"Good morning Kitsu," Apricot said, climbing out of my fur before stretching her arms out.

"Morning. Why isn't Nekro here?" I asked, opening my eyes.

"It was her alone night, remember."

"Oh, I forgot. What do you plan for today?" I asked, standing up before stretching myself out.

"Is it fun to lift your butt in the air like that?" Apricot asked, looking at who was stretching in my fox form.

"What did you just say!" I shouted, bring my tail down towards her.
Boom!

"Hey, I was just asking." 

"shoo, go look for your Nekro, you spoiled brat," I said, shooing her away with my paw.

"Yes, mother," Apricot yelled, running away.

"Tsk, how can she say that to a 14-year-old without hesitation," I said, looking up at Kayda, who was flying in the air.

"So, are you going to deny her having a mother?" Kayda asks, looking at me, smirking.

"A Mother? She is fucken 19. she shouldn't be looking for a mother figure anymore. Especially not from a 14-year-old." I said, walking towards the Lake.

"You are 30. Don't deny your true age," Kayda said, landing on my back.

"Tch, but I am no mother. Get off. I am not a ride for you to be on." I said, not expecting her to climb off me.

"Oh, come on, you didn't even hesitate to put you in front of that torture squad guy to save her life," Kayda said with a voice full of sarcasm.

"Of course, I didn't. It wasn't like a poison dagger to the chest will kill me. Tch, I would have never done it if I knew she would be calling me mother after that." I said, shaking my head in annoyance.

"But I think it's quite cute." 

"Oi, wasn't it you who hated her before that." 

"That...That was a misunderstanding. Weren't you exactly the same with Stacy, though? Looking for a mother figure and all." Kayda said. 

"Sure, but our situations are totally different. My mother committed suicide in front of me when I was 5. Apricot never met her mother." I said, coming to the clearing with the lake.

"That? I guess you're right, but still, are you so heartless not even to let her call you mother out of affection." 

"Kayda, I am a demon fox primordial. Do you really think I have a heart," I said sarcastically, coming closer to the shore?

"Oh, come on, you no- Ehhhh!"

"Ha-ha, I told you to get off me," I said in my human form, looking down at Kayda, who fell to the floor on her butt.

"You could have warned me at least." She said with a pout.

"You could have asked for permission to ride on me," I said, walking to on the water, dispelling the illusion.

"Would you have permitted me to do so if I asked?" Kayda said, following behind me.

"No," I said, opening the door.

"See! my point exactly. Anyway, why did you come here so early in the morning? Don't you usually come here at night." she said, following down the stairs.

"Yeah, I wanted to check on the furry. See if he figured out what this place really is about."

"Ha-ha, I see. It will be worse for him, having no hair all of a sudden." Kayda said with a laugh.

"Hmm, nothing beats a suffering furry in the morning," I said, smirking.

"When you smirk like that, even I get goosebumps," Kayda said with a happy voice.

"Huh, scared or excited," I asked, looking back at her.

"...Both, I guess," Kayda said, thinking about it.

"Wow, scaring a dragon just by smirking, hahaha," I said, continuing walking while laughing.

"It's not something to brag about," Kayda said, disappointed.

"In my books, it is. Anyway, why are you even here?" I asked, coming to the prison cell hallways.

"Oh, I almost forgot.  Stacy said we are going out hunting," Kayda said, making me smile.

"Awesome, I was wondering when I will get to hunt," I said, coming to a stop in front of the furry door.

Knock Knock

"Yo, Furry, you living in there?" I said, hitting the door.

"F...f...fuck ...y...y...you." was all the stuttering mess we heard come from the other side of the door.

"Seems someone can't handle the cold," Kayda said, chuckling.

"Let's see him in person then," I said, opening the door.

Just when the door opened, the Furry charged at me with everything he that wasn't very much.

"Seems you still have some energy," I said before Sparta kicking him back into the room.

*Boom*

"How dumb, he still has the restraints on as well," Kayda said, peeking into the room looking at the furry stuck in the ice wall.

"Hmm, I wonder how long will you hold up in this place, Kayda?" I said, closing the door again.

"That's a good question. Being in an ice dungeon like this the entire time will consume my mana like water. I would probably say 3 years before I will feel the cold." Kayda said nonchalantly while walking to Brad's cell. Looking inside, she asked. "Has he even started talking? it has been a week already for him."

"I don't know if I should feel amazed or disappointed in my ice with that answer," I said, walking next to her.

"You still don't have complete control over your ice element," Kayda said, surprising me.

"I don't?" I said, looking down, baffled.

"Yeah, but get your mana control down. You will understand what I mean about that," Kayda said, petting my head.

"Oi, no petting," I said, hitting her hand away before walking towards the exit. "Let's go. I want to start hunting and level up. After all, I don't think my base stats are far from being maxed out."

"But your hair is so smooth. We will go to the Adventure Guild first to get you registered." Kayda said while running after me.

(Adventure Guild secretary POV)

Hey, my name is Tracy. I am a blue-haired monkey demi that was born in the north close to the dead forest. I am smaller than most people, but I am happily married and already have 2 kids. At the moment, I am busy helping new adventurers signing up with us.

I usually don't do this type of work as my husband, the guild master, doesn't want me to do grunt work for some reason, but today they were short staff as there was an incident in the emerald forest to the east of the capital and some of the guild workers needed to go and investigate.

I forgot to mention that if you want to work for the guild in the capital or countryside, you need to be and B rank adventure or above before applying to work for us. It has something to do with not losing guild employees every two days. I think it is because we go sight visiting a lot. No better intel than your own employees was what the king said.

I am or was a B-rank adventurer, but it has been so long since I went out. I am so rusty you could blow me away. Though I say I was a B rank when I joined the guild employees, some of our members still intimidated me sometimes.

Now that I think about it, that's probably why my husband never wants me to do secretary work.

"OI, are you sleeping with open eyes, or are you ignoring me." I heard a woman say.

"Oh, sorry, got caught up in my thoughts. How can I help you today, M...Ma'am?" I said, looking up at her red hair fox woman with red slitted eyes making me gulp unconsciously.

"This is where we sign up, right?" she asked, tapping the desk in front of me.

"Un." I nod a couple of times, feeling my eyes tear up.

"Cool, can you sign me up?" She asked, smiling, showing her sharp canine teeth.

"I can do that." I stuttered out, giving her a sign-up form with a pen.

"You are Stuttering a lot. Are you new or just bad with people?" She said, narrowing her eyes while tilting her head at me.

"I... don't do this a lot." I force out while whipping my eyes discreetly.

"So, you're bad with new faces?" She said, snickering with a grin, making me gulp again.

"You are scaring the poor thing Kitsu." I heard someone say from behind me. Looking back, I saw Kayda the Sage stand there smiling at me.

"Kayda!" I yelped before jumping in her arms.

"Your no fun, Kayda." The woman said with a disappointed voice.