We have come all the way to Shima at Madam Erin’s request, helped Inari reach a destination to place an imitation crystal, and are now fighting off the Oni as she sets up her secondary dungeon. That’s when it happens all at once.
As the [Stone Wall], in which she was using as a way to keep the humans from seeing her set up her imitation crystal, falls several of the Oni closest to us begin to howl and scream as they spontaneously catch fire hitting the ground wriggling around.
The other Oni that are further away drop what they were doing and begin wandering off. We can then see a temple standing were the [Stone Wall] was moments before, and stepping out from the inside is Inari and she smirks and gives a thumbs up.
The humans standing at the walls behind the building all have total looks of confusion on their face but none dare step from their posts. We sheath our weapons and move forward to meet up with Inari.
“That’s a bit overkill isn’t it?”
Inari: “It had to be big enough to make them believers.”
“The Oni not bothering them anymore should have been proof of that, but summoning an entire building before their eyes…”
Inari: “Well some of them might have started to doubt it was really Inari that caused the Oni to back off if there wasn’t something physical for them to see. Besides he said the town didn’t have a temple to Inari, so that had to be corrected.”
“So how big did you end up making the dungeon?”
Inari: “Is that something the Archjusticar of the elders should be asking little old me?”
“You’re right… I’m sorry.”
Inari: “I’m only joking Daddy!” –She says while laughing and hitting me on the shoulder.- “I didn’t make but a single room, I wanted to be sure the [Inari’s Providence] worked out before spending all of my xp.”
“So, is it all you hoped for?”
Inari: “So far so good, I even got to see what happens when something that shouldn’t be allowed in [Inari’s Providence] is put inside of it, so I got to learn quite a bit.”
“Well you better go talk to the townspeople, so they can quit holding their breaths.”
Inari: “Should make them wait till their faces turn blue after calling me crazy.”
I ruffle her hair and kiss her forehead. “Darling… You are crazy.”
Belinda grabs my arm laying her head on my shoulder with a smile.
Belinda: “Now go Inari, convince them how great you and your god really is.”
Inari quickly gives Belinda and me a hug and after patting the two foxes on the head they follow her as she starts walking back towards the town.
Belinda: “they grow up so fast…”
“She was fully grown when she was born…”
Belinda hits me on the shoulder. “You know what I mean.”
“Why don’t the rest of you go join your Mistress, she did a great thing today.”
It takes a few hours for the townsfolk to even acknowledge what just happened, and some of the older Shima natives waste no time visiting the shrine of Inari that just appeared from thin air. It isn’t like things will change overnight, but it looks to be a step in the right direction.
After Inari talks to what amounts to the entire population of this bustling little portside town, she joins Belinda and me as we sit next to the steps of the new temple as the sun sets over the forest.
Inari lets out a long deep sigh. “Man I am tired…”
“So how did it go?”
Inari: “As best as can be expected, some think I am The Inari, others are wary, some took my words as truth, and some still can’t make up their minds, but the one thing that is certain is none will have to worry about Oni attacks tonight so the rest will come with time.”
“Have you told Madam Erin yet that it was a success?”
Inari: “I got to leave something for the big and great Archjusticar to do.”
“Have you tried transferring back to your primary dungeon yet to see if that works?”
Inari: “Yea, I already sent Takeshi home to start warming our bed.”
Belinda: “You didn’t really, did you…?”
Inari stretches. “I wish…” -she says as she stretches- “I did send him home to take care of some things, but I doubt I will get to make it home to rest tonight…”
Akane approaches us with a conflicted expression.
Akane: “Mistress, I would like to ask you for a favor.”
Inari: “Of course, you can go back to Yuji now.”
Akane: “No, that’s not it at all. I would like to stay here to take care of your secondary dungeon.”
Inari: “Well transfer works, so it isn’t like we need anyone to baby sit it, and I was planning on summoning one or two more to help with just that.”
