With such an ‘eventful’ birth it wasn’t surprising that the tales about his tails soon became a topic of public discussion with various theories spiralling out of control. The discussion was mostly from those of other races as the kitsune essentially only gained mild curiosity due to their free-nature - even if the child was a bit strange a child was a child.

That was only for those mature foxes though as the young kits were too excitable to let go of anything of possible interest. This meant the various hypotheses by the cruel mortals quickly spread throughout the newer generation with little pause; these rumours were anything but flattering though. Of course, there was the popular theory that this was just a sign of how talented the child would be in the future.

However, that theory was only one of many, with the negative ones gaining far more interest than the more respectable ones. One such theory was that the 10-tailed fox was actually a bastard hybrid with an oni which is why they had opposable digits - this of course made some sense since they were allies with the oni. Even if the oni were violent brutes they were, in their own way, strangely part of nature as it was merely their instinct.

Ironically they were probably the only land race (except the kitsune) who had no interest in enslaving the other races. Instead they just went out fighting anything that gained their interest which in some ways wasn’t that different to the hunting of the fox tribes. Only real difference was that oni were more akin to a warrior race while the fox were more like hunter-gathers who enjoyed a good challenge when on the prowl.

Still it didn’t change the fact that they openly accused the {Grand Shrine Maiden} of secret sexual relations despite having already swore herself to another.

Another popular theory was that the child was actually part human so would be talentless in the future and the extra tail was from an enhanced tailbone left through genetic redundancy. In other words the tail was completely pointless and offered nothing more; this rumour was one spread among those outside the forest. This tall tale to smear the {Grand Shrine Maiden} was to actually warn about copulation with ‘less beings’ from the lands of both dragons & beasts hence it was the most propagated outside the forests.

“Don’t run too far away from me Alexis~.” <Grand Shrine Maiden>

“Yes mother~!” <Alexis>

The woman in question couldn’t give a hoot about those stupid outsiders nor bothered by the silly bickering of a few mortals who knew no better. While she was slightly displeased with the occasional discussions of the other foxes she paid no mind to them as she was far more focused on her own children. Fortunately for her, even if Alexis was a very ‘honest’ child, she soon grew into the role of a big sister who protected her little brother.

“Ooo~ this one smells really nice so try this brother~!” <Alexis>

“...” <The Victim>

At the moment the large fox sleepily lay in a field of flowers while watching her little son crawl around to smell the floors. Although the baby tod was very calm in his actions the same could not be said for his older sister who was running all around with bottomless energy. She would continuously drag her little brother over to a particular flower she enjoyed the scent of then dart away only to find another ‘fresher’ flower at which point she would drag him over to that one.

Neither of the kits were particularly big, nevertheless, if Alexis was approximately the height of a medium-sized dog then the boy was as small as a dog could be. It was no trouble at all for her to manhandle the poor little tod; quickly he became more of a doll for the excitable girl.

Still the little fox showed no distaste for his sister but seemed already quite used to the girl's overwhelming energy. Seeing the little man being obedient to his older sister made the corners of the mature vixen mouth curl up into a smile - her eyes eagerly following the two as they played around without a care in the world. In truth she was a little worried about her kind hearted son but not worried that he may end up being weak.

Would she prefer if her son was stronger than anyone?

Of course!

Though this wasn’t because she wanted him to seek honour for their family, to claim resources or even to have him fight at all. Rather, all that she wanted was for her children to be able to protect themselves against the harshness she knew existed out there. Fortunately her daughter had shown great talent with the [Spiritual Arts] that even surpassed her as well as any other fox in their long history.

On the other hand her little boy, the little tod, had shown no ability to even sense spiritual energy in the air. She instantly realised that her baby boy had no talent for the [Spiritual Arts] despite her hopes nonetheless at least she knew the two had each other. For the mother as long as her children were safe and enjoying life all was good.

In spite of that, her worries still existed as no power was more reliable than your own power hence it would be massively preferred if he could protect himself. Such thoughts were in the back of her head no matter how long she tried to find distraction from them - at the same time she didn’t want to bring it up to the children themselves. She was already worried enough that the soft hearted boy may be crushed upon hearing how mean everyone was being before even seeing him in person.

With such heavy worries for her baby the vixen’s gaze couldn’t help but gaze towards a lake in the centre of the field. On top of that, in the centre of the lake which is in the centre of the field which was also located in the centre of the oldest forest, there was a little island with a random sword stuck in stone at the top. Looking at that sword she could only narrow her eyes, feeling that it had a strong mysterious aura which she would find dangerous if it wasn’t so divine.

