Jacques Verner

I grab the magical pen, an unadorned stick that looks incredibly small in my large, clawed hands. The stark difference in size is why I'm always at the forefront, to intimidate the other clans with my huge physique, uncommon among werefoxes.

Then I turn to the small piece of parchment beside it and hesitate for a moment as a painful tightness squeezes my heart. The name of our clan, "Misty Foxes," is written right at the center, and under it, there's a blank space where I slowly write my name. My handwriting is shamefully sloppy as my mind is somewhere else, and once I'm done, I grimace in disgust.

"Jacques…" Léonne softly whispers in my ear, her tone soothingly gentle, and I immediately put on again my stoic mask to not show weakness in front of the other Chiefs.

Damned Rakontagne, damned dragons.

We walk away from the table and return to the raised dais, then we sit in our luxurious chairs, but the white Prowler fur never felt more uncomfortable. It isn't the audience, I've never felt intimidated by any of our subordinate Chiefs, it's the reason why we're gathered here that makes me nauseous.

My discomfort is so great that I reflexively squeeze Léonne's hand, and her stern face changes into a warm smile for a second, all that I need to feel reassured again, then her gaze turns sharp as she resumes observing the proceedings. I could spend a whole day just watching her solemn beauty stare down the other haughty leaders, but I also have a part to play in this, so I mirror her expression.

I've always been envious of her composure. She's far better at politics than me, so I focused on being practical and useful to our family, but this makes me such a terrible Chief. Half our work is solely diplomacy as we have to constantly stop the clans from trying to kill each other or even usurp our position as the Chiefs of the Misty Low Forest, and I'd be having a hard time at it if not for her.

I'm just too soft, though at least my face doesn't match my disposition, allowing me to hide among the devious.

But someone needs to have a heart in this den of sly and shrewd foxes, so I'm proud of my softness.

And so we silently watch as the other clan leaders also write down their names on their assigned pieces of parchment. Too many of them seem eager to participate in this event, which disgusts me, but it's just as expected from these greedy foxes, and I find comfort in the fact that at least those we call allies have the decency to look tense or uncomfortable.

I usually enjoy the mist, but tonight, it seems too grim for my taste.

Eventually, the line ends, and all of the papers are signed by each clan. There's nobody missing, so it's time to move forward with the event.

Léonne and I rise at the same time, then we approach the podium. Without hesitation, we each grab a magic tool and then press it against our throats.

And she begins the speech, her solemn voice echoing across the open-air forum, "Chiefs and Chieftresses, Warlords, Leaders, Elders, and Masters of the Hunt! We're gathered here for the fulfillment of our old treaty with the Shore of Leaves and the Mainland. In exchange for our lands being protected from the dragons of Rakontagne, one of our young will be chosen, and they'll receive the best training we could give them so that they may grow into the finest example of a warrior that the Misty Low Forest can create. And once they're of age, the chosen will be sent to Rabanara, where they'll fight in our name to bring honor and glory to our clans."

They'll be sent as a slave. Where is the glory in that?

But now it's my turn, so I breathe in and solemnly follow up, "As the treaty says, we'll choose one from among the children of our strongest as only those who have shown true power are allowed to represent us. This means that all families from the ruling class must participate for no other class has the means to raise the finest werefox warrior. And the family of the chosen will be given rewards for their sacrifice and all the aid they need to ensure the quality of our future representative."

We're selling our children for money. Even if it's for the protection of our lands, there are some who are too eager to receive the "rewards" and the "aid."

Then a servant takes all of the folded parchments and puts them inside a glass globe.

I have no desire to drag this out for a single moment, so I promptly turn to the Elders behind our seats and gently request, "Elder Monique, please, if you would do the honor." Then I motion for her to approach.

The lovable old fox raises from her chair with the help of her servant, then she makes her way toward the globe. Once they're before it, the servant grabs the handle and starts spinning the globe, mixing the parchments in front of everyone's eyes.

The servant stops after a few turns, then the elder moves her hand toward the opening. The Chiefs all tense up, and fox ears flicker about wildly. Most show fear and anxiety, some show indifference, and a few too many show excitement.

