As we came apart, and I momentarily stumbled at the sensation of being suddenly so much less, I reflected that maybe I should feel a little bad? Not because we'd hunted down and torn apart every last demon we could, cracking their souls like eggs to get at the sweet, sweet soul-stuff within, but because we'd made a right mess of the Kettunen estate.
Earth was torn up. Blood, guts, and other bits were all over the place. And the foxes were all…
Huh, they're not dead? Where in the world are they?
I shook off the question just as I got the last bout of laughter out of my system. I wasn't quite sure what I'd found so amusing, but I'd been glad to laugh all the same.
Laughter made everything better, after all!
It helped that I felt supremely and comfortably full. Splitting a peak level Baron between us, not to mention all the archdemons and such, had left Mia and me both pushing at the confines of our rank. I almost lost myself to another bout of chuckles, imagining Glaustro's face if we managed to return from our mission as Viscounts ourselves.
In the meantime, though, we had business to attend to.
"Well then, Kettunen!" I eyed the demonic matriarch up and down. "I'd say it's nice to meet you, but we haven't been formally introduced yet, have we?"
She looked distinctly disheveled. A long, angry wound stretched down her side from her shoulder to her hip, like she'd barely dodged out of the way of a death blow. Her flowing silver yukata was stained and ripped in places. That might have made her look seductive and pitiful, I supposed. Especially when taken with the nine silver tails weaving behind her back, her twitching fox ears, and the small horn nubs that barely peeked out of her hair.
Unfortunately, I was a firm believer in cat supremacy. All I felt when I looked at the Kettunen matriarch was excitement over her obvious weakness. She hadn't fared well at all against the Baron/Viscount combo before we showed up. Even when we took on the Viscount and left her to fight just the Baron, she hadn't managed to kill him.
Then again, I could feel that she was a peak-level Baroness. She had also managed to buy enough time for the weaker members of her family to flee, along with their foxy pets. I had to assume that her skills just didn't lend themselves well to direct confrontation.
"Should we go back to the waiting room?" Mia taunted. "It was very cozy. You know, small, comfy, all of that. Almost like a box."
Our would-be host flushed and then turned pale in swift succession. Considering how pale her skin was naturally, this was fascinating to watch. There was the whole 'porcelain beauty' thing, and then there was 'whiter than a corpse.' The Kettunen matriarch fell into the latter category.
Said matriarch did her best to control her Emotions, but they slipped once or twice to reveal boiling rage and overwhelming shame.
"That won't be necessary. I will have Zarl arrange a…"
She trailed off as her gaze landed on one of the corpses: a man, split in half by what looked to have been a soul blade blow.
The matriarch swallowed thickly, grief spilling out of her for a moment. "I will have someone arrange refreshments to be delivered to my study. If you would follow me?"
"Lead the way," Mia purred maliciously.
If the Kettunen matriarch weren't still nominally our enemy, I might have felt slightly bad for her. As it was, I just offered her my best winning smile.
She flinched away from me, which was very rude. I mean, I only showed off my chompers a little. I didn't look deranged when I smiled!
…Probably?
"For decades, centuries, even, my family has successfully cooperated with Lord Vallinach, to our mutual profit. We have served his cause loyally and with great enthusiasm."
The Kettunen matriarch's eyes panned between Mia and me like she expected us to strike at any moment, but she needn't have worried. Mia was far too busy wondering how far the soul essence we'd stolen from the Viscount had pushed our own souls.
Besides, my kitty cat was never very interested in politicking. Not beyond knowing whom she needed to eviscerate.
"We were numbered among his most valued supporters," the Kettunen matriarch went on. "And then, on the very day you arrive for a meeting, all of this happens?"
"Well… I wouldn't say 'valued supporters'," I drawled.
The matriarch's left eye twitched. Her hands spasmed like she was trying very hard not to leap across her fancy ass desk (which I could tell was meant to copy the general's, implying she'd been to his office at some point). Then she hissed out a long breath.
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"Our status within Vallinach's circle of followers is not relevant here."
"Ahh, but I think it is," I whispered, leaning forward to spear the demoness in place with the intensity of my gaze. "Apparently, he 'values' you enough to throw you aside on mere suspicion. I won't lie to you. We received information that he was growing doubtful of your loyalty because of your trade with us."
None of that was a lie. At all. Now, were we the source of the doubt to begin with? Sure. Was Imthala the one who had stoked Vallinach's resentfulness and suspicion? Yes. The Kettunen matriarch didn't need to know that, though.
"And what were you hoping to do with that information?" she asked tensely.
"Why, to come in contact with you, of course," I replied. "Perhaps arrange something mutually beneficial? Though that doesn't seem as relevant now that the attack has occurred. I'm sure you'd agree that today's events have… shifted a few things around, so to speak."
Mostly the strength of her footing and her ability to negotiate, but that went without saying.
"I… see." The matriarch, and I was seriously getting tired of having no better way to refer to her than that, was practically spitting and snarling now. "And I assume you are ready to offer us clemency in return for our undying loyalty and support?"
