We kept a low profile until it was time for the party. Greg and I had our suits. Raishin didn’t have one of course but I had clothing from Jarn so for the first time in years, Raishin was wearing normal clothing.


    Maybe you should just continue wearing a suit. It suits you.


    It feels weird and restrictive!


    It’s just for one night


    I bet 1 gold that this palace is vaporized by this time tomorrow!


    You finally got money and are gambling it away? I bet 2 gold that this palace is nowhere to be found tomorrow.


    They looked at me and I shrugged. I have enough gold. I don’t believe this palace will be standing there tomorrow either but I can bet against the and see how things go.


    3 gold on that the palace is still there tomorrow.


    The capital is quite empty. It is as if everyone had moved to Ainahs. It was bad the last time we came here 6 years ago but it wasn’t this bad.


    They sure know how to self-destruct but instead of fixing their country they throw parties. Let’s go!


    We walked out of the hotel and walked toward the palace side by side. 3 men in suits. This is missing something.


    I took sunglasses out of my dimensional pocket and put them on.


    Perfect.


    Oh, I want too!


    Greg handed Raishin sunglasses and put on his own. 3 men side by side, walking in a black suit and wearing sunglasses. Nobody will mess with us like this. We walked toward the entrance and everyone made way for us.


    “Stop!” Besides this guy, but stopping people is his job.


    “Do you have an appointment or invitation?”


    I showed him the strange object they sent to us.


    “Oh, you’re Raishin Torai?”


    No, he is. I pointed at Raishin and he nodded. It seems he had tapped into his cool energy.


    We got led to a familiar party hall. Tables everywhere with food. It was almost identical to the party I went to. Correction, the first party Agnès Oures went to.


    I got concerned, are they going to apologize before this many people? What is their objective in doing so?


    We got led to a special table full of food. I reached out and Greg admonished me. I guess I will take food when he isn’t looking. I tried to find his stalker but she didn’t manage to get inside the palace. How disappointing.


    I scanned the palace for Shania but I could only find the queen. The king and the queen were heading over to this hall with Shortstuff and some security.


    Hey Greg, how about we make shadow clones to find information?


    Good idea.


    Both of us made 2 shadow clones and they snuck away under my stealth. Raishin had attracted some female attention and was talking to some noblewomen. Greg was distracted so I could start eating.


    The king and queen entered. I know my memory is bad but was the king always bald? I remember him having hair. He is wearing a toupee but I could see right through it. I don’t want to fall for nasty surprises so I will have my Elgards eyes active during this party.


    How flexible is the word ‘Party’? A group of adventurers is a party, this is a party, and what we had at the university is a party. Why do humans make everything so inconsistent and confusing? Anyways there is food here so I can’t complain.


    The royal family were doing posh stuff and talking about bullshit with other nobles when the king stood up and started to talk


    “This party today, is held to extend an apology to an individual we have wronged. It is to show the sincerity of our apology and to provide compensation. Raishin Torai, and friends. What has happened was terrible and unintended. We apologize. We want to have a more private conversation with you to discuss the terms of the compensation.” He nodded and went to sit on his fancy chair next to the queen.


    The problem was that he was looking at Greg while talking . My assumption was that this happened because Greg was the only one who was paying attention. I was eating and Raishin was still talking to noble women.


    Agnis, I don’t think he means this apology; I suspect that he is trying to look good or has been pressured to extend this apology. He doesn’t even know how Raishin looks like…


    I was thinking the same. How about we keep the deception up and you avoid correcting them when they refer to you as ‘Raishin’


    Hmm, I think I know what you’re thinking. Let’s go for that.


    Psst, hey Raishin.


    Raishin turned around. Sup.


    When someone talks to Greg and calls him Raishin, or uses your name don’t react. These clowns don’t even know how you look like.


    Raishin thought about what I said and it looked like he understood. I know he isn’t a complete idiot. He just acts like one.


    We walked toward the royal family and a magic screen dropped behind us. It effectively made a new room with only the royal family, some guards, and some important-looking nobles.


    “Good afternoon gentlemen, my name is Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth, the current ruler of the Igrini kingdom, this is my wife, Shera. I see you have made it to the palace safely. I want to yet again extend my apologies. I have a question before we will discuss the compensation.” The king adjusted his toupee a bit.


    “How did you escape from Event Horizon?” He was still looking at Greg.


