Once our bodies were clean and fresh, I immediately headed toward the backyard.
Not long after, the sound of my axe striking against the logs began echoing through the forest, breaking the surrounding silence.
Thak!
Thak!
Thak!
Every swing of my hand was executed with absolute precision, splitting the massive logs into neat wooden planks within seconds as I enjoyed every drop of sweat running down my forehead from the manual labor.
Yuno sat quietly not far away, perched on a piece of an ancient tree stump as she faithfully cheered her father on.
“Papa, you can do it! Papa’s amazing!” she cried cheerfully while clapping her little hands, her fox tail wagging excitedly behind her.
I stopped working for a moment and wiped the sweat from my forehead with my shirt sleeve, giving my little daughter a warm smile.
However, just before I could raise the iron axe in my hand again, a strange voice filled with terror suddenly shattered the peaceful atmosphere of the forest.
“HEEELP…!!! SOMEBODY… PLEASE, HELP…!!!”
The scream was piercing, filled with overwhelming fear and desperation.
Its echo came from deeper within the forest, right beyond the outer edge of the protective barrier I had established.
Yuno’s tiny body immediately stiffened atop the tree stump.
Her little legs trembled violently before she instinctively ran toward me in fear, hiding her entire face behind my leg while tightly clutching the gray fabric of my pants with her trembling fingers.
Her trauma had been triggered again.
I didn’t waste any time wondering who had dared to disturb the peace of my territory.
With a gentle yet swift movement, I lifted Yuno into my arms and safely tucked her head against my broad chest.
SRAAAKKK!
A pair of enormous, pitch black bat wings tore out from my back, a manifestation of the pure authority belonging to the Progenitor Vampire race.
With one tremendous beat of their wings, my body shot vertically into the sky, clearing the wooden fence surrounding our home before flying at lightning speed through the dense canopy of ancient trees toward the source of the voice.
From high above, my blood red eyes immediately sharpened, locking onto a point of distortion hidden among the thorny bushes below.
Lying in front of the beast was a dying Beastman man, a heavy iron chain wrapped tightly around his ankle.
The wolf had already opened its jaws wide, preparing to tear the poor man’s throat apart with a single deadly bite.
Without a sound, without warning, and without bothering to cast a single spell, I folded my black wings and plunged downward like a meteor crashing toward the earth.
BOOOMMMM!!!
I landed with tremendous force, my foot crushing directly onto the giant wolf’s head.
The conceptual pressure released from my heel was so immense that the surrounding ground cracked apart, forming a massive crater.
The beast was driven straight into the earth and died instantly, without even having the chance to let out a whimper.
The physical laws governing its body had been destroyed by a single stomp.
I stood firmly atop the shattered remains of the monster before carefully lowering Yuno from my arms.
However, the moment her tiny feet touched the ground, Yuno’s gaze immediately fell upon the bloodied Beastman lying before us.
Her round eyes widened completely.
The next second, her emotional defenses collapsed, and she burst into tears.
“UNCLE TOTO…!!!”
Her hysterical cry, filled with longing and sorrow, shattered the silence of the forest.
The little fox girl ran forward and threw herself beside the frail yet muscular man’s body.
She sobbed uncontrollably as she tightly hugged his arm.
The man turned out to be Toto, her former neighbor who had always looked after her back in the village before everything had been destroyed.
Seeing this, I immediately crouched down calmly.
I lifted Toto’s limp body into my arms before spreading my wings once again and carrying them both through the air toward our wooden cottage as quickly as possible.
Inside the house, Charlotte immediately understood the emergency without wasting time asking questions.
As someone who had inherited the pure magical talent of a High Elf after her reincarnation, she immediately cast a high level healing spell.
A warm, soft green light enveloped Toto’s entire body, slowly closing the wounds covering his skin and stabilizing his breathing, which had become dangerously uneven.
Several tense minutes passed in silence.
The muscular man slowly regained consciousness with what little strength he had left.
“Wha… the little one…?” Toto whispered in an extremely hoarse and trembling voice.
His eyes moved restlessly, barely able to believe that the little fox girl who had once been his neighbor was standing right in front of him.
According to Beastman tradition, children under the age of five had not yet received an official name from their village elders.
They were commonly referred to simply as “little one” by the villagers.
“You… you’re the little fox girl who lived next to me back then, aren’t you? You… you’re still alive…?”
Tears of relief mixed with blood slowly streamed down Toto’s cheeks.
After helping him drink a few sips of warm water to soothe his throat, Toto began telling us his story, his breathing still heavy and strained.
“We… we were captured by a group of ruthless bandits up in the mountains. They built a hidden camp deep inside the Skull Mountains. The remaining members of our race… aunts, uncles, and the children who survived the massacre… they’re all being locked inside iron cages there.”
“They… they’re going to sell us as slaves…”
Hearing the bitter truth that her relatives were being held captive, Yuno immediately dropped to her knees in front of me.
Her tiny fingers tightly gripped the edge of my robe.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks, soaking her flushed, chubby face.
“Papa… Yuno begs you… Please save them…”
Her voice broke as she cried, trembling with genuine desperation.
Toto, who was lying on the cotton mattress, was slightly startled when he heard the little girl’s new name and the word “Papa” coming from her lips.
He realized that the child who had once been his neighbor was now under the protection of someone extraordinary.
I stared intently at my little daughter’s tear swollen face.
Taking a deep breath, I reached out my large hand and gently stroked her orange hair, calming the storm raging inside her heart.
“Go to sleep, Yuno. Stay here with your uncle and Mama,” I said in an incredibly calm and emotionless voice, though beneath it lay an absolute and unquestionable determination.
“Papa is going out for a little while… to clean up that place.”
To be continued.