Merry Christmas everyone. (Or whatever you call your day off on DEC 25.)

Chapter 109

The explosion threw Raphtalia forward, but in the time it took her to clear the pace-wide porch of her home, she'd gone into a defensive tuck and spin. Ake and Sadeena were similarly thrown from the blast, with one tucking her arms in front of her and hopping backwards, the other getting slapped off his feet only to recover with a clanking roll that brought him up onto his feet again.

Then through the smoke a throwing spike, a kunai, zipped through the air at Raphtalia. With one hand still covering the back of her head, the other went to the Katana. She had no time to draw properly, and instead pulled the blade and sheath out of her sash and let the point of the kunai glance off the sheath.

And from seemingly nowhere, emerging from the shadows, the burning house, the ground, the very air itself, therianthropes appeared. Half-frogs, rabbit-men, killer whales like Sadeena, and others besides surrounded the three of them, all dressed in dusk black outfits.

There was a moment of tension, as sounds of alarm came from the rest of the village.

Then all at once, they attacked.

Raphtalia had two attack her with something similar yet shorter to a katana, and she was just barely able to draw and parry one on each of the Vassal Katana, and the dragon bone sheath. Sadeena started to move towards Raphtalia, her harpoon up and ready, but three who had the same two-tone skin colour on their hands moved in with studded staves. Ake managed exactly one swing, missing by a finger width before a frog-human, a rabbit-man and a fox-faced person jumped at him.

It was all they could do to back up, group up, and keep themselves from getting surrounded before the first reinforcements arrived.

"Lightning Spear!" Motoyasu shouted from somewhere down the path, a blast of lightning punching one of Ake's opponents clear off their feet, but aside from a grunt of pain, they still landed on their feet without issue.

"Daughter of the one who abandoned his inheritance to the Seat of the Heavenly Emperor! You've made your intentions clear to us! We will do everything in our power to thwart your claim to the Seat! Prepare yourself!" The one who'd originally thrown the kunai declared, pointing his blade at her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raphtalia demanded, throwing one of her opponents back with a shove of locked blades, but then backing off as the other moved in to cover his ally before she could do more.

"Starlight Sword!" Ren joined in behind Motoyasu, a shower of sparkling steel falling in and around the enemy.

"Ninja? The hell?" Motoyasu asked, the two forces parting suddenly as a glowing arrow just missed one of the ninja's feet. He then put the fingers of one hand to his lips and let out a shrill whistle.

"Holders of the Spirit Implements? Permissions to draw Weapons of Judgment granted!" The apparent leader said, squinting at the two heroes who had gotten into melee range, "And you! Take care of the former water dragon's Miko!"

"Yes Sir!"

All at once, there was a click from each of them and their weapons were suddenly coated in a pale flame.

The ones who looked similar to Sadeena seemed to go for a suicide rush, their staves held cross-body as they just tackled the woman off the cliff. "No! Sadeena!" Raphtalia called out, but the attack was back on.

(Rifana)

Being bound to the shadow of the tree, there was only one thing the ghost of Raphtalia's best friend could do as she watched the rising smoke of Raphtalia's home billow into the air.

She clasped her hands together, "This humble protector of this sacred tree calls for her master."

And high above, the bees started to go into high alert, the air vibrating with the sudden increase in wing speed from hundreds of arm length insects.

(Raphtalia)

It wasn't that the invaders had become any harder to deal with, and to be blunt, they were already incredibly strong and skilled! But the strange aura now surrounding their weapons seemed to nullify a great deal of power from the three Legendary weapons. Itsuki's bow seemed to be no more powerful than someone throwing sticks. Ren's sword, when he could land a hit at all, seemed blunted. Motoyasu's spear might as well have been a blunt staff, though he was doing the best of the three.

On the other hand, any villagers who had started to run towards the fighting were thrown back with almost no effort. Ake, his oath given to protect the village, did his best to get between them and the fighting though it did leave Raphtalia a little less protected.

But then real help started to arrive.

"Master!" Kuro called out as she and Tetsu crested the hill Raphtalia's house used to be on, old lady Ragnarok just barely visible in the feathers of Kuro's back.

"We'll help!" Tetsu said, matching pace with Kuro, transformed feet slamming against the ground as they ran into the fray, Risha riding atop her.

Raphtalia herself had been singled out however, and even fighting defensively she was taking small wounds. It didn't help that the strange aura defended them against the Vassal Katana as well. But, she finally managed to get in among the other three heroes as Kuro, Tetsu and their two riders came in to help.

