“They’re what? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

“Claiming ownership of the monsters.”

“Ah. I did hear you properly.” Alyssa rubbed at her hair. It was getting a bit long again. She had only cut it once since arriving in Nod—Kasita had done it upon her request. A ponytail might do it good for a while, but she would eventually need to get it at least tidied up and trimmed. She might be living in a vaguely medieval world, but that didn’t mean that she had to ascribe to their standards of cleanliness or personal hygiene.

And she especially didn’t need to resign herself to their standards of morality. She had fallen into a bit of a mental trap when she had first arrived, thinking that one person might not have the power to change anything major and that she should just help out where she could. But now…

“Where is Yora?” Alyssa asked Brakkt, looking over their table in the Illuna guild hall. He had just returned from a lengthy meeting with Martin, Volta, the other Illuna advisers, and the visitors from Yora. The meeting had gone on almost as long as it had taken to get through her own meeting with the gremlins, plus get Izsha back and settled for the evening in the monster camp, plus get back to the guild hall for a full meal, and let Irulon know that Izsha would be up for questions in the morning. She had been in the middle of sketching out Split Reality spell cards for herself, using the design captured on her phone, when Brakkt finally walked in. She had finished four cards in two hours, and she was pretty sure that only two of them would actually be usable.

Despite having been sitting inside a meeting room for that entire amount of time, he actually looked a whole lot more worn out than she felt. Brakkt normally kept his back straight and his shoulders squared no matter the situation. But at the moment, he was somewhat hunched over the plate of dried jerky that he had pilfered from the guild’s storeroom—the cook had gone to sleep and Brakkt hadn’t been feeling up to cooking for himself. The slight hunch didn’t make him look defeated or anything so drastic, but it was notable because of how different it was from his normal posture.

Kasita, at Alyssa’s side, stared back and forth with a faint smile on her face. Considering the bad news about the visitors, she looked to be in a surprisingly good mood. At least now. Her initial scowl upon first hearing the news was gone.

“There is a mountainous area a dozen weeks southeast of Illuna where Yora has made their home. They spend a lot of manpower quarrying the rock there, selling and providing it to the rest of the human lands, and also fighting with the elves who don’t particularly like their mountains being chipped away at.”

“Weeks… ugh.”

“You want to visit them?”

“Maybe,” Alyssa said, leaning back against the wall. “Maybe I just want to throw a few Annihilators around and tell them to cut it out.”

“Cut… what out?”

“Ufu~ I think she just means that she wants to get them to stop trying to claim ownership over monsters.”

“Ah. Well… officially speaking, I can’t condone threatening one of the twelve great houses into intimidation.”

“And unofficially?” Alyssa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“House Yora is an older house with a lot of allies to call upon. It is likely that even Lyria—my father especially—will have to respond to someone threatening one of the great houses. We’ve already garnered a lot of dislike recently, letting someone go around threatening those we are supposed to be bringing together, uniting for protection, would make us look extremely weak. And if it is found out how close your ties to myself, Irulon, and even my father are, I can foresee a disturbing amount of discontent raising among the other houses and people of the land.”

Alyssa slumped. “So that is a no unofficially as well.” If it were anyone else, Alyssa might consider it anyway. She doubted that any army would want to march against her once they saw a single spell obliterate a mountain… except maybe the elves. So she wasn’t too afraid of their retaliation. But putting Brakkt, Irulon, and the Pharaoh into such a sticky situation would just be an asshole move against people who had helped her so much. If they were jerks or obviously evil, it would be a different story.

Also… Alyssa thought, wincing in memory of her first encounter with the Pharaoh. Time magic is probably the one truly frightening type of magic around. Without Adrael’s staff, she could easily wind up dead before she knew what hit her if the Pharaoh used something like Chronosphere or Accelero.

“I’m sure we can find another way to keep them out of Yora’s hands,” Kasita said. “They’re a long way away and the monsters are right here. I doubt they actually want them anyway. As Fezzik and Rokien said, most of them wouldn’t even make good slaves. This is probably some human political problem that the monsters are just being used for because their presence is convenient for whatever the humans really want.”

“I concur. Kasita is most likely correct,” Brakkt said, looking toward the mimic. “I’m surprised you have such insight into political matters.”

Kasita puffed up—not literally, which would have been something she was perfectly capable of doing—and nodded at his praise. “I’ve sneaked into a few meetings ever since meeting you people. Might have heard Irulon talking on more than one occasion. Might have just spent a lot of time around humans.”

“Whatever the case, it might be more prudent to find out what their actual designs are before you start doing something so drastic as blowing up the quarries around Yora.”

“And,” Kasita said with a much wider grin. “We have the perfect person here to infiltrate them.”

“Is that what you’ve been so happy about? A chance to show off your abilities?”

