ACIEL'S DIARY : INDIGO
SHEET 1.5: GOLDEN FOX SPIRIT

Hearing the warning from the black Tiger, it made me unconsciously swallow.

"I'm in danger right now? What does that mean?"

"In a moment, it's a little troublesome to explain using this form. Let me change first, explanation I will continue after. It'll be a little strong so hold it."

"uh? Hwahh—!!"

Before I could ask what he meant, a black-colored puff of smoke came out and covered his form, then followed by a wave of wind strong enough to blow around him.

I tried to survive by lying down and holding tightly to the grass on the surface.

It soon passed until the waves of wind spread and the black smoke disappeared, giving a clear view back. But there was one thing lacking, the giant black tiger disappeared.

I immediately stood up and looked towards the sky and the surrounding trees.

"Tiger!! Where're you?! Don't you intend to explain the situation to me?! Why did you disappear?! Hey—Urghh!!" I coughed, as something hard suddenly hit my stomach.

The strong blow made my body jerk, then fall backwards.

While holding my stomach that hurt, I looked towards something black.

"uh? Tiger, is that you?! No, the shape is smaller and the shape is also a little different, who are you?! Since you look alike, are you his son?!" I shouted, while pointing at the black Tiger cub sitting in front of me.

"Foolish base, don't equate this great me with a lowly Tiger. For the time being just call me Leore, I am a High-tier Spirit who overcame your body just a moment ago. Right now I'm just using my first form, don't be so noisy." Say the tiger cub, then lick his front legs.

Ah, a change of form, huh? I forgot about that.

Of course he could do it, after all he was a High-tier Spirit.

But his small shape change was more akin to an ordinary black cat with green stripes than a tiger cub, his eyes were also only two.

The green striped black cat, that was unusual anyway.

Then his grand voice earlier also felt louder, like the voice of a child. Maybe I like this one better.

Yeah, this isn't so bad.

"Aciel, you just thought of something rude about me, right?"

"Huh? Ah, of course not. What do you mean? Ahahahah, then your name was Leore, right? All right, I'll call you that."

"Master."

"Huh?"

"I changed my mind, call me Master."

"Master Leore?"

"Only Master, even if Leore is just a nickname, don't you dare call it again."

Ah, he's really angry.

Does Master really have the ability to read my mind? No, maybe he just felt it from the sight I was taking out.

After all, the Spirit was a very sensitive existence with the surroundings.

"All right, I get it. So is Master able to continue with the explanation of the danger that exists to me right now?"

"Before that I wanted to make sure of this. All you encounter is a fox spirit with golden fur along a black line, having some pattern like a symbol on its forehead, then also having nine tails and nine heads. Then the last one, has the same size as me? Ah the size of my great being."

I touched my chin and looked up at the orange sky, trying to remember the picture of the fox I saw three days ago.

"In addition to the symbol on the forehead and its size, all the traits that Master mentioned are true anyway. The fox I met had nine heads with nine tails, had golden-colored fur with black stripes. For its size is double the size of the current Master."

"Oh, so he doesn't have a symbol on his forehead and the size isn't too big?"

"Yes, that's it. What's up with that?"

Master patted his black tail on the surface of the grass and jumped towards my shoulder, bringing his mouth closer to my ear.

"I'm still not too sure about this because some of its features are not so appropriate. But the possibility of the Fox Spirit you encountered is Elflur. I don't think there's anything else but them."

I tilted my head, repeating the same word.

"Elflamour? What kind of spirits are they?"

"They are spirits with the form of a fox that was once worshipped as an emissary of the God of the harvest. Representing their God, the foxes traveled to various places to fertilize the land, purify the water and provide health to every resident who worshipped the God he served. You ever heard of a fairy tale like that? I guess it was about five hundred to eight hundred years ago since the last time I saw the fox spirit."

Master moved his ears, maybe he also remembered some things in the past. His eyes seemed to see something far away.

"Eh? Five to eight hundred years ago? Has Master not met a single fox spirit since then? What's going on?"

"The incident that led to the birth of a half-Spirit man?"

"Yes, it makes all fox spirits have a very bad impression, either in the Human World or in the Spirit World. It also resulted in the massive sealing of the fox Spirits by the Spirit Exterminator in anticipation of the same event reoccurring."

