Dee looked at the room she had called home for the last three years. It was rather barren and without any ornaments. Truth be told she hadn’t spent all that much time here beyond sleeping. The last seven months had been spent mostly in the great wilderness, hunting ever more dangerous monsters under either Razark’s or the old man’s watchful eye. The hunts had been done to increase her abilities with most of the common scouting skills, to improve her survival skills in various terrains and to give her real combat experience against non-humanoid targets. Most importantly, the hunts had been done to increase her level of power as she consumed the souls of her hunting targets.
Dee took a last glance at the room before turning her back to it and walking away. She had a weird feeling. Not exactly nostalgia nor was it any sort or sentimentality for leaving another ‘home’ behind. It was as if a chapter in her life had come to a close. She had a feeling that things would be different from now on, more complicated. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen. She also had a funny thought about this being something of a turning point. A moment in time where she left the last vestiges of her childhood behind and stepped forward towards the unknown challenges of the future.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the bickering of the old man and Razark. Moirai was standing at the side watching the two with a mix of resignation and amusement. “What are they on about now?” Dee asked as she stood next to her.
“The old man doesn’t think you are ready. He’s right in the sense that there are more things to learn, but then there always will be. Razark can’t stay any longer however and is taking you along. Apparently things outside demand his presence. He thinks you’ll gain more from taking part in those things than here. Knowing how much you gain power from just being near people dying I tend to agree.” Moirai commented.
“What will you do now?” Dee asked. She knew Moirai was not coming with her and Razark.
“I will return to the community. The Elven Empire and the Radiant Sun aren’t the only sources of conflict in Day city.” Moirai replied. She considered for a few seconds before continuing. ”You’ll find out about this soon enough since you are now part of the Four Winds, so I might as well tell you. The community is challenging the stronger three digit communities in preparation for pushing into to the second circle. They will need all hands at the ready.”
“So soon?” Dee asked with surprise. It had been less than ten years since the last time Four Winds had risen into the elites of the third circle.
“Well, we are a rather fresh alliance of four races. We still haven’t quite found out what our limits are, so we’re moving up gradually. Judging just by our high ranking members I’d guess we will end up somewhere in the mid ranks of the second circle when all is said and done. We do have a rather strong position just numerically as well. We are one of the few communities that actually command the entirety of more than one race in Pantheon. That said, all four of our races are counted among rather minor races when it comes to numbers, so it’s a bit less impressive than it would be otherwise. We’re pretty far from something like the Revenant or the Hive.” Moirai explained with a slight self-deprecating smile.
“Well, I suppose this is goodbyes for a while then. I doubt I’ll get much of a chance to come to the Four Winds in the next few years, seeing as thigs are headed for something like a war.” Dee commented turning to the much shorter woman.
“I know.” Moirai grinned. “You are an investment into the future for the community. I always knew you’re meant for great power, it’s just a matter of time. I know the community is betting on you helping us gain a better position once we do get into the second circle. Personally I just hope you’ll be safe. Don’t take too many risks my friend.”
It was the first time Moirai had called her friend and not student or disciple. There was a good reason for that. Moirai had very little to teach her anymore. What Dee lacked was experience and time instead of lessons or a teacher. She also knew that it would only be a matter of years and not decades until the young demon caught up to her in power. That scared Moirai a bit because of what it said about Dee’s future power, but it was a good kind of fear, almost more akin to excitement.
Dee didn’t reply verbally, opting instead to pull the small woman into a long hug. The hug was rather emotional for both of them, only spoiled by the fact that almost at the same time they both reached to give the other’s tail a good squeeze and slight petting. Owing to the fact that they were both doing it, as they had wanted to for a long time, they decided to ignore it and just go with it.
Their fun was finally interrupted by the old man. “Well dummy disciple, it seems it is time for you to go.”
“Do I get to know the name of my teacher at least before I go?” Dee asked a little amused.
“No. You haven’t earned that yet. Come back and ask me when you become stronger than the idiot disciple.” The old man said, thumbing over his shoulder towards Razark. “If you come and challenge me at my full power and can at least tie with me, then you’ll earn the right to know my name.”
‘I don’t really care that much though.’ Dee thought quietly to herself, but decided against voicing that thought.
The old man continued grudgingly. “That said, you did well considering everything. And I did mention I would stop calling you dummy disciple once you learned to use your other arms. Dee was it? So there.”
