Chapter 20: Chapter 20 – The Townhall Again

A fox? I was nothing like that. Sure, I had woken up as both a fox and a girl, but that was long gone. The last minutes had turned me into something wholly different, something that was even more harmless than that.

I had turned into a sheep, a cute lamp that was being led or rather pushed towards the butcher who would turn me into a tasty feast for all those strangers staring at me. They all would soon hear about my attributes, about my level and my patheticness.

Men, women, children and eldery would laugh at me as they ate away at the little confidence and hope I still had left. Even if I was lucky enough for Risa to tell them I wasn’t a slave, there was bound to be trouble as they would never accept me as one of them. I would be an outcast, regardless of the results.

Naturally, I had no intention of taking that test. Instead, I tried to flee from Ofris’ grasp, again and again, to hide from all of the black clouds hovering over my future or at least escape back into the forest where there was nobody to force their will onto me.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out I was far too weak to even dream about escaping him even with the help of surprise. If anything, I could try talking him out of bringing me there, which was exactly what I did.

“Do you really think this is a good idea?!”
“Don’t worry, Rika,” he tried to reassure me for the nth time. “I won’t let them hurt your feelings again.”

Ofris’ grab grew gentle again. He held my hand firmly enough for me to know that I was his prisoner but gentle enough for it to look like a whole different situation to others. Those who did not know about my strength or rather the lack of it would believe I was dating him rather than being his prisoner! To them, we were nothing but a unique couple that dared to display their ‘love’ in bright daylight.

“He is holding my hand! Why is he holding my hand!?”
“I can walk by myself!”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t run away?”
“Of course I would!”
"See? That’s why.”
“But that elf will be there!”
“She won’t,” Ofris asked with a sigh. “Sahria has nothing to do with this!”

Despite all my struggling, he easily managed to drag me towards the town hall and through its wide open door. I couldn’t even dream about fighting back.

“Why are his stats so ridiculously high!? That damn fox! Shouldn’t she give me a cheat?!”

Ofris didn’t care about my unwillingness to face Risa’s cursed collection of witchcraft. When I tried to stop him, he simply dragged me along, towards the girl that was standing at her counter just the way we had left her the day before.

Dozens of eyes accompanied each of my steps. Some of the strangers surrounding me looked familiar. They probably had awaited our arrival, hoping to get the best seats for the sequel of yesterday's freak show. I wasn’t ready for this.

Before I realized, I had already found refuge behind Ofris’ broad back. I knew I looked even more pathetic like this, but I couldn’t help searching for his protection, for it would at least block some of the piercing gazes from reaching me. My guardian didn’t seem to care, as he was already facing the witch.

“Good morning,” Risa greeted him. “How was your night? Did that girl bother you?”
“Good morning.” Ofris greeted her back before adding in a gentle voice: “She was ... easy to handle.”
“Easy to handle?”
“Once I gave her my bed, she fell asleep within minutes. She probably was too exhausted to even think of causing trouble for me.”
Risa’s face went pale in an instant. “You gave her your bed,” She asked, probably fearing she would hear something she wasn’t ready for. “Where did you sleep?”
“On the floor,” his answer came immediately. “My back is killing me, but I couldn’t possibly force her to share the bed with me.”
“I see...”
“We will have to find a place for her to stay once we are done here.”
“Don’t you think her owner will take her back in?”

A burning rage grew deep inside of me. Risa was still thinking of me as a slave, even though she had yet to find a single clue to back up this silly idea of hers. For all I knew, she could very well try to fabricate the test results in order to push me right into the arms of some random guy she decided would be my owner starting today. Nobody would ask or believe me, not even the honest-to-a-fault guy that had brought me here to begin with.

It didn’t even take a second for Ofris to betray this fear of mine. “She has no owner,” he declared with a voice that didn’t leave any space questioning him.
“How can you be so sure?”
“She knows our language, so she either has to be a spy or a slave. But she is too weak to be a spy and too... inexperienced to be a slave," Ofris explained, while making sure to not talk about what being inexperienced meant in this context. “Most importantly, I do believe her.”
“You believe her? She has done nothing to earn your trust!”
“I’ve met my fair share of liars, Risa. And trust me: I can look straight through any lie she tells me.”

I felt my throat dry up. Sure, my story had been inconsistent, but for him to claim he saw through it all? He couldn’t possibly know about the goddess, about me coming from a different world and about me being a boy and human rather than a Foxkin girl! If anything, he could guess. And who would even think of making such silly guesses?!

“We will know soon enough if she is telling the truth or not,” Risa commented with barely hidden contempt. “I hope she deserves your trust.”
“Yes.”
“Follow me for now. I have already prepared the circles in one of the examination rooms. Sahria will help us through the process.”

Sahria. It was only one word, one name, but it was enough to send cold shivers over my skin. I felt my legs getting weak, my arms shaky and even my heart beating faster and faster with each thought I wasted on the elf. She would attack me again. Not only that, they had given her a whole day to prepare for it! It would be even worse than last time!

