The Island of Wonder

"There is one last thing I would want to show you, Your Majesty." Nicole said. She turned to Soi. "Give me the crossbow."

The catgirl took the weapon from the sheath on her back and handed it to the girl together with a bolt.

"This new weapon can make your army so much stronger and doesn’t require much training." At least that’s what I remember from history classes. Compared to bows, crosbows needed way less trainings. "I could show how it works and then teach your people to recreate it. But this place looks too expensive to shoot at anything here, so…"

The Queen nodded and raised a hand. In an instant, from her throne a set of vines slid out like snakes. Seconds later they rose up into the air and formed a soldier. It was green and made out of thorny vines mixed and tied together. It had no face, and in one hand it held a whip with big thorns, and in the other it had a flower shield. The dummy stood in place without moving.

Oh damn! Well, at least I have a target now.

Nicole loaded the crossbow and shot. The wooden bolt pierced the initial defenses and stuck deep in the torso of the dummy. Nicole reloaded and repeated again and again a few times to show off the firing speed. Then she handed the weapon back to Soi.

"So, what do you say?"

The Queen smiled. "Interesting. This thing is definitely stronger than my average soldier with a bow…"

"Exactly. And to use it, no strength is needed. Plus your guards have four arms, so they could even hold two at once."

The Queen seemed satisfied. She was slightly smiling, and her eyes seemed less cold now. "Alright. I made my decision. In two weeks, I will send one of my armies to help you raid a Zanokai village. In return, you will stay here for those two weeks and then two afterwards, employed as my scientist. You will share your knowledge with my people. You will get paid one Fang Divine Piece per day. Do you agree to those terms, Nicole from the Human tribe?"

Fang Divine Pieces? The fuck?

Nicole glanced to the side, where Merik stood. Noticing her, he nodded slightly.

Okay, I will ask him later.

She made a knightly bow to the Queen again. "Yes, I agree." The Queen’s assistant gave her a notice.

"Splendid. You may go then. Tomorrow morning, show this document to the Doorkeeper and he will show you the way."

Outside the throne room, Nicole finally sighed and took a proper breath. She hadn’t even noticed before how pent up she was. She took a piece of cloth from her storage and bandaged the cut she made to show off. Only then did she transform back to normal. The rush of pain from the now flesh wound made her sharply inhale through clenched teeth.

"Good job." Merik patted her shoulder. "You actually did it!"

Nicole grinned through the pain. "And you thought I wouldn’t? Hah."

Soi was unusually silent, while Iloe was in a great mood. "Whole two Fangs per day? That’s pretty nice."

"Right. What the hell was that?" Nicole looked at Merik, expecting him to explain it while they were walking away from the throne room.

"Fangs are one of the coins we use for trade." he said simply. "In the village you didn’t see them because there it’s easier to trade items instead."

So they HAVE money and a currency system? Great, it makes it all so much easier now.

"And how… much are those Fangs?"

"Well, you can rent a room in an inn with three meals for a day for one Fang. Prices in the Hive are rather high." Merik smiled. "Good thing I always find someone to stay with for the night if I stay in towns."

"And what are the other ones? You said Fangs are just one of the coin types."

"Yeah… There are Tears, Fangs, Claws, Eyes, and Grands. Though the last ones are reserved for tribe leaders only and are used during some major deals. What next… Oh, you need one hundred Tears to have a Claw, and it’s the same for the rest going upwards."

Now I have a somewhat stable job, at least for a while. I just need to find what to show them so they won’t think I am useless.

At first, the group went to have lunch and celebrate the success at the inn. The food was great, but Nicole tried to fend off thoughts about what exactly she had just eaten, not wanting to risk learning something she might regret later. The alcohol there was either very expensive or very watery, to the point of Nicole barely feeling any taste or effect. She ended up drinking more than eating, though she still ended up only tipsy.

Merik said he would pay this time, since he was the only one with money at the moment. "I still have things to do, so I will leave you three. Oh, just one thing," Merik said. "If you wonder about your carriage and items, Jathun left it at the nearest stable and paid for a few nights. Don’t forget about it." After those words, he left the girls alone.

