Three muscular, tall men walk out of the bushes. In Yilas mind they are like K-pop idols coming on stage to perform. All three of them are around 190, 195cm tall, the black, short-haired man walked out first with his cold, emotionless expression.
A blonde guy and a guy with light golden hair with black highlight walking right behind him side by side, they look quite tired but still follow the black-haired guy speed.
Yilas was so impressed with the quality of looks these men have been blessed with, all of them were celebrities' tier beauty to her. And Yilas spent a lot of time watching movies and following a lot of idols so even Yilas thinks her standard for beauty in this world was too high.
But now in this world where there was no such level, all of these men gathered here are so heavenly blessed with such looks was unfair to the general population of the 21st century.
"Neo! What are you doing?" the black-haired guy shouted at Neo when he saw Neo sitting on the ground.
His voice was so cold it even startled Yilas who was now holding Viosus's arm and hid behind him.
Neo struggled to get up but he managed to do so and went to stand behind the black-haired guy. Even as ignorant as Yilas could tell that this guy was the leader of this group.
The black-haired man stared at Viosus and then Yilas, who was in hiding, avoiding his gaze.
The Boar started to move closer.
"Is this the infamous fox in the legend?" His eyes were cold and sly, something told Yilas to not trust this man.
Viosus moved Yilas's tiny body behind him even more. He stood up straight, chinned up at the Boar.
"Believing in such a fairy tale, you must be delusional."
The Tiger and the Leopard behind him started to grunt at the mere insult from Viosus.
"Hmm.." the Boar snorted "some foul mouth you got. But it doesn't matter, if you want to get out here alive, I suggest you let me take the female."
The threat startled Yilas, she pulled Viosus's arm a little tighter. Viosus noticed her behavior but he wouldn't let the Boar have the upper hand.
Yilas's face was covered in the fur cloth, so they must not know exactly who she was. Viosus must divert their attention and found a way for her to run even if they had to fight.
"Wait Brother!" Neo in the back spoke up before Viosus could make a move. All eyes were on him, especially the boar, he was starting to show irritation.
"Yilas can't be that female, she was injured and she only got one eye. Didn't the legend say that the fox has immense power? If she does, she wouldn't be the state she is in now."
The Boar looked at Neo and then looked at Yilas and Viosus.
"Is that true?"
Viosus didn't answer. No matter what his answer was, he didn't think the Boar would be satisfied.
"It's true!" Yilas stepped to the side, looking at the Boar dead in the eye.
The Boar saw that one of Yilas's eye was ruined and turned white. And a wide, nasty pinky scar dragged along her temple from side to side.
The Boar stood up straight, he somewhat believed what Neo said. At least his intention of stealing this female had died down for the moment.
"I am not who you are looking for, so just leave us alone." Yilas looked to Viosus, she had never felt so thankful for her injury like she was now.
"Wait Yilas!" Neo in the back spoke again. "If you come with us, we would be able to protect you. You should come to our clan!"
Both Yilas and Viosus were surprised. Viosus looked at Yilas in confusion while Yilas was hardly able to understand this man reasoning herself.
"Is this the female who was hurt by our clan men you mentioned, little fox?" the Boar questioned Viosus.
Viosus didn't say anything but he nodded.
Neo looked at his brother with surprise. But he was more ashamed of his clan men. If what they said was true, that meant grown, adult beast-men from his same clan attacked this helpless female.
How could Neo protect Yilas if the one who attacked her was his own friends and clan members? Yilas must think he was one with the evil men now, Neo thought to himself.
Neo just stood there with his mouth opened, he couldn't think of any excuse for Yilas to trust him now.
"Show us your face female! There must be a reason why those beasts attacked you." The Boar demanded Yilas.
"My eyes are the only thing that was hurt. There is no need to investigate further." Yilas was quick to answer. She knew Viosus and she was in a dangerous situation, there are four against two. But Yilas couldn't fight even if she tried so more like four against one.