Elder Monique picks up a piece of parchment and unfolds it, then absolute silence falls upon the forum.

"Jacques Verner!" she promptly shouts, and my heart stops as everything starts to spin.

I'm suddenly taken by so much anger that I have to use all my strength to not run up to her and rip that damn parchment apart.

But then Léonne strongly squeezes my hand, bringing me back to reality.

Right, I need to keep my composure.

I puff up my chest, but I don't smile, then Léonne and I each grab our right ear with our right hand, a gesture to display respect and honesty.

"It's an honor to have our child be the chosen one," she solemnly declares.

"It's an honor to have our child be the chosen one," I repeat the lie, trying not to scowl.

Gods, why? Why Alissa?

Alissa Verner

Ofilia softly chants a spell that I don't know. It's almost like she's singing, and she even tilts her head from side to side along with the beat. The way her long white hair sways with her moves is so pretty that Nen and I can't take our eyes off of her, and she gives us a smile that makes him blush (and almost me too).

Then she slowly waves her arm, and multiple, colorful butterflies of light fly out, spreading them all over the garden. But most just fly into the mist and disappear, leaving only a handful that slowly flies around us.

"Alissa, grab a stone and try to hit one," she challenges me with a smirk. But her soothing voice makes me feel sleepy instead of alert, so she adds the perfect bait for me, "If you hit one, I'll give you a reward."

Well, perfect bait for us because Nenvieu runs towards the nearest stone then immediately throws it, but it simply misses his target by a lot and disappears into the mist, making Ofilia laugh loudly. The boy's throw is so bad that he lets his head drop low as his grey cheeks redden and his also grey ears flop in shame.

I put my hands on my waist and advise him with a frown, "Nen, you can't just grab any stone and throw; you have to put some thought into it. Like this."

Then I grab a pebble and weigh it.

It's the perfect size; this one will fly very far.

I look around and spot a red, semi-transparent butterfly that's flying in circles above our heads. It looks like an easy target, so I lock my eyes on it and ready my arm, then I carefully lead my aim and finally throw.

The pebble launches straight forward like an arrow and hits the butterfly right on, which turns into a little puff of smoke that quickly dissipates away while the pebble simply disappears into the mist.

Ofilia gently claps her hands with a pretty smile, then little Allura starts imitating our maid with her cute toddler claps.

"Lis, hit!" she shouts and points with her chubby fingers, her small, orange tail wagging so hard it hits Ofilia's dress repeatedly.

"Yeah, I did," I proudly reply and pat my little sister's head.

Then Ofilia leans down toward me and happily asks, "Okay, what do you want as a reward?"

But before I say anything, Nen hurries to my side and whispers in my ear.

"I want you to kiss him," I immediately answer and point to Nen. But Ofilia just smiles kindly, which means she's just going to give him a peck on the forehead, so I stare hard at her and I add, "on the lips."

And she chuckles loudly, so we both pout at her in annoyance, but it takes so long for her to notice us that my cheeks hurt. Then she suddenly forces herself to stop and her eyes turn reproachful, but the smile on her lips says she's still making fun of us.

"No," the pretty maid answers with a severe tone, and I pout harder. "The reward is for you, not for him," she insists.

"My reward is seeing you kiss him," I insist back.

And she double insists back! "My, my. If you insist on this, then I'll revoke your reward!"

But before I can triple it, we suddenly hear footsteps, and Ofilia's smile instantly disappears as her spotted ears flicker, then she gently puts Allura down on the mat and stands up.

"Master," she politely greets and bows.

We turn to where she's looking, and a second later, a large shadow appears in the mist, then it takes the shape of a very large with fox ears, and Dad comes out of the mist. I smile but then frown as his face makes me anxious. He looks serious, but Dad never looks serious; that's Mom's job.

He raises his huge hand and gives Ofilia a weirdly sad-looking smile as he whispers with a tired voice, "At ease. I'm only here for Alissa; I have to talk to her."

Uh…

Ofilia straightens her posture and then slowly turns her head towards me, giving me a chill.

Did I do something wrong?

