Chapter 48

As predicted, the Madam was (in that really low energy/high politeness Eastern way) practically beside herself at what had happened. Discretion was a huge part of her profession, and not only did this break that rule, it had the potential to run her out of the business entirely. Yet another example of Freya's willingness to let 'collateral damage' happen.

And it would all depend on what I had to say about it, whether the Madam lost her business or not. Her employees, her fault. Orario was just that kind of place.

I could see that Haruhime was just a tiny bit upset at it all, but was doing that little sleeve tug she did when she wanted me to stay calm about something (or keep me from skipping sleep).

So, I gave the Madam a Karate Chop of Justice (Hestia version), and said we would like to skip the 'extra service' the house provided. Except for tea. It was very good tea. She would keep her business, we would still have a temporary place to stay, and the 'fallout' with the two who'd leaked the information on my back would be up to her. The Madam would also owe me a Favour. I might never call it in, but it would hang over her head until I did.

But we'd still get our tea.

The next morning however... I could tell something was different. Something was wrong. Even in the early morning, the 'entertainment' district still had a level of 'noise' to it. It was a different kind of bustle to say, the main street with all its shops and stalls, and mostly consisted of people dragging their butts back to where ever they actually lived, so they could either sleep off their hangover, or clean the 'party' off themselves and go to work.

This morning though... It was silent.

"Ko-san?" Haruhime mumbled, woken up by my sudden alertness no doubt, "Is something... oh."

"We might have a busier day than we want today... I think the shock of what happened yesterday has worn off." I didn't want to hurry with 'breakfast', but there was a little hint of 'impending doom' in the air, and I did not like it.

(The Manor work site)

The worksite was surrounded. People, young, old, citizen and adventurer alike had surrounded the property. Now, as per guild law (which people had very recently been given a clear reminder of) not a single one of them was actually on the property. But, with the outer wall mostly destroyed or torn down for recycling, just about everyone had a clear view inside.

And they were just looking. For the moment. There were of course people whispering, pointing and asking questions to the person next to them, but aside from that... just looking.

Maki and Delly, along with Shinkage/Hagane, were looking out from the mini bunkhouse, and wondering what to do. None of the workers had shown up yet, Kodori and Haruhime weren't due for another hour or so, and even then, they'd have to get through a few hundred people without resorting to violence (as per Guild law).

"We could simply ask them to go away." Hagane suggested, "They are just people, mostly."

"That's the problem. They are 'just people'. And those who aren't outnumber us. We're trying to be the good guys here." Maki said, "I mean... I am at least. Brr, that lady is almost as bad as Eina for lectures."

"Why not just... ask what they want? I mean, the people in this world seem pretty pragmatic. Sensible, if a little quick to draw weapons." Delly hugged her tail, then spotted Chime, "Bunny!" And hugged Chime.

"They are probably here to see us." Shinkage said, "The 'freaks'." Her cold black eyes blinked once, her secondary eyelids a half second behind the primary on opening.

"Huh..." Delly and Maki pondered, "Well, why not show them then?" Maki suggested, "I mean, education is the bane of superstition."

The four of them had a moment of silence, then shrugged the 'how bad could it be' shrug. "We also have to start breakfast."

"One way or another, we will have to leave the shed here... Hagane? Want to stay and guard our stuff? And the little ones?" Maki asked, "I mean, if that's okay with Chime?"

Chime gave them a single ear up.

"Oh, look!" Someone in the crowd pointed as the three 'fleshy' types (plus Chime) left the bunkhouse. "Where's the other one?" "Other one?" "Yeah, heard they had a metal cat or somethin'" "Oh, she's coming this way." "Is that a..."

Delly, Shinkage and Maki had split up. Delly headed over to Gros's wood shed, where the gargoyle was keeping out of sight, along with the Phoenix. Shinkage went off to the kitchen tent to start up the temporary stoves. Maki on the other hand, was walking towards the front gate (even without most of the wall, it was still the proper place to greet a crowd), with Chime resting in one hand.