"Yilas isn't it? Get rid of the rabbit skin on your face or I will do it myself."
Viosus got angry at the Boar's disrespectful demand, he was just about to jump towards him and landed some punches for saying a rude thing to his Master. But Yilas held his arm back, shaking her head telling Vio to not be so hasty.
Yilas let go of Viosus' arm and slowly untied the piece of cloth on her face, finally revealing her identity.
All eyes were on her. And as soon as the piece of cloth fell down, the atmosphere around them just stopped.
Neo and the bunch held their breath as soon as they saw her face, their eyes open as wide as the letter o and even the tiger and leopard had their jaw dropped.
All of them knew as soon as they saw it, this was the most beautiful female they had ever seen!
Neo was the most surprised, he had anticipated it based on her figure that she was pretty. But to this level was beyond his wildest dream.
Yilas's white long silky haired fall down the side of her face, gracing on her pinky, smooth cheeks. Her eyes were round and big, especially the red one that looked like a ruby. When the sunlight hits, it shined like the only star in the night sky. Her nose was small and cute directly above her cute, plumpy cherry red lips.
Her skin was white, so white that it looked transparent in the light. With her slim figure, it looked like even a little wind could blow her away. Besides her exceptional beauty, her slenderness could soften any man's heart, making a beast instinct to want to protect.
Even with the scar, she was far more beautiful than any female at their clan. All of them couldn't help but feel a little regret in their heart for letting that scar affect her face a little.
When Neo and the rest were daydreaming, the Boar noticed something. She was not only beautiful, she was a mysterious foe. At her young age, she had already mastered Complete-Civil form, proving her capabilities beyond the surface level. She could be stronger than any beast-man here, he must be careful of their next move, the Boar thought.
"Very good Yilas, you have cleared our suspicion." the Boar lied, his curiosity grew even more once he had seen her face "My name is Porsogon, and behind me is Hugo the Tiger and Heff the Leopard and Neo the Hawk. But you must already familiar with Neo my half-brother."
Neo, Hugo, and Heff were finally woken up by hearing their name mentioned. All of them were blushing red as they realized how long they have stared at Yilas for.
"Nice to meet you all. But may I ask why are you guys here?" Yilas internally sighted of relief because now at least she and Viosus might be let off without fighting.
"This mission of ours is to find females and take them back to our clan, by any means possible of course." as this Porsogon spoke, Yilas could feel a chill running down her spine. He didn't mean that he would still take her, right? "But upon hearing this little fox story about how our previous attempt was utterly disrespectful and disgraceful, we would like to make amends to our action."
Viosus and Yilas exchanged looks, both of them feel like they were being too nice and friendly that it was untrustworthy. However, they were in a tight spot, they couldn't be too hasty about their action.
"That won't bee necessary!" Yilas quickly answered, "We don't have many resources for guests anyway so if you stay any longer it might be difficult for us to prove our hospitality."
"But I insist Yilas!" Porsogon interrupted as soon as Yilas finished her sentence "We are grown beast-men, it would only be right if we hunt for your clan as a gift."
Viosus had never seen a beast-man hunt for another clan or even for anyone besides himself and his spouse. Their intention must be to prove their strength to persuade Yilas to come with them. Viosus must be more careful and he must inform his Master of their intention once he and Yilas were alone. He didn't want them to stay any longer but escaping them would be rather difficult at this point.
"But…" Yilas was just about to think of excuses to make them leave when she noticed Viosus's stare. He nodded his head, letting Yilas know to let them do what they want. After all, if they go hunting, it would be easier for him to talk to her and maybe figuring out a plan.
"Okay.. you guys can stay" Yilas sighted and looked at Porsogon "but only for a short while!"
"No problem!" Porsogon's eyebrows stretched out to their relaxed position. Neo, Hugo, and Heff behind him were undoubted dancing in their head because now they could spend more time close to the beautiful female. "The sun about to set but there is still enough time to hunt for tonight's food."
