#arc30

The flight of stairs emptied out into a large dungeon that had been altered into a rec room/living area. The stone walls have been sparsely decorated with motivational placards and pictures of animals. There's a kitchen area built into the room as well as 15 beds and a single TV. I saw two girls watching some god drama program in the far corner.

"This time, on the Ancient and the Angsty."

"How could she allow politics to get in the way of love?!" Shouted one of the girls. "Doesn't she realize that Bo fits so perfectly in the polycule?"

"I'd never willingly agree to an open relationship like that." Grunted another. "Next thing you know they are sleeping with the enemy."

"Oh, don’t be so unromantic.” Chided the other girl. ”I hope to be married like that someday!"

"You ARE married."

"No, I mean, to someone who didn't kidnap me."

"Ahhh, okay, you're a dreamer."

I could have sworn that Esme character looked a lot like Lexine. I shook it off as a coincidence and headed towards the pair. "Hey."

The pair looked me up and down. "Newly kidnapped?"

"I was invited here."

"Ah, actively being kidnapped."

The second girl scoffed. "Are they dumb? She's a black belt!"

"I mean, if Shinobi and Sigma ganged up on her."

"Shonobi's still out there chasing tail."

"Oh, right."

"Excuse me," I put aside the obvious but still disgusting fact that the Wolf Pack intends to keep Anne and I. "What was that about Shinobi?"

"Oh yeah, I heard the others saying he was going to break some goth girl." She chuckled. "I forget her name. Derived from apathetic I think."

"Apathea."

"That's it!"

Shinobi was plotting to kidnap Apathea? The last I saw her, she was rescued from arrest by Faceless himself, but if the Wolf Pack is working for the guy, why would they go after his own subordinate? Unless... she's being offered up. That weirdo is offering up his own loyal spy as a bride to get something from these assholes, but what? Was it all in exchange for the secret weapon?

No, I'm making too many logical leaps. I should wait until I have more information.

"I have to say," trying to keep the conversation going, "you two are taking to this whole kidnapping business quite well."

"Oh, we were both barely staying afloat with three jobs each. This is kind of an upgrade considering."

Congratulations capitalism, you made being kidnapped more preferable than living under you.

Suddenly, a nearby door flies open and out comes about a dozen more minutians. Five of them were dressed in maid and homemaker outfits, I could only guess they were wives. The rest were minutian men, all shirtless and ripped as all hell. Were they the rejects? I don't remember any of the men topside looking like that.

One minutian lady in a maid outfit stood with authority among the group. She addressed them all. "Okay, girls, you are all on cleaning duty. Draw lots to decide who gets the bathroom. I've got some digging for you men to do, so Luuzy? Show them where."

"Yes ma'am!"

The leader turned to the two in front of the TV. "Stop loafing around, you're on cleaning duty, too!"

"Yes, right away!" They obediently got on their feet and joined the main group.

"Now we have guests today, so be careful to not be seen by them. You know how the men get when we make them look bad."

"""Yes, ma'am!"""

"Oh uh," one of the girls who were in front of the TV stepped forward, "about that."

"What is it, Victoria?"

She points at me. "The guests already know about us."

The leader of the wives looked over at me. "Well, shit. Disregard that last order then. Clean without worry then. I'll tend to our guest, rest of you lot, get to work!" Everyone marched through the room and up the stairs I just came from, disappearing into the dark. Meanwhile, the leader strolled up to me and gave me a curtsy. "Greetings, I am Meido."

"Lord Panchi."

“Oh! A minutian lord? Heh, not everyday I see one of those!” She looked at me closer. She fixated briefly on my eyes. “Same clan as Kessess, I see.”

“You’re quite observant.”

Then she turned and headed for the door everyone just came from, she turned back and beckoned me. "Well, let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"You're here for answers, aren't you? We're already in trouble, so we can't get more in trouble by helping you."

I caught her drift and followed behind her. "You're quite capable for someone forced into this situation."

"I was the head maid serving under the gold dragon Geld Helvetica, that was until he gave me to the Wolf Pack as a 'present'" She rolled her eyes in disgust.

"That's horrible."

"It is, but nothing is going to get done dwelling on it. Keeping things organized keeps the other girls safe from the wolves on top. Considering that, I'm more than happy to keep doing my job here."

She was very tough, I could respect that. Though, by the end of this, I needed to get all of them out of here. I owe it to them.

She led me through the door and we are immediately met with a cell block. Some sour faced men were behind the bars. "This is where the men sleep."

"They sleep in prison?"

"Oh, it was insisted on by the men topside as a shaming measure. Shaming is how they control them after all." She explained. "We usually keep the cell doors open at all times though, since why should we play by their rules if they never check? We only had to shut them for show today, as the guys brought down a new permanent resident."

Just as I said that, I noticed one of the men in a nearby cell. "Gary?"

Gary was sitting against a wall next to the toilet. His blindfold had been removed which revealed that he had been sobbing. His silver eyes glistened in the faint light of the cell. He didn't even acknowledge me.

"These are always the roughest cases. When they get all the way to joining the main pack and still wind up down here." She said, shaking her head. "Most men who wind up down here eventually learn that it's way better here than topside, but in his case, he'll take a long time to adapt."

I touched a bar as I looked at him. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know. They removed the gene that allowed him to grow, so he'll eventually shrink down back to our size. That'll be a huge blow to his mental health after everything."

I shot her a look. "Gene? What? And they can shrink?"

"Well, a minutian that has grown due to childbirth can’t shrink back down, not without magic anyways. But most of the guys topside, they used a technique called 'Gene Supplementation.'"

She goes into details. Minutians reproduce asexually, and they do this by channeling their own energy into the womb, which fills in the rest of the genetics needed for reproduction. This means half of a minutian's genes have this nebulous genetic mixture that seemingly came from nowhere. Because of this, our biology is a lot more flexible than most species in the universe. With this in mind, it's possible to put in extra genes and dramatically transform us into some sort of cross species.

I was kind of doubting what I was hearing. I had no idea something like this was possible! That said, I didn't have enough information to discount the possibility. "What were they given to cause growth like that?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. We weren't told what strain was used to accomplish that."

I thought about the pack I met before. The way they acted. It couldn't be... "They can't be smart enough to pull this off!"

"Oh of course not!" She swatted at the air. "They kidnapped a biologist."

"Oh, okay, that sounds about right."

"Here, let me show you the lab." She starts walking down the cell block.

I stepped out of the guest room only to immediately run into a guard. Of course they posted a guard on our room.

"Panchi, a beauty should be getting her beauty sleep right now." He tried to block my path as he tilted his fedora. "Unless such a beauty has come out to flirt with me." He glanced down at me expectantly.

