43 Chapter 43: Kemonomimi

Lars was led to a room in the station and there, he saw a girl that was clean now. But her clothes were still dirty.

(Pic)

'A fox girl!? Ohhhhh!' Lars saw her fluffy tail and ears.

Rose might be nice and floofy, but her fur was a bit thick and stiff. As he hadn't had the chance to floof her undercoat.

But a fox's fur is soft all throughout, it was the reason why they are turned into scarfs.

"Haruhime-san, this is Lars-san. He wants to talk to you about something." The officer called out to her.

She looked exhausted, tired, and depressed. 'Hah, I guess you'd be like that if you had to be in a cage for months.' Lars almost sighed.

"Ummm... Hello." Haruhime greeted softly, almost fearful even.

"She's a bit scared, please understand." The officer pointed out and Lars nodded.

"Don't worry, I've got just the thing." Lars winked and he walked up to Haruhime.

"You've got something on your ear." Lars slowly reached out to her ear and she tilted her head in confusion.

Lars then took out a cookie from his inventory and he showed her.

'Kid's a charmer, I guess I can leave them to it.' The officer left.

Haruhime's tail and ears twitched at his magic.

She then looked at him in wonder. "How did you do that, Lars-sama?"

"With a little bit of magic of course, come on. You look famished, eat it." Lars offered it to her.

She looked at him with confusion. Not expecting to be given a sweet offering.

"Go on, eat it. It's delicious you know?" Lars smiled at her and she started nibbling on it.

"Uwaaah! What is this, Lars-sama? It's so delicious and sweet!" Haruhime's tail started swaying left and right.

'Umu, that's a sight for sore eyes.' Lars nodded sagely.

Haruhime then finished the thicc cookie and she got sad when it was gone.

Her ears drooped and Lars almost gasped at how cute she is.

'Fuck, must protecc.' Lars gave her another one, but this time. With some vanilla ice cream.

Haruhime sniffed it and she was pleased with the smell. She then bit into it and was surprised.

"Sweet and cold! This is so novel..." Haruhime finished it up quickly and was satisfied now.

"Did you enjoy it?" Lars asked her and she nodded eagerly.

"Yes! Lars-sama, it was most enjoyable!" Haruhime had a beaming smile on her face.

"Then, how about you come with us? The far east is a long ways away from here. How about you join our familia?" Lars offered with a smile.

She got sad for a moment, but she suddenly perked up when she heard what he was offering.

"Your familia? Like an adventurer?" She looked at him curiously.

"Yeah, that. It's going to be fun, you know? At least until you can save enough money to return home." Lars enticed her.

"N-no... I don't want to go back home." Haruhime's expression went dark.

"Then you can be with us permanently too, we can farm with our goddess, Demeter." Lars gave his hand.

She looked at it and Haruhime teared up. "Would it really be okay?"

"Why would I ask if it wasn't?" Lars snorted and she nodded immediately.

Taking his hand, she bowed deeply. "Please take care of me, Lars-sama."

"Umu, good words. We'll have a good time together." Lars nodded at her.

__Hotel__

"And as you can see, I have here this floofy Renard; Haruhime Sanjouno." Lars pointed at her dramatically.

The amazons' eyebrows twitched and Airmid sighed.

"You didn't kidnap her, did you?" Airmid raised a brow at him.

"What do you take me for? I'm an upright and upstanding citizen of society!" Lars huffed.

'More like the most wanted criminal on the surface of gekai...' They all thought at the same time.

"Uhhh, am I not welcome?" Haruhime's ears drooped and her eyes got teary.

"N-no! That's not it... We just thought he got you illegally, you see?" Tiona chuckled nervously.

"Then, can I be together with Lars-sama and everyone?" She asked with an excited expression.

'She's too naive...' Tione squinted her eyes. And she thought if that's the type he likes.

"You may, I trust that you'll take care of her, Lars?" Alfia looked at him and Haruhime shuddered at her aura.

Alfia felt some kind of special magic on Haruhime and that was enough for her.

"Leave it to me, how about we go home for now?" Lars asked and everybody nodded.

They then went back to Orario, with a fox girl and some grudges.

__Telskyura__

"What did you just say? Are your captains saying the truth, Belnas, Elnea?" A smol girl with red hair and wearing a mask asked them.

"Yes, Kali-sama. We saw it with our own eyes. The boy that Tiona and Tione are with froze a large portion of the lake." The two answered.

"He also blew Argana off like she was trash." Bache commented and Argana gritted her teeth.

"Interesting... And you said that he's a cripple?" Kali grinned like a loon.

"He's missing his left arm, yes." Argana clicked her tongue.

"And while we were being interrogated, he also came as a witness. He was a level 2 adventurer." Bache almost forgot.

"What!? And he showed his falna? Heh, guhahah! Then this is most interesting." Kali's interest on him skyrocketed.

"I'll kill him later." Argana furrowed her brows and Kali raised her hand.

"You will do no such thing. You will test him later. Belnas and Elnea will go to Melen as temporary members of the Poseidon familia for treatment.

You will also gain any information about this Lars. Argana, Bache. You will train until you are ready to level up." Kali cooked up a plan.

"Then, you will go to Orario to seek this young man. Level up there in the dungeon and bring him to Telskyura." Kali had nefarious purposes for him.

