Chapter 269: 102: A Warrior’s Welcome – Part 1

We head out in our racial clothing since we'll be meeting with another Lord-level person.

Klein, Anton, Hukarere, and the other two Chimera accompanying us try to keep themselves from gawking, but the long corridor of huge, imposing metal gates is just too outlandish for them to ignore. The Imperial [Eternal Gate] Network is a small marvel, not of aesthetic beauty, but of engineering.

The entire empire is connected through these gates, and they're so heavily protected that even if an army tried to force its way through, they wouldn't be able to do it in a reasonable time frame. It's an amazing concept to think about, really. It isn't cheap to maintain, but the benefits outweigh the cost by far.

We go to Mac Gantus again, then we take another gate to Roubaix, the seat of power in the Misty Low Forest.

The air instantly changes, becoming cooler and damp, and the guards here are all orange werefoxes. Their ceremonial helmets have been shaped to accommodate their pointy fox ears, and their tails are allowed to hang out of their armor. Curiously, Alissa's hair is orange-y, but closer to brown, while the guards' is bright orange.

"Dad's hair is red, and my parents never prayed to the Goddess of Fertility for my hair color to be orange, so I was born with a mixed color," Alissa explains through [Bind].

The officer reads our names thrice, then he excuses himself and leaves the Network to confirm something. He comes back a minute later and tells us that we're allowed to take the Network's exit to the Chief's home.

Alissa smiles happily, and her tail wags softly. As Vanea once told us, Alissa's mother has always been watching our movements.

We cross through the [Eternal Gate] exit, and the first thing we see is an orange blur accompanied by heavy footsteps as someone suddenly crashes into Alissa, then lifts her into a hug.

"Alissa!" A young female voice cries out.

"Allura! You grew!" Alissa shouts, then returns her sister's hug quite firmly, and I finally manage to take a look at the tackler.

Allura is a shorter-haired Alissa with a stronger jaw and orange, reddish hair. The impressive thing is that she has fox legs peeking out from under her not-kimono, and since her feet are digitigrade, it's like she's constantly standing on her tiptoes, which makes her taller than the average werefox, who would normally be about as tall as Alissa.

We hear some laughter coming from behind them, and I turn my attention to the rest of the occupants of the room.

The most striking of them is a tall, muscular, heavily bearded, red-haired man with a build similar to Anton's, though he seems to have less fat. His hands are rather big, with red fur on the backs of his hands, and he also has large claws, but they don't seem to be any sharper than mine.

On his right is an orange Alissa but fully matured with smaller, stern eyes. Her beauty makes me instantly horny, which is kind of a bad thing considering who she is. Though, it makes me happy to think that as Alissa gets older, she might one day look like this, with the "wise, mature fox" look, a main course of stern and experience, lots of cheeky details, and a dash of wildness.

And on the left of the red-haired beast is a beautiful, fragile, white snow fox. The woman has such delicate features and such pale skin that she's like a doll. If my life was a xianxia I'd be spouting "jade-like skin" nonstop.

They're all wearing not-kimonos with cute chibi foxes stamped all over the fabric, except for the jade-like beauty, who prefers butterflies enveloped in mist.

We line up and smile cordially at each other, but once Aoi arrives, the red beast twitches in surprise, then stares intensely at Aoi until his wife grabs his hand.

Allura drops Alissa and then kisses her forehead and cheeks repeatedly, her tail wagging with a specific cadence that I recognize very well: mischief.

"A-A-Alluraa~…! Stop it!" Alissa complains, suddenly feeling very awkward. In her memories, Allura was still just a child, so she isn't ready for this tall, almost-woman to act so familiar with her, not to mention that her mind instantly shifts towards thoughts involving my fetishes.

But then, Allura pushes Alissa into her budding breasts. "Hahahaha! You can kiss Ofilia on the mouth, but not me?!" Allura teases her with a cheeky grin.

Hm… Who…?

"That was training!" Alissa protests but returns the hug again.

