"With that said, I bid you all farewell. For now. Vita, it was nice seeing you again. I will leave Tama in your guys' care for the time being. If you happen to come across Emma, please let her know that I am sorry. I am afraid our time apart will be for quite a while. For others of concern, I have already addressed them with letters so they learn of my absence.", I said, feeling a little guilty. I've made several friends during my six years of life, and just vanishing off the map for a while leaves a bitter taste, you know? It'll be for the better, but I'm sure I made them sad by doing this. This was one of the only methods to enter the DG Cult this early, so I took it.
I know I will be out of commission for a while, so I made sure to address my other friends properly. I've included Erebonia's Imperial Family, the newly-inaugurated Mayor of Crossbell State, and even Liberl's Royal Family. The Hexen Clan's leader, Roselia, already knows what I am doing from here on. But those close to her like Emma and Isola, sadly do not. They were still blissfully unaware.
I saw Vita smile at me.
"Of course. You can leave that to me, Naoto. Emma will miss you, you know?", Vita asked back.
"I know. If Tama completes her set of missions I've assigned her to do, you can bring Tama back to the village to play with Emma and her Familiar. Doing so shall help promote Tama's growth as well. She's quite young still. You're training Grianos now, right?", I asked
"Grianos is well underway in his training. Our Familiars were not born that long ago. I will gladly look after Tamamo for you.", Vita happily replied. "It sounds like your Familiar has some assignments to do, so leave her to me."
"Thank you, Vita.", I said, and looked toward Campanella again. "Before I go, why don't I leave you all of Ouroboros with a parting gift? Consider it a token of our budding friendship and cooperation."
"Oh? A parting gift you say?", Campanella asked, gaining interest. The two strands of hair on his head started to twitch around, just like an ant's. "Just you not denying our invitation forthright is enough of a parting gift, Your Highness. I dare not ask for anything more."
"But I insist. I stated earlier that I am infiltrating one of the DG Cult bases, correct?", I asked.
"That you did, Your Highness.", Campanella responded with a nod of his head.
"Haha, well on the outside, it might look like I'm here against my will. In reality, it is quite the opposite. This hellhole isn't chaining me down. Not one single piece of it. I have the power to leave any time I so wish to.", I explained, alluding to Tamamo's spatial transfer ability. It's quite literally a 1:1 swap. It'd put Tamamo at risk, but she's small. Easily capable of fleeing the Cult. But it wasn't just that here. I'm also referring to my own power. Still, I saw Campanella smile at me.
"So you have an ability like that. You refuse it in times like this? Is this for the sake of letting your Familiar grow?", Campanella asked.
"For the time being. I only plan to see what's going on down here for the next couple of years. Afterward, I'll send the persons of interest to you.", I answered. It was then the group heard another round of grueling cries, causing me to click my tongue. "Tch, that glasses-wearing priest started another round of those experiments of his. All for the sake of denying the Goddess. Can you believe that? Anyway, I have to go.", I suddenly said, only to cut my voice off from Tamamo.
Peace soon returned to the three, or rather four now, with Vita joining their side. Five if they include Tamamo. If one had a close look, when Naoto was connected with Tamamo through that ability of his, Tamamo's eyes were a crimson hue. Now, she had normal golden eyes.
"Kyuu?", Tamamo asked, seeing new people before her. She had no clue who the blue, spiky-haired man was, nor the green-haired person. All she remembered was the Armored Knight who she greeted before these two arrived. But now, her helmet was at her side, allowing Tamamo to get a good look at Arianrhod's beauty. It was then Tamamo felt a familiar feeling. The moment Tamamo's eyes landed upon a sandstone-like silver-haired girl, Tamamo's eyes sparkled.
"Kyuuu!", Tamamo happily said. Despite being on another tree entirely, Campanella raised his eyes. Tamamo jumped up, and actually vanished from sight. Whoosh!
It wasn't high speed. It was a real relocation. Teleportation, if one would. It wasn't listed in her Stat Preview, but on top of sharing senses and the means of communication with Naoto, she has other abilities like "Flash Step", allowing her to blink from one position to another in a mere second. Even less than that.
Even Arianrhod's gaze turned serious the moment she saw Tamamo vanish from the branch she sat on, only to shift her eyes. Campanella traced Arianrhod's gaze, and spotted Tamamo now on Vita's shoulder, happily wagging her one tail. She only has one tail right now, but in due time, she will likely gain more because of her race.
Campanella laughed seeing this.
"Hahaha! I think this little fox might have you beat, Steel Maiden.", Campanella said, grinning.
"How interesting.", Arianrhod replied, revealing a rare smile. Even Vita was caught off guard for a moment seeing her shoulder now have some weight to it. But she smiled nonetheless and greeted Tamamo with a giggle. Tamamo nuzzled her nose into Vita's cheek.
"Hehehe, it is nice to see you again, Tama. I know it hasn't been that long since we've seen each other last, but you'll be under my care for the time being. You all don't mind, right?", Vita asked the others.
