Ch 25- Contacts

Glacé had to fumble with the communication system for a minute and slightly pursed his lips. 'How does this work? Is it call only? I can't leave a message for Yuki?' Glacè held his chin as he tried to find the way one is supposed to communicate with his earring communication device.

'...….'

"What kind of black magic is this?". 'How could Yuki just throw this at me without teaching me how to use the darn thing?' Glacè grumbled both externally and internally.

Glacè huffed and puffed, he tried various means to activate the communication device; calling all sorts of stupid and weird phrases to activate the device; such as: "Hey Tiri, call Yuki". Glacè paused and received no feedback, he continued to say many stupid phrases before finally reaching enlightenment.

Glacè swiftly opened the system panel and navigated his way to the "communication tab". His eyes widened as he saw an NPC subtab which he never really noticed before. 'Ahhhh.... Turns out it was here the whole time', Glacè gave an awkward chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head. 'Thank God no one knows what I'm thinking, he he...'

Glacè quickly moved and sent two messages; one to Yuki and another to Scarlet. He really thought through the future for these beast-people and needed the two of them for similar yet totally different things. He needed Yuki's advice, and Scarlet's approval and cooperation. Upon seeing the "message sent" notifications Glacè smiled contentedly and turned his attention back to Tal. "I have an idea, but I need some assistance so we may have to stay here for a few days before I can acquire everything needed; how are you all doing on food and water?"

Tal lowered his head in shame "not too well, we've been hiding for about a week and a half. Most of our forces are children so their capabilities are limited and I was seriously injured before and couldn't hunt. Some of us here haven't had a meal in over two days".

*Ding* 'Quest updated'

Glacè raised his eyebrows upon hearing the system's prompt and opened the quest tab.

Quest-

Rescue the Villagers captured from Zell village- 'You have chosen to attack and subdue the slave merchant guild disguised as a circus; 'pascull' and retrieve the beast-people captives from Zell village'.

"Sub-quest 1: You have chosen to take on the burden of helping the survivors left behind from Zell village. If you really plan to save and rescue the whole village; start with the scraps left behind. Help provide them with the basic needs of food, water, and shelter to receive a unique reward".

'Haaa, that's great!' Glacè grinned from ear to ear; originally when he picked the third quest option he was frustrated that it only mentioned helping the taken beast-people and not the ones he was currently with. Now seeing that he had actually opened a sub-quest he felt very satisfied.

"Alright!" Glacè clapped his hands together in high spirits. "Then let's go hunting now, with you, me, and Bai we should be able to haul in enough for everyone here". Tal looked at Glacè with worshipping and watery eyes but after a moment paused. "Who's Bai?".

Glacè picked up Bai and held him in his arms, Tal showed a complicated expression and spoke dryly. "This…. Fox kit? I think it'd be safer to leave him with the other kids in the cave". Bai's hair puffed up and he shifted forms and threw fox flame magic toward the outside of the cave. Then turned back to stare at Tal showing a triumphant smile.

"Ah….. you're not a beast-person since we can't use magic". Tal stared blankly at Bai before his pupils suddenly dilated "a demon?!". Both Bai and Glacè nodded in sync; Tal suddenly shifted to his lion form and pounced toward Bai. Glacè stepped in and cast a shield over him and Bai and stared coldly at Tal. "He is not a bad person, nor is his sister. They are my family and won't harm others, if you don't stop now I will leave you all here". Glacè spoke harshly; only he himself knew how nervous he truly felt while stating these words.

'Why are demons so hated in this world? Every time someone sees one they automatically want to fight; disregarding whether they are good or bad'. To be honest, Glacè felt both discouraged and disappointed seeing Tals actions.

Tal stopped his attacking motion and stared at the two foxes warily then looked back and saw Glacès serious face and hesitantly sat down and changed back. The air fell into a strange silence; Glacè got up and started to move around outside the mouth of the cave. He glanced over his shoulder while stretching his hands over his head "I won't force you to change your ideals or way of thinking, but please trust me and the people I trust in". Tal nodded sullenly and followed Glacè to go hunt and collect resources for the cave.