"Why are they attacking?" Ren asked, parrying an enemy katana, twisting his own blade to try and bind the blade, then straight up punching the rabbit-man in the nose. "Huh, kind of satisfying." He said before having to back up a step against a redoubled effort to attack.

"I don't know!" Raphtalia growled, "Something about an inheritance? AH!" She was suddenly hit by a blast of weird magic, "What? Was that dragon magic?"

"It was." Ragnarok grumbled, letting Rishia and her blade parry while she backed up, "I'll put an end to that."

"She uses our sacred techniques! Kill her as well!" One of the enemy commanded.

That one was swatted through a tree by Tetsu's tail... Only to start struggling to their feet a moment later. "Ow! They're super tough!" Tetsu complained, the magic gloves on her front 'hands' flaring as she blocked a thrown dagger.

"Where is Kodori!?" Itsuki grumbled, having to hide behind Rishia so he could use his bow.

"She's literally in another world right now!" Motoyasu replied, "But we really could use her right now!"

As if to reply, one of Raphtalia's attackers was suddenly impaled by a spear. It looked like a spiral of ivory, like a narwhal's horn, but it was moving at almost unreasonable speeds. The one who had been hit, a frog-human, kept going as the spear lodged inside him but still had momentum to spare.

(Kodori)

Usa, Clive, Atla, Fohl, SITA-six (or was it seven?), S'yne and myself arrived in front of a kneeling Rifana in the cave inside my tree. The others looked around for a moment while I knelt, the sound of angry bees filling the air above me.

I placed a hand on her head, "I answer your prayer. Now stop that."

"No." She did stop, but only after opening an eye and smiling up at me, then sticking out her tongue. "Raphtalia's home was just blown up, and there is fighting around it. I can't see any more than that."

I took my hand off her head, leaned down further to give her forehead a tiny kiss, "Thank you for your call." Then I stood, turned and said, "Let's go. SITA? I wanna try something. Usa, go with the siblings, S'yne, help him. Clive, find a good spot."

"Here you go." SITA said as we stepped out of the tree-cave.

It was a tool, since tools were the only thing SITA could ever make with her abilities, or use with her limitations. The actual name for it was an 'atlatl', a deceptively simple yet well engineered ancient tool that 'levered' a spear forward with by turning your hand and wrist into an extra joint of force. From the Shield's inventory, I took out a length of spiralling horn, broken off a fish that Kizuna had caught, and something I planned to make into... something. But for the moment, it was just a spear straight length of super hard bone that had a hollow little notch at the base. A monster drop, not a weapon.

All the same, I fitted the notched end of the 'spear throwing stick' into the end, picked a target, and with all my strength aimed for the back of one of the... (were those ninja? Meh, I'll ask a survivor, they were attacking my raccoon friend...) And heaved the atlatl forward with all the strength my arm, armour, and magical enchantments could muster.

(Raphtalia)

"What?!" One of the enemy blurted out as their comrade twitched, stuck to the (no longer) nice rock Raphtalia had on her front lawn.

A moment later, that one was dead too, an arrow the length of someone's leg drilled straight through his forehead.

Then Usa and S'yne appeared next to Raphtalia, the rabbit-man's whip curling with lightning, and the colourful girl's giant scissors parrying a blade then closing on it to snap it like a twig.

"Who." clank clank, "Is attacking." Clank Clank, "My friends?" Kodori asked as she walked forward, an open book in either hand, a suit of scaled plate armour, and a black fox mask with two golden eyes that were burning with a purple fire.

And a moment later, a swarm of bees started to descend from the great tree behind her, led by a humanoid, human sized, bee with a viciously barbed spear in his hands.

Combat froze for a moment, giving Motoyasu just enough time to say, "Full points for style." Then, something actually useful, "They have some kind of anti-hero magic going on!"

Then Raphtalia got a party request, as did everyone else, and Kodori said, "Begin auto casting rotating support spells."

Except past the 'initial assessment', the attackers were too professional to be impressed.

"Sir! Permission to use a Sakura Stone of destiny!"

"We didn't bring any for this operation! Be ready to die an honourable death!"

Then Kodori said something that chilled everyone who knew her.

"Fine with me, you're still useful dead." Something she'd only said to monsters who didn't run away when they went hunting.