...I jabbed my finger behind him. "Is that a scantily clad woman over there?"

"What?" He swung around to look. "Where?"

As soon as he turned away, I roundhouse kicked him in the face. He slumped down, knocked out cold. I placed my hand on his head and channeled energy into his mind. This was #75 Shattered Memories, a technique that could blank out the last 30 minutes of someone's memories. Assuming I don't get caught, he'll be none-the-wiser that either of us left the room. He'd just assume he fell asleep.

I looked him up and down and shivered at the idea of flirting with the guy to let me pass. The idea almost made me as sick to my stomach as dinner had. I wouldn't even do that as a joke.

I used #76 Life Sense in the mansion. Most of the population of the house was underneath the manor, which gave more credence to my theories. There were a number of people in the kitchen and a few in the game room. Sigma did punch a hole in the wall there, maybe they were patching it up? Covering my movements with #78 Shadow Walk, I made my way through the mansion. There weren't any guards roaming around, so it was kind of easy.

I peeked around the corner into the game room, and as I suspected, three minutians, none of them part of the main group I saw before, each 2 feet tall. They wore many different varieties of maid and homemaker outfits. One was a french maid, another wore a pink apron over a hoop dress, another wore something akin to a soccer mom. They had plaster out.

"Why do they have to punch a hole in the wall every time things don't go their way?" Moaned the french maid.

"I heard a woman beat Sigma at a video game." Commented the hoop dress girl.

The girl in the soccer mom outfit rolled her eyes. "That would do it."

"Couldn't they like, squeeze a stress ball or something?"

"They broke all the stress balls a long time ago."

"Goddamn it!"

"I heard the guest is a Princess."

"Really? They can't be stupid enough to marry a political figure."

"Well, that's what I heard."

"Ugh. It's a matter of time before their egos get them killed."

"Does that matter though? We'll be freed if that happens."

"And we'll be at the mercy of the people doing the killing. I wouldn't bet on it."

One of their voices sounded familiar to me, I tried to remember as I continued to listen.

"Plus anyways, even if I was saved, I have nowhere to go anyways."

"What about your clan?"

"Nah, my Matriarch was a bitch. I kissed her ass for almost a century and it got me fucking nothing but ire from the rest of them. I doubt there is a single Tanglefoot alive who doesn't hate my guts."

"Is that why you're called Kessess?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Even my mom knew what I was. Branded me with this stupid name."

Hearing her name broke the floodgates. Kessess hung around Leahdah all the time and basically backed up every terrible thing she did. She was there when the Matriarch rejected my name, she was there the day I left the clan, mocking me all the way through. She wasn't there when the Tanglefoots joined Sanctuary. Has she been here the whole time?

"But yeah, I could never go back. They'll never forgive me, and I don't deserve it. I'm exactly right where I belong." She had a dead look in her eyes. This was a woman who surrendered to her fate.

With the sting of the past, a part of me wanted to just leave her to her fate. I doubt anyone would blame me for that. But that's the ronin part of me thinking. It was different now. I stepped out from hiding. "I wouldn't be so certain."

The two other minutians panicked upon seeing me. Meanwhile, Kessess just stared at me, mouth agape in shock of my sudden appearance. "P-Pipsqueak?"

I cringed a little hearing that name again after so long.

Noticing the pained look on my face, she suddenly corrected herself. "I-I mean, Panchi?"

The two others were looking between me and Kessess. They noticed we both had the same eye color and suddenly it dawned on them what was happening.

"It's Lord Panchi now, actually."

"Lord?" Her expression shifted to concern. "Does that mean..."

"Leahdah is still alive," I reassured her, "she abandoned the clan and considering I was the only blackbelt..."

"Oh," and suddenly all the concern dropped from her face and was replaced with annoyance, "of course she would do that. Always living up to her reputation."

"Haha, very much true."

She got back to plastering. She spoke while actively avoiding eye contact with me. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me they somehow caught you."

"I'm the bodyguard of Princess Anne. Wait, is that how you wound up here? You were caught?"

The other two came to their senses and chimed in. "Yes! They told us they'd train us and then ganged up on us!"

"We were immediately married off and set to clean the place."

"Married off?!"

Kessess shot me a forlorn look and said. "We're the wives."

The prospect horrified me. Being forced to marry was awful in its own right, but being married to those fools? "Do they... have they done anything to you?"

"Outside making us work, nothing." One of them stated.

"Too cowardly to do anything." Said another.

That's a relief. At least they don't have to live with that.

"Ball and chain, that's what they call us. They act like we enslaved them." Kessess sighed. "I don't even remember which one I'm married to. I guess it doesn't matter anymore." 

"Are all the people down below wives?"

"Nah, only 13 of the basement dwellers are wives. The rest are the duds."

"People who Sigma consider not manly enough to be part of the main group, but too blood related to be wives."

"They take orders from us."

So the punishment for not living by Sigma's code is to live under the thumbs of women. "Can you take me down below?"

The three girls glanced at each other. Kessess stepped forward. "I'll bring you down there."

"But Kess..."

"You could be dooming her to become another wife!"

She glanced between the two and grunted. "I know her well. She's a pain in the ass, she's not going to be tamed easily." She turned towards me. "Let's go."

She led me out of the gaming room. We walked wordlessly through the manor for a while, until Kess was the one to break the silence. "How's Domatt doing?"

She's talking about her friend, the one that joined in backing up Leahdah most of the time. "She followed the former Matriarch into self-imposed exile."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. Domatt will always live up to her namesake as a doormat." She sighed and shook her head. "We both were only friends of convenience. I doubt she shed a single tear the day I left. However, I still kind of hoped maybe she turned her life around."

"Don't you think you're projecting on her a little bit?"

She scoffed. "When did you get so observant?"

"Somewhere in between becoming a lord and becoming a dad."

"Becoming a-" Her eyes shot open in shock. She looked me up and down, thinking there was supposed to be 2 feet in extra height that wasn't there.

"Not in that way. I adopted."

"Oh, heh. I guess that is very you."

Our conversation fell into silence once more. Her footsteps echoed down the halls, as if they bore a heavier weight than her entire body combined. After a few minutes she broke the silence again. "I'm-" She struggled, the words caught in her throat. "I'm so- sorr" she slapped a hand against her forehead and grunted.

"Is it really that hard to say?"

"Of course not!" She let out another heavy sigh. "You should hate my guts! Stop acting so goddamn forgiving!" She buried her face in her hands. "Why is the damn hallway so long!"

True, we've been walking for quite a while, but I thought the first point was more worth addressing. "Listen Kess, we were all surviving our own way. You didn't choose Leahdah, you were doing what you could in an oppressive environment. No one can blame you for that."

