Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 8: Grindhouse
[Kashia]
It was hard to keep calm in front of Ninya after arriving here. If she knew everything occurring in this wretched place the way that I did, then no doubt she'd be thankful that her human senses obscured so much of the world from her mind.
Even as I healed Tuare, I could hear young boys and girls crying in pain through the walls. I could hear some of the slaves of this place praying for freedom, death, or something in between. The stench of sickness, sex, death, and blood assailed by nostrils. It took all my will to hide my shaking rage from Ninya, yet I managed to calmly tell her after healing Tuare, "Ninya, can you pick your sister up?"
If I hadn't healed the blonde girl before telling my student this, I doubt that some of her ribs and pelvis wouldn't break under the new pressure. There were many fractures in her bones that I needed to heal, and a lot of the fractures were gathered around her chest and pelvis. No doubt due to their rough use…
Thankfully, Ninya did so without questioning me. Then, I told her, "I'm going to send you back to my room. Stay there until I come back." I could see the ghost of a question grow on her lips, but I didn't give her a chance to speak as I teleported her back to Hero's Respite. She didn't need to see this.
She wouldn't witness my wrath!
It was when Ninya was finally gone that I let my illusion that hid my true form finally fall down to reveal my non-human features. One of my first actions after doing this was to let my bristling tails smash the bed in front of me into pieces. I didn't care about how much noise I made right now; I just needed an immediate outlet for everything I felt.
Even if one of these despicable monsters heard the noise I made and saw my true form, they wouldn't get the chance to tell anyone after I was done.
"[Message]." I announced as I felt the spell connect to the intended recipient.
"Hey, boss. Is there a reason that you're calling me right now? I'm a bit busy trying to keep the fish you brought yesterday from dying due to a lack of any form of ecosystem in the lake you just made. Kinda didn't think that whole idea through, did-"
"Not now. I am beyond angry right now and require you to answer me a question." I interrupted before my copy could go off into a tangent.
There was a slight pause before my copy spoke in a more serious tone, "Boss, what happened and what do you need me to do?"
"I found myself in the den of a bunch of sex slavers. Do we have any area to hold prisoners in and do we have any available beds for injured?"
"Thankfully, there were some jail cells made in the guard towers since I expected that we might eventually get some extremely enthusiastic citizens that needed a drunk tank for a night or two. There are also plenty of rooms and beds for more guests. I got finished making them for potential expansion." My copy answered, much to my relief.
"Good. I'm going to resummon you to where I am right now." I quickly cut the call after saying this followed quickly by ending the [Replicant] spell. Then, I cast the spell again and watched as my copy grew to life in front of me. Where she once may have had that sly grin on her face like usual, she instead had an uncharacteristic dour look.
"I thought that I'd seen a lot of shitty things in life, but what happened to Tuare took the fucking cake. What's your orders?" I couldn't help but nod in agreement with my copy before answering her question.
"We're going to go full salting the earth in this hellhole. When I leave this room, you will seal all entrances and exits of this building. You will also cut off all forms of communication, magical or otherwise. All guilty parties will be dealt with by me. You will heal and take any innocents you find back to the settlement." I avoided using the word slave when referring to any of the people trapped in here. They were better than that, unlike the pieces of shit who perpetuated their suffering.
With the plan in place, the two of us walked out of Tuare's former room and entered the hallway of this building. I couldn't help but smile as I heard footsteps quickly running to my location, no doubt attracted by the noises I made.
Around the corner at the end of the hallway, I spotted a man running near me with muscles bigger than whatever brains he had. When he finally noticed me, he didn't get the chance to say a word as I flicked a tail at the man and impaled his head into the wall.
Well, he had some brains once.
Ripping my tail out of the man's head, I noted that there were three more doors leading off to other rooms in this hallway. The closest door to me, opposite the room I just exited, was the first room I started with.
Using one of my tails, I broke the door off its hinges and let it fall to the ground. Inside the room, I spotted a man frozen in shock at my entrance. He was midway in pulling off his trousers, giving me more than enough time for my eyes to flick to a young woman tied to her bed. My anger increased as my eyes flicked back to the disrobing man. "Time's up." I growled out as three of my tails darted over my head and struck the man in his chest, ruining the silken shirt he once wore.
It was probably a noble that I just killed, not that I gave a shit.
"Free her, heal her, and get her to the settlement. Then come back when you're finished." I ordered as I left the room. My copy wordlessly obeyed my orders as I walked out of the room and made my way to the next.
In the second room of the hallway, I broke down the door and stepped into the room. There, I spotted a young boy sitting on the bed in fetal position with pure terror in his eyes. He couldn't be older than twelve, so I tried to put on a friendly façade for the kid. "Don't worry, you're going to be freed. Just wait right here and my twin will take you to someplace safer."
Just as I was to leave this room for the next one, I stopped when I heard the boy speak to me, "I-I prayed t-to the gods for h-help. A-Are y-you an angel?"
"No," I answered, "I'm something much more." Then, I left the room and continued onto the next one. Just like before, I broke down the door, killed a woman in the room that was about to force herself onto a girl, then told her to wait for my copy. This process was repeated over and over again. Sometimes it was a man, sometimes a woman that I killed. They all shared the same wealthy status which the first man I killed exuded. A high-class sex den, yet even with rich clientele attending this establishment, they were nothing more than animals.
And rabid animals should be put down.