And the 'home team' started to glow with a rainbow aura, their Status magic screens lighting up with a dozen different buff spells from both the Book Shield, Vassal Book, and a pair of black foxes that appeared on Kodori's shoulders.

(Kodori)

I hated dealing with zealots. They didn't need to have some kind of religion, or follow a dictator, or any of that. When you mixed madness, conviction, and violence, you got a zealot, willing to die for some purpose simply because they believed it was the right thing to do. I was impressed, yet a little sad, they ignored my 'shock and awe'. I mean, even in Orario, when you start losing party members and have a sudden swarm of monsters show up, the usual reaction is 'fighting retreat'.

But the few words they spoke, and the weapons they were holding, told me a lot of 'who' if not 'what' was going on. But that just raised more questions. Why would Q'ten Lo send people here? Why would Raphtalia be their target? And did they really have sakura there?

I thought this while the long list of buff spells auto-cast themselves from the two Books and the messenger foxes on my shoulders, letting me observe, think, and consider how to get those answers. They were strong. Considering my party, including Atla and Fohl now, were hovering near the eighty or more range, only something that outright killed them seem to slow them down for long.

They were fearless too... most people would worry when the sky sounded like it was filled with flying chainsaws, but even with Tenno and his children hovering around out of range as a show of force, they were hardly spared a second glance.

Great. Professional zealots who wanted to kill my favourite raccoon.

"Going to step in then?" SITA asked, hiding behind me since she couldn't attack, only create.

"Yeah. Find a spot to observe." I said, then raised my voice, "Atla!"

Atla lacked skill. She wasn't bad, but too straight forward to fight someone with real experience. Oddly enough though, she was having the easiest time. Her punches and kicks were cracking what ever defence these 'ninja' had, while the three heroes seemed to be fighting with toy weapons.

She drove her fist into her opponent, pelting him backwards and nearly adding to the impaled frog-human. "Yes?!" A pause as she jumped backwards, Fohl interposing himself between her and a thrust blade, his armoured forearm parrying it. "Oh! Of course! Usa!"

(Raphtalia)

Raphtalia watched as Kodori's armour seemed to explode, but a moment later, it revealed that only the scales had come off, leaving behind the same armour she'd made before fighting Kyo. All those scales flew up over the battleground, then just... fell to the ground among the attackers. They caught in clothing, slipped down backs, fell into pockets, sprinkled themselves on the ground... but never once touched anyone in the party.

Then Atla dug her fingers into the ground, her brother pushing away an attacker to give her space before stepping back to defend her properly. "I bring the iron bones of the land upwards." She said, her back radiating a heat haze as something powerful, but not magic, gathered inside her, while the ground started to shift slightly, blackening as if coal ash were pulling itself up from the soil.

Usa was last, spinning his whip over his head to make those around him shy away for a half second, before he lashed it upwards into the sky. "Heaven's ire strikes the divine anvil!" The topaz of his whip discharged, sending a lightning bolt up into the sky.

Then Kodori gave a command everyone she had ever partied with knew. "DUCK AND COVER!"

Raphtalia jumped backwards, pushing her opponent away then retreating with all her might. Rishia picked up Itsuki like a sack of potatoes and ran. Tetsu ran with Kuro on her back. Motoyasu cross-checked Ren to get them both behind the rock the poor frog-human was impaled on. Lady Ragnarok pushed Ake back with a palm, making the knight roll backwards down the hill before she joined him in getting away.

This left a couple dozen confused attackers in a circle with no one around, before one of the rabbit-men's ears sparked like an electrified antenna...

(Kodori)

I closed both Books and stuck them to either hip, then walked forward into the scorched and blackened crater next to poor Raphtalia's house (which was slowly burning itself into a crater all its own). Coming up the path was a sore looking Ake and old lady. Kuro came back riding on Tetsu (Kuro would only say she was doing it to assert dominance, not because Tetsu had finally become her friend). Usa was rubbing his poor ears. Raphtalia and her really nice Miko outfit looked irritated but mostly okay. The other three heroes, were in rough shape, but I was still pleased to see them all here.

And as I stopped in the middle of the crater, the silent bodies of the invaders all around me, Atla and Fohl stood and joined me.

"Well done." I said, pausing as the sound of thunder came from down the cliff, "Oh, Sadeena's alive. So, what was all this about?" I asked, "Anyone of you on the ground want to tell me?"

"That didn't kill them?" Fohl asked, starting to kneel to roll one over, but I stopped him.

"SITA!" I held out a hand.

