A wild cackling, laced with glee and excitement, could be heard echoing only in the mind of the one currently racing through the forest and treetops. Of course, the one cackling wasn't Rou, who was currently running as fast as he could /away/ from something that sounded rather angry.

"What's so funny to you?! That thing was pissed!" Rou complained in frustration as he finally paused, balanced on one foot - his right, while his left rested a tiny bit higher and angled against his right ankle. On his feet were a pair of leather boots that were heavily customized both with anti-gravity enchantments as well as basically being magic tools considering the wind crystal lodged in the back of the boots - one each - that allowed wind magic to be used for propulsion and direction.

"Of course that's what was funny! You about shit yourself in panic when that spinebear took offense to you wanting to challenge it!" Affection screamed with laughter, rolling around in her domain. "And don't even try to deny it, I felt your asshole pucker all the way up here!"

Of course she did… stupid sense sharing. Rou looked back at the rocking trees.

"And here I just wanted to remove the thing from the area, maybe knock it out and relocate it out of the path between the capital and back home…"

"Yes, well, this is his home, or at least that's what he wants you to think. So figure it out, want to box it out with the spinebear or gonna let him have his way?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll go get in a fist fight with that thing just as soon as you promise to kiss it all better when I get my ass handed to me."

The two bickering was hardly new, though neither was particularly upset. In fact, both were rather happy at the moment, as Affection could clearly feel his heartbeat, breath and excitement through their shared senses. And he, in turn, could feel her anticipation as to what would happen.

Realizing he'd have to actually kill the dumb thing, Rou sighed and put away one of his swords through the closest aether node he could find, leaving Affection to stand it up on a weapon rack he'd set in there along with a series of other weapons that were currently on it, and then the other before wiggling his hand through the node.

"Spear please." He spoke mentally towards Affection who in less than a moment considering the time difference between high and low dimensions, had placed the spear handle in his hand. Sure, he had no item bank or dimensional storage ability like in some of the web novels that he used to read, but he made do by simply using her domain as a storage unit. Something Affection was actually rather content with.

And it wasn't long before he jumped towards a nearby tree that fell over and saw the spinebear, using the spear to plunge down as the spinebear stood up on its hind legs and roared up defiantly.

–

It had been several months since Affection and Rou had decided to form their union with each other. Since then, he had started to try and explore the world around the capital towards their old village more and more. Today wasn't terribly different. Normally he'd have left the wildlife alone, but he recalled how dangerous the spinebears were and stumbled upon one of the ones that his father had nearly encountered with him when they were younger. Thus… the thing was now in Affection's dimension with a spear in its head, dead as can be as she poked at it.

"This thing is much bigger close up. I want one of the spines as a trophy."

"Sure, sure." There was no need to keep two for trophies, for both of them. What was his was hers, and what was hers was his. Her trophy was his just the same. The red panda now wore an outfit much more useful for battle. A pair of enchanted leather gauntlets to help his grip when holding weapons, the aforementioned magical tool boots, a cloak over his shoulders with the hood down at the moment, a simple, but comfortable sleeveless green robe that was made by his mother, like the one she'd left for him upon coming out of the crystal, and a new skirt. Made of leather strips that hung down from the loop around his waist that were studded with metal and knobs, offering full freedom of movement while also protecting his important aspects.

Sure, his body and muscles were as hard as iron or more, but his skin, and other aspects, such as his manhood, were much more vulnerable. Best to protect those.

He even had some light padding on his fore and upper arms and legs, though mostly as a precaution.

Ever since that black spore outbreak happened, a large portion of the forest had been burned to the ground. Luckily they caught it before it completely rotted away the nearby villages but it was damned close, and the proximity to the spores made them largely uninhabitable for many years.

Rou had wandered back towards his old village to see and sadly it had all fallen to the wayside. No one lived there anymore after all, and all the housing had started to show signs of the weather. They couldn't even take their belongings with them as the spores were too dangerous and needed to be taken care of by cleansing practices, what wasn't taken care of by fire magic.