Allura drags Alissa towards their parents, then she breaks the hug, and Alissa finally gets a good look at them.

"Mom, Dad," Alissa greets them, her voice wavering a tiny bit.

Léonne's stern look softens, and she breaks into a wide smile, then she walks forward and pulls Alissa's head towards her chest.

Jacques grunts and grins, then crushes the three of them with a bear hug, just like how a certain dragon also likes to do. Ofilia finds Alissa's hand, then gives it a kiss.

The red Dad releases them after just a few seconds, showing a lot more restraint than a certain red-haired woman.

"Pff… it barely lasted long enough to make them struggle to breathe," Hana grumbles through [Bind], sounding rather disappointed.

"I'm back!" Alissa shouts and grins like a child.

Then Ofilia finally gives Alissa a proper hug. "Welcome back, Alissa," she gently whispers and kisses Alissa's cheek, making her blush.

"And I thought I had some warped desires," Roxanne comments through [Bind] as she reads Alissa's thoughts.

"It's because you've all corrupted me! But it's not like I'm ashamed of it…" Alissa retorts, then quickly amends because she really isn't ashamed of her thoughts, it's just that they're a bit too sudden for her.

"Mere words can't express our pride in seeing you returning to us, not as a slave, but as a Lord," Léonne whispers to her, causing Alissa to suddenly freeze in surprise, then she grabs Alissa's face so that the two of them can look at each other in the eye. "We've all watched your journey as closely as we could, and there are many things that I want to talk to you about, but let's not make the rest of our family wait on their feet."

Alissa remains still for a moment, then she remembers that we're here too and turns around. She coughs awkwardly and starts the introduction, "Mom, Dad, Sis, Ofilia, these are my sister-wives and my husband."

"I'm Léonne Verner, Chieftess of the Misty Low Forest," her mother politely introduces herself.

It's kind of funny that a fox has a lion's name. Maybe it's her "true nature," or something like that.

"I'm Jacques Verner, Chief of the Misty Low Forest," the red beast grunts, seeming a bit more aggressive than Léonne's stern, but calculating demeanor.

"I'm Allura Verner. Alissa's younger sister and the Chosen Descendant," the fox almost-woman proudly announces. She's kind of tall for her supposed age, but looking at Jacques, it's easy to understand why.

"I'm Ofilia, Jacques' Blood Slave," the white beauty introduces herself in a Lady-like manner, then she hugs Jacques' arm like a lover, and I feel a heavy disappointment in my heart.

"I kissed her and tasted her tongue many times back when I was a child, so I'll share those memories with you," Alissa cheekily comments in my soul space.

Yes, please do.

I love Alissa so much that anyone who even remotely looks like her makes me horny, so I'm quickly falling in love with both her mother and her sister.

Then we introduce ourselves, and Jacques starts staring apprehensively at Aoi again when it's her turn. Alissa thinks that he might hold some hate for dragons since they're the reason that the Misty Foxes entered the deal that forced Alissa into becoming a Blood Slave.

"It's an honor to finally meet you all," I politely announce and lower my head respectively.

"Yes, finally," Jacques grumbles, and his wife squeezes his arm while still smiling.

"Likewise, your Highness," Léonne replies with a subtly teasing tone.

Is every fox we meet going to be mischievous like Alissa?

"It's only because she's very happy right now," Alissa explains through [Bind], and I notice how their tails are all wagging softly.

"We hold similar positions, there's no need for this degree of formality," Yunia casually states.

"They're your extended family," Alissa points out.

And with that, Léonne acquiesces, "Then we shall treat you so."

Allura suddenly chimes in excitedly, "Sooo~, not-blood-brother, are you really a new race?"

Aoi and I grin at each other, then change into our secondary forms, making Allura hum in wonder.

"Dragons…" Jacqus grumbles tiredly under his breath.

But Léonne seems intrigued. "Ghulam told me that you were special, but I would've never been able to guess at how far you'd rise," she comments as she walks closer, then we return to our normal forms. "May I see your claws?"

