“Ren!” Aijasyl ended up pouncing on him at once, but instead of getting hit on the head like he expected, instead he found himself buried face first in her bosom.

“You are ok!” she uttered while hugging him.

‘You know, this feels nice, so soft, is this dream again…No, her apple scent is unmistakable’

There was a time he ended up taking wrong clothing while doing laundry, but strangely enough he was able to determine whose it was by sniffing it, of course that did not really help his image considering he did it while everyone was watching.

After that, he heard even more whispers about ‘harem’ and ‘love nests’ that he did not quite understand.

“Oh, Aijasyl, I guess I am not imagining you, so this must be real…”

He ended up pulling on Aijasyl’s cheeks just to be sure.

“Yep, definitely real” he ended up patting her sides.

She seemed to be a little red with Ren’s ‘examination’ to make sure she was real, especially the part he was playing with her horns.

“What do you mean by real?” Aijasyl’s surprise was rather obvious.

Ren just shrugged in response.

“Master, we are so glad you are safe” Sirinke said while bowing on one knee.

Sukesir followed the suit.

Seeing two demons do that, the Oni behind them saw this as a sign since their leader ended up asking.

“Uhm, are you perchance a crow demon?”

“I am; one and only, well, not counting by grandpa, but at the moment I am the only crow demon in vicinity.”

Their leader ended up falling on his knees.

“So it is true….You really are the one sent by The Lady to guide us!”

All of the Oni, following their leader’s example, proceeded to genuflect before Ren.

“We know this is presumptuous of us to ask, but please, let us become your followers, as unworthy as we are”

“Uhm…Ok? If you wanna join my clan, then it’s no problem, but you are gonna have to pull your own weight, is that fine with you?”

“Of course, we gratefully accept, young master….”

“Ren is fine”

“Young Master Ren, we Oni shall serve you till our death”

“Ok?” Ren was getting more and more confused.

First he comes to his senses and he already set a village on fire, now strange looking humanoid demons were asking to become members of Tengu clan.

‘Isn’t this supposed to be the Second Trial or something? But I don’t really remember doing anything trial worthy or anything…Did I completely waste my time? No, that can’t be right….What the hell was I doing here this whole damn time? Was I just goofing off? Did I miss the entire point of whatever test this was supposed to be?’

But unknown to him, he more than succeeded in clearing the trial.

In fact, in Great Ones’ eyes, who were watching over the trial, his performance was above and beyond what was expected.

Bare minimum to pass the Second Trial is to survive and reach the end.

But this crow demon and his subordinates managed to not only destroy the human base but also rescue the Oni who otherwise would have perished.

If anything, this was a remarkable accomplishment for Tengu clan.

‘He just recruited at least a half a hundred Shape shifter demons. Oni…If their abilities are used wisely, they can become a powerful asset…Don’t tell me…Was Akjan acting on Ren’s orders? But she couldn’t have known…But maybe, he didn’t order her to specifically recruit Oni but recruit anyone who could be of use to him!’

Kizilkoz gulped.

“As expected of his wife, she seems to be just as devious him”

'She recruited the Oni while he destroyed the human village, there is no way they were not in on this together…I was foolish to think he was the only one I needed to worry about, but Akjan is so strong…How in the world did he earn the loyalty of someone like that?'

Then, out of nowhere, two forms emerged.

It was Akjan and Shaula.

Now the entire Tengu clan’s participants were here.

“Hi Ak…” Ren found himself knocked off his feet as the white fox demon literally tackled him to the ground. “…jan”

“Ren… you are ok…you are ok…I am so happy….so glad…I knew you were alive but I feared….I am just thankful I could hold you in my arms once more…”

“Yeah, but you are kind of crushing me right now”

She was on top of him while he was lying on his back, hugging him tightly. The way they were right now was suggestive to say the least.

‘What’s with all of them? Were they really that worried about me? Practically all of the Tengu clan members except Kizilkoz seemed to have missed me, but having a clan that actually cares about your well-being is rather nice…’

‘She is his woman, all right’ Kizilkoz couldn’t help but think. ‘They must be conspiring…’

“Your clan sure seems to love you, brother” someone rather unfamiliar, a hornless man covered in stripes appeared in Ren’s eye view.

“Who are…?” Akjan didn’t get to finish before Ren uttered.

“Who the hell are you?”

Doran Tengu’s expression was rather awkward, almost as if he choked on his own words.

* * *

“Ahh, so you were raised by my father and he gave you your last name, huh. So he practically adopted you into the family…..I see, I see…”

On the inside however, he thought. ‘I have another brother? What kind of a messed up family tree do I have?’

“That is correct” Doran answered.

“Do you really expect us to believe that?” Shaula’s skepticism about the matter was obvious.

“I don’t care if you believe me, but that is the truth.”

“We can’t be certain that you are not an enemy, so if you wish to prove your words then you shall speak before Master Korgan. Until then, I can’t have you be a potential threat to Young Master. You will have to put these on”

Shaula apparently had a pair of mana cancelling hand cuffs on her.

Instead of refusing, Doran complied by offering his hands.

“As you wish”

‘Where did she get those?’ Ren stared in awe as Doran willingly let Shaula put hand cuffs on him.

‘Oh well, at least I am back to my group….’

He ended up getting carried away while talking to his clan members, they seemed to be eager to tell their tales and Ren was all ears in.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

Shaula couldn’t help but stare at their leader who did not seem to be taking things seriously; he was too busy chatting with the Tengu clan members, each one laughing at one of his strange jokes.

In general, he was acting like a clown.

He was nothing like what he acted back then…the brave, gallant, yet utterly ruthless demon.

‘I know you are trying to hide your true strengths but aren’t you trying too hard? Everyone knows you are our great leader, so why pretend to be a complete fool? But then again, I have no idea what you are planning, and after I have witnessed what you are capable of, it might be for the best for me not to doubt you, yet still…When shall you show your true colors once again?’