My mind races as I go over everything I did in the last few days, but I don't remember anything…

Oh no… did Ofilia tell Dad about the Avaler that I killed? It was an accident! I swear! I didn't know it belonged to Elder Vitus!

Suddenly, clawed fingers wrap around my chest, and I'm picked up with just one hand, then Dad's round, fluffy, red beard appears right in front of my eyes. He immediately kisses my forehead, making his face-fur tickle my face, then his claws tickle my sides, and I start squirming to escape his grip.

No! I was deceived! I thought I was going to get scolded!

But first, I must escape! I stomp the sole of both of my feet against his chest, and I slip from between his fingers like a wet fish. But before I fall on my back, I change into my fox form and contort in the air, then I fall on my paws like an experienced bandit.

He's definitely going to try to pick me up again, so I dash towards Ofilia and hide behind her, then peek at Dad from behind her dress. He's simply grinning at me, a warning sign he's not done, so I pout and glare at him with my foxy eyes, but then his grin slowly disappears and becomes serious again.

"Seriously, now. Alissa, come with me," he orders, his tone saying I can't say no, tthen he simply turns around and starts to walk away, so I start to follow him but take one last look behind me. Ofilia is smiling warmly and waving, Allura is cutely imitating her, and Nen is pouting sourly now that our fun is over before he could get his reward.

Well, it's more fun to make him wait for the kiss, anyway.

Then I use my claws to climb up Dad's clothes until I get to his shoulder.

And he frowns at me. "Don't do that, you'll ruin my clothes. Your mother hates when you do that," he quietly scolds me, but he doesn't sound like he cares too much about this.

So I grin at him with my fox mouth. "I won't tell if you don't."

But he flickers my snout, almost making me fall off.

"Oww…" I whine and sneeze, then I glare at him.

And he just chuckles. "Your fault for not learning how to cut out the pain in your fox form."

That's still mean!

I can hardly see where we're going with this mist, but there are mana crystals hanging from poles that light the stone path that crosses the grassy hill. I actually got lost once in the mist, but there are walls surrounding our garden, so it's not like I can get lost, you know?

Then we reach the porch, and I notice two female elders taking a sip of hot tea while sitting down on cushions. There's nothing to look at in this mist, and I also didn't hear them talking, so they must've been meditating or some other sense training that I don't know about.

Dad takes off his shoes before we step in, revealing his big, furry, clawed feet. They aren't fully fox legs like Allura's, but they're still really cool. I jump off his shoulder and change back to humanoid then also take off my shoes and carry them inside. Ofilia always says we should never bring any dirt from the outside into our homes, and I think this is supposed to have some deep meaning.

"Pay attention to how you lower yourself. Your sash is loosening with the wild way you move," Dad calmly scolds me.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I purse my lips and tighten the sash of my dress.

Why do we use such annoying clothes if they keep getting undone?

"If you can move around without loosening the sash of a Plier dress, then you're ready for hunting Prowlers," he adds, reading my mind.

"Still stupid…" I whisper sourly and look away.

"Don't question it until you understand it," he grunts and flickers my ear from behind me so that I can't see it coming.

"Ow…" I moan as I rub the sensitive cartilage. He likes to hit the black tip, exactly where it's the most sensitive.

Then I notice that the elders have big, dumb smiles on their faces, making my cheeks redden and my ears burn. I purse my lips harder and try to take control over my heart to not let them see me look embarrassed.

Dad starts walking, so I follow, and we enter our home, then the sounds of muffled steps on the wooden floor fill our ears even though not that many servants work in the evening. It's mostly just the cooks and the maids preparing dinner, but they have no hunting training, so they obviously make a lot of noise. The room dividers don't reach the tall ceiling, but even if they did, they're paper thin, so there's little that blocks sound around here.

Then I notice that the floor is beginning to get warm, so they must be preparing the bath, too. Feeling the warm wooden board through my socks is the only good part of being forced to return home earlier than I wanted.

We cross paths with a few Sworn Hunters, who I never hear unless they walk right past us, and they're bringing in small monsters they've hunted to help the cooks. But then we hear Louise's harsh voice echo across our home, almost making me jump in surprise, and Dad and I share a smirk as we have a good idea of what has gotten her angry.

