Leaving Amilya behind to think, Niphru and Dawn headed back outside. As they left the house, a woman stopped them, turning towards Niphru with a momentary gre that softened into a smile. Niphru reized her as one of those in the mob that had previously attacked him in Monti’s home.

  As he backed up, the oke to him, “Niphru, I’m Billy’s mother, I had to e thank you. My son was sneaking out into the forest to a pond he found, and he just told me about it. Apparently you reported a monster fox living there and Morris killed it and ran into Billy there scared out of his wits. Thank you for saving him by telling Morris! I already lost one child to a fox years ago, and I am sorry for thinking you were like them before!”

  The woman then bowed to Niphru and turo face Dawn, exg, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you back then, you were pletely right and I thank you fing him even though some of us were against it.”

  Niphru simply stood there in shock for a moment as the woman blubbered at them. This was someohought was an enemy but suddenly they were not anymore, and he could uand their reasoning.

  “We are gd to hear that your son was saved, and that you ged your mind about Niphru,” Dawn said, nodding to the woman before tinuing, “do you think the others that were with you have ged their minds?”

  “A few have, but most are still against Niphru’s presehough after the berati from Amilya and Morris, I don’t believe any will do anything in the open. A few might try to do something sneaky, but I’m not sure. Norman is the most likely I think, he keeps muttering about ‘dams’ every time I am near him,” the woman replied.

  Niphru finally got over his shock, stepping closer to the woman before speaking, “I’m gd I was able to help even if only ily. Thank you for the warning that people might try to harm me, it means a lot given how we first met.”

  “Thank you again, I’m sorry for ag poorly towards you. And it took ages to get Billy to tell me what happehat day, so I kept thinking poorly until retly. Oh dear, I’ve stayed too long, I o get back to work. Thank you again!” the woman excimed before rushing off in a hurry towards the northern gate.

  Dawn smiled at Niphru, stating, “You see, even people who hated you at first e to like you if you prove yourself good to them. Sooner or ter people will realize you are not a beast!”

  Niphru her, sidering her words. He would of course keep a for twisted animals in the forest he vilge a any he found. Speaking of which, he saw Diara approag from the eastern gate carrying one of the mutated deer he had seen before. Nudging Dawn with his hey both got out of her way as she headed towards a building with a grated area beh its own roof, dropping off the body before entering the building.

  “Oooh!” Dawn excimed, “The deer are always tasty when they get brought in, I hope we get some tonight. Oh, I shouldn’t fet it is nearly time for me to get to school, I was so distracted helping you meet mom, and then Billy’s mom showed up... I’ll meet you again tomorrow!”

  Dawn then walked off at high speed while waving back to Niphru. He watched her go before heading to the east gate, leaving towards his den to get some rest. Along the way, another hawk tried to attack him, but was easily foiled by an illusion, causing it to scree fusio passed through the fox it had attacked. After a moment it simply flew away, looking for prey it could actually catch.

  He sidered his den again as he arrived, once again p if he should move closer to the vilge, especially as he was wele now. Deg to wait and see what Amilya decided first, he headed inside, curling up to rest. As he waited for sleep, he thought about his goal of helping others. His foxfire could heal, but it wasn’t as fast or effective as Monti’s magic was, nor could he simply stop pain. He could probably help fight monsters with it, and he knew he could help stop fires from burning if that roblem. He wasn’t sure what else, if anything, he could do though. Perhaps if he could make more fmes he could use them for more things.

  Upon waking up from his rest, he headed out into the forest, i on practig with his foxfire more. Finding a reasonably clear area, he practiced darting his fme about as quickly as possible, flig it between illusion and fme, and switg it between burning and not as quickly as he could. Faster and faster he went until the fme became more of a blue blur than a ball, leaving afterimages in the gloom.

  Satisfied for the moment, he had the fme float back behind himself as he began searg the forest, once again hunting for any mutated creatures. Sweeping his mana ahead of himself, he eventually spotted a rge snake hanging in a tree above a path through the forest, oversized fangs dripping venom across the poorly lit path. With a moment of thought, he swept his foxfire into the snake’s head willing it to burn.

  The shrashed about, falling from the tree as its head was engulfed in fme. Landing roughly on the ground, it sprayed its venom everywhere it could, blinded as its eyes burst from the heat, moving slower and slower as it roasted alive. Niphru observed as the venom first discolored, theed through the pnts it had hit. Perhaps it also had some degree of acid? He was not well-versed in such things, knowing only what Daicked up in a few years of school.

  Eventually the sopped moving, and Niphru willed his foxfire to extinguish the sm corpse. O cooled down a bit, he moved frabbing the snake behind its head and dragging it back towards the vilge. He would prove tonight that he could hunt at least some monsters on his own.

  As he arrived at the vilge, the guards looked at him in shock before opening the gate, pointing him towards the same building he had seen Diara go to earlier in the day. As he approached, he saw a line of people waiting as a man cut into the deer that had been brought by earlier in the day, fog rolling around the base of it. As the man handed a sb of meat to the person in line, he saw Niphru standing there holding the snake and waved him forward.

  “I’m not sure how much I recover that will be usable from that size of a snake, but put it here and I’ll get it when I . I would pay you but it is rather clear you ’t use money right now. I’ll let Amilya know, though, she probably find a way to work things out,” the man excimed before waving his arm at the line and tinuing, “if you’ll excuse me, I still have quite a bit of work to get done.”