Cub Raising Association

Golden mark

Two crooked ice crystals shaped in the mermaid cub’s handwriting.

Looking down at these cold ice crystals, which at first glance were quite adorable, the people present did not know whether they should be amazed or laugh.

Their club’s mermaid cub had not only developed an ability, but it was also a very rare variant ability. This was naturally enough to astonish them. However, knowing what the word written in mermaid language on these ice crystals meant, a different feeling enveloped them and made them want to smile.

The first thing the little mermaid had wanted to do once he learned to use his new ability had been to write to his parent. Although the two ice crystals had not been given to them, they could not help but also feel warm in their hearts as they looked at them.

“Has this happened before, someone in the mermaid race using an ability without singing?” Zheng Zhou was the first one to doubt his own knowledge when it came to the mermaid race.

It was true that to be a qualified caretaker one needed to some extent understand every race. But there were so many races in the interstellar, being able to have a deep understanding of them all was impossible.

“I don’t recall hearing about it,” Zarad quickly answered, shouting from the guardroom before walking over. “However, no matter if there was a precedent or not, it has now proved possible.”

That was indeed true. After listening to Zarad’s words, the surrounding people nodded one after another and calmed down a little, removing the startled expressions from their faces.

A mermaid’s singing and ability should, in theory, be inseparable. So seeing the reality taking place in front of their eyes, everyone could simply not help but regard it as a wonderful miracle.

“Great!” Xia Qi’s eyes were full of joy. She felt happy for the mermaid cub from the bottom of her heart.

The little mermaid had been abandoned by his family, and the reason for it was not hard to imagine. He had been abandoned simply because the cub had a speech disorder.

–Because a cub who couldn’t speak, couldn’t sing, and so couldn’t use their ability.

But the mermaid cub had now proved himself to be very outstanding, not at all inferior to the other cubs in any way. To Xia Qi, this also proved what she had always thought.

That their Gale was very talented, one just needed to look at his ability to see this. Having a variant ice ability was so rare in the mermaid race that it indirectly proved how talented this mermaid cub was.

After some time, the ice crystals solidified by the cub’s ability at last started showing signs of melting. While the shape of the two ice crystals was still intact, Xie Tao hurried to take photos of them as keepsakes.

Xie Tao had no intention of uploading them on Xingyou. The pictures and the news of the mermaid cub’s variant ice ability would surely draw attention to the club, but he did not want to put the cub through all that. These photos were merely for him to keep.

“Have you recalled anything about the black pattern I told you about yesterday?” The Knox cub nestled in Xie Tao’s embrace was curled up into a ball and looked even more fluffy because of it. Xie Tao could not help but tenderly drag his fingers through the cub’s fur as he asked this.

“I haven’t.” Zarad shook his head in a direct manner. He had never come across such a mark before.

To be honest, when the youth told him about the black pattern on the Knox’s body, Zarad’s first reaction was to think of the Black Horror.

But after he took a closer look at the pattern the other showed to him, Zarad immediately dismissed his previous thought.

It was not the mark of the Black Horror. The totem pattern formed by the Black Horror was fixed, it was the same on every patient, and the pattern the youth showed him was very different.

After confirming this, Zarad had contacted a friend who specialized in research of totem patterns and inquired about it. Just like Xie Tao, Zarad had a vague feeling that the black pattern did not bode well.

Especially when he heard that the cub has had this black pattern since the moment he hatched. He could not help but recall one thing——

More than 30 years ago, when the cub’s egg was found by the Star Alliance in the ruins of the Knox race’s capital, it had been white.

White was normal. Zarad had wondered why the egg had turned back later and he now felt that it was related to the black mark Xie Tao had shown him.

The other did not know and it couldn’t be found on the Star Network, Xie Tao lightly frowned and absentmindedly gave a nod in response.

No relevant information could be found at all. Xie Tao stoke the soft back of the cub in his arms and was able to suppress the worry in his heart.

Knowing that the youth was worried about him, the fluffy Knox cub raised his head and looked up at the youth with his cold light blue eyes. He then called out and snuggled into the youth’s arms.