I gladly offer her my hand, and she inspects the scales thoroughly. "An Azurite follows you, while you're a Symbol of Might, and yet, you're…" -She raises her sharp, calculative eyes to me, and I swear that she's holding back a chuckle- "not very tall."

I smile kindly and shrug, trying to keep my tail from swaying about and revealing my emotions. "I'm a hybrid. While in my humanoid form, my magic is stronger, and in my dragon form, my physical power increases."

"Ah, I see, an interesting balance," she quietly remarks and smiles at Gify, who returns a happy chirp, then she returns to her husband's side. "Let's continue this talk somewhere more comfortable."

We take off our shoes and follow her.

Werefox architecture is rather similar to Japanese. Their houses are raised and are made with a black, ashy wood, which makes it all look pretty cool. The interiors are partitioned by thin sliding doors, but above them, there's only open space due to the high ceiling, so the hot, damp air of the entire building gathers in one area and rises up instead of lingering in a closed room.

Nobody wears shoes in here since everything is waxed, but Aoi and I put on clean slippers since our bare claws would leave scratches on the planks. Sometimes, the planks creak when we step on them, but while Jacques makes absolutely no sound as he walks, Hana and Aoi raise a cacophony with their heavy steps.

"I'm quieter than Cie~l, I'm quieter than Cie~l," Roxanne sings in my soul space with a cheeky grin.

"Only because my breasts are so big," Ciel tries to counter with a pouty look.

"I'm much, much quieter than you. Are you sure that they're the only reason?" Roxanne dodges masterfully.

"You're using your wings to float," I pull the rug out from under her feet, and she grunts as her ruse is revealed. Ciel didn't even notice Roxanne's bat wings hidden behind her back.

"Cow tits…" Roxanne grumbles, and Ciel sticks out her tongue at the defeated imp.

The Estate is eerily quiet, too. The air of the elven castle is generally filled with sounds of the rustling leaves, creaking branches, running water, and birds and other small animals that come to visit, and even the maids can be quite loud with their beautiful crystalline voices.

"More like everyone else is absurdly loud," Alissa mumbles inside my soul space.

"If you're the only one who's different, then, statistically, you're the outlier," I sagely reply.

"What's normal to me is different from what's normal to you," she retorts, and I chuckle, then we leave it at that.

We're taken to a simple room with a low table in the middle, cushions spread all around it, and a large number of porcelain tea sets displayed across an entire wall.

The Lordsguard will stay in the room right next to ours where the Sworn Hunters will keep them company. Alissa recognizes a few familiar faces among them, but she'll go greet them later.

The Verners sit first, and even the way they lower their bodies seems very controlled. While Ofilia sits on her legs in the traditional seiza position, the Verners and Alissa are more relaxed and sit with their legs crossed. The girls and I try to sit like them, but we're clearly a lot more awkward, and our postures aren't as straight.

Ofilia immediately starts preparing tea with motions that perfectly remind me of Alissa, then I see her smug, foxy smile inside my mind.

"Would you care for some Tonique to wipe away the drowsiness of the morning?" Léonne politely offers.

"Every morning. Alissa got me addicted to it," I earnestly accept.

"You actually like it?" Jacques asks with a single raised eyebrow, his deep voice echoing in the open room.

"It's pretty tasty," Hana shares, and Jacques frowns worriedly.

"Gih," Gify agrees.

"Nature spirits don't count," Léonne retorts with a wry smile.

"It gets the fire going inside of me. I could even drink it before a battle," Aoi chimes in.

"Wow," Allura mumbles, impressed with Aoi's draconic double voice and the fact that even dragons like Tonique.

"I'm a lazy lizard in the morning, so I need it to wake up the dragon within me," I confess.

"My mouth is pretty good at waking you up through your dick," Hana teases.

"Wouldn't he just try to oversleep every day, then?" Allura jokingly asks, her cheeky grin looking twice as cheeky as the usual one we'd get from Alissa.

