Chapter 9: Chapter 9 – Free (Part 1 ending)

"It's seriously amazing." Ava says as we are walking through the forest leisurely, taking a small break from running on a minor road where very few people roam. "That I can run at twenty miles per hour easily, I mean. And for so long."

"Yeah... Normally a sixty mile journey would take two or three days of travel, or even more if it was through bad terrain or with a lot of cargo. And we are more than halfway after, like, two hours and something." I say, glancing back at the road sign standing proud in the small clearing in the thick forest and indicating it's forty two miles to Raphlesia and thirty nine to Percula.

It also said it's a hundred miles to Palermo, that Ruin that will be opening to public soon, but it's not particularly relevant now.

"Yeah. Though you'd already be there if not for me." My girlfriend says in amusement. "You're at least twice as fast as me, and you don't tire as fast. A zooming furball. Never thought I'd live to see that." She giggles.

"Maybe. But I wanna go with you." I reply with a smile, ignoring the comment alluding to how I was running in sort of half-crouch around my girlfriend. I think it's because of my legs, which aren't exactly suited for running upright. "Also, have you been paying attention to your vitality? My consumption increased at least four times when I was running at your speed comparing to now. And much more if I go full speed."

"Hm, that's a lot." Ava muses. "I tried to measure it, but it was very little comparing to what I produce. I'd say around fourth of my regeneration, though it's hard to say with such small differences."

"Your stamina is amazing. You probably won't have problems with going as long as I want now." I mutter jokingly. "And you don't feel hungry?"

"Nope, not at all." She shakes her head, casually ignoring my comment. "I'm pretty sure that the only difference between our sustenance now is that I can still eat normal food. Just that my regeneration covers whatever I use by myself, so it's not really visible how much I use."

"Mhm." I mumble in affirmation. "Also, I'm at like eighty percent vitality or something. That would mean I can last at least two, maybe up to three full days if I'm not doing anything energy-consuming."

"I see. Though it drops to ten-odd hours if you're active, maybe even less, which is a bit concerning." Ava mutters and I squeeze her hand in response.

"Not planning to separate from you anytime soon." I say quietly.

"Yeah." She smiles widely in response. "Makes me wonder if you'll be able to use that energy for something else. Because you haven't found any use yet, did you?"

"Nah." I shake my head. "But combining it with my growth, I'm almost certain I'll get something sooner or later."

"Yeah. How much did you grow during the night, by the way?"

"Hm, no idea, to be honest." I shrug lightly. "Hard to compare with small differences and a lot of time in between them. But not much, a few percent at most. Around two I'd say, but it's more of a feeling than anything."

"...That's still really good." Ava says after a while, impressed. "Even a single percent each day without any increase in amount, not percent, would give you immense strength in a few years, not to mention tens of years and longer. Because I guess we'll live that long if nothing happens."

"Hm, it will be much less than a percent though." I mutter. "The regeneration of my soul takes a lot, and I mean a lot more vitality, than it takes to expand it."

"Hm. Okay. That's still a Chaos damn good deal, if it will take you a year or two to get your soul to twice your current size."

"I don't know how that translates to strength though."

"But it must be a significant difference."

"Mhm." I nod, deep in thought. "I was thinking, where are your parents now?" I look up at her.

"Hm? That's a smooth change of topic, furball, but okay." She mutters and starts speaking seriously. "Probably in Avos, or in Great Talsi, but I've no idea. If you're asking if they will be in Percula, then no, I doubt it very much." Ava shakes her head. "I'll send them a message though, to explain what happened. They must already know about Venus, and I doubt they will leave me to do whatever I want for long."

I almost growl at that and make a disgruntled noise, squeezing her hand and realeasing it when Ava winces. "Can't we just not tell them anything...?"

"You know just as well as I do how many problems would it cause if I didn't say anything. Don't worry about it, furball." My girlfriend says confidently. "It's not like I'll listen to everything they want me to do, and I have a bit more power now."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." I mutter. "They will probably want to use your power if they learn about it. Especially considering that you can probably extend people's lives, and probably much more. I don't know how many other powers like that are out there, but definitely very few."

"Ah." Ava's step falters a little and I squeeze her hand tightly, looking up in concern to see her face in a frown. "Well... they might. I won't be trying to deny that..." Her voice trails off and her face falls. "Actually, they will definitely do that..."

Yeah. I don't want to assume the worst here, but I can only imagine what people would do if they learned Ava can make people stronger and extend their lives. Even excluding those who obsess over their personal strength, there is an uncountable number of people who might want to exploit such power. From the army, through businessmen and nobles wanting to earn money and influence, to various illegal businessess, and probably a lot more that didn't cross my mind.

And Ava's parents, well, I don't want to say they are bad, but I can't really describe them another way. Especially her father, he is this sort of smaller noble who will do everything to rise higher. Using his own daughter for that isn't out of the realm of possiblities. Or rather, it's only natural for him.

I quickly step up to my girlfriend and wrap my arms around her, stopping her in place and hugging her tight. "Don't worry too much about it, okay?" I say soothingly. "We'll take care of it. Just keep it in mind, at least until we have good backing or personal strength."

