Chapter 43

Aisha sighed, Haruhime looked disappointed and I considered just how heavy handed to be. Of course, in the darkest part of the day, with the sun still down and the moon hidden by the city wall, the only light would be from the street lights and maybe Takemikazuchi's light, since he also did early morning stretches.

First however, I called out, "Fen-chan?"

Without sound, his body seemed to bleed from the walls, forming into the imposing fox. He wasn't smiling though, since he knew the tone of my voice for what it was.

"Guard the Amazon and their children." I said. And with a 'grumph', his form leeched back into the walls and floor. Then to Aisha and Haruhime, "Looks like about twenty or so, coming in over the back wall and orchard, nothing at the front gate yet though."

They both nodded, and they each went to their own personal coat racks. Kind of like an armour stand, it was just a place for them to hang up their equipment after a day in the dungeon. They both found their pouches and picked out a differently coloured glass bead. "Intruders at the rear wall." They said together.

While they did that, sending the message out to each of the 'teams' (both main and rookie) I dressed myself in some mana cloth and put on my gauntlets. "I'll go and meet them. Send the rookies to our guest rooms. Everyone wears their mask." I said picking up my own mask and putting it on my face.

It had been about a minute and a half, from the interruption to my morning entertainment, to me getting to the back yard. Already, I could hear and feel almost everyone moving. My connection to the Manor, my territory, let me track the movements of everyone in it, and as predicted, a handful of Amazon were already veering towards the 'School' wing, where our Amazon mothers and orphans were housed. I didn't expect them to leave the dorms to fight, but I knew they'd defend their children. Even if most of them were level two, they'd lose if more than one of the attackers were level three. But that's why I sent Fen-chan.

The rest of them however, were making a bee line towards the Manor proper. A typical 'distraction' tactic. Thankfully, I didn't see Brisid. As weird as she was I was kinda starting to like her, in that weird 'agree to disagree' kinda way. I'd have been kinda sad if I had to make an example of her. As it was, I was getting VERY tired of this entire situation.

As I exited the Manor and took a good long look at the oncoming Amazon, I said, "Are you really this stupid?"

Fifteen in all, they stopped and I spotted my first 'problem'. It wasn't that they were very strong, or that their numbers could overwhelm me. No, the problem here was that each and every one of them had a Familia emblem on their armour. Many different emblems, all from Familia I at least had a passing familiarity with, but all that same... If I got too heavy handed here, there would be politics. And judging by the looks on their faces, with savage smiles and cruel eyes, they knew exactly what they were doing.

While I realized this, and most of the rest of my Familia exited the building, I felt a sudden pressure coming towards me. Without thinking, or looking, I flicked a hand out and caught it.

Archers on the buildings outside the Manor itself. I held the arrow in my hand, and looked back the way it had come. Yup, another Amazon. This one looked familiar too, probably from the little scuffle before I'd left to deal with the Gate.

"Ko-san?" Haruhime called out to me from behind me, "Put this on." My tails swished at her, and I knelt a little, her hands putting a communication bead necklace around my throat. "There."

It activated almost as soon as it settled between my breasts, "Team two. One dozen at the front gate, Archers outside the walls." It was Mikoto, "Advise?"

I put a fingertip to the glass, "Lemme try diplomacy."

I was about to raise my voice, but then I felt a sharp pain, right next to my heart. This was followed by an almost inaudible scream from our Dorms. "Fox?" Aisha was by my side, even as the other Amazon laughed.

"Bone knife." I grunted, touching the glass at my throat, "Fen-chan is down!"

Bell spoke the next word from the roof of the Manor, and suddenly Diplomacy was off the table. "FIREBOLT!"

As the pain of magical feedback eased off, I watched one of the grinning Amazon get slapped to the ground by Bell's simple magic spell. Aisha left my side, and ran forward to meet a pair of warriors, from someplace to my right I heard Welf shout a challenge and dash forward.

Then arrows started zipping around the yard, most missing, others rattling off armour or weapons, but then with a couple of grunts of pain, a couple of them found their marks. Of course, they weren't aiming at me, but the less durable members of my Familia.

So I touched the glass at my throat, even as Haruhime said 'Grow!'

"Throw them over the walls." And with a little wiggle of my bare toes on the nice grass of our lawn, I pointed myself at an Amazon who was about to flank Aisha.

