Tanuki Rise of the Yokai Clan

Chapter 2: It's a cruel world

'What is this?'

Many questions appeared in his mind, and he was confused, but he noticed a notification, which almost stopped his heart.

<30 seconds before the system is terminated>

<Will you accept the system?>

<Yes/No>

He hurriedly pressed "yes" with his paws, afraid that he might miss something important.

<You have accepted the system>

<Please work hard to become a harem king>

"....."

He was silent while rubbing his soft belly, feeling slightly itchy, wondering whether this was a dream or not.

'Fortunately, it wasn't a dream.'

He was still in a daze, but after he accepted reality, he quickly adopted everything. Anyway, compared to becoming a tanuki, this system was somewhat more acceptable to him. 'So I've got a system, huh?' He was somewhat familiar with this setting. After all, this was a standard setting for every reincarnation novel.

Whether it was a system, treasure, godly teacher, or a hidden gene, those things usually appeared on the main character so the main character could become stronger.

He might have a good gene, so his potential wasn't bad, but it was hard to say he could become the strongest. Even if he worked so hard, there was still an upper limit that he couldn't break no matter what. It was also the reason why he was lazying around instead of working hard. Moreover, unlike a human, being a youkai, even if he did nothing, he would gain all of the power which should be his. The reason why he worked hard was that he wanted to gain a skill and also master all the abilities that he had currently.

He was also a five-year-old child. What was the point of working too hard now?

More importantly, if he had worked so hard, he was afraid he might have caused a hidden injury to his body. After all, even if he was a youkai, it didn't mean he was immune to injuries.

However, it is different now since he has a system.

Yet he wondered why all the systems, he would get this type of system.

However, a beggar can't be a chooser.

He decided to learn more about this system since his chance to become stronger was on it.

"Tamazusa! Where are you?"

While he was reading the details of his system, he heard his mother's voice. Still, it didn't really interrupt him since his mother would probably bring him to take a bath or have lunch. He didn't bother to answer and just kept reading the information about his system.

"It's rare of you to be sleeping." His mother was surprised when she saw him lying lazily on the grass. However, she must admit he was cute when he was sleeping.

He hadn't even given an answer, but his body was lifted like a cat. However, even if he was helpless, he didn't say anything since his mother was just like this. It was too troublesome to talk, so he didn't fight back and let her carry him. He was also in his tanuki form, so his weight was light.

"Your father is calling you. Come on." His mother said while carrying him in her arms.

"Father? What's wrong? Why?" He was surprised and abruptly opened his eyes while looking at his mother.

His mother's feature wasn't much different from a human's feature, and she was also beautiful. However, as a youkai, she also had a youkai's features such as pointed ears, slanted golden eyes with slit pupils, and long silver hair that had always been tied up into a ponytail with a red-colored cord.

Yet, unlike his father, who was a tanuki, his mother was a dog-youkai.

This was what made him half tanuki and half dog-youkai. However, the blood of his father was stronger than his mother's, so his tanuki feature was more noticeable. Still, that didn't mean his mother was weak. Instead, she was strong.

However, he was glad the system didn't react when he met his mother.

By now, he had fully understood the system since it was so simple that he didn't need a long time to understand it.

In conclusion, what he needed to do was make a woman that could trigger his system into his woman.

By then, he would get a reward.

The reward was random, and he wasn't sure what he would get, but one thing was for sure, it could be either items, talents, magic, or any other things that could help him to become stronger. Still, the word getting stronger was somewhat ambiguous, and it was hard to tell what he could get by getting those women into his.

However, it couldn't be any random women. Instead, it had to be a special woman that could trigger his system.

His mother definitely wasn't one of them, which he was glad for.

Still, if possible, he hoped to be able to see someone that could trigger on his father's turf, but somehow he had a feeling that such a convenient thing was impossible.

"Huh? How dare you say that after you have disappeared for so long?!" His mother pulled his ear without mercy.

"Ouch! Ouch! Stop, Mom! It hurts!"

