*** Queen Yumanae ***

"How is everyone?" I ask. Retreat. That's all we've done since the dryad's betrayal. Slowly slinking back to the cities.

"Terrible," Rosemary says, the Royal Healer. "The women come in on a set schedule, almost. Petra has actually made a schedule for sending the women around and has started filling in names. I don't know where Alzi picked her up, but she picked right. Every time they come in, fewer leave. I only have a few minutes before I have to go."

"I know," I sigh. "I just needed to know about it. Is Alzi helping? After everything we've put her through, I hope we're at least able to help her be a healer."

"Of course," Rosemary says. "It took a bit to get working. I know you haven't had time to see the setup. We're quite skilled at setting it up. Just a few minutes, and we can start sending women along. I'll have to thank Nakuma for continually increasing how long the portal will last. It's the reason we can actually have an organized retreat. Alzi's group gets the worst of our injured, so we don't have to carry them."

"Good," I say. "I'm glad that is working for us. I was worried about the system. We can't bring her out here, but she wants to be a healer. I'll let you sleep, dear. Thank you for your work."

"Of course, dear. This is our joy," Rosemary says. "I hope Alzi is finding it as well." Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel fire.net

Maybe we should just retreat all the way to the city and give up the ground. The towns are all empty now. We can lose the ground for now. We just need the Goddesses to figure out that ritual for Alzi.

*** Alzi ***

Nanoka motions for me to take a seat at her table. "Tea?"

"Yes, please," I say.

"Sorry for kissing you the other day," Nanoka says. "We are married and all that, but it clearly surprised you. You are cute when flustered."

"Oh, it was fine," I say. "I just didn't expect you to show that kind of love. You're fine, like you said, we are married, and you're attractive."

Nanoka is busy messing around with a teapot. Her tails block me from seeing her exact actions. Her tails sway softly as she moves, the only hint that she's working on anything.

"It's hard to feel that way when you get so old. You make this old one happy," Nanoka says. "Just a few minutes and we'll have the tea. I don't like using too much mana when making tea. Sorry for the wait."

Time to be a bit bold. "Would you be mad if I got you pregnant?"

"Haha, you really don't want to talk about my daughter. Offering to give me a different one to talk about instead. Hard to blame you. Yuki doesn't get much from her Mother, but her ruthlessness is directly from Kiyomi. But it is only fair, you are a champion of Sex and Fertility, how could I marry that and not have this question come up? If you get me pregnant, I will be fine. If I have more kids, I'll be happy; if I don't have kids, that's fine. Your kids are my kids after all."

Well, if mistakes happen, that is a great answer. "Your Queen was definitely the least happy at the meeting we had to set this all up," I say. "But yes, the kids are yours. That is a good point. I'm so used to them all being related to me, and everyone has a kid, pretty much, so I kind of forget that part."

"We can leave the heavy stuff for the tea," Nanoka says. She leaves the tea on the fire and sits across from me. "Kids deserve some time in all meetings. They are the future. I'm a bit scared to get too involved. I didn't do well with Kiyomi, as you know. But I do sneak into the nursery at night. I can spy on the kids from here, but in person is different. To hold and touch the kids is so nice and important."

"I'm going to have one kid turn out bad," I say. "I don't know how I wouldn't with how many kids I have. My main goal is to make sure all the kids know they can come to me and ask for help. I think that is the main failure of the royals. Elora and Esiyae were pushed to do everything themselves and abandoned when they weren't important. Yuki. Um..."

"Say it. I know Kiyomi is an ass. I've learned a lot about Yuki up here. She's one of my favorites to spy on in here. They have issues that have hurt you. You don't have to tiptoe around that. We're married, so we have to be able to talk freely. I'm here to support the family, which includes working through issues of my direct family."

"Yuki seems lost as well. Unwilling to ask for help unless she has no other choice. They just don't trust their family. How easily they talk about the deaths of the ones they love. Let it happen for power."

"To reach the top requires someone special. You see what happened with Elora. She wanted the top and sacrificed a lover, you. Now, Elora is lost in what to do now that she destroyed you, and the fight for the throne is practically over. She thought she would be happy sacrificing your love and found she wasn't. Others will find it fine to lose love. You'll have kids like that, as you said. Kids are themselves and just carry echoes of their parents. Of course, that is with the best parenting and good luck. Some kids are just more difficult. But most are just copying what they see. With your goal, you'll be a great parent. You'll be able to show the rest of your wives how to behave. Kids aren't an easy thing, and I made the very mistake you're worried about."

