Setting Out

"Thank you for your kind intentions, but please leave..."

After registering at the Gate and following the children back to a partially destroyed monastery, the interior of which had been converted to a small farm, these were among the first words Vahn heard from the Community's Leader, a young woman wearing a Nun's Habit.

"Pardon...?"

Though he could already guess the woman's reasons, Vahn couldn't help raising his brows as the inordinately busty, pink-haired, and lavender-eyed Nun went on to explain, "Even if you do possess the power to improve our quality of life, doing so would only cause the neighboring Communities to begin eyeing us. We're able to live a relatively peaceful life because we possess nothing the other Communities covet. The moment that changes, it is the children who will suffer first and foremost..."

Understanding where the woman was coming from, Vahn slowly nodded his head before looking towards Sarina, the person who had guided him here. She was currently gripping the hem of her frilly red skirt with a vexed look on her face, as, despite understanding the Sister's words, she felt it was wrong to not even try.

Plopping his hand atop the girl's head, Vahn gently ruffled Sarina's hair, an equally gentle smile on his face as he said, "It's okay. This is only a minor setback. All I need to do is establish a Community of my own. Once I take over the surrounding Gates, I'll be able to improve the lives of everyone, not just the members of this Community..."

Though Sarina looked like she was about to cry her little heart out, a smile developed across the fatigued-looking Nun's face as she muttered, "It would be wonderful if you're able to achieve that. Now, please leave. Your visit today would have already drawn a lot of attention. If people believe we are affiliated in any way, they will target us the moment you gain even a minute amount of fame or infamy..."

Smiling wryly in response to the Nun's words, Vahn resisted the almost instinctual urge to just invite them all to stay within the Second Layer of his Little Garden. They would be significantly safer there, but, if he extended a similar offer to every downtrodden resident of the Divine Realm, it wouldn't be long before the refugee population of the Second Layer numbered in the trillions.

As that thought crossed his mind, Vahn retracted his hand from Sarina's head with the intention of departing the way he came. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, the Nun's weary voice rung out again, saying, "We all walk our own paths in life, Sarina. If you wish to follow him, do not hesitate. Life is too short. Don't waste it on regrets."

Turning his head, Vahn was about to mention how counterintuitive it would be to send one of their own to follow him after making such a strong case for disassociation. These words got caught in his throat, however, as Sarina enthusiastically latched onto his arm, a beaming smile on her face as she said, "I'll be in your care from now on."

Though there was a fair amount of sorrow contained within her aura, likely related to the fact she would be leaving her friends and family behind, Vahn could tell that Sarina's jubilation wasn't false. She seemed absolutely determined to follow him, a sentiment that caused him to feel more than a little awkward due to the threads of pink contained in her aura as she clung to his arm...

("Here we go again...")

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Though there were a number of stringent requirements for advancing to the lower-digits, virtually anyone could establish a 7-Digit Community. The only real requirement was that you needed three people, primarily a Leader, a Sub-Leader, and an Adjutant. It was also recommended that you have a name, a flag, and a territory, but these were only truly necessary when you were trying to advance from a higher-digit Community to a lower one.

After traveling a considerable distance, enough that most people wouldn't be able to recognize Sarina even if he did cause a ruckus, Vahn found a rather charming Cafe called Inumimi Paradise. Each of their waitresses was an adorable girl with dogs ears and a tail, and, if you paid a premium, you were allowed to caress their heads and ears at your leisure.

Fortunately, while the most common currency on the East Side were the metal coins printed by the Thousand Eyes Community, smaller shops generally accepted all forms of verifiable currency. A few even allowed customers to pay using their Gifts, specifically allowing them to provide services such as cooking, cleaning, or good old-fashioned manual labor. In other words, so long as you had the means, you could barter for various goods and services without having to exchange actual currency.

Though it earned him an adorable pout from Sarina, Vahn managed to convince the owner of the Cafe to allow him to pay with headpats. Others had to pay for the opportunity to fluff the girls in the Cafe, but, after proving that he could treat underlying medical conditions while simultaneously improving the health and wellness of the people he pet, Vahn earned the envy of nearly every other customer by systematically petting every girl in the Cafe for free. Even the owner stopped by a total of three times, her Doberman-like tail wagging happily as she and several others invited him to join their predominately female Community no less than ten times...

As tempting as the offer was, Vahn managed to escape the Inumimi Paradise before the girls could contemplate forcibly dragging him back. He also felt sorry for Sarina, who, during their three-hour stay, became progressively more downtrodden every time the girls offered her free food and drinks just to keep her occupied.

"Do you like kemonomimi girls more than normal girls...?"

