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After evolving and Changing Jobs, Ervas and Veronica decided to quickly move to the tent where the people rescued from Oggoth's hands were resting.
Because they were in the Squirrel-kin tribe, it took them around two minutes by flying at max speed. In the way, Ervas drank the blood of various small animals and monsters he found around to satiate his hunger for a bit, leaving a trail of mummified carcasses.
Reaching the tribe, they were greeted by the guards and Veronica's clones alongside Ervas' plant-type monsters that were taking care of the tribe as most of the population were in the North Raccoon Tribe celebrating the victory in a large feast.
"Ah welcome back! But weren't you two at the Raccoon-kin tribe celebrating?" asked one of the guards, a tall Squirrel-kin woman with a large scar across her chest, glossy chocolate-colored skin, dark-colored hair, and tail and chestnut-colored eyes while wielding a long spear, named Ditoyle.
"Hello, Ditoyle, we came back to see the rescued people," said Ervas.
"I see, please follow me," said Ditoyle while guiding Ervas and Veronica towards a large tree at the center of the tribe, this tree was usually used as a shrine where the Squirrel-kin would do rituals and pray to their Goddess Ratatoskr for good fortune, fertility, and fruitful hunts.
The elders of the tribe were currently doing a ritual with many aromatic incenses over the sleeping rescued people, which was their form of 'purifying' them.
In Kritias, purification of the body was not just a symbolic thing, it was possible through skills and magic, alongside the blessing of gods and their divine power.
If the elders of the squirrel-kin tribe unified their faith and spells, calling upon Ratatoskr, if the goddess were not very busy, she would most likely grant them a bit of her power to do a 'purification'.
Ervas and Veronica stood still as they glanced at the beautiful 'elders', who although were named as 'elders' looked like youthful mature women with incredibly beautiful appearances and alluring figures.
Despite their appearances, most of them were over sixty years old, and had many children, due to this, their bodies develop to such beauty, but also weakened to the extent that they were incapable of hunting anymore or using much physical strength, remaining at the shrine or in their tents for the majority of the time. They would also cook for the tribe together or create various small medicines. Thanks to Job Changing, they had been improving themselves as priests of Ratatoskr.
And due to Ervas masterful use of Life Attribute Spirit Magic, he had been slowly revitalizing the flesh and bones of the elders, so they were rather vigorous, and were dancing while wearing beautiful dresses decorated with many flowers.
Dancing and praying were the best way for their goddess, Ratatoskr, to hear their pleads. She was known as a goddess that enjoyed a good performance of art such as dance or songs.
"The elders immediately began this ritual a few hours ago the moment they were told what these people went through… even if they are not of our tribe, they're still innocent people and deserve to be purified of the horrors they went through," said Ditoyle with a low voice to not interrupt the ritual.
"I see… I really appreciate what they're doing," said Ervas with a mild smile.
"Haah, those dresses are very beautiful, and their dances are so wonderful as well," said Veronica while being almost enamored by the performance and beauty of the elders while doing their purification rituals.
The three stood silently while watching things until the ritual finally came to its climax, the elders stopped dancing as they prostrated in the ground, falling into silence.
"It ended…?" wondered Ervas.
"I think so-"
Flash!
Suddenly, the slight smoke of the incense spread all around the shrine as a bright yet embracing and warm light covered the whole place for a split second… a divine power was spread through the people, covering their bodies and cleansing them of the malice they were impregnated in.
"This is… a miracle," said Ditoyle while kneeling and beginning to pray silently.
"That was… beautiful," said Ervas.
"Indeed… was that the power of Ratatoskr?" wondered Veronica.
"Most likely, it seems that in this era, gods still heard the pleads of their mortal believers," said Ervas, remembering the Kritias the two came from, where the gods had become too busy leading with other things and others had become greatly weakened due to small wars between the factions of Bright and Dark Gods.
The elders saw the brilliance of the light as it quickly disappeared, all the former captives had their entire bodies cleansed as if they went through a whole bath in the water of a purification spring.
"Thank you… Goddess Ratatoskr…"
"Thank you, our goddess"
"Thank you, our matriarch"
The beautiful elders then stood up as they finally assessed the people watching over the ritual.
