Astlan Lionheart is the very reason I am alive. He is the one who saved my mother and gave her a chance at life…
I was just a child of an unnamed man…
My mother was used as a sex slave by humans… males…
Astlan is the man who saved her at the hands of the brute. Since then, my mother became a follower of Astlan even, though, she despises men because of her traumatic experience with them.
I was born and taken care properly. Mother loved me and raised me properly while properly educating me. But all that said, mother’s dislike to men was passed on to me.
I hate men…
It was just a strong influence my mother brought into me and I cannot let go of that anymore. The only man I have accepted in my life is him… Astlan…
Even mother told me that she favors Astlan if ever I get to like him, and I did. I liked Astlan from a young age and up until now, only Astlan is the man that I loved.
Miss Nivalis and Miss Hinoki was the same too.
Miss Nivalis is the first woman to bear his child and produced descendants. Since Miss Nivalis is whom Astlan loved the most, we didn’t interfere with their relationship, me and Miss Hinoki.
Miss Hinoki is my mother’s senior and also my mentor too. She was the very first slave Astlan saved after all… is what Miss Hinoki said.
After we decided to go on separate ways, we never saw each other again…
Miss Hinoki returned to her home, the elven continent, in which she will reform and where she will use everything she learned from politics to management, to the even simple task of housekeeping. All of those we taught by Astlan and accumulated experience serving him.
As for me, I strive to live my life in the beast continent with nothing but magical knowledge and good education and refined upbringing, all thanks to my mother and Miss Hinoki…
As for my mother… she died young… but she died without having regrets raising me… She passed away peacefully.
…
My struggle in the beast continent paid off and I was able to acquire a significant position as one of the Seven Beast Generals and the kings Advisor. And top of that, I managed to establish a clan of fox which is scarce in general.
A manor for foxes and a place that will accept them because foxes are generally being discriminated as a race due to being magically inclined fighters, which is to say that normal beast men are body enchanters.
We are given a heavy burden of taking care of the Shrine that houses dark spirits and keeps them at bay.
These dark spirits can cause a torrent of negative energy to surge from oblivion and brought forth destruction to our continent. And the only way to re-strengthen the seal is sacrificing beast men with a natural disposition with holy element… which is to say, us foxes…
…
I heard that Miss Hinoki became the Queen of the Elves and now they headed towards a new revolutionary era. She was able to marry a reincarnator which Miss Nivalis told me once. But Miss Hinoki’s husband died shortly afterward…
…
After decades, someone visited me.
It was Astlan…
I was extremely happy. He told me that he is going to properly reciprocate my love to him and to Miss Hinoki.
At that time, Astlan fully embraces me and delve into my deepest desire for him.
Then, Miss Hinoki and I were able to bear his child. It seems that if our child is born, they would be at the same age. I want to have a talk with Miss Hinoki but I cannot leave in my post and… I am pregnant with his child so I need to take care of myself properly.
…
My baby was born!
It was one of the happiest days of my life!
She has cute eyes and tails too!
A relaxing color of brown hair that matches her pointy ears and fluffy tail!
I am truly happy even though, there isn’t much resemblance to Astlan or none at all but it’s okay. I will love and cherish my baby. I am going to give her every love she needs!
Mother always tells me about her favorite flower.
Higanbana… will be your name from now on, my beloved.
In the language of flowers, it means independence, passion and… sad memories.
I will do my best to keep you away from harm and any danger. I will do my best to give you a life you will be happy with.
…
A disaster breaks out of the continent while we are celebrating a festival.
The seal on the shrine that we, the fox clan are guarding shattered and we are forced to make an abrupt sacrifice for it.
We are given the task and duty to keep everyone safe from harm. It is a duty that will keep hundred thousands of life safe.
But…
A unanimous decision was made…
It was… my child… who they want to sacrifice…
They said that Higanbana, among the generations of fox clan, has the strongest holy attribute inside her. I already know that since she was born.
But… why… not my child…
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They tried to take my Higanbana, but I put up a resistance!
I holed up inside the manor, blowing anyone away who tries to take away my Higanbana!
Not my child to Astlan. Not the child that I want to cherish. Not the child that I want to see growing up and learning with her friends.
…
And so, the other generals and the king are forced to take actions to take Higanbana away.
No…
The odds are too much for me…
But I won’t yield, for my daughter.
…
A man… who has white hair and blue eyes came emitting such wrathful presence. He is King Folga’s visitor and an outsider.
I knew immediately that this man, with the features of Miss Nivalis and power of Astlan, is their descendant. Exposing everyone in his terrifying rage for a reason I am not aware.
He was angry over sacrificing my daughter.
He said that everyone should be ashamed as he came to my aide to protect Higanbana.
And then, this young man in his teen’s approached the shrine and destroyed it.
To our surprise, he dove into the pits of the evil spirits.
