Chapter 19: The Crew

Miyoko grumbled, pulling her cloak tighter as she glared at the wolf next to her. Endless raindrops echoed off the canyon walls as another spring storm crashed into the Azure border, filling the air with a deafening patter and soaking chill. As miserable as it was, Khukri didn’t seem to mind, watching Master intently as water slipped through her armour and drenched her fur.

Rabbit-girls zoomed between the street rails in leather raincoats, ears flailing wildly from their hoods and ribbons of water fragmenting in their wake.

Master sighed, pulling aside the door to Hotaru’s brokerage. Miyoko slipped in first. The thunderous downpour shifted to a hollow roar as warmth tugged at the edges of her cloak. Buildings this far north didn’t bother with a fireplace. Even in the winter, there was little risk of freezing, and the spring passed easily so long as you kept dry.

Sean entered from the warehouse in a hooded turquoise dress, tucking in a speckled white and grey fur shawl to ward off the chill. “Oh! Ashling, you’re back!” He reached out, catching the door before it closed behind him. “Go ahead and get settled, your order’s in!”

Water flowed through Master’s fingers as he knelt and fiddled with his boot laces, but stopped when Miyoko rested her hand on his shoulder. “Master? You should leave your boots on. The gals here… well, they don’t really know you, yet. So, they’re gonna need some convincing before they do anything illegal. It’s probably better for you to grab lunch with Khukri while I sort out the details.”

Sean returned with a smile, shouldering a long naginata. The weapon was clearly custom built, with a handle made of some type of bone and a curved semi-translucent claw for a blade. He flinched as Khukri darted forward, trailing water onto the worn wood before reaching out with an excited whine.

Once Khukri retrieved the weapon, she hopped back, lashing out three times in quick succession at the air and showering the lobby in rain. “It’s so light!” she gushed, rushing back to embrace Master.

His arm curled around her, pulling her close. “I’m glad you like it… sorry it took so long. We’ll test it out when we have a chance, okay?” Then, his attention returned to Sean. “Hey, Miyoko filled me in on how the other stuff sold… but I was wondering if I could hire you guys to do something… less legal?”

Instantly, Sean’s back straightened and his mood soured. “Absolutely not. We’re an upstanding, legal brokerage and we’d never—”

“Okay! Okay!” Miyoko yelled, waving him away. Then, after throwing her best ‘I told you so’ look at Master, she started towards the stairs. “I’ll deal with them, Master. There’s a grill just down the street. They take florins and have meat options, I’m sure Khukri can smell it from here. Grab a bite and I’ll come get you after I convince them.”

“No. No, we’re not doing anything illegal!” Sean protested, chasing Miyoko up the stairs. “We told you that. It was our one condition!”

Khukri hesitated at the doorway, casting a suspicious glare up the stairs, but ceded control and let Master drag her back into the rain. Good. There was little chance of the wolf hearing her now, freakishly good ears or not.

The door to Hotaru’s office swung open, revealing her leaning back in a chair, a smoldering pipe between her lips. Hotaru sighed, removing the pipe and looking over the bickering duo. “Ugh…” for a moment she rubbed her eyes, as though considering whether or not she was ready, but ultimately fixed Miyoko with a stare. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want the network contact for that drug you gave me.”

Hotaru scoffed. “I’ll buy you more, you paranoid whelp. I’m not helping you for leverage. Besides, you know what kind of damage leaking a contact would do to my reputation.”

Miyoko fell into the seat across the desk with a smirk. “I also want the rest of your network, the brokerage, basically everything.”

“So we’re just telling jokes now?” Hotaru asked, leaning back with her brow furrowed and her arms crossed. “No.”

Miyoko held up her hands. “Okay... counterpoint. Magic is real, and I’ve learned to control it. Watch as I magically transform that no...” Miyoko reached forward with a flourish, opening a pouch and letting a sea of emeralds clatter out onto her desk. “Into a ‘what the fuck!’”

“What the fuck are you doing with those!” Sean squeaked, clamping his hand to his chest as he staggered back and fell into a chair. “We’re not getting involved in this! We escaped beheading by this much, and they’re dangling the exact same bait trying to get us to do it again!”

“Oh? You’re not getting involved?” Miyoko raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m so terribly sorry, let me just turn myself in. Hey! Any executives listening? I’m in Hotaru’s office with something you’re looking for!”

