There's going to be a vote on something. Details at the end. :) And no, it's not what Aisha is carrying. (But yes, I will have a vote for that too, later...)

Go vote! Or I'll just write it how I wanna, and it might be less fun.

... Okay, so the website is still a little borked. The vote is unavailable to be seen apparently.

So, 'When do Kodori and Rori inevitably throw down' (Before or after the Gate Moves)

And! 'How does Kodori fight?' (Seriously, mockingly, educationally, like a FOX SMASH!)

Chapter 22

We drove carefully through the surprisingly well lit town, mindful of the random citizen as they wandered about. I could tell that we were all still a bit on edge, scrutinizing every one of those random people to see if they looked suspicious in any way. But no. Aside from the occasional friendly wave to the JSDF Humvee they were just people, likely on their way home at this time of night.

While Itami cruised up the ramp leading into Fort Alnus, I thought more on the explosion. I didn't bother myself with 'did I do my best', or 'could I have done more'. No. What If, had happened, and what I did Then was done. It would of course tint my view on whomever was responsible, should I ever meet them.

After parking the Humvee and piling out, Itami said, "Okay. Bright and early again tomorrow." He waited until we'd all finished our 'sitting too long' stretches, then added, "I'm going to make sure Lelei didn't pass out in her chair again, then hit the rack myself."

"See you in the shower?" Aisha asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Or any time no one else is watching?" I mumbled back, swishing her rear with a tail, "Sounds good." I added, a little louder.

She chuckled and walked ahead while I matched pace with Itami and Hagane. "Sorry it wasn't as relaxing as it should have been. This is a pretty nice place, you know, when you actually have a bit of time to enjoy it." Itami said.

"Nothing we haven't dealt with before." Hagane rumbled, lifting his head just a little so I didn't have to lean down to pet it while we walked. "But there are times when diplomacy should just be skipped."

I nodded, "Much like here, we have 'citizens'. Normal people, doing normal things. When they get involved directly like this, the penalties are much steeper. We don't do executions, but we do have things like 'a year and a day', fines, and exile. And that's before the social stigma it might attach to you."

"Year and a day?" He gave a lazy salute to a patrol, who simply nodded at us and continued.

"Unpaid labour, to replace the person you injured or killed."

"Considering the dungeon is the main source of wealth and power, cutting a person off from that... Well, you only have so many years before you won't be able to adventure any more. And the rest of your Familia, who might also get punished, still need to pay the bills." I shrugged, "Huh... still has the light on."

We stopped in front of the room Lelei and I had used to talk to Fels, "Doesn't mean anything." Itami said, "And that sounds similar to our own system back where I'm from. But what's to stop a 'strong' adventurer from just... skipping out on the punishment? You said that prisons were useless right?"

"Paperwork." Hagane said, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

"What?"

"Who watches the watchers?" I translated. "Videmus invicem. We watch each other. The Citizens of Orario are off limits when adventurers fight. Without them, the city would grind to a halt, so, our laws reflect that."

"Huh..." Itami applied the key and opened the door, "sigh... figures."

Because of course, Lelei had passed out at the lone desk in the room, clicky pen still upright in her hand, a tiny trail of drool from the corner of her mouth. And yes, adorable little mouse snores.

But then... there was the rest of the room.

oh... boy...

All the walls, bits of the floor, one of the windows, the cupboards... Almost every single flat surface she could reach while standing on a chair had been used. Drawings, diagrams, text, fragments of magic circles, all in different colours of chalk, ink and... crayon? (I poked it, and yes, it was crayon.)

The table had changed too. The metal plate was sitting in the exact middle, with the Occulus sitting in its exact middle. But around it was a new magic circle that seemed to have grown off my original etchwork in the metal plate. So, while Itami very carefully picked up Lelei, avoided any of the floor that had been drawn on, and put her in the single bed (that even had some stuff drawn on the bed posts), I went over to the Occlus and touched my finger to the edge of the new magic circle.

"Fels?" I called out.

