Maxine enjoyed the last few days of her break by singing with the elves and leisurely crafting healing potions. She was visited a couple times by Melina, whom gave her a few gifts, and a foxkin clan that asked her to make a few potions for them. The foxkin were very generous with the compensation for her time. She already knew they were trying to get the friendship of a recently risen, unafiliated gold tier alchemist. Regardless, she still appreciated their attitude, and told them to come to her if they needed more potions made.

As soon as her small rest was finished, she began her training again in her battle form and she was now going through the mental portion of their training session.

"You've improved," Horatio Quay commented as he moved his troops to counter Maxine's assault.

"Thank you," Maxine replied calmly while ignoring pain from the fresh set of welts scattered across her body.

"And I noticed your new position on the leaderboard," Horatio Quay said calmly, but hs tone became somewhat harsh as he added, "Do not let that go to your head. The only reason you scored so high is due to your multiple cores. When it comes to pure skill, you are far behind everyone else. I hate what they've done to the leaderboard system. I preferred the older system where students had to fight each other to gain their rankings. Knowing how to fight against a wide variety of combat styles makes for a better warrior in the end."

"I know," Maxine said calmly while focusing on their game, "You don't need to say anything else. I'm well aware of the limitations of this kind of enviroment provides me."

"Good," Horatio Quay said approvingly and Maxine felt frustration as his forces appeared out of nowhere to ambush her troops, "I expect you to take a mercenary contract with me a week after your sister and her husband arrives. You need live combat to solidify your understanding of the way of the blade." He's being less and less discreet. He must love playing with fire. Or he really is the Blade Demon from that damn list. That fucker is described as a battle maniac and if he keeps behaving like this, he will get his fight.

"I guessed you would insist on that eventually," Maxine said as she looked up at Horatio Quay since she knew that her loss was a foregone conclusion at this point, "You won, again."

"I did, but you made me work for it far more than last time. Well done," Horatio Quay praised Maxine, "Now, I imagine you will want to stock up on those purple healing potions of yours in advance."

"You're damn right I will," Maxine agreed as she stood up. And I should tell the Alchemist Association to get me an order of Purple Snake fruit and where to get them. I may need more of them in the future. I only have so many in my dimensional ring. At least I thought to put the scales that I shed into my dimensional ring. I honestly didn't think I would shed scales at all. I wonder if I can sell them to an artificer or something.

"Oh, that young man visited again while you were training," Horatio Quay said, "But I don't think he will be visitng you again before you are done with your daily training exercises."

"What did you do?!" Maxine demanded angrily.

"I threw him into the endless fighitng array," Horatio Quay answered with a cruel smile, "He lasted longer than I thought. And I warned him that I would throw him into it every time he comes to bother you while you are training."

"God damn it," Maxine cursed as she simply walked away while pinching the bridge of her nose. And that just proved to me that he is a sadistic prick.

Maxine proceeded to go to her cottage and checked herself over for any loose scales. Ismena had notified her that she found the scales in Maxine's bedding. Afterwards, she made a batch of normal healing potions and the purple healing potions specifically made for anyone that was related to serpents.

Once she was done, she headed out to go get something to eat and was intercepted by Turan mere moments after she left Horatio Quay's training grounds. He seemed extremely nervous.

"You havn't been approached by any elves with particularly dark skin have you?" Turan asked nervously.

"I saw a couple of extremely dark purple elves with white hair when I was singing yesterday. Why?" Maxine asked out of curiosity.

"I just heard that a pair of female drow have arrived recently at the academy," Turan said nervously. Drow? I hope they are not assholes like they are depricted in the novels found on Earth.

"And why exactly should I be concerned?" Maxine asked.

"I'm just advising that you be cautious if they approach you. That's all," Turan said with genuine concern.

"I usually am," Maxine replied with a slight smile, "I wasn't planning on visiting the elven quarter today anyways. I wanted to see the snake-type beastkin today. I know that there are lamia and gorgons here, but I've yet to meet any other snake-type beastkin." And I'm worried how the elves will react to my current appearance. I know they might ignore my lineage when I look more elven than anything else, but I doubt they will be as accomodating if I show up looking like I do now.

"There are not many varieties of the serpent-type beastkin," Turan lamented, "There might be one or two types beyond lamias and gorgons."

"I've never seen the males of their species. So that would be something new," Maxine offered.

