A wide smile could be seen on the face of Mabel, her emerald-colored eyes shining like the jewels they had stolen the color from. The Prinja-Boar furs had made us a fortune, more than enough for a few months of living leisurely. Mabel had lied to the merchant, telling him that it was a rare species of boar that we defeated, and the middle-aged man had paid her handsomely for that tale.
Other than the fur, we also sold the meat and tusks, not knowing what else to do with it. It obviously did not make us as much money as the fur, but we were still handsomely rewarded with a few dozen coins that alone were able to make Mabel gleeful as can be.
Obviously selling the meat and fur meant showing the merchant my inventory magic, but Mabel assured me that it, while highly sought after, wasn’t a magic somebody would kill or enslave somebody else over. If anything, having both that magic and a full citizenship made the merchant give us more money, as he knew that I must be a special existence.
It was only the figurines that we did not sell for various reasons. For one I had promised one each to both Ofris and Mabel, for another I couldn’t handle the thought of somebody carving away Cilia’s ears and tail just to make some more money. Those statues would go to people who knew their value, one of them being Sahria.
It was her that we found the earliest after arriving back at the city. The elven woman had been busy browsing the local market when we met her. I gave her the figurine just then and there, explaining to her that it was an exact copy of Cilia’s appearance. She had treated it like a national treasure knowing that, which somehow warmed my heart.
After visiting the market, we made our way to Mabel’s home, which was near the walls in the somewhat poorer district.
“No wonder she likes money so much…”
Mabel’s home was a house made half of wood, half of gray stones, with the roof being made out of thatch. It had room for four rooms only, one main room with a kitchen and a fireplace, a small bathroom and two bedrooms for Mabel and her parents. All of that together was at most the size of two rooms in the mayor’s apartment that I was residing in for the time being.
“Looks like they aren’t home right now.”
“Your parents?”
“Yes,” she said, before explaining that her parents should be in Siltar at this time. “Maybe they are with Ofris,” she concluded.
After saying that much Mabel hid her money in her bedroom before leading me out of the house again. We quickly made our way to the town hall, where we finally found both Ofris and her parents. It felt like returning home.
“Ofris!” I greeted him, “Nice to see you!”
“Oh, you are back. Why didn’t you tell me you were with Mabel? I have been searching all over the town for you.”
“Sorry…”
A rough hand gently came down on my head. “At least you are safe.”
“Who is your friend?” Mabel’s mother asked.
She was quite beautiful despite her age of around forty. She had curly, blond hair and golden eyes, making her look like a saint. Her black robe seemed to have the sole purpose of denying people from thinking about her like that. A black headband and necklace were doing the rest.
“Looks somehow weird …”
Her father, on the contrary, couldn't possibly be any plainer. He had brown, short hair and eyes in the same color. His vest and shirt were brown and sand-beige. Together with his beard, he looked like a lumberjack.
“This is Rika,” Mabel said. “Rika, these are my parents.”
“I’m Jack.”
“I’m Sophia. It is nice to meet you.”
Before I knew it, we were already in a familiar tavern, talking about this and that. A middle-aged woman came to our table. She carried a tray with five mugs, each of them filled with a seemingly hot alcohol. I knew the mist that rose from the liquid, it had haunted me ever since I had touched it the last time!
I could only watch in disbelief when the mugs were placed down. Mabel’s parents got one each, another two were placed down in front of Ofris and Mabel, the last one, however, found its way into my hands.
“This isn't a good idea …”
“It is just prinja-juice,” the barwoman replied with a smile. “Don't worry. Nobody will give you alcohol anymore.”
“Prinja?”
A gentle hand was placed on the back of my head. “It is a fruit,” Ofris explained. “Children like it a lot.”
“I know it is a fruit …”
Hesitatingly, I placed my hands around the mug and lifted it towards my lips. Ofris was right. It only took a few drops for me to warm up to this weird juice. This wasn't apple, nor cherry, pear or any fruit I knew about. It was something wholly new, something that was sweet like strawberries but refreshing like peppermint at the same time. I could kind of understand the boars to be crazy about it.
