Two and a half days

Back in the Embassy, I was questioning everything about myself. I don't know when it started, but meeting Mistress Sally and realizing she was stronger than me at around the same age hit me hard. I had confidence in myself as the most powerful younger person. I had never heard of anyone being stronger than me in this world. I sat behind my desk, lost in thought after calling for Alexia.

Christina sat on the couches, looking at me with an indifferent expression that showed nothing. I had no idea if she watched the exchange between Mistress Sally and me, but I doubted it. Something told me that Mistress Sally had at least some way of stopping a spy from watching her. I didn't know, and I almost didn't care at this point.

I almost was to the point of self-loathing at this point. What can I do to improve faster? I asked myself. The answer was simple and obvious. I needed to reject half the jobs I had taken onto my back and focus. I needed to study the Mana of this world and practice my fighting style. I needed to dedicate more time to that and less time on politics.

I wanted to scream without realizing it until now, and I wanted to throw the paperwork around me. Strength was what I needed to free myself, and I had been letting it slip. I was not a weakling in this world, but I wasn't strong by myself. That was why I had to follow the orders of the elders, and that was why I wasn't at home with my kids and large growing family.

My mind was going berserk, as was my Mana, I realized a second later, and I firmly got control of my emotions. I took several deep and long breaths, and I knew most of what I had just thought of. I knew it, and I was working on it. I couldn't change my circumstances at this point, and I always needed funding. Look at Mistress Sally. She was working as a Dominatrix to make gold, even as a B-ranked adventurer. It wasn't shameful, and she needed resources to grow in strength.

I had no idea what she personally needed to grow, but I knew what I needed. It was time to study and meditate along with Spars with trusted people who could take a hit. Florine and Christina were good options that I had to make use of. I needed to start getting stronger, and with the war coming up very soon, that need was only going to grow larger.

I firmed my mind, and I turned to Christina, who was waiting patiently. "Did you hear anything about our conversation?" I asked.

"No, There were weird enchantments I have never encountered around the building. TheManaa itself was different from what I was used to." Christina said, her tone showing mild curiosity. "I think that plenty of the elders if they were not busy, would be very interested in researching it."

I nodded in understanding. If this Mistress Sally had a new way of enchanting or came across another way of enchanting, then I would be very interested in seeing it too. I sighed, leaning back, knowing the reason why the elders were busy. The nation was busy mobilizing for war, and all that was missing was the declaration of war.

The great thing about this was that no one made this about humans versus Beast-kin or eugenics. That would open another can of worms that I didn't want to think about. Although there was a small percentage of beast-kin, who hated humans, this war wasn't about that. The war with the Empire was about stopping slavers from crossing our borders.

Our nation didn't outright ban slaves otherwise, Em' wouldn't be with me. Although I loved the girl and she loved me, that didn't mean that I agreed with the practice. I thought it was a stupid practice even with criminals in the end. It was better to rehabilitate criminals and reintroduce them as working members of society. But that was a pipe dream at this point as slavery was ingrained into the culture.

I looked up at the knock on the door. My thoughts abruptly ended as I realized they tended to happen often. "Come in," I said officially, and Alexia came in.

"You asked for me?" Alexia asked.

"Yes, Although I would love to have called you for some fun. Something important has come up, and I need to talk to Queen Mira. Can you please send a message to her quickly stating that I would like to talk to her as soon as possible?" I asked her with an apologetic smile.

"Did something happen?" Alexia asked, and I wanted to sigh.

It wasn't a stupid question, and Alexia was confident, but I wouldn't be asking if something hadn't happened. I turned to her with a grim smile, "I might have gotten the things I need," I said to her, "But I need Mira to protect me while paying the person who can do it back." I said, explaining things quickly, and Alexia looked mystified.

"Okay, I will compose something right away and have someone send it," Alexia said, leaving the room.

"Thank you," I loudly said as she reached the door, "I really appreciate it."

Alexia turned and smiled before closing the door. I loved the look in her eyes, and I turned to Christina. "That was a dangerous woman," I told Christina, "I felt my hairs stand on end, and one of the things that she wants in payment is access to my body for a night to do what I want." I sighed, and I saw her eyebrows raise slightly.

"What are your plans?" Christina asked, and I looked at her with a wry smile.

"Paying the woman." I sighed, "I need Queen Mira to watch over me as she plays with my body. I don't like the thought, but I need someone powerful enough to make that woman scared to do anything untoward."

"What do you need to be done from me then?" Christina asked, and I smiled, "You would not have talked without needing something from me due to this."

"It's simple, Pull out your contact and put in someone new or attempt to. That woman will be sniffing out how we found her client. She is dead if you don't pull her out as soon as possible." I replied, "Then we need to keep an eye on the people working from there. I can tell that you won't be able to get anything from her people, most likely. I am surprised that you found a way to sneak someone inside in the first place, but she will be more vigilant from now on."

"Very well. I will do just that," Christina stood up and left the room. I could see her hurried steps, and I wished I had reached my conclusions quicker. Hopefully, Mistress Sally didn't find the spy first, but something told me it was a faint hope.