The circle lit up as if someone were pouring liquid light into the design, and with a little hum the Occulus itself came online. I started getting a little feedback from the circle, so I took my hand away, and to my surprise it remained lit.

Then the Occulus itself turned blue, and suddenly Fels's, from the waist up, was in the middle of the room. "Ah! Kodori. Oh, you are not alone?" He said in Kione.

"You do remember that the poor girl is only human, right?" I said in Japanese, before he could get going, and to signal him that Itami was trusted company.

"Um... well..." And for the first time ever, he seemed to be at a loss.

My practise as a mother was paying off it seemed, "This is Itami. Lelei is part of his party. And you've already met Hagane."

"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Itami. Lelei has spoken of you, and it's good to put a face to the name." Then to Hagane, "How has your... separation... treated you?"

Itami let Hagane speak first (it was hard to speak over the giant nightmare catto anyhow). "I am simply myself now. We will see if that remains when I return."

Fels rubbed his invisible chin, nodded, then looked to Itami, "Yes, I'm Yoji Itami... You certainly do look like some sort of wizard. Sadly, I have no idea what all this is..."

"This." Fels said proudly, "is incredible. Kodori! You must bring her here to visit! She's..." Yes, actual excitement was making him lose his usual eloquence, "Even after eight hundred years, I have never met an equal to her mind when it comes to magic. Myself, and yourself included. A true genius."

His floating torso started to spin about, pointing at things. "The table. We saw that having her in one place, and needing her to power the Occulus would limit her. So, she came up with a passive mana collector, on the spot, and added it to your own enchantment. The second layer there? It allowed me to do what I am doing now, and see into the room itself as she worked, a better version of what Delly does at home."

"Delly?" Itami, lost in the magic talk, latched on to something he actually understood.

"She's a master with illusion magic back home." I said, "And all this?"

"You..." Fels paused, "Remember the ruins?"

I thought on what ruins he might mean, then nodded. The castle where I'd come home from Earth, with the last, and largest, dungeon fragment.

"She's been translating the work Ajuka and I had done there, to something she can use where you are now." Fels almost looked like he was shifting back and forth on his feet with how excited he sounded, "There are a few hard limits however."

"And that is why I'm here." I nodded, "What's the problem?"

"From what we can come up with, oh..." He started to fade a little, "Yes, she even put in a..."

I leaned over and put a little more power into the circle. A snooze function? Seriously?

Fels came back into focus. "Much better! Pardon. From what we can discern, we both need to do a little labour around the site. That won't be too bothersome here, with the resources of Orario, but I am not so sure about there." He explained.

"What's needed?" Itami asked.

Fels looked to him, and I said, "He's our ground level connection here. Lots of paperwork to do, but otherwise all 'material' requests go through him."

To be polite, Fels 'turned' towards Itami, "Sir Itami, some of the materials needed are considered very valuable there. Silver, gold, some amount of gems. Lelei has the list mostly worked out." He turned back to me, "And without magic stone, a LOT of magic power."

He grimaced like he'd just tasted something bad, but nodded, "I'll run it by the Commander."

I replied with, "My wife taught me how to do it, so I certainly don't mind being a magic battery."

Fels nodded, "As it is, it will take a little time to rebuild the ruins to functionality again. Check in regularly."

I nodded, "Sounds good." And I looked for (and spotted) the Orc hide cloth, and put it over the Occulus.

All the magic effects went dark, leaving us with only the single overhead light in the room. "Brr... hearing him speak makes me think of a snake pit or something. Eight hundred years old? Is he some kind of apostle or something?"

Itami and I started walking out, the soldier holding the door open for Hagane, "He found immortality, yet could only grab it with one hand." Hagane said, "I will stay here."

Since ordering a normal cat to do something never worked, I didn't even think of trying with this one. So, I applied one headpat, found it lacking, and just hugged him as best I could. "Drag her to the canteen if you have to."

"See you bright and early." Itami said, "Hopefully the girls haven't killed each other..." He sighed.

I hadn't noticed, "Wait... Did Rory go into the bath with the others this time?"

