Chapter 217 – What Will You Give Up?

*** Yuki ***

Holy shit is Nakuma getting hornier and hornier. At least she's not lasting as long in bed before she's sleeping peacefully in my arms, her tails wrapping around me. But it is getting hard to keep her under me with this growing aggression.

Add on Victoria's nonstop pace, and you get a tired-out Princess. If this wasn't a direct route to my Love, I would've ordered Nakuma to kill her. Well, knock her out for a few days. That damn contract she fucked me with means I need her alive.

I'm sure the Queen counted on Victoria ordering us around like slaves. Each town has the perfect quest to drive us up a bit more north or even a bit east, but buying the ingredients for my potions has been an issue in these towns.

Many would normally make a request for the guild to find them. Instead, I have to annoy Victoria enough to take a detour and grab them myself or sneak around a big city to buy them.

The Queen gave us a written order to stay out of the main cities, though I'm not sure if that is intended to trick everyone into thinking that I'm still in the capital or just to make it seem like I don't care about the Queendom anymore. These small towns likely don't even pick them correctly to be used in a potion, if they even happen to have the ingredients at all.

Three weeks, and we are just halfway to the border and four missions in, and they're only getting harder. The guild has fewer people to support us, so we have to plan out our attacks more than Victoria likes to. Not that it matters too much that it takes more time. We first have to wait for the war to break out before we cross the border anyway. From there, everyone's focus will be on the war and not the missing Kitsune Princess, and most will likely think my mother called back their little failure before she got herself killed in a foreign war.

"Princess, you need to sleep," Nakuma says. "Tomorrow, we attack."

"I know, crazy. I'm just wondering how many we should kill when we get to the Ashmarks' manor. Should I bring some back for Mai? Will Alzi want any of them?" I say.

"We only have three people, so we can only take two. Sleep, or I'll bend you over next time."

"Fine," I say. I sink into her tails and rest my head on her breasts. Eventually, she'll bend me over, but soon, Alzi will be here to help me put her in place.

*** Queen Yumanea ***

Late nights are never what you want at the beginning of a pregnancy, but Elora, then Yuki, then Alzi's mother, and Elora coming up yet again have forced my hand. Even my harem has to pitch in to keep up with everything going on.

I'm looking through all my letters to see what else my admins have been doing while I was focused on Irlo. I'm still only a year into my lapse, and most of the issues are too old to fix correctly. Mining rights and whatnot have had too much investment by one party to give them to the correct party. All I can do is put them down in a book and remember to prioritize the wronged party in the future.

Alzi's mother will be interesting to see. Will that old dragon strike gold a second time before Alzi can get to her? I wonder if Alzi will get her pregnant again. Maybe I can try to get more dragons into Elora's harem and see if some dragons are more likely to give birth to royal dragons.

"Dear, do you have a moment?" Lotus asks.

"Do any of us have a moment anymore? Please sit," I say.

"We both need a moment here and there, love," Lotus says. "I think we're carrying dragons. The Champion must have touched her Goddess at some point by now."

"You think? Honey, this dragon heats me up when I walk in the garden," I say. "Irlo turned my mana into whatever it is now, and this one seems very happy to use it."

"We need to leave some room for the possibility that we just have some smart elves or dryads in here, so we won't be disappointed," Lotus says. "Now, we have even more issues with kids. Namely, our children giving us grandchildren."

Why does it hurt getting things confirmed about that dragon? "Fertility?"

"Who else?" Lotus laughs. "Our daughters are already scheduling time with the nearest Fertility temple. You need to get Irdru to find out if it was everyone or just us. If it is everyone, you may need to keep Alzi in the capital. Maybe just have Yuki marry Elora so she can be a bodyguard. We both know Alzi will cut right through this divine punishment. Oracles are going to share that fact."

"She'll be a healer."

"Kids, dear."

"If she gets stolen, I'll call up Queen Kiyomi and tell her we'll split Alzi right down the middle. I'll throw that collar off, and we'll all sit down with Alzi and work out a deal to get our people kids while I enjoy getting a territory boost for a few months. And Elora basically gets handed the throne," I say. Maybe it really is a blessing to get pregnant. Getting a Champion to back our throne will be useful.

"If the Kitsune ask for more?" Lotus asks. Having them look over all these reports really has given them all a doomed outlook on things.

