Liria's Adventure, Part 2
"Groaaar."
"Kyuu..."
An ogre's boot caught the tiny fox kit and sent it tumbling. The others fell on the adult with massive clubs, beating her without pause or pity. The mother already lay still, unable to move. The kit could only cry, a thin, endless sound.
"Ogres."
"Are they wicked monsters, Silvia?"
"Yeah. They're the typical sort that raid humans. Weak, but they tend to roam in packs."
"Then Liria shall teach them a lesson."
The ogres took one look at Silvia and went white with terror. Forgetting even the fox they'd been about to devour, they stumbled backward, then turned tail and bolted for their lives.
Silvia was in front of them in an instant.
A look of pure despair crossed the ogres' faces. They wheeled and fled the other way — and Silvia cut them off again.
The moment they tried to reverse course once more, Liria dropped them with a bolt of lightning magic. Silvia finished the job in her place, taking their heads.
"Wow, Liria did it! Hehe."
"Well done. I hear real adventurer parties divide their roles like that."
"Like Liria stunning them, and you delivering the finishing blow?"
"That's right."
A warm rush of victory settled in Liria's chest — her first real battle against a monster. The ogres had tried to run the instant they saw Silvia, true, but she now knew her offensive magic actually worked.
She stored the ogre corpses in her subspace and approached the mother fox. The adult's coat was a breathtaking sweep of rainbow light; the kit was pure white.
Liria reached for healing magic, hoping to save her — and realized she was already gone.
"She's already dead."
"Yes, Silvia."
"This is a rare variant of the Horned Fox. They never harm humans — not ever."
"Her fur is so beautiful."
"The kit doesn't have a horn at all, though."
No matter how she looked, the kit showed not a trace of mana, and not so much as a stub of horn. For a monster, a horn meant mana. A fox without one meant a fox with none.
"Could be a mutant. She's lost her mother, too. Survival's going to be hard from here."
"That's so pitiful, Silvia."
"It is."
"Liria wants to take her home and raise her."
The kit kept nuzzling its mother's head and crying, and the sight was almost too much for Liria to bear. It didn't seem able to accept that its mother was gone.
She scooped the little fox into her arms. It didn't resist — it simply went limp, as if it had already given up on living.
"Little fox. Would you like to live with this big sister from now on?"
"Kang..."
"It's a girl."
"Yes, Silvia."
Liria wanted to give the kit a name. Iris — the name of the rainbow goddess from Greek mythology. It suited a rainbow-coated Horned Fox perfectly.
"Your name is Iris now."
"Kang..."
Liria cast purification magic and healing magic over the sleeping Iris and held her close. She decided that would be enough for today's first adventure.
"How was today, Liria?"
"It was wonderful. Thanks to you, Silvia, Liria even met Iris. It was the very best. Hehe."
"I'm glad you had fun."
"Hehe."
Liria placed Iris's mother's body in her Subspace Bag. Time stood still in her subspace — the remains would never decay. She would keep them forever.
She had considered burying her then and there, but other monsters might catch the scent. She couldn't bear the thought of Iris's mother being desecrated.
"Shall we head back?"
"Yes, Silvia."
Liria and Silvia teleported straight to the Adventurer's Guild, and Silvia quickly tugged Liria's hood into place.
The guild floor was packed — five times the crowd from earlier, at least. The Adventurer's Guild never truly closed, but the staff worked in rotations, and most adventurers took two or three days off a week. The Guildmaster, a workaholic to the bone, showed up every single day save the rare vacation.
Even more of them tended to rest on Indigo and Violet days. Selenia's week ran seven days, each named for a color of the rainbow — Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet — an idea inspired by the way mana stones shimmered with every hue.
"Where on earth is she?"
"I heard from an adventurer buddy. She'll be back soon."
"I really wanted to see her just once. What a shame."
"Ah! It's Lady Silvia!"
"Where? Where?"
