Chapter 92
Even though Kazunari's job was technically done, we took our time getting back across the city from the West to East gates. Orario basically never slept. Adventurers, with their near limitless stamina, had the ability to stay awake for days if they wanted to. And well, when you had that much energy, you either learned how to sleep on the spot, had someone (ahem) tie you down to your bed, or spent some time enjoying the night life of Orario.
The Civilians however, did not have that much energy, so nearly all the markets were closed. That said, since I didn't want to take Kazunari through the 'entertainment' district, (yes I told him we had one, that it was just as clean as the rest of the city, and had what you would expect in it), we went past a few of the late night pubs. I even bought a round for our tourists, since it had been a long day and they were technically off duty.
Past that? I borrowed wagon, hitched myself to it, and ran back towards the Gate. They were good people, but I didn't want to change into a giant fox to carry them there.
"Strongest person in the city, reducing herself to the role of a horse..." Kazunari mumbled as I got started. "I thought your city was run on reputation?" The question, though biting, held none of that bitter jadedness from earlier today.
"It's getting late, and you have work tomorrow." I said, getting a feel for the limits of the wagon. "I've also been away all day, and aside from checking in a couple times..."
Shino leaned over to Roku, "She's trying to get rid of us."
Roku played along, "At least we got food and drink."
Nanami, (needlessly) more aware of my 'status' sounded a bit shocked, "She's saving us the walk!"
Lelei, as deadpan as usual, "I could do this if you didn't want to, Miss Kodori."
Again, Nanami spoke up, "She's married!"
"Calm down." Shinkage said, "Her reputation is already quite established. She'll do anything to get the job done. From digging a ditch to slaying monsters. Work is work."
"That's right." I said, "If I'm there to do the work, then I do the work. It's why I feel pride when I can take my hands off a project." I said as I reached what what probably the 'top speed' for the wagon. Thanks to the nice Rakia roads, we were going pretty fast. "And I'll admit, I am trying to get rid of you. I've missed an entire day of getting hugs from my children!"
Most of the wagon (save Kazunari and Shinkage) laughed quietly. Yes, even Lelei did a tiny 'fu-fu'. Kazunari brought up a question though, "You didn't take us to see your home, now that I think on it."
"I didn't like you enough when we started, and it was getting past bed time when we finished." I said, "Nanami has pictures though."
"There there." Nanami said, followed by a 'pat pat' noise, "But you really have been insufferable this entire time."
Ten minutes of quiet banter later, I decelerated and came to a stop at the Orario Gate outpost. The guards there gave me a salute, and I returned a fist-in-palm bow, "Two reporters, two soldiers, and one special asset returned."
"Yes Ma'am." One said, "Hey... I smell beer."
Roku grinned, and with a little heave got a mini-keg out of the back of the wagon. This he handed to Shino, who propped it up on her shoulder. Then Roku got a second one from the wagon bed, "Parting gifts. You can have this after duty, thermos cups only."
"Yes sir!" The two guards saluted smartly.
Roku turned to me and Shinkage, "Right then. Hand off complete."
I laughed, "I'll have your hat ready for the last merchant swap." Then to the others, "You've got my number. When you have those printed out, I'll let Lady Loki know."
Kazunari and Nanami nodded. "You've given me a lot to think about." Kazunari said.
"It's what I do." I replied, getting bow from the two of them, "Now get outta here, it's late."
As they left, I heard Roku set down the keg just inside the wall, then ask, "I'll carry that."
Shino replied with a sharp, "No way! You gave it to me. It's mine now! Grr!"
"Seriously sister?" Nanami sighed.
I turned back to Shinkage, who sighed, but made the 'I want up' motion at me. So, I picked her up, let my tails arrange themselves to stick her to my back securely, and started running back home.
Yes, it was late when I got home, but after working in the town, there was no way I was skipping a bath. And while I wasn't alone, Shinkage wasn't exactly the most thrilling of companions in the bath. She also liked to act like a crocodile in the water, lowering herself so that just her eyes were above the water. And yes, she could hold her breath a long time.
After leaving the bath, I reminded Shinkage that sleeping in the bath (again) worried people, and headed to bed. At my bedroom door, Fen-chan was there, sleeping in front of it.
"Fen-chan?" I knelt and quietly pet the giant guardian fox/wolf/shard of godly power, "What are you doing out here?"
