Kira was waiting for them at the river, and her father leapt out of the boat while it was still moving to rush over into her arms before he even had a chance to really take a good look at her.
After a moment of embracing, he stepped back and sniffed the air, then looked behind her at the three fluffy tails and pulled her back into the hug.
"You really did it. You made it to Rank Three. What is this outfit you're wearing as well? There is so much magic inscribed on it, spells that I've never seen before." He gushed.
"You would recall if you hadn't lost your memories when you were resummoned after the war. But that's not the point. All these spells came from a memory crystal that Mister Wolfe got. They're likely in his inheritance as well, but he's very young, and he's still working on the beginner spells." She explained.
The older Kitsune flicked her nose and laughed. "Young and still learning? You shouldn't make jokes like that about a Rank Four Demon. You're powerful, but I think that he is getting close to Rank Five already."
Kira giggled and kissed her father on the cheek. "It's not a joke. He's not even twenty years old. He hasn't even been awakened for two years yet.
He's neither summoned nor reincarnated. He's a naturally born Magi, cursed as a Demon. Ask to see his arms, and you will see for yourself that he has the Inheritance marks."
Her incredulous father turned to face Wolfe, who turned the left sleeve of his armour transparent to show off his marks.
"It's true then. Someone has finally been born with the Inheritance again. You have no idea what this means for the Demon Clans. We have so much locked away as relics from the war, but none of us can activate them because all the Elders were summoned as Demons, and those born Demons were never Magi."
"So the practice of bloodline locking was common before the war?" Wolfe asked.
The Elder Kitsune nodded. "Think of it like locking your doors. Just a basic precaution to discourage people from messing with your stuff. With a bit of work, the restriction can be removed, but it discourages casual tampering and snooping."
That made sense to everyone present. You never wanted casual busybodies to snoop through your stuff, even if it was just mundane stuff, so you could lock it easily enough with a simple spell. If they were just curious and not malicious, they wouldn't tamper with it. They would just stop when they noticed it was locked.
"We can discuss all the good things that aren't here when I come to visit you all later this fall. I'm quite serious about uniting as many of the villages as we realistically can before winter starts, and there is another round of attacks through the wastes.
For now, we should let you actually see the city and not just the boat docks." Wolfe reminded Kira, who was still clinging to her father.
"Oh, exactly right. Papa, come this way. Everyone else, please keep up."
Now that she had her own people here, Kira was acting with more authority instead of the fun-loving and relaxed Kitsune she usually was.
As the most powerful in the village, she would have naturally been a leader, even if she wasn't the previous leader's daughter. Wolfe could only assume that was the role that her father took on since he was leading the convoy and referred to them as "his people," but it seemed logical that the Demons would lead with their power advantage.
They also lived longer and could do great things for the village compared to a regular mutant leader. The Kitsune might be rather specialized, but the father should have been able to use most sorts of Unholy Magic, which would at least allow him to create amulets for scouts and put a barrier around the village.
"Welcome to Forest Grove. Feel free to take a look around. One of the witches will escort you if you don't want to go in a group." Wolfe announced and watched in amusement as the new arrivals stared in shock at the village.
"That never gets old, does it?" Ella laughed.
The old Kitsune smiled. "How about we get to work while they explore, and then I can have my daughter take me around the village later? She is allowed to roam freely, right?"
Wolfe patted him on the shoulder. "We don't force anyone to stay. There is no need when they wouldn't leave even if we tried to chase them off. She's more than welcome to take you around later, and you can stay the night at her place if she hasn't covered it in clothes and research materials."
That made the old man laugh. "That sounds like her. She was the same way at home, always with her nose in a book. Oh look, are those more Demons? So cute. We should go say hello later."
Wolfe looked over to where the five Magi women were walking in a group, eating croissants and discussing something to do with city planning.
"Close. Those are born Magi. They don't carry the Demonic Curse at all. I found them working at the Witches Academy. Everyone thought that they were failed Witches. So, now I've got them here with us, and they've got enchanted clothes so they can use more spells than just the ones engraved around town.
Unlike a Kitsune, who has a selection of spells no matter the gender, the Magi women got shafted on the spell creation aspect." Wolfe explained.
The Demon nodded in understanding, but his eyes kept following the women until they met Kira's.
"Eyes forward, you old horn dog. Business first, remember?" She scolded her father in a long-suffering tone, which said they had held this conversation many times before.
"Alright. But I still want to meet them later if they have time. It's so rare that we get to find a Magi who isn't oblivious to their heritage, much less so many who have embraced it without fear of death.
I suppose that's the advantage of having a Rank Four Demon." He sighed.
"Part of it is coming from Morgana Coven as well. There seem to be two factions within their ranks. The zealots who think that we should all be exterminated, and the moderates, who really don't care and just go through the motions of following the rules.
I've learned that there were a lot of Magi in the Coven in the past, so I suspect that not all the Families bought into the hype when the war started." Wolfe explained.
The old Kitsune nodded. "Exactly. It was the same everywhere. They just shut their mouth so they wouldn't be next on the list, and then over the years, the memory faded until we get what we've got now."
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