It's about 3 months later. It's now widely accepted in the closest town that my parents lost their child, and adopted a pet fox instead. My mother still works as a researcher at the magic academy and asks semi-regularly to the same elder if he can help me with my condition (and he always says "no"). My father is still a trapper and still semi-regularly guides classes and researchers alike. And I shrunk down my "Watch Later" playlist to only the videos unavailable anymore (I can't access the button to remove them…).
Otherwise, whenever my dad is requested as a guide, I go with him and help him to the best of my capabilities with things like scouting, nightwatch, and tracking preys, and sometimes even hunting or defending the both of us. It's not as hard as you think, even the tracking part. Especially because people don't expect pets to do a perfect job, so there's usually someone that's coming with me.
In those 3 months, I also have gotten way more used to this body of mine. I don't trip every 5 steps, now it's only if I'm too distracted (the same as when I was human) and I can finally go down the stairs like a normal pet, without rolling all the way down. Yes this happened regularly. To the point of my dad picking me up to climb the stairs more often than not.
The only thing is… I guess it's something natural, so there's no shame in talking about it, but… Neither me nor my parents have found a better way for me to poop than having a litter box per floor. I wish I was kidding. I can't use the toilet, because the 3 times I tried I ended up falling inside the hole (the last try was less than a week prior). I won't even try anymore. And a cat door is a very bad idea because we are literally a hundred meters away from the deep forest and that would be an open door for all the animals there.
Anyway, now onto the better part. As you probably know, magical beasts are very rare outside of the dangerous zones. So how can I pass as a magical pet ? Well it's somewhat common in a magical household to have a pet that awakens some sort of magic. Being so close to so many mages, and so close to so many spells, means that after some time the pets might awaken his own. The same way that some beasts can become magical beasts or chimeras if they are in contact with a lot of magic too frequently, magical pets can occur.
The only difference is that there are specialized structures that you can call to either block entirely your pet's mana pathways if you don't want it to have magic (it's the cheaper option because it's a one and done type of operation, even if I find it cruel), or to take your pet to a pet training school for a couple weeks, where they will get trained into controlling that magic. Imma be honest, that's not all sunshines and rainbows either (some pets never return, others become very different when they do), but at least the pet still has his magic. Yes I'm biased, what will you do about it ?
The pet usually awakens either some sort of unique magic that is close to their personality, or some beast-related magic like size manipulation. For example a cat can learn a stealth spell to become invisible, a dog that loves swimming can learn water magic, a parrot might learn sound magic to make even more different sounds, and others specific things like that. I've even heard of the count's son's dog, who was so lazy he could compete with a sloth, that he awakened a sleeping spell. It's very unusual as a spell, but it's also very useful for the young master who was a bit insomniac, and for his protection because fighting a sleepy opponent is easy for bodyguards.
But despite my mom's lessons in Sound magic, I simply cannot make it work. Even if sound is supposed to be a mix of wind and electricity, the only thing I manage to do is shockwaves. That's still useful, because it's a common skill on most magical pets like dogs who awakened it to strengthen their bark, but that's absolutely useless to help me talk with my parents.
I however found a cheesy way to upgrade my capacity to free cast electric spells. As I explained it, I don't really create the element when I cast a spell, I more so enhance one that already exists. Because I have fur all over my body, I made a bracelet out of a rubber balloon to create static electricity easily. I attached it around my tail to not be annoying most of the time. That bracelet makes it a lot simpler to send electric discharges, because it creates the first spark that I can then empower.
Oh and I can also withdraw 1 of my tails for some reason. Perfect to pretend to be a normal fox. It even almost gave my mom a heart attack when she saw me with only 1 tail one morning, and when I showed her that I could summon and withdraw my tail at will, she was so relieved, saying stuff like "I will be able to take you to town without it being too weird now".
Anyway, today I'm with my dad, and we are going grocery shopping. My parents found some sort of harness and a trolley to go with it, which let me help them take groceries back home. I usually only have things that can't break easily, like potatoes, carrots and onions, but I can still help. And because I didn't have anything better to do today (I watched all the latest videos and read all the latest releases of my favourite manga), I agreed to follow my dad refilling the fridge.
Fortunately, most of the shops my dad goes to allow pets inside. There's still one of them that is a bit reluctant about it, however. I sometimes wait outside of his shop if the owner is in a bad mood or if it's too peopley inside. Today was one of those days. I already had a couple full bags of vegetables for the next 3 weeks or so in the trolley, it was absolutely crowded inside, and the owner's face was red from anger because of a previous customer that stormed out for some unknown reason.
My dad told me to "Wait outside at the usual spot with the previous groceries". Not far away from the shop, there's a tree on the side of the road that casts a shadow big enough for me and the trolley. I go there waiting for him to finish, but at some point I see a man that hasn't seen the color and scent of soap in at least a decade heading for the shop my dad went in. Or more accurately, I smelled him (even passersby were disgusted by the smell when they were 10 feet away from him).
But what really made me get up was the bag he had and the look in his eyes. He visibly didn't have anything to lose, you could see that just by the look in his eyes, and he was carrying something that felt dangerous. Now I'm not normally a hero, and never dreamed of being one (too much attention), but that man was visibly trying either to commit a daylight robbery or a mass murder. Or he was just a poor homeless dude who finally received enough money to buy himself something to eat, my anti-paranoia told me.
