Once upon a time- Hehe, sorry... I got a little too poetic there~! Either way, back in the past before the time Alex was born on Gaia, there existed a Mercenary who was famed as a great Fighter.
And by 'Fighter', I mean the name of her Class was called as such. It was a Common Class nobody would see anything special about unlike the Rare Class of Brawler or Magister. Not much to see..:
However, this particular woman gained a name for herself despite the torturous odds against her.
It was through dedicating herself wholly to master her ordinary Class Skill: 'Close Combat'.
Hard work allowed her to breath life into the Skill.
This caused her to indirectly lose out on the things other girls her own age experienced in their youth.
She never knew the closeness of a friend or the fun of playing with dolls as a young girl...
In fact, all she had was the martial arts she dedicated herself in practicing for years with great devotion to her craft. She was an inspirational woman. A Fighter who many men felt inferior to.
Though that was due to their own lack of diligence in training to fulfil the 'Role' Gaia had given them.
She had drive to achieve what she was born for.
In human society of this world, there was no such thing as 'aspiring to work towards q dream job'...
Their future was predefined the moment they became aware of their Class at a young age.
A fate set by Gaia...
Who needed dreams when you knew what your fate would be? What was the point of wanting more when the people had enough to be content with their lives... without being too envious or greedy?
Those with non-combat related Classes like the Educator Class were destined to become great teachers or tutors. Especially to those of standing people born into 'Nobility'; Those who'd give birth to someone of a Rare Class each generation.
Dragoons, Samurais, Ninjas, all these classes beside the Warrior or Mage Class... were usually destined to surpass their peers in the aspect they excelled in. They were 'Rarer' talents, after all.
The only exception to this unspoken rule being the people who worked infinitely harder than others.
Those who found a loophole in 'the system' that could allow even them to become famous figures.
Back to the main point: This mercenary woman wasn't the type who was quite and strict despite her devotion to training. Instead, the Mercenary woman was really outspoken and straightforward about her morals than others would let on.
She wasn't prejudice against Beasts and had no animosity towards one of her friends, who turned out to actually be a werewolf in disguise; a Beast or so-called 'Fiend' from a Royal Clan of Beasts.
The two of them actually hit it off after their first meeting in the Dark Forest. It was a jungle that seemed to cover any place where there wasn't either a official road protected by Mercenaries, or a human settlement like small towns and villages.
Although the Mercenary woman wasn't aware of the true identity of the handsome young man, who she met in such a dangerous place, at first... She still had enough guard to slowly figure it out.
She became aware that he was a 'Beast' after some time and realised that she, as a mercenary and 'Human', should either be hunting, capturing, or escaping from him. Either one of those options.
This wasn't his fault, this was just common sense.
The knuckle duster weapons of her sole gave her the instincts to fight him regardless of the risks.
It was her 'Role', and the reason she was given a combat-related Class. She was born to fight Beasts... at least that's what she thought about her life initially. Until she started to open up to him.
This kind of relationship wasn't an impossible occurrence. No matter how different the races of the world seemed on the surface, there was always a chance people could learn and understand one another through talking things out peacefully.
This was especially true when they could speak the same 'Tongue' of their Mystic Race.
Communication was an easy to overcome barrier...
The reason the mercenary woman had the opportunity to learn more about the creatures she once hunted... was due to once having become lost in the Dark Forest. It was after having no choice but to run away from a foe she was unable to beat.
The Moon Wolf she coincidentally ran into, after finding a place to recover from her wounds, wasn't a kind man by any means. However, after talking with her for a few days, he became fond of her.
The wolf man offered to help her find a way to the nearest human settlement before they parted ways to go back to where they belonged. The Beast felt the heart of 'men' were uncontrollable indeed...
He wanted to quickly leave.
After all, no matter how fond they became of each other's presence, it wasn't possible for a Human and Beast to live together... That was the nature of their existence and what culture fully dictated.
Both societies they came from wouldn't allow them to become anything more than acquittances.
The werewolf himself learned things about humans he had never expected to hear before.
He became more aware of his ignorance towards the complexity of humanity as time went on.
On the surface it may seem that Beasts were complex species due to their large varieties, but they were actually more simple as they let on since they only hunted those outside their pack as a species or those they were a nemesis to.
Animalistic Beasts had an ecosystem to take care of. They couldn't go around destroying anything.
They also weren't savages... If a Monstrous Beast born from the Dark Ether of Gaia was to enter their territory, they would welcome it as one of their own with open arms. It was 'open-minded' in a way...
You could even say that mediators that helped form 'Beast Society' were actually those Monsters.
This was despite how their state of existence forced them to have no relatives upon birth. It was the crux of the reason why there were specific kind of Beasts... like those who were cultured.