Sean raised his hands defensively, bursting into hysterics. “Shut up!”

“Enough!” Hotaru snapped, gently lifting one of the gleaming hunks. “Are you bringing me these as Ghost... or as Ashling’s surrogate?”

“M- Ashling has an insane plan to clear out the restricted section in the West Origin Royal Library. He has a high ranking librarian as an inside man. One who wouldn’t cooperate with executives, not to catch a bunch of Azure criminals. Ashling wants us to meet him to make sure he’s comfortable with you accepting the job.”

“And who, exactly, is this mysterious librarian?” Hotaru asked.

“The High-Librarian of the West.”

Both went dead silent as they stared, eyes wide and mouths open as they realized she wasn’t joking.

The door cracked open again, and Aoi stuck her head in the room, raising a curious eye. “Hey, Sora and I can hear you yelling from our rooms. What’s going on?”

“Ghost’s trying to trick us into stealing for that sketchy guy!” Sean blurted.

Miyoko waved her in. “Aoi! Get in here! We’re meeting the High-Librarian of the West!”

Aoi paused, then looked to Hotaru for some sort of clarity.

“It’s complicated…” Hotaru mumbled, waving her smoking pipe over the glistening Tsu treasures.

“Sora!” Aoi yelled down the stairs. “Get your ass up here!” Then, she rushed over, knocking over a pile of junk as she stopped at Hotaru’s desk.“What the hell?” Aoi demanded. “You still have the gems?”

“Had,” Miyoko corrected. “They’re Ashling’s gems now.”

“Why!” Aoi yelped, staring at the glittering rocks open-mouthed. “Why wouldn’t you come to us!”

“Uh… let’s see…” Miyoko held up her hand, ticking off the reasons on her fingers. “You’re being watched by executives, you constantly think I’m scheming against you, and… oh, right. I wanted to be on the good side of the man who can legally fuck me to death.” She dropped her hand with a harsh, accusatory glare at Aoi. “So maybe instead of getting on my case, how about you appreciate me trying to cut you in?”

Almost everyone had the decency to look away to hide their guilt, but Aoi’s pudgy cheeks only swelled up. “Well… let’s just kill him and take the gems!” She gestured to the fortune glittering on the table between them. “No job, we get all the money...”

“Oh yeah?” Miyoko asked, raising an eyebrow at the stubborn woman. “Your construction buddies gonna help you fence millions in stolen emeralds?”

“Hotaru can—”

Aoi flinched back when Hotaru cracked a chair on the ground next to her. “If your plan is contingent on my networks... then sit down and let me finish my conversation.”

With a creak, the door popped open once more, and Sora entered wearing a woolen poncho and a tired expression. “What is it?”

“Ghost gave all our emeralds to Ashling!” Aoi complained.

“And she’s tricking Hotaru into breaking the law again!” Sean added.

Sora’s eyes swept over the group, lingering for a moment on the jewel covered table. “And… we’re getting involved?”

“I’ll give you two million florins each and approve every ridiculous expense for the job.” Miyoko motioned to the chairs along the wall. “Grab a seat.”

After a glance to Hotaru, Sora sighed. The chair scraped along the ground as she dragged it to the table, kicking aside debris from toppled piles. “Keep talking. I’ll catch up.”

“Let’s say I trust you,” Hotaru continued. “You’ll need actual money to back up that offer. I can’t move something this hot with executives breathing down my neck.”

“That’s why, officially, we don’t operate as an Azure company… we operate as Othelan.” Miyoko smirked, letting that sink in before pressing on. “Ashling’s a member of the Direwood Syndicate. With assets this valuable he can get a business account at the Othelan National Bank to run all our transactions through.”

“Are you all insane?” Sean demanded. “The executives will see what’s going on. If we get involved in this we’re gonna end up losing our heads!”

The air crackled loudly, sparking from the heavy burn at the end of Hotaru’s pipe. It briefly outshone the candle, drawing all eyes her way. “Sit down, Sean.” A cloud of smoke billowed out from her as Sean grimly returned to his chair. “I’m not saying we’ll do it. We could make a lot of transactions very quickly with a clean account, but It will get flagged in a season or two. This Ashling of yours will be burning all his assets.”

“Now you’re getting it!” Miyoko snatched an emerald off the table and gestured with it. “We turn Tsu treasures into cold hard florins, then bill him for whatever the hell we want. After the job, you run off and leave his company holding the bag! It’s perfect!”