[Lubelina]
On the top floor of the sex-den called the Golden Queen, a name given to the establishment in mockery of princess Renner and her title of 'The Golden Princess', was a section of the building that was kept off-limits to the general public. To ensure this, a heavy oaken door stood at the top of the stairs leading up to this section of the building. Heavy enchanted steel locks reinforced this door against most curious visitors of the establishment.
Behind this door, two large men clad in steel platemail acted as the second line of defense with the orders to capture or kill any who broke past the door. These two men, while not the smartest, were monstrously strong with a knack for sadism. On most days when they were unable to act upon these desires against intruders, they'd instead take their pent up urges out on the sex slaves below them.
Regardless, past these two was an elegantly carved desk that was stacked with sacks of coins and paperwork. This paperwork typically consisted of reports from multiple other brothels across the kingdom about the finances, dead or dying workers, and newly acquired workers.
Sitting behind this desk in bored silence was a red-haired woman of androgynous beauty. To add more confusion to her gender was the well-tailored suit she wore that was designed in a masculine style.
Those that knew this woman also knew to never bring up her masculine appearance. Despite the kind smile on her lips, her personality was anything but. She was a complete sadist that enjoyed watching the suffering on her victims' faces, and any that brought up her appearance were likely to be taken away and tortured slowly until they gasped their last painful breath.
Lubelina, an angelic-sounding name for such a monstrous person, was reading through a report on the sex slaves of the Golden Queen that went onto describe that two of the slaves were currently dying of injuries caused by rough clientele while another showed signs of too many venereal diseases to be marketable.
This news disappointed the woman, as she typically preferred to have her own fun with unusable workers until they expired. Yet, she also avoided those riddled by disease in fear that she could become infected herself. Hiring a healer wasn't that difficult, especially for a woman of her power, but it did make people talk, and talk had a habit of ruining reputations.
Dipping her quill in ink, Lubelina wrote the word 'Temple' besides the name of the diseased worker. The word was a code phrase which really meant that the worker would be taken out of the building and disposed of somewhere on the streets. No one would ask any questions, and the defective worker would typically die of exposure a few hours to days later.
It helped that since the workers were underfed, they'd quickly starve, and the damages that they'd accrued over their short career would make them too weak to save themselves. After that, someone would eventually find another dead whore in the streets and they'd be sent to the temple in Re-Estize to be buried without any questions asked.
Next to the names of the dying workers, the word 'Basement' was written. That meant that the dying workers would be sent to Lubelina's personal dungeon in the basement of the building where she could have some private fun with the workers until they died. They'd be kept alive long enough for replacement workers to be delivered, then Lubelina would deliver as many agonies as she could while the new workers would watch.
It helped to break the spirits of the replacement workers, as well as show them what would happen if they tried to escape or cause problems.
Pulling out another sheet of paper from the stack, Lubelina wrote out a requisition order for three more orders of 'livestock' at her Re-Estize establishment. She addressed it to her associate, Cocco Doll, before folding the letter up and sealing it with wax stamped with a symbol of a hand with three fingers. She set the letter aside for later delivery before pulling out another budget report.
Just as she was about to read through it, a rapid and desperate banging was heard coming from the door. Annoyed at the unorthodox and disrespectful attempt to open the door, Lubelina nodded at one of her guards to open the door. She'd first hear what pitiful excuse the knocker of the door had. If it wasn't satisfactory, they'd be spending time in Lubelina's personal dungeon.
The guard swiftly moved to the door and pulled a small metal shutter open to see who it was. Frantic speaking could be heard until it was silenced by the shutter closing. Then, the steel locks were unlocked and the door was pulled open to reveal a large, heavyset man with tan skin and brown hair.
The man was swiftly yanked into the room by the guard and stumbled forwards until he fell onto his hands and knees. At the same time, the door was rapidly shut and locked with practiced ease.
"Tell me, what reason caused you to bang on my door like an oafish ogre?" The woman asked with a sickly-sweet smile on her face. The friendliness of the expression was completely mitigated by her tone of voice and the venomous glare of her emerald eyes.
"I-I'm very sorry, Ma'am. It's just, there's something downstairs that's killing anyone they see. We tried to stop it, yet it just killed any guard that came near! Even worse was when I saw clients and staff trying to flee through the exits. It was like the doors and windows were just painted onto the walls!" The man stated in abject terror.
For a normal person, the idea of a killer running around murdering clients and staff should've made anyone terrified. Yet, all Lubelina felt was rage at the idea that someone was messing with her business and losing her money. Some idiot, for only an idiot would dare attack her business, a business owned and run by one of the Eight Fingers, and believe that they could ever make it out of this place alive and in one piece!
An attack on one of her businesses was an attack on herself. And Lubelina never let anyone get away with attacking her without ending up in her dungeon or in a grave. Whoever the fuck had the balls to do so would suffer for the rest of their short and very miserable life once she caught them.
"Shut your whoreson mouth up and stop sniveling like a dog, Jorge." Lubelina commanded with malice in her voice. The fear that Jorge felt for Lubelina outweighed the fear of the carnage that he saw downstairs, and it caused the man to become utterly silent.
"Now, explain in as much detail as you possibly can, who the fuck is attacking my brothel? How many of them there are? And what their capabilities are?" Even as Lubelina said this, she had started pulling out her rapier from under her desk and stood from her chair.
"I could only see one person, Ma'am. I don't know who or what she is, but she ain't human! She's a blonde woman whose got these animal parts, tails and ears." Jorge mimed out the extremities that he named, "Her tails were drenched in blood, and I saw why when she impaled Lucas on three of them. None of us could touch her, so I ran while Murmer and Dan fought her in order to tell you."