    Greg took a step forward.  Escape wouldn’t have been possible without my friends. Great sacrifices were made to escape that prison…


    Raishin and I looked down. We still had our sunglasses on so it should be hard for them to read our expressions.


    “I see but that still doesn…”


    “Ignatius! This is not an interrogation! You’re here to make things right!” His wife started to scold him.


    “But…”


    “Ugh, I should have divorced you, you can’t even give a proper apology…”


    “No! wait! Raishin Torai. What compensation would be sufficient? Your friends can also put in a request. Their request will be processed within 5 working day…”


    “Ignatius!”


    “Yes dear! I mean, their requests will hold the same weight as yours!”


    I have several questions.


    Greg walked toward the king and I could tell he was upset.


    Why now?


    “We have had multiple instances of terrorists, rebellions and cases of espionage. Besides that, we were quite busy but this isn’t an excuse to prolong an apology like this”


    Greg took another step forward.  What do you know about the circumstances surrounding the capture?


    “I had ordered for anyone who came close to my daughter Shania, to be sent to the Event Horizon. It was impulsive. It wasn’t my intention to put you in prison, Raishin.” I saw that Raishin was doing his best to not react to his own name.


    I see. What about Shania? Where is she and what is she doing?


    I saw a twitch and the rest of the royal family was acting strange. I think this says enough. Shania had escaped again. I sneakily made another shadow clone and sent him to investigate. All I need to know is if she’s still in this city.


    “Uhm, she is resting. I’m sorry but you can’t meet her now. We will send another invitation when she is available. She has been quite busy with training and studying lately you see.” The king was sweating because of his nervousness and this made his toupee slip a bit to the side. Not even Raishin fell for this bullshit.


    Ok last question. Are you sure you got my name, right?


    “As far as I know, your name is Raishin Torai, I apologize if I mispronounced it or if you have a middle name.”


    Your name was King right?


    “No, I’m king Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth.”


    K.I.N.G, so your name is king, I was correct. So here is the thing. How sincere is your apology if you don’t know who you’re apologizing to? Raishin is over here.


    Raishin held up his adventurers ID.


    King became even more nervous and his toupee slipped off. “You... you have deceived me!”


    I never said that my name was Raishin nor have I reacted to that name. You assumed that I was Raishin which means you don’t know how he looks like.


    So, a question King. What has Shania told you about Raishin? Have you even talked to her? Is she even in this palace?


    The royal guards came into action and surrounded us. The queen seemed visibly disgusted by King’s ineptness.


    “You! You must have kidnapped her!”


    Going back to baseless accusations, didn’t we get into this situation because Shania had escaped in the first place?


    Yeah, and he did the same thing when I told the queen that Shania had been missing for over a year instead of several weeks.


    “Huh? Impossible! It was a young woma…”


    I [Transformed] into the Agnes Oures from then. I didn’t correct for my age though but that doesn’t matter. It would be even more shocking to them if I showed the woman they remembered.


    The queen stood up. “So, you’re fine! I thought that Ignatius had managed to capture you and kill you!”


    I [Transformed] back after 3 tries.


    “I see, so it was preparation for breaking Raishin out of Event Horizon.” It seems the queen had realized what was going on. King however…


    “Imposters! Kidnappers! Liars! Capture them!”


    Raishin. Do you remember the plan?


    Yes!


    Raishin teleported toward the queen, kidnapped her and teleported away.


    He would bring the queen to safety because the queen seemed to be the only one in this palace that was competent. Greg had confirmed that all the ministers were corrupt. My clone had found out that Shortstuff had set certain events in motion to cause a war. He wanted to be the successor to the throne but that was impossible during peace time.


    Greg knocked out all the guards that tried to attack us. I was just slacking and observing.


    Greg can babysit me now.


    “Aaargh! They took Shera! Send in the elite soldiers!” A guard activated a mana circle that sent an alarm through the whole palace.


    I hope you’re up for some exercise.


    What do you mean? These are all yours. It’s my time to be the damsel in distress!


    But you’re not a damsel… nor in distress!


    A royal guard approached me with his spear. I just stood there as I didn’t feel like dodging.


    Greg! Help! I’m in distress!


