Alright here we go with another chapter of Saint Fox Tale. Just a few more chapters than I can close this out and be rid of it completely. If you're still following this, thanks for the support and I hope whatever I decide to do after this is better.
Ready and Waiting
"Hai, your meal is here!" Kenshi called out as he and Naruto aided in caring for the refugee students from the Holy Land. "Here you go." The young teen smiled as the girl to whom he was delivering the food bowed her head in thanks.
"Kenshi-kun!" Gryino called out as she and the others happily made their way over to Kenshi. "So you were a Seikishi huh?" she asked as she happily hugged his arm as Kenshi made a confused noise.
"Strong too!" Wreda agreed as they clamored around him. "Please marry me Kenshi-kun!"
"Eh…?" Kenshi muttered as the others began agreeing with Wreda.
"He sure is popular" Lashara's aides mentioned as they conversed with Naruto who was helping them fold the towels.
"Well, he does fit the bill for female fantasies of this world." The blonde agreed. "Young, strong, kind, and a Seikishi to boot." He listed off as the aides smiled in agreement.
"You're quite popular too you know, Naruto-kun."
"Eh…" Naruto muttered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I suppose so." He reluctantly agreed. "That being said…" he muttered seeing Chiaia leave the room with a gloomy expression. "There are far more important things to think about unfortunately."
"Right…" the aides agreed as they stared at the doorway Chiaia had exited through worriedly.
After a while Wan came in to inform them of what was going to happen. "We're going to be dropping off all the refugees at the next checkpoint where the Church will take over looking over them." She explained as the Aides left to attend other duties. "Most likely they'll be asking about Kenshi a lot as well."
Kenshi nodded his head a serious expression on his face. "Well I'm sure it'll be fine." He ended up saying with a smile causing Naruto to chuckle as Wan simply shook her head amazed by his carefree nature.
"Did they mention anything about me?"
Wan glanced at Naruto before turning to face him, "I doubt it, they probably won't consider you a higher priority over an unknown male Seikishi."
"True enough I suppose." Naruto agreed while tapping his chin in thought. "It'll be good if they don't inquire too much about us."
"I was thinking that too." Wan admitted as they neared the checkpoint. As they docked numerous bindings wrapped themselves around the Swan restricting its movements.
"Kind of excessive for a cooperative ship isn't it?" Naruto questioned as Kenshi ran around helping out where he could leaving his uncle to talk with Wan.
"They don't want us leaving." She summarized simply. "I hope this doesn't cause too much trouble for us in the long run."
"Yeah…"
"Speaking of which…" Wan muttered realizing something. "Kenshi come help me out will you?" she called out heading towards her workshop.
Naruto, left alone wondered what to do as he found himself without anything to do. "I guess I could go outside." He muttered heading out with his arms behind his head in a bored manner. It wasn't long until he bumped into Dagmyer's aide who warily stared at him as she made her way towards where the refugees were leaving. "So…you were sent here to try to turn Chiaia." Naruto muttered
Eyes widening the girl quickly sprung into action as she pulled a knife from her coat looking to run him through. "What?" she muttered when her blade went through Naruto as if he wasn't there.
"An after image left behind by inhuman speed." Naruto explained as he grabbed her wrist. "One of my many talents." He explained when she looked up at him with wide fearful eyes. "I'm not going to kill you…" he began seeing her let out a breath she probably didn't even know she was holding. "But tell Dagmyer that he better fix this mess he created or we will stop him by whatever means necessary." Casting her off her feet he turned on his heel and walked away as she quickly fled the area.
"Whoa…in an instant…" he heard Wan mutter as he neared a clearing in the trees. Hearing him arrive, Wan turned to face him. "Kenshi's ability as a Seikishi is so amazing!" she shouted as she ordered Kenshi to show Naruto what he had been doing. "He's already learned how to make compressed bullets instantly!" she shouted in awe.
Chuckling Naruto smiled as he waved up at Kenshi. "Good work Kenshi, keep it up!" he called out as he subtly glanced around seeing Chiaia retreat into the tree line. "I'd better make sure she doesn't make a mistake." He muttered causing Wan to stare at him in confusion.
"What's that mean?" she asked not quite understanding.
"It's nothing you need to worry about." Naruto stated cutting off her line of thinking. "Let me handle it."
"Well…alright…" Wan muttered staring at him oddly while Kenshi shifted his gaze between the two trying to figure out what happened.
Later that day Naruto sat quietly in a tree above Kenshi's tent hidden from view. "So you knew as well, Lashara-sama." He muttered softly as the blonde haired noble nodded her head, hearing his voice.
"I knew Dagmyer would try to use Chiaia." She stated with folded arms.
"Do you think she'll do it?"
"We're about to find out." True to her word they saw Chiaia enter the tent with her sword in hand. "She must be really troubled since she didn't even notice us."
"Yeah, I'll stop her if she looks like she's going to kill him." Naruto stated as he sat in the tree above Lashara. They watched as Chiaia unsheathed her sword and held it above Kenshi's sleeping chest.
Waiting they saw her shoulders begin to shake. Suddenly she lowered her weapon and sheathed it before exiting the tent with a long drawn out sigh. "Why didn't you do it?" Lashara asked startling Chiaia who quickly found them.
"Lashara-sama…Naruto…" she muttered as she looked away from them.
"You should just pursue your own happiness, right?" Lashara questioned seriously as she stepped closer to Chiaia.
Chiaia's shoulders began to shake as she spoke. "Even though he's got a keen sense, he sleeps soundly while I point a sword at him. He keeps digging out crystals no matter what I say. And he apologizes to me in his sleep."
Lashara sighed as a wry smile appeared on her face while Naruto coughed into his hands trying to stem his laughter. "Geez…you're scarier than you look aren't you?" Lashara muttered as Chiaia continued tears welling up in her eyes.
