Intermission – Empress Mena Doxa

"What a damn insolent little priestess!" our Dear Husband exclaims irately as he storms into the room, and the glass ceiling shows the sky above darkening along with his mood.

He looks so cute when he's angry.

"Is she wrong?" Piscilla teasingly asks exactly what we all want to ask.

Our Darling takes his seat and glares at her, but there's no power in his gaze, and she grins back smugly as he mockingly repeats with a nasally tone, "Is she wrong? YoU'rE lYiNg tO yOuRsElF iF yOu cAn'T sEe ThE tRuTh iN mY wOrDs!"

"You're being childish," I soothingly reply and give his large hand a pat.

Now that I'm touching him, he controls himself a bit better. "She was the child if she thought she could give me a lesson!"

"There's actually nobody, in a significant position, at least, who believes that Reinhold's death was unjustifiable," Efsevia calmly points out.

Here we go…

"Justifiable or not, it happened due to negligence," Hayakasha immediately replies with her usual cold tone.

"Can we stop talking about this topic already?" Ho'Tree pleads tiredly.

Thank you!

The bickering women simply shrug and drop it, also a bit tired of arguing in circles about this.

And since the table has fallen silent, I sweetly continue, "How did the two Princesses react to our proposal?"

"She loved it," Uruterie answers with a grin.

"She hated it," Ho'Tree answers with a groan.

This is… actually good for me. Keeping Sa'Haa unmarried allows her to focus on worshiping Tommen, and she'll never be made Empress without descendants. But perhaps taking her away from him will allow Vanea to help him mature. The only problem would be if Wolf wants to become a Consort and supports Sa'Haa in competing for the throne, as he'd be a massive advantage for her.

If only he were a double edge… or I had a daughter…

And my caressing assuages Dear Husband's anger enough that he soberly declares, "It's still their own choice whether they follow through to the end. The only thing that we request of them is to keep surveillance; I don't want a repeat of the Purification."

"It shall be done," Ho'Tree obediently replies while Uruterie simply nods.

And I grin internally. Everything is going according to plan.

Intermission end.

When Ciel comes back, Roxanne and I clap teasingly at her.

"Congratulations on getting kicked out by the Emperor himself," my cheeky succubus innocently greets.

Ciel stops and cringes awkwardly as she twiddles her thumbs. But her bravery comes back, and she decides to outright admit to everything since we can just read her mind anyway, "Okay, I agree that I was a bit impulsive and that it could've gone better, but I said everything I wanted to." And she puffs up her massive, juicy chest with pride.

"Can I go next?" Aoi quietly asks as she raises a claw.

But the chocolate angel frowns. "That would just make things worse."

"But I want to say that I don't like him," Aoi insists and shows a toothy smile, trying to appear innocent, though that's a bit difficult considering she has a pretty frightening face (for commoners).

"I'm sorry, my love, but that would be very rude," I side with Ciel and pat her big head.

She glances at me, then closes her eyes and lowers her head to savor my touch as she relents, "Hm, alright. But I'll tell him the next time we meet if I still remember this grudge."

"It'd be funny if you did," Yunia calmly states.

"Hehe," Aoi chuckles impishly.

Lina gets up from her chair, walks up to Ciel, and gives her a big hug. "You looked really cool," she quietly states.

"Awn…" Ciel's heart melts, and she suffocates Lina with her pillows, making me wish that was me. But Ciel sends a frown my way. "You were teasing me, so none for you."

"Awn…"

The meetings continue as usual after this little distraction, and we get to talk with a very eclectic set of leaders and representatives, but these are just the more "respectable" ones from among all of the Thieves Guild, so I can only imagine how much cornier and shadier than Poiopo the "bad ones" would be. The chain smoker, scrawny little bunnyman is straight out of a noir novel, making me wonder if that's a genre that exists in this world.

Yunia immediately answers my thoughts, "There are a lot of Investigator novels that fit that theme. They're both romantic and gloomy, but they make for good entertainment for Ladies without enough excitement in their lives."

"Ereia is like that, I assume?" I ask her with a smirk.

And the Queen nods. "She and many others, but Ereia is more shameless, so she sates her thirst for excitement with carnal pleasures when the novels aren't enough."

"My kind of woman," I hum.

"Of course she is…" she dryly replies.

But we don't all have to meet with every representative, so I have plenty of time to fill Andrea up.

Unfortunately, she still has little stamina compared to me, so she collapses on the bed after the third round in a row.

Then she turns around, and pleads weakly, "I have… to go back… to report…"

I lean over her and kiss her cute, black dog snout, then huskily decline, "I don't care. I'll play with you until I've had my fill of you. I don't know if we'll meet again, so I have to make do with what little time we have."

