Out of the cage.

As they had all eaten in comfortable silence Kira stood up,

"you said you would allow me my old appearance back after eating, but I would really like the ability to borrow some clothes that's going to fit, so can we please do it in the room i am accommodated at"

Her mom looked at her with a slightly odd glance.

"Dearest we didn't just stash you in a room, that room is your room and have been since you were born, the clothes are your clothes you can't borrow your own things

While it saddens me you find comfort in an illusion you mistakenly believed to be your genuine appearance, do I atleast hope that your familiar is right, and the experience will help you see the truth"

walking towards the door, Ash did her usual magic and opened the door in front of her, but oddly somehow Ash seemed slower than prior, maybe it was just her imagination.

not all that embarrassed she immediately stripped down upon reaching her room and put on the clothes that was still in a neat pile near the closet where she had left it, it was with utmost joy as she felt the clothes shift and fit her, moving over over the mirror she once again saw her plain old self, with slightly messy hair.

Gone was the impossibly pretty young super star model fox girl and in its place was her comfortable old self, turning around she confirmed her butt was tail free.

looking towards her moms sad expression she couldn't help but feel guilty, its not that she disliked the other appearance, any girl would kill to look that cute, but ultimately it wasn't her.

Well logically she knew it was the other way around but it didn't feel like that to her.

"Well there was something about going out and meeting the locals"

Kira joked, but both Mischief and Inaris silence made her a bit uneasy.

"Wait will they try to eat me or something because I look human again?"

but once again she was met with silence.

Mischief finally spoke up after a rather awkward stretch of time.

"Master I wouldn't have suggested this if I didn't truly believe it would help master, but I'm afraid it won't go as master expects"

Sighing Kira couldn't do much, Ash and Desmond was back guiding them through what now became very clear was definitely more a castle than a mansion.

She had completely forgotten but outside held that weird red mixture of both dawn and dusk, while seeming like it would never become day nor night, it was effectively an eternal twilight

to her surprise a carriage had been prepared for her, was the city really that far away or was it another of those rich girl things that you take a carriage for what could effectively be walking distance.

deciding it wasn't worth the fight she got in.

her expectations was completely blown away the moment it started moving as it answered her question loud and clear that carriage was fast, if was closer to the experience of a bullet train and it still took a good 15 min for them to arrive, arriving far away from the castle at the outskirts the carriage stopped.

"we understand that you don't want to be noticed holding association to the queen or anyone of higher status so we will stop here and you can walk the rest of the way yourself, while I personally believe this whole thing is silly can I see the lesson that the princess's familiar is trying to instill so we will act our part"

Desmonds voice could he heard sayng from the coat seat.

"Well thank you for indulging my supposed sillyness"

Kira couldn't help but reply back

Getting out the carriage she started walking towards the hub town, the carriage was long gone and there was just mischief and herself.

however as she got closer more and more people were giving her weary glances, it was becoming very apparent a lot of them was hurrying what they were doing, others outright threw what they were doing and fled.

Kira felt deeply confused, it wasn't because the demons she saw around looked vastly different from her, there were even many human looking ones, they might even be human for all she knew but nobody was minding each other instead all attention was on Kira, it was one of those situations where the saying that you would be able to hear a pin drop would be apt.

looking towards mischief with a confused glance she tried to step a few steps to the right from mischief putting distance between them, which very much confirmed not a single one as much as glanced at mischief.

"Uhm, what is going on?"

but mischief just tilted his head at her while keeping quiet.

deciding to disperse the atmosphere she greeted the people looking at her with a smile, and apparently it worked, atleast something happened they spoke together, and after a bit she saw a little girl get pushed towards her by the crowd.

one in the crowd yelled.

"please take her, she owes a work debt and we agreed her life would be better spent on behalf of the town, please take her! in return we beg of you to not use anyone else from this town to feed your hunger today"

Kiras eyes widened on the word hunger, and recalled what mischief had said, she was however looking perfectly normal right now, and nothing should associate her with her mom, so why?

First thing first, it was odd but Kiras mind felt way clearer than it had done in a long time.

"You're saying you relinquish her debt and life to me in return for me not harming anyone in this town with the purpose of satisfying my hunger, on this day

can the one who owns her contract please confirm to me that is is indeed correct?

"

A small burly man looking like what many fantasy tropes would define as a dwarf stepped out from the crowd and said.

"I'm begging you to take the deal of me offering her debt and life to you, in return for you not harming anyone in this town to satiate your hunger on this day"

Kira looked at the girl, she had clearly had it rough, the girl in return was looking at Kira with a fear she had never seen directed towards herself before from anyone in her entire life, it was almost as if she pleading with her eyes for Kira to reject the deal and not eat her

before she could respond the wind shifted and she could smell the fear from everyone, especially the girl, something deep and primal welled up for a short moment before Kira clenched it back down, what the actual fuck! for half a second had she almost been enjoying their fear, shaking herself out of it she got eye contract with the demon dwarf or whatever he was.

