New duties

While the rest of the family was still recovering from the news of the heirs' fathers death, those that were connected to Pixel had started to prepare for their own changes that would happen in their life.

When night was approaching, a group of them were escorted to Whale Forest from their homes where there were many tough looking Minks out in the open.

Suddenly more appeared out in the open as if they suddenly appeared from nowhere due to their strong ability to hide their presence to avoid detection within the forest area.

Among them was a large cat which Pixel had sensed as the most intimidating and strong in the group.

She bowed slightly and introduced herself. "I am Pixel J. Meridian. This is my mother and my friend."

Ash stepped forward and looked at the large cat with a look of shyness and excitement. "You.. can just call me Ash. It is a great honour to meet master Cat Viper.

Misty stepped forward and bowed. "I am Misty, please take care of me!"

While everyone in the surroundings were very intimidating and serious looking, Cat Viper seemed to have a more laid back approach and attitude so he revealed a wide grin. "You all do not need to bother too much with the formalities-nya~"

He then turned around and spoke as he lead the way. "Follow me and I will help you get settled in. The night is our time to guard Zou but you will need to have some time to train, eat and rest before it begins so you need to know your way around here."

He lead them deeper into the forest and spoke. "Our duty is to guard the forest and what is kept deep within it. It is our duty to protect our lands most sacred grounds from those inside or outside of Zou that may wish to gain access to those sacred grounds for their own benefit-nya~."

He continued to explain. "The sacred grounds are off limits to almost everyone unless they have been granted permission to enter by myself, Baan and that dog."

When he mentioned Duke Dogstorm like that, there was some bitterness in his voice as if he was holding back something that was buried within his heart which caused him much pain, regret and rage.

Pixel was not aware of the situation between the two Dukes but she had suspected after hearing the tone of Cat Viper that they were currently on bad terms.

It would also be explained how one rules over the day while the other rules over the night, it was the best way to avoid meeting each other and avoid falling deeper into conflicts after whatever had happened between them in the past.

The sacred grounds had been rumoured to contain a precious treasure and other Important things to the Minks of Zou.

Although Pixel had not found out what was so important that it must be so strictly guarded, she knew that it must have a lot of importance to the Minks as a whole.

The three of them were shown around the various areas nearby as they got familiar with the surroundings and got more acquainted with the regular members of the Night Guards.

While protecting the forest area was one duty, it had been explained that there would also be numerous other tasks like patrolling the island and protecting it from invaders or criminals from within.

As the night was coming to an end there was another group which had been escorted to Duke Dogstorm.

Harley and Old Swifty had been quickly accepted into the Musketeers and they were introduced to each of their duties.

Liquorice was later escorted to attend lessons and meetings with Genghis Baan whenever he called for her to attend so everyone was very busy as they adjusted to the new schedule.

Those that had to deal with business or family matters had to find more time to adjust and rearrange their time so that it would not have bad effects on them whether it be losing control of the things going on around them or becoming ill due to not getting enough rest and overworking.

Pixel had gained many more combat opportunities and she was being trained by a strong Mink that had experienced many things outside of Zou so she was gaining a rapid improvement in many aspects.

Ash had carefully watched many of Cat Viper's very agile movements and how he rarely made a sound or revealed his presence when he moved so she was especially excited to learn from him along with the others.

Misty had more interest in learning from those around her too as there were many different Minks that used their own more unorthodox ways of fighting and there were many other things to learn like the climbing, detection and stealth skills.

Liqurorice was learning many things over the time she spent learning under Genghis Baan as she had started learning one thing after another from him that were related to improving her strength but also her mind to test to see if she was fit to take over from him.

Harley and Swifty spent their days swinging their sword and training their bodies but when they were not swinging their sword, they were busy patrolling and carrying out their duties.

There would be times when they would all be brought back together when their schedules allowed it but it was a very rare occasion that it did happen.