New story intro~ (Pixiv Fanbox)

We created this short story as an introduction to our new series. If you think this is a good format for future content, please let us know!

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Hitei is a young Ascended Animal of the red fox variety. Together with his younger brother, Kotei; They left their family clan in the city of Billowing Bastion and joined the Hunters’ Guild.

The two brothers formed a small team with a female Wildborn named Amina, who owns the Mini-Fuego, a small airship.

As a team, they tend to take escort missions or other tour guide jobs. It was only after the resort atop the Hunter’s Dome was established, that more and more residents from Billowing Bastion’s Ribbon District became willing to pay to participate in hunting expeditions. As a result, going on safari with the Hunter’s Guild had become a trendy vacation activity.

Hitei stood beside the airship’s boarding ramp, his thick arms folded across his chest, and his large crimson fox tail sway slowly behind him.

“Everyone, stay close to the ship’s wall you disembark! We can’t guarantee your safety if you act recklessly!”

His expression was stern, and the scar at the corner of his eye added to his intimidating presence. He let his gaze sweep over the seven tourists standing before him. All of them were from the Ribbon District and under his watch.

“This isn’t some ride at the Wheel of Destiny. If you’re not careful you could get really hurt.”

A middle-aged man wearing a wide-brimmed hat lean halfway over the railing before accidentally slipping. Luckily, Hitei reacted faster than the man could think. He grabbed the man by the back of the collar, yanking him back up before he could end up dangling by his harness. The outline of his pectorals showed clearly through his tight white sleeveless shirt.

“Did you actually just forget the very first thing I said already?” Hitei released him and the flush on his cheeks deepened slightly, though his tone remained steady.

Kotei poked his head out of the interior cockpit, his red hair blowing into a mess by the high-altitude wind as he grinned and shouted over.

“Hii-chan! ‘Mina-nee says there’s signs of beast activity up ahead! She’s asking if we should take a detour!”

“Yeah, we’ll detour...” Hitei answered without turning around. “We can go around the western rock pillars. Better to waste some time than waste some lives.”

“This fox kid looks young, but he acts like an old veteran.” One of the younger women among the tourists muttered quietly.

Hitei’s hearing was sharp and his fluffy fox ears twitched slightly, but he said nothing. He then unclipped a bundle of short ropes from the bronze buckle at his waist before checking each tourist’s safety harness one by one.

As he crouched to adjust the ropes for a child, his fluffy tail unconsciously lift upward, the tip brushing across a tourist’s hand directly behind him. The tourist froze for a moment and instinctively reached out to touch it. In response, Hitei’s tail instantly snapped back to the side with an audible whoosh. He turned away, cheeks burning red with mouth open slightly, though no words came out.

Kotei stepped out just in time to see this and immediately bursting into laughter whilst flashing his another jovial grin.

“Hey, don’t touch my brother’s tail! He gets embarrassed easy!”

Hitei stood up and lightly smacked the back of Kotei’s head. It was gentle enough that it almost felt affectionate and not punishing.

As the airship fully descended, the newly developed sight-seeing and hunting grounds gradually came into view. It was on the edge of the Hunters’ Dome with heaps of jagged rocks interwoven with low shrubs, and several dirt trails carved through them by hunters.

“I really hate it when we take on large groups… Having the side panel open and the ramp active while flying really throws me off.” Amina said to herself as she lean out from the cockpit, her bangs blown aside by the wind as she gave Hitei a nod to signal him. He immediately understood and clapped his hands to call everyone forward.

“Everybody off the ship! I’ll take the lead and Kotei will watch the rear. If you see anything you don’t recognise move, don’t approach it. You call for us Hunters first.”

Hitei was the first to step off of the boarding ramp, the small red braids at the back of his head bouncing gently with each step.

After the exhausting and eventful day, the small team of Hunters finally saw the tourists off, having successfully completing the escort job. However, knowing Amina, she had already picked up more work for them.

Hitei tossed the last bundle of ropes into the Mini-Fuego’s storage and wiped the sweat from his brow. His white sleeveless shirt was soaked through, clinging tightly to his body so that the contours of his chest and abdominal muscles showed clearly. Leaning against the wall, he let out a tired breath. His reddish-brown hair stuck up messily, and one of the braids at the back of his head had partly come undone.

Amina exited from the cockpit holding a folded note in her hand. She slapped the paper into his chest casually.

“New job. Research Exploration. Boss’ll be sending the client to us immediately.”

Hitei unfolded the note and skimmed its details, his eyebrows brows immediately knitting together.

“Another fucking escort mission?!” He looked up with obvious disdain.

“For the Institute of Technology and Sciences… They’re just a bunch of bored egg-headed nepo babies with nothing better to do.”

Kotei peek out from one of the bunks, his short red hair looking disheveled like a bird’s nest, while half a strip of jerky dangled from his mouth.

“The I.T.S.? Aren’t they the weirdos trying to use magic with old-world junk? I hear they spend absurd amounts of money hauling garbage out of Rifts just to mess around with.”

“What they waste money on isn’t our business,” Amina said calmly as she sat in the lounge area adjacent to the cockpit while the heel of her boot tapped lightly against the floor.

“The important part is the client, not the I.T.S. itself. This is a private commission. Some rich kid from an industrious Ribbon District family. He is researching Croak-Claws or something...”

Hitei flipped the paper over. Several crooked lines of requirements had been scribbled on the back. He read them in silence for a few seconds, his fluffy red fox tail slowly twitching in agitation.

