Sophia, Chloe, and Fey went to the castle to tell the king and his entourage a few things. The full fox started and explained what happened in the human capital, which obviously surprised everyone in the meeting. It was quickly overshadowed by something else, though.

“Mira, what are you doing here?” Fey was the first to react while she looked at the teal fox with the many tails.

“I mentioned that I wanted to pay the royals here a visit, right?” She smiled at her. “I thought this was the perfect time to do it.”

“I’d say it was the worst timing, though.” Sophia had some rather mixed feelings.

“Really?” The overseer tilted her head. “I thought you’d be happy to have even less attention on you? I mean, you mentioned not liking that.”

“This and that are slightly unrelated, I would say. While it’s true, it definitely didn’t help with making this situation any easier.”

“Absolutely not!” Chloe nodded a couple of times. “It does help with the how, though.”

“That’s a fair point.”

“Thank you very much~.” Mira smiled at the duo before facing Menzor again. “I am pleased to meet the current king of the beastfolk race. The last time I showed myself in these areas was when your predecessor was still in his ruling position. I must admit that your folk has grown a little lazy when it comes to the efficient and creative usage of my magic, everyone used to be much more imaginative with its uses, but you’re overall doing a more than decent job ruling your folk.”

“I-I am deeply sorry for not having met your expectation, dear overseer of magic!” He started panicking.

“That does not bother me.” She waved her hand. “I have no definite expectations. For the most part, my job is watching over the development, not directing it.”

“I... understand.” Menzor wasn’t sure how to feel about that either. "I hope our recent developments, mostly thanks to Sophia, are a little more impressive.”

“She is most entertaining to watch.” Mira smiled at the blonde. “She even managed to surprise me a few times already.”

“...” Everyone looked at Sophia.

“Ahaha...” She only awkwardly scratched her cheek. “What was that about keeping attention away from me?” The blonde glanced back at the teal fox.

“I humbly apologize, my dear.”

“Shush now!” She didn’t like her wording.

“Hehe.”

“S-Sophia!” The king got louder again while he faced her. “W-What is the meaning of this?!”

“Meaning of what?” She tilted her head.

“W-Why does it seem like you’re getting along with the great Mira on a personal level?!”

“Because we do...?” The blonde looked back at him. "We recently met, and she's great! Just look at how fluffy she is!” Her preferences were clear.

“Wow.” Everyone had the same reaction.

“Why... Why am I not surprised that Sophia and the overseer of magic get along...?” Even though she said it, Kira still sounded rather flabbergasted.

“...” Menzor had a similar expression as his wife. “T-There are many questions I have to ask, but I first have to return to the topic of the human capital and my messengers.”

“Of course.” Mira changed her attention to him again. “I helped Fey clean the human capital from the previous rulers and their sympathizers. Using my powers, I transported them to an island on the other side of the continent. It’s a massive island with no strong monsters, a vast number of resources, and a favorable climate, so they have the chance to survive. However, leaving that place and returning will basically be impossible. I’ve also started to actively oversee the capital, and, so far, there are no more signs of rebelling forces."

“That is…” The king needed a moment. “I was unaware that a go-, a-an overseer participates in our problems to such a degree.” He remembered Fey’s warning about the goddess issue and quickly changed his wording.

“Normally, it is true that we only intervene in actual catastrophes,” She stole a quick glance at Sophia before continuing. “But this time was different. In fact, me being an overseer was only a secondary concern in this issue, and I simply abused my powers for something of much greater importance."

“W-What could be more important than being an overseer?!”

“Being a mother, of course.” The teal fox started smiling again. “I could not personally support Fey in eradicating the human capital, but there was no rule for me stopping her, either. I surely had no intention to do so, as well. Once she changed her plans to something less… genocidal, I happily played my part of being an angry mother. It was about time the humans started reassessing their values. Now, after them having approached my baby, more than ever.” She focused all of her attention on Chloe near the end.

“…” She started blushing a little. “P-Plus 17 points…”

“W-Wait…” Kira’s eyes started wandering between the two hybrid foxes. “C-Chloe is your daughter…? She’s the child of an overseer?!”

