I tap my chin contemplatively.
"Well, let's say Zara arranges for a defensive wall to be built along the southern and eastern borders of the entire demi-human lands, shielding you from humans. Let's also say she arranges for paved roads to be built – connecting the rabbit-kin, wolf-kin, and each of the fox-kin cities.
"Would the fox-kin agree to it, and in return, train the wolf-kin in the skills they're lacking? How to find, mine, and process ore, how to craft necessary tools and appliances, etcetera. In addition, establish some...diplomatic ties, between your peoples? Make squads guarding the border wall entrances a mix of wolf-kin physical enhancers and fox-kin elemental mages. Also, open embassies {English} in each of your respective largest cities." (Mizuki)
Teyla's eyes widen into saucers, and even Zara shows faint surprise.
"This...border wall, you're talking about. You mean...it's going to run continuously, from the start of Gelrod's Pass, along the Delmura Forest, then the entire Empire border, all the way up to the northern coast?" (Teyla)
I nod nonchalantly.
"Other than the entrance gates, yeah, that's the idea." (Mizuki)
Teyla just stares at me, a bit of color draining from her face. Her voice quiets.
"Y-You....can do that? How long will that even take?" (Teyla)
I widen my eyes, pointing at my chest in surprise.
"Me? I'm not going to do that...that'd be crazy. No, Zara has a...friend, who can do it. As for how long it will take...hmm." (Mizuki)
Let's see, if I was just making a simple aluminum wall, I could probably do that the same way I make the railways. So, maybe...twelve hours, based on my latest rate calculations? Of course, that's not what I'm going to do – that's way too flashy for this region of the world, especially for something the Empire will be able to just walk up to and interact with.
Instead, I'm going to ask my lovely earth dragon wife if she can do something similar. I've seen her casually manipulate massive quantities of earth, and even change the qualities of soil, manipulating density, flexibility, fluidity, and more. She makes interconverting dirt, mud, and stone look easy. If she erects a stone wall from the earth at a conservative flight speed, that should take...a few days?
I shrug at Teyla.
"Hard to say without asking Zara's friend. I'd guess less than a week, though. For the record, the same friend would build the roads, and I'd guess those would take a couple days." (Mizuki)
Her legs seem to become a little unsteady, trembling faintly, and her expression goes blank. Meanwhile, Zara interjects, her voice curious.
"Mizuki, what is an...embassy {English}?" (Zara)
I blink. Right, that's English too, apparently. Really, though? Azura's more broken than I thought if that concept doesn't even exist here. I sigh internally, nodding at Zara apologetically.
"Err, basically, you each allow the other to construct one building inside your main cities for diplomacy. For example, you let the fox-kin make a building in your village, the fox-kin staff it year-round with diplomatic representatives, and the wolf-kin respect it like official fox-kin territory even though it's within your city.
"It keeps your peoples engaging with one another, makes most negotiations faster, and gives foreign visitors to your cities a sense of security and support." (Mizuki)
Zara's eyebrows raise, intrigued, and she falls silent. Xian's stupefied voice interjects.
"What the fuck kind of friends do you guys have that you can casually build a border wall like that?" (Xian)
I almost roll my eyes...this guy really loves swearing. I cut him an annoyed glance.
"The kind who like their privacy." (Mizuki)
Xian shrugs.
"I can keep secrets. I've been one for centuries." (Xian)
I open my mouth, then close it. That's...strangely believable. Ah, what the hell, it's not the most damning thing they'll learn at this rate, and they already know I'm an Otherworlder.
I nod at him, acknowledging.
"In that case, I'm referring to my wife, Nina. She's technically a member of our adventuring party." (Mizuki)
I hear Teyla's shrill voice.
"You have two wives!?" (Teyla)
I glance at her, seeing an expression that's equally shocked and...outraged? Judgmental? Definitely unpleasant to look at.
"Technically, one wife, one fiancé." (Mizuki)
She just stutters at me incoherently, before philosopher Xian weighs in. He snorts.
"Pffft...just two? Amateur numbers. I have eight real wives, like my buddy Zang." (Xian)
I stare at him, really wishing I was petty enough to blurt out a snarky retort. But comparing our wives like that would be shallow, and reflect quite poorly on me.
So, I do it telepathically.
[Quality over quantity.] (Mizuki)
Xian's face jerks back, stunned. Then, he slowly grins. Teyla interjects her opinion.
"Pervert..." (Teyla)
Puzzled by the insult, I turn to find Teyla's eyes are locked onto me, full of accusation. Annoyed...and a little sullen, perhaps?
I blink. She's calling me the pervert? Not Xian? The hell did I do to deserve that!?
I shake my head...this is getting out of hand. I direct a serious expression at Teyla and Zara.
"Okay, we're getting off topic. You two need to decide – do the terms I proposed sound agreeable?" (Mizuki)
They glance at one another, a kind of silent assessment going on. Then, Zara turns to me and nods, her gaze grateful but also a bit frustrated.
"I find it agreeable...and I appreciate your and Nina's support." (Zara)
I glance at Teyla, who's still staring at me with a look I can't help but find personally offensive. Meeting my gaze, her expression turns conflicted.
"You still haven't actually discussed what you'll do about our primary request...the fox-kin slaves in Empire territory." (Teyla)
I chew my lip, thinking over how much I want to reveal and commit to. Eventually, I sigh...my mind made up. In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess.
"I'll do it. I'll rescue all your people. However, I can't be overt yet. I have a negotiation meeting scheduled with the Empire's leadership in twelve days, where I'm going to attempt getting them to outlaw all demi-human slavery. If there's a chance that will work, I don't want to risk it. After that ends, regardless of the outcome, we can start saving the slaves you mentioned in large numbers." (Mizuki)
Silence descends on the room. Eventually, Xian breaks it, his voice distinctly sarcastic.
