Bootstrapping Book 1

by Tersin22

An insert wakes up on the first day of her new life in a world of magic, with none of her own. No advantages, no starting place, knowing nothing but that she's out gunned at every turn and power is out there to grab. One way or another she'll drag her way to safety and arcane power, over the bodies of everybody in her way if she must.

24. Reputation

In some ways I'm lucky. The warehouse is dimly lit, the only light coming from the ventilation windows, leaving the cavernous space shrouded in deep gloom. The crates create a maze, stacked in some form of organization that I can't readily identify. They reach from chest high on me, to tall enough that if it weren't for my improved eyes, the top of the stacks would vanish into the dim lighting.

Really it'll be impossible to see anything in here without some form of low light vision.

Which makes me wonder, how are my new problems seeing anything? They're not local, they aren't speaking to each other in Japanese, which means they're from the Khaos Brigade. I seem to remember that the faction of the Brigade that's the most active at this point in time hates supernaturals, so the two here are probably some kind of human.

I probably have better senses than they do, which is an advantage I'll welcome. Of course no sooner has the thought crossed my mind than with a 'ka-chunk' sound, and an electric hum the overhead lights blink to life.

Well never mind then.

That makes everything harder, and worse my current hiding place is the closest bit of cover to the table.

Which is why I'm here.

It also means that this is the first place anybody vaguely competent is going to look.

So right now, I need to move.

I sprint several rows of crates down, listening to the two searchers head for exactly where I had just been. Luckily my armor is quieter than it has any right to be because I have to push myself hard to get out of sight before they arrive at my former shelter.

"Hmmm..." That's the shorter one's voice, "Not totally incompetent then." Well fuck you too, buddy. Who the hell are these people? "Split up." He murmurs to his huge companion, "Try to box them in." If my hearing wasn't as good as it is I probably wouldn't have heard that.

"Are you sure there's actually somebody here?" On the other hand the big guy apparently isn't actually capable of being quiet. He's clearly trying, but he's also clearly not built for subtlety.

I don't wait around for however the smaller man would reply, instead I start moving at a decent clip, trying to get around them. If they try to box me in, they'll be sweeping towards me, to pin me against the walls. If I can get behind them though, they'll move away from me giving me some breathing room.

The big guy starts moving parallel to me a few rows closer to their work area, the two of them attempting to try and cut the warehouse volume in half. I put on a bit more speed, and duck into a different isle. I'll have to wait for the two to pass me in their search, I don't want to risk one of them glancing sideways and seeing me go by. I only live as long as they can't find me, and I don't want to spend mana when I have other ways to go unseen.

I hold my breath as the big one stomps past, muttering under his breath about wasting his time. The moment he's past me, I dart away from him, running in the opposite direction he's moving in as quickly as stealth will allow.

It only takes me a couple of minutes to make it to the far end of the warehouse from where I'd started. As soon as I'm far enough away from them to be comfortable with the distance, I lean against another crate to calm my breathing.

Breathing calm, I listen again. The big one isn't hard to find, his footsteps are heavy enough that I might have been able to track him even without my improvements. The short one though... Something moves around various crates in my direction faster than I can really track.

I can't really get any resolution on the fast moving object, but my subconscious must be paying more attention than the rest of me. My legs fold under me and I drop flat on my back. Looking up at a simple leaf shaped blade, attached to a simple wooden pole, shining with mana like the sun, punches through the crate right where my head had been.

My eyes go wide as I try to figure out what just happened. The spear stays where it is for a moment, before pulling back out of sight. I barely have enough wherewithal to throw up my glamor, getting it up only just before the shorter one steps around the corner to look at me.

He has black hair, and focused blue eyes that studies where I lay, I'm not here, without seeing me. He's wearing what I'm pretty sure is a Japanese highschool uniform, long sleeves, solid colored jacket and slacks. Both are purple, which he somehow keeps from looking completely ridiculous. A wide belt keeps a light Chinese robe of white, with blue, black, and gold trim, from falling off of him as he lets the top half fall loose. All in all I think Sarah would call him attractive, but too high maintenance for anything more than a one night stand.

