Chapter 29 – Shiny Stone, Starving Kingdom

Aiko was sneaking around avoiding all the beasts. All of them were strange beasts with stingers instead of tails. Lion with a stinger, dog with a stinger, you name it.

Fortunately for her, they didn't develop intelligence yet, so she was able to easily avoid them as she attracted their attention by throwing rocks away.

She managed to arrive at the opening and was stunned.

In front of her was an extremely large white stone that was shining gently, what was more amazing was that it soothed her emotions...

[Good/Evil: 380 - 620 -> 420 - 580]

'I want this.' Aiko's eyes shined with stars. 'I will definitely take this!' She giggled in her mind and left this place. She felt something wrong about this place but didn't know what. The Darkness also told her that it was not yet time to push her luck, so she obviously wouldn't.

She sneaked back which was much easier than sneaking in. She already knew the path and was quickly out. A delicious smell drifted into her tiny nostrils.

'MEAT!' She drooled, the meat smelled better than what she had at the Princess's palace.

She walked around, avoiding servants and guards, yet swiftly arrived at her destination.

"I'm telling you! If it wasn't for the stupid beast, I would be able to easily poison her!" Screamed the very familiar Cook.

"I won't hear your excuses." Yelled the familiar overly dressed woman.

Aiko ignored them and moved around towards the food. She used her tail to sweep the plates inside her pouch. She would eat them later and she noticed they were all of extremely high quality almost rivalling that of that Fox...

Aiko paused, she quite missed that Fox's cooking. 'I hope she is alright.' Little did she know that the Fox was currently an unstoppable beast sweeping through the towns demolishing anything and anyone who slighted her.

Aiko made it out of the kitchen unnoticed. Only after she was almost out of that she heard the scream of that Cook.

'Serves you right! You should've given me good meat!' Aiko hmpfed away, but not yet returning. She also browsed the nearby palaces. She didn't take anything, she would just scout for future opportunities.

...

Aiko returned in the middle of the night and the Princess was waiting for her.

"Took you long enough." She pouted.

Aiko placed deliciously smelling food in front of her and puffed her chest.

"Y-you stole them?!" She was speechless, but from happiness. She heard that the Cook that was after her was suddenly executed, but didn't know why. 'This little rascal solved that so easily?! and the 3rd concubine killed him so I don't need to do it myself before I leave~' She hummed happy about picking this beast.

She ate the meat that the beast shared. She knew that little rascal had more, but didn't ask her, she would wait until she was given more. 'And for that, I need to groom her and make her happy~' The food was very delicious and it wouldn't be her loss if she groomed her since her fur was just irresistible.

She finished her food and took Aiko with her into her bedroom. She laid down with Aiko near her and slept soundly while cuddling Aiko.

Aiko was a bit uncomfortable at first, but once she kicked her a few times so she would ease her grip she was able to sleep peacefully.

...

The morning came and Aiko woke up alone. She looked around only to spot the Princess completely naked.

She had... quite an amazing body.

Her boobs were just right, maybe a bit on the bigger side, around 80-85cm. Her waist was slim and her skin was pale in colour drawing a nice contrast with the surroundings.

She had a nicely shaped butt but on the smaller side. She couldn't compare with the Fairy which had the buxom body, but she still did have that hourglass figure. She had small cherries on those larger peaks. Well-defined midriff. Long legs that were slightly apart. She had dark brown/black hair, that was long enough to cover her buttocks. Her ears were small and cutely shaped. She had thin feminine brows and gentle light-violet eyes. Her lips were small and biteable, seducing anyone in range, like her hips.

"You are awake." She smiled. She came closer to Aiko and picked her up and placed her on her body. Aiko didn't feel much attraction as she was still a cub, not to mention an animal.

She cuddled with Aiko for a while and dressed up.

"Today we will have to visit the administration building and donate some money." The Princess said slowly and gently. "Those concubines are completely useless and they don't realize that without those hardworking people, they wouldn't be able to eat or wear those clothes, yet they suppress and abuse them." She caressed Aiko's fur, soothing her emotions.

"It will be quite a long day so stay with me and don't get lost, okay?" She gently kissed Aiko on her forehead and placed her down on the bed. Aiko was confused, but she didn't dislike this girl, so she would stay with her just a little bit longer, what would happen in the future... nobody knows.