Akane: “I would really like to stay here though and do this for you, as I don’t have any need to return back to your primary dungeon.”
Inari: “What about Yuji?”
Akane wears a troubled expression she is trying to fight it but in the setting sun the tears glisten in her eyes. “Just after we left he took Kaori as his own.”
Inari: “Damnit I knew that Kaori was trouble, I know I will send her out here and then you can have Yuji to yourself again.”
Akane: “No, I knew this would happen as soon as you made the decision for him to stay behind. In truth I have been waiting on it. I am however glad he chose Kaori, because she was my first choice.”
Inari: “I don’t understand I thought you loved each other, and you even gave up Akihito for him.”
Akane: “I do love Yuji, but not in the way I think you mean. I gave up Akihito because I just couldn’t stand to see him with Yuzuki, but Kaori is sure to be able to make him far happier then I could.”
Belinda: “But what about what makes you happy…?”
Akane: “Well I would like to have Akihito back, but Yuzuki was sure to see to it if she couldn’t have my Yuji then she would have Akihito. I can’t blame Akihito either for the way I broke things off, but Yuji being with Kaori and the Mistress trusting me to take care of things here for her would be what makes me happy.”
Akane then laughs and brushes the tears from her eyes and says.
Akane: “But if Mistress saw fit to summon me a couple of studs I by no means would turn it down.”
Inari: “If that’s what you really want…Wait a minute… Are you saying that Takeshi made me miss the last time you and Yuji were together, and I missed Yuji’s first time with Kaori?”
Belinda: “Inari!”
Inari: “What? Tell me mother that you have never peeked in on any of Daddy’s monsters when they were getting down and dirty.”
Belinda: “I…” –Belinda doesn’t say anything else and only blushes.-
Inari: “See!”
Akane laughs and says. “Yuji and I really did have a good time putting on a show for you sometimes, but maybe this is a sign, that now that you have Takeshi it’s time for you to put that behind you.”
Inari looks mortified at the possibility and says. “But if it wasn’t for watching I would have never learned that technique where…”
“Alright! I have already learned far too much about the sexual habits of my daughter, her monsters, and even revelations about my own wife…”
Belinda: “You are making me sound like a pervert! It was only once, I was curious how Zoey and Roxy managed it, and it isn’t like I was hiding it. I told you about it and that’s when we made it where nobody else could access the screens from inside the house.”
I wonder if she realizes the bunnies have full access to all the screens… Maybe that’s a secret my old self wanted to take to the grave, so maybe I should just let it die with the memory of it…
“Speaking of those two, where did they make off too?”
Belinda: “I think Roxy said something about a bar down in the town and something about all the fish you can eat and Zoey wasn’t about to pass that up.”
Inari: “That’s Aunt Zoey for you. What about you Aunt Azami? Or are you just going to hide over there in the shadow of the building?”
Azami: “I was speaking to Moss through [Communication]. Moss wanted me to let Two-Twelve know that he made him a new present with [Elven Crafting]. He said it was a noose in which he hoped Two-Twelve would use to hang himself.”
“He does realize he is one of my monsters now right?”
Azami: “I thought it was a nice gesture for him to let you know he was thinking about you.”
Inari: “She kind of does have a point Daddy, I got [Elven Crafting] as well and it takes a lot of concentration, he must really be trying his best.”
“I am not really sure that is something he should be trying his best at though…”
Azami: “You have the [Elven Crafting] skill?” –She says skeptically.-
Inari: “I am by no means good at it. I can barely craft items from ironwood.”
Azami has a taken aback expression on her face, like if her life is a lie…
Azami: “Dungeon Cores truly are monsters…”
We laugh and continue to talk for a little bit but once the sun completely disappears from the sky Roxy and Zoey can be spotted making their way back. Roxy had her arm looped in Zoey’s but Zoey had her hands on her stomach with a satisfied expression.
Inari then transfers us back to her house while she continues to watch her new dungeon. Before going to bed Belinda makes me try out Inari’s hot spring.
