Chapter 13

I was really starting to wonder about Amazon cuisine. I mean, yes, I did make more stew than the six (fleshy) people of our party could ever hope to eat in one sitting. But I didn't expect a small line forming near our makeshift market stall. Bowls in one hand, some kind of trade good in the other, it looked like a cafeteria chow line.

Then I took a good look at them. These weren't 'hardened Amazon Warriors'. These were 'broken Amazon homeless'. Most of them at least, looked a lot like the Crone did. Tatty clothing, some sort of limp or deformity, a lack of that 'wiry muscle' that almost every other Amazon I'd seen had. Now, not all of them looked terrible. But they lacked that... flair that I'd come to associate with Amazon from Orario.

Good thing I'd made a lot of soup...

"Well, that was depressing..." I mumbled.

"If we stay much longer, you may have to open a medical office." Maki said, giving my back a pat, since my tails didn't want to be touched.

"Hate to say it Fox, but what we have here is probably all of their worldly wealth. And that's with me going easy on them." Aisha said, "I know you can use most of these things for something other than decoration or paper weights, but it's really not much."

I nodded, "We're also upsetting the natural order here." Ryuu said, "They are down here for a reason."

Ryuu's voice told me she didn't like the way things were here, but also that she understood why they had to be. The best I could do, with the medicines I brought with me, were to at best give some of the less wounded a second try at the life here. Otherwise, they'd either continue doing 'the man's work' (yes, that was the 'slur' here), or wander off into the jungle one last time. The Goddess here, Kali, might not even let them go to Orario, not bothering to waste Her time releasing their Falna. And even if she did, most wouldn't survive the trip there as they were.

Then there were the handful I'd seen with battle scars. Missing hands, part of a leg, an entire arm... The surrounding flesh told a different story, one of a single clean slice and not a vicious animal bite.

"That's why I'm depressed." I sighed, "I could go back to Orario, get a few things together, return here, and make a real effort at fixing this. But just like the sudden missing monsters, the balance would be upset, and I'd probably make more enemies than friends."

"Nah, most of those girls you helped are invisible. Not worth noticing." Aisha said, "That tonic of yours? Maybe they could become seen again."

"Hope is a good motivator to succeed." Hagane said, getting close enough for my tails to cling to his much cooler metal shell, "Hm. It's usually the other way around."

Hagane was right. If I couldn't fix the problem, I could at least try and motivate them to fix it themselves. Some of them at least. "Let's clean this up. Shinkage? Want to sort these?" I motioned to the container of assorted teeth that we'd gotten for 'selling' bowls of soup. "Hagane, Amani? Clean up the cooking pot and dishes. Aisha? What are they likely going to ask in trade for a man?"

"Don't sound so disgusted, for one." She replied, "I know I know, but it's the way of things here."

"She can't stand the thought of owning someone." Maki said in my defence, "The two Oni? Delly? Loaner? Jiru? Me? The only 'orders' she'd given us were either in combat, or asking us to do something when we were best suited to do it."

"You own the Oni?" Aisha blinked, "Seriously?"

I shrugged, "They swore to serve. I told them 'be my friend'. More or less. Anyhow, back to topic?"

"Well... If you had another male kicking about for trade. Or some kind of rare good that only they could use. It's kind of up to the owner really. She might just come down here to tell you to sit on a spike, and walk off again."

I hmm'ed, "I wonder how trusting they are..."

"An idea?" Ryuu asked.

"Let's hope they bring him down here." I nodded.

Of course, being a tropical place, we had to endure yet another storm. That was fine, the storm on the way here gave up ample opportunity to find out where the wagon was leaking, and a bit of water would help ease the insane humidity. At least for a little while.

The first hint that this 'might not be so simple' came when I saw Amani look up at the sky, then to the nearest runoff points on the terrace. "You may want to get anything that might float away off the ground." She said.

Maki Ryuu and I looked at her, "How bad does it get?" Maki asked, "I suppose with this wall here, and us being on the bottom..."

"It's never been past my knees." She started picking up things, like our water buckets.

"Keeps the streets clean." Aisha chuckled as she started to dismantle out 'shop' stall. "It's a little hard on the squatters down here though."

looked over at the wall, and spotted something I should have noticed sooner. A 'mud line' on the wall. "Well... The wagon won't float away at least." I went behind the wagon and made sure the horses were secure and what ever food they hadn't eaten was taken off the ground. I also made sure to give our brave beasts of burden a few kind words, since I didn't want them to try and bite me next time I put them in the harness.

