Ten minutes later.
Bried looked at the rapier in her hand with disbelief, then at the two monster corpses lying motionless on the ground. The strange armor that had been clinging to their bodies had also vanished.
“I got a little too serious… the monsters on the third floor aren’t as hard as I imagined.” Hearing this, Bried turned and met Cass’s gaze. He looked exhausted but still held his back straight. Beside him, Kersey gripped her staff, looking uncertain. At least she managed to greet the fox-kin girl: “Welcome… no, hello there!”
Then Bried shifted her gaze another meter to the right.
“Huff… huff…” A female foxman—Wa Luolan—stood there, holding a curved black military saber in one hand. The red patterns on her skin had disappeared. She panted heavily, silently staring down at the enemy’s remains.
Just from the first stab into the black bear, Bried knew it was incredibly strong. Honestly, it was not to be underestimated. She didn’t know what that strange BUFF on the black bear monster was—red armor that provided greater defense and could also be used as a weapon—but the textbook said “Rage-stacking Bears” were average LV 27 monsters, second only to “Shadow Fighters.” Plus, it was everyone’s first time fighting on the third floor, and they had faced two at once. She had expected at least a tough fight, if not an evenly matched one.
The reality was that they had defeated them in just one minute.
In Bried’s mind, echoes of: “Are we that strong?” “The third-floor monsters are supposed to be this easy? That’s not what I heard.” “The fox-kin girl must have been hiding her strength. Or maybe it was the result of everyone working together.”
To rationalize the unnatural ease of their victory, she watched the fox-kin girl—whose fur and hair were both a tea-brown color—while adjusting her own breathing. After a moment, the fox-kin girl finished catching her breath and slowly raised her head to look at Bried. In those vertical pupils like agate, Bried saw surprise, confusion, and a look that seemed to say, “What do I do now?” But that was probably just her imagination.
“You three are incredibly strong.”
The fox-kin girl met each of the three’s eyes in turn, then nodded in approval. Her animal ears twitched with interest.
“I must thank you. I’m grateful for your help—otherwise I would have become food for those two black bears.” She bowed slightly to the three and continued, “Please take the Soul Water from inside the monsters. It belongs to you. I’m sorry, but I have urgent matters to attend to and am short on time. I can only offer you this as a token of thanks.”
Before the fox-kin girl could pull something out of the simple bag tied at both ends and slung over her shoulder, Cass took something from his Ring Chart—a totem made of monster teeth.
Cass told the fox-kin girl that a warrior had entrusted it to him on his deathbed, asking him to give it to a beastman like her. As he spoke, Cass’s eyes darted away, and his voice wavered slightly compared to usual.
The fox-kin girl froze. “This… where did you get this?”
She didn’t pay attention to Cass’s altered tone. Her large tail drooped, and with sorrowful eyes, she accepted the totem, brought it to her nose to smell, then put it back into her shoulder bag. Bried felt as if she saw the “!” symbol above the fox-kin girl’s head turn into a “?” indicating the quest was proceeding normally. Then, instead of taking out a reward from her bag, she invited the three to follow her to her tribe for better compensation.
The reason she said “as if” was because she hadn’t actually seen any “!” or “?” symbols.
“Is this girl really an NPC…?” A question arose in Bried’s mind. But from the way Cass was acting casual, it seemed the quest was indeed progressing.
Bried, Cass, and Kersey agreed to the fox-kin girl’s request. Seeing them agree, she let out a sigh of relief, stretched luxuriously, then looked at the three again. A faint but unmistakable smile appeared on her face.
“Now that I think about it, we’ve been talking so long and I haven’t asked your names. What should I call you?”
“My name is Bried. Bried Talolan.”
“Hmm, human pronunciation is hard. Bried… is that right? Just call me Wa Luolan. I’ll lead the way. Please follow me to the village.”
“Got it. Bried, Cass, Kersey—call me Wa Luolan…” Bried pulled a jam-filled bread from her Ring Chart and started munching as she watched her teammates go through the same process.
—But before that.
“Um, Miss Wa Luolan?”