He perked open one eye, then the other, and leaned his huge head into my hand. After a moment, he stood up, paused for some more ear scroofles, then started to nudge me towards the bedroom door.
"Yes, I know." I said, putting my hand on the door's latch, "Now shh..."
The next morning, after getting told (firmly slept on by my two lovers) to sleep in, Aisha, Haruhime and I ended up on dish duty after breakfast. While my hands worked under the soapy water, Haruhime rinsed and Aisha dried and put away things, we got to talking.
"Are you staying home now?" Haruhime asked.
"Aside from needing to work on paying back all that money? Yes. Oh, well... I do have one thing I promised to work on for Roku. But aside from that? I think I'm out of things to do with regards to the other world."
"For the moment you mean." Aisha said.
"Well, I'm still an 'emergency contact'. But the Guild is handling any supply requests to Odds. The merchant swap is not my problem. The stuff we promised to the nobility for their upcoming 'issues' with Zorzal are dealt with... Yeah, just a little bit of personal business for Roku, and that's it."
"Good." Haruhime said firmly.
Her more forceful than usual reply made me worry a little, but Aisha saved me from asking why. "She wants to go back into the dungeon."
"Oh? Did you want me to go with you?" I asked.
"Yes." Haruhime said, "With everything going on, I feel we might get out of practice. With all of the recent promotions, we also have to make sure our seasonal taxes are covered."
I nodded, "Very true." I shivered, almost feeling Eina's -ahem- before she'd even said it. "Any particular goal in mind? Discounting me, the household level spread is pretty wide."
We continued on with dishes silently for a minute, thinking on it. "Well, the younglings can't get updated, so they're stuck between floors one and six. Amani can deal with keeping them in line, though someone who actually knows the dungeon should also go with them." Aisha thought out loud.
"We have many level threes now. We could go as deep as the waterfall without issue." Haruhime added."
"We've got the 'rookie' team. All level two for everything up to the eighteenth." I said.
"Then Bell, Ryuu and you. Five and higher. Oh, the Oni too. They're kind of level six?" Aisha ventured. "But they're more focused on providing for their children." She grinned.
"They did bring something up." I said, remembering the details, "They think there is something special about the Colosseum down on the thirty seventh floor. It's a huge room that constantly spawns monsters, who fight each other even without adventurers around. They think that if they kill everything before anything re-spawns, something will happen.
"I've never been that far." Aisha said when we both looked at her, "Those two have made that place their second home though, so maybe they're right?"
"Were you thinking of..." Haruhime trailed off.
"Well yes. They told me about it, so I want to help them." I nodded, handing her a dish, "But it's not like it's going anywhere. I might also start making equipment. It might not be a 'Crozzo magic sword', but the stuff we all wear is getting a lot of publicity up here."
"It would let you stay near the children..." Haruhime said, leaning on me just a little, "It's a shame most of the work you do in the shop is dangerous for them."
"Considered letting the kids and the younglings spar?" Aisha offered, "What?" She added defensively when we looked at her. "You know all those younglings have killed monsters before. Basically as soon as they can walk and hold a weapon... Them even being here at all..." She trailed off.
Haruhime looked to me, and I could tell she didn't like the idea. "If Amani thinks her 'room' understands how we spar, then it's not a terrible idea." I tried to meet them both in the middle, "I don't want our kids in the dungeon yet, but this is basically just a step past what they do with Takemikazuchi-sama in the morning with the other orphans."
"Just keep a close eye on them for the first while." Aisha tried to assure Haruhime.
Caught between (literally and figuratively) the two of us, Haruhime relented, "Very well. But we keep a careful eye on them."
We (Aisha, Haruhime and I) ran the 'children sparring' idea past all those involved. Amani, knowing just how much the fox children were loved and how 'soft' their upbringing was compared to the Amazon Way, didn't think it was a good idea.
Our forest of little fox ears weren't against the idea, but they were nervous. The Mini-zon and Mini-foxes got along great, playing the usual games kids played. But the mini-Hime's only real combat experience was limited to simple dagger practice and some basic martial arts (taught by Takemikazuchi, but still basic).
The Mini-zon brigade didn't really care one way or another. Fun, and Fighting were already interchangeable words for them.
