As the yellow liquid started to fall on Edmond's bed and made it wet, Edmond hurriedly tried to get up but failed as he was still too weak from the extreme blood loss due to the injury before.

Thankfully, the Chief intervened, using his strong hands to catch the Fox and take it out of his bed before quickly hurrying outside and letting it complete its activity.

Edmond could only stare at Aaron, who was equally stupefied.

The name 'Tera Master' would usually make one think of a grand figure who was capable of commanding respect from the Teras of whom he was supposed to be a master of.

Of course, this scene was the complete opposite. It wasn't even that the Fox had just happened to pee while on his bed – it had done it on purpose after checking that he was definitely in its 'area of contact'.

That had been visible even more in its expression, as it had looked as if it was very satisfied with what it was doing.

Woof was the only one who began laughing, and as this became clear to Edmond, he glared at the Tera, who casually looked back at him and remembered what had happened before increasing the volume with which it was laughing.

A few seconds later, the Chief reappeared in the room holding the Tera which didn't seem to be scared at all that it was in a new environment surrounded by the 'dangerous' humans who had captured it.

It looked like it was taking a casual stroll through the jungle, and that it hadn't been forced into a life of enslavement where it would have to fight for the benefit of its master.

At least, currently, that was how Aaron thought of the Bond when he looked at the little Bewitching Fox.

Of course, he could tell that there were different circumstances where someone could get the acknowledgment of the Tera before binding it, but this was definitely not the case here.

If there was no love lost between him and Woof and this family of foxes, perhaps, he might not even have made the deal with Edmond.

Right now, he was just looking forward to seeing what kind of relationship Edmond would have with this fox. If he somehow managed to entice the Fox with gifts or other things which it might be interested in, that would be fine with Aaron.

However, he would never stand for a forced relationship where the Tera would have to fight after being threatened that it would be killed if it did not obey all comments.

In fact, this was something that had become clear to him since the moment he read the booklet where it was explained how Bonds worked.

He didn't know if this strong feeling was because a Tera was his own best friend, or if this was just something he felt by himself because of who he was.

He recalled many of the instances where he had seen families of Teras who were just happy that they could survive while in the company of each other, and he remembered how he had wondered whether that was how it had been for him, too, in the memories which were locked away in his mind.

Even though the Chief had given that speech before and tried to convince Aaron that humans and Teras had to be thought of in different ways, he didn't know yet whether that was something that he might ever be able to do. At least, so far, he hadn't seen enough for him to be convinced that this should be the case.

Sure, they might be a family, but that seemed no different from a tribe of Crocodrills who just wanted to take control of a part of a river and exist peacefully.

Should he really change all of the presuppositions and opinions he had formed over the years of him living together with Woof just because of a single instance?

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Aaron highly doubted that, so, once again, he just decided to put it to the side and wait until he observed more of these humans before making or changing any sort of assumptions or decisions.

However, at this stage, he was sure of one thing – he would never be able to stand for slave contracts where the Teras were forced into bondage. At least, he never wanted to be associated with them, as they just felt so vile and repulsive.

He was someone who always trusted his heart and went with it, just like in the cases where it had wanted him to help those lost Teras in finding their families.

Even now, he decided that if Edmond tried to use that kind of relationship to make the Fox fight for him, he would definitely act to let the thing go even though he and Woof had a vendetta against it, in the same way that its father had one against them.

Actually, there was another reason why he had agreed to them catching a Bewitching Fox – it was that the custom of Bewitching Foxes usually dictated that the strongest of the litter would get the most food, while the weaker ones would have to fight for scraps and even starve. This was meant to be a mechanism for the weaker Foxes to get motivated to grow stronger in order to stay alive, and although it worked for the most part, Woof told him that in its life, it had seen a few little Foxes who died simply because they were born with strength that wasn't as great as their brothers and sisters.

Life in the jungle was harsh, and usually unforgiving. When seeing such children, the adult Bewitching Foxes might feel a little bit sad, but they would just move on thinking that this would have happened anyway in the future when they weren't around.

This was something that was common in other Tera families, too, but Aaron had noticed that it mostly occurred in predator families.

Usually, those Teras which depended on plant life to live were different.

Shaking his head to get rid of all these thoughts, Aaron watched with sharp eyes as Edmond took the Fox into his hands from the Chief.

It wasn't really that harmful at its age – at least, an adult human could easily handle it if they were careful.

In fact, it only had the ability to use its sharp claws to scratch enemies, as it wasn't strong enough yet to use the signature ability of these foxes of releasing pheromones in order to make their opponents drowsy by "Bewitching" them.

Usually, at this age, Teras were meant to be protected, as they couldn't fend for themselves.

"As you're from the city, I guess you've already been through a course about how to handle Teras and build a bond with them, right?", asked the Chief, handing a bowl containing some sort of raw meat to Edmond along with the Fox.

The Fox kept shooting glances at this bowl, but it did not move to ask for anything. Instead, it still had that aloof expression, as if everyone near it were not worthy of its attention.

"Yes. I know the steps. The Tera should slowly be fed, cared for and trained by the Tera Master for a bond to form, which is the best method in most cases. And let me give you an answer to your question too, Aaron. The World Government has set down rules that state that a relationship which is forced must not be pursued unless that is no other option, as researchers found that such relationships often lead to the premature deaths of either the Tera of the Tera Master. A bond just isn't considered to be real unless there is also trust between the Tera and the Tera Master. The greater the trust, the greater the power a Tera Master can put on display. I know how you must feel about Teras because you've grown up among them and because you probably consider that dog as your family. Don't worry, I would never force one to fight for me. The Binding process, on the other hand – I had no option there, as I don't have a Tera in the first place to fight one fairly and entice it into becoming my Tera. Watch."

While Aaron felt pleasant surprise at Edmond's words who almost seemed like he had read his mind, he watched as Edmond slowly took out a piece of the meat and brought it near the Fox's mouth. He showed no resentment because it had peed on him – after all, he had snatched it away from its parent, so he shouldn't expect anything less. In fact, he had to be thankful that it wasn't being overtly violent.

The Fox kept turning away, at first, but after a few attempts, it finally acquiesced and ate the piece of meat as it was starving.

This made a smile of pure pleasure appear on Edmond's face, which got etched into Aaron's mind because of the innocent joy that it contained.

The rest of the pieces of meat disappeared soon enough, after which the Fox burped and promptly fell asleep on Edmund's lap.

"Baby Teras usually have short spans of attention – just like human babies. One can entice them using the simplest things. It's really lucky that I got such a young Tera- I have a much higher chance of building a great bond with that. I-"

Saying so, Edmond was about to expound regarding how he topped the class in this course, but he stopped and wrinkled his nose when a smell floated to his nose.

Obviously, this Tera was much smarter than it looked.

That was because it had decided to do the other 'Nature's Call' on Edmond's bed, as if to say that it wouldn't be that easy.

This time, even Aaron started laughing along with the Chief and Woof, while Edmond blushed a bright red and looked out the window while trying to block out the embarrassment.