Hot Springs Brigade!

"Maaaan! It's not fair!"

Deena had been complaining all morning since she found out Vic and Aura were leaving for Greenwick. 

It had been nearly two weeks since Draxis' defeat. A lot has been going on in Cassun's territories, citizens were finding out through hearsay about a war to come. Vic and Aura had prepared plans to meet with Commander Zekan and several other figures at Greenwick, and naturally the latter has Guild business to attend to as Guild Master. Given better circumstances, Vic would have been fine with bringing Deena along but not this time. 

"Two weeks and you're already dying to see your boyfriend?" Vic teased.

The half-dragon crossed her arms and looked the other way. "I just want to see how he's doing… it's not like I want to see him or anything."

"That's basically the same thing..." Vic fixed the rest of her belongings onto Valor and gave him a pat on the head. Her dreadsteed has been adjusting well so far. Eventually, they will need to build him a stable separate from the guests' stable before he gets too big. But that's an issue for another time.

"I do not suppose you have a message for Itsuki?" Aura asked Deena as she was being helped onto the dreadsteed.

"N-no…"

"The blushing cheeks of a maiden in love tells otherwise, but if you have nothing to say…"

"Wait!" Deena pulled out a letter and handed it to Aura. "Just make sure he gets this."

"Oh, my. A love letter, perhaps?"

"I swear to the gods, if you read it…"

"Worry not! I will not betray that adorable heart of yours!" Aura turned the other way. "Kihihihi… maybe just a peek…"

"Give the girl a break." Vic swiped the letter from Aura's hands and slipped it into a knapsack. Taisha and Piper came out of the Royal Cassun carrying a small ornate box. "Is that for Sarrul?"

"Yes," Taisha opened the box to a corked flask of green gas. "This is the living slime extract he asked for. Please tell him to be careful. This can destroy the entire city if handled poorly."

Aura shot her a terrified glance. "E-excuse me?! Why are we delivering something like that?"

"Something about necrotic properties and the potential of reverse engineering its effect… it's far out of my scope of knowledge." She carefully shut the box, weaved a protective ward around it, and gave it Vic.

Vic sniffed the box and scowled, "If we don't come back, you'll know what happened."

"I have a list of everything we'll need, Captain!"

Piper handed Vic a notepad filled from end to end with a list of supplies that Royal Cassun has run short of, as well as equipment that will be needed down the line. Trade leaving the country has been halted by order of King Teo, so merchants and caravans see little profits in making a pit stops at the Royal Cassun.

Conversely, incoming trade was still allowed and only licensed merchants sanctioned by the Crown could enter the country. Vic thought this was a smart move, and likely a plan pushed forward by Commander Zekan. Keep domestic resources within the country, and starve foreign sovereignties of Cassun's exports. Continue accepting foreign imports to stock up on supplies.

Eventually, the Republic of Darcie and Orcus will catch on and cease trading entirely. But by then, they will have unknowingly supplied the Kingdom of Cassun with enough surplus to last a decades-long siege.

The only unknown variables were Felucia and Grennadier. King Teo and Aura were no doubt knee-deep in bureaucratic dogfight on whether or not to help their old allies. It was a difficult decision no matter which way the pendulum swung. Sending foodstuffs to Felucia cripples Cassun's stockpiles; aiding the Grennadien Crown means losing the trust of its citizenry inhabiting Cassun.

Vic sighed. She moved her hand to rub her horns but stopped halfway upon realizing there was no ache. Sarrul's elixirs were working, she hadn't had a headache in the two weeks she'd been drinking them. She needed to make sure to thank him once she reached Greenwick. As for politics… she couldn't imagine what was going through Aura's mind.

"Alright, everyone." Vic said as she climbed atop Valor. "Aura and I will be gone for a few days. Taisha's in charge in my absence. Understood?"

"Understood!"

"Anything else before I leave?" As soon as Vic asked, a bulb lit in Taisha's head and she gestured for her to listen.

"Actually… My nanna sent me a letter. She said she will be arriving next week."

"Is she someone we should be worried about?"

"No, but she can be a little overbearing. We'll talk more when you return."

"Can't be worse than Draxis." 

"Well…" 

"Okay, I get it. I'll think of something when I get back." Vic nodded to her subordinates. "Let's go, Valor!"

The dreadsteed shook his mane, giving Vic and Aura a mouthful of embers. He kicked off the ground with an explosion and raced down the southern main road. Vic glanced back at the Royal Cassun which was quickly falling out of sight.

"Hanging in there, Aura?" She called back.

"Peh! Your bountiful silver hair is getting in my mouth. Why— pleh…have you kept it this long?"

"I like it long." And because a certain succubus they left back home liked it, too.

"You know, Valor can make this journey in half the time if I invoke—"

"No. I'm still mad at you for putting Valor under your Command."

"Yes… ma'am…"

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

Vic and Aura arrived at Greenwick in record time. Valor cleared an entire day's journey in a matter of a few hours. He might actually have gotten them here in only an hour if Aura had Commanded him to, but that's not a strain Vic wanted on her stallion. She and her staff had yet to fully recover from the mana burns.

With the migratory hippogryphs having flown south to the Shimmering Reefs, the winter season was coming to an end. The snow was beginning to thaw, breathing new life into the soil for spring and autumn harvests. Even with the news spreading like wildfire of an imminent war with the Draconids, Cassun's people were still in full swing for the revelry.

Rightfully so. In the face of disaster and ruin, it was important for the citizenry to find relief in festivities. Such celebrations eased their minds, and the sobering hangovers served as reminder of what was at stake. It was why the city of Greenwick, trade hub of the Kingdom of Cassun, was bustling even more than usual. 

