Chapter 158 What's Wrong with Cute Animal Ears!

One month later, in the territory of the Bear Clan within the Magical Beast Forest.

This was the interior of a gray crater, which encompassed an area with a radius of roughly ten kilometers. The undulating ridges of the crater ranged from a hundred to a thousand meters in height, and numerous caves had been excavated into the rocky mountainsides. Within them lived various species of bear-like magical beasts. According to Big Bear's proud descriptions, this was a paradise for the bear clan, created by the Primordial Earth Bear using earth-element magic.

"Big Bear, have you seen Strong Bear?"

Rubi climbed swiftly up the steep rock wall, soon arriving at a cave noticeably larger than the others, and asked the ten-meter-tall black bear standing at the entrance.

"No. The Clan Chief might have gone out to forage."

Big Bear was lying flat on the ground, gnawing on a piece of leftover roast meat from yesterday. Upon seeing Rubi, it grunted a reply in a deep, muffled voice. Over the past month, Rubi had undoubtedly conquered these giant bears with his exquisite barbecue skills, and every day quite a few bears would come to him to beg for food.

"I see."

Rubi glanced into the cave a few times. There were no decorations inside, just a token scattering of dry grass on the floor, and Big Bear lay upon it watching him. Realizing he hadn't found the person he was looking for, Rubi stepped back out.

"Phew, he's finally gone. That human demon, Big Bear, it's a good thing you've got such a big body."

After Rubi left, Strong Bear emerged from behind Big Bear. Breathing a sigh of relief, she patted her sturdy frame and praised him, having never realized this blockhead could be so useful.

"Clan Chief, why are you so afraid of Brother Rubi? He can't beat you in a fight."

Big Bear asked, puzzled. Ever since Rubi moved into the Bear Clan's territory, scenes like this played out endlessly, mostly revolving around the female bear trying every day to evade taking her medicine while engaging in a battle of wits and courage with Rubi. Of course, Big Bear could more or less guess the outcome of today's events.

"He can't beat me in a fight, but you've seen the medicine he makes—it's practically a product of hell!"

Fear flashed in Strong Bear's single eye. If it were a matter of engaging in a bloody battle with other holy beasts, she was certain she wouldn't even frown. But drinking that medicine? It was truly the death of her.

"But if you don't take your medicine, you'll get sick again like before..."

Simple-minded though he was, Big Bear knew that taking the medicine kept the Clan Chief healthy. Not wanting to see her in pain again, he mustered up the courage to advise her.

"Nonsense! My body is just fine. I could live another thousand years without any problems!"

Annoyed, Strong Bear slapped Big Bear with a single paw, sending him sprawling on his back, and then strode out of the cave to find something to eat.

"Oh? Want to live another thousand years, do you? Then you need to take your medicine properly all the more."

Rubi's leisurely voice drifted into Strong Bear's ears. The tier-ten magical beast froze as if struck by a petrification spell. Her head stiffened as she turned it, only to find Rubi leaning against the edge of the cave entrance, having never left at all.

"You... Ugh-blech!"

Before the poor female bear could react, Rubi pinned the back of her head with one hand, while his other hand held a bowl of medicine emitting an intensely pungent odor, pouring it straight down her throat. Strong Bear thrashed all four limbs in panic. Once the bowl of medicine went down, even the eyeball of her single eye rolled upward, her tongue unconsciously lolled out, striking a perfect Ahegao expression.

"Would you like some?"

Rubi released the utterly broken-looking female bear. Suddenly noticing that Big Bear, lying flat on his back, was giving him a piercing look, he asked in confusion, whereupon Big Bear shook his head frantically.

*Boom!!*

Just as Rubi was about to wake up Strong Bear, who was playing dead, a deafening roar suddenly echoed through the air. The distant horizon was dyed a pinkish hue, and a white mushroom cloud was gradually rising. The air and the ground trembled in unison, followed closely by the roars of various magical beasts.