"All yours. I don't give a shit about raising pets. Not really my thing, capiche?", McBurn immediately replied, showing a lazy look in his eyes while he shrugged his shoulders.
"You know that's a Familiar right, McBurn? Familiars are constructs purely made out of Mana. If you look down on this little fox now, she might come to bite you in the butt later. Or so I've been told.", Campanella said, grinning at McBurn.
"Oh yeah? Whoever told you that? I'll pummel them with these fiery fists of mine.", McBurn retorted back, and began to ignite one of his fists in a fiery flame. Tamamo's gaze was drawn to it. McBurn then condensed his flame. It appeared over his finger. It felt too hot to the touch, just like a real flame. And it was a real flame!
Not a single thing was uttered to generate this flame. No incantation whatsoever. This flame just appeared out of nothing. McBurn usually likes to act lazy wherever he goes, but this time, his eyes turned serious as he looked back at Campanella. The three didn't flinch seeing this flame appear. They've been used to this by now.
"Now the primary thing I want to know is whether His Highness is "mixed", like me. If he is "mixed", just how much of it is really him?", McBurn asked, gaining interest. Hearing that Campanella smiled.
"Well, I guess you will have to find that answer out yourself, McBurn. This should be a good thing though. I need to change my plans a little bit. I was not expecting to have this encounter so early on, but it looks like we of Ouroboros are already within His Highness's radar, haha!", Campanella said, letting out a laugh. "We're mostly here for you, you know?", Campanella continued, looking at Vita. She nodded her head.
"Yeah. I'll be training alongside you guys for the time being. So look after me, alright?", Vita replied.
"No promises. Just don't annoy me or I'll burn you into a crisp.", McBurn answered, returning to his usual lazy look. He then glanced back at Campanella, who continued to speak.
"With that out of the way, I will need to return to the Celestial Globe to report this to the Grandmaster. Once that has finished, I will be back to observe the initiation of the Grandmaster's Gospel Plan. The Faceless has already entered his position. Do not forget, we are only observers here to watch this unfold. But I guess that makes two of us now, doesn't it?", Campanella questioned, only to see the little fox perched on Vita's shoulders. He didn't think he'd have a new companion to watch the beginning of the Gospel Plan unfold before their eyes. He's referring to Naoto here!
After Campanella said that, he snapped his fingers again. The same green magic circle that appeared a little bit ago appeared again, which announced his departure. On top of that, his own body began to fade in and out of existence, almost like an illusion. Arianrhod nodded her head seeing Campanella leave.
"I will continue the observation from here.", Arianrhod said. After she said that, Campanella completely vanished from sight. As he vanished, Campanella left some parting words. Not to Arianrhod, but to McBurn.
"McBurn, you shall be the Enforcer to support Arianrhod in my absence.", Campanella's voice echoed, before the three were left alone. McBurn sighed again hearing that.
"Sigh, what a pain in my ass.", McBurn uttered. Vita laughed seeing this.
"Hehehe, you'll be stuck with us for now, McBurn. I am getting more interested in this Gospel Plan the Grandmaster devised. I am not an official member yet, so I won't be able to fully learn what it will do, unfortunately.", Vita said.
McBurn's eyes flashed with a glint of light like he had just remembered something.
"Now that you brought this up, doesn't 'THAT', officially belong to His highness. You know, for sharing that same blood?", McBurn asked, unsure. He then shifted to Arianrhod. "This won't cause implications, will it?"
"I am sure the Grandmaster took that into consideration. The Shining Ring must be retrieved at all costs. Even if His Highness will ally with us, we very well could become his enemies. It all depends on what he wants to do.", Arianrhod simply answered, not providing a definite answer.
"We should not be privy to Naoto's plans. He's on his own path, as we are with ours. It might not cross for a while. He mentioned something about missions. What exactly are those, Tama?", Vita asked, seeing the cute fox snuggling against her shoulder.
"Kyuu?", Tamamo asked, tilting her head a bit. She pondered Vita's question for a moment. "Kyuu, Kyuuuu!", Tamamo replied, acting as if she knew the answer.
Yet the moment Tamamo spoke that, Vita almost tumbled off her tree out of shock.
"...Naoto said what?", Vita asked, still in disbelief. Thankfully they were quite high up and out of sight, so there was no reaction from the villagers further down below. Arianrhod raised her eyes seeing Vita do this.
"Are you able to understand this creature, Vita?", Arianrhod asked, gaining interest.
"Of course I can. Consider it a perk of being a Witch. We are quite in tune with our Familiars. We can understand each other's thoughts pretty easily.", Vita said with a hint of pride after regaining her composure.
"Is that right?", McBurn responded. "So, what exactly did this fox say?"
"That...", Vita replied, not immediately answering. She sucked in a deep breath and remained cool. "Naoto said for Tama to watch over Hamel for the next couple days. If it comes to it, let the village girls die with their dignity intact. Afterward, Tama is to go to Liberl to observe a man named Cassius Bright."
Hearing that, McBurn chuckled. Like he actually laughed this time.
"Heh. I guess it won't be as boring as I initially thought it'd be."