The little kitsune scread piteously, its high-pitched screech reverberating through the bakery. Sienna had run out the window while Gilbert muttered, "Good luck," as he made his exit.
"There, there, don't cry," lina tried to calm it down. "I'll make you sothing."
She took the feyfruit Alistair had brought upstairs and cut it into tiny pieces, offering one to the fox. It stopped screaming for a mont to sniff at the fruit. The little creature looked confused about what was offered to her, and after a bit of prodding and poking with her nose, she resud her screams.
"Maybe it can't eat that…" Alistair said ekly.
"It appears not. What do we feed it then?" lina asked helplessly.
"What do monster babies eat?" He asked.
They stared at each other for a mont. They both knew that a normal fox would drink its mothers milk. But there was no mother here, not to ntion that animal logic didn't apply to monsters. It may look like a fox, but it was born from an egg. It wouldn't be surprising if it were fed differently.
"How about we ask Etrian? He already knew what was in the egg before it hatched. I bet he'd know what to feed it," lina suggested.
"I'll go get him post haste." Alistair rushed to the exit.
"Wait…" lina stopped him for a mont. "Ask Grandfather whether you can take Knight. I'm not sure how long my ears can endure this…"
He nodded and sprinted away. lina was left alone with the wailing kitsune baby. She had no clue what to do, but for the ti being, she decided that cleaning it up would be the best bet—there was so egg fluid and bits of eggshell clinging to its fur.
"I'm going to clean you up first, alright?" lina said soothingly to Mango, picking off the stray eggshells.
Much to her surprise, it stopped wailing and looked at the shell eagerly. "Do you want this?"
She offered the shell piece to the little fox. It tried to bite into it, nibbling off little bits and pieces; however, its teeth weren't strong enough to effectively chew it.
"Wait, here. I'll get you sorted out," lina said, leaving the kitsune to chew on the shell.
She ran downstairs, searching for the mortar and pestle in the kitchen. There wasn't one, but she did find the wooden potato masher and sturdy tallic bowl. It would do.
Returning to the bathroom, lina collected all the eggshells scattered around in the bath and began mashing them with a wooden masher, grinding them down as finely as she could. Once it was done, she offered the mashed eggshells to Mango. It stared at it for a mont, sniffed, then began to scarf down the eggshells.
"Okay, that works for the ti being. I hope I was supposed to do that," lina said nervously, looking at the bathroom door and hoping that Alistair would return soon.
Much to her relief, he did return rather quickly with Etrian. The drow greeted lina and smiled when he saw the little fox. "So it hatched."
"Yes. Could you tell us how to care for it properly?" lina asked. "I ground its egg the best I could since it appeared interested in eating it."
"Your instincts are on point, Miss lina," Etrian praised. "The eggshell is a great source of nutrients for a newly born kitsune. However, it is no substitute for food."
"What do we feed it?" Alistair asked.
"You're going to be helping out?" Etrian asked with an amused smile. "Almost like parents. It'll be good practice."
lina and Alistair both flushed. Would they really have children together? She couldn't imagine it. They hadn't even… They hadn't even gone all the way yet. It was far too early to think about children. Not to ntion, that she couldn't bring herself to have children when the world's future was currently heading the path of destruction. That would have to be fixed first and foremost.
"I couldn't leave lina to deal with this on her own," Alistair said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Very admirable. She'll need your help, because newborn kitsune are almost as difficult to deal with as human babies," Etrian said, and then began his explanation.
To sum it up, they would have to feed Mango every few hours the first few days, then slowly switch to feeding her only during the day. Since there was no mommy kitsune around, they'd have to feed her a special mixture of milk and eggs, and slowly introduce ground at.
There was also the problem of potty training, as at this age, she would just go wherever. This ant that until Mango learned to do her business outside, she would be forbidden from going into the kitchen or the storage room.
It sounded like a handful, but according to Etrian, monsters grew very quickly. In about a month's ti, she should be old enough to take care of her own needs with only minimal supervision. lina was relieved to hear that—she wouldn't know what to do with Mango and the bakery, if she needed supervision the whole ti.