“Yes," She paused for a moment. “Chloe is the daughter of Fey and me. We’ve kept it a secret for the longest time, though. Even she didn't know about it until recently…"

“And she will be upset about that for the longest time, too.” The pink fox started pouting while she spoke about herself in the third person.

"We wanted her to live a normal life, as being the daughter of an overseer would’ve made that impossible.” The teal fox continued. “In retrospect, it was a much bigger mistake for me having stayed out of most her life, though.”

“OBVIOUSLY!” Chloe got even louder.

“Yes, we made some mistakes…” Fey sounded apologetic. “That aside,” She then proceeded to look at everyone in the room. “I understand that Mira will be treated differently because of her position. Some might even do the same with me because they think I'm special for some weird reason, thanks to my connection with the overseer of magic. Still, if anyone even thinks about treating our daughter differently in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable, I’ll get angry. Does everyone understand that?” Her stare turned into a glare.

“Y-Yes!” Everyone around the king first gulped before nodding at the intimidating-feeling fox.

“Good.”

“W-What a revelation…” Menzor was massaging his temples. “I still need to put all this aside for a little bit longer, though… How deeply involved are our messengers in the new ruling party of the human capital? Looking at all of this from some distance, it might look like we, the beastfolk, have invaded and conquered their capital.”

“Yes.” One of the generals nodded. “Even if their capital is now purged by their old values, once the word of it starts traveling and some details go missing, things might… no, they will turn quite troublesome. Luckily, any of our settlements are months away from their capital, but this is anything but ideal.”

“While I won’t deny the possibility, I think the chances for that are negligible at best.” Fey faced the general. “We, mostly I, removed around one-fourth of the capital and sent them to their island holidays. Most of the high-ranking people and public figures are gone. So is most of the army stationed in and around the capital. It has been completely replaced by the army Sophia has, let’s call it… met before. I’m sure they won’t do anything hasty.”

“They can’t do anything hasty.” The blonde corrected her. “I more than made sure of that.”

“Even better~.” The full liked her reply a lot. “They are patrolling around and make sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening. As far as their… skills allow them to, at least. More importantly, almost everything around the capital is farmland to provide for it. The next bigger human settlement is multiple days away, probably even more, now that winter has started. Without protection, it is highly unlikely that they would, or could, make this journey. There also is no army big enough in reach to reclaim the capital.”

“I see…” The general paused for a moment. “These sound like favorable conditions, but I have no idea how we should act on this…”

“That is indeed very true…” Menzor nodded a few times. “This might be our one chance to make true peace with the humans. We never sought the conflict in the first place, only defended ourselves and our lands, but now that their highest leaders are gone, and humanity is led by a faction that sees us in a favorable light…”

“Uhh…” Sophia interrupted him. “I wouldn’t call it, uh… favorable. They are terrified of us.”

“I know it sounds bad, but from a tactical standpoint, that's at least as good, if not even better, for us." The commander scratched his cheek while facing the blonde.

“I guess that is true…”

"Do you think this is a way to make the humans understand that we are not enemies and want no harm? For them to realize we are not inferior like they claim? To maybe form an actual relationship with their race over time? Or, at least for them to stop trying stupid things.” Menzor faced Mira with an expression that was definitely asking for help.

“I won’t be answering that.” Mira, unfortunately, just smiled at him. “That is for your races alone to figure out. I've interfered more than enough already. It is as you said, though. It is a chance. If it’s worth it, that’s for you to figure out.”

"I see…" He hung his head. “It was worth a try.”

“It certainly was.” The overseer kept smiling.

“Regardless of that, thank you very much for your input.” The king was glad about it nonetheless before facing his generals. “We need to come up with some options and solutions for that immediately. We must find out if this is our chance."

“Most definitely.” They all nodded.

“Can that wait just a little longer?” The blonde interrupted him again. "There are some other topics we must discuss, too."

“T-THERE’S MORE?!” The room got loud again.

“I mean, it took a slight turn, but…” She took a quick glance at the teal fox before continuing. “I planned this to be the warm-up before we get to the main attraction.”

“…”

A break was long overdue.