The tea starts screaming, giving us a way to stop worrying about the many kids I'll have. It's so much work if I ever get time to handle them instead of royals and nobles.

"Tea. We started talking about Kiyomi. Just advice time," Nanoka says. She uses mana to move the pot and cups over. Her hands take over to pour the tea for us. "Now. The goal for you is to make sure she doesn't get control over you. That is what she wants most of all. You just want a maid. I know who she will pick. A wonderful woman who will be useful to you. She doesn't have much fighting power, but enough to let you run. A little rude, but it'll get you where you need to be, exactly what a maid needs. The issue is what you are willing to give up that she wants. Yuki's mission was to get a man who to breed our people. You don't want that even if you were a part of that life as a father. From conception, you would be the father, but that isn't all the issues. You would be more than a stud, but only a bit. The biggest issue is that we don't have a royal male."

"Do all the ones in the higher realms have a special royal bloodline?"

"Yes. Oh, yes. Now I will have to admit, the Goddess can bless a new line if they wish and fix the problem. So it is a problem for my family, not our people. Cost ritual supplies and time, but that isn't too important. Cost some time to rebuild the power of the royal family, but that is just time. The cheapest cost for the maid is breeding the next Queen a few times. It doesn't have to be the next Queen. It could be me or even Kiyomi herself if you really don't want to get the next Queen pregnant."

"I have to get Yuki pregnant for the war," I say. I take a sip of the tea, and I don't have to worry about it burning my tongue. The soft, bitter taste almost brings me back to chasing butterflies in the village.

"Yes, she'll want someone other than Yuki getting pregnant. I'm sorry, but the war is costly. Marriage is the common way that agreements work for nobles. If you look into the past, you'll find that this empire was built with royals marrying till you have the current status. A marriage with the Edeozia Queendom isn't new."

I just can't escape it. "The other option is?"

"You use the alliance to get the maid, and you pay for the war with sex. I hate that you don't have more. The other option would be to put Yuki on the throne. Do you want that? To work to put yet another woman on a throne? You would still be giving kids to us. But you would have to promise to force Yuki to get extremely strong. The eldest is equal to the Yumenae. Yuki is weak compared to her sisters. Tanatsu puts Yuki to shame. I know your best way to get someone strong is sex and kids. Is it that much different?"

"Put you on the throne again?"

"I don't want it. I gave it up to Kiyomi earlier. She was close enough that I didn't care. I was tired of it. Sorry. I really don't want that again. Besides, that doesn't take away the sex. You would have to have me and your maids in bed all day to get me to start growing again. Yuki is your best option, or to somehow get Tanatsu to marry you and put her there. Sorry, I don't have better news. You start off saying you deserve the maid for the eventual marriage to Yuki. She'll say no, and it won't work out. She won't budge. You can give up the maid if you like. There are going to be women in this nation who can fill that role. But if you want her, and I think you should for your time management, then you just have to grind Kiyomi down till she gives in for a few kids for the next Queen."

I let the tea take my attention as I ponder what I want. A few kids aren't the worst thing. I can do it in one go. Offer a branching deal. If Yuki becomes Queen, then we're good. If I'm married to the next Queen, then she has nothing to worry about. I'll help the next Queen no matter what. Is backing all the Queens that bad?

"Are you enjoying the tea? I'm sorry it is being paired with such a terrible conversation."

"It reminds me of when I was a kid, somehow. Feels weird. But this is the conversation I needed. I'll get my maid. I can do it. One Queen, two pregnancies with a few kids each will work for me," I say. "Getting some reach into the Kitsune Queendom won't be the worst. I don't think Yuki's sisters like her very much."

"They don't like each other, period. They all want the throne. Yuki just saw that it was impossible for her to get it and went on the mission. It would be good to have your claws in the realm. Maybe it'll calm down the next generation having an all-seeing Empress."

"I hope the world calms down," I say. "This tea really is nice."

"Then let's just relax for a few minutes and enjoy it," Nanoka says. "You could use a break."