A smile appeared on Ofris' face. “I knew you would like it!” He said, before turning to the waitress. “Thank you, Prim.”
“You are welcome. Please call me if you need something.”
After taking another glance at my gleeful face, the waitress excused herself with a silent nod and made her way back towards the kitchen. Jack’s gaze followed her, he only spoke up when he was sure she couldn't hear us anymore.
“So she is the fox?” The man asked.
“She is kinda cute, don't you think?” His wife added. “She is even purring like a catkin!”
Mabel couldn’t help but laugh. But they were right, I was purring. I couldn't even control it. Having my body warmed up by this sweet and fresh sensation it was obvious I would feel comfortable, but I had never expected it would turn out like this. Why the hell would I purr? Foxes do not purr!
「We do!」Cilia suddenly interjected.「We are purrfect, after all!」
“How I wished that was true …”
「It is true! Who else can use our awesome magic?」
“...”
The faint, vibrating sound stopped as a long sigh left my lips. The couple could only look at me questioningly, but I choose to not tell them. What could I even tell them? It was somehow good that Ofris knew about the goddess, but Risa was already too much and I wouldn't add more to that list.
I had already finished most of my drink when the topic went to something that was far more interesting to me and Mabel. Ofris had just suggested we form a party together and take a longer job in the Mountains. My tail was already wagging at the idea of facing new opponents, ones that wouldn’t make me look like useless weight. And Mabel? She immediately accepted the offer. I couldn’t help but smile at that.
Our meeting turned a little chaotic later on, as the hellish drink finally kicked in and Sophia got way too excited about random things, such as the white tips on my ears or the way I turned restless when she focused all of her attention on me.
She asked me about my background, my hobbies and even my favorite food, all of which I somehow managed to answer. By now my tail was restlessly brushing against Mabel’s back, desperately searching for help.
“So…” Sophia finally asked, “how long have you been seeing my daughter?”
I immediately froze.
Sophia finally asked, “how long have you been seeing my daughter?”
I'm still with the Ofris ship
Nah, he's to much the father figure in this story.
@Belkoth That's true, I just wanted a non-Yuri GB novel
to be honest, I don't really peg any of them as any kind of romance material. Ofris seems like your general dense protagonist, where he has tons of girls who like him but he's completely oblivious to there approaches. While Mable is a troubled racist, who treated our MC like a piece of crap initially. Only because she thought she was beastkin. That's immediate red flag for me. The only other person left is the yandere.
@4R5H4D
There are characters that have yet to appear. I didn't put any Yuri tags either. I am just not 100% sure who to go with.
@IrisRain
Then sahria as the first swarm (or as an aid to settling into the magical female body). Sahria can feel (unilaterally) attracted to rika. Because of the relationship with the fox clan at the time.
@IrisRain
I still hope you don't go the Yuri route
@IrisRain All I will say to this is that there is a multi-website-wide war between the Yuri Lovers and the Yuri Haters (and I will declare myself as part of the latter).
No matter what you pick, you will lose readers at that time.
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That said, I don't think it would be possible to put romance between Rika and Mabel without it feeling utterly forced. Their personalities and interests just feel divergent.
(Starts prepping anti-yuri missiles in the background)
Ofris is like twice her age ffs. She's barely into her teens and he's closing in on 40. I'm not against age gaps but in this situation it's just straight up creepy AF.
I also still maintain her dating a guy is just wrong. She was straight when she was a guy, that life ended due to a stunt relating to asking a girl out, her reactions after reincarnating have been clear that her sexuality hasn't been changed by the experience, her interactions with other characters have consistently shown no attraction to guys and many attractions to women, and she explicitly told Mabel that she wasn't interested in men. If, after all that, her love interest ends up being a guy I'll be quite disappointed.
I do like this Mabel ship though, she's close on age, seems like a good fit personality wise, and Rika seems to favourable towards her.
@Piisfun explain to me why it would feel forced, since I'm not seeing anything in the story that would indicate that.
I'm as fed up with people trying to convert characters to being straight as I am with people writing insulting caricatures of gay men.
