Mutagen

Emika created quite a commotion after Aephelia introduced herself. After all, the last time the lively dryad girl saw the loyal maid, she was still in the same size as Amihan. Now, however, it was hard to link this beautiful but stern-looking woman, to the cute but silent Sylph from before.

Nevertheless, looking at Aephelia"s behavior, it never really changed. This fact made it easier for Emika to accept it. Of course, she was very curious about how this happened. If not for her family, together with General Faustino appearing in time, she might have started to annoy Mark to get the answers she wanted.

General Faustino thanked Mark"s group for interfering with the enemies" plan. He did not know how Mark came to know about the situation. Nevertheless, his interference made the settlement avoid the worst conclusion. The abducted people had already returned, and seeing that they lost almost lost that many people without noticing made them feel ashamed.

The deaths of their comrades felt unjustified, but they had no choice but to accept. It was because the enemies came at the time they least expected, and the enemies were not just regular beings either. The soldiers that witnessed Huo Long Yue catching the bullets and throwing it back still made their spines s.h.i.+ver.

One unexpected thing was that after hearing about the real ident.i.ty of Jones did not make General Faustino any more surprised. The old general already knew since the start.

After all, he was the one who personally "hired" Jones Galley as a mercenary. But in fact, it was Jones who volunteered to help them as they found traces of the Auraboros operating in the country.

One of those traces was the Death Valley Settlement. It might be a gathering of criminals with the founder, who was an international drug lord. However, their backing was the same organization that Jones Galley escaped from during his childhood.

While they talked at the school grounds, the clean up started. General Faustino wanted to invite Mark"s group. To their dismay, Mark declined. They still had things to do, after all.

Mark"s group bid goodbye to General Faustino"s group. Emika was a bit sad. After all, her family separated from Mark"s group for a long while now. It was the first time she saw them after almost two months. Who knows when would she see them next time. With how the world was right now, it might even be forever.

However, Mark promised that he would bring her to his base next time. His daughters were also quite close to this little dryad. They would be happy to see her. Still, now was not the right time.

After all, his base still had enemies to face.

With that promise, Emika settled down, and Mark"s group departed.

The thing, however. Mark walked out of the settlement with the others instead of directly going back to his base. This move also made the girls confused as to what Mark was planning.

It was quite dark, but they all moved towards the east of the New Infanta Settlement.

Soon, they heard the gus.h.i.+ng water as they reached the vicinity of Agos River.

Then, looking around, Mark sat down with Mei on a large rock.

"There"s only us here. Are you not going to come out?"

Mark suddenly called out to everyone"s confusion.

But then, they became alert as the bushes on the south side of the place they stopped started rustling.

And there, a small white fox made its way out of the bushes.

The fur of the white fox was beautiful, and its appearance was cute. However, not only that foxes were not endemic to this country, but this white fox had three tails.

That appearance, however, made Spera flinch. She immediately hid behind Mark and Mei as if it was natural to do so.

The fox looked straight at Mark and the others for several seconds.

"Are you done watching?"

Mark asked.

As if sighing, the fox exhaled a deep breath. Then, bright light enveloped its body, causing everyone to cover their eyes. This light was too bright for this dark environment that was only lit by the moonlight.

After the bright light vanished, the fox also disappeared. In the fox"s place stood a beautiful woman in white robes.

A Kitsune, it was what the woman was. The word meant "Fox" in a literal manner. But if used in a paranormal context, the word Kitsune would refer to Demon Foxes and Spirit Foxes.

The appearance of the woman made Spera even more uneasy.

"Don"t worry. We"re here. Nothing will happen."

Mei a.s.sured Spera like an older sister.

This gesture made Spera nod, though she was still a bit nervous.

"It is as she said, Spera. With that man in front of you around, I won"t be able to do anything here."

The fox woman said with a fearless smile.

"So, you have been lurking around all this time. I"m getting annoyed. What do you want?"

Mark asked directly.

This gesture made the fox woman quite surprised. Most men would flirt, introduce themselves first, and ask for her name after seeing her face. That was how confident she was with her appearance. But seeing Mei, who sat beside Mark, his reaction became too acceptable to a hateful level.

"Gathering information." 

The fox woman replied as direct as Mark"s question.

"So, you are going to inform those guys that ran away, maybe not."

Mark said. This fox had been around every time he was hunting. That was one of the reasons why Mark held most of his abilities back. However, when he encountered Huo Long Yue this time, it made him realize something.

Even though this fox was watching, Huo Long Yue and the others seemed to have no idea who he was. It meant that this fox never reported anything to them.

"She is Yukine, the vice leader of the Yuki Kitsune. An intelligence group from the j.a.pan Branch of Auraboros and move directly under the orders of the Empress."

Spera spoke. It seemed that she knew this fox woman.