He examines the area with narrowed eyes, even kneeling down and staring at the floor right through my torso. All the while that absolutely terrifying spear blazes mana as he rests it casually against one shoulder.

I'm not here.

After what feels like an eternity holding my breath, he stands again looking slightly frustrated, and smelling very frustrated, and more than a little confused. I hold my glamor up, acutely aware that if I have to keep it up for too long I'm completely screwed. I can only keep my glamor going for a couple of minutes, and those minutes are rapidly running out.

I'm getting ready to start trying to inch backwards on the floor, to try to get some distance, when the big one's voice booms across the warehouse, "Cao Cao! Did you get them?" Isn't that somebody from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

The now named Cao Cao sighs, and rubs his face with his free hand, "No, I did not." He glares at the floor again, though it really feels like he's glaring at me, I'm not here, "They are not where I expected them to be."

"Ha! Somebody finally didn't fall for one of your traps!" The big one laughs.

Trap?

Fuck!

What had the trap been?

"Apparently not." Cao Cao says with good humor, "Did you have something you wanted to share besides your joy at our opponents competence, and our positions?"

"Yeah. I think I found how they got in." The big one says, humor quickly draining from his voice.

"Oh?" Now the spear wielder looks interested, "How so?" Finally he walks past me towards his companion, giving up on figuring out what ever had confused him.

"One of the little windows along the top of the walls. It's missing the window part."

"Really?" Cao Cao speeds up slightly, and vanishes into the crates. I let out a breath as he finally disappears from view, and I can drop my glamor. As quietly as I can, I pull myself to my feet and look around. Specifically I'm eyeing the narrow and distressingly clean hole that the magic spear of doom had punched through the weather treated wood.

How the hell did he know to thrust there?

I hadn't given myself away, I know that. If I had he'd have been much more confused or determined when he checked for me, because he would have known that I'd just been there. Instead, it's like he anticipated, distressingly accurately, where I'd be and proceed from there.

The word 'trap' keeps circling my mind.

Could he have bated me here somehow?

I run over everything they'd done since arriving, and can't spot anything obvious. Which makes sense I guess. I can admit that if it isn't personal combat, Script, or something I'd learned in my last life, my education is rather lacking. Small unit tactics, which I think this qualifies as, really haven't even been on my radar. Something to maybe remedy at some point in the future.

Now though I have to work with what I have.

I glance up at the towering stack of boxes. I wonder if these two suffer from the common human malady of not remembering to look up. It's worth a shot at least. I crouch then leap for a stack of boxes only a story tall, catching the corner of the crate at the apex of my jump, and boosting myself on top of the large wooden container. From there, I repeat the feat to get myself up onto the top of a second story tall stack.

They really have a lot of supplies here.

How big is this coup?

I imagined a small strike force that would infiltrate the Yokai palace to kidnap the kid, and take control of Yasaka. Maybe twenty people max. There are enough supplies in these crates to equip and maintain a force with more than five times that number of people at least.

I carefully position myself in the middle of the boxes, where it'll be hardest to see me, to try and figure out my next move. I still nearly fall off my perch at the sound of Cao Cao's voice, clearly addressing me, echoing through the warehouse.

"You know." He says conversationally, "It occurs to me that we both have been very rude. I am Cao Cao, reincarnation of the Chinese general by the same name."

Reincarnations?

What the fuck?

Was that a thing in High School DxD?

Apparently so, must have been something introduced after I stopped watching, "I don't expect you to introduce yourself. You've demonstrated that you are far from being that stupid, but still I thought we could take a moment to talk. I'm uncertain why you are here, but I have to wonder if we have to be enemies."

Really? You try this after you try to shishkebab my head?

No way your that dumb.

