Chapter 741 – Slowing things down
Moon Aiko soon gave up staying in this place. She would just return to the Fox's base and be happy over there than be inside this single room.
The butler was more than happy to oblige to escort them. That meant they didn't need to be as careful as before and could crush those Elders completely, or at least enough so that their daughter could rule over this place without too many issues.
Legitimacy was not an issue, the issue was greedy Elders that wanted to rule over this place even when they didn't have the right. Moreover, most of those Elders were saved before and lived thanks to the generosity of the head of this place.
Moon Aiko found that strange, why would Elders do something like that, but then she remembered their own Fox Elders.
"Age?" Moon Aiko asked the butler.
"Certainly. As they grew older, they became more ambitious and more scared of death. Everything they had built up to this point would come crumbling down in a few days." The butler nodded his head slowly. "That's not just an issue of our Clan, all large organisations, Clans and other 'bodies' face similar... complications."
"And because they were there from the beginning they can roll their weight around." Moon Aiko clicked her tongue.
"Indeed. And you can't really kick them, since others wouldn't want to take their place if they knew that they could be disposed of one day." The butler sighed.
"But there is more than enough justification for kicking them...?" Moon Aiko was bewildered that they didn't just use that to kick them out.
"There is no way to verify that information and most of them are too careful to be caught in the act." The butler shook his head. "Not to mention they tend to stick together, making them even worse to kick out than if they were alone."
"And they also have Treasures and other things that belong to the Clan, so if they smell you trying to kick them out, they will just run away." Moon Aiko was slowly getting a grasp over such situations, but how could this be remedied?
"En." The butler nodded his head. "Unfortunately for them, they took it a step too far, so they are pretty much locked in this place. We just need to find them and dispose of them, which is taking a while."
"I'm surprised they didn't try to fight it out." Moon Aiko chuckled.
"That's impossible and they know it. While my lady might be injured, I'm more than enough to take on the whole Clan if deemed necessary." The butler smiled faintly.
"That's... a bit ridiculous? Why are you a butler in the first place if you are so powerful?" Moon Aiko wanted to know and understand it.
"I like it like this. I have all the excuses to not go out and at the same time stay by her side all the time." The butler laughed, obviously happy about this arrangement.
"But she wants to come with me..." Moon Aiko probed this, since she was worried she would get even more baggage than what she signed up for.
"There is no problem with that, since I would be returning to my family to deal with some things." The butler said as a matter of fact.
"Once she 'disappears' my family will definitely try to arrange something, so I will have to thwart that. It's better that my lady is not around during that, since things will get ugly." The butler clicked his tongue. He was displeased about his family, but it was still his family. As long as they didn't push him too far, he would ignore them for as long as possible.
"You have your own issues, huh." Moon Aiko was a bit startled, since the butler always acted nonchalantly, so seeing him like this was strange.
"I have finally found-"
"Hm?" Moon Aiko turned towards that noise, but she could not see anyone.
"Goodness, it seems like there are some pests running around, so I will exterminate them once I have escorted you." The butler narrowed his eyes. There was no need to make the Fox wary of this place since he already dealt with the assailant, but he also didn't think they would become so bold in such a short time span. 'Better hurry up and deal with this, so that we can leave a favourable impression on this Fox.'
"I don't think this place has rats." Moon Aiko heard that voice, but she decided to ignore it.
"You would be surprised, but rats are quite skilled at adapting." The butler sighed. He was always bothered by rats, since some of them for some reason and somehow made it into the kitchen and ate things haphazardly!
"I don't believe you." Moon Aiko didn't believe that a rat would survive in this place.
"But fish swim in lava." The butler chuckled.
"... Alright, that's a fair point, but that doesn't mean you can use it on rats too!" Moon Aiko pouted at him.
The butler shrugged and beckoned them to step on the Movement Array.
"This will stop working for a while, to prevent others from getting here, so we will invite you back for the rewards once they are dealt with." The butler waved and moved them out of this place. He then stomped on the Array, crushing it.
"Alright." The butler loosened his clothes a bit. "Time for overtime."
...
Moon Aiko appeared on the familiar plains.
The temporary base with tents and houses made out of leather and wood was some far away, but still visible.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the temporary Fox Village.
The first one to greet them was the fed up Dai Lu.
