We had decided to take the Aurelia river and take the branch of the river that would go into the Aquini Kingdom. Since the border is heavily guarded, we will have to take a subaquatic route. Greg was acting like a baby a day after he told Raishin and I to grow up. How the tables have turned.


    We were walking on the bottom of the river with Raishin’s [Airball] around us and I was controlling the water around the bubble with water leyline to make sure the current didn’t sweep us up and ejected us out of the water. Well, the water will eject me because I’m so light.


    I think I found the reason why Greg can’t swim. He seems to be denser than a human. But he still weighed as much as one. I wonder how this works. He is a certified hammer. Not sure if he can swim even if he learned how to. Shadowcats are such weirdos.


    You’re thinking about something rude, aren’t you?


    Not really.


    I thought about him getting swept away by the current.


    No reaction. So, he can’t read minds after all.


    Hey that fish looks funny!


    I [flushed] it into our bubble and inspected it.


    I don’t think it’s a real fish.


    Huh? But it looks like a fish…rabbit.


    Well as far as my eyes can tell me this is a rabbit.


    Maybe it’s like that lobster with wings!


    Hmm, it does look like it yeah, I wouldn’t recommend eating it.


    I released the fish…rabbit, and it clumsily swam past. The urge to eat it came up but my eyes told me that this creature was highly suspicious and that eating this might be a bad idea.


    What’s happening with the animals on this continent?


    No clue, let’s delegate this problem to the humans. This is something they can perfectly deal with… probably.


    How are they supposed to unrabbit that fish?


    You mean unfish that rabbit but I don’t know! But that’s the thing, we don’t know either so since we have our hands full the humans can take this problem!


    Yeah! Finding girlfriends for you 2 is almost impossible! Greg doesn’t seem to realize he has a stalker and you reject anything that becomes something.


    Huh, a stalker?


    You don’t see that chick in a diving suit over there?


    Raishin pointed at the stalker who was struggling to swim against the current.


    What is she doing here?


    Good luck Raishin, you have your work cut out for you.


    You could at least make it easier for me by just accepting the next chick I find for you.


    I will think about it.


    We had successfully passed the border but the stalker wasn’t so lucky and got caught. Raishin wanted to help her but we would also get caught if we did and thus, Greg escaped his stalker.


    We surfaced and found us inside the Aquini Jungle. it reminded me of my first home in the jungle. I wonder if there are jungle dragons here. There should also be elves here. We’re far from Eslana village. It would be awkward if I got spotted by them.


    Guys, we have a problem. Something has locked on to… Raishin and me. Why not on you Agnis?


    I’m kinda invisible to jungle dragons and elves, good luck!


    I went into stealth and heard Greg whisper ‘asshole’.


    A jungle dragon appeared. He was older than the Asshole that I turned into ash.


    “Leave humans!” he said that in Draconian of course because only Vinny and I guess Inyr bothered to learn Kaledonian. How do they expect humans to understand them if they don’t speak a language they can understand.


    “Hmm you guys have a strange sound.” Again, Greg and Raishin couldn’t understand it and they got battle ready.


    “Hey, are you 2 really humans? You do look like humans. State your race!” I facepalmed. When is this idiot going to realize that Raishin and Greg don’t understand him. I decided to help this clown dragon.


    My appearance startled him. “Whoa! I didn’t see you human!”


    You’re such an idiot, you know humans don’t speak Draconian! Talking to them in Draconian isn’t going to achieve anything!


    “Ha! You’re wrong! Look you understand me so that’s not true!” I pointed to the 2 tails I had out.


    Look! Take a good look! Does this look human to you?


    “A new subspecies?”


    Oh my god! This dragon is retarded too!


    “Hah! I graduated the 12th best of my dragon class I will have you know!”


    There is so much to comment on… how many members did your class have?


    “11…”


    What? Huh? You know what? It doesn’t matter! We’re not humans! See these tails? See the tails of my friends?!


    “So, they didn’t want to let me in their class because they thought they were too good for me so I just joined them.”


    Aand… he’s not listening. Ok Plan B! I could use some more dragonbeard!


    I got Shirayuki out and approached the dragon.