Before doing anything, Nicole went up to their shared room to check on the bored Mignon. After he spent the whole morning alone, he was happy to see Nicole and the rest, jumping and running around all of them to get headpats. Nicole fed him some meat she saved from lunch.

"Mignon, it’s time to have a walk!" She said, and they left the inn.

I wonder if I will have to make a collar and keep him on a leash. Mignon is smart enough to behave. I hope.

Outside, the girls found themselves in streets crowded with many people from different tribes, all occupied with their things. Nicole supposed it was around noon, the lack of sun made it hard to determine the time of day.

"If I just had a watch… Maybe I should make one later? Also this could impress the Queen." She mumbled to herself as they wandered without a goal. Mignon was active, running around people like a small child but never too far away from Nicole.

"Hey girls, you should find something to do while I will be at work," Nicole started. "I can try getting you some work at the Queen’s castle if you want."

Soi nodded. "Hm, I suppose training with the royal guard or soldiers could be good. Though I don’t really think they will have much for a hunter like me."

Meanwhile Iloe jumped around. "Nicole, Nicole! What about asking if they have an alchemist there? They should have! I could learn from them! Maybe they will know something about my mother’s illness!"

"Right, then tomorrow I—" Nicole accidentally bumped into someone’s back, distracted by Iloe. "Sorry."

That person turned out to be a tall, strong Narakai woman in armor. She seemed to be older than Nicole, somewhere in her late twenties. She had black short hair and her wolf ears were pointed with full attention, or maybe nerves. At first she looked dismissively at Nicole with her dark eyes and scoffed but stayed silent. But then, when Mignon ran up to them, the girl’s eyes widened.

"WHAT?! What is a Krellip doing there, in this filthy town of those damned insects?!" The stranger shouted, half shock, half anger. The group of armored Narakai people she was talking to previously was in the same shock. "You!" She glared at Nicole. "What is going on here?!"

"Hey, what the fuck do you want from me and my pet?" Nicole asked, arms crossed defiantly.

"Your pet?! Don’t you know—" The woman started, but Soi interrupted her.

"Yes, yes. All Krellips belong to your royal alphas." Soi rolled her eyes. "Can we ignore and forget it this one time?"

"I am not talking to you, Torakai!" The woman said. One of the other Narakai added. "Why would we ignore that?"

"Hey, can we all just calm down and talk?" Nicole was getting tired of the argument. "You all look like soldiers. Are you guys from, uh, how did he say it was… the third division of Her Majesty Loretta?"

"Huh?! It’s Lortia, you, you…" Only now did the girl seem to notice the unusual lack of tribe traits and the red dress. "Whatever you are, girl. But how do you know about it, huh?!" Suspiciousness appeared in the eyes of the whole group of the Wolf people.

"I met your general earlier today. I am sure if I talk to him, we may find a way out."

"What?!" The girl’s loud shouting was getting more and more attention from the crowd.

Nicole smirked. "You guys are still looking for the lost kids, right? What if I tell you your general probably already got them to safety?"

The Narakai girl’s hands started trembling and her eyes got red. She grabbed the handle of her sword, unsheathing it a bit. "You. Enough. You are going with us back to the base. We will wait for the general to come back. And may Teq curse your soul if you are lying." She grabbed Nicole’s damaged and bandaged forearm, her grip strong and doubly painful.

"Ah, fuck! Release me, bitch!"

Iloe and Soi immediately reacted. Soi got the crossbow out and loaded it, pointing it at the woman. Iloe was holding a vial of something dark purple. "Release her, unless you want to rot alive." She said it dead serious. Mignon started barking, attracting even more attention.

The Narakai soldiers got their weapons out but stood in place, waiting for an order. The woman looked around and, with a sigh, released Nicole. "Fine. But you will still go with us. Got it?"

Nicole clutched her now bleeding forearm. "You could have just said that. Fuck."

The woman gave a sign to the rest, and they put their swords back to rest on their hips. After a second, Soi and Iloe relaxed as well. "Let’s go." The woman led the way.

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