Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 304: The End of a Long Day

As we entered the hotel Christa appeared, she must have been waiting for us. Her eyes widened slightly as she spotted Hatsumi.

"Is everything alright, my ladies?" She asked.

"We ran into a small ambush but everyone is fine." Hatsumi replied, then she looked down at her clothes. "Although I might have to get this uniform fixed."

"I am capable of sewing, if it is needed. Although a seamstress might be required for that hole." Christa said.

"We should be able to get some money from the attackers, maybe even a bounty. You can just buy a new maid uniform." Skadi pointed out.

I had to admire Christa's professionalism. It was obvious that she wanted to know more but she did not ask because of her station.

"Someone tried to shoot me, Hatsumi protected me. The attackers are mostly dead or arrested. One illusionist escaped." I summarised.

"Should I send for a healer?" Christa asked, while staring at the small hole in my uniform. I looked at it myself and noticed that the blood stains made it look a lot worse than it had been.

"It was just a small wound, Helena and Hatsumi took care of the healing. The poison was more of an issue but Cassie handled that. You know, it was only about a four." I tried to reassure her.

"A four?" Helena asked.

"Koyuki has a rating system for the pain inflicted by the slave collar." Christa answered in a disapproving tone.

"I see." Helena said, while looking at me. "Did that get her into trouble?"

"It might have, if the instructors knew about it. They would have seen it as defiance." Christa answered.

I nodded, while touching my neck.

Helena drew me into a hug.

"Would you like me to draw you a relaxing bath?" Christa asked.

"No. You can retire for the night." I replied.

"Don't worry, we will take care of Koyuki." Helena assured her.

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Christa gave us a small bow and left.

We went to our own room and I yawned. Nyx and Yoru were with us as guards. They jumped on the couch while I contemplated falling on the bed, fully clothed. I heard water running from the bathroom. Maybe I should clean up as well…

Helena left the bathroom and walked towards me. "The tub is big enough for two, let's take a bath. Christa had a good idea there, we just don't need her help for it."

"It does sound nice." I admitted.

"You are really tired, huh? Cassie told me that her potion is not ideal and takes a lot out of the person but she does not have the materials for a better antidote. Hatsumi's healing is not perfect either." Helena said.

"I am rather tired. I wonder what poison they used?"

"They did not allow Cassie to keep the arrow. Hopefully they have competent alchemists. We could ask Princess Olivia tomorrow. I am sure the attack will come up."

I groaned. "Yay, politics…"

Once the tub was full, which happened surprisingly quickly, we climbed into it. It was made from black marble, the smooth surface suggested a skilled earth mage had formed it.

"Come here." Helena said.

I obliged and leaned my back against her chest, then I closed my eyes. "The bath was a good idea."

"You have to stop getting hurt." Helena told me.

"Tell it to the assassins." I mumbled.

"Today could have gone very differently. We did not see through the illusion. If Hatsumi had not heard the arrow and acted slower…" Helena whispered while holding me.

"It would have missed the heart, I think." I replied, while snuggling into her embrace.

"This is serious!" Helena said.

"Mhm, every fight is. Further, someone has tried to kill me ever since my magic awakened." I yawned. "Not the first time they tried poison. And the fake Eva was really bad. That was a close one."

I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at Helena. "I am not going to let them destroy my life by making me hide somewhere, or live in fear. We have Hatsumi, Kaito, the cats… We are not easy to take down."

Helena looked into my eyes, then she kissed me.

"You silly fox. I guess you do need to raise an army and just crush everyone coming after you." Helena whispered.

"Mhm." I replied and closed my eyes again.

We stayed in the bath a little longer before we left the tub. Helena helped dry my tail with a hair drying device and some water magic. Then we went to bed.

The next day I felt a lot better. After waking up I stretched.

"How do you feel?" Helena asked.

"Surprisingly good." My stomach rumbled. "And surprisingly hungry." I added.

"Let's have breakfast." Helena suggested.

Skadi and Cassie were already at a table with Kaito and Hatsumi. Christa was serving them food as we arrived. After greeting them we ordered as well.

"We have three hours until we are expected at the palace." Kaito informed us. "I propose we take our own carriage. We should take Christa with us as well and leave her inside the carriage, with some undead guards. I believe yesterday's attack calls for heightened security."

"Should I wear armour?" I wondered.

"No, you will wear the dress we have bought. If someone attacks us inside the palace we have bigger problems than armour." Helena pointed out.

Damn, I was not able to escape the dress.

"However, once we return you will spend more time on your ice armour." Helena said. "You need to spend more time working on your defences."

I nodded. "Ok."

"You should train your defences too." Skadi said to Cassie.

"Exploding your enemies is a defence…" Cassie mumbled.

"And we should consider raising more mounts, it would allow us to bring more undead on a trip." Kaito suggested.

"There is a corpse problem…" I pointed out.

"We should ask for the corpses of our attackers." Cassie suggested.

Skadi nodded.

We talked a bit more while we finished our breakfast. Then we returned to our rooms and changed into our dresses. It was time to meet Princess Olivia.