Razark piped up from the back. “Mind upgrading my status from idiot disciple as well?”
The old man grunted. “No.” He looked back at Razark. “Unlike some, you’ve stagnated. You haven’t improved in hundreds of years. If she’s stupid enough to do the same, then she gets demoted back to dummy disciple as well.”
Razark made a displeased sound. “You make it sound like building your totem is so easy.”
‘Probably shouldn’t mention that you already have the foundations of your own totem already.’ Croestia commented silently. Dee had to agree.
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Razark and Dee stepped through the teleportation gate and found themselves within a forest. At first Dee thought it might be the great forest that housed the Elven Empire, but soon realized that to be incorrect. The mana here wasn’t even close to as thick as in the great forest. She could sense a fairly large number of powerful beings within a few kilomels of their position, several thousand of them in fact. Not as strong as herself and certainly not as strong as Razark, but strong enough to draw her curiosity. She didn’t have to wonder about their identity for long.
“We’re about to come to the gathering spot used by the scouts. I guess you could call it something like the unofficial headquarters. Mostly it’s just a place where we can rest without being bothered and where we can spend some time with other scouts. We also get our missions sent here and we also have lot of our supplies here. You’ll get the standard scout gear from the quartermaster here. We’ll see about getting you something more specialized a bit later, so you’ll have to make do for now.”
Dee acknowledged his words with a simple nod. She had expected as much.
“That said, if you have some materials, then the craftsmen we employ can make something a bit better than the standard, custom made for your use. It’ll take a bit of time, but our craftsmen are top quality and are familiar with the enchantments used in our gear. Our enchantments are fairly high level and not exactly widely spread around.” Razark suggested. He knew Dee was hiding a variety of things in her storage.
Dee thought for a while. She had almost entirely forgotten about all the stuff her mother had packed for her within Croestia, simply because there had been no point in using them until now. There was a wide variety of materials, most of which she didn’t even recognize. She also had the Dragotaur’s corpse still stored, along with a few other high level monsters she had hunted in the last seven months. She didn’t want to use them all for now, but some of it could be spared. “I think I have some material’s that could be used.”
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“Also there’s one thing you should keep in mind. For the scouts, trust is everything. You do not betray your brothers and sisters. You will do your level best to make sure they live and watch their back. We put our lives in each other’s hands every time we go out. That doesn’t leave room for half-assed work or carelessness. Getting yourself killed is one thing, but make damn sure your mistakes won’t come to haunt the rest of us. The scouts have little tolerance for selfishness on the job. Something happening because you’re new is one thing, but something happening because you didn’t do what you were supposed to will get the rest of us killed, and we do not have tolerance for that. Understoond?” Razark asked with a stern voice. Not that Dee had shown any propensity for not doing her job, but he knew she didn’t trust easily either. That was one of the few things of her assassin training that couldn’t be changed.
“Understood.” Dee replied simply. She had always thought that anything worth doing was worth doing properly.
They got to the quartermaster and Dee received a set of the standard scout gear. It was made up of mostly black leather armor over a black cloth jacket and trousers, as well as a large cloak with a hood. It also came with a black cloth mask that normally rested around the scout’s neck like a scarf, but could be lifted to cover the scouts face so that only their eyes and a bit of their forehead showed. The mask had the same feature as the hood on the cloak, where it hid a small spatial enchantment so that no identifying features could be seen from under the mask. Even Dee’s snout disappeared. It was a bit awkward to put on for someone like her, but once it was on she looked like a human or elf would at a glance. If someone looked deep under her hood, then they would note the fur around her eyes and on her forehead, but that was the extent of it.
“A little simple color palette, don’t you think?” Dee asked a little sarcastically.
“The color hides you in the dark, and the enchantments hide you when it’s light out. They bend the light around you so that it takes the coloring of anything behind you, like a chameleon. It won’t do much while you’re on the move or if someone knows you’re there, but it will hide you when you’re not moving. One reason it’s that way is so that it doesn’t have anything identifiable. No decorations and no insignia either.” Razark explained. “Besides, what does it matter to you, since you’ll have your shadow eat it anyway and it would turn black in either case?”
Dee just grunted in reply. It seemed black would be her choice color for now. At least it would be a change from her white fur. She stopped her movements as she discovered a certain item among the supplies. “You said these were tailored for my use?”