    “Hey, wait! Ok sorry! I’m listening! I don’t want to fight! I pulled a muscle yesterday!”


    I didn’t care and attacked the dragon with the intention of trimming its beard. It was… easy.


    He looked in the reflection of the river. “Oh, I look quite handsome now, thank you!”


    What was that even about?


    A headache, trust me Greg, you don’t know what he is saying…


    “Hey, can you also massage my pulled muscle?”


    Hey, Greg, do you know a method to unlearn a language?


    Is it that bad?


    I nodded. We kept aimlessly walking and the dragon followed us.


    “Hey, you smell familiar.”


    I stopped.  You… I didn’t hide my smell, only now you comment on it?


    “I thought you were in the relaxation industry, trimming my beard, massaging my pulled muscle and some aromatic treatment. I thought it was part of the package.”


    I banged my head on a tree.


    Agnis! What are you doing!


    I’m trying to forget the draconian language!


    Whoa! Noo! Chicks won’t like you if you turn stupid!


    Raishin and Greg tried to stop me and I pointed at the dragon.  Talking to them makes me stupid!


    “I will just visit Neia; her relaxation treatment includes more than just trimming my beard. It is expensive though… how is a dragon supposed to get his claws on silver…”


    Greg, can I turn this dragon into ash?! He’s pissing me off!


    You can’t just burn any dragon you come across!


    I know! But I can do that to those I can actually beat!


    Fair point but at least stop banging your head into the tree.


    Blood trickled down my face. This stupid green overgrown lizard is just being a stereotype dragon and only be situationally useful.


    Dumbass! Bring us to Neia! You could have told us from the start. I swear I’m so close to turning you into fertilizer!


    “Oh right! I forgot to add fertilizer to my orchids, can we take a short stop by my lair?”


    I created an uncontrolled [Fireball].  So, you have chosen to become fertilizer for your orchids?


    Whoa Agnis chill! This dragon must be really annoying for you to flare up!


    “Ok! Sorry! Follow me!” He took off and flew away at high speed, leaving us behind.


    Oh shit!


    Greg put up a big [Shadow Wall] to block the [Flare] I had aimed at this shitty dragon. Does he realize that we can’t fly?! He is making me miss Io. I thought about it for a bit. Nope not missing Io.


    I tracked this Dumbass down and we found ourselves in front of an enormous pink lotus floating on a lake. It seemed to be a building made as a lotus or a lotus made into a building. I detected countless layers of illusions on it.


    Whoa!


    This is remarkable!


    So many illusion layers, this is the work of a 9t, no doubt.


    We walked toward the entrance for non-flying lizards.


    I became a bit nervous. My race is quite problematic, for reasons why other people find me problematic.


    Whoa are we in heaven?


    The inside was of course bigger than the outside suggested. It looked like some sort of spa or beauty parlor. The smell of aromatic oils and lotus was tickling our nose. The theme of this place seemed to be pink and gold. There were female 9t everywhere. Most seemed to be well put together illusions or clones. I could identify 36 individual 9t.


    Is this where the majority of my race is hanging out? If we’re getting close to the double digits then these are hogging a third.


    It took a while for them to notice us. They were tending to many different races including humans.


    Hah! Finding a girlfriend for you might not be so hard after all!


    This place is well put together. The energy flow here is unique, anything that wants to start trouble gets immediately kicked out. Yet there is still elegance to this place. So, this is how your race truly is?


    Hey how should I know? I don’t have a big sample size to go by.


    I could pick up various smells which weren’t from this place. Most smelled like scented fire, none smelled like rain. 2 smelled like an ocean breeze. So, there is variety in this.


    “Excuse me. Can I help you?” A pink with blue haired vixen in a pink and gold kimono approached us. She had 8 tails out and her ears were also pink. I assume she doesn’t have her 9th tail yet. She looked at my blue ears and gasped.


    “Please! Come with me! I will bring you to mother. Yue! Can you take over for me?”


    Uhh, we’re just here to look for someone.


    The pink haired chick grabbed my hand and led me to a room made out of petals.


    “Mom! Look who has finally paid us a visit!”


