A Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 42: An Inconvenient Truth
[Ninya]
Mom was silent for a few more moments until she finally answered, "You're too smart for your own good, kiddo. Yes, Momon is just Momonga in disguise." Mom admitted, making me elated to be right, but also slightly terrified that none of us besides mom knew that neither he, and likely Nabe as well, are human.
"Why did he even become an adventurer? And more importantly, why did this vampire, which I'm positive is one of the monsters of his guild, even need to be fought by you and him?" I questioned.
"To answer the first question; Momonga had a couple of reasons for disguising himself as a human adventurer. He wanted a guise he could use to travel among the kingdom's populace without being attacked so that he could attain information he might not normally get as a lich. Momonga also wanted to establish a famous persona that could reach places ordinary people couldn't. And finally," Mom's face took on an amused expression, "I personally think he did it to nostalgically relive his adventuring days when he was younger."
"And the vampire?"
"The vampire's name is Shalltear. As an undead, mind control should normally not work on her, especially a vampire as powerful as she is. But somehow, whoever did it had access to a World Item, like mine," Mom gestured to the red jewel on her throat, "that allowed this mind control to work. Momonga and I needed to kill her before she could be resurrected free from its control."
That was when Ratatoskr piped up, "Mind control, huh? I know of two of Yggy's items that could fit the bill. One was spawned from a Realm of Order and was called the King's Command. But if that was the case, there'd be a helluva lot more mind controlled people in this realm. The other one would be Downfall of Castle and Country that acts as a single-targeted ability. It spawned from a realm where nature itself would take over the body of some unlucky bastard to rule everyone else.
So, that makes it very likely to be Downfall because it was only used on this vampire of yours." What an ominous thought to consider. More items like the ones mom had were in this world.
"One thing that was for certain is that there are more World Items scattered about the New World than we can imagine. I'm not certain as to who was truly behind it, even if the armored woman behind your kidnapping, Ninya, admitted to having done so herself." Mom added, causing me to cock my head at her in question.
"Why would you say that?" I questioned.
"Because the woman, a succubus called Albedo, is one of Momonga's monsters." That caused me to freeze in a mixture of shock and fear, "The reason I find it hard to believe that she was behind it is due to the requirement of a World Item being necessary. If that were the case, Momonga would've both known what affected his subordinate and he never would've allowed it to happen. He's too attached to his minions to ever wish to harm them unless in a last resort."
"Then what about…Albedo? Why did she take me? Why was she trying to kill you? Was Momonga involved in it?" I felt myself become more and more worried as this discussion went on. If this lich wanted to kill mom, how many more powerful beings might he send after her?
"As for Albedo? I'm uncertain of Momonga's involvement in this. Momonga and I were on friendly enough terms when we first encountered one another in this realm, yet that was slightly strained a couple days ago. But I doubt it was enough to cause this since neither of us want a fight. As for trying to take you and kill me? Albedo wanted to hurt or control me since she felt I had too much influence over her Lord's decisions."
Mom then held my hands in her and gave me a reassuring smile. "But you won't need to worry about Albedo coming after you again. Normally, I could just kill or imprison an enemy and be done with it, but because Momonga has multiple methods to revive or free her, I needed Ratatoskr's help. It's why I made a deal with him."
"Yup, you're mom needed my help because I have the ability to put a specific kind of curse on others. The crazy bitch can't be scryed, contacted, wished free, or teleported out from the Un-Realm. Since the place is a maze, and she's bound to have been moving around in it, Albedo's likely well and truly lost. The only way out for her now is if someone who knows the spell to even enter the hellhole were to go in and take the time to even find her while surviving against the threats in that mess." Ratatoskr explained.
"Though, this does lead to the future problem of speaking to Momonga about this." Mom added in, "After all, Albedo was one of his, and he isn't exactly the most rational with his people involved."
"Then what will you do about him since he's going to find out about what you did, if he hasn't already." I asked, slightly nervous at the implications.
"I'm going to do the only reasonable thing I can do; talk with him." Mom's answer did little to get my hopes up.
My hands gave hers a gentle squeeze and my growing tail tightened on mom's. "When do you plan to speak with him?"
"Tonight." Mom seemed to notice the look I was giving her and she ruffled my hair, "None of that look, kiddo. I'll be fine. Instead, we should probably discuss what to do about your changed appearance before we go meet with the others. They're bound to be worried since they haven't seen either of us since the battle." That instantly caused me to feel a bit self-conscious.
"O-Oh. I haven't even thought that far ahead on that. I'm actually a little nervous about it." I admitted.
"And what's to be nervous about? I think your features make you look very pretty." Mom countered.
I felt my face flush at the compliment while my ears began to twitch uncontrollably along with my tail slightly wagging in mom's. "T-Thanks. But it's still a big change. How would I even go about trying to explain it?"
"Well, talking is always a good start." Mom teased, earning a giggle from me, "But I doubt that's just it. What else might be bothering you?"
"I'm worried how others might react if they see me." I answered.
"Is that all? Then you should have very little to worry about. I'll need to walk you through [Kitsune Illusion] since that requires some learning. Other than that, I can just hide you under an illusion until we get back to E-Rantel where I have a ring or two to help you out."
"Thank you." I said appreciatively before another aspect of my new species came to mind, "Wait, what about transforming into a fox? How does that even work?"
"That, I think we should wait on until you fully finish growing your kitsune features. Then, I'll show you exactly how to do it. We'll probably have to spend a full day working on it since you'll probably need to get acclimated to the different body structure." Mom consoled me with a grin which I shared.
"I think I'd like that. When do you think Tuare will also end up changing?" I wondered while already guessing how Tuare would enjoy the change considering how cute she thought mom's tails and ears were.
Oh, no. Tuare's going to smother me in attention from how cute she'll think I look.
Mom raised a brow in amusement, "Something on your mind, kiddo?"