I didn't hit her, but I found the look in her eyes quite satisfying as I put a hand to her shoulder, another to her belt, lifted her off her feet, spun in place until I was facing the longest street leading away from the Manor, and threw her.

Aisha laughed as I sent the screaming missile over our wall and down the street, then kicked her opponent in the chin hard enough to get her airborne, then as she came down kicked her again in the gut to propel her over the nearest wall. "We got this! You promised to protect the children!" She said, swinging her sword to swat a couple of arrows out of the air, "Go!"

So I left the defence of the back yard to them, the sounds of combat fading as I dashed into the Manor and ran towards the School wing. Without the thick marble walls in the way, I could hear weapons clashing and Amazon swearing. And while it shouldn't have surprised me, I heard the ring of fine steel. Takemikazuchi Himself had gotten involved.

I rounded the last corner, just past Takemikazuchi's personal quarters, and took a second to assess. Not only was Takemikazuchi fending off a pair of Amazon by himself, Shino was here too! She was squared up against someone, one on one, and to my surprise was not dead. She was obviously on her back foot, but at least holding her own. I would have time to be impressed later.

There were a lot more Amazon here than I thought though, and more than a few wounded on the floor, bleeding on our nice terrazzo floors. But I knew how to fix that, or at least, start fixing it. Moving forward again, I called out, "BACK TO YOUR ROOMS!"

And just like we'd practised, the Amazon Mothers started backing off. No longer were they trying to push back the invaders, but backing off in a fighting retreat. The first Enemy I reached was the one sparring with Shino, and without ceremony I grabbed the back of her head, her belt, then heaved her towards someone down the hall.

Shino needed no prompting, and was instantly on the radio, "West wing! West wing!"

My next target made the mistake of turning to face me while still within reach of Takemikazuchi, and I never actually got to do anything to her as his katana cut the back of her knee, parried the other one's spear, then used the spine of his blade to hit the back of the first one's head. So, instead I applied a quick punch to the side of the other one's head then heaved her one handed down the hall as well.

"You are late." He said, frowning (not at me, thankfully).

"Pardon O-sensei." I replied before running towards the next in line for a beating.

"STOP!" Someone shouted, followed by a thin cry and a body hitting the floor.

One of the Intruders was standing next to a downed Amazon, holding a green skinned Oni-zon. It wasn't the child that had cried though. True to his father, he (yes he) was just looking grumpy at the mishandling even as his little hands tried to push the Intruder's face away from him.

"We're going to take the rest of them out of here now." She said, "No matter how deviant they look, they're still Amazon. Call off your Familia." She had her spear in her other hand, and poised it point down over the Mother at her feet.

Then the baby started glowing. Just a thin blue outline as something magical surrounded him. "Tuka?" I heard from other end of the hallway.

Before the Amazon realized what was going on, a glowing arrow zipped down the hallway. She sensed it and managed to half turn to face the oncoming projectile, but in turn lost hold of the child as it floated upwards towards the ceiling. The arrow only grazed her shoulder, but it was who was behind that arrow that she should have been paying attention to.

"For shame!" Rory said ducking under a hasty spear thrust and driving her little fist into the Intruder's gut.

Rory wasn't very skilled, but I could tell the first strike had taken basically all the fight out of the kidnapper, and after the second punch I could tell she wasn't going to be getting back up. As for the rest of the Intruders, well they started fighting again, but this time, no one was getting in my way.

But the thing that stopped the fighting wasn't me, or the intruders. Even as I was applying the last couple of Karate Chops of Justice (go to sleep version) to the last intruder in the School wing, I heard a loud booming voice echo through the streets outside.

"This is the Ganesha Familia Patrol! Cease fighting! If the fighting continues, it will be considered a violation of the city's peace, and fines will be issued by the Guild!"

"I was wondering if you had a police force." Itami asked, helping Takemikazuchi apply bandages to a fallen Amazon.

"I believe we have things in hand, Kodori-san." Takemikazuchi said, "Your duty lies elsewhere for the moment."

"Yes O-sensei." I nodded, walking down the hall, pausing to pick up a few of the unconscious intruders with my tails, and some fragments of bone. "I hate it when one gets away..." I sighed, "Lelei? You can stop now?"

I looked up at the floating (very happy) Oni-zon, who was giggling as he hovered near the ceiling. Moments later, he was in the arms of one of the Mothers. "Quite exciting." Rory said as I passed her, "And I see why you use your fists. It's quite satisfying." She grinned, looking at her bloody hands.