I leaned back, frowning again with my thoughts racing. My mind was struggling to come to grips with what it needed to be doing. Instead of letting my head race, I decided I had something better to be doing. I leaned forward, and for the first time in a while, I pulled out the book of Rifts. I needed to study, and I opened up the text beginning to read.

It wasn't the first time I had read it, but with the shallow insights I had gained since then, I began reading. My mind thought over each word carefully as I read slowly, taking in the talk about rifts. Some were above my head, while others were almost insulting speculation about their properties to cut. They opened points A to B. That was an insultingly easy way of describing it to that fact, and I slowly thought more and more about it.

My mind slowly read on, coming up with minor insights into rifts that did nothing more than slightly increase my knowledge of how the writer viewed them. It was fascinating as I realized a critical detail was that the person who wrote this never said much about the Void beyond the rifts. It was almost like it was irrelevant to them. Like you didn't need that Void to make rifts. Instead, they were portals to the other side of the rift without ever needing to enter the Void.

I got more into reading, delving deeper into the book that I had not read for a long time. I lost track of time as I read on, thinking as I read upon each point as I continued until a knock on the door took me out of my thoughts. I looked up before I realized that it was twilight, and the knocks became even louder. "Come in," I said, realizing I might have lost myself in my thoughts for too long.

The doors opened, and I saw two women walk in. I couldn't help but smile as Queen Mira came in with Alexia. "I heard you have something important to talk to me about." Mira asked as she came in, "I was in the middle of planning and looking into what you asked. I haven't quite gotten the votes needed, so this comes at an odd time." Mira said, her tone serious.

"I talked to a Dominatrix that plays with one of the Medusan representatives," I replied seriously, standing up and moving over to the couch as Mira's eyebrows rose. "The payment is something that I do not joke around with, and I need someone to defend my mind and body," I replied, and I saw her eyebrows now furrow.

"What do you mean?" Mira asked, looking confused.

"The first form of payment is with my body," I said, and I still saw that confusion until I continued. "My instincts will not allow me to surrender my body to her. I don't trust her, and I am scared of her. This Mistress Sally is at least in the B ranks, and I also think she is stronger than me. I don't want to risk things, especially as she is a Dominatrix and with some of the tools I saw around her and her confidence in changing that representative's mind." I shivered a little, thinking, "I think she is a Slave trainer, and I don't want her to get her talons into my mind while I am under her thumb."

Mira nodded watched me, and I saw her thinking and contemplating options as she sat across from me. "This might be a better way of getting what you want since there are many Queens opposed to giving out intel. I will need more time to get the intel that you need now." Mira looked at me seriously, "Fine; two questions, though," I nodded and motioned for her to continue. "First question, When are you giving your body to her to play with?"

"Three days, but looking outside, it might be two and a half days, it seems," I said, and Queen Mira nodded.

"Second question," Queen Mira said, "What was the other payment since no one talks to someone as important as you without asking for more than some playtime."

I smiled wryly, "Upon completion of a research project, I pay for the materials and usage of the research three times for her own purposes." I said that, and Mira watched me silently for a minute.

Mira then suddenly stood and looked at me, "Okay, I will be here before you go in two and a half days," Queen Mira said before moving around the couches towards the doors, "I would love to stay and play a little, but I have many tasks to complete. And even less time to complete them know."

"Thank you, I will see you soon," I told her and saw her juicy ass swinging back and forth before closing the door behind her. I turned to Alexia, "We have, I believe, one more day before the party for the Incubi?" I asked, and Alexia nodded before I sighed as exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks.

I had the energy to continue physically, but my mind took several hits over the night, and I hadn't had a good night's sleep. "Sorry for asking this, love," I said, looking at Alexia, "Do I have some time to get some sleep, or do I have meetings that I am behind on?" I asked, showing a tired face.

"You have meetings," Alexia said apologetically, and I wanted to sigh again. I had already put off work for too long, and I firmed my mind.

"Okay, who is it, and what is the topic I set," I asked Alexia.

"This is with the Beholders Eye Wizard tower wishing for a potion, and they are quite adamant. Neither Yuri nor I could convince them to give up." Alexia continued to name things on my schedule, and my mind began to sharpen as my mindset upon essential things before they became problems.

"Bring them in," I said after several minutes, and I began to get back into the duties of an Ambassador with a side business. I only wished I never had to in order to keep the Embassy here working.

----

Announcement:

Hey guys,

So since I have gotten some comments wondering about the slowing of releases I thought I would put out an announcement. I have slowed down updates publically to once every two weeks for the foreseeable future. I refuse to lower it more than this at this time but I needed to slow down the releases. Life has been hectic as hell and I have been stressed out. Publically releasing chapters was like someone snapping at my heels as I try to keep at least 7 chapters ahead on my Patr*on. I am currently still trying to shoot for one chapter a week on my Patre*n but sometimes I cannot do that with work and life. So if my life slows down I may return to one chapter a week but at this point I have had to slow down the public releases.

if you want my chapters asap I provide them on release on my Patre*on. At www.Patre*on.com/Madjic Just remove the *.

I sincerely do hope to bring my releases back up to once a week but with how my life is atm it just isn't possible. I do sincerely appreciate all the support and comments here. If you have any comments about this you can send a comment and when I have time I will try to get back to you.