Belinda: “You need to learn to summon one of these, I want one of these.”
“I don’t know, its kind of open for my tastes.”
Belinda: “You’re probably right, if we had one of these there would be all kinds of prying eyes.”
“You mean like the pair we have right now?”
Belinda quickly covers her chest while saying. “What?!”
Azami: “I was not prying, I was just seeing if the bath was unattended.”
“I thought you didn’t like things like this.”
Azami: “It was far too loud last time, but the actual bath was pleasant. Either that or the bath would have been pleasant were it not for all the noise.”
“Well it’s just Belinda and me now, why don’t you join us?”
Belinda: “What?”
“It’s not like it isn’t anything I haven’t seen, the bath more than large enough, and it’s not like you can see much once you are in the water.”
Belinda: “She has already admitted being attracted to you. I don’t think having her join us in the bath is the best of ideas.”
Azami: “I am attracted to his magic, not his body so naked or not it is the same to me.”
As Azami says that she slides into the water only a few short feet away… I thought with her personally she would have went to the complete other side of the water… Now even I am having second thoughts about this.
To try to fight off the embarrassment of the situation I try to hold a normal conversation.
“I have noticed the number of times you repeat yourself when you talk has decreased quite a bit, is there a reason for that?”
Azami: “It is a habit I have formed to keep away those who annoy me.”
Belinda: “Then that means you no longer find us annoying?”
Azami: “There are a few times I have found our group to be advantageous. Either that or the advantages of our group sometimes outweigh the annoyance.”
“You did that on purpose didn’t you?”
Azami: “I do not know what you mean. Either that or your meaning was not clear to me.”
“Alright, I get it I will change the subject… What about your “friends”? I have noticed their appearance has started to change.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Belinda: “I noticed that too! I just thought it was my imagination.”
Azami: “My friends are a manifestation of my magic, wood, and mud. Their appearance is not within my control.”
“Then what would cause their shape to change?”
Azami: “The increase or decrease in my magical ability, the current properties of mud and wood they contain, or outside forces such as an attack or object touching them.”
“Has any of that changed recently?”
Azami: “I have continued to increase in power as we have continued to battle, the mud and wood here in Shima appears to be a darker shade, and they are often attacked.”
“But when I first saw them they were little more then what looked like a swamp monster, now they actually seem to start to resemble a humanoid shape.”
Azami: “Perhaps there is an outside force in play that we are not aware.”
“Maybe… So how are things going with you and Moss? Do you two have everything you need in the forest, I often wondered if you would like a house or something build for you there.”
Azami: “We are fine… My complaint about bathing with the others was all the talking, yet you have been asking questions from the moment I have arrived.”
“I wasn’t aware you were comfortable enough around us to sit this close, to be honest I was just trying to hold conversation to hide my nervousness, because I didn’t want to offend you when you finally started to open up to us.”
Azami: “I see, so that is the cause for your erection? If you wish to continue our social bonding I can wait for you to take care of it, I am curious about your sexual habits with Belinda, so that would be alright as well, or if ordered I would take care of it for you.”
“Alright! I’m done!” –I quickly say fleeing the bath.-
As Belinda and I are preparing for bed she says. “I don’t see how you thought that would have been a good idea…”
“To be honest, aside for the embarrassment and awkwardness, I actually think it was. I never would have thought Azami would be comfortable enough around us to just sit like that and talk.”
Belinda: “You may be right, but that still leaves me a little conflicted about something.”
“What is that?”
Belinda: “The old you could of bathed with every female in the house and never even acknowledged a single one, but now you are far more… I guess the word would be aware? And I don’t know which one is worse. I used to pull my hair out about just how unaware you were about it, but now I can’t help to get jealous…”
“For that all I can do is apologize… I think that is one bottle I don’t think I could put a cork back in. If it makes you feel better though you are the only woman I love.” –I say wrapping my arms around her.-
Belinda: “It doesn’t, but it helps.” –She says then gives me a deep kiss.-
I then pick her up and she wraps her legs around me I carry her over to the bed. After laying her down and kissing her a few times I work my way down to her neck while she giggles then she quickly stops me.