Porsogon turned around to his beast-men.
"Hugo and Heff, you two go hunt, make sure to go back to that house when the sun is down. Neo you come with me to accompany them."
Hugo and Heff both mouthed something but nothing came out of their mouth. They just nodded and leave reluctantly. Their backs quickly disappeared into the forest.
"Let's get back to the house, shall we?" Porsogon voiced loudly.
Yilas was a little confused about why Viosus agreed to let them stay but she decided to trust him anyway. She tugged at Viosus's arm and nodded.
"We should go back Vio" Yilas gently hold his arm.
Viosus swiftly picked Yilas up from the ground and carried her toward the main house.
Seeing their intimate actions made Neo feel something strange in his stomach. This feeling was completely new to Neo so he didn't know what it was, he just knew he didn't like that sensation.
All four of them made it back to the house in barely anytime. Yilas whispered to Viosus.
"I will distract them for a little while, you go around the house to find the others." Viosus looked at Yilas in the eyes and blinked once, indicating he got the message.
Once they are on the front yard, Viosus let Yilas down onto one of the smooth round rocks.
"All this running made me thirsty Vio! Can you go fetch me some water?" Yilas spoke loudly so that the other two can hear.
"I can fly to the river and fetch some for you Yilas." Neo was quick to catch on too.
"No, no... we have some water stored behind the house. Viosus knows where it is so he can get it faster." Yilas forced a smile to Neo, making an excuse for Vio to be alone.
Viosus nodded and then moved to behind the house, where they all lost sight of him.
However, the atmosphere became awkwardly quiet so Yilas felt quite uncomfortable.
"So… tell me more about your clan." Yilas didn't know where to start the conversation so she just throws out the only question she could think of at the time.
Porsogon and Neo were both surprised that Yilas wanted to know more about their clan. Porsogon was thinking maybe she was interested in becoming one of their clan's females.
While Neo felt guilty and ashamed since all he could think about was one of their beast-man had hurt Yilas. He couldn't help but blame himself for their action.
"Our clan is very big, we have around 5000 healthy, young beast-men and around 180 something females" Porsogon was the first to answer, his tone was cold and emotionless but one could tell it had softened a bit from earlier.
Yilas couldn't help but be shocked at the number Porsogon just mentioned. He didn't seem to be lying.
But Yilas thought to herself, 180 over 5000 that is just 3 to 4% of female over male, the imbalance of the sexes in this world is extreme.
"Ever since my father, the Boar has become head clan, we have never starved in the winter. And the beast-men who live in the city are peaceful and well-harmonized." Porsogon didn't show any difference in his tone but deep down he admired his father secretly.
"Our city is considered one of the four biggest clans but we have been steadily growing, I am sure one day we will be the biggest."
"What are the other big clan? Do you know anything about them?" Yilas had not known anything about this world so it might be a good opportunity for her to get some updates.
"You must really be hidden in this clan, every beast knows about the four cities of beasts" Porsogon looked at Yilas's big adorable eyes, frowning.
"Yilas just lost all of her memories brother" Neo suddenly jumped in to answer for Yilas. Porsogon looked at his brother questionably and then looked at Yilas vigorously nodding her head.
Porsogon sighted, he continued.
"The strongest city right now belongs to the Wolf clan, they had been the powerful for a long time now but I believe they are not much better than us right now. The other one is the Monkey clan, they are great in number but I heard they only accepted herbivores. The last one is the Snake clan, nobody really has really seen them or been there since they move around depending on the season but we had tales about their dangerous beast-men."
Yilas thought all of them were very interesting, but there must be smaller clans like hers in between the bigger ones. Or maybe the bigger clan was cleaning up territories, making small clan's their own.
Either way, their lonely existence in this world was very strange. What even more bizarre was that Yilas was reborn into this strange clan and had a cursed hang tight around her neck. She wondered why she couldn't just have a normal, peaceful life this time.