We all got off of Kathe’s back after she landed . Then Danton rushed towards us .
“Thank you for coming!”
“Sorry that it was on such short notice . ”
“Don’t mention it! We are happy to have you any time, Locke . And it’s the same for the rest of you too . ”
Danton and I could be very frank with each other .
After that, the adults of the beastkin tribes came to greet us .
All of the important ones were introduced by names .
At the end, a woman came towards us and bowed her head .
“Thank you for taking care of my daughter . I am Nia’s mother by blood . ”
“Uh, no, I should be thanking you . ”
I didn’t know anything about her mother .
She had never come up in our conversations, so I had assumed that she was no longer around .
“You should have told me that you had a mother…”
“It’s because Nia is my father’s child . ”
“Yes . Father is my parent . ”
“Huh? What does that even mean?”
And so Shia and Nia explained it to me .
In the beastkin tribes, people generally did not get married . And so only one side became the parent .
It was decided when the child was five years of age .
Usually, the mother would become the parent, but sometimes it was the father .
“Because in general, lots of children are born . ”
So Nia had brothers and sisters by blood that were her mother’s children .
Some of them were fathered by Danton and some were not .
“I see . That’s a little bit different than how we do things . ”
“That’s true . ”
Their customs were different from human customs .
Also, Nia’s mother was the chief of a different tribe .
“So is Shia’s mother different from Nia’s mother?”
“Yes, they are different . My mother died a while ago in a battle against vampires . ”
“Is that right . Sorry for asking about it . ”
“Please don’t worry about that . ”
Shia said with a smile .
Serulis and Luchila were also listening to this seriously .
“I didn’t know about that . Our systems are very different . ”
“But my tribe was very similar . ”
Luchila said as she carried Lord Gerberga .
Luchila was a demon and not a human .
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes . ”
“Cluck-cluck . ”
Lord Gerberga clucked as if to agree with Luchila .
Maybe it was just humans that married and raised children as a couple .
“By the way, how is it with wind dragons?”
I was curious, and so I asked Kathe .
“We don’t have marriages, but children that are born belong to both parents . Of course, we are born from eggs, so there is no difference in roles between mother and father . ”
“Huh . That’s very interesting…hmm?”
Kathe wasn’t even looking at us while she talked . She was playing with the children .
Many beastkin children had gathered around her .
They showed no signs of being afraid as they held onto her and sniffed at her .
Kathe looked very happy to be so popular with the children .
“Wait-wait . Don’t get too excited . I only have one tail . ”
“Haha!”
While they seemed to be having a lot of fun, she would not be able to enter the mansion like that .
“Kathe . Why don’t you turn human again?”
“Oh, you are right, Locke . Wait a moment, you children . I need to transform . ”
“Transform? Wow!”
“Miss Kathe can transform!”
As the children waited with expectation, Kathe ran into the forest .
This was because we had told her not to get naked in front of men .
When Kathe left, the children’s attention turned to Grulf .
“He’s huge!”
“Groof . ”
“A spirit beast! What’s he called?”
“Grulf . ”
“Good boy, Grulf . ”
“Groof!”
The children started petting him . Grulf was now in a good mood .
He sniffed them and licked their faces .
Then Kathe returned . She was surprisingly fast .
“Children! I have returned!”
“…”
They looked at her with puzzled expressions .
It wasn’t exactly what they had been expecting .
“Huh? It is I! Kathe!”
“Oh . Huh . Miss Kathe . You look good . ”
“Yes, I think so too . ”
They said consolingly . They also did not move away from Grulf .
I felt sorry for Kathe, so I tried to comfort her .
“Well, don’t feel too bad . You just lack any impact now . ”
“…I-I see…”
And then Danton said,
“We’ve kept you standing for long enough . Please come to my house . ”
“Thank you . ”
And so Danton led us to his house .
It was a large mansion .
“This is a fine house . ”
“He is the chief, after all . ”
According to Shia, the chief’s house was always in the center of their land .
As they held meetings here, the house had to be very large .
And it would also be a fortress when they fought against vampires .
So it was made of stone .
“Ah . I can see how it would be easy to defend . ”
“I knew you would be able to tell, Locke . ”
There was also water flowing in different places .
It was just a superstition that vampires couldn’t move over water .
However, it was true that they disliked running water . It slowed them down a little .
The building also let a lot of light in .
Of course, vampires did not die from being hit by sunlight .
However, they did not like it either .
And during a battle of life and death, even small things that affected speed could give you an advantage .
“I see that you’ve really thought about the nature of vampires . I will use it for reference . ”
“Please do!”
Danton said happily .