Several hours of rain later, and it showed no signs of letting up. Thankfully, it was just a 'long' rain, not a 'hard' one. It still meant we were sloshing through ankle deep water. We'd all taken our boots and shoes off though, since no one wanted to walk around with squishy feet.

"Well, rain or shine, they all come home." Aisha said, "Hopefully that man's 'owner' comes back today as well." For the last few minutes, Amazon had been coming through the gates or the watch rooms in the tree wall.

I hadn't thought of that... I mean, they were the 'scouts' who found the Gate. "Don't worry big sister." Maki laughed, "We have days worth of snake meat left, even with the soup line."

"True, but we don't have days worth of spices to make it edible." I sighed, "You know..." I walked into the wagon, and took off my coat, vest and leggings. A moment or two later, I came back out wearing my 'Xenovia brand' combat suit, bracers gauntlets and greeves.

Ryuu was the last of us to not go 'native'. Even Shinkage had switched to a Japanese gym uniform. Even had her name on the front. We all gave Ryuu a raised eyebrow, but she just tugged the hood of her cape down to keep the rain out of her eyes.

We were just starting to think they weren't going to show up. The gloomy rain clouds overhead were getting even dimmer as the sun went down, and we were doing our best to use the shelter of the wagon, a canvas tarp and my foxfire to warm up something to eat, when I heard the unmistakable sound of 'grumpy Amazon'.

Grumpy Amazon have a sound? Well yes. Amazon in general seemed to share a lot of common ground with sailors. When things were going well, they were all good cheer. When they weren't, they tended to swear and push people around. Eight Amazon, all with metal weapons, all with well treated leather and hide 'armour' (it was still mostly bikini armour after all), and the occasional metal earring, were tromping towards us. Someplace in the middle of them was the JSDF soldier, still wearing just the loincloth and now a bit of leather rope around his wrists.

Ryuu and Amani stopped sparring (yes, gotta train, in the rain), and backed up to form a bit of a semi circle with the Orario team (plus part timer). I myself didn't stand up, since I was cooking. "Aisha? You want to try handling this?"

"You can speak to them." She shrugged, "Besides, I'm a soft city girl now." She winked at me.

"Nothing about you is soft." I mumbled back as I stood, "Maki? Get some practice in, just keep it warm enough to bubble a little."

"I'll give it a shot." She nodded, taking the big soup spoon I'd been using, and summoning her own grey/blue ball of foxfire.

The one in the lead, who I assumed was the leader, was a battle scarred woman who carried herself with an obvious chip on her shoulder. Scars from claws, blades, arrows, a bit of fire... She was uncharacteristically 'wounded'. Most of the Amazon I'd seen, city or otherwise, were 'pretty'. They took care of their looks, and despite their rough lifestyle had none of the 'wear and tear' you'd think they'd have. Exceptions of course were the ones too poor to afford the simple scar remover cream, or those who were maimed.

Not this woman though. She carried her scars like an open book, each of them telling a story of how she had lived through what ever had done it to her, and likely killed it. From what I could tell with an easy look, the only scar she didn't keep, was her right eye. There was a slash over it, splitting her eyebrow and cheek, but the eye itself was fine.

She carried three weapons, all of them metal. A pair of curved shotel, and a jambiya. Wickedly curved, the shotel's hilts looked well worn. "Who's in charge here?"

Her Room formed up behind her, a more professional mirror of our own semi circle. "I am." I said, stepping forward, "Kodori, Hestia Familia."

"Jarha." She replied shortly, "My sisters tell me you want to buy our prize from us."

"In an effort to fix the problem in the middle of your jungle, yes." I replied.

The others laughed, a comment or two of, 'oh so polite' and 'speak softly, but where's the stick?'.

"How would he help? He's just a man. No falna, no stamina, hardly worth the effort of feeding."

"Yes, he managed to survive, out there, with no falna or stamina." I replied. "He came out of that building in your Jungle. And I'd bet he would like to go back."

She looked at me. An appraising look that one fighter would give another. "What do you know about that building? When we went there it was just an empty room that reeked of magic."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I shrugged.

"Tell me, or we take him back to our Room."