Ofilia stops mixing the teapot for a moment to glance at Allura and narrows her eyes, then wordlessly continues.

"Only if he wants to be drained to death because we certainly know how to do it without waking him up," Roxanne joins in, grinning like a child.

While Jacques blinks blankly as he processes the girls' lewdness, Léonne stops the conversation from degenerating even further before it can even really begin, "It seems that quite a lot of people enjoy Tonique. What else from our culture did you get them addicted to, Alissa?" Her tone is surprisingly kind considering Alissa's many memories of her mother's sharp, stern gaze as she worked in her office.

"Well, there's barely anything out there!" Alissa shouts indignantly and hits the table with her palms. "Even these clothes were made by the elves. Why don't we export more? It'd make the homesickness so much more bearable if I could at least get myself some Apaisant or Frele leaves!"

Jacques starts laughing out loud, and Allura chuckles, but Léonne is definitely embarrassed. "Well, these are our teas, something that can only be grown in our land, and we don't want to lose our precious symbols," she quickly makes excuses.

Alissa pouts so hard that her cheeks puff out a bit. "What, are the teas going to rot if we start selling them outside the forest?" She angrily presses her mother with a mocking tone.

Léonne's ears twitch, and she seems a bit ticked off now. "Alissa… you know that we're allowed to self-govern the way we want, and these teas are ours. Are you seriously getting mad over tea?"

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Alissa turns her nose away just like a certain snobbish elven woman I know. "Not mad, just very annoyed that you haven't given me a proper reason for keeping them from me."

Léonne snorts and mimics her mockingly. "We didn't keep it from you, we just held onto two of the symbols of our culture."

"Culture, schmulture," Alissa grumbles and lowers her head in defeat.

"What…?"

Jacques wheezes as he laughs his ass off. "You really didn't change, Alissa… Well, maybe you changed just a bit," he teases her and runs his claws through his red beard like a comb.

Ofilia finishes serving us, and while we sip the hot tea, Léonne rings a bell, calling for a maid. "Bring me a bag of Apaisant and a bag of Frele tea leaves along with a small portion of all the sweets made with these teas that we have stocked in the kitchen," she orders, and Alissa's tail shoots up in surprise, then Léonne gives her a cheeky smirk. "Someone has missed the tastes of the Misty Forest a bit too much."

Alissa blushes and looks down to her cup while the maid grins and leaves with a bow.

With the silliness in the air fading away, Léonne starts talking about more serious matters, "Anyway, I wanted to talk about… your adventures, but there has been so much outrageous news about you that I don't even know where to start."

"Chronologically," I chime in, and Léonne chuckles at my laconic suggestion.

"Very well… the first thing I'd like to know is how you got involved with Vanea Anara." She gives us a sharp stare, her inexpressive face so unreadable that even Yunia is impressed with her [Acting] skill.

"That was kind of a coincidence, really," I mumble as I reminisce.

"Your nickname is 'Good Luck,' you're Gifted, and both Alissa and you are Blessed. I don't believe in coincidences," Léonne points out with a flat tone.

I tap my chin in thought with my padded claw as I ponder, "I… kind of think that it wasn't really a coincidence at all." Then I turn to the girls. "Remember Shade? Arreira said that he whittled away my ego and soul, but something 'divine' remained, and he guessed that it's been guiding my actions all along. It could be my Thread of Fate, or something."

"You just… that just gave me so many more questions," Léonne whispers tiredly while she facepalms, and Jacques and Allura are simply too confused to speak.

"It's not really that complicated," Ciel calms her down with an angelic smile. "His 'Piety' has been increasing a lot, and he can almost be considered a priest now, so I think that the Gods have always been influencing him and his Fate. Therefore, there really haven't been any true coincidences in his life, only things that the Gods influenced him to do or events that were deliberately guided towards him."

Like that damned Symbol of Hate.

"That sounds dangerous…" Jacques grumbles warily.

"Well, at least Alissa got what she had always dreamed of," Léonne retorts with a wry smile and pats his log-like arms in consolation just like Klein does for her dad.

