Benefits of Nine Tails

Even Tylia wasn't saved from this procedure, but fortunately she expected as much, so other than money, she didn't bring much.

However, just as the guard finished inspecting her and was about to move on to Minos, he froze.

He immediately noticed Minos's nine tails, causing his pupils to slightly dilate before stepping back, nearly kneeling directly.

"Excuse my offense, Sir! You can naturally go right ahead, no inspection required!" The Lionman said, causing Minos's brow to slightly rise.

"Well then, thank you." Minos said with some slight suprise, even though he had nothing to hide.

"No thanks required, Sir!" The Lionman bowed, before heading back to his boss.

Seeing the two whisper, the large Lionman naturally looked towards Minos, but the second he was clear of his identity, his scowl instantly turned into a large smile, waving towards him.

Minos hadn't even stepped into the kingdom yet, and he had already experienced this hierarchy so clearly… It made him curious as to how things functioned internally.

Tylia, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised, having already known Minos would receive such treatment, another reason why she wanted him to be their guide so badly.

With a nine-tailed leading their way, no one would have the guts to harass them, which would make her job much easier.

…

Finally entering the grand kingdom, Minos looked around with interest, immediately noticing that the architecture here was quite different compared to the style of pure humans.

Most buildings were made out of a sandstone-like material, with deep yellow and bright brown hues being very popular.

The buildings also seemed to be built with climbing in mind, all sorts of divots and holes built in to make scaling them easier.

One could even spot the Cat Hybrid children climbing up and jumping across from rooftop to rooftop for fun.

They were incredibly nimble, far more so than average human children, hence things like that came natural to them.

The adult Cat Hybrid's didn't seem to mind this behavior, seemingly finding it completely normal.

However, Minos noticed that just like the adults, the Cat Hybrid children also tended to stick to their own breed, rarely playing with those outside it.

It seemed this kind of isolationist behavior began quite early, the parents likely encouraging it behind the scenes.

For a kingdom that had already been around for hundreds of years, it was disappointing to see such stigma hadn't yet been broken through.

While Minos was thinking about this, the caravan finally pulled into its destination, everyone dismounting to head off to their own personal business.

"Ahh, finally! Even the air here smells different." Tylia said, sniffing deeply as she stepped off the carriage and onto the streets.

A few cat people looked towards her and her two guards, some with disgust, most with indifference, clearly the attitude towards pure humans not being very good, even quite negative.

However, unsurprising, as Minos stepped beside them and they finally noticed him, that disgust and indifference immediately transformed into smiles.

"Hmph, they treat you nine-tailed so nice! Maybe I should have worn my fake tail?" Tylia moaned, not used to being looked at so poorly.

"They just need to get to know you, their attitudes will change then." Minos replied.

"Really? I hope so… In the meantime, let's grab a bite to eat, I'm starving!" Tylia said, her focus immediately grabbed by her hunger pangs.

Walking through the streets, the group finally found a nice looking restaurant, Tylia taking the lead to talk to the waiter by the front entrance.

"We do not serve humans." The waiter immediately said, not even giving her a chance to speak.

"How dare you! Are you not a half human hybrid? How could you not serve humans, that would be akin to hating half of yourself!" Tylia replied, completely enraged by the unfair treatment.

She could handle the looks, but to be told she couldn't even eat in a restaurant due to something she couldn't control was completely unacceptable.

"Please, Ma'am, you're making a scene. I'll have to call the guards if you insist on causing problems." He hit back, her words having gone through one ear and out the other.

"Hmph, I thought you cat people were arrogant but reasonable, but to think you're all so xenophobic! Let's go!" Tylia said, turning towards Minos who had just walked through the door.

Seeing Minos appear and Tylia talk to him like he was a friend, the waiter immediately gulped, his palms sweating intensely as he quickly shouted out towards him.

"Wait! Excuse my rude words! I should be lashed ten times… No, a hundred times! Please, come in, your meal will be on me!" The waiter begged them, though his eyes were pretty much focused on Minos the entire time.

"Free…? Fine, we'll give you a chance." Tylia replied, not one to refuse a free meal.

"Thank you, thank you!" The waiter said, bowing towards Minos a dozen times before leading the group of four towards their table.

Having a seat, the group all ordered, though more than the meal, Minos was interested in the nearby conversations.

Just like in the streets, everyone here was also talking about the up-coming inheritance battle, which Minos had previously learned was split into three portions, the battle of strategy, battle of heart, and finally, the battle of strength.

The battle of strategy was the first battle, a test of wit and long-term thinking in which one would be granted ten soldiers from the Forbidden Force, their sole goal being to eliminate all the other contestants.

Of course eliminate in this sense didn't mean kill, instead using one's cultivation was forbidden during this battle, and as long as you captured the flag everyone had to carry, that would count as 'eliminating' them.

Beyond cultivation being forbidden, using outside forces was also not allowed, such that everyone had a fair chance of victory.

The Nine-Tailed Emperor clearly knew that some nine-tails would have massive advantages over the others simply due to their birthright, so he tried to make things as even as possible.

Back to the test, if all of one's soldiers were eliminated, that was a loss, whereas if they lost their own flag, that was also a loss.

Beyond the aforementioned rules, one could use any strategy they liked, whether it be teaming up with others, or backstabbing them, they could do as they saw fit.

But even so, with one's arena being the entire Cat Kingdom, this test lasted by far the longest, some even going on for years before a victor was finally crowned.

Fortunately, compared to the battle of strategy which could take years, the battle of heart was much faster.

Upon knowing he was going to die soon, the Nine-Tailed Emperor used one of his eyes to create a treasure he called the Cat-Eyed Gem.

The Cat-Eyed Gem had one simple ability, which was to expose a person's true nature, their greed, their evil, their kindness.

Unfortunately the resources required to use it made it impractical for most cases, but when it came to selecting a new king, it was naturally worth the cost.

While the king didn't necessarily have to be good, he certainly couldn't be evil or else it would be a plague on the people, hence this test was mostly to weed out bad seeds to avoid them from destroying the kingdom the Nine-Tailed Emperor fought so hard to build.

Finally, the battle of strength, which took place in another treasure the Nine-Tailed Emperor created, the Nine-Tailed Tower.

This was a tower which, as you guessed it, had nine levels, the first four being a test of combat skill and the second four one of strength.

As for the last floor, the ninth, no one had ever been up there, and it was said that one would have to pass all the floors before they could gain access, which had yet to happen.

While Minos was also curious as to what lay up there, he knew it was near impossible he'd be able to pass the strength test that those much stronger than him had failed.

So he didn't pay much mind to it, much more interested in winning the inheritance battle in general, which in turn would give him access to nearly the entire kingdom's resources.

"What do you think Minos, excited?" Tylia asked, her mouth still chewing as she did so.

"Excited, but I'm still not too sure what my competitors are like." Minos replied.

"Competitors? Well the most obvious one's are the twelve princes who will compete without any doubt. Beyond that there's also the eighteen princesses, though I'm still not certain who among them will fight."

"Princesses?" Minos asked curious, the throne pretty much always passed onto a male from his past experience.

"Yep. The Cat Kingdom is quite unique in that way, the Nine-Tailed Emperor having made it clear that he only valued strength and ability, regardless of the gender it came from."

"So have there been any queens so far?"

"Uhhh, not to my recollection, but to be fair, even though the Nine-Tailed Emperor was forward-thinking, most cat people are far from it, so men still have a massive advantage when it comes to garnering support and resources."

"I see." Minos said, realizing the Nine-Tailed Emperor was clearly beyond his time.