After a little more pondering on the idea while the 'grown ups' did their sparring, Takemikazuchi Himself came up with an idea.
"Did the JSDF not show us a way already?" He said with his usual calm, "Switching attack and defence, to teach the body the motions. Contact is involved as well, and thus will toughen the body and let them get accustomed to it."
Haruhime and I bowed to him of course, since not only did it solve the problem, it was clear he would be the one teaching the class.
After the morning spar, getting my (mandatory!) hugs from the children, and getting together what ever equipment people needed a bit of work on, I got into the workshop.
No sooner had I set down the collection of armour bits people needed me to look at, I felt Lazlo enter the Manor's gate. Chigusa was standing guard this morning, so it was no surprise that Lazlo started towards the workshop a moment later.
While I waited for him to cross the yard, I got things organized. I also found the left over snake skin I was going to make Roku's hat with later.
"Come in!" I called out as his feet stopped at the closed workshop door.
The door opened, and Lazlo entered cautiously, as if I wasn't standing there and the room was empty, "How..." He shook his head, "Good morning Ma'am."
"Back so soon? Not a problem I hope?" I asked, waving him over to a stool.
"No!" A bit loud, but he mastered himself, "No no. The sword is perfect. I got used to the balance after the first couple of goblins, and it was just as sharp after a day in the dungeon as it was when I left home." He grinned, "But, um..." He patted his leather vest, "Pocket... pocket... aha!"
He handed me a bit of salt stained paper. Folded neatly in thirds, it was closed with a little pip of red wax. The wax bore the seal of Njord Familia, a viking longboat with two harpoons crossed in front of it. It also had my name scribbled onto it with a... well, I could read it at least.
"Huh..." I carefully thumbed the wax away, putting it into a little jar (yes, we had a little jar for red wax, a few of them actually), "Let's see... wow... Was this written during a storm?"
"Eh well..." Lazlo looked a little embarrassed, "Pa isn't the greatest hand for delicate stuff."
I filed that away for the moment, reading the letter. At first glance, there was nothing 'secret' about it, so I read it again, mumbling out bits of it to keep Lazlo 'involved'. "Let's see... Hope you're doing well... Those mer-folk are pretty neat... Getting along well with Njord, only so so with the citizens... Already helping with the fishing boats... Buy you a drink later..." I paused for dramatic effect, "Take care of my kid... Signed Rod." There was a bit more to it, like commenting on how he still hadn't fished up anything as pretty as me from the water. Or asking if I'd learned how to hold my booze. But Lazlo didn't need to know that.
Lazlo did that nervous head scratch thing when I finished, "Yeah... Pa is the captain of Njord Familia."
"I didn't think he looked old enough. Though, adventurers age slower." I shrugged, "I'll write a reply and when you get back from the dungeon, you can take it."
"No problem Ma'am." He grinned, "Speaking of that, I should get going."
I nodded, then paused, "Say, want to keep watch over a bunch of Amazon kids? Just help keep them from running off on the first couple of floors?"
He scratched his head, thoughtfully this time, "I suppose I could?"
"Neat. Our Familia divides stuff up evenly at the end, so don't worry about money. Try not to go lower than the fifth with them though." I said, pulling out a string of crystal communication beads, "Let's see... Aha this one." Blood red with a pink swirl, it was Amani's bead. I gave it a tap, "Amani? You still getting ready?"
A pause, then a breathless, "Yes ma'am... Trying to find someone's shoe, and Chime didn't steal it."
"I've got the rookie from Njord Familia here. He's gonna help you keep the Room in line. Be nice to him okay?" I replied, amused that Lazlo was starting to fidget, just like a kid who knew you were talking about him on the phone.
"I wanna fight him first!"
I looked to Lazlo, who shrugged.
"Sure. Don't beat him up too much. He'll be at the Manor's doors in a minute."
"Okay!" And her bead went dark again.
"Amazons, am I right?" I looked at him with a laugh, "She's pretty good. But won't try and overpower you. Just show her what you can do, and I'm sure you'll get along."
He nodded, having already joined a sparring session, "I'll try not to cut my foot off I guess?" He laughed, "See you tonight, Ma'am."
I waved as he left, then got to work.