“Yes, well it’s not like all our scouts have four arms and wings, so the armor and the jacket had to be specifically tailored to make some allowances. You’ll have to get your angel form measured by the way. I saw you in that form rarely enough that I didn’t get your exact measurements. They’ll have to custom those.” Razark replied easily. They had spent enough time in rather close quarters that Razark could easily get Dee’s measurements for the gear. Except Dee was in her angel form only around Moirai most of the time.
“Care to explain this?” Dee turned around with what could only be called cat-ear panties.
Razark had slight trouble keeping his poker face. “I mean a scout needs to be ready for battle. Those are for a bit different kind of battle, but they could be called battle undies nonetheless.”
The quartermaster behind Dee gave a snicker. She was clearly in on the joke. “Cat ear panties? Really? Do I look like a feline to you?” Dee asked with a tone of threat in her voice, hinting that giving the wrong answer was a bad idea.
“Well…” The quartermaster slightly interjected again.
“Stop looking at me like that. There are normal ones in the pile as well.” Razark replied. This was one of the jokes they usually played on new scouts. The guys had their own practical joke gear as well. To Razark’s and the quartermaster’s amusement Dee stored the cat panties along with the other gear. She actually thought they were fairly cute. She simply disdained Razark for picking them in the first place. It’s not like she had any qualms with scant clothing, as she still thought her fur was actually good enough.
It only took a short moment for Dee to have her shadow eat all the gear and immediately equip them. She also wore the mask just to test it out and get used to it. She still felt odd with her snout disappearing like that, since she was used to it occupying a portion of her vision. She’d gotten her weapons already before coming here, and those were personal anyway. The scouts weren’t silly enough to try and enforce standardized weaponry, unlike the rest of the order. She also left some materials with the quartermaster for making better gear and was told to pick them up in a few weeks.
“Are you sure you don’t want the bow?” Razark asked. The only exception to standardized weaponry was that it was the standard to issue bow and arrows with the gear as well. He also knew Dee was proficient in their use.
“No need. I have my own.“ In actual fact she had stolen several from the elves during the time they were playing cat and mouse in the great forest. The best one came from an eagle rider who had flown too close to the trees. It was a bit flimsy for Dee’s strength and four arms, but really anything below a ballista would be. The elven bow could form arrows out of her power as well as fire normal arrows, which she had also stolen from the elves and thoroughly coated with poison. It was also enchanted with spells to help with maintenance and durability, so it did the job. If she really got into a ranged fight she would rather rely on her psionics anyway.
“What’s next on the agenda?” Dee asked.
“I’ll introduce you to some of the others. You can run a mission or two. I’ll deal with some issues while we wait for your real gear. After that we have two places to visit.” Razark said while leading her towards a particular bar he liked.
“Which two places?” Dee asked with some curiosity.
“Well first of all we need to visit someone who might be able to help you with psion specific gear. Secondly I think it’s time we look into your kitsune heritage. There must be a reason your ability with fire is so…unimpressive. There’s a community of kitsune in the fourth circle. They owe us a favor or seven. They might be able to help.” Razark had tried to foster Dee’s fire abilities as kitsune could rival fire elementals in the control of the element. It would be a real asset for Dee, so he had been very disappointed with the lack of progress on that front. Dee could light a campfire, but that was about it.
They started hearing music as they closed on their destination. Razark was quite used to that, while Dee found the song quite enjoyable. It had a fairly simple in melody, but the song was carried by the singer’s voice. There was a large number of scouts within the bar as they entered, and to her surprise Dee recognized the person performing the song.
‘What’s the mangy wolf doing here?’ Croestia asked silently, clearly amused.
‘Well he did mention he was planning on becoming a scout as well. Didn’t know he had musical talent though.’ Dee shot back.
Razark greeted the bartender warmly while Dee was exchanging greetings with Shunkaha. “Such a small detail. It’s only a matter of time before you accept my invitation.” Shunkaha replied to Dee’s little jab about the date. “I know you won’t be able to resist my charms for long. Aaaaany minute now.”
“Well at least you haven’t lost your optimism.” Dee commented with a wry smile. She sensed another werebeast of the wolf tribe walking down the stairs in the back, accompanied with a pair of other female beastmen. They were all fairly young, most likely similar in age to Dee herself. The wolf in front was fairly striking with her golden hair and fur, as well as her cute features. Features that were currently marred by a frown as she looked towards Dee and Shunkaha talking, which was a shame in Dee’s opinion. She wouldn’t have minded if the golden wolf was making advances instead of Shunkaha.