Aoi begins cleaning up, making her vocalize and writhe under me, but thanks to her high "Endurance" from being a soldier, she still manages to suggest, "If… if I were to give you intelligence reports… we could meet regularly."

I caress her short black hair and play with her ears as I calmly hum, "Well, that's an if. Until that actually happens, I'm going to shove it into you so hard that they'll find my seed inside your soul."

"Oh, Gods…" she cries softly as Aoi finds her G-spot.

And I chuckle darkly. "Yeah, you'd better pray because only the Gods can save you from this."

She wrestles back control of her body, then grabs my face and fiercely declares, "But I don't want to be saved."

"Now that's a good girl," I whisper with a grin.

Then we go for another round.

We're only having the Verners and Andrea as guests for dinner tonight, so we order a lot of meat to please the wereanimals. I, particularly, favor the lightly seasoned, raw, minced meat this time because the dragon in me has been in control for a while as I did this Doberman woman, and now it demands raw meat to sate its hunger.

Léonne notices my female dog and greets her politely, "Greetings, I'm Lord Léonne Verner, Chieftess of the Misty Low Forest, and I assume you must be Plifori's representative."

But the dragon is still awake, and it must assert its dominance over his woman, "She's my newest hole, and she'll remain here for at least one more day until I've had my fill of her body."

And I turn my eyes to the female dog in question. Her pointy black ears and tail shoot up in surprise as her skin quickly blushes, but she doesn't seem to dislike this label.

"Say 'yes, I'm Master's hole,'" Alissa quietly commands her.

"Yes, I'm Master's hole," the obedient dog stiffly obeys, then starts breathing heavily in depraved excitement.

Jacques turns to Allura, his fearsome face warped into a frown as he points out, "This is the man you've fallen in love with. You like this kind of thing?"

But Allura confesses without skipping a beat, "Of course, I do. It's such an exciting power play." And she grins perversely as her desires start to leak past her wall of self-control.

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"Why did I even ask…" he mumbles as he shakes his head.

Léonne pities her husband's pain and tries to soothe him, "Love, she's definitely our daughter; it's just that she's less shy about her desires than you are."

But Yunia is out for blood and candidly declares, trying to get him to admit to his nature, "I know you like my pair, Jacques, and you also couldn't take your eyes off me as Wolfy abused it with his spiky Weapon. You have a domineering side to you full of desire that you keep suppressing, but you'd live a better life if you just gave in sometimes and had some fun."

The fox milf nods repeatedly in agreement while Ofilia first swallows heavily before also nodding along.

Jacques stares at his family, but he finds no support. Then he turns to Yunia as he ponders upon her words, but his eyes are magnetically attracted to her valley and half-naked pair as only a thin piece of cloth hides them from the world. I'm starting to enjoy seeing other men showing desire towards my women as it gives me a sense of superiority as I do them to completion in ways that no other living person can.

And I'm not the only one who's admitting to depraved desires as the red beast sighs and confesses, "I was raised as a warrior in a Sworn Hunter household. We're told to be absolutely respectful and chaste so that the Lords will be comfortable with trusting us with their lives, but you know that I have a very strong 'desire,' which both of my daughters seem to have inherited," -the foxes in question grin- "and simply 'giving in' was never an option, so I guess I got too good at repressing myself."

Léonne leans towards him, one hand going for his thick arm and the other disappearing between his legs. Then she calmly replies as he struggles to maintain a straight face, "Fortunately for us, the Ryders are helping us truly 'free' ourselves, so take your Tool out and give Ofilia the meal she's yearning for."

The jade beauty stiffens up at being ordered and almost leans over to begin, but then her eyes meet with Léonne's teasing pair, and she instinctively looks down, only to find nothing to suck on. She pouts annoyedly as she realizes the bamboozle, but Allura crosses her arms and glares, unamused at having spiciness happen in front of her once again.

"Okay, maybe not in front of Allura," the milfy fox backs down and smiles apologetically at her daughter.

For the evening, we string up Andrea, and I have each of us play with her to completion. This includes the adventurers and the Companions (except Hukarere), so there are plenty of hands to go around. I normally use Klein for this kind of power play, so I'm very happy that I have Andrea to take her place.

Today is the 19th, Nev, day of Spirit.

A good day to learn skills as everyone's spirit/soul is stronger and more active. It's also the only day of the week that commoners can perform the ritual to lose skills as it's a bit straining for the soul, but a high-level person's soul is strong enough to do it any day of the week.

"This is a weird question, but doesn't Lord Wolf's seed smell… really good? Like, too good to be normal?" Andrea embarrassedly asks.

And to her surprise, she immediately gets a bunch of positive responses.

"Lord Wolfy's seed is so addictive that I've dreamed about it," Edjo casually remarks as Hukarere nods emphatically, then the catgirl sips her tea in a subtly snobbish way that reminds me of a certain elf.