She'd reduced her opponent to a puffy faced, bruised mass of flesh, who was actually still awake, just whimpering in pain. I put my palm to her left breast, let my grip stick to her, and dragged her down the hall like that. "She's lucky you got to her first." I said, "Wash your hands before helping the others please."

All sounds of combat had ceased, but I could still hear things. Groans of pain, some shouting, a bit of arguing...

I got to the front door, or rather, what was left of it, and shook my head as I stepped over the shattered wood. Hagane was standing next to a fallen Amazon who still had a bit of our door under her, even as she bled from a dozen long claw marks. "Sorry about the door. My aim was off."

"Good job keeping the riffraff out." I said, adding the bleeding Amazon to my collection, grumbling inwardly since I was going to need a bath to get the blood out of my tails.

The front yard wasn't too badly damaged. A few divots, a broken weapon or two, some Ganesha Guards tending to the wounded, and a large Amazon arguing with one of the Guards just inside the Manor's gate. The Guard's attention wavered from the woman in front of him, and he turned to look at me. She did as well, her eyes widening at the sight of me carrying a short dozen limp bodies in my tails, (and one struggling one that I had 'in hand').

"No matter how many times you repel us, those children belon-"

And I kicked her. Really hard. It wasn't elegant or skilled. Just a 'big step' front kick that caught her in the side and propelled her across the street and through our neighbour's backyard wall with enough velocity that she left one of her boots behind.

"Get off my lawn bitch." I said with a growl, unceremoniously tossing the Amazon held in my tails onto the street at the feet of the other Ganesha Familia who were there. I wasn't cruel enough to toss the last one, but instead set her on her feet and gave her a little bit of a push before she could get her balance, making her flop over the pile I'd made.

The guard who'd been arguing looked at me, and very nervously 'ahem'ed. "I hate to..."

I held up a hand to stop him, bowed, and said, "I'm sorry for the disturbance. No need to lecture me. Just... write it down or something. Did you catch any of the archers who were firing into the property?"

He looked thankful that I'd stopped him from giving the 'you've been naughty' speech, and nodded. "No. As soon as we arrived, they vanished. We sent several people to try and pursue but as you know our patrols aren't very large. Most of us were tending to the wounded who had been thrown over your walls."

"Fair enough. Come in and help with the cleanup." I sighed, "It was going to be such a nice day too..."

As with most parties, good or bad, the cleanup was epic. Not nearly as bad as, say, the siege that had destroyed the Manor. And aside from the door, the only other damage to the Manor was a single broken window. Our children, protected by Weine, Amani and Shinkage, had actually slept through it all too. But I was pretty sure the reason for that was because they didn't want to really piss me off. I'd made it clear to Freya that I'd turbomurder her entire Familia if she tried for my children, so I was sure no one else wanted to cross that line.

As for wounded... well, no one was killed. Though it was only because we had 'first aid' kits all over the manor. Since the only Amazon to attack the Mothers were from Telskyura (or at least, had no Familia emblem) they had gotten some pretty rough treatment. But the children were all accounted for, and none of them would grow up an orphan.

A few of us had taken a few cuts and bruises, an arrow or two, a mild concussion, and a scraped knee. The invaders however were much worse off. I'd learned to be 'gentle' from Asia's many lectures and fierce kitten poses, but the rest of the Familia must have still been working through the past trauma of the last time we had a serious invasion. Bell surprised me the most, since he was never one to strike first. But he'd turned one of them into a mass of burns with a single word.

The kicker though? The Alliance still had to pay some fines. Mostly my fault though. Aside from kicking that one Amazon through the neighbour's wall, the first one I'd thrown went through the second floor wall of someone's house at the end of the street. I still beat my last record though. So while Hestia was rather upset, she signed the paperwork with a flourish, a clear 'so there!' on her face.

However, this left the Guild with a bit of a... problem.

"Oh my..." Royman said as he walked through the Manor's front 'portal', "A shame about the door."

"I said I was sorry." Hagane sighed.

Royman looked a little surprised, but shook his head and looked at me. "We have much to discuss." He said seriously, "May I come in?"

"Of course Royman." I said, "No matter your job, you are still a friend."

He looked a bit relieved, and I'd guess it was because the Guild wasn't usually welcome when it came on business like this. I guided him to our living room, where most of the residents, and our Guests were at the moment.

