Mazu, Lady Feathers, Sir Bright, and Little Moo cheerfully munched on the fruit treats Tom’s daughter brought them moments ago. The pricy, cinnamon-like spice blended with the rich, sliced apples caressed Mazu’s tongue and senses, bringing the old fox back to his younger days. He drank from the provided water bowl, then licked the face of the woman, thankful for her kindness.
Hunting in the forest was fine most of the time, but nothing beat receiving specialized food made by a kind human.
To think there was a time in which the golden fox had fear and hatred of them—but not without valid reasons during such a period. Bandits hunted golden foxes for their furs, sold them on black markets and really, what ended the period of the fox versus man war was the War King’s ascension to power.
The War King was in love with a kitsune, beings that have human form, but incredible power, fox characteristics such as ears and tails, and often were seen as minor deities. Excluding the legendary Ninetails. While she no longer existed in this realm, everyone feared her, including Wanda. She was responsible for the existence of spirit beast foxes like Mazu, at least according to legends.
The War King never caught up to his love, but he pushed to outlaw fur hunting throughout the entirety of the world. Mazu doubted the kitsune would ever return, they were tricky lovers, both the men and the women. They’d use one in a heartbeat if it meant pushing their cultivation ranks toward a new realm. Even if it meant pretending to be a mother.
The only one that wasn’t extremely selfish was the Ninetails. This fact only made people fear her more, wondering if the kindness was a façade to get guards down or the real deal, in which case, hostility invited misfortune and death.
After filling his belly, Mazu moved as far away from Lady Feathers as possible, curled into a soft spot in the grass, and closed his eyes. He was full of bliss.
The only problem they had was a stray demonic beast attempting to attack Tom. Lady Feathers dealt with that by herself with just one strike of a powerful talon attack. After killing it, she flew the boar-like creature to the butcher. Half of the earnings meant for Sir Nate awaited him at the mayor’s office to receive upon his return. To think even minor nobles spent that amount of gold on demonic beast meat. Mazu knew magicians loved it, but nobles… well, their bizarre tastebuds had no limits.
Overall, Mazu and the others protected the small farm very efficiently. Tom tended things just fine, though he did feel intimidated by the enlightened animals at first. Now his family loved them.
Tom’s daughter was a slightly plump human woman named Marlia, a name the fox would embed into his memory. Delicious cinnamon apples were delicious, after all. As she left, he wished he could share this warmness with his two favorite pupils.
“Are they still gone?”
Mazu turned to the forest to see Muiy the flower nymph exiting, eyes filled with hope, only to be shot down when the fox nodded.
“I’m afraid they’ll be gone for about two weeks, maybe more,” he said.
Muiy wilted. “It’s going to be awfully lonely without them. I miss Lady Guardian Milia’s blessings already.”
Mazu only gave the flower girl a pitying look. “You could always tend to the garden. Make sure the plants are healthy.”
Muiy’s eyes lit up. “The plants will certainly be happy in that case. I’ll have to reassure them that Sir Nate will return in two weeks or something. They probably want more mana.”
Mazu only let out a sigh but didn’t rain down on the young woman’s spot of joy. She’d maintain the garden’s beauty, perhaps improve it.
The distant rumble of thunder promised rain. The disciples had their horses tended to by stable workers and they even had a large barn for Beakwing, though the griffin flew off to hunt.
“I can feel the gift of Wanda’s approval on you. Please, sir, you and your party don’t wait in the line,” the guard said. “Follow me. A friend of the kingdom in our town is an honor.”
The others looked at me, including Milia, but I pretended the town ahead captivated my attention.
“Fire Stone’s a D-ranked large town,” the guard continued. “The lady’s working hard at arranging things to be constructed, so please forgive us of the build…” He looked at Mandi, as if noticing her for the first time. “You… Are you perchance the tax collector’s youngest daughter?”
“No,” Mandi lied, her voice suddenly shifting from cheery to ice. She didn’t elaborate.
“Oh, forgive me, my mistake,” the guard said. “That bastard talked a lot about his children, but he especially loved his youngest. You matched the description. I figured someone like that present could explain why someone in this group has the friend of the kingdom status. Can’t pinpoint who, it is just detected.”
I froze, realizing how dangerous this was. I’d be outed as the Raider and everyone else, the Cheat Force.
System, how the fuck do I mask this status? I thought angrily. This will essentially undo everything I’ve worked hard on.
[You can now turn the status on and off, but only if you were not already detected.]
The system, computer, whatever it was, had to be the biggest dick I’d ever known in my life, but I couldn’t help but feel relieved that the fucker contained just an ounce of mercy within its soulless being.
We ended up not giving the guard a direct answer and had him take us to a tavern. Thankfully, he left us be.
“We can’t stay in town for too long,” I said.
“Nate, what’s this friend of the kingdom they’re speaking of?” Chenzu asked, his voice suspicious.
Milia waved his comment away, having been the witness of me manifesting into this world. In a low voice, she explained it before I could.
“Remember, as Raider, he fought the Lord Ruler. Only the Lord Ruler can activate the gift of Wanda, which distributes special status such as knight, royal advisor, pope, or friend of the kingdom.”
The light dawned in everyone’s eyes, even Opal’s, though she thankfully didn’t start blabbing away, giving out our location to everyone. The pixie was a tech geek, not an extrovert.
“The Lord Ruler never gave me that title, even when I befriended him,” Ramon said.
“More like joined his little group of lackeys,” Ronica said. “Be thankful the gift didn’t have hero as one of its titles, or anyone with the capability of detecting it would’ve sold you out by now. Then you’d be nestling in the princess’s arms.”
Ramon grimaced. “The Lord Ruler has gotten a lot stronger since I’ve been at the palace.”