"There are no male gorgons. I think there are a few snakemen," Turan said, "Unless you want to see a marilith. I think the academy has a couple of those studying at it, but I will warn you they are not pleasant company." If I recall properly, snakemen are the male equivalent to lamia. I still think it's strange that there are no male gorgons. I guess their situation is the same as the arachne where there are no males of their species. Although, I have heard of the marilith. Their men are on average weaker than the women of their species and both are known for having powerful, almost unhealthy, attachments to their weapons.

"I will take my chances," Maxine replied as she started walking towards the Alchemist Association first.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Turan asked.

"Go right ahead," Maxine replied and took flight towards the beastkin areas. It wasn't hard to find where the snake-type beastkin resided. All she had to look for was a part of the academy that looked like a jungle. Unfortunately, the serpent-type beastkin were not at any of the jungle or desert terrains within the academy. Instead, she found them by chance when she spotted buildings that were reminiscent of ancient greek and roman architecture.

However as soon as she landed just outside of it, she encountered three female marilith. Each of them wielding a scimitar in each of their six hands and were wearing sleeveless leather armor. As they slithered closer, she realized they looked of hindu descent. They look alot like the lamia. Well, that is if you can ignore the fact that they have verticle slits in their eyes, have six arms and skin tones that wouldn't be out of place in India. She managed to keep herself from twitching when one of them flicked out a forked tongue. Oh, yeah. I forgot about their tongues. I think I recall that they see themselves as the warrior caste of the snake-type beastkin.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Hello, ladies," Maxine said in greeting, "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Release Ismena and Reina from your service," the lead marilith said coldly as she ignored Maxine's greeting, "We can protect them better than you can."

"If you could protect them so well, neither of them would be forced to join missions with the Tiger-Bear Mercenary group," Maxine retorted, "And I'm not forcing them to work for me."

"That's right. They owe you a debt," the lead marilith said calmly, "Tell me what they owe and I will repay it."

"Before that, havn't you noticed that since they've been working for me that they havn't been harrassed by anyone?" Maxine asked.

"It matters not. I will not allow one of those under my charge become indentured servants to another," the lead marilith replied with the same calm tone.

"They are not indentured servents. They are my alchemist helpers, but what's more, they are my friends," Maxine said gently, "Just ask them."

The mariliths looked at Maxine for a few moments before the one to the left spoke, "Ka'leth, I sense no disception from her. Either she is a very gifted liar or she speaks the truth."

"I still can't allow one of our people to work for a dragon, even if she is related to a serpent," Ka'leth, the lead marilith, said coldly. Okay. Now I'm getting somewhere. But that begs the question: What have the dragons done to piss these ladies off?

"And what has the dragon tribe done to you?" Maxine asked.

"They wiped out most of the serpent-type beastkin," Ka'leth said sadly, "There used to be as many varieties of our kind such as the Yaun-ti and the Vasuki." I think I've heard of the Yaun ti, but not the Vasuki.

"Vasuki?" Maxine asked in confusion. None of them seemed to want to answer, but thankfully, Ka'leth seemed to pity her enough to answer.

"They are the direct descendants of the mother of all snakes, Kadru. They had a human face, complete body of a serpent and six powerful arms. Their physical strength was unequaled, but the price for such strength was their fertility," Ka'leth said sadly, "The marilith are the result of a vasuki mating with a human in an attempt to make themselves more prolific. There were more variations created due to the thinning of their bloodline, but they either died out or hunted to extinction." I pray that Ka'leth is misinformed. But some part of me knows they are not lying. It's stupid, but fear of another race has caused extinctions before. Humans are not the only species that is capable of it. Hell, the humans of Earth are responsible for the extinction of several species because they were a threat.

"I see why you don't trust dragons, but I'm a hydra-shadow elf hybrid," Maxine said calmly, "And I was raised amongst humans. So I don't see why you are so distrustful of me."

"Humans are the worst," Ka'leth said coldly.

"Some humans are horrible, but not all of them are," Maxine reasoned, "You should visit the planet called Earth sometime. I bet the three of you would become instant celebrities there."

"Really?" one of the marilith flanking Ka'leth asked.

"I'm not one hundred percent certain, but I believe they would be drawn to you out of curiosity if nothing else," Maxine answered honestly.

"Interesting," Ka'leth said, "Hmm, we seem to have gotten off track. So I ask you again, how much will it cost to have them released from your service?"

"They owe me nothing. I healed Reina free of charge," Maxine said directly, "They can quit any time they want to."

"What?" Ka'leth asked in confusion, "I was under the impression that they were paying off a debt."

"That's odd," Maxine commented, "What did they tell you about the whole thing?"