Belinda: “Wait! Wait…”
“What?”
Belinda: “You don’t think Inari is watching do you…?”
“At this point does it matter…?”
Belinda: “Two-Twelve!”
I whimper and groan as I roll over. Belinda giggles as she wraps her arms around me from behind kissing the back of my neck, but that doesn’t help much…
By the next morning I realize I never did remember to send Madam Erin the message about Inari’s plan working. After sending the message Belinda and I then get ready, we find Takeshi who takes us back to the secondary dungeon to meet with Inari.
We find Inari in the temple looking quite exhausted, but she does manage to light up a bit when she sees Takeshi. She quickly makes her way to him burying her face into his chest.
Takeshi: “Inari…”
Inari: “its fine everyone is gone or asleep, I need a recharge!”
“Everything go alright last night then?”
Inari: “I think so, but we need to talk.”
There are a few people in the temple so Inari leads us outside making sure nobody is around then she says.
Inari: “Have you heard back from Madam Erin yet?”
“Honestly I forgot, but I sent her a message this morning.”
Inari: I was hoping we would find out if we could teleport more easily to and from Shima now…”
“What’s the matter?”
Inari: “I can only summon beastkin, but even with the port the boats still only run to Dalian, so a new trying to summon new monsters to help protect this place would be quite difficult, and there is already a rumor of a group looking to attack the temple to try to steal the “Holy Relic” that allowed for the temples creation.”
“Well you display that much power and people tend to want it for themselves.”
Inari: “Of course there is no such relic but if they try to burn down the temple, or destroy the shrine it might cause [Inari’s Providence] to fail. That’s if their snooping around doesn’t lead them straight to the imitation crystal.”
“What about just having some of your current monsters keep an eye on it for a while till things settle down?”
Inari: “There is still the part of them just appearing. A few humans showing up that nobody recognized won’t draw near as much suspicion, because of boats coming in and out all the time, but a bunch of fox beastkin would definitely raise a few flags.”
“I see your point.”
Inari: “Satoshi and Saki are doing their best, the humans already saw Takeshi so he should be ok, they seen Akane as well, but any more than that…”
(Maeve, where is your dungeon?)
Maeve: (Good morning to you too papa.)
(I’m sorry… Good morning Maeve…)
Maeve: (It was just a joke. Madam Erin told me you were almost in position a few days ago, so I started turning this thing around, but it will still be another day or so before I make it back where Madam Erin can get to you.)
(I see. How are things going with your dungeon?)
Maeve: (It’s really ok papa…)
(I mean it…Madam Erin gave you that xp bead but I didn’t know how much it was for, so I was hoping it was enough to help you out.)
Maeve: (It was 150,000xp, apparently for her to get to and from Shima is way more than that, and hell 150,000xp is 150,000xp so damn right I wasn’t about to turn that down.)
(After we get all this taken care of you might consider flying over this way for a while and paying your sister a visit. These Oni monsters they got here are unrelenting, but you can earn great amounts of xp from them.)
Maeve: (Thanks papa… I will give it some thought.)
“Well Maeve still looks to be at least a day out. What if I use [Gate] where the townsfolk can see me and bring some more of your monsters that way?”
Inari: “I don’t want to spook the townsfolk with too many fox beastkin.”
“Your village has normal adventurers that you can at least partly trust right? How about hire a few of them and I could bring them here.”
Inari: “Daddy, you’re a genius.”
“And you said you get it from your mother.”
Belinda: “Hey now!”
“I didn’t say that you weren’t smart…”
Inari: “Daddy just give it up, you’re going to lose that one… Takeshi, you think you can go back with Daddy and gather about 8 of the good adventurers from the village and have Daddy [Gate] them here.”
Takeshi: “Of course… Are you ready, Father?”