"Fuck." The red-head remarked as she opened a drawer of her desk so that she could pull out a dusty scroll. Said scroll was enchanted with a [Write Message] spell. The version she had required a user to write down the message for a recipient, unlike the other kind of [Message] scroll which only required voice. The reason for using the first kind of scroll was because the second was very expensive. This meant that the scroll was for emergency use only.
Opening up the scroll, Lubelina hastily wrote down a message for assistance. Then, she activated the item and watched as it burned up in blue fire. Following this, she pulled out another scroll from her drawer and stored it into her pocket. Even with the cost of a [Message] scroll, Lubelina always liked to have a backup plan.
This scroll was directly meant for her boss, in case the worst came to pass.
When she was finally done, the red-head looked back at her subordinates and spoke, "Horace and Chek, take Jorge with you to deal with our guest. Bring her to me alive, if possible, else bring me back her head." While the two guards showed no signs of their opinion on the order, Jorge immediately went wide-eyed and fearful.
"Please, Ma'am! Don't make me go down there! I'll die if I do!" As he said this, the two armored men approached Jorge on either side and grabbed him by the arms.
"If you do, I'll certainly drink a toast in your honor at the bar. But, stay here, and I'll gut you like a fucking fish and make you watch as I pull your intestines out." Hearing this threat made the large man gulp in fear as the guards dragged Jorge with them to the door. Lubelina followed closely behind them until they reached the door.
One of the guards unlocked the door and swiftly pulled it open. Then, the three men stepped through just as Lubelina shut the door behind them and locked it. Afterwards, she walked back to her desk and pulled open another drawer to reveal a fine bottle of wine and a glass.
Uncorking the bottle, Lubelina took a moment to smell the wine's fragrance before pouring it into the glass. She then leaned against the desk and faced the door while her rapier stayed pointed to the floor, yet her tight grip on the handle of the sword betrayed the calm display that she conveyed.
What Lubelina truly hated was the waiting. There was nothing but silence and contemplation to keep her company. Yet, as time went on, Lubelina started to grow discontent at the lack of any form of progress. Even if her guards and Jorge had died fighting against this intruder, the reinforcements from the Eight Fingers should've arrived to finish the job.
The red-head shouldn't have been waiting in her office, like some common whore, for so long. Yet, here she was, sword in hand, and a quarter finished bottle of wine that was pouring another glass. Just as she was about to raise the glass to her lips, the loud sound of splintering wood and crumpling metal screeched from her office door.
Lubelina's eyes widened in surprise as her gaze fixated onto her door, and more specifically, the crimson spear-like object that had penetrated through the door. As her eyes focused, she took note that the object was covered in many sharply bristled tufts of fur that dripped blood onto the wooden floor.
Then, in a serpentine fashion, the limb was pulled out of the door. The red-head was so focused upon how someone could punch a hole into the door so easily that her grip on the wineglass loosened enough to cause the object to smash into the floor, spilling crimson upon the floor.
In a single moment, the woman brandished her sword at the ready as another limb stabbed through the door, punching a second hole into the door. The sword in Lubelina's hand wavered from witnessing the raw strength being displayed.
With her heart pounding, the woman pulled out her [Message] scroll and whispered, "The intruder made it past my defenses. If I don't message you again, then assume that the Golden Queen is compromised. Secondly, where the fuck are my reinforcements?" With her message concluded, she watched as the scroll was consumed in blue flames.
This shouldn't be happening.
Another boom roared from the doorway as a third hole was made.
Some random bitch shouldn't have been able to make it past all of the defenses of the Eight Fingers' third in command.
BOOM!
The reinforcements should've arrived to help, yet they were either not here yet or they had all been killed. No.
BOOM!
She was one of the head of the Eight Fingers! This was her property! Anyone that fucked with her property was killed on principle. Lubelina would make damn sure that when she broke this bitch, they wouldn't die by the blade of her rapier. They would be kept alive in a cell where Lubelina would take absolute pleasure from breaking the intruder until they begged for death.
BOOM!
With one final smash, the door exploded into a cloud of smoke, sawdust, wood, and metal. Yet, even with the dust obscuring her view, Lubelina saw a pair of bestial eyes that glowed with the color of molten gold.
"You must be the one in charge." A sultry voice stated with a barely contained growl. The voice echoed with power, and each word chipped away at Lubelina's shrinking confidence.
"I am the owner of the establishment. One that you have thoroughly trashed and ruined." The red-head barked back in an effort to maintain some semblance of control, even if only in conversation. "Because of you, my business-"
"Your business is slavery. Your workers are slaves. You are a thief. Yet, instead of trinkets, you steal people's time and lives." The voice interrupted while the glowing eyes narrowed. Lubelina couldn't help but grit her teeth in absolute rage at the thought of someone interrupting her.
It was then, that the sound of heels clicking against the wooden floor began to unnaturally echo around the room while the glowing eyes grew closer and the outline of a body could be seen through the smoke. Finally, Lubelina was able to fully see the intruder.
The woman was unnaturally beautiful, yet that human beauty couldn't grab one's attention in the same way that the golden-furred ears atop her head could. And neither of both traits were as distracting as the nine tails that snaked behind her. Each one of those nine tails was the same golden color as her hair and ears, yet the gold turned to crimson due to a quarter of their length being drenched in blood.
Jorge was right, this woman wasn't human. She wasn't an elf; she wasn't any type of race that Lubelina could put a name to. Yet, at the same time, the exoticness of this woman intrigued her. There had always been clients of her brothels that had a taste for 'unique' services.