"If you like it that much, then come over here and get some," I huskily command as I push my chair back and spread my legs.

And to my surprise, she actually takes me up on the offer.

"[Spicy Charm]…" Alissa reminds me.

Right…

"She's stealing your job," Roxanne teases Hukarere and elbows the naked woman.

"I mean… I'm holding back to not bother Wolfy," she mumbles back with a shrug, not even feeling any discomfort from the succubus' weak arms.

Edjo kneels before my chair, and I stare at her pretty cat eyes as she opens her mouth, showing a set of cute fangs.

"I'm also holding back," Aoi complains and stares at the gray catgirl.

I turn my eyes to Laguly and notice the hunger in her gaze mirroring that of my white wolf, my blue dragon, and my black dog. It seems that the spicy air is quickly growing out of control.

So I reassure them, "It's not a bother, it's just that I don't have enough time for everyone, but if you want to use me while we eat, then it shouldn't be a problem."

Edjo takes it out of her mouth momentarily to concernedly ask, "Perhaps Lord Aoi should be first then?"

"Nah, you've already started, but you'd better be quick," I answer as I caress her head.

And she gives me a suggestive grin as she starts to bob her head up and down.

This morning's orb-boosted mana circulation training is interrupted by a message from the temple saying that they've finished cataloging our spoils. Soon after, Vanea arrives, and she has an interesting pair of guests with her.

"Kyros, it's good to see you," I greet my former [Godly Language] teacher.

"Your Highness Wolf, you've changed so much that I have no words," the elegant imperial greets me with a bow. Olive skin, blue eyes, a white goatee, and white sweptback hair. He's an elegant, mature man, but he seems too old to be the father of the little weredog girl with droopy ears holding his hand, though she resembles him quite a lot.

Vanea, who's dressed like a blue princess, teasingly answers as she keeps her eyes to my chest to not bother me with her piercing stare, "He was just a frightened boy with a woman-killer in his pants the first time we met, and now he's… an actual dragon."

But Kyros pays no attention to her spicy words and solemnly continues, "The Gods were wise in their choice of Gifted, and now I'll be forever thankful to you, Your Highness Wolf, for removing the stain of Katasko from the Empire." And he stares at me intensely with his blue eyes, a strong, hopeful glint in his gaze.

"I didn't know you had such a grudge against them," I reply with a gentle smile.

He looks down and smiles at the cute little dog girl staring at us with large, curious eyes. "This is Thelma, my granddaughter. My son was too reckless and found out something he shouldn't, and then he paid for it with his and his wife's lives. Now, Thelma, say your thanks the way I taught you."

Now you have me curious…

The little girl breathes in bravely, her furry tail rising up in tension, and after a couple of seconds of holding her breath, she releases it along with a stream of words, "L-Lord Wolf, thank you for avenging my parents. The evil men forced us to run away from home, b-but now that they're gone, we can go back!"

"Very good, Thelma," he quietly praises her, and her tense tail starts wagging.

She smiles adorably and grips his hand harder, then averts her eyes from mine as it might take quite a lot of effort for her to stare me in the eye.

Yunia is quite savvy at spotting scheming, so she smoothly probes, "We'd be interested in any information you may have about Katasko. Even though they're being destroyed by the Punishers, they had dealings with heretics that might also be undead, and we're looking for anything that could help us identify them."

He glances at Vanea, who subtly nods, then he smiles politely and answers, "It's a complicated matter. May we talk about it in a more appropriate setting?"

"Sure."

Thelma is a really good girl. She's obedient and quiet, but Alissa keeps her from getting bored by reading a picture book with the girl. Apparently, weredogs make for the most well-behaved children… and dragonkin the least.

"Heh," Hana snorts in my mind.

"What is this? It smells good," Thelma asks as she points to a cup of coffee.

Alissa picks it up and cautions her, "It's coffee, and it's very bitter, but if you take a sip of it, I recommend you eat this, a sweet called chocolate."

Her fluffy tail wags at the mention of sweets, and Kyros pats her head as he smiles warmly at her. The brave girl then takes a sip of coffee, and she hates it.

"Yuck! Bitter! Give chocolate!" she demands and opens her mouth, so Alissa feeds her a little square, and she brightens up instantly. "Yummy!" she exclaims, her tail wagging so hard that her body is shaking along with her.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kyros softly states, and Thelma nods obediently.

Ciel dies of cuteness overload while "Charm" temporarily appears in our "Status Effects." But there's one person here who's so cold that she isn't affected by cute little girls.

Vanea promptly begins the serious talk, "You've already exposed that Cleinias was looking for ways to extend his lifespan, but the rest of Katasko was doing something worse."