No, he isn't that stupid...

Maybe he assumes that I'm nowhere near where he was expecting, and have no idea that his first recourse had been murder?

"I doubt that you knew what you were getting into when you came into this building." Cao Cao continues while I try to figure out what the hell he's up to, "You've displayed a remarkable amount of skill and physical talent so far. Skill and talent that would be welcome in our organization."

Is he really trying to recruit me?

Now?

No, he's stalling. Trying to lull me into not paying attention to something.

What though?

Wait...

Where's the big one?

Closing my eyes to better focus on my ears, I try to find anything I can of Cao Cao's larger companion. I find nothing though. No thudding footsteps. No grumbling. I might have been able to find breathing, or maybe a heartbeat in an otherwise silent environment, but with Cao Cao talking there's no chance of that.

Okay then... What's the worst thing he could do?

He's large, probably disproportionately strong, and explosive.

I doubt he'll knock down the warehouse, even assuming that he's capable of it.

Which I'm not prepared to discount.

What else?

Assuming that Cao Cao has figured out I'm on top of the boxes, and given that they knew I'd come through one of the high windows I'm willing to bet they've at least considered the idea, he could collapse the stacks of crates? Most of the goods in the crates would probably survive, they'd be harder to transport, but they could always be re-boxed.

That seems more likely. It'd destroy my hiding place, probably immediately exposing me either by my scramble to not hit the ground, or by hitting the ground. After that, given the speed Cao Cao moved the last time he'd taken a shot at me, I'd be dead before I could stand up again.

So what can I do about it?

Looking up my answer is pretty obvious. Hopefully not so obvious as to be part of the trap. While there isn't a convenient catwalk, simple physics means there have to be structural supports holding up the roof. Structural supports that appear in the shape of steel beams that can undoubtedly hold my weight.

The beams are shaped like miniature I-beams, there's no top of the beam for me to rest on. However with a leap I grip the bottom of the I, and swing my feet up to hook my heels onto it as well.

With the color of my armor and the fact that I'm above the light fixtures, I'm probably better hidden now than I had been on top of the crates. So carefully, hand over hand, foot over foot, I start working my way back towards the center of the warehouse where my precious evidence still waits.

I hope.

Cao Cao keeps talking in that mild, friendly, highly suspicious tone, "If you're human I could even find a place for you in my faction. We have a sad lack of infiltrators, something that you're clearly skilled at."

The man will not shut up. As I approach the open area I crane my neck to look down and see that the stack of papers I collected is still largely intact where I'd left it.

Which means...

I quickly examine every place that has vantage over the table. Paying special attention to those that somebody could easily hide in as well.

Yup, the papers are only left there as bait.

I find Cao Cao leaning against a stack of crates where he can see the table clearly, but wouldn't be easily spotted by anybody not looking for him. He's hidden well enough that I only find him because he keeps talking, and my hearing helps me locate him.

Worse, he's regularly scanning the tops of all the crates. He's on the opposite side of the clear area from me, which means that every so often his gaze goes almost right over me. So far the darkness has been enough, but I'm not willing to count on that. Especially not as I continue to draw closer to the open plotting area, which has floor lights that also point up, illuminating my otherwise perfectly dark hiding place.

I check my mana and grimace. What I have is not nearly enough, something that's still way too common a state. With a silent sigh, I resign myself to likely burning through what's left quickly. Every time he sweeps his gaze over me, I make sure my glamor is up, and drop it again as soon as he looks away, trying to use as little as possible. Slowly I creep upside down across the roof closer and closer to my goal.

Cao Cao hasn't sprung his trap yet, and I can't afford to take his bait with him staring at it. Of course it's good bait because I can't afford to leave without it either. At this point they know somebody is onto them. If I can't get away with the evidence, who knows what they'll do in response to getting found out. Somebody has to get after them before they have time to warn anybody.

I very well could have made the whole thing worse.

Shit!

Goddammit!

