The Inner Circle

"Hehe how could I say no! Of course, I officially welcome you to my Mothers Kingdom!"

As I say that a blinding light blurs across the room.

"Shit, are we under attack!" I shout in Terre's direction, as I get ready to jump into battle.

"Fufu I do not think so my Lady. It will vanish in a second, then take a look at our new friends." Terre says in her usual calm voice, though because her voice is always like that it is hard to tell if this is actually a crisis or not.

I do as she says and wait a little bit longer for the light to go. After waiting a few more seconds, it does indeed begin to fade and I find myself being able to see again.

"What on earth was that? Anyway is everyone okay… Who are you guys?"

Just as I was about to check if all the Foxes were fine, something instantly struck me as very different. The Foxes have been replaced by being that's looked exactly like humans, except they had big bushy tails and animal ears on the top of there head. Also…

"N-Naked again! Why are you all naked?!" I shout as my mind goes fuzzy, leaving it unable to reason and connect everything I am seeing.

While I feel my face heat up and go red once again, two hands from behind me cover my eyes.

"Fufufu, calm yourself my lady. Now you cannot see anything, think about why this could have happened. Think about what happened to me when I swore fealty to you."

"O-Okay… Ah! They're the Fire Foxes that have become a demi-human type being like you did when you became my subordinate. So they have been effected by my [Humanoid Subordinates Skill]?" I asked Terre, who kindly covered my eyes to get me to calm down.

"You are correct my Lady." Terre confirms.

Although she may be doing this to calm me down, I feel two soft mounds pressed against the back of my head.

"T-Terre, I am okay now. You can let me go." I stutteringly say.

"Very well my Lady, be warned that they are all still naked. So, try not to be too embarrassed."

Terre then slowly removes her hands from my eyes. I am once again greeted by the sight of numerous naked Fox people. I prepared myself for it but I can still sort of feel my face warm up again, but I push through and walk towards them.

The Foxes seemed confused and fascinated by their new forms. All of them seemed very elegant and I found myself entranced by their humanoid forms, that was until a certain one started running up to me.

"Alicia, Alicia! What the hell has happened to us!"

I recognised the voice. This Fox demi-human was most definitely Ignis, though the voice was not the only way I could tell it was her. The same features that attracted my eyes towards her in the first place, were still there.

The three big, beautiful, fluffy tails waved behind her as she ran towards me, the fur and her hair had changed to a chestnut brown colour for some reason. Her dark brown determined eyes were fixed on me as she approached. Although there was one thing I was not expecting. She looked more mature than me, in more ways than one.

She in no way looked like the mature adults that Mother and Terre are, but she was still a few inches taller than me. When she was in her Fox form, she seemed around the same height as me so I had hoped that she would be the same size as me in her human form. Her body as a whole seemed more mature in fact, which pissed me off a little bit. But I suppose it's not her fault.

By this point, it feels like most beings who become my subordinates and take on a humanoid form will be bigger than me. Apart from the children of course, though that does not feel like a victory.

"Helloooo, Alicia? You in there?"

Ignis had gotten super close to me while I was lost in my thoughts and was now waving her hand in front of my face to bring me back to reality.

She seemed to have little understanding of how embarrassing it is to be naked in front of people, after all she was a Fox until a few moments ago. I decided to try and ignore it as best I could.

"Ah! Sorry, you are Ignis right?" I say to confirm.

"Hmm? Yes of course it is me. Do you know why we all turned into human-like beings?"

"Yep. I have a skill that allows my subordinates to evolve into a humanoid version of your species. Therefore, it should now tell you your new race on your status board."

Ignis quickly checks her status board. Her eyes then light up as she sees her new evolution.

"You're right! It now says that I am a Three Tailed Fire Kitsune, ooo and it has given me some new skills."

Ignis seemed very intrigued by this new transformation as she looked over her changed status board.

"Hey Alicia, just what are you? How can you cause your subordinates to evolve and get stronger?" Ignis asked with her head tilted to the side.

"Hmmm? Well if you are asking about my race, I am in fact a Flame Dragon. As for why I can make my subordinates evolve I am not sure, I was just given this skill when I evolved…. What?"

As I talked, I noticed that the slightly noisy entrance hall, where all the Foxes were discussing their new forms, had gone completely quiet. They all stared my way with their mouths wide open.

"Wait… did you say you were a Dragon?" Ignis said in an unbelieving tone.

"Yeah what of it?... AH! Mother did say we were a rather rare race didn't she. Fufufu what do you think little Foxes, I am indeed a great and powerful Dragon! Are you in awe of my impressive presence hahaha!" I announced haughtily.

As I laughed, Ignis had creeped over to Terre…

---

POV Ignis.

"Hey miss Terre, is Alicia really one of those unbelievably powerful Dragons of legend?"

I wanted to make sure what I was hearing was true. After all, not many beings have the chance to witness Dragons in the flesh at some point in their lives. Now I have just pledged myself to one of these beings of legend.

"Fufufu Lady Alicia is indeed a Flame Dragon, I witnessed her evolve and gain her current Humanoid form myself actually. She is a very, very young Dragon, so although I would not put her in the class of "Unbelievably Powerful", she does have the potential to reach that level. Her Mother though, Lady Petra, does indeed fit that description. Though she too, is very quirky and personality wise is similar to Lady Alicia." Miss Terre explained.