"Ah, Royman-san." Sugawara greeted, sipping his tea as if there wasn't just an attempted home invasion a little while ago, "Before you inquire, I will set your mind at ease. We were well protected, and this won't reflect poorly to my superiors."

"That was one of the topics I was hoping to discuss, Sir Sugawara." Royman nodded, sitting down and accepting a fresh cup of tea, "This isn't a common thing in Orario, but as you can see, it does happen."

"The entire incident was quite enlightening. Even if it is an uncommon thing, the Alliance acted as if it was, and before we'd even realized there was danger, we were protected." The two of them sipped tea at the exact same time, "Though, I must admit we had our own defence, and also assisted in the defence of the children."

"We in Orario respect people of action." Royman nodded, "And while I can't thank you for your efforts, as the Guild must remain impartial, the demonstration of your valour is appreciated."

Again, a synchronized tea sip, "I hope you'll allow us to observe how you handle this sort of situation's aftermath?" Sugawara asked.

I nodded, as did the three Gods, Bell and Mikoto. Royman looked back to Sugawara and said, "It seems you may." Then he looked to Hestia, "There are many problems to deal with. The first being that this has never happened before."

"What do you mean?" Hestia grumbled, "This is certainly not the first time we've had people trespassing."

"No, not that. Those who took part who have Familia in the city and were caught, will be punished according to Guild Law. The problem is 'why'. The guild deals with the 'big things' in Orario. Adventurers, Citizens, Trade, Infrastructure. And while we do record the names of everyone in the city, we've never had to worry about who has custody of the children."

"There should not be any dispute on who's children they are." Takemikazuchi said, frowning, "The mothers and fathers are both alive."

Even our visitors from the other side of the Gate looked VERY nervous when Takemikazuchi frowned. "I've been kinda curious actually." Shino said, just to fill the uncomfortable silence, "Who are the fathers? Not to sound rude, but they are the cutest scary children I've ever seen."

"Oni." I said.

Our visitors blinked in confusion, some because they'd probably never heard of them, others because they had, but couldn't believe it. "Oni?" Itami asked, "Seriously?"

Mikoto 'ahem'ed, "Yes, Oni." And put her mask on to demonstrate. She once asked me to make her an mempo, or 'lower face guard' for her, and it had the 'Oni Grin' hammered into it. Her mask was much the same, except it looked a little like Okakai's face with gold eyes instead of his blue ones.

That cleared up the confusion at least.

"The intruders were quite fortunate the fathers weren't here." Haruhime said quietly, "They are honourable souls, but..."

"That was likely planned." Astraea frowned, "They are not ones for hiding, and they cause quite the stir when they enter the dungeon."

"They knew how to deal with my Familiar too." I shook my head, "They knew I'd at least slow down to consider how to deal with a hostage as well."

"Happy to help." Rory giggled, with Shino grinning as well.

Royman looked a little uncomfortable though, "All that said, it leaves the Guild in an ugly situation."

"Amazon 'law'." Aisha grumbled.

"Yes. Telskyura is a major trade partner for Orario. Wood and fresh adventurers primarily. Losing their support would harm our efforts in the dungeon. And with the appearance of the Gate in their jungle, we've projected an overall weakening of their fighters over the next decade or so." He held up a hand to stall comment (many of us were about to say something, some of it probably VERY undiplomatic), "I understand, but as I said, the Guild is impartial. And we deal with numbers more readily than people."

I could see that Sugawara understood the 'meat' of the problem already, though he tried to hide his realization behind his teacup. The other JSDF and Itami's Girls were a little less subtle with their various levels of understanding.

"Amazon Law dictates that those children belong to Telskyura. To be raised by them and their own methods." Royman said, "As a major partner to our efforts against the Dungeon, we are inclined to listen to their demands." He held up a finger, again to stall comment, "And, now that it has become a city wide problem, with no less than a dozen Familia getting involved in today's intrusion, the Guild is even more inclined to acquiesce to their demands."

He sipped his tea, but still had his finger raised, so we all waited.

"However, at the moment, those children are citizens." He continued, "We of the Guild only record an adventurer's actions, and guide them as best we can. We do not dictate what those actions are, unless they run afoul of our rules."

It slowly dawned on the Orario residents what he was getting at. Telskyura said it had claim to the children, as they were young Amazons, and thus were part of their 'laws'. The Guild Law however only gave the people of the city a framework to live in, and its laws were there just so people could have a good, productive and as safe as was reasonable time.