By the end of this day, Glacè had received two replies one from Yuki , and the other from Scarlet. Glacé placed his head in his palm and sighed "hahhh, I knew I couldn't do it yet". Glacè sent Yuki another message and turned his eyes back to Scarlet's reply and felt slightly more cheerful.

"Alright!" Glacè yelled out to everyone in the cave "alright everyone it's time for us to move! We're going to move to the edge of human town located near the ridge of Akeshia Territory. We have no time to waste". Through his conversation with Scarlet Glacè found a Suitable place for the Zell villagers in the Akeshia Territory and wanted to send them as fast as possible; so he could he'll leave to find the pascull traders.

Glacè worries that he may not be able to find them before they managed to sell the Zell people. He watched as the "scrap" villagers packed up and prepared to head out. Glacè exhaled a sigh and soon noticed shadows filling up the ground. He raised his head and soon spotted three unicorns lowering themselves to his side. Yuki stood proudly at the forefront and Glacè was so moved that he almost wanted to go up and kiss him.

Yuki gave Glacè a signature smile "I brought some help, you said you had the perfect place already selected; just send the coordinates to me. We can take and protect this group and help them settle; after all, you have other things you need to do, don't you?".

Yuki neighed happily and trotted around Glacè.

Meanwhile, Glacè was staring blankly 'boss, don't you know you acting like this collapses your high and mighty appearance?'. While he didn't say it out loud Glacè felt incredibly grateful and pulled Tal forward and introduced the relevant parties. "Tal, I will leave you all with Yuki, you can rely on them. I can't stick around for long or else I may not be able to catch up to the people that were taken. I'll meet up with you all as soon as possible".

Glacè showed Tal a reassuring smile, Tal looked like he wanted to argue, and he tightly clenched his fists. 'If I ask to go, I'd probably just end up being a nuisance' Tal felt so depressed. He simply nodded and did as was told obediently; leading the others to follow him and Yuki. Tal raised his head and looked over his shoulder toward Glacè briefly, then reluctantly turned to follow the other winged unicorns. Glacè watched their departure until everyone was out of sight then he walked back to the village.

"Mole; return!" Glacè called Mole. About half an hour later a tired and heavily panting Mole appeared before Glacè. 'Oof I didn't expect he actually had to fly to me directly… I thought the companion trait made it like an instantaneous teleportation kind of thing'. Glacè felt extremely guilty as he looked at the collapsed pixie in his hand. He slowly reached a finger out and gently rubbed Mole's head "sorry Mole, I know you're tired, but do you think you could help point me in the direction of the way the caravans from the part in this town left? After that you can take a good rest".

Mole tiredly stared at Glacè and slowly nodded his little head before lightly fluttering his heavy wings; guiding Glacè to the correct exit path.

"Thanks, Mole, you're the best!". Glacè gave Mole a soft pat and kiss before setting him on his head and changing forms. Glacè flew just below the tree line; following the old wagon wheel tracks on the dirt path. 'Hmm my natural form really stands out too much like this…' Glacè suddenly recalled his initial character appearance, at that time he was a man with pure white wings on his back. 'Can I make my wings appear in human form?'.

Glacè felt that it was highly likely so he braked and landed gently on the ground and changed to human form. He focused intently on his back; hoping his beautiful wings would appear. His face turned red from straining his muscles, after a few grunts and pants he could feel a small *pop* Glacè excitedly looked back and the smile on his lips froze. There on his back lay a small pair of chibi-sized white wings; he tried moving them and could barely manage to move them up and down once.

'The fuck? Why are they like this?!' Glacè felt totally bewildered as he stared at his tiny wings and sighed in exasperation. 'Whatever I guess I'll have to go in my natural form'. Glacè changed back and quickly flew away. Meanwhile, Mole, Bai, and Tera sitting on Glacè felt very confused about why they stopped so suddenly. They also couldn't understand what had just happened, however, seeing Glacès sour face none of them spoke a word in tacit understanding.