"I'm terrified about what Tuare will do to me once she sees my tail and ears." I quickly answered and tried thinking of ways that I might possibly be able to escape her clutches once she saw me.
Instead of sympathy, mom laughed and patted me on the shoulder, "At least someone else will have to deal with being held 'captive' as their tails are pet instead of it being me for once. I appreciate your sacrifice to this worthy cause."
I groaned at mom's answer. "Shouldn't you be sympathetic to my plight?"
Another round of laughter came from mom, "I am being sympathetic. I know what to expect. I'm just happy that it's not me it'll happen to. Besides, I'm certain that the furry pervert will gladly take one of Tuare's attentive petting sessions if needed."
"Uh, Sugar-Tits, while I'm never one to turn down attention from a lady, why do I get a bad feeling from this?" Ratatoskr piped up.
Mom looked down at him with a cruel glint in her eyes, "Oh, whatever gave you that impression, you furry pervert?" Mom questioned with an implied warning in her tone.
"N-Nothing…" Ratatoskr said nervously and seemed to bury himself further down into mom's chest.
Mom's eyes instantly lost that cruel glint and she looked back to me, "So, while we could continue this discussion, I think our friends have likely been waiting for us long enough and are worried sick about it. Would you be up to meet them as a kitsune or as a human?"
That made me think about it for a short period of time until I arrived at an answer, "They're going to find on sooner or later. It's probably best that we do it now instead of them finding out at an unexpected time, like what happened with you, mom." I replied with a teasing jab.
Mom rolled her eyes in feigned exasperation, "Okay, you've got me on that one." She conceded before ruffling my hair, "Ready to get going then?"
"Yeah, but what are we going to tell them when they ask us about what happened?"
"That an enemy of mine took you, I permanently dealt with them, and that you changed because I became a goddess. Other than that, we'll leave the rest of what I told you out of the explanation since they don't need to know about Momonga right now." Mom replied.
Her reason for leaving out that guild of monsters and Momonga was something that I could guess and understand. It was hard to comprehend, and quite terrifying, that there was what could be considered a foreign nation that was filled with beings that were all strong like mom.
And all of them were monstrous creatures held in check by the whims of a single person. And this said person was cursed to have muted empathy and emotions to any but the creatures in his control.
I could only put my faith in mom figuring out how to protect everyone if this guild were to ever attack.
"Alright, that sounds good enough to me." I replied with a nod. With that, mom stood up and I followed before realizing that my growing tail was still firmly wrapped around one of hers. Part of me wanted to let go out of embarrassment, but another more…instinctual and primal side of me didn't want to.
I found myself wrapping my tail a little tighter around mom's, and from the way she smiled at me, it was clear to tell that she had noticed. That made me all the happier with my choice.
[Lukrut]
Heading downstairs to the underground section of the temple to wait with Dyne and Peter was probably the hardest part of today, more so than even the battle itself. And I could still vividly recall everything that happened up to where the three of us were walking down the stairs right now.
Peter, Dyne, and I had been helping a kitsune fight another of those monstrous undead when bright golden light flared out from the temple and seemed to grab everyone's attention. Somehow, I could just feel that it had been Kashia, with my guess being correct as she came out of the temple without a worry. In fact, she'd been pretty pissed.
But I barely cared about that. I was so happy and relieved to see that she was awake once again.
Then, she gave a warning to everyone on the battlefield and I saw more than a few adventurers try to leave before she turned her attention to the chimeric lich that was one of the reasons for this chaotic battle. With ease, Kashia ended up killing that chimeric lich when those other liches, and the flying armored warrior that had arrived to join the fight, had been having great difficulty in doing so.
After that, she killed the remaining three liches and appeared to speak with the armored warrior before transforming into her large fox form and speeding off to the south with a few other kitsune following right after her. I couldn't help but feel a strange worry since something had her rattled, it was clear enough to see on the parts of her face that were clearly visible along with how her tails moved erratically.
Regretfully, I didn't have any method to speak to her and find out what was wrong. Instead, Peter, Dyne, and I spent the time in the rain looking around for Ninya since we still hadn't found her in all the chaos. We even managed to speak to a few kitsune who were not busy erecting temporary shelters for everyone or gathering the bodies of the dead, and tried to recruit their help.
Sadly, that line of questioning didn't get us anywhere and we instead continued to explore the battlefield, hoping that Ninya wasn't hidden in the bodies scattered about.
At the same time, we got a good look at what was happening to the people that had stayed and didn't flee. For instance, the E-Rantel army had been given a large number of huts for the soldiers, well, the ones still alive that was. Half of their army had been decimated by the three frost dragons that had come by.
Only two of the dragons were alive since one had been killed by the undead. As for the other two, they had been taken prisoner by a group of kitsune that chained the creatures down before locking them inside a magically created stone building. That was meant to prevent any attacks with their frost breaths from hitting others.
The dragons were not the only prisoners taken after the battle as the men from the Slane Theocracy, Clementine's brother especially, were locked in the bars of a cage that was exposed to the elements. They didn't take kindly to the Slane soldiers threatening Ninya. Clementine's brother, as the most dangerous one of the group, received special accommodations because of it.
He had been weighed down in multiple sets of chains before being locked in the equivalent of a stone coffin with around the clock guards ready to kill him if he attempted to cast a single spell.
Of all the groups, the ones that received the closest accommodations to the temple, and in my opinion, the most comfortable, were the many worshippers of Kashia's religion that had been busy nonstop since the battle ended. They were already trying to heal the injured, clear bodies, set up cooking stations, and pray. There was also their interest in the temple.
I witnessed people enter and leave the temple so often that it needed the doors to be held open.
As for the remaining adventurers, aside from one or two groups that were bunking with the worshippers, likely because they were also believers of Kashia's religion, the rest stayed with the E-Rantel army in their huts.