I look over at Alicia with slightly impressed eyes… though that impressive impression was slightly dented by her rather eccentric personality.

"Though she may be strange and her cuteness may make people underestimate her, I believe that one day she will become a very strong and influential being. So now that you and your family have also joined me in serving Lady Alicia, I hope you will help me realise this belief of mine and help her along to reach her goals." Miss Terre says with a smile, she did really seem to love Alicia.

I could not deny what she had said too. I do indeed feel drawn to her, and something inside me was telling me I needed to protect this little Dragon. So it is decided.

"Leave it to me miss Terre, I'll make sure to keep an eye on her and to help her when she needs me!"

"Fufu thank you, Lady Ignis."

---

POV Alicia.

Once the Foxes and I had both settled down from my announcement. We began to discuss where they are going to permanently live.

They said now that I was their liege, they could not live in the castle with me. Apart from maybe a couple of them who could serve me in a assistant type role, to cater to my needs. Basically, a maid or butler then.

After a bit of discussion, we decided to look for a place for them down in the city. Not before finding them some sheets that we formed into a toga type clothing for them. We would have to find a way to make some clothes at some point soon.

Just as we were all heading down together, an idea of where they could stay came to me. So I led everyone there straight away.

Not long later we arrived at the destination, the Adventurers Guild.

"So I was thinking, maybe you guys would like to live around the Adventurers Guild area. Thankfully Terre's minions have mainly rebuilt this area of the city, so the surrounding houses should be safe to live in. You should also now be able to get a class now as well. Terre can further explain classes to you later." I say pushing some boring responsibility onto Terre.

"Also, I would like to ask you guys to guard the Adventurers Guild building. As it contains the thing we need to get and change classes, it is a very important asset. Once everyone is settled in, Terre and I will discuss further jobs and tasks that we may need you to do. Any questions?" I ask to the crowd of Foxes.

I was met with a wall of silence, so I took that as a no. I then left them to choose a nearby house to live in and allowed them to get settled.

"Hey Ignis and Aura, can I talk to you guys a second before you go?"

Just before those two could leave, I wanted to make a proposal to them. They both walked over and I began to make my pitch.

"Terre has suggested something to me, and I thought it was a cool idea. I would like to invite you guys to come live with me, Terre and Mother inside the castle. Although Terre gives brilliant advice, she needs to leave a lot to go oversee her minions and the work they do." I begin to explain.

"Indeed, so we thought to help Lady Alicia while I am not around it might be a good idea to have you, Aura, advise and watch over my Lady while I am busy." Terre leads on from my explanation.

Aura is the name of Ignis' mother, a very pretty name I thought which matched her appearance. You could tell by appearance that she was indeed Ignis' mother, she had the same coloured hair, fur and eyes. Though she had the mature aura and body of an adult and was the ideal image of a mother figure with her calm, soothing nature. Of course, she also had her baby bump which was quite big by this point, so we needed to keep an eye on her for when she gives birth.

"Terre… you make it sound like babysitting rather than advising me…"

"Fufufu that was not my intention Lady Alicia, in fact I thought your idea of housing and getting the Kitsune to work in and around the Guild was a brilliant idea. I was very proud of you." Terre says as she begins rubbing my head.

"R-Really… hehe that feels good… Ahem anyways, yes I would like to ask you to be one of my advisors, what do you say?" I almost lost myself to Terre's increasingly skilful stroking technique, though I managed to pull myself back once I remembered I was in front of others.

"Hehe I very gratefully accept your Highness. Miss Terre does indeed make it look like a very fun job, so I very much look forward to working for you."

…

Is it just me or did she sound kind of mischievous when she said that? She's not another one is she…

Leaving that scary thought behind, I then moved onto Ignis' position...

"Ignis I have a very special position for you… I would like you to be my personal knight (Sparring Partner)!" I say excitedly.

"Eh? Are you sure? It sounds like a super important position…" Ignis says, clearly unsure of her ability.

"Hehe of course, you were super impressive to lead your skulk all the way to that village. So I think you will be the perfect future sparing part… perfect knight to assist me."

Ignis squints at me for a second, I almost think that she figured out my true intention to make her spar with me every chance I get.

"Hmmm very well I accept… Lady Alicia."

"You don't need to call me that! Just call me Alicia as you have been, we are going to be together all the time anyway!" I say with a big smile.

When I said that, I spied Ignis grinning a bit.

"Hehe very well Alicia, I look forward to being with you." Ignis replies back with a big radiant smile of her own.

And so, my inner circle grew once more.

---

Kingdom Details.

Name: Queen of the Mountains Territory.

Key Persons: Petra Valensca [Queen], Alicia Valensca [Princess/Acting Queen], Terre [Advisor], Aura [Advisor], Ignis [Knight].

Population Make up: 2 Flame Dragons [Demi-Human], 1 Earthen Chaos Ant [Demi-Human], 23 Kitsune [Demi-Human], 100 Worker Ants, 30 Warrior Ants, 5 Giant Ants.