ALL NOVEL Chapter 69 – Aftermath
*** Alzi ***
My mind calmed after seeing Yuki gently fall asleep. My bed was yet again soaked in blood. Even with Kelly trying to clean it up, the blood refused to leave. I'll need a new one, meaning I need to talk to Mistress. But that is for later. Right now, I've wrapped Kelly in a big hug, and I refuse to let go.
"Thank you! I thought she was going to be like Mai again with my useless abilities! I love ..."
Yes, I'm rambling a lot tonight, but they've put this pregnant woman through a lot, and it doesn't hurt to shower someone with appreciation for all they've done through the years.
"Alzi!" is all she gets out clearly as the rest of the sentence gets muffled in my breasts. She gives me a little push, making me relent in my hug. "Alzi, you need to be careful! While suffocating in your breasts isn't the worst way to go, I would prefer to not die tonight."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think about that. I've grown again, I guess."
"That could just be the pregnancy. Now I'm tired. I'll go let Vasati know you need a new bed and then fall asleep. I love you too, Alzi, and I do like hearing all of that. Just do it in a way I can breathe next time. Yuki'll be fine in the morning; she's a sturdy girl."
"Thank you for the help. I don't think I was doing much with all my mana."
"Your mana is what makes all of this work girl. Try to make it so the next time I see you, it's not a medical emergency." She leaves me with the two kitsune. Yuki is asleep in my blood-soaked bed, and Nakuma is hiding in the corner.
I give the crazy girl a little stare before deciding she could use some company. I walk over and force her into a hug, careful to let her head get over my tits this time.
"Sorry for yelling at you earlier. I was scared and angry. I knew Yuki was going out to do something dangerous; I just didn't think about that. Thanks for getting her back to me," I whisper. I really did mess up yelling at the poor girl. She walked in with blood dripping down her body as well, obviously hurt, yet still got Yuki more help. I just reacted to them appearing in front of me.
"It's fine; you listened to me and saved her. Thanks for not forgetting about little old me in the corner," she says back as she drifts off to sleep. Her head resting on my tits.
Two sleeping kitsune with big fluffy tails and I've got a ruined bed stopping me from dreams! These two girls need my close love tonight. My mana would passively finish the healing. It would actually help them to sleep with me.
I'm not being perverted about it. It is a fantasy of mine, but I'm thinking of the medical benefits purely. Not about my hands resting against their large breast, which Yuki was hiding from me, or their soft tails covering me in extra warmth. No, just that my mana will naturally seep into their wounds during the night and heal them.
Yuki was quite clear that I couldn't get either of them pregnant for a bit. A small travesty, yes, but she promised they would have some kids later. Maybe even getting pregnant at the same time. Hehe, two pregnant kitsune hugging my sides. Maybe Mai...
"Alzi, how did you bleed so much? We just replaced your bed during your last labor. How is your bed destroyed! We pay extra to get beds that clean easily yet and la..." Vasati complains as she storms into my room, freezing when she notices the colorful kitsune in my arms and a passed-out Yuki on my bed. "Alzi, explain this."
"Yuki and her friend here got hurt. Her friend made it here, where I was able to heal them with Kelly's help." Doing my best not to give away too many details.
"Sure, sure. And how did they get hurt." Raising an eyebrow at my simple explanation.
"I'm not sure. Fighting, I guess?" please don't ask more pointed questions! I really don't want to spill what's going on.
"You're working hard to cover for these two. Huh, fine Yuki is free to do as she wants. You didn't have sex with them, did you?"
"I was just healing them tonight, Ma'am." It's a good thing I've only had sex with Yuki.
"Good. Now, I'll take them to Yuki's room and then be back to replace your bed."
What! No, they were going to cover me with their tails and share their body warmth with me. I mean, I was going to passively heal them tonight.
"Ok," I stammer out as I hold Nakuma tightly till Vasati comes to take her away.
My dreams were crushed one by one. First, Yuki and then Nakuma were removed. I will say the new bed is comfortable, but it cost me too much.
*** Queen Yumanea ***
"What is it?"
"Your Royal Highness, a large spell or skill has been used in the merchant district. A space spell. We've sectioned off the area, but the distortion is a rather large chunk, so it'll take a few days for the world to fix it naturally. There was also another attack on an assassin's guild branch. All dead, and the place burnt to the ground. A mercenary's remains were found there as well. Likely hired help for the assassin's guild. The merchant district attack was also an assassin's guild. Due to the space rift, all we can tell right now is that a number of powerful mages were fighting there. With the amount of mana used, the fight lasted a long time yet wasn't reported till the rift formed. We're looking into why the fight wasn't reported before the spell was detected," the messenger gave promptly, doing her best to speak quickly and clearly.
