Chapter 555: A Leisurely Afternoon

*Yip yip!*

"Yes yes, Princess, it’s a shame your... servant isn’t here," Frey replied wryly to the pup’s complaints.

"Is Yuki complaining about Lucas again?" Eris asked.

"En," Frey nodded, "She calls you and Christina her friends, but she always insists that Lucas is her number one servant and that he should be more attentive to her."

"Hehe," Eris giggled, "That sounds like Yuki! Every time Lucas is around, she always rushes over to him first."

It made sense for Lucas to be special in Yuki’s eyes as he was the first human she had ever interacted with. He was also the one who first found and helped her after she had been exiled to the Blue Sky Continent by the Spatial Storms.

Still, Lucas always seemed to be busy with one thing or another, especially when it came to the forge, so he rarely had time to just play with Yuki.

Unlike the Snow Spirit Foxes, Yuki seemed perfectly comfortable in both hot and cold weather, the temperature not bothering her in the slightest or dampening her seemingly endless energy and apatite. That said, she did seem to prefer the cold, and her hearing and sense of smell were particularly sharp, so spending all-day in the broiling hot smithy filled with loud banging noises and sweaty blacksmiths was pretty-much a non-starter for her.

Not that any of that mattered right now, as Yuki’s only option if she wanted to go out was to go with Eris.

Judging from how fast she was growing, however, it probably wouldn’t be long before Yuki was able to venture out into town on her own.

Everyone in Misty City knew that the big white foxes were guests of the Marquess, and that the little three-tailed fox was special even amongst these guests, so as long as she didn’t wander too far, Yuki would probably be safe no matter where she went or what she did, even if she pilfered a piece of fruit or skewer of meat from a roadside stall.

Given how much food Yuki was offered for free whenever she was out and about, though, Eris very much doubted she would ever need to steal food. All she would need to do is walk up to one of the shops, beg pitifully with her big golden eyes, and food would be delivered to her.

In any case, Eris quickly finished up with Frey’s brushing, collected all the loose fur into a sack, then began washing her down with cold water and some of the new liquid shampoo from the soap factory.

This version of shampoo was particularly gentle, as well as unscented, so it was apparently appropriate for use on delicate hair, which made Eris think it should be alright for the Snow Spirit Foxes.

There was no one who could tell her otherwise, and the foxes themselves didn’t seem to have a problem with it, so the young red-head decided to just go with it.

She wanted to provide the very best she could for the aunty who had helped her out so much at her Guild, and this seemed like a good way to do so.

.....

Shaking off most of the water, then using her Spirit Qi to finish drying the rest, Frey’s coat now looked particularly smooth and shiny, something which Yuki made sure to comment on.

*Yip yip!*

"Thank you, Princess," Frey nuzzled the young kit and was about to thank Eris as well when she suddenly stopped and frowned, turning her head slightly before releasing a burst of Soul Qi.

"What’s the matter, Aunty Frey?" Eris asked, noticing this slightly odd behaviour.

Bopping the young girl on the head with her snout, Frey just smiled, "It’s nothing. Your Master just asked me to look after the city for a bit as she had something urgent to take care of."

"Oh, okay," Eris nodded in a nonchalant manner.

This wasn’t the first time Celestina had rushed off to attend to one matter or another. It certainly wasn’t common, but it also wasn’t unusual.

Eris figured it was some minor issue that needed to be resolved and that her Master would soon be back, what she didn’t expect was that while Celestina was gone, a big incident would occur in Misty City.

.....

The same day, just before noon, Eris and Yuki were sitting in the Guild Master’s office of the Rising Phoenix Guild.

Eris was learning from her maternal grandmother how to do some accounting work, hardly the most interesting of subjects for the young girl, while Yuki was napping on the floor after having snuck a bowl of ice-cream from the cafeteria earlier.

Danika was out leading a small group of young orphans around Misty City on a delivery quest.

As for Frey, the big white fox was resting in a nearby room as there weren’t any classes going on at the guild right now.

Feeling somewhat bored, Eris let out a long sigh, wondering what her Senior Brother and Junior Sister were up to and if they were having more fun than she was.

Teagan naturally noticed her granddaughter wasn’t really paying attention to the lesson she was giving, but that didn’t concern her all that much. A young girl in the prime of her youth being able to focus entirely on learning how to do paperwork was practically unheard of.

Alright, there were two youths who immediately came to Eris’ grandmother’s mind who could do that without any difficulty, but those two were just plain weird. In fact, the record-keeping system Teagan was using right now was invented by one of those kids, so, you know, there was that...

"Grandma, do you know where my Master went?" Eris suddenly asked,

It hadn’t bothered the young girl earlier this morning when her Aunty Frey told her that Celestina was leaving the city for a bit, but after arriving at the Guild, Eris had noticed that quite a few of the Spirit Initiates inside were scrambling about, passing work they had previously taken on to others as they too seemed in a rush to leave.

Eris wasn’t certain that the two things were related, but the timing made her think that it was.

Even her normally omnipresent Grandpa Elliot had only patted her head once before dashing off, along with several other masters who normally volunteered at the Rising Phoenix Guild during their free time.

Unfortunately, Teagan didn’t know much about what was happening, so she could only shake her head, "Sorry, Little Eris. I’m just as curious as you are."

Teagan suspected that even her husband didn’t know what was going on, only that there was an emergency summons from the Marquess.

Such summons were rare, and normally only occurred when there was some kind of imminent threat approaching, which was worrisome, but with Celestina personally taking charge, Eris’ grandmother didn’t think there was a need to be alarmed.

Hearing the noon bells tolling, Teagan decided that checking the rest of the Guild’s budget could wait and set down her pen.

Standing up from her chair, the kindly old woman, who really only looked like she was in her mid 30’s, smiled to her youngest granddaughter and proposed, "Why don’t we grab lunch?"

As soon as the word ’lunch’ was mentioned, Yuki, who everyone assumed was asleep, jumped right up from her makeshift bed, drawing a laugh from both Eris and Teagan, as well as a few protesting yips.

Nevertheless, food was surely being served in the cafeteria downstairs, and eating sounded much more fun than doing paperwork, so Eris made no objections.