Maki, not being the best people person in the world, but still the most socially adept of the three of them, asked the first unarmed adult (merchant maybe?) the age old question that anyone might ask when someone came knocking on their door.

"Can I help you?" She asked, giving Chime some headpats to help calm herself.

The adventurers in the crowd were whispering, "Needle rabbit?" "But it's so tiny?" "Has the horn though." "Irregular maybe?" "Is that a Ganesha collar?"

The man, middle aged, reasonable build, and dressed in finer clothes than most of the people around him clearly wasn't expecting to be about two good steps from a monster today, or ever, and utterly failed to reply with anything other than a nervous sputter. So Maki looked at the nearest adventurer. Leather armour, battle cloth, but not armed with anything more dangerous than a simple dagger, he was easy to pick out among the 'citizens'.

"Can I help you?" Maki asked.

"Is that-"

"Yes." Maki jumped the gun on the answer, "This is Chime. She's a needle rabbit, and a Xenos." Chime cleaned her face at the crowd, sitting up on her hind legs a little to 'puff up' but also showing off the Ganesha Approved 'tamed monster' collar.

The adventurer took a half step closer (still just off the property) and leaned in a little, squinting at the rabbit. He had his hand on the pommel of his dagger, but for now he was simply leaning in with a 'hmm', "So, yer saying that this little thing is smart? And not just some kinda irregular who is too small to be aggressive? Can it speak?"

"She." Maki started firmly, "Doesn't have the proper mouth to speak. But, yes, she's very smart. And calling her a 'thing' is a bit rude."

On cue, Chime turned her back to the man and 'huffed' audibly, getting a couple of chuckles from the crowd.

"She understands everything you're saying, and aside from a couple cats who were getting the wrong idea, she's never been aggressive."

Even if he was a little rude, he certainly understood the body language of the little Xenos and backed up again a little ashamed. "Huh... And there's more of these... Xenos?"

There was a ripple of commotion throughout the crowd, someone screamed shortly, and another yelled out, "It's out of the cage!"

"Well, we have one more here." Maki said, trying not to react with anything more than an eyebrow twitch, "Delly! You were supposed to wait!"

"Why wait?" Gros said, loud enough to cut through the slowly growing panic, "What's that saying? 'Get it over with'?"

Gros, walked towards the front gate, wearing his own Ganesha collar. He never wore it normally, but he did have one. He sat down like a good cat/eagle/bat/statue/lawn ornament, and even a good few paces behind Maki, he loomed over her.

By now, anyone with a weapon had it in their hand, but still, no one had taken a step forward. "It's the same one from the Invasion!" Someone called out.

Again Gros had to speak over the crowd, "Yes, I am. No thanks to Hermes." He grumbled, "And to answer your question." He looked at the first adventurer, "I am smart, I can talk, and if you wanted a game of chess, well... You'd find more challenge with Chime." He curved his neck around, looking back at Delly, "Can I go yet? I am not a zoo animal."

The crowd seemed to be divided. On the one hand, here were a pair of monsters (one big, one small) who clearly had the 'capacity' of a 'person'. On the other, it was still a monster, massive, out of its cage, and the only adventurers around were (probably) low level and armed with 'taking a day off' equipment.

"Get outta here you monster!" Someone shouted, a fragment of the outer wall arcing towards Gros and 'tick'ing off his side. As one, the crowd looked towards the voice. It was a young man, maybe ten years old, dressed in simple clothing. He was still in the 'just threw a thing' position too. "You monster! You and your friends hurt my dad!"

Beside him, looking on in abject horror, was a woman. Dressed in a similar style to the boy, she was obviously a citizen, and trying to figure out how to get her (very angry) child away from the monster.

The rest of the crowd on the other hand, was also frozen. Except it was literally a split between fight (adventurers) and flight (citizens). But as was usual with mob mentality, no one wanted to act first.