“It’s fine. You can call me by name directly. I don’t mind.”
“I’m curious. May I touch your tail? Ah, if you’d rather not, that’s okay too.” Kersey asked cautiously, her expression tense but expectant.
This was the first time Bried had seen Kersey so bold, wanting to touch a stranger’s body. But thinking about it, Kersey was also a modern high school girl. Being weak to cute things was normal, right? Though personally, Bried would rather borrow Wa Luolan’s saber to look at it than touch her fluffy tail.
“Maybe I should learn from Kersey and pick up some more common girly interests. That way, my childhood friend might be more proactive with me… No.”
Realizing she was overthinking, Bried shook her head quickly. Her gaze inadvertently moved from the weapon at Wa Luolan’s waist to Kersey’s large… assets, then she quickly looked away.
Wa Luolan thought for a moment, then smiled gently. “If your hands are clean, you can touch them for a while. We’re right by the lake area. Actually, I camped here last night. This is the shallow part, so no need to worry about lake monsters coming out.”
“Thank you!” Kersey immediately walked to the lake to wash her hands.
“Camping? You camped alone on the third floor at night? No teammates?” Bried’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Yeah. I’m used to it.”
The calm response made Bried respect Wa Luolan even more. She had assumed Wa Luolan’s teammates were just away temporarily, but she really was spending the night alone in a dangerous dungeon wilderness.
Cass lagged behind a little, walking up beside Kersey.
“Kersey, about that ‘teacher’ matter—it’s a bit late to say this now, but… sorry, she couldn’t come.”
At his words, Kersey’s washing hands slowed, and her shoulders drooped.
Teacher? Bried only caught the beginning of the conversation. Then Cass and Kersey lowered their voices. Shortly after, Kersey stood up again, a forced smile on her face.
Wa Luolan stood patiently beside Bried. (sound of tearing bread)
Bried was confident she could stand without saying anything and not feel awkward, so she genuinely asked in a tone of reminder: “You don’t seem to have any wariness toward us.”
Wa Luolan shook her head lightly, looking straight at Bried. “From the way you three fought with all your strength just now, I can tell you have no ill intentions. I trust my judgment of people.”
“…I see. You’re right. Me and my teammates are all good people.” Seeing her friend acknowledged, Bried happily finished her bread and licked the crumbs off her fingers. She could sense Wa Luolan’s warrior aura—a calm, sharp energy honed by years of combat, similar to her father Torna’s.
Even though she looked the same age as them, this girl could survive alone in the dungeon overnight, experiencing no less than Bried herself. It wasn’t surprising she had keen insight.
“It’s nothing. I’m the chieftain’s daughter, but I’ve been traveling the past two years and haven’t fulfilled my duties as a daughter.”
“The chieftain’s daughter of the fox-kin tribe? I never would have guessed.” Kersey covered her mouth lightly with her hand. Wa Luolan’s voice had dropped a little.
To Bried, it didn’t feel real. Wa Luolan’s attitude was so ordinary that Bried was only as surprised as if her deskmate were the village chief’s daughter.
Instead of taking the old road, they followed Wa Luolan through the forest as if on a stroll. Whenever they encountered a monster, Wa Luolan raised her saber and cut them to pieces. She seemed very familiar with the monster distribution in the forest. Even in the thick fog, she clearly knew the direction she was heading. It made Bried admire the fox-kin’s abilities.
After about ten minutes of walking, the three saw smoke rising from the rooftops of houses through the mist.
“That was fast,” said Cass, who was at the rear.
Bried asked Kersey if she needed a rest. Kersey was sweating on her forehead—her stamina wasn’t that good.
Without turning around, Wa Luolan explained from the front, “The entire village is under the ‘Curse of Returning to the Forest.’ You would never be able to find it easily on your own.”
“There’s a skill like that? No, a spell… That’s amazing. You can sleep safely at night then,” Kersey said cheerfully.
“Yeah. It’s my uncle’s spell. If it’s just the spell, it is indeed powerful… Mainly to prevent thirsty snake women from stealing people.” Wa Luolan’s expression turned complicated, her animal ears slightly drooping.