I considered for a moment, looked at Ryuu then Aisha, who both just shrugged back at me, "It's a door to another world. He came through it, and got lost here. Your Matriarchs went through, were either killed or liked it there better, and the Gate was locked up with magic to stop more from coming through."

Aside from the rain, silence.

"I can't tell if you are lying, or crazy." She said after a moment.

Aisha took a half step forward, but I looked at her with my 'serious' face. The one reserved for sparring, or fighting in the dungeon. "Are you willing to barter for the man? I am sure his people will offer something as well for his return."

By the time I looked back to her, I'd returned to my 'soft Eastern' look. Akeno smile and everything. "No." She said after another moment. "You are lying. The Strongest in Orario would never come here, and there is no possible way for that place to be a portal to another world." She gave me another appraising look, "The one who killed Phryne with her bare hands couldn't possibly look as soft as you."

Ryuu sighed, probably because she knew I was trying to get out of being diplomatic on purpose. Acting 'soft', trying to use fancy words, being polite to Amazons... These were not ways for a person to get the respect of the Amazons.

Of course, now that I'd (purposefully I'll admit) exhausted 'diplomacy', I switched to the more direct method. "Did you just call me, a liar?"

Someplace in the background, Maki giggled very quietly.

"So what if I did?" Jarha put her hands on the paired shotel at her hips.

"I will make you a deal then." I said, "I will take the man from you. And when I return from the Gate, I'll bring something back for you, for keeping him alive."

She glared at me, "You know, I don't care if you're here to 'help' with our little problem in the jungle anymore. Our city, our rules."

And they all drew weapons.

"When we beat you and your... Are you laughing?" Jarha glared past me.

Maki had failed to keep a straight face, though Aisha was standing beside her and chuckling darkly, shaking her head. "Don't mind us Fox." Aisha said, "Just try not to break anything."

"You think you can take us all alone? The strongest scouting team in Telskyura?" One of the other Amazon asked.

"If we go by your rules, any of them could stand beside me, but no. I doubt I'll need their help." I said, giving Aisha and Maki a 'you really aren't helping' look. "I'll have to disappoint you however. You won't get to see how I killed that titanic bitch Phryne." I looked Jarha right in the eyes, "Step up, or fuck off." I said, my breath frosting the air in front of me, even with the rainfall and humid air.

The soldier, poor fellow that he was, could read the situation easily enough. He was ready for the hard shove that got him out of the way, the ankle deep water helping him slide all the way to the foot of the terrace wall. Apparently he also knew what to expect, and he hid behind the wall of the nearest staircase leading up the terrace.

"Watch carefully Amani." I said over my shoulder, not taking my eyes off Jarha.

The first attack was from a spear. Instead of retreating from it, I stepped towards the wielder, stopped half way, turned in place to avoid another spear, used my left hand to deflect a third spear, then planted my feet firmly as a forth spear tried to trip me. With a quick up/down of my leg, I slammed my foot down on the spear shaft, brought my right hand around to slap someone across the face, dropped my left forearm down to trap the shaft I'd spun away from against my body, and spun back the other way to clear a little space.

It was all very flashy, but in that single second, I'd struck once, disarmed twice, and did it all without getting hit. I gave the spear I'd captured a flourish, strictly to delay the next wave of attacks, then tossed it back towards the wagon, figuring someone would catch it.

Then a half-circle blade tried to cut my arm off just above the elbow, past the armour of my bracer. Jarha's other shotel hooked towards my leg, and I had to do a hasty hop/turn to catch the wickedly sharp inner curve of her weapons on my armour. Before I could move towards her, another wave of spears and now a sword or two, thrust/slashed at me.

Letting my toes grip the ground while I spun and dodged in neat quarter spins, I elbowed someone's wrist, used their sword to block a spear, then slammed a palm into someone's short ribs. Whomever it was also got a quick sweep of my foot against her ankle, and with a very firm hip-check (Aisha would be proud of all the leg I did on leg day), I sent that one skittering down the street, her body parting the ankle deep water like a jet over the ocean.

I felt a line of cold trace over my back, then another over my shoulder as Jarha stepped in again, using her Roommates attacks to create an opening for her. Before she could turn the blades towards the back of my leg or the side of my throat however, I kicked some unlucky Amazon in the chin, getting my leg away from the shotel, then forcing Jarha away lest she catch my heel on my foot's way down. That was close! Those blades were sharp!