Gros however, decided for them, "Is your father an adventurer?"

The sheer calm of the question seemed to shock the crowd. The boy was the only exception, "NO! He is just a normal person! He was in one of the buildings you broke!"

It was Gros who seemed a bit taken aback this time, and he took a single step towards the child and mother. It was mostly to just face him properly though. Curmudgeonly or not, he was still civilized. "If he was an adventurer, I would say it was just an... occupational hazard?" He looked to Delly, who nodded, "But if it was up here, then Hermes is to blame."

"It doesn't matter!" The boy said, "You were the one who broke the shop he was in!" He started to pick up another rock, but his mother hugged him close, trying to stop him and shield him. "Now he can't walk! And mother has to work in his place!"

Gros got a couple steps closer then sat back down, "That is unfortunate."

"Feeling sorry doesn't help!"

"No it doesn't. But I'm not sorry." Gros said, "I was not myself when it happened, and the one who did it to me is gone now." He looked towards the mother, then back to the boy, "But." He looked over his still healing wing, reached in carefully with his hooked beak, and broke a bit of it off with a 'snap' of stone. He then took another few steps forward and put the hand sized fragment of his wing down in front of the two of them, "I've heard that gargoyle dust is useful for sharpening stones."

The two of them, as well as most of the crowd looking at him, uncomprehending.

"I'm sure that Goibniu person, or Hephaestus would buy it from you. I've no real idea about money, but I do know that you adventurers can make healing potions for just about every injury." Gros continued.

The boy seemed to be unconvinced, though it was clear he was still just angry. "Why would I want help from a monster?!"

Gros leaned down, not quite within biting distance of the boy (and still on Hestia property) "I am not a monster, -human-. I am a Xenos. You said I did something wrong, fine. I know enough of your 'laws' and 'rules' that doing 'wrong' requires 'reparations'."

He was leaning in just a little closer with every word, until he was almost nose to nose with the boy, (who was now doing his best not to wet himself). But instead of actually crossing the property line, Gros backed up, one of his clawed hands putting the wing fragment down in front of him.

"Part of me being up here in the sunlight, is to learn about you. The next part, when you -people- were more familiar with us being up here, behind bars or in zoos, was for -you- to learn about -us-." He looked around at the people, then sighed, "What ever. Wake me up when the work starts again."

And with that, he walked back into his cage, closed the open bars with his tail, and returned to his shed.

"woo?"

"Oh sure, now you wake up."

Everyone seemed to have a moment of looking at everyone else, with most of the people breathing a sigh of relief, when Kodori's voice spoke up from the far end of the street, "Is there a problem over here?!"

(The main Guild hall)

Eina had just gotten to work, and was already wishing it was time to go home. Just getting in the door without letting in a mob of panicking or angry people was hard enough, but one they opened the door for business, she (as the supervisor), would have to actually deal with them. She knew it was, or at least, used to be, illegal for the Guild to have adventurers. But she would have felt far more comfortable with some around right now.

"Eina, you made it." Royman said as he closed an 'employees only' door behind him, "I've already sent word to Lord Ganesha, and he should have a few of his Familia here shortly to try and keep the peace."

Eina was unable to keep the look of relief off her face, "Thank you sir." She said, "But, how will we explain this? Lord Ouranos explained it, but the people hardly know who he is."

Royman nodded gravely. He respected the gods, all of them, a lot. But he held Ouranos in the highest regard, "It's true he has very little presence among the populous, so the Guild is going to have to answer in his place. I'm already working with the printing press team so we can make posters and pamphlets. But for now... well, this is our front line."

"Can we at least delay opening until the Ganesha Familia gets here?" Eina asked, "Misha isn't here yet either..."

"Yes, that was the plan. Misha is also working with the printing press team, and will be out soon." Royman gave her shoulder a pat, "Stay calm, and we'll get through this too. Oh, I've arranged for the staff to have dinner at the Hostess later, so look forward to that."

