The next day was rather busy, for the army. They had to clear the city, handle the survivors, look for information about the Inquisition…

I, on the other hand, did not have much to do. So I checked in with Iris. We had only talked briefly after the fight.

“How is the recruitment going?” I asked her.

“Better than expected. It will take time to find any potential traitors. Today, I will start inspections to see if anyone is controlled. Then I will need to do a lot of interviews. I want to use those troops in the upcoming battles and then offer a few who stand out a job, if you agree.” She reported.

“You want to use them as guards for our county?” I asked.

“Yes. You have a lot of power, so does Lucy, but to patrol a territory and keep it safe, we will need soldiers. Not elites, just normal people with a bit of experience to keep the peace.” Iris said.

“I agree and I trust your judgement. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Yes, my lady.”

With that handled, my next stop was Adhira. I needed more information about the fey.

“My lady, our new armour arrived this morning from Tyrell!” Adhira told me excitedly. She was buzzing around the tent while Nira was opening a crate.

“Nice! So for both of you and Ben? Did he send all three sets we have been waiting for?” I asked.

“Yes, my lady.” Nira confirmed. “Shall I fetch him?”

“No rush. You both seem excited to try out your new gear.” I said.

“Woohoo!” Adhira cheered and dove towards her things.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Both of them put on their new armour, then they played around with the maid uniform part. Just like Lily and Iris, they could summon a uniform on top of their plate and store part of the armour inside a storage artifact. Their looks varied from full knight, to plated maid to full maid. It was rather amusing to see the effect on a tiny storm sprite.

“Best lady ever!” Adhira celebrated.

“Indeed, thank you for this gift.” Nira bowed.

“You are welcome. Now, I did have something to discuss.” They already knew about yesterday's battle and Beira’s involvement.

“Are we going to war with a fey court? Actually, I suppose we already are at war. Ha, I am gonna show some frost sprites who is boss! I will have to consult with Shani about the best insults to taunt them…” Adhira mused.

Actually, Shani did know a lot about fey. I should get her for this conversation.

“Wait a minute, we should involve Shani in this discussion.” I said, then I left to fetch my elemental.

Shani stood out, which made her easy to track down. She was inside a tent humming. When I entered I found her in a tub, filled with blood.

“Hi Amaya! Do you want a bloodbath?” She asked.

“Um, no. Blood does not clean you, you know.” I pointed out.

“Pfft. Clean is overrated! Elementals don’t have a body that can get sick, infected, or things like that. We are mostly just magic, you know.” Shani replied.

“But there are magical diseases and there can be magic in blood.” I said.

“Sure. That is the great part about blood! There is always a little bit of magic in it! Even the weakest creature has a tiny bit of mana. Of course, demons, or powerful mortals, are tastier. When you first summoned me to that giant battle I started to realise how much potential it holds! I have been working on extracting magic from it ever since. As a storm elemental, my main affinity is wind. But unlike the boring wind elementals I do have some control over water. That is what got me started on blood.” She explained.

Hm. Originally I thought all wind elementals were the same. I had come to realize that storm elementals were a bit different. I was unsure if they were higher evolution but they did mix in a water affinity, mostly for rain. Back in the game my character’s main element was lightning. But that always counted as part of the air domain, which was often called wind. This world seemed slightly more complex. I had never questioned a storm spell in the air domain causing rain. But I was getting sidetracked.

“I wanted you to join a discussion about the fey. We need to track down Beira and deal with her. Possibly in the fairy realm.” I said.

“Oh, that sounds like fun! I can bully a lot of elementals there! Other archfey are too boring to create court elementals!” She sounded excited. Then Shani started to absorb the blood in her tub into the bunny ears. But not all of the blood went there.

I stared at Shani, who now had some red streaks on her skin. She stared too. “Huh, neat.” She replied.

“Are you turning into a blood elemental?” I asked.

“What? No! Ew. I want to be a bloodstorm elemental! Make it rain blood, scythe made of blood lightning, electrocute people’s blood while it is inside them,... ” She replied.

I decided to stop my questions there and just nodded. I also wondered if that would have an effect on us, through the bond. Was Lucy getting more bloodthirsty? Then again, that might just be her kitsune part.

While I contemplated the bloodthirstiness of my companions we walked back to the tent, where Adhira and Nira were waiting.