Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 78: Minotaur People

"What news?" the Demihuman with bull features asked sternly, tightly grabbing the mace I hadn’t noticed earlier.

"First of all, the Eserian Grove has been destroyed. There have been humans, but it wasn’t really humans who attacked the grove. We were attacked by an angry dragon mother, who somehow thought we were responsible for the death of her child. But that child was with the humans, who tortured it, draining its blood for whatever reason; I have no idea why they did that," Clover blabbered, not quite realizing how important it was to take a deep breath.

Fern stabbed the young fae in the side when he tried to continue talking.

"Ouch! Why did you do that?" Clover hissed, looking genuinely hurt by Fern’s actions.

But she didn’t even look his way.

"Are we close to Lesu? We would like to report our findings to the officials," Fern said in a direct but neutral tone. Her voice didn’t suggest anything, but the steely look in her eyes and her composure suggested to the Demihumans that they would do well to stay out of our business. If not... I really didn’t know what Fern would do about it, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.

"Lesu is further north. But we are close enough to Cintre if your business is important," a smaller Minotaur said, only to flinch and back off when the taller man turned back to glare at him.

"I am Bork," the taller Minotaur introduced himself. "We can guide you back to Cintre to find out if you really spoke the truth. If not, the three of you will be punished according to the Alliance’s laws and regulations."

Fern just nodded and dismissed them with a wave. Bork grunted but turned to his people. They split up, and it wasn’t long before Bork waved us to follow him and the younger Minotaur.

"Do you think we should tell them about Xavier?" Clover whispered to us. "I mean, he’s not from the grove, and I doubt Elder Taria told anyone about him."

"I doubt she sent an official report to the next outpost," Fern sighed but shook her head. "We can tell them later. First, we need to inform the officials about the dungeon entrance and the grove."

"What are the three of you whispering about?" Bork grunted when we fell back to focus on our conversation. "Just because we have more monster blood in our veins than others doesn’t mean we are like them. There’s no reason to distrust us."

He pushed his chest out and flexed his muscles, which looked odd to me. The younger Minotaur seemed impressed, on the other hand, and that only confused me more.

"I don’t think your race is the problem. I don’t know enough about Demihumans with minotaur blood to make a judgment," I called out without a second thought. "It’s more about you as a person. We don’t know you, and you feel more like the ’I punch before I ask questions’ type. You already judged us, didn’t you?"

Bork turned to regard me for a moment. Smoke came from his nostrils, which only confirmed my suspicion, but he did not attack me or anything. He let out a laugh instead.

"You smell like fae, but you’re not. Are you a halfling?" he asked. "No, no halflings are not that brazen. At least, most of them aren’t. You’re human, are you not?"

"Is that a problem for you?"

Bork shook his head. "I couldn’t care less. If you won’t judge me for the minotaur blood running through my veins, I won’t judge you for being human."

"That’s good then." I nodded, suppressing a relieved sigh.

"But I am curious. If your fae friends really are from the Eserian Grove, you must be too." Bork slowed a little, his eyes locked on me, taking in every movement of mine. "There has never been a human in the Eserian Grove. The grove is only filled with outsiders. Fae abandoned by their families for being a disgrace."

I half-expected Clover to attack Bork the moment the Minotaur said the last bit, but the young fae surprised me by looking to the ground instead. He looked... ashamed?

Fern’s complexion didn’t change much, but I could feel the anger burning deep within her. My connection with her showed me that much. And it made me angry.

Fern didn’t talk much about her family. She was clearly not comfortable at the thought of talking openly about them. But we were part of each other now, our bond growing stronger with every passing day. We were one unit, and I knew that the thought of her family hurt Fern deeply. Because she too had been abandoned.

She didn’t know much about her family either. At least, that was how I explained the hole I felt in her chest.

"Can you not talk about them like that?" I snapped at Bork. "They’re no disgrace, and I will make sure that whoever thinks of them like that won’t be able to call them that twice."

"Is that a threat?" Bork came to a sudden halt. The smaller Minotaur walked right into Bork and was yanked aside when the tall Demihuman turned around, mace held in an iron-tight grip.

He looked imposing, and I didn’t doubt for a second that he was at the 2nd Tier or stronger, but that mattered little.

"It’s a promise," I growled, ready to transform into the Juvenile Nature Dragon if necessary. It’d hurt a lot, but I could burn Bork to cinder if need be.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Bork and I maintained eye contact for a moment before he turned back, the corner of his lips curling upward.

"Good. I like that," he grunted. "I never liked how some families treat their own flesh and blood. Sure, some fae are more aggressive than others, but to abandon them in the Eserian..." He shook his head. "I don’t understand."

"Do you, Jer?" he asked the smaller Minotaur, who only shook his head. Bork ruffled through Jer’s hair, a fatherly smile crossing his features. "Very good."

Bork dissolved the tension hanging in the air, but that did not mean I forgave him. It wasn’t like he apologized in the first place.

Then again, maybe he thought there was nothing to apologize for.

"Let’s move a little bit faster," Bork said before starting to jog down the wide-open plains.

The day was only halfway over, but I felt like it would take eons before it ended. We had a lot to do, and I still didn’t know how I liked it here in the Forea Alliance.

With a little luck, everything would work out just fine. But considering our recent luck...–No, I didn’t want to think about it.

Instead, I followed Bork in long strides.