Chapter 196: Return (4)


    Upon eyesying on the fox seemingly around Shinto''s shoulder, instead of being cautioned by the sudden appearance of the animal, Crowelin was instead charmed.


    "Hey! Shinto!" Crowelin continued to shout out. "What''s the meaning of this? You get a pet? Eep! Something unique at that! What else you trying to keep away, huh!?"


    "...a pet?" Kon raised his brow. "I''m no pet! I''m the wonderful shadow servant of the Shadow Diviner, Master!"


    "...so not a pet, but a ve?" Hikari questioned as she turned to Shinto with an amused look. "My... Zay, I never knew you were like this. Are you trying to say that you''re into enving animals?"


    "...cough. Hikari! Don''t get the wrong idea!" Shinto flusteredly replied. "Kon isn''t a ve and that he is"


    "a follower? A devotee? Hmm... Just arade? Or probably a friend? Aha, I''m just messing with you Zay~" Hikari chuckled. "Of course you wouldn''t enve animals. Unless there''s an underlying hidden meaning...?" moments after she had ended her sentence, Hikari gave a questioning look to Shinto.


    "There''s nothing underlyingly hidden about this!" Shinto coughed. "Kon is well... As you said it, a follower or... Apanion? Well... Along those lines."


    "I''m Kon, the Shadow of the Fox! The one and only of the Shade''s Race!" Kon excitedly introduced himself. "I''m here to serve the Shadow Diviner to the best of my abilities to repay my debts for him. I''m no ve!"


    "Ah, I see now! So you forced the poor fox into serving you, hmm... I guess it''s alling into the big picture now!" Hikari sped her hands. "I''m guessing the one that also calls you ''Master'', Frey and... ke? Are people who are repaying debts their debts on you too?"


    "...Hikari," Shinto red at the smiling priestess. "What was it about having me exined everything?"


    "Aha... Alright, alright! Enough jokes," Hikari cleared her throat. "I just thought I''d divert some attention away from Crowelin who seems rather... Awestruck by the fox. You know how she is when ites to cute animals and things."


    "...yeah, about that," Shinto awkwardly stated. "When I summoned Kon... I wasn''t thinking all that much about how you would react on a personal note..."


    "You wearn''t thinking about that fact? Here I thought you purposefully summoned him to calm Crowelin down," Hikari blinked in slight confusion. "Then... Why summon Kon? Surely... This is not the ''support'' ability, you''re trying to show us, right?"


    "Actually, yes," Shinto nodded. "This is one of the abilities I wanted to show you."


    "...?" With the question answered by Shinto, Hikari''s expression grew more confused than before. "...summoning... and support, no way, right? You''re mixing your archetypes, right? Summoners are heavy damage and crowd control based sses... Yet, this is support to you? Zay... you know I trust you, right? So... Are you okay?"


    "Hah..." Almost wanting to give up on exining, Shinto shook his head whilst taking a deep breath. "Kon and ke, are both ''Shadow Servants'' who follow the ''Shadow Diviner'' which is me. Mixed with overall personal and obligatory reasons, they''re here with me now," he stated. "Summoning is one thing. My main ss focuses on its abilities of support in terms of giving allies shields and heals, I guess? It''s quite eerily simr to that of your ss, Hikari."


    "Oh? My ss?" Hikari inquired. "...well, you did mention that DPS skills of my ss are nearly the same as yours but with higher modifiers..." as she muttered out, a thought clicked to her mind. "Hey! isn''t this tant carbon copy of the ''Priest'' ss? DPS same as a priest... Support almost eerily simr to that of a Priest... Then you add a summon ability to make it unique... This is just..."


    "Well, on that note, I haven''t really delved too much into the mechanics," Shinto calmly stated. "I''m only just beginning to unlock the rest of the skills and learn about this ss... So, that''s about it."


    "Right, right. It''s only reasonable to take your time with all this, especially if it''s a hidden ss," Hikari nodded her head. "Shadow Diviner, was it? An interesting name... Having something of dark added together with light... What do you think about, Crowelin?"


    "Kon..." Crowelin who seemed to still be in a trance by the fox attempted to pet Kon. However, at every attempt, Kon fervently avoided her. "...why are you avoiding me? I just want to pet! Please?"


    "H-Hey! Don''t touch me!" Kon cried out. "Master! Help!"


    "Crowelin..." Hikari pouted as she gently took hold of Kon who was on Shinto''s shoulder and soon ced him farther away from Kon. "Snap out of it!"


    "Huh? Who? What?" Upon hearing the shout from Hikari, Crowelin''s attention finally averted to Shinto and Hikari. "...ahem. My bad..."