Finally, we reluctantly called off the search and headed back to the temple, hoping that we might spot Ninya waiting inside for us. It was when we made it to the temple and started entering that we found ourselves bumping into an adventurer that we recognized.
"Elia, what are you doing here?" Peter questioned the platinum-plate. In response, the green-haired woman smiled, and I realized something very quickly.
"Hey, weren't you missing an eye before?" I asked as both of her green eyes looked at us.
"Ah, the Swords of Darkness, it's a pleasant surprise to see you here. I heard that your team was off on a mission. And as for your question, Lukrut, you're correct, I was missing an eye before. Had a few scars as well." Elia then lifted up her hair to reveal her face was clear of any blemishes
"What happened? Did you get some strong healing from a priest or use a powerful potion?" Dyne wondered.
"Well, I did get healed by that goddess known as the Fox Princess a while ago. Was a huge surprise when I woke up the next morning seeing with two eyes instead of one. As for being here? Well, when Charles and I heard that a bunch of Fox Princess worshippers were coming here, we had to check it out with the rest of our team. We're still pretty appreciative of her saving our asses the other night."
We nodded in understanding at her reasoning. Being brought back from the dead would make a person pretty grateful.
"At least nothing happened to you, or I hope your team, during that battle." Peter said with a smile.
"Same could be said for you. I only saw you three and Kashia, so I hope your friend Ninya is alright." Elia replied. Wait, hold on… "Anyway, I should get back to the others, so I'll see you all later."
"What do you mean by already seeing Kashia?" Dyne asked as he and Peter also came to the same conclusion that I did.
Elia just gave us a wink, "See ya." Before walking away, leaving us just standing there looking at one another.
"So, I'm pretty certain she knows who Kashia is." I remarked aloud.
"I'd say that you're right on all accounts and we should appreciate that she probably hasn't told anyone else." Dyne replied in agreement. With that, we finally entered the temple to see a grouping of worshippers near the small pool in the center of the temple while more of them walked about the temple and examined the decorations on the walls and pillars.
Yet, of these worshippers, three of them stood out as they were all dressed in white outfits very similar to Kashia's. It was when we walked in that one of these women broke from the prayer and approached us. From what I could tell, she was an attractive woman with red hair, but my gaze soon landed on her mostly glowing golden eyes with a ring of blue by the pupil.
Just like Ninya's, except that Ninya's were all gold at this point.
"Uh, hello. Is something the matter, Miss?" Peter asked. We could see her smile through that translucent veil as her eyes moved from Peter, to Dyne, and then they landed on me and stayed there.
"Greetings, adventurers. It's a pleasure to meet you three. I am Priestess Evelyn of the Order of the Fox Princess." Evelyn answered. I felt a bit perturbed at how her gaze hadn't left me, almost like she was studying me.
"Hello, Evelyn, my name's-" Peter began until Evelyn cut him off.
"Peter Mauk, Dyne Woodwonder, and Lukrut Volve. I am aware of who you are." She said with a tone of joy before continuing in a quiet tone, "After all, it would be amiss of me to not know about my Lady's Companions and Her Consort."
"Wait, you know?!" Peter asked quietly while looking around to make sure no one was listening in.
"Yes." Evelyn replied with a nod, "It is my duty as the stewarding High Priestess to know as much about my Lady as I can. As such, I know exactly who all of you are, especially you, Consort." Then, her eyes flickered around us before she asked, "Yet, I do not see young Ninya with you."
"We've been trying to find her since the battle ended, but we've had no luck. We were hoping she might be in the temple after looking around the area." Dyne replied. The priestess' eyes seemed to gain a look of concern at hearing this.
"I see. Then I shall have some of the faithful who know what she looks like to aid you in this search." Evelyn promised before whispering, "She is our Lady's daughter, so we will undertake this task immediately."
"Thank you." I said in appreciation for us.
"You're welcome, Consort." Evelyn replied before giving a nod and heading back to the group of worshippers by the small pool. The three of us soon moved past the worshippers after this towards the stairway hidden behind the giant fox statue.
"At least we have a few more people looking around for Ninya now." Peter said in an effort to cheer us up. The longer things went on without any sign of our friend, the more worried that we became.
My only response to that was a shrug. My thoughts went back to the battle and how I should've done more to try and stick near Ninya. Instead, I jumped away from her, and when I tried to find her again after fighting off a zombie, she was lost in the crowd. I should've jumped with her. That way, she wouldn't have been alone.
I felt a large hand on my shoulder and looked to see Dyne giving me a knowing nod, "Don't worry, we'll find her alive and okay. We just need to be patient. Best thing we can do right now is wait in the temple where Ninya would know where to find us."
"Yeah, you're right." I replied. I hope so.
As we reached the fox statue, we spotted a red kitsune that seemed to be standing guard by the entrance. Upon seeing us approach, he gave a nod and stepped aside so that we could go down the stairs. "Hey guys, you find it a little funny that even though we aren't worshipping Kashia, we get to go to the secret parts of the temple unlike everyone else up top?" Peter mused with some humor.
I found myself chuckling at the thought along with Dyne. As we descended further down the steps, we stepped into the underground hallway and I began to add on, "If they find us going into the temple basement as special, then they must definitely hate me-" I found the words caught in my mouth, I watched Kashia and Ninya coming out of the room that we had her sleeping in.
"Kashia! Ninya!" I shouted while rushing down the hallway towards the pair with Peter and Dyne following right after.
"By the gods, you two are alright!" Peter said with delighted surprise.
"It's good to find you here!" Dyne added in relief.
When we had finally approached the pair, I finally took notice of a change of Ninya's. Two changes as my eyes followed the pair of fox-like ears on top of her head that seemed to slowly be growing. "N-Ninya, what happened with your ears?" I questioned as Ninya seemed to shrink in on herself as all of our eyes focused on her ears while a blush grew upon her face.
