The people inside the carriage stared at Minerva in shock, but Amy didn’t seem particularly surprised by the revelation that she was royalty. “That’s where I’d seen you before!” She said. “I had attended a high-profile party here thanks to some contacts, and you were in attendance! And don’t worry about recognizing me; we never spoke, and it was only the one party. You were one of the most important people there, so of course I’d pay attention a lot of attention to you, and it’s unlikely you would do the same for some foreign merchant.”
“You were at a party?” Minerva asked. “You’re a monstrous maiden, how’d you manage that?”
“I didn’t.” Amy said. “I was human back then. We all were. Besides, we can all take human form, so no one would bat an eye at us.”
“Human…form?” Minerva said quizzically.
“Just will yourself to look human and your monster parts will go away, like…this.” Maia said, demonstrating it for her.
“Why would I need to know how to do that?” Minerva asked, rolling her eyes.
“Feel your ears.” Violet instructed.
Minerva narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but reached up to her head anyway. Her hand immediately went for the top of her head rather than the sides, and she didn’t take any time groping around; she grabbed one of her ears with the practice of someone who had had them there her whole life.
Her eyes widened as she realized. “What did you do to me?!” She hissed.
“Making someone a monster girl, uh…that’s what the goddesses prefer to call monstrous maidens, is the only way to cure them.” Maia said.
“What are you?” Emily asked curiously. “It’s weird that you only have the ears and not a tail.”
“Uhh…I get the feeling I’m a shapeshifter?” Minerva ventured. “I kind of get the sense that I could turn into some monsters if I tried.”
“Yes, a shapeshifter.” Galiena confirmed. “The lack of a tail in your base form is the giveaway. For now, you will likely only be able to assume a few forms, but in time your repertoire will expand.”
“Well, I’ll have to try it back at home.” Minerva said. “Which, speaking of, what’s the ransom?”
“Pardon me?” Maia asked, taken aback.
“The ransom.” Minerva said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You took me with you, so I assume I can’t just walk out whenever I want.”
“Um…none? You can just leave.” Maia said. “We’re not going to keep you here, but you’re welcome to stay if you want. We’re going on a pilgrimage to the Isle of Advent to meet the goddesses once more, and while we’ve been trying not to cure too many people while there’s nowhere we can send them, one more won’t be an issue for us. We just wanted to make sure you were safe while you transformed, and to give you the choice.”
“You should know that you will swiftly find yourself disowned, and likely sold into slavery or killed should you choose to leave us.” Galiena said. “The curse makes people inherently more hostile to monster girls, and even if you keep yourself hidden, our foe will likely move to cut you out of the power structure. Just having a monster girl in a position that could potentially influence large amounts of people is a no-go; the enemy wishes to have as much control as possible.”
“And who is this enemy?” Minerva asked suspiciously. “I’ll need details if you want me to believe that.”
“I’d like to know the same.” Maia said. “But the goddesses said that knowledge is too dangerous until we meet them again, so I’ve been content just knowing that they’re the one behind the curse. And, just in case, even though it kind of sounds like you’ve already figured it out, the curse is Aira’s Fervor. She’s not responsible for it.”
Minerva squinted, suspicion clearly mounting. “Yeah, that totally sounds above board and not like some vague excuse a potential cultist would give.” She said.
“I know, I know.” Maia said. “But, really, the only one here who actually knows is Galiena; she’s one of the monster girls from the first time this all happened.”
Minerva rolled her eyes. “And where’d you get her? The Deepwood?”
“Yes, actually.” Maia said. “How’d you guess?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Minerva said. “Everyone knows that’s what scammers say to make their goods seem more mystical.”
“Is that true?” Maia asked, looking over at Sylvie and Lily for confirmation.
“Yes, but it’s not common in Miral.” Lily said. “That’s a lot harder of a lie to sell when you’re closer to the place and people know more about it. Well, know more relatively speaking, anyway.”
“Whatever the case, I don’t believe that you just waltzed in there and found a woman just hanging out inside.” Minerva said. “This is getting more believable by the second.”
“I was not ‘hanging out’, I was in stasis, waiting to be reawakened when the need came.” Galiena said.
“And we’re part monster now,” Maia added, “most Deepwood magic doesn’t affect us anymore. It was a significant detour to go around, and the goddesses said to go through, so we did.”
“Whatever the case, how can we be sure she is who she says she is?” Minerva said. “Where’s the proof?”