No, focus Ericka.

It's not the end of the world yet.

That comes later.

I need them to set off their trap. Set things in motion again to break the stalemate.

... Or really I don't need them to set off their trap, I just need to induce some chaos.

As I do increasingly when I'm not sure how to go about getting around an insurmountable opponent, I take a deep breath, moving as much mana as I can spare into my throat, and scream.

Every piece of glass in the building shatters. The lights blow out plunging the warehouse into darkness, a moment after that the wood of the crates begins to splinter, then collapse. First the large crates at the bottom of the biggest stacks go, then in a domino effect I could never have created on purpose, everything else collapses. Crates tumble to the ground, bursting on impact spilling their contents everywhere. I cling to the steel beam, which is letting off a remarkably clear tone from sympathetic vibration, as the chaos unfolds around me.

The moment things have mostly settled, but before the echoes of my voice and the destruction it's caused fade, I let go of the beam with one hand so I can turn to get the best look possible at the clear space where my evidence had been.

It's not so clear anymore. Several crates have fallen into the formerly open area, bursting on the concrete floor and covering the ground with rations, medical supplies and dozens of other things. Which doesn't even include what the crates that had simply burst apart had contributed.

The clear boards that had surrounded the space have all shattered, and most have been knocked over as well by the flood of formerly stored items and debris. The table though has been largely unaffected. The steel it's made from is unaffected by my scream, and as it's equally far away from everything that has broken, it's only been shoved around a little bit in the chaos.

Which means my pile of evidence is largely right where I'd left it.

Which is really handy.

"What the fuck happened." That's less so. The big guy, who as it turns out had been standing further back in the maze of crates, staggers forward. Clearly he really can't see where he's going, "Shit! I can't see anything." See? "My ears are still ringing."

"Some sort of sonic attack." Cao Cao says shaking his head, and peering into the gloom of the warehouse, "I think it's fair to say that they aren't interested in joining up."

"Probably some beast anyway." The big one grumbles.

That went very well, except for one thing. Cao Cao is still watching the table. How much he can see, or otherwise perceive, I don't know, but he certainly seems to think he'll accomplish something by continuing to stare at my evidence pile. I'm not confident enough he's wrong to find out.

I need something to distract him with.

My first instinct is to throw something to make a noise, it's a classic for a reason. From what I've seen of Cao Cao though I doubt it would work. A single sound of impact doesn't really sound like somebody moving around. He's more likely to look for where the thrown object might have come from.

So what I need is some way to make the sound of something heavy moving for a moment. And the sound needs to come from someplace far enough away from me to get them out of the way while looking for it. So I can't be anywhere near either the beginning or the end of it's arc. Not to mention I don't have anything to throw up... here...

With an inaudible groan I thump my forehead against the steel beam I'm clinging to.

I have telekinesis.

I don't have to be anywhere near anything I want to throw. After this I'm really going to have to take some time to get familiar with all the new abilities I've been picking up. Fortunately after this is done with, I'll have about a year to settle in with not a lot else to do, before canon starts.

But first I need to both succeed here and get out alive.

Which is part of succeeding.

Picking a likely looking hand held sized object, I think it's hand radio or something, I pull back the bow string in my head. I still haven't really played with my telekinesis enough to have a clear idea how much energy leads to what result with different weights of objects. I also don't have a clear idea of how much my target object weighed. I don't have much mana left either.

Well, fuck it. I'd rather overshoot than under shoot right now. I pull the string back as far as I can, dumping all the mana I have left to spare into the building potential energy. I take an extra moment to aim, then let go.

The potential energy I've sunk into the radio snaps into kinetic energy, and the device goes sailing across the room.

It turns out that I have over shot, but not as much as I'd been afraid of. The radio hits the warehouse wall with a bang, ricochets into a pile of other goods, and proceeds to trigger a small avalanche.

The big one stops talking, and both of their heads snap around to look in the direction of the noise.