"Hey Fox." Aisha greeted me as I looked into the big 'hot tub' room of the showers, "Something wrong?"

I did a quick head count, noted that everyone was there, and not killing each other. "You should clean off first." Tuka said, giving me a cheerful finger waggle, "It's tradition!"

Rory was here too, sulking in the far corner of the big rubber tub. Closest to her was Ryuu, who, even with her slender build, was still bigger than Rory. "Just making sure." I said, before ducking back behind the divider and getting myself prepped for a shower.

The next morning, as usual, everyone but Aisha was up before Reveille. And today her comment was, "Do you think anyone would notice if I broke whatever it is making that noise?"

"Even after all this time living at the Manor, you still can't wake up on time." Maki teased, holding my shoulder while she did a standing split, her recently wounded leg pointing its toes straight up, "All better." She nodded, lowering her leg.

"Did you talk with Lelei?" Ryuu asked, since I didn't bother with 'business' in the baths.

"Hagane isn't here?" Aisha commented while sitting up.

"Well, Lelei and Fels worked all day yesterday. And Hagane stayed behind to make sure she got breakfast when she woke up." I explained, getting back to back with Maki and doing one of those arm link back stretches with her. "We have lots of work to do." I added.

"Such as?" Maki asked, leaning forward and lifting me off the floor.

"There is going to be a rather steep material cost to this from what Fels said. Gold, silver, maybe other metals, and various gems as well. I'm guessing it will be used for magical stuff." I said, letting go of Maki's arms and standing apart from her, bending and touching my palms to the floor, "But that means we need to work for it."

"We must work to eat." Ryuu said, following my example as well, "But what sort of things can we do here?"

"Rather, what can we do here, that will earn that kind of coin?" Aisha asked, "Gold and silver aren't used for much back home, but from walking the markets I can tell it's valued here. Not just that, we aren't exactly the 'norm' around here either."

The three of us looked at Aisha with the exact same raised eyebrow.

"What? We've been trying to keep things close to the chest. That's fine. But are we going to really show off what we can do? Or are we going to keep playing around?"

She was right of course. Aside from Maki, who was still several times stronger than a 'normal' person, Ryuu, Aisha and I, were likely the three strongest people in this world right now. "I can work with Mari." Ryuu said, "My magic may not work well with older wounds, but it does. Do you have any ability to work Alchemy here?"

"Without real knowledge of the local plants... not really." I shook my head, "Of course, I could make a day or two of it, and learn... If I could make a bottle of Lizard Tonic..."

"What about me?" Aisha asked, "I don't really have a 'marketable' skill."

"You could always go hunting any left over monsters?" Maki suggested. "They did say they were 'kill on sight', and that they didn't get them all." She sighed, "If anything, I'm the least useful here I think. I hardly think waiting on tables would bring in much money."

"Itami will talk to the commander about it, and we can move from there. It's going to take a few days to get the Orario side of things set up, so we aren't in a huge rush." I said, "And if Shinkage is on schedule, she won't be back in Orario for another week or so anyhow."

We headed to the Mess under the 'escort' of two JSDF. We met up with Hagane, who had Lelei sitting on his back. The poor mini-mage looked so decaffeinated, she was hardly able to keep herself upright. But, as promised, Hagane was making sure she got breakfast.

"You (yawn) talked to Fels, Lady Kodori?" Lelei asked, idly patting one of my tails as it kept her from listing sideways.

"I did. Itami was there as well, so he's probably passing that on to the Commander. We just have to source those materials you need."

She nodded, accepting another tail then getting lifted off Hagane. The big metal cat sat by the entrance to the Mess while we all went in. "You should take better care of yourself." Ryuu said, "Poor sleep and eating habits will hinder you."

"To much to do." Lelei said, picking up a tray and getting in line with the rest of us, as well as a bunch of JSDF latecomers. "And Fels is very interesting."

"I remember hearing this conversation a lot..." Maki said, "Wonder why though..."

I laughed, "Well, what can I say? Had things to do. I've gotten better though!"

