NOVEL FROG Chapter 705 – A Plan given Thought
“Sometimes people came to ideas spontaneously, at other times, much thought was given to an idea before it was set forth. Which was more likely depends on the individual in question, the situation at hand, and at times, even fate itself. You could never tell when you’d suddenly get inspiration out of nowhere, after all. “ - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“You’ve also considered how to deal with your living needs for the time you will be here, then?” asked Aideen just to make sure.
“Worst case, I’ll just live off the land, but that likely won’t be necessary,” said Kino as she brought out her lute and strummed a chord with her agile fingers. “Instructor Yliz said that I was a natural at singing and playing the instrument back then, so I mostly plan to go about as a traveling bard. Easy and safe disguise, there’s always some around, so they rarely attract suspicion!”
“Your kind is rare in the north, though, so you’d attract attention from that alone,” Eilonwy helpfully pointed out.
“Oh, I know. Still nothing a little cape and headwear can’t solve. With the way many bards dressed up I doubt anyone would ask questions about one wearing somewhat odd clothing, wouldn’t they?” replied Kino as she took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around the top of her head, neatly folding her ears underneath the cloth. “Like so, for example.”
“That’d work, yeah. Wouldn’t your hearing be impaired if you had your ears folded like that, though?” asked Celia with some curiosity at the headwear.
“A little bit of muffling, yeah. I can still hear better than humans could even so, though, so it’s not exactly much of an issue,” replied Kino with a shake of her head. “It’s easy enough to hide my tail behind any sort of cape, and from what I’ve seen of other bards going around, capes are one thing most of them wear, so that’s also taken care of.”
“I could also use makeup to alter my looks to some extent, pretend to be a human bard at times, use my real looks when I want to be noticed at other times, it’s a simple enough switch,” she added, reminding Aideen that Kino and Eilonwy had been trained in every aspect as Death Hand agents in the past, after all. “And I’m pretty sure you all know I can handle myself in a fight.”
“Heh, more like none of us stand any chance against you unless we take you by surprise, and even then, it won’t stick since you’re Unliving and all that,” scoffed Eilonwy with mock disgust at the statement. What she said was true, though, as Kino being a Void mage made her by far one of the deadliest beings that walked the world, and her being unliving eliminated the only effective method to handle a Void mage, namely to kill them before they could get into range.
“Glad to see that you have things thought out, at least,” admitted Aideen, who felt a bit sad yet also proud at the same time with Kino’s decision. It was the sort of feeling she imagined a parent would have when a child left their house and started to live on their own, instead of just following along. She herself had taught Kino quite a lot, considered the girl a disciple and a friend.
It was gratifying to see her strike out on her own, instead of just living her life in the confines of Aideen’s vicinity like before.
“Are you also going to raise your hand in the stead of those who could not afford to defend themselves, while you’re here, though? That might pose some risks to your actual plan if you got discovered in the act,” noted Eilonwy once more. “I remember that you seemed rather partial to helping people who were too weak to help themselves back home.”
“If I can get away with it, I likely would,” admitted Kino. “I cannot heal people’s ailments with the wave of a hand like Miss Aideen could, and since I’d be playing the role of a random traveling bard, I would not be able to help people openly that much either. If I get the chance to do more in a situation where I believe I can get away without any serious consequences, though, I would.”
“Make a new identity,” said Aideen all of a sudden.
“Pardon?” asked Kino with some confusion at her sudden words.
“You’re already planning to pretend to be human at times and using your real looks for when you want to attract attention at other times. Make another identity on top of that and use it for when you’re going vigilante on people,” suggested Aideen. “Keep it separate from your other identities, so people wouldn’t connect them and suspect you.”
“That… would work, I guess. Do you have any other advice on this, Miss Aideen?”
“From how I see it, you could go one of two ways to maximize the effectiveness of this identity,” noted Aideen after a moment of thought. “Either you go completely secretive with it, trying your best to leave no traces, making each strike different, so that people would not connect them together and trace them back to your identity, and strive to keep it that way…”
“That… sounds difficult to keep up. I am certain I can keep up the veil of secrecy for a while, but after some decades I doubt that I would not slip up or make mistakes here and there,” admitted Kino with a shake of her head. “What’s the other option?”
“The alternative is to be blatant with your identity, leave something that would identify your actions as something you have done. Make a name of yourself as some sort of enigmatic figure that operates by their own rule, basically,” replied Aideen. “You have some talent in theatrics, so I think this would fit you better as well. You would need to hide less this way, other than to make sure to keep things separate between your identities.”