While I did armour maintenance, I ran a heap of ideas through my mind. Hagane needed a new tail, to better balance the addition of arms. His backup 'Golem' body was still on the drawing board, since the Mule was basically a 'party member' when ever Shinkage went into the dungeon.
I needed to pay off my debts, and I could do so, potentially, by selling rare and exotic equipment. But I was so famous that doing so publicly might cause problems. There was no end to what I could make, sure, but the last thing I needed was a jealous adventurer stealing it from the buyer... Or one of the larger Familia starting a conversation with 'with how we supported you, I should get a discount'.
Dungeon work? Always dungeon work. We had teams, actual teams! To cover everything from the first to almost the fortieth floor. And the Oni had all but invited me to join them for their experiment in the Colosseum. But that would take several days... After the last Merchant swap maybe? Yeah... I could just join the other teams for one or two day trips until then...
Picture glass... Now that was an idea... I'd have to find Delly...
Improve the communication beads? Sure, I kinda liked the string of crystal... It reminded me of my Familia, my best friends and comrades... But it was getting kinda long, and there was only so much room between my breasts to keep them from clicking around...
What abou-
"O-ma?" A little voice called out from the other side of the workshop door.
I looked down at the drawing of Hagane's new tail, set my pencil down, and said, "Come in!"
With Toshi in front of the rest of the children, they all took a cautious step into the workshop. Seeing that I wasn't working on anything, and me coming over to them, they mobbed (politely, since they were Haruhime's children as much as mine) around me and hugged my legs and tails.
"What can I do for you all today?" I asked, kneeling down and gathering them all up in a hug.
They pushed away from me, and did one of those 'silent conversations' among themselves. Little blinks, ear twitches, tail swishing, a shrug or two, then they all looked up at me, "Can we go to the zoo?"
Only being able to say 'no' to my children when it was something actually bad for them, like too many snacks, or wanting to jump off the Manor roof into my arms (again), I of course agreed to take them to the Zoo. This brought a few other money making ideas to mind, and while I did feel a tiny bit guilty for mixing 'work' with 'time with the children', the actual work would come afterwards, not during the visit.
Most of the house had left for the dungeon, or to do odd jobs around town. Yes, even with the sudden levelling up to level three, Takemikazuchi Familia would never take a 'day off' from the dungeon and not continue as they had been, helping the people do odd jobs. The rookie team, though at level two they weren't really rookies, was wandering about the floors near the eighteenth, so Delly wouldn't be around this time for the Zoo. Lazlo, Amani and the mini-zon army were goblin slaying on the first few floors.
Bell, Ryuu, Haruhime and Welf were hunting for materials just past the eighteenth, and the Oni were probably on the thirty seventh floor, as usual.
This left Aisha, Hagane, Shinkage, the three Gods, Gros, Chime, Sir Skitters, Loaner and the Nameless black fox at the manor. Oh, and Jiru. Though, the impossible patch of moss was basically Astraea's best friend nowadays. Then there was Weine and Spot, who were visiting the Xenos enclave and the settlement respectively.
So, when I made the call to the Manor if anyone wanted to join me to visit the zoo, I ended up with Sir Skitters and Loaner.
"You seem surprised." Loaner said in my head as he sat in the crook of my arm imperiously.
"For once, Shinkage or Hagane aren't joining me out of the Manor, and Aisha said she was going stay with the Mothers today. Very odd. Even Lady Hestia passed on joining us."
Sir Skitters gave the top of my head a 'pat pat' with a leg.
"Is O-ma sad?" Chie asked, holding the end of one of my tails like one would hold a hand.
"Usually we have more people interested." I said, using a spare tail to swish over Chie's back.
"Everyone has been very busy." Tatsuo said, both he and his sister Tatsuko holding hands but not one of my tails.
"Even our school has been put off..." Tatsuko pouted a little, "At least, some of it..."
"O-ma has been too busy to teach." Yuki yawned politely, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Ha-ma too... But we still get lots of story time." Yume added.
"It's fun to read with Amani-san." Kei said, "At least... when she sits still."
"Or stays awake." Toshi chimed in, not content to hold a tail, and was thus holding my hand.
While they all shared a little giggle, Loaner spoke into my head again, "Lively and intelligent. You know, I would bet Yasaka-sama is quite jealous of you and Haruhime-sama."
