Chapter 150

A Proposed Truce

(Thirty Minutes Later)

Whoosh.

I exited from my own personal portal, as my true self. No more fakes, no more posing as the lost princess. This time, I was just me. Which was nice, as I had long since been out of energy from my Spiritual Doppelganger Trait and had been converting mana from my different Traits to compensate for my rapidly depleting pool of energy.

Meeting me immediately are Kujo and Ms. Kujo, who seem to have scared away the rest of my guild members.

At first, I wanted to chastise the pups, but then realized that if more guards came through or were captured, or worse if Mallory got on a rampage, then everything I had been working on for the past few hours would have gone up in smoke.

“Good boy.” I say, patting Kujo on the snout who was the first to greet me.

Healing wave.

A bit of healing magic and he is suddenly very happy.

Then I don’t even have to open my third eye to see the new waves of power that are radiating from Ms. Kujo.

“Oh my goodness, look at you!” I shout loudly, as I immediately dismiss Kujo, and run to greet Ms. Kujo who is absolutely glowing.

I thought people glowed when they were pregnant, but Dire Phase wolves have humans beat. Well, part of that likely comes from the fact that Ms. Kujo was carrying a litter of twelve children.

“You look so good.” I say, then open up my third eye and begin scanning Ms. Kujo immediately. I know this shouldn’t matter, as the life force that she is radiating is immense like the sun.

Then my heart drops as I realize that yes, there are twelve living and healthy pups, but mixed in between them is a thirteenth pup that is almost black to my sight.

Chuff.

Kujo notices my change in expression almost immediately.

“There is a problem with one of the pups. You should have thirteen, but only twelve are healthy.” I state, running over to Ms. Kujo who is so tall that while standing up in my natural form, I have to reach up to touch her barely protruding belly.

“Don’t sit.” I yell out to Ms. Kujo, not wanting to be smooshed.

Then without even thinking, I begin pumping in Healing magic to the pups and to Ms. Kujo herself.

It is clear that the Healing Magic will keep the pup alive as I see a bit of Qi energy forming in the pup, but it is weak, far weaker than the golden glows coming from the other pups. No wonder I had a hard time noticing this thirteenth pup, it only really showed up due to how dark and lifeless it was compared to the other pups.

Seeing the pup, I realized I needed to do something, but I couldn’t really do much reaching up over my head and extending on my toes.

Going out from under the massive creature, I go out and lock gazes with Ms. Kujo.

“I need you to lie down flat on your right side.” I state, mentally mapping out where the baby is and how this position will put the baby closest to me.

Confusion.

Ms. Kujo looks at me like I have lost my mind. Maybe I have, but not on this issue.

“Lie down and let me save your pup.” I state, while holding up one finger straight up before Ms. Kujo.

There is a slight moment where she I guess tries to stare into my eyes to see if I am lying to her. I stare at her back with all three of my eyes exposed and non-blinking.

Blink.

Ms. Kujo blinks first, then seeing that I have not moved, she looks to Kujo who gives a slight head bob. That apparently was all the reassurance that Ms. Kujo needed, as she paced once, then twice. Then looked forward, and locked gazes with my guild members who were all just staring at us dumbfounded from a few dozen feet away.

Seeing her evident discomfort at being watched, I shouted at my guild members.

“Can you please give us some privacy!” I shouted.

There was a moment of confusion at first, before Mallory looked at me, then shook her head in exasperation, before turning around and with arms out wide began scooting the other members of the guild even further away from the now closed exit portal and the two extremely large Dire Phase Wolves.

Lie down.

Ms. Kujo dropped down on all fours like the sphynx and just sat there.

Kujo fortunately was quick on the uptick and put himself between the pregnant Ms. Kujo and the rest of my guild members. He even turned so his body was mostly facing out, but angled just enough that he could twist his snout back and watch us.

“Good job, you are going to make a good father.” I told Kujo.

Then turning back to Ms. Kujo, I begin to get serious.

“You on the other hand have a hard time following directions.” I state, with that I get Ms. Kujo’s full attention back on me.

With her eyes locked on me, I state with a practiced ease of a doctor, “I said I needed you to lie down on your right side.”

I even give a gentle hand gesture, to show which direction I need her to lie down on.

Ms. Kujo just stares at me for a second, I give a what is now well practiced stance where I cross my arms in front of my chest, put my right foot forward slightly and just give her the stare that says, go on, keep wasting both our time. I can wait.

Then after a three count, I tap my right foot.

That was what finally did the job, as she let out a huff, which given her size caused the long hairs on Kujo’s back to bristle with the sudden gust. He of course turned back, just as Ms. Kujo was about to lie down.

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“RUFF!” Ms. Kujo snarled at Kujo. This was partly due to her not wanting to be seen in a precarious position, and partly for him to keep watch. Of course, I had to step in for my dog.

“Hey, you watch that.” I say, getting Ms. Kujo to look back at me. Kujo for his part used the moment to look away and remain guarding. I am fairly certain that he will not take his eyes away, even if Ms. Kujo begins to go into labor right here and now.

