Chapter 197

We all got off of Kathe’s back after she landed. Then Danton rushed towards us.

“Thank you for coming!”

“Sorry that it was on such short notice.”

“Don’t mention it! We are happy to have you any time, Locke. And it’s the same for the rest of you too.”

Danton and I could be very frank with each other.

After that, the adults of the beastkin tribes came to greet us.

All of the important ones were introduced by names.

At the end, a woman came towards us and bowed her head.

“Thank you for taking care of my daughter. I am Nia’s mother by blood.”

“Uh, no, I should be thanking you.”

I didn’t know anything about her mother.

She had never come up in our conversations, so I had assumed that she was no longer around.

“You should have told me that you had a mother…”

“It’s because Nia is my father’s child.”

“Yes. Father is my parent.”

“Huh? What does that even mean?”

And so Shia and Nia explained it to me.

In the beastkin tribes, people generally did not get married. And so only one side became the parent.

It was decided when the child was five years of age.

Usually, the mother would become the parent, but sometimes it was the father.

“Because in general, lots of children are born.”

So Nia had brothers and sisters by blood that were her mother’s children.

Some of them were fathered by Danton and some were not.

“I see. That’s a little bit different than how we do things.”

“That’s true.”

Their customs were different from human customs.

Also, Nia’s mother was the chief of a different tribe.

“So is Shia’s mother different from Nia’s mother?”

“Yes, they are different. My mother died a while ago in a battle against vampires.”

“Is that right. Sorry for asking about it.”

“Please don’t worry about that.”

Shia said with a smile.

Serulis and Luchila were also listening to this seriously.

“I didn’t know about that. Our systems are very different.”

“But my tribe was very similar.”

Luchila said as she carried Lord Gerberga.

Luchila was a demon and not a human.

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Cluck-cluck.”

Lord Gerberga clucked as if to agree with Luchila.

Maybe it was just humans that married and raised children as a couple.

“By the way, how is it with wind dragons?”

I was curious, and so I asked Kathe.

“We don’t have marriages, but children that are born belong to both parents. Of course, we are born from eggs, so there is no difference in roles between mother and father.”

“Huh. That’s very interesting…hmm?”

Kathe wasn’t even looking at us while she talked. She was playing with the children.

Many beastkin children had gathered around her.

They showed no signs of being afraid as they held onto her and sniffed at her.

Kathe looked very happy to be so popular with the children.

“Wait-wait. Don’t get too excited. I only have one tail.”

“Haha!”

While they seemed to be having a lot of fun, she would not be able to enter the mansion like that.

“Kathe. Why don’t you turn human again?”

“Oh, you are right, Locke. Wait a moment, you children. I need to transform.”

“Transform? Wow!”

“Miss Kathe can transform!”

As the children waited with expectation, Kathe ran into the forest.

This was because we had told her not to get naked in front of men.

When Kathe left, the children’s attention turned to Grulf.

“He’s huge!”

“Groof.”

“A spirit beast! What’s he called?”

“Grulf.”

“Good boy, Grulf.”

“Groof!”

The children started petting him. Grulf was now in a good mood.

He sniffed them and licked their faces.

Then Kathe returned. She was surprisingly fast.

“Children! I have returned!”

“…”

They looked at her with puzzled expressions.

It wasn’t exactly what they had been expecting.

“Huh? It is I! Kathe!”

“Oh. Huh. Miss Kathe. You look good.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

They said consolingly. They also did not move away from Grulf.

I felt sorry for Kathe, so I tried to comfort her.

“Well, don’t feel too bad. You just lack any impact now.”

“…I-I see…”

And then Danton said,

“We’ve kept you standing for long enough. Please come to my house.”

“Thank you.”

And so Danton led us to his house.

It was a large mansion.

“This is a fine house.”

“He is the chief, after all.”

According to Shia, the chief’s house was always in the center of their land.

As they held meetings here, the house had to be very large.

And it would also be a fortress when they fought against vampires.

So it was made of stone.

“Ah. I can see how it would be easy to defend.”

“I knew you would be able to tell, Locke.”

There was also water flowing in different places.

It was just a superstition that vampires couldn’t move over water.

However, it was true that they disliked running water. It slowed them down a little.

The building also let a lot of light in.

Of course, vampires did not die from being hit by sunlight.

However, they did not like it either.

And during a battle of life and death, even small things that affected speed could give you an advantage.

“I see that you’ve really thought about the nature of vampires. I will use it for reference.”

“Please do!”

Danton said happily.