*Roar-gah!!!*

Hearing the cries of those magical beasts, Strong Bear stopped playing dead. She stood up from the ground and let out a series of earth-shaking roars toward the sky. Rubi honestly had no idea how such a soft-sounding maiden could produce such a thunderous beast roar from her mouth. Hearing the cry of the Earth Bear, those irritable sounds grew slightly quieter.

Faced with this kind of troublesome nonsense that happened every couple of days, Rubi pinched his aching forehead, exchanged a glance with Strong Bear, and together they looked toward the entrance of the crater. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a red shadow came hurtling in.

"I'm back! I'm hungry! When is dinner?!"

The Goddess of Magic, riding atop Azuki, rattled off a trio of demanding questions the moment she returned, demonstrating that she had also worked extremely hard today going out to stir up trouble until she was utterly exhausted.

"You, oh you. How many times have I told you not to go out and cause trouble? Whose territory did you wreak havoc in today?"

Rubi walked over to Azuki and opened his arms toward Megona. The Goddess of Magic shifted her body and tumbled straight into his embrace. This was her preferred dismounting method—convenient and simple.

Her outfit had changed as well. Within the territory of magical beasts, her appearance wouldn't attract the slightest bit of prejudice, but walking out into the world in human form was still far too flashy. She couldn't treat all magical beasts like idiots, after all.

So Rubi had crafted a few small gadgets: a pair of white fox-ear hairbands and nine pure white fox tails. For an even more vivid effect, emotion-sensing magic crystals were embedded within them. Of course, this was accomplished with Dragon's help.

The fox ears were simple enough—just wear them directly on the head. The tails, however, were a bit tricky to secure. Rejecting Dragon's gentlemanly request of *"Make it a butt plug! It feels like it'd be amazing!"*, Rubi ultimately opted for a transparent ring secured around the waist, much like a belt.

"That, you see, I went to the territory of the Earth-Shattering Divine Bulls today. Those big guys really fight like their lives are on the line, but they're still a bit lacking compared to me."

Megona said with a look of delight. The tails behind her swayed in unison to match her mood, along with those adorable white ears. At that moment, Rubi truly felt that this set of beast-girl accessories was the most meaningful creation he had made since coming to another world.

For the Goddess of Magic, living anywhere was practically the same. Having grown tired of living at the academy, changing her palate and moving out into the wilderness wasn't a bad idea, but she couldn't mistreat herself either. When bored, she always needed something to do, which led her to think of the magical beasts in the Magical Beast Forest. Practically every day the moment she opened her eyes, she would run out to challenge magical beasts to duels. Which of the famous tier-ten magical beasts within a radius of several thousand miles hadn't been beaten up by her? She had practically become the overlord of this region.

"You went looking for Old Bull? No wonder they were wailing so miserably. Could you do me a favor and stop pulling stunts like this? Otherwise, I'm going to get complaints again at the Assembly of Ten Thousand Beasts."

Strong Bear grabbed her own bear ears with a sour expression. Ever since they learned that Megona resided in the Bear Clan's territory, those magical beasts all regarded her as a major headache. The roars from just a moment ago meant something along the lines of, *"Ah, why is that lunatic here again?! Do something about her!"*

"No. You think your face is that big?"

Megona made a face and removed her fox disguise. In truth, she had initially refused when asked to dress up as a vixen. However, according to Strong Bear's description, the only holy beast among them with an appearance similar to hers was the Heavenly Cloud Fox, which had appeared a millennium ago. That type of fox was covered entirely in snow-white fur and had red eyes, making it entirely natural for Megona to impersonate one.

"Stop messing around. Time to eat."

Seeing the girl he adored remove her beast-ear disguise, a trace of disappointment flashed in Rubi's eyes. If only she could have kept them on a little longer. But he quickly adjusted his mindset; after all, he had never expected that he would have a thing for cute beast ears.

"Hey, were you just a bit disappointed? Why?"

Megona acutely perceived Rubi's shift in mood, looked at the fox ears in her hand, and asked thoughtfully.

"It's nothing."

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*Author's Note:*

*Megona: Never thought the day would come when I'd turn into a vixen.*