Chapter 136 - Dream

Now in the real world, Ethan, who had kept his eyes closed, now opened them slightly before glancing at the fox in his arms.

The seriousness of her injuries, brought his expression to harden as he could clearly see they were even more serious than he had imagined.

'I have no idea what happened, but I... have to save her.'

From his previous world, Ethan has always liked to take care of animals. In fact, even if he never had the experience of having an animal all to himself, an animal in the condition of the fox in his arms, he had always seen it a bit as fantasy, as something that he would never have to see in front of him.

In fact, Ethan could only hold the fox tighter to himself, as if he was trying to use his body heat, to warm the cold, and almost extinguished heart of the latter...

But this, didn't last long as, his first objective was still to save her. Opening the shop, Ethan didn't even spare a glance at the panel appeared next to him as, he thought of a potion that would bring her back in optimal condition before directly buying it.

---

[Witch's Healing Potion]

A miraculous potion created by a witch of the World 1999. It's able to heal most of the wounds, normally fatal, in seconds, using a rare material from the mysterious cave of the city of Inari. Effective only on beings from the world 1999.

---

At the description of the potion, Ethan couldn't help but frown as, turning his head for a moment to look at the panels, he saw that another one was beneath the item.

[{World 1999} Unlocked as a Shop category]

[Warning: For the subject for which the object is intended, it is recommended to use objects from the world 1999]

Finding himself now, with even more doubts in his head, Ethan sighed as he took a look at the potion that had been given to him at the cost of 150,000SP...

Although the colour of the compound was a rather odd shade of green, Ethan knew that the system would specify whether the potion was lethal, which could actually be for him, given that as indicated, it was only for people from the world 1999....

But, he decided not to think about trivial details. Seeing that the potion was without any kind of protective cap, led him to a small dilemma since he had no way to open her mouth.

Obviously, this was not enough to shake him, in fact he quickly resolved by leaning his back against the wall, and, by lowering slowly, Ethan brought his knees to the ground, before sitting completely on it as, now sit with his legs loosely crossed and both feet resting below the opposite knee, he laid down in the most gentle way he could master the fox's head on his right knee.

Now with the chance to release the fox, Ethan let her sit on his legs and, although her fur was rather soft, Ethan decided to ignore this little detail before gently trying to open the fox's mouth.

Succeeding smoothly, he brought the potion close to her mouth as he raised it slightly, so that it would be easier for her to drink the potion...

---

Slowly opening her eyes, Maple found herself in front of the place that until before the catastrophe, she could call home.

'Am I..dead..?'

Strangely, she remembered very well everything that had happened before her 'death', but she wasn't able to define why she was in front of her house...

Taking a look, Maple could see that the gold-coloured walls shone even more than normal, since beyond the house, nothing else was visible on the horizon, the dark lilac of the roof, her window, recognizable by the drawing that her mother had helped her to make on it, the inscription [Moonflame] wrapped in flames called [Inextinguishable] created by the Queen for each direct lineage descending from it, and according to their elements...

That, indeed, was all she could see in that darkness, but although that was the case, Maple's memories, relating to what had happened to her a second ago, were so heartbreaking that her legs, suddenly felt weak while her eyes, now were full of tears that, once they fell from her face, directly hit the intense darkness that was also the ground, generating a small stench...

'I..didn't want to die..so soon..'

She had a dream to realize, this was what Maple had in mind. She still had so much to discover about the world, she also knew that one day, although the difficulties just discovered related to her weak affinity, she would still have given the best for what was her own people...

---

From Ethan's point of view, he saw how her paws, previously completely crushed, had now returned to normal and, this was enough to point out to Ethan, now that her life was no longer in danger, the various details.

In fact, taking a quick look, Ethan noticed that the legs, were towards the tips of a very bright white, but the closer they got to the body, the more they became of a red colour, which vaguely reminded him of an autumn leaf.

But that's not all he could see. The point he was intrigued the most, was the tail, since he could feel the level of softness that it possessed, but he decided to wait to 'verify' this kind of things, since in his mind, though unconsciously, He was comparing the fox he had on his legs to any fox living in his previous world, which was 100% an animal, but what Ethan didn't know was that he's going to be very wrong in this aspect of the fox...

Seeing that she was opening her eyes, a smile slowly formed on his lips as he was ready - in his mind - for any eventuality.