"Yes sir." Eina nodded, then got behind her desk to make sure she had everything ready.

(Kodori)

It might have been us leaving early, but I doubted it. The city was quiet. On the way out of the Entertainment District, we met maybe a handful of Amazon. Most of them seemed a bit on edge too. But I didn't ask why. The looks they were directing at me made it pretty clear. I mean, not only did I admit I was 'different' but I'd just hit level seven, and the entire city saw it happen.

I was the strongest. I was the 'one to beat' for the title. Except, I didn't have a magical headband that made me immune to anyone without the second place ribbon. Anyone could challenge me, at any time, and so long as it didn't break any of the guild rules, no one would bat an eye.

But that wasn't all. The city itself seemed to be 'absent' in this general area. Of course, that meant they were somewhere else, and my guess would be the Guild hall.

Aisha and the Oni met us as the edge of the district, "Fox, Hime. You're early. You felt it too?"

"Yeah." I nodded, so did Haruhime, "Gonna have to apologize to Eina later."

"You are here early as well." Haruhime said, looking up at the two Oni and giving each of their hands a pat.

"Even we need sleep occasionally." Okakai said.

Aisha laughed, Haruhime blushed, and I facepalmed, "Okay you two... Let's hurry over. I'm hoping the guild is the only one with the raving mob around it today."

Of course I was wrong, but it looked like things were still quiet when we got to the end of the street that our front gate was on just as I heard the sound of a metal gate closing. Gros's cage? So, I called out to the crowd, hoping that it was a 'calm' quiet, and not a 'storm' quiet. "Is there a problem over here?!"

Myself, the children, Haruhime, the two Oni, and Aisha made for great riot prevention it seemed. As one, the mob that seemed to be surrounding the work site moved out of the way. A moment later, Delly was in front of us, "Boss!" She started, stopping me with a huge hug, "We just had a really good thing happen!"

I applied a headpat, then an ear scratch before giving her shoulder a nudge to let go, "Oh?"

A rapid fire, short form explanation later...

"Huh." Was my reply. "That's kind of awesome, yeah." I nodded, looking around at the crowd, "But, you're all still here?" I made sure to keep my voice cheerful.

"Well, we um... wanted to see." An adventurer said, "I mean... You're level seven now right?"

Another one spoke up, "Is your Goddess recruiting?" Another asked.

"Do you have time to spar?" "How did you get so strong?" "What is that coat made from?" "Did you make those 'ice boxes'?" "How do you make iced cream?"

The sudden barrage of questions only got louder and more jumbled from there, but out of the mess of noise I heard the squeak of one of my children.

"Ahem." I said, the two Oni *Thump*ing their war clubs on the ground once.

Silence.

"As you can see, we have a lot of work to do. But!" I went over to the crib to pick up the fussy one (Chie), "Once that work is done, I'll be glad to chat with you. No matter how strong I am, my priorities are exactly the same." I made a point to rub my nose against Chie's, "I hope you all understand." I looked back at the crowd meaningfully.

I set the giggling child back down, and watched them all start to disperse. While keeping a careful eye on them, Maki came by and handed me Chime, "Have a buuny." She said.

Chime gave me her usual happy headbutt facerub, and I gave her ears a little attention, "That was... much better than I expected." I said as the last few people started to get out of sight. "Good work Gros!" I called out.

"Meh. I still don't like -people- but it's still a job."

"Speaking of work." Shinkage called out from the cooking tent, "Unless you want me to try cooking, one of you should start on this. I think I've got everything up to temperature."

"Let's get ready for the day then." I said, "I hope that's our only surprise for the day..."

(I AM GANESHA)

Ganesha, sitting behind his desk, was just setting down his Occulus when Shakti knocked, then entered. On his desk were various reports, paperwork, and a small map of the city, complete with little tokens representing various things.

