After coming to a stop the horses pulling the carriage seemed only a bit restless and would stamp their feet every so often, but other than that they remained well behaved and did not throw a tantrum as the other animals had.
"Madam I believe the driver of that carriage wishes to speak to you.." After successfully being pulled out of her daze Theia had finally taken notice of the driver who was currently helping an elderly man down the steps of the carriage. Said elderly man was dressed in fine purple robes and had a long grey beard that hung all the way down to his chest. After stepping down the old mans wrinkled eyes instantly locked on to Theia.
Seeing this James was quick to react and quickly shielded his mistress from view.
"Excuse me, but could this elder kindly explain his reasoning for stopping us?" James asked but the old man seemed not to hear the threating tone in his voice for he completely ignored James and instead spoke directly to Theia.
"You, fox girly!" He yelled, but strangely did so in a way a grandparent would after not seeing their grandchild in a long while. "You are from the Spirit-Fox branch of the Tailed Beast Clan right? This old man has a question he hopes you can answer."
Upon hearing the old man speak the driver who was supporting the old man suddenly adopted a weird expression as he stared at the old mans side profile seemingly wanting to tell the old man something but before he could Theia had already began to answer him.
"Un. That is correct. What would this elder like to ask of me?" After offering a short bow to the old man as a show of respect Theia couldn't help but tilt her head slighly in the direction of the old man and perk up her ears. After all her mother had told her to respect all elders, so how could just ignore the old mans question? I mean it was just a question, no harm done right?
"Little fox answer truthfully! Are you still pure? You haven't been deflowered yet have you?"
PFFFTTT!
With eyes wide open Theia could feel a strange blush flourish across her face as her three tails curled up behind her as if to display her embarrassment.
"Wh- y! Su-ch a question... Kind elder do you not find such a thing a bit inappropriate to ask a young kit such as my self!" She stuttered while covering her beat red face. Even though she would be the first to admit that she had lived quite the sheltered life, her mother still deemed it necessary to teach her about such things at an early age; however that did not mean she WANTED to talk about them! Especially Infront of this unknown elder!
"Teacher maybe that was a bit forward do you not think so?" The driver who had been looking for a moment to intervene finally managed to speak up.
"Oh hush boy! What do you know!" Snapped the old man before quickly returning back to the original topic. "Well girl? Have you or have you not?!"
"O- of course I have not done such a thing! Mother and Father would surely kill me if they found out!" Or rather they would castrate and kill the other party for defiling their little girl.... but she was not about to say that before this pervy old man!
(Pervy Old Man: BAH! Who are you calling perverse! Just wait until the readers se- *MPFHH*)
(YanSempai: Author san here~ please ignore the ramblings of this old man and continue reading Arigatō! )
"Oh~ I see! Good! Very good! And I also see you have a decent magical aura as well! Why don't you follow this old man back to the capital and become my disciple? Such a gift shouldn't be wasted in this small town! What do you say? Are you interested learning magic?" Hearing the old mans words both Theia and the carriage driver where both stunned.
'Taking a disciple?! This stubborn old man?! He must be hearing things! And besides... even if this girl has such an impressive aura.. is it not a bit to sinister in nature?'
Meanwhile on the other side.
'The primordial fox must be smiling upon me this day! As soon as I encountered a problem an answer appeared before me... however there is one problem.'
"Elder, it is not that I want to reject your kindness... But currently I was supposed to be heading over to my clan to visit my father along with my mother however I have seem to have lost her along the way. I wouldn't be comfortable going to far without knowing where she we-" As she began to reject the old mans invention she interrupted by his smiling laughter.
"HAHA! Not a problem girly! How about this; if you accept my offer I will teach you and help you search for your mother while you learn deal?"
Seeing that the old man was intent on taking her as his student Theia could only smile bitterly and nod her head in agreement.
"Wonderful! Truly wonderful! This old man is known as Master Onbo tell me what are you called child?" While grinning from ear to ear Master Onbo eagerly too Theia's hand in his own as he proudly confessed his name.
"Master, this one is called Theia, Theia Nyx, I thank master for taking me as his student."