"That is quite a large change." Dyne commented.
"It's not exactly the only thing that changed." Ninya countered before slightly turning her body to reveal a brunette tail wrapped around Kashia's that was a foot long at this point.
Peter was the one to ask the question for us, "Wait, are you turning into a kitsune?" We received a nod from Ninya in answer.
"I think it'll probably be best if we find someplace to sit down to talk about everything that's happened in the past few hours." Kashia recommended, making me smile.
"Sounds like a fair enough idea." Peter replied while Dyne and I nodded in agreement. "We can head over to the room behind us since it's got more than enough room to sit."
Yet, before all of us could even start walking towards the specified room, I had moved over to her, and pulled her into an embrace before kissing her. She leaned into it before we both pulled away and I rested my forehead against hers. "I missed you, my beautiful fox."
"So did I, my silly archer." Kashia replied with a smile. We would've stayed like this for a little longer until I heard a voice right beneath our heads speak.
"Well, well, Sugar-Tits. Got a boy-toy already it seems." Our gazes glanced down to a red-furred squirrel poking out from her cleavage.
"D-Did that squirrel just talk?" I questioned while I watched said squirrel pull himself out of her cleavage and look at me with a grin.
"Oh, I can do a lot more than talk, pretty boy." After the squirrel said this, Kashia flicked the creature in the head, earning of hiss of pain from him.
"Try to ignore the pervert. He's called Ratatoskr. For the time being, the pervert's going to be hanging around us." Kashia said with a look of annoyance.
Dyne blinked owlishly at Ratatoskr before asking, "What exactly is he?"
"Unfortunately, this lech is technically considered a god." Our jaws ended up dropping upon hearing this, "But don't let that fool you because he's really just a lecherous rodent."
"H-He's really a god?" Peter questioned.
A smug look overcame Ratatoskr's face as he quickly crawled up to Kashia's shoulder, "Yes, I am the great god known as Ratatoskr! Praise me!" I was really getting the urge to punch the rodent as my right arm twitched in anticipation.
Kashia rolled her eyes at the boast, "Ignore his delusions of grandeur. He is little better than an up-jumped arborist." Kashia stated, visibly annoying the god.
"Why do ya' have to put me down like that, Sugar-Tits?" The annoyance asked.
"Just keeping you humble." Kashia replied with a malicious grin. Then, she focused on us again, "You've all probably got a lot of questions, so it's better if we go sit down and talk about everything now."
"Yeah, it's for the best because we definitely have a lot more questions for you now than we did before." Peter said in agreement, something that Dyne and I backed up with our own affirmations.
It didn't take long for all of us to end up sitting at a circular table together. I sat to the right of Kashia with our hands holding one another's and our fingers entwined. I had no plans of letting her out of my reach after finally reuniting, and it seemed that she had the exact same thought process.
To Kashia's left was Ninya, whose growing tail, now an inch or two larger, was still firmly wrapped around one of Kashia's. I found the act to be adorable to witness. Across from us was Peter and Dyne who were waiting patiently for Kashia to finally speak.
Unfortunately, the perverted rodent was residing within Kashia's cleavage once again. Yet, oddly enough, he would give me or Dyne these strange glances every once in a while. I couldn't understand why, but I did my best to ignore him.
"Okay, as promised, I'll do my best to explain what it is that's happened since I woke up." Kashia began, grabbing all of our attentions, "To start; during the battle, before I woke up, Ninya had been kidnapped."
I felt a horrid sense of dread enter me as I heard that. My failure at sticking close by Ninya had allowed her to be taken?! Oh, gods…
"So, that's why we couldn't find you during or after the battle." Dyne remarked with a deep concern.
"Who was it that took Ninya? Is that why she changed?" Peter questioned.
"The person that took Ninya was a creature from my homelands that had come here. Her name is Albedo, an extremely powerful succubus that saw my existence in these lands as a challenge to her power. As such, she wanted to either control me or kill me." Kashia replied, worrying me all the further.
"The woman sent these spider-like women to take me from the battlefield when everyone was distracted. It wasn't any of your faults that none of you noticed since that was what they had planned for." Ninya explained while trying to reassure us, though it did little to stem the thought of how useless I felt being unavailable for her.
Peter and Dyne seemed to share this feeling that I has, "Even so, I wish that there had been something we could've done." Peter remarked.
"You guys are here and safe now. That's something I'm thankful for, so please don't beat yourselves up about this." Ninya countered, earning some smiles from us.
"But this Albedo, what happened with her?" Dyne questioned.
"I ended up having to fight her. She was a difficult opponent at first, enough that I needed to use powerful spells like [Grand Catastrophe] to wear her down." I was able to clearly recall that day when I saw the massive while light on the horizon as an effect from that spell. A spell like that had to be used on another monster like that vampire?
Where might these monsters be coming from?
Kashia continued on, regardless of my thoughts, "I even ended up summoning Ratatoskr to aid me for the battle. But after a long fight, I ended up defeating the succubus and sealed her away to never trouble us again." Then, my beautiful fox grimaced as she looked down at the rodent, "Sadly, there was a cost to getting this little shit's help."
"And what was that?" I asked, my hand slowly preparing to hurt the furball.
"Nothing much. Just that I can enjoy the comfort of my new favorite resting spot whenever I like." Ratatoskr answered cheerily. God or not, I was about to reach over and strangle him until one of Kashia's tails stopped my hand.
"Don't, Lukrut. Even if he's a little shit, the rodent is still a god." Kashia warned before giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I grumbled in my seat while glaring daggers at the bastard.
"Personality aside, I'm pretty amazed that we're sitting next to another god right now." Dyne remarked, "What are you even a god of, Ratatoskr?"
