Shurry arrived in the garden, right where the special trees were planted. Once he stopped, Neze stumbled, a little dizzy. Alise had a similar stumble but was more curious about the trees. Soon Neze's senses returned to her upon a certain smell in the air.
"Oh! What's that? It smells delicious!" Neze asked, almost completely snapping out of her dizziness.
Shurry struck a proud pose, wagging his tail briskly. "My favorite spot in the garden! The Mruit Trees, Unccy Maxy, and Zaldy brought them up last time!" He then jumped up, picked a few of the Mruits, and jumped back down. "Here, try it, they're really good. Almost as good as freshly hunted meat!"
Receiving the Mruits, Neze and Alise, wore a blank stare for a moment, as if stunned into complete shock at what they held in their hands.
"Mruits, like that super expensive, and rare fruit that tastes like meat?" Alise asked, blinking a couple times, with a big smile.
"Yeah! Come on! Let's all take a bite. 3, 2, 1 Nommies!!!!"
The three children bit into the Mruits, the explosive flavor causing Neze's tail to wag again as she enjoyed every second of it. Alise had a similar reaction, her eyes practically sparkling with happiness. Soon, the three of them finished the Mruits…\
"Sadly I can't harvest more today, Mommy told me I was limited to three a day… Otherwise there wouldn't be enough to make money to buy other tasty foods."
"Huh? Wait, you shared your limit with us?"
"Yeah! We're friends! Wanna play something? It's a game my second mommy taught me how to play, it's hard but fun."
"Really? What is it?"
"Over here on the stone table, it's a game where we move pieces around to capture the other's god. We have vanguards at level 1, warriors at level 2, mages at level 3, queens & kings at level 4, and gods are level 5." Shurry pointed out the different pieces.
"Oh? This looks like fun!" Alise smiled eagerly looking at the pieces. "How do we play?"
"These guys can go like this. These ones are like this…" He explained the rules.
Soon, Astraea had calmly walked up to the table, watching as they played this game. I wonder who it was that taught him this game? Whoever it was taught him well. She couldn't help but look a little closer.
Shurry had just defeated Alise, and Neze for the 5th time. The two of them looked curious at how they were beaten before. Neze was a little upset, but let it go. Alise was eager to play another round.
"Your turn's done now Neze, it's my turn again. This time I'll win for sure." … "Awe, I lost again…" She almost pouted, but started laughing. "You're good, but I won't lose forever."
"Hehe, I'll play it anytime! I love this game!"
Alise got out of the chair, and it was immediately filled by Astraea. "Child of Hathor, mind playing a game with me?"
Shurry looked at Astraea, tilted his head. "Hmm… I've only beaten papa once before… I dunno if I'll win, but sure, it'll be fun!" He expressed, clearly understanding the goddess before him, wasn't someone to trifle with.
And so the game began, Astraea moved first, Shurry noticed the move, and played his move in return. The back and forth was rather good.
He's keeping up with me? A god must have taught him this game. "Shurry, who taught you how to play this game?"
"Hmm? Mommy did." He said, playing another move.
"Hathor taught you? She's not this good at this game, you'd have beaten her by now." She played a truly terrifying move, causing Shurry to sweat for a moment.
"Oh, Mommy Idunn taught me. She taught me lots of things." He said, playing a move putting Astraea on the back foot this time.
"So you were a child of the School District then-" She realized how dire her situation in the game was, but also the path to win. He really is good. And if he says Idunn was his mother, then that means he defeated Baldr… Wait, he beat Baldr, at a game like this? "How exactly did you beat Baldr in this game? Did he let you win?"
"Oh, kinda? He played with half the pieces. But, it was fun. He was really busy, and I hadn't had a daddy before, so it was always fun being with him." Then, Shurry's final move was played.
"I see, you did well. You put me in a rather dangerous position for a moment there. But it looks like I win." Astraea giggled, claiming victory with a move she had set up long in advance. "That was fun."
"Yeah! I bet it was!" Hathor said, running over all anxious to see the goddess who came here.
"Sorry, Hathor, I couldn't help myself. Your son is just too cute."
"Oh, I know. He's cute even while he's sleeping, all cuddled up with me."
"You're the same as always." Astraea giggled. "Anyways, I wanted to come by and offer my thanks for your son's intervention the other day. He stopped a rage blinded man from sending me back to Tenkai."
"Oh, that must have been the morning after his hunt. He mentioned something about a friend who'd joined another familia." Hathor looked at the werewolf girl. "You must be the girl, you're cute, but my son is cuter."
"Wha? Well yeah, he's like a cuddly puppy-"
"WOAH! THAT'S SO CUTE" Alise nearly shrieked, wrapping her arms around the puppy that suddenly appeared.
"Alise, that tickles." Shurry laughed, causing Alise & Astraea a rather huge surprise.
"Shurry what did I tell you, no transforming in front of others like this. It's dangerous."
"Sorry mommy."
"No matter, come let's go eat. You can pick your Mruits on the way…"
"I already did, I shared them with my friends."
The words that just came from Shurry's mouth completely stunned Hathor, she was speechless, and stopped to look at the two girls. "He really thinks highly of you two. Don't do anything to make him sad. A glutton offered to share one of his favorite foods with you. That's fairly weighty."
"It was delicious!"
"I loved it!"
"I wanna get strong enough to help others, and get more of those Mruits too!"
"Really?!" Shurry expressed, turning back to humanoid form. "Let's train together, I have another friend too. We can all play together, right!?" His tail eagerly whipped side to side.
"The more the merrier! It'll be fun!"
"In that case, the first thing to do is have a good meal together. Let's go eat, I've ordered everyone to prepare enough for our additional guests already."
…