Chapter 103: To Honor Her Achievements – Part 2

Chapter 103: To Honor Her Achievements – Part 2

As we start to break off the group hug, the golems hurriedly float backward to avoid getting in our way.

"Let's go back," Alissa tiredly suggests. She's gone through too many different emotions in such a short time, so she's getting emotionally exhausted.

I wish that I could've asked Gurrier about Paradise, but we might have another opportunity one day, so it'll just have to wait until then.

Once we reunite with the rest of the group, Alissa gives a hug to her parents and her sister.

"Thank you..." She whispers softly, and Jacques suddenly hugs her from behind, burying her head in his long, red beard.

He mumbles some garbled nonsense, sounding very emotional, then suddenly recomposes himself and goes quiet.

"You're welcome, my daughter," Léonne gently whispers back and pats Jacques' arm, then he releases Alissa.

We make our way back, and they tell us their stories about Gurrier, then Jacques reveals something interesting.

"The old fox always asked for a drink whenever I came to tell him the news. It was the only time I ever saw him relax, and we usually ended up talking for a long time since we'd both end up getting drunk," he reminisces fondly.

I share a look with Alissa. It seems that we'll never really know the truth.

When we get back to the town, a small group of commoners are excitedly waiting for us just past the gates, and a few of them even begin to kneel and pray as we approach. The werefoxes are very pious, so it isn't too surprising that they've already found out who we are.

Curiously, there's a human commoner couple among them that seems to be very anxious.

Klein and Anton quickly discuss something between themselves, then they organize the Lordsguard to surround us, and Léonne responds by ordering the Sworn Hunters to open the way for us.

Ciel waves and smiles at the commoners, but once her eyes land on the couple, she freezes as memories flood into her mind.

"FLEUR?!" She suddenly shouts.

"CIEL!" The human woman shrieks back.

Ciel rushes over to her, pushing the confused Lordsguard in her way to the side, and tackles the small, ginger woman.

"AAAAH!" The two of them shriek excitedly and hug each other tight, then the Lordsguard quickly follows after her and separates the commoners away from them.

"CALUM!" Ciel shouts and grabs the hand of the human male beside her, ensuring that the Lordsguard lets him stay.

Fleur stops shrieking, but her overflowing excitement bleeds into her voice as she shouts at full speed, "Diamond dragons scales! It's you, you're Queen Ciel! You're the Dark Angel!"

"The WHAT?!" Ciel shrieks back. "Please, don't let that turn into a Title!"

Fleur laughs out loud as she hangs from Ciel's neck. Calum, the blonde-haired man beside them, stiffly stands still, clearly terrified of the stares he's receiving from the dozen-plus high-leveled people currently surrounding him.

Fleur lets Ciel go, who then gives Calum a quick hug.

"What are you two doing here? Didn't you say that you were going to the capital?" Ciel questions them, completely bewildered at their presence here.

Both Fleur and Calum cringe, then look away. "Well, we did find out who my family was..." Calum hesitantly mumbles.

"And they turned out to be scammers who owed money to a rather dangerous sort of people," Fleur continues and nervously kicks a small rock near her feet.

Calum grins unashamedly. "So we ran right back to Mistcross..."

Then Fleur raises her eyes to Ciel, and her tone becomes excited again. "And by coincidence, we found out that my late mother was a werefox, and then my extended family adopted us."

"This is incredible, really. I'm so happy you found your home," Ciel replies with a bright smile and pulls them both into another quick hug.

Fleur nods happily, then she adds, her voice quickly losing its volume with each word, "I'm surprised they actually let us live here since, you know, we're humans..."

Ciel's expression becomes serious. "But are you being treated with respect?"

Calum nods energetically, then quietly answers, "We are, and we're quite happy here, it's just that sometimes, they're a bit 'cold.'"

"Hm... that seems well enough," Ciel comments and gives their shoulders a gentle squeeze.

I approach them and gently ask, "Are these your friends, Ciel?"

The couple turns to me and immediately falls to their knees, but Ciel grabs their shoulders again and pulls them back up. "No need for that here," she affirms, then gives me a bright smile. "They're my friends from the orphanage."

