Chapter 272: Pride and Progress
Before I get this underway... I think I would be pretty remiss if I did not say a couple of names that are responsible for helping me climb out of my hidey hole after all this time.
Daoist419404
Kalym_Wright_2724
Hephaestus_20
It really is every author’s dream to have such a dedicated group of fans who support your work even when you don’t know if it will continue.
I really don’t even know what else to say to you guys other than thank you, I’m sorry it took me so long, and I am back to hopefully finish what I started.
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"Next!"
A pair of guards ushered a cart through the gates behind them.
It was a hot, muggy day for some reason. Meaning that pools of sweat had begun to form in places that they shouldn’t.
The warmth of the day was only worsened by the stench.
Every person who passed the guard’s nose smelled like a sweaty pig.
It only made the guard’s mood worse.
He tried to keep his cool and remember that the four families were in the city all at once. Thus, the reason for the surplus of visitors.
He couldn’t afford to snap on one of these annoying little worms because the higher-ups would scrutinize his every fuck up.
That meant he had to keep smiling at these sweaty, dirty-
"H-Holy shit..."
A shadow passed over the knight’s face.
When he looked up, the tallest woman he had ever seen was staring down at him, her eyes full of malice.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to notice the two oni horns curling out of her head. His lip curled in disgust.
"I didn’t know the circus was coming to town. Since when did they start letting beasts like you use the front-"
Abruptly, a man appeared in front of the guard without so much as a single sound. His eyes were more violent than a bloody battlefield. More chilling than an icy mountainscape.
As he looked into the glow of those ruby-like eyes... he found all of his thoughts slipping away from him.
"Go home. Gather all of your loved ones into one room and cut out your tongue in front of them. Before you bleed out, kill them all with your bare hands."
"Yes... Sir..."
The guard walked away without any indication that something was wrong with him.
Taira watched him go, unaware of the fact that his anger was causing patches of frost to form underneath his feet. And in ninety-degree weather no less...
"Husband."
The ice stopped spreading as soon as Aveena called out to her husband. A single word from her lips was somehow more effective than any hymn.
"...You didn’t need to do that."
"Are you joking?"
"I can survive broken bones and having my muscles shredded like blades of grass. The words of a fledgling little human aren’t going to welt my skin."
"But such offenses should not have to grace your ears."
"Do you say this because I am your wife?"
"I say this because you are my everything." Taira’s possessive undertone made the distinction between the two very clear.
Aveena glanced into the city that was silently waiting for them. Already, she could see sights that would break the hearts of anyone with a soul.
"...Regardless of that... I suppose I felt it was a bit unfair."
"Will you elaborate...?" A minuscule amount of dread crept into the fox demon’s voice.
Instead of answering, Aveena leapt from the ground, all the way to the top of the city walls in a single move. Taira followed her without making so much as a sound.
While the two of them stood atop the stone structure, Aveena gently grabbed her husband and pulled him next to her. She held his arm like a tender, blushing bride as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Look at them. Do you see?"
"...Yes."
She pointed out the fallen who walked with their heads down. Those who no longer had a light in their eyes.
They trudged, or were dragged by in disoriented hazes. Every single one of them wore ratty clothes filled with holes, and looked as if they hadn’t taken proper care of themselves.
They weren’t allowed to walk on the sidewalks. They had to walk along the middle of the street with the horses and carriage animals.
"I suppose I thought... I was a very lucky woman to have you by my side as my protector and avenger. But these people do not have such a thing. While we are here... I can stand to live as they do. If only to open my eyes a bit."
Taira didn’t know why Aveena was suddenly talking like this, but he really didn’t like it. "We will dismantle this place in its entirety."
"Yes... I never said that we would not. But how can we begin to take a thing apart, if we do not understand it to begin with?"
"...Perhaps we should just fly there. It would be faster, and we could move unnoticed."
"That does not help, my darling. Being above the problem, giving ourselves paths to avoid it... It is precisely how things have gotten as bad as they are now. So I am asking you, for just one day... Unless the situation becomes dire, do not take action. I just.. want to learn."
