Wish of a Father [Ys MPC 2.2] (Kitt)

I softly smiled. The Spadamon beside me, if I recall it correctly he was vouched by Ophelia. Being the Elite might be a little bit too daunting for the young mon, but he have proven himself again and again to be a good pick. He's a diligent one, and strives to grow. In team of veteran like ours he might shrink a little bit despite so, he keeps doing what he's best in, and that, in my opinion, was the best quality one could ask from a GLORIA.

"At ease," I would say, "Hmm, right, I haven't told you why I summoned you didn't I? It's quite simple actually. I just... want an escort. Someone who wouldn't look too obvious that it's me when walking beside me. If any of my friend escorted me, they'd stick out like a sore thumb and they'd immediately think that it was me who walks beside them... but in your case, you have been picking up tons of small jobs, right? It wouldn't look out of norm if you guide an old nam to a canal to make a little wish, right?"

Yes, Kitt might says that he's out of place in team full of strong members, but even so, the boy did not realize... he himself have great potential.

"Now, that won't do. KIZNA rules, Article 3: Commissions and Rewards, part 5, paragraph 1 "Upon completion of a mission, a member will be rewarded with agreed upon rewards. Should a reward was not agreed prior, said member may discuss the reward at length with the requester, and if needed KIZNA will mediate. However, in case where the member refused to be rewarded... Then the client may give them anything, provided that it will not harm said member."

after citing that, I grinned and craned my head. "Do you really want the king to give you anything? Just so you know, it'll be fantastic..."

I know this is sly, but sometimes the boy need to loosen up! At his age, what was it that I was doing again?

....Oh right, nearly getting killed somewhere.... *cough* ahem, anyway, the boy need to learn how to be more selfish!

Ah, a polite one, a really polite one. This one would do if it was an official escort duty. Just give him a little bit of formal clothing, probably new armor or something, and we can easily have him stand in as an official escort. But what I want at the moment is someone who's... more flexible. Well, thankfully he finally relented that I could give him anything. I smiled. While the threat of the mansion might indeed too much I think it would be a lesson in "you should be more selfish, both in rejecting and accepting".

"Alright alright, I'll rescind that desire of giving you a mansion now that you decided that you will accept anything... and I'll give you something like an all you can eat pass for a month, in several different restaurants so you can experience new foods. But let's talk about the mission at hand, yes?

First it's as you say, if I ask Ophelia or the rest, they might immediately knew that it is me. Ophi... well, for lack of better words, I'm not sure if she would escort just anyone unless it gave her chance for fight you know what I mean? As for Skadi, well..." I sighed wryly. "...Erm, let's just say the dag have tendency to open her mouth at the wrong time. So if she accidentally called me Papa or something... yeah uh, that would be bad.

...So I want you to address me... hmmm, let's see... something like your elderly father or something... or maybe like a neighborhood grandpa that you escort to nearest canal, far from this palace. ...For today, I'd like to be... someone other than Hikaru. I don't want to be swamped by local and tourists alike... I just... wnat to make a solemn wish, is that fine with you, Kitt?" I asked. "I know that I might have asked too much, but there's no other time but tonight... After this I would be too swamped with my duties. So please, young man... would you grant this father's wish?"

"Hmmm let's see... exiting from here publicly definitely will be harder for our little mission of being under cover... so come, let's retreatt to my bedroom shall we?"

I once again opened the door to my room and walked to the center. There's a reason why I'm using a cane at this time. I gently tapped one of the tile. Hmmm, wait, it's not this one. This one? I tapped one adjacent to it. This time around it made different sound. Ah so it's this one. Alright. I stepped back to the first tile and tossed a pre-recorded magic at the second tile. The tile lit up and slowly vanished.

"A secret pathway, don't you think all palace should have one? It's quite a novelty... well but with MEMORIA, I can't ever see the need of us to use this for security reason... Well incognito is also kind of security I guess."

The secret passage is designed to be dark and damp for those who didn't think twice that it was all illusion, but as a king, I can easily dispell the illusion. I touched the wall and muttered some secret spells... well, it'll sound like gibberish merely because it's programming language. Once i did, it lit up, revealing a long, clean corridor, unlike labyrinth that was the original design. It's also well lit.

"Fufu, are you surprised? This corridor will eventually lead us to one of empty house, but very well maintained that I own. The cover up story is that someone lived in that house, but due to his aging body, he decided to live with his children off somewhere... Well, now and then that guy returned to the house, either to pick up something forgotten, or just stay there because it have some sentimental value.

...Well, 14 years ago, that house is mine, so I'm not lying at all, heh."

After few minutes of walking... Kitt might not notice it, but the passage is kind of accelerating our travel. There's no way we could have came out of my bedroom after walking for few minutes. At most we'll end up in the garden, not even a quarter of my palace's radius.  But thanks to this corridor we have pretty much accelerated that we ended up in my old house. Back then it was just me, Owen, Logan and Haku. Logy mostly in real world, so it didn't take too long for the room to be passed on to Haku and Haku's room passed on to Bezil. We were a small, happy family.

Well, that's before we took residence in the Sanctum.