That said, by this point one could enter and leave freely again but…

"Rou, here…" Affection handed his sword handle towards the node and Rou poked it open and grabbed it. "There's a couple of pillagers in the village."

If he didn't care, she wouldn't care, but as sentimental as he was… she knew full well Rou would be irate about it.

But strangely… as irate as he was, he also just felt sad. It had come to this? Well, they wouldn't find much, but as they went towards his house after about ten minutes of watching them, he finally got offended and leapt down from the treetops to land nearby, causing the two rather scruffy-looking fox brothers to yelp and turn to him, pointing a dagger. "Leave us alone if you know what's good for you!" Despite the assertive words, both of them were terrified.

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"Shoo. This was my home when I was a kid, and it is off limits. It's a bit hypocritical of me not to run you off the rest of the village but… despite it being abandoned in the past, I'm laying claim again to my home. Have any complaints?"

Rou walked up towards both of the foxes, ignoring the daggers pointed at him. They both seemed a bit nervous but clearly felt scrappy enough upon seeing him and the lack of chest armor that they thought he was a fool. "Ain't even protecting his belly! Spill his guts!"

The eldest of the two foxes leapt first as the slightly younger followed, only for both to panic as the shitty old iron daggers snapped upon being stabbed into his stomach. Didn't even pierce the skin.

"Ew, they're so ugly. Look at those snaggly teeth, that unkempt fur and their poor tails! They look practically mangey! Hideous!"

Affection's disgust made Rou chuckle as he grabbed both by their shirts and pulled them close. "How does it feel to know Affection thinks you're an offense to the eyes of other good folks?"

The foxes seemed confused. Affection? "Wait… Fluff Sage? Surely not…"

–

The phrase 'fluff sage' they'd used caused him to roll his eyes, but relent and let them go after giving them each one swift kick on the ass per and leaving them with wounded pride. "If I catch you two idiots causing trouble again, I'll put you two in dresses, pretty you up and set you up on a date with a spinebear!"

Affection began to cackle at the thought, almost telling him to do it anyways but relenting as she saw him walk towards his childhood home and enter. As the door opened he tossed in a fireball, causing the entire place to light up briefly in a flash of flames and burn out just as quickly as it ran through any lingering black spores. After all these years, they weren't toxic to anyone, but would have lingering health issues. Those two bandits would probably have asthma-like symptoms for a few weeks after this pillaging.

Inside, he began to casually gather and toss all their old stuff through a node he pried open in the house and left Affection to do with it as she wanted - which as he could feel through her in turn was both inspecting each item, keeping some for herself as she had inherited a bit of his 'hoarding' flaw through the shared senses, and cleaning others to preserve for whenever Rou took them back out. He shook his head and smiled, reaching to pat his own butt and causing Affection to yelp, "What was that for?"

"Oh, just letting you know I care."

Given they could both feel the other at all times with their shared senses, Rou had realized he could prod Affection by doing so with himself, and vice versa as well. It led to some fun, amusing times between them.

Finally though, Rou came across his stuff from when he was young. A soft sigh as he got sad about how he hadn't been back in so many years and grabbed the magic tome where he'd left it, tossing it into the node with everything else. Then Rou went to do the same in all the other homes in the village, and even the church, looting it from top to bottom, though he left only a single thing within. The wooden statuette of Affection, which he sat atop a pillow in the center of the church as if proclaiming it was under her protection.

–

A few days later, back in the capital, Rou made several stops. To the central church, he dropped off the contents of the village church and asked to get an update on the priest who used to serve there. The attendant made a note to do just that, but also looked quite highly on Rou as he turned and left. "Who was that?" A young priest walked up to inquire. "What, you don't know? That was Fluff Sage! That was like seeing Affection in the flesh!"

–

Also made a stop towards the central Adventurers hub in the capital. While it was hardly a 'guild' in a literal sense, it was an entire district where they had several administrative buildings and large open-air marketplaces where various tasks were done. One such was harvesting and butchering.

