Chapter 261 – Plans for the Desperate

*** Yuki ***

"Last chance to stop being fucking stupid," Victoria says.

"I'm not letting a single one of those fuckers leave," I say. "They're behind too much, trying to take Alzi away from me and hurting Mai. Now, stop fretting. Think they can find two kitsunes working together? The ingredients may be on the rare side, but most uses are for mundane things, not assassinations. Just calm down."

"I don't see why we can't just kill our damn way slowly through the house," Victoria says.

"We will at the start, but at some point, someone too important will die, and the house will figure out something's up. That's when we have to keep them all from running to their tunnels like the fucking rats they are."

Unfortunately for the Ashmark family, they have to announce their place to everyone. Noble pride and all that. They should've just kept running or given up their title. Do you think your house can stop me and Nakuma? Victoria will be nice to have, but she's hardly needed. Nothing will protect you but time.

I can't fully blame Victoria for being a bit worried about going into the city. Still, with all of us hiding our breasts and Nakuma and I working together, they shouldn't be able to tell we aren't a group of pitiful wood elves like most of the women around here. Why wood elves are here in the snow, I don't know.

The true snow elves are hiding out even farther north in their ice mountains, refusing to interact with the rest of the lower realm, maybe even hiding away in a different realm. Mother would never give a straight answer whenever they came up. I should go up there and pull one out for Alzi to breed. What would a snow elf and a dragon produce together?

"Names," the guard asks.

"We are..." I start to say, but the guard cuts me off.

"Go in. Food is limited. You'll have to line up early if you want a chance at it. Your best chance is to take up arms to fight in the Queen's army or fight back against nature."

"Um, ok," I say. I guess Nakuma doesn't want to wait for anything today.

Just inside the gate, starving women are huddling together for warmth. Guards shepherd them into groups to clear a path for the new women streaming in. We may have to be invisible to leave without drawing attention to ourselves.

Whatever, we want to go further into the city, but I hope we don't have to spend the night here. I never really traveled through here when I was touring, as it's too cold for my liking, and the men aren't as strong. Not that I was looking all that hard.

"Merchant district to start. Our clothing is good enough that we shouldn't get kicked out for being beggars," I say. "Just looking for some ingredients to help our town stave off some beasts." Best to remind everyone what our story is and hopefully make people care less about the random trio of elves.

We shuffle down the street towards the middle of the city. I'm sure they build just as all the others do. The rich never want to risk their things by the wall.

It takes a while for the clothing to change from layers of rags to actual clothing. Our style is a bit wrong, but it should pass well enough for them to take our gold. The buildings are starting to be better maintained and larger, the warm glow of candles and a few mana lights making them stand out. Soon, we should be in the right place.

"I think this shop looks good," Nakuma says. The building is a bit more run-down than the others, but the sign has a potion on it.

"We can try it," I say. We're looking for three kinds of roots, which are even harder to find up here in the middle of winter.

Inside, there's just a single candle flickering in the back.

"Got coin or food?" an old woman asks from the back. She shuffles out and leans over the counter, the candle casting her in shadows.

"Coin," I say. Giving up our food would be a terrible idea out here. We still have plenty of camping to do. "Looking for some rare roots to help defend our town."

"Rare roots? In winter?" the woman asks. "I guess everyone's desperate."

"We're extremely desperate," I say, flicking a coin onto her counter. "Hope you can find them. Would love to put up a few walls and trick some beasts."

"Inside or out?"

"Don't want the kids running out on us," I say. "Just as dangerous as the monsters getting in."

"Of course, of course. You'd hate to lose the kids when we're losing so many women," the woman says. "I may have a few roots for you, but they track the ingredients. Everything may be needed for the war, you know."

"And?" I say. "Is our coin not good enough now?"

"I hope you have more than a single coin. The trouble of hiding my stock and all."

"That's our town's savings. You really think you can take more than that from us?"

"What's the town's name?"

"Helmfeld," I say. I heard that name on our walk, and she can't know every town. I just have to hope she doesn't know this one.