Today's breakfast was 'local salad' rice and fish patties. "Have you thought about carrying snacks around with you?" Maki asked, "I used to be on the go all the time too, and even if I couldn't sit and have a meal..."

"Dried meat is the Amazon favourite." Aisha suggested, "Keeps well, doesn't make a mess in whatever pouch you have it in, and if you do have time for a meal, you can toss it into the soup pot."

We sat down a little cluster of five and dug in. Someplace between slow methodical bites, Lelei nodded, "I will try and find a way to do that."

We ate without speaking (but not in silence, since this was a military mess hall, and there were over a hundred people eating in here with us). It wasn't until I was getting to the last of my onion-letuce salad that Itami plopped himself down beside Lelei (and across from Maki). A moment later, Yao and Tuka sat down across from each other next to our little group.

"Sorry I'm late." Itami said with a sigh, "The Commander was... less than pleased with the situation in Italica." He then yawned, "Woke me up an hour before wake up too."

"Tell him about the Gate?" I asked.

"Only what we might need. That Fels guy didn't say what we needed it for, so we were both hoping for some clarity on that. Lelei?"

Lelei finished her mouthful, then said, "The materials will be used to create a magical circle that will move the Gate on there side, to another place that Fels is working to set up now." Lelei paused, looking a little hesitant, "But to do that... I need to be on the other side of the Gate."

Itami frowned, then looked across the table, "It's dangerous over there though, right?"

Aisha nodded, "It is where all those monsters came from when you opened the Gate to our world."

"Does it have to be you?" Itami asked, "Kodori-san seems capable enough?"

"It has to be me. Someone else might get it wrong." She looked to me, "I mean no disrespect, Lady Kodori."

"None taken." I shook my head, "I'm a fair hand at stuff like this. But if the expert says she needs to be there, then I won't argue. But I see a problem already..."

Lelei nodded, "Yes. When the Gate is moved, we will essentially be stranded where it used to reside."

"We made it to the Gate, we can get back." Maki said, "It might not have been perfect, but we did it with Roku-san, and all he had was a pointy stick."

It was clear Itami didn't like the idea, not even a little, but he nodded, "Next is the materials themselves."

"If the Gate there is the same size, we will need..." And Lelei went about describing just how much material she would need, and how it would be used. At least, as best she could when her audience wasn't nearly as magically inclined as she was.

"I have a question." I said, raising my hand once she'd finished her 'lesson'.

"Yes?"

"This material we need." And it was not a small amount either... "Will it be consumed after it's used?"

"No. It is merely being used as a conduit for the magical energy. The gems are to focus it. But unless there is a catastrophic failure, the materials will be left behind."

"Okay." I nodded, "That might make things cheaper for us."

It was Yao who rained on the parade this time. "You are going to lay down a complicated magical pattern, while being attacked by monsters. And when it works, if it works, you want to pick it all up again, while the monsters are still around, and carry it with you?"

Itami nodded, "Gold is pretty heavy." He said, "But..." He looked to Tuka, "Maybe we have an easy way out this time."

"I'm not sure my magic will work on monsters like those. I didn't actually try it when they came through." Tuka said, "But maybe?"

"One step at a time." I said, "We can plan later. First we need to gather the materials." I rubbed my nose, "If Telskyura wasn't so far from Orario... I mean, gold and silver are mostly useless to us. And we have lots of good clarity gemstones." I motioned to Maki, "Like the one on her sword's pommel."

Lelei looked to Maki, and my little sister unhooked her scabbard from her belt and handed it to the blue haired wizard, "This..."

"Don't!" I leaned over and put my hand on hers before she could do anything magical, "If you try and put magic into it, you might set it off." Considering we were in a room full of people still, the last thing we wanted was a lightning bolt flying across the room. Or a killer icicle...

"Sorry." Lelei passed the sword back, "Itami? Can we use the range later?"

"Sure. If I remember, you have a date with Shino, Maki." Itami said.

"Yeah, evening spar. Actually looking forward to it." Maki grinned.