"Here. Sorry for the trouble. You can take your pay as you see fit from everything and give the rest to Felicia in my name." Rou was rather informal with the large bear fellow who looked down on him like he was a baby. "Certainly. What have you got today?" Rou stepped back and promptly began to unload. A few monsters without much to think about, then he pulled out the spinebear that no longer had the spear in its head. "Well, look at the size of this thing. Right mean bastard." the harvesting bear mused. "We'll get to it. I'll inform Felicia of the details later."

"Thanks Raoul."

–

Next on his list was a trip to the administrative building near the capitals main entrance. Returning the belongings of all the villagers who had fled his old place. He didn't know their names or where they all were, but there would have been records and wanted to see them returned. Normally they'd have told him he was dreaming asking them to make all that effort, but when they saw it was Rou, they became a bit more generous.

–

Why was everyone so friendly with him?

Well, as it turns out… the King and Queen came to realize the nature behind his advancements in anti-gravity application, and the Church came to realize his association with Affection. As it turned out, there was a concept known as 'Sages' in this world. Those who made a great advancement in the comfort of the lives of the masses, or achieved some great feat, would gain the title. It was a bit honorary, like being Knighted in a society where one didn't actually need Knights for combat, but all the same.

"Fluff sage!"

"Fluff sage!"

Wherever he walked, his rather distinctive appearance got a lot of attention from passers by whom he was usually quite friendly with. At first it freaked him out, but when Rou realized everyone was just grateful that his discovery had helped them with their day to day, no longer having to put out near as much physical strain in their activities, he relaxed into it. After all, he got to see anti-gravity and float tools quickly spread and what was once a lost, forgotten magic was popularized for the first time ever for the masses. Little push carts that floated slightly off the ground, or gloves that helped reduce back strain.

Even floating baskets full of fruit and such.

People all over were being creative and a lot of money began to exchange hands, leading to a strange economic boom for the capital.

It especially lined his pockets even if Rou hadn't /asked/ for that. The Church saw to that, trying to curry favor with Affection. Affection, of course, not caring in the least about money. She had no use for the stuff. But… it meant Rou could live a better life, and she could experience that life vicariously, so with Creation's permission she began to… bless others through Rou now and then.

It wasn't meant as bribery but in short, it kind of was.

Most everyone quickly realized Affection had a sweet tooth the size of a dragons tail and began to ply her through Rou with tastes of this and that and as much as Rou tried to deny otherwise, he was weak to Affection's begging. Especially as she begged him in a more physical capacity quite often and vigorously whenever he went to visit her in her domain.

All men had the same weakness at heart, he was no different.

–

The 'Sage of Fluff' made his way back home, ducking into the manor he shared with his parents and sighed. Looking around, he found his mother looking at him in amusement. "No new girlfriends or love declarations today?" As she walked over and hugged him, Rou shook his head. "No, no. Affection had a bet going on if it would happen and she lost. She thought there would be, like you, though I had hoped otherwise." Affection snorted in his head.

"Yes, well… I do want grandchildren eventually sweetie, so… you can't just focus on Affection." Shiela's insistence wasn't exactly untoward. She meant well and both he and Affection knew it. Ever since she noticed the ring-colored patch on his finger, his mother wouldn't stop pestering him until he admitted what had taken place. And it kind of made sense.

Especially as he'd clarified his origin with his parents with Affection's help not long ago. They were upset at first but quickly got over it when they realized nothing had changed and he was still their son. Who cares who he was before? His soul now had part of hers, and Dominics. He was their child. She gave birth to him. Just because he could remember more than others didn't mean he was lesser for it.

Rou was especially happy for it as she wasn't weepy or downcast anymore.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Shiela urged, grabbing Rou's hand and leading him for a bath. Despite not being four, she still wanted to baby him as much as she could and Rou didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise. They'd since gone back to how things were when he was little.