"Fucker's trying to run!" The big guy shouts, and heads in the direction of my distraction as quickly as he can in the dark and over the uncertain footing.

"Probably, if they have any sense." Cao Cao though isn't looking in the direction of the noise. He's turning to look in the direction that I'd launched the hand radio from, "Check that out." He says slowly ignoring that his large companion has already started in that direction, "I'll make sure it's not a trick..."

I watch from above as the big guy stomps his way unsteadily across tall piles of supplies, at the same time Cao Cao heads in the opposite direction looking for whoever had thrown something to create the noise.

Both of them marching away from each other.

Both of their backs are facing the center table and my evidence.

I'm not going to get a better chance than this.

I drop from the ceiling landing as quietly as I can, relying on the noise the big guy is making with his stomping steps, and my armor absorbing most of the impact to be quiet enough to be missed. As soon as my boots touch the ground I rush to the table. My night vision and cat reflexes let me pick out what look like the most stable areas, and even when I'm wrong I make less noise than the stumbling, stomping, cursing form of the big guy.

It feels like an eternity, but can only have been a few moments before I reach the table. My evidence is a little scattered, but the papers and files are easy enough to quickly scrape back together. The moment I have them all bundled I run for the nearest exit.

The nearest exit, now clearly visible with the longer sight lines, is a fire exit in one wall. An exit easily spotted because, by some miracle of chance or superior engineering, the emergency exit sign over it is still lit.

I make it maybe three or four steps when something screams danger in the back of my head and I spin, pulling Sclamhaire and slashing at a diagonal across my body. Something, the sound of parting air, or the blaze on the edge of my mana sense, has sent me moving in desperate reflex. Sclamhaire's blade meets the haft of that terrifying spear that Cao Cao carries right behind the spear head.

Mana blazes from the spear, and Sclamhaire drinks it down like water. The muscles in my arm scream in agony, and I can feel them tearing with the effort of knocking the spear off course. Mana rushes into me filling up my mana network in a moment, and then overflowing it. My armor does it's job, my blazing wings springing to life, dumping the excess mana as fast as it can, but Sclamhaire drinks more down even faster. The spear seems to have an infinite supply of power and force.

Given that, I'm shocked to see that the spear has been thrown.

The damn thing has an impossible amount of inertia.

With a short scream of effort I just manage to divert the spear, and only just enough for it to skip off my pauldron instead of punching through my chest. Even that grazing contact is enough for me to be knocked sideways off my feet.

"Heracles! Get them!" What? I can't have heard that right...

Focus Ericka, be shocked later.

I've almost been out of mana when I dropped to the floor to collect my evidence. Now though I'm overflowing with it. The brief contact between Sclamhaire and the spear had been enough to overwhelm my armor's venting mechanism, and I can feel the pressure of the mana pounding against the inside of my skin. I wouldn't be surprised to find I'm cracking again under my armor.

I wrap my glamor around myself, the illusion of my absence takes even more mana than it usually does because of the brilliant energy that forms my wings. Which I can only think of as a good thing right now since it helps me drain the almost lethal over abundance of mana faster.

I have to keep moving though. Cao Cao is the sort of person that will check the last place he'd seen me, just in case I'm still there. I bend my legs under me and with a careful leap, I fling myself onto the table in the middle of the room, landing roughly on my side. It's the only place where my movement won't be immediately obvious thanks to disturbing the mess thats covering the ground.

Still, if I don't give Cao Cao something else to focus on he'll check here next. Both of them are rushing towards where I'd been, a place marked by Cao Cao's spear of doom having sunk it's entire blade into the concrete floor of the warehouse, and having created a clear space, the impact blowing back all the loose objects in the immediate vicinity.

Glancing past that I see my exit...

Which gives me an idea.

I pull back my mental bowstring and let it go in the same thought. The emergency exit door slams open letting in a blinding beam of light that makes all three of us flinch back from the sudden increase in brightness.