Once again I tried to force Ofris’ hand open, once again I tried to flee and once again I pleaded for him to let me go, but all of this only further fueled his determination. I was hopelessly dragged into the hallway with doors that shut behind me like the jaws of a giant snake.

 

⊱————-　❈　————-⊰

 

Goosebumps grew all over my body as the small piece of chalk in Risa’s hand scratched over the polished wooden floor. She wasn’t paying much attention to me as she was too busy scribbling down the runes she had ‘forgotten’ before, but I could see a faint smile growing on her lips whenever she saw me shivering from the screeching noise.

Minutes went by with her torturing me like this when she was finally finished. I was now surrounded by three rings of white runes and dozens of lines to connect them all. Right in front of me, there was an empty spot, a circle about the size of three hands, which was only waiting for Risa’s wicked toy to be placed down.

When she raised up to grab it from a nearby shelf, I could only stare at her, unable to speak, unable to run away. Sure, I still thought about running away, but Ofris was standing right next to the door, the sole escape route this room had for me. And given I was kneeling down on the floor he would have all the time in the world to prepare for catching me once again.

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There was no way to escape this, no chance to talk them out of it. Risa was dead-set on proving I belonged to the household of some rich merchant or nobleman, while Ofris was hoping to find out the exact opposite. Naturally, I took his side in this matter.

I had never met a nobleman in the first place, neither in my old world nor in this one. And if Ofris didn’t suddenly reveal he was a prince all along, there was no way for me to be connected to any of them. I was safe and yet I feared being examined like this.

One reason for this was the round, blue disc Risa now placed down right in front of my knees, on the sole spot her chalk had left untouched. With countless lines and weird shapes carved into its surface, all of which had been filled with pale-blue paint, there was no way for me to feel comfortable with it being anywhere near my body.

The other reason for my anxiety could already be heard walking down the hallway on heeled boots and with fast strides that only stopped when they reached the door to this room.

There was a knock to be heard, an exchange of greetings and before I realized it, I was already staring right into Sahria’s eyes. She looked as if she had eaten a spoiled fruit.

“Why do I have to waste my time with this ...”

After complaining like this, Sahria examined the magic circle with a fleeting glance and let herself sink to the floor right in front of me, just outside of the circle. She bent forward, placed her hands on the blue disc, closed her eyes and began whispering something in a language I couldn’t even dream of ever understanding. It sounded melodic, angelic even, though I could swear there were curses mixed into it every now and then.

Before long, the runes surrounding me began glowing and then even shining like the orbs of magic that were lighting up the entrance room. All of this was accompanied by Sahria’s voice which grew more and more creepy by the second.

“She is going to kill me! She totally is going to kill me!”

I looked up to Ofris, begging him to help me with tears gathering in my eyes, but he simply shook his head. He wouldn’t stop her. I was doomed to become Sahria’s plaything, unable to fight back, unable to even pray for ...

“Wait! She can help me! She will never let me be hurt!”

It was just an idea, a tiny spark of hope lighting up the darkness, but I grasped it with all my might. Taking a last glance at Sahria, I closed my eyes and placed my hands together.

“What is she doing?” I heard Risa ask. “It looks like she is... praying?”

A long sight answered her question, one that I had grown far too accustomed to. Ofris was done, he wanted to be anywhere but here in this mess that would only end up ruining his day.

I didn’t care. I was too busy doing what nobody should ever be forced to in their lives: kneeling before a mischievous fox goddess that had way too much time on her hands. I prayed to her with all my might, begging her to help me, to get me out of this mess or at least give me the strength to fight my way out.

Minutes passed by without her reacting to me in any way. She did not laugh at me for giving such a shameful display nor did she hurl silly quests at me. She didn’t even try to make me her daughter. There was nothing.

“Damn it!”

The elf’s voice suddenly stopped chanting her curse, forcing me to open my eyes. I had run out of time.

“What?”

Dozens of faintly glowing, half-transparent runes greeted me. They were floating in mid-air, right between Sahria and me, making it hard to even see the expression on her face. But one I was sure off: she hadn’t expected to see these results. There were no insults coming from her, no taunts, not even a single word. For what felt like half an eternity, there was only silence, one I couldn’t stand for long.

“What is it?! Aren’t you going to insult me?!”
“That- that can’t be!”
“I’m weak? SO WHAT!”

Sahria answered something, at least I believed so, but I couldn’t understand a single word of hers. She was stammering words of a foreign language, one that seemed familiar to the one she had used to cast the magic spell.

“What is wrong with her?!”

It didn’t take long for Risa to step in and try to get her friend back to reason. She shook her shoulders, asked what was wrong and what she had read, before simply looking at the runes herself. I could almost see her world crumble.

“Fo- fox,” she stammered, “she really is a fox ...”

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