"Pleasure to meet you," I greet them, and we start our introductions.

They're Fleur and Calum Envye, and they're working for the Envye clan of merchants as assistants.

When Léonne approaches us, they both keep their heads down in respect for her.

"If you're not busy, how about you come to our estate? Any friends of the Ryders are friends of ours too," Léonne offers politely, and Ciel doesn't allow them to say no.

As we walk, the three of them catch up, and while they heard rumors about Ciel, the Intervention, and our rise as Crown Lords, they hadn't yet fully connected the Dark Angel of the rumors with the Ciel they knew until they saw her here.

"Out of all the potential nicknames, why did Dark Angel catch on?" Ciel grumbles through [Bind].

"Do you prefer 'Chocolate Angel,' instead?" Roxanne teases back.

"Just 'Angel' would be fine!" Ciel exclaims in frustration.

Fleur is a thin, ginger woman whose late father hailed from Maplethorne, and she kind of fits in among the werefoxes, only lacking in the fox ears and tail department. Calum is a tall, blonde man whose family immigrated from Dyrmorder to Mac Gantus, but then they fractured and fell from grace. He stands out since he's quite tall in comparison to the not particularly tall werefoxes, but, fortunately, nobody has picked on him for it.

As long as they don't make trouble or too much noise, the werefoxes are content to leave foreigners be. The foxes also have a working relationship with merchants and adventurers, so the couple doesn't face any overt prejudice, but they don't have that many friends here.

The two walk hand-in-hand, Fleur leaning over to Calum and touching his chest for just about any little reason she can find. It's like they're glued to one another, and it makes me realize something.

"Are we like that?" I let the question echo in my soul space, and Alissa gives my hand a squeeze.

"With you? Yes. There's always someone touching you," Yunia calmly answers and gives my other hand a squeeze.

"We have to split up our time to be with you; there's no time to spare for you to be alone," Lina asserts.

"It must be pretty awkward to be around us," I think openly in my soul space.

"It was. Especially at night," Ciel chimes in a moment later. During that time when she was in the fellowship but hadn't become my wife yet, she heard the bed creaking quite a lot, even though the girls didn't usually moan that loudly.

When Ciel tells the couple how close we've become to the Gods, their demeanor starts to stiffen, but Ciel is having none of that.

"If our friends start treating us like kings, then we'll have nobody left who we can talk casually with," Ciel worriedly explains.

"Well, you are a Queen, right? That's what all the news is saying," Calum questions.

"We're only Royals, we haven't been crowned, or anything," Ciel tiredly explains.

"And I don't think the Elder Council will let us assume that status," I chime in with a grin.

Calum frowns confusedly and asks, "Royals without a king...?"

"Princess Ciel!" Fleur shouts with a giggle.

That Title provokes a lot of strong feelings within Ciel. What kind of orphan girl has never fantasized about being adopted by a Royal or a Lord?

"I'll accept you calling me that in private," Ciel gently states with a subtle, pompous tone that makes Yunia proud.

We return to the Verner's estate, and we see the Elders sitting on cushions on the veranda, enjoying a nice cup of tea while soaking in the sun and watching the foxes play around.

We all decide to split up for a bit. Lina and I seek out the foxes, Alissa goes inside the estate with her mother to meet someone, Ciel sits down near the Elders to talk with Fleur and Calum, Yunia and Roxanne sit by the Elders to talk for a bit while Yunia massages Roxanne's feet, and Hana and human-Aoi showcase [Equipment System] to everyone.

"You're doing well, servant, continue massaging me like this," Roxanne teases with a snobbish tone.

Yunia narrows her eyes dangerously. "Your only positive quality is your beauty," she coldly replies but doesn't stop massaging Roxanne's feet.

"That's... not actually offensive to me," Roxanne admits and shrugs.

The Elders share an amused look, but don't comment on it.

The golems stop behind Lina and me, their unmoving eyes staring intensely at us.