While I was hesitating between intervening at the risk of attacking an innocent (or becoming a hero) and just waiting to see how things would unfold, the guy passed the shop and went for the bank that's just 1 shop away from the one my dad was in. Now I could be almost sure the guy was about to commit a robbery, but there also wasn't anything threatening me or my dad anymore. Except that I saw my dad getting out of the shop in a hurry and heading for the bank.
I got up, ready to run inside the bank if ever something unexpected happened, and waited.
And waited.
And sat back down once I saw that my dad got out of the bank. Ouf, I guess my paranoia was for nothing… Until he bumped into an invisible wall and fell back, with a couple more people also having the same problem.I saw that my dad was saying something, but I couldn't hear anything. I would love to say that I immediately got closer and tried to dig out my dad, or at least tried to break the barrier, but it's reality, and I honestly was just stunned for a good couple of seconds before carefully approaching the barrier to try to hear what my dad was saying.
And that's when I finally heard the magic barrier (they don't really make a sound, but I could at least feel the movement of mana). I bursted closer to the barrier and the first thing I tried to do to it was a sound shockwave. 2 reasons: 1st, it would alert everyone of the threat, 2nd because it was the only magic I was supposed to have. And yes I did "free cast" the magic.
And here's when it becomes bothersome. Not only did the barrier nullify my bark, but it also reflected it to me. I was blasted out a couple meters away by the repercussions of my own attacks (not badly hurt, fortunately). That did grab the attention of everyone around though. Including a patrolling officer who shouted "What's that beast doing ?!" in astonishment. I then tried again to bark at the barrier, but from an angle and further away this time, and I moved out of the way just after my attack.
The policeman ran to me and was shouting something like "stop" and "sit" before a "shut up" when I barked a third time. The barrier didn't budge at all, by the way. Didn't even wiggle, flicker or show any sign of being attacked. When the cop tried to grab me, I ran out of his range, right into the barrier and tackled it. Funnily enough, that made a VERY loud "BANG" that could have been heard by the entire town. Only then did the officer realize that there was a problem.
Once I saw that he was not trying to grab me anymore, I got closer to the barrier and smelled it. Yes, smell it. It's very surprising, but I could determine if the barrier did continue into the ground or if it was not going past the surface. Unfortunately, since I couldn't smell my dad through the barrier (he was right in front of me), and I couldn't hear him either, I had to conclude that it was a proper bubble-type barrier.
I was getting into position to release my second tail and trying to blast off the barrier, but my dad used the hunting code for "no", "hide" and "tail". Maybe I forgot to say it, but I know most of the signals that hunters use to communicate silently with each other. And my dad was clearly trying to say "No, don't reveal your tail, hide it". And yes I do need to get up and do a little incantation before releasing my second tail, because it's not an illusion, it's literally fusing both my tails into one.
Anyway. My dad was right, because a mage and a whole platoon of cops got out of the police station less than a minute after that, and they were visibly trying to discuss what to do with the barrier around the bank. It was not the normal defensive barrier that is standard around most banks, because those ones are bright red, visible, and come with an alarm sound to warn everyone.
While others were waiting for the law enforcement team to do their job, my dad signed to me "Follow me" and went around the barrier until he was behind the bank, where there was no one to see me. He then signed "go ahead" and that's when I revealed my second tail and started charging a lightning beam with the help of my little balloon tail bracelet. I fired it like a dragon (the only way I found to use ranged lightning attacks), but it still didn't pierce the barrier. I then tried air blades, a lot of them, but it still didn't pierce it. It was starting to visibly weaken though.
And then there were criminals. Or at least a dozen suspicious-looking dudes with their faces hidden who were visibly here to rob the bank. My dad turned around at the same time, because there were 2 other guys behind him. All of them were here to rob the bank, I'm pretty sure. My dad, not feeling heroic, simply raised his hand into the air and kneeled. I can understand him, they both had pre-made elemental wands, magic sticks that store a spell, which can then be used later.
They were all visibly from the black market, as none of them had the standard form nor the standard wind or water spell or even occasional light healing spell, but they still had a bright gem, either red, brown or blue-yellow, that was frighteningly close to a fire gem, an earth gem and a lightning gem. All of them could really easily kill a man. One of the 2 then took my dad and threw him back into the bank, not before punching and kicking him.
Don't worry, the story isn't about my dad so he is fine… At least he was fine after a couple months to recover from the trauma. All that I say was told by my mom because he refuses to talk about it most of the time.
For my part, I was against a good dozen or so robbers, all armed with either wooden clubs, swords or wands, and 1 mage somewhat hiding in the lot. Showing no mercy, I used my signature speed-boosting spell, and ran around all the gang while zapping them each time I was touching them. Unfortunately, my spell isn't an offensive one, so it doesn't really stun them long nor inflicts them enough pain to incapacitate them. I was still too quick for them to be caught in their big slow grip, though.
Now the biggest problem: I can cast 2 different spells at the same time, seeing my signature spell is one such, and even 3 if the conditions are right, but right now, I was stressed as all hell, I was against more opponents that I ever faced in my entire life, and I already exhausted myself a bit by trying to break the barrier with my barks. So at some point, I just put myself to the side and prepared a sonic bang bark.
The mage unleashed an earth spell right under my feet, cracks appeared on the ground and my balance became utterly unstable and I fell. I got up just in time to see that 2 of the robbers tried to catch me, and I unleashed an electric spell that made sparks fly all around my fur. The first one to try to grab me got zapped, he yelped and jumped back. The second one, I avoided him just in time. I reactivated my personal spell and ran around them again. But this time I was thinking about charging a sound shockwave and about what the earth mage might throw at me.