Ch-19-Meeting Raina (First Edit)

As I stared at the woman, my instincts went wild. Even though I was trying to suppress them, this was not helping much, as the danger she presented was far above anything I could handle.

I was too busy trying to deal with my instincts to answer the woman's question.

It seemed that soon, the woman was distracted by something before taking her hand off her sword, and the strange fluctuations disappeared along with that.

Walking over, the woman held out her hand to help me. I was not entirely certain what was going on, but when the danger subsided, I was able to control my instincts enough to finally answer her question.

Vale: "I was flying overhead with an Elder of a sect who said that he was taking me to see if I could enter when he got impatient and forced his mount to go faster, resulting in the wind blowing me off the eagle. I am just glad I asked them to allow me to make a parachute before we left."

Unknown Woman: "You don't need to explain yourself, child. The world's will has already stepped in for you. Though I am curious, which sect is it that is trying to recruit a kitsune that has not even begun her journey of cultivation?"

Vale: "Oh.. It was the Silver Moon Sect."

Unknown woman: "The Silver Moon Sect, you say? I know some of them, so can you tell me the name of the elder who was recruiting you?"

Vale: "I don't know his full name, only that he was called Elder Xei."

Unknown Woman: "Ah, that explains it. I am going to need to ha..."

The woman clearly recognized the elder's name and started to say something that quickly turned into a mumble.

Tilting my head in confusion at what she had said and how I could no longer make out what she said, I felt one of my ears quirk to the side and my tail curve into a vague question mark shape.

When the woman looked back up and saw me, I was able to catch the slightest glimpse of an emotion I could not discern flash across her eyes.

Walking up to me and raising her hand, I had the sudden urge to run away, but it was too late as the woman started to rub my head right between my ears, giving me a very strange feeling that quickly overwhelmed my mind.

Unknown Woman: "Don't worry, your little head over it. You can stay here while they turn around and come back for you."

The woman said while patting my head, and I just nodded without thinking much. This did not last long, as I heard footsteps running towards us, with the sounds of a man panting and out of breath.

Looking in that direction, I saw a skinny boy wearing plain clothes running toward us. My head turning also caused the woman's attention to be drawn to the boy.

When the boy finally reached us, he bent down and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Getting enough to speak, he raised his head and looked directly at the woman, saying, "Village head Raina, we need your help, please. We don't know what to do and-"

Raina: "Calm down, boy. What's the issue now? Spit it out."

The boy: "It's my brother. He's coughing really badly and sweating all over. He says it's hard to breathe, and he's having a hard time getting out of bed. Please help us."

Raina looked like she was about to say something when I interrupted her.

Vale: "That sounds like a severe lung infection. While I don't know what type it is, I can say that if he can hold on for at least some time, an antibiotic should help; if not, it should solve the issue entirely. The sweating, though, might be because of something else, like a cold or some virus that he managed to contract while his immune system was weakened from fighting the infection."

Raina, the boy, and others around me looked at me in surprise. I shrugged and explained, "I don't have a diploma or license if that is what you're asking me, but I do have all the knowledge required."

With that said, Raina pulls me to my feet and begins pulling me in a random direction in the village.

Soon, we reach a small house off at the edge of the village near some farmland. Not even knocking on the door, Raina just barges right in, with me still being pulled behind her.

When I enter the house, I see an adolescent man lying on a cot at the side of the room with a group of people standing around him. Hearing us enter, the group turns to look at us before bowing to Raina.

Elderly man: "Sorry for disturbing you, Village head. We tried to stop the boy, but he ran out instead."

Raina: "It's fine. I have a doctor here with me, so we can heal the kid now if you would like."

The group then turned to look at me with a sparkle in their eyes. This caused me to panic because I had never done anything like this before. So, with a slight bit of anxiety in my voice, I say, "I only said that I have the knowledge and wasn't a practicing doctor. I-"

Cutting me off, Raina pushes me forward and says, "What use is the knowledge if you're never going to use it? And besides, you already came up with a preliminary solution, so go in there and treat him already."

Listening to Raina, I walk forward and begin to examine the patient. Oddly enough, as I start diagnosing him, I feel as if I temporarily shut down my emotions to look at this more objectively. While this was happening, I did not notice that a part of the house went deathly quiet or that two people were there having a conversation that I could not hear.

(Raina POV)

With the young kitsune sufficiently distracted, I stepped back and set up a sound barrier so that she could not hear either me or the one I was about to talk to.

I learned my lesson from earlier when the girl heard me muttering under my breath at a level I thought she could not hear. Luckily, she did not seem to hear much of that muttering and also gave the cutest expression while doing so.

If she were any cuter, I would have said damn the consequences and adopted her then and there regardless of whether she had a family or not. However, breaking the racial pact would still result in some very harsh consequences.

If only there were a way of getting around the rules. Sadly, no one has seen any of those so-called gods chosen running around anymore that could allow for the bending of said rules. Coming out of my thoughts, I looked at the old-looking man beside me.

Raina: "So, old man, how come you let something like this happen?"

Old man: "Who are you calling old! I remember that you were still running the sect when I was just an outer disciple."

Raina: "You sure you want to go there, old man."

Old man: "Nope, I would still like to keep my head, thank you very much. Anyway, I was out of town for a couple of days when I came back and saw that he was already sick. So, using this as a training exercise, I helped speed along the affliction until it reached this place."

Raina: "Why did you leave the village?"

Old man: "You know that my sensing abilities are better than yours, so when I felt some massive Qi fluctuations coming from the direction the bird that was carrying that kitsune girl you brought came from, I had to check."

Raina: "From the direction the girl came from?"

Old man: "Yes, and you want to know what I found?"

Raina: "Stop keeping me in suspense, old man."

Old man: "Chaos Qi, and a whole storm of it. Not only was there a storm, but It even lingered in the area, not letting anyone who was too powerful enter. In fact, it was only today that those of the nascent soul realm could enter."

Raina: "You wouldn't be telling me this if it wasn't important, so spit it out."

Old man: "Fine then. When the girl left the forest, all the chaos Qi instantly vanished."

Raina: "And what's so important about that? I just show that someone important wants to protect her."

Old man: "That is what I am trying to say, and according to the ancient texts, only the gods can control chaos qi to that extent. Even then, they wouldn't protect just anyone this fiercely. They would only do this for their chosen."

Hearing his words, I finally understood their weight. If this was anything like the stories, then that meant I would be able to adopt this cute little Kitsune girl.