"I made the wrong choice though..." She said meekly behind finger prison bars.

"Even so, you still deserve a chance to be family, to prove who you can be without her getting between us. Especially now that you can recognize what you've done wrong."

Mind you, this shouldn't apply to everyone. Forgiveness is a form of love, and like all of its kind, it is toxic to expect it. Maybe there will be members of the Tanglefoot Clan who will never forgive her, and it wouldn't be wrong for them to do so. But this is the choice I'm making, and I'm choosing to side with family, at least for her. I wouldn’t give such leniency to Leahdah.

She was silent. I couldn't tell what was going through her head just from her face alone. Before she could give an answer, we reached our destination.

"Oh, uh, right, the kitchen."

Three more minutians were hard at work. They turned to me with shocked looks on their faces.

"Those are more wives." Kess casually said before sauntering over to the broom closet. She opened the door revealing just a standard room with cleaning supplies, but then she moved to the other side of the small space and pushed one of her hands into the wall. It was some sort of button that had been smoothed out to blend into the surface. The wall opened up to reveal a dark stairway.

"This will lead you down."

I immediately headed through the portal and turned around to face her once more. "Thank you, Kess."

"It's the least I could do." She glanced at her feet, started rubbing her shoulder. "Umm... I'm sorry." Then she immediately left before I could respond. 

After dinner, we were led out the dining room by the rest of the group. Everyone placed their dishes in the sink, leaving it to an unseen dishwasher. Added proof that there were other minutians here. When one of the others saw the whole uneaten pizza on my plate, he picked it up and scarfed it in front of me. I felt sick to my stomach. After that, we were led out of the kitchen. Anne was finishing up her french fries as we walked, carefully picking them up one at a time by making her noodle arm sticky.

"I'm amazed you're able to keep your appetite, considering..." the smell, the lack of hand washing, the company.

"I used to live in dumpsters, so I'm fine." She said with a carefree attitude. With how much she's living it up now, it's easy to forget she was basically homeless before all this. I was kind of a vagabond myself, but I could literally build houses so I was fine. She kind of lacked that luxury. 

"To think a beauty such as yourself would degrade herself to sleep in a dumpster. My, If only I had known at the time..." He said with a very exaggerated gesture. Wait, was he hitting on Anne?

She either picked up on his intentions or heard my narration. "I have a fiance. You know that right? I even mentioned her at dinner."

He chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "Hahaha, you might pull the wool over the eyes of your followers, but you won't fool us."

"The heck do you mean?"

"You're putting on a little show. Get the men in your dinky little village hot and bothered with intense lesbian action so they will go along with the bullshit you're spouting. But it won't work on us."

Anne was appalled. "You think we're faking it?"

"How else did you get an alpha wolf like Foxman under you?" He grunted. "Or at least he was an alpha! Became a beta the second he turned into a simp."

She was quietly fuming. Yeah, I was feeling her there. Then she slapped him with something he hadn't considered. "Foxman is my dad!"

Sigma froze. The others didn't even notice and kept walking. "Wh-What?"

"He's my step-father. As in, he married my mom?"

He lit up. "Ohhh! Ball in Chain! He must have been whipped. Ha! Total beta!" He chortled again. Anne goes back to quietly fuming.

"Speaking of that whole wolf shit," I began, "what the hell is a Sigma?"

He thrusts out his chest with pride. "A sigma is a lone wolf, someone who doesn't roll with anyone else's rules. Peak masculinity!"

"...and despite the fact you literally lead a pack, you consider yourself one of those lone wolves?"

"Hell yeah! That's just how sigma I am!" He thrust a fist in the air as if he were trying to pump himself up. "By the way, don't think the fact you lived as a vagabond for a while indicates that you're a sigma. You'll never be a man, and neither will your 'Princess.'"

Was he assuming Anne was a trans man? "If you know about me being a vagabond, then you must have looked into me." I doubted he was following minutian politics all the way out here. He must have looked me up before I came here.

He blinked. "R-Right! We know all about you! Don't think you can keep a single thing from us!"

Why did he pause there for a sec?

He coughed awkwardly. "It appears the others stupidly went ahead, so let's just fucking hurry."

We finally reached a large room lined with couches. It kind of reminded me of the matriarch meeting place, except the decorations were quite different. There was a mounted head on the wall of some sort of beast I could not recognize. There were movie posters all over the place, all depicted badass buff men and sexy demure women. There were even a lot of political posters. Saw a number of monster kingdom propaganda on the walls. One read: "Socialism is gay." Another read: "A REAL man concedes to absolute capitalism!"

"Welcome, ladies, to the game room!" Announced Sigma. Now that he mentioned it, there was a large projector attached to a number of video game consoles. "We'll be playing games until we sleep. Care to join us?" He gave us a big toothy grin that spread shivers down my spine.

"I'll just watch." I really wasn't a gamer. Never really saw much point in stuff like that when I could fly and punch holes in reality. The only game I have spent any time with was Hello Puppy Archipelago Experience, which I've been playing with Belovi.

"I think I'll play." Anne said with a smile, but I could see so much menace behind that grin.

She joined Sigma and a more rowdy of they guys down by the controllers. I went to the wings where I sat next to Gary. He noticed my presence immediately, and his face scrunched up in nervousness.

"You know, you don't have to listen to him." I said. "There's nothing gay about wanting to be clean. It doesn't make you any less of a man. It doesn't even disqualify you from being a man."

He spoke in a quiet, fragile voice. "You don't understand. You could never understand. You're not even a man..."

"Ha! I can be a man if I wanted to."

"It's not that easy, ya know."

I puffed my chest. "To me, gender is as trivial as the clothes I choose to wear. I can swap them out to my fancy."

He was silent.

When he didn't respond, I continued. "Look, even Patriarch Sigma doesn't have it as figured out as you think. He only says all that shit to control you. That's always what it's been."

Suddenly, one of the men around us slapped Gary on the shoulder. "Are you actually listening to this shit?"

"Patriarch Sigma is peak manliness!" Chimed in another guy. "He's perfect! We would be taking notes if we knew how to write!"

I really hoped that was a joke.

"AGGGGHH NO!"

As soon as we heard the shout, we turned our heads to the source. Sigma was throwing his arms up in anger while Anne was looking very satisfied next to him. We glanced at the screen to see that she just OBLITERATED him in some fighting game I didn't recognize. It involved buff clay pigeons shooting each other with guns.

"I used to play this all the time back in the day." Anne said, smugly.

"No one beats me in Skeet Fighter..." Sigma was practically seething with rage. "This was a fluke!"

"Then why don't you play me again?" She responded with a coy look.

They would do several more rounds, and they'd all end about the same. The guys around me were flabbergasted.

"He's getting his ass kicked by a girl..." One guy muttered.

Another guy was in shock. "She's even using motion controls!"

By the end of the onslaught, Sigma was ragged. His smug aura had vanished and now he was breathing harshly. He stood up and screamed. His yell echoed through the building, bouncing his rage across the manor. Then, he would strut up to a wall and throw a meaty punch into it. He left a giant hole there, revealing the insulation underneath.

He turned to all of us and shouted. "Game time is over! Go to fucking bed!" He stormed out and disappeared into the dark hallways.

Soon after Sigma's outburst, we were led to our guest room. On the way, I took a peek into the kitchen to notice that the dishes had already been done. Were the 'servants' actively trying not to be seen?

We were brought to a rather large room, one befitting a guest room for a manor. It was fully furnished, with one problem.

"Only one bed." Anne muttered.

Fucking dude bros did this on purpose. "I'll sleep on the couch."

"You sure? Because I could take the couch."

"The sofa is practically bed sized for me, it's more logical for me to sleep there. Plus anyways, I’m going to spend most of the night investigating anyways." Before she could argue further, I sat on the couch and crossed my arms indignantly. Anne gave up her attempt at politeness and took the bed.

As she got ready to sleep and I sterilized everything, I filled her in on what I saw in the pad device in the hall. 

"A secret weapon?" Anne said aghast. "What did they possibly make?"

"I don't have enough information yet. That’s what I’m going to investigate."

"I guess Wolf Pack is in league with Faceless..." She had a weary look in her eyes, as if she was tired of learning how many enemies she truly had.

"It's not that shocking." I sighed. "They have the exact same weird as fuck gender politics as the Grey Dragons, and we know Faceless influenced those weirdos."

Anne, now in her night gown, sat on the bed and pulled out her phone. "I'll update Raina on everything. Please be careful as you perform your investigation. It's safe to say the Wolf Pack are just waiting for their chance to strike."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I've been on edge since the beginning. "If they try anything, just immediately escape into light form. I can portal out myself if I need to." I'll have an easier time escaping if I don't have to worry about Anne's well being. I headed for the guest room door.

“Oh wait!” She stood up from her bed and hobbled over to me. She pulled off a piece of her arm and handed it to me. “Raina added a spell that’ll allow you to warp back to me instantly if you have a piece of me with you. When you’re done investigating, just squeeze that while thinking about your intentions and you’ll be sent back to this room immediately.”

Why does my friend’s abilities always have something to do with body horror?

Her brow tensed. “I can’t hear your thoughts, Panchi.”

Wait, did I not have narration blocking on this entire time? How did I not notice? Don’t tell me I was that distracted by everything.

“It’s okay…” Anne reassured me. “Just, take the blob my flesh.”

I reluctantly took it in my hands. It was definitely quite squishy. “I’ll protect it with my life.”

“It’s mostly just skin.” Anne said, shrugging off my chivalrous response. “Anyways, good luck out there, Panchi!”

We sat at the dinner table. I feared I wouldn't even be able to eat with the pungent smell. I was about to close off that sense with a technique when it was revealed Anne and I would be sitting clear on the other side of the table from the guys. I knew they were seating us like that to exclude us, but being further away from the smell meant I wouldn't vomit up anything I ate.

I was just reaching for the food when the eleventh member of the guys arrived. Apparently he broke from the party earlier to do something. 

"I'm here." He said feigning apathy, as if he was trying to shrug off being late.

But as he passed by Sigma, the patriarch suddenly swiveled around in his seat and caught him by the wrist. "Hold up, Gary."

"Huh? What's w-wrong Patriarch?" He was suddenly sweating bullets, as if he was caught red handed.

The Patriarch gave the man a sniff, which only made him sweat more. Sigma spoke with so much venom in his voice. "Did you wipe your ass?"

"N-No, of course not..."

He squinted at the man who only shrunk down more at his gaze. "You did. You smell clean. Like a woman."

The man was quaking like crazy. "I-I don't like the feeling... of it not being clean..."

"I TOLD YOU SO MANY TIMES, WIPING YOUR ASS IS GAY!"

"Please, I just didn't like-"

"Are you gay, Gary?"

"N-no!"

Suddenly, he glanced down at the man's hands. "What?! Did you wash your hands, too?!?"

"W-We were going to eat dinner!"

"That's it!" He jabbed a finger in our direction. "Go sit with the women."

"No! Wait no! Anything but that! Patriarch Sigma, please don't-"

"SIT WITH THE REST OF THE WOMEN, YOU FA-" He turned his head towards us briefly. "You vagina'd person you!"

Defeated, the man named Gary visibly slumped as he sulked the entire way to our side of the table. I had unfortunately learned what that smell was, and yeah, I'm worse off knowing that. Now loaded with the knowledge that they didn't even wash their hands, I watched them pick up food and start munching away. What little of my appetite perished in that moment. My poor slice of meat lover's pizza sat untouched on my plate. 

The Patriarch noticed my reaction and seemed very satisfied by it. "I keep a tight ship." Sigma resounded smugly as he took a bite. 

"Speaking of which," I'd welcome any distraction from my nauseated stomach, "I noticed you have three stripes on your belt."

His brow furrowed. "Yeah? And?"

"Well, you only gain the second stripe when you reach 100 members, and the third when you train up a master. But I only see 11 here and no one is a black belt."

"Oh, we have to trim off the fat, often." He said as he ripped the gristle off his steak with his bare hands. "Can't have weakness, isn't that right?" He gave Gary a glare and the guy cowers in the seat next to me. "As for our black belts, they are off doing their own thing."

If their black belts are the same height as the rest of the main group, they can't really be seen in public. Is this another lie? I couldn't help wondering if they were lying in wait for the inevitable betrayal.

"So, what do you two watch?" Sigma started. He said it to spark small talk, but the apathy in his voice revealed ulterior motives.

Anne responded with no clue of the trap she was walking into. "I've been watching god dramas with my fiance of late."

The Patriarch scoffed. "You watch that girly shit? Typical women, watching literal garbage."

I rolled my eyes. "Was there ever a correct answer to that question in your eyes?"

He swiveled his blindfolded gaze towards me. "Excuse me, I watch the correct programming. The manly shows! Like Rocket Gun Machine Sports, Trucker Psycho, and Chef Whoop Ass!"

I perked up at the last one. "Oh, you watch Chef Whop Ass? I've been watching that with Coozin." We haven't been able to binge watch as much as we used to considering we have to wait for Belovi to fall asleep. That show is definitely not for kids.

He blinked. "I mean, you're not watch watching it right?"

"Huh?"

"Like, you're on your phone while it's playing right? You don't actually watch it?"

"No, we've been watching every episode properly." Lately, we've been mostly mocking it. The later episodes are SO BAD!

He chortled. "Heh, I knew you were just fake watching. You're not going to impress us so easily."

His statement completely contradicted what I just said. Was he not listening to me? Well, I couldn't take much more of this and excused myself. "I'm going to the bathroom." This was a lie and they knew it, but if they could blatantly fabricate the truth, I can too. I left the dining area and started snooping around. Funnily enough, I did find the bathroom and kinda regretted looking in there. I will mercifully spare you the description, this chapter is gross enough.

I headed down the hallway, re-entering the main foyer we passed when we were led through here. I can see patched up holes in the walls from the men’s abuse of the mansion. I noticed something mounted nearby, something I didn't look too deeply at the first time. There was a digital placard displaying the "Wolf Pack Leaderboards." Only twelve names were listed with their belts displayed next to them. Poor Gary was at the dead bottom of the list.

Though, there was something of interest on the top. Underneath Sigma was a black belt named Shinobi. Kind of a stereotypical name but whatever. Still, if this leaderboard is to be believed, outside Sigma they only have one active black belt in the group. Were they planning to take us out with just two masters of the art? Where did they get the bravado from? Were they all just fools? I might have greatly overestimated my opponents if that were the case.

No, I couldn't assume anything. They could have planted this leaderboard to throw me off.

I swiped a finger on the device and suddenly, it switched over to a status screen. It displayed a list of all the members and their locations, as in all of them former and otherwise. The list includes exactly 100 names in all. About half of that was in the mansion currently. Mostly some white, blue, and brown belts, all either have feminine or demeaning names.

"So there are 38 unaccounted for minutians in the grounds with us." I rubbed my chin in thought. "But where are they?"

This was a good sized mansion, but not so much that 38 people could just vanish without a trace. They must be hiding somewhere, but where? I'll need to search around later, there must be a secret passage or something.

I scrolled through the list. I saw Smalls' name on there. It says "Sanctuary" next to his name. They can just keep track of the whereabouts of even their former members? That's a disturbing thought. I found Shinobi and, go figure, his location says [REDACTED.]

I kept scrolling through and something caught my eye. One name was in entirely uppercase letters: SECRET WEAPON. Seriously, it just says secret weapon. I checked where it was and it said 'Monster Kingdom Castle.'

Okay, the Wolf Pack is most likely working with Faceless, and it would make complete sense that they would. Also apparently they made a secret weapon of some sorts? That's kinda concerning.

Also, I can't believe all this information was from A GIANT FUCKING PAD DEVICE MOUNTED ON THE WALL IN THE MAIN FOYER! Either this is some pretty elaborate planted evidence, or they are the biggest idiots ever. Well, for now, I'm going to only take what I read with a grain of salt and make my way to the dining room.

Only to find that all the men are arguing with Anne. 

"What do you MEAN you wear make-up?!?" Shouted Sigma.

"I just wear it on dates. Leave me the fuck alone."

He tilted his head like he was rolling his eyes. "Didn't think you were THAT kind of girl."

"Let's depart for Wolf Den!" Cried O'Bea, a massive smile on her face. Clearly she was enjoying this. 

Before Anne could look too closely at the wall of photos, the bear snatched up a tv remote from the nearby coffee table. As soon as her hand touched the thing, the whole building whirred and shook. The TV turned on, displaying a star map.

Anne's eyes were darting between the bear and the object she was currently holding. "...you control your ship with a remote?"

She chortled smugly. "Not just any remote!" She flicked the device and suddenly the ship shot up through the facade. Now, according to the star map on the screen, we were just above the Monster Kingdom. "This is a Will Remote! It'll do anything I will!"

I squinted at her. "Is that some kind of pun? I can't place it, but it sounds like you're making a pun."

She made a dumb face while sticking her tongue out mischievously. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"With just a flick of that remote, huh..." My appendageless companion marveled at the technology, completely unaware of the hijinks occurring around her.

"Alright, let's go the rest of the way!"

She pointed the remote at the screen and a cursor appeared. She selected the star system Wolf Den was located and suddenly the screen turned into... a golf game? On screen was a crude representation of the bear girl teeing up a golf ball, but instead of a golf course landscape, it's the Monster Kingdom universe. The destination was marked with a red flag in the distance.

She positioned her remote to match the character on screen and suddenly she pulled back. "Four!" She yelled before whacking the figurative ball. Suddenly, there was a jolt that nearly knocked me off my feet.

"What was that?" I looked around to spot Anne was in a completely different location in the room. "Huh? Did you go into light form?"

"We just went into warp!" Anne yelled, baffled.

"Aww, it went into the rough!" O'Bea groaned. On the screen, the ball didn't land anywhere close to Wolf Den. She gave us a determined look. "Don't worry! I'll get it!"

It took her a while to get it. If this course was a par four, it was well over triple bogey.

"You're really bad at this."

"I got it on the green, didn't I?" The bear shouted indignantly.

We were finally in orbit of the fucking planet. "Was doing that with golf the only way to control the ship?"

"Huh? No, there were other control methods."

"What!? Why did you go with a control method you're terrible at?"

"I mean... The other methods would have gone about the same."

I was pinching the rim of my nose in frustration. This bear could be obnoxious sometimes.

"Don't think that way Panchi, I'm trying!" She was on the verge of tears now.

Anne was way more optimistic than I was. "It's okay, O'Bea! We got there in the end!"

Her eyes were sparkling. "Anne..."

"Uh, yeah, we did get there." Just wish we didn't piss off a number of dragons being knocked into their territories so many times, and for knocking a moon out of orbit that one time.

"The orbit was degrading before the ship hit it!" The bear shouted.

I wish she would stop reacting to my narration. I can't hear what she's responding to. I glanced out a window. Below us was the planet of Wolf Den, in the system of... Wolf Den. I guess manly men don't really think that hard about naming things.

The entire planet was covered with what looked like harsh deserts, like one giant ball of dirt and mud. The oceans were a baby blue colored. I don't think water should be that shade of blue, I'd worry about what's in it. The planet was smaller than I was expecting, but it was huge compared to its sun, which is some kind of white dwarf.

"Let's go in for a landing!" O'Bea said, gearing up to putt.

It took her number of tries before we landed safely on the planet.

Somehow, getting the ball in the hole translated to us arriving to our destination. Safely on the ground, we phased through the water bear's thick membrane and plopped onto the dirt below. O'bea stayed on the ship in case we needed to leave in a hurry.

The sun was the size of a full earthen moon in the sky. It clearly wasn't bright enough to light up the entire atmosphere with the sky being kind of dark even in the day. The temperature was actually quite pleasant considering we were in the desert. Couldn't say the same for the smell.

"Why does it spell like gym socks and wet dog out here?" But I immediately had my answer. Up ahead was a minutian mansion, but the outside was a mess. Gym equipment was strewn about, clearly barely being used. Beer bottles lay everywhere. Did they ever clean up after themselves?

We headed to the front gates. It wasn't even locked, so we let ourselves in. We headed towards the front of the mansion when they came into view. 11 figures in robes and hoods, each wearing a blindfold for some reason. They stood in a row, I guess they were here to greet us. I didn't see any black belts, with members ranging from blue to brown. However, there was one thing all of them shared in common.

"Aren't they all a little tall?" Anne whispered

She was right. Every single member in front of us was the size of a matriarch. I got in trouble for letting one white belt grow that size, but the Wolf Pack has ten. "I suddenly understand why they are a secret society." If the Matriarchs discover this, they'll crucify the entire clan.

"Princess Anne O'Maley and the honorable Lord Panchi." Patriarch Sigma, standing in the middle of the group greeted us. His red belt was adorned with three stripes. "I welcome you to Wolf Pack Manor."

"It's an honor to be invited to your humble abode." Anne said, giving a curtsy. Lexine's etiquette training paid off.

I wasn't going to pay them such kindness. "Yo, I'm here."

It was hard to tell with the blindfold over his eyes, but he grimaced for only a second before correcting into a crooked smile. "Before we enter, I must say that the gym area is a man only space. Women are forbidden from going over there."

I glanced again at the gym equipment currently buried in trash. I don't think there's a woman alive that would want to go over there.

"Anyways, let's head inside."

We followed them in, shuffling into the group of wolves as we entered single file. As we got closer to them, we were struck by another horrid smell. All of them smelled like shit. Do I want to know why they smell like shit?

"You may be wondering how we're all this size." Patriarch Sigma began. "We found a way to make a minutian grow without... the usual method."

'Without getting pregnant,' is what he was avoiding saying.

"Of course, you won't rat us out. This is why we decided to trust you with our inspection." He chuckled, his face contorting into a wicked grin.

I had no intent of turning them in for this as it would be hypocritical for me to do so. However, I didn't fully trust his words. The 'man only' spaces were a complete mess, but the interior of this mansion was squeaky clean. I get a sinking feeling this clan has more than 10 members, members who are not showing themselves right now.

My suspicions had more evidence the second we walked into the dining room and found a full course dinner.

"We had the maid staff prepare us a meal. Don't worry, you won't see any unsightly servants though, they keep to themselves."

‘Maid staff’ huh? From here, I could see a sirloin steak, fried chicken, and a meat lover's pizza. I couldn't even smell the food with how much the guys stank. I didn't exactly have an appetite because of that.

"Oh, uh," Anne glanced at Sigma awkwardly, "I'm vegetarian."

Patriarch Sigma winced at her words. He gave us another crooked smile. "Sorry, Princess. This is all we have."

"Well, I guess I don't NEED to eat."

I pulled some fries in a basket from my inventory. Thankfully taters had no magical properties to them so I could still store them. "Here, it was fried with vegetable oil."

She graciously accepted them. "Thank you, Panchi."

"Thank Coozin's foresight. I have more than enough for the whole trip because of her." She is truly the best. I glanced back to notice Patriarch Sigma was glaring daggers at me. Was he trying to fuck with Anne? He was wearing that blindfold, afterall. "It's disrespectful to cover your eyes in such a way. Do you usually protest your guests?"

"Oh no, we always wear blindfolds. It's just our way."

Out of the blue we received an invitation by Patriarch Sigma to meet at the Wolf Pack Clans' home planet of Wolf Den. He requested for me and Lord Panchi to come visit. That group is so incredibly secretive that no one has even flown by that system and lived to talk about it. Now suddenly, we're being called into the waiting jaw. Naturally, we were suspecting something was up. 

"Can we refuse?" Anne asked, glancing at me for some hope at an easy out of this mess.

"Unfortunately, no." After receiving the invite, I looked into it, and they got us in an awkward position. "Matriarch Dundun of the Seeing Eye Clan and Matriarch Toydi of the Silver Spoon Clan lobbied hard to have a representative visit the Wolf Pack Clan's homeworld, being very insistent it'd be us."

"Would the words of two Matriarchs be enough?"

"Unfortunately, the whole collective has been sick of the Patriarch's secretive schtick, so most of them agreed with it. I have dozens of demands to follow through. We're already in hot water with them, refusing now..."

Anne slumped into her chair and sighed. "Has Dundun and Toydi ever advocated to inspect the Wolf Den before?"

"No, this is a sudden development."

Anne groaned as she slapped a noodle arm over her face. She had the same thought I had. The timing of this was too perfect. Right after this political crisis at the matriarch meeting, suddenly those same people were intent on us heading to the most secretive place in the multiverse. This feels like a set up.

"You two aren't even the best fit for this mission." Smalls added. We invited him to this meeting to advise us. "The Wolf Pack hates independent women."

"And let me guess," I began snidely, "because I have obvious tits, I default as a woman in their eyes?"

"That is correct, Lord Panchi."

Shit like this is why I started to police my pronouns. Even if I give people the "any pronoun" go ahead, they'll forever just treat me like another one of the gals based entirely on their culturally enforced biases. I've even thought about getting a breast reduction, just so people would stop pegging me in only one direction, but why should I change myself to make things easier for others? I'm perfect the way I am! They are the ones who can't break free of their conditioning!

"I feel you, Panchi," Anne said, "but if we are actually going through with this, we'll need to make a plan."

"You're right," I turned to Smalls, "tell us what you know."

"Well, it's been a long time since I've been with them, but I doubt the basic idea has changed. The wolf pack values manliness over everything. If you don't follow their very specific rules of masculinity, you'll either be shunned as gay or a woman.

"Oh, so the whole 'wolf pack' thing that's-"

"Alpha wolf." He said, grimly. "In fact, he was Patriarch Alpha back in my time. I don't know what a 'sigma' is, probably something they made up."

"It's all made up." The swan song of insecure men was to champion debunked concepts about wolves.

"Huh, I've been thinking this since I met Braddy," Anne started, "but how do minutian men work? I was under the impression that your kind reproduced asexually."

"We all are assigned female at birth, but some of us might identify differently later in life." I certainly did.

She was taken aback. "Wait, so they are all trans? Like us?"

"Technically they are, but not like us." Smalls explained. "They want to win the favor of people who hate trans people, the people they view as the 'real men.' So they hide away their origins while gladly throwing other trans people under the bus."

"That's horrible!" The Princess recoiled in disgust. "We're all trans! We should stick together!"

I shook my head. "It's not always that simple, Anne."

"Panchi?"

"You know better than most, some people are desperate to have their gender validated, and that's especially true for trans people. While some of them are our enemy, many may have been misguided into thinking they need the pack. In those cases, we need to be a bit more... diplomatic." It would be beneficial for some of them to switch sides. The trick is making them understand that. It's hard to change an already set mind.

"I get you want to save them, Lord Panchi, but your safety still is a priority." Smalls pointed out. "And you definitely need to prepare. Bring tissues, toilet paper, soap. Trust me on this, they will not likely have it stocked. Also you might want to bring food, I can't imagine they've stocked the fridges in a while. Also paper plates-"

He continued on for the next hour or so, telling us everything we needed to have with us.

In the coming days, we would hash out a few back-up plans in case the Wolf Pack Clan should turn on us. Anne was still clearly nervous. I could understand. We didn't know how many masters they had, they could gang up on us all at once and it'd be hard to see us getting out of that even with her powerful abilities. However, I was confident. A minutian is stronger when they are protecting something or someone, and if I'm protecting Anne then I can take the whole pack single-handedly if I had to.

We also updated our phones with a feature that notifies us whenever the alarms in Sanctuary goes off. This is in case someone tries to do something to the town while we've been lured away.

When we packed away the last of the emergency rations and toiletries in our respective inventories, we headed to the back of the mansion towards the quartyard where the orange shawls do their training. Raina, Lexine, and Smalls were accompanying us so they could send us off.

"You sure you both are going to be okay? Maybe we should send some back-up along with you two." Anne's fiance was even more worried.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe." I said with a confident smile.

"I mean, I trust you but..." Raina's eyes trailed off. She trusted me, but that doesn't exactly make the fear go away. "Ye-yeah... pretty much."

She must have been responding to something in my narration. I hate when they do that. "Look, if things get dicey, I can pocket dimension us out of there." It's difficult to catch a minutian master who wants to run away. Apathea was living proof of that.

"That is true." The monster princess remembered. "Second did escape from the belly of a library beast because of that."

However, the conversation would come to a sudden halt as our transportation came into view.

The other day, we were thinking about getting a void ship of our very own as we couldn't just keep asking the demons to fly us everywhere. Then O'Bea was like "I can give you my void ship!" Apparently, she had one orbiting The Odd this entire time. I have no idea how this didn't come up until now.

The void ship came into view and I immediately recognized it from microscopic camera images I've seen online. "It's a giant water bear! Wait, water bea- goddamn it!"

O'Bear appeared in front of us out of nowhere as if she had entered screen left. "That's right! It's the WattaBear Express! This ship has been running through my alternate selves for eons!"

Lexine gazed at it nostalgically. "I remember this thing."

O'Bear pointed at the vampire. "And I'm looking forward to eventually getting context for that look!"

I couldn't believe she managed to keep the bear related theme even with her own ship. Well, I'd rather not think about this. "I'm going to hop onboard, see ya guys!" I knew Anne and Raina needed another moment. I already said my goodbye to Coozin and Belovi earlier, so I had no reason to wait. I leapt into the water bear and sank inside it.

I found myself faced with the interior of a rather normal house. Well, normal in architecture. On the wall nearby was a pelt of a monster that looked like a cross between a tiger and a wolf. The rest of the wall was covered in photographs. There wasn't an inch of the wall that didn't have some photo displayed. Are these people she met in her other lives? The ones she apparently hadn't lived through yet? Maybe she doesn't even remember these people.

I glanced through the photos. One had a mad scientist lady with her assistant and a sheep demon of some sorts. Another was a bunny girl and a very turtle themed girlfriend. I could see a very young Lexine with... is that the Gift Fox? And speaking of gifts, there was a frikkin’ present with eyes!

I kept looking through the images. Some were more perplexing than others. One was an adult lackee who reminded me of Belovi with her glasses and her yellow hair, but she had red pincers instead of black and was some sort of adventurer. I didn't know how to feel about that.

Then my eyes stopped on one image. It had Anne in it. I thought she somehow got a picture of us already, but the other people in the image were not Raina and I, at least not the versions of us I was familiar with. Most of them were strangers to me, though I could recognize Lexine and… that small child…

O'Bea's paw appeared out of nowhere and snatched the photo from the wall. "Sorry that one is a spoiler."

"This is a pretty swanky place ya got here." Anne said, as she looked around in wonder.

As the conversation moved towards the house, I couldn't help but think about that picture. Was that maybe the future? That's the only explanation for what I saw that I could think of. But if that's the case, why wasn't I in the photo?

"It's not the future, it's uh..." O'Bea butted into my thoughts. "It's difficult to explain. Just try to forget about it."

I'm sensing temporal bullshit again. If that's the case, maybe it's best to let it go.

I kept looking through the images. Some were more perplexing than others. One was an adult lackee who reminded me of Belovi with her glasses and her yellow hair, but she had red pincers instead of black and was some sort of adventurer. I didn't know how to feel about that.

Then my eyes stopped on one image. It had Anne in it. I thought she somehow got a picture of us already, but the other people in the image were not Raina and I, at least not the versions of us I was familiar with. Most of them were unfamiliar to me, though I could recognize Lexine and… that small child…

O'Bea's paw appeared out of nowhere and snatched the photo from my wall. "Sorry that one is a spoiler."

"This is a pretty swanky place ya got here." Anne said, as she looked around in wonder.

As the conversation moved towards the house, I couldn't help but think about that picture. Was that maybe the future? That's the only explanation for what I saw that I could think of. But if that's the case, why wasn't I in the photo?

"It's not the future, it's uh..." The bear butted into my thoughts. "It's difficult to explain. Just try to forget about it."

Chapter 157: Summoned By a Wolf

…and the wall of references.

Random Matriarch POV:

I am Matriarch Dundun of the Seeing Eye Clan. We specialize in divination, forecasts, and spotting trends. It was because of that I've been very nervous lately.

Today, we had a meeting to call out Lord Panchi of the Tanglefoot Clan for allowing a white belt to get pregnant. We fully expected her to butt heads with us, but instead she pleaded. She pleaded with us on behalf of our children. I couldn't believe my eyes when it happened.

Which makes her far more dangerous than she ever was before. Before today, we could write her off as a nuance, a delinquent. But now she's genuinely trying to bring change, and that terrifies me most of all.

"Lord Panchi needs to die!"

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

After the meeting, I pulled aside my friend, Matriarch Toydi, to discuss my fears. "No it's not extreme. Lord Panchi is a threat to everything we stand for!"