As we of Orario came to this conclusion, our eyes went to Takemikazuchi. He was still frowning, but said, "Kodori-san, call them home. I will discuss it with them and the mothers."

So I did. "Fukawa, Okakai." Once, but Takemikazuchi kept his eyes on me, "Fukawa, Okakai." Twice, but I was still getting the look from the God of War. So I nodded and repeated myself a third time. "Fukawa, Okakai."

"I do hope they don't harm anyone on their return trip." Haruhime said.

"They've been gone a couple of days... They might take a little while coming back." Bell said.

Royman had politely ignored all of that, and after setting his teacup down he looked to Hestia, "We will put a hold on our formal reply to the envoy from Telskyura."

I just had to ask, "It wasn't someone named Brisid, was it?"

"Hm? No." He shook his head.

"Oh good." Then to Sugawara, "Sadly, I have to be here until the Oni return. So someone else is going to have to escort you around town today."

"That's quite alright, Kodori-san." He nodded, "After this morning's excitement, I'd be quite happy to delay the tour you had in mind."

"Especially since we have yet to eat breakfast." Haruhime said, "I can hear seven grumbling tummies from here."

All eyes went to the living room's main entrance, just in time to see a bunch of little fox ears vanish behind the corner.

I an effort to calm my nerves from the morning's excitement, I took on the task of making breakfast. Considering we had somewhere around fifty people in the manor, it would have been a monumental task to do alone.

But I did. Because I could.

However, I didn't quite finish everything myself. No, someplace between 'giant batch of scrambled eggs' and 'enough rice to mix with giant batch of scrambled eggs', someone poked their head into the kitchen.

And since being a big sister was more important than being irritated at the world, I waved her in and pointed to a pile of vegetables (that were going to go into the giant mix of egg and rice). "Amani. Cut those up?"

Meekly, she entered the kitchen, found the stool Lilly used when it was her turn to cook, and got herself in place by the cutting board. "Um..."

"About as thick as the spine of the knife you're using and as long as your little finger." I said, smiling when she started cutting then going back to my task, "Thank you for defending my children." I said once she'd finished the first vegetable and didn't have the knife near her fingers.

"Um... I... I'm very confused." She said, "I know I'm a guest here, and I was told to listen to you and the others, and treat Lord Takemikazuchi as I would Lady Kali. But..."

"But you're glad no one actually tried to attack my children?" I guessed, taking what she'd cut up and adding it to the mix.

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you didn't have to make that choice." I said, "Loyalty is one of the hardest things to deal with in life. Hey don't stop working."

"Sorry!" She went back to chopping and I checked on some bread, pulling out a sheet of mini-loaves and putting in another batch right away. "What do you mean?"

"If my wife, my children, and my Goddess were all in a burning house, and I could only save one, who would I save?" I asked, "I know I know, it would have to be a very epic house fire for me to only be able to save one. But you get the idea, right?"

"Yeah... You'd wonder if you made the right choice after everything, right?"

"That's right. Most choices a person makes are pretty simple. What to wear that day, what to eat, when to stop killing monsters for the day. But the really hard choices... Well, sometimes there isn't a good answer."

"So what do you do?"

"I pick the one that I will lose the least amount of sleep over." I shook my head, "Not the best answer, but that is my answer. Just remember, what ever choices you make, you have to live with them." I looked over the kitchen, sniffed the air, and nodded satisfaction. I peeked my head out of the kitchen, "That table better be set!"

"Well, I hope I never have to do something like that." Amani said, hopping off the stool, then getting on another one so she could take one of the platters I'd made.

"Then you'd live a life alone, and in the end you'd wonder if you could have done better if you had maybe risked a few of those hard choices." I followed her out as well, feeling a little better about the day. Being a big sister always improved my mood.

Aside from setting some aside for the Oni when they returned, breakfast was almost the same as always. Sure, we still had a bit of that left over energy from the quick and dirty combat, but we were adventurers, and we wouldn't let something so petty as combat interfere with our stomachs.

Our guests were quite happy to continue exploring the Manor. It wasn't the grandest place in town, but we did have a lot of neat stuff here, and it was a good example of what a Familia home might have. I had to trust the others to take care of the guests however, since I was stuck waiting for the Oni to get home. I knew they were level headed, practical, and honourable. But I knew that look on their faces when they were with their children. It was the same as any other proud parent. And knowing they'd been put in danger would likely upset them.