From behind a tree safely outside the blast zone, "Angle... trajectory... power... ya!"

A sparkling cube of crystal hit my palm, and didn't even bounce. A perfect throw. But otherwise, there was no reply from anyone on the ground. They weren't fooling me though, I could hear their hearts beating, though they were holding their breath.

"What are you..." Raphtalia started, stepping forward into the circle of charred ground.

I pointed at her just as one of the bodies on the ground sprang up, knife in hand, going for her throat...

Only to have one of Clive's arrows go through the ninja's ear, making him miss and sending his body cartwheeling away from Raphtalia. "Dungeon rule?" I started.

She blinked in shock, her glare gone as she repeated, "Make sure your opponent is dead in case of ambush."

I knelt down and flipped over the nearest body, "Well?"

This one also sprang up at me, but I suddenly had the Shield of Marius between us, the 'gravity' enchantment off so its full weight slammed him flat to the ground. Atla and Fohl backed off, and the one under the Shield started to speak.

"Daughter of the one who abandoned his inheritance of the Seat of the Heavenly Emperor! We have already noted your declaration of war! Messengers have already been sent to inform our people. Our assassins will never coming for you! Your days of peace and quiet are over! Hahaha!"

Then his body started to glow, as did all the others... "S'yne!" I called out, a little pin from her weapon hitting me and pulling me away from the crater of glowing bodies.

"Glory to the Heavenly Emperor!"

I put my hand to the back of the Shield of Marius, and made a Shield Prison around the crater, the 'face' of the Shield inward, then grew out the protective crystal-metal on the front of all those shields... But not before tossing in the little crystal cube.

Cleanup wasn't so bad really. Discounting Raphtalia's recently rebuilt house (now a sad stack of charring wood) and the lightning blasted shallow crater of glassy dirt just a little bit away from her (also charred) front porch... oh, and the rock with the still intact but exceptionally dead frog-human.

And one quartz cube that looked a little alarmingly like a magic stone from the dungeon, sitting innocently in the middle of a bunch of fabric scraps, shattered weapons and... crispy body parts. SITA picked that up while we looked for 'evidence', my usual doctrine of 'clean up after yourself' in effect, even here, while those not in my usual party were told to check for injuries or sit down out of the way.

Not long after the start of cleanup, Sadeena showed up. Like the rest of them, she looked a bit scuffed up, her usual robe/bathing suit cut in a few places, her nice skin cut and scraped in a few more, but she wasn't leaning on her harpoon or anything, just tired looking. Raphtalia broke away from cleanup duty, and I got to see a rare moment of her fussing over someone.

There were a few things that caught my eye though. One, was Erhard. Not only was he here (with SITA..two? Giving SITA six(or seven?) a high five (and syncing data with each other)) he was looking over some of the broken weapons with... I think the closest I could come to describing it, was Welf looking at something I made, after he showed me how he did it.

Another was Sadeena giving me 'the side eye' when she thought I wasn't watching.

And lastly? The other three heroes looking like they wanted to talk to me.

After about an hour of 'cleanup', making sure Raphtalia didn't mind using her already burning house as a funeral pyre, and calming all the villagers (who were actually pretty calm already... I praised Ake for this, since he was in charge of 'disaster training'), we got the 'village council' Raphtalia had put together (just the ones who 'knew the most' about the various things a village needed to run and build itself) into the (now fully built) dining/ceremony/big room to do big things in that wasn't a smelly barn for animals, we got seated, got dinner going in the (also fully built now) hall's kitchen, and got sat down for a talk.

"So." I started, summoning a little cushion from my inventory so my armoured butt didn't scratch the bench or give me a case of cube-ass. Once seated, my tails fluffing out behind me in their newest 'usual order', "What happened before I showed up?"

Before anyone could answer, Tetsu sat next to me and gave me her very best sad dragon eyes.

"Yes you may." I said, curling my tails around to rest on my lap, then having Tetsu flop over my lap. Missed out headpats then proceeded to happen.

First, I watched all eyes go to Raphtalia, or at least, all eyes of the combatants who were there. But then to my surprise, they slid over to Sadeena, including Raphtalia's.

"No getting away from it now I suppose..." She sighed. "Her parents never wanted her to have to deal with this, so I've been keeping it a secret until now. But when you get to the whale teeth about it all, she's royalty from-"

"Q'ten Lo?" I guessed.

"Eh? Yes." Sadeena blinked, derailed, "How..."