I don't really understand but Master seems to be telling you something quite complicated here. I'd better switch it off immediately by advancing the topic of conversation.

"Oh, that? Putting that aside, what does all of the stories Master talked about have to do with the fox spirit I just met three days ago?"

"You still don't understand it, do you? All right, I'll explain it very simply. How many heads and tails of fox spirits did you meet three days ago?"

"uh? The nine? It's not that I've given—" before I can finish the words, Master covered my mouth with his tail and continued his explanation.

"The longer the fox spirit lives, the stronger it becomes, the stronger it becomes, the more the tail and head it has. It took at least two hundred years to grow one tail and one head."

Master raised his tail, took off my mouth.

"All right, now the question. How many tails and heads of the Spirit Foxes have you met before?"

"Nine."

"With that much amount, it would roughly take how long for a single-tailed Fox Spirit to reach the same stage?"

"Because the first tail doesn't count, so about a thousand six hundred years?"

"really so. And nine is the maximum number of tails and heads they can grow, which means we only know if they are at least one thousand and six hundred years old. That is a minimal number, the actual age may be much longer than that. Then here's the most important part."

Master jumped off my back, then turned around and looked into my eyes.

"With that life-long age, he must have belonged to one of the fox Spirits that fell victim to the massive sealing five hundred years ago. You can also tell if he holds a huge grudge against every human who has sealed it."

Ah, so so it is. I-i understand. But something's up.

"But Master, when I met him three days ago he was really nice, you know? I did not feel any evil intentions from him. Instead his body looked so weak back then. Therefore he also suggested that I return three more days to this mountain to meet him after he felt a little better."

"Praduga who is possible to explain it is that he just slipped off his seal three days ago, so it does not have enough energy even to eat your body. He therefore chose to buy time for three days and recover his Spiritual Energy. I noticed when you mentioned the number of heads and tails, then the part of the forehead that didn't have a symbol."

"Hm? What's up with that?"

"The "High Level fox spirit always had a symbol on their forehead. It was a sign that they were already an explorer Fox with an assignment to deliver the blessings of their God."

The master snorted slightly and continued.

"They were very proud of the symbol on their foreheads, so it was impossible if they simply wiped it off. The only possibility that made the Mark disappear was the depletion of their Energy and made them weaken. Perhaps the seal confining them was the Type that absorbed the Spiritual Energy of the Spirits locked within it slowly over the course of time."

Ah, so therefore the Master concluded that the Spirit Fox had just come out of its seal the moment he met me.

If I recall further, I think I accidentally broke a mossy stone lantern before meeting the fox. Perhaps the stone lantern was the seal catalyst that locked him up.

I don't think I need to tell this to Master.

"I see, then it's time for Master to tell you the most important part. What is putting me in danger?"

Hearing the question, the Master sighed.

"Bas stupid, don't you understand? There is a fox spirit that hates humans so much, asking you to meet him again in the forest. Especially if he's not the one who's going to eat your body? He was planning to recover his depleted Energy by eating someone like you who has a huge amount of Spiritual Energy."

"uh? Really true?"

"Basar the slow boy. Are you really Anella's son? Just in case I'm gonna ask you too, do you feel like you've been watching something lately?"

"Yes, I do feel like I'm being watched. But I'm pretty used to it because there's quite a lot of Spirit watching over me from childhood."

"You really don't have the slightest vigilance. Perhaps one of the Spirits watching over you right now is that Fox. As a guard I can't stand it anymore, let's hurry up and clear the root of the problem!"

"Ehhh? It's approaching night so we better do it tomorrow."

"Basstupid, he asked you to promise to come to the mountain today. Which means that he already has enough energy to swallow your body at this time, if you go home now that there are only people near you will also be involved. Do you want that?"

It involves people around me who know nothing.

"No, we can't do it." I answered briefly, with a strong tone.

"Hmph, for that part alone you're quite similar to your mother."

"But what should we do now?"

Responding to my question, Master leapt with his cat form into the sky and let out a black smoke. Then it brought up its great form once again.

"Of course we'll look for him around this mountain. Get on my back." Reply master, with his voice changed.

I haven't had the time to think about this due to the fear that piled up upon seeing him before but, Master's change with his huge body does indeed look cool!!