A Warrior's Welcome - Part 3

Alissa hugs Allura from behind and struggles to reach the tattletale's mouth with her hand, but she manages to shut her up.

"I'm going to murder you if you say anything," Alissa whispers dangerously to Allura.

"What is it…?" Léonne's gentle voice resounds through the grass garden like the whisper of a sword being drawn. Both she and Jacques give the sisters inexpressive looks, cautiously waiting for the first beast to bare its fangs.

Allura's eyes become unfocused as she retreats into her mind to consider the consequences of this decision.

A silence settles in as Léonne's question hangs in the air, drawing the eyes of every onlooker as they notice the tension in both of the sisters' postures. It's like Alissa is holding a knife over Allura's heart, the former keeping her mad rage from bursting out of her body, while the latter holds the keys to the shameful truth which would bring justice down upon the mad fox.

Betray her sister? Or lie to her parents? These two very important questions would burden one's mind, rob them of sleep, then tear at one's heart, ripping it in two. The dilemma would make any Gods-fearing person struggle to choose…

But those deep concerns never once ran through Allura's mind.

She opens her mouth and shouts, "She wants her husband to ma-AAAAH-te with… the foxes…!" And she even manages to power through Alissa yanking on her fox tail.

The Sworn Hunters laugh, but both Léonne and Jacques continue with their impassiveness.

"Alluraaa~…!" Alissa whines and gives her sister's tail a final twist before letting her go.

"Hahahahaha!" Allura laughs as she runs away.

"How would… oh, never mind," Ofilia mumbles, then her porcelain skin turns scarlet.

"Allura, behave yourself," Léonne's ice-cold tone makes the almost-woman cringe, but she quickly recovers her impish grin, then Léonne's stern gaze turns to Alissa, and then me, making us both feel a bit meek. "Alissa, Wolf, don't."

"We won't," Alissa reflexively replies, as stiff as a robot, then she immediately returns to my side, seeking refuge from her mother's glare.

I slowly nod towards Léonne, then I try to play with the female fox as un-lewdly as possible.

--

Foxes are pretty needy, especially the ones who live within the estate since they're quite used to receiving lots of affection, so we have to force ourselves to leave them and move on.

Gify stays with them for a little while longer, but I'm sure that she'll come rejoin us as soon as we smell a whiff of food.

Alissa recognizes the guards at the gate, and their commanding officer is a black werefox so dark that he's almost a vantafox.

"Gardieu, you actually got promoted?!" Alissa exclaims jokingly. "I'm surprised that your fat ass didn't get larger from sitting here all day."

And Allura teases him in lockstep with her sister, "Oh, he certainly has calluses on his ass from working hard. Those chair cushions didn't fray all by themselves."

The black fox straightens his back and grips his spear while his eyes maintain a faraway look as he tries to seem as dignified as possible. "Your little bee stings for tongues can't hurt me. You're still far from the whipping that your mother's tongue can dish out!" He fires back like a soldier reporting to his superiors.

"A thousand bee stings can still kill a person," Alissa ripostes.

But he easily deflects with his shield, "Then give me a thousand right now! And if you can't, then you're only training my 'Endurance.'" He suddenly turns away from them, his long fox tail whipping around after him and softly brushing against Alissa's stomach.

"Hah," she snorts, remembering how his tail would hit her in the face whenever he did that back when she was growing up.

--

Léonne offers us a carriage, but Alissa declines, wanting to walk and take in the view at her own pace, and I promise Roxanne a good toe-sucking later if her delicate, pretty feet start to hurt.

As we cross through the gate, we're met with a picturesque sight. A perfectly straight path of smooth, gray bricks is laid out before us; short walls of ashen black wood flank it all the way along, partially hiding the tall, raised houses with their red-tiled, sharp-angled roofs; the entrances to these houses and the names of the streets are all marked by tall wooden columns filled with cute, elaborate carvings, like a sort of heraldry for the noble families or a depiction of the shops located along the road, respectively; and a few sparse trees populate the large gardens, most of them being Chape trees, a weird shaped tree that reminds me of a sombrero on a stick, the stick being the trunk and the sombrero the leaves.

The morning mist dissipated just a short while ago, leaving everything a bit damp, so there's a slight shimmer everywhere as the morning sun meets the dew.

I pull out the golems, and the girls explain what they are to the werefoxes as we walk. None of the werefoxes are mages or researchers, so they can only sheepishly nod in understanding even though they likely understood nothing.

There's little variety in the actual design of the houses, exemplifying the werefox collectivist mindset, but there's also enough detail that each house seems unique in its own way.

"Elven houses are more interesting," Yunia disinterestedly remarks in my soul space.