“Breaking through to the realm of the King can have that effect,” Iris said. “Ling’s also gotten much stronger, but then again, she’s always been a freak of nature.”
“Are there any other problematic figures I should care about? Because I do remember us being a business, not adventurers,” I said.
Ronica nodded enthusiastically. “With you as our master, we’re no longer slaves to the capital. Not that that’s the reason we chose to follow you.”
“Wanda’s gracious bottom, no,” Iris said. “I follow because I believe in him. His goofy wisdom is a lot more potent than you think. And is not present anywhere currently.”
Not present anywhere. Man, did the magicians fuck this world up. It was kind of a miracle I found my place in it. Okay, fine, I fought against the system so hard that I forced open a spot for myself.
I took notice of the tavern and a few people glancing in our direction. We took two tables and put them together to keep as one large group, so stares were an inevitability. There were only a few people in, mostly workers. No nobility.
The waitress, or serving girl as they called it, returned with our drinks. Two other people wheeled a cart behind them.
Obviously, none of this friendly treatment would be happening had I not paid for the table in advance.
The only thing that bugged me was one of the young men staring at Milia a little too much. He just happened to turn away when I looked at him, but I did not miss the licking of his lips. Fortunately, he wasn’t in charge of our food, just taking orders from other customers and going out back to chop wood. There was also a chance his eyes were for all of the women in our group. In that case, there wouldn’t be much I could do. Outsiders naturally brought attention to themselves when visiting new places, even in a large D-ranked town like this.
I glanced at a plate of… something, placed in front of me. It looked like an LSD dream of colored circles patterned across my plate.
“I’ll take something with meat and maybe rice with stew,” I said.
The waitress looked as if she was about to cry. “Are you sure you don’t want to try our best dish?”
I looked down, frowning at the plate of what could be chopped carrot circles tossed into food coloring. She got me fu… Noticing my confused gaze, she quickly explained the dish.
“It’s a sweet appetizer, crisp fraggimberry fruit cookies.”
“Harmony would love these, right, brat? You love cookies, even more than Milia’s love for blueberry pie.”
“That’s a lot of love,” Milia said as she selected her meat-free dish.
Harmony took the cookies off my hands, though I grabbed one so the glistening-eyed server would get off my case.
Wolverine watched the air-squirrels on the tree, tail wagging, tongue lolling. Beasts weren’t allowed in the tavern. A mean man had emphasized it, though the sunlight wolf didn’t care much. He was very familiar with human rules. Best Buddy brought him food anyway.
He did say something about a service wolf, but the crusty old tavern owner wasn’t having it. Good. Wolverine glad he didn’t miss this opportunity to try his luck at the squirrels.
“Big Brother Woofy, what are you doing?”
Wolverine jumped into the air, his concentration broken. He quickly hid what he was doing by changing the subject.
“Not hunting or anything. Did you get your food from Best Buddy yet? Last time I checked, they were waiting. Best Buddy came out and played something he called fetch. It is actually quite fun. He’s testing my speed, my reaction times, my dedication.”
“Fetch? Oh, that’s what that was. It’s… not really something meant for cats,” Cheetara said. She sighed. “I saw a big bird over there.” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you think Sir Wingy would—”
“Disciple Cheetara Cutie, Mistress Milia’s Kitten Cakes, that’s not something we’ll be discussing today,” Wolverine said. “Not even when you’re older. Now… I smell Best Buddy approaching with our food.” His tail wagged. “I smell stewed meat, fire-roasted tasties, and hogturtle. There’s fish for you too, let’s go!”
“Yay!” Cheetara cheered, following Wolverine as they raced back to the tavern.
The sunlight wolf could smell the approaching storm, which would give them some rain and a little wind in a few hours.
I found Wolverine and Cheetara and fed them. No, I didn’t make a fuss over it, not as an Earth man, but making sure the spirit beasts ate too would be the least I could do.
They happily devoured their meal. I watched them from a nearby bench that was as comfortable as midsummer splinters.
The others appeared minutes later.
“So, should we go, or do you think the guard’s just a one and done deal?” I asked. “I don’t mind exploring the town a bit, checking out the potion maker competition.”
“Oh, that’s right, that’d be neat,” Mandi said, eyes starry. “How do you match up against someone whose probably been at the craft longer? Or is new to the field. There could be a potion on potion—”
“That’s enough drumming up what would be essentially just two men mixing things in a cauldron,” Iris interrupted.
“It won’t be about me,” I said. “I have four apprentices learning this trade under my direct supervision.”
Harmony groaned. “Don’t drag me into this.”
“You are the head apprentice,” Mandi said, gaining a glare from the blue-haired teenager. She smiled innocently.
Lucas chuckled. “Mandi has a point. If we’re goaded into a showdown, the best of us should step up to the plate and defend our clan’s honor.”
I patted the teenager on the shoulder. She scowled. We laughed at her expense.
“You don’t have to make that face,” Milia said. “Have a little pride in the craft you worked hard on. You expressed some desires to follow in the footsteps of a passionate senior potion maker. Don’t go soft on us now.”
Harmony blushed, only giving a noncommittal, embarrassed murmur.
As we reached a corner, preparing to walk the next street, a familiar young man was animatedly talking to a noble from afar. He noticed us a second later and gestured in our direction.
The noble had five lackeys surrounding him, each having a varying degree of either smugness, disdain, or leeriness. They each appeared to be around the serving boy’s age of at least twenty or so.
“I sure hope the lady of the town isn’t responsible for these losers,” I said. “Maybe leaving was the right answer, after all.”
“Hey friends,” the maliciously smiling young man said. “Over here. We’d like to talk to you.”
“You run into these types everywhere,” Alexander said. “Even on a ship in the middle of the sea. If you don’t weed them out of your crew early, they cause trouble later.”