This got the bastard to pull himself out of Kashia's cleavage and jump onto the table before he approached Dyne. "If you'd like to know, I'm not exactly normal when it comes to typical gods. What I have isn't so much a domain and more a job being the Caretaker of Yggdrasil and Warden of the Wurm called Nidhoggr. As such, I have more freedom traversing Yggdrasil and the Ten Realms than other gods."
Ten realms? "Wait, Kashia, didn't you say that there were nine realms in your homeland?" I asked.
Kashia nodded, "There were. It's ten now because of this land being discovered. That makes it the tenth."
That was when Dyne spoke up, "What exactly qualifies for a place to be a realm?"
Kashia was silent for a moment before she looked to Ratatoskr and asked, "Do you want to explain it or should I?"
"I can take care of it, Sugar-Tits. Now, focus here, goddess and mortals." As the rodent said this, he curled his long, root-filled tail on the middle of the table and I watched with amazement as the roots began growing and combining with one another. Looking at my right hand, I couldn't help but think that it was almost like myself.
The roots continued to grow until it formed a miniature white tree about three feet high that spread out into nine thick branches that had a large sphere of roots on the end of each one. As for the tenth, the branch was significantly skinnier than the others, but still ended up connecting to a sphere of roots like the rest of the branches.
"This extremely tiny model represents Yggdrasil as she currently is; the base from which all realms stem off of. Each branch of Yggy carries an entire realm upon it, or world if you want to be pedantic. Regardless, each realm is vastly different from one another and ruled by different gods. Travel between realms requires a bit of knowhow or power, but it is very possible to do."
Peter was the first to speak up, "Are you telling us that Kashia's homeland is technically on another world or realm, as you put it?"
"Exactly that, flame boy. More specifically," Ratatoskr then pointed to what appeared to be a tiny ball of roots hung in a webbing of roots and vines between two of the branches, "this would be the homeland of all kitsune, like Sugar-Tits for instance." His paw then traced over to the extremely skinny branch coming from the tree towards another realm, "And right here would be where your realm is."
We all had mixtures of awe, curiosity, and, strangely enough, dread. Our home, our country, even the entire realm, was just a small part of multiple others. An entire collection of realms that were filled with beings just as strong as Kashia, if not greater.
"If that's the case, and we're just one of many realms, why is it that the branch connecting our realm seems so much smaller than the rest?" Dyne pondered.
"Because, until little over a month ago, your realm wasn't even connected to the greater whole of Yggy. It wasn't until Sugar-Tits arrived that Yggy noticed the realm and grew a branch over to connect it. As such, it's a little bit weaker than all the others until it fully grows." Ratatoskr explained.
That made me ask, "How did you end up coming here, Kashia?" I couldn't help but smirk when she gave me a shrug.
"Beats me. I just found myself here one day. Been adapting to it ever since." She replied. As that happened, the white roots forming the model tree seemed to be sucked back into Ratatoskr's tail.
"Wow, I never even considered the idea of other worlds until now." Dyne remarked aloud to us.
"It does help to explain a lot about you, Kashia. But I also have to wonder if it could mean that our realm may experience more foreign visitors in the coming days?" Peter asked with some concern.
"You're in luck, flame boy. Since the connection is still young and growing, it's going to be years before this realm becomes noticed by the rest of the realms. I bet Sugar-Tits will have that issue handled by then." The rodent's answer managed to assuage Peter's concerns.
"Any further questions about Yggdrasil and the like?" Kashia asked us.
"Not at the moment. I'll probably have more at a later time when they come to me." The blond swordsman replied.
"Onto our next topic of discussion is how Ninya ended up turning into a kitsune." My beautiful fox put a reassuring hand onto Ninya's shoulder, "It's partially my fault due to my newly conceptualizing nature as a goddess. Since Ninya ended up consuming my blood from that ritual my worshippers made, combined with our emotional connection with one another, it turned her into a kitsune."
Dyne, Peter, and I became quite curious as we looked at our friend. "Did it hurt?" Peter asked.
"Not really. It was more itchy than anything else. The physical changes all began happening after I was taken and before mom rescued me." Ninya replied.
This time, I asked, "What's it like to be a kitsune compared to a human?"
Ninya thought on that for a bit while looking at the fully grown claws on her fingers that looked razor-sharp. "It's different, yet also the same. I have another limb now with the tail I grew and I can move my ears in ways that I couldn't before." In demonstration, her growing ears, almost nearing a length like Kashia's, swiveled a bit before they moved up and down until they flattened on her head before bouncing back up into the air.
Continuing, Ninya added, "There's also my new sense of smell and hearing which is taking a bit of time getting used to."
"Will the changes be difficult for you to deal with?" I questioned.
"I'm not sure just yet. It's still so new for me since it hasn't even been two hours since then." Ninya answered.
"Well, if you do have any issues, just let us know and we'll try to help as best we can." Peter assured the human-turned-kitsune, something that Dyne and I agreed with. That earned a nod and a giggle from Ninya.
"Thanks, guys. Though, I'll likely turn to the expert for most of my issues." Ninya replied while playfully bumping Kashia's side. That caused Kashia to laugh and tousle Ninya's hair in answer.
"Personally, I think it'll require me training you a little bit depending on how you react when we reach the city." Kashia remarked, earning a questioning glance from all of us.
"Why's that?" Ninya asked.
"Cities tend to be loud and stink, kiddo. Combine that with how unaccustomed to your senses as you are, and all the sounds and smells could be a bit of information overload for your brain. If necessary, I'll likely need to work up your tolerance a little bit after we turn this job in." Kashia answered, reminding all of us on the reason that we were even out here in the first place.
I smirked and mused aloud, "Really hope that the guild doesn't have any issue with the job taking a bit longer than usual to complete."