The big difference however, is they were proud fathers who were at least as strong as a level six adventurer, and had a thousand years of skill to back it up. Their version of 'upset' might involve burning down Telskyura. Or uprooting every tree in the jungle, setting it on fire, then finding a way to flood the place with sea water.

In the mean time, while I waited for them to arrive, I entertained myself with the Phoenix. It had been a few years, and I was starting to wonder if I needed to take special steps to have them breed among themselves. Their feathers were becoming quite potent when it came to alchemy and smithing, so I was guessing they were mature enough at least.

Time enough for that later.

The Oni arrived shortly after noon, the two of them jumping over the West wall of the Manor and landing in the training field. Arriving from the West told me they used the Xenos tunnels and our Warehouse, to get out of the dungeon quickly.

They stood in the middle of our practise field, back to back, and looked around quickly, trying to spot the danger. They could obviously see signs of combat, as Bell and Ouka were still flattening out some of the potholes. But then their eyes focused on me as I got closer, the Phoenix following behind me (hoping for more headpats probably).

"The danger has passed. But go talk to Lord Takemikazuchi. Now." I ordered. One of the few times I'd ever ordered them to do anything.

They frowned, "Yes, Kodori-sama." and stomped into the Manor.

Bell came over to me, deftly tilting his head our of the way of some 'is your ear food' nibbles from the Phoenix, "You're worried, aren't you?"

"We've both lost our tempers for the people we love." I said, "They're no different. But that won't help anyone here."

"Do you think they will agree?" Bell asked.

"To induct their children into a Familia? Yes. It's the second part that I'm worried about."

"Second part?" Bell asked, just as I started to feel the Oni start getting closer, my bare feet feeling their footsteps just as surely as my Awareness felt where they were on the property.

The two of them walked through the empty Manor doorway, their faces twisted up into their 'battle masks', their muscles rippling under their skin as they started to build themselves up to full combat readiness. Following them, I could hear several people yelling at them, trying to calm them down, to stop them, to deter them from what was obviously going to be a very undiplomatic solution.

So I did what any friend would do when someone they cared about was about to do something stupid. I got in the way.

"Stand aside. We are going to deal with this." Okakai rumbled, the two of them slowing, but not stopping, giving me time to at least say something before I either stood aside or got run over.

"This is not how you secure their future." I said, "They will need you to teach them, and if you go they will only be able to read of your example."

"We will not have their future dictated by the will of another God's sycophantic followers." Fukawa said.

I did not move. "You are not going." I said.

Okakai put his hand on my shoulder, and I felt him try and push me aside.

This was not a 'spar', where one matched the strength of the other, and fought based on skill. This was a fight. And for the sake of two friends and an entire nation of people, I was not going to play nice.

I brought my left hand under Okakai's wrist, hooked around and grabbed his huge pinky finger. My right hand locked onto his forearm, and my left foot slammed against his right ankle. He tried to resist, but by the time he got his right hand over mine to try and pry it free, he was off the ground and spinning.

And with a great deal of my strength, I grabbed his belt with my left hand, and drove him into the ground, upside down, right to his hips.

Then Fukawa's huge right foot was coming towards me, but I slipped to the side, half turned, put my right palm under his ankle, then hooked his left ankle with my tails. Then with a heave, he too was in the air. This time I could get both my hands under his armpits, and with yet another grunt of effort, he joined his brother.

I didn't play nice, or fair. They were more skilled, but I was level seven and a Nine Tailed Kitsune. And while I was stronger and faster, their anger had made them sloppy. But now that I had two Oni, who were upside down and buried up to their belts in the hard clay of our training field, I spoke.

"I was not asking." I made sure to raise my voice a little, just so they could hear me, "Are you thinking clearly? Or must this lesson continue?"

Everyone was absolutely stone silent. The Phoenix had frozen in place so their feet wouldn't make a sound on the grass by Gros's enclosure. Even the neighbour's dog had stopped barking!

And very quietly, I heard a rather sheepish, "No, Kodori-sama."

"Good." I took a deep breath to calm down, "Let's get you out of there, and we can talk about this calmly over tea." I looked at Bell, the closest person aside from the Oni, "Gimme a hand."

