VISITORS

Ivan prayed inwardly for the young Felis as she took on a barrage of Yue's attacks. Though she adapted quickly her learning speed with magic seemed to have the same restriction as any other person. That affinity dictated both casting speed and potency of the spell, whether it be fire, ice, wind, water, or electricity; her affinity with each of them amounted to below average. However, magics that enhanced herself seemed to be reliable, like the ever so staple Body Strengthening magic this family of theirs decided to abuse.

Nonetheless, Yue impaled the poor girl with spell after spell just to make sure she copied them deep into her mind. Two days later and Felis swore to have them all memorized and at her disposal, even the ones she was inherently unskilled with. Ivan didn't know if she meant her words sincerely or was just lying to avoid more pain but for now, he would just let her off the hook. Magic didn't seem to be her strong suit anyway. Body Strengthening magic would be the only useful one for her to know, as that magic makes physical training a breeze. All she would have to do is stand there with it at full blast while getting pelted with attacks and she should grow steadily.

A prospect that when made clear to her elicited more than just a whine. Tio hadn't participated in the magic training as she and Ari were busy with the influx of new customers. As expected those merchants in Fuhren spread the info of a magic shop like wildfire. Which meant that he would have to be the one teaching Felis hand-to-hand combat.

Ivan dropped the mantle to his feet as the two stood in her habitat once more. An action she copied despite knowing she'd be more vulnerable without it.

"Hey, Father! You're not allowed to use the water tattoos ya' know!" Felis yelled from across the field as she was worried about the marks that looked like eyes with lines cutting through them combined with curves that make contact with the borders, the external circle bearing text unintelligible to her. An exact copy of this tattoo stained each of his palms, and as interesting as they looked Felis knew better from first-hand experience how lethal they were when activated.

Indeed, these were Ivan's water transmutation circles. Swapping the gauntlets on and off to use the water transmutation was starting to become a pain to Ivan, so after long deliberation, he asked Yue to help copy the marks on his gauntlets onto his palms. Toggling between tattoos was a bit difficult at first but so long as he controlled which tattoo the mana traveled through it became possible to decide between transmutations.

"I know, I know, have some faith in me kid. It's not much of hand-to-hand training if I freeze your arms off within first contact. I'll go ahead and say the same thing about my other transmutation tattoos. For now, these two will be all I need to beat the daylight outta' ya.' Oh yeah, and don't think you could use your Azantium claws during this as well, unlike you and Yue I can't regenerate!"

"Tch~!" Her tongue clicking was audible to Ivan, despite their long distance. If Ivan had any complaints about his new tattoos, it was that he became even more identifiable. Not that his other tattoos weren't eye-catching already.

He held his left enclosed fist close to his face as his right fist was held at the same height but a farther distance from him. His feet spread apart widely as he arched his knees forward. Ivan by no means was a martial artist, his 'technique' being something he formed in the dungeon after numerous encounters with monsters. A style that might not be so suitable to Felis who had two perfectly good weapons within her hands.

But either way, he emphasized the importance of keeping your cards hidden until the last moment, a teaching that had been passed down to her after his numerous talks about it. Though what sold her on the deal was punching towards someone before stopping seconds before hitting their face, then opening her palm and shooting her claws into the person's head. A bit demented in Ivan's opinion but an effective move in combat, just think of it like pocket sand but instead of a face full of sand the receiver gets impaled by the strongest claws in the world.

Out of all the traits that passed from her weretiger life to this new homunculus life it would seem bloodthirsty tendencies carried over. Quite surprising when Felis, who was asked if she remembered her past life, only responded that every now and then she had visions of a huge black and white beast. An important factor Ivan noted down as he thought of the implications. There was a concern that she'd resent them for her past life however that never came to be, instead, she seemed to dissociate herself from it.

DING!

A bell rang as the two parties ran toward each other, Felis who ran on all fours like a beast only stood on her two feet when her hands locked with Ivan's. The two dug their feet into the ground as the floor beneath them crumpled. Either party refused to back down as this first bout was more a matter of pride than anything.

That's when Ivan lifted one of his legs and arched his knee into Felis' abdomen.

"Guh!" Her saliva sent flying as she bent over, the wind knocked out of her as she struggled to breathe. The tears welling in her eyes that had the look of betrayal as they stared back at Ivan, all of these factors only elicited a snort from him.

"If you're going to make it out in the real world, you can't expect others to respect something like a contest of strength. What if I had stabbed you with a knife instead of my knee? At that moment who would be to blame, the assailant who took the opportunity to abuse his opponent's morals or you who thought it was more important to satisfy your pride? Now, come at me again, no holding back!"