He quickly transformed into his human form. Unlike his tanuki form, his human form wasn't that much different from a normal human. Even if he walked around the city, no one would think that he was a youkai in this form.

Besides his tanuki and human forms, he also had his youkai form, but he wouldn't use it since he didn't think it was necessary.

The reason why he decided to turn into his human form was that his human form was cute. He was still a five-year-old boy, and no matter how people saw him, they would want to pinch his cheeks since he was so cute.

His eyes were clear and bright like stars, still childishly earnest, framed by long lashes. He had thick, short black hair, which reminded anyone of the night sky. His pale cheeks flushed crimson when he was excited.

If someone saw him, they would think, without a doubt, he would grow into an attractive man.

However, because he was young, many people would mistake her for a female since his appearance was quite soft.

He was dressed in a loose black kimono, showing off his childish manly chest that could tempt any girl to do something they shouldn't do.

It might be because of a mutation or maybe because he became Inugamigyoubu Tamazusa now that there was a slight change in his appearance.

As expected, when he turned into his human form, his mother's expression softened and stopped, pulling his ear. Still, she carried him in his arms.

The weight of a five-year-old boy wasn't light, yet she still carried it like it was nothing.

"Don't suddenly disappear for so many days like that again, alright?" His mother said with a stern voice.

"I know." He knew his mother was worried about him and could only sigh, feeling that his mother had doted on him. After all, when he thought about his siblings, he felt his mother was quite ruthless and even slightly ignored them. It was also partly the reason why he didn't really join his siblings since he could see their resentment. Yet he didn't care since it was impossible for a carnivore to become a friend of a group of herbivores.

He looked at his mother and asked, "Say, Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"What's wrong?"

"Why did you become father's wife?" This was what made him not understand. His mother was obviously a strong youkai, but how could she accept becoming his father's 88th wife?

After all, wasn't it normal for her to search for someone that could treasure her more instead of becoming one among several wives of his father?

Hearing her son's question, her expression softened, and she caressed her son's soft hair gently. "Listen, Tamasuza."

His expression became weird when his mother called him by his name. Frankly, he felt his name was weird since the meaning of his name was a jewel. It had a good meaning since it meant he was precious, but it also had a double meaning since it gave his name the meaning of balls, considering how jewel was slang for the balls.

Somehow he wanted to change his name to Tamazuki now since at least his name wouldn't be weird.

"The world of youkai is cruel. The weak are the meat the strong do eat. If you don't want to become food, you should become strong," his mother said sternly, staring into her son's eyes.

"But Father isn't the strongest youkai, right?" He asked in doubt.

"Don't underestimate your father." She rubbed her son's hair and said with a serious tone, "If there's no accident back then, he might be able to conquer this country, and his power is even comparable to Hagoromo Gitsune." When she talked about this story, her eyes were slightly feverish.

It could be seen that his mother was in love with his father too. Yet he felt it was normal since if she didn't love his father, how could she give birth to eight children?

Still...

"Hagoromo Gitsune..." He sighed when he thought about the miserable life of this woman. He then thought about the words of his mother and wasn't surprised by her words since the world of youkai was really cruel. After all, he often saw many youkai killed or eaten by the stronger youkai.

This was the world of the strong ate the weak.

The weak could only be oppressed in the world of youkai.

It was also the reason why he was glad somehow to become Inugamigyoubu Tamazuki. After all, even if he wasn't the strongest, it didn't mean he was weak since, in the original story, he was able to massacre all of his brothers easily.

Still, massacring all of his brothers quickly wasn't an easy feat, but he was able to do it.

Yet he was defeated by Nura Rikuo easily.

His eyes gleamed in ruthless light when he thought about this problem, and his desire to become stronger became fiery. After all, who wanted to become the stepstone of the Nura Rikuo so this guy could appear handsome in front of everyone?

'Now, the first step...'

He had a system to make him stronger, yet he felt slightly strange at how this system worked.

However, he should just enjoy it for now.