"My Lord... We may have a problem." Shakti said, "Though, it seems this is more of a 'good problem to have' instead of the usual."

"So it's not the sudden rush of people complaining to the Guild?" He asked wearily.

"No."

"Or a potential riot around the Hearthstone worksite?"

"No."

"Rush of early morning adventurers going into the dungeon with rope and nets?"

"Oh dear... but no."

"Oh good. Because we already have those problems, and they are not good ones." He smiled wryly, "Tell me Shakti, what is it now?"

"Something a little closer to home, so to speak. We have a small mob outside, who want a tour of the zoo." Shakti said with a shake of her head, "We don't often get people visiting the zoo, so it's a welcome change considering the cost of the land its on."

Ganesha ignored the critical look about cost, "But a mob is a mob, and they want in." He concluded with a sigh, standing up and picking up a bunch of his heavy gold ornaments to go along with his 'usual' performance in front of 'the people'.

"My Lord. You do not need to handle this. Please, get some sleep." Shakti urged, "You've hardly had any since... oh dear... Since she came back."

"Yes. It has been a long while since I got a good sleep. But the people need me. They need Ganesha, the God of the People, to show them that there is nothing to fear." He said, clipping on various bracelets and putting on necklaces.

"At least let me make you some tea."

"Thank you."

He was putting on the last of his ornamentation when tea was placed on his desk. "My Lord, how should we proceed with this? Guards? Hold them at the gate? Refuse them and send them home?"

Ganesha took a sip of tea, "I think we will limit the tour to four at a time, increase the guard detail by half, and answer questions but 'where' as honestly as we can. Yes." He took another sip of tea, then frowned, "Really Shakti?" He set the teacup down with a trembling hand, "I would have just had a nap later..."

She was by his side in an instant, no trace of guilt on her face, "We will do our best. Take the rest of today off, My Lord." She helped him down to the longest of the couches, "The God of the People is still a person, and needs to look after himself as well."

She left Ganesha snoring on the couch, his pile of gold ornaments on the table next to him. She locked the door on her way out, told the two guards that he was refusing visitors until further notice, and went about getting the Zoo ready for its first visitors in almost a year.

(Someplace in Gnossis)

Lido's room in Gnossis was like something out of a monster hunter's trophy room. Now, he didn't keep heads mounted to the wall, or stuff monsters to turn them into statues. No, that was basically impossible with how the dungeon worked. However, there were a lot of monster 'parts' all over the place. A salamander wool pile in the corner for a bed. A chair made of wood and bone. A foot stool made from a Black Rhino foot. Orc hide blankets. That kind of thing. They weren't 'trophies' in his eyes, but 'comfort earned for good work'.

There were very few things of 'overworld' manufacture in his room. One, was his armour stand and the armour on it. The first was made of wood and metal, the second made of adamant and steel. There was also a bookshelf, a magic stone lamp, and a desk. Desks, Lido found, were really handy, and only really useful when all the legs were even, so, it was a properly made wood desk from Orario.

On this desk however, was the Occulus, and pictured in it, was Fels.

"Really?" Lido was usually pretty easy going, but his voice right now was a bit irritated. "Grr..." He scratched the back of his head with a clawed hand, much like Welf when he was frustrated at something, "Now why'd he go and do that? That's gonna cause problems for us."

Fels had just explained what had happened, the last part being Ouranos telling the city about them. "He did his best to hold off on telling people. But it was to keep the ones on the surface safe."

"That Freya is a real piece of glass in the armour..." Lido grumbled, "Well... did it work?"

"So far as we know, yes. The people are going to need time, but, Spot, Chime and Gros are all doing fine." Fels rubbed his chin under his hood, "Ah, this reminds me. Chime is a mother. My owl couldn't count how many, but I'm guessing anywhere between four and eight."

Lido's eyes went wide, and his tail thumped the floor with excitement, "I'll have to tell her mom the good news." He grinned a very toothy grin, "So what can we expect from the adventurers?"