"So, you need a large amount of gold and silver, as well as gems." Yao started, "Would Italica have access to such things in their markets? Oh! What of the lump of Adamant I brought with me? If it could be cut, that would produce many gems of that size."

"I doubt Italica has that much on the market..." Itami sighed, "We might have to go to the capitol... As for that massive lump of Adamant... I don't think it was sent over to Japan. But I'd have to ask the Commander."

"Adamant?" I asked, "To us, its a metal." I tapped my bracer with a finger.

"Oh, sorry, you might know it by another name then, we call it diamond." He made a 'this big' motion with his hands, about the size of his head, "About this big too. Was incredible to look at."

The far off part of me called 'reason' passed out as it tried to calculate how much that would be worth. After I rebooted, I said, "If it helps, I know how to cut gemstones. Maki does too."

"Well, I'll ask about it. However this brings us to the next issue. Money." Itami said.

"We have already started on that." Ryuu said, "I can sell my skill as a healer to Mari."

"If you have any monsters around, local or not, I can hunt them down for you." Aisha grinned, "I could also teach combat. Or if you really had nothing else for me to do, I could have that ditch for your new roads dug in a day or two."

"If you introduced me to a really good apothecary, I could start making medicines. Or if you left me in a smithy, I could revolutionize the way they make steel around here, among other things." I said, "Or, if you had nothing else for me to do, I could have another ditch dug for another road." I winked at Aisha.

Itami nodded, "I'll bring it up to the Commander. Since we don't know how long Fels-san will be with his preparations, I'll try and get things done as fast as possible, and maybe if I'm lucky, I can get keep my old team together for a bit longer." He sighed.

"Sounds good." I said, "Mind if we go to town then?"

He looked at me, then a little over my shoulder at all my tails, "Won't be hard to find you at least. Sure. Lelei? You're on leave for the day."

Lelei pouted at him, and I had no idea how heartless Itami was, until he shook his head at her to deny her silent plea to keep working on cool magic stuff.

"Ladies? If you could also go with them?" Itami looked to Tuka and Yao, "Keep them out of trouble, and translate for them?"

Since this wasn't in any way tied to official JSDF business (yet), we had to walk down the long hill to the town. That was fine by me, it gave me time to think, to plan, to have my tails get bored and... visit... and...

"Hey, are you purring?" Tuka asked, leaning a little closer, one of my tails in her hands getting attention. "So like this?"

"No no, like this see?" Aisha of course had another tail and was showing her exactly the right way.

Yao, the more serious of the two elves, had actually shooed away my curious appendage, gently of course, but still, "Most of the Beast-kin are shy about having their tails touched."

"Her tails get curious." Maki said, "Shoo, you already know me." Maki flailed her hands at my tails, then reached around to gather her own, "Most of us have this weird reaction when someone touches their tail."

"You mean this?" Aisha said, her fingertips touching my rear, before letting one of my tails flow through her hand exactly the way I liked it.

"Oh? It that all it takes to make you freeze in place?" Rory said from behind us, "Such an embarrassing noise too."

"Ah, now she's pouting." Ryuu said while the others laughed at me.

"That's it! No more." I said, reaching behind me, gathering all my tails up and away from all the hands, and hugging them to my front, "Just for that, Lelei gets to hold them."

"Yay?" Lelei deadpanned as I walked up beside her and Hagane and let my tails go. Having just been deprived of attention, my tails wandered over to her. "Hmm, you have three distinct colours here..."

"Ouch, she's letting her experiment on them instead of letting them get free attention." Maki stage whispered to Aisha, "She never let anyone do that back home."

Lelei was ignoring the comments, holding one of my black tails, and Haruhime's gold tail in either hand, "Oh, I see... One is predisposed to receiving, while the other is for sending." She let them go (only to have them cling to her back) and captured my ninth tail, "But this?" She brushed her finger over the silver ring of fur, Fenrir's mark on my soul.