"Weapons like that seem to come from a certain place. Since becoming part of Zeltobe's oligarchy, stuff like that has been catching my eye." I looked to Erhard, caught his eye, but didn't comment. "And what he said before blowing himself up kind of gave it away as well."

Everyone (except a quietly purring Tetsu) looked at me.

"What?"

"You're one of Zeltobe's merchant kings now?" Someone asked.

"Hardly worth mentioning. After buying my party the class up ceremony, then getting involved with Hickwaal and some of the other merchant kings, and basically installing the leadership of that sad little town between Zeltobe and Siltvelt, then turning it into a small industrial powerhouse for magic glass... You know, I can explain it later." I looked to Sadeena, "Please go on."

"Right..." She took a deep breath, "Well, that outfit?" She motioned to Raphtalia, who was still wearing the nice Combat Miko outfit (version two, Kodori edited version for actual combat), "It's something only the Empress is allowed to wear."

A few comments buzzed around the table, including a, "Makes sense that she looks good in it." From Motoyasu, who, I might add, was nodding along with Kuro, not getting beaten up by her.

"So... instead of becoming emperor, or fighting for succession or whatever it is they do there, Raphtalia's father decides it's not for him, leaves, and tries to give it up for happiness." I said.

"You make it sound so simple, and a little insulting!" Raphtalia growled.

"Not at all. I'd much rather be at home with the people I love, than dealing with everyone's problems. It's exactly what I did back home." I countered.

Sadeena sighed, but nodded, "Yes, just so. But I figured they'd leave her alone, since she didn't know anything about it... And if she did her laundry before we left, she might never have worn that outfit."

"Wait... so..." Raphtalia paused, "So... When you were looking around the village sometimes, and that time you said something strange to the other Tanuki who came recently... Were you looking for them?"

"Their spies use a special stealth magic. Unless you know exactly what to look for, they're as invisible as a blade of grass usually. And I said that because until now, you had no idea who your father was.

"Sadeena..." I said, feeling my temper twisting inside my chest, "How long have they been watching?" That level of stealth was on par with Mikoto when she went to sneak cookies for the orphans. I only ever found out because she was too honourable to not admit it later.

"Since... since her father left."

"And now, when she's the leader of a village of demi-humans, and forgets to do her laundry, they try and kill her?" I growled.

"And since she has your support now too I think." She added.

"So they watched Lurolona burn the first time during the wave. Watched everything that's happened to her since then. And never once stepped in to help? They just let an innocent child suffer because they were told to just watch in case she ever put on a set of clothing? Because they were so focused on that, they never noticed her ignorance?"

I would have stood up, but Tetsu had rolled over a little and was now hugging my middle like a very contented dead-weight.

"And now, since she did the most horrible thing of wearing some clothing she never even got in this world, they're going to send more assassins... you know, forget it. Raphtalia, you're a grown woman, and for something like this, I'd wait for you to ask for help." Tetsu hugged me tighter, letting me know she was awake, and well aware she was being an anchor. "I let it slide and fixed it properly when Aultcray and the Church of Three were screwing around here..."

(Raphtalia)

Raphtalia met Kodori's eyes, and knew what the question would be before it was asked, but also knew Kodori had to ask it, to make the question 'real'.

"Raphtalia. Do you want to join me while I go to Q'ten Lo, and fix it?" Kodori asked, the anger, the faintly glowing horns on her head, the fact that Tetsu was the only thing stopping her from going right now, to enact what was probably going to be a lot worse than what happened to Rabier, possibly over several days to many people.

But, even if their relation had cooled somewhat, she knew that Kodori would get it done, with, or without her. But this time, it wasn't just her that these people from Q'ten Lo had harmed by their inaction. But her family, her village, and her village a second time. A single moment of aid would even have saved Rifana.

"Yes. I'd like to fix this as well."

Aside from Tetsu, Kodori and Raphtalia, everyone shivered at the ice in her reply.

"After dinner." Sadeena said, "Now that I'm back on the job, you're not skipping meals anymore."

(Kodori)

I was angry. Really angry. So angry I was angry that I was angry, and it was making me angry!

But, Tetsu was curled up on my lap while I sat facing the dim glow of my Cal Mira tree just barely visible over the horizon. And since she was basically an adorable cat that you didn't want to disturb while they slept on you, I wasn't going anywhere no matter how angry I was. I knew Gaelion was sharing his wisdom, but also his... 'emotional balance' with Tetsu, and keeping her from panicking or trying to chase after me... but now that I was here, I wasn't going to stop her from clinging to me.