Belinda: “I will wait here with Inari.”
I nod and then Takeshi transfers us back to Inari’s primary dungeon. Takeshi talks to the same man we did before we left, and then gathers a group of well managed adventurers… I am glad we don’t have a lot of groups like that in Gowen or I might be in some serious trouble.
I of course can’t understand what anyone is saying so I just leave it all to Takeshi. Once he gives me the go ahead I cross my fingers and cast [Gate]. The ten of us arrive at Inari’s secondary dungeon. We manage to startle a few of the residents but now that they know we have access to teleportation magic things might go a little better.
As tough as the group of adventurers are apparently teleportation is still a completely different thing, because the ones don’t completely throw up, are either weak in the knees, or at least look nauseated. It makes me feel a bit better, but I still wouldn’t want them to attack my dungeon.
Watching how much teleportation throws off these tough and seasoned adventurers though does give me quite the idea for my dungeon though.
After Inari talks to the adventurers they quickly set up a perimeter around the temple. The sheer respect they gave Inari while she was talking to them I think they would have walked straight into the mouth of a volcano if she asked them…
“They seem to really respect you.”
Inari: “Well Takeshi picked out the best, some of the new adventurers in town and such would have been different, but these 8 have been with us since Kabemura fell. Takeshi and I have even trained with them a few times.”
“The people of Tobes seem to respect me quite a bit, but the way your people respect you is on a completely different level altogether.”
Inari: “When half of them think you are a living god and the ones that don’t think you are at least a god’s messenger that tends to happen.”
“Faron left a message on a supposed holy relic of his church about my Archjusticar status, but claiming me as his Archjusticar. Watching you with those adventurers I was starting to wonder if I should use that fact. I guess you follow an actual god, and they already seem upset with Faron as it is, so maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to exploit it after all.”
Inari: “If you are truly helping people I don’t think the gods would mind, but using the term exploit does kind of give away a bit of your intentions.”
“Well if the people I talked to actually do serve the old gods, it sounds like your god is in a minority because they had no problem slaughtering people to meet their agenda.”
Inari: “Well I haven’t ever actually talked to Inari myself. I can just go by my actions causing the increase in ranks of my skills to be the only clue I have to determine how Inari actually feels. It does always seem to rank up when I am helping people though, like yesterday when I added [Inari’s Providence] over this town the skill ranked up again.”
“That could just be the fact you are spreading Inari’s influence as well, but I guess after the group I dealt with I could just be a bit cynical.”
Inari: “Well you are very smart Daddy, and I am sure you will do what is best, and if the old gods don’t like it I say to hell with them, and Inari can do with that comment as it wills.”
“You count on your god. I wouldn’t say something like that to make Inari mad…”
Inari: “I am saying I am not worried, because I know you will do the right thing, and that I am sure Inari would approve.”
“Well if you do talk to Inari maybe you can tell it to tell its buddies to get off my back…”
Inari laughs and I finally receive a reply from Madam Erin.
Madam Erin: (That is great news, I am having a Dungeon Core that Inari and you are familiar with return with me to place an imitation crystal there to see if this is going to work the way we hope. If all goes well between Inari’s primary dungeon, her secondary dungeon, and this other dungeon core’s secondary dungeon it might be enough to connect Shima back to the dungeon core network. I gave Maeve another small xp bead so she kicked her dungeon up a notch and we should arrive this evening.)
“Leave it to Maeve…”
I tell Inari about Madam Erin’s message.
Inari: “A dungeon core we are both familiar with? The only dungeon cores I know are you, the elders, and my sisters.”
“What about the core you trained?”
Inari: “Kenta? But she said a dungeon core we were both familiar with.”
“Well there are quite a few dungeon cores I know but to actually say I am familiar with them… There is the Elders, Queen, you girls, and that’s it…”
Inari: “Maybe it’s Queen? She was the one that trained another core with us this past year right?”