Taira swallowed. He was rarely as expressive as he had been in the last several minutes of this conversation.
"...I-"
"Wait!"
The Dai-Shi looked over their heads at the same time.
Falling out of the sky, seemingly from the clouds, was their budding companion, Shakti.
She appeared rather flustered, dropping out of the sky and stumbling awkwardly to her feet before immediately kneeling in front of them.
"I-I am sorry, I just... I could not allow both of you to travel to this place alone and without-"
"After all we’ve done just a short while ago... Are you still going to kneel in front of us?" Aveena’s tone was the slightest bit disappointed.
Shakti realized that she might have offended the idols of her affection, and quickly got to her feet.
"Forgive me... This is still..." Shakti clenched her teeth and shook her head. They could deal with her awkwardness a little later. "I want to come with you. Please."
Taira and Aveena both wore the same worried expression. They too wrestled with seeing Shakti as a subordinate and as a woman.
"...I don’t know about this, my dear... This place is still very..."
Shakti must have known that things didn’t look good for her chances. Despite all they had done so far, they were still the masters who exceeded her powers by a wide margin. It was only natural that they would want to protect her.
But if they wanted her to be totally obedient... then they never should have acknowledged her feelings.
Aveena let out a small surprised noise as Shakti jumped past her defenses and kissed her.
Her familiar, warm tongue desperately coiled around her own and filled her chest with a warmth so mindblowing that she would remember it forever.
Taira had no opportunity to escape her ’convincing’ either. Shakti grabbed him by his belt and pulled him in before her lips had even left Aveena’s mouth.
She attacked him with a strong, obsessive ferocity. One that insinuated she did not just want to be with him, she wanted to give herself to him down to her very soul, and vice versa.
Taira was buffeted.
When Shakti pulled away, a string of drool hung from her full mahogany lips, and a single tear had fallen from one of her hidden eyes.
Her words were as small as the thread keeping them tethered to their sanity.
"Please... Don’t send me away."
-
Camouflage was a miraculous thing.
In nature, animals are born with their own unique traits that help them hide from dangerous situations and predators. These traits can be as dynamic as skin that blends in with different surroundings, or fur that is difficult to make out in the animal’s natural habitats.
Camouflage was a wondrous invention of the gods. Truly, their most miraculous.
Taira, who had prioritized the mastery of stealth for as long as he could remember, already knew this.
But while animals used this ability to stay safe, or occasionally strike, he knew that it could be used for entirely different means.
Study.
This was what Aveena was getting to experience for the first time. Though it hadn’t been intentional.
Assanbossam, when their ears and eyes are revealed, are easy to tell apart from humans. Their monstrous form makes this even simpler.
But when there was an assanbossam who chose to hide her eyes and her ears within the comfort of a beautiful, fluffy afro, then hiding among the savages was about as easy as blinking twice.
It wasn’t what Aveena had initially planned, but in a way, it was better.
With Shakti being perceived as huan by everyone they passed, it made Aveena and Taira stand out a bit less.
Because they stayed close to her, they were not as openly hassled as they would have been if they were alone.
People eyed them everywhere they passed, sure. Even if Taira had hidden all but one of his tails to look like a regular beastman, his facial features were still criminal.
Shakti received several offers to ’purchase’ her masters from random passerby. Each one limped away with a bloody nose and a shattered kneecap.
Aveena didn’t pay much attention to anything Shakti did. Taira knew she wasn’t merely acting to keep up a ruse and instead burned nearly everything they saw into her memory.
He considered listening to her thoughts for a time, but found it to be unnecessary this time. When she had something she wanted him to know, she would certainly tell them.
When they reached the castle, it was as unpleasant as Taira had anticipated.
The barrier could be felt even a mile down the road. No surprise, since it had stood tall ever since his grandfather was alive.
The guards in front of the drawbridge sneered as soon as he and Aveena walked up. Shakti had gotten so used to acting that she nearly punched them both without thinking. It was only Taira’s tail that held her back.
Instead of speaking to the barbarians in front, Taira reached inside his robe and unfurled a parchment scroll.
Instantly, the faces of both guards changed from resentment to bewilderment...