The bitch before her could easily attract a lot of business with just her human features. But, those animal features of hers would be worth their weight in gold. A single night with her could sell for piles of gold!
A dark smile grew upon Lubelina's face at the thoughts of humiliation and torture that she could put this bitch through.
"Bitch, after I'm done thrashing you, I'll make sure that you won't die. Instead, you'll be broken before I work that ass of yours off in one of my brothels for the rest of your miserable life!" She finished with a maniacal giggle. This quickly stopped as the sounds of monstrous laughter came from every corner of the room.
Lubelina began looking around for other potential opponents, yet her attention was drawn back to the woman when she spoke once again, as that same monstrous laughter continued to grow in decibel and intensity. "You truly are filled with nothing but greed. Even now, when you should be praying to anyone of your numerous gods, you instead think of money and suffering. Even worse, YOU DARE THREATEN ENSLAVEMENT TO A DEMIGODDESS!" As the blonde roared out the last few words, her voice sounded as if a legion spoke with her. It was loud enough to drown out the horrid laughter that had started to give her a horrific headache.
"I offer you a chance to pray to your gods, but I'll let you know now, I'm not listening." As she said this, she slowly started to walk towards Lubelina, while the horrid laughter was now screaming into her ears.
It was enough that the red-head clapped her hands over her ears to at least muffle the sound, yet the attempt was in vain. Her head felt like iron hammers were being smashed upon it, and soon enough, she could only scream for the noise to stop as she fell to her knees as her rapier fell from her grasp and clanged against the floor.
But it never did. The noise was ceaseless while every conscious moment was absolute agony. For one of the few times in her life, the woman prayed to any of the Four Great Gods and any of the minor deities beneath them to help her. She begged until her voice was hoarse and ragged for the pain to stop. When it didn't, she offered up anything if the pain in her head was at least lessened to some degree.
"Are you truly willing to do anything for the pain to lessen?" The voice of the woman clearly spoke out through the cacophony of laughter. She repeatedly nodded her head in agreement at the lifeline being offered to her. "Then, under the agreement of [Geas] do you swear to do whatever I ask of you with the failure of meeting these terms being death?"
"YES ANYTHING! JUST MAKE IT STOP!" Lubelina answered in tears. Immediately upon saying this, the laughter banging through her head became quieter until only the soft sound of inhuman giggling could be heard. It was like a fly was buzzing in her ear, yet it was infinitely better than the noise before.
When Lubelina finally opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the black high-heeled boots of the woman before her. She didn't dare raise her eyes any further, if only to spare herself the mistake of accidentally angering the woman before her and bringing back that dreaded laughter.
"Understand this; from this day forth, your life as you knew it is over. You will be taken back to my settlement. You will tell me everything about your businesses and how many other brothels you run with slavery. You will explain everything about where you got the slaves." After saying this, Lubelina heard the woman, no the demigoddess, she said demigoddess, and the red-head didn't want to incur her further wrath, snap her fingers, causing an ember to drop to the floor in front of her.
The moment the ember touched the wood, a small blaze started to burn up and was quickly growing into something more.
She didn't get the chance to see anymore of her property burn as the world around her warped until she found herself in a dark stony room with a set of metal bars cutting her off from the hallway the room was connected to. The only light she received was from some torches outside her cell and a barred window that was too high to see anything except for the darkening sky above.
The room she was in had only two things in it; a cot with a blanket, and a wooden bucket placed in the corner. Then, a voice echoed around her cell, "I am Kashia Blanc, your eternal jailor. And this will be your new home for the foreseeable future." Once that was said, the cell was quiet once more, with only the faint sounds of inhuman giggling being heard.
After everything that had happened, Lubelina laid down upon the cot and curled into a fetal position before she started sobbing.
[Kashia]
After everything that had happened, I teleported to the shore of my settlement's lake for two reasons. The first was because I wanted to wash the blood off my tails while the second…It was so that I could be alone to think.
So, there I found myself standing on the lake's shore while my tails snaked through the water to wash the blood off. I could see that my efforts were working since clouds of crimson were blooming in the water. Yet, even if my tails were fully cleaned, it still couldn't shake off all the thoughts running through my mind.
I had killed so many people in that sex den, and it completely terrified me. I know that this wasn't the first time that I've killed something in this world before. The corpses of the goblins and trolls on that farm could attest to it. Yet, there had always been this feeling of distance when I'd done so.
It was in a similar vein of when a farmer was killing a chicken for food. That feeling in killing those demi-humans was normal, at least what I believed is normal, mainly because I was so used to killing monsters in YGGDRASIL and any of the other games that I'd played over the years.
Yet, when I killed those humans in that sex den, I felt nothing close to that feeling. Nothing for killing my formerly-fellow man. Actually, I felt great about the massacre I performed. It was like the way a cat felt when they toyed with their food until finally killing it.
This terrified me…
If I had never ended up in this new world, and in this new body, would I still be feeling so joyous at all the monstrous humans that I killed or would I be filled with guilt? I didn't have an answer for this question and I doubted if I ever would.
The sound of footsteps approaching caught my attention and quickly brought me away from the darker thoughts plaguing my mind. Looking over my shoulder, I saw my copy calmly approaching me.
"Hey, boss. Thought I'd find you out here."
"I believe that the fact that you're my copy gives you a bit of an advantage in finding me." I retorted back, "Anything that you need to report?"