I almost didn't see someone diving towards my supporting leg. But, I wasn't holding anyone, and my toes weren't hands, so their 'grip' probably wouldn't hold against a flying tackle against my shin.

So I hopped on that one foot. It wasn't a very high jump, just enough to get me over the Amazon, and drop my knee firmly into the middle of her back as she went under me slamming her face first into the water on the street. Without looking, I put my left arm over my head, a sword blade wanging off my bracer. My right arm moved around to deflect a spear point away, and with a tilt of my head I avoided another spear.

I was ready for Jarha's attack this time, though she still managed to run the outer curve of her blades over my side and upper arm. I brought my arm down to trap the blade against my ribs, the edge digging in a little more, and I finished the move with a GANESHA FLEX, trapping the second blade in the bend of my elbow.

Then someone grabbed one of my tails.

Jarha stopped trying to saw her blades free of my grip, as that someone was lifted off the ground, eight distinct snarling voices and a strangled cry. That owner of the hand grabbing my tail was flicked away at near warp speed as I looked Jarha in the eyes. I held the gaze with her until someplace (way off down the street) I heard the collision of bodies and a second cry of pain.

"Care to continue?" I asked, my tails hovering around me, bits of bloody 'Amazon armour' dangling from the mouths of the ghostly foxes who'd punished the one who dared mistreat my tail. "If you do, you actually might see how I killed that disgusting creature who's name was once Phryne."

She hadn't let go of her weapons, and I still held them trapped against my body. She managed to glare at me, but she relaxed her posture. I let each of the blades go, stepped back, and watched her put them away at her side, "You can find your own way." She said, "Leave him there." She said to everyone else.

"I'll still bring you back something nice." I smiled my best Akeno smile as they all picked themselves up and started walking away. "Oh, I'm sorry." I stood up, the one I'd landed on starting to struggle since her face was under water.

"Wow!" Amani said, hopping from foot to foot, "That was amazing!"

I nodded to her, then looked across the street to where Roku was hiding, "Roku-san! Come here."

Roku stood up from his hiding spot, warily walking past the Amazon as they walked down the street to collect their two thrown members. He got a few glares from them, and a look or two of naked lust, but like a true soldier, he marched over to us without acknowledging them.

"What would Hime think, you doing all that to get a man?" Aisha teased.

"She'd very politely remind you about the last full moon. And how that's not an issue." I replied, "Or had you forgotten? I mean, you were there." Then in 'Eastern', "Did they beat you up again?" He was once again covered in bruises.

Roku blinked at me, "Ah, no ma'am. Fell down the stairs."

I'd have given him 'the look' but it had been raining, and they'd probably pushed him to make him trip down the terrace steps.

"I've had worse going through Boot. Ah... Could you..."

"You're not worried he'll run away?" Amani asked as I worked the knot on the rope around his wrists free.

"Why would he run?" Aisha asked, "He should know by now that he'd get nowhere in this city."

"This is the safest place to be." Ryuu nodded, "Aside from back home at least."

"Huh... we'll, if he does try, I will show him no mercy!" Amani said fiercely, the soldier knowing the tone of voice, if not the words, and taking a half step away from her.

"Ma'am? What now?" He asked.

"First, we get you out of the rain, clothed, fed, and maybe healed again." I replied.

"Speaking of..." Maki said, "I think I kept this warm enough, and, you should get those bandaged up."

I looked down at myself, "Suppose so." My poor under armour was a mess of thin cuts, and I could feel blood seeping into them slowly.

"We'll use the extra strong disinfectant on you too." Aisha said.

There wasn't really much space in the wagon for a chat, so we used our big squares of snake skin and some more wooden poles to make a bit of a canopy. Thankfully, we had enough things to sit on so we didn't have to stand and eat.

"First, we'll introduce ourselves." I said, "Kodori, Hestia Familia. Maki, my sister, also Hestia Familia."

"Pardon, Familia?" Roku asked, managing to be polite even while he ate.

"After." I said, "Eat and listen, question later." I motioned to the rest of us in turn, "Aisha, Takemikazuchi Familia. Ryuu, Astraea Familia. Amani, Kali Familia." Then with a little over the shoulder look, "Shinkage, no Familia, and Hagane, best metal nightmare cat ever."

"Heh."

