Late at night, Sulus, the legendary Fox Clan member from the Royal Court, was resting with his eyes closed inside a small tent at the very center of the beastmen camp. Like Suvila, the seven-tailed Fox Clan Master, he had concealed his true form and used only dream magic to control a Human Race representative through whom he communicated with the outside world.
The stronger a Fox Clan beastman's soul was, the frailer their body tended to be, and the more easily they became targets coveted by stronger beings. Thus, powerful Fox Clan members sought Elf patrons among the southern Elf tribes or became pets in the Human Race Empire—both were highly effective means of self-preservation.
Just as Sulus was preparing to contact the Fox God, he suddenly sensed mind magic from one of his own kind approaching his camp.
"Heh heh, what tender little brat is this, daring to run wild on this old man's turf?"
He casually sniffed through the Magic Web and discovered that he actually knew this intruder.
"Could it be... Sonitu's little granddaughter?" Sulus guessed the truth and said with a smile, "I heard long ago that some Legend had taken a fancy to that little girl and made her a pet. Never thought she'd grown so capable now—actually daring to raid a camp!"
In the legendary fox's eyes, since Fanil had become some Legend's pet, she had found herself a way out. Even if they now served different masters, they ought to have kept to their own waters without offending one another. Yet entering the Beastmen Royal Court's camp right beneath his nose was simply overestimating herself.
At night, countless sentient dreams were like brilliant yet fleeting bubbles. Beneath those bubbles lay an abyss nourished by the collective unconscious; the stillness upon the water