My copy came over to my side and stood next to me before answering. "I've treated all the physical ailments of the people we saved. Can't say the same about psychological problems." My copy grimaced as she said that. I couldn't blame her, the things that those people must have suffered belonged in the darkest nightmares.
I couldn't help but consider if it would be moral to erase their memories of all the trauma that they must've suffered? Perhaps I could give them a choice on the issue and sort it out that way. In addition, there was also the issue on what to do with all of these newcomers. No doubt, most, if not all, of the rescued would like to return to their original homes.
"How many of them are still awake?"
"Just a few. About four or five. The rest were either completely exhausted or so agitated that I had to use a [Sleep] spell to calm them down. I offered those awake some food and water, God knows that they need more meat on their bones with how skinny all of them were."
At the very least, the rescued would hopefully be eating. I'd seen my fair share of people who starved to death back home. It's funny, in a way, that our bodies need sustenance to survive, and when they can't get any food, then that very same body will internally eat itself to death.
Abandoning my thoughts of morbid humor, I made a quick command, "Make sure that a lot of food and water continues going to our guests. Even if their wounds have been treated, that still won't prevent them from dying of starvation. After that, try and talk to anyone that is conscious so that we can find out where they belong."
"Understood. I'll see what I can uncover, but there is always the chance that we might be unable to find their homes or that they might have no place to return to. What then?" I couldn't help but smirk when my copy asked this.
"We take in everyone, regardless of race, creed, and background. If they wish to leave, then we'll help them as much as we can. Else, we give them a home. For a copy of me, you aren't predicting my thought process like I believed you could?" I teased.
"Not really, I just wanted to hear you say it. After all, we both seem to love hearing the sound of our own voices." She answered in kind before adding, "Really has to make you wonder if we're secretly narcissists who just never noticed it?"
I could only shrug in reply. She had a point.
Looking into the water, the golden color of my fur told me that my tails were cleaned. I quickly raised them from the water and watched water rain down from them. "I'll need to get back to Ninya and her sister soon enough. I doubt that it's professional for a doctor to leave their patient alone for too long."
"You're a doctor now? Real step up from the paper-pusher that you once were. Mind showing me your diploma?"
"Don't need one. I'm like Jesus except with the power to drop fiery death at will."
My copy rolled her eyes at my pretentious statement. "Yeah, Jesus. The only other difference is the ears, the tails, and the large set of bowling balls on your chest coupled with the opposite genitalia, but I see your point." I giggled at the very true response.
With a snap of my fingers, I cast [Kitsune Illusion] and watched as my bestial features disappeared. "I'll come back later tonight to strategize and deal with some tasks that need my direct attention. Try to keep our guests calm while you hold the fort down."
"If that's what you wish, Dr. Blanc. Do you wish for me to also retrieve your sexy doctor costume while I'm at it? I'll dress up as the nurse!" I avoided answering that question so as to not provide my copy anymore ammunition to use against me…or ideas.
Following this, I quickly cast [Teleport] and arrived back at my room in the Hero's Respite.
Arriving in my room, I quickly spotted Tuare sleeping in my bed while Ninya sat in a chair next to her sister. Her attention was intensely focused upon the unconscious form of her sister, so much so, that she didn't even notice me as I walked over to her. The clicking of my heels against the wooden floor didn't even cause her to stir as I eventually got close enough to look over the teen's shoulder.
"I'm back, kiddo." With my announcement, Ninya quickly stopped her silent vigil over her sister and turned to look at me. From the way her eyes were red and irritated, as well as the scent of salt I could smell of her, she'd been crying. I put a hand on her shoulder and looked down into her eyes.
"It's been so long since I started my quest to find Tuare…all these years of hoping…Thank you, for everything." She choked up, then did something that took me by surprise as she got out of her chair and hugged me in a tight embrace, more so than when she hugged me earlier. I slowly wrapped my arms around the girl in return.
"My pleasure, kiddo." I replied before we remained quiet. It took a while, but we eventually separated which let me see Ninya wiping her eyes of any loose tears. I walked away from her and pulled up a chair from my table over to where Ninya was sitting before joining her.
"How's Tuare doing?" I asked as I looked over the sleeping blonde girl. Even after healing the girl with my magic, I still was quite worried about her. She had spent years being used as a slave, and probably, was treated like an animal. That would have immense amounts of psychological effects on a person. The Tuare that was sleeping in my bed right now, might not be the same girl that Ninya had grown up with.
"She's been doing fine for now. Since you've been gone, all she's been doing is sleeping." Ninya answered. Then, she sprung the question that I've been waiting to answer since I came back. "What did you do while you were gone?"
"I'm going to be fully honest with you, Ninya. After I sent you and Tuare back to my room, I killed a lot of people, set all those enslaved free, and burned down the entire building. By the time I left, the place was ablaze with no sign of stopping." I answered the girl, leaving out the gruesome details.
"I'm not judging you for doing that, but why did you do it?"
"Three reasons." I replied before listing, "I was angry at everything that I saw. The people inside that building were monsters that had to be put down so that no one else would suffer such horror at their hands again. And finally, those people knew who Tuare was, name and face. Killing all of them was a way to protect your sister from being hunted by those specific people."
That was to say, I had no idea how far that Eight Fingers organization spanned or if they kept track of all the people that I took. The fire I started would cover up a lot of evidence, but there was always that possibility. None of this would be said to Ninya, I didn't want to cause the girl panic just after she got her sister back, but I would be keeping a close eye on Tuare just in case.