"You assume we need those things," I answered just as coldly. My eyes raked over her injuries again, making the kitsune demoness shrink back warily. "You have displayed your 'strength' already. Honestly, it's up to you to convince us why we shouldn't just finish you off here and now. Getting to snack on another Baron would be more than enough payoff for us today."
Mia perked up at that, rejoining the conversation. Well, if 'rejoining the conversation' meant staring at the matriarch like she was a delightful snack Mia itched to sink her teeth into.
I realized, however, that my reminder of the precipice the Kettunen currently stood on might have been a little too effective. The matriarch's pupils shrank rapidly into pinpricks, and I could taste the fear wafting off of her. After all, this was an old, well-established demoness who had suddenly and rudely been reminded of her own mortality. I honestly couldn't tell what she was about to do.
And that worried me immensely.
I leaned back and adopted a casual tone. "Look, Vallinach is after you now, whether he has a legitimate reason to be or not. Don't tell me you think he's the reasonable type who'll let you explain anything! Unless you want your family to be wiped off the face of Torment, you'll need more than pride and stubbornness to get through this."
"We can hide and make sure none could find us ever again," the demoness snapped, hands curling to grip the edges of her desk. "I am a master of dream mana, and I can —"
Mia snorted. Loudly. "A 'master' of dream mana? Really? What I am I, then?"
I saw the matriarch's jaw clench, probably at the memory of how Mia had torn away her control of the dream mana so thickly woven around her home.
Well, we had done that, through our two souls melding and working as one. But, again, the matriarch had only the knowledge of the outcome.
Mia kept pressing her point. "If I can so easily undo all your defenses, and even turn them against you, what makes you think you could hold back Vallinach and all the demons he has at his beck and call?"
"Our defenses were hardly primed against intruders!" the matriarch shot back. "Only the light bewilderment mist was on, and that can be overcome by nothing but a sufficiently powerful soul. If we do our best to conceal ourselves, then —"
"Then you'll just die under the cover of your own wards and enchantments," I cut in. "If Vallinach himself shows up, can you hold him back? On your own?"
"Can you?" she snarled. "Besides, he won't show up himself. That would be a humiliation of the highest order. He'd rather pretend to be magnanimous and 'set aside our grudges for the time being' than do that."
"Possible. You'd still need to watch your backs from now until the end of eternity, or until Vallinach croaks. Whichever comes first. And in the meantime, your easy access to the legion and any promotion opportunities for your family members would evaporate. That is, unless he finds a way to make it impossible for your descendants to continue joining the legion altogether."
I was catastrophizing a little, and I was pretty sure she knew that, but it wasn't like she had a way to deny my claims. Vallinach could absolutely be that petty, even if he probably wouldn't go that far.
A silence held between us, fragile and wrought with boiling Emotions on the part of the matriarch.
Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"What do you want?"
I exchanged a glance of wicked glee with my kitty cat, then replied, "What we want is a little bit of help. We are new. I'm not denying that. We lack a whole lot of information and connections that even a middling older family would have as par for the course. Specifically, we want information on neutral families. All those who are finding a way to survive in spite of refusing to swear themselves to any of the four lieutenant generals."
"There aren't very many of those. And they aren't very powerful, either," the matriarch cautioned me, but she'd settled down a little. She was probably relieved that I hadn't started demanding soul oaths of loyalty right off the bat.
"That doesn't matter," I said. "They all have their own connections. You get me a list of names, and maybe a few ins with them, and we'll be a lot more inclined to help you in turn."
She shook her head. "That still doesn't fix the underlying issue. You didn't answer, but you can't fight Vallinach directly, can you? An Earl is a lot stronger than a Viscount. A lot stronger. The increase in power isn't as straightforward as what you get when you evolve from an archdemon to a Baron, or even Baron to Viscount. The closer to the top you get, the more significant the difference between ranks. And he wouldn't fight alone, either."
Briefly, my thoughts turned to everything we were doing to push Glaustro towards the rank enjoyed by the four lieutenant generals.
Honestly? If we'd been the ones snacking on all the traitors we had him consume, all of us Barons would have been Viscounts by now. Glaustro's soul had strengthened as a result of his feasting, of course, but he was nowhere near ready to make the ascension attempt.
Refocusing on the matriarch, I shrugged. "That's for us to worry about."
"Not if the survival of my family depends on your competence."
"Oh, you'll be fine!" I assured her. "While you've certainly overstated your abilities, you are quite capable at concealment. If you do decide to sign on with us, we'll help you improve your defenses and bolster your military might. Maybe even offer you the option of moving to a more secure location. The world we claimed is quite safe, though that would entail a few more agreements on your end. For now… about that list of neutral families?"
She stared at me, long and hard, before sighing and closing her eyes. "I will regret this, but… fine. Fine, damn you."
"Good!" I gave her my best smile again, achieving much the same results as last time. "Now, if you don't mind me asking… what in all the hells is your name?"