Dyne gave me a shrug in turn, "Considering that we were around where a massive chaotic battle happened, along with the multiple other witnesses that saw us there, I doubt that we'll have issue with our promotions. In fact, it might only aid in that." Our wise druid explained, easing up some of our worries.
"That reminds me, I'm probably going to be busy resurrecting bodies after this." Kashia said with a groan.
"Right, you can bring the dead back to life. Still slightly weird to think about." Peter remarked.
"Considering our normal weirdness, that's pretty average." Kashia retorted.
This was when Ratatoskr finally piped up again, giving me the urge to just punch him, "Speaking of weird. Why is it that both pretty boy and the bearded wonder both smell and feel a little bit like Yggy? It's been bothering me for a while now." What did he mean by that?
"You mean to say that we seem like the Yggdrasil tree you spoke of?" Dyne asked for clarification. Ratatoskr nodded, and Dyne thought about it for a moment before he reached to his side and unholstered his mace before setting it onto the table. "Would this be what you're smelling, since it's the only magical tree-like object I have on me."
"That probably would be correct, Dyne. The mace is made from Yggdrasil, so it could be what the pervert has noticed." Kashia confirmed, earning a glance from Ratatoskr before he moved over and seemed to sniff the mace before putting his ear to the weapon and seemingly listening for something.
After a twitch of his ears and tail, the rodent finally pulled away from the mace, "Looks like Sugar-Tits is telling the truth. Even more, appears that Yggy's roots seem to like ya', bearded wonder. Take care of her and she'll take care of ya'." Ratatoskr gave an affirming pat on the mace before turning to me and scampering across the table to get closer before sniffing the air around me.
"Not really sure of what connection I have to Yggdrasil compared to Dyne carrying its roots. At best, there's this which I can do," I answered truthfully before letting a root arrow grow from my hand. Following this, I held out the object for the squirrel to examine.
Just like Dyne, Ratatoskr sniffed the conjured arrow with a curious glance before putting an ear to the roots and listening. Unlike with Dyne, he didn't seem to make any twitching before he finally pulled away with a suspicious glance.
"Kinda smells like Yggy, but not exactly. Not even a voice in the roots that I could hear. A bit odd…" He then sniffed the air again, "Hmm…"
"I-Is something the matter?" I asked. That seemed to bring Ratatoskr out of whatever thoughts he had, causing the squirrel to look at me.
"No." He replied way too quickly to be assuring. "Anyway, while it's been fun and all, especially with ya', Sugar-Tits," This earned a glare from Kashia that the pervert shrugged off, "I have some god business to take care of. I'll be back soon enough."
Without any further words, the squirrel seemed to scratch the air in front of my arrow that somehow tore open a portal of blue mana. Then, he jumped into it with the portal closing behind his tail. All of us shared a look of confusion with one another.
"Did that seem…normal to you guys?" I asked while retracting the arrow back into my arm. For some reason, it felt like a hidden weight had left me once the rodent had finally left, like something had tightly coiled up in my chest.
Kashia shrugged, "With Ratatoskr, one can never be too certain. At the very least, I don't have to deal with the furry pervert using me as his personal transport for the time being." I smirked at this.
"I'd try to avoid thinking too much about it for now. When we see him again, we can ask." Dyne replied.
[Kashia]
After sending a [Message] to Momonga a while ago to meet me at the lake, I finally arrived to see the lich standing in front of me as he looked out at the lake. "Hey, Momo…" I said from behind him, breaking the man out of whatever thoughts he was deeply in.
"Good evening, Kashia-" Then he paused at seeing me, "Why do you have ten tails now?" He quickly asked in confusion.
"A lot of things happened since we last saw each other, one of which was me turning into a fully-fledged goddess. That ended up putting me into a coma for a few days." I replied.
Momonga walked over to me and took a moment to examine my form, as if trying to figure out what else may have changed about me, "How did that even happen? Did you require an item, was it a spell, what abo-"
"Remember how I told you about that religion that popped up around me?" I asked with a wry grin.
"Yes. I specifically remember saying that I was going to stay out of that mess you made for yourself. How does it relate?" Momonga replied.
"Apparently, my race evolves itself when experiencing enough worship. And, well, I've got ten tails now because of it." I said while displaying all of my tails to the skeleton. "From what I could tell, it represented itself to me as another level I gained."
"So, you broke the level cap?! This is an amazing thing to consider! Is this because of a predetermined design choice by the devs of YGGDRASIL or would it be due to an interaction your race has with the New World? And even further than that, is your race the only one it's restricted to?" Momonga questioned with intense curiosity.
"This was definitely because of being in this New World, since I doubt the devs wanted another Player to turn themselves into a godlike raid boss after a murderhobo became one from using a World Item." I answered with a shiver than Momonga shared.
"Yes, that was an…unpleasant experience for everyone involved. Midgard was a deathtrap for weeks after that happened." Momonga agreed. "Though it does beg the question if other races can achieve the same feat as you did?" While Momonga continued to ponder the thought, I couldn't help but feel some sorrow at what I was about to tell him.
"Momo…I did call you here for another reason besides my change in appearance." I said, interrupting the skeleton.
"Oh, yes. My apologies about that. Please, tell me what it is that you wish to speak about." Momonga replied with a nod.
Taking a breath and considering what I said next, I finally spoke, "Earlier today, someone kidnapped my daughter Ninya."
"Really?! How did this happen? Is there anything I can do to help?" Momonga said quickly, a minimal green glow highlighted his body before dying down.
"I appreciate your offer, but I thankfully rescued Ninya before anything permanent could've been done to her. The real problem comes from who the one responsible for it was." Saying this I reached into my inventory and pulled out Albedo's horn. Then, I held it out and let Momonga take it while examining the item.
"Kashia, what is this?" Momonga asked softly as his gaze focused on the horn in hand.