“I don’t know if she would have interest in Shima though, but if Dyson or Madam Erin offered her a free Imitation crystal I doubt she would turn it down no matter where they wanted her to put it…”
Inari: “I guess we can only wait and see.”
Inari continues to take care of things concerning the temple for the rest of the day. She looks dead on her feet with her ears and tail drooping. Belinda helps her the best that she can, and Takeshi stays by her side seeming to hold her shoulders several times just to keep her from falling to the floor.
After we get a message from Madam Erin about their arrival we have to go meet with them a ways into the forested area. Once we reach them however Madam Erin puts up a large and thick [Stone Wall] to keep Oni from bothering us.
The dungeon core alongside Madam Erin is indeed the dungeon core that Inari trained, Kenta. He seems rather distressed at Inari’s tired appearance.
Kenta: “Mistress, you look truly exhausted.”
Inari: “It’s not every day you build a complete temple from scratch, save a town, and convince that town in the existence in a god they long given up hope on.”
Madam Erin: “Kenta and I had a look around before we told you of our arrival and the [Inari’s Providence] thing around the town seems just like the one over your primary dungeon, and like that one, Kenta could enter but I cannot.”
Kenta: “Worry not Mistress, now that Elder Madam Erin has giving me an imitation crystal I will place it next to your temple and help guard it with my life.”
Inari: “Well I appreciate the sentiment, but I would rather you put it on the far side of town, so we could both grow our secondary dungeons without having to worry about bumping into one another.”
Kenta: “I understand Mistress! But if you are in need of any assistance you just have to ask.”
Inari: “Well if we need to continue to grow the [Inari’s Providence] my imitation crystal will need to remain intact, so that’s the plan.”
Madam Erin: “Well I can’t join you, but I can hold my location here for days if I need to. I do have other things to do though, so if you could get started I would appreciate it.”
Kenta: “Understood Madam Erin, and thank you again for giving me this opportunity!”
Madam Erin: “Well you looked rather pitiful after not being able to place your dungeon in Shima. A Dalian core would have been closer, but I think it was important that it was one of the new cores that we trust to do this. Besides with the location of your dungeon on the Gowen Coast you could almost trace a straight line though the water from Gowen to here. Might be a bit longer but couldn’t be any straighter.”
Kenta: “I highly debated placing my dungeon in Dalian to be as close to my Mistress as I possibly could, but I thought placing it on the Gowen coast it was as close as I could be while still being close enough to my Mistress’s father that if they were to be able to find a way to travel back and forth then they could assist me as well.”
“You sound more like one of Inari’s monsters then a dungeon core.”
Madam Erin: “Doesn’t that work out perfect? We wouldn’t have to worry about him trying to harm Inari’s secondary dungeon for whatever reason.”
“I don’t know most dungeon cores are just at least a bit condescending, so it’s an odd feeling.”
Inari: “You do realize you are talking about yourself as well right Daddy…?”
“I’m aware. There are times I have felt like puffing out my chest and strutting.”
Madam Erin: “In any case, hurry it up, or you can take a boat back to the mainland.”
“If this works like you want I should be able to use [Gate] right?”
Madam Erin: “Fine then if you don’t need me anymore I will just go back home.”
“Let’s make sure it works first!”
Madam Erin: “Then get too it.”
Madam Erin drops the [Stone Wall] long enough for us to make our way back to town, we have to fight quite a few Oni along the way but we don’t have any difficulty returning. When Takeshi sees Kenta he looks rather conflicted.
Inari: “Come on Takeshi, why such the long face? I thought you would be happy to see your half-brother.”
Kenta: “Mistress?”
Inari: “There is no denying you both look the same, and it is possible for a human and a beastkin to have two children one of which looking human while the other with beastkin traits. The town has already seen Takeshi, so it will be a perfect way to explain why you both look the same.”
Takeshi: “But Inari…”
Inari: “You have nothing to worry about now that I got you 100%, in fact… Akane! Why don’t you take Kenta around town and help him find hole for him to plant his crystal.”