The two small horns on the cub’s head lightly brushed against Xie Tao’s shirt and the tail was placed so that it could easily be touched by him. It was undoubtedly the Knox’s way of expressing trust and dependence.

Being snuggled by the cub, Xie Tao unconsciously held onto the cub in his arms a bit firmer, fearing that the cub would accidentally snuggle himself out of his arms and fall down.

“Meaah.” After stroking against his chest two times, the Knox cub settled down and nestled quietly in the youth’s embrace.

Temporarily putting the matter regarding the black patter aside, Xie Tao started discussing the cubs’ basic combat training with the other.

“Before we begin, I would like to recruit an extra guard that can cover his shifts. Xia Qi, can you send out the job information today?” Xie Tao was stuck in his thoughts for a moment, but then turned his attention back to the middle age man standing opposite him. “Before we recruit a tutor to teach basic combat to the cubs, we will have to trouble you to do this for the time being, your salary will naturally rise.”

When he heard the word “salary”, the corner of Zarad’s eye twitched, but he still nodded his head to answer the youth’s words.

It was not long ago that he suggested that he could be a combat instructor to the cubs. When he heard the others talk about recruiting an instructor, Zarad had felt that, as a former Star Alliance general who had gone through numerous battles, he was better fit to be an instructor rather than a guard and had with great confidence immediately proposed himself for the position.

“Little Gale has just developed his ability, I hope you can give him some help and teach him how to use it.” Looking down at the two ice crystals that had now almost fully melted, Xie Tao unconsciously slowed down his voice.”The mermaid cub is a good baby. If you teach him, he will surely study hard.”

Zarad did not hesitate even for a second and directly agreed. To be honest, being given the chance to mentor a mermaid cub who had developed an ice ability, even if the youth hadn’t asked him, Zarad was itching to do it.

A rare variant ability user, if he could teach such a powerful student, then he could have a lot of face as a teacher—

Later, when it got known, even his former rivals in the army would need to plaster on a fake smile and compliment him. Just thinking about it, Zarad felt a sense of peace that he had not felt in a long time.

In order to complete the task assigned by the youth, Xia Qi quickly finished work and then went onto Xingyou to post the job information.

After publishing it, Xia Qi was about to turn off the connector when she suddenly thought of the post they did yesterday. She decided to log in again and see if there were any comments that needed answering.

As their club’s official account was managed by her, she would log in every day to check the situation.

Initially, Xia Qi was only intended to look over the account like she usually did. However, when she clicked the list of reposts on yesterday’s post, a particular sentence attracted her attention.

“How come the golden mark on the mermaid cub’s forehead resembles the mark of the Houdie family...”

The one who had written this had actually not thought about it deeply and only made a casual remark.

This casual remark had, however, unexpectedly gained attention and many people started discussing it in the comment section.

“It turned out that it was not just I who thought so, it must be true then, right?”

“Absolutely not. If it was a cub of the Houdie family, the mermaid cub would not be in a Cub Raising Branch but in a Connor Branch at Hailumite.”

Hailumite was the capital planet of the mermaid race and Connor was the fourth largest nursing association in the universe. As one of the most influential families in the mermaid race, the Houdie family had without fail sent each of their cubs to a high quality Connor branch.

Seeing this comment, some people seemed to rethink and were partially persuaded by it.

Actually, they couldn’t be 100% sure that the mark on the cub’s forehead was what they thought it was. The only close-ups in the pictures did not capture the cub’s face and although they really believed it, they couldn’t speak out with confidence.

However, many people on Xingyou were idle and jumped at the chance to join the argument. It didn’t take long before someone unknown found Connor’s enrollment list of the past years, together with the class photos.

Comparing the mermaid cub in the photo with their cub, Xia Qi, who had seen that mark up close many times, was stunned when she found that the two golden marks on the cubs’ foreheads were indeed identical...

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Translator’s note:

Happy Easter everybody! 🐣

Many thanks to K. Samel for the coffees. 💕

How have your holiday been so far? Eaten a lot of candy or waiting until Sunday? I myself have already somehow managed to eat all candy I bought for Easter... Cought...

Anyway, we seem to have gotten a big hint to the mermaid cub’s past in this chapter, here is a pic that shows the golden mark: