Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-One — Motivating Factors
Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-One — Motivating Factors The news that Rainnewt was involved hit me like a hammer to the solar plexus, and yet... I probably should have expected it. Kidnapping nice people was exactly the sort of not-nice stuff I'd expect out of a person like Rainnewt.Unfortunately, there wasn't much more Desiree could tell us.Rainewt hadn't shown up at the cave or camp while she was there. Not that she knew, in any case.She'd overheard them talking about him a little, but most of what she discovered was that Rainnewt paid very well and that the bandits were kind of greedy and also kind of lazy."If we can secure them in time, we'll be able to ask some probing questions," Mathilde said. "But I wouldn't rely on them.""The bandits?" I asked. "Or the questions.""Both. Rainnewt doesn't strike me as a fool. He will likely have some degree of compartmentalization in his operation. It would be idiotic of him not to. The bandits likely reported to someone, who reported to him. Or there might even be more links to the chain.""Then why use his real name?" Booksie asked.That was a great question. "By shapeshifting, he could have passed himself off as anyone. I don't think the average bandit has heard all about Rainnewt and his reputation."Mathilde frowned. "True. We can only speculate, but I imagine that reputation might play a large part in his schemes." At my confused look, she went on. "Captain Bunch, you and your friends have developed something of a reputation yourselves. If you were to show up at the capital on a mission from the guild, they'd certainly offer you more respect now than they would have months prior. The same might be true of Rainnewt. He's establishing himself as a contender on the national stage.""But as a bad guy," I said."As a person with few scruples and some amount of personal and financial power," Mathilde said, her tone suggesting it was a correction. "Certain people will flock to that kind of power. Unfortunately.""Oh," I said. That was... really unfortunate. I could recall a few people that had been swayed to Rainnewt's cause. If I could call his goals a cause. They weren't the nicest sorts of people."He's truly a cunning and conniving foe," Desiree said with a serious nod. "Even I would be tempted by the prospects of working with someone who has proven quite prodigious and powerful. When a three-tailed fox speaks, one does well to listen."I supposed that there was some credibility that came with being a world-renowned bad guy, but still. Why couldn't people just... not follow the obvious criminal?There was a knock at the door, and after Mathilde told the knock-er to enter, the secretary from the front came in with a bundle of clothes.Booksie took them gratefully, and I resisted the urge to Clean them right away. The only shoes were some sandals, but that was better than being barefoot, and there were socks too.Booksie pulled on a pair of pants that were obviously sized for men, tucked her nightgown into the pants, then cinched a belt on as tight as it would go around her waist. She looked... rather silly, and I had to hold back a giggle as she bent down and folded up the cuffs of the pants so that she could walk in them properly. "Thank you," she said to Mathilde. "It'll do until I get home, at least. Do you want me to return these?""Keep them, give them away, do as you want. We have a small stash of old gear that never sees any use," the guildmaster said with a dismissive wave. "I feel like I've gotten everything I could out of the three of you. Once the bandits are delivered to Port Royal, I'll see if I can't get an ear into their interrogation.""Will you keep us informed?" I asked.Mathilde frowned, then nodded. "You're involved, like it or not. It wouldn't be fair to keep you out of the loop at this point. So yes, you'll be informed about what we discover. I wouldn't bet on that being very much, however.""This whole marriage is turning into a mess," Booksie said with a sigh. "Maybe we should just elope?""That does sound very romantic," I said."A lot of important people intend to participate in the wedding," Mathilde said.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it."All the more reason to skip town, then," Booksie said. "Rhawr can just fly." She sighed. "But no. We won't let this Rainnewt guy win. And I did always want a proper wedding. I guess we'll just have to increase security to a level where we all feel safe, no matter what he plans.""That's reasonable," Mathilde said. "Of course, the Exploration Guild is already making moves to ensure that the wedding will be secure. Getting so many high-levelled individuals to cooperate is like herding cats, but I think it will be worth it.""Thank you," Booksie said. "Do you think I can go back home now?"Mathilde nodded. "Of course. You must be exhausted.""You can't imagine," Booksie said. "I didn't exactly get a full night's sleep. And I think the adrenaline wore off some time ago. Honestly, I could sleep standing up.""I have a member of the guild watching over your shop. I hope that's not too intrusive. We've noticed some... criminal elements around as well, though if I understood correctly, they're mostly aligned with your future sister-in-law, and are likely meant to be there.""Thank you," Booksie said. "For everything. I appreciate it."We said some final goodbyes before slipping out of Mathilde's nice office, then back through the main lobby, being scrutinised by a bunch of explorers, and finally we were out."Home?" I asked."Home," Booksie said."You could sleep over at the Beaver if you want," I said.She shook her head though. "No. I want my own bed. And I want to see the state of the shop as well. I might not be doing much business, but I am doing some. It'll be a shame if the shop's closed for any longer than it has to be."I nodded along. "I'll help you clean. Promise!"With that, the three of us ambled our way across Port Royal. Desiree's head was on a swivel, taking it all in while her tails wagged to and fro behind her. She was enjoying the walk, at least. Booksie was walking... well, she was putting one foot in front of the other, and when I wrapped an arm around her shoulder to give her some support, she was quick to lean into my side.We did make it to her place soon enough, and without being accosted, kidnapped, attacked, or otherwise bothered. I noticed a larger gathering of Cholondee's ruffians than before on one street corner, some guards on the other, and an assortment of adventurer-looking people casually spread out across the otherwise quiet street.None of them bothered us as Booksie slipped into the alley towards the back of her place. "I, ah, didn't take my keys with me," she explained. We came onto the backdoor, and Booksie sighed. "This is a mess," she said."Hey, it's not that bad," I said as I rubbed circles on her back. "A carpenter can fix all of this in no time.""I've seen greater damage from enthusiastic sparring. Fear not, long-eared friend, I'm certain that with some small effort your palatial home will be returned to its former splendour!"Booksie smiled. "Thank you," she said.We moved in, then I started picking things up right away. It looked as though a few more curious people had wandered in and poked around, but things didn't seem that much more out of place than they had been that morning.Booksie glared at the room, then she stomped over to her bedroom and shut the door. A couple of minutes later, while I was still sorting through things, she emerged in her own pants and blouse and with proper shoes on. "Sleep can wait," she said.I smiled. Yes, this would make her more tired later, but I figured that taking action would be much better for her mental health than just wallowing and being sad.Some twenty minutes into our cleaning, Booksie straightened, and her ears flicked upwards. "Oh," she said."Oh?" I asked.Then the whole building shook."Rhawr is here," she said.The next thing I knew, Booksie had bolted out the back door.When I followed after her, Desiree just behind me, I discovered Booksie with her front pressed up against a familiar dragon's face. Her arms couldn't even reach all the way around his neck, but she was hugging him anyway, and Rhawr was returning the favour, pressing a single digit into Booksie's back.I smiled. This was, without a doubt, worth all the trouble.
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Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Two — Affection
Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Two — Affection "At what point has a hug gone on for too long?" Desiree asked.We were both standing just outside of the back of Booksie's shop. Booksie herself was still wrapped around Rhawrexdee's face, and the dragon was gently rocking his head side to side, his big dragon eyes closed as Booksie hugged him."I don't understand?" I muttered."What don't you understand?" Desiree asked."How can a hug be too long?"Desiree shook her head, but her tails were wiggling their way in my direction. On a whim, I reached out and touched one of them, and it wrapped itself around my wrist.The foxgirl noticed and immediately flushed. "Fool tails," she muttered. "You appendages have no respect for your great master. Wandering off into the hands of another. Hmph! Most uncouth!" She tugged her tail back, but then the other one snaked around and pressed against my hand."I think your tails like pets," I said.Desiree pouted. "It's unfair," she said. "A kitsu's tails must submit to the will of their liege!" she glared at them, not that it seemed to do anything. "Hmph! Well. It ... it is said that it becomes significantly more difficult as the number of tails increase.""Really?" I asked."Do you have difficulties with your own tail?"I shook my head, then glanced at Booksie and Rhawrexdee. They were talking now. Booksie wiping a few tears away even as she giggled at something the dragon had murmured. "Let's go inside? We can keep picking up while Booksie has a chat.""That seems fair," Desiree said. "And it'll avoid the topic of your no-doubt unruly tail.""Oh," I said. "My tail's never been a problem." I wiggled my butt a little, the tiny white puffball shaking with the motion. "I mean, it gets in the way while sitting, and if I get pants I need to make sure they're suitable for tails, but otherwise it's not a problem. It does make it harder to sleep on my back, but I don't mind sleeping on my side.""How lucky," Desiree said."Ah, but my ears though, they're very unruly." I sighed as I gestured up. The right was kinked in the middle, as always. "I'm really envious of Booksie, her ears listen... uh, to her. I mean, all of my ears can listen, that's what ears are for." I tugged at the lobe of my human ears, then suddenly found myself leaning back as Desiree came close."Are those... fleshy human ears?" she asked."Yes?""That's horrific. Are they real?""Uh, yeah?""Why do you have four ears? That is too many ears. Unless these will grow long and furry as you gain more classes? Are they perchance nubs whereupon future ears will grow?"I shook my head. I didn't really mind her inspection. "No, I always had these. They're just... ears. I guess I might have pretty good echolocation, but it's nothing too special. I started off as a human and only became a Bun when I levelled, so these two are my originals.""Bizarre," she said."I guess it is a little weird," I admitted. "But that's just how it is. What about you? You only have the two ears?"Desiree nodded, then casually moved her hair aside, revealing that the side of her head was entirely smooth where I had my ears. Well, mostly smooth, there was hair there, of course, her hairline moving across the space where an ear would be. "This is how it should be," she said."Interesting," I said. I wondered for a moment if our brains were different, to make space for all of the hearing bits... then I wondered if mine had shifted to make room for more ear bits than I had before.Did my brain get squished at some point?Nah, I would have noticed, I was sure. "Want to help me pick up?" I asked. "Booksie's had a long day, it would be nice if she didn't have to worry about picking up and cleaning on top of everything else!""I am at your disposal! It is the duty of a companion to assist their allies and friends in times of need and distress!"Grinning, I started picking things up and tossing them in the trash. There was a lot of loose glass and broken furniture.We piled things off to one side, then I cleared a table and we stacked the fallen books onto it. I split them into two piles. One that just needed reshelving, and another that had books that were damaged. Someone rude had stepped on some fallen books, and there were some ripped pages that belonged to one book or another.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.Once everything was picked up, my Cleaning magic did away with any dust and mud between the floorboards.As time passed, our minds began to wander a bit. I caught the fox-girl pulling books from the shelves and looking them over before replacing them. She held a feather duster in a tail, so she wasn't being lazy, just... slow about work. But that was okay. I swept around the store, cleaning as I went and trying to make the place as neat as possible so that Booksie would have less work in the morning.After a while, the back door opened, and a smiling Booksie came in. "Oh!" she said as she looked around. "You finished picking up. You didn't have to; I would have gotten around to it.""No, it's fine," I said. "I hope we didn't disorganize things too much? I don't know what your book sorting system is, so we just piled them all there. Some are damaged."She tsked as she picked up one book that had its binding ripped up. "That's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world."The door behind Booksie swung open fully, and a large snoot stuck itself into the entrance. "They ruined the books?" Rhawrexdee asked, his voice making the entire room rumble.I noticed Desiree freezing, her tails puffing out like a startled animal. She'd been very quiet earlier as well. Was she afraid of Rhawrexdee? Or maybe dragons in general?"No Rhawr," Booksie said. "Just a few of them. Looks like they fell. Ah, this one will need to be rebound." She shook her head with a sigh. "Annoying, but I've had clumsy customers bump into shelves and cause more damage."Rhawrexdee backed up, then it was just his eye in the entrance. The big slitted pupil scanned the room, then paused on Desiree, then me. "Oh, it's the other bun. Broccoli?""Hello!" I said with a cheery wave. "It's nice to see you again!"The dragon nodded. "It is. You saved Booksie. My sister had to restrain me from burning the city with the fury of my electric anger. From the sounds of it, that wouldn't have been enough to find her in any case.""Uh, well, I'm glad it didn't come to that," I said."It didn't come to that because of your efforts," he said."Well, I had a lot of help. And a lot of friends pitched in too. The guild, the embassy, it wouldn't be fair of me to take all, or even half the credit," I said.The dragon hummed, which made the windows tremble in their frames. "Still, I am grateful. And also a dragon. I will give you your weight in gold.""Uh. I don't think I need that," I said.I almost instantly felt a tiny shoulder Amaryllis huffing with indignity on my shoulder. That was probably a lot of gold, actually. I decided not to mention turning that down to the real Amaryllis."We did it because we care about Booksie too," I said. Some of those who acted did it because they didn't want the city exploded, but that was besides the point. I was sure they'd have helped for Booksie's sake too if they got to know her. "She's my friend, and Broccoli helps her friends."The dragon's eye softened, and a low rumble echoed, almost like a purr. "A noble sentiment, Broccoli. Very well, I shall respect your wishes. But know this, the gratitude of a dragon is not easily forgotten."Booksie, beaming, nudged me gently. "Thank you, Broccoli.""You're very welcome," I replied with a grin. "Are you going to stay here?""I think so. I have some sleep to catch up with. Rhawr will be staying in the back. It's inappropriate to sleep in the same room before marriage, but I think the same area is fine.""No one will steal my Booksie from me while I'm here," Rhawrexdee said. He grumbled, and it sounded somewhere between a threatening growl and a rather petulant mumble.Desiree chuckled softly, her tails swaying more relaxed now. "One supposes that having a dragon act as a benevolent bodyguard is quite the luxury," she remarked.Booksie smiled fondly at Rhawrexdee. "He's more than that, but yes, it's quite reassuring."
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