    Huh, you expected me?


    Someone approached the door made out of a light pink petals.


    “My friend Inyr said that you would pay a visit, that was almost 2 years ago though.” A vixen that resembled Norya opened the door and spread her arms. “Hey there sweetie, give your auntie a hug!”


    Auntie? You’re not my auntie, right?


    “I’m good friends with Edea, I might as well be your auntie!” I gave her an awkward hug.


    Psst, Greg, look at that figure!


    You know that foxes have good ears and that she probably heard you right?


    Oh shit!


    “And you must be Gregory and Raishin! Welcome to my Lotus Garden! I am Neia Mikazuki, but you probably already knew that.”


    I looked at the woman who claimed to be my auntie. She had pink blonde hair that ended in pink. She had a body type like any other vixen; made to seduce. Raishin was having a lot of trouble in trying to control his stares. I was in the same boat.


    I was shattering illusions to get rid of the charm magic flying around.


    Neia noticed and the charm magic assault became bearable. “Oh, sorry, I forgot that the men of our race are especially susceptible to charm magic.”


    Ugh, this is a feature and not my personal weakness?


    “Well of course, how else are we supposed to seduce our oblivious male counterparts? Come on in we have a lot to talk about!”


    Neia and her daughter sat us on pink flower chairs. Normally, I would feel uncomfortable in this environment but I didn’t. I am safe here, right?


    I looked at Neia’s full and fluffy tails waving around. It seemed a bit hypnotic. Is this how the humans feel about my tails? I had to control myself.


    “So how come it took you so long to visit me dear Agnis?”


    Uhh, I forgot.


    I apologize on his behalf. This guy is quite forgetful.


    Hey Neia! I’m looking for someone to be his gir…


    I stuffed my tail in Raishin’s mouth and took something out my dimensional pocket.


    Before I forget. Some guy named uhh I think it was Shimmy Fishfingers gave me this. It’s Norya’s tail ring.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    She accepted it with a saddened face.


    “Oh Norya… Thank you”


    Is something wrong? Hasn’t she returned yet?


    “Norya, my eldest daughter got sealed away by that bitch goddess almost a millennia ago. I couldn’t find where she was sealed away. Poor child…”


    Huh? I released her from her seal like 2 years ago. She didn’t return home?


    She looked up. “You freed her? Oh, thank you!” I got a vixen hug with tails and all. She cried a bit but this was of happiness making it was a bit awkward.


    “Oh, I’m sorry.” She wiped off her tears with a tail and freed me. “If she is up and about then that’s good. She must have probably found a place to rest and prepare a revenge plan.”


    Uhh, she did this thing to give us amnesia. After I broke her out the tomato goddess came after us. She used I think [Temporal Severance] or something. So, she might not remember.


    “Oh, that is fine, if you remember then she will probably too. Maybe not now but soon. Soo my little girl is fine.”


    I have a question.


    “Shoot away, nephew.”


    Nephew? Ehh well do you have an idea what happened to Hourai?


    Well, wasn’t her mother bonded to your gramps’ brother? You 2 are actually related.


    “Oh, you know something about our family I don’t know!”


    Greg and I briefly explained what had happened to us in the Spirit Library and I showed her the book with our grandparents in it.


    “Oh… I wish I remembered my mother… I was only 9 human years old when the Great Eraser happened. I don’t remember much from before it even if I tried. I only remember the name of my parents. I don’t know why they had disappeared after my little brother was born… Do you know if Viridian and his little girl have escaped?”


    I don’t know about Viridian but my intuition is telling me Hisui is fine. I get chills through my spine every time that name drops so I’m sure she’s alive and well.


    “That’s good to hear. Now about Hourai. I don’t know what happened to it unfortunately. I do know where it was supposed to be though. I had moved out of Hourai 1023 years ago to live down here and I have made trips back. Hourai isn’t where it’s supposed to be… do you mind if I link you up Agnis?”


    I nodded. She held my head with both her hands and tapped her forehead on mine and the link was made.


    Whoa that was fast and easy.


    Just like when Norya linked me up hundreds of filters I wasn’t familiar with appeared. I archived these before she removed it to make it easier on me. She shared a strange looking dimensional map with me.


    Holy shit! Is this how our dimension looks like?


    “It''s incomplete but yes, this is simplified to accommodate the ‘House’ analogy, have you heard about it?”


    Oh, we have heard about it yes, we are familiar with it.


    I linked Greg and Raishin up.


    Ooh it looks a bit like a house just spherical, and bigger, and the rooms look weird…


    It looks nothing like a house but the concepts are the same.


    “Over here is where Hourai is supposed to be. Near the edge. Its purpose wasn’t only to save and isolate mythical and legendary species. Me and your mother had created it at that exact spot because the wall of the ‘House’ there would periodically fail. So, by being next to it we could easily deal with whatever tried to get in.” She removed the small bubble which represented Hourai and revealed the hole it left behind.


    Do... do you think they got forced out? Or are they still within the ‘House’?


    “I don’t know sorry, any attempt on locating it has ended in failure on our part. The fact remains that there is a large hole there, and nothing to stop anything from coming in. We are severely shorthanded on members to fight off whatever is leaking in from the hole Hourai’s disappearance had left behind.” She pulled up her kimono a bit and revealed an ugly scar that seemed to be corrupted on her leg.


    “This happened 3 years ago. The strength of those that come in aren’t my biggest problem. It’s the sheer amount of them that flood in. I lost 3 of my daughters…”


    No…


    Is your leg, ok?


    “I don’t know, I might have to cut my leg off to make it regenerate properly but I haven’t had the resolve to do that.”


    It’s not putting your life in danger, right?


    “It’s not, it is slowly corrupting my mana though. I can’t command the same amount of mana as I used to.”


    I sighed and walked over to her.


    Agnis?


    We can’t afford for the strongest vixen on the Mainfloor to be like this. I’m sorry Neia but I’m going to be a bit forceful.


    Neia didn’t seem to resist and even showed a subtle smile. I pulled up her kimono and looked at her leg. I could see the corrupted mana spread from the wound into her body. It was bad but not to the point that it was irreversible.


    Nilah!


    I took Shirayuki out my dimensional pocket and she turned into her fox form


    “Oh, my, is that a [Pneuma Boreas]? It looks vastly different than I remember.”


    You’ve seen it before?


    “I don’t know, it’s the only skill I can think of when thinking about my mother’s friend, your grandfather Alep.”


    I focused on the wound and all the corrupted mana in Neia’s system. I covered my hand I frost and pulled it out of her. I sent it to Nilah which turned it into mana that wasn’t harmful.


    “So, this is Pagos.”


    I had pulled al the corrupted mana out of her body but the wound was still generating corrupted mana.


    Nilah! Sword! I’m sorry Neia, this is going to hurt.


    I placed the blade on her leg. She nodded and put a tail in her mouth. I cut her leg off and covered it in frost.


    Meets his auntie for the first time and cuts her leg off… I think you’re the craziest guy in our group now Agnis!


    It’s for her own good!


    Neia was in pain but she smiled through it. “Thank you. I would have walked around with this longer that I should have.”


    Didn’t your daughters say anything?


    “I raised them a bit too well, they listen to anything I say. It backfired because my resolve on fixing this problem was weak… thank you Agnis. Do you mind continuing this talk later? I need to lay down a bit. Treat this place as your home and go meet your cousins. Medea, make them feel at home, as you’ve heard they are from Hourai and one of us. Notify your sisters.”


    Rest well.


    I’m sorry for his forcefulness.


    Auntiecutter


    I smacked Raishin and we got lead out of the room.


    Hello Medea, I’m Agnis.


    I held out my hand and she looked at me quite confused.


    “Oh, that’s how the humans do it!” She shook my hand which was laced with charm.


    This place is dangerous. Is this why there are so few men of our race?


    Uh how do we normally do this then?


    She held out 2 hands forward and 2 tails extended towards me. “Copy me and press your hands into mine and press 2 of your tails into mine.”


    I copied her.


    “Now exchange your thoughts through your tails” I did so and it allowed me to introduce myself better than I ever could verbally. The same was for Medea.


