Chapter 427 390 – Kumara, the Fox Girl

"Yip, yip~ Don't kill me!"

The trembling golden-furred fox begged Takumi for mercy, her entire body shaking.

Takumi reached out, scooped her into his arms, and expertly began petting her.

After all, he had already mastered the art of petting foxes thanks to Guren.

Unfortunately, Guren was still sleeping in and rarely liked coming out anyway.

Thinking about that, Takumi asked in a gentle voice, "Tell me what happened to you. I won't hurt you."

As he spoke, he stroked her three fluffy golden tails.

He had to admit, they felt really nice.

"Prrrrr~~"

The little fox instinctively began purring, immediately relaxing and developing a favorable impression of Takumi.

Not daring to hide anything from him, she began recounting her past.

Her homeland had been the Demon Realm, but when she was nearly three hundred years old, it was destroyed by the Empire.

Her mother had been killed by her enemy Kansas, after which she herself was sold to Clayman.

Clayman then placed her under curse-based control and manipulated her as the [Thumb] among his subordinates.

"More than three hundred years old, with Nine-Head Beast blood, and you're still only in your juvenile stage. You've got plenty of potential."

Takumi scratched the little fox under the chin, then casually removed the curse controlling her.

While handing her a Divine Envoy piece, he lifted her in front of himself.

Looking at the adorable little fox, Takumi spoke solemnly.

"I grant you the name [Kumara]."

The instant those words fell, an enormous amount of magicules surged forth and enveloped her.

Her entire body began glowing, and her form shifted from beast to human.

Before long, a small girl with golden bob-cut hair and a young, adorable face appeared before Takumi.

[Name: Kumara]

[Rank: Divine Envoy Nine-Tailed Divine Fox]

[Level: Demon Lord-class]

[Traits: Divine Envoy (Gold), Nine-Head Beast Bloodline (Gold)...]

[Nine-Head Beast Bloodline (Gold): Your bloodline has undergone sublimation. Growing nine tails signifies adulthood. One tail forms the main body, while the other eight become clones—one person is an army!]

Looking at the five tails behind Kumara, Takumi immediately understood that she still had not fully matured.

Even after receiving this kind of accelerated growth from him, she would still need time to settle and develop.

Still, her ability was undeniably powerful.

She could split off eight magical-beast clones by herself.

Once fully matured, her effective combat strength would essentially be nine times that of others at the same level!

As Takumi nodded in satisfaction, Kumara, having sensed the changes within her body, immediately knelt before him in gratitude.

"Thank you for granting me a name, Master!!"

As she spoke, all five of her tails wagged at once.

Takumi simply couldn't resist the sight.

He immediately beckoned her over and let her sit in his lap.

The now even fluffier golden fox tails felt better to the touch than before.

"Uu~~ Master~~~"

Being stroked by Takumi made Kumara let out a soft whine.

Watching this, Mjurran's eyes practically began burning with jealousy.

How long has it even been?!

I only just pledged myself to him, so why do I already feel like I'm losing favor?!

Looking increasingly anxious, she suddenly remembered something and quickly spoke up.

"Oh, right, Master. On my way here earlier, I noticed something abnormal about the flow of magicules in the forest."

"Some time ago, I also heard that Sky Queen Frey had discussed the resurrection of Charybdis with Clayman."

"I suspect Charybdis may be about to revive."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Takumi smiled, showing little concern.

He had known about this long ago.

He had even calculated roughly when Charybdis would revive.

Still, seeing how eager Mjurran was to "make progress," Takumi chose not to point that out.

Rather than discussing Charybdis, he turned to her and asked, "Mjurran, I'm quite interested in your witch inheritance. Let's talk about it privately."

"Eh?!"

Mjurran froze stupidly for a second before suddenly understanding.

At the same time, she realized just how foolish it had been for her to bring up Charybdis.

If I could detect it, how could Takumi possibly not know?

Besides, even if Charybdis revived, it probably wouldn't survive a single finger from him.

Thinking this, Mjurran's face flushed red as she obediently nodded.

Meanwhile, Kumara, still sitting in Takumi's lap, reluctantly tugged on the edge of his clothes.

Everything here was unfamiliar to her.

Takumi, the one who had granted her a name, was now the person she trusted most.

At the moment, Kumara did not want to leave his side.

"Oh~ Kumara, then you can come along too. I'll see if I can help you grow the rest of your tails."

When it came to accelerating growth, Takumi had plenty of experience.

Growth was growth, no matter which aspect one looked at.

As long as sufficient magical power was supplied, allowing her to leap directly into adulthood would not be impossible.

"Master really is getting less and less restrained."

Watching Takumi leave while holding Kumara and taking Mjurran with him, Kagali muttered under her breath.

She then withdrew her attention and began communicating remotely with Shizue Izawa and Shuna.

The two were leading diplomatic missions toward the Skywing Nation and the Magic Dynasty respectively.

Because they were not simply steamrolling their way forward, their journeys were naturally much slower than Setsuna's group.

Setsuna and the others, who had already wiped out three nations, had begun heading back. They would probably arrive home within a few minutes.

"Courtesy first, force second. Even so, we still need to let them see just how strong our 'force' really is."

"Setsuna, Kureha... don't come back yet. Make a trip to the Skywing Nation and the Magic Dynasty."

"And spread word of the destruction of the other three nations as widely as possible."

Kagali issued one orderly command after another.

Setsuna and the others had no objections to her arrangements.

After all, Kagali was now Takumi's secretary. Her decisions naturally carried his authority.

Once she had finished making all of those arrangements, Kagali turned her attention toward Charybdis.

"The earlier massacres carried out by the Shadow Demon Corps and Master still left behind quite a few corpses."

"Charybdis was already on the verge of breaking free because the Storm Dragon disappeared and its seal weakened."

"Now it's almost time for it to revive."

Kagali tapped her pen lightly against the desk, not particularly concerned.

It was only Charybdis.

At absolute most, it was merely Demon Lord-class.

At this point, even a random youngster in the Takum Empire who had fused with a Divine Envoy piece had already reached that level.

Treating Charybdis as a serious threat would almost feel beneath her.

For everyone else, however, Charybdis remained an overwhelming danger.

Especially for the Skywing Nation.

"Nearly seventy percent of the Skywing Nation's population is female. Master will definitely like that."

"And Sky Queen Frey is probably someone Master intends to bring under his command as well."

"We'll need to put some thought into this. Charybdis could make a useful bargaining chip."

To Kagali, Charybdis wasn't even worth calling a threat.

But to the Winged Race, it was nothing short of a catastrophe.

"I'll need to arrange things so that Miss Shizue can bring Queen Frey here."

"Let Demon Lord Frey witness Master's overwhelming power—or at least the strength of the Empire."

Kagali understood one thing very clearly.

Only after someone truly grasped the sheer scale of the behemoth standing before them would they willingly submit from the bottom of their heart.

Clayman was a perfect example.

Aside from having his thoughts manipulated, his downfall had ultimately come because he had never understood the difference in strength between himself and his enemy.

...