It was pleasing to see that Ninya's posture slumped into a more relaxed state after I said this. To be fully honest, I was worried about how the girl would take my explanation. Instead of seeing fear, I was happy to see acceptance of my actions. In a way, it made me feel less like a monster than what I felt earlier.
"With everything that has happened, I'm unsure about what I should do now. I've been focused on how to find Tuare for so long, yet not that we're together again, I have no clue on what happens next…"
Placing a hand on Ninya's shoulder, I gave the girl a reassuring smile. "Things are going to change now, but that doesn't mean that you'll be going through all of this alone. I'm here for you, so are Peter, Lukrut, and Dyne."
After hearing this, the girl returned a smile back to me. "I have no idea what I'd do without any of you." She then glanced back to the sleeping form of her sister, "Even with how thin she is, there's barely enough room in my apartment to house two people."
"You won't need to worry about searching for a new place." I spoke, "I can take care of that for you." Ninya's head whipped to me and she looked at me with shock.
"Y-You've already done so much for me as it is. I couldn't possibly impose on you any further than I already have-" I silenced her by raising my hand.
"Kiddo, you're my apprentice, and in a sense, my ward. It's my job as your teacher to make sure that you can learn and grow in a suitable environment." Standing up, I aimed my hand at a bare wall on the right of my room and cast the spell [Mage's Hidden Sanctuary]. The initial effect of the spell created a new doorway against the wall that was made of marble. A doorknob made of a golden metal was the only imperfection against the rest of the smooth marble door.
This was a very useful spell for high-level magic casters in YGGDRASIL. It could almost be imagined as a player made guild base, except much smaller and with a lot more inherent flaws to it.
For one thing, first time casting of the spell would drain up all of a player's mana, with no exceptions followed by a cast time of ten minutes. Those first two costs were exceptionally dangerous since it left one wide open for any to attack. Because of this, any that actually learned and used this spell would do so in the safety of a group, a base, or far away from any civilization.
Following this, the initial sanctuary that a player would create would literally be an empty cube that was ten by ten by ten meters. The only way to expand this cube was by either paying in experience or gold. Since I didn't have the experience to spare due to how difficult it was to level up initially for me, I had to spend metric tons of gold to get my sanctuary expanded to forty meters.
Then, I had to actually fill up this sanctuary with materials to make it inhabitable. That was many more hours of grinding to collect the materials to fill up my sanctuary. After all that work, I had finally made a nice little base to store my things…
At least until I gained access to a secret place that was much more secure to store my valuables. I still needed to test and see if I still had access to that place as it stored above all my third World Item. It would be a damn shame if I couldn't since that final World Item was probably the most useful out of all the items I had attained.
Back on topic, there were inherent weaknesses to this spell that made it unpopular if you didn't prepare for it. The doorway to the sanctuary was fixed to where you summoned it, and would remain in the summoned location for a month before it could be moved. If you entered the sanctuary through it, then that meant that you could only exit the pocket realm through that same spot. So, if a group of players knew that you were inside, they could just camp the doorway until you finally came out.
Another weakness to this spell was that others could follow you inside the sanctuary, invited or otherwise. So, if a player managed to quickly teleport inside before you closed the door, you'd be pretty fucked. The final weakness to this spell was that anyone could open the door if they were inside the sanctuary. This meant if said player teleported inside your realm and stole items from it, they could run off giggling like an asshole if you didn't protect the exit.
Typically, whenever I casted this spell, I would cast a massive amount of traps around the location before using [Creation] to bury myself and the doorway in a hidden underground chamber away from prying eyes.
My reason for casting it in this room without any of said preparations beforehand was simple, the room that Ninya and I are in has already been warded with as many defenses as I thought that I could get away with. Also, from what I've seen for the past few days since arriving here, the typical ability level of beings in this new world were hilariously outclassed by mine.
"Come with me for a few moments." I told Ninya as I uncrossed my legs and stood up from my chair. Ninya, as a dutiful apprentice, followed me to the new doorway. An upside to no longer needing a menu to use my spells was that I didn't need to waste time typing out a name to give Ninya permission to open the door to my sanctuary. Turning the doorknob, I pushed the door of my sanctuary open to reveal the entrance.
Inside, the first sight one would see would be a large garden filled with plants that grew alchemical ingredients. It had taken some time to acquire all the ingredients, but my garden had as many of the ingredients from YGGDRASIL that I could fit.
Unlike most sanctuaries, mine was built from the top downwards. I had eight floors in this realm, the top seven floors were four meters high. The eighth floor was twelve meters high due to the things being produced there needing room.
The garden filled almost the entire floor besides a simple cabin in the center, eight by eight meters, that was made of mahogany. Each side of this building had walls of windows that gave a pleasant view of the garden while a small stone pathway lead to the front door. "Come inside." I then entered the sanctuary and started walking to the cabin.
"What is this?" Ninya asked as she entered.
"It's a pocket dimension that I created as one of my many secret bases. I generally treat it as a place to store stuff in." While walking through the garden, I took note that unlike other times I've come here, this time my nose took in the myriad of fragrances coming from the plants around me.
It was certainly better than smelling the stench of the city.
"If you've been able to conjure a place like this, and I have no idea how you even went about making a place like this, how come you've been living in the Hero's Respite instead of in here?" Ninya pondered as she looked around the sanctuary in wonder.
"I live in the Hero's Respite because it's a physical address that people can find me at. In addition, continuous living inside of this space is risky since I have no knowledge of any events that occur outside of this space." Answering this, I reached the front door of the cabin and opened it before entering.