Etrian also instructed how to properly take care of Mango's fur. Apparently, it needed a lot of attention while the kitsune was small. Warm water was to be avoided at all costs, and instead, they'd have to wash her in ice water. He was even gracious enough to show them how to do it since Mango already needed her first bath after birth.
lina and Alistair both thanked the drow, and thus began their long night of watching over the baby fox. They started watching it together in the living room, so that Gilbert wouldn't be bothered by its screeches at night. Once the sun had gone down, Alistair had offered to take the first half of the night.
Unfortunately, Mango had different plans. Just as lina was about to fall asleep, the fox scread. She felt the distressed feelings of the baby fox through their familiar bond, so lina ran downstairs, wondering if sothing bad had happened.
"It's okay. She's just hungry," Alistair assured her, carefully peeling one of the dozen eggs they boiled before the night. He mixed it with the milk and slowly spoonfed it to the eager fox.
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"Oh. Do call if you need sothing," lina said and went back upstairs.
About forty minutes later, lina was woken up again by Mango's screams. She hurried downstairs to see that the little kitsune had made a ss in her makeshift bed, which was essentially a collection of old towels laid out in a large cardboard box.
"Uh… I'm not sure how best to clean this…" Alistair looked into the box, scrunching his nose at the ss.
lina couldn't bla him—this was certainly not sothing a nobleman would be expected to do. Not to ntion that he was already notoriously bad at cleaning.
"I'll take care of this, don't worry," lina said, gently pushing him towards the bed. "Go rest for the ti being."
She switched out the dirty towels, rinsing out most of the filth, and gave Mango a quick clean in ice water. That was probably the worst part of it—her body was very much not used to the cold since her disposition was still much like Sienna's. She wondered if she would get more resistant to cold as Mango grew or if she would always be more aligned to fire. Fire was the elent she had the strongest affinity for.
With Mango cleaned up and dried, she set the fox back to sleep and returned to her room. An hour later, there was another scream.
The first night with the little kitsune continued much in the sa rhythm. Mango would scream for food, and both of them would react to it at the sa ti. Then Alistair would feed her. Mango would soil herself, both of them would react, and lina would wash her. Eventually, lina didn't even bother going back to her room and instead settled into one of the armchairs.
It appeared that their dual contract with the kitsune kept both lina and Alistair alert to her needs, waking them both whenever she cried. By the second half of the night, lina wasn't even sure what she was doing, her hands moving automatically as Mango scread yet again. Alistair was much the sa, moving around in a daze.
When lina next woke, she found herself being pressed against sothing warm and cozy while sothing stroked her hair soothingly. She couldn't understand where she was or what was happening in her sleepy daze, but she did know one thing—she didn't want to get up. So she nuzzled herself against the firm warmth, satisfied by its comfort.
"You're driving mad here…" Alistair said, his husky voice a re whisper near her ears.
She sleepily opened her eyes and realized that the warm, firm thing she was sleeping on was Alistair. For so reason, she was sleeping on top of him. She turned her head up, looking into his golden eyes.
"Good morning," he said with a smile, continuing to stroke her hair.
"G-Good morning," she croaked out nervously. Her heart instantly sped up, and heat flushed through her cheeks.
But she wasn't the only one who was embarrassed, as Alistair's cheeks were also red.
"I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep here at so point. It was a hectic night," she said, and tried to get up. But she found herself unable to do so as Alistair firmly held her in place, his arm wrapped around her.
"That's alright. Trust —I don't mind you sleeping like this," he said with a mischievous grin, and then pulled her closer to himself.
Their lips were so close, she could feel his breath on hers. He didn't rush into the kiss, instead waiting as if for her permission. She narrowed the remaining distance between them, and they kissed. Slowly and carefully at first, to see how far the other was willing to go.
But when it was clear that neither of them wanted to pull away, their kiss deepened. lina felt like her whole body was being lit afla—not even exposed oven fire made her feel this hot. Yet he could achieve it with a re kiss.
"Yip-yip-yip!" Mango let out a cheerful scream, forcing lina and Alistair to pull away from each other.
"Seems like you're awake too," Alistair chuckled.