'A level 2 that could cast grand magic and blow away a level 5. He'd be the greatest breeding stock.' Kali licked her lips.

Imagining a new generation of amazons that would appear after Lars' genes combine with the strongest amazons.

"Heh, I look forward to meeting you, Lars." Kali had a twisted smile on her face.

__Orario__

Back at Orario, Lars was bored out of his mind.

The girls pushed him to do nothing. And currently, he's floating on a cloud that he created with his magic.

Focusing all his energy on recuperating, he's been sleeping 20 hours a day for a fortnight.

And when he finally healed his internal organs, he tried to find something to do.

"Ugh, so bored. Should I just sleep again?" He had a sloppy look on his face and sky blue light formed on his back.

A symbol of a snail appeared; Acedia. It was finally complete. Though he was feeling too lazy to do anything.

Being highstrung for more than a year drained him.

"I forgot that grinding so hard will lead to crashes." Lars sighed.

He thought of hobbies to be productive. "Farming with Demeter sounds nice... But it's honestly boring.

Finding ingredients all over the world isn't possible. I can't leave Orario for too long~" Lars plopped on his cloud bed.

"Hngh, something productive and interesting..." Lars thought of anything.

But his thoughts were broken by the sound of gunfire. The xenos were of course practicing how to fire their guns.

"Heh, I guess the Hephaestus familia's bullets are working fine." Lars nodded sagely.

He was proud of Airmid's work. And when the time came, Demeter would give the xenos falna along with their guns.

Making it bounded to the Demeter familia only.

"A monster with a falna eh? How interesting would that be?" He smirked.

"Wait... I've got an idea for a hobby!" Lars smiled and he thought that was pretty good.

"Something that all men has thought about once in their life." He nodded sagely and went towards the surface.

__Orario__

"So, that's the thing old man. I want to learn how to be a blacksmith." Lars asked the dwarf that he bought some equipment from the past.

"Ahhh, youth. Thinkin' that ye can do anythin'." The dwarf shook his head at the naivety.

"What? Think I can't do it? I'll have you know, I don't half ass things." Lars huffed at him.

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing kiddo. How about you show me what you can do first?" The smith of course didn't trust him.

Blacksmithing is an art and a science. Though the people of Orario did not know that the latter is very much involved with it.

Just instead relying on feel and experience. "Hmph, I'll show you old man! Give me some metal and a hammer!" Lars huffed.

"Whatcha gonna make? With ya missing an arm?" The dwarf got worried instead.

"It doesn't matter, I'll manage. You'll see." Lars was confident.

"Alright, don't get too depressed now if ya fail." The dwarf led him to the smithy.

"Here we are, lad. Now grab a piece of steel there and let's see if you have the talent." He huffed at him.

Lars took a look at the tools and he nodded in satisfaction. "Smithing is surely a man's romance as well."

"Ravage; Conjugate." He used his magic and an arm made out of metal formed on his stump.

The smith's eyes widened in shock and Lars took a piece of steel from his stock.

He heated it by breathing fire on it and the dwarf was captivated by the sight.

"Where's your heaviest hammer?" Lars asked him and the dwarf immediately gave him his adamantite hammer.

Weighing as much as Tiona's weapon, Lars grabbed it and tossed it in the air to get a feel of it.

"Heh, that's good enough." He smacked the piece of steel on the anvil. Grabbing it with his metal arm directly.

The orange hot steel giving at his every strike.

"Aren't cha a complete amateur at this? You fucking suck." The dwarf laughed and Lars was sent reeling.

He was trying to make a knife, but it was all bent and crappy.

"Muu! I'm of course going to suck! This is the first time I've done this!" Lars huffed at him.

"Okay, let me show you how it's done!" The dwarf grinned at him and he reheated it.

After it went orange hot, he folded the metal with his tools and turned it back into a bar.

He then shaped it with strong, but precise and accurate blows.

Lars watched a master at work. Yet he knew that there were even greater smiths around.

'Amazing, so that's how they do it huh?' Lars could see it.

The hammer absorbs the smith's mana. And then, when it hits the steel. It gets a portion of it.

'Maybe that's what they call imbuing your creation with your will?' Lars concluded.

With his immaculate talent in observing mana, his eyes burned it into his brain.

Every movement that was needed to shape metal, give it form.

He then began to work alongside him. 'At least he's eager.' The dwarf smiled.

But after a few minutes of seeing him work, he stopped.

"Wait a moment... Isn't this kid a monster? He copied my movements to a tee..." The dwarf swore he saw his own self.

But that's when everything changed. Lars' strike on the metal emitted sparks of mana as he imbued the hammer with his.

'I've got to tell the captain about this kid.' He ran away and Lars didn't notice him because he was concentrating.

And when he finished forging a naked blade for a knife. Lars noticed that he was alone.

"Wait, what?" He was confused as hell. Then suddenly, the doors got kicked down.

"Hoh? You've got a really fancy knife there." Tsubaki rushed instantly.

After all, master smiths are the only ones who imbue mana into their hammer.

For a good reason too. Because a weapon or piece of armor that's imbued poorly with it, would be a piece of garbage.

"Ahhh, Tsubaki. Why are you here though?" Lars raised a brow at her.

"Heh, like he didn't even do anything amazing. You, how about you join the Hephaestus familia?" Tsubaki offered him.

"Eh?" Lars was confused as hell once again.

__

Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.