As I stared at the woman, my instincts went wild, even though I was trying to suppress them. This was not helping much, as the danger she presented was far above anything I could handle, and if something did happen, I would need my full mental faculties to handle it.
A good example of that was right now, as I was too busy trying to deal with my instincts to answer the woman's question. This did not matter that much as not long after, the woman was distracted by something before taking her hand off her sword, with the strange fluctuations disappeared along with that.
The woman then walked over to me and held out her hand to help me up. This confused me as I was not entirely certain what was happening. Still, when the danger subsided, I was able to control my instincts enough to finally answer her question, speaking rapidly, "I was flying overhead with an Elder of a sect who said that he was taking me to see if I could enter when he got impatient and forced his mount to go faster, resulting in the wind blowing me off the eagle. I am just glad I asked them to allow me to make a parachute before we left."
The woman gestured with her outstretched hand once more, so I grabbed it, and she pulled me up, explaining, "You don't need to explain yourself, child. The world's will has already stepped in for you. Though I am curious, which sect is it that is trying to recruit a kitsune that has not even begun her journey of cultivation?"
That last question confused me for a moment, especially with its wording, before my eyes lit up in understanding, and I replied, "Oh... It was the Silver Moon Sect."
I saw a glint appear in the unknown woman's eyes when I said that as she asked, "The Silver Moon Sect, you say? I know some of them, so can you tell me the name of the elder who was recruiting you?"
Since the unknown woman knew some members of the Silver Moon Sect and was also capable of killing me on a whim, apparently, I answered her to the best of my ability. "I don't know his full name, only that he was called Elder Xei."
The Elder's name seemed to make something click for the woman as another strange glint appeared in them as she started saying under her breath, "Ah, that explains it. I am going to need to ha..."
I was no longer able to hear what the woman was muttering, which confused me and caused me to tilt my head in confusion as I was even able to hear some of the conversations of the people a few buildings away and also the faint sounds of a young kid running a ways off. When I tilted my head to the side, though, I felt one of my ears quirk to the side and my tail curve into a vague question mark shape while staring at the woman.
When the woman looked back up and saw me, I was able to catch the slightest glimpse of an emotion I could not discern flash across her eyes before she took another step forward and raised her hand.
I had the sudden urge to run away, but it was too late as the woman started to rub my head right between my ears, making what felt like a lightning bolt race down my spine and giving me a very strange feeling that quickly overwhelmed my mind.
"Don't worry, your little head over it. You can stay here while they turn around and come back for you." The woman said while patting my head, and I just nodded without thinking much. This did not last long, as I heard the kid's footsteps running towards us getting louder, with the sounds of the boy panting and out of breath.
Looking in that direction, I saw a skinny boy wearing plain and uninteresting clothes running toward us. My head turning also caused the woman's attention to be drawn to the boy.
When the boy finally reached us, he bent down and put his hands on his knees, taking a moment to catch his breath.
Getting enough to speak, he raised his head and looked directly at the woman and, in a loud and erratic manner started saying, "Village head Raina, we need your help, please. We don't know what to do and-"
The woman I now knew as Raina lifted her hand to stop him before speaking to him calmly and evenly, saying, "Calm down, boy. What's the issue now? Spit it out."
The boy did exactly like she said and took a few more breaths to calm down before explaining at a higher volume than needed, "It's my brother. He's coughing really badly and sweating all over. He says it's hard to breathe, and he's having a hard time getting out of bed. Please help us."
This slightly intrigued me and got me thinking, while Raina looked like she was about to say something as I interrupted her because I started thinking out loud.
"That sounds like a severe lung infection. While I don't know what type it is, I can say that if he can hold on for at least some time, an antibiotic should help; if not solve the issue entirely. The sweating, though, might be because of something else, like a cold or some virus that he managed to contract while his immune system was weakened from fighting the infection."
Raina, the boy, and others around the area whom I did not know were observing up until this point looked at me in surprise. I shrugged at their looks and started to explain, "I don't have a diploma or license if that is what you're wondering, but I do have all the knowledge required-"
I was not able to finish my sentence as Raina grabbed my arm and began pulling me in a random direction in the village.
This was an odd situation that I wanted to escape from, but soon, we reached a small house off at the edge of the village near some farmland.