Ivan jumped back as Felis' hands that had been holding her gut lunged for the leg that was still stabbing her abdomen. The tears disappeared as she stood back up silently. Her golden eyes glowing as she processed his words. Without another moment of hesitation, her body was wrapped with a gold aura before she charged at Ivan three times faster than she did before.

"Hmph, what's with the surprised look, Father? You never said anything about my Body Strengthening magic~" The grin on her face was nothing short of a provocation, an action she made to deliberately lure Ivan into her crushing strength.

Seeing that his message was sent across, Ivan followed with an equally mischievous grin on his face. While he felt glee on the inside he needed to put on a strong face for her right now, these emotions of hers needed to be utilized while she was in the moment. Though he could combat her with his own Body Strengthening magic, he decided against it. This was her moment.

Her tail stood on its end as the grin on his face turned solemn, he took the bait. She watched in awe as he made swift yet careful movements to her, instead of a bum rush it'd be more suited to call this act an impressive feat of agility. Felis' eyes glowed subconsciously as the movements were engraved into her memory.

Noticing he was approaching closer she waited for him to reach her, the Body Strengthening magic was burning through her mana and any unnecessary movements would just burn through more.

15 meters… 10 meters… 5 meters… 1 meter! It was when he was at lunging distance that she made a move, her kick sweeping up a powerful gust of wind as it headed towards his raised left arm. Her left hand flew to his face at the same time.

It was an awkward position but her body's inhuman flexibility made it a viable way of attack. Ivan applauded her thinking as she began to make up her own ways of attack rather than copying him and the others. Rather than block the two incoming attacks Ivan opened his palms and pushed against them.

The fist and leg threatening to crush his entirety were slightly adjusted and pushed into directions where they would cause no harm. The gusts of wind that blew from those attacks were strong enough to dishevel his hair as they went right past him. And, as both hands were occupied he decided to use his super-secret powerful killer move.

Ivan lunged his head forward quickly as Felis, who had been in a daze after her plan failed, received the full brunt of his head bash. Her vision momentarily blurred as she fell backward to the ground. The impact did not damage her body as the Body Strengthening magic covered her exterior, however, on the inside, she felt as though a bell was ringing in her ears.

Her ears flattened on her head as she sat in a daze, at least that was until she felt a familiar palm sit on her head. She stared up at him with tears in her eyes, her discontent all too visible to him.

Ivan flashed a wry smile as he picked her up off the ground, meeting her eyes full-on with a somewhat guilty conscience.

"...Um, I apologize for that… Hehehe, I guess I got a bit into it. But hey Felis, that last attack you did was amazing. You used an advantage your body had to enact an attack most people wouldn't be able to pull off nearly as effectively!"

His praise was not very effective as she stared back at him with the same tears in her eyes. Ivan sighed as he let go of her shoulders, feeling that maybe he was a bit rough on their first day. Only that depressive sigh was cut off as Felis lunged in for a hug, stunned, Ivan received it in a daze.

Confusement turned to a warming smile as muffled bawling emanated from his shoulder. He brushed her hair with his palm as she relaxed the tension she had, her tail perking up a bit in response.

This scene ensued for minutes as he did nothing to stop her emotional outburst, only deciding that it would be his responsibility to be with her till the end. If what she sought now was his comfort then who was he to refuse her. After fifteen minutes the bawling stooped as Felis lifted her face from Ivan's shoulder.

Wiping her tears with her arm warmers, Felis sat in Ivan's embrace for a moment before tapping his shoulder to let her go. It was when they stood face to face that a silence took hold of the area and then—

SLAP!

Felis' cheeks only reddened for a few seconds as her regeneration took care of the minor injury, Ivan stared at her with an inquisitive gaze as she kept her palms to her face, wondering why she had slapped herself. She only closed her eyes in response and blew a lot of air out of her mouth, after that her eyes snapped open before revealing the usual cheeky grin to Ivan.

Her lean figure arching forward so that her face would be right beneath Ivan's, she let out a cute smug laugh before stating her intentions.

"All right, I'm ready! It's time for round two, hmph, and don't think you're gonna get away so easily with your dirty tactics. Hihihi~ I'll beat you this time for sure, and you better agree you aren't going to tell anyone about what happened alright… I-If you do I'll have Tio-sensei harass you for a week straight!"

Her smile inspired confidence, even though she was a bit embarrassed by her ending statement. The faint blush on her cheeks was barely visible. In any case, Ivan was happy with this transformation in attitude, so deciding it would be rude of him to trample her resolution he matched her smile with his own. The ears on Felis' head popped up energetically as her tail did a small dance, the vigor in her heart reigniting as she vowed to earn her Father's praise.

With that settled the two returned to their spots on the battlefield, doing a small bow before assuming their fighting position. And with a ringing bell, round two had begun.