Inside, on the left of the cabin, an alchemy table sat in a corner with a chest next to it that held all the alchemy supplies that I collected from the garden. Against the wall opposite that, a bookshelf stood with some cushioned chairs surrounding a table in front of it. The rest of the room contained basic amenities like an oven, cabinets, and other odds and ends.
At the back of the cabin, a closed hatch in the floor lead to the rest of the sanctuary.
All in all, there was plenty of room for a few people to live inside comfortably on just the first floor. "You think that this could fit Tuare and you?" I asked as the teen came into the cabin and started looking around in wonder.
"This definitely could," She then looked at me and asked, "are you really letting Tuare and I live here?"
"It would be odd if I showed you this place for no reason except to show off. You and your sister are fully welcome to live in this place. I'm not really using it for anything but to collect dust and junk." I replied and watched the pure joy radiate off Ninya's face.
"Thank you! I don't know how Tuare or I could ever repay you for this. I'll make sure that this place is taken care of!" I simply patted the girl on the head.
"You don't need to repay me. You needed help, and I had the power to do so." With a wave of my hand, I cast [Create Greater Item] to make a set of beds that took up a corner of the room. "I'll give you a full tour of this place after Tuare wakes up. If you wish, you can stay in my room or in this realm tonight."
"I'll stay in your room tonight, if that's fine with you? I want to be there when Tuare finally wakes up." I gave her a nod of acceptance.
"Good, because that allows me to do some tasks tonight without worrying about leaving your sister alone." When I said this, Ninya gave me a question look. "I need to take care of some things that have come up. I'll be back before you even wake up in the morning." I answered.
"Is it because of Tuare and I?" I shook my head. While she was partially right that finding Tuare was what led me to find all those documents in that brothel, none of this was Ninya or Tuare's fault. Regardless, I kept the rest of this information from Ninya since I didn't want her to worry. The only one she needed to worry about was her sister.
"Now, let's go get some food. You're probably starving after everything that has happened today, I know that I am."
About an hour later, I finally left the Hero's Respite and teleported back to the settlement, and more specifically, to the small cabin that looked over the rest of the lake. When I entered the building, I spotted my copy waiting for me in a chair next to a table that had multiple documents spread over it.
"Hey, boss! I hope you didn't mind, but I started to already organize all the documents that you collected from the sex den." She stated, much to my thankful relief that it wouldn't be such a tedious task for me. I quickly grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table before joining her in looking over all the documentation.
"How have our guests been since I've been gone?" I asked her as I looked over some documents that were related to finances.
"Around half of them woke up some time after you left and ate the food that was provided. I was highly careful on who entered or exited the hospital since I was unsure on how they felt about our other non-human inhabitants. I was able to get responses from seven of our guests about who they were and where they came from." She then gave me a sly grin.
"In addition, a young boy seemed to have quite the hero worship of you when he saw me. He's of the belief that you are a divine or magical being from a fairy tale sent to rescue everyone. You wouldn't have happened to have done or said anything to them to influence this?"
Recalling the people that I saved, the memory of that one boy who thought that I was an angel came to mind. "I think I know who you're talking about. A kid I rescued thought I was an angel sent to rescue him, I told him otherwise." I answered.
"Sounds like fun. I'm just letting you know ahead of time so that you don't end up surprised if a religion based around you pops up with people worshipping the very earth you tread." I tried to shrug off my copy's remark, but it did make me wonder what my future would look like. When interacting with the Green Claw tribe, I hadn't exactly dissuaded them from their belief that I was a deity. And, my interactions with the inhabitants of the settlement weren't pushing against that idea.
"If they want to worship me, they can. I won't stop anyone here from doing what they want as long as it isn't harming anyone else." I answered before focusing my attention back onto the documents. The first one that I picked up and began reading was a letter from someone called Cocco Doll…
What kind of stupid name was that? Had to be a code name or something. Either way, from the contents of the letter, it seemed that my prisoner was getting more slaves transferred to her establishments. Though, the letter didn't refer to the people as slaves, instead they were called cattle. If I didn't know of what they were actually doing, I might easily have assumed that this wasn't code for shipping animals instead of people.
Dealing with this criminal organization is going to be horribly tedious, I can already tell. Back in my world, criminal organizations in my country had become so deeply engrained into everyday life that it was like kicking an anthill. Bring down one group and another would take its place. From the amount of documentation that was just on this table, it was easy enough to tell that this group was large.
There was only one way to deal with a large operation like this, and that would entail destroying all methods of production before they had anytime to react. It was similar to the time that I had to fight against a guild that I managed to piss off. Specifically, the guild who I stole a World Item from.
They were beyond pissed when I lured the holder of the item into a trap by pretending to have run out of mana. Since [Daughter of Inari] was such a rare class, no one really knew about it or its abilities. And, considering that there was normally no mana regeneration in the game, I exploited the hell out of everyone's lack of knowledge.
So, when I fought the holder of the World Item, I pretended to run out of mana mid-battle, letting my opponent become overconfident. When it looked like I had no true options for escape, they tried to kill me with an overcharged spell.
Really freaked that guy out when, their supposedly manaless opponent, suddenly used [Counterspell] to cause their spell to whiff. I executed him quickly afterwards and gained the World Item [Tome of the First Mage]. After that, their entire guild declared all out war on me. What I found very amusing about that supposed war was the fact that they expected me to fight openly as one person against their many.
Instead, I fought tactically.