@kaithar
1. There is no depiction of "gay men" anywhere in this story currently, nor did I comment against them...
2. Mabel's personality is fundamentally at odds with Rika's, as well as her goals. Even if you get your wish, Mabel specifically will not work well for "shipping."
3. With the main character having been apparently reconstructed from soul paste between chapters 1 and 2, anything before that is basically irrelevant. After that, all I see is a person breaking down due to having literally everything they have ever known ripped away from them. Rika is currently grabbing on to anything or anyone she can to anchor herself.
This leaves Rika as an utterly blank slate that could go any direction.
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I refuse to argue any more than this.
@4R5H4D Yes, non-yuri GB stories in this site can be counted with one hand. We dont need anymore of something that is already excessively done by everybody else.
@kaithar Sexual attraction is purely physical. It is just hormones forcing you to procreate. There is no meaning to it other than the continuation of the human race. Therefore I am of the opinion, new body= new hormones= new brain structure= new sexuality and thought patterns. Her past life has nothing to do with her current sexuality. And since the fox goddess designed her body, she probably didnt make her homosexual because her primary purpose should be Rika repopulating the fox race. As it can be seen by her pushing Rika to be with Ofris.
@Godleydemon When was Mable like that? Didn't we see her after they found out she was a fox?
And wasn't Mable's first reaction to her that she was cute? I feel like Mable is someone who don't really care that she was a beastkin. This can also have something to do with her family being on the poorer side, so she care more about earning money.
Or did you mean someone else? Or did I miss something?
@GigaDotti wasn't Mable the elf? If so, she was immediately hostile towards her when they first met and scared the living day lights out of her. I may be remembering another elf though.
-edit-
I was fairly tired when I wrote that, I had been thinking of Sahria. I'll have to go re-read Mables introduction and stuff again. I must have somehow put the two together in my head.
@Aslan659 I have the same thought process
@Godleydemon Yea Mable is about the same age as Rika. And yea Sahria was the most vocal about her hate.
@Piisfun
1. That was a comparison not an attribution, please read more carefully.
2. I'm asking you what specifically... we've seen fairly little of Mabel outside of her supportive interactions, what do you feel indicates her being fundamentally at odds with Rika.
3. Did you literally not bother to read the early chapters at all? You know how the character kept specifically lamenting how she's lost the person she loved? How she only accepted because she thought she'd be with that person? How someone looked really similar? Even if there weren't all these giant "still attracted to women" signs, your argument is complete bunk because a persons preferences on who they're attracted to are baked into their personality and she very clearly retained her personality because the story would have ended at meeting the goddess if she didn't get sent to the next world with her identity intact.
And, incidentally, point 3 is exactly what I'm complaining about when I say "converting characters to being straight" ... you're ignoring everything in the story that explicitly contradicts the possibility of her being only interested in men, twisting the premise of the story in such a way that the basic plot stops making sense, and trying to inject interpretations that exceed the insight we as readers have ... all to support the argument that she can't be gay. Refusing to argue or defend your behaviour doesn't make this any more acceptable.
@Aslan659
Sexual attraction is purely physical. It is just hormones forcing you to procreate. There is no meaning to it other than the continuation of the human race.
Please take this homophobic apologist argument and shove it where the sun don't shine. It's scientifically wrong, morally wrong, an insult to basically every human, and something everyone should know better than to make.
Sexual and romantic attraction are basic psychological foundations, this is pretty damn obvious if you spend any amount of time in a real relationship with other people. The only people that claim their hormones forced them to do something are people like rapists who need an excuse for their inability to see other humans as people, the rest of us are capable of functioning on a level slightly better than a primitive animal that tries to hump things when you inject it with some extra hormones.
Incidentally, the whole idea of s*x only being for procreation is a particularly cynical invention of the Catholic Church centuries back when they seemed to be under the impression that the best way to reach heaven was to either be miserable or rich enough to bribe the divine background check. Given that they were supposed to be celibate, they probably weren't very good experts on sex.