"Do you know where Albedo's been today?" I replied with a question of my own. For once, I witnessed shock come over his face as his jaw dropped open. "Because I had a good view of exactly where she was after she kidnapped Ninya before attempting to kill me."
The green glow covered his body once again, yet it didn't die down, "Kashia…what happened? Where's Albedo?" Momonga asked in a low tone as his hands holding the horn began shaking.
"She's gone. And she isn't coming back." I replied. I readied multiple casts of [Counterspell] on my tails in precaution of what might happen.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean. I fought her, and I dealt with her permanently." I stated clearly.
"Permanently?" The green aura was growing around him as wind started swirling from the pressure he was putting out.
"Yes. I did what needed to be done so that my kits would be safe." This was finally sent the lich over the edge as massive gusts of wind blew off of him.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST [MESSAGE] ME?! I WOULD'VE TAKEN CARE OF IT!" He shouted at me as the green aura had now become a pillar of energy surrounding him.
"And what, Momonga?! How exactly would you have taken care of it?! By giving her a slap on the wrist and a promise that it wouldn't happen again?! WE ALREADY DID THAT WITH DEMIURGE! SHE TOUCHED MY KIT, SO I TOOK HER DOWN!"
"THAT WASN'T YOUR DECISION TO MAKE! YOU CAN'T JUST KILL MY NPCS AND NOT EVEN INFORM ME ABOUT IT HAPPENING!" He screamed in my face while I held my ground with a glare.
"I INFORMED YOU NOW, DIDN'T I?! AND I NEVER KILLED HER!" I spat back at him, putting some pause to his rage as the green pillar began dying down.
"Then where is she? I want her returned to me immediately." Momonga demanded as his hands held my shoulders.
"Even if I could return her to you, I still wouldn't. I told you that I only give second chances once. This is a consequence of a choice that she made! I hope to God that you gave her an order to leave me and mine alone, because that means that only she broke that order instead of it being you ordering an NPC to kidnap my kit!"
"But Albedo is completely loyal to me! She wouldn't have disobeyed a direct order from me." Momonga countered.
"Loyalty can have a whole host of different connotations. Her interpretation of loyalty was to remove anyone she thought was in your way. Day One when we met, I told you to use [Geas] to ensure the loyalty of your NPCs! Maybe, if you had done that, then we wouldn't be in this mess!" I returned back.
"And I told you that I didn't want to potentially ruin them with that spell!"
I poked Momonga in the ribcage, "How's that been going for you?! Albedo is gone now because of your inaction. Your lack of due diligence in keeping an eye on your people! Instead of actually punishing NPCs like Demiurge for pulling this kind of shit, you fucking coddled them!"
"I disciplined Demiurge in the most appropriate method-"
I didn't even bother to allow him to continue with that excuse, "How exactly did you punish him? Did you throw him into a prison cell? Community service for the needy? Did you chop off a limb or even give him a spanking?"
"He is to remain in Nazarick and report all of his activities to me for approval." Momonga answered, earning a glare from me.
"Oh, wow! Mr. Atrocity gets the most generous version of house arrest within the confines of a fucking massive guild base. I must applaud you on this unique method of parenting that you're teaching me!" I mocked back.
"I was trying to be diplomatic to all parties involved!" He shouted back to me.
"Fat lot of good that turned out to be! Your darling of a succubus really showed how well that works out when she touched Ninya!" I growled out.
"I AM TRYING MY BEST HERE!" He screamed to me in frustration, a frustration I was very much feeling at how stubborn this skeleton was. I let myself lose it on him at this point.
"Your best is not good enough! The fact that you can't corral a bunch of monsters that literally worship the very ground you stand on is mind-blowing! Honestly, at this point, I have no idea how you managed to become a guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown in the first place?! Clearly, it wasn't your ability to lead since your NPCs can't even follow simple orders! No wonder all your friends left your guild!"
It was after the words left my lips that I immediately felt regret for what I said, which was swiftly followed by pain on my right cheek as Momonga's hand slapped me. Looking at the lich, he was glowing a bright green.
"Suzuki, I'm sor-"
"Shut the fuck up, FoxBitch." Momonga interrupted with a hiss, invoking my insult of a username as he did so, "Tell me wherever it is that you left Albedo so that I can retrieve her. Then, I'll keep my people away from you while you keep the fuck away from mine!"
Spitting out a small bit of blood from my mouth to the side, I shook my head. "You need to accept the fact that Albedo's gone. She's permanently cursed with the same curse that binds the real Nidhoggr in Yggdrasil's roots. I threw her into the Un-Realm, where she's already permanently lost. If you wanted to bring her back, then you'd need to go there and physically find her since no spell, scrying, teleportation, or otherwise is going to do so." I replied.
"NO!" He shouted, pushing me away before he activated [Message]. "Albedo, report to me immediately on your position and status!" Even without facial expressions, it was easy enough to see that he wasn't receiving any answer. Next, he cast [Planar Eye] but received nothing in return.
A menu opened before himself and he scrolled through it until he reached a spot he was looking for. "No, no, no…" I watched as he went through multiple more spells of communication and scrying, yet all of them failed.
It was at his tenth failure that Momonga activating his Shooting Star ring. I watched the desperation of his actions in silence. I watched and waited for the spell to activate. As he did so, I gained a clearer idea on how to change the spell to use mana instead of experience. "I wish that Albedo is next to me and safe!"
Then, the spell cracked and shattered to motes of mana as it failed, and I watched Momonga's eyes trail upon these falling motes before he looked at me. His body was still heavily highlighted in green, not showing any signs of fading away.
"She is gone." Momonga said resolutely. "I will have her retrieved and brought back, mark my words, Kashia."
"And then what? Remember, I was defending myself and my own! Albedo had her concocted schemes that definitely went against your wishes, and she even claimed that she was the one to mind control Shalltear, not that I believe it."
