Chapter 213:Competition

Exiting the auction house door felt surreal. Going from inside back outside was exactly like exiting any other building, except for the noise and buzz of the building instantaneously being silenced as he stepped out.

Drake was both amazed and bewildered by the streamlined travel between the separate spaces. The Spirit Fox should have technically been on a different planet in a different galaxy but he felt no traveling sickness or even inclination that he had moved spaces outside the noise he had mentioned before.

Pushing his curiosity to the back of his mind, he looked at the four people waiting for him outside.

Clotho, Atropos, and the two administrators that Rvul had brought, that Drake had left the siblings with while he went inside. Atropos turned her head first, her tail wagging slightly.

She's very perceptive huh? Drake thought.

"How was everything out here?" Drake asked.

"Business as usual, Sir," a man with glasses answered.

Drake turned his head looking at the man, Hammond, and nodded, "Good. You two are the helping administrators huh?" he asked.

"That would be correct," a woman next to Hammond answered.

"Well," Drake said lazily, "We'll get to what I need from you two in a moment. First I want to take care of them."

Bending down to eye level, he looked at the siblings.

"So who's first?" Drake asked.

Clotho's furred ears and tail stood on end and he slid over to get in front of his sister.

"Hmmm, don't trust me just yet? Smart boy," Drake grinned patting him on the head, only to have his hand slapped away.

Drake didn't take it personally though and just gave a soft smile, "I guess that means you're up then."

He pulled the imbued core from his inventory. Normally cores were a dull violet color, almost opaque, but this imbued core was more like a closed container holding a milky white-like light, small engravings he didn't understand running over the surface.

"Take off your bandages," Drake instructed.

Clotho hesitated at first but urged on by his sister from behind he reluctantly unwrapped his mouth slowly revealing the sorry state of it. His mouth had been slashed horizontally and was now crusted over with blood, the area a sickly purple-reddish, obviously swollen as well as infected.

Drake looked at the wound, feeling the bubbling rage he had before coming back briefly. Taking a deep breath he sighed before touching the stone to Clotho's head.

In an instant, white light wrapped around the boy, small balls of light dancing in the air like fairies out of a fantasy tail.

Clotho looked at the lights in wonder and amazement, his sister turning her head as if following them despite being blind at the moment, her mouth parting open in awe.

After a few moments, the lights faded and Drake placed his hand in front of Clotho's face, drenching him in warm water from head to toe.

The boy howled as if he had been bathed in acid, swiping away at the water and shaking his head and body. Clotho looked back up at Drake, his eyes pointed daggers while Drake's were curved crescents from his wide grin.

"All fixed now," Drake said, pointing to Clotho's mouth.

The blood and gunk from before had been washed away, leaving a pristine jawline that made even Drake envious of the boy's looks.

"Can you speak now?" he asked.

Clotho's eyes lit up as he must have suddenly realized his mouth had been fixed, but refused to speak, instead just nodding.

Drake looked a bit disappointed that Clotho didn't jump for joy but he was happy that he was healed all the same.

"Now. Your turn," Drake said looking behind Clotho at Atropos.

She flinched briefly at being addressed but nodded slowly as her previously wagging tail slumped. Atropos began slowly unwrapping her bandages eliciting two gasps from the administrators behind Drake.

Her wounds were worse than Clotho's, the discoloration on her face making even Drake grimace.

To do this to a child and even a young girl… He fumed internally, feeling his hand grip the core tightly.

Without wanting to wait any longer, Drake pressed the core to her head lightly, the same dazzling lights suddenly blinking into existence around her.

Clotho looked on, his face cracking the perpetual scowl he had been wearing since Drake met him as they watched together as Atropos's face visibly healed.

The color of her face returned to a healthy milky complexion, the scars slowly receding as if they were never there in the first place. After a few more moments the lights disappeared and Drake splashed her in warm water cleaning the blood from her body.

"How do you feel?" Drake asked pensively.

Atropos's eyes struggled to open even after the blood was washed away, apprehension apparent in her face after having them closed for so long. After a bit of visible effort and scrunching of her face, she slowly opened her eyes.

Fluttering open she blinked briefly taking in the world around her, her eyes going to her brother. His eyes tearing up as he eked out a difficult grunt wrapping his arms around her.

Instantly she teared up as well, looking over to Drake with eyes that could have competed with the most priceless sapphires and won.

"T-thank you… I do not know how to ever repay this," she said through sobs.

Drake stood up giving a soft smile, "Let's get some food and meet the rest of the gang, what do you say?"

The crisp snap of something being bit into sounded right next to him.