Hotaru sighed, exhaling a cloud of sweet smoke and rubbing her eyes. “So this… monk no one’s ever heard of lucked into gems worth millions, and he’s willing to burn everything he owns to rob the royal library’s restricted section? Can you guess why?”

“Well, that’s easy,” Miyoko told them. “He’s an idiot.”

With a knowing smile, Hotaru leaned back in her chair, opened a tin, and started repacking her pipe with another hit. “Are you really so sure it’s that simple?”

Miyoko rolled her eyes. “If the world’s dumbest fish swam through a portal in time where it found and fucked its own granddaughter, who happened to be an even dumber fish, their retarded inbred fish baby could still trick this man into buying farmland on the bottom of the ocean.”

“Or… he’s after something irreplaceable,” Hotaru countered, smirking as she snapped the tin shut. “You’re thinking like a broker, but there are things money and connections can’t buy. Did you wonder what was in the restricted section, even before the book ban?”

“Their most expensive books?” Miyoko guessed.

“Their most important books,” Hotaru corrected. “The librarians of the royal library issue tests for getting degrees. They give the test taker a physical before sketching a portrait, that way they know the person coming in for a second degree is the same as the person who got the first.”

“The library is storing records?” Miyoko mumbled. Records meant different things from country to country, and they always played favourites. Miyoko’s… no, Tess’s permanent record in the Tsu Empire determined every aspect of her life, right up ‘till Elizabeth: what room she stayed in, what food she got, what weight she was allowed to be, how much she got per silver. It wasn’t much better in the Azure Syndicate, with thousands of clerks wasting their time logging every movement you made. To add insult to injury, those useless clerks lived like queens compared to the people on the streets actually doing something worthwhile.

Hotaru’s smirk never faltered. “Information. The only product so valuable you can’t just buy it. Considering the timing, I think our mysterious monk’s motives likely lie in the recent regicide. Think about it. If you’re a foreign power, and some royal comes running to you asking for asylum… if they’re the queen or something, great.” To illustrate her point, Hotaru held up a golden coin, showing the face of the recently departed queen. “If it’s someone people don’t know… then they’re not really a useful pawn, are they? Unless you’ve got proof.”

The breath seized in Miyoko’s lungs as the implications settled in.

“So…” Sora cut in, “You’re saying he’s like a spy?”

“A foreign agent,” Hotaru concluded, flipping the coin into the air. “The Othelan Republic got a royal refugee and they want the degree books to prove legitimacy. The Direwood Syndicate is technically independent, so they’ll take the hit to get a usable royal pawn.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

No… no. Hotaru’s bias drew her to the wrong conclusion. She assumed a member of Tythic royalty would need another country to get involved… but an idiot who just lost his kingdom, willing to sell himself to the Demon King of Hearts could manipulate anyone he got his hands on. He’d twist them to his will, just like he’d done to Khukri… just like he’d eventually do to her if she lost sight of her goal.

As Hotaru caught the coin, Sean scoffed. “Parliament voted. Queen Fearne is the new queen. Everyone wants Tythic stable and farming right now.”

“Anything that easily changed, can be changed back,” Hotaru countered, fixing Sean with a glare.

“Who’s going to push a claim that they should give Tythic to some guy they’ve never heard of?” Sean asked, ignoring Hotaru’s hostility. “Prices on everything have been rising since the Dusk Emperor died last year. The value of Tythic’s farms is on the rise, and it’s only going up. Parliament voted for peace because they’d rather be swimming in money than burn it all fighting to decide who sits on the fancy chair.”

“He’s gonna start a famine…” Miyoko muttered, fists clenching so hard they started to hurt. The truth was laid bare before her now, separating the smokescreen of the bumbling idiot from his malicious demonic puppeteer. In hindsight it wasn’t hard to figure out how Master had business connections on the islands or knew so much about the old governor’s boat. His real name wasn’t Ashling… it was Ruari.

He’d even mentioned that his fancy boat needed a sailing degree, so Ruari definitely had a one somewhere... It was almost poetic, imagining that idiot approached by the demon after the coup, falling for promises of power and revenge as his world burned.

“Are you even listening?” Sean asked. “That’s the exact opposite of what I’m saying! Even if some other nation’s got an ex-royal hiding under a rock, they’re not going to push that claim specifically because no one wants a famine!”

