Chapter 5 – Odd Fellows

"Was it that obvious?" The Lion with a snake tail asked.

He snorted at it. "Do you need to ask?"

"Your senses are as amazing as when we first met you." The Lion said standing up.

"You mean better than before." He spat on the ground before the Lion.

"Still, it's amazing you could deal with so many of them." The Horse stood up with some difficulty.

"How is your leg?" The Lion asked, looking at him like he was some kind of snack.

"Good enough to knock out more of your teeth." The Horse snorted.

The others stood up too, but didn't say anything. They were in much worse shape than their fellow 'friends'.

The panther licked his teeth and Aiko finally realized he was staring at him.

'No way! I'm inside a dense bush and using [Hide]!'

He was sweating buckets, looking at the Panther licking his lips.

"What's wrong?" The Lion asked, following his gaze. "Oh, a snack."

Aiko felt a shiver down her spine and she immediately turned around and used [Dash] at maximum capacity.

The Lion chuckled. "A quick snack."

The Horse narrowed its eyes. He was the oldest one here and the wisest. It made no sense to him that, that kind of small creature would approach and stare at them, only to run away after hearing them making that kind of comment.

He neighed. "Interesting, interesting."

The Panther looked at him with sharp eyes. "Is it? Can't we eat it?"

"You can." The Horse chuckled. "But only if it isn't Sapient."

The Panther laughed with glee. The Horse laughed and galloped away.

...

Aiko was surprised at his speed the moment he used dash, it was a good 20% increase and the stamina was not decreasing as fast as he expected. He had cold feet from their conversation and wanted to only get as far away from them as possible. He remembered that animals, especially cats, didn't like water, so his best bet was to cross the river and run away further from the horse and lizard.

Aiko counted on the fact that the panther is the fastest, so he would have an easier time escaping if he was not pursuing him.

Aiko finally encountered the river. His stamina is low. He didn't expect to consume so much stamina. It was decreasing faster after some time, it could be the effect of the dash...

He dove into the water and swam across. He had a hard time but managed.

Aiko got across and sighed in relief.

"Interesting." The Horse snorted at Aiko.

This paralysed him and he looked up.

'What the fuck!? How did they cross the river so fast?! I could hear them behind me until I jumped into the river!'

He almost fainted when he saw the Panther in front of him, licking his lips.

"Can I eat now?" The Panther growled at the Horse. He respected him but could use some quick snack since humans weren't all that tasty.

The Horse clapped his hind legs.

"Alright, alright! No need to kick me!" The Panther jumped away.

Aiko's body was shaking from the pressure. When he observed them, he was quite some ways away from them and he didn't notice it. Now he noticed. The only thing he thought was.

'They are complete monsters...'

Aiko sobbed, but only a sad whine escaped his lips.

The Horse got closer to him and observed him. He had already steeled himself for death. But no death ever came.

He opened one of his eyes. The Horse was in front of him sitting, observing the little fox.

"Do you understand me?" The Horse snorted.

Aiko didn't know what to say or do. He didn't want to nod, since he couldn't communicate. What if after confirming he understood them, they would kill him?

The Horse almost laughed when he observed the various emotions washing over this cute little creature's head.

The Panther and others were speechlessly staring at that little Fox. They already noticed that she wasn't even a beast!

Most fascinated was the Lion. He came closer when that little fox was in deep thought and licked her face (Body, since his tongue could lick him 12 times over.).

Aiko immediately fainted from fear of being eaten alive.

The Lion was startled and immediately defended himself. "I just wanted to clean her a little, I didn't- AGHHHH."

He was kicked away by the Horse. The Panther was innocently sitting some ways away, making cute faces to not get kicked by the Horse.

He stared at the Lizard. "You will carry this little thing and be careful not to hurt it!" He glared towards Panther.

They nodded like little chickens, afraid to anger the Horse. They didn't know why the Horse was interested in this small Animal, but they would obey.

...

Aiko finally woke up and he felt his body rocking back and forth. Opening his eyes, he noticed that he was being carried by a huge rock. He slapped the rock with his paw out of curiosity. It felt like a rock and acted like a rock, since his paw was numb from the impact.

This whole time the others observed the little Fox, as curiously as he observed the rock.

"Is it Fun?" The Horse asked.

When he noticed they were still around him, he almost fainted again, but this time he felt some kind of energy holding his consciousness from disappearing.

He stared at the horse. Their pressure was a lot less than before. The rock rocked again and he enjoyed the shaking. It felt quite similar to a roller coaster... even if he didn't remember quite clearly.

Aiko was still scared but nodded. He really liked this rock.

"Amazing!" The Panther got closer to him in the blink of an eye, scaring him to death.

He immediately fainted and the Panther looked at the Horse in fear, but before he could defend himself...

"AGHHHH."

Another painful scream spread throughout the forest.