“Ufu~ Who is saying that I haven’t already shown off my abilities?”

“Today? Or other times? Because you definitely haven’t already gone to spy on them…” Alyssa trailed off, frowning as the dumb mimic just smiled a little wider. “Have you?” It was true that Kasita hadn’t been with her here at the guild hall the entire time that Alyssa had been here. But… “No. They just arrived and their meeting just ended. There wouldn’t have been any time to go spying.”

“Not on the people inside the meeting. But they weren’t all in that meeting.”

Brakkt sat up a bit straighter, leaning forward with obvious interest. “You actually learned something?”

“One of them kept a journal in his luggage. I might have had a peek through it. The recent entries are all pretty much just grumbling about how much he hates having to go on this journey at all. But…” She slumped slightly. “It seemed as if he didn’t quite know why they were interested in the monsters. And there is some genuine interest there.”

“You were the one to suggest that they weren’t interested in the monsters,” Alyssa said, tone flat.

“Yeah… That’s because the journal also mentioned that some son of Yora is interested in that girl we escorted here.”

“Raugis?”

“Yep.”

“Not Decorous, is it? He’s like twice her age.”

“The book didn’t say,” Kasita said with a shrug. “It didn’t even refer to him by name, just as ‘my lord.’”

“Ugh. I hope it isn’t Decorous’ father or anything…” She started saying it as half a joke, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like it could actually be a thing. “These are the middle ages,” Alyssa said with a groan. “It might even be Decorous’ grandfather or something. Ugh.” She shot a quick glance to Brakkt, remembering that his family was somewhat screwed up as well. Octavia was the eighth child born—though there might have been stillbirths, childcare and pregnancies were absolutely not going to be safe as her mother had mentioned the other week ago—and there were more after her. And each of the children that Alyssa knew had different mothers. It was possible that none of the royal siblings shared a mother.

Shaking her head, Alyssa tried to force her mind off the topic. Different era, different society, different culture, different values. She might be able to threaten a few people into not enslaving a town of monsters if she absolutely had to, but changing societal values like that might just be a job for someone else. At least women like Oxart and Irulon held positions of authority, unlike her own world’s past.

“Sonorous is dead, I believe,” Brakkt said, thankfully interrupting that train of thought. “Passed away a few years back.”

“Decorous’ grandfather?”

Brakkt dipped his head in an affirmative nod.

“Well that’s a relief,” Alyssa mumbled. “So we’ve got some Menelaus over in Yora using the monsters as an excuse?”

“Menelaus?” Kasita said, arching an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew anyone in this world.”

“Sorry. I think Rokien has Greek mythology on my mind. In my world, Menelaus was some ancient king who started a war ten years long over a single woman.”

“I hope that is not the case here,” Brakkt said, tone utterly serious. “There hasn’t been a war between the great houses since my father was a young boy. It nearly destroyed Lyria when the Juno Federation attacked at a moment of weakness. A hastily prepared truce was all that saved us.”

“I… don’t think it would actually happen. As I said, that was mythology. There might have been a war, who knows, but over a single woman?” Alyssa shook her head. “I mean, such a thing might have been a factor, but there had to be other socio-political elements. Maybe land or territory disputes, previous conflicts, ongoing animosity…” Getting a bad feeling she looked back to Brakkt. “Yora wasn’t fighting against Illuna in that war you mentioned, were they?”

Brakkt shifted slightly as if uncomfortable before offering a much shallower nod. “Illuna, or rather, Martin’s father, saved my grandfather from the assassination attempt that started the conflicts. Yora actually tried to stay neutral, but wound up occupied by a now extinct house. Many of their people were forcibly conscripted and sent to die. Technically, the people of Yora were not ideologically against the people of Illuna, but with an arcanist at their back saying to fight or die, there wasn’t much they could do.”

“Sounds… complicated.”

“Mhm.”

“What about more recently?” Kasita asked. “We know Illuna has fairly close ties with you guys,” she said, waving a hand toward Brakkt. “They don’t mind monsters that much and the whole reason we escorted Raugis was because her father was worried that she might be used politically against him after he voiced public support for Fela’s presence in Lyria. This might be related to that. In addition, we also know that Decorous, at the very least, was conspiring against your family.”

Jerking half to his feet, Brakkt looked down at Kasita. “He what?”

Alyssa blinked, not at all sure why Brakkt was so surprised. It took her a moment to realize what must have happened. “I overheard someone in the palace, who I am mostly sure was Decorous, talking about what sounded an awful lot like a coup against the Pharaoh. I don’t recall the exact words—this was more than two months ago, the same night my mother arrived here—but I’m sure you could ask Irulon for details. I told her that very same night and she told me not to worry about it.”