According to legend that sword also could only be drawn by the real king of the world who would help two rival primordial gods bring balance to all of the realms. Considering that was exactly what the foxes themselves wanted it only made sense for them to guard the sword - though apparently no one had no idea who made the sword. The only sign of his production was the initials ‘CJF’ under the hilt.

On top of that powerful divine aura, the holy sword truly looked like a holy sword, it had a silverish blade with a golden pillar coming out the guard to intersect the fuller. Upon the gold was a set of runes which glowed in a magical cyan; the vixen had no what they actually did yet they certainly seemed to be powerful. The sword's hilt itself was wrapped in a darker blue grip between an ornate golden guard and a pommel made from a large blue gem that seemed to glimmer with a holy power which even she couldn’t comprehend.

Looking at that sword she couldn’t help thinking how wonderful it would be if it were her son who drew the sword from the stone, she quickly abandoned that thought. Not because she didn’t believe her son could do it but because she was afraid he really would be able to; causing all of those harsh responsibilities to fall onto his shoulders. It was during that worry that she was forced to widen her eyes as she saw her baby boy stand up on his hind legs to grab a large flower with bow paws in order to bring it to his nose that bent forward.

Although it was true that a kitsune could gain a humanoid from thus allowing them to do the exact same thing… That was only after they transformed into a technically weaker state.

Certainly, a humanoid form had a lot of advantages, yet its raw power as well as speed greatly fell below that of a true form no matter which beast. Meanwhile here her baby boy was suffering from none of the apparent weakness of the humanoid form while keeping all the benefits that they usually claimed in their true forms. In the future he may get bigger however that was only a small weakness that didn’t really matter when fighting within a forest.

At the time her thoughts were running wild she heard the creaking of metal behind herself thus making her quickly turn to look towards the sound only to open her eyes wide. From out the forest approached the familiar humanoid figure of an sex-less metallic snake who she had seen many times before. The snake had even provided many potions which helped taper the annoying parts of pregnancy she was feeling; she likely would’ve mauled those fools who were eyeing her son otherwise.

“It would appear your children are something quite special ohohoho~!” <Dealmaker>

Strangely she didn’t think Tyrant Dealmaker meant that as an offhand compliment so asked in a mixture of suspicion as well as curiosity. Even if the serpent had never harmed them before she could never be careless when it came to the safety of her children.

“Meaning…?” <Grand Shrine Maiden>

“Quite simple; one has endless talent when it comes to the sacred [Spiritual Arts] while the second shows potential as a warrior. Those opposable paws seem to be no mistake in his evolution so perhaps those ten tails truly reveal his level of talent. If you want I could see about bringing him to th-” <Dealmaker>

Against her previous calm appearance she suddenly lifted herself from the ground only to lower her stance as if to pounce while revealing her sharp fangs in full.

“Grrr name why you have come here…” <Grand Shrine Maiden>

The primordial god seed showed no fear though as they tried to calm the fox.

“No need to get worried; I’m merely here looking for a… Well a female Radiant Lion who looks little like a lioness and more like a… I’m not quite sure actually yet that she has black fur, is malnourished and you really couldn’t miss her based on what I’ve heard. It was originally because Gaia asked me to see about helping her out as she was helping mortals with her gaggle of birds who follow her around loyally yet I’m not too sure her motives are pure as Gaia would have liked…” <Dealmaker>

The {Grand Shrine Maiden} was somewhat shocked at the caution in Dealmaker's voice as very rarely had the snake been this careful about anyone. Sure, they would avoid the big hitters out there in the world, yet that was just to avoid trouble. It wasn’t arrogance that they weren’t cautious of those bigwigs but rather showed the capabilities of the slippery serpent.

Despite that; the being far from that scale had this powerful entity truly worried showed the scale of disaster that the lioness could bring forth. This in turn made her remember to perhaps look into the stints of the little cat yet she was not too worried about that at this moment. She was more worried that the being would really take her still weaning baby boy!

“There is no feline like that here…” <Grand Shrine Maiden>

“Well… Just keep an ear to the ground and avoid upsetting the girl as I think she may truly be on the same level as myself in terms of craftiness ohohoho…” <Dealmaker>

Even the serpents iconic laugh seemed less enthusiastic now as their words brought shock to the kitsune yet she was thankful that the being walked away nonetheless.

<I wonder why Tyrant-sama was so worried…>

Neither her nor the serpent realised that an abyssal black raven was silently watching the boy.