Also, f*ck the idea that the goddess intentionally tampered with her brain to force her to reproduce against her will, and f*ck the idea that she has any kind of responsibility or purpose to repopulate an entire race. That's a level of sexist crap that hasn't been acceptable for decades. Are you seriously defending the idea that the MC exists for the sole purpose of getting impregnated by a man twice her age?
@Kaithar
In order to resurrect a race, rika must allow many males to impregnate her or the children could live in incest if the insistence that only prospective foxes are allowed to mate with foxes is to be maintained
@LunaSoleil
Wouldn't work properly anyway. Regardless of how many kids she has, they all only get the same single source of matrilineal DNA, so if there's any issue there it would propagate without divine interference. The issue really starts though when you consider that the minimum viable population is usually double digits, less than that and it's too easy for it to be wiped out in a single generation. If I'm remembering correctly, a single person (ok, member of a race with reproductive characteristics similar to humans) is generally limited to less than 10 offspring who also reproduce, more often it's less than 5. The higher the number of offspring the less likely they are to all be healthy, successful in finding a partner, and have the desire to have offspring. There's a limit to how many children Rika could physically have, but she'd run into the limitation of finding partners and supporting those children long before she hit the physical limit. Population simulation is interesting stuff.
Incidentally, I think it was mentioned that foxkin were an all female race? Which is actually biologically reasonable if the magic demihuman DNA is tied to the chromosomes just right... say most beastkin have their racial traits split between the X and Y chromosome but foxkin have all of them on the X. You could end up with a situation where an XX arrangement can have a dominant foxkin expression but whatever is on the Y is sufficient to supress it in XY.
Bleh, I'm getting the urge to try and figure out how you could arrange a genome to allow both compatibility (gotta breed with other races if you're female only) and sensible expression of traits (ears... count and location ffs). Assuming, of course, that an all female race wouldn't simply have evolved from an ancestor with a different reproductive method and would be more properly referred to a mono-sexual...
@kaithar
Please take this homophobic apologist argument and shove it where the sun don't shine. It's scientifically wrong, morally wrong, an insult to basically every human, and something everyone should know better than to make.
You denying my argument doesnt mean shit. Sexual intercourse is prevelant among almost all mammal species. And there is a very good reason for that. Because it is an evolutionary advantage. When did stating basic scientific facts become homophobic? You people using this word for every damn thing is starting to annoy me, honestly.
Sexual and romantic attraction are basic psychological foundations
Well, unfortunely for you that psychological foundations do not happen independently of our bodies. There is a reason why psychiatrists are that intimate with the structure of human brain.
Incidentally, the whole idea of s*x only being for procreation is a particularly cynical invention of the Catholic Church centuries back when they seemed to be under the impression that the best way to reach heaven was to either be miserable or rich enough to bribe the divine background check. Given that they were supposed to be celibate, they probably weren't very good experts on sex.
I am not catholic.
Also, f*ck the idea that the goddess intentionally tampered with her brain to force her to reproduce against her will, and f*ck the idea that she has any kind of responsibility or purpose to repopulate an entire race. That's a level of sexist crap that hasn't been acceptable for decades. Are you seriously defending the idea that the MC exists for the sole purpose of getting impregnated by a man twice her age?
Well the goddess isnt the most thoughful person, is she. Since there is basically no reason for Rika's gender change other than her amusement or procreation. You can choose whichever you like.
And I didnt say anything about Rika being together with Ofris. Dont make it seem like I support them being together. I just wanted to read a different kind of gender bender story. Are you not bored reading the same shit?
@Aslan659
Sexual intercourse is prevelant among almost all mammal species. And there is a very good reason for that. Because it is an evolutionary advantage. When did stating basic scientific facts become homophobic? You people using this word for every damn thing is starting to annoy me, honestly.
Psychological foundations do not happen independently of our bodies. There is a reason why psychiatrists are that intimate with the structure of human brain.
Are you not bored reading the same shit?
Spitting facts
@Aslan659
Sexual intercourse is prevelant among almost all mammal species. And there is a very good reason for that. Because it is an evolutionary advantage.