Since I didn't have a hand free, I brushed the top of his head with my chin. "If she is, she hides it well. I'd love to have them meet in person." I mumbled into his ear. Then, moving my head away a little and speaking normally, "Did everyone remember to bring their entry fee for the zoo?"
Seven nearly identical 'patting pockets for something' later, all the children looked up at me, "Hai!"
"Good. We're almost there. What do you want to see first?"
Of the many things they did that made me feel undeserving of my life here, they didn't argue. Instead, they had one of their silent conversations, moving around me so they could all look at each other unobstructed, then looked back up at me, "We wanna see the dragon! Rawr!"
They didn't argue, no, they had a vote, and went with the majority. I could count on one hand the amount of 'but I want to do something else' arguments they'd had. And after Haruhime and I explained why they shouldn't do that, and what they should try instead (having a vote on it, like we all did before a 'what do we do in the dungeon' discussion), they just... figured it out and told us the majority vote.
They also did it anonymously. Haruhime, Aisha and I could only guess who's idea was what, and what vote won by how much. About the only thing we COULD figure out, was the order of most to least votes. The most popular would be first, the second most would be next, etc.
"I'm sure the Mama dragon will be happy to see you." I nodded.
Yes, the Mama Dragon was happy to see them. Though, to be honest, she was just happy to see anyone. Even if she could have fit any one of my children in her mouth, or roared loud enough to rattle glass, the big elderly matron was really just a big puppy. Of course, the Ganesha guarding the exhibit was a little nervous when I asked him to open the cage so my children could visit, but since I was paying the 'rent' so to speak, he had no choice but to agree.
After the dragon sniffed at the children hiding around my legs and tails, and a few demonstrations on where to pat a friendly giant horse sized lizard with a perpetual 'I eat your face' look, the children and the Mama became friends. Of course, I did warn them not to make loud noises. No screaming, no loud laughter, and no poking anything like eyes or the thin membranes behind them (the dragon's ears). Just lots of belly rubs, eyebrow scratches, and leg hugs.
Sir Skitters and Loaner even made friends with the dragon! Well... kinda. The dragon didn't instantly try and eat them at least, sniffing at them both, making their fur sway a little with the force of the inhalation. But when I didn't offer them to her, she lost interest in them.
Eventually though, the Mama made it known she wanted to get up, and I only had to say a single word to get the children to back off to give the huge lizard space to roll back over and shake off. Again, old values mixed with new ones, and I felt pride and a little sadness they were so well disciplined for being just shy of five years old.
"Lady Kodori!" I heard as we all exited the Mama's enclosure. We'd tired her out, but she still managed a little tail wag for us as we waved goodbye.
"Oh! It's Miss Giselle-san!" The children said all at once.
Unable to stop them, they all mobbed the dragon-newt's legs. But Giselle skidded to a halt, knelt, and greeted the happy forest of fox ears cheerfully, what ever she wanted to talk to me about forgotten for a moment. "Oh you are all so precious." Giselle laughed with them, "Thank you for playing with the Mama Dragon."
She carefully gave them all headpats and I spoke up, "Giselle. Good to see you."
"Ah that's right!" She stood up, and my children mobbed back to surround me, "I have something for you. A few things actually."
Taking a good look at her, I noticed she had changed her usual outfit again. After her 'divestment' she'd gone from that weird 'divine corset' thing, to an 'open backed barmaid' uniform. But now, she was wearing something closer to 'rookie adventurer'. Tough battle cloth pants. A long sleeved shirt with minimal openings in the back for her wings and tail. Leather bracers (that looked to have been nibbled on a few times already) and a leather gorget to protect her throat. She also had the bog standard adventurer belt and pouch set, and a 'sling pack'. Kind of like a fanny pack, it was really just a single pouch over the shoulder pack that commonly held small loot items you didn't mind bumping around. Teeth, claws, magic stone, that kind of thing.
There was also something else about her, but I wasn't sure. It was more like a solid hunch. "Congratulations?" I guessed.
She blinked, surprised, "Wait... You can tell?"
"I suppose I can." I said, "Is it public knowledge yet?"
"Well... not exactly? The guild knows." She nodded, "But um..." She looked around, and while no one was really paying attention to us, aside from the sideways looks I usually got while out in public, we were still in public.
"What are you two talking about?" Kei asked, "Something... seeeeecret?"