But even then, this house was still very much nostalgic to me.

"....Well, then...  it's the time... please escort me to... say, the central square. I'll make my wish there," I told Kitt. "....Check your D-NexT if you're not sure where to go, my boy. It'll tell you the direction."

"Well, unfortunately those who I wanted to hide from already know about this route, so I can't quite shrink my duties and just hide over here!" I jested back. "Jill would just open the pathway and dragged me back by my tail! But it's not like I ever skipped my work anyway..."

Kitt's words... seem to be strange, especially when he talked about how wish is childish... is it really childish? I kept following him, and to be honest, i can't quite yet gauge what he's saying in here... so I only could treat it as it is... just a question of curiosity. Admittedly it does sting a little bit being called childish, but... hmn...

"...Hm, that's the question isn't it? Well you see, my boy... Wishes have nothing to do with age, I say... And... indeed, ultimately you have to work for it, and by that logic, you feel that wishing something to become true... is something that might be useless? Is that how you feel it is? Unfortunately I must say I disagree with that... how to say... Wishes are solemn desire from your heart. Indeed, indeed you have to work hard for it. Indeed it won't fall from the sky or out of nowhere--otherwise we won't feel all these mortal needs or even emotions. Desire itself probably won't exist if anything we want would be granted. That's why it feels useless at times and not worth it, but... sometimes... sometimes there are things that are out of your control, and you wish that a chance appear... for the star to align so to say.

You can say it might be placebo effect or something like that, but... I think if wishes and prayers could change something that was 0% to become 1%... that this 1% increase, no matter how small it is, would be very much precious increase. Of course a chance will automatically fails if you're not actively doing something to hit this 1% chance... But... say, you truly want this to happen... you truly, strongly, with all your heart, want something to happen and if there's a window of chance you would try your darnest to hit it... would you not do it?

Wishes are not simply just placebo either. Sometimes it strengthen your will and your desire to get there, and this moral boost makes you more focused and in the end grasp it. By voicing out your wishes, sometimes that sort of possibility happened. Does it sounds too much of a romantic? Or perhaps too hopeful? ...But even if you say that I'm childish, I guess I can't just stop believing that wishes indeed worth it... Why, you ask? Because it's who I am. I'm a Digimon who's partnered with a chosen with crest of Faith. Going against the belief that something good will definitely come out of making a solemn wish basically.. simply impossible. Because otherwise I'll be denying the entire existence of this city, or the live of all of you... for my first solemn wish when I create this city was...

I wish to create a way for us to prosper together."

It might sounded cheesy, but I really wanted a place where I could tell the world... that as long as a chance exist, as long as there is a way, then end goal of having everyone happy... might not be so impossible as they thought.

I looekd at the young mon curiously. Theres something in him that... felt very familiar. Very, very familiar. I listened, longer and then... after the young squire have said his piece, I said something in turn.

"Kitt, if I may... be frank with you... I sensed that you might... have something similar to someone I know... I can't say I understand it, but the vibe I'm getting is basically very similar. I... I'm not necessarily telling you that you need to immediately change, but perhaps, iit's good to give these words some... thoughts I would say?"

We have been walked quite some distance. Evenf rom here I could hear the sound of the fountain water. The Grand Ys square is les than a hundred meters away.

"I feel like, Kitt... is that you're kind of contradicting yourself. In one side, you're an aspiring knight, so you have a clear goal in mind. If you're a realist, yes you understand what it meant to be a knight. Tons of training, sometimes painstakingly until you vomit... and then you must have something to dedicate your heart for, that is what it meant to be a knight, yes? Yes, indeed, you're the only one who can make yourself become a knight... yet, in return... I feel there must be strong conviction and faith for you to keep going through that route.

What you describe at first, is like choice and consequence, but... at the same time, I feel like what causes you to simply accept it is because I feel... there's something that haven't been your ally at all. Perhaps, someone who took care of you wasn't your ally and rather than giving you a chance, they crushed all your chances... perhaps, the world wasn't your ally... but normally, someone wouldn't just accept if they're dealt bad hand. They'll be furious, I feel. They'll try to rebel as hard as they can to get out of this rut... but it's only until the straw broke their back that they began accepting it. Which means... I feel like, this view doesn't come from your heart per se, but something that have been molded into you because... it's much safer that way, I guess? You don't want to be hurt, so you just decided to accept it."

I gently tapped his shoulder. "........I'm not telling you to tell me what's going on, but... I'm a father. A father of fifteen children, more coming along the way perhaps... Basically, I have... numbers of experience under my kilt... So... If you need anyone to talk to... in, you know, more fatherly way, I'm all ears. That much I can offer to you. You don't have to like, follow all my words, but I hope that you could... perhaps, let rambling of this old dragon seep a little bit deep? Food for thoughts I guess? But anyway, what I meant to say is... If the world is not your ally... then let us become your ally. If your past wasn't your ally... then do know that you're not walking alone in the present. Take solace that you're with friends in this present, even if the future is uncertain.

Kheh, I rambled on too much. After this perhaps we should nab some hot chocolate and cinnamon bun? I heard you like them!"