"Simply be cautious of them as usual, and I don't think much will change for now. Right now, the people, the citizens, are the biggest concern. They don't understand monsters, aside from something to be feared. Hopefully, knowing that there are Xenos among them, and doing no harm, will warm them up to a different opinion."

Lido hmm'ed, then shrugged in his usual easygoing way, "Fine, well, lemme know if something happens."

"On another topic. Asterius..."

"Yeah, he had a run in with those two colourful ones! I wish I coulda been there!" Lido thumped his knee, "He looks kinda silly now too! Only one horn!"

"I see... well, keep me informed. As much as the Xenos seem to be on their way to being accepted, the city still remembers Asterius as the one who survived Loki Familia. Bell is a bit of a celebrity in the city, and if he were to die fighting a known Xenos..."

"Yeah yeah... I know." Lido sighed, "I'll do my best, but it's not like he visits, ever."

"Thank you. I'll have supplies put in the usual places. Did you want to trade books again?"

"Oh yeah! Just finished those stories Bell gave me."

(Folkvangr, the Freya Familia home)

Not including the top suite of Babel, or the former headquarters of Ishtar, the Freya Familia had an actual home and headquarters. In almost the exact middle of the business district, the most upper class district in Orario, Folkvangr is a clear display of the Freya Familia's wealth.

Surrounded by four high walls, with a lawn big enough for all the members to assemble and train, it takes up a very large plot of land. The main building itself, looks much like a gothic temple crossed with a mansion. Big windows, high peaked roofs, red clay shingles, perfectly smooth and uniform grey stone walls... It invoked a solemn and majestic feeling.

However, this morning, the Familia was not on the lawn training. No, they were on guard. Alert, watchful for any and everything that might try and do harm to their Goddess. Even reduced to an ageless mortal, she was still their Icon, and even without her power to charm anyone she chose, they were loyal and loved her still.

Deep inside the Mansion, with thick stone walls decorated in opulent tapestries and art, with high quality magic stone lamps to make up for the lack of windows, Freya, guarded by Ottar, sat behind a desk made of perfectly smooth wine red wood. She had been moved here after her judgment, and it was the safest place in all of Orario.

There was a third person in the room. He'd been patted down, searched, and told quite plainly that 'one wrong move' would result in 'an unfortunate accident'. But, regardless, he was a professional. While he stood there, making sure Guild uniform vest and tie were on straight again, he watched as Freya scanned the paper in front of her.

No words passed between them. There was no need. The entire city knew what this bit of paper was all about.

Finally, Freya picked up a quill, and signed the bottom of the page. "Here." She said, anger nibbling at the edge of her voice, "Take it and leave."

Ottar helpfully pushed the paper across the desk, just to keep the Guild employee away from Freya. The man picked it up, made sure the signature was in the right place, then carefully folded it and put it in his left inside pocket. "One more item, Lady Freya." He said, slowly reaching into his right inside pocket and taking out a pure white envelope, "Your invitation." He said, "And a courtesy. The Loki Familia has already filed for a vote on the top Familia, and it will likely be held at the upcoming Donatus."

"Vulture Goddess..." Freya mumbled, "I must settle my house. I won't be attending."

"Your vote then?" Again, slowly, he took out a notepad and pencil.

"Abstain. Let them fight it out among themselves. Now, leave." Freya glanced towards Ottar.

The Guild employee didn't even flinch at Ottar's stern look. He just wrote down his note, put the pencil and paper away, did a smooth turn in place, and left. He didn't even acknowledge the two level six guards at either side of the door, or the level five guards at the door after that. He did however give a nod to the helmeted Palum who came to escort him off the property.

"I must ask. How is the eye?" He asked, though, he was asking the wrong brother (professional yes, omniscient? no).

"He says it's still blurry, but the medicine is working." The Palum said after a moment.

"And Sir Hedin?"

"He'll be in a chair for a little while longer, but he can feel his legs again."

