[Kitsu Pov]
"Well, how have you been? Mom asked, entering my training ground.
"I have been a great mom. How is the Kuni territory turning out? I asked, smiling happily at her.
"Absolutely horrible. The demons have noticed something has happened, so they are stationing more soldiers at the border to pressure us into something. I don't know what just yet, though. " Mom explained in annoyance.
"What do you mean by pressuring you into something? Don't they just want to start a war again? I said, tilting my head at her.
"No, they won't start one if the Federation doesn't move first. Also, they lost all the previous wars against us, even when we were distracted by the Federation." Mom explained, dismissing my questions.
"With those Kunis running the house? I said, raising an eyebrow at her and not believing her.
"They were quite strong, you know. Mom said, not helping me doubt her words at all.
"When? Those dwarfs believe he fucked them over. They are a Marquis house. They need to hold the line when the time comes" I said, frustrated that they were this dumb.
"I can understand that high dwarfs are really rare and strong assets for battles, but then again, they pampered those two way too much. Making them useless. " Mom explained, shrugging.
"I won't know. I haven't been that attentive to what races exist in the world," I said, shrugging back at her.
"That reminds me, how are they doing? " Mom asked, tilting her head at me.
"Right, right, they did come with us, didn't they? " I said, nodding awkwardly.
"You forget about them," Mom said, smiling.
"Yeah, I did," I muttered, scratching my head awkwardly.
"Did Kayda forget about them as well? Mom asks thoughtfully.
"I think so? I haven't seen them since we got here. " I said, thinking back at it.
"You have been training most of the time, so I doubt you would. I would have to ask Kayda then. " Mom said, shaking her head at me.
"Well, anything else you want to know? I" asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, what was that mana you used on the Siscon? Mom asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, my invisible mana. It's cool, right? " I said, creating a dagger of invisible mana before throwing it at Mom.
"This is really fascinating. And don't throw stuff like this at me. " Mom said, easily catching the dagger even though she couldn't see it.
"Well, I knew you would be able to catch it. To you, this is just a small trick anyway. " I said, shrugging at her.
"I won't say it's a small trick, Kitsuna. This can potentially kill anyone without someone knowing how they died or who killed them. the perfect assassin's weapon." Mom explained, making me nod in agreement.
"That is the plan."
"So, how did you learn this?"
"Well, that is my true self, Mana," I explained, smiling at Mom proudly.
"... what? You mean that this trickery and stealth are your true selves? Mom said, tilting her head at me.
"Well, in a way. "
"It makes sense. Did Kayda help you? " Mom said, nodding to herself.
"'Look into yourself to know yourself.' She told me something like that and left." I said, shrugging.
"Fuck you, you are a monster." Mom said, feeling the dagger dissipate in her hands.
"Hey, that isn't nice."
"As if you care. Anyway, so why did you need to learn this anyway? "
"Well, it's to cut through Adamite." I explained simply.
"What?" Mom said, baffled.
"I need to learn how to cut through unrefined adamite. That's what Steve said." I explained, shrugging, not really understanding everything Steve told me.
"Wait, so that's how he makes demi-god weapons? " Mom said, baffled.
"Yeah, he puts his true self's mana into the atmosphere before forging a weapon around it, or well, that's what I understood when he explained it to me."
"I wonder?"
"Hmm?" Humming, I tilted my head at her, confused.
"Don't worry. I will have to have a talk with Steve next time I see him." Mom said it, confusing me, but it didn't feel like I needed to know what it was about.
"Okay."
"Well, when are you going back to him to start learning about forging?" Mom asked with a smile back on her face.
"Tomorrow, I can hold the invisible mana for quite a while, so I am satisfied," I explained, making a few hundred needles in my hand before dispelling them again.
"That's good."
"Thanks for talking with him about teaching me. This will be an awesome skill I will have before the tournament."
"Anything for my daughters," Mom said, suddenly giving me a quick hug.
"Right," I said, rubbing my head shyly.
"Oh, another thing, how did you learn to damage people's souls? I hope you haven't done any experiments with people." Mom said it with a bit of a warning tone.
"Ah no, it was my first time trying it after Kayda did it to me. I really didn't think it would work." I said, shaking my head.
"Well, devil magic is very bad for a person's soul, so that might have been because of something like that. " Mom explained, making me nod, understanding why I could do it so quickly.
"Ah, I see. Interesting."
"Don't do that, though. The world and system don't like it if you destroy or damage souls too much." Mom explained, warning me more seriously.
"What? Why?"
"Don't worry about it. Just remember that you can't destroy people's souls without having a backslash."
"But you can eat them," I said, raising an eyebrow.
"..." Mom said nothing but just looked at me, making my back sweat like I was in a river.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that," I said awkwardly, looking down.
"He is the sin of gluttony. It's a skill that the world made, so yes, it's fine for him to do it. Mom explained, even though I could hear how angry she was.
"I am sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up," I said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it." Mom said, leaving the training grounds.
"Sigh, I should really learn how to filter my words. "
[Next day morning]
"So Mom already went back to the Kunis' territory," I said, sighing in disappointment.
"Yes, she left just after talking to you."
"Aaah, for fuck sake," I said, hitting my head on the wall.
"What's wrong?"
"I brought up the sin of gluttony."
"Good idea," Kayda said, slapping me on the back of the head.
"Yeah, yeah, we were talking about souls and stuff, but I got annoyed that I am not allowed to damage souls," I said, shaking my head again.
"Kitsu, I didn't show you how to damage souls so you could torture people like that. I showed you that there is a weakness you still need to work on. And on a critical one that you need to be on guard for. " Kayda said, narrowing her eyes at me with crossed arms.
"What? Is that what you meant by doing that? " I said, surprised.
"Yes, didn't you understand that? " Kayda said, sighing in annoyance.
"Ah, of course I understood. I will make a proper shield for that," I said, looking away, embarrassed.
"Alright, if it makes you feel better, I actually didn't think you would know how to do that in a few days. You really made that Siscon suffer with ease."
"Well, that was the only way I could actually make him hurt. If it weren't for you two, I would have been a pancake on my own ice wall."
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you Angle Bitch disappeared again, but I think she actually left the kingdom this time. " Kayda said, looking at my reaction.
"Really, to where? I asked, tilting my head.
"The federation."
"Great, so she joined the angles there? " I said it thoughtfully.
"Most likely."
"Not even a year, and she has already left. Well, not that it's that big of a surprise. " I said, shrugging, not really caring what the bitch did.
"You don't seem mad or anything," Kayda said, seemingly probing me for some reason.
"She can do whatever she wants, but if I see her again, I will be ripping those wings off," I said, muttering the last part to myself, though Kayda could hear everything.
"Anyways, that's all for catching up on my side. What are you going to do?"
"I will be going to Steve Smithy to get some learning done before."
"Did you go through all those Smith books I gave you?" Kayda asked, making me nod.
"No, some of them are way too advanced, and I need practical experience to understand the intermediate ones first," I explained, nodding.
"Okay, good luck with that then. Please don't go and kidnap anyone."
"I won't do that, and it's your fault for letting me go on my own," I said, shrugging at her.
"Don't try to shift the blame," Kayda said, narrowing her eyes at me.
"Fine, fine anyway; I've got to go to Steve Smithy. See you later today." I said, opening the main mansion doors.
"Okay, enjoy learning," Kayda said, waving at me.