"Ismena said she owed you a debt and both her and her sister were working for you as recompense," Ka'leth replied, "Is that not the truth?"

"It seems there is a misunderstanding here and I know exactly how to resolve it. I will just send you my memories of our encounters," Maxine announced as she extended her spiritual sense to send the memories to Ka'leth, whom allowed Maxine to proceed.

After viewing the memories, Ka'leth nodded her head and agreed with Maxine, "I see, but I still don't entirely trust you. You could've held back some of your memories. Regardless, what you've shown me is enough by the laws of my people, but I will still be watching you. And I warn you. If you so much as harm a single scale of either of them, I will do my best to make your life hell."

"You have my word that I won't hurt either of them intentionally," Maxine assured Ka'leth honestly, "Now can I, please, look around?"

"Yes," Ka'leth said, "But I'm watching you." She seems to be quite prejudiced against anyone with even a sliver of draconic lineage. I can't really blame her though if what she said about their history is true.

Maxine shrugged as she walked passed Ka'leth into the serpentfolk quarter. The land dedicated to them was quite miniscule compared to the other beastkin groups, but she simply assumed it was due to them having fewer numbers. However that was an incorrect assumption. The place was crowded with lamia training with various polearms. The few gorgons she saw carried either a simple sword at their hip with a shield on their back or had a short spear of some kind in hand. Oddly, she didn't see any other marilith besides the three at the entrance to this place. I guess they have the same problems as dragons and elves when it comes to having kids.

"Hello," a red headed lamia with a glaive said in greeting as Maxine walked by, "Welcome. Are you looking for something or someone specific?" Why does she look familiar? OH! I think she's the same lamia I saw in the bathhouse. I think her name was Mia.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just looking around," Maxine said, "Your name is Mia, right?"

"I'm so glad that you remembered," Mia said as she swiftly slithered up to Maxine, but Maxine stepped away from her.

"Sorry, I'm quite venomous," Maxine said as she gestured to her claws and quills.

"I forgot about that trait of yours. I'm not the smartest," Mia said with an apologetic smile, "But I don't think you are a bad person though. I don't care what Ka'leth says about you. You've been protecting Reina and Ismena from the bullies."

"That I have," Maxine agreed, "Do you have anything fun to do around here?"

"Um, we have a small concert at night," Mia said uncertainly, "But if you are looking for something right now, you just need to keep walking down the road. That's where a few of my sisters are practicing with their instruments. It sounds very beautiful."

"That sounds wondeful. Thank you," Maxine said.

"It is," Mia agreed before she paled slightly, "Oh, darn. I should get back to practicing. I don't want to get yelled at again. Bye!" Maxine didn't even get an opportunity to reply before Mia slithered away and went back to practicing various moves with her glaive.

Maxine proceeded down the road and after a few minutes, she found the place where several lamia and gorgons were playing various musical instruments. She only saw a couple instruments that vaguely resembled a violin or a harp. Otherwise she didn't recognize any of the instruments being played. However she found their songs were beautiful even when listened to as a whole.

She oddly felt at ease listening to this music. Even the violence dwelling within her blood seemed to calm as she listened to the various songs being played. So, that old saying 'music calms that savage beast' is true. I just wish it were so easy to stay this calm all the time.

Maxine closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the music. It was a few moments before she spontaneously joined in by singing a song from Earth. When she finished that song, she felt as if all the stress had been drained out of her and finally opened her eyes.

She reflexively recoiled when she saw a couple dozen serpentfolk children infront of her. They were staring at her in wonder. She looked around for their parents and saw them watching her out of the corner of their eyes.

"Did you like my singing?" Maxine asked them. A very young gorgon simply nodded her head.

"Can you sing us another one, please?" a marilith boy asked. He looks a lot like Ka'leth. He's probably her son.

"Of course I can," Maxine said gently with a smile, "But you wouldn't rather sing with me?"

"Yes, please," a young lamia said with a diamond shaped pattern on her serpentine lower body said.

"Marilith don't sing," the marilith boy said firmly.

"Well, that's too bad," Maxine said in return, "But that doesn't stop everyone else learning a few songs and I bet your parents would love it if you could sing well to them." She saw the eager faces of the girls in the group while the boys didn't seem as interested. However all of them, except for the marilith boty, sat attentively as she sang the lyrics of a couple simple children's songs. She continued to teach them for some time until they ran off to their respective parents and began to show off their newly acquired knowledge of song. I do not envy those parents. Well, I best head back now. I wonder what tomorrow will bring, but I definitely know where I'm going to relax while I'm using my battleform.