She won’t, at least she shouldn’t she is very early in this pregnancy, but the fact that there are already issues now are alarming.

“If you weren’t so caught up in trying to be secure in your home, then Kujo would have never looked back to make sure you felt safe.” I state.

Chuff.

With that Ms. Kujo deflates a little and only keeps her head elevated, while I walk casually over towards her now exposed stomach.

Tremble.

As I get closer, I can see the trembling skin of Ms. Kujo. It is clear that she is nervous, not just about me, but the way she is staring lets me know that she is aware of what is happening inside her.

“You can feel it, can’t you. The fact that one is having problems?” I ask, but it is really more of a statement.

Still Ms. Kujo nods her head.

I nod my head as well.

“Well, let’s see what we can do.” I state going closer and casting Spirit Drift. I do this, as I want to be able to crawl on her stomach, without actually stepping on any of the babies. Nor do I want to possibly disturb her stomach.

As a test, I reach out and touch the heads of the living and healthy pups. There is an easy flow and exchange of energy between me and them. I can even see how Ms. Kujo slightly relaxes from my interactions with them.

I make sure to do this with all twelve healthy pups, even reaching under the stomach to get at the one or two that are healthy, but harder to get to.

Twitch.

“Yeah, that probably tickles, sorry about that. But I wanted to check them all while I was already here.” I state, speaking through my process, just like I would for any regular patient.

I then climb up onto the stomach, my zero weight makes this rather easy, making it so it feels like I am walking on the moon, versus the stomach of an apex predator.

Then finding the weakened pup, I reach out and first channel mana into them. The mana is absorbed, but it feels that for whatever reason it is only half to a quarter as effective. No wait, a third, exactly a third. I don’t know how I know this, and mentally I try to think about why this would happen. Is the puppy naturally resistant to magic? Given the location the pups could likely have a lot of resistance to the Blight, and likely a lot to Spirit magic in general, but this is odd.

I know what to do when the pup is alive, and in the world. I even think there are ways to bypass resistances, namely overwhelm the resistance with even more power. But in this case, there is something so obvious that the life is lacking.

The pup, as I already mentioned, is missing Qi, in fact it almost looks like a dark spot compared to the others. Spot, that will be a good name for this dog, once he is born, but that is a bit down the road.

At this point I have a few options, but only two that seem sustainable.

Pausing, I grow my Seraphim Wings, and maneuver myself to be between Kujo and Ms. Kujo.

I am close enough that if Ms. Kujo wanted to, she could lash out and snatch me out of the air, just like the neighbor’s dog would do with random fireflies at night.

I can tell that Ms. Kujo is thinking something similar, but a quick glance from me, when I see her neck muscles tightening up is all it takes to get her to pause.

The pulling up between the two, I begin speaking. Just as I would for any couple that comes in, just rather than a pair of elves, or even orcs, these are massively oversized predator wolves that if they went crazy could easily phase through most of our guild city’s protections like they were butter that was left unattended on a hot day.

“All right, so the thirteenth pup is safe for now. But given his state, it is clear that he will continually worsen if left unattended.” I begin, stating the facts as I see them.

The two dire phase wolves are staring at me as if I was the only thing that mattered. Which I really couldn’t blame them, when hearing about the status of your child, even an unborn one, any parent would drop everything to listen and find out what to expect. It turned out the Kujos were just like everyone else. With that I nodded to myself, before continuing.

“Now there are a number of options we could do to save the thirteenth pup, but these are the two options that seem to make the most sense.” I state, then pause as I let the gravity of the choice between these two options come up.

“First, we can do weekly, or even daily if needed checkups where I continually cast healing magic on the pup. This will be a stop gap, and likely cause the resistances that the pup is now exhibiting to only increase, meaning that as time goes on there is a chance that the pup will be resistant to the treatment they receive.” I state, and let that sink in.

The two wolves just lower their heads and stare at the ground, the weight of the words obviously having a profound effect on them.

Nodding that they seem to understand the first option, I propose a second option. “Now, I can offer an alternative. In addition to the healing, I can attempt to bolster the pup’s immune system with some of my own Qi.”

Chuff.

Both look at me in confusion.

This is when I hold out my two hands. On the left, I show a glowing green ball of mana. “This is healing magic.”

Then in the right hand I let a glowing golden ball of light appear. “This is Qi.”

“We can use Healing magic to save a body that is formed.” I state, waving my left hand and letting that energy dissipate. “But right now, the energy that your thirteenth pup is missing is Qi, and it is extremely apparent when compared to your other pups.”

I pause, then I continue with my thoughts on the matter.

“Now, I haven’t done any long-term tests on this, but I assume that if we go on and ignore the Qi problem, despite getting the pup to birth, they will be in a far weakened state. My suggestion would be we go, I supplement my Qi with the pup, that will at least strengthen their body. I of course will be around, and will check up on you two periodically, but I think we are early enough that a minor injection of Qi now will be enough to get the pup healthy enough to survive the entire pregnancy.” I state.

Silence.

The two dire wolves look past me, well through me really and lock gazes with each other. I flap out of the way, and let the two decide.