"I accept your deal"

She had barely uttered the word before a red tether shot from the girl to herself and another tether between her and the dwarf.

Weird but interesting Kira thought to herself, barely had she uttered the words before she could see the entire town relax, and return to some semblance of normalcy, people were still giving her a wide berth.

Looking towards mischief with slight misconcept.

"you proved your point about my hunger

But absolutely nothing should connect me to my mom so why such an extreme reaction from everyone ?"

Mischief tilted his head at her, but simply remained quiet.

wait was he serious!

about to stomp off she remembered the girl.

Heading towards her she could easily see the fear grow more extreme by the second almost like she was being approached by a monster.

Sighing Kira was very quickly getting fed up.

"I order you, speak tell me the full truth and don't leave any details out in an attempt to not offend me"

she had just done it, she spoke highly about morals of owning another being, and the first thing she does is she becomes the owner of another being and immediately forces her will, what fucking hypocrisy.

Returning her attention to the girl.

"Now tell me, What about me is scaring you to the point where you obtained the expression you're currently holding"

The girl looked young, maybe 16, she was full of bruises, with dirty blond hair, just like some of the other demons Kira had seen she was truly beautiful, what stood out was she was full of scales kind of like a lizard and had a pair of wings on her back, Kira couldn't help but question herself if they were functional or just for show, which was extremely inappropriate given the situation.

"w... we... well t. the lady"

Kira felt a slight pang of frustration with the stutter, and didn't manage to catch herself in time the girl had definitely noticed and clammed shut immediately, at this point Kira was feeling a strong urge to kick a tree, deciding it was a way to calm herself down a bit she went a bit out of the town and did exactly that, however much to her surprise she barely felt like she hit, the tree hadn't just fallen over it had literally exploded into tiny pieces of wood from the point of impact where she had kicked if.

Looking around to see if anyone had noticed, like an idiot, she quickly realized that yes, everyone was once again looking at her wearily.

decided to pretend nothing had happened she went back to the girl who had made clear attempts to steel her will as if her life depended on it.

returning the girl immediately spoke up with an impressively steady voice given how she sounded a moment ago.

"The lady is hungry, she is powerful enough that her hunger is being projected for miles, even had you not been hungry or projected your hunger would you not need to destroy objects to prove your power, as it is equally easy to sense. Everyone here knows we are but insects compared to you, the Lady can do as she desires and nobody could stop you, the towns people are currently afforded the luxury of knowing they won't die as your nourishment, so now they only have to worry about not upsetting you, I however am not so lucky, and since I have absolutely nothing of value to offer, am I fearing for my life as I struggle to see what value my life can hold to you beside nourishing your very apparent hunger atleast a tiny bit, while yes I am afraid am I however not displeased about the outcome far worse fates have been bestowed upon those who lost the rights to their own life due to contracts, I was careless with the phrasing of a contract and ended in a tough situation, atleast you're giving me the bliss of death, that doesn't mean I'm not afraid if death"

Kira grabbed her forehead, this was not exactly a fun situation.

"You're saying that even had I not been hungry even with my current appearance looking like a human, everyone would still fear me due to being able to sense my so called power?"

The girl seemed confused by the questions as if Kira was asking her silly questions just to toy with her, but answered anyway out of fear.

"Indeed, your power is so vast it would be impossible not to notice and anyone thinking they were to be more than insects before you would live in a disillusion that I can only feel sad about"

Kira let out a small noise of frustration and the girl immediately jumped.

"Just one last time, I promise you I'm not toying with you.

First question, do I seem human to you, as in could you ever mistake me for one.

Second question you fear me because I'm strong is there anyone stronger than example the feline demon accompanying me?

last question, what do I need to do to set you free and let you return to your life."

the last question caused the girls eyes to almost bulge out of her head, but she quickly calmed herself and addressed the questions one by one.

First question, your appearance is admittedly spot on, you've hidden most demonic traits even your eyes are dull due to your hunger, but anyone remotely fooled would need to be exceptionally dense, even if it wasn't for your hunger your power is more than enough to turn the idea into a joke, the appearance might however fool some humans into thinking you were one of them, but even then I think you would need a lot more convincing act to fool any human into thinking you're one of them, they would have to be especially gullible, often the stronger you are the more their instincts will tell them something is wrong and the harder they scrutinise your act.

we all saw how you almost lost composure earlier before signing the contract your eyes would give you away instantly.

