After being invited to the party, Alex searched the cabinet for some presentable clothes. All the clothes here were either too big or too medieval. Beside him, Varis kept talking about the food he was going to eat.
At that moment, Ms. Shai completed her report on the arrival of Miss Rose. She handed the confidential document to a guard at the door. The guard with the scroll rode on his horse to the foot of the middle mountain of the Trident. He then traveled the twisting snake-like road from the bottom to the mountain top.
On the top of the mountain, there was a large pond and dense trees. Beside the pond was a majestic white stone palace.
In the commanding office of the palace sat an old fox man. His fox ears, slightly greyed due to age, while a coin-sized silver dot was at the center of the forehead.
In front of him was a desk full of documents. While behind him was a mural of a white fox gazing at the moon.
The old man stared at a document through his spectacles. Beside him, a young fox man stood attentively, with his fingers clasped in the front.
"So, the Elmore girl came back already, huh." said the old chief.
"Yes, sir. Should we take any secret action?" asked the young fox man leaning forward.
"No need. We already made some trouble for the little girl, which delayed her journey. That should be enough for us to show our sincerity to the patriarch of the Elmore family," said the chief.
However, the attendant was still a little concerned.
"Sir, the patriarch of Elmore is said to hold a grudge for the slightest offense. If we do not give him proper explanation..."
The old chief chuckled as his grey fox ears trembled slightly.
"You are too honest, Garett. Let me ask you, if we do his dirty work for him, wouldn't that set a bad precedent?"
"Yes," replied Garett after thinking for a while.
"Anyway, he is just one of the many partners of our Moon fox tribe. If he wants the resources in the Dark forest at a low price, he has to swallow his anger," said the old chief with his eyes twinkling.
As he put away the document, the attendant started to speak again.
"Sir, Miss Rose also brought along a young man named Alex Ryder who can withstand Ms.Shai's charm."
"I read it, an interesting Rookie for sure. But no need to waste our time on him," said the chief indifferently as he started to read another document.
***
In the guest villa, Alex finally wore a white shirt, black trousers, and a blazer. If he was not carrying the purple wrist guard and a gun inside, then he would be like any other regular teenager going to dinner with his companions.
As he arrived at the living room downstairs, the rest of them were waiting for him. All five of them wore casual clothes.
Tom and Gary no longer looked like steel giants in the casual shirts and trousers. Even Declan removed his Dark hood with his spectacles and wore casual clothes, looked like a bookish teenager.
Miss Rose wore a fancy long green dress matching her green hair and kind emerald eyes.
"Alex, you are here. Let's go. We will be going to the Moon Palace for dinner," said Rose smiling broadly.
"Can Varis come too?" asked Alex.
"Of course. If Varis does not come, there is not going to be any party," said Rose, as she caressed the blue feathers on top of Varis.
[Did you hear? You are eating because of me.] said Varis, puffing his blue chest. As usual, the simple-minded Varis took her words literally. Alex could only nod at him.
As the team exited their guest villa, they heard some commotion on the road. Alex saw five strong demi-humans surround a fox man. He could not help but overhear the discussion.
"You are evicting our Black tiger tribe? How dare you?" said a strong muscular man with black tiger ears and whiskers. His huge body towered on the slim fox manager.
"Sir, It had already been seven days since your tribe came here." said the fox men without any fear.
"Seven days? The war did not even start for the first two days. We sent only a few old people and children to retreat here." said another Black tiger tribe's men.
"That would still leave three days left.."
Seeing the commotion, Alex was curious.
"What is going on there, Tom?"
"The Black tiger tribe was defeated by the Silver Wolf tribe. Now, they lost their territory and are currently homeless. So, they are staying here to recuperate."
Tribe wars!
After Looking at the large town owned by the Moon fox tribe, Alex guessed the Black tiger territory should either be a village or a town.
"What will happen to them next?" asked Alex.
"They will go to the Human city and find a master for their tribe. That is the tradition," said Tom.
Noticing the curious look, Tom began to explain the ins and outs.
Half beast races, who usually live in the forest, had many territorial disputes. In the old times, many demi-human tribes got destroyed for petty reasons.
So the Seven kings set some rules to avoid unwanted destruction. The winning tribe was not allowed to destroy the losing tribe. They had to give them a way out.
To avoid further territorial disputes, the looser tribe had to leave the forest and come to the human city. However, as the tribe did not know how to survive in the city, they were to be employed by a Legend rank Powerhouses for few years. If nobody was interested, then the city government steps in.
Listening to this, Alex shook his head. When the tribes fight, humans gain cheap labor. He did not know if the Seven kings were kind or scheming.
As they finished speaking, the team entered a high-end commercial street. The wide road was laid with cobblestones. The shops were also elegant with a glass display of their high-end products.
Alex saw all kinds of fancy Jewelry, shining Armors, and Weapons, Magic scrolls, Magic equipment... displayed. Alex was fascinated. He wanted to see them very much but restrained his curiosity.
Finally, they arrived at a luxurious three-story building made of white marble. A crescent moon and a palace were on the signboard reading Moon Palace.