"Yeah... yeah. Thanks, furball." My girlfriend hugs me back with a sigh, but soon soon smiles softly. "I think I will only mention my increased strength and heightened senses. I... don't want to risk it more."

"Mhm." I mumble in affirmation and give her a long kiss on her lips, standing upright on my new legs. I can reach her normally now! "Let's run ahead, okay? You'll send the message when we get to Percula, and we'll take care of your parents if they decide to be a problem."

And I'll protect her if that happens.

...

"Percula is really a city of the Touched, isn't it?" Ava muses when we arrive at the outskirts of the city.

"Yeah." I nod my head, looking at the groups of Chaos Touched we pass as we walk leisurely in the direction of the city centre.

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In Venus there were around five percent Touched in the city, so around ten thousand. That is already a quite large number comparing to the estimate of two percent people being Touched overall, but this number is completely dwarfed by Percula. Over eighty thousand among one hundred fifty thousand citizens, so more than half of the population. Or at least that was the number last I checked.

"They are also pretty powerful. The average for a person is drastically higher than it was in Raphlesia. There it was rare to see someone on fourth level. Here at least half of the people are at level three or higher, and some even at five or six." I tell Ava, making her turn to me in surprise.

"That much?" She asks. "Isn't it strange?"

"Dunno." I shrug. "If we assume that level zero is equivalent to class 0, level one is low class 1, and so on, then it's around five mid or high class 2 in a hundred Touched. From what I see, at least, cause it might be different in other parts of the city. So it's pretty normal, I'd say."

"Hm. Okay."

"The amount of Chaos Beasts also seems much larger, but only feels this way because there is more of them, not because there is more percent of them among the Touched."

"Yeah. Still, there is an incredible number of them."

"That's true."

"By the way, where are we going first?" I ask curiously a while later.

"Hm, do you have somewhere you want to go?" Ava asks me and I shake my head after a moment. "Then we can go to the villa. No point delaying it."

"Alright." I squeeze her hand a bit tighter in worry.

Even if she tells me it's alright, I'm not taking it till I stop seeing signs it's not. And it just so happens that my enhanced hearing allows me to hear that her heart rate and breathing are a bit faster than normal, from the most obvious things.

We turn in the direction of the sort of noble district at the next intersection. Though there are no true nobles here. In Venus, there were some people with noble titles earned for their merits, mostly with a lot of influence and money. Ava's parents are also lower nobles.

In Percula though, which is known as one of the cities of the Touched, what matters much more is personal strength. Even if someone gets a noble title for their merits, it doesn't matter much if someone is stronger than them. It's a sort of untold law here, that noble titles don't matter. While in other cities you can do a lot only for being a noble, in places like Percula you will only get your ass kicked trying to use that, not to mention what you'd get into if you tried it illegally.

I still don't really understand why Ava's parents bought a villa here, but it's not really important. We'll gladly make use of it.

So we quickly approach the villa, which is placed somewhat on the edge of the district and almost squeezed between two other well-off buildings, not yet luxurious, but close to that. Worth noting that in Percula there are also no real villas, and the fact we call it as such is because it's much closer to a villa than surrounding buildings, which look more like a rectangular row of buildings separated by small gardens or nothing at all.

So we walk through the sparsely decorated lawn, which is actually really big comparing to the surrounding buildings, up to the door, which Ava opens with a signature key she most likely took with herself from Venus, and we enter the building.

"Let's go to the study first. I'll send the message." Ava says quietly and we go upstairs, then to the study, where a communicator is located.

It's very similar to that military model Ross used, but smaller and simpler. We stand on its sides and I hold my girlfriend's hand tightly as she looks down uncertainly.

"...What should I tell them?" She asks finally, glancing at me.

"It's your call." I look at her with a smile. "Though I'd send just some general information, that you were Touched, you're a Vulpes, and you're alive. If they want to know something more, they should show interest in you instead of expecting you'll tell them."

"...Yeah." Ava takes the speaker in her hands.

"Would you like to do it alone?" I ask.

"No, stay with me." She shakes her head instantly, looking at me and averting her eyes after a moment.

"Mhm." I squeeze her hand tightly with a wide smile. "I wanna stay with you as well."

I see the smile that appears on her face, but she sighs soon after and looks at the speaker.

"Let's get it over with." She brings the thing to her mouth and activates it. "Mother, father, it's Ava. I'm speaking from Percula. You have surely heard about the Chaos Storm in Venus. I survived it, and I was Touched. I am a Vulpes now." She finishes and presses the button to send the message out.

Immediately after she is done I jump up and hug her tightly, almost pulling her down to the ground. I'd have if she wasn't stronger than ordinary humans now.

"Vesper!" Ava groans, stepping back with me still clinging to her. "What is it?"

"I'm happy, Ava." I mutter. "We're free."

My girlfriend freezes for a long while after I say that, and when I look up at her, I notice a happy smile blooming on her face along with a gloss in her eyes.

"...Yes, furball." She replies quietly, embracing me back and wrapping her tails around us. "We're free."

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