    Wow this is extremely efficient. Thank you!


    Oooh! Me too!


    “I don’t mind but this is only effective within our own race.” Medea did this with Raishin but they still had to exchange words, same with Greg.


    Medea was 192 years old. Her mother named her after my mother. From what I know now she shares some similarities. She’s fulfilling her duties while still being cheerful and playful.


    “My sisters are quite busy; a troublesome dragon friend had arrived and they’re having their tails full dealing with him. It doesn’t help that he only speaks draconian and doesn’t bother learning Kaledonian…”


    Ah that dumbass! I still have to kick his ass! Do you mind if I help out a bit?


    Medea flashed a malicious smile. “Oh, I’m going to like this. Let’s go!”


    Let’s show him to not mess with us!


    I’m not sure if I should stop them or if this is normal. Medea seems on board with this… Maybe this is a nine tailed spirit fox thing


    … Let’s go Greg! I want to see how this works out! We also need to scout for Agnis’ girlfriend! That Medea chick looks nice. But damn everyone here has a nice body!


    I think it’s a racial trait just like the males of your race are all goofy.


    Hey I’m not goofy!


    Sure…


    I arrived at a hall where the Dumbass was thrashing around and causing trouble for 3 vixens.


    Well, well who do we have here, did you come here to misbehave and give these chicks hell?


    “Oh, it’s you again! Are you coming to help them massage my pulled muscle?”


    You do know that they can’t understand a word of what you’re saying right?


    “Why is that? You understand me perfectly fine.”


    Yes, but I’m not a good representation of my race… these ladies here, are. If you cause a fuss, I’m going to kick you out!


    “But what about my massage?


    Cancelled until you learn to speak Kaledonian.


    “Ugh, but nobody has time for that!”


    You... you can’t be serious! If you were a human, cool that could work. But you’re a dragon you basically have unlimited time…


    “Ah, so hey, can you massage me?”


    I exhaled and walked toward the Dumbass.


    Open your mouth.


    The dumbass opened his mouth and I emptied 3 jars of my secret weapon into it.


    “Hmmfp! Aaah what is this! My nose!” I connected to the leyline currents and used [Ice Dragon Dance] and restrained his movements with the ice dragons coiling around him.


    Any last words before I send you off?


    “Aah this is too strong! It stings! It stings more than the words of my ex!”


    Right, enjoy your flight…  I shifted my stance and used [Waterspout] and launched him through a window out of the lotus to who knows where.


    Good riddance. I’m sorry for that dumbass, I should have used [Flare] on his ass.  The 3 vixens looked at me as if I was speaking in Hourai but I was speaking in Draconian.


    Sorry my bad, mistakes of a polyglot. I’m Ag…


    I took the stance Medea told me and they reciprocated.


    “I liked how you dealt with the troublesome customer!”


    “He always does that!”


    “Are you staying for long and are you single?”


    This new method of introducing myself was quite effective, it made it instantly seem like we knew each other for a long time. I wonder why Neia didn’t introduce herself like that.


    They talked to us about how this place worked. They had infinite space and could create rooms or remove rooms whenever they wanted with illusions. They had massages, pools, baths, a place where people could exercise. But also, a bar, a place to hold the infamous ‘Party’ and also places where their sisters would dance or sing or just talk to customers.


    They were all abusing their good looks to squeeze money out of the customers but the customers all loved it so they keep coming back for more. I suspect that the charm magic that’s everywhere here is playing a big role. Even women are getting trapped by it.


    I think this is the kind of place that if you come here once you will keep returning until the day you die. My race is scary. But I would probably do something similar if I had to spend a prolonged amount of time as Agnès Oures. I wanted to know more about my race but it seems this can wait. I introduced myself to more of Medea’s sisters.


    So apparently Neia is saving our numbers problem by just having a lot of children. Most seem to be pure 9t but some are hybrid. The most problematic one was one that was half vixen half succubus. And also, the first one to actively blast me with charm magic. I can’t say I’m surprised, what did surprise me was that it took so long for one to do this.


    What in Hourai’s name was Neia thinking creating a kid with an incubus! Aylena please!