"Immortality," Kyros completes, his smile slowly replaced by gloom.

Alissa takes Thelma away from us towards a set of sofas on the balcony so that she won't hear about this heavy topic.

"That's undeath," I point out.

But Kyros shakes his head. "A different kind of immortality. One that doesn't cause corruption."

"How?" Ciel immediately asks, frowning in disbelief.

He averts his eyes as he thinks for a moment and begins an unsure explanation of a topic he isn't very familiar with, "Our body is made up of innumerable small structures called 'cells,' but like a sword that is used for too long, they become brittle and break as we age. They were looking for ways to 'rejuvenate' these cells and revert aging."

Are they restoring DNA telomeres, or is there more to it?

I knit my eyebrows in concern as I soberly state, "That's genetic engineering. Just like the monsters that attacked Gnomeria, or the Clone Soldiers the heretics sent after us, they're likely modifying the 'soul of the cell,' a part that controls how our cells are structured."

"But what about the soul? Modifying the body while leaving the soul untouched would cause Body-Spirit Desynchronization," Ciel immediately retorts.

"I don't know the details, but I assumed [Alteration Magic] could fix that," Kyros answers.

But Yunia and I become suspicious of him. "Why haven't you talked to someone else about this? Like the temple or the Templars?" I sternly inquire.

He gives me a defeated and depressed look. "This isn't exactly heretical research. They could claim it was merely lifespan extension, but my son discovered that they were aiming for immortality."

I'm still skeptical, so I tactfully probe further, "What did he do to… get himself targeted?"

"He stole evidence. A sample of these 'cells' and reports suggesting that it's possible to achieve immortality with this technique."

Ciel sighs gloomily and begrudgingly admits, "Even that might not be enough to be considered 'heretical.'"

"But I think there's more to this situation," Vanea solemnly chimes in.

And Kyros follows up, "It seems that the people sent after my family are related to the ones sent to harass the Anaras in Rabanara, and we suspect that the royals funded them."

"You don't mean the Empresses and the Emperor?" I clarify.

Vanea gently shakes her head, then stares me in the eye to make sure I understand that she's serious. "No, not them. Remember that Cleinias was also considered royalty, which is why he was allowed to live in the upper parts of the Throne of Ascension. But we have reason to believe that the Alkimeonids family had help from other royals as they weren't using Katasko for this."

Right, Cleinias was actually a descendant of an Imperial Prince who gained influence but not enough to be crowned, and that's why he was a "royal."

"There are a number of royal families with a bad enough reputation that I could see them participating in this," Kyros adds.

"What evidence do you have?" Yunia inquires.

But once again, he gives us a defeated and depressed look. "None. It died with my son and his wife. I only have the letters he sent me explaining his suspicions." He's a dignified man, one who truly deserves the title of Noble, so it actually pains me to see him like this.

But I know that I have the "Charisma" to affect others, so I decide to comfort him a bit, "What you've told us is still very helpful. Now we know that many suspicious things happening around the Empire are actually linked. We have a Punisher Captain that's allied with us, and I think we should tell her what you know so that she can keep an eye out for anyone who's carrying out lifespan research."

And my attempt is successful, for he straightens his back and smiles as he replies with a sentimental tone, "Thank you. It's great to hear that his death wasn't in vain."

But Yunia has one last topic that she needs answers for, "Was your son an Investigator? Why was he involved with Katasko?"

And his smile becomes pained as he confesses, "Because of hubris. At first, he joined Katasko due to greed, but once he found out about the research, he became excited at the prospect of being rewarded for exposing heretics. At least he sent Thelma to me before… things fell apart."

"Do you have any more info on the people responsible for this research?" I gently ask.

"A few names of nobles that disappeared before the Purification, but there's one that stood out: Andre Forte."

"Just like you, Wolf, this is a name without a past," Vanea adds with a knowing smirk.

And I smirk back, but I answer soberly, "We've never heard of them, but it does sound elven."

Kyros frowns concernedly as he admits, "My son said it was an odd name, so he could only transcribe what he heard."

And that kills my curiosity. "So 'Andre Forte' might not even be how it's actually written or pronounced."

He nods. "Yes."

They have nothing more to say, so Ciel wraps things up, "Well, thank you anyway for all this information. We'll keep an eye out for anything that sounds like that name."

With the heavy stuff over, we let Thelma come back, and Ciel joins in on reading the picture book. Even Vanea seems to finally melt a bit at seeing the cute little girl having fun. It actually amuses me that Thelma isn't scared of my presence, but then the girls delight themselves in making me uncomfortable when they remind me that [Spicy Charm] might be affecting her.

Anyway, the fun soon ends when we get new arrivals: the Princesses, who have come on the back of a damn huge dragon.