Chapter 333 – Wolf in Fox’s Clothes.

Chapter 333 – Wolf in Fox’s Clothes.

"Come on you three, it's time to get up." Kanato sighed as he looked down at the happily sleeping fairies that were curled up on a pillow. They'd slept at one of the nicer inns in the Holy City and the three fairies were snuggled in quite nicely on the fluffy pillow they'd used as a bed.

"5 more minutes..." The female fairy mumbled as she turned over and burrowed into the pillow.

"Warm bed..." One of the male fairies smiled as he snuggled in more. “Sloop...”

"Soup..." The other male fairy had a look of bliss on his face as he dreamed about wonderfully tasty soup.

{I swear...} (Kanato)

"It's like having three younger siblings..." Kanato groaned as he debated throwing the pillow out the window, but ultimately decided not to.

{No, no, no. I'm a good person, and good people don't throw fairies out windows... I think...} (Kanato)

"Fine, then just stay here and be captured by some random human slaver." Kanato turned away and pretended to leave. "I'm sure they'd love to turn your wings into fairy dust."

"NO DUST!" The three fairies shot out of bed and grabbed onto the back of his shirt.

"Well, if you come with me, then I think you'll be fine." Kanato chuckled.

"Meanie!" The female fairy puffed her cheeks as she flew in front of her face. "MEH!" She lightly punched the tip of his nose. “Bad Hero! Leave fairy to die!”

"Hey, you wouldn't get out of bed, and I gave you plenty of chances." Kanato laughed as the fairy buzzed around him like angry bees.

*GURGLE*

"Soup?" One of the male fairies' stomach growled so loudly that the other two fairies were briefly startled.

"Of course..." Kanato facepalmed. "Fine, let's get you three something to eat, and then we're going to the Cathedral to meet with Hitomi..."

{I take it back, they're not my siblings, they're my children... I already have three, and I don't want to be stuck with three more... Especially one's this high maintenance...} (Kanato)

"SOUP!" The three fairies cheered as they followed the Hero into the inn's canteen, where they shared a hardy meal together. Though, much to their disappointment, there was no soup.

"You know, I'm starting to get the idea that you fairies are actually the world's biggest threat. With the way you eat, I can imagine you swarming towns like locust and eating the world's food supply in a matter of days." Kanato laughed as he watched them consume far more food than their tiny bodies should've been capable of..

"FAIRY NOT BUG!" The female fairy pouted.

"You've got wings like a bug and buzz like one, so maybe you're related!" Kanato laughed as the three flew around him and pouted.

"Kanato mean!" One of the male fairies continued to pout.

"Mean Hero!" The other male fairy agreed.

"No bully!" The female fairy landed on his head and started jumping up and down.

"I'll think about it." Kanato continued to laugh before they finished up and headed out for the day. As they walked down the street while the Fairies continued to complain about their treatment, and after a while, they arrived in front of the massive gates of the huge white marble Cathedral that served as the Church's HQ.

"Sir Kanato." One of the guards bowed politely. "Lady Hitomi returned just this morning and has been informed of your arrival, please come in." He opened the gate and motioned for him to go inside. He'd tried to speak with his fellow Hero the prior day, but she was away on business and unavailable.

"Thanks guys." Kanato smiled as he went inside. The Fairies were nervous about being in such a place and hid inside his clothes or hair so as to keep out of sight.

"Spoopy Church." One of the male fairies commented.

"Very spoopy." The other male fairy agreed.

"Smells like Gods..." The female fairy popped out of his hair.

{From what I recall, Fairies worship those Primordials, so it's no surprise that they don't like being in a place so close to the Gods.} (Kanato)

"Just relax. They won't hurt you, and I promise that I'll protect you." Kanato pat the female fairy on her head with his finger. “You can count one me, ok?”

"Why here?" One of the male Fairies asked. "Thought wanted Ref?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't just ignore the possibility that we're the bad guys, Hitomi." Kanato shook his head. "If we really were doing something wrong... If our actions truly were harming innocent people... Then we have an obligation to make things right."