“Enough!” Hotaru’s call silenced the room. After a long sigh, her eyes swiveled back to Miyoko. “I’m not saying we’re going to agree… but no broker worth her salt would pass up a chance to meet the High-Librarian. What can you tell us about the job?”

Right… right. Now wasn’t the time for Miyoko to get distracted. She already knew the demon had to die. The fact she got to rub out a smug little royal was just icing on the cake. “It’s not complicated. The man’s a blunt instrument. The High-Librarian has some guys pack all the books into chests, then, at midnight, we make a distraction to lure the guards away. We load the books onto a fleet of ships, and we send them off to The Direwood.”

“A night job?” Sora asked, brow furrowing. “West Origin’s a capital city. They’ll probably have foxhunters on duty, or at least girls with night-eyes. We’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“The southern clans are about three hundred years behind the rest of us,” Miyoko said. “They might keep foxhunters near the palace, but they’re staunch traditionalists. They’ll have deer-girls guarding the capital. No men. No species with night-eyes.”

Sora grunted, crossing her arms as she ceded the point, then her ears popped straight up and she leaned in. “What about vampires?”

“I… Huh. Maybe,” Miyoko admitted, looking to her other crewmembers for help. “Does anyone know if the vampires came north with the caribou?”

With a tight jaw, Sean set the gem he was examining back on the table. “Okay, can you not call them that? The water clans are respected members of Tythic. They’ve got seven seats in parliament, and their outreach to the nocturnal community—”

“Sean!” Hotaru yelled, making the boy flinch. “No one thinks water deer are actual blood-sucking monsters, okay? And normally, I have a deep respect for deer culture, you know that. It’s why nobody’s going to make fun of you for being an overly sensitive little bitch, right girls?”

Everyone around the table nodded solemnly.

“That said…” Hotaru continued, leaning in so their faces almost touched. “If we’re pulling a job at night and there’s a chance we’re gonna run into vampires, you need to tell me right the fuck now.”

With an exasperated sigh, Sean returned everyone’s gaze with a flat look. “No. The water clans didn’t back the coup.”

“If budget’s no issue then we’re going in with enough firepower to fight our way out if we need to,” Miyoko said, affixing Sora with an appreciative stare. “That’s why I want a thousand mercenaries with night-eyes for this.”

“A thousand?” Sora demanded through grit teeth. “Most of the regulars got spooked or captured when Fleur dropped the hammer on us, and the rest know the executives are watching. You’ll be lucky if I can come up with a hundred, and only a handful with night-eyes.”

“Have you heard of the Orphans of Han?” Miyoko asked, steadying her breath.

Sora’s eyes widened and her tightened scowl turned soft. “Uh… yeah, actually. They’re a crew of cats, but they never do any work this far west. I’ve heard about them, but it’s not like they’re in my network. Do you know them?”

The girl who could answer that question died five years ago, but maybe that innocent girl wouldn’t mind if Miyoko wore her mask one last time. After all, this time she’d wear it for the reasons they always wanted. “Here’s your in. Tell them Tess has their book, and she wants to talk about Elizabeth.”

* * *

Khukri’s dour expression bored into Ash’s heart as he pulled the laces tight on his boot. “It’s only for a few hours. Just relax here for a bit, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“There’s been a lot of relaxing lately,” Khukri complained, eyes sliding over to Miyoko waiting by the door. “I thought you wanted to get strong, become a knight… how are you supposed to do that if you spend all your time traveling and sitting in meetings?”

It’s not like Ash couldn’t appreciate where she was coming from, but the girl’s approach was too single-minded. By design, every problem in her life had one solution: violence. He’d bought her as a weapon, after all. It didn’t help that she wasn’t entirely wrong. He was weak. He did need to train. However, something happened to Sturm, something bad enough one book was altered and the remaining two were fabricated. If his purpose was to carry on where even a hero like Sturm failed, rushing ahead would only grant him a similar fate. He needed this book.

“We’ll practice with your new spear out in the woods tonight,” Ash promised, scratching behind her ears. He spent time training each night after they’d set up camp, so it wasn’t like he’d given up on getting better. It was a far cry from the full day workouts from back in the Direwood, but it was the best compromise he could make.

A lump formed in Ash’s stomach as he exited the inn, though he threw on a confident smile as Miyoko took his arm. Morning sunlight was a funny thing in West Origin. It came first for the Royal Library, slowly turning the mirrored symbols into shiny beacons from top to bottom. Then it illuminated the red shingled rooftops, but the labyrinth of stone buildings held it back for hours before the cobblestone streets would glow.