"Your friend is quick to a sword there," the woman says. "Helmfeld couldn't produce a single silver and could never use these roots except in a stew."

"How would you know what our town could do?" Nakuma says.

"My sister's from there."

"Her name?" I ask.

"Stop wasting everyone's time," the woman says. "Just give me the extra coin I need."

"So you don't know our town or our resources?"

"There isn't a single town that could pull out that coin, women. Last chance before the guards come by."

Victoria dashes over, her sword stopping at the woman's neck. "I'm fast with a sword. Now, you've got plenty of gold; just give us the roots. No need to die after getting triple their worth out of us. Our town needs the roots more than the gold or your life."

"GUARDS!" the old woman shouts. A useless gesture with me around. She really should use more than a candle when strangers are in the building.

"They won't hear you. Just give us the roots, and you'll wake up tomorrow just fine, or we can find them, and you may never wake up," Victoria says. "We've got a long way to go and not a lot of time."

"You ain't villagers," the old woman says. "No, what are you all doing here? You can hide your breasts. Cowards, fight for your Queendom!"

"We fucking are," Victoria says, slitting her throat. "You shouldn't have gotten so damn smart all of a fucking sudden. Hurry, make it look like a fucking robbery, and this better be all the shit you need."

"More than we need," I say. "But it never hurts to have extra health potions. Should we knock over a few shelves or something?"

"No, you fucking idiot. We came in, slit the bitch's throat, and quickly took what we needed without making a fucking peep. Hope it takes a few days for them to find the fuckin body. Now we're on the fucking running part."

We didn't run out, but nobody saw us moving out. There were a lot fewer women leaving than coming in, so it was best not to be seen. The Ashmarks had better not learn of the robbery. We're already lucky they didn't get called off to join the war; we don't need them running after hearing what roots were taken. I'm sure the Queen will hear about a few healing potions disappearing, and maybe that will cover up the rest for us.

Why did she have to get greedy? Just let us kill the damn spies.

Out of the city, we start running, having to cover our tracks in the snow as we try to get lost in the forest before we head towards our final destination.

...

"This should do," I say. "They won't travel this far into the forest. They don't have the women for it, even if they start sacrificing the commoners. I need to make the potions, and then we can get the target and marry the Princess."

"Fucking hurry," Victoria says. "I don't like being this deep in an unknown forest."

*** Queen Elenaril Edeozia ***

She lost my fucking wife. Our best chance to get Alzi, and they lost her to Alzi instead.

"Mother?" Eirina asks.

"I know, I know. She was doing what she was supposed to. But she was the only thing keeping you from collapsing," I say. "Just stem the bleeding for now. They'll get our plan from Azula, as Elora will not hesitate to break some bones. I have to stay and prove I am here, or you will have Yumanea burning your army to the ground with that new fire of hers. When you get the signal, push the nobles out onto the battlefield. Every last one. Alzi will be stuck in our fertility temple for a lot longer than we had first planned."

"Will we get away with that?" Eirina asks. "We would have to remove her collar if she stays. If it doesn't fall off, she'll go insane, and Fertility would never gift us with children after that."

"I will work with the Goddess of Royalty to null out the contract and remove the collar. We are going to have a lot of nobles to replace and a short time to do so. Some of the kids will go to Yumanea after this as well. Count on your sister to get Alzi, and you just focus on staying alive until we can retreat and work out a peace treaty. Now go, build up your defenses, and get ready for one final push."

"Can't we just give them Esiyae as a slave and call it? I can get Alzi to fuck me if we get in the same room together, I know it. A little begging always gets the dragons horny. At this rate, we're going to be a vassal state if they let us live."

"I'll get on my knees and beg if I need to. Just hold."

"Fine."

The mirror shifts over to my other daughter.

"Mother."

"Hello, Myantha. Bad news. Send a squad to go and grab Alzi. Normal signal."

"What? Why do I need to do that?" Myantha asks. "I'm holding my own well enough. Most of my retreating is due to my sister."

"They have Azula De Vil. But leave her be. I just need you to get Alzi to the fertility temple."