When the light finally faded, and the room returned to its normal phase, Levias saw the broken lamp.
"And it had to be the one made from gold…" Placing his hands on his hips, and looking around, he quickly noticed that there was something else.
"What the-?"
A small white fox was curled on the floor where the purple sphere had been.
Levias blinked way too many times, then he rubbed his eyes, but the fox was still there.
Its fur glowed but softly as snow under moonlight, and two little tails twitched behind it.
"Oh no," Levias whispered. His heart began to race like a mad horse.
He knew this creature far too well.
This was her!!!
"The White Demon Fox…."
It was the most beloved companion in the story.
The lucky avatar that had carried the hero to victory. Cute, clever, overflowing with power…
She was a creature everyone adored, until… the end, when she grew too powerful, took on human form, and had to be destroyed.
And now she was sleeping in front of him, so tiny and breathing slowly.
Levias pinched his arm. "Ow."
Nope, it was not a dream.
The fox yawned, then opened her eyes. They were a pale lavender, beautifully innocent. She watched him for a bit longer.
Then, without warning, she hopped into his lap.
"Wait-what are you-hey!"
The fox pressed her nose against his chest.
A sudden energy-like warmth spread through him, travelling directly into his bones.
His shoulders hitched up toward his ears. The warmth settled permanently….
Somewhere deep inside, Levias heard a voice, not words exactly, but a feeling like he was being claimed.
The fox had chosen him…
"Oh no," Levias muttered again. He pointed down at her. "No, no, you've got the wrong guy. You're supposed to belong to the protagonist. The actual hero. Not me. I'm just…look, I'm the desk guy. I file keys. I write names in ledgers. I'm not even supposed to have screen time."
The fox lifted her head, then licked his hand.
"…Oh. You're not listening at all."
He should have pushed her away. He should have run and pretended this never happened.
But somehow the warmth in his chest was too solid and comfortable to reject. The bond had formed whether he liked it or not.
The fox got comfortable on his lap, two tails draped across him like ribbons.
Levias let out a long sigh. "Fine. You win. You're mine now. Or I'm yours. I don't even know how this works."
The fox wagged her tails proudly.
"Great. Just great….what am I supposed to tell my father?"
The fox was small now, but Levias remembered her full potential.
She wasn't just some pet to spend time with. She was fast enough to dodge blades, strong enough to tear through any attacks, and clever enough to sense danger before it struck.
Her instincts alone had saved the hero more times than Levias could count when reading the novel.
And there was more. She wasn't always going to stay a fox. Once she matured, she could shift into a human form…a woman with silver hair and eyes like a dawn.
In that form, her powers multiplied, and so did the risks.
Left unchecked, she grew darker and more evil. She was a demon in truth.
That was why, in the novel, the hero had no choice but to kill her at the end. It was one of the great tragedies of the story.
Levias looked down at her now, she was purring like a cat on his lap. "You're adorable, you know that? And also terrifying. The last chapter of your life was basically a horror story."
The fox blinked, then sneezed.
"Don't act cute," Levias mumbled. "I know what you become."
He stroked her fur absently as his mind was drowning every single possibility of the plot.
He had stolen the hero's greatest companion. The story's strongest support. And the novel's most dangerous threat.
Which meant two things.
One: the hero would now be wandering around without the very thing that carried him through half his battles.
Two: Levias had just painted a huge target on his back.
"I'm so lucky…I could die," he muttered. "Absolutely perfect. I just wanted to save some money, buy a little house in the countryside, and live with chickens. Now I have a demon fox attached to me. Chickens are never going to forgive this."
The fox yipped happily, as if agreeing.
Levias groaned. "We need a name for you, don't we? The novel just called you White Demon Fox. That's not a name, that's a description. People are going to stare if I shout 'Demon Fox' across the lobby."
He tapped his chin. "You're small, and you're female. You look smug. How about…" He paused, then his lips formed a smirk. "Niva. Yes! Short, simple, and not terrifying. Niva the fox."
The fox wagged her tails as if she was approving her new name.
"Good. At least one thing today went right."
He lowered his shoulders uneasily and glanced at the assassin's body still lying on the floor.
The poor man had clearly carried the orb that birthed Niva, but it had been Levias who picked it up, and therefore Levias she had chosen.
He scratched the back of his head. "You know, I should probably report this. Tell the guards there's a dead man in his room. But if I do, they'll see you. And if they see you, they'll try to take you. And if they try to take you, you'll probably eat their faces."
Niva lifted her head, then to the sides.
"Right, no reporting." He stood up carefully, the fox hopped onto his shoulder like she owned the place.
"New plan. We drag the body somewhere safe, pretend nothing happened, and hope fate doesn't notice I stole the hero's sidekick."
He looked at her. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"
Dragging the body was not easy. Levias sweated through his uniform, grunting as he pulled the man into the corner of the room. His arms ached…
"This," he panted, "was not in the job description."
Niva watched from the bed.
"You could help, you know," Levias muttered.
She yawned.
"Useless," he grumbled.
When the body was hidden well enough behind a wardrobe to pass casual inspection, Levias collapsed onto the mattress beside the fox.
His chest rose and fell heavily.
Niva padded over and made her way to lay comfortably beside his head.
Levias stared at the ceiling. "I was supposed to die here, you know. Ceiling falls, crushes me, end of story. But instead, I get you. Which is… better? Maybe? Or maybe worse. Hard to tell."
The fox licked his cheek.
"Stop that. You're not making this easier."
Levias knew his life had just become complicated.
He couldn't give the fox away. He couldn't hide her forever. And he definitely couldn't keep working reception as if nothing had changed.
Yet, despite all this, he found himself smiling.
For the first time since waking in this world, he wasn't just an extra doomed to rubble.
"Fine," he murmured to the fox, who was already asleep beside him. "We'll figure this out. But if you eat my chickens in the future, we're going to have words."
The fox snored softly, ignoring him.
Levias closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the bond flowing through his chest.
Tomorrow will be chaotic...
Tonight, at least, he wasn't alone…"you will have to protect me from my death, Niva…or, I'm going to sell you."