Chapter 187

Things A Mother Does For Her Children

Sitting around patiently, that is my goal. Yep, totally doing it too.

For the moment I was able to both have a physical representative at the guild’s mobile guild hall, while I was running around finishing up our land unification quest. Oh, and apparently, I had a second simulacrum running about the faerie library on the two hundredth floor of the Arcanarus Tower.

Yep, you guessed it, I got not just one Simulacrum, but two more Simulacrums with the last quest completion. Technically I believe the wording was that I doubled my unique class’s capacity for controlling Simulacrums, giving me a total of four. Mentally I wonder jus how many flying monkeys the wicked witch of the west had? Though I realize that this comparison effectively labels me as both the wicked witch and the monkeys, I feel that the comparison might be somewhat justified.

See while my Simulacrum minion, number four for those keeping track or the one I am mentally referring to as LG, for Left at Guild is dealing with all the administrative stuff that I don’t have time for. Well, clearly I have time for taking care of the administrative stuff, but I am busy with a major guild quest.

I also have made it so I am at roughly two different sections of the base, meaning that if this quest tries to pull anything else that is completely crazy, I can react to it relatively quickly. That is the plan at least, and what I am using as a justification to be out here watering the last of the fields, while everyone else runs around doing what they are supposed to.

Don’t worry, all of the segments of land have been united, and we are just waiting to run out the clock at this point.

Acres of land claimed (1,062 / 20).

As for me, I am just filling in the edges that we missed while focusing on combining as many segments of land as possible. This will likely give us close to another acre once everything is finally filled in, but that will take weeks. Or me and a minion, muwahaha.

Honestly, I don’t know why the idea of having a minion that I can actually let move around and act in my own interests seems like it would be so much fun, but it is. Almost like I could finally work on different skills twice as fast. Or better yet, have my minion do all the exercises that I hate for me.

Yep, having minions will definitely pay off. While I do expect there to be a bit of a learning curve, this shouldn’t be anything that I can’t handle.

Flicker.

There is a momentary pulse, something just enough to grab my attention. Instantly, I know what the effect was, it was a partial use of my Ethereal Simulacrum Masters’ Trait Positional Switch. That is the odd part about my Simulacrum. While I can use all Traits from all my different classes and from my own reserve, my Simulacrums can only use the Traits related to my Simulacrum class. Which at this point is only Positional Teleportation, which I used to send my third Simulacrum to the library to join my second Simulacrum. Yeah, that was the problem, as soon as I summoned her, I got a countdown timer letting me know that I had just ten seconds to get back into the Arcanarus Tower, or my process would be lost and the tower would be stagnant at a maximum of 250 floors, or fifty floors over what I had managed to explore on my own.

At first I was sort of angry that it took so long for me to get a third simulacrum, but now I am kind of content with having to have waited for my number of Simulacrum available to be doubled, as I finally get the ability to feel what it would be like to finally be my own Mallory and just send myself, or a version of myself to solve problems that I didn’t want to deal with.

That was why it was my fourth Simulacrum, or LG that was now at the Guild Hall. While I am out watering the lawn. As I do not want to deal with political machinations of others, while I also kind of want to do something that will allow me to be outside and feel somewhat productive.

Of course, this level of freedom was expected to be short lived, but I didn’t realize how bad it would be until now.

Flicker.

Yep, second warning, which means my transition is incoming, and…

Positional Switch.

Just like that I am standing in an empty room that looks to be an office of some kind. It takes my mind a second to realize that this is Gwen’s personal guild office. There is a medical table to help examine patients by the front door, then a middle room for meetings, where we are currently, and behind this is a back bedroom used for napping.

Seeing the bed for napping, I instantly feel tired, as I remember the last time, I got a nap was in momma Kujo’s soft silky fur. While Gwen’s bed does look comfortable, nothing can compare to resting your head on a pregnant cultivating Dire Phase Wolf’s chest.

“So?” Gwen asked, and suddenly my attention was pulled away from warm naps and I realize that Gwen and my LG Simulacrum were in a deep conversation of some kind.

“Um, can we pretend like I wasn’t paying attention at all, and start from the beginning of whatever this conversation was?” I ask somewhat sheepishly. You know this is not going to help me keep up my façade of always paying attention and listening to others.

“GAH! Mother, this is serious!” Gwen shouts, well shouts for Gwen. She isn’t much of a yeller, so this level of frustration likely has to do either with problems with her pregnancy.

Quick touch.

Nope, the baby is doing just fine.

“Mother!”

“What, I can’t help it, you put that round belly in my face, and I have to touch.”

“You are so like a child.”

I pause then hold up my hands in a what exactly did you expect from me, type of gesture.

Gwen looks angry, and then pauses as she seems to realize something.

“Let me guess, this is finally the real you? That other one was an imposter?” Gwen asks.

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I pause, feeling like I had my hand caught in the cookie jar. “What do you mean?”