“Only circumstantial.” Steph said. “But if you were there when we found her, you’d believe it too. It was quite the thing.”
“Riddle me this,” Galiena began, “according to your history, the goddesses sent the monster girls specifically because they wanted to stop people from straying too far from the right path. Why then, would a monster girl claim to be the head maid of the woman who is supposedly the one who started the wars that led up to monster girls arriving, and claim that she is good? Why would the monster girls need to be eradicated once their work was finished? If they were sent by the goddesses, they would be little different from humans, no?”
“That’s a common argument relying on a misunderstanding of history.” Minerva replied. “They were feral, unable to be reasoned with, and they went too far. They killed even children and sowed terror wherever they went. There was no choice but to put them all to the sword, because no matter what they’d keep on fighting.”
Galiena smiled. “Do you feel a desire to start murdering babies in cold blood? You are a monster girl now. If we were like you claim, wouldn’t you already be dead? We clearly didn’t know who you were, and it was more difficult to take you alive than it would have been to kill you.”
There was a tense silence as Minerva pondered that. “I suppose you have a point.” She eventually admitted. “It is inarguable that I’m a monster girl now, and I feel completely rational. Still, I only feel that way; I felt rational while cursed, I might still be irrational even now, just in a different way.”
“Use logic to think about the situation.” Steph suggested. “Does Aira’s Fervor match the church’s teachings? Because, from a purely logical standpoint, taking only policy and not personal feelings on it into account, I believe it doesn’t.”
“This is impossible.” Minerva said. “If I was being controlled to believe something false like I was while I had Aira’s Fervor, then I would be unable to see it as anything but wrong.”
“Just logic.” Steph emphasized. “The pure facts of the situation.”
“Assuming my memory of church doctrine hasn’t been tampered with, then yes, Aira’s Fervor would be incredibly far from what the church teaches. But I can’t trust that right now. So…I’ll make you an offer. Take me to Nirae; my parents are vacationing there at the moment, and are expecting me back in about a week. I’ll reveal myself and my capabilities; they’re smart people who understand the tactical advantages this could bring. If they still choose to disown me and sell me into slavery, then I’ll believe you. Otherwise, I’ll stay with them.”
“That’s fine, it was on our route anyway.” Maia said. “In the meantime, we’ll leave you alone unless you talk to us. I don’t want to force anything on you.”
“Except a shower.” Steph added quickly. “Sorry, but my nose has become much more sensitive since I was transformed, and you reek. We have a shower tool, I’ll show you where it is when we stop.”
“A shower would be appreciated.” Minerva said. “I didn’t mind much before, but now…I would like nothing more than to get clean. But, in the meantime, I would like to learn more about all of you. How did you come to be wrapped up in this?”
As everyone gave their stories, Minerva remained silent. Only when Lily had finished did she speak up again. “Lily, Sylvie…you two realize that working with your former enemies is like, the biggest mind control symptom imaginable, right? Does that not wave any red flags for you?”
“I cannot speak for Sylvie, but the actions of the two of us while cursed were one of the things that led me to believe that they were telling the truth.” Lily said calmly.
“You can’t be serious right now.” Minerva said flatly.
“I couldn’t be more serious.” Lily replied, an uncharacteristic fervor in her voice. “If I look at it logically, my actions and Sylvie’s actions with regards to their group make absolutely no sense, which isn’t even going into how my morals were immediately obliterated by the curse. I had suddenly become convinced that sexual assault was part of a cleansing ritual, and never thought twice about it, I even assumed I had the right to it because I had served people for so long. I stole from church funds, I lied and schemed and generally did absolutely everything that I once decried as horrid. That is a perversion of everything I had believed and held sacred, and that is the classic mind control symptom and red flag you speak of.
“But, back on the topic of Sylvie, the church in our country has never had any sort of connection with the military outside of tending to wounded soldiers. Yet, without even needing anything other than the word of one bishop who claimed to have a vision, three fourths of the town’s military embarked on an errand that was totally outside the scope of their duty.
“You likely cannot feel it, I doubt you have the formal training necessary, but Maia radiates the strongest holy energy I’ve ever felt. Yes, I could be being made to feel that way, my senses were fooled by the curse, but that only adds to what reason tells me. And, even more than that, I refuse to believe that this is the world the goddesses want.
“If we are to meet them at the Isle of Advent, and I currently have no reason to believe we won’t, I will hold my head high and face them knowing I am doing my best to right my wrongs and continue to preach their will. If I am wrong, and they rebuke me for this course of action, then I will repent and change my ways. But, unless that happens, my resolve is firm.”