The golden wolf walked towards them with a fake smile plastered on her face. “Shun honey, this bitch isn’t bothering you, is she?” Her smile was betrayed by her rather hostile tone. She had a reason for the tone though. Several female scouts had already approached Shunkaha, charmed by his handsome appearance, and she’d have to chase the flies away. She knew her fiancé was someone who liked to admire the female form and wouldn’t chase attractive females away himself, unless they really became a bother. This new woman was a bit below his normal standard though.
Shunkaha was thrown a bit off balance by her appearance. He didn’t really know how to explain Dee’s presence to his fiancé. He couldn’t really call her a friend seeing as he wanted much more. “Felan! This is, uh…Dee. We were in basic training together.” His voice sounded decidedly guilty to anyone within earshot.
Just the type of tone Felan did not want to hear. “In basic training, huh? So Dee. What do you want with my fiancé? He doesn’t appreciate being bothered by fangirls. Especially ones so far below his standards.” Felan was objectively speaking much more attractive in the eyes of most races and she couldn’t feel Dee’s level of strength as the latter was hiding it with her Authority. Said Authority was now decorating her forehead as a simplistic silver diadem.
Dee lifted her eyebrow while she turned towards Shunkaha. “A fiancé, is it? How bold of you to seek other women while under the same roof with your future wife.”
Felan was about ready to blow due to the insinuation that it was Shunkaha hitting on the woman instead of the other way around. Her man didn’t need to bother, especially with a mediocre girl like that. “Now look here you little bitch…”
Felan’s voice was interrupted by Dee. “Also, that’s the third time you insulted me. I’m not the type to let even one insult go, and you’re getting on my nerves.”
Dee’s anger wasn’t really due to pride or being called names. It was what the name calling represented, which was that Dee was being looked down upon and assumed to be weak. If she had been undercover then it would not matter, but these were supposed to become her brothers and sister. She had to make sure they understood messing with her was a bad idea. She had to establish her position in the ‘pack’. It was the nature of both demons and beastmen to establish a hierarchy of some kind. While she wasn’t really interested in making a number of her strength, she also wouldn’t tolerate disrespect. Mainly because she didn’t have to.
Also while she normally had no trouble with pride her dragon side really didn’t permit others looking down on her. That part of her was extremely prideful.
Felan made a savage grin. “So what will you do about it little fox?”
Dee raised her voice. “Master, permission to establish my position and put a little pup in their place?” She requested. It would be troublesome if she created trouble without the permission of the ‘pack leader’.
Razark looked amused. It was inevitable someone would pick a fight with Dee at some point. He just didn’t expect it to happen this soon. “Permission granted. Just aim for the door. That’s easier to repair than the walls.”
The dwarven bartender looked at Razark with amusement. “I’ve had the walls enchanted. They should be able to withstand a little catfight. Wolffight? What do you call chicks fighting when they’re canine?”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. I think this building might be rather fragile when it comes to her.” Razark replied with his grin widening.
The dwarf was about to express his doubt when the front door and half of the wall on that side exploded out in a shower of tiny fragments. Dee had caught Felan by her face and thrown her through the door. She had properly checked that there was no one on the other side of the door…or the wall.
“What did I just tell you?” Razark asked with his fake reproach clear.
“I aimed for the door.” Dee said defensively as she slowly walked towards the collapsed wall. “It’s not my fault the wall connected to the door is so flimsy. I even held back.” And she had held back quite a bit. She was making this a bit theatric on purpose but she didn’t want to accidentally kill the girl. She was kinda cute after all.
Felan struggled out from under the wreckage and looked towards Dee who had just stepped through the opening she had just created. Dee made her cloak disappear, and her tails spread around her like a fan. Felan understood her mistake as soon as she saw the tails. Everyone knew the significance of kitsune tails. Felan had been proud of herself for almost becoming a rank six warrior before age twenty, close to catching up with the record set by her fiancé Shunkaha, who was a big enough genius to be granted the most important wolf Authority. She realized her folly now.
‘Oh right, didn’t Shun say he was only the second most powerful recruit in his year?’ She thought to herself remorsefully as she watched the eight tails spread around Dee.