Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Dio - Chapter Sixty One

"Can't see a thing."

Who would have thought that when I finally got the chance to visit the ocean, the fog would hide it all from us? I have seen the southern icy waters more than enough times, but that was way different from this. I assumed at least because it was all shrouded in mystery, but regardless, we traveled in style on our abyssal mounts.

"Well, Dio, it is the autumn after all," Fang noted, nibbling on some food in the saddle. "Land of the Summer or not, seasons are seasons."

"What poor timing," Bastion confirmed, waving his large hands as if he were trying to drive away the fog himself. "But the road will follow the shore for a while, right? By noon it should be cleared up completely."

"It probably will, but it's still quite a letdown," I complained, straining my remaining eye. "Now I got to listen to the waves all day without seeing anything. And what is this cold? This place is supposed to be always warm, right? The birthplace of the orcs."

"Don't ask me, I'm a beastmen." Fang shrugged, scratching his wolf ears as if showing them off. "And Bastion was born in Saipole. The exact opposite corner of the continent. But I guess the nights are cold here too."

"Where did you get that from?" The ogre asked, sounding offended. The fog carried their voice easily, but I could barely see them if they wandered a few yards further ahead. "I'm from Cranta Proper, just the eastern part of it. I have nothing to do with the Sea People or its orcs."

"But are you from an orc village at least, or one of your parents were ogres?" I asked if they already brought it up. "I was always curious about how this thing worked with the advanced specimens."

"I don't know." I heard the ogre scratching his neck. I started to rely on my ears a lot more, now that I was reduced to my right eye. "I never met them, or at least, no memories whatsoever. From very early on, I worked on a treadmill for humans. Until it closed down, thanks to the Collapse, it was a lumber mill first, then a regular one that made flour. Then I was freed, or rather abandoned."

"It's been two years since you've been recruited into the Twelve? And you never talked about it." Fang noted, sounding surprised. I knew some things about his background, but then, I was the one who recruited him. I ought to know my stuff. "I was practically free, already before the Collapse too. My wife ran a tailor workshop in the old capital and earned her freedom through work. She freed me as well."

"Right, and she gave you that beautiful daughter too," I added, remembering that orange-tailed fox girl we had met in Nateaser. "What was her name? Fenna? Lucky bastard. Why did you even sign up?"

"Well, as I said, my wife's shop was in the old capital, and she disappeared with it." The beastman changed his tone. I regretted asking, but he didn't seem to mind. "I left my daughter in the nearby refugee camp. Basically to organise the survivors into a proper village. I set out to look for her mother and that's how I met the Demon Lord."

"Wait, you left her behind to do all that? Just how old is she?" I asked, surprised. I never understood how he could leave behind a child, but she was left there to lead people. His family must have been a lot more influential than I expected. He seemed to be pondering.

"I think she just turned sixty a few months ago," Fang exclaimed, and I almost fell off the saddle. Sixty? She looked like sixteen at best.

"You beastmen and your ageless look. I thought you were no more than thirty yourself. Maybe forty, because of the gray hair." I complained. My hair was also grey, and I was half the age of her young and beautiful daughter. Not all of the Lesser Races were created equal. As a goblin, I got the short end of the stick, but how far I have come.