Noticing the colour of her eyes was a very bright gold, combined with the particular shade of red which also covered most of her body, Ethan could not help but think of how similar their eyes were, but this was something that was not important, in fact Ethan, wanted to see if she could speak in his own language.

"...How do you feel?"

Trying to use the softest, and gentlest tone he could manage to, Ethan knew that, not knowing anything about this fox, she could have any kind of reaction, and expected some form of it, but, he could see how she just stared at him as, her dull eyes slowly gained colour, and, realizing that she was on top of a human, she immediately regained her balance before moving from above him rather quickly and abruptly while, Ethan could see how the fox crouched near him, with her head between her paws while looking down, as if asking for forgiveness.

Furrowing his brows, Ethan immediately brought his hand to her fur before he began to c.a.r.e.s.s it. From this little action - although he didn't fully understand it - Ethan came to a conclusion rather quickly.

'..She isn't an enemy...'

Although he could not take it 100% for granted, Ethan decided not to pay attention to this for the time being while, the fact she didn't respond, made him realize she probably wasn't able to understand it.

"..I see. If it's the case, I wonder if she knows any kind of language, or if she's just a normal fox..but, this fur.."

While he said this, Maple was deeply puzzled by what was happening. In fact, since Ethan did not come from the World 1999, he was not aware that hers and his own actions, were definitely interpreted differently than what he himself thought as 'normal'

Maple had tried to, in addition to expressing her immense gratitude for being saved, also the fact that she would have to seek consent before she could make Ethan, a member of the Moonflame family. From the world in which she comes in fact, for a human, becoming a family member was impossible. The only cases in which humans were actually able to enter the family were only when foxes were saved, as in this case, by a human, or in other special situations, such as for political reasons.

But Ethan's gesture of gently c.a.r.e.s.sing her on the fur meant that he was the one feeling gratitude, which didn't make much sense, but his delicate touch, after all the catastrophes she suffered, led Maple to simply remain still to enjoy the warmth of a hand. This is because even the fact that a human, had saved a fox, brought her trust in him to be already rather high as the event alone was really rare, considering the fact humans weren't nearly strong enough to 'normally' save a fox, and Maple knew how hard the human in front of her must have tried to save her, from the fact she's still alive, and that she doesn't have a single wound.

Her little doubt was immediately clarified by the empty potion he had laid on the ground. In fact, Maple - who was aware of the witches - knew how high the cost of one of those potions could be...

'Using such a high-grade potion on a stranger..I can't believe I was saved by someone so kind...'

Maple, would never have believed that such an event could occur, in fact, as she had already been accustomed to knowing, humans were known to be rather cruel, which her mother had always warned her. Although weaker than foxes, before they knew about it, they always tried to enslave foxes for their own convenience, and this is something that all foxes could never forget.

But, it was also true, that her mother had added that not all humans would follow the same reasoning, which eventually led them to oversee what happened for the sake of peace...

'This human, must necessarily be rewarded...'

Even if Maple was barely four years old, that didn't mean she couldn't already think about diplomatic issues. In fact, despite being able to m.a.t.u.r.e rather quickly, the foxes of the world 1999 had a life expectancy around 130-140 years, this just thanks to the blessing of the Queen, given even to foxes whose lineage wasn't related to that of the queen at all, but the effect, of course, was weaker, just as it was even weaker when given to a different race. The Queen's blessing worked out of affinity, precisely because she was a kind person, but tended to create incorrigible favouritism, which she absolutely didn't want...

As these thoughts assaulted her mind, the warmth of Ethan's hands soon led her to wag her tail subconsciously as this reaction, seen by Ethan, brought his smile, from the natural one he had before, to one of happiness, as if the dawning of spring, just to show its warm colours to the world.

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(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox))

(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my ******* here. w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)

(Yes, if you're wondering, the real plot begins now. From the poll on discord, I chose to begin with it, instead of going for the long explanation. In my discord, you'll find the way it would have developed if you chose the first option)

(Alternate Titles: "Maple, You misunderstood a little... I mean... maybe not", "First Encounter - First Thoughts - First Maple's fur verification... good job, Ethan!", "Humans - some are kind to make good deeds no one else would do, others cruel as few, I still see no middle ground between the two.)