"I think he made some good points though. I... also once had to tell a child of mine to give up, and it was painful-"

"Don't get distracted!" I shouted, knocking her out of her guilt. "Don't you see the writing on the wall? This is the Lord of the clan in the center of this turning point in history here, and she's already talking about bringing change to how things are!" I stopped myself, took a breath, and explained further. "The Monster King is going to fall at the hands of Anne, Queen Adelaide is going to rise up and take the throne. No, she may even rise up to become the first god, putting an end to this stupid Divine Rush."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Don't be dense! It's a simple rule of threes. Anne will be the slayer, Raina will be the queen, so what does that make Panchi? You honestly think she's going to fall to the wayside in history after everything?"

"I mean, he could..."

"No! She's going to make a bid for the throne herself!"

"You don't mean-"

"She's going to try to become the Minutian King. It's the only way this could possibly end."

There hasn't been a king since the God War. The monarch is the only one that has authority over the matriarchs. It's the reason this was just a meeting to complain at Panchi instead of actually being a regulating body dealing out punishments.

"There's no guarantee. You speak like he's destined to make a bid for the crown."

When your world exists in a book, tropes are the golden rule. "I'm 100% certain of it."

"Even if he is, what if the changes he brings are for the better? What if he does save the species?"

Oh, Toydi. She was hundreds of years old and yet so naive. Her clan is currently protecting merchants, a life of luxury, so it makes sense she wouldn't know. "Do not invoke the word 'change' so lightly. Change is PAINFUL! Too much of it can kill. And Panchi, she's nothing but the embodiment of change. She's going to lead to our deaths."

"I think you're exaggerating."

She may think so, but I've seen it countless times before. "Those who can't adapt only get left behind, that's what's going to happen to us if we let the story play out. That's why she needs to die!"

"My, ain't this an interesting conversation." Cutting through our chatter was a deep voice. Our eyes darted to the nearby doorway, and there stood a man in a long robe. He wore a blindfold over his eyes.

"Patriarch Sigma..." I said breathlessly.

"It sounds like we have a common enemy." His mouth curved into a wicked grin, and shivers spread down my spine.

Apathea POV:

Another day, more training. 

Thanks to Belle, I managed to get through my writer's techniques. After spending so much time with her, I even thought of her as a friend. I don't know how I feel about her now I know she's a cannibal. I guess I'm not exactly in the position to judge considering I'm on the run myself, but it still feels... gross knowing what she was doing on the side. But because of her, now I got the final stripe on my belt before upgrading to black.

#88 is Single Master. If you conquer this technique, you have the ability to merge with alternate versions of yourself to become one, much like a conduit or a splitter. Shinobi taught me this technique by putting me in his pocket dimension and creating split timelines so there would be two of me.

He grumbled out an explanation. "I made the other timeline weaker, so this alternate you is a mere shell." 

Basically, this version of me wasn't a full body, but a concept of me. This is the only ethical way to master the technique without having hundreds of clones of me running around. Day in, day out, he'd make the shell and I'd try to merge with it, but it would wind up taking me a long time to get it down.

Through it all, Shinobi was a cruel master. He'd never compliment my accomplishments, but always admonished me for my failures. More often than not, he'd tell me I'm no good, that I should give up. I get the feeling he doesn't like me at all, but I don't need him to like me. As long as he trains me, that's more than enough. That’s more than what my mother allowed me.

Finally, I got that technique down, it was my hand placement that was screwing me over in the end. Kind of wish my master had been more specific. I moved on to the last technique before the god techniques, #89 Pocket Dimension. This'll make hiding so much easier and I'll have my own world to myself. I've always wanted to be able to do it!

Learning it requires me to let my energies flow out in all directions so I create a bubble of reality around myself. There's no tricks to learning it, just gotta keep trying until it works. I did it over and over and over again, each time my energy dissipating before it could materialize anything, reality bending.

“You are worthless.” My master would say. He was probably right, but I had to keep trying!

Woob POV:

"Do you need help, lady Woob?" Said one of my clan as she offered to help me out of bed.

I chuckled. "I'm pregnant, not infirmed! Also, don't call me ‘lady.’"

"Sorry, milady!"

I feared how the Tangle Foot Clan might respond to my pregnancy. They were wary of it at first, but when they saw that Lord Panchi was backing up my decision, they tenuously started to support it. Now they were outright excited to have a new baby coming after so long.

The downside though, they keep treating me like I'm a new matriarch. Honestly, if I wasn't the one expecting, I'd be making the same mistake.

They helped me out of bed and fed me a hearty breakfast. "You need to eat for two!" They would say. They were way too overprotective. I'm not even in the thick of it, but they are acting like I'm going into labor in any second.

After breakfast, I was even helped into my medical uniform despite my objections. It was stuff like this that made me eager to go to work.

Heading into the clinic, I was immediately met with the raven doctor.

"Greetings Miss Woob." Dr. Nial was quick to greet me.

"Morning, doc!"

Pregnancy or not, Sanctuary still needed its medical team. We were still way understaffed considering the population growth, but we just needed to hold out until a wave of doctors move in a half a year from now.

"Miss Woob, help me with this splint!"

"On it, doc!"

After a long day, I walked home. The others of my clan wanted to arrange some sort of transport to take me to and from the clinic, but I needed the exercise. Seriously, they worry way too much. Even though it was late evening, the sun was still high in the sky, that's Sanctuary for ya.

I finally got to the mansion and immediately I was helped out of my work clothes and fed a hearty dinner. Always "lady Woob" this and "lady Woob" that, I got so annoyed with them at the time. In retrospect, they were just worried about me. Also, I'm pretty sure mom instilled that anxiety into them. She would use her pregnancies as an excuse to have the clan pamper the hell out of her.

Seeing everyone again just brought a smile to my face. I'm certain they will do everything to give my daughter a good life. Yeah, I have no regrets. Even if I knew from the start that having Novelle would indirectly lead to my death during the Demon War, I would have done it anyway. It was all worth it.

"Maybe you should have valued your life more."

I chuckled. Yeah probably. I couldn't argue with that. Maybe my defeatist mentality is the reason my death was more permanent than usual, but even if that were the case, it was already too late to change things.

I looked upon the clan once again, seeing them dote on me like I was going to drop dead at any second, it brought a smile to my face. With confidence, I faced him. "Thank you for letting me see this again. I'm ready."

"You sure? We can jump ahead to when your kid is born."

"No, that would be far too painful." A small wave of guilt came over me because of my selfish words, but my time with her was cruelly cut so very short. Seeing that moment again would only give me heartache. I wanted to leave with a warm feeling in my chest, so I’ll be smiling when I one day greet her from the other side.

"Very well."