"Ahh~"
"C'mon, hunk, keep going~"
"Hmm ♡ is that all you've got~? Do it harder~"
Ashen's eyes fluttered open. The noise outside had no intention of letting him sleep.
'…Fuck. If I stay here any longer, my sanity's going to pack its bags and leave before I do.'
"Ugh—Take that!"
"Yeaas~! Pour it in ♡"
'Shut up, for fuck's sake…'
Pulling the mattress above his head did nothing to abate the mating noises of the adjacent tent.
'I was sure the place was empty when I set my tent up this time… so how?'
Ashen eventually got up, face dark, mood grumpy.
It had been a week since he came to this place, and it had been one of the most frustrating times he'd ever had.
If it wasn't the horny deadbeats, it was the drunk lunatics. Ashen didn't get a single moment of respite.
Thankfully, he'd at least thoroughly checked the camp, and there was no sign of Alice here.
'There was no way she'd be here anyway. My search was more of a way to pass the time.' Ashen thought as he reached a nearby river to wash his face.
He knew Alice would never allow herself to stay in such an environment. That's why he was more focused on the upcoming visit from the demi-humans.
He'd started by gathering the rumors and gossip that flew by. Information had helped him countless times by now, and he knew better than to neglect this aspect.
Maybe it was because of the current state of this camp's population, but he got almost nothing useful. Thankfully, this was only true for the human side.
The demi-humans were surprisingly chatty as well, and after enough snooping, he heard a surprising piece of news.
The Queen of the nine-tailed fox race would gather the representatives of the human side and host a large banquet alongside her own representatives.
This banquet was to familiarize the two factions and reassure the human side that they were actually appreciated and not neglected.
As to how true that statement was, Ashen had no clue.
But in his opinion, it could be true to a certain extent, since even though the thousand men in this camp, alongside the unknown number in the main camp, weren't many, having humans raise their weapons against their own would surely be demoralizing and humiliating for the Pride army… and it would have nothing to do with numbers.
The tailed foxes thrived on such emotions, so they'd sure have a huge advantage if they succeeded.
That was Ashen's guess as to why this banquet was happening anyway. Otherwise, he didn't see any other reason for the dominant demi-human side to cater so much to a bunch of spineless humans.
Ashen even heard that their Queen would honor one of her choosing with a dance to celebrate their alliance.
'What a farce.' He scoffed.
In truth, he couldn't care less about any of this. The only thing he actually focused on was the banquet itself.
'Such an assemblage would make looking for Alice easier… I have to attend.'
The only problem was that only the "representatives" of the humans were invited. Meaning… the humans who'd reached the demi-humans' actual camp, and not this dumpster.
'It makes sense… There's no way they'd allow their Queen to come to such a place.' Ashen mused.
'Now, all I have to do is impress whoever's coming to "test" us. That would be my ticket to the banquet.' He was organizing his thoughts as he walked toward the gathering point, now all cleaned up.
Ashen finally reached a large plaza. Surprisingly, there were a lot more men than he'd anticipated.
'Seems I'm not the only one who got that tip.' He clicked his tongue as he spotted the man who'd previously acted as bartender in the center of the field.
He held a large parchment and kept looking at the surrounding faces and taking notes.
Eventually, he spotted Ashen, made eye contact, nodded, then jotted something down.
Ashen didn't know what that was, but he figured it was something good.
Most likely, that man was put by the demi-humans to filter the bad from the good. It's not like they'd come and start screening through hundreds of half-crazy men for a dozen still-sane ones themselves.
Klop… klop… klop…
Finally, after more than two hours of idle waiting, a luxurious carriage arrived.
It stopped near the bartender. The doors opened, and out came three figures: a fox man flanked by a man and a woman.
Each had four white, distinct tails. And while the woman's looked silkier, the man at the center's tails faintly shimmered, most likely from mana saturation.
The man in the middle walked to the bartender and asked without even greeting, his manner dripping with disinterest. "Well? Any decent ones in this batch? I hope you did your job and haven't slacked off…"
"Yes, sir. Here you go…" The bartender didn't waste time and passed the parchment.
The man quickly scanned the list, then passed it to his right, where the other demi-human man stood.
The latter took it and read the first name out loud. "David Miller."
A lanky man stepped forward. He was eyed by the three before the fox man at the center gave a slight nod.
"John Harris."
The next man came. This one, however, received a head shake instead.
With a slew of curses under his breath, he went back into the crowd.
'How are they basing their selections…?' Ashen intently observed. 'Is it some scanning spell? Or is it just based on his mood?'
The names kept coming and going, and Ashen kept drawing blanks. Finally… it was his turn.
"Ash Harth."
He stepped confidently forward and stood straight. He figured a bit of confidence would be appropriate in this situation.
The fox man's eyes subtly glowed, and after casting his sanity-scanning spell, he got a very confusing result.
The man was suffering from hallucinations, long-term stress, and a pressure so heavy, he reckoned anyone would've long since gone crazy if they were subjected to a tenth of it.
From his scans, however, it showed that the man was indeed sane, just as his outward appearance showed.
The fox man was about to nod, but then he noticed the soldier's face. It was handsome. Incredibly so. And most importantly, he was more handsome than he.
And as fate would have it, this particular fox man was a petty and vain fellow, so he didn't hesitate much to shake his head. "Go back."
The other two by his side raised their eyebrows.
Ashen, who had no clue how SA's cosmetic overhaul had just screwed him over, was sweating buckets now.
'Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. Why? Do I have to prove myself in other ways after all?' He slowly reached for his spear.
But another voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Wait~"
It was the sole woman among the group of fox demi-humans.
"I've taken a liking to this man. Come here, handsome." She winked, tails lazily swaying behind her.
…And just like it screwed him over, SA redeemed itself.