Raina did not even bother knocking on the door and just barged right in, with me still being pulled behind her.
After being pulled into the house, I looked around and saw an adolescent man lying on a cot at the side of the room with a group of people standing around him.
Hearing us enter, the group turns to look at us before bowing to Raina as an elderly man steps forward, saying, "Sorry for disturbing you, Village head. We tried to stop the boy, but he ran out instead."
Raina did not seem that bothered by this and motioned to me while explaining, "It's fine. I have a doctor here with me, so we can heal the kid now if you would like."
After hearing that, the group then turned to look at me with a sparkle in their eyes.
This caused me to panic because I had never done anything like this before. So, with a slight bit of anxiety in my voice, I started speaking once more to calm them down, saying, "I only said that I have the knowledge and wasn't a practicing doctor. I-"
I did not get to finish, though as Raina pushed me forward while saying, "What use is the knowledge if you're never going to use it? And besides, you already came up with a preliminary solution, so go in there and treat him already."
Listening to Raina, I walk forward and begin to examine the patient. Oddly enough, as I started diagnosing him, I felt as if I had temporarily shut down my emotions to look at this more objectively.
While this was happening, I did not notice that a part of the house went deathly quiet or that two people were there having a conversation that I could not hear.
(Raina POV)
With the young kitsune sufficiently distracted, I stepped back and set up a sound barrier so that she could not hear either me or the one I was about to talk to.
I learned my lesson from earlier when the girl heard me muttering under my breath at a level I thought she could not hear. Luckily, she did not seem to hear much of that muttering and also gave the cutest expression while doing so.
If she were any cuter, I would have said damn the consequences and adopted her then and there regardless of whether she had a family or not. However, breaking the racial pact would still result in some very harsh consequences if it were ever discovered.
If only there were a way of getting around the rules. Sadly, no one has seen any of those so-called gods chosen running around anymore that could allow for the bending of said rules. Or at least there are none that are currently known.
Coming out of my thoughts, I looked at the old-looking man beside me and asked, "So, old man, how come you let something like this happen?"
The old man in question took offense to that and proceeded to say something dangerous in retaliation, "Who are you calling old! I remember that you were still running the sect when I was just an outer disciple."
That made me look at him with what I was certain was a dangerous spark in my eyes as I said, "You sure you want to go there, old man."
The old man chose this moment to play wise once again and apologized while explaining, "Nope, I would still like to keep my head, thank you very much. Anyway, I was out of town for a couple of days, and when I came back, he was already sick. So, using this as a training exercise, I helped speed along the affliction until it reached this point."
Normally, this would not have been that much of a problem, but we were here because of an imperial order that we could not defy easily, so I asked him while letting a hint of warning bleed into my voice, "Why did you leave the village?"
The old man took the warning in stride and explained, "You know that my sensing abilities are better than yours, so when I felt some massive Qi fluctuations coming from the direction the bird which was carrying that kitsune girl you brought came from, I had to check."
Now that caught my attention so I asked the question he had set up, "From the direction the girl came from?"
The old man got a smile on his face and goaded me by asking, "Yes, and you want to know what I found?"
I did not take too kindly to this and quickly replied with the hint of a threat in my voice, "Stop keeping me in suspense, old man."
The old man only clicked his tongue in response before finishing his explanation, "Chaos Qi, and a whole storm of it. Not only was there a storm, but it even lingered in the area, not letting anyone who was too powerful enter. In fact, it was only today that those of the nascent soul realm could enter."
I still was not able to insinuate what he was telling me, so I impatiently replied, "You wouldn't be telling me this if it wasn't important, so spit it out."
He seemed to finally get it and got straight to the point, "Fine then. When the girl left the forest, all the chaos Qi instantly vanished."
That ruined a few of my plans, which I was not able to enact anyways, but I did not care that much or see much of an issue with this and only raised an eyebrow while asking, "And what's so important about that? It just shows that someone important wants to protect her."
The old man facepalmed and sighed when he heard this and said rather agitatedly, "That is what I am trying to say, and according to the ancient texts, only the gods can control chaos qi to that extent. Even then, they wouldn't protect just anyone this fiercely. They would only do this for their chosen."
Hearing his words, I finally understood the weight of what he was saying, and if this was anything like the stories, then that meant I would be able to adopt this cute little kitsune girl.