Akane smirks as she wraps one arm around Kenta placing the other on his bare chest. “I would love to help him find a hole he can feel at home in.”
As they walk off Takeshi says. “Are you sure they will be alright, he is a dungeon core after all, and we don’t know how much training he has done since he left. Using that ring like you have now he might have gotten quite stronger.”
“Takeshi, at this point I would be more worried for Kenta then about him…”
Inari: “Daddy are you saying my Akane would do something to poor little Kenta?”
“I’m saying like Mistress, like monster.”
Inari smirks and shrugs her shoulders. “In any case, we should know if this is going to work or not pretty soon. Unless they get preoccupied…”
We don’t have to wait long however, because Inari receives word that they found an old abandoned building that Kenta used to start his secondary dungeon. With no surprise Akane is going to stay with Kenta while he finishes setting up his secondary dungeon. She says it’s so she can keep Inari informed, but Kenta doesn’t seem like the type to hide anything from Inari so we know better.
After saying our farewells to Inari’s group we have to hunt down Zoey who we find stuffing her face with fish, and we then return to Madam Erin in the forest.
Madam Erin: “Well pup, [Communication] seems to be working, but now the moment of truth.”
Madam Erin then starts drawing ruins on a large boulder that is inside her [Stone Wall], but it is at least 50% larger then she is and I know for a fact that boulder wasn’t there earlier… She might have used magic, but it wouldn’t be hard for me to imagine her grabbing a rock like that with her bare hands hauling it around either…
She seems to let out a sigh of relief when she draws out the last rune and a portal opens up.
Madam Erin: “Unless someone is brave enough to give it a test run, anyone got anything we can toss through to make sure it makes it in one piece?”
“There are plenty of twigs or stones around won’t that work?”
Madam Erin: “It would be better with something organic.”
Roxy casts [Shadow Pocket] pulling out a large cooked fish. “Will this work.”
Zoey: “But Roxy, that’s mine!”
Roxy: “You made me shove over a dozen into my [Shadow Pocket] when nobody was looking, so one isn’t going to kill you!”
Madam Erin takes the fish. “It would be better if it was not cooked, but it should do. Don’t worry pup, as long as this works you can have it back with no harm done.”
Madam Erin tosses the fish though the portal…
Madam Erin: “Alright Lilith said it made it though, so let’s go.”
We make our way through the portal arriving in Madam Erin’s dungeon to find Lilith with the fish shoved in her mouth head first, with only half of it hanging out.
Zoey: “My fish!” –She says her ears and tail quickly drooping.-
The demon woman then kicks her head back swallowing the entire fish whole, after licking her fingers she says. “Oh, was it yours? I thought the Mistress was giving me a snack. If it’s ok with the Mistress I am sure there is some way to make it up to you.”
Zoey quickly smiles, her ears, and tail perk up again as she looks to Roxy.
Roxy: “Don’t even think about it!”
“Are your portals any stronger then my [Gate] spell or should it work now as well?”
Madam Erin: “Maeve is still part way between Dalian and Shima, so that may be a factor, but I think as long as both of Inari’s dungeons and Kenta’s secondary dungeon are in Shima we should be good, and it should only get stronger as their dungeons grow.”
“I guess we will test it out a bit on our on first then, but I guess that settles it and we should head home now.”
Madam Erin: “What not going to even ask for you compensation for helping me?”
“We got to see Inari again, and managed to gain quite a bit of xp in the process, and if we can [Gate] back and forth we have access to quite a bit more, so we are good. Now if you are offering I won’t turn it down either.”
Madam Erin tosses me a small xp bead and a book. “I went through a lot of work to get this for you, and you don’t even seem appreciative.”
“Thank you very much. If you find yourself in the need of the Archjusticar again, you know how to find me.”
Madam Erin: “Yea, yea get out of here pup…”
I then sincerely thank Madam Erin for the gift and taking us to Shima, and then me and the girls return home.