Zagaroth

  While Mordecai was pting his pns for their zone, he noticed the return of one of his messengers. Erryn's te afternoourn was slightly more notable given that a skulk of young kitsune women surrounded him. Mordecai didn't normally apply that term froup of foxes to kitsune, but it somehow seemed fitting in this case.

  This was also the moment that he realized that by basing usagisune biology on kitsune biology, he'd probably made them more attractive on average to kitsuhan humans and elves were. And he'd just sent a male messeo a otoriously shy of males. And these girls looked like they wao find some boys of their own.

  He shook his head and shifted his avatar toward the edge of their territory, appearing far enough away to approach them casually and observe how the women moved a little further away from the young man they'd been crowding, but only a little. "I think I don't want to know the details of this little story," he said dryly as Erryn looked abashed, "but I suspect you o go get some rest while I chat with your friends here."

  Erryn nodded while somehow looking simultaneously embarrassed, pleased, and smug. "As you say sir."

  When the messearted to pass by Mordecai, his attention was caught by a small detail and he id a hand on Erryn's shoulder. "Wait." He plucked a single long, dark hair that had gotten tangled around a button on Erryn's vest. A dark hair with a hint of an aura much strohan any of the one or two-tailed vixens who had so kindly escorted Erryn home. He focused oate of Erryn's spirit before sighing. "Never mind, carry on."

  Now he turned his attention to the bright-eyed group of eager-looking women. "I think I have already figured out what sort of game you are hunting for on this visit. If you make it down to the vilge at the start of the river zone, you are permitted to attempt to court anyone who allows it. But I must emphasize that you have to earn your way there and that you will be peting with the usagisune women. And any other visitors who might be so ined I presume. Given how few there currently are, I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, and you will respey denials you receive. Now go on and find yourselves a room, there might be quite a dey iing an open spot for the delve. Oh, and pass on those rules to your kin, alright?"

  Mordecai didn't give them a ce to put up much of a protest before he started walking away. He wasn't in the mood to hear it right now.

  "What was that about?" Kazue asked.

  "Take a peek at Erryn's spirit." He sent back.

  "Um, what happeo him? Those look like shallow cw marks, but that doesn't seem right."

  That caused him to chuckle. "You are quite correct. It seems Norumi's mother passed down a certain trick, and Norumi passed it on in turn. I hadn't realized she'd left that legacy before she left. It's not particurly harmful, at least, not more so than the marks you and Moriko have left on my skin. Well, with more focus and will, it allow a kitsuo strike a spirit creature, but that's not what happened here."

  Kazue was silent a moment before she asked, "Um, does that mean Aia and Erryn...?" She let the question trail off.

  "It seems so, yes."

  Her question caught him off guard. "So, is that a trick you teach me?" Moriko chimed in too, just as eagerly.

  "I have the feeling I should probably say no, but it seems I like to spoil my wives. So yes, I . But Moriko, you do that already, if in a different way. You already know how to el chi to let you strike a spirit creature, and it's mostly a toned doect of that."

  "Oh? Oh!" The half-elf replied with suddehusiasm. "And I have a partner right here to start practig on tonight. Thank you both for the tip." Kazue's soul might be safely ensced in their core, but her avatar's spirit was aension of her own.

  Kazue groaned, "That's not fair, you were supposed to be the first victim."

  While his wife sulked over dramatically, Mordecai turned his attention back to his work. He already knew what he wanted for two of the bosses, and at least one new creature type, but there were still a lot of decisions to be made.

  This ption was broken by a tug on his attention; a surging flow of fusion, worry, fear, and then finally panic. "Lord Mordecai, Lady Kazue, I'm sorry, but I do not think you should have elevated me so quickly. I am afraid that with the return of my memories, my mother will find me soon."

  That was... Camil? Mordecai's core examined her aura to find newly unfolding patterns that had been tucked away deep into her soul. Patterns that were still very fey, and that were now being strained by her status as a floor boss, rather thaed.

  Mordecai abandoned all thoughts of developing their new zone and began actively eling mana intthening their boundaries against all forms of non-standard spacial movement. This was a rarely used trick, you had to be able to anticipate a potential intrusion and be willing to sustain the tinual drain, which grew in proportion with your cimed territory.

  Kazue asked in fusion, "What's going on?"

  As he turned most of his attention to sing their borders, Mordecai replied, "I mentioned before that it was a little strange for your pseudo-fairies to wake up as they hadn't been so much creatures as animated pieces of the puzzle. I also mentioned my hypothesis that the newly awakened potential drew sprite sparks from the Other Side. It seems someone decided to runaway from home by hiding her mind ihe form of a spark, and I do not want to know a sihing else until I ask, not even a name."

  That st sentence was emphatically sent at Camil, whose response carried a pleased purr in her voice. "I uand, and am pleased that even in my reduced state I mao find such a wise protector."

  Mordecai suppressed the urge to snarl at her a a tight message to Kazue, "Don't respond to that note in her voice or anything else like it, I have to deal with it or she won't respect it." Shadow-bsted Fae. Dealing with pixies and fairies was ohing, dealing with Faeries was another.

  A slight shiver of energy at the edge of their borders told Mordecai where to focus his attention. At the border was peared to be a tall, refined-looking elf male in rather dapper clothing and with a mildly annoyed expression on his face. As the man made his way on foot deeper into their territory, Mordecai moved to intercept him. Normally he'd have covered most of the distance by manually shifting his avatar's location, but with so much of his core's attention being spent on strengthening their boundaries, it would be too difficult right now.