"Fuck! They're getting away!" Heracles bellows, and charges for the door. Subtlety apparently abandoned as he plows straight through the piles of supplies, the remnants of crates, and the door. Which is spontaneously enlarged by about a foot in every direction at his passage.

Cao Cao quietly cursing, at me or his companion I can't tell, pauses only long enough to retrieve the Spear of Doom before following.

He pauses again at the door long enough to scan the warehouse with a frown, "Divine Dividing?" he murmurs, but an angry bellow from outside has him following his companion quickly enough.

I let my head thud silently against the table as I just breath for a long few moments. I'll give it a few minutes for them to get far enough away from the warehouse to minimize any risk. I glance down at the stack of papers clutched to my chest in my left arm. Mia's face looks back at me from her file at the top of the stack.

Well, at least I have some reading to pass the time.

###

I follow along behind Mia as we cross the roof tops heading at a decent clip towards the Youkai's hidden forest to report what we've found. Watching her though I can't help but wonder how much I really understand about what's going on.

I've thought more than once that there's something odd about Mia. I only had time to skim the file that Cao Cao and Heracles, and what the fuck is up with that anyway, have assembled on her, but even that much tells me I'm right.

So very, very right.

Mia is an agent of the Yokai faction. Specifically she's a spy for the palace guard. Her job is to find potential threats to the Yokai in general, and Yasaka and Kunou specifically, before they actually become a problem. Given this I have doubts that her finding me in Crow's Coffee is as much of an accident as she led me to believe.

A spy finding me the first time I'm out in public for any length of time after assaulting and plucking another Tengu?

Yeah, I'm not buying it.

On the other hand it does explain a lot. How she snuck up on me, how she handled the negotiations over trust, how she found the warehouse so damn quickly. It's her job to find things like this quickly.

Really the only wonder is that she needed me to tip her off to the conspiracy at all.

Though the only reason I know about it is that I'd absorbed enough about the TV show via osmosis through the internet to know it's coming. So I guess I can't really judge how well they're hidden.

Mia's role also explains why she just happened to have a technique, or power, that seems specifically designed to block her from casual discovery by mana senses. Mana breathing, or senjutsu as they call it here, is more common among Yokai than just about anywhere else. Of course somebody who expects to be sneaking around them a lot has a way to hide from them.

After I escaped from the warehouse I'd taken refuge on the roof of another one several blocks away, to give myself a chance to finish venting the excess mana in my body. Also to give myself a chance to heal the wounds that I'd suffered from that excess. Mia found me almost immediately, and I'd given her the files I'd collected to look over. The speed with which she found me made me glad that after skimming her file I'd stuffed it into the middle of the stack before leaving the warehouse, so there shouldn't be any indication that I'd looked at it at all.

Although given what she is, I have no idea if Mia was fooled, or if I made some error that I just don't have the experience to notice.

Mia though doesn't react to the existence of her file. Which isn't to say she doesn't have a reaction at all. As she looked through what I collected her expression becomes increasingly dark, and her scent slowly becomes one of guilt, shock, and increasingly as she reads on, fury. She wastes no time in leading us to the nearest entrance to the hidden forest.

One of the things that I haven't figured out yet in this insane plan of mine, is how exactly I'm going to get into the Yokai forest, and after that get an audience with Yasaka. I put off figuring out the answer to these questions as something I could figure out when the time came. After all, getting in to talk to Yasaka would hardly matter if I can't find evidence of the coup in the first place.

Now though I doubt it will be a problem.

Mia darts down to the street level, dropping ten floors into an alleyway that's about as well hidden as we can hope for in the middle of morning rush hour.

She leads the way across the street, darting across during a lull in traffic and following behind her I can't help but wonder what the drivers think seeing me in full armor.

Cosplay probably.

Our destination turns out to be an art gallery. A large almost antiseptic white space lined with paintings, each one has a small white tag just under them. Probably talking about the title of the piece, who made it, and a bunch of other things that wouldn't make any sense to me. Mia ignores all of it, and makes a beeline for the back of the gallery.

