Getting out of town was semi-liberating, mostly due to the excessive amount of scorn I was receiving from the Trash with legs. But no matter this is merely a fact of life as a beastkin living in a human country or so I surmise however I am surprised I haven't been condemned yet due to the blood on my hands 'It's not really my intention to hunt humans it's just turned out that way' well it's time to head to the forest.

Today I'm hunting goblins and before you call me an irresponsible mother for taking my newborn out on a hunt I would as you to reevaluate my margins of safety given that I do indeed still have a formidable Cat on my side to save Mae and I if we get in trouble. First before we get to the hunt I will activate the wind spell [Deafen] and the darkness spell [Cloak] as well as activate my stealth abilities before setting of to hunt the goblins.

Sadly I lack a search type spell or skill so finding goblins is difficult, however they are quite abundant so it's only a matter of time before I encounter one. After the first encounter it get relatively easy to continue finding them simply by following the footprints back to the nest. Now this tactic is relatively risky as I myself can at most handle 3-4 goblins at a time but if I utilize earth magic and create pitfalls at various locations I can eliminate a fair few goblins without sustaining any damage. But now is the time to find our first group of goblins.

Stalking through the woods for around half an hour I finally found my quarry, sadly though this is a fairly large group resting around 7 normal goblins an 1 hobgoblin, which is still a doable I'm just going to have to set some traps so that I can divide their numbers. First I create a pitfall with earth magic which has an inch thick roof made soil to hide it, the second part of my plan is to get their attention without announcing my presence and the easiest method to do this is use one of my glass bait orbs that I created to avoid injuries wile pregnant. The use of the orbs is fairly simple climb a tree and throw it at the desired spot the glass shatters and the noise attracts the monsters. Yet I made a miscalculation I hadn't considered the possibility that Mae would be startled from the sound of shattering glass though luckily due to the deafening and stealth effects it only sounded like a whistle through the leaves the glass however did not and caused the goblins to charge in the direction in which the noise came from until ~CRASH~ 3 of the goblins and the hobgoblin fell in the pitfall which was honestly the best result I could have hoped for.

The follow up to the goblins being trapped in the hole was me creating an [Ice wall] over top it so I could deal with them after I killed the remaining 4. Now the remaining strategy is to first simultaneously cast two [Glass Knife]s at the goblins in front which then impale and shatter within the goblins leaving them in a bloody heap whilst they dissipate into a blue light. After which I rush the two remaining goblins with my glaive which decapitates one and is buried into the arm of the other, which then unfortunately takes a swing towards me, though before it could connect I twist the glaive which severs the arm of the now screaming goblin after which I bring the glaive back and proceed to take the head of the goblin. I then quickly gather monster cores and drops before turning my attention to the now melting Ice wall.

As I dismiss the ice wall I see the pitiful sight of 4 goblins huddled together shivering to which I then proceed to kill various glaive techniques and magics, then afterwords gather the loot and fill in the hole. By this point Mae's wails are starting to break past the wind spell and I need to find a way to calm her down, my method of which involves my unstrapping her from my back and putting my finger in her mouth so she can suck on it until she calms down, and a solid 10 minutes later the baby is back to sleep and I can continue in my goblin slaying.

Around 6 hours pass with me using this method sadly I had to stop and calm Mae every time and occasionally feed her which took most of my time because admittedly I did waist some time playing with her... only like an hour... or 2, anyways I got the cores of 21 goblins and 4 hobgoblins and am currently making my way back to town. 'hopefully I can find a place to get lunch, skipping breakfast was a bad idea'

Getting through the gates was much less of a hassle because all I had to do is show my guild card and I was let through with no toll included. Walking through town was a similar experience as it was the previous times many gazes filled with either scorn, lust, or greed. Though by the time I noticed someone following me I deemed it necessary to activate my stealth spells and stealth skills until I make it back into the guild. By the time I made it into the guild I had long since lost my pursuers and deactivated my spells and skills.

"I would like to turn in a quest" I say while walking towards Val

"we take monster cores as proof please put them in this basket" she says while holding out a large wicker basket.

"Here you go (I say while dropping my goblin cores into the basket) there should be 21 goblin, and 4 hobgoblin cores"

Val then spends a few minutes using identify on the cores while sorting them out into another basket. "I have confirmed your statement here is your reward (she passes a small bag of coins to me) since you have completed the equivalent of 5 F ranked quests would you like to rank up?"

"Yes please, also is there a library that I could use? but before that is there a restaurant that would, well you know?"

"there is a library on the second floor of the guild it's pretty obvious so it shouldn't be to hard to find, but the restaurant would be difficult, you wouldn't find one that would turn away your coin but one that wouldn't insult you I believe would be near impossible"

"Hmmm that seems to be quite the predicament, well thanks for your help anyways."

When I turned around I witnessed a posse composed of Tor, a young Dogkin girl, a massive Bearkin man, and finally a teeny Zebrakin girl who appears to be the parties mage.

"Ohh Tor, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, who might these fine people be?"

"I apologize we figured you would be at the guild, we tried to follow you earlier but we lost track of you. As for introductions the dogkin is Elise our parties scout, the bearkin is Ben he's our shielder, and the zebrakin is Amelia and she's our mage ("she's a little shy" he whispered towards me")" which caused Amelia to blush profusely 'hmm I think she is a little more than shy, perhaps has some ulterior motives?'