“Save it for someone who can’t see your full aura.” Gwen begins, but then shifts topic, “wait, can you switch locations with them or something?”

“Oh, very good, did you notice the Teleportation Magic?” I ask.

Gwen pauses, and then clearly gets angry with herself. “Dang it, I did, I just didn’t understand what it was doing at that time. For a moment I thought you were trying to get away, but then when you stayed and pretended like you had no clue, I thought you were just trying to avoid the subject.”

“What, there is no subject that I would ever try to avoid.” I say, trying to sound as honest as possible.

“Really?”

“Yeah, not from you at least.” I qualify, I don’t think there is anything I wouldn’t tell Gwen, which I always try to make sure I tell her of all my kids the harsh truth. She was the only one that I told I was going to retire. She was also the only one that I told about my coming here to BiPrism, to cash in my retirement.

With that Gwen’s face changes, from sadness to something that tells me that I somehow played right into her hands.

“Okay, I trust you mother. Which is why I want to make sure that we begin this with the statement that nothing was wrong. I am not mad at you.” Gwen begins.

Instantly, I feel the hairs begin to rise on the back of my neck, as I suddenly feel like this is going to be a topic that I want to tap out with my LG Simulacrum and see what they are able to use to B.S. their way out of this.

“Okay?” I reply somewhat hesitantly.

“Realize that this is not against you. This is just me trying to understand what happened earlier today.”

At this, I think I know exactly where this is going and I want to cut it off right from the start.

“Look, if this is about teaching Ms. Kujo to cultivate, I can explain. She is very pregnant, her feet were swelling, and she was clearly in pain. Honestly, I was surprised that she managed to pick up the process so quickly, but apparently, she was very motivated to learn how to help self-regulate her body while pregnant.”

“You taught Ms. Kujo, the terror of the planes, how to cultivate because she had swollen feet?”

I realize where this is going and want to cut it off immediately.

“Look, I tried to teach you to cultivate as well, but you said you were having a hard enough time figuring out this whole magic thing, and said you would get back to me.” I replied.

Gwen pauses, bites her lower lip and holds up her finger as she apparently waits for time to think.

“Okay, I think we have gotten off topic here. This is not about teaching wild monsters to cultivate, though I am certain we will likely have to come back to this topic eventually. For the moment I need to talk to you about Mallory.”

“Mallory?” I ask, trying to figure out what happened to her. “Is she okay?”

Pause.

Gwen pauses and slightly grimaces.

“She is okay, but…” Gwen begins, but cuts herself short as she apparently searches for the correct words to use at this moment.

I pause, trying to remember anything about Mallory, then I remember the last time I saw her was when we came back from converting the final Cardinal Guardian. That was when we came back here, I was talking to Gwen about her stupid song, and then Mallory seemed like she needed to talk to Gwen.

“I take it that this isn’t about you claiming ownership of that Bumblebee song?” I ask, hoping that I just got the song stuck in Mallory’s mind.

“No, and don’t start. This is somewhat serious, so I need you to focus.” Gwen begins.

What does that mean? I always focus. But before I could say anything, Gwen continued.

“Earlier today, when there was an Avatar of you, and an Avatar of King De’Arcaneri, I take it the real you was in the form of the king?” Gwen asked.

Suddenly I feel like I am being questioned by the police. There is a slight tone of establishing the facts, and trying to make sure I had an alibi ready.

“Yes.”

“Okay, so from the time that you appeared as King De’Arcaneri to the time you left, you and only you were in full control of the King Avatar, is that correct?” Gwen asks.

At this, I know this is trying to set me up with an alibi, but I don’t understand why or what is happening.

“Yes, but can I ask what my Simulacrum did, or is accused of doing?” I ask.

With that Gwen shakes her head, “this isn’t about your Simulacrum. In fact, if it was, we likely wouldn’t be having this conversation. Rather this is me, asking you as my mother and behalf of your friend that you try to answer me truthfully.”

“Okay?”

Now my mind is truly spinning as I am trying to think of what I did as the King that would cause this, then I pause. “Is this because I called her Babe?”

“No, well, yes and no. That did bother her, but she wouldn’t have even brought it up, had what happened next not occurred.”

“What?” I ask completely confused at this point.

“All right, now no judgement here. Again, let me repeat, no judgement here, whatsoever.”

Yeah, because when people say it twice, they mean no judgement, especially while giving you the tenth degree of interrogation tactics.

“Okay,” I respond, not really certain where this is going.

Exhale.

Gwen exhales, clearly trying to relieve some of the stress she is feeling right now. This is bad, as it clearly means the topic that I am about to be asked about is clearly important somehow.

“Again no judgement here, but please, please take this seriously. Did you use any magic when you touched Mallory” Gwen asks.

“What? No, I would never.”

“Look it can be innocuous, maybe something that lingered on your fingers from your battle with Flumberro, something?”

“No, I didn’t even use magic on Flumberro. I did shatter my bones while using my new striking technique that I just created. I remember specifically not wanting to mix magic and Qi, so I decided not even heal my bones, so no. I can safely say no magic was used.” I responded feeling somewhat defensive about this whole situation.

