Shff… shff…
"Hmm~ you can go harder, you know? I can handle it~"
Fwhp… fwhp…
"Mm~ oh yes, that's better~! Keep going… just like that, baby…"
Ashen's lips twitched as he ran the fine-bristle brush through the tails resting across his lap.
He hadn't expected the sultry fox woman to make such an innocent request after sweetly inviting him into the carriage.
The nonstop moaning did wonders to ruin the innocence, though.
"Hng…"
'It's a big cat…'
"Haah~"
'Just pretend you're brushing a playful cat…'
"Ohh~"
'…A big…'
"Mouh~"
'Fluffy… cat.'
"AH—!"
"…Miss, does it really feel that good?" he finally asked, because he was almost certain she was screwing with him.
"…Hm? Of course it does. Our tails are quite sensitive, you know? We don't even let lovers touch them. So consider yourself lucky, handsome~"
"Lucky me…" He muttered awkwardly as he felt the teasing touch of one of her silky tails near his nose.
The only relief was that the carriage had multiple compartments, making sure there was no one to watch the embarrassing situation.
Crikk—
Lucky for Ashen, the torturous experience finally ended as their ride slowly came to a stop, indicating their arrival.
"Such skilled hands… I might come back if I need further tending to~" The lady shot him a playful wink before sliding out of the carriage first, allowing him to heave a sigh of relief.
'…Please don't.'
"It would be a pleasure, my lady." He smiled.
Ashen had no mingling with any woman aside from Alice and Seraphine. Even if he knew and acknowledged his unfaithfulness, he would never thoughtlessly play with any woman he encountered.
That would just devolve him into a rabid dog, but more importantly, that's what would truly trample on his women's dignity and hurt them.
He, therefore, would never sink that low.
That was why the lady's seduction was only uncomfortable for him. What was the point of only looking and not touching, after all? And touching the tail didn't count in his opinion, no matter how precious the foxes considered it to be.
⛧⛧⛧
As he kept his thoughts occupied, Ashen reunited with the rest of the selected humans, took his horse, and followed behind the demi-humans.
Finally, the camp came into view.
It sprawled across a shallow valley, a chaotic cluster of tents, lean-tos, and makeshift shelters cobbled together from timber and animal hides.
Smoke curled from open fires, carrying the tang of roasting meat and the bite of burning wood.
Demi-humans of all shapes and sizes moved through the camp: hulking wolf-men sharpening jagged blades, lithe fox-folk darting between wagons with supplies, and towering ogre-types hauling barrels of water or siege gear.
But since the main army consisted of tailed foxes, they were obviously the majority in the camp.
Ashen and his group passed across banners of various shapes and colors, stitched with symbols of clans or warbands, and finally arrived near a zone with the banner of a roaring lion.
'They dare raise the Pride army's banner here?' Ashen nearly facepalmed at the shamelessness of the defectors.
After abandoning their fellow race and duties, they still tried to delude themselves into thinking they still belonged.
A bulky man spearheading a group of humans gradually appeared from the forest of tents.
The man's expression was frozen into a frown, as if his face did not know how to make any other expression.
He walked directly to the tailed foxes after sweeping his gaze over the group of newcomers.
"Is this all?" His voice was unsurprisingly cold, just like his face.
The fox man who'd previously tried to exclude Ashen out of jealousy was the one to answer. "Yes, I know it's too little, but we can't simply allow unstable elements into the main camp. I hope you understand."
His voice surprisingly lost all of its previous disinterest as he proactively explained.
'Seems like this guy is a big shot here,' Ashen idly remarked as he watched things unfold.
"It doesn't matter. No one likes having to deal with crazy people, and neither do we." The stoic man nodded once and turned to the new arrivals.
The foxes took that as their cue to leave.
The moment they vanished, he addressed the crowd. "I'm Magnus Draevik, second-in-command here."
He paused a beat. "Many of you came here running from a definite death, and I don't blame you. I'm also here, after all. But some of you think that just by leaving the Pride army, you can finally let go and give rein to your inner devils…"
Whoosh—
He lifted a hand.
"That," he pointed at the Pride Army flag fluttering in the air, "…is not a mockery or clinging to the past, but a reminder that order will follow you wherever you go."
He swept his gaze over the crowd, making some of them involuntarily shiver. "So be on your best behavior. Otherwise, you'll be begging to return to the Pride army."
Magnus let them absorb the words for a second and continued, but with less intensity. "There will be a banquet for you to get familiar with the demi-humans here. Since our numbers aren't much, everyone will be able to attend. My men here will make you more presentable, not to embarrass us, so follow them."
With that as their cue, the men behind Magnus scattered around, guiding Ashen's group, while he left without another look.
For the next two hours, Ashen was brought from place to place, where he was thoroughly washed, dressed, and hammered about what and what not to do.
Finally, he was herded in along with other similarly dressed men before they marched together to the banquet venue.
When they arrived, the sun had already dipped low, with only a red shine over the horizon left to illuminate the countless tables adorned with all sorts of food—from meat and fruits to sugary delicacies unique to the demi-human territories.
The human group almost drooled at the buffet, but soon they remembered the punishments for inappropriate behavior and restrained themselves.
Ashen grabbed a glass of water from a table and slowly settled in a secluded corner where most of the venue was visible, including the central dance floor.
The banquet being outdoors worked against him. He was here solely to scan the crowd for Alice, yet that method was unreliable for anyone with normal vision.
Fortunately for Ashen, his vision was anything but normal.
Ztt—
'Interpreter…'
Ssss—
'Conversionalist…'
Pushing mana steadily into his eyes allowed him to enter a realm of perception that let him see and interpret cues and physical tells with just sight, but that wasn't what he needed now.
Pushing further made the perception reach another height, almost giving him the illusion of time slowing. Now he wasn't interpreting anymore—he was seeing much more. So much so that it was akin to understanding body language on the same level as his mother tongue.
However, for the current task, Ashen didn't need such a narrow focus, so he spread his perception outward, making it less focused and losing detail, but still enough to register every face in the crowd.
"Ugh—"
Doing this without Daydream's assistance was practically torture, but he wasn't taking any chances.
With every second passing, the damage and pain climbed higher, teetering dangerously close to his tolerance threshold.
His ears started ringing.
His nose started bleeding.
He bit his lip until it bled.
Black spots kept appearing and disappearing from his vision.
'C'mon… Where are you…'
Finally, after five minutes that felt like five years of pain, new faces registered in his perception.
They steadily advanced to the venue. They were divided into a human and a tailed fox party, but Ashen didn't care about anyone except one.
The one leading the foxes, marching onward with nine golden tails trailing behind her…
The moment Ashen's perception brushed past her, his lips curled into an almost ecstatic smile.
… If not for the blood on his face that made him look more mad than happy.
And as if she sensed the indirect gaze, the fox woman also stopped and turned in his direction.
Her eyes traveled across the countless faces and obstacles to land on him, and her lips also curled up, with almost the same intensity.
""Found you.""