"Except for Goloria's," Alissa retorts defensively.

"Agreed, that place is a mess. Too much variety in buildings, while over here, there's too little," Yunia replies without skipping a beat.

"There's value in simplicity and humility," Alissa fights on, but Yunia simply scoffs.

"Those are the exact two things that an elf would never understand," Roxanne unexpectedly sides with Alissa, then flashes me a grin. "I'm an opportunist, I'd never miss a chance to poke someone."

"Don't compare the races like that, it's unfair," I try to assuage them.

"Just enjoy the races for what they can give," Ciel piggybacks on my argument.

"A mouthful of fur?" Hana interjects.

"The positive things they can give," Ciel quickly corrects herself.

"Elves can't make cute things like the werefoxes can," Lina chimes in as we pass by an intricately carved column.

"I agree, but what did I just say…?" Ciel annoyedly presses Lina, who just smiles adorably to distract Ciel so that she doesn't get chastised.

"I fucking knew that Lina was a devious imp inside," I mumble jokingly, and she quickly closes off her mind so that no stray emotion of hers can bleed through [Bind] so easily again.

--

There's no gate separating these high-class mansions from the rest of the commoners, allowing us to visually observe the smooth decrease in wealth the further we walk.

The trees completely disappear, except for in public spaces, then the gardens start to shrink, and the houses grow increasingly warped, even comically so. Chape planks are quite flexible, and the houses that use them in their construction become "bowed" as they age due to the humidity. It actually makes for some pretty cute architecture, though I don't know how safe it is for the occupants.

"As long as the main pillars are replaced regularly, these houses will remain standing," Alissa confidently answers, and I decide to just stop thinking about it.

Then the shops start to appear, and the smell of foreign food fills our nostrils.

"I feel like having a fried Joolis stick," Alissa admits, salivating from the smell of the nostalgic snack.

I hear a *pop* on my shoulder, and then, with a chirp, "Gih!" Gify demands one for herself, too.

We grab a few sticks of the fried fish meat rolled into a ball and drizzled with colorful spices. It's pretty salty, but it's worth it because of the large variety of spices used. I even recognize Japanese nori.

I pull out some of the Frele tea that Ofilia had served us, and it goes pretty well with the snack.

Then Alissa asks for something else: a long stick of baked sweet potato. The interior is hot, but the charred crust has already cooled enough to touch, so we break the stick in half and then season it ourselves with a simple not-nori-based spice.

After that, Alissa gets a sweet omelet-or-waffle-like(?) snack with a dark berry sauce filling, and then she gets some thin, crunchy sticks of fried flour covered in some kind of peppery spice.

Noting Alissa's sudden appetite, Ciel shares her concern, "Not even Lina was this hungry when we visited Bersidon. Were you really enjoying the food back home?"

Alissa covers her mouth to give a muffled reply, "Of courshe, I was." Then she finishes chewing her food and swallows. "I just… 'missed' these flavors." She shrugs.

"Except for making snacks for customers, neither Mom nor Dad are great cooks," Lina shyly admits, and a small "oh" of understanding escapes our lips.

After the omelet-or-waffle, Alissa chooses a savory steamed bun with bean filling to cleanse the sweetness from her palate, then I notice a stall that's selling river fish not-sashimi, and the hungry dragon wakes up inside of me.

"Klein, Anton, memorize this flavor, then report it to Krysta," I order them with a smirk, half-jokingly.

The two of them share a look. "You're trying to not seem that serious, but I know that your stomach actually is pretty serious about it," Anton reads me like an open book.

Then I notice my tail wiggling out of my control, revealing my slight anxiety, so I smile wryly and just confess, "Let me rephrase that: please tell Krysta about this if I forget to do it."

At that, they both nod obediently.

--

Roubaix produces a lot of flour and other assorted powdered ingredients due to the large river that crosses through it, powering the watermills, so there's a lot of different takes on dumplings to choose from. The mill district is in the opposite direction of where we're going, so we don't even get a glimpse of it.

Overall, Misty Fox cuisine doesn't have such a wide variety of ingredients to choose from like elven cuisine does, but they certainly have more creativity.

Yunia's mocking, childish voice echoes in my soul space, "StOp CoMpArInG tHe RaCeS."

"Stop reading my thoughts," I reply in kind and poke her soul, almost making her squeak out loud, and she shoots me a quick glare.

Then we each get a refreshing drink of Chapefruit, the not-mango. This flavor is pretty nostalgic for me since it's a pretty popular fruit in Brazil. The werefoxes export Chapefruit, so we should be able to occasionally get some for ourselves back in Escanso.