Having been told to shut up and eat, Roku was doing so with gusto. But he nodded to show he was listening.

"Aside from Amani, we all understand you. Also, aside from her, we're here for the same reason, to get to that building in the jungle and remove it."

Amani looked up from her bowl with an obvious ? on her face. "Amani is our guide here and won't be joining." Hagane said, repeating it again in Kione the 'common' language of this world so Amani understood.

"Here, Roku-san." Maki walked behind the soldier with a blanket and put it over his shoulders, "Didn't feed you either huh?"

"Not especially." He said, "Thank you."

We nibbled at our food a little more, until he finally took a deep breath and lowered his bowl. "Have any questions? Don't be shy." I said.

Maki collected bowls, and with a little tug on the shoulder Amani joined her for dish duty. "I've many questions Ma'am." He said, "How does Japanese exist here?"

I was surprised, but also thankful this man wasn't just a jarhead. "Japanese? We call it Eastern here." I explained, "The world is vast, and many languages exist here. Eastern is common at our home since many of the people who live there speak it."

Aisha spoke up, "Some speak it better than others. But I understand it... almost perfect."

"Perfect-ly." Ryuu corrected.

"Nyaa nyaa elf." Aisha stuck her tongue out at Ryuu.

"Familia? I know a similar word, but the connotation isn't very nice."

He was probably thinking of something like the Mafia, and the old word for Family they sometimes used. "When a God gifts a person with their Falna they become part of that God's Familia." I said, "Hence the names I used."

"Ah." He nodded.

"You aren't surprised by that?" Ryuu asked, expertly directing the conversation. We all knew part of what was happening on the other side of the Gate, but we didn't want to give that away.

"I ah... know someone who has a Goddess's blessing. She fights like you do." A pause, "Like those Amazon too."

Shinkage got in on it as well, "That is somewhat normal here." She motioned to Amani, the little Amazon scrubbing bowls with Maki in the rain, "Even she could lift you over her head. Maybe even with one arm."

That made him look a little worried, "I don't feel so bad now." He mumbled.

"How'd you manage to live out there?" Aisha asked.

"Ah." I could see the gears in his head turning. "I am not gifted like you, but have trained very hard to survive in harsh conditions." He was also filtering his words, "I lost most of my tools however."

"They had a knife, and a vest of pockets." I said, "You had more I'm guessing?"

"Yes Ma'am." He seemed to have figured out how to tell his story, "I was separated from my team. Most of the others managed to get back through the Gate, while I had to flee away from it." His eyes went a little distant, "Some of my tools are... limited use. One time. Using those, I evaded many animals out there, and managed to get into the branches of a tree. While I rested, I spotted this mountain, and signs of people living on it."

"You didn't try and return to the Gate?" Maki asked, coming back with a clean stack of bowls.

"Ah? No. The creatures that went through would have given them reason to close it. And I myself wouldn't be able to open it. So, to survive, I tried to get to the city, here." He flicked his blanket off himself, then wrapped it around his shoulders a bit more to his liking, "I did my best, but the creatures out there are nothing like I've seen before. Well... no actually. They are much bigger than I've seen before."

"Size does matter." Aisha laughed, making everyone facepalm, "What?"

"I had exhausted or lost all but my most basic tools, and to evade the beasts out there my progress was slow. But to my surprise, one of those monsters was being hunted. That group of Amazon you saw me with found me and brought me back with their kill." Roku said, "I was a little shocked at the treatment, but by then I was mostly exhausted, and fighting off a fever from a snake bite the day before."

We nodded, and I shared a look with Aisha and Ryuu. I had told them all about the Soldiers from 'back home' and how they didn't fight for a 'God' but a 'Place', and most were well trained. This proved my point rather handily.

"Well, we're going back into that jungle." Aisha said, "Think you can get us back to that Gate of yours?"

He blinked at Aisha, "Respectfully Ma'am?"

"Huh, I'm a Ma'am." Aisha chuckled as I tapped her ankle with my foot.

"I've no equipment. It was lost or taken. My captors did not allow me to mark a trail, or even walk most of the way here either." Most would say this with some kind of emotion, but he spoke with a professional finality.

"We'll do what we can." I nodded, "Amani?"

Having been excluded from most of that conversation she took a moment to clue in that I'd called her name, "Ah! Yes?"

"Is there any way we could get this wagon through the jungle?"