Suitably chastened, the Oni set about fixing their craters. But instead of leaving it just to them, we made it a group effort to fill in the holes in our training field, then got back inside for some more tea. That said, we now needed an idea on how to fix this without large amounts of violence.

And just to show they were being good guests, it was Sugawara who came up with a rather serviceable idea.

"Just so I am sure I have all the facts." He started, "You have a nation of Amazon, who by nature of their race are all women."

Aisha looked to Amani, "Some need a little time, but yeah." This was followed by a hair ruffle to a now pouting mini-zon.

"And while they need men from other races, the traits they pass on are minimal." The JSDF diplomat continued.

"Yup!" Amani said, "Eye colour is the most common. Sometimes hair." She looked up at her own sandy blond hair, then tried to pat it down after Aisha's mistreatment of it.

"There are other things, like shoulder width. That's almost always a give away for a dwarven father." Aisha nodded, "Like Brisid I'd bet."

Mari caught on to Sugawara's line of thought, and I realized it too. But Sugawara still had the floor, and looked to the Oni, "And you say that your bloodline is almost always male, and they carry odd traits?"

"Yes." They nodded, with Okakai continuing, "It takes many generations usually, before our blood weakens enough to allow for anything else. It was one of the very few things that people wanted us around for."

"But that is very ancient history." Fukawa added.

"Well then..." The Diplomat nodded, "I am of the opinion that your children simply aren't Amazon."

Those that were guessing nodded in agreement, and those who had no clue gasped in surprise. Welf laughed outright, saying, "Well, if it looks like a bird, flies like a bird, and tastes like a bird, it's probably a bird."

"And as one of the Amazon in the room, I have to say they really don't look like any Amazon I've met." Aisha said, "They're cute in that scary way of yours, but you'd never think they were one of us without someone saying an Amazon birthed them."

"A curious idea. But as with many things you've brought with you Kodori-san, they are unique to this world." Takemikazuchi looked to the two Oni, "But how to make this seem legitimate to our attackers?"

"Well..." Bell started, looking at Welf and getting a nod, then Maki who also nodded, "We didn't see any of the Amazon Brisid was with when she brought them in for equipment."

"That we still have to make." Welf reminded me.

"And she's already seen them." Hestia said, "Maybe ask her to speak up for them?"

"We would need a little more -oomph- I think." Delly said, "But at this point it would be easy."

"Please explain, Delly-chan." Takemikazuchi said.

"A secret is only worth something when it's a secret. And while I agree with why you kept the little tykes hidden from the city at large, it might be time to upend the bag and let the secret out." Delly said, standing up in the middle of the room, "I mean, we've just had this big incident, and a few smaller ones before this. People are gonna wonder why! What is so special about the Amazon in the Manor's school wing? Why are people fighting over them?"

She then put her hands in the air, making a little illusion of fireworks, "Surprise! It's a whole new race! Unique to the world and proudly acknowledged and accepted by our very own Takemikazuchi!" There were little applause at the display of lights, "Thank you thank you."

"This would explain why we defended them, and discredit the Amazon trying to take them." Astraea nodded, "But..."

Sugawara 'ahem'ed, "Yes, it would likely make your aggressors upset. No one enjoys being played for a fool, or being proven wrong. But if you have the Gods saying so, and other Amazon agreeing with them, it will be that much harder for them to justify another attack."

"Now we just have to tell Royman..." Hestia sighed, "Do you think he will agree to help?"

"If it keeps the peace in the city, yes." Astraea nodded, "But what do you two think?" She looked to the Oni.

"This is truly a blessed world." They said together.

"A place where we may fight to our hearts content." Fukawa added.

"And the people praise us for it, instead of running away in fear." Okakai finished.

"Seems we have some messages to deliver." I said, "But also a tour to do. Or part of one..."

"I wouldn't mind calling in for another day." Itami said, "We still haven't gotten any orders, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"And I haven't finished my own work either." Sugawara added, "One of those being this tour. So please do, Itami-san."

There was a moment of everyone looking at everyone else, and a group nod.

"We will prepare a few snacks for the walk." Haruhime said.

While Haruhime and our children, along with Amani and Weine, went into the kitchen to basically raid the snack shelves (or make more, since Weine could make bread in like... fifteen minutes), I got myself ready for a trip out.

But while I was in my room putting on my equipment and making myself 'presentable' for the city at large, there was a question I needed answered.

"Fen-chan?" I called out quietly.