As we walk, I also give Alissa the Frele and Apaisant sweets that she missed due to all the greetings. In contrast to the spicy street vendor food, the gourmet-style sweets have a very mild flavor, but they're still delicious nonetheless.

The Sworn Hunters following us are also acting as guards, so I let the Lordsguard relax a little, and we get some snacks for them, too. It makes me quite happy seeing Hukarere eagerly getting a taste of everything, and the way the werefoxes stare at her in awe is also a pretty nice bonus.

Curiously, the commoners seem to be far less afraid of Aoi than the dwarves were, and I expected the opposite since the entirety of the Rakontagne mountain range to the east of the Misty Forest is known to be full of dragon nests.

"The commoners' reaction to Aoi is pretty different from what I expected," I casually comment.

"What did you expect?" Léonne replies with the same tone.

I shrug. "More fear, maybe some animosity."

"We have a few dragon riders, so the commoners are used to seeing dragons."

"It's only people like Dad who have something against them," Alissa chimes in and gives a sharp look to Jacques.

He frowns and haughtily looks away from her as he grumbles, "We don't even need that treaty anymore, but we still keep selling our children to Rabanara."

"Too many people like the imperial monetary aid that comes from it, so it'll be very difficult to bring an end to the trade," Léonne continues with a rather defeated tone.

"What was the original intent of that treaty?" Yunia questions.

Léonne stoically answers, "Rabanara would wipe out the dragon nests in Rakontagne in exchange for us raising one of our Chosen Descendants as a hunter slave to gift to Rabanara."

Jacques bitterly expands on that, his frown making him look more like a predator than a cute fox, "But now, the dragons and wyverns all attack Rabanara directly, so they don't even need to seek out their nests because the dragons have rarely come our way ever since."

I hum in thought, then Lina grabs my thick, swaying tail, and it swings her around as if she weighed nothing. "From what I know, the werefox Blood Slaves are highly valued because they're the best hunters that money can buy," I recall as I watch Lina amusedly.

Jacques waves his clawed hand dismissively and looks away with a grunt, "Hmph. I don't care about that sort of thing. I just wanted my daughter to be free."

Alissa immediately gives a hug to his wide back, and his anger quickly washes away, but they don't say anything, remaining like that for a long minute.

--

We eventually reach the exit of Roubaix, and it's just in time since our procession has drawn the interest of a rather large crowd that decided to follow us from afar. I'm not sure why, exactly, they're so curious about us, but I guess our group is simply so outlandish that there can't be just one reason for their behavior.

We pass by a few farms, all lively with farmers beginning their morning work, then I notice a few slaves among them, and I realize that I rarely ever saw a worker slave in Escanso. Elven pride shows itself even in slavery.

The slave farmers don't look any different from the other workers, except for the small slave collar around their necks. The temple keeps a close eye on this type of slavery, so their lives aren't exactly bleak, but they still deserve a lot more rights than they have now.

The system of slavery is so integrated throughout the entire empire that I think it may be easier to expand worker rights than to simply abolish it outright, especially because Blood Slaves are also included in this issue, and it'd involve changing a fuck ton of religious shit to forbid Blood Slaves.

The peacefulness of our stroll allows me to ponder upon the social changes that I want to implement, and the humbling view makes it easier to concentrate my mind on these complex topics.

The ring of farms ends quite quickly as we reach a small forested hill. There's a short, symbolic brick wall surrounding the hill, with a few ceremonial guards protecting it. That's the Tomb of Veneration.

We walk up along the snaking path, and I take a moment to observe the vegetation. The Chape trees grow very fast here, almost monopolizing all the space and nutrients available, which makes it difficult for other plants to establish themselves, so most of the other vegetation we can see is quite low to the ground, giving us a fairly long, unobstructed view of the forest, and it's really quite picturesque, just like almost everything else we've seen here.

"[I'd like to paint this]," one of the Chimeras quietly comments with a rather sentimental tone.

Then we reach the top of the hill, where we're met with a large, round gazebo with a stone dome above it that reminds me of the temples. At the center of the gazebo, there's a stair that leads deep down into the ground.

"Did we climb all the way up here just to go down again?" Yunia quietly asks.

"Yes," Alissa responds stoically, and I suppress a snort. "This much is nothing to a werefox."

Yunia crosses her arms awkwardly, and I see her long ears redden. "Not complaining, just… confused…"

As we reach the gazebo, Léonne motions for us to stop, then pulls out a gem-encrusted key from her [Item Box] with a *poof*.

"We'll stay here, so take the key. He's on the sixth level, fourth column, and third row," she solemnly explains to Alissa.