“Collecting plant samples near a Croak-Claw nest.” He read aloud. “Damn it, Croak-Claws? Do they know how disgusting those things are?”

He glanced at his younger brother halfway through and forcibly swallowed the rest of his complaint.

“Just look at the pay,” Amina replied in the same tone one might use to discuss dinner. She had clearly already seen the number written in the lower-right corner.

“The three of us could spend half a year partying in the city with all that.”

Kotei finished chewing his jerky and bounded over, squeezing under his brother’s arm to read the details. His cheeks were still puffed out from chewing, but he moment he saw the payment, his eyes widened.

“Is this guy insane?!” Kotei shouted, pointing at the number on the paper. “He’s paying this much just to study some plants? Couldn’t he hire one of the local Skyjunk teams? Why hire us?”

Hitei rolled up the paper and smacked Kotei lightly on the forehead.

“Local groups in Skyjunk probably don’t want the job. Either too dangerous or too troublesome. Besides...”

He shoved the note into a toolbox and stood up, now beginning to inspect the capture nets in storage one by one.

“All the others have gone off exploring the Rifts. Nobody wants to waste time on random odd jobs like this.”

Amina nodd and turned toward him.

“Croak-Claws probably require protective magic, right? We should stock up on antidotes too. Don’t we still have some left from that Silver-Lining District run? Hopefully they haven’t expired...”

“We’ll head out first thing tomorrow. The antidotes should be good enough; Croak-Claw venom isn’t that deadly.”

Hitei crouched down and lift the corner of a net with a wrench, inspecting it carefully.

“Kotei, check the Mini-Fuego’s engine tomorrow. Refill the fuel tanks if they need it.”

“Leave it to me!”

Kotei slapped his chest proudly, causing the collar of his shirt to slip halfway down and expose his soft, sturdy shoulder. He paid it no attention and bounced cheerfully towards the back

Amina then stood and walked over to Hitei, looking down at him as he busied himself among the tools and ropes.

“There’s one more thing… The client mentioned he may want to conduct… field sampling experiments personally.” She said.

Hitei paused mid-motion. He turned his head, one red fox ear twitching with irritation.

“…Whatever.”

He tossed the wrench into the toolbox with a loud clang and stood up, dusting off his pants.

“Just make sure they understand our conditions beforehand. Don’t let them come here demanding special treatment. We’re not babysitting them.”

Amina laughed and flashed an okay sign in response to Hitei’s instruction. In the distance, campfires throughout the Hunter’s Dome flickered to life one after another. The scent of roasting meat mixed with wood smoke drifted in through the open ship’s open window.

The client’s name was Sung, a boy who looked soft and fragile at first glance. Hitei had assumed he would be some spoiled plutocrat, but unexpectedly, Sung turned out to be sharp, serious, and highly professional. He looked about the same age as Kotei. Around Hitei, Sung always acted formal and polite, though somewhat distant. Hitei didn’t think much of it at first, but Kotei somehow got along with him extremely well, which left Hitei feeling strangely excluded.

Sung rarely spoke, but whenever he did, he got straight to the point. He was also very passionate about his work and could be very verbose when the topic drifted to his interests. His shoulder bag seemed bottomless, constantly producing one bizarre refurbished device after another. Kotei was absolutely fascinated. So much so, that every evening, he would immediately join Sung. The two of them would squat in the corner, dismantling some ancient spectrometer while whispering and chatting half the night away.

Sometimes Hitei would pass by and hear Kotei’s loud laughter mixed with Sung’s technical explanations. He would unconsciously stop for a moment, hesitate as though considering joining them, but ultimately continue on with his own activities instead.

After having spent a month constantly traveling from one place to another, they had finally gathered enough samples. Amina was in the cockpit performing their return checks, while the magical disturbances preceding the opening of the rift painted layer upon layer of brilliant ripples across the sky.

Sung pulled out a row of glass tubes and a small hand-cranked centrifuge from his shoulder bag. Its exposed mechanical structure was characteristic of ancient technology, and the meshing gears produced a rapid clicking sound as they turned. He spread a waterproof cloth across his workbench and lined up his collection tools neatly in a row.

Hitei watched Sung put on a pair of thin rubber gloves and use tweezers to dip a cotton swab into a sample vial with practiced efficiency. It was almost mechanical, like someone who had repeated the process a hundred times before.

The extract of the flowers found near Croak-Claw’s nests glowed faint blue inside the glass tubes, with Sung murmuring something regarding its luminosity. He loaded them one by one into the centrifuge, and as he turned the crank, the eerie glow reflect across his goggles.

“Need anything?” Hitei asked.

“No.” Sung didn’t even look up. “The rest is just separation and purification. About two hours... You should go rest.”

The words were polite, but the tone was clearly dismissive. Hitei’s ears twitched slightly, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Fine.”

He stopped beside one of the windows and stared thoughtfully at the colourful ripples spreading across the sky.

Kotei suddenly popped out from the bathroom, still carrying an old technical manual borrowed from Sung, and nearly crashing into Hitei.

“Hii-chan! Why’re you just standing there?” Kotei stepped back and tilted his head at him. “And why’s your face look so sour?”

Hitei flicked him on the forehead and gave a faint smile. He then glanced back toward, Sung. The clicking sound of the centrifuge handle was still going.

Hitei returned to his bunk, stripped off his clothes, and collapsed into the bed. He was finally able to let out a breath of relief. Outside, Kotei muttered to himself for a while before apparently going to bother Sung again.