"May we pet the foxes, too?" Ted broaches the topic. It makes me happy that they asked for something on their own initiative.

"Sure, but what made you want to?" I ask back and guide a fox closer to them. The furry little animal doesn't seem to mind, but I think it's because it identified the golems as inanimate objects.

"We may be required to take care of pets," Suzy starts the sequence.

"So we need to learn how to interact with animals," Jarn finishes.

I agree and ponder, "True. I had two dogs before, and though I haven't felt the desire to get any new pets so far, I think it'd be a good idea to get some for our children."

"You already have a few humanoid pets," Lina innocently points out, and I can't really disagree with that.

We smile at each other, then I turn to the golems. "Anyway, do all of you know how to approach animals?"

"Slow movements, no staring, and a gentle touch," Ted starts.

Yunia turns to him, her striking, blue eyes becoming sharp as she enters Business Mode. "There is something else we could trade, though."

"What would that be?" He stoically asks, possibly using [Acting] since he also enters Business Mode.

"Eia, our secret pill. Your mounted warriors could benefit greatly from it."

"Is there something that you desire in return?" He immediately continues without even showing the slightest reaction.

Yunia just calmly reveals her intentions, not seeing a benefit in concealing them, "Some of your hunters, but only temporarily. We need more help with containing the dungeons since our knights are becoming fatigued, and werefox monster hunters are known to be the best. If there are any among them who want to settle in the High Forest, though, they should know that we'll be loosening the Right of Inheritance soon to accommodate the spirit Chimeras we've recently welcomed."

The door next to them slides open, and Léonne replies, "That could be arranged."

With that, they begin the casual negotiations.

"Ask for an unmarried woman, but not for marriage, though," Alissa suggests through [Bind].

Yunia hesitates, but she eventually includes the request.

Léonne also hesitates to respond, and Jacques seems to turn into a statue due to how unmoving he becomes. "We heard about... Wolf's 'appetite.' Is this for him?" She hesitantly asks.

"Yes," Yunia lies.

My reputation...

"It's for a good cause," Alissa comforts me through [Bind].

"Unless you're asking for a sex slave, we might not be able to fulfill that condition," Léonne explains.

"It's good enough to try," Yunia assures her.

"Very well."

"So, where are you living?" Ciel asks the couple, then takes a sip of her tea.

Fleur feeds Calum a bite of her cookie as she answers, "We're staying here in town at the clan's housing complex, but we were thinking about moving to Mistcross since it might be more 'agreeable' for us." Then she takes the other bite for herself.

Ooh, I want you girls to feed me like that again.

"Always," Alissa quickly replies through [Bind], then returns to her conversation, and I feel Lina nod internally.

"The road to Escanso should be pretty safe by now, and you're always welcome to come visit us," Ciel offers.

Fleur and Calum look at each other excitedly. "Oh, we definitely will," he happily replies, but Fleur narrows her eyes at him.

"We're not going there just for you to ogle at the elves," she warns him.

"Of course," he immediately replies a bit stiffly, then he runs his hand through her puffy, orange hair to appease her. "I just hear a lot about the beauty of that town and its food, you know?"

"Right..." Fleur mumbles.

"Be careful with the elves, they like to hide the boys among the girls, and vice-versa," Ciel cautions them with a cheeky grin, and they both share a worried look.

"Where's Nen?" Alissa suddenly asks her father, and Ofilia turns to give her a curious look.

"North, in the White Stalkers' territory, currently investigating some suspicious bandit attacks," he answers impassively.

Alissa frowns and looks down at her empty ceramic cup. "They're still causing problems?"

Jacques nods and grimly replies, "They are, and it's becoming truly bothersome."

Ofilia looks away, a little saddened at the mention. She was originally from that clan.

"Can we meet with Nen? Maybe we could help them," Alissa appeals to Yunia and Léonne, and they stop their negotiation for a moment to consider it.

"It'd be an opportunity to see the Ryders fight," Jacques points out, which convinces Léonne to agree.

"I'll send a message to Darcy and see if he's willing to take them," she replies, and Alissa's tail wags lazily in happiness.

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