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My father quickly flew to our side with Shade the moment the demon was confirmed dead. The two were shocked that we managed to defeat a part of the demon's body as well, but we had to quickly explain him how we did it, alongside how the help of Fenrir was also crucial.
"So that white wolf at the distance…" My father said, as his eyes shone in surprise. "That's a Young Adult Fenrir, huh…"
"It must have just reached its sexual maturity I believe. Probably around two-hundred-year-old. So the Wolf Steppes were being protected by such a beast… I suppose our plan to exterminate the wolves will come to a halt." Said Shade.
"It makes sense now that the wolves haven't invaded the fiefdom." My father said. "It's a Fenrir who's leading them."
"Eh? Why?" I wondered.
"It was already obvious from the beginning, right? Fenrir are very wise and intelligent, they know that messing with humans is not good if they're not crazed lone wolves, this one seems to take his responsibility as the leader of all these wolf packs very seriously. He didn't attacked us before most likely because he didn't wanted to bring danger to his wolves." Said my father. "The two packs that attacked us were most likely brainwashed by the cult."
"Maybe we even did a favor to them by slaying those guys, they would had ended spreading the miasma with the other wolves eventually." Sighed Shade. "Monsters usually act like animals sometimes; it is only when they're affected by high quantities of miasma or come from dungeons directly that they're instantly aggressive. Wolf-type monsters in specific are very intelligent, they know when they can win or not. But still, they're very territorial, so if an adventurer party comes here, they'll get mauled to death. We have to tell the people of the fiefdom to not allow anybody in here if possible, as long as the wolves are not disturbed, they won't attack anybody."
"Yeah, I agree." Said my father.
"The Fenrir acted rather friendly with us." I said.
"Hm, it is still growing… I guess it needed someone to help it hunt the demon tentacle- Wait, right! You did an amazing job there! We seriously didn't thought you guys would be able to do it." My father said.
"Eh? Wow, you have so much faith in your daughter…" I sighed.
"Ah! D-Don't get mad now, Sylphy!" My father cried, trying to appease to me. "Damn, you remind me of your mother…"
"Hmph! We are capable enough! Also the wolf helped us." I said, as I looked at Fenrir from afar. "Bye, Fenrir! Take care!"
"Woof!"
Fenrir answered, and then quickly walked away with thousands of other wolves at his side.
"I suppose you made a valuable friend. Maybe you could come back to see him in the future." Said my father. "Perhaps if you grow strong enough, he might accept to become your Familiar."
"Eh? Really?!" I wondered.
"Fenrir value strength above all so you'll need to be stronger than him." Said Shade.
"Huh… I'll do my best then; I really want a fluffy wolf familiar!" I sighed.
"Hmmm… Well, we know an Ancient Fenrir who had some pups recently, maybe we could get you one like that. But your mother was really against it back then, so I don't know if she would accept now." Said my father.
"Ugh, my mother is such a killjoy…" I sighed.
"Right?" My father seemed to agree.
"Well, anyways. For now, we should get going. We have spent too much time in here and we'll end up worrying everybody in there." Said Shade. "Everything's alright in there though, as we have been guarding the tribe with some of our familiars."
"Yeah." Said my father. "Let's go then."
"Wait, is there no Demon Loot?" I wondered.
"Demon Corpse? No, it is often impossible to craft anything with them, and well, they ended disintegrated. It is better to turn the True Demons into ashes than let them hang in this world with a piece of their bodies." Said my father.
"Hmm… I wonder what was the plan on using that giant demon." I sighed.
"We'll ask the perpetrators themselves later, we first have to extract the bombs from their bodies so they don't blow themselves up." Shade answered.
Like that, we peacefully went back home. No wolves annoyed us, although we could sense their stares from the distance. When we arrived at home, it was already getting dark outside. This whole trip was already incredible, we fought many strong monsters, trained, and even exceeded our limits… It was indeed a good training. When I am with my father, there's no day that it isn't fun, I guess.
But despite all of that, the background of everything that happened is rather dark. The cultists are probably not the only ones there. They were too few. This place was probably something like one of their small hideouts where they did experiments and prepared something. But I'm sure there might be more of them elsewhere, somewhere…
For now, as I rested inside of my tent before dinner, I decided to take a bath. Aquarina and Zack went to do the same thing, they were all just as exhausted as I was. As I relaxed in the warm water and caressed my little body with soap and a sponge, I looked into the System Notifications I've been ignoring for a bit…
Ding!
[Calculating Total EXP Earned…]
[You defeated [True Flesh Demon's Living Tentacle] x1]
[Your Party has defeated the [True Flesh Demon] x1]
[You earned 155000 EXP]
[Ignatius] earned 273000 EXP]
[Ignatius] reached Level 7!]
[Ignatius] reached Level 8!]
[Ignatius] reached Level 9!]
[Ignatius] reached Level 10!]
[Naturia] earned 273000 EXP]
[Naturia] EXP will be stockpiled until it can be redistributed after evolving.]
[Naturia] can now Evolve.]
"Wow… I earned 155k EXP and Ignatius is already at Level 9? This is nice… You're pretty strong now, right?" I wondered, as I saw Ignatius swimming in the warm water, he was warming it up with his natural heat.
"Hm, I feel like I'll evolve into my Adult Form in no time!" He said pridefully.
"Foo! FOO!" Naturia was annoying me once more to make her evolve.
"Alright, alright~ I guess it is a nice time for you to evolve! Let's see what you become!" I said, as I pressed the [Evolve Naturia] button in front of me.
Naturia quickly began to shine bright gold.
FLASH!
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