Nothing.

I closed my eyes and gave my 'inner domain' a peek. The old room where I'd put my caged flame. It was a brighter place now, and while it still had a cage, it belonged to that hint of corruption I'd picked up from my encounter with Black Jade. It had grown a little, just enough to notice, but it was still just a tiny angry ball of static that seemed content to orbit the little space I'd given it.

But there was nothing 'wrong' in here. My Mana pulsed from my heart outwards. My Chi flowed from my belly, upwards through my chakra. And under it all, supporting it with a quiet yet immovable strength, was the gift Hestia had wrapped around my soul.

Opening my eyes, I looked behind me and picked out my ninth tail. It seemed a bit sad. Silly to think of them as their own people, but my ninth tail especially had that 'I'm the crazy friend' mentality. But now it seemed to be lethargic. There was no one I could even ask about this...

So, like any minimum wage tech support you might call, I did the second thing they'd suggest (since my tail was most certainly plugged in, thank you very much). I let out all my breath, until my chest felt like it was starting to crush my lungs, then started to inhale slowly. The deep breath, that inner trigger I'd learned from Ryuu when she started to take me seriously back when I lived at the Hostess.

Every adventurer had one. It wasn't needed at first, when your strength and speed were still at 'mortal' levels. But as you became stronger, you needed to put some kind of barrier between you and your strength, lest you crush things with a touch. I mean, I could lift several tons, throw a full grown person the length of several football fields, and run faster than the speed of sound. But, I could still boop my children's noses without doing them harm. And it was because, like any adventurer with a bit of experience, I had learned a Trigger.

And at the moment my lungs were full, where I could no longer draw any more air into my lungs, I let out my breath all at once, speaking again. "Fen-chan."

Everything felt like it had tilted sideways, my knees started to fold up under me, and I had a sudden case of tunnel vision. But as I put my hand out to stop myself from smashing into our bedroom's tea table, something got under my arm and held me up. At least, for a split second. Then it was falling too, but instead of that table, I fell into a weird semi-solid carpet of fluffy fur.

It took a moment to blink the spots out of my eyes and for my fingers to stop tingling, but as soon as I started to stand up that fuzzy bulk moved under me, and I was suddenly on my back looking up at the ceiling. "Grumph."

Fen-chan's head filled my vision, and his ghostly nose snorfled my neck. "I missed you too." I said, fending off the cold nose and running my fingers through that poofy fox 'mustachio' of his. "I thought you might have been... But you're part of me, so that shouldn't have been possible? You are such an odd boy."

He was one step over my normal foxes, but one step under Sachiko. So all I could go by to tell if he really was 'okay' was his reply of laying over me happily and rubbing his face and side against my body so he could get his non-existent scent on me. He even made happy fox noises.

"Okay okay you're alive. Good!" I had to distract him with ear scroofles to give myself enough space to stand up, "We'll figure out how to stop that from happening again a bit later. But if you see one of those knives again, avoid it unless you're certain you can drop the person holding it, okay?"

Silly foxxo became serious, rolling to his feet and sitting like a good boy.

"Good. Now, the girls are probably worried about you, so go show them you're okay. We're going out for a little while, and they might need someone to comfort them."

He 'Grumph'ed again, then leaned his head down and licked my nose. But before I could even feel that imaginary dampness, he'd vanished into shadow and smoke, seeping back into the walls and floor.

I took another deep breath, just for the joy of it, and got ready to show off the city to our Guests.

NOTES!

So yeah, that's a thing. :) Maybe now the Amazons will stop bothering the Oni and their 'wives'. At least for the moment. I have no idea if I'll be writing the story that far into the future, but in a decade, those Oni-zon will be adventuring age, and a mix of two very strong races.

It's actually one of the reasons I've been thinking about putting Kodori on a shelf. She's set up so many things, so many 'seeds', that it would take me decades to write about it all unless I skip time. Sure, I could just skip that time, and have her 'recap' the last X years, be proud, give headpats, and get into a new story. But at that point, the 'main cast' of Danmachi will be in their 30's or older. The 'fresh' feeling will have long worn off.

Kind of like a Naruto/Boruto kinda thing.

Anyhow, I ramble. See you all in five days!

Daeore on Ko-fi for art!

Daeore on Inkitt for my book, Were Too?

And if you play Azur Lane, I started a Guild: Foxxo Orario ID 268452286