"The guild said they could handle the attacks." Maids start to flutter around to get me ready to leave. I'll need to fix this little crack and check it out myself; I don't like strong mages coming into town without visiting me first. And I have an idea of who this one is from.
"Yes, I did report that, but I also stated they were lying." Her smile cracked under my gaze.
"Yes, you did, but I like to confirm what they said and how they act. Tell them I want a report of every assassination, both successful and failed, over the past month tomorrow. If they are going to make this big of a mess, they attacked someone they shouldn't have."
"I already requested that information. They complained a bit, but I mentioned a few Duchesses that like to hunt, and they gave in."
"Good. Lead the way. Time to fix this little hole and see who is making a mess in my backyard."
A short carriage ride later, and I'm looking at quite the mess. The warehouse was burnt down, revealing a basement that shouldn't exist. Inside is empty, just some ashes from the burnt wood. The building neighboring the warehouse shows signs of damage, likely from a fire blast stone. Just a bunch of skeletons remain, skin and organs burnt completely. In the middle is a swirl of fucked up space slowly closing.
I turn to the messenger. "The guild has someone here, right? So where are they? Do they think they'll survive pissing me off by avoiding me?"
Behind her, I see a girl running up to me. Her feet worked overtime to keep the scared girl upright. "No, your Royal Highness. I'm sorry. I was talking with some of the other businesses that got hit by the blast. I came here once I heard you arrived."
"Good, the guild will be paying to fix the damage. The guild should've been strong enough to win or lost in a fashion that didn't have them running without cleaning up their work."
"Of course," she responded with a deep bow, as if what I was asking for was actually reasonable. The issue with running an illegal business is that you can't go to Justice when I start making demands.
"Any leads?" I ask, heading to the rift. No need to keep it around any longer.
"No, your Roy..."
"Just use Majesty. Saying Royal Highness takes too long." Yes, they take basically the same amount of time to say, but she seems useless, so we might as well mess with her instead.
"Yes, your Majesty. We don't have any leads. Everyone has always been killed in the attacks. Space magic is common enough that we can't get any leads."
"Really, space mages that can do this." Waving around the giant rift I'm about to close. "Are common?"
"Well, that part no. But getting a good idea of what people can do is hard. Skills can let even the weak do powerful things."
"So weak mages with a lucky skill are killing off your branches? I didn't realize the guild has sunken this lower over the years. Maybe I should kill you all myself and let a new guild rise from your ashes."
I start sending in my mana around the edges, pushing the space to sort itself out. It's slow to start, but once it gets going, the rest quickly follows until the ominous cut disappears. The woman doesn't respond to my latest threat, so I give the dumbass a way out. "You should still have a list of possible people you pissed off."
"We do, yet a space mage isn't among them."
"Then your scope is too narrow. It shouldn't take me coming here to tell you how to track down your attackers. Look for people attached to those you pissed off and look into the people you've recently assassinated without a thought about who is around them and go looking. This is embarrassing to explain to an assassin's guild."
"That will take a lot of time to work out. We are starting to go down that path now that we don't have any suitable answers."
"Work faster. I don't want to have to close another rift in my city. I don't want more businesses burning down for no apparent reason. I'm not happy to tell people that a random business was just burnt to the ground. I don't like lying about that. So get your shit together or appease the people attacking you."
"Yes, your Majesty."
"Good, now leave. I'll handle looking through this mess. The rift likely made it impossible to tell what other magic was used here anyway." As I head off towards where the front of the building used to stand.
"One last thing. We did find more hints of illusion magic being used at the other site. Nothing an enchantment couldn't do, but still something I want to share."
"Thank you. Anything else? ... Good."
Searching through the ash, I only find hints of an earth mage. There's another kind here, but it just doesn't come through the sheer volume of Earth mana and the space rift.
If that third kind is illusion or sound, then my guess would be the two kitsune messing around. Why would Yuki start making a mess? She's been happy playing brothel girl for a while. Even before that, she only assassinated people of other nations.
Alzi is the only reason why. Did one of my daughters get turned down by her or something? Something to look into. I don't know how easy it would be to appease that girl. She's a princess and just as needy as my own daughters; the guild will likely have to slit a few of their own throats to make it out of this one if I'm right.
If I'm not, then we likely have another nation playing around in here. Well, a different nation than the kitsune realm. But illusion magic and space are the specialties of that Crazy Kitsune that snuck in a bit ago.
As long as this rift doesn't make another appearance, I'll give them a few more attacks before I sit them down to talk it out. The guild could use some humbling.
Giving up on the third mana type, I head over to my carriage. "Come on, we're leaving; there's nothing else to find here."