The beautiful fairy kin with blue hair that came with him didn’t express any worry at all as the man bask himself in the presence of evils spirits.
After a few seconds, a torrent of power came gushing out from him!
Destroying and devouring every evil spirit that came in contact with him. His fearsome power swallowed everything.
…
I thanked him.
My tears won’t stop.
He saved the continent.
And above all else, he saved my daughter.
When I ask him his name, he told me that he is Ashfon Astlan Lionheart.
He’s really is their descendant.
I will be forever indebted to him. He told me that I shouldn’t mind it as he was really angry that everyone is teaming up on me to take away my daughter.
With parting words, he left with his companion for their journey.
…
Time passes, my daughter, Higanbana, just turned seven this year.
She is a little weird but nonetheless, a good child. She always has a flat face but as her mother, I can understand everything about her.
But… she seems socially awkward as she doesn’t play with children outside at all. She also learns to use magic at an early age.
And at that time, I heard that news.
Astlan died…
Miss Hinoki sent me a message informing of his death. The cause is unknown.
It was a big blow for me…
Astlan occasionally visits me and Higanbana…
Astlan and Higanbana were just getting closer and closer…
And suddenly… he just dies like this…
As my emotion overwhelms me, my only emotional support is my daughter. As I feel like drowning in my own sadness, I just have to look at her and all of the sadness will be flooded with joy and happiness.
That was the time I became overprotective of Higanbana.
I don’t want her to leave by my side.
I don’t want her to go someplace far from me.
I may not show it to her, but she is the only one that keeps me going.
…
Four years since Astlan’s death, Higanbana is now eleven and she began to slip out of manor often to go somewhere else. It made me worry.
Because of my influence to Higanbana, she has an aversion to men too…
But her aversion is much different…
It seems that because she doesn’t like men, her only love interests may land on the same sex. It’s not that I am worried about it. As long as she is happy and made the right decision.
And for some reason, King Folga’s son, Prince Begol, has taken interest on her.
In one of her random stroll, Begol must have seen her and made her lock in a promise she can’t back down.
Begol wants to make Higanbana his bride.
I didn’t know what to do.
…
One day, Higanbana brought home two strangers.
It’s doubtful, though, if they are harmful or not.
Both are lovely girls.
One is a child younger than Higanbana. Her name is Asagao.
The other is in her teens. Her name is Alstroemeria.
It seems they promised to help her break off from Begol.
At first, I was kind of skeptic, but I trusted them because my intuition told me so.
…
And my intuition was right!
They won against Begol! I don’t know how but it doesn’t matter. And I just discovered that Asagao is Ashfon’s younger sister!
Such fate…
My daughter, Higanbana, seems to be attached to her…
Asagao and Alstroemeria are both traveling with a certain goal and Higanbana seems like she longs for the outside world.
So…
With kind and gentle girls like this… maybe I can trust Higanbana to them.
…
Higanbana approaches me as she wants to ask permission…
Before she can say anything, I already told her that it’s fine.
She wanted friends.
She wanted to change.
Maybe I should try to move on too.
The gears of fate weaved their meeting.
I am relieved.
…
Or not… I just remembered that Higanbana doesn’t know much about the outside world and that goes the same for that child, Asagao. Also…, Alstroemeria looks not that bright…
I hope they won’t get lost…
.
.
.
And so, the battle that goes before my very eyes…
A large portion of the castle can’t be called a building anymore but rubbles.
In front of me, the Beast General Breack panting heavily, bruises everywhere in his scale can be seen and his enhancement is failing too…
A crowd gathered around us including the king. But rather than stopping us, he just watches there like an audience cheering with the crowd.
He doesn’t mind this degree of damage when we are tight in resources. He enjoys this kind of barbaric entertainment.
On the other hand, I can’t do anything… as my mind is fixed on my own daughter…
My daughter, whose whole feature is almost the same as me, my spitting image, is now emitting that kind of power…
Astlan’s Ira.
Her power resemblance to it is uncanny…
She is my and Astlan’s daughter after all…
Her talent in magic came from me, but this burst of power and high amount of magic came from Astlan. Through Astlan’s human blood, she was able to wield a Soul Weapon in a form of an umbrella.
What she showed to me earlier is what she called purifying flames of the god, a golden radiant fire that covers her body.
But right now, a dark torrent of fire surrounds her.
The magnitude of destruction it can offer is still questionable as she still hasn’t reached the very peak of her power, but it is visible that it is destructive enough to take down a beast general.
“Grrrr….!”
“Hey, Izuna! Control your daughter!”
“You…! What are you going to do to Asagao?!”
My daughter fell in love.
She got obsessed…with Asagao.
Her obsession becomes uncontrollable.
But… well…, I really don’t have any plan stopping her now. Breack brought it to his self. And it would be better if you fall right here, right now so we can smoothly participate in the upcoming battle. You just keep guzzling our own wealth, so are better off dead.
Not to mention, Higanbana can only see now an enemy. I have been calling out to her many times, but she just restlessly fires magic to Breack.
Breack never expected my daughter to be this strong.
A general must always show superiority.
But sometimes, a general can show it through wits. Breack is witty, but jokes on him, I can outsmart him so his illegal operations are exposed to me like a broad daylight.
It would have been a different story if I was the one who got provoked. It will cause a huge stir within the group of generals. Opinions will sway to his favor as he will use the situation to his advantage.
But right now, he is just an adult who just pissed a child because of his immature ramblings.
I don’t want to use Higanbana this way but it’s circumstantial so it’s inevitable.
…
Higanbana rushes again to the helpless, battered Breack as he pleaded me to stop her.
BOOM!
Lucky you, your scales are hard.
But Higanbana is getting more and more enraged as the moments pass.
She draws every dark flame to her and extinguished it.
The power of Astlan Ira surges again on her body as she fuses it with another spell…
I have known it right from the start. She is really angry, but this is not a blind rage. Her mind is in a state of berserk while maintaining a little sanity for her to calculate her next movements.
Genius…
It’s the only term I can best describe her.
Genius people are scary. That goes the same for people who work hard.
But my daughter, Higanbana, is a genius and a hard worker.
It’s truly terrifying, but I am proud.
………
……
…
The temperature is dropping…
What now…
As I am thinking of what will happen next…
Ice starts to cover the entire place…
Then…
SHINN!
Like a wildfire that spreads in a blink of an eye… the whole place…
“[Icy Hell]”
Icicle protrudes everywhere.
The paved ground is now covered in ice.
And now, her body is covered with illuminating cyan mist. Her hair manifested some white streaks to it and the tip of her ears and tails is having more prominent white color to it.
“I heard your race is weak against frostbite.”
“Guh… t-that’s… you brat…”
“We don’t want you being dig up inside an ice, right? Why don’t you swallow your words earlier?”
“Keh..!”
“…”
“Guunununu…”
“One…”
“…”
“Two…”
“…”
“Thre--!”
“Okay! I submit! You win! Okay?!”
“…You don’t seem to know your place.”
“Huh?!”
Higanbana approaches Breack and fired off a block of ice in his stomach bending him to his knees.
As she got close to him, she steps on his head and grinds it to the ground…
Eh?!
Eh?!!?!
“Ahhhh!!!!”
“Less screaming, more begging.”
“AH..! Y-yes! I—I am sorry! I am sorry! Please stop!”
“Oh? You seem to have misjudged your words?”
“Ah?! It was a bluff! I didn’t mean my words towards you and your mother earlier!”
BAM!
BAM!
…
…
BAM!
Higanbana slams his head using her feet thrice to the icy ground until blood started to drop from Breack’s face.
Higanbana’s expressionless face looks darker and the light in her eyes are gone.
“You still haven’t learned yet? It seems you are not satisfied unless I cut a two or three limbs off you!”
“Ah! Please don’t! I will also turn myself in! Yes! I will do that!”
BAAAAM!!!
Higanbana slammed his head into submission, but apparently, what he said isn’t even close to satisfying Higanbana.
She slammed his face harder to the ground this time making small cracks.
Because she got pissed even further, her power rises again.
“Ahh! Okay! Yes! It was a joke! I won’t do anything to that white haired girl! I am sorry for saying anything against her!”
“White haired girl?! Just white haired girl?!?!”
“The Princess! The Little sister of the human king! Princess A-a-a….”
“…”
“Yes! Princess Asagao!”
“…”
He was able to manage to save his self.
As he apologizes, Higanbana separated from him with satisfaction on her face. She approaches me. The heartless and cold eyes she had earlier disappeared as she looks at me.
I just patted her head and try to get out of the place while soldiers came and arrested Breack due to embezzlement and possible treason.
.........
……
…
When we got further away from the site, Higanbana leans over to me as if she is extremely tired.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mother…”
“Hmm?”
“This upcoming year…”
“?”
“I am going to be the new beast leader… I am going to re-establish this place… and I am going to purge anyone who is incapable like that prick. That goes the same to those who tries to plot against Asagao.”
“That’s…haa… nevermind… you must be really tired…”
“Of course, I am almost out of magic power.”
“Huh?”
“The last moments were just a bluff. I am just squeezing out power. If he had resisted further, my bluff would be exposed.”
“EH?!”
As Higanbana said those words, she smiled at me mischievously.
It was a mischievous smile that I have never seen before.
I didn’t know that my daughter has such side.
Also, that power she used earlier.
Higanbana… is the living proof that a love bloomed between us and Astlan, even if it was fleeting at that time.
And whatever what my daughter wants, I will support her as her mother.