"When I see his face…" Naruto sighed as they arrived at the crux of the matter. "Dagmyer huh…?" he muttered catching their attention. "I don't really care what his reasons are…he made a real bad call." He stated simply as he stared into the sky. "He even went so far as to make a deal with a demon." The girls' eyes widened in shock. "He'll be lucky to get out of this alive."
"Naruto you!" Chiaia began to shout only for a stare from Naruto to shut her up as the words died in her throat.
"Not only me, but the countries whom he helped declare war on." He explained as he hopped out of the tree. "Do you really think they'd forgive him if they catch him?" he asked rhetorically as Chiaia stared at her feet before walking away.
"Pretty harsh wasn't it?" Lashara asked as she closed her eyes in thought.
"It was necessary." Naruto stated with a sigh. "What about you, you figure out how we're getting out of here?"
"I have a few plans." Lashara stated with a smile.
"Why don't I like the sound of that…" Naruto muttered with a sweat drop forming on his head as Lashara began laughing.
The next day Naruto was staring at Lashara along with Kenshi and Wan all three of them with deadpan expressions. "You really went and did it." They all muttered as Naruto palmed his face.
"There was no telling how long they were going to keep us there." Lashara defended herself as the Swan broke free of its restraints and started flying in the direction Chiaia had went off to on her own hours before.
"Kenshi…you know what to do." Lashara ordered as Kenshi nodded his head. Wan, buy him time, Naruto make sure none of those demons you mentioned are lurking around."
"Right." They all acknowledged their orders as they ran off to prepare themselves.
"As soon as they activate the vacuum we're on Kenshi." Naruto explained again as the two of them prepared to jump off the swan once it was grounded. "Ready Wan?"
"You two better hurry up, it'll be real hard for me to keep them from destroying the swan on my own." She stated causing the two boys to nod their heads.
"Right, I can sense a few demons disguising themselves as Dagmyer's men." Naruto stated calmly as they braced themselves for impact. "Let's go Kenshi!" he shouted as they hit the ground. "GO GO GO!"
As they ran Kenshi made quick work of the human guards around the area by quickly striking their pressure points knocking them out quickly and efficiently while Naruto drew a short blade and quickly dispatched the demons who were trying to get up from Kenshi's surprise assault.
Reaching the area they were holding Chiaia quickly the duo made short work of Dagmyer's guards as Chiaia managed to throw off the one holding her into Dagmyer when he was taking aim at Kenshi. "Chiaia." Kenshi called out gesturing for her to follow him. "We don't have much time since we need to make a little detour." He explained as Naruto quickly ran his blade through the neck of the guard lying on top of Dagmyer.
"You can thank me later for killing this one before he got any ideas about eating you." Naruto muttered as the man's façade disappeared revealing his demonic visage.
Seeing Kenshi making quick work of the generators Naruto slipped beside Ran who was nearby with her crew. "Any news?" he whispered catching her attention.
Seeing what he wanted she shook her head. "They're doing something with the green haired girl and that Gaia thing." She replied. "Dagmyer was tasked with taking Kenshi out. So we'll be chasing after you until this whole thing's done."
"Good work." Naruto muttered as he slipped some money into her pocket. "Try to get the information to the King of Shurifon and the Queen of Havoniwa"
"Right." Ran muttered as Naruto slipped away. "Pervert held his hand there longer than he had to." She groused as she mentally counted the money he had slipped her.
Naruto grinned as he made his way back onto the swan with Kenshi's help. "Well then I think everything went well." He muttered, only for a large beam of light to whizz past them creating a large trench in the valley they had come from. "Uh…" he muttered as the others stared at the source. "Maybe we should run now."
"Naruto's right we already got Chiaia." Lashara announced over the intercom. "We'll use the path it cleared for us!" she shouted as the Swan retreated from the area. "That thing doesn't seem to be following us. Head straight for Shurifon then."
Naruto sighed as they finally got a chance to relax as Lashara ordered Chiaia to report for her punishment. "Please I just want to sit back and have a drink right now." He whined causing Wan and Kenshi to laugh at him.
"Just like an old man." Kenshi stated while slapping his uncle on the back. "Naruto-ji-san, maybe I should start calling you Jiji." Kenshi suddenly found himself face down on the ground with a large bump on his head.
"Call me that again, and I'm throwing you off the swan." The blonde muttered as Lashara began laughing about something pertaining to selling Kenshi's services.
Kenshi frowned in thought. "Shouldn't we think of an excuse to give the church first though?" he asked remembering that the Church was a big political factor in the world.
Lashara froze as the others tensed up. "You forgot about that didn't you?" Naruto questioned causing the girls to laugh
"No way, who would forget something like that?" Lashara muttered waving him off. With her nervous laughter Naruto and Kenshi weren't convinced.
Letting out a yawn Naruto sat down on the ground. "Welp…" he began catching everyone's attention. "I really need some sleep." He muttered as his eyes closed as he began snoring.
"What…?" Chiaia muttered in disbelief.
"Naruto-Ji-san hasn't slept since the day of the invasion." Kenshi informed her. "He's been running around making sure the others were comfortable and ready for the journey. "It's his nature as a leader, now that things have calmed down enough his body needs to recuperate."
"Oh so that's what it is." Lashara muttered in relief. "When will he be awake?"
"He'll be awake in time for us to meet the King of Shurifon."
End
Alright I decided to end it there, since the rest is kind of difficult to write with an extra person in it, since I wouldn't send Naruto in with Kenshi to sneak an audience with Aura during their house arrest. So in that case it's just easier for me to pick up the story from the meeting with the King next chapter.
Alright I'll see you guys later.