I didn't want to deny her an answer, but I did not want to speak openly about it. Tuka seemed to be a bit of a blabbermouth, and well, this wasn't a small thing. "I'll tell you a story about it later." And applied a headpat to the mini-mage, since her hands were unable to defend her precious brain casing. "Anyhow, now that I've rescued my tails and let someone who appreciates them for something other than a way to tease me... Do we all know what we're doing?"

"Yeah. We're looking for work." Aisha shrugged, "It's not alchemy, well... in your case it might be."

"I know a place you could work." Rory said.

Aisha laughed, "I'm sure you do, but I gave that up a couple years ago." Then, very seriously, "Besides, if you're the one suggesting that, well, I don't get along with people who go for the small and flat types."

Aside from Lelei (who had settled with just patting what ever tail was on her lap) Hagane (who didn't seem to want to bother with a verbal pissing match) and Ryuu (who had her hand resting casually on the pommel of her nice stick/sword), everyone else had a reaction to that. For the two 'native' elves, it was shock. For Maki, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, though her tails betrayed her by swishing with amusement.

Aisha saw what I was about to do (turn around and say something undiplomatic), and gave me a grin as if to say 'I got this'. And Rory, well, she knew she'd been well and truly had by the superior socialite Amazon. So, instead of turning around and saying something undiplomatic, I winked back at my lover, and enjoyed the sound of grinding teeth from Rory.

"Oh joy. We're here again." Hagane said as we arrived at the smithy from before.

"You didn't have to come. You could have gone with any of the others." I countered.

"Except Rory." Lelei said, spacing her words between the rhythmic sound of hammer vs hot iron from the Volraden smith. "Creating undead is forbidden, and even if you were never in a body of flesh, your soul is unnaturally contained." She was giving Hagane headpats, "I think it is just fine as it is. A brilliant solution to a unique problem."

Hagane sat tall like a good catto statue, and looked at me, "I like her, can we keep her?"

"I'll talk to Hestia about adopting her." I shrugged, but only half joking. I mean... Give this girl the extended lifespan of Falna and a way to really grow her magic? She'd accomplish so much more... "Though... this actually brings up a question." I watched the smith put the metal back in the furnace, but since we weren't talking to him, he kept to his work.

"About what?" Lelei asked.

"If magic exists here, and by what I understood of your notes all over the walls, it's really well studied. I mean, magic circles, containment for conflicting elements, drawing in power from inner and outer sources... Why isn't there -more- of it? Aside from you, the Elves, and a terrorist, I've hardly seen any magic at all."

Lelei frowned, "Terrorist?"

"Something happened in Italica. But you were working with Fels."

She nodded, then got back on topic, "Mages were once more prevalent, but war with the Empire, and the... absorption of mages into their ranks has mostly destroyed the factors that allow a person to use it."

"Factors? Bloodlines?" I asked.

"That as well. The longer lived races are more naturally capable with magic, and need only practice to expand on that. Humans can learn magic... but only a few could ever do more than trivial things with it. Some, like myself, are gifted with ability. But I only escaped notice from the Empire by being born as a nomad."

"And the Empire mages?"

"Are just as vulnerable to arrows as anyone else. It was seen as more cost efficient to simply train more archers, than a mage who would need years of study and special attention to thrive." Lelei explained. "There is another factor as well..." She broke her serious face for a moment, and waved at me to lean down. "The Apostles do not allow magic to truly thrive, since it erodes the belief in the Gods they serve."

I knelt down, mostly so I didn't have to lean down so far (she was so tiny and adorable!). I looked her right in the eyes and asked, "Do they do this with all things? Is that why this world is so... basic? Why people don't use wind or water power to help them work? Why the art of working metal is barely past the bronze age?"

Not one to sugarcoat her words, she just said, "Yes." Then, "There is only one place that resists the Gods openly, the magic city Rondel. It was founded by the only two Apostles who ascended to Gods who encouraged study, and does its best to remain independent from the Empire's affairs."

"Do mages from there join them?"

"Only the failures. No mage worth the name has time for war." Lelei said, "ugu?"