Half way through though we're stopped by a tall, well dressed woman that smells strongly of snakes. It puts my hackles up for a moment, remembering the Stray I'd fought in China, before I remind myself that there are plenty of snake things in the world that aren't that Stray Devil.

Actual snakes for instance.

The woman pauses a few feet away, and Mia motions for me to hold back as she goes forward to talk to the snake lady. They speak softly, probably assuming that I have normal human hearing. I don't think I've displayed anything to Mia that might imply otherwise. Out of respect for the future, hopefully friendly, relations between myself and the Yokai, I try not to listen in on their conversation.

I might have memorized a series of nonsense phrases that sounded like challenge and response passwords though.

Entirely by accident of course.

After a couple of minutes of back and forth, during which they talk about whether or not I'm allowed in the forest, even with an escort, and I spend my time looking at a portrait that most humans would call fantastical, we're waved through.

I bet that's a remarkably accurate rendering of a Kappa though.

Mia leads me to a door in the back of the gallery that I don't notice until the Tengu opens it. On the other side instead of an alleyway, or a street, or even another building, is a dense forest.

The forest honestly gives me the same feeling as the redwood forests I'd grown up with in California. The trees aren't as tall, or as big around, but they are spaced a decent ways apart, and the canopy covers everything anyway. The ground is covered with fallen leaves and other detritus. Anywhere sun penetrates the canopy green sprouts in the form of grass, ferns, or occasionally wildflowers. In front of us is a dirt path that vanishes into the trees remarkably quickly for how open the forest floor seems. As soon as we set foot on that path Mia speeds her deliberately casual pace to a determinedly fast walk.

After a few moments I can't hold the question in any longer, "So... you clearly want to get to where we're going as quickly as possible, so why aren't we running? I can probably keep up with you, you know." Tengu aren't known for their running speed, so I might even be faster in a straight line.

"Well... running through the forest isn't a great idea for a couple of reasons." The forest is behaving in odd ways. Distance changes too fast or too slowly. The terrain seems to twist and alter out of the corner of my eye.

Generations of Yokai and nine tailed foxes have layered this forest with defensive illusions to confuse and lead astray the unwelcome. It might have been disturbing to watch, but it's not nearly as viscerally upsetting as the few glimpses I've gotten of Faerie without the illusions. So by and large it doesn't bother me. Just another thing to keep in mind if everything goes to hell.

Mia's still explaining things though, so I try to focus on that, "The first is that each kind of Yokai has their own territory inside the forest. It helps to keep inter species conflict to a minimum, but sprinting through multiple territories tends to make folks jumpy and nervous. So we try not to unless we really have to. While what you've found is important, it's not the sort of important that will get worse if we wait a few minutes, so we can take the time to not cause problems."

I nod along, the explanation makes at least superficial sense, "What's the second reason?"

"We're almost at the palace, and running into a secure zone without warning is likely to get you shot. Or set on fire. Or... you get the idea."

We're almost at the palace? We've been walking for like five minutes. How close did we start?

As though feeling my questions Mia points ahead. I look up just as we emerge out of the forest to see the towering walls of a Japanese castle. There's a good football field of clear space between the tree line and the wall, and on top of the wall all manner of beings move in slightly overlapping patrols, most of them carrying long rifles of some sort. The ones that don't, burn with enough mana that I can feel it from here.

I don't know guns well, but one or two of those guys have mana in amounts that remind me vaguely of some of Pua's gourds. Considering she keeps the Power of Destruction and a hurricane in her gourds, even a minimal similarity is enough to make me cautious. Several of them sight on us as Mia continues to lead us forward towards the gate.

Yeah, I got the idea.

###

The waiting room for Yasaka's throne room is large, lavish, and designed to either impress or intimidate. At the moment I bet she's going for intimidation. Just a guess, but the number of guards also in the room watching me make me fairly confident.