"How did you not get eaten by a Prowler already is a wonder! You must've been stalked by every Buveursang in the forest with the bloody trail you left!" she shouts angrily, and we walk in just in time to see the small maid with puffy red hair smack the shoulder of a very large grey Hunter.

It seems he didn't properly bleed his prey before coming in. The sack he carries in his back has no blood spots, but the nose doesn't lie, and even I can smell blood coming from him.

Montague, the grey mass of muscles, makes a regretful face as he explains himself, "I'm sorry, Louise. It took too long to find this deer, so I would be too late for dinner if I took any longer."

"You oaf! We could've just stored it for tomorrow!" she hisses, showing her white fangs, then huffs away, her angry stomps making her hair bounce along with her steps.

"Montague did it again," Dad whispers with a smile as we watch him leave.

And I get curious. "Why did mom choose him? He's always so clumsy," I question, and then I realize that this kind of sounds rude.

But I'm speaking with Dad, so he just ignores my brattiness. "Sometimes, you just need a large muscle-brain to solve problems," he answers with a shrug.

"Aren't you the one who mom calls when she needs muscle?" I tease with a cheeky grin then immediately shift into my fox form and jump away from his huge, furred, red hand. I can easily dodge him with my quick little legs, though my stamina needs a lot of work. I can barely last a minute.

But before I can even begin to really run away, my little paws slip on the pristine, waxed floor and I fall on my side, then dad quickly nabs me by the nape.

"Enough," he orders with a gruff voice, so I make my ears go limp, which always softens his anger, and it works like always as his frown disappears, though he narrows his eyes in annoyance. "Stop playing around; we have to talk," he adds, now sounding completely serious.

"Okay…" I whisper in defeat.

Now there's really no escape.

Then he lowers me to the ground, and I turn back to humanoid, but I notice that my sash is getting undone again.

Stupid clothes.

We finish crossing the common grounds and finally reach our private quarters, which are marked by bright orange wooden sliding doors and an enchantment that starts a siren if an intruder gets in, though I've only heard it once when Mom showed it to me. We get past the orange door and enter the main corridor, then Dad immediately turns to the first room on the right and gets in, so I follow.

This is Mom's office, and she is sitting on a cushion, writing on some documents on a low table in front of her. She immediately lowers her magic tool pen and looks at us, then her usual stern look relaxes into the kind one that she only shows to us in private. Her large orange eyes stare right into mine, and she smiles, making me reflexively smile back.

Then Dad points to a cushion in front of Mom's low table, so I sit on it, and he sits beside her. They share a weird look, and he nods, which makes me confused because I don't understand why they're being this mum.

After a weird second in silence, Mom softly asks, "Alissa, do you know remember the treaty we have with the empire in relation to Rakontagne?" And her soft voice immediately makes me calmer.

I nod, making my ears bob. "I remember; Homvieun taught me that. He said that once every… uh, every ten years, we send a warrior to Rabanara to prese-… represent us and bring glory to our clan."

I notice that Dad's face twitches, which is weird, but Mom doesn't react and simply nods sweetly at me.

"That's right," she whispers softly and glances at Dad again, which is also weird. There are a lot of weird things going on right now. Then she calmly continues, "We choose one family from among those of the clan leaders, Warlords, Elders, and Masters of the Hunt. The family to raise the next warrior was chosen a few days ago…"

Oh…

She stops and narrows her eyes, making her smile look painful, then she finishes, "And our clan was chosen, so you'll be trained and sent to Rabanara when you're of age."

And the office suddenly becomes so silent I think I'm the only one breathing, which is really, really weird.

"And… is that good?" I tentatively ask with a confused frown.

"What?" Dad grunts and blinks blankly a few times.

"Shouldn't we celebrate?" I continue then lean forward and let my tail wag. "I'll be representing the Misty Foxes!" I shout excitedly and grin.

Dad's face twitches again and he even looks away while Mom smiles faintly. I don't know what's wrong with Dad today.

Then Mom assumes a soft teaching tone, which usually means that I said something dumb. "Yes, you will, but this means you'll have a very hard life ahead of you." Then her expression becomes serious, telling me that I can't make a joke about what she's going to say next. "You'll become a Blood Slave, so you won't be in charge of your own path, your Thread will be tied to your master's."