"And even more than that, a lot more," Alissa adds and hugs my arm tightly.

I wrap our tails together, then I lay my head against hers and smell her Ranja perfume.

"At least she's happy," Ofilia chimes in with a very warm tone, blessing us with her beautiful smile.

"My God, I want you to fuck Ofilia so badly… but she's Dad's woman," Alissa whispers in my soul space, sounding just as disappointed as I am.

Then something occurs to me. "You said something about Ghulam? Wasn't he the one who sold Alissa to me?" I question Léonne.

At that, she smiles subtly, looking rather sly. "Yes, I had a talk with him to ask him about his reasons for selling my precious daughter to a random adventurer whose sword still shined new. He told me that you had a very powerful backer and that he had seen a deep 'potential' within you. Obviously, I had to hold Jacques back from strangling him, but we waited to see how you would treat her, and you didn't disappoint."

Alissa raises her head and glares at her mother. "How far did you go to spy on us?!" She exclaims, indignant.

Jacques immediately looks away, and the big red beast suddenly looks like a spooked house pet wanting to hide in fear.

Léonne immediately answers categorically, "As far as the Elders allowed us to, but we only paid for information, and we only ever sent an agent to meet with you once." But Alissa hears the tremble in her voice.

"If you had ever tried to interfere, I'd have made sure that you learned a lesson," Alissa warns her with a dangerous tone, but also with a cute pout that undermines her threat.

"You'd have done the same if you were in their place," Ofilia tries to calm Alissa.

She pouts harder, but doesn't deny it.

We end up retelling our tales of travel, again, but it can't be helped. At least Léonne kept herself up to date with our adventures, so we got through everything a lot faster than we did with the Gilbiks.

Léonne sighs and rests her head on Jacques' arm, looking up to the ceiling as she ponders, "A Divine Intervention means that something Wicked is happening. I don't think the Gods would spend so much of their power on doing that if they didn't need the temple to recognize you."

We all turn to Ciel, but she blushes in embarrassment and admits, "I don't know that much about Divine Interventions. My focus was on worshiping the Goddess of Love."

"One of my strengths is history, so I know quite a lot," Léonne admits with a rather lofty expression, but then her expression turns serious. "The most famous Divine Intervention was during the Heresy of the Tower of Decay. The Gods saved the humanoids living in the Kolmyr region, but the land ended up becoming corrupted, creating the Deadlands."

"Ah! I remember that one!" Lina suddenly exclaims excitedly, but then she blushes and lets her head hang in shame. "Actually, I've just read some mentions of it, so I don't know what actually happened."

Léonne gesticulates with her hands as she deliberates, "I'll spare you the boring details and scholarly arguments-…"

"I don't find them boring," Lina interjects as her curiosity is piqued again.

The wise old fox subtly smiles in amusement at the eager little dwarf. "Alright, little scholar, we'll discuss the details later, but the summary of that event is that heretics wanted to revive Ender, the Hand and Child of the God of Destruction, a dragon who had died there a long, long time ago. They failed because Emperor Cyd destroyed both their ritual and their tower, but that unfortunately resulted in such a massive burst of undead corruption that the land is still contaminated with it to this day."

Lina frowns as a rather worrying realization comes to all of us. "So, like Aremut?" She hesitantly asks.

Léonne gently shrugs. "Kind of, which is why the Emperor is reluctant to brute-force his way through its purification."

"So it's our Fate to go there?" I ask what we're all thinking.

"I wouldn't go there without a direct Message from the Gods," she grimly cautions me.

Well, I did get "guidance" to study that [Otherworldly Summoning] spell… but there was no time limit given for that, so the girls' parents come first!

"So, you're like a hero?" Allura suddenly asks, her orange eyes looking dreamy.

"That would depend on his results, but we can all agree that the Gods have a plan for him," Léonne answers while giving me a measuring look.

Alissa hugs my arm tighter, and her tail starts wagging lazily. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together with our heads held high," she boldly states and grins adorably.

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