"I will inform the special medical staff that things are working as intended then. Good day."

"Ottar." Freya said wearily, "We will have to send teams into the dungeon to recover."

"Yes my Lady." He said, "I will organize all those not on guard to make ready and depart tonight."

"I had to give up... everything. The tower, Ishtar's little palace, almost all of our shops..."

"We will recover. Your Familia has brought home great treasures, and will do so again. You need only say the word." Ottar replied.

"I hate it, my treasure." She said after a long moment, "I do not like hiding, especially from that... animal."

"You do not have to hide from her." Ottar said, opening his mouth to add something, but stopping and falling silent.

"Speak your mind, my treasure, always."

"It is the rest of the city that should concern you now, not Kodori." He said after a little thought, "Your enemies, mortal or otherwise, are the danger now."

"Oh? And Kodori is not my enemy then?" Freya couldn't even muster up the energy to glare at him.

"No." Again, he paused, but relented when Freya gave him a ever so mild dirty look, "To an adventurer, you are either a friend, an enemy, or an obstacle. We work with friends, we kill enemies, and we overcome obstacles. It is how we live."

Freya gave him a long, hard look, then just sighed, "Take me to bed, my treasure, then go and organize my Familia to begin recovering our assets."

"Yes, my Lady." He said, taking Freya's hand, then scooping her up, princess style, and carrying her over to a massive veiled bed in the corner of the room.

"If that is how adventurers see the world, then she is our obstacle now."

"Yes my Lady, she is."

And so Ottar left Freya on her bed of fine silks, surrounded by priceless wood and gold, protected by ageless stone, defended by her Familia. But as pretty as it was, it was still a prison.

(Kodori)

As usual, there was a lot of work to do. Because I wanted to reclaim as much of the material as possible, (the three week plan if you remember), we were taking our time to process everything properly. But, that was only the start. We then had to rebuild. But for that, we needed more planning. Sure, our old home was big, and suited our needs, but now that we had the opportunity, we could make it a little more suited to our wants.

So, as we wound down for the day, we got everyone with a stake in the matter inside our little dorm and put our heads together. This also included Gros, who was out of his enclosure (now that the city knew he wasn't a -bloodthirsty- monster, but a civilized one). He however just had his head inside the door.

"Are you sure Gros? I mean, you don't need the bars anymore." Maki asked, "Why bother with them?"

Gros, with a tiny black and white poof on his head, replied with, "You have walls, I have bars. It keeps most of those little people away from me when I'm trying to nap."

"It will save time and effort." Welf said, rubbing his chin, "Don't suppose I-"

"We." I said.

"We can get a bigger workshop?" Welf grinned, "She's still pretty green, but Maki shows a bit of promise."

"It's just hobby stuff." Maki shrugged, "But yeah, three would be a crowd in the 'hot' shop as it was before."

"We could use more storage space too." Ouka said, "Last time we tried organizing it... I'd never thought about how much random stuff we brought back until then."

"With Bell-san and Kodori-san, we always brought back extra." Asuka said with a nod, "Though, Kodori-san and Welf-san are both hoarders."

"You never know when you'll need a hundred goblin fangs." I said while scratching the back of my head, since they were all used up to keep me from bleeding to death after my run-in with the former Berbera... "Okay, so, Gros's home stays the same. Hot and cold workshops get bigger. Next?"

"A room or two for proper classrooms." Takemikazuchi said, "It is well and good to have spare rooms, but they were meant to be bedrooms, and were not really large enough for all of the orphans to sit and learn in."

We all nodded, "A good idea." Astraea said, "I wouldn't mind a garden, if possible?"

"Blup!" Jiru said, surprising the little puff of fur that was resting on him.

"Jiru wouldn't mind one either." Delly said, "Indoor greenhouse?"

"Can... we fix the pool?" Weine asked.

"Of course we can." I nodded, "We'll need to resurface the underside and cut new stone for it, but its still just a fancy pit filled with water."