"Good morning," lina said, pulling away from Alistair. She couldn't help but put a hand on her cheek, which seed to be burning with fire. Part of her hoped they wouldn't have been interrupted.
"Yip-yip!" Mango cheered, putting her little paws on the box, but then losing grip and sliding back into the box.
lina laughed at the little fox, watching it lie in a heap at the bottom of the box. Mango looked up at her and wagged her tail.
"Don't feel like screaming anymore?" Alistair joked.
Mango let out a sleepy yawn instead and her tail.
"Not yet. But I say let's not wait and prepare so breakfast," lina suggested, and Alistair nodded in agreent.
Despite the hard night, the next day passed in busy cheer. lina continued preparing the bakery for its grand reopening—setting up curtains and small holy decorations, like potted plants and little bakery-related knick-knacks.
She was itching to return to baking, and she could feel the mana flowing through her body. Magic was sparkling at her fingertips, ready to make her thoughts a reality. But she held back, mostly for the sake of little Mango.
Little kitsune was much calr during the day as everyone bustled about her. Gilbert would curiously peer at the fox, occasionally patting her snowy fur. Sienna would play with Mango, appearing and disappearing from her sight in a mock ga of peek-a-boo. Mango loved it, swerving her large ears around to listen for Sienna's footsteps.
In the afternoon, Alistair went on his patrol, and lina was fully in charge of Mango until he returned. Thankfully, with her belly full and her butt clean, she wasn't complaining anymore and instead allowed lina to hold her in her lap.
"We're going to have to get so work done tomorrow. The opening is in six days, and I'd like to make so new pastries for people to enjoy," lina said to both Sienna and Mango.
"Cooking the old way isn't going to cut it anymore—I'd never be able to make as much bread and pastries alone. I'm just not fast enough. But I have regained sothing long lost," lina swirled her hand in the air, focusing the mana flow from her fingertips onto the paper, which stood on the nightshelf next to the bed.
It floated in the air just as she commanded and ca flying in her hand. lina smiled. With her body being able to host mana again, it was much easier to do things she could do before. Even if the System wasn't there to guide her magic, she was so intricately familiar with it that it wasn't a problem. Mango and Sienna both stared at her in amazent.
"Quite cool, isn't it? I'm thinking of utilizing it to make cooking faster. Although I'm not sure how successful it is. We might need to hire so help."
Sienna nodded sagely, while Mango peeked up, her large ears flopping to the side.
"Maybe I'll put up so posters in the town tomorrow, but now I need to figure out what exactly I want to sell," lina said, and took the page, writing down the list of ingredients she had.
Her main focus was on her Monster Realm ingredients. Zephyr Root, which was excellent at relieving fatigue, Scorchvine Pepper to protect against burns and provide fire resistance, Weeping Saplon for powerful healing effects, and Feyfruit as the ultimate mana-rich enhancer.
lina frowned—the variety wasn't as rich as she had hoped. Sure, she could use feyfruit and to apply nearly any weak effect that she desired. But if she wanted more potent pastries, she needed sothing better. There was also that could bring up the effectiveness of ailnt healing pastries.
As lina wrote all this down, Sienna was shifting around impatiently, as if wanting to tell her sothing.
"What is it, Sienna? Am I forgetting sothing?" She asked.
Sienna nodded and then hurried downstairs. A few minutes later, she returned holding a sparkleaf in her mouth.
"That's right! I have sparkleaves too. I completely forgot since so many things happened after the festival. With it, I could easily create effects to boost lightning attacks or create a lightning resistance," lina said thoughtfully, swirling the leaf in her fingers. "This would be great for Alistair if I could supply a big enough boost."
Sienna chittered in agreent. As lina thought about the sparkleaf, she realized that with it she would be able to create two elental resistances and buffs. Would it be enough to unlock the skill ?
Mango yipped at lina, playfully pulling on her fingers. Feeling the kitsune's cold tongue made her wonder—could she create an ice resistance pastry through her? Maybe not right away, but once she's a bit bigger.
"Alright, girls. We'll be doing lots of cooking tomorrow. I think it's ti to grind those skills a bit more," lina said with a smile.
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