Wow... that's an impressively stupid statement. Do you happen to know what the definition of a mammal is? It's kinda vague, but one of the main criteria is live birth reproduction with only a couple of exceptions. And, unless I'm missing something, live-birth species generally require penetrative fertilisation. So yeah, of course it's prevalent, it's baked into the definition.
It's not an evolutionary advantage though, not in the least. Sexual reproduction is, and if you don't know the difference between that and intercourse you need to go take a basic biology course, but live birth has some significant problems that egg-layers don't have to deal with. For one thing, it's a lot harder to die from complications of laying eggs and you can easily abandon eggs to preserve the adult's life.
When did stating basic scientific facts become homophobic? You people using this word for every damn thing is starting to annoy me, honestly.
Because it's not a basic scientific fact and only gets used by idiots wanting to justify why people must be straight. Intercourse, and this isn't specific to humans, serves the purposes of strengthening emotional bonds and providing shared pleasure in addition to reproduction. Gay couples are quite capable of those two things.
The bullsh*t you're peddling is that concepts such as love and romance are irrelevant, the many mental capacities that make humans human are an illusion... it's all hormones forcing you to chase every skirt in sight. No, that's not how it works, if you're still letting your hormones override your ability to think then you're either a child going through puberty or a failure of an adult.
If you don't like being called a homophobic apologist, stop trying to spread homophobic apologist misinformation.
Well, unfortunely for you that psychological foundations do not happen independently of our bodies. There is a reason why psychiatrists are that intimate with the structure of human brain.
Unfortunately for you, it doesn't work that way. You know why I know it doesn't work that way? Because there's no magic drug that changes your sexuality, no magic drug that can make Aces not be Aces, and no magical drug that can "fix" the sexual proclivities that are illegal and/or socially harmful like paedophilia. And it's not like people haven't looked for biological causes for these things, the consensus is that there is no simple biological reason or neurochemical that is involved.
Jeeze, at this rate I won't be surprised if you try to argue for phrenology. Also, there's a word for people who try to connect homosexuality with psychiatry... what was it... ah yes, "homophobic". Might want to be careful where you take this poor attempt at arguing.
I am not catholic.
Good for you, though I didn't say you were. Maybe you should stop preaching things they invented.
Well the goddess isnt the most thoughful person, is she. Since there is basically no reason for Rika's gender change other than her amusement or procreation. You can choose whichever you like.
Really? No reason? Did you just not bother to read C29 where the backstory of the foxkin was explained?
But all of that had stopped with the demise of the Ciliari tribe.
Scholars had the wildest theories about why this happened. From gods that were in love with one of the female only tribe members to precious artifacts lost in the fights, there were many ideas
Wow, looked at that, the Goddess's foxkin were all female. I wonder if that could possibly have anything to do with why Rika had to be female? /s
And I didnt say anything about Rika being together with Ofris. Dont make it seem like I support them being together. I just wanted to read a different kind of gender bender story. Are you not bored reading the same shit?
Ofris is literally the only non-anonymous unmarried male in this story that hasn't tried to kill or rape her. The Goddess is actively pushing this disgusting relationship (I will keep reminding people he's 35 and she's 15)... it's not like Rika has options in that direction.
And ya know what I want to read? Stories that are plausible and don't have characters that have less brains than the average rock. Stories that don't involve brainwashing or abusing the character we're trying see out from. Stories that don't try to gloss over plot holes for stupid reasons. And that means gender bent stories where biological sex, gender and sexuality aren't treated as automatically aligning.
@4R5H4D Ya know, you make it look suspiciously like Aslan659 is your sockpuppet account...
@kaithar Nah, I am not a keyboard warrior (Pretty sure I haven't written a comment with more than 15 lines, unless it was a copy/paste)
@Aslan659 I'm laffin right now at the people who seem to miss that we've observed dozens upon dozens of animal species, from mammals to birds, having gay sex. Some groups have observed over 25% of penguins engaging in same s*x mating rituals. Yes, sexual intercourse is prevelant among almost all mammal species. Implying that all sexual intercourse is heterosexual, as you did, is arguably homophobic. I think it's more misinformed than homophobic personally, but that's just me.