Drake looked over seeing Natto breaking a chip in half as she looked at him with half-open lids.

"It never ceases to amaze me how soft you are with younger apes… or puppies..?" she said derisively, then shaking her head as she raised her hands in a shrug.

"Where have you been? Stealing food from the kids again?" Drake scoffed, spotting the bag of chips in her hand.

"Steal? Hardly, I am simply liberating the extra bags from the storage within the common rooms of the house."

Drake shook his head, giving a wave of his hand, "Come on let's go. We need to get you guys fed and changed," nodding to the two administrators as well, "Sorry but you two are tagging along with me for now."

Natto pointed forward from Drake's shoulder chip in hand, "I also require some of your time as well so I will be here for a time. Onward! My below-average steed!"

Sighing, Drake gave a half grin, "You just want to grab more snacks huh…"

"I admit nothing!"

—-----------------------------------------

"Janey! Where did you put my hair tie?" Charlotte asked, searching through the beds.

"It isn't on your bed?" Janey shouted from the other side of the tent, sitting on a makeshift couch as she held the baby.

Charlotte sighed, "No Mommm it's not. That's why I asked!" she said slightly flustered.

"Who's your Mom? That's totes insulting you know…."

Brodie and Cid snickered from in front of the TV that was set up in the large tent.

"It doesn't matter… it won't make you any prettier," Brodie prodded, the audible clicking of buttons coming from his controller.

"Yeah, I don't know what's so special about that guy anyway. He can just throw some magic around," Cid added, his face producing a jealous snide as he furiously pressed on his own controller.

The sound of two loud thwacks resounded in the tent, the two boys yelping and holding the back of their heads.

"Who said I'm doing this for anyone!?" Charlotte said embarrassedly, her face turning red, "And Cid, you should know better, didn't he save you and Janey first?" she chided.

"Whatever…" Cid groaned, rubbing the back of his scalp.

"Charlotte," Janey giggled, "If you aren't cleaning up for anyone, why did you assume they were talking about Drake? Seem pretty shook to me, girl."

"I-i…" Charlotte stammered, unable to refute her.

Charlotte already knew it would never happen. She wasn't ignorant of how Drake treated her and the other people, let alone the girls he had saved. She had seen how he went out of his way to help the near countless people that began filling the town.

Looking over to the mirror in their tent, seeing the face of the teenager staring back, auburn hair cut at her shoulders, small freckles lining her cheeks, and blueish-hazel eyes she lamented knowing she could never compete with Sah Ul'.

Charlotte was by no means below average, but for some reason, Sah Ul' was nearing otherworldly even as a different species.

Preoccupied with her thoughts she failed to notice the sound of the approaching footsteps and flap of the tent swinging open.

"Yo, troublemakers, enjoying the games and no school?" the familiar voice said, bringing all the people in the tent's attention to them.

Charlotte looked to the entrance, Drake standing there with a smile, but she could see something was off. She had seen him make enough expressions in the past weeks to begin to understand when Drake was putting on a front, or at least what she considered was a mask.

He would grin and joke, but there was no 'heart' in it and his eyes were empty.

She hadn't mentioned it to him, instead worrying silently.

"Drake!" Brodie shouted getting up after pausing the game.

"Sup, kiddo? Don't get too used to games every day, you might be going back to school soon," Drake grinned.

"Whatttt…" Brodie groaned, "What do you mean?!"

Charlotte was also curious, "Yeah, what do you mean school? I thought they would just be indefinitely closed, do we even have proper teachers?" she asked.

Drake scoffed, "It's in the planning stage for now, just look forward to it," he said.

"Who looks forward to school…" Cid grumbled from his seat on the floor.

"Still not warmed up to me Cid? Or is it because Natto keeps stealing all the goodies I give you guys?" Drake asked his brows raising.

"I deny that statement fervently!" Natto snapped, entering the tent.

Charlotte giggled at the pair's usual antics but was truly curious about what he had meant by school possibly being a thing again. Unfortunately, she pushed it to the back of her mind as she saw four more people enter the tent.

Behind Drake, there were two humans she wasn't acquainted with. Both wearing casual clothes instead of the usual armor most people wore nowadays as well as glasses giving them an office or intellectual aesthetic. And next to them were two beastkin she had never seen, in t-shirts that she could only think were picked out by Drake. Both holding a skewer of meat in one hand.

The girl wore a pink shirt with the word 'Oppai' on them -which Charlotte had no idea translated to- and the boy wore a blue shirt with the words, 'Kuso Gaki' across the chest. Which she also had no idea meant.