"I already have an agreement that Yuki is to marry Elora. I would be offering them more than enough, and Alzi gets all the women she loves hand-delivered to her," I say. "Worst case, I hand her some of the women who tortured her in that brothel, and I have Alzi happy, even with Elora's failure to keep her safe. The Kitsune will be glad to have Alzi spending months at a time living up there with them."

"Dragons?"

"Kitsunes. We lose Alzi, they lose Alzi."

"If the Phoenixes get Alzi?"

"That is the only problem I can see with it," I say. "The Dragons and Kitsunes may help, but the Dragons may just work with the Phoenixes to either control Alzi or betray us." How far should I go for that Champion? Fertility is the one that has no reports of a sign, leaving us with another Patron Goddess that my ancestors decided to cut out of our worship. If it is Sex like many think, then who cares? But if it is Death? I doubt she would be able to live with both Life and Death inside her, but the Goddesses are a strange bunch.

I would hope for the Sea, but Fluvis just came out as her Champion, and we already knew her sign. Another reason Elora will be handed the throne. What a lucky little girl.

"What then?" Lotus repeats. Someone doesn't want to lose the father.

"I'll figure something out," I say. "They can't just pull out of a marriage."

"Dear," Lotus sighs. "That will not do. While the Phoenixes and Dragons don't have the same issue as the Kitsunes, giving them Alzi will open us up to different issues. Do you think they will just stay in their realms? We still have no word on the missing Princesses. The current Dragon Queen is vicious and power-hungry. Give her unending kids, and they will come for us. 'I'll figure it out' will not work right now."

"What? Do you want me to promise to strip and walk from my Quarters all the way to the Goddess of Fertility's temple, lie on that altar, and offer my body to her so that Alzi can come back here and marry her mother?"

"Yes, I'm carrying Alzi's child as well. We can go together," Lotus says, her eyes locking with mine. "We need to get Goddesses with actual power to support us. Royalty can only do so much, so this harem may have to offer everything to get Alzi back. When she is, we'll hand her the women you're guarding and follow our new Patron Goddess."

"I am the Queen."

"Yes, and we are your harem, love," Lotus says. "We have all failed in this. We should have taken up this paperwork for you when you scurried off. Nesh should have been banging on your door every day to make you help us with it. When the Priestess came telling us about the girl with glowing hair, we should have taken over her contract and saved her. Elora was right. We say we want to help, and now look where we are. The little girl we should have protected is now a slave who just kicked off a war. We could have prevented this thirty years ago. Now, will you listen to Elora and sacrifice yourself for the Queendom, or are we doomed? The Kitsune may just take Alzi and run. I doubt Yuki and Nakuma are the only two running around in our city. Just a few more, and they may take Elora with them."

I let the question sit for a few moments. Have I really brought the Queendom to this?

"Dear," Lotus says. "I need an answer. Every Queen has to make room for the next generation."

"When was the last time you talked to your Goddess?" I ask.

"The night before I married you, dear. How far into the future do you think she can see?"

"I don't know, and I'm not going to guess," I say. "I'll figure it out. If it requires a sacrifice to Fertility, then so be it. But you better not be leading us down a road to fuck over Fertility's Champion. Now leave. We all have things to do. Our own family needs to prepare to honor the Goddesses, as we used to. Then, send out an order to all the nobles to follow our lead and do so as well. Remember who gave you that child. It wasn't your Goddess."

"My Goddess is your Goddess, dear. But I will hold you to that promise," Lotus says, working herself out of her chair. "I do know a number of other dryads have gotten pregnant thanks to Alzi. One of them even went into our version of heat. I know better than to betray you, but if a Goddess commands something, we all need to listen. Nature can rise up."

"Fertility has risen up, and Nature will be part of our worship. I just need to trust that you won't become like my administrators," I say.

"You know that the Goddess of Love will keep me from going too far. I would be more than willing to renew our vows if needed," Lotus says.

"There's no need to go that far," I say. "I've gone too far already, but I am willing to give up everything to help the next Queen. We'll figure things out as they come."

"That is all I want, dear," Lotus says, walking over to me. "Now, sleep."

"What are you doing?" I ask, the pregnant woman trying to drag me out of my chair.

"Tonight, we both get to sleep," Lotus says. "War will keep us up, and we'll have the party to sort it all out soon enough."

"Fine. I had wished to sleep with my wives more, and then we all got stuck behind a desk," I say, letting her drag me away.