"I will uncover everything once I have retrieved Albedo. Then, we'll continue this conversation. Until then, just leave me be. I don't particularly want to speak with you for a while." The lich said, turning to leave.
"Suzuki, just step back for a moment and think about everything that's happened. You're acting like a petulant child instead of an adult." I tried to reason with him.
"I am acting as the ruler of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown, and you will refer to me as such." He replied without any emotion in his tone. With that statement, I realized how much I screwed up and pushed him away.
Quickly, I went over to him and grabbed him by the arm, "Suzuki, I'm so sorry about what I said, but don't start tossing away who you are to become the monster your NPCs want you to be. I know that you are better than that. We need-"
"We don't need anything. What I need to do is retrieve Albedo and have time to myself to think. What you need to do is leave me alone." As Momonga said this, he finally stopped glowing green and then ripped his arm from my grasp.
"Please, Suzuki…" He walked away from me without another word and teleported soon after, "…I'm sorry."
I was too emotional and screwed up. I could've been more diplomatic, but I acted impulsive and rash, even using a sore subject against him. I just pushed Suzuki away, and it was my fault…
[Ratatoskr]
After leaving Sugar-Tits and the mortals behind, I started investigating outside the tenth realm and its growing branch. Something about pretty boy and that root he grew out of himself seemed off, and it bothered me immensely.
For one thing, every root has a voice, from both grown and conjured. Even roots long since dead would have an echo that I could hear. Yet for pretty boy and the root growing out of himself that was way too close to Yggy's to be a coincidence?
His root was silent. Way too silent. I may have even tried to question pretty boy about it if it wasn't for the fact that I doubt he knew much of anything, and that Sugar-Tits would attempt to skin me alive for interrogating her boy-toy.
As for the other reason that pretty boy and his root felt off, it's because there was a line that I could trace from it, faint as it was, which led outside of the realm. Since it wasn't normal, and it didn't speak to me like any of Yggy's roots should, that made it strange for this root to have a connection outside of the realm.
The real question was who or what this connection was to. I needed to get to the bottom of it since I didn't like mysteries, not when it was in connection to Yggy. This led me to following that connection to the twisted and growing tangle of branches that Yggy used to slowly reinforce and bind this realm to herself.
Honestly, after so many thousands of years of being unable to grow new realms because all of her power was split between maintaining the current realms alongside imprisoning and siphoning the power from Niddy, I feel that Yggy had been a little too excited in the urge to adopt this found realm into herself.
"Ya' know, ya' should've been more patient in finding out more about this realm instead of grabbing it the moment ya' see it. Ya' could catch something doing that." I commented as I crawled through the tangle. In mortal equivalents, Yggy's branch was the diameter of an entire mile. Absolutely tiny in comparison to the other branches, but that would change in time.
Yggy simply gave me one of her huffy moods at the chastising. "Ya' know I'm right. Just because your milf of a grandkid is doing fine there doesn't mean that ya' will be good taking the new realm into yourself."
She argued back that if her granddaughter was there, then it definitely meant that she should connect the realm to herself. I rolled my eyes at the excuse before squeezing my way through a tight tangle.
"Mind opening up a bit?" Yggy widened the gap in her roots and I pulled myself through, "Thank ya'!" Behind me, the roots closed and tightened once more. "If this is about paling around with another one of your descendants, you've got what, a few hundred to a few thousand by now?"
I received a metaphorical roll of Yggy's non-existent eyes from the question. That earned a sigh from me. "Then what is it?" I went upside-down as I crawled along a root that hung over the abyss leading to the Un-Realm. Most would be terrified to be in my position right now.
As for me? Well, I am a squirrel for one. A god for another. And finally, Yggy wouldn't allow me to fall to my death. All of this led to me being extremely comfortable.
In response to my prior question, Yggy showed me the symbol of her blessing. "Oh, ya' have interest in Sugar-Tits cause she could contain your blessing without exploding?" The warmth from Yggy told me that I was correct.
"She is her mom's kid, so that's a bit of a given. Besides, ya' like fox momma enough to help her to keep part of her original realm, even allowing it to grow. With that kinda attention, ya' might even start to make me feel jealous." I said with a chuckle, receiving an uncharacteristic silence from her.
"Looks like I'm right.~" I mockingly sang back to her, earning another grumble. I was about to make another one of my scathing remarks when I found myself brought before something that I didn't like.
Tangled up in Yggy's growing roots was a black line of a root shooting forwards towards the tenth realm while burrowing itself into Yggy's pristine white roots. It also shot further back into the branch towards Yggy, burying itself into more of her roots.
"Yggy, did ya' notice this bad root growing from ya'?" I questioned while approaching and inspecting the dark line. Yggy only responded to my question with confusion. She wasn't aware of any line.
I see, so this line is parasitic. Hiding from Yggy by blending into her body. She wouldn't notice anything wrong. Only an outside observer would, and that's only due to her likely growing in a way to actually expose the line.
"Don't move anything into this spot." I commanded, receiving acknowledgement from Yggy in turn. With one of my claws, I attempted to slice through the line, but oddly enough, I was unable to cut it. Glaring at the foreign invader, I brought the line to my teeth and was finally able to gnaw through the line.
Satisfied at besting this annoying parasite line, I found my eyes quickly widening as power came from the origin section of the line before both sections of the separated line snaked back to one another and combined, fully repairing itself.
An annoyed chatter left my lips as I could already see how much of a pain in my ass this would be.
Change of plans, I'll find where this root is stemming from and kill it from there. Moving from the line, I scampered down Yggy's system while following the black line. It'll take a bit of time, but I should get to the source within a quick enough amount of time. Really, the thing that confused me in all of this was how pretty boy was connected to it?
When I'm finished cutting this line down from the source, I think that I'm going to have a long chat with pretty boy. I don't like parasites on my Yggy, and I plan to find out exactly how he's related to it.