Is That Santa?

2 | No One Told Me Androgynous Children Were This Shrewd.

After Hannah disappeared, the boy's amber eyes twinkled in a strange light. "I've done as you asked, my Lord," he spoke to the void around him, his lips curling.

"En. You've done well, Kirsch," replied a voice from the nothingness. The voice seemed to speak from a distant realm but that alone was enough to make Kirsch's dimension shudder.

The boy, whose name was Kirsch, stood up to his full height. He was clad in a silvery tuxedo and wore a worried expression. "But my Lord, are you certain that this has been the right decision? To send such a good-for-nothing girl to that world..." His voice lowered. Kirsch had not revealed his deep-rooted disdain towards recluses earlier but, now that Hannah had left, his ingrained arrogance was revealed.

The voice in the void simply said, "Don't question my decision, Kirsch. You do know that she passed the test. She has therefore earned my acknowledgment."

Kirsch pursed his lips, a response biting his insides. He couldn't comprehend how winning a mere video game satisfied the Lord's qualifications. Nonetheless, he released a helpless sigh and replied, "As you wish, my Lord. I will ensure to monitor her and give you detailed reports of her movements."

"Of course."

Then, the subtle pressure that had overcome Kirsch's dimension disappeared, implying that the enigmatic being had dismissed him.

Kirsch heaved a soft sigh and calmly glanced at where Hannah had been seated earlier. He remembered how unsightly she had been. Calling her 'unsightly' was an understatement by his standards but he chose to call her so, out of his reverence of his wise Lord.

"Monitoring her activities will be a good pastime. However, I do wonder if she can even survive a day in that collapsed world," he muttered in slight disinterest, and a screen appeared before him. A dirty child's stunned face was on the screen. Kirsch smiled.

* * *

It was a tiny mysterious village on the outskirts of the Empire.

Were the Empire to be attacked by an enemy nation, this village would be forgotten even amidst the war. It was located in the heart of a forest infested with terrifying monsters.

You would expect the villagers to be fighting for their lives day and night. However, that is not the case.

An androgynous child in ragged clothes and waist-length black hair strode to the riverside with a dirty wooden receptacle. The child's black hair was unkempt and undoubtedly infested with all kinds of pungent organisms. It would be perfect to say that her head had become a country of tiny critters. Her clothes, undeserving to be called garments, were no better.

As the pitiful little girl(or boy??) knelt by the gurgling river to fetch water, her bare feet sunk into the sodden soil. Unbeknownst to her, a hungry monster was eyeing its scrawny prey from the dark bushes.

The child obliviously ogled her reflection in the water, and her big, stale-grey eyes stared back at her. Those eyes glittered all the more beautifully when the girl brushed her thick bangs up.

Suddenly, the child felt a chill run down her spine as a threatening howl reached her ears. She tilted her head and her eyes widened as she was met with the enormous pouncing body of a furry snow-white beast. It was a white fox that was two times the size of an average adult, leave alone the little girl.

The child met the beast's vermillion eyes(as the creature had leaped into the air from the bushes) and immediately, something no less than a miracle happened. The fox froze in mid-air, growling in stupefaction. Its furry body was trembling and its quivering red eyes displayed the creature's shock as it was there, mid-air and immobile.

The girl revealed no surprise.

[How...how could this be?!] the fox thought to itself.

Unexpectedly, the beast received a reply from the unsmiling androgynous child before it. "Oh? You are capable of speech, are you? That makes this easier...Hello. My name is Arthur Santos and I'm a beast tamer," the girl said. Her bangs had fallen past her forehead, concealing her grey eyes and making it difficult to gauge her expression.

[A beast tamer? How dare a mere beast tamer immobilize me?!] The fox growled fiercely and tried to retaliate but its efforts were fruitless. Its furry white body remained fixed in the air.

The girl nodded thoughtfully. "If you agree, it will be easier for the two of us," she responded carefully, and the fox caught a glimpse of her grey eyes that somehow seemed to freeze the blood in its veins.

The fox was not immune to reason. Rationale was but a means to survival. That was why it quelled its fury and began to consider the girl's words.

[...What do you mean, human?] asked the white fox.

The girl continued, unsmiling, "I am of the Santos clan that has overtaken the heart of this forest. You are aware of our lineage's inborn power to tame beasts, are you not?"

[You cannot deceive me. That treacherous clan has white hair. All of them do.] The fox growled, flames of fury rising within it. The girl just smiled.

"Of course, I am a half-blood, but I still hold the same ability, Silver Tail. Everyone in our clan can tame beasts and, if we fail to tame a beast due to perhaps retaliation from the latter, then our target shall die by default. Do you understand now?" The girl spoke clearly, making the fox glare at her but dread was now snaking into its nerves.

[What do you want?]

"I just want to tame you," she stated and shrugged, "I can't make any promises, like protecting you while you're my familiar. Regardless, I will at least feed you, brush your fur and wash you...I can even let you out to hunt by yourself or—"

[That sounds like the promises of a human male to a prostitute. I need not hear anymore.] The fox growled lowly, its red eyes scrutinizing the gaunt girl.

"Does that mean you disagree?" the girl asked, sounding a little aggrieved.

The fox stared at her. [You are not like other humans, are you?]

The girl paused and tilted her head. "No. I promise I am worse," she remarked.

The fox glared at her and made a sound that seemed to resemble a scoff. [That is good enough for me. I do believe that the evil minds of humans can only be defeated by a more evil human mind if that makes sense. I agree to your request.]

The girl thought to herself, "You were just lonely, weren't you?" This Silver Tail fox was one of the swiftest monsters in that forest and yet it had submitted to the strange girl, out of loneliness.

[Hurry up and tame me, you shrewd girl. You must have visited this area in the first place, aware that this was my territory. Tsk, humans are truly evil.]

The girl quickly cemented their new relationship, after which the white fox was shrouded in a blue hue.

A mechanical voice resounded in her ears.

<You have tamed a beast stronger than you for the first time. Would you like to name it?>

The fox now stood on all four limbs on the ground, licking its fur. It shot her a fierce look and its thoughts were transmitted to the girl's mind.

[You better grant me a name that shall strike fear into people's hearts, human.]

"Ah, is that so? Fear, huh? How about..." the girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully before smiling, "Whitey."

The white creature was so shocked that it could only gaze at her speechlessly. The hue surrounding its body intensified as an announcement was revealed to master and familiar.

<Level 20 "Silver Tail Fox" has been named {Whitey}. The familiar {Whitey} will evolve to a Level 3 "Snow Demon".>

Still, the creature retained its shock, gazing at her with a complex expression. The androgynous child, who claimed to be called Arthur, patted the evolving beast's head. "Well, well, Whitey. We'll be together for quite a while, won't we?" he remarked, a smile emerging on his delicate, effeminate features.