The Dark Mage

Chapter 19: Yako Redemption

Chapter 19: Yako Redemption

It was just another day roaming as a hermit in the Lunsaro tundra, except this time Souzun Yako found a small village that was completely unaware of everything going on in the outside world. For all these villagers knew, nothing was going on in the outside world. Life kept going on with the only outsiders they would see were other Selenese people buying and selling fish and whatever high quality wild animal products that they could buy. There was also a small church in the middle of the village everyone in the village would attend every day during the week.

As for the villagers themselves, most of their belongings were hand-me-downs. None of their hunting rifles were new either, most being decades old lever actions and bolt actions and a handful of magnum revolvers. Even the clothes the villagers wore were something passed down through generations. Even the communications equipment was old Communist era stuff from the surplus of military equipment and spare parts left over at the end of the Szolsuran Cold War in the 2010s while also being known for their high reliability and low maintenance. The only difference was that the villagers scraped off the old hammer and sickle logos not wanting to remember the Communist regime that starved millions to death and mass murdered their own people.

As for Yako himself, he would sneak into the village at night to steal food, wax candles, oil, and alcohol, but he left money and other belongings untouched taking only what he needed. This would go on for a couple of days until the villagers noticed some of their belongings were missing. And that's when villagers started watching their belongings seeing the same silver fox come in and out of their village at night with food, alcohol, and oil in his mouth. Little did the villagers know this silver fox was Yako in disguise. After all, how were these villagers supposed to think he was anything other than an ordinary fox when they didn't even know about other kinds of people besides Selenese and Szolsurans? If Yako showed his true form, they might just think it was an elaborate costume and not his actual Kitsune body let alone see working Protogen parts when the most advanced technology these villagers have seen were radios and electric lights and diesel-powered machinery.

Yako then kept stealing things even though the villagers caught onto it and was about to steal some wax candles and oil from the church, but before he could enter, the spirit of Moshi the Blacktail asked him, "Have you lost all sense of humility and now attempt to steal from the house of God? You have already taken more than you needed. The villagers know what you're doing. So, now it's time you stop stealing and show yourself to them."

And for a moment, Yako hesitated. And in that moment, one of the villagers approached him with his dog while Yako was still in his fox form which scared Yako out of his disguise and revealed his true Protogen Kitsune body. The villager was so stunned by this he just stared not knowing what he had just seen and subconsciously let go of his barking dog which chased Yako as he ran in fear fleeing the village.

The villager then described what he had just seen to the priest and the other villagers, but no one believed him and thought he had been drinking too much. But the villager was determined to prove everyone wrong, so he grabbed his hunting rifle and dog and was going to follow Yako's scent to his secret hiding place in a small cave. And when the villager found the cave where Yako was sleeping, his dog barked while snarling its nose waking Yako from his sleep and terrified him as dogs almost universally do to all Kitsunes. And with the villager's hunting rifle aimed at Yako, he forced Yako to go with him back to the village to prove he wasn't lying. He also managed to take back what Yako stole from the village.

The villagers then all looked at Yako having never seen a Protogen or a Kitsune in their life with many of them thinking that it was just an elaborate hoax. That was until Yako was tied up to a chair and had his Protogen visor ripped off his face revealing his real fox face underneath and the markings that said "Nogitsune" branded into his fur. And when the villagers saw this, they knew what they saw was not an elaborate costume but a living, breathing creature. The villagers were then so terrified at seeing him that they were going to kill him until the priest of the village stood between them and Yako and asked them, "Is this any way to treat God's creatures?"