I applied one headpat, then put that hand on her shoulder, "Know this, Lelei la Lelena. I'm on your side. And I think I'll start by teaching this guy here the Secret of Steel."

Without building materials, there was only so much I could do. But, that said, I did have Lelei, a bunch of things to draw diagrams on, and a very willing student. The Voldaren Smith followed along with my explanations, and by the end of it, all that was left was to re-build a bit of his his furnace and actually make the stuff.

Honestly, it's not a very complicated thing. Going by Earth's history, it was something discovered in various places over 2500 years ago. But here? They'd hardly gotten past basic alloys involving iron. But what exactly was I really teaching him?

Bloom steel. Or if you prefer, 'Wootz' steel. Yes, the original patterned steel Damascus. Take a simple chimney of good clay, fill it about half way with coal or other high carbon combustibles, then dump in a bunch of iron. Light it and feed it as much air as you can to get it REALLY hot, and as the iron melts, it will bond and soak up the carbon. The molten iron will flow to the bottom of the chimney, and once there, it will form a kind of 'puck'.

From there? Go about your usual job of making stuff with it. The patterning of this high carbon steel comes from inconsistencies in the carbon content, making it look almost like you'd mixed in hair with the metal.

Of course, this was the simple method. When I'd visited Kuoh, I'd gotten my mitts on diagrams for a Blast Furnace. It does basically the same thing, except the metals and ceramics used to contain the heat didn't need to be smashed to bits to get at the iron you'd just melted. Hephaestus even gave me a headpat for that one. But, clay was cheap, and there was a big open field just outside of town where no one would care about a couple of clay furnaces.

For my trouble of explaining all this (and getting Lelei to write down some simple clarifications to the diagrams I'd made) I got a four gold coins. When I looked at Lelei, she said it was more money than some saw in a season. So I accepted it, gave the big wolfman a handshake and wondered how the others were doing.

"I wonder where Aisha and Maki went." I asked no one in particular, "I mean, Ryuu will be... here?"

It was only an educated guess, but on Earth, and in Orario, the Staff of Hermes meant only one thing. "Yes, this is the town's hospital." Lelei nodded, "Healing magic is... almost unknown here as well."

"Almost?" I helped her off of Hagane, who sat like a good catto next to the entrance.

"Doing it improperly can be just as deadly as leaving them to bleed." We both gave Hagane a headpat, then entered. "Which makes me curious as to how Miss Ryuu's magic works."

It was much the same as Mari's clinic up in the fort. Just smaller. It had a nice front desk made from local woods, filing cabinets imported from what ever Japan's equivalent of Ikea was, good lighting and a mild antiseptic smell.

"It's more of an accelerant, than a miracle." I said, walking up to the front desk.

Instead of a JSDF medico behind the desk, there was... An Oni? Red skin, two little horns, square-ish face, fangs that weren't quite getting into tusks territory... But he was quite short. A child?

"It's a Pooka." Lelei said, "Hello, Jama." She said to him.

"Oh! Hello Lelei!" Yes, a child for sure. "I'm doing the desk work while the Green Man does his rounds."

"Are you making sure to do it properly?" Lelei asked.

"Of course! I wouldn't want to embarrass my father. I'll be a great merchant one day, just you watch!" He paused, realizing something, "Why are you speaking Japanese? I mean... it's good to practise but..."

"This is Kodori." Lelei motioned to me, "She's looking for her friend, the Green Lady."

He looked at me, then tilted his head back further to see my face, "The one who looks like she's wearing an upside down flower? The sky Elf?"

I nodded. "Just so long as I know she's here. No need to bother her." I raised my hand to stop him from reaching for the intercom sitting on the desk, "Though, if you could, remind her to eat lunch if she hasn't."

"Sure! The Doctor is really happy with her here. All of the people in the tree-oge were sent home after only a few minutes. And we had one with a broken arm go home a week early!"

I nodded, satisfied, "Good. Let's go."

Lelei nodded and we left.