Well… and of course, the Spring Harvest Festival was two months away. It might be the perfect opportunity for Vic to convince King Teo to grant them time off to celebrate in Greenwick.

"Vic!!!"

Itsuki waved from the steps of the Guild Hall. It was a large three story building fashioned of smooth granite. Dark red bricks reinforced the steps and foundation that seemed to have a basement floor, making it a four-floor building in total. Aura wasn't kidding when she said she had the best stonemasons and architects at work.

Vic saw Itsuki accompanied by Eve and Maya, all of whom appeared to have upgraded their equipment since she'd last seen them. Itsuki came down the steps to greet them.

"Hey, kid. You're looking good." Vic had meant that. His muscles are filling in, and his eyes seemed more determined.

The compliment clearly took him by surprise. He scratched the back of his head and bowed a bit, a habit Vic gathered that must have been from his past life. "You think? I mean, thanks! I don't know if I've been doing much here, though."

She procured Deena's letter and handed it to Itsuki. "From your sweet lady."

"She actually wrote??" He took it and cradled it in his hands like a precious jewel.

"Excuse me. Are you forgetting someone? Like the GUILD MASTER?"

The three members of the guild quickly rushed to the dreadsteed to help Aura down.

"It's good to see you again, Guild Master Aura!" They exclaimed at the top of their lungs. Itsuki and Maya helped Aura down and took her stuff for her.

"Guild Master's back?" A dwarf peeked out from a window. "Oi! The Guild Master's back!"

In seconds, a stampede of starry-eyed guild members poured out of the building to welcome their leader. Aura revelled in this. "Yes, it is I, your Guild Master. Hehe— okay stop, get out of the way… we are trying to get inside— YOU ARE ALL IN OUR WAY!" 

Everyone immediately piped down and parted away to let Aura through. "Ahem. The meeting is in three hours. I will… be in my room, dear."

Vic nodded to her as she stepped into the Guild Hall, followed by the other forty members. Itsuki and his entourage remained outside to help her unload the containers off Valor.

"Valor," She rubbed the thumb-sized horns that decorated his head. "You can explore the countryside, but be a good boy and come back tomorrow morning."

The dreadsteed rubbed his head against Vic and nickered approvingly. She unfastened both the saddle and the reins, gave him a pat on his backside and said, "Good, boy. Get going."

As though waiting on that cue, Valor howled and stormed away in a trail of dust and embers. The others watched with their mouth agape, as did everyone else in town upon seeing a dreadsteed set loose.

Maya asked, "Is it really okay to let a dreadsteed roam free like that?"

"Dreadsteeds aren't like normal horses. They're predators that need open fields and game to hunt." Vic essentially parroted what Piper had told her earlier. Frankly she was glad she had a subordinate so familiar with dreadsteeds, otherwise she wouldn't be raising Valor as well alone.

"Where do I put this?" Itsuki asked, picking up the box containing living slime extract.

"First, you give that to me." She carefully took it from him. "Because this can turn the town into a graveyard."

He gulped. "Why do you have something like that?"

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

Vic's first order of business was to deliver Sarrul's slime extract to him. It took a little poking around, but a few members of the guild pointed her downstairs. The basement had a room dedicated entirely to being an alchemical laboratory, and it was about four times larger than the suite back at the Royal Cassun.

Sarrul was too busy to pay her any mind, focusing instead on whatever concoction he was cooking up. He told her to leave the extract by a table at the doorway and be on her way. 

"Proprietress." He said without lifting his head from his work. "Under the very same table on the first drawer to the left is another case of your vials."

She opened the drawer and sure enough found the container filled with the same cloudy liquid she had been drinking. "As always, thanks."

Vic went back upstairs and headed up to the second floor where her room should be. It didn't take her long to find it. Members of the guild were eager to help point her in the right direction.

She tossed her knapsack onto her bed and glanced around what was to be her room for the next three days. There was a drawer, a writing desk, a rug on an already carpeted floor, and the bed was excessively large. It all seemed a little too extravagant for a bedroom. Leave it to Aura to spare no expenses.

There was still three hours left before the scheduled meeting. Normally she would be working until then, but it's not like she could pick up a broom and start sweeping. It was unusual to have free time. The first floor was divided into two sections: a reception area and a tavern area.

The tavern part of the floor was no less extravagant. Polished oak round tables, a great hearth that was a bit smaller than the one back home, and the place was employed with its own cooks and barmaids.

"It was overwhelming when I first got here, too." Itsuki got up from a table with two other half-demons. Their names were Rust and Shade, if she remembered correctly. They waved at her, and she to them.

"How's the guild life?" Vic asked.

"A lot different than what I imagined… When it comes to guilds, I think of a notice board full of quests, and each quest tasking you to kill a monster, then you come back and collect the gold on it." He pointed to the reception area where a guild member was leaning over a desk and filling out some forms. "Instead, all I'm doing is filling out paperwork and fixing people's broken fences! The most action I've seen in the last week was catching a lost piglet!"

Itsuki threw his arms into the air. "I didn't get killed and isekai'd just to catch pigs!!!"

"This is your reality now. People need more help with minor inconveniences than they do with exterminations."

"I guess the bright side is I get paid without putting my life on the line."

"That's the spirit."

Since she had free time, now was as good a time as any. The thing she had for Deena should be done by now. After she could take Itsuki out on a hunt if he's up for it. It was a good chance to see how he's improved.

"Are you free right now?" She asked, looking out the window. The sun was coming down, but there was still plenty of daylight left.

"Yeah. Unless I want to go thatch some roofs, I got nothing to do."

"I commissioned Greenwick's best blacksmith to work on a little something for Deena. Want to check it out?"

"Oooh, what is it?"

"You'll see when we get it, and we can do a little test hunting with it."

Itsuki perked right up. "Hell yeah. Count me in!"