Chapter 161: Come On, I'm Just About to Believe You

Within the territory of the Bear Clan, large bears emerged one after another from their caves, climbing down to the edge of the crater to gawk at the Fox Clan visitor—the first to enter this domain in a thousand years. This time, it was a snow-white fox. Compared to the bears, its body appeared rather slender, yet it possessed incomparably graceful curves. Every line from its head to the tip of its tail was exceptionally soft, and its natural length of five or six meters was forcibly extended to over ten meters by the addition of six tails swaying behind it.

"Lord Chieftain, I am deeply sorry to disturb you during such a busy time. To express my apologies, please accept this token of peace, and you are welcome to visit the Fox Clan at any time."

The six-tailed white fox lowered its posture considerably. As it spoke, an oval honeycomb, roughly two to three meters in diameter, suddenly appeared on the ground. The bees inside had already been driven out, leaving only a honeycomb dripping with honey. Ruby clearly saw a necklace made of magic crystals hanging around the fox's neck; since spatial storage items were driven by magic, it was hardly surprising that a magical beast knew how to use one.

"Alright, alright. Spare me the tedious talk and state your business."

Given the bribe of honey, Xiong Zhuangzhuang decided to overlook its uninvited arrival, waving a paw to let it get on with whatever it wanted. A fox remained a fox, refusing to drop its nagging habits even after all this time. Wouldn't a simple "I have arrived" suffice?

"Lord Chieftain..."

The six-tailed white fox approached Mona, who was currently dressed in a fox-girl costume, and prostrated itself on the ground, pressing its body low to show its utmost respect, its eyes brimming with excitement and lingering emotion.

"Stop. I am not your chieftain; you have mistaken me for someone else. I am merely a wandering white fox, yes."

Mona knew it was her turn to perform. Right now, what she wanted most was to strip off her costume and tell this fox the cruel truth, yet doing so would leave her unable to explain her identity. If the magical beasts discovered her human identity, it might end up implicating the bear girl as well.

"I know you are still unaware, nor are you our former chieftain, but I am certain you share a connection with her. The scent of a fox on you is far too strong; how could I possibly be mistaken?"

"Eh?"

Mona felt as though this fox was practically calling her a vixen. She had only Ruby to blame for spraying her with whatever concoction he had brewed, claiming that fooling magical beasts required faking not just appearances, but scents as well.

"Our former chieftain, the Sky-Cloud Fox, was a great fox endowed with the exact same innate talent as the Bear Clan's chieftain. Having attained the rank of a Saint Beast within two hundred years of her birth, our Fox Clan was truly glorious back then, leaving the very front seats reserved for us at the Assembly of Ten Thousand Beasts..."

The six-tailed white fox began recounting the past glory of the Fox Clan entirely on its own initiative, even though nobody had asked.

"A genius just for reaching it in two hundred years? Then what does that make me?" the Mage God muttered under her breath.

"Yet, as you know, we foxes are born with high intelligence, and the way we think sets us apart from other magical beasts. The Sky-Cloud Fox's greatest mistake was desiring to learn human emotions, especially the emotion of romantic love."

"Among us magical beasts, we enter estrus during specific seasons, mating with whatever partner catches our eye so as to contribute to the clan's propagation. But our chieftain acted as though she were enchanted; she insisted on mating only with a fox she truly loved, and her standards were far too high—she looked down upon everyone."

"Later on, the chieftain spent all her time disguised as a weak magical beast wandering the outer fringes of the Magical Beast Forest, solely to find a romance suited to her tastes. We assumed the chieftain was merely playing around and gave it no further thought. It was precisely that lack of vigilance that brought about a great disaster."

"Let me guess. That fox fell in love with a human and eloped."

Mona stated the ending as a matter of course. She had seen this exact scenario countless times in romance novels, and to that, she could only offer a trite remark.

"You knew? Ah, of course, you would know. Three hundred years have flown by in the blink of an eye."

