Chapter 388 – Headache
Sophia had decided to introduce Anna and Ari to the new members of their group. Naturally, things had gotten out of hand instantly, and the couple had an insanely hard time coping with the situation. Finding out that Chloe's the daughter of Mira, the overseer of magic, didn’t make it any better, either. To finish it off, learning that Steph had been blessed by Mira, and the blonde by Canir, of all people, sent them over the edge of being able to deal with the situation. tired...”
“Me, too...”
“The princess and her partner sure took a while to accept everything.” On the following day, after having told Anna and Ari about what roughly was going on, Sophia, Chloe, and Fey went to the castle and were currently walking through a hallway there.
“By the way,” The pink fox tilted her head while she glanced at the tiger beside her. "I still don't get what I am doing here...”
“Moral support.” The blonde smiled at her.
“What about Maya?!”
“She didn’t want to deal with any of what was going to happen today. She made it very clear that she would make my life very complicated if she had to be present here.”
“Who said that I want to do that, though?!” Chloe also wasn’t a fan of the idea.
“You helped me with the portals, you were the one that had the idea of growing plants with magic, and...” She glanced at Fey behind her. “You have to take responsibility for your mother, who went to play in the human capital and has a lot to explain now.”
“Minus five points!” The pink fox immediately glared at the full one.
“Why?!” She got loud. “This and that has nothing to do with each other!”
“You just made my life needlessly more complicated, so it still counts!”
“Do you have any idea how often I had the same thought when raising you after you came up with something fun, but I said nothing because you're my daughter, and I love you? Also, the whole capital issue happened because the humans tried to harm you. Something that I never have and never will be tolerating.”
“...” Chloe went silent.
“Plus 416 points.” Sophia liked the full’s reply. “In my book, at least.”
“Thank you very much.”
“T-Thank you for having put up with me for so long...”
“It has been a pleasure and will forever be one.” Fey looked straight at her while saying that.
Once the topic was over, in one way or another, the trio walked through the castle for a little while longer until eventually stopping in front of a big and fancy door leading to the main conference room right next to Menzor’s office.
“Urgh, so many people in there...” As usual, Sophia was using her detection magic to the fullest as the door was still closed. “Well, I asked for it, so... Okay, can you two wait outside for a moment? I want to check the situation first and ask what they want to start with.”
“Of course.” The two foxes reacted with a nod.
"Alright..." With a rather extensive sigh, Sophia finally opened the door to the conference room.
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“Sophia!” Noticing her, Menzor immediately jumped off his chair while Kira and a bunch of tigers and jaguars around them followed after him, though with not quite as much vigor behind it. “What is the meaning of all this?” He gestured all around him, including the ministers and generals in the room. "Kira just said that we all must gather for something or another. Do you have any idea how many meetings and plans we had to cancel for you?!”
“Ah, so she forgot to mention the part where you all will leave this room with a MASSIVE headache, huh?"
“...” Everyone glared at the queen, who swiftly averted her face. "As if someone would’ve gathered if I mentioned that. Even my powers have limits...” She awkwardly scratched her cheek.
“What did you do?!” Menzor didn’t like the sound of that and faced the blonde again.
“In terms of chaos and all that, I’m absolutely innocent for a change!”
“Mhmm.” He only increased his stare at her.
“The topics of today will forever change this nation and the life of everyone, though.”
“...” Menzor’s face went through basically every emotion possible before he and everyone else sat down again. “G-Go on...”
“We have two main topics today. What should we start with?” Sophia tilted her head.
“That’s what I did.” The full’s voice sounded perfectly calm. “Well, I’m my own army, so I needed no help.”
“?!” The room became loud.
“T-The human capital has burned down...?” Menzor tried to wrap his head around it.
“Not entirely.” Fey slightly shook her head. "On the way, I had calmed down a little, and it ended up being too much work for my liking. I didn't like the implication of harming possibly innocent individuals, either."
“I-I see...”
“Their castle is gone, though. Burned to nothingness.”
“...” This time, the room fell silent.
“What about their rulers?” One of the commanders spoke up.
“Replaced.” She looked at him. “They were the reason is what they were, after all. Two other parties I selected took over for them.”
“Two?” The king tilted his head.
“On one side, there’s the human army Sophia had defeated and brainwashed, together with their commanders. Their newly imprinted values seemed quite promising to me. She did a thorough job there.” Fey glanced at the blonde at the end.
“I was slightly upset, after all~.”
“I fully understand that~.”
“Oh no...” Menzor had a bad feeling about this.
“Wait a moment...” The commander from before spoke up again. “The capital of the human nation is too far away for the army of the Talaga war to have returned again. This does not match up.”
“Yes, that is true.” The full nodded. “Initially, I had given up on destroying their capital and decided to return to my daughter right before I arrived there. On the way back, I ran into their returning army, and I was about to unleash my frustration on them, because they were the ones who would've earned it, when I realized what was going on. I had another change of plans and took the army to their capital. Before someone asks how, magic would be the answer.”
“...” Menzor took a quick glance at the blonde because her reply felt painfully similar to something she would’ve said, too. “What happened then?”
“I removed the royal family and their aides from their castle, made them kneel before me, and had the entire capital watch me burning down the castle. Once that was done, I made the royals disappear and announced the generals of Sophia's broken army to be the new leaders of humanity. Only with the previous rulers gone, change for the rest of the folk would be possible.”
“W-Wow...” Everyone had the same reaction before the king continued. “That is quite something. What about the other party you mentioned, though?”
“I spent some time in the capital to teach them some basic necessities to rule a country. Luckily, they couldn’t be worse than the previous rulers. Still, without any knowledge about it whatsoever, it probably wouldn’t have turned out overly well. Eventually, a group of beastfolk messengers arrived from here. Long story short, I made them part of the new ruling faction, as well, and made them watch over them. They will also act as the bridge between the races.”
“W-WHAT?!” The room got loud once again.
"Who gave you the authority to decide that?!” Menzor didn’t like this turn of events. “Who will guarantee their safety?! They are not trained to do anything like that, either! Even if the human royal family and most of their entourage are gone, there is no way a revolt will not happen in the near future, and who do you think will be the prime target there?!”
“I’ve spent a whole month squashing any signs of revolution or groups banding together to pull any sort of stunt.”
“Killing so many humans will only anger the remaining further!”
“I have not killed a single human during my activities.” Fey wasn’t sure how to name it, either. “I literally made them disappear. While making a public example of every single one of them, including the royal family, I had them transported to the other side of the continent in an instant. It would take them years to return. If they even could, that is. Afterward, once they were gone, and I held some public events with the messengers, the common folk was surprisingly okay. As it turned out, most of them had never seen a member of the beastfolk before and only knew about us from the propaganda and lies of their rulers. After having realized that we aren't ferocious beasts who eat their children on sight, and noticed that their living conditions had noticeably improved in just a few weeks without their previous rules, they were quite content with our presence.”
“THERE IS JUST NO WAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS POSSIBLE!” The king raised his voice quite a bit.
“Oh, it’s quite possible. My beloved Fey would never lie." Before anyone could realize it, another person had joined the meeting. A white and teal-colored hybrid fox with many tails suddenly stood next to the full while gently petting her head.
Afterward, things got slightly more chaotic than they already were.
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