"I-I'm not... I'm not scared! B-Because... big brother is here!", The fox-ear girl, gripping Ash's hem, shook her head vigorously. Her words were quite endearing.
This made Ash chuckle at her adorable appearance. He reached out with a clean hand and gently scratched her smooth chin, "You kid, how many men are you going to lead on when you grow up~"
"I-It tickles... big brother...", The little fox tilted her head up shyly. Though she protested verbally, she didn't pull away.
This also let Ash, for the first time, truly appreciate the unique charm of foxes.
Even though she was just a girl, this cuteness had an irresistible allure, making him feel an urge to take her home.
Fortunately, he was a man of integrity. After only a moment of inner conflict, he relied on stubborn willpower to tear his gaze away from the little fox and look toward another cell.
"Big brother...!"
"Please, hurry and save the sacred beast!"
The girls beside him also instinctively looked over, and upon noticing the large dog, they excitedly tugged at his clothes. The cat-ear girl even clung to his thigh in excitement, her eyes filled with earnestness like the others.
Helpless, he could only tell them to let go first. Then, just as the children thought he would go search the corpses on the ground for keys, they all voluntarily endured their fear and nausea, beginning to help him search the bodies. But...
Before they could even reach toward the corpses, they had just crouched down when they heard a teeth-grating sound.
Everyone turned to look, and directly witnessed... him casually pulling the iron bars apart like tearing cotton, creating a new "door" wide enough for three people to pass through.
Under the children's dumbfounded gazes, Ash calmly stepped into the cell inscribed with a magic circle.
A large white dog was lying in the middle of the room. It glanced at Ash listlessly, then dropped its eyes again, yet surprisingly made no sound.
"...Dogs in this world can grow this big?"
Looking at the giant white dog before him, which with its tail should be about two meters long, Ash was surprised, but at first glance he saw that the dog was bound by a magic circle, and quickly located the mana crystal above, the source of the magic circle's energy.
The children hadn't noticed any of this. They all rushed into the cell wanting to save the dog, but one by one they smacked into the hard barrier, bruising their faces on the transparent "wall."
Seeing this, Ash couldn't be bothered to destroy the mana crystal.
He simply pressed down with his hand, and the transparent wall caved inward under the pressure. Then, with a "clink!" the entire magic barrier couldn't withstand the force and was violently crushed apart.
The children cheered beside him and gathered around to check on the big dog.
The big dog came over and happily licked his hand, but... just like the shota from before, he quietly pushed it away.
Though he didn't dislike cats and dogs and usually enjoyed petting them, however...
"Compared to dogs, a real man should pet beast-ear girls!"
Certain that no man would prefer dogs over soft, fragrant beast-ear girls, he sighed and unconsciously reached his wicked hands toward the cat-ear and fox-ear girls who kept thanking him, petting the two girls who looked at him with admiration.
He couldn't resist reaching for their tails too, and amid the girls' startled cries, indulged himself in the fluffy tails.
While he was enjoying the girls, a dog-ear girl with huge... breasts complained a bit about the big dog's treatment, then sniffed near him and put on a serious expression, "This is... the smell of being in heat?"
"Hah, haah? No no no no! Others aside! For others, even for the your sake, I could basically pinch my nose and accept it! But this one is absolutely a lie, I would never have those kinds of thoughts!"
"...Then is it Nonna? Mini?", The big-breasted girl instinctively turned her gaze toward the fox-ear and cat-ear girls beside him, whose ears Ash was petting.
"N-No!", The fox-ear girl called Nonna shook her head like a rattle, and the cat-ear girl called Mini also fiercely objected, "I didn't!"
The strange argument left Ash somewhat speechless. He couldn't help interrupting, "Though reputation matters, stop worrying about these weird things, or I'll leave you all here."
"S-Sorry..."
The girls, whether trying to lighten the mood or simply finding a way to vent their fear, hurriedly caught up with him and apologized.
He didn't really care about it personally. He petted each of the girls' ears in turn, nodded with temporary satisfaction, then led the group ahead toward the outside, leaving only the rescued big dog trailing alone behind, still happily wagging its tail.
By the time they left the slave traders' base, the sky had already darkened.
Since the children didn't know how they had been captured, their tribe was probably quite far away, so Ash could only, with a helpless feeling, lead them toward the city.
But before reaching the city, midway there, they encountered Roxy and Eris who had just arrived.
Somewhat subtly, Eris seemed more excited seeing these beast-ear girls than seeing him, making Ash internally complain, "...What a strange person. She really is a noble, huh?"
"You're hardly one to talk about Eris," Roxy instinctively retorted upon hearing Ash's muttering.
"Why not? Didn't I save people?"
"...Then what are your hands doing?", Roxy, with an indescribably strange expression, stared fixedly at Ash's hands still on the fox and cat tails, "In beast-people customs, that's absolutely no less than groping, you know?"
"How could that be? Don't lie to me."
"Even if not, it's no different from grabbing their butts!", Actually, Roxy herself wasn't entirely certain, but by common sense, apart from the head, there shouldn't be any place on a normal girl that an opposite-sex person could casually touch.
Thinking this, she smacked Ash's hand with her staff while warning him, "Let go right now! If their parents see you, you'll absolutely be killed!"
"What are you talking about~ I saved their lives, so if I can't even touch a tail, that's just unreasonable, isn't it?!"
Ash snorted with a laugh, speaking dismissively.
This strange statement made Roxy heave a sigh, "Even now I can't tell if you're serious and trying to use that as an excuse to muddle through, or if you just want me to retort. Honestly, I hope it's the latter."
"Of course it's the latter. What else could it be? Am I really that strange? These two kids don't understand human language anyway~ Don't you think a little joke like this is fun? Like the forbidden feeling of saying what you like about someone right in front of them without them knowing?"
Ash shrugged with a smile, but no sooner had he spoken than he looked down somewhat uncertainly at the little fox, testing, "Hmm... you don't understand, right?"
"I-I don't understand!", The little fox frantically shook her head, but what she said was... in human language.
But no sooner had she spoken than she wore an "oops" expression and quickly covered her mouth.
Well now, turns out one girl did understand. So then, Ash's smile stiffened. He unconsciously released his wicked hands and silently cast a pleading look toward Roxy, "Master, this is when I rely on you..."
"...Don't look at me. You did this yourself, handle it yourself. Only now do you call me master, I won't help you!", Roxy, afraid of being dragged into it, quickly dashed away, clearly refusing to get involved.
And it was also at this moment that Ash felt a rather sharp gaze.
He turned and saw a male beast-person with chocolate-colored skin, feline ears, and a tail like a tiger's.
[🙇🏻 You Can Support through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ advanced chapters of all the novels and fanfics. It gets updated daily. Thanks for reading, have a great day~]