With that Gwen nods in understanding, but then pauses.

“Can I ask what exactly I am being accused of?” I ask.

“What?” Gwen asks shocked for a moment, but then pauses as she figures out how to answer the question. “No, we aren’t accusing you of anything. It was just…” Gwen began, but then trailed off.

I paused and just stared at her wondering if she was eventually going to say anything. After an eyebrow raised after a sufficient amount of time passed, I finally got a response from her.

“She felt something when you touched her.”

“Well, yeah, fingers right?”

“No, well, yes, obviously. But no, that wasn’t what concerned her.” Gwen began.

“Okay, this is getting really weird.”

“I know, try to think of it from my perspective. My girlfriend comes in telling me that with but a touch of her finger against her lips, her whole body felt weak, like weak, weak.” Gwen began, trying to hint at something that I did not want to fully comprehend.

“Okay.”

“She asked if I knew what you did, I said no. Then she asked me to find out what you did, as it was, in her words, intense.”

“Okay?” I say, this time not meaning it in the slightest but hoping this conversation will eventually go somewhere close to something I can fully comprehend.

“Well, this isn’t easy for me to ask. But I was asked with trying to find out two key pieces of information related to this incident. First, what did you do?” Gwen began.

As for me, I was at a complete loss for what happened. However, since I could not answer the first question, I decided to go ahead and ask exactly what the second question was, “and what of the second question?”

“Well, once we found out what it was, I was asked to see if you could teach me?” Gwen asked.

“Okay, I think I understand, but I want to make sure. I apparently did something that Mallory found to be intense,” I say, making little air quotes while saying the word intense. “Then she sent you, my daughter to not only find out what I did, but then asked for you to be able to recreate it?”

A pregnant pause, oh look double entendre there. Then she answered before I realized how cool that was to be able to use that phrase with a pregnant lady.

“Essentially, yes.” Gwen finally confirmed.

I pause, not wanting to have this conversation, but then looking at Gwen’s face, I realize that there is a bit of desperation to her facial features.

“I take it this is important?”

“Extremely.”

And with that answer, I can only nod in understanding. “I take it not everything is going so well?”

“No.” Gwen begins and then starts to cry. Seeing her cry, my motherly instincts take over and I jump up and hug her. Fortunately, I am still weightless, and my wings just help me glide into position.

“You are so bony.” Gwen begins at first, but then slowly relaxes to my hug.

“Shh, let’s just focus on you.” I say, as I gently pat her back and then send waves of golden Qi in her body. I’ve noticed that Healing Magic is great for getting rid of injuries, Qi seeps into the bones and muscles, alleviating the tension and helping the whole body reach a nearly exalted state.

“Oh, that might be it, that feels great.” Gwen says, as I continue to pat her back and gently release more Qi into her body. As she is not a practitioner, I know I need to be careful as releasing too much could be bad for her or the baby.

“Do you think this might be what Mallory felt?” I ask.

“Maybe, let’s see. Mal!” Gwen screams loudly and then Mallory, who had been a few rooms away, began coming quickly.

“Did you find it?” Mallory asked, the first words out of her mouth as she barged in, and then quickly tried to calm herself as she took in the image before her. Where I was floating with my arms around her very pregnant girlfriend. “I mean, is everything okay?”

I didn’t even need to look at Gwen to realize that we had apparently given Mallory the same exact, can’t you read a room, look.

“Yes, I believe so.” Gwen answered, then gestured for me to go to Mallory. “Please do to her what you just did to me.”

“Pat you on the back?” I ask.

“No, well that type of golden energy, try that on her.” Gwen answered frustratedly.

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to mess with a pregnant magician, even if she was my daughter. With that, I went over with my palm out, ready to pat Mallory on the back.

“No, the thing with the lips.” Mallory said.

At that, I could tell Gwen was making a face behind me. Yeah, those two were apparently experiencing something.

“So, this isn’t awkward.” I responded. Then holding up my glowing golden finger, I gently pressed it against her lips.

Mmm.

“Okay, that is just creepy,” I say pulling away my finger as she makes an odd sound.

After I pull my finger away, Mallory opens her eyes, but then seems to ponder.

“That was close, but not quite the same.” Mallory finally stated.

With that, I pause, but then figure it might have been some residual Spirit Qi, so I try that. Making sure to pump in spirit Qi into my finger, and then move while saying, “let me try this.”

“What?” Mallory began, but found her words cut off as my finger was pressed against her lips.

Once again she closes her eyes, and I pull my finger back before she can do anything else that is creepy.

After a moment, Mallory opens her eyes, but then responds. “That was much closer, but it is still missing something.”

At that I pause, and look at her. “Is it the fact that I am not in my creepy old elf suit that you are missing?”

I ask, and then instantly regret ever bringing this subject up at all. As this is getting far beyond my comfort zone.