Chapter 63

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on March 7, 2025

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Seira had a lucky day today.

When she woke up, she felt refreshed, her neck wasn’t stiff, and when she cracked an egg, two yolks fell out. There was exactly one spoonful of jam left.

It was a rare lucky day since Lin came into her home.

But Seira couldn’t enjoy it.

Even with the double-yolked fried egg in front of her, she couldn’t eat.

“Meat. I want to eat meat.”

“You need to eat vegetables too. That way, you can grow up healthy and become a beautiful fox.”

“Chii, vegetables are gross.”

“If you eat your vegetables well, I’ll get you snacks later.”

“Wow.”

The two were having a cheerful conversation like family. The host was clearly Seira, yet the meal felt as if she were the guest.

Seira sat there holding a fork and knife, staring blankly at the two in front of her.

“What on earth is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why is Miss Lin speaking…?”

Just yesterday, Lin could only make sounds like “kkiing” and “kaeeng,” and now she was speaking fluently overnight.

It seemed trivial, as both Carami and Lin acted as if this was natural. The only one confused was Seira.

“What can’t she do? Children grow quickly, after all.”

Is that so?

Well, let’s say it is. It’s true that beastfolk develop more rapidly compared to other species.

If you think about it that way, it’s reasonable for her to be able to talk. After all, Lin’s age wouldn’t be strange for speaking.

But.

“I feel like I’m seeing things.”

“What are you seeing?”

“I can see that Miss Lin has three tails.”

Indeed, Lin’s fox tail looked like it had tripled. Three pink tails swayed and danced as if teasingly.

The mesmerizing movements could make one feel dazed just by looking. She found herself unable to take her eyes off them, as if gradually falling under a spell.

Perhaps she hadn’t fully woken up and was seeing things. Or maybe they moved so quickly that their afterimages lingered.

After rubbing her eyes and reopening them, nothing changed. The tails didn’t disappear. It wasn’t an illusion.

“Why on earth has Miss Lin’s tail increased?”

“During growth spurts, things like this happen. Don’t deer grow antlers as they get bigger?”

“I’ve never heard of foxes having increasing tails.”

No, that was wrong.

While she hadn’t seen it, she vaguely remembered hearing about it. Tales of beastfolk she had once come across floated in her mind.

“A Gumiho…?”

A thousand-year-old spirit.

A nine-tailed fox yokai.

“What Gumiho? She only has three tails.”

“Maybe it will grow to nine this time, right?”

“A Gumiho is something that only appears in fairy tales; how could she grow from three to nine tails? Lin is just a Sammiho. A Sammiho.”

If a Gumiho was a creature never witnessed by anyone, a Sammiho occasionally appeared among the Hoyo tribe.

Just as there are Pegasi and Unicorns among animal beastfolk.

“Why? If Lin is a Gumiho, do you think you’ll drive her away? Seira says she doesn’t like Lin?”

“Drive her away…? Does Seira dislike Lin too?”

“I’ve never said such a thing…”

“Master, what if Seira drives her away…?”

With anxious eyes, Lin looked up at Carami. Carami sighed heavily, displaying a look of pity.

“What will we do? She’ll have to sleep on the street. Shaking from the cold. Getting rained on.”

“No, you have plenty of money—”

“Hiiing, I can’t stand being cold…”

Sniff, sniff.

Lin bowed her head at the table. Pouting her lips, tears welled up in her eyes. Her droopy ears and tail looked terribly pitiful.

“I can’t eat meat and have to eat nothing but greens. All the time…”

“By the way, the meat you’re eating right now is all about you—”

“I hate greens! Seira! Don’t drive me away!”

In the end, Lin burst into tears. Seira hurriedly tried to protest, but it was already too late. In Lin’s mind, images resembling those of the Little Match Girl played out.

Rain was falling.

Snow was falling.

Wandering about in tattered clothing, begging.

There were only bits of greenery on the table.

She would sleep on the ground.

Shivering from the cold.

“I finally got meat, and even that was stolen by a stray cat…”

“Don’t take Lin’s meat, cat!”

Carami whispered about the harsh reality to Lin, who desperately reached out for the meat in her imagination.

Seira tightened her grip, feeling a headache coming on.

“Really, how cruel. To drive her away just because she has extra tails. Seriously, talking about abandonment of beastfolk when they themselves…”

“I won’t drive her away. Whether she has nine tails or twenty, I won’t drive her away. Is that clear?”

Finally, unable to endure any longer, Seira made her point. Lin, who had been crying, cautiously watched Seira with swollen eyes.

“Really…?”

“Of course.”

“Seira doesn’t dislike Lin?”

“I don’t dislike her. I like her.”

Lin turned her gaze to Carami.

