Chapter 102: A Warrior’s Welcome – Part 1

Chapter 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.

Soul InfoNameAllura VernerRaceFox-Type WereanimalLevel18HP100/100MP210Magic Power30Strength16Endurance18

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.

Soul InfoNameJacques VernerRaceFox-Type WereanimalLevel88HP100/100MP3,300Magic Power500Strength23Endurance25

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.

Soul InfoNameLéonne VernerRaceFox-Type WereanimalLevel71HP100/100MP2,450Magic Power670Strength16Endurance18

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.

Soul InfoNameOfiliaRaceFox-Type WereanimalLevel34HP100/100MP415Magic Power220Strength10Endurance15

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.

"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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