"In very small pieces, maybe." She said without hesitation.

"We'll need someone to stay behind to guard this then..." Ryuu said.

"I'll stay." Shinkage said, patting Hagane's side.

I nodded, "Well Amani? You can either go back to Brisid, or stay here with Shinkage to guard our stuff while we're gone."

The two rivals looked at each other. One with a clear 'you're going to bother me, aren't you?' on her face, the other with a 'I will beat you!'. "I'll stay!"

Then to Roku, "We'll put together something for you to wear. In the mean time, get some sleep. We'll leave at first light."

"Yes Ma'am." He said, standing, then pausing, "Ah, where..."

"In the wagon, obviously." Aisha laughed, "After living here for a little while, you'd think you'd be less shy around women."

"Hold on." I stood up, "Take the blanket off? Arms up? Lift your foot?" He blinked at the odd instructions, but followed them without question, "Right, get some sleep." I gave his shoulder a pat then looked away, "Maki? We've got a little work to do."

"Hope he likes snake skin." She laughed.

It wasn't my best work, but it certainly wasn't bad. Himeno Roku, Master Sargent, Scout Class, number 004 was looking... Well, like he was dressed in snake scale vest over a leather shirt, pants, and an assortment of other scale bits. I didn't know how he was at hand to hand, but I did know that he was 'just' a fit human. So, I kept the actual armour simple, and managed to use up a lot of the leather we'd gotten in trade for feeding the people down here. Teeth for buttons and fasteners. Treated sinew for sewing. Patches of fur over the joints. Even managed to make tough boots. At the very least he'd survive the smaller animals trying to bite him.

"How do you feel? Chafing anywhere?" I asked as Maki and I orbited him, watching as he twisted this way and that, hopping up and down a few times too.

"No Ma'am." He said, "I've had tailored suits that were less comfortable..."

I accepted the compliment with a smile, "Good. Ah, you'll need something else..." I looked around, "Ah, Amani? Where are those two spears?"

Like a good little minion, she was doing the morning chores. At the moment she was stirring the beginnings of breakfast stew (yes... more snake... sigh...). "Aisha put them someplace."

From behind the wagon, where the horses were, I heard Aisha, "I hear my name!"

"Spears? Where?" I called back.

A moment later, she came around the wagon, both spears in hand, "Was trying to figure out how to hide them. Metal like this will get you raided if left unattended."

I took one of the spears and gave it a once over. "You know, I've been wondering how you make wood like this." I mumbled as I looked at the simple leaf shaped spear head. Nothing special about the design, just very sharp, pointy, made for clean cuts and throwing. The metal however was pretty good. Had a nice sound when I tapped it with my fingernail.

"Something you don't know? I'm shocked." Aisha teased, "But I don't know."

I would have to ask someone later... "Well, lets do this then..." I undid the sinew holding the spear head in place and slid it out of the shaft. "Hold that." I traded the second spear for the metal spearhead, then handed the spear to Roku, "You're too weak to do more than play keep away from the larger stuff."

I could tell my words hurt him, but he accepted the spear and nodded, "With the pointy end, Ma'am."

I laughed, took the spearhead back, "This however... Hagane?"

Since the big metal cat lacked hands, he was simply sitting like a good catto statue, keeping watch. He turned his head towards me, "Hmm?"

"Gonna need to use you as an anvil for a moment..."

"If you must..." He sighed.

I summoned a ball of foxfire, making Roku blink in surprise. Using my angry purple/gold fire, I got one edge of the blade red hot, then dulled that side of the spearhead by tapping it against Hagane's back. Using a curved bit of his shoulder, I gave the spearhead's tip a bit of a curve. Then finally, I got it all red hot again, and dipped it into some of the leftover water that we hadn't used for breakfast.

And yes, I did all this without putting it down.

I had to go into the wagon to get a whetstone, but the metal sounded good, and didn't need much sharpening. Lastly, I took the spear's former shaft, cut it down to size for a dagger, and put it back on the mount it was on, tying it down again.

"Here you go. It's not perfect, but it's about the same length as the one you had." I handed the dagger to him, "Maki? Fold up a little leather and make a sheath for that?"

"Sure."

Amani and Roku were kind of dumbstruck. One, because I'd just armed a Male, with super rare Metal weapons. The other, likely because I was handling hot steel with my bare hands, and reforged a spear into a dagger in about five minutes.