She slowly dressed, wearing more casual, but still modest clothes. They hid her curves quite well... no, just now she realized that every piece of clothing hid her curves really well, it almost felt like they were designed to do that... surely not, right?

She dressed up and picked up Aiko. She would carry her around and store money inside her [Storage Ring].

"Hang on tight." She jumped on the walls and skipped a few rooftops until they arrived in front of that huge fortress wall. Aiko was once again impressed by the 40 or so meters of high brick wall. It looked sturdy and considering it was more than 10 meters wide, it definitely was.

They passed the gate with a Guard just behind them, it was the same guy who guided the Princess towards Aiko. It seems he was her exclusive Guard.

"Princess-" The Guard wanted to ask something but was cut short.

"She is female, now shut up." She rebuked him, he was always like that. She did dislike it quite a bit, but since her mother assigned him... he would be incredibly skilled and hard to come by.

"I understand." He was professional and didn't say more, only silently following the Princess. He would intercept any danger that might come her way. That's how he was trained, but that didn't mean he would be suicidal. He was also trained to survive as long as possible. This kind of professional always works in a group. As such the Princess was followed by an additional 4 guards, with the same strength as the Guards behind her.

They walked through the streets and while Cultivators ignored them, mortals were incredibly happy about seeing this Princess instead of the others.

"Immortals bless you, Princess." They constantly chanted those words as they bowed towards her. She smiled at them nodding towards them and that was enough for the people. They already knew that most money donated towards their well-being was by this Princess and not by those ungrateful Royalties.

...

They arrived with some difficulty as commoners were too happy to see her and gave her many gifts. Apples, carrots, blueberries, etc. She accepted them, she was already subjected to this and knew that it was useless to decline as they would later come in full force with even more gifts. This burdened her greatly, but the people were happy, so she couldn't just tell them to stop.

The administration building was mostly deserted. It was a poorly paid job after some concubines changed the payouts. Almost nobody wanted to work here as there was too much paperwork and too little money.

Aiko looked around, this place almost looked abandoned, in the sense that it was already crumbling. The paint was scraped, some bricks fell here and there, the wood looked rotted from the inside, etc.

"This place looks more awful than before..." The Princess sighed.

"My apologies Princess." An official bowed towards her.

"There is no need, I know you got almost no money left." She smiled gently. "I'm here for another donation for the starving people.

"We are grateful for any kind of help Princess." He bowed almost 90 degrees.

"Please, we've gone through this already too many times." She shook her head. "How are they doing."

"Our kingdom might collapse at this rate. 70% of the working farmers do not have enough food to feed themselves, 30% of that won't be able to survive the upcoming winter and 5% won't be able to survive the end of this month." He explained the status. Showing her all the ledgers and everything.

"I will be soon leaving so I have bought more than usual, after I leave I probably won't be able to return in the foreseeable future, so it will be up to you." The Princess explained.

"That's- I understand." He bowed gently, but it was obvious he hoped that the Princess would stay in this kingdom.

Aiko jumped down walking around. The Princess sighed, but let Aiko do whatever she wanted since there would be a lot of paperwork to take care of and they were short on hands.

Aiko strolled around this building. Some things already crumbled and it seemed like only the main building was maintained.

She jumped on top of the wall and looked around. The buildings were... awful, most were shacks or already half-destroyed ruins, but those ruins still housed families. This kingdom was slowly perishing, not that she minded. She never lived here so she was detached from such emotions.

Looking further there were... a lot of brothels. It was the cheapest and easiest job to do, so most of the families around lived from that, but since this city was known for Cultivators, not many normal kinds of visitors visited, as such even those whores didn't earn nearly enough to support themselves.

Aiko jumped onto a nearby building looking further, but there was no change, this whole place was one big ruined country slowly descending to hell. Once the people weren't able to support themselves that would naturally affect the people in higher rankings. Sure they could support themselves for longer since they could use their warehouses full of food, but every food had an expiration date and they still didn't know how to extend the shelf-life of food. Everything spoiled too quickly unless it was winter. In that case, everything froze and it was once again inedible...