“Snake women? Stealing people?” Kersey looked puzzled. Cass blushed for some unknown reason.
After passing through a valley area, the view suddenly opened up. A circular space about six hundred meters in radius appeared, surrounded by high wooden fences. A fox-kin village sat quietly at the foot of the mountain. They could see fox-kin with animal ears and large tails coming and going. It was truly a spectacular sight.
But Bried had expected the fox-kin village to be a more laid-back place, yet that wasn’t the case. Behind the houses came the laughter of children. On the wide rural roads, sheep could be seen leisurely grazing and wandering. Apart from the residents not being human, it looked no different from the countryside village where her grandparents lived.
As they reached the entrance, two fox-kin warriors stood guard, eyeing the four of them suspiciously. But as soon as they recognized Wa Luolan, they immediately stood at attention.
“Welcome back, Lady Wa Luolan!” They said, gripping their long spears tightly.
Wa Luolan walked straight in. The two warriors didn’t ask about the three people behind her. Several fox-kin villagers saw Wa Luolan, stopped working, and then ran over in a flurry.
“Wa Luolan’s back?! It’s been two years!” “Great! You’re safe!” “You’ve grown taller, and your tail is even prettier than before!”
The female fox-kin pressed their cheeks against Wa Luolan’s face, nuzzling her. Wa Luolan didn’t resist, letting them fuss over her with a wry smile.
“Whoa, this place is heaven for furries…” Cass scratched his cheek with a wry smile.
“…Why?” Bried gripped her sword hilt with her right hand, staring gloomily at the female fox-kin surrounding Wa Luolan. Because that area’s combat power, fat content, milk content—so big.
Not only was every one of them fair-skinned and beautiful, but they also had such huge… assets! Was it because of the wilderness? Or was it some natural openness? Were they all so well-nourished? Was this village that wealthy? Or was it some kind of breast-enlargement magic?
“Ugh—!” Bried touched her own, bit her lower lip, and nodded in disappointment. She glared at them fiercely—a bunch of vixens!
“Nuo Yi.” “Wa Luolan!”
A female fox-kin, slightly taller than Wa Luolan and dressed in simple cloth, hugged Wa Luolan. Bried had heard on the way that this woman was named Nuo Yi, a servant attending Wa Luolan, but their relationship was more like friends.
The female fox-kin’s large tails wagged excitedly as they crowded around Wa Luolan. Some male fox-kin in the periphery also looked at Wa Luolan with emotion, forming a welcoming circle around her. Bried and her teammates kept a distance, letting Wa Luolan enjoy the joy of reunion.
“Really popular. As expected of the chieftain’s daughter,” Cass remarked. Kersey seemed to recall some bad memories. “That’s what they call a popular social butterfly… Come to think of it, it’s kind of scary.”
Bried watched quietly. She noticed that not all fox-kin were happy to see Wa Luolan. Some in the distance had cold looks—more precisely, an atmosphere of observation. They would be staying here for the next few days to carry out the quest… but not all villagers seemed so hospitable.
Just as Wa Luolan had finished greeting the crowd and reached out toward Cass and the others—
“I thought you’d left the tribe for good. It seems you still have a little gratitude.”
An aged but powerful voice came from not far away. It wasn’t loud, yet it pierced through everyone’s mind like a dagger. The lively atmosphere around Wa Luolan instantly fell silent.
“He sounds like a school principal making rounds,” Kersey whispered, hiding behind Bried.
An old man wearing a red mask appeared, holding an exquisite staff as tall as himself. Behind him, a formidable group of about twenty fully armed fox-kin warriors followed. He slowly walked up to Wa Luolan.
The old man with the red beast mask stroked his beard and said in a prickly tone, “Heh! Welcome home, my dear niece Wa Luolan.”
Wa Luolan replied with the faintest of smiles. “Long time no see, Baruma Sasa, my dear uncle. You haven’t changed a bit—still needing people around you to feel safe. And the number of people around you is bigger than before.”
It might have been her imagination, but Bried felt there was a hint of sarcasm in Wa Luolan’s tone.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.