The adventurers had been searching for someone, and that someone turned out to be Silvia. The moment they spotted her, they realized the small girl at her side was Liria. Even so, they could only watch from a distance. No one dared approach.
"I just want to get a proper look at Lady Liria's face."
"Dream on. You must never be rude to Lady Liria."
They wanted to see her face — of course they did — but they decided that gazing from afar was satisfaction enough. They would simply imagine how adorable the glimpse of her inside the hood must be.
The elf adventurer Tinia often talked about Liria, but none of them had expected to hear about her from Tinia's companion Rabina. Rabina, the first rabbit beastwoman to reach 6-star rank, was reasonably well-respected among the adventurers here.
"Wait — is Lady Liria holding something?"
"Isn't that a Horned Fox?"
"Horned Foxes are ridiculously wary. How did they even catch one?"
The adventurers stared at the fox kit nestled in Liria's arms. Liria figured that since Iris had no horns, she might as well just call her a fox.
Tinia, who spotted Silvia and Liria a beat later than the rest, grabbed Rabina's hand and came running.
"Princess Liria, Lady Silvia — you're back early."
"Yeah."
Liria nodded without a word. Tinia noticed Iris nestled in her arms.
"That's a Horned Fox, right? They're so cute as kits."
"Liria intends to raise her."
"The Guildmaster is waiting. We've prepared the adventurer card and the bestiary as well."
Silvia and Liria entered the Guildmaster's office and sat on the sofa. The Guildmaster handed Liria an adventurer card and a bestiary.
Liria passed Iris to Silvia, who settled the kit on her lap.
"Isn't that a Horned Fox? I've never seen a kit before."
"Not just any Horned Fox — a rare variant. Liria's decided to raise her."
"If it's a rare Horned Fox variant, it's a protected endangered species."
"So? You want us to leave an orphaned kit out there?"
"But a kit that's lost its mother is highly likely to be eaten by other predators, so I believe it's best that Lady Liria take her in."
The Guildmaster realized his mistake a heartbeat too late. Cold sweat sprang out along his brow as he scrambled to walk it back.
Silvia stroked Iris and fixed him with a look that could have stripped paint. He had no idea where to put himself. There wasn't a human alive with the guts to lecture a dragon on the law. Laws were written for humans. You didn't just go applying them to dragons.
Even if the mother had been alive and they'd taken Iris anyway, he wouldn't have been in any position to say a word. The fact that he'd made such a blunder filled him with a slow, sinking self-reproach.
"Please wait a moment."
The Guildmaster hurried off somewhere, came back with something in his hands, and offered it to Silvia.
"This is an identification tag worn by monster tamers. It can track a monster's location."
"Fine. Got it."
Liria wanted to know more about the rainbow-coated Horned Fox, so she opened the monster bestiary and found the right page.
The rainbow-furred Horned Fox is a variant of the Horned Fox — a fox-type monster born with exceptionally strong mana.
A small horn is present even in infancy, and in youth they are difficult to distinguish from ordinary Horned Foxes.
As a Horned Fox ages and the mana within its body grows abundant, its coat gradually takes on rainbow coloration.
They are extremely wary by nature. There are no recorded cases of a Horned Fox striking a human first; on the contrary, they flee at the sight of people, and are only ever glimpsed from a distance.
Current population is extremely low, and the species is classified as endangered. Unauthorized capture is subject to legal penalty — caution is advised.
An adult Horned Fox can easily defeat an ogre or troll, and is considered a considerably powerful monster.
They are believed to possess quite high intelligence, and are fiercely maternal, willing to risk their lives to protect their young.
Their diet is omnivorous; they are known to eat just about anything.
"Ogres."
Liria remembered how Iris's mother had been ganged up on and killed. One-on-one, she would have won. Piling on her like that was just cheap.
"Done reading, Liria?"
"Yes, Silvia."
"Here. You put it on her."
"Yes, Silvia."
Liria took Iris back and fastened the identification tag, a contented look settling over her face. She was a little sorry Iris was still asleep — but she stroked her all the same.