The other six children giggled, but I shushed them gently, "We will tell you later." I said, looking back up to Giselle.
"Ah, here. This is from the various creatures in your stables." She took off the mono-pocket pack and offered it to me. "I know you could harvest them yourself, but well, Delly helped me make friends with the Phoenix and it's hard not to be friends with the Mama dragon."
The pouch made a quiet clicking noise as it changed hands, and I slung it over my own shoulder a moment later, not opening it here. "Thank you Giselle. Speaking of, are you busy? Want to help the children make friends with the birds too?"
Giselle looked to me, then down at the children, and I could see her resolve evaporate in the face of seven pairs of pleading fox eyes, "Well... I'll try! Only the males are really being friendly at all though..."
"Oh?"
"Yeah! Unless something goes wrong, well, you know, nature doing its thing." She hesitated, obviously not willing to talk about that kind of thing with the children here.
I nodded, "Good. But first!" I looked down, "What did you want to do next?"
Without hesitation, the reply was, "We wanna pet Miss Demeter-sama's animals!"
Giselle walked with us for a little while, making friends with Sir Skitters (he was pretty likeable once you got past the shock of him being a big spider), and chatting with me about how her life had been since she'd arrived.
While the children played with the animals in the petting zoo (those same animals seemed kind of surprised that they were getting such gentle attention from 'little peoples'), Giselle told me a little more now that the children were occupied.
"It's an odd feeling." She said, leaning on wooden posted fence that kept the farm animals in, "Before, it felt like I was being watched, always. And when she wanted something, it was like someone talking into my ear with just enough volume to be painful."
I leaned on the fence with her, watching the dragon twins scratch both sides of a... well it was kind of a pig, more of a boar, but still made great bacon... But the twins were putting it to sleep on its feet with the attention.
"How about now?" I asked.
"It's like... kind of like what we're doing now." She moved just a tiny bit closer to me, shoulder to shoulder so I could feel her body heat, "Yeah, like this. That's all. No oppressive feeling, no loud screeching decrees or demands. Just the feeling of a friend standing next to me." She looked up, "Thank you, Sir Skitters." She laughed, the spider giving her head a pat with a leg.
Sir Skitters climbed off her head and took his usual spot behind my shoulder, his head peeking over it. "Well it's good you're getting along. Ganesha is a weird fellow, but he'll never do you wrong." I was about to say 'weird duck' but there weren't any in this world. There were a kind of chicken though, and Chie was doing a little dance, a line of them following her with stubby wings flapping.
She nodded, leaning on me just a little more for a half second, then moving away, "I haven't gone into the dungeon yet. But I plan to... eventually. Oh... Speaking of, I don't suppose you know someone who can replace my weapon?"
I looked at her, raising my eyebrow, "I could. But I won't make it a silly plank weapon. You had that big war scythe right?"
"I'm not nearly as strong now..." She shook her head, "I left my old one at the temple, but something similar?"
"Come over to my place early morning next chance you get. I'll take measurements and see how you do with a spear or some such, just to get an idea. But yeah, I'll pick up that commission." I nodded, offering a hand, "You'll have to pay me, but since it's a rookie weapon, it won't be much."
She looked at my hand, but replied with, "What if... I offer to train your dragon pups when they hatch in a few days?"
"Deal." I said, and she took my hand. "A few days?"
"Yeah. If you look at the shells you can see them wiggling about! Land dragons look so silly when they're born! Like those little birds there! Except their tails grow out in the first few weeks or so to balance out how big their heads are..." She giggled, but stopped herself, "But yes, few days, maybe a week."
"Let me know. I'd love to see them." I looked back towards the children, seeing Kei lose a staring contest with one of this world's 'sheep' equivalent, the ones that grew the wool we made into battle cloth.
Kei wasn't sore about the loss though, giving the fine haired cloud shaped quadruped a scratch under the chin.
"I have to get back to work soon." Giselle said, laughing quietly at the sight, "Unless you wanted to see the birds up close later?"
"Ah, lemme round them up." I replied, "Children." I called out, not quiet in my 'sensei' voice.
One word was all it took to get their attention, again making me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I did need to wait a moment or two longer though for them to finish handing out a bit of feed, petting a not-chicken, hugging a mini-horse and waving goodbye to another child from one of the other visitors. But after that, they wandered back towards me.