I'm not sure why though.

Mia has already gone in before me, though she left the evidence with me. I'm apparently the better person to explain what's going on since I actually know all the details, and have seen at least two of the conspirators.

I'm not sure I buy that explanation, but I figure it'll also give me a better chance of getting what I want out of all of this, so I'll go along with it. I've been waiting for nearly half an hour though and I'm beginning to get nervous.

Has something gone wrong?

I have no idea what that would be though. Mia works for Yasaka, doing precisely what we had done. I really can't imagine what any theoretical issue might...

The large double doors swing open and the... herald?

Butler?

Door guy.

The door guy waves me through. The room is huge, rows of pillars on either side of the room form a natural corridor leading to the throne. The space in between those pillars and the actual walls of the room are lined with guards. Guards that are wearing full body covering armor that manage to look traditional, while still having modern materials worked in. I bet every bit of them is enchanted too. Though I can't really tell the difference between the guards mana, and anything that might be on their equipment.

The throne itself is a simple red lacquered chair sitting on a raised dais set into an alcove at the far end of the huge room, and is surrounded by its own curtain of protective mana. At the bottom of the dais, and outside the protections, stands Mia looking frustrated, and apologetic when she glances at me.

Standing on the dais inside the protections is a large man with the head of a tiger, and dressed in fine blue robes. He has his ears pinned back and is snarling at Mia. Something that only gets worse when he lays eyes on me.

Sitting on the throne is Yasaka herself. She's dressed in rich, pure white robes, her golden hair is done up in an elaborate style, fox ears poking free of it in an obviously deliberate fashion, and nine gold furred fox tails spread out behind her like a fan. I'm kind of relieved to see that the robes are as modest as the historical ones they're modeled after. Something that has never been part of her character design in the anime.

Not that even modest Japanese robes do much to hide her... vast tracts of land.

I have to leave Sclamhaire and my athame at a table by the door. I'm not exactly happy about that. Letting any of my equipment, and especially Sclamhaire, get too far from me hurts. Still I don't have much choice in the matter, and I figure it's best not to keep Yasaka waiting. So I draw the blades instead of taking the time to detach their sheaths. Something that I almost regret as every guard in the room twitches as I pull Sclamhaire free. They calm down as I lay her down on the provided table though.

A table that I really hope isn't too expensive or important, as the moment Sclamhaire's naked blade touches the table it begins to frost over. The lacquer finish on the table is already beginning to crack and flake by the time I put the athame down. I glance at door guy to see if he wants me to do something different with my sword, but he doesn't even glance in my direction.

So I guess it's fine then?

With a mental shrug I head down the pillar marked corridor.

It's not my table.

I stop a good few yards back from the dais at a subtle hand signal from Mia, and bow as best I can. Unfortunately, Allspeak doesn't cover etiquette. I know I'm doing it wrong, but I'm an uncouth foreigner who can't be expected to know the intricacies of proper civilized bowing, so hopefully it won't be a thing.

"Yasaka-sama, may I present..." Mia at least still appears to be on my side so that didn't go wrong, before she can get any further though she's interrupted.

"I know who she is." Yasaka's voice is pleasant with a slightly husky quality. A quality that reminds me that Kitsune have frequently been depicted as seductresses.

Though, I'm really beginning to wonder if there are any female supernaturals that aren't.

Hags maybe?

What really surprises me though, is the flat almost hostile tone she spoke with.

With a slight frown I examine her more closely, and start noticing things that I really should have picked up on earlier. Her ears are twitching, as though constantly trying to lay flat, only to be forced up right again. Her jaw is clenched, the muscles twitching from the constant effort. Lastly she's gripping the arms of her throne hard enough that her knuckles are turning white.

Her entire demeanor is hostile, though restrained.

It goes well with the icy glare she's giving me.

"Why are you here Murder Witch?"

...

What?