    Ugh…


    He gave me a [Shadow cloak] which blocked the spear strike. Shadows extended from my shadow cloak and wrapped around the spear all the way to the royal guard. He was freaking out and screaming as the shadows slowly covered him until he was covered in shadows. He then automatically got [Shadow Melded] into the [Shadow Cloak].


    Wow that’s a nasty combo Greg. But now nobody wants to hit me…


    That’s the point…  Greg was swinging his hammer and smacking guards around. Short stuff started casting some wind magic but I interrupted him. He tried again and he got interrupted again. He decided that it was not worth it and fled.


    I heard roaring and saw abominations approach and they burst into the hall. The screen separating us from the rest of the party hall had been destroyed so we had a lot of space now.


    Interesting. We had encountered abominations like these in Event Horizon. I can’t help to think that something suspicious is going on.


    “Meat! Smash!” The abominations rushed at us yelling words that were unrelated to each other. That was cool and al but I could easily slip them. They didn’t wear pants though…


    It feels good to be the overpowered one for once in a while.


    I have no idea what you’re talking about I had a quiet 6 months; I was you who made things difficult for yourself by going to dungeons!


    Gregory skewered some abominations with his shadow. And put the [Heavy] debuff on them and dropped a curse on them which made them bleed 10% of their mana every time they would use magic. Not effective against opponents with a brain because the duration was only 1 minute. But these things…


    6 abominations got immobilized due to mana exhaustion. An abominations punched me but the [Shadow cloak] blocked it too and did the same thing it did to that royal guard. The [Shadow cloak] turned from black to dark purple. An abomination shot a [Flare] at me. The [Shadow cloak] absorbed it and shot something back at the abomination which looked like a mini [Liberation].


    Wow Greg, your [Shadow Cloak] is OP now!


    It has to be, else it can’t keep squishy foxes alive!


    We were not putting much effort in fighting these abominations.


    “Aaagh! Bring all of them! All of them!” King looked visibly red now. I don’t like him but that doesn’t matter, today is the last day he will be king. I spotted a teleport ping and Raishin appeared.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I’m back! I dropped her off at the AA in Ainahs. Oh, these things. Did they escape from Event Horizon too?


    Don’t think so, they’re probably filling in for the guards that have abandoned this city.


    Raishin and Greg kept fighting the abominations while I did nothing. I then saw something disturbing that made me extremely angry.


    Whoa Agnis! What’s up! It’s getting hot in here.


    And then they entered a group of 5 abominations. These seemed to be more like their human selves except for 1.


    “Help me!”


    “It hurts!”


    “I don’t want to die!”


    “I’m so hungry!”


    I can’t hold… much longer…


    Between the 4 human like abominations. There was a big bear that seemed to have his head and shoulder stitched to his body.


    Ted! You’re still alive!


    I can’t hold…


    This is fucked up you used his corpse to create a soldier?!


    What? Noo!


    Right, I’ve had enough. Let’s destroy this place.


    I tried to calm myself down because I had raised the temperature by flaring up. Raishin and Greg were fighting the other abominations but were avoiding fighting Ted. I really tried to control myself but every time Ted… this abomination said Ted’s last words to us I got angrier and angrier.


    Raishin was angry too.  Guys. This all was my fault originally. Can you leave this to me?


    Raishin’s hand was shaking and I could see that he was doing his best to not discharge an insane amount of lightning. This calmed me down and I placed my hand on his shoulder.


    Can we tell him goodbye? A decent one before you destroy this city?


    Of course.


    Raishin hit all the abominations besides Ted with [Lightning Glitter] and zapped them with a red [Chain Lightning]. Greg had [Shadow Bound] Ted.


    Much longer… Greg make sure to get them out alive.


    We fell silent and Greg exhaled.  I did get them out of the prison alive, we’re all here alive as you can see. Thank you for always being there for us.


    I put a [Frost cloak] on myself because I had difficulties controlling my emotions. I was affecting Greg and Raishin with my uncontrolled fire so I had to counteract it.


    Ted, I’m sorry for letting you down. I have put more effort in being able to defend myself and keep Raishin and Greg safe. I wish you could have been alive to see it… Thank you for always having our back.


    I tried to hold back my tears but I failed. I didn’t cry after he had died back then but now, I couldn’t stop.  I will never let this happen again! I promise!


    It must have been my imagination but Ted started to calm down and didn’t thrash as much. I was looking at Raishin’s back but I saw tears falling.


    Guys, get out of here, I will bring this place down after my words to Ted.


