- Chapter 1 -

“Leon! I thought I told you to get ready to leave! Zack you too! What if he's late today?!”

Outside small house near the middle of Pakto you could see a slender crimson haired woman run out into her yard nagging two large beast-men. Sarah hadn't aged at all in these last 16 years and looked as lovely as ever. Her beautiful un-aging appearance was a natural feature of the succubus race. Zack was much the same way. Beast-men had incredible vitality and enjoyed a long life span. Zack's continued training kept him looking like a strapping young man in his twenties. Sarah also made sure that he kept himself clean and forced him to take care of his skin, managing his appearance. Standing next to Zack getting an earful was their son Leon.

Leon had grown up quickly. Beast-men matured quite quickly and would finish their development at around 25 years of age. Leon was almost the spitting image of his father, growing to become a strong young man. His father was a lion type beast-man and it showed in his son, who was almost 2 meters tall at 16 years old, approaching his fathers height. Leon was also boasting an impressive physique built naturally as he trained with his father. His strong jawline and charismatic features gave off and impressive feeling.

Although he took a lot of his looks from his father if you looked closer at him you could begin to see the resemblance to his mother. The first obviously being his eyes which matched his mothers. A mysterious violet color with some blue speckled in, along with his long eyelashes, gave his eyes a deep look. It was like the night sky. The next being his lack of a tail. No one was quite sure why a beast-man would be born without a tail but since it didn't seem to affect his balance they stopped worrying about it. His skin gained a bit more color from the sun but retained an unblemished look thanks to his succubus blood. Leon's hair was still a striking blonde color but was not nearly as rough as his fathers. His long hair was wavy like his mother and was tied back in a bun to keep it out of his face. Sarah wanted to cut it shorter but apparently it was strange for lion-type beast men to have short hair. So she kept it as is. He was the picturesque version of a strapping young lad thanks to his mom.

“What are you going to do if your late Leon? You know how important today is! You even got your clothes dirty working out with your father!” Sarah put on an unhappy face as she scolded her son. His ears were tipped downwards, showing his guilt.

Leon brought his hand up and began to scratch his chin before looking down at his mother, trying to act innocent. “Well I was just so excited for today I couldn't help but move a little in the morning... I got up early when I heard dad training and wanted to join in...” Leon attempted to make a case for himself.

Leon perked up as if he had an idea, “You can clean me off with magic right mom? Then I can go right away!”

Sarah was a succubus so naturally she had an impressive store of mana and was naturally good at magic. Cleanse was a basic spell that almost all mages knew. Leon had seen her use it many times before on their clothes and it worked fantastically. He figured she could use it on him as well.

Sarah sighed while casting cleanse on Leon, “Just hurry up and go! W-wait if came out here and have been here since early...YOU DIDN'T EAT BREAKFAST?!” Her face began to turn dark.

“BYE MOM!” Leon ran off quickly knowing he was going to be in for another nagging. Waving as he made his way down the road laughing.

“There is nothing to worry about babe he'll get there on time for sure!” Zack was laughing as he tried to comfort his wife. He was going to ask for a cleanse as well.

“Hey by the way do you think you could clean me off as well?” Zack began to ask his wife for the spell before noticing a deep killing intent. He started to sweat. He really did it this time. “Hey dear you know? You are just the best most beautiful and kind woman in the worl-”

“Uuuuu...” You could see a dark energy begin to rise from Sarah's shaking shoulders as Zack attempted to suck up.

“YOU AREN'T GETTING ANY FOR A MONTH!” Sarah screamed as she stormed off into the home.

“Ah...No...I-I...A MONTH?! C'mon babe!” Zack quickly ran into the home after his wife with panic on his face.

-

Leon was running through the village to the Chiefs house before he saw some of his friends and sped up while calling out to them, “Hey Argo! Hey Maron! wait up for me!”

Argo was a stocky dwarf and was one of the few kids Leon's age who were stronger than himself. Argo's father was the town blacksmith and he planned on taking up the business when he was older. His daily life in the smithy left him with a sturdy body meant for long hours of work. You could tell he was beginning to mature because a thick beard could already be seen growing in.

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Next to him was a beast-man by the name of Maron. Like Leon she was also a lion type beast-man and sported an athletic frame and was taller than most girls her age. She had a confident air around her with good posture and her short brown hair suited her cute face perfectly. Her father was the captain of the town watch and also Zack's boss. They were childhood friends from a young age. She would often train with her father so Leon got beaten up often when they fought.

“Geez! You were going to be late! What took you so long?” Maron scolded Leon as Argo laughed in the back.

“Sorry I was training with dad and lost track of time!” Leon laughed trying to avoid a lecture while inwardly thinking that Maron spent too much time with his mother.