“I had a similar line of thought.” Sylvie said. “My entire career I was incredibly proud of the fact that I was serving and protecting the people, that I was ‘one of the good ones’ when so many in comparable positions of power used that power to trample the people they were supposed to protect. And the moment I was cursed, it was as if I had never felt that way, and I had sunk to depths of depravity I had never even considered possible.
“I hate to admit it, but I raped and pillaged, and I took pleasure in torturing people. I had become everything that I used to hate with all of my heart. That is not what the goddesses want, and even if it is, then I will still fight tooth and nail to keep that vision from being realized. I never want to be like that again, and no one else should have to be subject to it.”
Minerva paused, a flicker of surprise crossing her face at their sudden intensity. “I…look, this is a lot to take in, and you have to admit it sounds far-fetched at best. Can you really blame me for being suspicious?”
“It’s okay to be wary, and I’d even say it reflects well on you as a potential ruler.” Steph said. “Just think about things while we travel to Nirae, and if you end up not believing us, that’s fine, we won’t force you into anything. Just…be wary of the cursed.”
There was another long pause before Minerva sighed. “I get what you’re trying to say.” She said. “I’ll think about it, just don’t expect me to be all chummy with you in the meantime.”
“And that’s fine.” Maia said. “We don’t expect you to suddenly be best friends with us. That’s why we’ll leave you alone if you want.”
“I guess.” Minerva grumbled. “This is just a lot to spring on someone, okay?”
“You’re terrified of the consequences of us being right, aren’t you?” Galiena asked. “I’ve seen the type before.”
Minerva flinched ever so slightly, slightly enough that Maia wasn’t sure she had even seen correctly. “No.”
“Leave it, Galiena.” Maia instructed. “We don’t need to push her into things she’s not ready to talk about.”
“Um, actually, I have a question.” Elise said. “What’s a muscle mommy?”
Minerva froze, a blush rising to her cheeks. “Oh, um, that’s…can you just forget I said that?”
“I’m just curious, I imagine you won’t be the last person to call me that.” Elise pressed. “I’ll forget about it if you tell me what it means.”
Minerva sighed. “You’re bigger than me, attractive, and have huge, well-defined muscles. That’s really all it is. It’s just slightly crude and not the kind of thing you call someone you just met.”
“So, a compliment, then.” Elise said. “No big deal. Fine, I won’t bring it up again.”
“Come to think of it, why am I still attracted to women?” Minerva asked. “I wasn’t before I was cursed, so why is it that I still feel attracted to you all?”
“Monster girls are all women by definition.” Maia said. “So, the goddesses made attraction to women part of the transformation, to help minimize the impact on society. And there are some other changes, too, like not aging anymore and not getting periods anymore because the way we reproduce has changed. We’ll explain them all to you before you meet with your parents.”
“Wait…does that mean some of you were men before?” Minerva asked, looking over the group. “Who? I can’t tell, even your body language is feminine. I sort of assume Maia, since she was renamed, but…”
“Body language?” Maia asked.
“It means the way you move your body, usually movements that you’re not actively thinking about.” Galiena explained. “There are subtle but distinct differences between men and women in this regard, and the transformation shifts one’s body language towards the feminine while it makes them used to their new body.”
“Oh.” Maia replied. “Well, yes, I was a man before. So were Emily, Steph, Sylvie, and Lily. Does it matter?”
“No, I’m just surprised.” Minerva said. “I guess I just sort of assumed that you were all women before. It never occurred to me that your sex was changed.”
“Well, fortunately, the transformation gets rid of lingering attachments to being male.” Emily said. “So, really it’s barely even a price to pay for all the benefits we get.”
“Please elaborate more on those benefits. You mentioned not getting periods but still being able to reproduce?”
“Galiena, would you mind explaining?” Maia asked. “You’re the most knowledgeable on this subject.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Galiena said, a glint in her eyes. “First, it is important to understand that there are effectively no downsides to being a monster girl, aside from essentially being forced into conflict with the cursed. In every other way we are superior to humans. Case in point, pregnancy; you simply focus on conceiving and drink fluid that your partner produced with the intent of conceiving. And no, that does not need to be sexual fluid; saliva, blood, liquid from liquid elementals, and anything else that comes from our bodies will work. Then, in terms of pregnancy…”