"So, aside from slogging through the jungle in the right general direction, do you actually know how to get there?" Aisha asked, "I was too young to go there before I left here. And Jarha was a colossal bitch and refused to guide us."

"Why not look from the top of the wall?" Ryuu asked, "Unless that's forbidden for some reason?"

Amani, as our 'guide' spoke up, "Well, we do have guards up there. Some of the flying monsters brave the wall occasionally..." She shivered a moment, "I was up there once... One of the other younglings was carried off while I was on duty."

"Just need to get a general idea of the way there." I said, offering a hand to Amani, "Make sure our boy here doesn't run away?"

"Wouldn't think of it Ma'am." He said before Aisha could comment.

"This is so scary!" Amani said as she clung to my back.

"Why so scary?" I asked as I used my unbreakable grip and lack of boots to climb up the wall faster than most people could run on flat ground. "Don't bite your tongue!" And just because I could, I sped up a little.

It wasn't nearly as tall as Babel, so I ran out of wall fairly fast. I did have to weave and climb through some canopy though, since some of the trees were still very much alive. But aside from a few birds, a snake (that was just as terrified as poor Amani) and a lizard that looked suspiciously like Saji's Camo-bat Familiar, we made it up to the top of the 'wall' without issue.

Well, I did. Amani was a little out of breath. "Halt!" I had just set her down when a spear was pointed at me, "Oh..." And moved away, "Amani? What are you doing up here?"

It was one of the other younglings from the front gate. Must have a rotating duty... or maybe today was her leg day? "She's going into the deep jungle." Amani answered.

"Oh... Well, if it helps, it's that way."

The mini-amazon pointed with her spear, and I followed her gaze. Before I could really look where she was pointing though, I had to take in the savage beauty of the jungle before me. I mean, sure, in my old life I'd seen pictures, but seeing it from this high up was something else.

From what I could see through the thick canopy of leaves, an early morning fog was slithering through the trees below. Part way between that fog and the wide leaved jungle trees, I could see, and hear, wildlife. Waking up for the day like most of the rest of the city, it could make out birds, bright coloured lizards, a few very VERY large insects, and even a small pack of monkey-like things.

Even with my adventurer eyes, I couldn't see all that far, so I started going through my pouches. I put together a simple leather tubed spyglass, and put it to my eye to get a better idea on what we were dealing with.

"Oh! A spyglass!"

"She has all kinds of weird things like that." Amani replied.

"Like the metal cat?"

"Hagane is not a thing." She replied, "Very much his own person."

I smiled as I took in more scenery. From up here, the topography I could make out properly seemed to be made up of... rings? There was this cliff side city, with the ocean on the other side of it, that was barren rock with hardly any metal. The stone was good and solid though. The jungle, while vast, didn't extend all the way to our goal. Back towards Orario, there was that massive dip in the landscape that had become a huge swampland. Then towards our goal...

Barren rock?

Like some great big rock had hit the jungle, carved a long divot on one side to make the swamps, then stopped way over there in that scrubby rocky patch I could -just- make out from over the trees. A shallow meteor strike from long ago? Gods playing golf without filling in their divot? Meh, probably overthinking it. But I had an idea of the land, and a good direction. Time to send out the scouts...

Taking the spyglass apart, I turned to the two girls, "Well, it won't be easy, but that's okay." With a shake of my tails, I made some foxes, and with a little 'Yip!' they jumped over the wall towards the jungle.

"What are those?" Amani asked.

"This is a fox." I made one more and had it sit in my hand, "It's not a real one, just a bit of mana and will."

Mini-amazon or not, they both couldn't resist giving the friendly animal a pat. "Are you going now?" Amani asked.

"Going to get the others first. But we'll be back as soon as we can. Shinkage will keep you company, and fed." I picked her up with my tails.

"Wait, you're not going to..."

"Why take stairs?" I asked, hopping over the side.

NOTES!

And into the jungle we go! Next update? The gate.

But, for those who've never visited my Ko-fi (Daeore on Ko-fi), you can now see... MORE ART! WOO!

Go look! I'm really pleased with this one. And it will be the last 'new' one for a little while. Now that her 'outfit' collection is done, I'm having the artist go back over them and put some colour onto them. It's your donations that have let this happen, so thank you. (The artist says thank you too!)