"Well nice to meet you, but what do I owe the pleasure?"

Elise quickly said "we were wondering if you would be interested in having lunch with us?" whilst looking towards Mae

"That sounds like a good idea"

Elise's eyes lit up then stated "please follow me!"

As we were walking I learned a little about were they were from, apparently Elise, Ben, and Tor have known each other since childhood and embarked on this journey together all hoping to become knights for a beast lord, Amelia is apparently a former slave that Tor saved when they first came to the Central continent 'I'll have to have a talk with her later'. Furthermore Elise, Ben and Tor are all from a mixed race village which is apparently fairly uncommon in the bestial continent, they are all near the same age with Elise being the youngest at 17, with Ben and Tor both being 18. Elise and Ben are dating and are planing on getting married when they return to the beast continent, while Tor has a mysterious crush that Elise has been unable to get the name of 'though I think it's pretty obvious because whenever it's mentioned his eye's flicker to a certain stripped girl, I'll really need to have a talk with her'. Anyways the place we're going to eat at is called 'Beasts Burden' which is apparently ran by an Oxkin and when they said that I giggled a bit because that's just to perfect.

When we arrived at the place it was surprisingly nice considering... well everything. It has a bar that's run by a lovely catkin who looks to be in her 20's while the floor space is occupied by several tables of various sizes, and we sit down at a decently sized one and I take out Mae who's started to be a little fussy because I presume it's either to loud or she's hungry, "I'm gonna feed this one, I hope you don't mind" I say while taking out my cloak to cover Mae and myself while she eats.

Elise finally breaks and asks "So where is her father if you don't mind me asking?"

"She doesn't have one." which causes Elise to flounder a bit while opening and closing her mouth.

"What does that mean?" she finally asks whilst still looking confused.

"Well technically I'm the sole parent, however the Moon goddess decided that she wanted a grandchild and made me drink something that got me pregnant." this caused the table to go into shock while staring wide eyed at me.

"G-grandchild?"

"Well yes technically she's my mother, I am the Queen of the Moonfire Foxkin for a reason"

"... O-okay" Tor says breaking the silence before shouting "Hey old Man we got something interesting for you!"

"What is it Tor you didn't bring me another waitress did you!?" a large greying oxkin shouts while coming out of the kitchen.

"What's this you brought me a foxkin waitress, they rarely leave their stupid archipelago for any reason."

"Old man you need glasses have you counted he amount of tails?"

"1, 2, 3... 6... 9, A ROYAL FOXKIN!? the hell did you bring me boy!?"

"Pleasure to meet you I'm Rin Inanis Moonfire, Queen of the Moonfire Foxkin. You are?"

"My apologies, I'm Gregory the proprietor of this humble restaurant though I don't know if working as a waitress is something someone of your caliber can do."

"hmm I'm not looking for work though I am looking for food and I heard this place has quite good food and would like to try it."

"Certainly, what would y'all like"

"surprise me"

Elise was the next to speak "Charge boar steak, please"

Tor next "Ox's burden, I will finish it first!"

Ben grunts a bit and then says "Ox's burden, I raise you Tor" he says with a glint in his eyes

"A salad, please" Amelia says quietly while looking downward.

A while later the Old man brings out our food and places it in front of us. I received a grilled poultry sandwich with a salad which looks a fair bit more appetizing than the essentially pure meat diet I've been living on for the last year-ish, In front of Elise was a moderately sized piece of meat which also looks quite good. In front of Amelia is a Cesar salad type food which also contains some small pieces of poultry. In front of the boys is a Hamburger type food which has around 7 layers of various types of meat as well as cheese lettuce and tomatoes on each layer and on the side are 2 large biscuits and a cookie 'it's like a challenge kids meal', immediately after the burgers are put in front of the boys they get to work.

"While their competing, and not paying attention Amelia?" I say while turning my attention to the little Zebra

"H-how may I be of service?" she says with a slight bow

I get a little closer to her ear and whisper "You need to be a little more obvious if you want that Elk."

She goes so incredibly red that I can feel the heat emanating from her and I am a few inches away.

Amelia finishes her reboot sequence and tells me in a serious tone "How? please teach me." she says whilst her eyes burn with determination.

"I dunno, maybe get yourselves alone kiss him and tell him how you feel?" after saying that she nods seriously "maybe get Elise to help you because she most certainly knows more than I, I just know you need to be a bit more bold if you want to catch an elk"

"I'll catch him, he will be mine." she says with flecks of fire dancing in her eyes.

A while later we finish our meal, pay and leave the restaurant. Until I say "I think I'll head back to my Inn, but if I may ask when do you plan on heading back to the beast continent?"

Tor speaks up "We were given a 5 year period by our parents, and we've been here for 2 so in about 3 years we will be required to head back home"

"hmm That seems fun do you have room for another 2 members? besides I think one of you could use a little guidance." I state while looking at the Zebra.

Elise was the first to speak "I see nothing wrong with it, in fact I think I would rest easier if I knew you had a party."

Ben 'speaks' next "come with"

"I vote yes, what about you Amelia?"

"I vote yes as well" Amelia says while fidgeting a bit.

"Alright I'll meet you in the guild tomorrow morning" I say while waving to them then activating my stealth spells and skill.