By Hestia's blue ribbons, I missed my children.

"I like her smile." Tetsu mumbled from my lap, wiggling her head a little under my left hand.

She made me realize I'd stopped petting her head, so, I resumed, "She's one of the reasons I am as strong as I am." I said, "Back home, I might be the strongest in the city, but without her, I'd be a hopeless brute who would be either dead, or insane. She's my everything, who gave me almost everything else I value."

"She's your happy place." Tetsu said, her wings and tails twitching a little before she cuddled just a little closer some how. But like me, she would do anything to stay in her happy place too, even if it had a tendency to move around and do stuff.

There was a long silence, and I thought she'd gone back to napping, but then...

"We're going to help Raphtalia, right?"

"Is that a question a clever dragon would ask?" I replied.

"heehee..." And back to sleep she went. But at least I wasn't so angry anymore.

The next morning, while Raphtalia was chatting with her village experts, I got the other three heroes together, and we had a bit of a chat under the disguise of some morning exercise.

"What's going on?" Itsuki asked, looking a bit groggy, "And... why so early?"

Motoyasu and Ren had been in on the 'morning stretching' thing for a while now, so they were already bright eyed. So, I started simple with some deep knee bends. "Just follow along. I want to talk about the assassins."

"Ours, or little Raphtalia's?" Motoyasu asked, keeping count with me, "Sometimes being important sucks."

"Ours." I replied, waiting until I'd gotten to a 20 count then switching to toe touches. "Back home, we had a guy who wrote an entire book on military tactics. Thing is, it was still relevant a thousand years later." Toe touches done, back to squats. "When you are strong, appear weak. When you are weak, appear strong."

I let them consider that, and Ren spoke up, "So... lure them out somehow?"

Another set of squats done, I set my feet and started to wiggle them apart, lowering myself into a split, "Don't hurt yourselves, just go until its a little uncomfortable." I explained, "Anyhow, yes, exactly that. Motoyasu? Give them the cliff notes?"

So while they tried not to bend themselves into funny shapes, Motoyasu descibed his encounter. After concluding with, "And then he just giggled his way into vanishing into black tar."

"And you think he's still... 'alive'?" Itsuki asked.

"Very possible." I nodded, motioning with my head for them to start jogging. "But this guy didn't seem stupid. He attacked when Motoyasu only had Kuro with him, and tried to put her down as fast as possible to isolate him."

"So... You want us to wander off alone, and..." Ren asked, his recent work with Eclair seemed to have improved his overall fitness a great deal. "Oh... I saw that thing... S'yne? Yes, I saw what she did..."

"She thinks the one who Motoyasu fought was one of the people who killed the heroes of her world." I explained, "And since I fully intend on living through this..." I looked back to Itsuki, who was starting to do that 'determined flailing' at the air to keep jogging. So I stopped to let him catch up and rest. "Now, since I want to resolve this thing with Raphtalia as fast as possible, I'm not sure we're going to get a chance to deal with our assassin problem for the moment."

"You have a portal to their Hourglass then?" Motoyasu asked, then shook his head, "Stupid question, of course you do."

If I admitted it, it would become true, sure. But this brought up a little idea. "You know, I suddenly want to show off a little." I rubbed Itsuki's back to help calm his breathing, "Why don't we visit that little town you tried to liberate?"

Even gasping for breath, he managed a pout. "Please... don't rub it in?"

"No no. With Rishia making sure you don't do it again, there won't be a second time like that. However, the walk between there and Siltvelt is a couple of days. And while we are there, I can get you set up with a few things." I smiled, giving the small of Itsuki's back a pat to straighten him back up. "But first, we have to lay down the foundations of the trap."

"Oh? I mean, we have a plan, so what more do we need?" Ren asked.

"We need to make sure anyone interested knows it's going to happen. So from now until lunchtime, I want you to casually mention the plan to visit that little town. If they are around listening in, or have some other way to spy on us, then they'll try and plan their own ambush."

"What if they're listening now?" Motoyasu asked.

I looked up at my tree, and the cloud of bees up in the branches doing their bee-sy work. "Under the shadow of my trees, I know everything that's going on. Say, are any of you afraid of ghosts? There's someone I want you to meet."

NOTES!

Going to be a busy trip, and the heroes are going to see what Kodori managed to do in her spare time. :)

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