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Tio sighed as she eyed the line of customers that waited out on the paved road, stretching far with carriages and folk who wanted to buy the wares being sold. Numerous times Ivan had to lock himself in his atelier for hours at a time just to restock the store. Dealing with some of the merchants or nobles that acted deviously was the easier part. Anyone that asked too many questions about the artifacts or the lecherous bastards that tried to 'steal' both her and Ari were instantaneously dealt with by either being booted and banned from the shop or beaten to a pulp before being dragged outside by the security droid.

There had only been a single instance where they were met by customers too important to ignore, templars of the Holy Church. Though they claimed to only be in the shop to purchase wares, their shifty eyes and muttering to each other suggested otherwise. They only purchased a few things before leaving the shop, probably to take to their superiors to learn their secrets, once they found out what they sold were artifacts it was likely the shop would be met by a large platoon of templars and Holy Church officials who have come to commandeer their wares in the name of Ehit to fight against the demons.

She already saw the situation play out in her mind, the Holy Church asks for their stuff free of charge, Ivan refuses, The Holy Church brands him and the rest of the group as heretics, and a fight would likely break out. It had been a week since those templar knights left to report to their superiors, odds were an army was headed to their shop right now.

Tio sat in the security room as she observed the outside cameras, looking out into the horizon for the guests they anticipated. She sighed as it would be a hundred times easier for her to just change into her dragon form and fly around outside to look for them, only for obvious reasons she wouldn't do that. The Holy Church was a part of the dragonmen's 'extinction' if they found out she existed they'd probably look everywhere for other remnants, meaning her people.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

A beeping noise resounded from the speakers next to the security screen as the cameras automatically focused in a certain direction. [LARGE MANA TRACES DETECTED] read on the screen as the drones flew closer to the source. Tio leaned forward on the couch as the source of the abnormality became clearer, mana detection mode deactivating as the large mass of red heat turned into a clear vision of a caravan.

Only as she expected the caravan was led by a lone carriage arrogantly waving a flag from above, its white and gold exterior drawing her attention as she noticed the figures sitting inside. What flag was being waved was that of the Holy Church, and though not nearly an army as large as she was expecting there were six carriages in total.

In each carriage, she recognized the faces of those sitting within.

"The heroes from another world….." She muttered. It would seem that every hero that was documented, besides Ivan and one other figure, had come out here to their shop. Each carriage was surrounded by a gaggle of templar knights. She left the security room as she ignored Ari's questioning gaze, Tio stood in front of the register before sliding her hand underneath the desk.

She lifted the glass case and pressed down on the red button, a beeping noise coming out of the thing before the area was engulfed in silence. The customers watched on in confusion as Tio and Ari stood there. Seconds later a voice emanated from the speaker underneath the desk.

"Hey, I ran to the broadcasting device the moment you hit the emergency button. What's the problem? Demons? Hoelscher Empire? Maybe aliens?"

"....."

"I wouldn't say that aliens would be a far stretch guess. I mean if you think about aliens you could say that I am one, considering the whole other world thing. So what I mean to say are the heroes here?"

"...Yes." Though a bit confused with Ivan's line of thinking she decided to give him the details anyways.

"One missing? Hmm….. Well, it could be that one of them has died. But I don't know, those damn news carriers keep refusing to deliver to us because we don't have a registered postal office. Even when I offered thousands of Luta they refused to even drop one single newspaper as they passed by to get to Ur. I don't know whether to praise their loyalty to the rules or laugh at them for dropping the opportunity to earn a few thousand Luta just for a single paper."

"....."

"Oh yes, the matter at hand. Ugh… Give me a few minutes and I'll be suited up, I gotta talk with Felis first as well. You should see the progress she's been making, and though a bit dangerous we've been training hand to hand with her claws out now!"

Ivan's voice disconnected from the line as Tio sat in silence. She sighed before heading back to the security room. Laughing at her own anxiety for worrying about the 'world's mightiest heroes' showing up at their establishment. She dialed Yue who answered with the house phone, Yue responded as curtly as ever stating that she'd suit up with Ivan down in the atelier and join him on his way to the shop.

With that settled she stared at the screen for a moment, here were the targets of her duty. The whole reason she left the dragon hideout was to gather info on them and report back to the tribe whether they could be trusted as allies or not.

She would stand by Ivan's side in this matter, using this interaction as a way to gauge them.

The room turned silent as Ari entered the security room after closing up shop early in anticipation of these guests, and though there were more than a few disgruntled customers she couldn't care less about their feelings.

The two stared silently at the screen, watching the caravan approach closer and closer.

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I'm getting quicker and quicker with my writing, a good thing as I'll have more time in the day to work on other things. I realize that I've made quite a confusing timeline of events, and I apologize for having done so. Like I said before, it would've been wise to plan things out. So if you start writing yourself, you should first try making an outline.

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