Letting out a long sigh, Brakkt threw his gaze up toward the ceiling. “That girl,” he mumbled. “She probably looked into it on her own, but she should have told someone.”

“Sorry. I figured that she would have done so. Otherwise, I would have mentioned something to you. And probably your father as well.”

“No, no. You told someone who you thought would handle it properly.” He shook his head again. After one last glance aside, he turned back to Alyssa. “Regardless. Taking that information into consideration, whatever they are truly attempting to do here might be simply to weaken Illuna’s position and influence, thus taking away a valuable ally of my father.”

“I still think it is about Raugis,” Kasita said, crossing her arms. “I suppose I’ll just have to go back and take a look around.”

Alyssa shot a look at the mimic. “Kasita…”

“Going to protest?”

“No. Just be careful. You have your spells. You have allies. If you get in trouble, get a message out. I’ll be there in an instant if you need.”

“Of course you will. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I won’t be caught. Not unless these humans decide to start using Unseen Sight for no good reason.”

“If the guy with the diary somehow notices that you went through it, they might do just that. Be careful. There might be other ways to figure out what they really want. You don’t need to put yourself at too much risk for a little knowledge.”

“Ufu~ You worry far too much.” With that giggle, she turned to Brakkt. “By the way, did those guys in the meeting offer any kind of ultimatum or time frame for when they wanted their demands met?”

“They weren’t demands, exactly. More of a negotiation. From the way they were talking, it was as if the situation was more like Illuna captured a few brigands that have been harassing both houses and Yora wants custody of them for prosecution. They even offered a reward for the capture in terms of building material and manpower, something I imagine is quite lucrative to Illuna. Their population has expanded to the edge of their walls and beyond. Being able to build more walls, especially with the demon threat, must be appealing.”

“But the demons should be done with,” Alyssa said. The true demon had told Alyssa that they wouldn’t be able to hold on forever. Even if Tenebrael stopped the demonic massacre by booting the Astral Authority off the world, the demonic force would be weakened and diminished… probably. Alyssa wasn’t entirely sure how demonic souls or the demon’s mentions of immortality worked. But if the Astral Authority was to win, they had to have a way to eliminate demons on a more permanent level. Otherwise the war would continue forever. “At least the external threat should be gone,” she ended up saying. “We can’t do much about preventing new demons from cropping up in the city… Though none have done so since our arrival as far as I have heard. It’s probably too early to call the demons a non-problem, but their threat rating can’t be as high as it used to be.”

“Which Yora will likely be unaware of. It will decrease the value of their incentive.”

“What was Martin’s reaction to all this?” Alyssa asked. “And how likely is he to agree to hand over the monsters? I’m obviously against it, but I doubt I really have that much say in matters if I can’t go threaten them with an Annihilator.”

“He didn’t give a direct response. Said he would consider their offer in private with his own advisers as well as after contacting his son in Lyria—he is only regent, after all. I was acting as a neutral observer and am not being included in any private deliberations. Perhaps if he were to request my presence, I might be able to offer some words, but I doubt he would do so. He’ll stick with those closest to him.”

That meant Volta. So things would probably not turn out terribly for the monsters. Not unless Yora came back, changing their incentive into actual demands. Which was not out of the question given what they knew. And if their demands to too great, if Yora was actually willing to go to war for whatever reason, Martin would probably give in just to protect his own people.

Unless, of course, in the case where Martin also wanted to go to war. But Alyssa hadn’t gotten that impression from him during their few encounters.

If Yora really was willing to spark a war over nonsense but got what they wanted, they would probably be back for more or for another war later on…

Alyssa sighed. She hadn’t wanted to get involved in politics back when she first met Irulon. That hadn’t changed. “Have you let the Pharaoh know what has been happening here?”

“He knows about the monsters. He did not mention approving or disapproving. I imagine he will wait to see how the monsters act after being exposed to humans for some time. But, I suppose I should go and draft up a Message to inform him about Yora’s actions here. Tensions between two houses will have ramifications back in Lyria as well.”

Brakkt snatched up the few remaining scraps of dried jerky as he stood. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” He started toward the stairs, but paused and looked over his shoulder. “Is Irulon…”

“Asleep,” Kasita said. “She sketched out a bunch of designs in her notebook. She was into it enough that I thought tonight would be another long night, but she fell asleep well before any of those humans arrived.”

“That’s good. If she is calm enough to sleep, then we can rest a little easier as well. Tomorrow morning, we’ll have to take her and Izsha out for a private conversation though. As much as there can be a conversation between the two of them, anyway.”

“Perhaps the dragon can help translate Izsha’s mannerisms and intentions. They are related, aren’t they? Draken and dragons?”

“Not that closely related, I imagine, but perhaps nonetheless. Good night, Alyssa, Kasita. You should get some rest soon as well. The next few days might be a bit hectic.”