NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11: A journey to the capital
After much deliberation, Blade came up with an idea.
"Why not directly send these evidences to the King?" Blade suggested after recalling overhearing a conversation between the King and the Duke, who were at odds with each other.
Kanski gave Blade a dubious look.
"Alright, let's address the first obvious problem: how do you plan to get past the knights stationed at the gates during the lockdown, and then meet the King?" Kanski's expression turned serious.
"I can easily get past the knights, and as for getting an audience with the King, I'll figure that out once I'm in the capital," Blade replied, her usually emotionless voice carrying a hint of confidence.
"Hmmm? Alright. I trust you, but you'll still need a body double to make it seem like you never disappeared. If even one citizen goes missing, the Knight's Order will be suspicious." Blade nodded, acknowledging the problem. After thinking for a moment, she muttered something under her breath.
"Soul projection." A black hue emerged from her chest, forming into a humanoid figure. As time passed, it grew denser, eventually revealing the figure of a man.
The man looked young, around Kanski's age. His hair was long and dark as the night sky, and with vibrant ruby irises that gave the impression of being stared at by a predator.
His attire was reminiscent of the East, a black Yukata with hints of red scattered across the fabric.
Beneath the Yukata, a masculine body exuded an air of strength—this was Blade's previous body.
Blade examined her former body, a hint of confusion crossing her face. She had assumed her soul would have morphed into her current body, but that wasn't the case.
Kanski, curious about Blade's actions, stood up to take a closer look at the humanoid body.
"So... who is this?" Kanski prodded and poked at the man's muscles.
Blade didn't respond but felt a surge of annoyance as Kanski's poking sensations were transmitted to her.
Switching bodies, she grabbed Kanski's arm with her old body, surprising him. He hadn't expected it to be alive.
"Oh, you're alive," Kanski said, retracting his hand. Blade, meanwhile, looked around. She had grown accustomed to 'seeing' with divine sense, but without divinity in her new body, her senses were significantly weakened. With the eyes of her old body, she saw the world in color rather than the black and white of her divine sense.
She turned her attention to her current body, which appeared deep in thought.
'Beautiful,' was her first thought when she saw her new form.
She was used to being complimented by many people, but it seemed she had underestimated her beauty.
As she tried to touch her new body for a closer examination, a hand blocked her way.
"Hey, hey, hands off Blade. She doesn't like to be touched," Kanski said, clueless about the situation. He only saw the man come alive and try to touch Blade, who was deep in thought.
Tired of explaining, Blade retracted her hand, deciding to examine it another time. The figure disintegrated into a black hue before returning to her fox body.
Blade delved into her mind, searching for another technique suited to the situation.
"Illusion Technique: Illusion of Sight." A white mist gathered beside her, and soon, a second Blade appeared.
Kanski raised an eyebrow and tried to touch the second Blade, only for his hand to pass through the illusion.
"Will this do?" the second Blade asked Kanski.
"As long as you avoid bumping into anyone on the streets, the Knights shouldn’t be alerted." Kanski replied, retracting his hand.
Strangely though, when he touched the illusion’s sweater, it seemed to move in response to his touch, yet it felt like he was touching nothing.
From an outside perspective, it would look like Kanski was adjusting her sweater, but to him, he was interacting with an illusion that could be manipulated.
"What kind of magic is this?" Kanski asked, turning to the real Blade.
"That’s not important right now. I will depart tonight; my illusion will act in my absence."
The sound of footsteps descending the stairs interrupted them. It was Kanski’s sister, Aurel, who's dressed more modestly than usual.
"I’ll be—" She stopped short, noticing two Blades—one sitting quietly and the other being fiddled by her brother.
Rubbing her eyes to ensure she was seeing clearly, confusion clouded her mind as she struggled to process the sight.
'Two... Miss Blades?' In her imagination, she saw Blade pinning her down, looking at her with a seductive smile, her eyes hidden behind the ever-present blindfold.
"Mi-Miss Blade, we shouldn't," Aurel whispered, her breath becoming shallow as her face flushed red.
"Why not?" Blade's hot breath tickled her earlobe as she whispered, her hands pinning Aurel’s down.
"Is it because we’re both women?" A second Blade appeared beside her, sliding slender hands under Aurel’s clothes.
Steam practically rose from Aurel’s head as she fantasized about being in bed with Blade.
"Sis, you look like a boiled crab." Kanski teased, breaking Aurel's imagination.
"Y-YOU!" Aurel snapped, turning her attention to her brother.
~~At night~~
Blade, packing her documents, money, and food into her backpack, glanced around her room one last time before departing.
"Illusion Technique: Illusion of Sight." An illusion of Blade, sleeping, appeared on her bed.
"Illusion Technique: Illusion of Mind." A thin layer of qi enveloped her body, erasing her presence from the world and making her seem more like air than a person.
As she exited her house, the cold wind assaulted her body as she moved toward the gate.
On her way, she passed several Knights belonging to the Duke who were on patrol.
As she approached the city gate, she overheard a conversation between two of the Knights.
"You seeing anyone recently?" The Knight who had been quiet for some time felt bored and decided to strike up a conversation.
"Well, if our commander didn't order us to stand here for eight fucking hours, I could have explored the city for someone pretty." the other Knight complained.
"I heard from the gate guards that there's a pretty fox lady who's famous around here."
"The snow fox-kin? I did see her when the commander announced the lockdown. What about her?"
"From what I heard, she's a pretty good swordswoman. Though I don't know the details, people call her 'The Phantom'."
"Even her looks are enough to make her the talk of the town, though she always hides her eyes behind those blindfolds. I heard it's because Snow Fox-kin's eyes have a hypnotic effect if you look at them."
As Blade walked away, their conversation grew fainter and fainter.
Once she was covered by the foliage of the forest, her figure emerged from behind the veil.
The cold air was the only sound she could hear.
She took a deep breath before muttering something.
"Illusion Technique: Illusion of Body." Her silver hair, which usually stood out in a crowd, turned black as the night sky, and her animalistic features were turned invisible. Her blindfold disappeared, revealing a pair of dull golden eyes. Though these eyes were not real, they served as a disguise for her time in the capital.
As she examined her new form, she fiddled with the ring that was given to her by the administration guild.
She had experimented and discovered that the ring read souls in real time. By controlling how the mana circuit read her soul, she could hide many skills from being detected.
She had also discovered something else.
============================
Name: Clail En Fox | Age: 21
Race: Fox-kin
Level: 3
Physique: 46
Mind: 21
Unassigned Points: 6
Titles: Sword Master
Skills: Flame-mane Lion Sword Technique: Pinnacle, Night-Crawler Panther Sword Technique: Pinnacle, Light Speed Sword Technique: Pinnacle, Sword Domain, Sword Aura
============================
Clail En Fox.
The original name of the body.
She had discovered a fragment of a soul within her body, which only revealed the name. In honor of the original soul, she decided to use the name to spread her glory as a Sword Master.
It was her way to thank her for showing the pleasures of mortal life, even if it was not her intention.