After a few days of Fitz sending word amongst the rats under his call, Ken had finally managed to name all of them. While his naming sense was not great, he did his best. He surely wouldn't remember all of the rats, but he could easily recognize Fitz. That was good enough for now in his book.
As the final rat walked away, Fitz stepped up to Ken. "That's all of them. I've got my kin searching the surrounding areas for any loot they can get their hands on. Got a nice little spot we're all storing it in."
Ken listened intently, though he was feeling a bit lightheaded. "Make sure they're being careful," Ken replied. "Of course," Fitz bowed his head slightly, "The safety of my kin comes first. Still, I appreciate your concern for mere rodents."
Waving his hand dismissively, Ken replied, "Nonsense. I'm pretty much a street rodent like you guys anyways. If things go well for us, then that won't be the case for long. For now, we just wait until they let me out of here. Hopefully that comes sooner rather than later."
As if his words were a summoning spell, two guards came into view, one of which Ken recognized. "Henry," Ken nodded. The old guard gazed at the dirty young man with pity. The two mice that were previously on Ken's shoulders shot into his shirt pockets while Fitz ran by the distracted guards going unnoticed.
"Ken Lovell," Henry started, "This is the last time I'll do this for you. Should this happen again, I'll make sure you're held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
The young man smiled as he stood, "Of course. I plan on going on the straight and narrow after this." Henry sighed, clearly not believing Ken's words. "Go ahead," Henry muttered. The much younger guard next to him pulled out the key to the cell and unlocked the bar door.
Ken strode out of the cell confidently and turned to Henry, "Thank you again Henry. I'll be sure to pay you back one day." The old guard only nodded, ready to go back to his daily guard duty.
Once Ken stepped outside, he was met with the harsh rays of the sun sitting high in the sky. It always took a moment for one's eyes to adjust to the sun after some time in the dark jail. After a moment, Ken made his way to the side of the jail where Fitz eventually met him.
"Follow me, I'll show you where we've been keeping everything," Fitz gestured to Ken as he ran along the wall. Soon the small group found themselves underneath one of the bridges that crossed over one of the streams running through the capital. Once hidden from view of the public,
After a couple of minutes inside, Fitz emerged covered in dirt, dragging out a surprisingly large bag slightly larger than him. Dropping it beside him, Fitz waited for Ken to take a peek. The rat smirked when Ken and the two mice gasped at the contents in the bag.
///
"Where is he?!" Lina huffed in annoyance. She had spent her first two days within the capital informing this nation's political court that an official envoy from her kingdom would be arriving within a month and a few other minor matters. Afterwards, she had spent another day or so searching around the city for the boy she had run into on her first day.
The fox girl had prided herself on her enhanced senses, but she had not found even a whiff of the boy. She had searched up and down the city trying to find him, but it was like he had disappeared. Maybe he left the city? But where would he go? He didn't look like an adventurer to her, nor did he look capable of surviving in the wilds beyond the city. So where the hell was he? Did he die or something?
Deciding she needed a break, Lina walked to the edge of the bridge and around its corner, heading down the embankment to the stream below. She always did love the sound of trickling water. It had always calmed her in some ways.
Once at the edge of the water, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, sighing. The scent that filled her nostrils caused her eyes to shoot immediately open as her head snapped to her left.
Under the bridge in its shadow, the young man she had been looking for was squatting next to a bush with his back towards the water.
Gazing at him momentarily, she noticed him excitedly talking to himself while pointing at a bag on the ground. Upon further inspection however, she noticed the familiar mice accompanying him last time in his pocket now sat on his shoulders.
The three of them were gesturing at the bag and then the rat, which had been swept up into the boy's arms.
Lina was utterly confused at the sight. Just like last time, it seemed as if the boy was holding a conversation with the rodents. Not wanting to wait any longer, Lina began marching towards the young man.
///
"I can't believe it Fitz. It's only been a few days and you guys got this much?!" Ken was trying to control his excitement, but it was hard. The rat and his crew had gathered enough coins and jewelry to rent an actual house for a month. What could the crew of rats accomplish in weeks, months, years? They could pick this whole city dry with enough time.
If Ken could get the help of even more mice and rats, then he felt like they might even be able to steal the throne out from under the king himself. For now, though, this was a wonderful start. And to show his appreciation to the rat, Ken had cradled the rodent in his arms and was rubbing his face against the matted fur of the animal.
"I-it's alright," Fitz tried to speak, caught off guard by the sudden affection he was being shown. "It's not!" Ken exclaimed as he held Fitz up by his…armpits? Ken wasn't sure but he was doing it anyway as if the rat was like a child. "For now, we can rent an actual house with this amount! After that, we can start saving and living like royalty if we keep this up! Hell, we'll get every rodent in the street in on this too!"
Rex and Dex both had their little arms crossed and nodded their heads in approval. Giving the rat a big smooch on its cheek, Ken spoke again, "I'll do the scouting for a place we can live in. It might not be great, but a house is a house. We can fix it right up. Let's meet up back here in two days' time, how does that sound?"
"That's fine partner, but uh…" Fitz replied slowly, then pointed a claw to Ken's left, "There's a strange lady just watching us."