    Ok, could you make sure you get everything off your chest? Let’s go Agnis.


    I was too busy crying to give an answer. Greg put his hand on my shoulder and [Shadow Melded] us all the way to Ainahs.


    We sat on the roof of the AA in Ainahs looking toward the capital. I had Greg linked up with my eyes. We waited for 20 minutes and an enormous [Solar Stream] dropped on the city.


    What skill would you have used to wipe out the city?


    [Meteor]…


    Fitting.


    We looked at how the capital got wiped off the map. We spotted Raishin going 6t mode and dropping more nukes on Ash Scasarras. We watch without saying a word until Greg broke the silence.


    Its unlike Raishin to vent like this. It must have really bothered him.


    I can’t imagine what he has been through, it was bad for us but he probably blamed himself the most.


    Did you find Shania?


    She is not in the capital. My clones had made sure of it.


    The blasting had stopped.


    Did you cover this up with your illusions?


    Well not everything. I can’t cover up a whole city disappearing for too long. I disguised it as a random [Judgement Bolt]. They still haven’t figured out what caused the last 2 so they will have a third one to figure out. Not that they will ever find out.


    [Judgement Bolt] is that those orange lightning pillars that have been spotted several years ago?


    Yup. I blasted a mountain top and an Electronium Plant.


    So, it was you!


    Well yeah. But they were mistreating spirits.


    I see.


    We fell silent and looked at the setting sun. I spotted Raishin teleport into Ainahs and I linked him up with my vision so that he could find us. He joined us on the roof.


    I’m sorry guys, I had to get that out of my system.


    That’s good.


    You did good. How about we see Ted off properly this time.


    I like that idea…


    He deserves it.


    We jumped off the roof and went to a plain outside the city.


    Hey Ted. It has been some long years without you. I hope you can rest easily now. There is so much I need to tell you. But…not now. I will tell you about our adventures when we meet again.


    I got all my tails out. Each tail created a foxfire wisp and sent them floating in the sky.


    You make it sound as if you’re about to meet him soon.


    I will do my best to stay alive.


    We looked at the foxfires that slowly ascended into the darkening sky.


    So, is this how 9t see each other off?


    We send them off by having the foxfires take the body into the sky. We are quite a flashy race.


    I pointed at the sky. The foxfires grew and turned more and more colorful and the exploded into many colors.


    Don’t worry the body would get vaporized and turn into nourishment. I never knew what that meant but it might be the only way we 9t can send energy back to our dimension.


    I kept looking at the sky with a sad look. Ted’s body was unfortunately gone, for the better.


    Can I have a bottle of liquid shadow vodka?


    I tossed him a bottle. He signed it and put it on a patch of shadow.


    Normally the body would be here too, with some objects that the deceased owns or loved. He loved alcohol…. Just like me. Drink up buddy may your rest be undisturbed.


    Greg [Shadow melded] the bottle into the shadow patch.


    Normally we would light a match to let the shadow disappear but I think Raishin’s way of sending him off will create some flashes.


    Greg stepped away and Raishin stepped forward.


    Again, thank you for being a brother for us. Your energy will not be forgotten. It will always follow us and help us.


    Raishin made a ball with all colors of lightning up to black lightning.


    We’re also flashy. We dig a hole and blast it with all our lightning colors.


    Greg made a pit. His shadow patch was on the bottom of the pit.


    Until we meet again.


    Raishin threw the lightning into the pit and a small pillar of the lightning colors came out of the pit. It wasn’t big. It was shoulder height but still flashy.


    Let’s never make this mistake again.


    Greg and I held his shoulder as he started to tear up again. We spent some time just standing around and being silent. We talked a bit. It was a bit difficult but we decided to move on.


    <hr>


    So, what now? I miss home.


    I didn’t find any useful documents in the palace. Did you Greg?


    Unfortunately, not. I only found secret deals with the Event Horizon and the funnelling of funds to their ‘Super Soldier’ project.


    Did we nuke all their soldiers?


    Dunno, there might be some left in Event Horizon. At least their funding has stopped.


    I’m not sure but that could be true. They had also been receiving funds from the Jarn Kingdom but Jarn is not doing so great at the moment so it’s possible that those have also stopped funding that project.


    An awkward silence fell. The recent events were still on our mind. To think they would use Ted’s corpse… I tried to break the silence.