"Such a shame...want me to look after your wives for you when they kill you? Actually, no need to ask...I owe you that much." (Xian)
Teyla glances at him disapprovingly, then looks back to me, her eyes poorly hiding her concern.
"You're really going to go try negotiating with them? In their country? After what you did to Belmod?" (Teyla)
I nod.
"Yeah...I said I'd meet them in their capital, Rodsgard. Inside the palace." (Mizuki)
Teyla's expression falters.
"You think they won't just kill or imprison you?" (Teyla)
I give her a knowing smirk, holding my hand out, palm up.
"Give me your hand." (Mizuki)
Her expression twists in bewilderment, followed by a slight blush and a skeptical glare. Her eyes narrow.
"Why?" (Teyla)
I hum thoughtfully.
"Hmm...because you love surprises?" (Mizuki)
She gives me a deadpan glare for a few seconds, but eventually, there's a flicker of curiosity in her eyes. She lays her hand on top of mine, a little more red finding its way into her cheeks as she averts her eyes.
"Hurry up already..." (Teyla)
My mouth twitches. Then, I place my other hand over hers, and close my eyes to focus...on tuning my magic sense to a fox-kin. Once I've got it, I begin sweeping everything east of me for fox-kin signatures, using a narrow arc of magic sense.
I can clearly see the signatures dropping off in prevalence after a short distance – probably the fox-kin territory border. Just past that, I sense the occasional tiny group of fox-kin – I'd guess spies in the Empire's border cities, based on what I've inferred about Teyla's information network. Beyond that, I see mostly individual signatures, with a few clusters. Safe bet those are the slaves in question.
After a couple minutes, I open my eyes to find Teyla staring at me expectantly, and I smile. I release her hand, and she raises her eyebrows.
"What? That's it?" (Teyla)
I smirk.
"There are approximately thirty-six fox-kin in the Empire, excluding the ones I assume are your spies. If you'd like, I'll free five of them...right now." (Mizuki)
After all, that number, if I pick carefully, shouldn't sound any big alarms in the Empire. At least not soon.
Her expression cracks. Nearby, Xian gives me an incredulous look.
"What?" (Teyla)
"How?" (Xian)
I smirk, glancing between them. I also catch a small smile playing at the corners of Zara's mouth.
"Better if I show you...unless you want me to leave them enslaved?" (Mizuki)
Xian raises an eyebrow, and Teyla's gaze becomes intense.
"Do it...whatever you're talking about..." (Teyla)
I nod at them, then step away inside the training room, giving myself some space. I close my eyes, reaching out with my magic sense, focusing on the fox-kin signatures in the northwest of the Empire. I pick one at random, focusing on it, allowing the rest of my magic sense grid to fall away. Then...
I project my magic domain onto their location, with them at the center, and I tune my domain to matter instead of magic. The result is like taking a 3D x-ray, or CAT scan, of a whole twenty meter radius sphere. The information it projects into my mind is alien, disorienting, but I can mostly decipher it.
The fox-kin is like a bright skeleton with layers of less bright flesh, covered in dim clothing. Walls, a table, a couch...all vaguely recognizable. As I survey the surroundings of the fox-kin in question, I'm able to make out that they're in a room. But, that room has another couple people in it.
Ergo, this fox-kin is not someone I can discreetly take right now.
I move on to the next fox-kin in the same region of the Empire, focusing on isolated signatures – I don't want to split up a family. After a couple more misses, I find someone who appears to be lying alone in a bedroom, the only other nearby signature separated by a solid wall.
Lucky slave number one.
I lock on, then promptly teleport them onto the floor in front of me. A young fox-kin boy materializes, maybe fourteen, sobbing softly into the ground, tears not even dry. He's stripped completely bare, and there's bruising along his ankles, wrists, and across one of his cheeks. There's dried blood on his lip, and...fresh blood on his thighs.
The sight is jarring, unwelcome, and the implication of what this kid must have been recently used for nearly causes my stomach to empty itself. Before I can even contemplate my feelings, though, the boy's eyes seem to register the change in surroundings, and then...
He grabs his head and begins screaming.
"GYYAAAAAHHHHHHH! AGGHHHHHHH!" (fox-kin boy)
My blood runs cold, swearing at myself for taking this whole thing so lightly. For assuming that I'd be able to casually handle any complications on the fly, and not being better prepared. This must be a slave seal at work – the boy moved locations, I'm guessing outside what he was allowed, and now he's paying for my carelessness. I immediately leap into action.
I quickly cast a bubble of my magic around him, and imbue it with the property of expelling other magic. In just a couple of seconds, his screaming stops, and he seems to go limp – probably from the same magic drain-induced fatigue that Alto and the rest once experienced when I freed them.
Seeing he's unconscious, or at least close to it, I move forward and cast a healing spell on him as quickly as I can. I watch, relieved, as the wounds on his face heal at a pace visible to the naked eye...and I hope that also goes for the physical damage I can't see. Realizing I've done what I can to remedy the situation for now, I remember my surroundings and look over at the peanut gallery.
Xian, Teyla, even Zara, they're all staring at me and the unexpected scene, stunned silent. Teyla is covering her mouth with her hand, horror and disgust fighting for a place in her eyes. Zara is more stoic, arms crossed over her chest, but there's a certain strain in her posture. Xian is fixated entirely on the boy, his expression dark, violent.
I let out a shaky breath. I speak, my voice strained.
"Xian, take him away and look after him. Teyla, go get some blankets and make arrangements for other private rooms. Just in case...in case he's not the last one today." (Mizuki)