Shadow (1) [OLD CHAPTER]

Silence protruded the air as the two locked eyes onto one another. The fox wagged its tail as it anticipated for the other to answer whilst Shinto was taken aback by the appearance of the animal in front of him.

'...a fox?' he thought to himself as he turned to the last few notifications in front of him.

[ The shadow has been successfully summoned. ]

'So this is the shadow that I summoned?' he tilted his head while observing the fox in front of him. The fur of the animal was a mixture of purple and black, while the paws and the end of the fluffy tail were coloured silver. 'I never expected for it to be a fox...'

"Are you not going to say anything?" The fox continued to wag it's tail as it stared at Shinto waiting for his answer. "You are the shadow diviner right?"

"Yes, I am the one," Shinto nodded his head.

"Finally! I've waited for so long!" The fox jumped for joy as it jumped towards Shinto in a hussle, quickly pushing Shinto slightly back. Although its appearance was small, it still packed a force.

"...!!" Shinto staggered back as he looked towards the fox now below him. He saw that it sat down and began making weird movements.

"Shadow diviner! I am 'Kon', the shadow of the fox from the Shades Race. It is a pleasure to finally meet with you again!" The fox introduced with great delight. "So, shadow diviner! What is our first order of business?!"

Shinto let out a cough as he heard Kon spoke. "Err, well... Firstly, can I ask you a few questions?" he asked.

"Of course! Anything for the Shadow Diviner!" The fox wagged its tail. "What would the question be?"

"...what do you know about the 'Shadow Diviner'?" Seeing as how Kon seemed to know some things about his class, Shinto asked away. He was given the class without any prior context on its information and background. He only knew it was related to 'Altric'.

"...you are asking me what I know about the Shadow Diviner?" Kon blinked at the question. "Um, is this a test? Ah, well... I know that you are the one who brings balance to two opposing sides! Which why you called for me right? There's an evil we must defeat?"

"Is that all you know?" Shinto continued asking.

"Yes, that's all I know!" Kon's eyes brightened. "So did I pass the test, Shadow Diviner?! Am I worthy to serve you?!"

"...Is that really all you know?" he said.

"Mhm!" Kon nodded his head. "Did I fail? Please tell me that I didn't! I don't want to go back there disappointing them that I can't serve you..."

"Go back to where?"

"My home!"

"...and where's that?"

"The realm of shadows of course! The Shades Race live there, don't you know?"

"The Shades Race?"

"It's my race!"

"...I can see that," Shinto let out a sigh. It seems that he could only go so far as to question the fox in front of him. At the very least, he got some information out of Kon. "Then, one last question. What is the realm of shadows and where is that?"

"Oh, the realm of shadows is the Shadow Diviner's subspace, right? It exists wherever you exist. We of the Shades Race live there as you gave us a home! And we are very thankful for that!"

"...I see so that's how it is. How can I get there?"

"Hmm? Why are you asking me that, don't you know about it already? Ah is this a test? Well... From what I heard from my brother and sister... You have a power that allows you to enter it as you please, right?" Kon said. "It's that same power as to how you are able to call us!"

"Right... Then, that would be it, thank you for answering," Shinto said.

"So did I pass?! Please tell me I pass?!"

"Cough... Well... Here's the thing, Kon..." It appeared that Kon was heavily mistaken that Shinto had his full powers when he summoned Kon or in other words, it felt like Kon was thinking that he was someone else. "I... Don't even know whether what you said is even true."

"Eh?! What do you mean?!" Kon shouted out. "Do you have amnesia?! Oh no! I'll have to tell everyone about it so they can help you!"

"Wait, wait, wait! You're mistaken. I don't have amnesia, but, you see... I don't know much about this 'Shadow Diviner' thing. I was hoping you'd tell me, but... It seems this is as far as you know?" he said.

"...you don't know much about the Shadow Diviner? Hey, isn't that amnesia?!"

"No, I don't have amnesia. I just know next to nothing about this at all since I was given the abilities without prior context," Shinto explained.

"...Ah. Right... Brother did tell me that, which is why he insisted on going himself... Ahh! I'm such an idiot for forgetting such a fact!" Kon cried out. "Please forgive me! I'm so useless!"

"I-It's fine..." Shinto hurriedly said. "Then... Since this 'brother' of yours knows more about it, is it possible for me to call him?"

"Ah um... Well... He told me that this ability could only summon me for the time being if I went... Ahaha..." Kon laughed awkwardly. "I'm terribly sorry for insisting!"

"..." Shinto shook his head helplessly. "...Then did your brother say anything else to inform me? Like, what I'm supposed to? The origins?"

"...I was too excited that it kind of slipped my mind," Kon helplessly said.

"When you're not summoned, you go back to the shadow realm right?" Shinto said. "Can't you just get the information from your brother then?"

"Ah... Well, err... If I remember correctly if I get unsummoned, I go back to the spot I was originally at, but here's the thing..." Kon said. "My brother and sister aren't at the shadow realm right now..."

"...what do you mean? Where did they go?"

"They said they had to prepare for when you summon them... So like, they went off to train themselves!" Kon explained.

"Sigh... Then there isn't anything we can do about this then," Shinto said. "You say that this ability can only summon you for the time being? Does that mean I can summon others when it grows further?"

"Yep! I think..." Kon said. "But for the time being... You can only summon me!"

"...alright then. Well, it looks like I've got to level up this skill then if I want to learn more about this class."

"I'm so sorry, Shadow Diviner!" Kon bowed his head. "Excitement took the best of me..."

"...It's fine and you can stop calling me Shadow Diviner you know? You can just call me by my name, 'Shinto'."

"...I feel that I'm not worthy by calling you by your name..."

"...then what do you prefer calling me then?"

"Is Shadow Diviner not good enough?"

"No. It is too much of a mouthful."

"Then do you have a suggestion?"

"...Er," Shinto thought to himself as he was reminded of how Frey calls him. "You can call me master then..." He let out a cough of embarrassment. Asking someone to personally call him master was rather embarrassing in itself. However, with the way this situation turned out to be, it couldn't be helped.

"Oh! Master! That is fine!" Kon happily agreed.