The rest of Miyoko’s crew waited by the royal library’s front gate, all in strange mainlander clothes. Sean, in a flowing silken gown covered in floral patterns, and the girls in intricate overcoats that hid their thick, muscled legs.

“What the hell?” Sora complained, glowering at Ash. “Hotaru, I thought you said we had to dress up!”

“We do!” Sean insisted. “We’re meeting the High-Librarian! Ash, you need to go change.”

Sean’s head snapped forward, reeling from where Hotaru clapped him. “Sean…” Hotaru said, an underlying aura of menace in her voice. “Don’t tell the client what to do.”

“But—”

She smacked the back of his head once more, leaving him to sulk.

This time, the librarian at the front gave Ash a group room. The walls were decorated with black tapestries, depicting bright white silhouettes that popped in the gaslight. This room boasted a long table, surrounded by multiple plush leather chairs. At first, the librarian was concerned, since only one book per card was allowed to be viewed, but she settled when Miyoko stepped in to explain her ‘noble master deigned it a community service to read to the uneducated commoners.’ It was a bit much, but Miyoko seemed to know what she was doing.

Half an hour after they settled in, Levi returned, still wearing his white robe and golden sash. His face wrinkled further as it swept around the room, viewing each animal in turn before settling on Ash. “You’ve brought guests this time. Can I assume they’re also friends with your benefactors?”

“We’re a brokerage that works directly for our clients.” Hotaru hopped to her feet, lowering her head respectfully. “We specialize in the anonymous transfer of rare items, your holiness. Ashling, here, attempted to hire us, however, the items he wanted us to acquire…”

“I understand your confusion.” Levi lowered into a chair with a grunt. “To steal any book from the Royal Library would’ve been unthinkable… should be. Unfortunately, my honourable retirement is fast approaching, and with it, the end of my duty to curate our history…”

Sean shifted forward uncomfortably. “Surely, parliament—”

“Parliament’s ire is the only thing stopping her from kicking in the door and setting the whole library to the torch.” Levi’s words hung heavy on the air. “There are many lords sympathetic to the library, but they’re not ready to start a civil war to protect a bunch of books they’ve never heard of. Apparently a few fires is an acceptable compromise to anarchy.”

“You said there’s a bunch of librarians risking their lives getting the books to you, right?” Ash took a deep breath, ready for the pushback. “If this is going to happen. I need about a hundred of them to help.”

Levi scoffed. “You can’t be serious! These are men who’ve spent their lives storing and restoring books. If you expect them to—”

“Not to steal the books!” Ash clarified. “Any criminal can steal. I need someone to take care of the books after they’re ours.” Ash removed a small stack of papers from his satchel and pushed them to the black bunny across from him. “Aoi here can use these diagrams to handle construction in the capital and hire people to convert a building in the Direwood Outpost’s District 4 to a massive brewery. When we get the books, we’ll disguise it as a shipment of raw materials. Your librarians can pose as brewers, and secretly store the books on-site.”

“In The Direwood?” Levi grumbled. “If I’m not mistaken, the place is rather… dangerous?”

“They’ll be protected,” Ash assured, gesturing to another of his compatriots. “This is Sora. She’ll be hiring and directing mercenaries to defend workers both during construction and after the brewery starts operating.”

Sora glanced up with her arms crossed, giving the High-Librarian a respectful nod.

“Sean here is going to make sure we look the part.” Ash drew another two sheets and pushed them across the table to the distressed deer-boy. Finally, he turned his gaze on Hotaru. “And Hotaru here will coordinate the money and paperwork. She’ll buy everything we need and make sure the guards don’t bother us.”

Levi’s mouth tightened to a line as he hunched over the table, eyes warily slipping from person to person before settling on Hotaru. “You can actually do this?”

“We’re professionals, your holiness,” Hotaru said solemnly.

With a final nod, Levi turned his attention back to Ash. “Alright. I’ll talk to them. It’s a big country, and I’m sure some would be willing…” he stood, eyes hardening to a glare. “But your book? I’ll personally ensure it’s the last one out. Understand?”

“Understood.” Ash bowed his head respectfully as the High-Librarian shuffled out the door and shut it behind him.