“All your dad does is work your body out and teach you his staff techniques! When do you make time for fun?” Maron thought it was a waste of his time to only focus on his body.

“Mom says the same things… but hey!” Leon put his hand on Marons head and ruffled her hair a bit before smiling, “I have the most fun when I'm with you you know!”

“...” Maron could feel the blood rush up to her face before punching Leon in the stomach causing him to keel over and cough.

“Hey! What was that for?” Leon asked while clutching his stomach.

“Shut up! Let's go already or we will be late for our assessment!” Maron turned around and continued without them, tail flicking side to side in irritation. Sending a hateful gaze to the chuckling Argo who was giving a knowing gaze toward Maron.

“Geez...What's up with her?” Leon inquired to Argo who just laughed in response. Leon didn't know what he did wrong but he continued on following them to the Chief's house.

“You two are so entertaining to watch you know that?” Argo teased Leon who had a face that showed he had no idea what had just happened.

The three arrived to the village chief's house along with the last of the kids to show up. The chief's house was a modest two story building surrounded by a nice garden as well as a tidy paved walkway heading toward the front double doors. It could be seen that quite a bit of care and time was put into the upkeep of his house, It gave off a peaceful and refreshing feeling. The children gathered in the front yard waiting to be invited inside.

In total there were 12 children. The kids all grew up along side of each other and for the most part were on good terms with each other. It was tough to live in such a small place with someone you have bad blood with after all. Aside from Argo, every one of the children was some sort of beast-man. Leon was the only half-breed among them but beast-men don't discriminate based on blood purity. Leon gave his greetings and had some fun with the boys while he carried pleasant conversation with some of the girls talking to him with big eyes and coy faces. Lion type beast-men were quite rare and also highly desirable but they would stop after seeing Maron's glares.

Before long the front door opened causing the young men and women to settle down as they focused on the person walking out of the door.

An caned old man with a pair of antlers protruding proudly from his head and a tidy set of farmers clothes slowly walked out of the house. This of course was the village chief who had been presiding over Pakto for as long as anyone could remember. He was a frugal man but managed the village well and was kind to all the children. Everyone had respect for the nice old man and would treat him like their grandfather. His wife also happened to be the village educator and taught everyone in the village for the most part in basic arithmetic, writing, and reading.

When the crowd of children settled down the village chief cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, “Good morning children. Thank you for showing up on time. As you know today is a very important day for some of you. Examiners from the capital have made the long trip through the plains and forest to get here so that they could evaluate your physical and magical potential. Of course not many of you want to go off and train to be knights, mercenaries, or scholars. But, for those that do this test is highly important. We have two scouters from both of the top schools in the capital here to administer your test. We usually produce fantastic students here so we have the honor of being recommended to the top school in the capital. Make sure to give them your respect. Now don't be nervous and walk inside and greet them with respect as you would normally give my wife.”

After a few extra words the Chief slowly walked to his front door to open it, allowing the children inside. Although a bit nervous, the kids started to make their way into the building curious of the two individuals sent by the capital.

-

A few moments earlier while the village chief was addressing the village.

“Sigh, I'm really only here for the blacksmith's boy. I wish they didn't send me and just sent someone else to pick him up.” A tall elven man with short cropped blonde hair and glasses complained.

“Every year this place produces almost no one capable enough to join the magic academy. They only send us here because of your people.” The elven man addressed the burly man to his side.

“Hahaha! Don't be such a downer Farsell! It's nice to step out of those stuffy libraries once and a while is it not? Some fresh air might do your body some good! I for one am excited for the next crop of students to take back with me to the capital!” The man had coarse red hair and multiple scars. Based on his size and red eyes it was easy to tell that he was a barbarian. A descendant of giants, Barbarians boasted incredible strength and stamina. Many of them had a knack for combat so you could find many working as mercenaries or in the military.

“Easy for you to say Krom. This place is like a gold mine for your people...Why couldn't they just send me to an elven village where I could find some real talent...” Farsell was feeling down coming back with empty hands every year he comes to this area with Krom. “If it wasn't for the dwarf I would be empty handed again...”

“Who knows? Maybe you'll find one this year?” Krom said while laughing, excited to meet the new prospects.

Just as Farsell was going to continue complaining to his friend Krom the door slowly began to open, followed by a crowd of young boys and girls footsteps.

The two men stood up to greet the children. One stood tall and had a wide smile on his face while the other slouched and sighed with a dejected face.

Aside from the powerful looking dwarf, the rest of the kids towering over him were your typical beast-men, all with strong physiques indicative of their race. They even had two particularly strong looking lion types.

Farsell sighed while thinking to himself,

Looks like I'm out of luck again this year...