"My condolences. You know how vixens are—always chasing after men."

"I know Lord Chieftain still holds a grudge against us for collectively attacking that human back then, and it is only natural that she refuses to come see us in person. But in the end, she never truly forgot us, which is why she sent you here, isn't it?"

"Eh, me?"

"You must be the child of Lord Chieftain and that human. You look so much like your mother."

"Wait, hold on a second!"

Mona made a time-out gesture with both hands, sensing that the conversation was veering into a bizarre direction.

"I understand that your mother may have instilled in you some rather negative impressions of us. She still refuses to come see us personally, and I can more or less guess the reason she sent you here. You are a human-beast hybrid, and surviving in human society might prove difficult. But rest assured, our entire Fox Clan will take good care of you."

"I..."

The Mage God was left somewhat dizzy by the fox's formidable imagination. The expression on her face right now practically screamed, *'Please, do go on, I almost believe you.jpg'*.

"Really?"

Ruby touched his chin and asked, pretending to believe it while actually just teasing the flustered Mage God.

"Wuwu, so your mother was forced into exile as well? How truly pitiful, I can completely understand her feelings!"

True to being the epitome of simplicity, the bear girl was already weeping with tear-filled eyes as she looked at Mona, even preparing to give her a comforting hug to soothe her wounded soul, only to be frozen in place by a petrification spell cast by the Mage God.

"Don't listen to its nonsense. Both of my parents are ordinary humans, and my mother didn't have ears or a tail!"

Though it was a childhood memory, Mona was certain she had never seen any ears atop her mother's head, not to mention her mother had black hair!

"I've said all this and yet I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Fox Cloud. According to human familial generations, you should call me... your great-uncle. But these are minor details; once you take over the position of chieftain, we shall all be at your command."

"I have no intention of becoming any sort of chieftain. Off you go, my head is throbbing."

Mona briefly imagined the scene of herself succeeding as the chieftain—living surrounded by a pack of foxes went without saying, and she would probably be constantly hounded by male foxes demanding to mate. The mere thought sent shudders down her spine, causing her to bury her face entirely in Ruby's embrace, inhaling his reassuring scent until she regained a modicum of calm.

"And this one is? A male?"

Only then did Fox Cloud deign to give Ruby a proper look. Up until now, its gaze had been entirely fixed on Mona, completely failing to notice this male with bear ears.

"That's right, a man of the Bear Clan. Got a problem with that?"

Xiong Zhuangzhuang shook off Mona's petrification spell, patted Ruby's shoulder, and spoke with an inevitable trace of pride, despite the fact that the ears on her own head were homemade.

"A millennium has passed, and the Bear Clan has actually produced another Saint Beast? But... a male?"

Fox Cloud stared at Ruby for a moment, only to find itself utterly unable to read his depth. He stood there without the slightest fluctuation of magic power, which truly was a terrifying prospect.

"Got a problem?"

Xiong Zhuangzhuang glared, prompting Fox Cloud to drop the questioning immediately. Conversations with bears always required compliance, otherwise, a brutal beating was practically guaranteed.

"No, no, no. I am merely astonished. Since you refuse to return with me to the Fox Clan, I will not force you. However, I leave this child in your care."

With that, Fox Cloud shook the fur on its back. The fur parted slightly to reveal a tiny white fox no longer than a pair of chopsticks. The little creature had two fluffy tails as long as its body curled up beneath it while it snored softly, a tiny bubble of snot inflating and deflating before its pitch-black nose. It looked undeniably adorable.

***

This is a postscript:

Ruby: Hold on, luring a Saint beast into the Magical Beast Forest with roasted meat, and then stumbling upon a one-in-a-million magical pet embryo—aren't these supposed to be the perks of the protagonist? It seems I've just been reduced to a laborer.

Mo Aotian: At what point did you labor under the delusion that you were the protagonist?