    "Crowelin..." Shinto sighed as he turned to Kon with a certain difort.


    "Why does she look hypnotized?" Kon whimpered. "I know I''m cute but... But... That''s on a whole another level!"


    "S-Sorry... I have no idea what had gotten over me," Crowelin coughed. "...now l-let''s get back to the topic, s-shall we? Where were we? Your hidden ss, right? I''m honestly surprised you openly exin everything like that. Here I thought you would''ve kept things secret."


    "Ah...?" Upon hearing Crowelin''s words, Shinto had realized that he had nearly exined the entirety of the basis of his ss. He had only wanted to only generally clear up certain misconceptions of his ss and exin his role, however without even realizing it, everything was said and done. "Hikari... You..."


    "Hmm? Did I do something?" Hikari chuckle. "I''m just an innocent priest just wanting to hear an exnation from you! Which, is nearly done~"


    "Hah..." Shinto sighed. "Well, whatever. Is there any more questions?"


    "Hmm, well, if you wee more questions then..." Hikari thought to herself. "Any particr reason why you''ve been avoiding an exnation like this? I know you answered it earlier, but is that really it? Trying something new sure does have a lot of risk factors in it. If you had wanted to, you could''ve yed the support role in Crystality instead of changing ss entirely."


    "..." The question once again appeared before him. Even despite having exined nearly everything already, he was left wordless and unsure. "...sorry. I just don''t know. Although it was risky, I guess I wasn''t thinking all that much back then and took it. Which led me here."


    "Hmm, right, right," Hikari nodded her head as she soon stretched her arms. "Well, I guess there''s really nothing more I can ask, besides your newpanions, that is. With your new ss and mechanics and you want to keep everything a secret, I guess it was warranted for," she stated. "Still, who knew it''d be such a coincidence for us to be meeting here, huh?"


    "Yeah... Who knew?" Shinto shook his head in a tired manner. "Why were you here anyways? I know it was for a quest... But out here in the middle of nowhere?"


    Until recently, Shinto didn''t know of the exact province in which the group had ended up. But, with the arrival of Hikari and Crowelin, that mystery was cleared up with the mention of ''Fal''.


    The kingdom of Fal was a snowbound kingdom bathed in eternal winter and ice due to Bareth, the beast of eternal winter. However, despite that, the people of the kingdom had continued to strive for many centuries since then and now today, many of the kingdom''s people were extremely proficient in the arts of magic.


    "Well..." Crowelin uttered out. "We were hoping to find a vige that was hidden in a cavern due to the environmental conditions around here, but no luck. While walking around, we found Rustly and Reru who we thought were locals suddenly mentioning your name and we decided to see if it was really you. Who would''ve known, huh?"


    "A vige is hidden in a cavern..." Shinto muttered out. "...could it be?"


    "Hmm? Do you know anything about it?" Crowelin''s eyes glittered with excitement. "Tell us! We''ve been searching for days! I want to finally get that sweet sweet reward for finding it!"


    "Well, It''s just an assumption, really," he stated. "But perhaps... The vige might be here."


    "Where? Where?" Crowelin asked. "Show us!"


    "Surely... It''s not where we were heading to, right?" Hikari tilted her head. "...the catbs you mentioned?"


    "It''s a long shot, but we could try," he stated. "You''re following us anyways, right? As of the moment, with the buzz of the day being Bareth''s awakening, many people are sending out raid parties here Even Kaisus. So... It''ll be unwise if you stayed here either way or heck, even go back to Fal with the potential crowd."


    "True, which is precisely why we''re going with you," Hikari stated. "Though, I hope you don''t suddenly break contact with us in-game after we part ways!"


    "...I won''t think of it," Shinto muttered out. "Anyways... We''ve been here for quite some time now. I''m guessing everyone should be logged in and awake, so you two, go on ahead back first."


    "Huh? What about you?" Crowelin asked.


    "I''ll go back with Rustly. I don''t want to make thing''s suspicious when they see us all going back together," Shinto stated. "You do remember what I said, right?"


    "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Keep it a secret that you''re Shinto of the 1st ranked to your newpanions," Crowelin shrugged off the details. "Then,e on Hikari, let''s go."


    "Right, let''s continue talking in whispers if necessary," Hikari nodded her head as she and Crowelin began walking back.


    "...phew," upon noting the sight of them moving through the caverns, Shinto uttered out with a sigh of relief. "That''s over... Now, Kon, there''s something I''d like to ask of you."


    "...huh? Me?" Kon was still whimpering behind Shinto''s leg, blinked.