Freezing momentarily, Ken's head slowly swiveled to the left. Standing a few feet away from him, a cloaked woman stood completely still. "Uh," Ken tried to say something, but wasn't able to come up with the words. "I'm just playing with my pet rat ha ha…" Ken forced a smile as he began to tilt the rodent in his arms side to side.
The cloaked figure didn't move for a second, until eventually stepping into the shadow of the bridge and removing their hood. To Ken's surprise, it was the fox woman from the other day. "Oh! I'm sorry for bumping into you the other day," Ken said as he gently put Fitz on the ground, much to the rats' relief.
"Who are you?" The woman asked bluntly. Ken tilted his head in confusion, causing the woman to step closer to him and repeat her question. She was so close to him that he could practically smell her. 'She smells good. Is that vanilla?' Ken thought. "Are you going to answer my question?" She asked as she leaned into him, their noses almost touching.
Ken suddenly became very aware of how close they currently were. His heart quickened as he took a couple steps back, "I-I'm Ken. Just Ken."
The woman eyed him before asking "How did you learn my language?"
Ken blinked at her, "What are you talking about? I'm speaking the human language just like you?"
"I'm not speaking the human language," she said in annoyance. Ken was beginning to grow more confused by the second. "I only know the human language, so that's what I speak," Ken said slowly.
The woman studied Ken intently as he talked. Once he was done, her studious expression from before was now replaced by one of bewilderment. "Your mouth isn't making the motions of the words you're saying…" her voice trailed off.
Now that she pointed it out, Ken did feel like the way her mouth moved was a bit odd compared to what she was saying.
Line was utterly perplexed at the moment. Was it some kind of magic that he was casting? She didn't see him casting anything now or when he first bumped into her. What was the reason for that? Once she found a question that intrigued her, she would always try her hardest to find the answer for it.
Lina was internally running different theories and thoughts through her head, meanwhile Ken didn't really care. Either way, he was finally taking a step in the right direction of living an easy life. For now, he had to find a place to rent.
"Listen, this is interesting and all," Rex said with an eye roll, "but can we get a move on? I'm ready to go house hunting!" The brown mouse raised a fist in the air with his last statement. Dex gave his agreement by copying Rex's movements and shouting, "Yeah!"
Ken chuckled a bit at their antics, then retrieved the bag from the ground. "Alright well it was nice meeting you but I have some things I need to do." Ken gave a small wave to the fox girl as he began to walk away with Fitz trailing behind him.
The words of the boy brought Lina out of her daze, "H-hey! Wait!". Ken only half turned his head and replied, "I'm sorry but I've got things to do."
Lina ran past Levi and stopped, turning on her heels to face him again. "I want some answers. What magic are you using?"
Rex groaned and threw his face into his palms, "Ugghh. Can this lady just leave us alone already? You're keeping us from house shopping." A brown furry arm shook violently towards the fox girl, causing her to raise a brow at the one-eyed mouse.
"It's just like my partner said," Ken shrugged, "We have some house shopping to do. I don't have any answers for you." He tried to side step the taller girl, yet she matched his step.
"What do you mean 'it's just like my partner said'? Are you telling me you can actually understand that thing?" Lina jabbed an accusing finger towards Ken. "Yes I can," Ken sighed. He had a feeling this girl was going to keep pestering him.
"That's such bullshit," Lina laughed. "No one has ever been able to actually talk to animals. Not even Beast Tamers can have conversations with their familiars. They can only sense emotions. Yet you're telling me some brat like you can just casually talk to animals? Yeah right, tell me what magic you're using to talk to me right now!"
Ken was growing more frustrated by the second. This girl was practically throwing a tantrum. "Brat?" Ken scoffed, "I'm eighteen first of all! I'm sure you're barely older than me. Second, obviously I'm not using magic. Do you see me glowing, using runes, or saying and magical phrases? Or what about anything else used to cast magic? No? That's what I thought. I do understand them, and they understand me. No, I don't know why. I just woke up one day with the ability to do so. They're not my familiars, they're my business partners. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to be done with this conversation."
Lina's brows furrowed when Ken had said he was eighteen. She was the same age, but she felt she at least looked like it. This pipsqueak in front of her barely looked sixteen. Brushing that aside, she spoke again, "I'm not do-"
Lina was suddenly cut off as Ken sprinted past her, yelling the words, "Haste! Haste! Haste! Haste!" She was momentarily caught off guard, giving Ken just enough time to make his escape into the crowd of people.
"Shit," Lina hissed as she threw her hood on and tried to follow after Ken. Half an hour later, Lina found herself in an alleyway, cursing to herself. She really shouldn't delay her return to her kingdom. Her father would be expecting to hear of her first journey outside of their nation.
In truth, the girl was a bit spoiled back home by her father, and had pretty much given her whatever she wished for. Most people were happy to throw whatever help they could in order to appease her, yet this little brat not only was rude to her, but even ran away!
Scowling, Lina planned to make a swift return to her father and then return with the official envoy. The duration of the envoys' stay wouldn't be decided until they arrived in the human kingdom and some negotiations were made. Once she returned, Lina swore she was going to find him again and strangle the answers out of him if she had to.