“Master, Seira won’t drive me away.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Did I do well?”

“Absolutely.”

Where did the tears that had been flowing just moments ago disappear to? The moment Lin stopped crying, she broke into a huge smile and began eating meat with her fork.

Seira couldn’t help but chuckle.

With her tails increased, the mischievousness also rose. Perhaps she learned it from being with her master.

***

“Master, where are we going?”

“We’re going to meet the old fox lady.”

“Old fox lady?”

Lin looked up at me.

From her tail, three tails danced gently.

Lin’s tail had suddenly grown to three. Initially, tails tended to grow easily, but I hadn’t expected them to increase by two at once.

As her tail grew, Lin also had the characteristic of physical growth. She had grown a bit taller and, although her speech was still clumsy, she could now talk.

“Speaking will become natural as time goes on.”

Even though she was cute as she was, the heart of a parent still desired to see her matured form.

Anyway, that’s not the important part.

The key is the fact that it was the third tail, not the second or fourth.

Three, six, nine.

Every time the number of tails became a multiple of three, Lin’s abilities as a Gumiho would vastly increase.

If she fought like a beast until yesterday, now she could wield sorcery like a true Gumiho.

Thus, we were currently on our way to find a teacher who could teach Lin sorcery.

“Really, what a change in sentiment.”

It felt like just a short while since I met Lin, yet she had already grown so much. Was this the same Lin who used to snarl at me? My heart swelled.

“Is this it?”

A road with no one passing by.

An old alley positioned between them.

A mural of clouds and a fox holding jewels painted on the wall.

It had to be.

This was the right alley.

No matter how many games I’ve played, I can’t remember the exact positions and details of every character.

Among the few witches I remember from my time playing Tao-Soul, one of them had to be Vestia.

The spirit of Vestia, whom I must meet to liberate Lin.

The fateful witch.

The Celestial Fox Yu Hwa.

Yu Hwa is in this fortune-telling shop in the alley!

“But where is she?”

The desolate fortune-telling shop.

Upon opening the creaky old door, only a table and chairs were left behind. Instead of Yu Hwa, a cloud of musty dust filled the air.

Had she stepped out for a moment? I had always found her present whenever I came during the game, so this was the first time experiencing this.

“It’s not like it’s just my day today.”

Deciding to come back tomorrow, I returned home.

However, the next day and the day after that, I visited the fortune-telling shop, but I couldn’t catch even a glimpse of Yu Hwa.

As Lin’s irritation grew with each futile visit, she asked, “Master, do you think she’s abandoned us?”

“I don’t think that’s the case. Even if she looks elderly, she’s older than I am.”

Yu Hwa wasn’t coming to the fortune-telling shop. She wouldn’t just die overnight, so it was reasonable to conclude she had retired from her business here.

“Hmmm, if that’s the case…”

This was a first for me and was a bit frustrating but, fortunately, I knew of another place where Yu Hwa might be.

However, since that was information one could only learn through building a connection with her, I wondered if it would be okay to go there now.

An encounter disguised as luck on the alley would’ve been the best scenario.

But there was no way I could ignore it, so I made my decision quickly.

***

The main stage of Lin’s story is Vestia.

Essentially a country with a distinctive mix of Western and Eastern elements, Vestia is set in a world that cosplays as the European Middle Ages.

There are monsters called yokai instead of the typical beasts, and our main slave, Lin, is a Gumiho, which frequently appears in East Asian folklore.

Additionally, there are figures like Pegasi and Harpies from Western literature, along with creatures found in Eastern tales, such as death gods.

The reason is simple.

“Because gamers like it.”

The foundation of Tao-Soul is a game that’s all about ‘nerdy obsession.’

In a Chinese game, regions with a Chinese flavor appear, and in a Japanese game, samurai and ninjas are present; similarly, Vestia is a city set around Lin, the Gumiho.

I digress, but I once again arrived at a similar place; a building with Eastern design amid the Western-style architecture of Vestia’s capital.

This place, which resembles a martial arts inn, is Vestia’s top establishment.

The Celestial Pavilion.

Just like how an old granny rummaging through trash turned out to be the building owner, Yu Hwa is the owner of the Celestial Pavilion.

“What brings you here?”

Upon entering the Celestial Pavilion, a tiger dressed in traditional Eastern attire came to greet us.

“I’ve come to see the head of the establishment.”

“You must be new; did you perhaps have an appointment with the elder?”

“Not exactly.”

“If you didn’t make a specific appointment, it seems meeting her will be challenging. She is not someone one can meet casually.”

Busy? This old lady who’s holed up in a shabby fortune-telling shop doing fortune-telling?

Well, it’s no surprise that a very few people know this.