Chapter 65: Ouroboros (II)

If you haven't seen by now, most of Vol 2 will be in third person. I'm used to writing both 3rd and 1st person POV.

The POV for this volume is mostly Tamamo's POV (:

Giliath demands your power stones!

*

"With that, I bid you all farewell for now, members of Ouroboros. Vita, please take care and if you come across Emma again, please let her know that I am sorry I won't be around for a while. It sounds like the incident has been mostly kept under wraps, but I am afraid there will still be those who will come to learn of it. I have already addressed those certain individuals with a few letters to let them know of my absence.", Naoto said, feeling a bit guilty.

He knew he would be out of commission for a while, so Naoto made sure to address those who may have been affected by the raid on his villa. The royals of Erebonia, the newly inaugurated president of Crossbell, Henry MacDowell and his daughter, Elie MacDowell, the Queen of Liberl and Princess Klaudia, and so on. The Hexen Clan's leader well knew what Naoto was currently doing right now but for those like Emma, they were still blissfully unaware.

Vita revealed a smile hearing Naoto say that.

"Of course I will since you won't be around for a while. But Emma will miss you, you know?"", Vita asked back.

"I know. Can I ask you a favor as well?", Naoto asked.

"A favor? What is it?", Vita asked, gaining interest.

"Would you be able to look after Tama in my stead for a while, Vita? I've given her a set of missions to follow while I'm not around. It'll help promote her growth as well, since she's still quite young. You're training Grianos right now too, right? I will say among the abilities I currently possess, I'd rather not use this certain one until Tama has broadened her horizons.", Naoto said, explaining a little bit. This cause Vita to nod her head.

"Grianos is well underway in his training despite being in his infancy period still. Our familiars weren't born that long ago. I can definitely look after Tamamo for you.", Vita replied happily. As she did, Campanella's two strands of hair fluttered a bit with interest as well after I said that.

"Haha, I can't help but wonder what that ability is that you are referring to, Your Highness.", Campanella responded with interest. If Naoto could, he too would reveal a smile hearing Campanella say that.

"Thank you, Vita. As for you, Campanella, why don't I leave Ouroboros with a parting gift? My own token of our budding friendship?"

"Just you not denying our invitation forthright is enough of a parting gift, Your Highness. I dare not ask for more.", Campanella replied.

"I'm willing to give this information to Ouroboros. I did say I'm currently infiltrating one of the DG Cult bases right?"

"That you did, Your Highness.".

"Haha, well on the outside it might look like I'm here against my will, but in reality it's quite the opposite. This place isn't chaining me down. Not one single piece of it. I could leave any time I wanted to.", Naoto explained, which caused a glint of light to streak across Campanella's eyes.

"So you had an ability like that. But you refuse to use it in times like these? For the sake of letting your familiar grow?"

"For now. I only plan to see what's going on down here for the next four to five years. Afterward I'll send the persons of interest your guys' way.", Naoto answered, causing Campanella to nod his? head. However, at the same time they suddenly heard another faint scream, a painful one at that. Naoto clicked his tongue hearing it as well.

"Tch, that glasses priest is starting another round of experiments, all for the sake of denying the Goddess. Can you believe such a thing? Anyways, I have to drop.", Naoto said, acting as if he had just hung up from the phone. His voice could no longer be heard from the silver-white little fox.

Peace soon returned to the three, or rather four now, with Vita now joining their side. Five if you include Tamamo. In the next moment, Tamamo's eyes lost her crimson hue, becoming her normal golden eyes again. It didn't take long for Tamamo to blink her eyes.

"Kyuu?", Tamamo said in confusion, seeing unfamiliar faces now in her sight. She had no idea who the spiky blue haired man was, nor the green haired person. Just seeing the green haired boy? caused Tamamo to blink in confusion for a good moment. Tamamo then saw beautiful long blonde haired armored knight, and felt a feeling of familiarity from her.

However, the moment Tamamo looked last figure who was the sandstone-silver haired girl, her eyes started to sparkle.