"Ditoyle, I told you not to bring anyone while we were doing the ritual… what if the goddess notices it and gets angry?" asked one of the elders who had a tall and slim body, with a large chest and wide hips that had once held over dozens of children, she had silky and long chestnut-colored hair and was wearing a beautiful dress made out of flowers, Meieses.
"Ah! Meieses-sama… I'm sorry, but it is an exception of the rules, it was the boy and Veronica" said Ditoyle while kneeling.
Meieses glanced at Ervas, who had massaged her body many times and had brought much of her vigor back, she could not help but flush a bit.
"I'm sorry for interrupting, it wasn't our intention… we came here to do a last healing for the people," said Ervas.
"Boy… is there any more healing needed than the one Ratatoskr-sama has given to the people?" asked Meieses.
"Well, yes… they were cleansed physically, but the mental damage will most likely remain, we had come to heal that as well," said Ervas.
"I see… But couldn't Ratatoskr-sama had healed that as well? She is a goddess after all…" muttered Meieses.
"Meieses, don't go too hard on the boy, he had done too many things for us… you're just trying to start arguing with him because you feel embarrassed when he's around you, isn't it? Ufufu, I can see it in your eyes~ You like cute children after all, your motherly instincts are strong," said another of the elders, unlike Meieses, she was petite but had an even greater chest and wider hips, she also had a small belly and plump thighs, her chestnut-colored hair was made into many braids, and she had white tattoos across her chocolate-colored and glossy skin. Her emerald eyes held a rather strong glare, which, coupled with her slightly bigger than average eyebrows made her look both strong and adorable, Glaope.
"W-What are you talking about Glaope?! He is just a child, there is no way t-that I would feel embarrassed when confronting him! I was just trying to… ask him to be a bit more… r-respectful…" muttered Meieses while flushing, she couldn't keep direct contact with Ervas crimson eyes, although they were rather hypnotizing.
"Fufu, you're just showing it in your face! No matter how old you get you still have a sweet spot for cute boys?" said Meieses teasingly.
"Well, he could always become your adoptive son?" asked a third elder, who was medium-sized compared to Meieses and Glaope, she had a rather muscular figure compared to the other two, showing that she did some exercises despite her old age, and after Ervas' revitalizing, she had become once again a fully-fledged hunter, who is now learning from the young Anna as she was considerably rustier than her.
She did not participate in the battles for obvious reasons, as elders were especially important for a tribe and could not risk their lives carelessly. She had sharp yellow eyes and short dark hair that reached her neck.
Her large breasts were the third biggest between the three elders present, meaning that she fed at least as much milk to her children as the other two.
They were experienced mothers for many years, which made Veronica and Ervas give the elders the nicknames of 'ultimate milfs' due to these characteristics of them… but of course, that was only kept between the two. This elder's name was Atypesia.
"W-What are you talking about, Atypesia?! S-Stop messing with me! I am not going to ask him anything! I am already too old to take care of more children...!" roared Meieses as she slowly lost her composure due to the teaching of her peers… even figures as respected as elders were still squirrel-kin women, possessing the inherent natures of being playful, teasing, and funny.
"I think I am good with what I have right now... But later on in my life, I would apreciate those feelings more... Maybe," said Ervas, he was glad to have many people willing to be part of his family, even through he already had a mother.
"Oh? That is quite the determination to have a big family… Well, I agree with it, we never were capable of fulfilling that dream of ours. I hope you can, Ervas. My best regards to Meieses. I am also planning in making a family later on, but the whole being an Undead issue... I don't know how that will go..." said Veronica.
Meieses was flustered by Ervas' and Veronica's words, her entire face becoming completely red as she released steam from her ears.
"Ah, boy, stop talking nonsense…! Uwaah!" she said, flying away with magic.
"And there she goes~" laughed the other two elders.
"E-Elders… was it truly necessary to tease lady Meieses like this?" asked Ditoyle.
"No, but it is fun, that girl is always fun to tease," chuckled Glaope.
"Indeed~ Very well, now that the flustered Meieses is out of the map, boy, why don't you start what you came for?" asked Atypesia.
"Right," said Ervas, walking towards the nearby former captive, a young Rabbit-kin woman, seemingly in her late teens.
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