    Oh guys, it seems that I’m not a 9t.


    Huh?


    What?


    I’m a lunar fox!


    Aha, are you going to explain or are we supposed to instantly know what that is?


    Uhm all I know that it’s the same yet different.


    Great…


    Ok wait so I can do this thing its called [Moontalk] I can talk to the moon. Now I might sound crazy but it has a lot of information. So there’s a Solar fox, 9t, and Lunar fox. I think they’re different flavors of the same thing with the 9t being vanilla and the other 2 uhh fancy flavors.


    Ohh! I get it!


    Huh? I don’t get it.


    They’re the same yet different!


    Yes, but how!


    The name is different!


    I can talk to the moon


    You know what, never mind. Let’s find someone who does know. We might have to try and find some non-humans. I don’t think we will find our answers under the humans.


    Like who? The tiger beast kin didn’t know anything about 6t tigers.


    Hmm, I don’t think Inyr knows, he’s a dragon after all, Vinny and Io are out too. Sylvana didn’t seem to know either. I don’t think I know anyone who does. Well, I kinda do but I have no idea where she is.


    Ohh! It’s a she! Tell me more!


    You met another dragon?


    Eh, yeah, the dragon is not important now. So, I found something like a dungeon but it had someone sealed inside. A 9t chick called Norya Mikazuki. She used some strange skill that gave both of us and the bitch goddess amnesia so we could escape. If I can find her, we might be able to get some answers but finding a 9t is… hard.


    Hmm, well how about we go to the Aquini kingdom then? We have the highest likelihood of finding beast kin over there. We should also be able to get in quite easily.


    Even more, after we nuked the capital!


    Except for that this should stay between us.


    I will go explain the situation to the queen. Can you put an illusion on me so that there is a higher likelihood that she will take it well?


    I don’t think any illusion can make a queen accept that her capital got wiped off the map but here you go, good luck.


    I placed an illusion on Greg and he [Shadow Melded] away and entered the AA.


    Ugh this thing with Ted is still bothering me. I need distraction! So that 9t chick. Was she hot?


    Yeah, I need some time to get over this myself too. I didn’t take a good look at Norya because I was running for my life but as far as I know, all female 9t’s are hot so the answer is probably yes.


    Wasn’t that chick you’re afraid of last name Mikazuki? I didn’t know that she had a sister. Maybe she knows about Hourai too!


    I don’t think it’s her sister, I think it’s her cousin.


    Do you think she escaped? What about those 3 chicks you had saved?


    Huh? Who did I save?


    Ehhm what were their names again. I think it was Giana, Noelle and Yvonne. You kicked them out of Hourai to make sure they didn’t get sold off as slaves.


    I went through my memories and recalled something vague yet similar. Ah right, something like that happened.


    Do you think they know?


    I think they’re the same age as us in human years so I doubt it.


    Where are they actually? They must be super-hot now. Giana is a 9t right? How about you get her as a girlfriend?


    I’m sure they will be mad at me for locking them into that cave. I think they would rather be out to kill me.


    You are not going to explain the situation to them?


    Why would they believe me? It will just sound like I’m making excuses. And what makes you think they’re single by now. If you’re correct and they’re super-hot they will probably have already bonded with someone.


    Nobody on the Mainfloor uses ‘Bonded’ Agnis! It’s called becoming a couple or marriage.


    Leave it up to you to be uselessly knowledgeable in those things. Anyways it’s best to leave them to their life. We can give them a heads-up when we find a way back to Hourai.


    Aww then when are you going to get a girlfriend?!


    Dunno, I’m more likely to die before that happens and if it happens, I will leave a sad chick behind so maybe I should pass.


    Ugh, just don’t die!


    I’ll do my best. I couldn’t find Shania by the way. She’s not in Ainahs and she wasn’t in the capital. She might be somewhere else in the country.


    Stop changing the subject! But that’s good to hear. Look I’m serious about this. You need a chick, more than I do. I will help you.


    I sighed. Sure, if it makes you shut up about it,


    Heh! Don’t worry! I will get you someone with big badonkers!


    Sure…


    We met up with Greg who just came out of the AA.  This queen… she’s strong…


    Good job.


    Hey Agnis, let’s have round 3 of our pillow fight!


    I will destroy you!


    Absolutely not! Grow up you two!


    ?