I tilt my head confusedly and ask, "Isn't Ofilia a Blood Slave?"

And she gives me another pained smile. "Yes, but she's lucky to belong to a good family. The family you'll be sent to may not be like ours."

I stand up and hold one of my ears to solemnly swear, "I'll endure it! I'll make you proud and bring honor to our clan!"

They both raise their eyebrows in surprise, Mom's face straining as she tries not to smile, but then Dad leans over to her and whispers in her furry ear, "We gave her some horrible influence."

Don't think you're the only one with good hearing.

"Thinking of her future, it's for the best that she remains like this," Mom gently whispers back. Then she turns to me and kindly warns with a sigh, "Very well, but you should know that your training will be very harsh."

"I-I'm ready!" I shout as confidently as I can. I mean, I want to honor the clan, but that doesn't mean that I don't fear my Fate.

And Mom nods. "We won't hold back, then, but I don't believe that you'll grow big and muscular like your father, so I think that training you in my style is better."

Dad also nods and hums, "I agree. She's fast; much faster than Nenvieu, but she's short for her age."

Awn… I don't want to be short.

Then Mom becomes serious again, so I perk up my ears to listen attentively. "Keep in mind that we won't be able to train you to the end. At some point, you'll have to live alone, away from this house."

And my heart suddenly starts to hurt with every beat.

Al, Nen, Ofilia. I'll have to leave all of you?

"I…" I start, but tears start to well up on my face, then I sniffle and force myself to hold them back.

I won't disappoint, I can't disappoint.

I swallow the pain and clench my fist, then I finally let my shout out, "I'll do it!" And I surprise myself with how strong my voice comes out.

Mom simply stares at me, and I feel a pressure coming from her sharp eyes. It's like she's testing my courage and trying to intimidate me so that I give up, but I flex my muscles to stop my legs and arms from trembling while I stubbornly stare back.

I start to feel weird as the staring contest lasts a bit too long, but in truth, it doesn't last very long. It's just that Mom's pressure makes time go slower.

Then she suddenly states, "We'll start tomorrow morning. This should replace the morning lessons with Homvieun for a while." And she also stops the pressure, allowing me to breathe.

Yes!

"Go take a bath; Ofilia should already be there," Dad orders and waves his hand, motioning for me to leave.

So I bow and obey.

I excitedly hurry to the bath to tell Ofilia the news, then I open the panel with a bang, and I catch Ofilia right in the middle of taking off her clothes.

"Lis! Don't leave it open, I'm undressing!" she hisses at me as she covers her chest.

I stop mid-step and turn around, but my sash immediately unfastens, so I just let my dress unfold and fall to the floor.

Stupid clothes.

I close the panel then run back to Ofilia, and I see that she's pouting while folding my dress. She didn't need to do that, but I'm too excited to stop her, so I just start spilling it out, "Hey, Ofilia, listen. I'm going to be like you. Mom said I was chosen to be sent to Rabanara!"

She simply freezes and stares at me, wide-eyed, then I notice that her white, furry ears flicker repeatedly, and she makes a confused face. "I'm sorry, what?" she asks with a faint voice.

I don't get why she's confused, so I just repeat, "I'm going to be like you. Mom is going to train me to represent the Misty Foxes."

She frowns and opens her mouth as if she wants to say something, but then she suddenly turns around.

I thought she'd be happier, or at least a bit proud, so I confu-... confusedly ask, "Uh… What? You don't like it?"

She turns back around, and now her face is neutral, but I don't like it when people do that; Her "neutral" expression is weird. "I, no-… This… do you know what this means?" she asks while mumbling, her trembling voice betraying her face.

I narrow my eyes and say it a third time, "Mom said I'll become a Blood Slave; like you."

Then she gives me a sad smile, just like Mom was doing a minute ago, and hugs me tight, but I like hugs, so I guess this is fine. And so my head gets buried in her long, silky, flowery-smelling white hair.

"You… you'll do fine. I know you will…" she whispers in my ear, sounding like she's about to cry.