Kujo gives a lowered head bob. I take this to mean that he thinks they should, but will go with anything Ms. Kujo says. Ms. Kujo for her part nods her head in understanding back. Then turning her snout towards me, she responds.

“Woof.”

There is a certain vulnerable tone to the response. I think I know what she says, but I speak it out loud to make sure we all agree.

“So you are okay with option two?”

Head nods.

Both dire phase wolves nod in unison.

“Very well, I will attempt to save the puppy now.” I state.

I let out a long slow breath as I fly back. I hope my breath comes across as me just breathing from flying around at a fast pace, and not due to how nervous I am.

This is new territory for me. While I am fairly confident that this will work, infusing Qi into a body should not do anything overly dramatic, so long as I give it in moderation. My only concerns are possible long-term effects of Qi. Will this make this particular pup more attached to me, less? Will they be clingy? I really don’t want a clingy dire phase wolf. Still, those are all problems to face when you have a pup that has made it to full term.

As for right now, I get into position. Cradling my hands around the nearly lifeless mass. Then opening my third eye, so I can tune out most of the rest of the world around me, I focus.

Then I begin pumping in golden Qi, slowly into the pup.

My Qi is a lot purer than the Qi of both Ms. Kujo and the rest of her pups, meaning I need to be particularly careful with how much I apply.

A drop.

The first drop enters, and I can already see the darkness around the pup fading. Seeing that, I can’t help but smile, realizing this will work. I don’t really know how or why, but I know that this will work. By pushing my Qi into the pup, I can make their deformed body get stronger.

Two more drops.

I slowly pour in two more drops, then stop, watching as the Qi flows out and infuses itself into the pup. After the third drop, there is a bright healthy shine to the pup, and it looks slightly brighter than the other pups. Again, we are early on, but I think we acted quickly enough.

I pause, just taking a moment to see the little glowing light of life within my hands and smile.

“We did it.” I state, leaning back then flying away as I get off Ms. Kujo.

The two dire phase wolves pause, as they look at me going.

Ms. Kujo is the first to move as she sits upright on her stomach, and almost immediately notices the difference.

“Yeah, you feel the difference, don’t you?” I ask.

Ms. Kujo wiggles a little bit, rocking her stomach on the ground but then looks first to Kujo, where she shares a long-lipped smile, the kind that only wolves and dogs can make. Then she turns back to me.

Happy-yip.

With that she gets up, and before I can move, she is on me and licking me with a long dry tongue. Again, her tongue is so long that it covers me from head to toe and is longer than the largest beach blanket I have ever owned.

“Yuck.” I say, trying to use my now soiled uniform to wipe off slobber from my face, it does not go so well.

With that I get a new quest, letting me know that while I had solved this problem, my overall troubles have just begun.

Hidden Quest Found: Saving the Litter (Ongoing): You managed to save Ms. Kujo’s litter by preventing a pup from dying due to prenatal deficiencies. Continue to look after the litter as time goes on to earn an even greater reward. Current remaining pups in the litter (13 / 13). Rewards: Experience, variable.

Yeah, that likely means there will be a lot more random issues to deal with. Still, I was happy that I had succeeded for the moment. Three drops of Qi wasn’t much, at least not anymore, but to that pup it meant everything.

”Ruff.” Kujo says, coming close and before he could lick me too, I held up my hand.

“No.” I state, then go over to hug him. My arms barely cover a third of his large hairy neck and when I come away, there are furs the length of my body attached to me, thanks to the previously applied saliva, but it was worth it. Though I think I have now been struck with the latest variant of being tarred and feathered, namely furred and salivated on.

There is another moment, where Ms. Kujo comes in, and I give her a hug as well. This was nice, as it was our first time bonding between me and Ms. Kujo, then just as I have had enough, I let go.

The two dire phase wolves just stare at me for a moment, before phasing into the near realm together.

With that, I nod, then drop to the ground before taking in my wings and removing my weightlessness. Within three steps I am already back to my normal gate.

At which point the members of my guild who were close to a hundred meters away came running forward.

Mallory of course was the first one to me, where she picked me up in her arms and began holding me tightly.

“You are safe?” Mallory half asked, half stated.

“Mostly.” I admitted, an exhausted smile on my face after everything I have been through.

“How did you make it out of there safely?” Mallory asked.

By now every guild member was also close by, even the four guards that I had rescued from being imprisoned.

“Oh simple, I made a deal.” I stated.

“A deal?”

“Yeah, I kind of used your name to broker the deal, so I hope that is okay.”

“My name?”

“Yes, I had to, as you are the leader of the guild, so I used your name to broker a permanent alliance between the Midnight Hunters and the Ancient Elven Empire of Deloar.” I state.

“You did? That is amazing!” Mallory shouted, then she hugged me tightly again, having never let me go in the first place.

“Yes, there is just one little catch.” I sate, not quite knowing how to state this next part, especially with her gripping me so tightly that I can’t currently escape.

“A catch?” Mallory asks, her voice noting the fact that she might not like the way this conversation is about to go.

Then I hit her with the final bombshell.

“Yes, in order to make the peace treaty permanent, I had to broker a marriage contract.”