"Those bastards..." Dai Lu waved her fist around, ready to strike anyone.
*Ahem*
Dai Lu coughed awkwardly. "Welcome back. The Muscle Foxes also returned some time before you, so you can visit them or rest more."
"Everyone is fine?" Moon Aiko was concerned that there were some injuries.
"They should be. I didn't check them personally, but I would know if anyone was injured." Dai Lu smiled before guiding Aiko towards Mei's tent.
"I thought you would stay there longer." Dai Lu struck up a small talk with Aiko, while she was at it, since she had to forget about the damned Crows that taunted her. What was even worse was that the Deer joined them soon after!
"I thought so too, but they were cleaning that place and I was bored. It's better to stay here where it's nicer than over there where there are a bunch of hostile individuals and not enough entertainment." Moon Aiko shrugged.
Dai Lu nodded her head, as if understanding what Aiko meant. "I totally get you, if I were in your shoes I would already flip that place up." It seemed like she held quite the grudge against their taunts.
...
They arrived at Mei's home. It was quite a small, but very cute house. One of the few around this place.
It seemed like only the Elders got actual homes, while the rest had tents or something similar in fashion.
This puzzled Moon Aiko for a brief moment, but then remembered what kind of deforestation they did before...
'Better to do it this way, yeah.' Moon Aiko nodded her head. She was curious about the continental flying ship that was being built some way away, but she was too tired to indulge her own curiosity.
"Welcome back." Mei immediately greeted Aiko with a hug once she stepped inside.
Moon Aiko hugged her back. "I'm back and tired." She smiled at her softly.
"I can see that. Have some rest while we sort some things on our side." Mei chuckled at her. "You are definitely curious about what we are building right? Once you are rested you can have a look."
"You are the best~" Moon Aiko hummed as she happily skipped a few steps before crashing into her personal room.
Mei didn't share her own room, since they worked differently and both of them needed proper rest.
Of course there was one more room for that time of the night, but it would mostly be unused as there was simply too much to do.
Unfortunately, the Demonic Foxes wouldn't leave them alone, so Mei might have to lock them inside that room.
"I didn't think you would return so soon." Mei turned towards Danji.
"Don't look at me like that. We both know that I would love to stay there with Aiko, but things changed." Danji shrugged at her.
"Don't forget to return the Treasure that you have confiscated. We might have to use them later for the Muscle Foxes, so that we can get enough metals." Mei pursed her lips, not asking more.
"I will do that, but we still don't have enough?" Danji was startled, since the amount of metal was quite staggering.
"Not every metal can be used. Moreover, we also waste a lot of metal due to experiments, so we are burning quite a lot of metal in the process." Mei explained what was happening, since it was better this way.
"No wonder that the Muscle Foxes never tire out. They were pretty much always needed in producing so much metal." Danji nodded her head.
"What's up with the Crows?" Mei changed the topic, since the metals stopped flowing from that side.
"They are having an inheritance battle or something like that." Danji shrugged. "Honestly, it seems like there are many bad Elders out there, so I'm quite concerned about the Beast Sect."
"I'm concerned too, but we have to see it in person if we want to make up our minds." Mei sighed, shaking her head.
"True, but even if they weren't all that good, it's better than wandering around. Especially with so many Foxes." Danji turned around leaving Mei alone.
"You don't have to tell me that." Mei wandered a bit in the Immortal World and those days were hell, so she didn't want to experience them again.
Unfortunately, they didn't have enough legacy yet to establish their own Sect or Clan or anything like that, so they would have to join the existing forces for the time being.
"If we are good enough, we might earn an independent Peak." Mei was aiming for that, since that would allow them almost complete autonomy.
"Report. It seems like the Earthen Elephants are making use of the chaos and are trying to infiltrate the Crow Clan."
An unassuming Fox reported to Mei, but looking closely at her, she looked like the Fox that helped Aiko inside the library.
"Slept enough?" Mei teased her a bit.
"Please, you know what kind of condition my body was in." The Fox groaned.
"Yes, yes." Mei waved her hand. "But I didn't expect someone to be able to match Aiko's stealth so well."
"I can assure you it takes a lot more energy out of me than it does to her." The Fox sighed. She was both impressed and concerned at how easily Aiko was able to mask her presence...