"I know!" I happily shout, trying to cheer her up.

She chuckles and releases me then shows a much less sad smile, so I guess my cheering worked a bit. But she doesn't say anything else and leads me into the bath, then we wash each other like we usually do. Her porcelain white skin is always unblemished, which makes me envious of how pretty it is.

Then Mom comes into the bath too, and she's already brushing her orange tail.

"Master," Ofilia greets and gives a short bow.

Mom then sits down on a stool before us and suddenly narrows her eyes thoughtfully as she continues to brush her own tail. "Ofilia, there are some things you can teach Alissa. A few levels in [Washing], [Cleaning], and [Housework] will do her good," she orders and flashes a polite smile.

"Yes, Master," Ofilia accepts and flashes me a smile.

"Oh, can she teach me [Cooking] too?" I ask and raise my hand, then I remember that Mom said I should raise my hand before I ask a question, but nobody scolds me, so it's fine.

"Louise will teach you that," Mother calmly answers.

And I frown. Louise is always grumpy, but I guess that's better than nothing.

Ofilia pours a bucket of warm water on me to rinse the soap, then she turns around and helps wash Mom. Now that I'm free from her claws, I enter the large stone bath and float in the steamy water with my eyes closed.

"Can Ofilia teach me [Illusion Magic]?" I suddenly ask.

"I don't know much, just party tricks," she answers, and I sense that she's smiling just from her tone.

"Exactly!" I shout back and stand up on the water, then stare at both of them with my best "hopeful eyes."

But Mom immediately turns me down, "No, you need combat skills, and Ofilia doesn't know how to use [Illusion Magic] in combat."

"Awn…" I moan as I drop onto the water again.

For the rest of the bath, Mom discusses with Ofilia how Allura and I behaved today. They don't mention the Avaler, so I think I'm in the clear.

Stupid bird. Only a weak, sheltered one would die from a single stone. It didn't even try to dodge!

Then they drag me out of the bath so that we can have dinner, and Dad is already seated, feeding Allura her toddler food. We sit down on the cushions and Ofilia fills my plate with food, but I frown at it as if it was a living globin.

"If you want to grow strong, you have to eat it all," Mom kindly advises me, and I know she's testing my courage again.

I gulp and cut a piece of the liver. It's dark purple, and there's only one monster that I know of with a liver that has this disgusting color: the Stal Wolf, and its taste is disgusting!

"A painless kill makes the prey taste better," I recite what Homvieun always tells me.

Then I put the fork in my mouth.

UGH!

I bring a book to Dad and ask him to read it to me.

"'Radomir, the Ravager'?" he reads the title and raises an eyebrow at me.

What?

"She needs these books now more than ever," Mom states, and I agree, though I don't understand what she meant by that.

But I forget all about that because Radomir's story is too amazing, so amazing that I fall asleep in Dad's lap and dream of the Lionfolk conqueror. He's a great man that takes what he wants, and he took my heart.

Someone slowly squeezes my tail, which wakes me up, but it also feels really good, so I don't really wake up fully. But then they start to squeeze harder and harder until it stings and hurts.

"Ow, ow! I'm awake!" I whine as I wriggle and attempt to escape the villain's claws.

They finally release me, so I sit up and groggily look around. It's Mom who woke me up, and she's using her [Spirit Light] to illuminate the room because the sun isn't even out yet!

Then I notice the lack of a warm body pillow behind me, so I attempt to ask, "Where's dad…?" but my words come out as groans.

"He went to prepare the training grounds," Mom answers, somehow understanding me, but her voice sounds stern and her face looks neutral, which jolts me awake as I understand that no jokes are allowed right now.

"And Allura?" I also ask as I notice that there's a lack of toddler-crying right now.

Her gaze becomes sharper. "With Ofilia. You would wake her up with your screaming."

Yeah…

"Sorry…" I embarrassedly apologize as I look down.

Then she sighs and her eyes soften. "Let's go," she gently orders and extends her hand to me, which I'm happy to take.

We leave our private quarters and then cross the common grounds, and I see many Sworn Hunters getting ready to hunt.