"Giselle has to go to work soon, so, do you want to see the birds now?" I asked.
Three out of seven looked back towards the petting zoo animals, then all seven started to make their way towards the Ganesha Familia tamer to be let out.
Sadly, we had to discard the idea of getting friendly with the Phoenix. The females were all out of sight, be it in a burrow, behind some rocks they had moved themselves, or in a small ice fortress made from magical ice. And the Males were pacing in front of the bars of the enclosures. Full on guard instincts.
Thankfully, they didn't attack at all. Just paced menacingly between the zoo visitors and the unseen nests.
Even so, the children were happy to see the birds. Though they were peeking out from behind my tails while they did so.
I walked back towards home a little after lunch. The children, thanks to their adventurer status, weren't all exhausted, but, were still clinging on to me or being carried by my tails. I didn't even need to use my hands! Loaner, who had contented himself to just keeping me company, was again sitting in the crook of my arm and getting headpats.
"Have fun?" I asked, making sure to give Loaner's ear a tiny little pinch to include him in the question.
"Hai!" The children chorused as they orbited around me or hug from my tails.
"You've brought more wonder, to a world of wonders. It's such a shame things like this would have been exploited back on Earth. Like the Phoenix. They've have been snapped up by the ruling powers, put in boxes, and bred like chickens by now." Loaner commented, shaking his head to free his ear, then poking my hand with his cold nose to encourage proper headpats.
"Well, in a few generations, maybe it will happen." I mumbled to him, "But for now, I am that power. As much as I don't care for it, I will exploit the heck out of it for certain things."
"A fair point. It helps that your power is respected here."
I applied those proper headpats, musing to myself for a moment, "You know, you didn't visit the other side of the Gate."
"O-ma? Can we visit there?" Toshi asked, my tail lifting him up and pressing him to my back so he could talk to me properly, "Heehee." Oh, and I could tickle his face with my hair.
"The other side of the Gate? Maybe. It seems safe for us adventurers to do so." I nodded, booping Toshi's nose then peeling him off my back and setting him on his feet again.
"I wonder how their world is divided. From the stories you tell, it only has a 'material' realm, and the Gods all have their domains." He delicately licked a paw exactly once to get a bit of lint off it. "I remember a time when the Gods of Earth were doing what the Gods of Falmart are doing now..." His body language was perfectly calm, though his 'voice' was irritated, "Always 'worship me or else' or 'I demand offerings!' or the most distasteful, 'give me your daughter/son'."
"Well, the Gods are about to get the same lesson taught to them if they don't smarten up." I mumbled, aware that the children were listening. A bit louder, so they could hear, I said, "I'll ask Ha-ma if it's okay to visit, and see if the JSDF will let us."
"Yay!"
Increased endurance did not however make up for their youth, and the children managed to help with a late lunch before falling into a food coma for a nap. That was fine, I had all kinds of work I could do quietly. So while the children napped, mostly as little foxes all over the living room furniture, I drew up design schematics for things.
Astraea came by at one point, Jiru clinging to her arm and purring quietly, and glided past my work on the coffee table. She had to pick up Yumi so she could sit in her usual chair, but the fox shaped little girl just wiggled a little to get comfortable once the Goddess had sat down.
Shinkage came by a little later, book in hand. She also had to move a sleeping Kei to sit in her usual spot. But only enough so she could fit her smaller butt in the chair. Kei hardly noticed, but wiggled closer to share body heat.
Hagane came in a minute later, pausing to sit like a good nightmare catto across from me at the coffee table, his unblinking eyes looking at the new tail design. Not having 'organic' bits, Hagane could sit like a statue basically forever. But I still reached over and brushed my hand over his smooth metal skull.
Last to join the 'nap club' was Aisha. She stopped at the living room entrance, her tall shadow falling over the floor as she read the room. Then on silent feet, she walked over to me, sat on the couch next to me, and just flopped over to rest her head on my lap. Much like a cat, she was asking for attention without actually asking. So while I drew out more of Hagane's new tail design, I gave the Amazon's back some attention, leaning forward just a little to rest my breasts on her head.
NOTES!
Just a little cooling down before we kick back into action. Next episode? I'm thinking we go back across and see how that doomed to failure civil war plays out.
Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!
aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!
And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.