Speaking of lunch, I decided to go to that tavern. From the smells around the market area, it was really the only place with food other than snacks. And to be honest, I wasn't in the mood for bread. I could tell that Lelei wanted to pick my brain more on things she didn't understand, or even things she did and wanted another point of view. That was fine. The tavern would give us a chance to do so.

"Oh, welcome back Lelei." Giselle was there to greet us and lead us to a table. "Your usual?"

"Yes."

"And for you?" She looked at me, "Something tells me... you enjoy meat."

"And tea." I nodded.

"And... do you even eat?"

"Not exactly. But thank you for asking."

Our seat was in the corner, out of the way of just about everyone. This gave Hagane enough space to curl up on the floor and 'people watch'. Or nap. I was never sure. "You said it accelerates healing, but how is that different?" Instantly to the questions.

"The body can heal itself. But say the wound is too wide? If you suture it closed, the body will mend itself and with a little care you can stretch the flesh back to what it was before you were wounded." I explained, getting a nod, "Her magic is more of the first, and less of the second. She can speed up the natural healing of a person to a point where fresh wounds will close instantly, or broken bones, so long as they are set properly, will mend together again."

"Ah, then it isn't a true healing art?" She frowned.

"Oh, it can be with enough skill. She's saved my life a few times with it. Including when I had been slashed along my inner thigh. She is good enough with her magic to knit small parts together, instead of all at once."

"Ah, that would explain how she restored Maki's leg." Lelei looked thoughtful, "Perhaps the combination of a doctor's skill, and a healers magic?"

"Yes. Improper healing, such as healing a bone without setting it, can be... bad." I felt my wrists tingle, and couldn't stop myself from rubbing them. "But what of the actual medical knowledge here?"

"When put against the skill of the JSDF, we are... lacking. Even our best apothecaries can't match a simple pill or injection, in most cases."

"Most?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Some sicknesses have a magical cause, and only certain things will cure them. I was once struck with a cursed sickness, and only a certain fruit could cure it. Nothing in Itami's medical box could." She explained.

"That sounds less like a curse, and more like an affliction... For example, there is an animal that eats a toxic fruit when ever it can. But it also eats things that are commonly carrying parasites. The animal is immune to the poison, but the parasites are not."

Giselle came by in the moment's silence, and set down a pair of plates and a platter with a nice looking (100 yen store) teapot and a pair of (also 100 yen store) stone teacups. "Your salad, and your cutlet. And today's tea is..." She paused, "I'm actually not sure, but when I tried some, it was pretty good." She looked a little embarrassed, but did a little maid curtsy and walked off again.

"What about your medicines? You've mentioned potions, and worked with Mari as well." Lelei asked, starting to nibble at her salad.

"They are a mix of herb craft and magic. I could make them here if I studied the local plants a little, maybe... But I lack the key ingredient, and it's only found back home, or if you knew of any fruits with high concentrations of mana in them..." I used my fork (yes... 100 yen) and knife (ditto) to cut a little of the slab of meat I'd been served. It was a tiny bit chewy, but had a good flavour to it. Closer to beef than pork.

Lelei finished her mouthful and poured some tea for the both of us. Then she reached into her robe for a moment and took out a small crystal, "You mean this?"

I made no move for the little tiny little Magic Stone, but nodded, "Exactly that. From the initial encounter with the monsters from my world?"

She shook her head, "No." She put it away, "It was from a larger mosquito that I killed during the hunt. There were several, but I only found this one stone." She leaned forward, "What is it, exactly?"

"That will require a little more than a single lunchtime to tell you." I sipped the tea, and... well it was okay. "I'll tell you a little later. But don't tell Itami."

She gave the the most adorable five degree head tilt, "Why not?"

"Because if the JSDF knew, we'd end up like your world, if we ever connected to their home. And I just don't want to deal with that."

NOTES!

And so we bring little Lelei into the mysterrrrrrious Kitsune stuff! Or maybe not?

Anyhow, Go vote on the 'Kodori vs Rory' poll! I mean, we all know it's gonna happen, but when is up to you!

Daeore on Ko-fi for art! (and any donations).

Daeore on Inkitt for my actual book!