If they were away from any of their production sources, I'd nuke them into oblivion. Anyone that went off on their own would be coming back to their guild with a lighter inventory and fewer levels. It didn't take long for me to make a guild of thirty-two people become paranoid wrecks that were too afraid to leave their base for fear that I'd murder them.
After an entire month of this, their guild finally surrendered since they had lost too many resources to remain a competitive faction. After the news of my victory came out, people learned to not fuck with me. Sadly, I gained a reputation that made me more well-known, as well as a more tempting target to kill.
Either way, I'll need to probe my prisoner for more information on this Cocco Doll and his slave operation. Knowing what I need to deal with will be extremely helpful in taking these assholes down. But that'll be a job to do later. Right now, I have to read through all these pages first if I'm to get an overall layout of these people.
"By the way, how was Zaryusu doing today? Is he adjusting well?" I asked.
"Tall, dark, and scaly was acclimating to the village very well. He was fairly interested in meeting and talking to the inhabitants and creating initial plans for a new fishery here. Though, he did come by to the building where we're housing our guests. I had him help deliver food." I gave my copy a raised eyebrow.
"It's rude to make a diplomatic visitor work when it wasn't his problem in the first place." I stated before going back to reading.
"He wasn't opposed to helping out. And besides, if we're to be welcoming more citizens to our village, it's only appropriate to include them in our activities. Try to relax a bit. You shouldn't stay so stressed all the time or you'll get wrinkles." I couldn't help but snort at my copy's remark.
"I highly doubt that my race is even able to get wrinkles. Don't the stories usually say that kitsune are immortal? And even if that's not the case, I'm a demigoddess which I'm pretty sure means that I'll not be getting old anytime soon, especially with how I could interpret the way my passives might work in a real setting."
My copy mockingly clapped in reply. "You know, you're just insufferable with how haughty you can be. You can probably fix that in your bedroom in an hour by yourself or with someone else. I'll let you know, we have plenty of stamina and a hair trig-"
"Can we please not talk about that right now?" I replied with a massive blush on my face, causing my copy to grin in excited interest. I'm sad to say that I've been tempted to explore this body, but I've been nervous about doing so.
"Why not? We're the same person, so who better to talk about your private thoughts with? I know for a fact that you were checking out a few of the males at the guild earlier today. Technically, you're a virgin in this body, so why not lose it already?"
"Because, it's already weird enough that I'm attracted to guys when I wasn't before! Having sex as another gender is the furthest thing in my mind right now!" I said, probably a little loud for this cabin. My copy rolled her eyes at my display, which made me wonder, was she a different person or just me without any of my inhibitions?
Following my outburst, my copy got out of her chair and walked over to me before standing next to me. "That's enough of that, boss. I'll not let you work while you're like this, so find a room and work off all that pent-up energy of yours or go to bed. I'll take care of everything here."
Looking at her from the corner of my eyes, I couldn't help but give her a glare. I'm supposed to be the one in charge here, so why was my copy trying to order me around? "What's to stop me from unsummoning you and going back to work?" I asked.
"Well, the fact that there's a lot of things that I know right now about events that have occurred in the settlement which you don't. Along with that, I could continue remaining insubordinate if you were to summon me again." Fuck, she had me there…
"Aren't you supposed to follow my orders instead of give them?" I asked as I leaned back into my chair and looked up at the busty clone standing over me.
"Typically, I do follow your orders, but I also have enough freewill to make my own decisions when they are required, including ignoring orders if I feel that they are going against your well-being. Now, go to your room, and take it easy. I'll see you after you're either done or in the morning." With a sigh, I flipped my copy the bird and got out of my chair.
"I hate you so much right now." I said before going to my cabin's bedroom. Before I actually entered the room, I leaned my head back through the doorway and added, "Make sure to take notes of anything important."
My copy simply waved me off with a laugh and answered, "Way ahead of you. See you later, boss." What a bitch…
With a sigh, I entered into the bedroom of my cabin and shut the door behind me. Then, I walked over to my bed and laid down on it, just looking at the ceiling.
[The Copy]
Suffice to say, I think I'm relatively decent at talking myself into doing things. Now, normally I'm all for letting Kashia the Boss order me around, it's part of my purpose after all. Gotta take care of the original. Part of this was due to the way that she was so snappy with me. Typically, she takes my jabs with ease, yet this wasn't so today.
It was easy enough to tell when I got summoned by the Boss earlier today that she was a bit off. Even if she does well in hiding it, the fact that she cannot return home along with being in a body that she wasn't born with was getting to her. The horrors she saw in that brothel today along with the extermination that she performed of those monstrous humans didn't help matters.
Even now, she still wasn't able to fully accept her new body and mind which is causing her immense distress. I am probably the only one in this world that understands how she's feeling right now, yet even so, it was incredibly easy to accept my mind and form.
In part, being a temporary clone came with the benefit of being extremely comfortable in accepting my situation. When one really thinks about it, my situation would give any normal person an existential crisis. But, oddly enough, I felt strangely fulfilled with my life. Quite possibly an after effect of the magic used to create me.
But, that is a debate for another day. Right now, I needed to read through these documents in order to gather information for the Boss. Following this, I hurried back to reading through everything and jotting down names and places.
This went undisturbed for a few minutes before my ears picked up a strange moaning from the other room. I couldn't help smiling in amusement before I went back to the task at hand. When I'm finished with this, and Kashia didn't come back from her room, I'm totally going to fuck with the Boss in the morning.
I'm wondering, sexy nurse or sexy doctor?