...

Aiko woke up again, still on the rock, but this time it was almost night. He looked around again, but unfortunately, they were still surrounding him.

He stared at the horse who was walking next to the rocking rock.

"How much can you understand?" Asked the Horse with curiosity.

Aiko tilted her head like she was looking at an idiot.

The not so wise Horse noticed the little Fox’s strange gaze and asked again, but differently. "Do you understand our language?"

Aiko nodded. Horses are herbivores in nature, so he didn't need to fear him as long as he didn't startle him. He would surely die if he were to kick him with his hooves.

"Do you know what I am?" He asked again.

He wanted to nod that he knew, but noticing the horn on his head... he was not so sure, so he shook his head.

"I'm a magical beast with Holy attribute." He said proudly but paused when he saw Aiko tilting her head.

The Frog took over. "It means he is comparable to Royalty." The Frog said gently.

Aiko wasn't afraid of the frog again, since frogs ate only bugs. He stared at him curiously, looking at his strange hands.

The Frog giggled. "This is because of my bloodline, it might be ugly, but it is useful in battle." He moved them swiftly in front of him.

It made swishing sounds, which were quite pleasing to his ears. He nodded towards him enjoying the sounds.

The Horse looked at Aiko. "We are almost at our Village."

Aiko paused, looking at the Horse strangely. He didn't mind coming inside this Village with this Horse, but since others followed them, that meant there would be a lot of predators inside this 'Village'.

She shivered and looked at the Horse like she didn't want to go.

The Horse laughed again. "Don't worry, nobody will dare to hurt you in my presence and once you meet our Village patriarch I will guide you back to the river if you would want to."

The Horse spoke gently but with pride. This eased some of his worries, but not entirely. He jumped around the rock to find somewhere where he could hide, but when he found the place and wanted to hide, the Horse moved him to his back.

"You can't hide there." The Horse said seriously. "He might crush you if he sneezes."

"I'm no longer sick, boss!" He cried, startling Aiko again.

'This rock was talking?! How is that possible?'

Now that he was on the Horseback, he had a different perspective and realized that the rocky rock was actually that Lizard! He stiffened, remembering that he slapped him. Sure, the Lizard might not feel it, but powerful monsters like him are prideful in nature... He would definitely die if the Lizard knew!

Seeing Aiko's strange expression the Horse neighed. "Don't worry, he is the gentlest of us all." The Horse laughed, teasing the Lizard.

"Boss!" The Lizard cried. He was the hardest Magical beast in this Village, it was absolutely impossible for him to be the gentlest!

The Horse chuckled, gently galloping.

...

They arrived in front of the Village. It had huge logs as walls, but he didn't think those would be able to stop the Lion or Lizard.

They arrived in front of the 'gate' which was just a sign with 'Gate' written on it, without an actual gate...

'So shabby!' He thought in his mind. Sure they were Animals, but this kind of laziness...

"Welcome Buddy!" The 'guards' bowed.

The Horse nodded towards them and passed through the gates. The guards were curious about the cute little animal on his back but didn't want to stop him for such a silly question.

The Village was... strange, to say the least. There were holes here and there. Fallen trees that looked like bonfire, but were used as homes for other Beasts. There were even normal-looking wooden buildings!

He was confused and curious. Why was the building variety in this village so vast? It's as if he was looking at two different worlds inside the same Village.

The guards let them through. They stared at Aiko, who was curiously looking around. They didn't say anything but perked their ears so that they could listen to gossip.

The Horse was guided to a luxurious room deep inside this mansion. A lot of beasts were interested in them, but didn't dare to approach.

What surprised Aiko the most was the fact that there were humans in the village! 'No, were those ears on their heads? Wait, they have tails too?! What is going on here?! They are not cosplaying, since they are moving so naturally.'

The Horse noticed my stare. "Oh? Are you perhaps interested in Cat-folk?" He teased. "I'm sorry to say this, but you are too small." He laughed at Aiko.

Aiko growled in displeasure, but it came out as a cute growl, instead of a threatening one.

'Maids' around ignored them, since they were busy cleaning this whole place.

But one of the girls turned around. She wanted to look at this cute, tiny creature yet again. At first, she didn't have a reason to do so, but now that she was interested, she was scrambling in her mind to find a reason to hug this cutie. She knew that all cubs were cute, but this was exceptionally so!

The horse chuckled at the girl. She blushed and hurriedly turned around to guide them... a bit faster than before.

They arrived in front of huge, luxurious and beautifully carved doors. Aiko was very interested in those doors as, even in the real world, he had not seen anything as beautiful as these.

The Horse waited since he could feel the little creature's burning curiosity. The girl didn't say anything, since she was also allowed to stare at Aiko. A red heart-shaped heart left her mouth as she was squealing inside her mind, trying to suppress the desire to hug it.