"I didn't know they woke up so early," I comment as we walk.

Mom snorts. "Because you always wake up too late. The Prowlers are less active during dawn," she lectures then greets the Hunters as we pass them by.

We leave the house and walk into the grass garden. Everything is wet with mist, so I have to raise my dress not to dirty it, which makes it harder to not loosen the sash, so I'd be doubly annoyed if the mood wasn't so serious.

Then I smell something foul ahead of us, and it makes me worried.

What did Dad prepare for me?

Soon after, I spot Dad through the mist, and he's holding something small and green that squirms non-stop, trying to slip out of the rope that has tied it up.

Then I kind of recognize it. "A goblin?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Yes. Your first task," Mom replies, her voice completely stern again.

We stop before Dad, and he lets the green ugly thing fall to the floor. It makes a wheezing sound as it hits the grass, but it immediately starts to get up again.

It seems to be about as tall as I am, and it tries to tackle me the moment it gets up on its two ugly, filthy feet, but Dad sweeps its legs, making it fall back down. I see something disgusting dangle from between its legs, so I guess it's a male. But why didn't Dad give him some pants?

Dad puts his foot on the goblin's back, pinning it against the floor, and the ugly thing starts scowling at me, for some reason. His gag prevents him from talking, and I'm sure he doesn't have anything intelligent to speak, but I know that he has lots of very small, pointy, dangerous teeth ready to take a bite at me.

I don't like this, I don't want to be here.

But then Dad throws a large dagger at my feet. "This is your first task: get this dagger and slice the goblin's throat," he sternly orders, and I know that I'm not allowed to say no.

Even though I swore on my ear, on my werefox pride, my face still betrays me and pales. I've never killed anything (birds don't count) and neither did Nen. I've never even held a dagger before as Dad never let me (knives don't count), so I don't know where to begin.

I look at mom and see that her face is neutral, but I realize that she's measuring me again. This is another test.

"You said you were going to do it, right?" she sternly asks, vinde-... vindicating my suspicion, then she points to the dagger. "Show us what you mean by it. Show us what it means to be a Misty Fox."

I turn to the dagger and extend my hand, then I notice that I'm trembling, but it's not just fear, there's also excitement getting in my way. I need to do this, no matter what. I gave them my word!

So I force myself to grab the dagger. It's heavy. So heavy.

Then I turn to the monster. It starts squirming harder now that I have a weapon in hand, and it even drools with how angry it is, but I won't let him scare me anymore.

I take a step forward, and the goblin growls, so I grit my teeth and take another step, and he growls louder.

It's bound. It's harmless. It won't hurt me. I'm okay. I'm okay.

Then I get real close to him, and the foul stench of poop and pee mixed with Gods-knows-what-else fills my sensitive little nostrils. It's a horrible smell that for some reason reminds me of moldy, old Sworn Hunter socks.

I have to kill it, I have to show Dad and Mom that I can do it. I kind of killed before, right? The Avaler counts, right? Yes. I'm okay. It's fine.

Dad puts more weight on his foot so that the goblin doesn't worm away, then he grabs the goblin's head and holds it still, exposing the monster's neck to me.

"Do it," Mom sternly orders.

"Do it", I order myself

"You can do it," Dad encourages me.

I can do it!

A wave of feral anger suddenly fills my body with energy, and I jump forward as I scream, "RAAH!"

I press the dagger's blade against the goblin's throat, and it cuts through the skin like a hot knife through butter, surprising me with how little resistance I feel. Then the flesh separates, and blood pours out.

The goblin immediately starts to gargle and choke on his own blood as he desperately squirms in a last attempt to escape. But Dad doesn't budge one centimetri, so I take a step back and then just watch as the goblin slowly passes out.

I feel sick.

I look at my own hands and see they're bright red, covered in warm blood, and it even spilled onto my dress and shoes. There's just blood everywhere. So much blood.

"Good job, Alissa," Mother gently praises me, and her voice fills me with happiness.

"You did well," Father also praises me, and his voice fills me with calmness.

Then he casts [Clean] on my hands and takes the dagger away.

"You are now level two," the Goddess of Growth announces in my mind.

And I retch.