  "Greetings to you fair guest," Mordecai called out as soon as he was within a reasonable hailing distance. "I am Lord Mordecai, and it is my pleasure to wele you to my home. What business brings you our way this fine evening?" Between his avatar's acute senses and his core's dungeon sehe man's gmour no longer quite hid the more ethereal features of Faerie nobility, nor the faint motes of energy that his aura geed and the faerie wings on his back.

  Calling the visituest was a very deliberate tacti this sario and the brief frown on the man's face showed that he uood it. "Greetings Lord Mordecai," the visitor replied with a bow, "I am Lord Silvander, and I e here on behalf of Queen Sylphine as her seneschal. She has reason to believe that her daughter, Princess Era, is to be found inside your territory. Would you be able to inform me as to her whereabouts?"

  Mordecai wale his floor boss. Instead, he returhe bow and replied, "While I am hosting some nobility, I know of none by that name and all are from the neighb kingdom. Perhaps we should discuss this after a meal? I would not want to be a poor host after all." Best to py it safe by binding them both with proper protocol. He disliked pying games by Faerie rules. While he was capable of calling upon Ozuran's guidao break any sort of unfair bindings, his awareness of protoeant that fewer things would be sidered unfair should he fail to take the proper steps for this dance.

  Silvander ined his head in aowledgment. "Food and drink would be appreciated."

  "Excellent, but first I believe it behooves me to make sure you and yours are aware of a current situation. We have retly dealt with a hostile incursion that is part of an ongoing threat. Due to this, we would have to treat arying to obfuscate their presence as they traveled deeper into our domain as a hostile intruder. It would be unfortunate if there were any misuandings."

  One of the motes drifting around Silvander had not faded in and out with the others; now that mote chimed with soft ughter as it floated away from the man and transformed into a woman with bright, emerald-green hair that had an almost metallic luster to it and intense, sky-blue eyes. Despite being as tall as Bellona, she still seemed somehow delicate ae as she curtsied briefly, the yers of her white silk dress making nary a sound. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Mordecai. I am Queen Sylphine."

  Mordecai carefully bowed the precise amount for a sing a visiting sn. "It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty, and I wele you to my home as a guest."

  She pursed her lips thoughtfully at his precise bow, but Mordecai's bow was correct for the situation no matter what the power discrepancy might ht not be. "I see that you have dealt with the Fae before. Iing. Very well the us see what vish feast awaits us."

  Mordecai led their visitors through the st vestiges of light from the setting sun as he spoke to Kazue. "Love, could you please start creating a pair of statues in the likeness of these two? Pce them on the edge of our border with Kuic and fag the Azeria Forest. Once you have their physical likeness, see if you create a likeness of their auras as well."

  Kazue replied, "Yeah, I do that. Looking for backup if we ? Are they that dangerous?"

  "Probably not, if I handle everything correctly, but I do not like taking ces." He didn't see a point in sending messengers as he had previously; the help they might need would have to be faster than that and from a different souryway.

  While he'd led the two faeries to the trading post Mordecai had stopped maintaining the boundary reinfort. Instead, he hastily structed a new building to act as a feast hall a instrus ahead to their inhabitants. He had no iion ing these two any deeper into their territory than he had to. He had also passed messages to a few of their more wele guests who had agreed to join them for dinner. "As I mentioned previously, we do have other nobility staying with us, and it seems rude to not introduce you to them while you are here."

  Ihe feast hall, Princess Orchid waited in her inal, human form to represent Kuic and Shizoku to represent the Azeria , along with Paltira as Orchid's sort. As heir apparent to the 's matriarch, Shizoku was equivalent to a princess even if she didn't share the title. After introdus were made and courtesies performed, the queen and her seneschal were seated at the opposite end from Mordecai, with the princesses seated on the longer sides. At Mordecai's end of the table were three chairs and he said, "I apologize that my wives are uo be here. They are currently in the middle of a tour of Kuic, and have no means to return this swiftly."

  "I see. That is unfortunate, but such circumstances ot be held against you given the surprise nature of Our visit," Sylphine replied, "and you have ehat we have fine pany at least, and suteresting staff." She gestured to the ganthros serving the dinner.

  Mordecai had sidered the idea of having some usagisune serve instead but discarded the idea as too risky. Though they might be visually more impressive in this circumstahey were also far more likely to be sidered attractive and some of what the fae sidered to be casual hospitality was morally questionable by other standards.

  "I am gd you find our hospitality pleasing," he said. "We've mao acquire some iing foods from abroad and our chefs have been practig most diligently, so I hope you will enjoy the food just as much. The mead is a local vintage, and we have some other drinks that might i you as well." He wasn't going to offer up the mushroom elixir as an option; that would open the door to having a bottle requested as a gift and that would lead to him having to deny the request.

  Thankfully Orchid was more than up to the task of taking up the versation from here. Mordecai rexed for a while, letting the versation hum along for a while and providing appropriate responses when he day had started so well too, now he was walking a knife's edge dealing with a Faerie Queen. He'd felt less endangered during the invasion.

  They were well into dessert when Sylphiuro Shizoku with a beaming smile. "You are such a beautiful young woman and with so much potential. I have a son about ye who I think would be a delightful match for you, I should bring him to visit you sometime."

  Shizoku froze, her eyes wide with sudden panic.

  Mordecai really, really hated dealing with the fae some days.

  Zagaroth