The Divine Wolf... or?

The atmosphere in the small house was a little strange for a while but after some persuasion from Edward, Tony and Elise seemed to accept the fact that Ephine was not actually human. They lived their entire lives surrounded by humans, and to hear that someone who looked like a human was actually something else entirely was pretty trippy. Luckily, both Tony and Elise were pretty open-minded people.

After some more talking and consideration, Edward asked them if they wanted to come with them on their journey. Both Tony and Elise were close friends of his, and they would both be useful in creating a place to live. Tony was a blacksmith after all, and Elise was a chef. Hearing the offer, both Tony and Elise were taken aback, but they were also very tempted.

They had seen what kind of place the city had become after the war broke out and they didn't want to raise their young son in such an environment.

Then again, could they really entrust their fate to someone who wasn't even human? It was a strange predicament that they found themselves in. However, after some careful talking between themselves, they decided to take the risk. They had known Edward and Sharon for a long time, and they trusted their judgement. This place was no longer safe for their family to stay in.

Edward was overjoyed to hear that they would be coming with them.

Even if they had trusted in Ark and his strength, their lives would be quite boring if they just lived by themselves somewhere out in the forest. Having friends with them would make their lives a lot more fun and fulfilling. However, they still needed to gather more people. A village couldn't be made up of three families, and they would need people with different occupations and experiences.

Whilst Ephine was busy in Moonhill, Ark had levelled up another five times already, and he decided to leave the dungeon and get some rest. He had been fighting for hours, and his mana was beginning to run dry. Ark was a little unsure if Mado would be able to leave the dungeon with him at first, but it wasn't a problem at all, perhaps because of the soul contract.

Ark didn't think too much about it, and when he entered the outside world again, he took a deep breath of fresh air. The nice and refreshing breeze made him feel very comfortable after staying so close to a literal sea of fire for so long.

At their makeshift camp, Atar, John and Cecily were sitting in a small semicircle around Sharon, eagerly listening to a story she was telling them. The story was about a fisherman who one day fished up a woman. The fisherman fell in love with her at first sight, and he professed his love for her.

The woman appreciated his affection, but couldn't reciprocate his feelings because she wasn't an actual human.

Her true appearance was that of a water spirit, but even after seeing her true form, the fisherman loved her the same. The water spirit was eventually won over by his persistence and they married each other. It sounded like a happy story, but that wasn't the end. The humans who found out about their relationship called them heretics and hunted them down.

Eventually, the water spirit and the fisherman both perished, but not before leaving behind a child.

The water spirit had been a princess of her kind, and after the water spirits found out about what the humans had done, a massive war started. This came to be known as one of the first wars that shook the whole continent. The Belford war. The reason it was called the Belford war was because of the human who put an end to the whole conflict.

The child born between the fisherman and the water spirit grew up in the midst of war and became one of the first ancient human kings. The Sea King Belford!

His story had now become somewhat of a legend, and the story of one of the most famous interracial marriages of all time. This laid the foundations for other races to eventually grow to somewhat accept the notions of marriages between races. But even though that was the case, halflings born between such unions were still scorned pretty much everywhere they went. Such was the tragedy of life.

Ark didn't show himself until the storytime was over since he didn't want to interrupt them, and seeing Atar obediently sitting on the ground to listen to a story made him a little proud. It also made him realise that he should probably tell him some stories from time to time. Even if he didn't know any stories from this world, he knew plenty from his previous world.

Since they were just series, it didn't matter if anyone had heard of them before as long as they were interesting enough.

Soon enough, Sharon stopped her storytelling and the children ran off to play again. Ark could only smile ruefully at their inexhaustible energy, and sit down to start a fire. Sharon was shocked upon seeing him suddenly appear out of nowhere. Ark didn't mean to frighten her, and he had to apologise for appearing out of nowhere. He had been gone for hours, and the children were bound to be hungry.

They needed to get their energy from somewhere after all, and Ark himself was also beginning to feel a little hungry so he was planning on making some food.

"Thanks for looking after Atar for me while I was gone, I've never seen him so obedient before."

Ark had a gentle smile on his face as he looked at Atar playing around. Maybe it was because Sharon could tell that Ark was more human than she thought, but she felt a little relieved upon seeing his affection for Atar.

"Don't worry about it, my children enjoy playing with him after all."

Before she could say much more, she noticed the cat that was suddenly sitting on Ark's shoulder. Perhaps she had been too preoccupied with his sudden appearance to notice it earlier, but she was sure that she hadn't seen this cat before. Ark noticed her gaze that was directed at Mado, and he petted him gently.

"I tamed him in the dungeon. We have a soul contract, so you don't have to worry about him. His name is Mado."

As Sharon looked at the cute little cat, the idea that it could be dangerous didn't even cross her mind. If anything, the more she looked at it, the cuter it became. She wondered what a cute little creature like this would be doing in a dungeon, especially in the most dangerous level of all.

"Can I pet him?"

She asked with some excitement, and after making sure that it was okay with Mado, Ark nodded and put him down on the ground. Mado walked over to Sharon with careful steps, and after seeing her outstretched hand, he leaned over to be petted. Sharon felt his soft fur and her heart fluttered like crazy. She had never seen such a cute cat before!