"Thank you," Alissa quietly replies, then she turns to us and smiles like a bright [Spirit Light]. "I want you all to come with me so that he can see my new family."

"He's already been cremated, so you understand that he might not be there anymore, right?" Ciel cautions her.

Alissa nods slowly. "I do, but I still want to try."

--

Only the wives, the golems, and I continue on, descending the stairs inside the gazebo, which takes us to a small room where a single guard protects a heavily enchanted door.

He salutes us and closes his eyes, then Alissa opens the door, and we resume our descent, going down the flights of stairs beyond them.

The Tomb is solemn, unadorned, illuminated by faint crystal lights, and carved from smooth gray stone. Each floor is filled with countless columns holding urns, which are each paired with a metal plaque that's been inscribed with a short biography of the deceased.

The floors are all properly clean and dust-free because this place actually has occasional visitors. Many rites, including the Rite of Succession for each of the clans, involve this place since each and every new ruler has to show their respect for their ancestors.

And of course, on the lower floors, where the most recent rulers and Elders have been buried, there are few spirits still lingering about.

Gify chirps, and I cast [Materialize], revealing the spirits of an old werefox couple, who are staring at Alissa worriedly, floating slightly above us. Their fur has gone completely white, so it's a bit difficult to guess which of the clans they were originally from.

"What are these non-foxes doing here?" The old woman immediately asks Alissa, her tone carrying hints of contained disapproval.

Alissa frowns sadly, slightly offended. "We're all Crown Lords of the High Forest, and I'm here to introduce my new family to someone that's very dear to me," she answers honestly, and the old woman becomes apologetic.

"We'll tell the others not to bother you," the old man assures us with a strained smile and pulls the old woman away.

Considering how those two didn't have any visible wounds, they were likely Elders who died in their sleep like Gurrier.

"How long have they been here that they don't even know about you?" Yunia annoyedly asks, trying to keep her distaste from showing too much.

"If a spirit remains undisturbed, they can 'sleep,' which extends the time that they can remain in the realm, like the Chimeras did," Ciel explains, and Gify chirps in agreement.

"I don't remember their faces, so they must've died before I was born," Alissa solemnly answers.

Once the spirits' ethereal blue glow completely disappears, we move on and descend to the bottom floor, which is still mostly empty, so we easily find Gurrier's resting place. His urn is a small and unadorned cylinder since all that a werefox takes with them when they die are their achievements and memories, not their wealth.

Beside his urn is his biography, engraved on a small metal plaque that reads:

--

Gurrier Vilarbre, Elder of the Hunt, Former Sworn Hunter of Chief Florent Verner, Former Captain of the 4th Division of Town Hunters of Roubaix.

Born on the 12th day of the auspicious month of Combat in the year 68,821 of the Solar calendar; died in his sleep on the 26th day of the month of Drink in the year 69,000, aged 179 at level 99.

Started his life as the second son of Blanche and Roy Vilarbre, Gurrier was born with [Bow Use] and [Hide Presence], a rare sign that revealed that his calling was to be a hunter from the very moment he was born.

He precociously enlisted in the Town Hunters at the age of 8 and graduated at the age of 12, then steadily accrued achievements until he succeeded the Captain of his division at the age of 18 when the previous Captain retired.

His leadership was stable and marked by successive victories, making him stand out as a model commander. He protected Roubaix from monster hordes, bandits, and slavers without faltering, inspiring generations to come.

At the age of 30, he trained his successor so that he could enter into the service of Chief Florent Verner as a Sworn Hunter.

Now tasked with protecting the rule of the Misty Fox clan, he aided Chief Florent in quenching the thirsts, filling the bellies, and solving the quarrels, as well as punishing the outlaws, overcoming disasters, and subduing the rebellious.

At the age of 104, he was called on by the Elder Council to act as the Elder of the Hunt and assume the duty of protecting the whole of the Misty Forest from any forces that sought to destroy it.

Loved by his parents, respected by his allies, and feared by his enemies. Gurrier exemplified the ideal hunter and warrior that all werefoxes should aspire to become.

His duty was fulfilled, and his memory shall be venerated.

May the Gods give him his just rewards. May Paradise provide him ample reward for his sacrifices.

--

Below that, the plaque lists his notable achievements, mostly his victories in battles.

"This is the person who trained you in how to be a slave?" Yunia curiously asks.

With deep melancholy and grief, Alissa touches the urn and manages a pained smile as her eyes water. "Yes, but he did more than that. He acted as a parent for me when mine were forbidden to, and he showed me more fatherly love than I could've ever asked him for, even though he'd never admit to it. I owe so much of who I am to him." Then she closes her eyes and prays for him to be here.

--

--

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

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