    “Do you think I’m just going to let you go? Mother has been trying to get a boy for the longest of time, they’re rare for a reason!”


    I had made frost dragons swirl around me to make sure I didn’t get affected by Aylena. As I had mentioned before, I’m just as shallow as Raishin so one good hit by her charm attacks and I probably would end up as her boyfriend.


    How about this! If you stop, I will show you something cool!


    “You can also show me after we have bonded.”


    She has a point you know!


    Hey assholes aren’t you supposed to help? I’m under attack!


    I don’t know, isn’t this how 9t do things Greg?


    I don’t know but from what I remember it seems so.


    And why don’t I know anything about that?


    You did remember the talk we had in Boshi town, right? That races with low female population have the males hunt down partners while the reverse is the case. So, enjoy getting hunted down until you settle.


    What about your race?! You are also low on males!


    I will deal with that when the time comes.


    So useless!


    I evaded a swarm of pink lotus petals. She was way more adept at using her tails and she cheated with teleports and tried to close in. She was 99 years old but despite her age one of the strongest of the 42 daughters Neia had. It was probably because she had a strong drive. Not just to fight.


    Ugh, fine have it your way! Nilah!


    Shirayuki turned into her fox again and started her [Tail Dynamo] and turned the hall into a mana free zone. All of Aylena’s magic skills dropped so I could relax. I did get grabbed by her tails though.


    “Perfect, it would be boring if this was too easy.”


    You know, you are scarier than most opponents I’ve fought before.


    “Don’t worry, I will give you enough time to change your mind. I will take him for today sisters! Don’t waste this opportunity!”


    Hey Greg, any chance that Neia has recovered already?


    Nope. Go make us proud!


    Asshole!


    I got brought to Aylena’s room. She closed the door and released me.


    “Sorry, I had to be a bit forceful there, many of my sisters were thinking the same thing. But because I’m half ninetail and half succubus I had to work hard to control my… desires. I did mean everything there just now but I’m confident in being able to control myself, I’m not sure about my sisters.”


    Hmm that was unexpected. I appreciate it. But why would you do that, we just met and realistically speaking it would benefit you if we bonded.


    “It will only be beneficial in the short term. It’s not going to be a great bond if it gets established like that. Just like how males of other races see their females as objects of desire and occasionally don’t take note of their wants and dreams, we have that with you. You are our object of desire and we might ignore your wants and dreams in the process. From your introduction it’s clear you don’t know anything about us as a race. I can relate as a hybrid. I have problems my sisters don’t have, it’s as if I’m a completely different race.” She played with her dark pink hair that had black highlights.


    “I don’t know how long you will stay here but you’re welcome to stay here forever, I wouldn’t recommend this though. We emit charm magic as easily as you breathe.”


    Yeah, I had suspected that races like ours might be my biggest weakness.


    “I have heard you helped mother with her leg. Thank you. Is there anything I can do for you? I will give you anything you want, even if its myself.” Her eyes flashed pink purple for a second.


    Ehm. Well, what do you know about fixing the dimensional fabric?


    “Hmm, not much sorry, my mother, Norya and Saya are the only one who are old enough to know so you will have to ask them sorry. We learn that when we turn 3 years old, which is 729 Kaledonian years, did you know that?”


    I nodded.


    Aylena had several moments where she wanted to say something, started a sentence but then fell silent.


    “My sister, Norya, is she ok?”


    I don’t know sorry, she seemed to be fine after I unsealed her. I will look for her on the next full moon. Oh, do you know what a Lunar fox is?


    “What?”


    I guess that’s a no…


    We kept talking till it was night time. She was a cool vixen but it did seem like she was undressing me with her eyes from time to time. I guess it’s hard for her to fight her nature. It should be easy for me to get a room because they make them here with illusions.


    I fled before Aylena would lose control and made my own room which had no pink. I had seen a bit too much pink today. Not all of Neia’s daughters were pink 9t foxes but the vast majority were. I checked on Greg and Raishin. Raishin was enjoying a sensual massage and Greg was talking to one of the sisters.


    Besides the charm magic that was permeating this place, it wasn’t so bad.