As soon as he left, Sora glanced over at Hotaru. “We doin’ this?” After receiving confirmation, she rose, stretching her back and heading for the door. “Alright. I’ve got some cats in a different hemisphere to meet... I’ll see you guys back In Azure when I’ve got a representative.”

Ash smiled, clapping his hands together. Honestly, this was all going way better than he expected. “Great… if no one’s got any questions—”

The pudgy black bunny’s hand shot up. “Hold up, I didn’t say anything before because the High-Librarian seemed to be falling for it, but the notes are all in some foreign alphabet. I’ve got no idea what I’m looking at. I don’t even recognize what units these measurements are in. Are these Othelan diagrams?”

Ooh, right. In hindsight, it made sense that mainlanders had their own standards for building diagrams. The system he’d come up with for his little projects worked when it was just him… but if he wanted others to understand, he’d need to communicate it their way. Then again, Aoi was a professional, it was probably better just to let her handle it. “Oh… yeah,” Ash mused. “You know what? You don’t have to follow mine. Just turn the ruin into a giant brewery with a secret underground level for storing books.”

“Okaaay…” Aoi checked the papers. “And the unit of measurement? I can’t order materials for this place unless I know what these numbers represent.”

“Oh! I actually brought that with me!” Ash said, proudly digging through his bag. When the bunny leaned over the table to get a better look, Ash retrieved a stick and set it down. It was a particularly straight piece of driftwood, one he’d found as a child and used to keep his construction even ever since.

Aoi stared silently for a good ten seconds before taking a deep breath. “Could... could I have the stick?”

Hesitantly, Ash held it out. “Just… make sure you give it back. I need it to keep my planters the same size.”

The blank stare continued, even after Aoi set the stick on the papers ahead of her.

Around the time the silence was moving from awkward to suffocating, Ash turned his attention to Sean. “How about you Sean? Are the uniforms confusing too?”

Sean fanned the papers out below a sour expression. “I grew up reading ancient wolven, and this doesn’t seem impossible… I’ve got two concerns, though.”

“Shoot.”

“The first design is hideous.” Sean grimaced, moving his index finger from one paper to the next. “The second might be considered a war crime.”

Ash offered the man a sheepish smile. “I mean, is the specific type of crime important?”

Sean kept glaring, but after Ash refused to take the bait he turned his attention to Hotaru. “Do I seriously have to make these?”

“You’ll give us each two million, and keep Miyoko as our broker to explain what expenses are and aren’t allowed for the job?” Hotaru confirmed. So far as Ash could tell, the woman hadn’t looked away from him once.

Ash nodded.

This time, she said nothing, only shifting her concentrated stare to Sean, who sighed and snatched up the papers. “Unbelievable. Fine, but if you want these by the end of the season it’ll be a rush job. We’re clothing a thousand, right? So, what? Five hundred of each?”

“Oh no,” Ash clarified. “I’m gonna need one thousand hideous ones, and ten thousand war crimes.”

“Ten thousand!” Sean demanded through clenched teeth, leaning on the desk as he rose. When Hotaru cleared her throat Sean went still, crinkling the papers in his fists. “Right… Ten thousand by the end of the season. I’ll reach out to my contacts and see who wants to make some money.”

“Good,” Hotaru said, eyes falling like axes on each of her subordinates. “Now, get started. I want a word with the client, alone.”

When everyone stood to leave, Ash rolled his eyes and grabbed Miyoko’s wrist before she could get away. “C’mon Miyoko, sit down, she didn’t mean you.” He’d meant it playfully, but the girl visibly shuddered as she sank back into her seat.

“We’ll take the job,” Hotaru said, leaning on the table with a glare. “But I want you to give us Ghost.”

“I can’t,” Ash replied instantly. “I gave Miyoko my word I’d free her in three years.”

Hotaru rubbed her eyes. “No… Not as a slave. I want you to free her.”

“Oh…” Ash glanced at Miyoko, who was staring straight ahead, wide-eyed. Apparently, this was a shock to her too. Still… this might be for the best, even if it’ll upset Khukri, he reasoned. Miyoko hated being his slave, and with Hotaru’s brokerage as an asset he could anonymously access Azure markets without her. Considering what she’d given, her freedom was a bargain. “Deal.”

“Well then,” Hotaru said, eyes twinkling as she reached out. “Looks like I’ve got work to do, boss.”

Ash grinned, clasping her outstretched hand in a firm shake.