Which was despite coming from animalistic clans that could be considered 'savages' to humanity.
Moving on: The Mercenary woman finally introduced herself as Minerva to the werewolf.
Draxus Moonshade, a so-called 'Fiend' was infamous to humans as a savage being that brought about only destruction, decided to keep quite about his identity, but gave out his name.
Unlike those normal Beasts, who were treated like regular animals, those who were titled as 'Fiends' were feared due to their innate advantages over Humans. They were the apex of predators...
...mostly since they would always initially be born with the highest concentration of the Dark Mana.
Also known as 'Moon Mana'.
This concentrated form of the Dark Attribute was renowned throughout the world of Gaia.
Even worshiped by some as the 'Moon' Attribute. A power of darkness so pure that it was considered heretical by the Luminous Church: Those who saw everything other than 'light' as undoubtedly evil.
Their religion was created to reject darkness.
Minerva didn't understand the difference between a normal Beast and the moonlight-haired Fiends though. She was born of a poor and closed off environment at a young age from the beginning.
Fiends themselves were also rarely seen. Some had even thought of their existences as myths.
There was that much lack of evidence that there could exist a 'Dark Attribute' of such level of purity.
Fiends were more like fictional villains in stories used to scare children rather than actual threats.
To think... she'd actually meet one!
Once they arrived at a nearby village, Minerva couldn't allow her saviour to leave without a drink and took him to the nearest pub to chug down a few gallons of alcohol to celebrate their meeting.
She covered the young man's wolf ears with a hat and strolled into the village with the calamitous Fiend in tow... as if she was bringing around an old friend. A scene not too conspicuous in the village.
They were able to fool those guarding the gates of the village and stop them from finding out his identity pretty easily. It was by throwing out her famous name...! A woman well-known in the area.
She'd grown up near here, after all...
But although the wolf man was stunned by how shamelessly she proclaimed him to be an old friend of hers to the dutiful guards of the village, he didn't cause trouble and allowed her to drag him around.
This was due to feeling curiosity for human society.
The two of them found a place to sit in a nearby pub and talked, but none of them wanted to leave.
They drank, they ate, they drank... In fact, this was the most the two of them ever drank alcohol in their entire lives. The two of them didn't know how to say their farewells to each other after so long.
Whenever the topic came up, the two drank more to swallow down the bitterness of the situation they were in. Even Draxus couldn't help but wish he had never met Minerva. It was a petty response...
The wolf man thought that perhaps he wouldn't feel so much pain from separating from a human... if it wasn't for how he felt about her. They knew they'd have to accept everything and part ways...
The duo both had hidden feelings they were unable to speak of, and so, they drank, and they drank, to the point the people around them assumed they were in some kind of drinking competition.
A contest of nerves with one another...
Minerva, being the only one conscious after Draxus drank himself to death (mostly due to being used to the concentration of common wine sold by humans), was shocked to see their tab!
He'd had actually put her pocket in the red zone...!
The famous Fighter grumbled inwardly after paying up and taking the dead log- I mean, Moon Wolf, out of the pub and into a nearby Inn so he could sleep off his hangover. The same could be said for her.
Minerva punched him in the gut after she threw his body onto the bed of the room. She still rented it to sleep for a night even after deciding to blame the expenses on him. The woman decided not to let go of him until he helped her earn her money back.
Draxus woke up groggily with a drunken look in his eyes. Her figure becoming clearer in his pupils.
To him, her anger was just absurd...!
The inhuman man argued back after hearing her complaining about money. He was a Fiend who had never left his clan and saw the outside world before with his own two eyes, so he didn't have much understanding of the value of money.
As one of the high echelon members of the Moonwolf Clan, all he needed to get food was to tell those of lower standing than him or hunt some prey. 'Money' wasn't an asset used in exchanges.
This was how Beast Society worked. It was just an ecosystem where the strong ruled over the weak.
He never needed money before, so he arrogantly spoke of it as if money was nothing he couldn't get back within a day or two with just a finger's worth of effort... This infuriated Minerva greatly. She had always risked her life to get enough to pay rent!
How can a random Wolf Beast understand her bitterness? Had he ever done work before...?
Do Beast Royalty even do work?
The two of them talked to each other, not realising how close they were becoming with each heartfelt interaction, and with each opening up on their bottled true feelings, all until they accidentally crossed the line they were never meant to cross.
They forgot the politics of their races, they forgot the consequences of their actions, the only thing that was in their eyes was each other. The night they arrived at the village slowly became day as they realised just what they did the night before.
Minerva's face paled considerably upon realising what she had done, but Draxus, being a man who went against common sense when the situation called for it, straightforwardly claimed responsibility for what happened.