Both of the beastkin seemed to be young and if she had to reluctantly admit, extremely good-looking. The two had striking features despite being young. The boy having the piercing yellow eyes of a predator that seemed to look right through her, as he panned the room, going from one person to the next. It almost seemed like he was scanning for threats and gauging who he could kill if it came to it.

The girl surprisingly had her eyes closed but if anything it made her more mysteriously demure. Having a small frame and dainty features, making Charlotte sulk internally in slight jealousy.

They both had hair a shade of white, but the boy had flecks of a deeper blue compared to the girl who had pure white. Each of their wolf-like ears donned the same colors.

Charlotte looked on mesmerized at the pair as her eyes went from their ears, that sometimes twitched, to their long tails. The boy's stood stalk still, while the girl's swayed somewhat energetically as she kept her head turned to Drake, ignoring the rest of them.

More people… He brought more people and why is it always more girls? First Quetz and now her? And why do they always have to be so… pretty…. Charlotte thought.

Drake noticed the gazes of the kids and began introducing them.

"These are two kids from the batch I just helped. This is Clotho, and this is Atropos," Drake said, introducing the two, "They're beastkin as you can tell, and siblings."

"A-actually… we are twins," Atropos amended, to the surprise of the kids in the room.

Charlotte's eyes widened looking at the girl. Hearing her voice it was like a chill ran down her spine.

She can speak English? That would mean she has a language skill right? She thought. So she's already completed her quest then and has a class? She can't be that much older than me…

Charlotte looked at the extremely unnerving blinking prompted in the peripheral of her vision.

[Welcome to the System. Please navigate to your nearest System Center]

[Reward: Basic Class Quest of your choice. Introduction Booklet]

On the day she had turned 16, she had heard the 'system' as Drake called it, speak to her. The loud ringing noisily almost popped her eardrums. Since then, she had talked to Drake and was told to wait until they were ready to depart before going forward with the quest.

She knew Kalik also had this happen and was placed under watch so that he didn't rush the process, only to be calmed down after Sah Ul' told him to wait.

"Is that so? I wouldn't have guessed. Good to know," Drake chuckled, breaking Charlotte out of her idle thoughts.

Drake placed a hand on Atropos's head, then one on Clotho's only to have him growl lightly, an elongated canine flashing, but he didn't swat away Drake's hand this time. But Drake didn't seem to mind and smiled still.

"Alright," Drake addressed, "Mother," he grinned, looking at Janey as she scowled back at him, "Please get them settled in here. They've been through… A lot, so let them sleep if possible, and don't press them for too many details."

Janey grumbled as she patted the baby's back lightly as he cooed in her arms, but nodded.

Charlotte on the other hand looked at him worriedly, "Are you going somewhere?" she asked.

"Kind of. I have some boring leader stuff to take care of with these other two, then I have to go do more boring stuff with the mobile garbage disposal," he answered, the sound of Natto kicking his shin ringing through the tent.

"You will be leaving….? Drake?" Atropos asked, her expression turning to something approaching frightened.

Drake ruffled her hair a small bit, "Sorry but duty calls for now. Think about what I said alright? And try to get some rest and eat up," he consoled, then looked at Charlotte, "Everything alright here or do you need me to expand the tent more? And sorry for springing this on you all, but I wanted them to have a warm welcome," he explained, then noticed two people were missing.

"Where are Quetz and Landin?" he asked.

"Landin went out to run. He said not having his skateboard anymore was making him antsy. Quetz I'm not sure, we still can't understand her because we don't have language skills," Charlotte answered, "A-and don't worry about it," she said, despite her internal thoughts begging him to stop picking up more and more rivals.

Drake nodded, his face still showing how he was slightly regretful about putting more burden on them as he dropped more food, games, and candy for them all.

"Hope this lasts a little bit," Drake said, offering them up in consolidation, holding back a drooling and starry-eyed Natto by the scruff of her kimono.

Waving goodbye, he and the two others, with Natto grumbling in Drake's grip, left.

Charlotte sighed but steeled herself to do what she promised walking up to Atropos and Clotho with an extended hand.

"It's nice to meet you two, I'm Charlotte."

Clotho looked at her confused and Atropos's head turned from the exit where Drake had gone to look at her before sniffing the air.

Charlotte gave a confused look, her head turning to Janey but she was just as confused, giving a small shrug.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"You reek of arousal," Atropos said in a soft voice, her brows furrowing deeply, "Do you wish to claim Lord Drake?"

Charlotte's face turned bright red as she gave a silent scream of existential embarrassment.