"Oh! You should expand the kitchen too." Delly said, "This would be the perfect chance as well!"

I perked up, "You are absolutely correct." I smiled.

"A perfect chance?" Mikoto asked.

"Y'see, back 'there' we worked with a lot of really wealthy people. But, they were almost all really keen on good food too." Delly grinned, "So, the Boss kept on kicking around ideas about making one of the most amazing kitchens from over there, into something she could bring here!"

That got the attention of all our 'kitchen inclined' members, complete with eye sparkles and everything.

"Yes, imagine a kitchen where you almost never ran out of space to put things. Where the stove always worked exactly how it did the last time you used it, and an oven with no hot spots. And! It would all run off magic stone." I boasted, arms crossed and sounding as proud as I'd ever sounded. I then dropped the act and said, "I only got about half way in my research though."

"Aww..." said all our kitchen inclined, eye sparkling people.

"That's fine." Shinkage said, "Most of that depended on mathmagic. You have an expert on that now."

"Asuka? Still have the box?" I asked.

"I do. And as instructed, it's never left my sight." She said with a smile.

"We'll all talk with her later. HIDA is a master of designing things. What we're doing now though is just putting ideas together." I said, "Any other ideas?"

"A library?"

"Dry room with a sunlight or two. Next?"

"Cold storage?"

"We'll put that next to the kitchen and a pantry. Next?"

"Are we keeping the same style baths?"

"Polished stone is easier to clean and maintain, so, probably. We can vote on it later. Next?"

"Bigger orchard?"

"We lost some peach trees, but yes, we should see if we can find some other fruit trees. Next?"

"I'd like a proper dojo."

"Outdoor facing wall and nice wood floors, no problem. Next?"

"Can we keep our meeting room?"

"Of course. Fireplace and all. Next?"

"We gotta put in a proper training field."

"Better clay and proper archery range, check. Next?"

The list went on for a while. We'd 'taken over' the Hearthstone Manor, and it was made for someone else. Sure, we loved it, but we had to make do with things when it didn't just work. We also had lots of places we didn't really use. Being a much smaller Familia than Apollo was, there was a lot of space that was just... there.

Now, there were things we did use on occasion. Like the Ball room. My wedding was one time, but also the recent meeting with all of the Gods of our alliance. So that would stay at least, but maybe move over a little so the rooms we did use didn't require a long walk across the room we only used occasionally. Things like that were all considered, and it was a lot of fun to do so.

So, list of things we wanted in hand, we started to split up again for the evening.

And of course, I'd jinxed myself. The day wasn't over yet, and there was one more curve to send my way. But at least it was a pleasant one, if a little late. Or far too early depending on your point of view.

We were almost at the red light district again, yawning fussy children in the rolling crib, tired but pleased at a long day of getting things done, when Momiji and Kaede met us at the entrance/gate to the district. And there, in Momiji's arms, getting a most expert ear scroofle, was Maki's black spirit fox.

"Kodori-sama!" they greeted, Kaede waving and Momiji bowing slightly so as to not upset the fox in her arms, "Maki-sama's fox returned to me." Momiji said, "And she has a message for you."

I let Haruhime take over carriage pushing while I went ahead a little to meet them, "And what might that message be?" I asked, offering my hand to the content looking fox, "And... why did you go to her first?"

Maki's fox then bit me. Not hard at all, more of a passive/aggressive sign of irritation. "I regret volunteering for that trip, thank you very much." She let my hand go, then offered her muzzle to me so I could pat it, "I am simply delivering messages in the order I got them."

"I understand, thank you." I said seriously.

"Our parents wanted to say hello." Kaede said, "And it was on the way back."

"Perfectly reasonable." I nodded, taking Momiji's place in expert ear scroofling, "And?"

"They will be here tomorrow... oh I missed this..."

NOTES

Yes indeed, I didn't forget the black fox. It was just busy. :)