Hearing Sarina's whisper-like inquiry, Vahn adopted a wry yet gentle smile as he tousled the girl's hair and answered, "You're overthinking things. It would be more accurate to say that I like girls as a general rule of thumb rather than having any particular preference. Besides, it's a little too soon for you to be concerning yourself with matters such as this. Based on what I can tell, you can't be more than ten years old. I don't mind if you harbor intentions towards me. Just don't expect me to lay my hands on a little girl. I have children who are older than you..."

Though she was happy to have her head pat, Sarina became downcast when she heard what Vahn had to say. A part of her even regretted leaving the monastery as one of her main reasons for doing so was the expectation that romance would blossom between them if she tried her best...

Understanding the little girl's thoughts, even without the Law of Identity, a slightly amused chuckle escaped Vahn's throat as he retracted his hand and said, "For now, focus on maturing both mentally and physically. If you still feel this way when you discover more about me...well, let's just say I don't have a reputation for disappointing the women in my life. You're just not one of them. At least, not right now."

With that said, Vahn extended his hand towards Sarina, and, though she hesitated for a very brief moment, it didn't take long for her to reach out her own and grasp his. She had already made up her mind, so, while this was certainly a setback, she still had hope for the future...

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Though the Divine Realm made use of the Geocentric Model, meaning the Sun and Moon orbited around it, each of the individual Gates was able to implement their own day and night cycle. As a result, there were some Gates where the Sun never set, others where it was a perpetually full moon, and even more where the day-night cycle was completely random. It all depended on the whims of the Community in charge.

Noticing the Sun was still high in the sky even after they had been wandering around for several hours, Vahn turned to the fatigued-looking Sarina and asked, "What do you want to do? Unless you would rather become the Adjutant or remain a simple member, you're going to be the Sub-Leader of the Community we form. We can move to the Outermost Gates and try to recruit new arrivals or we can search for someone that is being oppressed by one of the more dastardly Communities. I'll let you decide."

After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Sarina's mood seemed to improve quite a bit as she performed an adorable guts pose and answered, "We should try to help people! There are too many bullies in the Little Garden. If we have the power to do something about it, we should try...!"

Though she lacked any real power of her own, Sarina was baselessly confident in Vahn's ability to do something about the injustices faced by the weaker residents of the Little Garden. She didn't know why, but she felt like he could just 'fix' things whenever he wanted. There had even been a few unruly-looking individuals who steered clear from him the moment he looked towards them, something that typically only occurred when famous or infamous Communities were performing their rounds and patrolling their territory.

Offering a smile, Vahn resisted the urge to call Sarina a 'good girl' since it would become a problem once she was invariably introduced to people like Fenrir. Instead, he just pat her head as he looked around the area for any passersby in need of assistance. More specifically, he was looking for young boys around her age, someone he could accept as a protege while training them both to become a lot stronger than they currently were.

Noticing a downtrodden youth hobbling along the periphery of the crowd with his head lowered, tightly clinging to a few tattered books, Vahn manifested to the Law of Identity to inquire about his background. Unfortunately, it seemed that he already belonged to a Community. The reason for his limp was also relatively innocent, so, other than sending a thread of healing energy into the young man's body, surprising him quite a bit, Vahn left the youth to his own devices.

"Hmmm..."

Just as he was thinking about asking some of the locals for information, a familiar tingling spread through Vahn's mind as a young girl with auburn hair emerged from an alleyway, expression pale and tears building in the corners of her eyes she implored people to make way. This caused Vahn's expression to morph into a flawless deadpan, as, moments later, a group of bandit-like individuals burst from the same alleyway, the most muscular among them shouting, "Get back here, you brat! You're the one who agreed to participate in a Gift Game! You can't just run away because you don't like the conditions...!"

Despite the soles of her feet bleeding rather profusely, the little girl continued running barefoot as the trio gradually caught up to her. As for the pedestrians in the surroundings, most simply got out of the way. After all, while the Little Garden was known to house countless Heroes, most had their Gifts stolen shortly after their arrival or quickly advanced to become members of four or five-digit Communities. The who settled in the Seven-Digit Gates were among the dregs of society within the Divine Realm, so, more often than not, they did their best to stay out of other people's business.

Just as the skinniest man among the three, an individual with a mouse-like face, was about to catch up to the girl from behind, an invisible wall seemed to impede his progress. From the perspective of others, it was like he had tried to break through the barrier protecting a Gate using his face, and, as a result, blood began to pool from his nostrils as he slid, unconscious, to the ground.

Borrowing a one-liner from an anime that his son, Naruto, had taken an interest in, Vahn combed his fingers through his hair, magically changing the direction in which it flowed as he mused, "Good grief..." in a defeated tone.

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Nun don't play','Vahn about to become a VIP member at every kemonomimi Cafe xD...','Yare yare daze...')

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