My next life as the Winter Fox? I just want a carefree life

The forest is beautiful. Back in Japan, I was never a nature guy. But this forest is something else. True peace and tranquility. And I must admit, sleeping in a hammock was a new and refreshing experience. Spirits don't have houses, so our lodging was improvised. 

Not to mention the food is pretty good. It was funny to see the spirits try to meet my appetite demands, but the forest provides everything they need. Lush fruits and various lizard meat.

"Alright. While I have my first chat with Edel, Undine, you will be training Stella, and Gnome, you will be training with Sasha."

As per my request, Remia appointed some spirits to help the loli tigers learn magic because I suck at teaching magic. Honestly I just use it by instinct and my knowledge is limited to just molding magic and the ice magic I learned while reading books in the castle.

"What about me? You said you wanted a private talk. What should I do, darling?" (Yuki)

"I thought about that, so I prepared this for you."

I handed Yuki a medium size wooden box with apparently… toys. I asked Remia if it was ok to borrow some materials and she didn't mind as she was intrigued by the items I wanted to craft.

A wooden horse, a child rattle toy, a frisbee and so on.

"Use these and go play with the fairies."

"Eeh? I'm not a child you know? Or perhaps… is this a test?"

Hmm?

"Of course. You're testing my skills as a mother. If I can handle the fairies, that means I can be a perfect mother!"

How the hell did she reach such a conclusion? But… as long as she's happy and occupied… let her dream. After I was finally alone with Remia she brought me to a beautiful rose garden. Two tree stumps were our chairs and we enjoyed a fresh cup of tea with honey. It was delicious.  

"So, where would you like to start? I'm all up for a talk between girls."

"How about with those guys I killed? Who or what were they?"

"Wrong question. And wrong questions bring wrong answers. It's not as important who they are as where they come from."

"Ok…? So where do they come from?"

"I'm going to tell you an ancient legend. It might sound like boring history, but please bear with it."

Long ago, when the world of Berseria was still at its earlier stages, the races lived in harmony and true eternal peace. However one day an ancient labyrinth was discovered. A labyrinth of an ancient civilization which was incredibly advanced. It was within this labyrinth that the mortals came in contact with the Great Ones. The marking of the first ever meeting between the races and multi-dimensional beings that can exist across several planes of existence.

Trying to understand their purpose or their motivation was pointless. But nevertheless, these beings were treated like Gods. Despite the fact that today we know they weren't. Makes sense. Even back on earth, many stories circulated about alien contacts in ancient times and the aliens were treated as Gods.

Seeing that they were worshiped as Gods, the Great Ones and the mortals coexisted in harmony and led to the birth of a new civilization. A civilization with a hierarchy structure and a monarch at the top of the food chain. It's stated that the monarch was usually a woman. It isn't entirely clear why a woman was chosen to rule.

"This is just my personal speculation. The Great Ones are unique beings and if you try to compare them to one another, there really aren't any similarities between them. And because of their unique nature they couldn't breed with one another. So the reason they chose a woman…"

"They impregnated a mortal woman?"

"Precisely. Although there was no such thing as a wedding, that woman was selected to bear a child. But usually, by the time she gave birth, the woman would die, not being able to endure the pain of the deformity in her belly."

This reminds me of the old Alien movie series. For real? And the woman allowed it despite knowing that she would die.

"The Great Ones were pleased with this world as they eventually found a suitable breeding ground. However, they are beings of pure evil. And the Gods noticed this. The creator of this world would not sit quietly and see the world being filled with these abominations while the races would be sucked dry and treated like cattle."

Eventually the Gods called upon a Hero. The very first Hero recorded in history, to slay the Great Ones and put an end to the nightmare. His or her name was lost in history. But the Hero achieved his mission. The Great Ones were extinguished and the twisted civilization collapsed. This all happened 5000 years ago and it took roughly 1500 years for the Great Ones to be forgotten.

"Are you trying to say that those guys came from that ancient civilization?"

"Yes. They call themselves Legion and never thought the day would come when I would personally meet one. And…"

"They were trying to turn you into a breeding machine to create new Great Ones."

"Mhm. Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps. That corruption… trying to change the roots of my legend… I never experienced pain like that."

"You probably could have killed them yourself. You're strong, but you were caught by surprise. In scenarios like that it's important to keep a cool mind."

"I guess. Although you act more cold rather than cool."

“So these Great Ones are trying to surface again? Should we be expecting them to send more of those creeps after you.”

Remia shook her head.

“No. I didn’t sense any lies in his words. The only way he managed to enter the barrier was because of someone else years ago. As long as I don’t leave Eternium, no matter their power, they can’t get in.”

“Also, what is their end goal? And why surface now? Those things seriously looked dead to me.”

“Hey, one question at a time. Slow down. Ahem…

You aren’t wrong. Most of those abominations are without a soul. They were probably desperate to revive their species. As for their end goal… it’s simple. To conquer everything in their path and spread their corruption until nothing remains. After that… move on to a different dimension. The “peace” they provide is nothing more than a blindfold to hide their true motives.

As for why they are surfacing now, it’s probably due to the remains of the True Demon King.”

“True King? I thought the mazoku were already led by a Demon King. Is it because of the mazoku and the war that these things are acting up?”

“My, oh my. Once again… wrong question. I told you, wrong questions will bring wrong answers. I am sure you would like to know the origins of the war and I would be happy to explain them to you. But let’s leave that for tomorrow. Today’s session has ended.”

Has an hour already passed? Time sure flies when you’re captivated by something interesting. Reminds me of reading books. I always couldn’t realize how time flew by when I had a good story in my hands.

“I will say this before we part for today, however. Once you decide to leave Eternium, watch your back. Legion… will not turn a blind eye on you slaughtering their members. They might target you at one point.”

“And if they come, they will end up like those guys. I won’t show mercy.”

“Fufu. Just be careful. Anyway, have a nice day. Feel free to play around and enjoy our forest for the rest of the day.”

Might as well go check up on the girls for the time being. I feel like I just want to sleep so tomorrow comes faster. My mind is itching for the rest of the story.