Secondly, the feline demon by your side, you got decent humor, yes he is strong but even our city guards could likely take him if they worked together, as for anyone stronger than you, maybe the Crimson Siblings, but it somehow doubt that unless they got stronger since last time they were around, but that is doubtful, as they are still spending all their time on Earth looking for the princess, I still suspect the only reason the queen spared them is they are proof the princess is alive.

if the princess is out there I could imagine she would be equal to you, maybe stronger.

but no the only one I can think of is the queen herself, and don't even think about it you don't stand a chance.

last question, even if you didn't ask because you're toying with me, you cannot make a command or a new contract that would go against another contract, your current contract stated that you would take me against against sparing their life, letting go of ownership of my owner ship would break the conditions of the prior contract, that's not to mention you took on my debt contract which essentially means I am to do anything in my power to serve you in any shape or form to thr best of my ability, but unlike my former owner do I not see a single use I would have to you, that would make you bother to put up with me which you're very much confirming by asking how to get rid of me, why you won't just take my soul as you're clearly hungry is however something I don't understand."

suddenly Kira heard a shout behind her.

"Are you all idiots to be fooled by someone like her, No one are that strong its all an illusion and ill prove it!"

throwing a bottle at Kira, it was rather slow to Kira and she could have avoided it if she wasn't in utter disbelief about what was happening.

"Idiots truly does exist" she heard the girl mutter to herself.

somehow all of the glass shards just fell to the ground without ever hurting Kira but she had effectively been drenched in this guys weird liquid, starting to feel a slight warmth she recognised the feeling, No way! as she once again felt her clothes becoming too large.

The entire town had once again gone silent, and you could see the guy who had thrown the bottle at hers bravado completely dissapear now showing genuine fear.

"You're.... You're the missing Princess."

He said while moving backwards stumbling and falling on his arse.

looking down at herself she thought back to how she remembered herself looking in the mirror she did indeed share traits that made her look remarkably similiar to her mother.

Mom, I know you weren't keen on the illusion but could you atleast not have made something that couldn't literally be washed off with whatever that was, Kira thought to herself.

moving over to the fat burly guy

who she ironically could for once look down upon because he was sitting on his arse.

she saw the fear in his eyes, addition to being close she could smell it, a tiny excitement welled up in her chest.

Not sure what the guy in her eyes but he froze up completely and went completely still as if even moving an inch would be the difference between life and death, his fear effectively reached an all time peak

Kira wasn't sure what came over her but she felt excited and while smiling she caught herself asking him.

"I believe that error in judgement was your own fault, my clothes no longer fit and you've inconvenienced me quite a bit, how do you plan to compensate me?"

The burly man didn't move a single inch but it was clear the gears was operating at an all time high, it was odd but a part of Kira truly enjoyed his fear.

It took her quite some willpower to shake herself out of whatever that was.

The entire town was once again watching her every move.

"He was an idiot, I'm frustrated and my pants no longer fit, I'm not going to go on a mindless rampage"

nobody in town replied but just kept watching.

the man finally spoke up.

"I'm giving you Everything I currently own except for anything related to myself such as my life and free will"

suddenly more red strings appeared.

The Lizard girl spoke softly.

"That guy was the richest in town, but when it came to raw valuables as gems gold, potions artifacts and other things he even had multiple mid grade soul orbs, he also held a lot of Demons, most of them would welcome the blessing of death, he was not a kind master to serve"

Watching as the guy had in a weird way handed her all his property simply by saying it was a bit weird, but Ashes words came back to her of her stressing that words are binding.

deciding to just get out of here before she somehow gets herself into an even bigger mess she looked at the guy with a cold expression.

"Your digression have been forgiven"

Sighing as she knew she had to do this.

"Where are my new passions located so I can pick them up?"

Before he could answer Desmond had arrived out of nowhere.

"The princess won't need to bother with something as trivial as that, I will see to your newfound possessions arrive to you safely!"

Ash appearing next to the scaled girl.

"Seeing you haven't killed her, I assume you plan to let her serve you, I will take care of making sure she is properly trained including the other new possessions once Desmond arrives with them"

Kira was absolutely dumbfounded, how the fuck did this happen, deciding to just let the world burn for lack of better expression she threw her hands up in the air in a frustrated gesture.

"please take me home, I wish to rest"

and as such she was expertly guided to the carriage and brought home, almost loosing her pants multiple times on the trip because of how oversized the waist had once again become"

if there was anything positive to take out of this was her moms expression when she returned home and her mom noticed she was no longer wearing her illusion, but before Inari could speak Kira cut her off, she knew it was rude but she just didn't have the energy.

"Please can we discuss this matter tomorrow, I just wish to retire to my room and sleep for today, I will gl... sigh I will definitely answer all of your questions tomorrow"

for once she didn't make a single complaint as Ash followed by the new lizard girl guided her to her room, bowed and closed the door.

atleast mischief had the good sense to stay quiet as he had definitely lost a few brownie points, she got why he did what he did but it didn't mean she liked it.

kicking her pants the rest of the way of she pretty much just threw the clothes in a way less neat pile than originally in the corner, snatched the smaller night gown and went to sleep.