"And how would you even suggest we do that?" Hitomi asked. "Pretend for a second that you're right. That the Gods tricked us into killing the Spirits as part of some nefarious plan. What are you going to do? Are you suggesting we fight them?"

"I... We need to..." Kanato stammered, not having any real answer for her.

"Let me answer that for you. There's nothing that you or I could do." Hitomi's tone grew sharp. "Not only is there an insurmountable difference in power between us, but said Gods gave us these powers, and I'd imagine that they can just as easily take them back."

{And I can't imagine a scenario where the Gods who gave us these powers sit back and let us fight them with said powers. We'd be disposed of just as quickly as we were brought here.} (Hitomi)

"I know that. but..." Kanato's face grew dark. “Still...”

"Listen, I know you're a kind and caring person, Kanato." Hitomi reached over the table and put her hand on his. "You're a noble man who seeks to help as many people as possible but don't allow yourself to be drawn into conflicts unnecessarily, but don't forget that you've got a family to take care of now." The implications of her words were not lost on him.

"It still... I can't..." Kanato was still a bit flustered.

"Besides, don't forget that this world is still in danger, and it's our duty to make sure it stays safe." Hitomi smiled.

"And yet we failed..." Kanato gave a dry laugh. "We got our assess kicked and were sent back to Enoris with our minds wiped... Some Heroes we turned out to be."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Hitomi giggled. "The Gods have a backup plan to-" She was paused by Rafferty smacking her hand over her mouth.

"Lady Hitomi..." Rafferty shot her a glare and Hitomi realized that she nearly spilled very classified intel.

"What? The Gods have a backup plan?!?" Kanato's eyes went wide in shock.

{WHAT?!?} (Kanato)

"No, it's just that...” Hitomi stammered.

“Lady Hitomi is simply feeling tired from her long day yesterday and is a bit delirious." Rafferty helped Hitomi get up from the couch. "My Lady, please come with me to your room and lay down."

"Um... Yeah, I must be tired. I don't even know what I was talking about." Hitomi tried and failed to feign ignorance. Even Kanato, as dense as he was, knew that something was going on and he only grew more concerned. "I'll talk to you later, Kanato. Just remember what we talked about, okay?" She politely bowed before leaving the room.

"Hitomi..." Kanato's mind raced as he tried to figure out what was going on. "I never even got to ask her about the Spirit being held here..."

"Scary Lady gone..." The female fairy said as she floated in front of Kanato's face, followed by the other two.

"There you are! Where did you disappear to?!? I wanted to introduce you to Hitomi and Rafferty!" Kanato groaned.

"Hide... Scary Lady, scary..." The female fairy pouted as she floated onto the table.

"SCARY!" The two male fairies said in unison.

"Scary Lady? Do you mean Hitomi?" Kanato tilted his head. He knew that Hitomi was slightly off, but he'd never found her threatening or anything of the sort. “I know she's connected by the Gods but she's anything but scary.”

{Slightly messed up in the head, sure, but scary? No.} (Kanato)

"No... Ref... Scarier than before..." The female fairy shook slightly. “Scary...”

"Rafferty? Wait, she's the Spirit Ref that we came here for?!?" Kanato exclaimed.

"Maybe?" The female fairy tilted her head cutely. "Ref Scary, but this Ref even scarier."

"What do you mean? I've never seen Rafferty so much as raise her voice, let alone do anything bad." Kanato was confused. Rafferty was just a beastkin servant of Hitomi's, and was even basically her lover. She'd been within the Hero party's orbit for some time, and never once did he think she was dangerous.

"Raf has power... Not weak anymore..." The female fairy tried to explain. "Bad things happen if she got power..."

"Is Hitomi in danger?!?" Kanato asked, concerned for his friend's safety.

"Don't know..." The female fairy shook her head. "But Raf... Raf serve other master... Not Hero Lady..."

{Eh?!? Wait, but who... What's going on?!? Hitomi?!?} (Kanto)