The very next day, he decided to head towards the place he was born. He decided that he would break the laws of the Moonwolf Clan he was part of in order to bring his 'partner' to his hometown.
On their way there (after they slowly travelled for a few long months), Minerva finally regained herself and told him not to worry about it. It was accident and the fact that Human and Beasts couldn't have children was well-known throughout Gaia.
At least that's what she initially believed until realising she was starting to feel more nauseous whenever she ran, her stomach was growing, and other signs of pregnancy started to hit her.
Once again she was shocked still, while Draxus, on the other hand, didn't know what the problem was.
The wolf man was ignorant about the details about what would happen if a Human and Beast were to mingle- do the 'cha cha'- or... umm.. well... be so intimate with each other with their clothes off the whole night. He didn't have any weird fetishes!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Beasts never thought of having children with Humans after all, so the consequence of what would happen if he was to be so intimate with a human woman never crossed his mind before.
He saw Minerva's pregnancy as only a natural occurrence when two opposite genders... 'did it'.
It was only after Minerva explained her situation after regaining herself did he realise that something wasn't right about her pregnancy. As it wasn't like he was an idiot with zero intuition.
His superhuman sense of sight which was enhanced by Moon Mana peered into the magic signature of his child in Minerva's stomach. He then realised that the child they would have was going to have was most likely going to be Human.
Knowing the prejudice his clan had towards humanity and how even his own parents would only be able to 'barely' accept him taking a human for a wife, he decided to take her somewhere they could live peacefully among humans instead.
He no longer dared to let even a single hint about his identity leak out and dyed his hair black before becoming your regular house-husband. This was after going to another village far from the one they first visited to live out their lives peacefully.
The funds Draxus had left in his 'shadow' (pocket dimension) were enough to start a new life.
He couldn't take any chances about his identity so he did everything he can NOT to stand out.
Months later, when she finally went into labour, he stayed close in order to be there for his child's birth. He took her as his wife and had done all he could to blend himself into a new community.
They had a beautiful daughter! However, the joy of his infant child's birthday was put to the side after he heard screams of the wet-nurse from the room where his wife had given birth. His mouth gaped.
The wolf man's eyes constricted...!
He saw something he had never before heard of in his entire life. It was a weird 'mutation'.... The child in Minerva's hands wasn't a human infant like he expected, but that of a tiny wolf girl with platinum yet weirdly metallic ears growing on top her head.
But his thoughts were interrupted by footsteps.
The sound of the villagers gathering made his eyes darken in despair... What had exposed them?
The wolf tail and ears that his clan were known for wouldn't have shocked Draxus so badly if his daughter was born of the Moon Attribute. The only reason he found himself unable to accept reality was the realisation that his child still had a 'Light Attribute' Mana Signature despite being a Wolf!
This was an unprecedented event that no one could have expected. Draxus could only resolve himself after the villagers realised what he was. It was to take his family and live in isolation from the world until his daughter became independent.
Until she was able to live by herself...
He lifted his wife and child into his arms before disappearing. Many people holding pitchfork-shaped Spirit Essences barged into the room after the wet-nurse informed all about their existence.
This was the unfortunate, yet hopeful beginning of the girl most beloved by the hands of fate.
The 'Light Wolf' who would later on teach Arthur the method to surpass his Common Class!
She truly was deserving of being called an 'Anomaly' in this world of twisted fates.
Years passed, and they found their luck to be distinctly better after their daughter had been born. Almost scarily lucky to say the least... Draxus was able to gain many opportunities these years to hide his identity and raise his daughter well.
That daughter grew up quickly...
She travelled the world, and one day came to the Ruling Kingdom of Lancia. Home of all 'Rulers'.
In the middle of a street, the people were bustling around to get to their jobs and fulfil their Roles.
There, a small incident happened...
"Humans are so stupid..." A inconspicuous girl wearing a hat to cover her platinum blonde, yet bizarrely metallic ears, spoke melancholically. She watched a Horse Beast in the form of an animal be mistreated by a man using it to pull a carriage.
She recognised the vicious man as a mere 'Baron' that didn't have much actual power as a Noble...
A golden glow appeared in her eyes at that moment. She walked towards the 'Noble' while thinking of how to extend her hand to the pitiful Animalistic Beast that was being whipped in public.
The bystanders around the noble also felt pity for the Beast but knew they couldn't offend nobility for the sake of an animal. A deep, unfathomable coldness appeared in the young girl's eyes as she stepped forwards courageously to give it help.
The path of someone similar to Alex had her destination fixed, and shadows moved in secret.
A gentlemanly Cultist started to take notice of her.