Mark already heard about the Empress from Spera before. After all, before he got her, she was with the members of the j.a.pan Branch. The other inheritor, s.h.i.+n, exchanged some of his merits for Spera"s service. Since then, she worked at that branch for a while.

And such, Mark also knew that different branches of Auraboros did not get along. Now that Spera mentioned it, it was clear that this fox woman was not working with the other group that was planning to attack his base.

But then, what did the j.a.pan Branch of Auraboros want?

"It is as Spera said. I"m gathering information for the Empress." Yukine said with a smile. "And I can attest that our branch might want to cooperate. Though I guess it will be hard to do so."

Mark looked at Yukine with a frown. He could tell a bit of what was going on in her mind.

Both branches of Auraboros had the same goal. It was his Pure Spirit Tree. However, the two decided on two opposing approaches. The China Branch decided to seize, while the j.a.panese Brance chose cooperation. 

That was why Yukine was gathering information. It was to see if cooperation was possible. She lurked around the veil of fog, waiting for Mark to appear and see what he was capable of doing. 

It was not hard for her to realize that Mark could be the real leader of the base as not everyone could tear open that veil of fog to go in and out of that energy vortex.

But this night, an unexpected thing happened for Yukine.

It was the appearance of Spera.

After the mission that Spera"s group had taken to rescue Dopp, the group had been missing for a month. It was until recently that the remaining members of that group were retrieved. They were trapped on the edge of the country, filled with injuries that never healed. Even the wisp of Gar"Vlam was only capable of slowing down the festering wounds, or the members would have died already.

However, one of the most valuable a.s.sets, Spera, was not with them.

To see her here, meant that they were dealing with the same person that the members of the j.a.pan Branch fought before.

This situation was a deep headache for Yukine. Especially when she already thought that the cooperation was possible.

Hearing about cooperation, Mark was quite intrigued, though. After all, it was the first time he had heard about such coming from a member of Auraboros. All the ones he had dealt with before were all bandits. They only wanted to seize what they wanted.

"I"m curious. What kind of cooperation does your branch want? And what can you give?"

Hearing the question, Yukine smiled.

"I believe that you know that Pure Spirit Trees are not easily found or grown. I will give you some confidential information, but even our organization only had two despite having branches in many major countries."

"Are you planning to have access to the Spirit Dimension? I bet you know about the chasms there that divide countries and territories."

Mark cut her off.

"Yes, we are aware of that. But that was not our goal. Trade. That is the primary thing we wanted. We needed resources that are only available in that dimension. Not only that. We can trade resources with things you might need, but we can also guarantee one thing." Yukine smiled. "Entering this trade with us can ensure that no other branches will try to meddle with your place."

That was quite an attractive proposal. However, Mark could not just bite something because of some words. Mark turned to Spera, asking for some explanation. Fortunately, Spera understood what he wanted.

"Entering an alliance, cooperation, or trade with a branch will make it considered to be its subsidiary," Spera explained. "Since there is a strict rule that branches of Auraboros could not meddle with each other"s business, it will stop them from eyeing the subsidiaries."

Mark turned to Yukine. She nodded as that was the direct explanation.

It was a very enticing proposal. Of course, it was not perfect as even with that rule. Other branches could still meddle in one way or another. It was just that they could not do it blatantly in front of everyone.

This situation was very much like what this fox woman was doing right now. She was indirectly meddling with the business of the China Branch by observing their target.

A Pure Spirit Tree was surely an enticing thing for the organization. Not only that, this would allow them to enter the Spirit Dimension, but it would also give them a nice amount of resources only available on the other side. It could also allow them to recruit more personnel.

For sure, China Branch and j.a.pan Branch were not the only ones that would be interested in his property. It was just that with the current state of the world, only these two branches were able to travel here.

Protection, valuable trade, and cooperation, these things were attractive. Anyone would be able to see the value of this proposal. It was a win-win situation for both parties.

Mark smiled. It looked like a pleasant one.

This smile, however, made Yukine a bit delighted. She thought that he would agree to the proposal. It was despite the conflict that happened between him and the members of her branch.

However, as Mark opened his mouth, she froze.

"I refuse."

Now that Yukine knew the meaning of the smile, his pleasant smile did not look as good anymore.

Ridicule. Mark was not ridiculing her or her proposal. He aimed at the organization behind her.

"I"ll tell you something you don"t know."

Mark said as his eyes turned grim.

"Your organization meddled with my affairs several times already. Worse, that idiot that some called The Great One tried to abduct my wife before. This time, some dumb people from your China Branch are hara.s.sing my home. Then, they came after someone I valued highly."

Then, Mark"s eyes turned threatening.

"If you want cooperation, you better tell your Empress to cut ties with the organization. Also, hand over that s.h.i.+n to me. Because sooner or later."

"I will destroy that plaything called Auraboros." 

"If that time came and your branch is still under that plaything, don"t mind if I destroy you all along with it."

Those words echoed in Yukine"s ears as a menacing aura almost swallowed her consciousness.