"Kyuuu!", Tamamo replied happily before using her feet to jump up. Tamamo swiftly entered Vita's embrace, which caused her to let out a giggle.

"Hehe, it's nice to see you again Tama. It hasn't been that long, but this is the first time we've seen each other again since you were created.", Vita said. "You'll be under my care for a while. You guys don't mind, right?", Vita asked the others.

"All yours. I don't give a shit about raising pets.", McBurn replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's a familiar you know, McBurn? Constructs made purely out of mana. If you look down on it now you may come to regret it later.", Campanella said, letting out a retort.

"Oh yeah? Maybe it's because I don't like magic too much. It's such an external system. I can just will my power to appear.", McBurn said, losing more interest. Afterward, he slowly raised one of his fingers into the air.

McBurn didn't do anything. And yet a pure flame of fire suddenly appeared over his finger. It felt hot to the touch, just like a real flame. As it was a real flame. But Vita, Campanella and Arianrhod didn't batter an eye seeing his flame appear. No incantation was uttered, nor was there even a sliver of mana detected. This flame just appeared out of nothing.

"Now the main thing I wanna know is whether His Highness is "mixed" like me in this regard. And if he is "mixed", just how much of is it?", McBurn questioned with interest.

"Guess you found something to keep you busy for now then, huh McBurn? Which is a good thing, as I need to change my plans a little bit. I was not expecting to encounter His Highness here since we are mostly here to continue Vita's training and observe the initiation of the Grandmaster's Gospel Plan. The Faceless took the helm on the project, so it is expected to go without fail. I will need to return to the Celestial Globe for a brief moment to report this to the Grandmaster.", Campanella said.

After saying hat, Campanella snapped one of his fingers only to let another green magic circle appear beneath his feet. His? body started to fade in and out, almost becoming a reflection of a mirror, an illusion.

"I will ensure the observation continues here.", Arianrhod assured Campanella's body vanished from sight. As it did, Campanella left some parting words to McBurn, specifically.

"McBurn, you'll be the Enforcer to support Arianrhod in my time of absence should action need to be taken.", Campanella said, before the voice faded.

After hearing that, McBurn let out another sigh.

"Sigh, what a pain in the ass.", McBurn uttered. But hearing that only caused Vita to giggle again.

"Hehe, you'll be stuck with us for now McBurn. I am gaining more interest in this Gospel Plan the Grandmaster devised, but since I'm not an official member yet, I won't be able to learn its details for a while.", Vita responded.

"Hmm, now that you brought this up, doesn't "That" officially belong to His Highness for sharing the same blood?", McBurn wondered. "Won't this cause some complications?".

"I am sure the Grandmaster took that into consideration. The Aureole must be retrieved at all costs.", Arianrhod simply answered.

"Well it's not one for me to privy any deeper. Naoto did say he gave Tama here some missions. What were those exactly, Tama?", Vita decided to ask the the cute fox still snuggled against her.

"Kyuu?", Tamamo tilted her head a bit wondering what Vita just asked her. "Kyuu, Kyuuuu!", Tamamo replied as if she found the answer quickly.

However, the moment Tamamo replied like that, Vita almost lost her balance and tumbled off the branch she was sanding on. Thankfully they were quite high up and away from Hamel village itself. Besides the Faceless, they weren't spotted.

"Did Naoto really say that...?", Vita couldn't help but utter. This caused Arianrhod to blink her eyes at Vita.

"Are you suggesting you can understand the speech of this familiar, Vita?", Arianrhod asked with interest.

"Of course I can. It's not hard for witches to communicate with their familiars. Call it a perk.", Vita replied happily.

"So what exactly did this fox say then?", McBurn asked.

"Umm...watch over Hamel for the next couple day, and if it comes to it, let the girls die with their dignity. Afterward, head to Liberl and go observe a person called Cassius Bright.", Vita explained, which caused McBurn to let out a chuckle.

"Heh. Perhaps coming here won't as boring as I initially thought it will be.", McBurn mused to himself.

"Hmm...", Arianrhod uttered as well. Arianrhod decided to move her body back toward Hamel village, only tot continue observing the peace, for now.