Building Bridges

"[D] Good to see you all are up bright and early." I look at the monsters spread about the room as Eve translates what I'm saying for Torch and the other goblins. Thank goodness Terra is helping her out. "[D] Our main project for today is a bridge across the river. Xerxes, Markonath, you're going to be transporting lumber to and from the mill. Essraya, Diana, you're going to help with holding things in place while the orcs and James bind the wood together. Any questions?"

"Could you repeat that in humish or draconic?" Markonath flexes his claws into the dirt.

Essraya reaches out and pats his shoulder. "You're going to be helping Xerxes move lumber."

I nod. "Sorry, Markonath, I honestly forgot you didn't know demonic. I'm gonna be doing a few things around town, but knowing that the humans won't like me building a bridge into the Demon Kingdom, I'm also going to be helping make the bridge into a sort of drawbridge. That way, the human guards can stop monsters from crossing should they need to."

Torch speaks up and Eve translates. "What about me, Torch, and Cooker? And the others that are coming in today?"

"Some of them are going to be hunting, and the others are going to be building another house or two. Cooker, was it? I might be able to convince Garth to let you work with him. Torch, same goes for you and the local blacksmith. The language barrier will be tough, but I have faith you can work through it. Eve, you're going to be bouncing around the bridge construction, Garth's, and the blacksmith to make sure things are going smoothly with the goblinoids." I pause. "Any other questions?"

. . .

"I understand that, Gilford. That's why I'm working on making it a drawbridge. The guards can raise the bridge whenever they feel the need to."

"It is a better defense to not have a bridge in the first place!" He tightens his grip on his staff.

I breathe. "Gilford, if we're going to take advantage of the goblin tribes working with us, then we need them to be in town sometimes. I can't spend all my time ferrying goblins and supplies back and forth across the river."

The priest scoffs. "I can't believe you're even considering this! Building a bridge into the Demon Kingdom is suicide!"

"Humanity has the strongest heroes in centuries, and you're afraid of a handful of weak monsters? We even have extra guards from Recuan!"

"And they brought even more monsters!"

"What seems to be the problem here?" We both turn, seeing Roger walk up to us from around the corner of the church, helmet on their head.

Gilford takes a breath before addressing the blond. "Captain, please talk some sense into him. We can't reasonably build a bridge into the Demon Kingdom!"

"Of course we can't." They turn to face me. "Not without taking proper precautions, at least."

"What!?"

I slowly nod, not quite expecting that response. "Exactly... The plan was to make it a drawbridge, so the guards can raise or lower it as needed."

Roger nods, visibly thinking. "We'll need a pair of guards there to keep watch, but it sounds reasonable."

"You can't be serious!"

"Gilford, is it? The entire region within five miles of this church is, at least for now..." They glare at me. "...under Lord Blackwing's rule. That includes the territory on the west of the river. Building a bridge will also allow for the relocation of the other monsters to the west, making the town safer overall. With guards on duty at all hours, there isn't much chance for monsters to attack using the bridge." They pause. "If it would make you feel better, when Lord Blackwing inevitably fails the king's test, we can destroy the bridge before our main **** departs."

Gilford sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "...I'm not winning this argument, am I?"

I purse my lips. "Unfortunately not. I appreciate your concern, but we're going to be doing this as safely as we can." And while I'm here... I activate God's Eye, taking a look at Gilford's priestly abilities. Blessing of Fertility...don't really need that. Blessing of Love...don't really need that either...but getting some Magic Defense might still be worth it, honestly... "Anyway, thanks for your support, captain. Gilford, remember, stay calm, okay? I'm doing my best to make sure people remain safe."

He looks at me, unsure. "...so you say..." The priest then walks away, back inside the church.

. . .

"I really appreciate your help, Garth." I lean against the bar.

"Ye 'aven't steered us wrong yet, boy. If ya think this'll 'elp, I'm 'appy to do ma part." The burly man wipes out a wooden mug, occasionally glancing to Cooker, the big goblin looking around the place. "Do 'ope 'e doesn't make too much fuss, though."

Eve pipes in. "He shouldn't. Cooker was never a...combatant. He stuck around camp and helped take care of the food once the hunting party brought it back."

"Good. I'll, uh, teach 'im what I can, but without the little miss, don't know 'ow much it'll stick." He gestures to Eve.

I sigh. "Yeah, don't know how much any of this will stick, but here's hoping."

. . .

Faust looks to me in disbelief, waving his hammer around. "Who the fuck do you think I am? I'm not working with a monster!"

"Fine, don't work with her, teach her. She's goo-"

"No!" He whacks the hammer down onto the anvil. "I'm not fooled by your gimmicks! You're not going to take this town, scum! Now get out of my forge!"

I cross my arms, taking a breath. It was bound to happen eventually... "Fine. I'm not going to **** your hand. Torch, Eve, let's go." I lead them away from the smithy and into the street. What can Torch do to contribute? Sighing, I turn to face them. "Alright, Torch. Instead of that, how about you help organize the goblins coming in today? You've already proven to be a leader to your tribe, so you should be able to help organize this group."

After Eve translates, the hobgoblin nods and speaks, Eve translating again. "I'll do my best."

. . .

I gaze across the river at James and the monsters beginning to work on a semblance of a bridge, starting out with what looks like a segment of the deck.

"Chief, anything else you'd like to add?" Eve grabs my attention, causing me to turn around and look at the six newly-arrived goblinoids.

"We're still missing the Kormaks, aren't we?" I count only two from Torch's tribe, since she and three others are already here, and four from Eve's.

The horned goblin exhales as she nods. "I have a feeling we're going to need to visit them again."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Are they sadists or something? It feels like they're trying to provoke us..." With a sigh, I wave Eve over. "Nothing else for now. Let's go grab them."

She walks over, only to pause, suddenly turning her head. "We...might not need to..."

I follow her gaze, and sure enough, I spot an orc running towards us through the trees. The rather thin orc approaches, breathing heavily as he rests his hands on his knees. "...okunye okuzayo...wathola isigqila...hhayi umuntu..."

Eve begins translating. "There are more coming, but it looks like they were held up by another ****." As I grow visibly angry, Eve continues. "This one isn't humanoid."

My anger turns to confusion, before I shake my head. "Doesn't matter; we're setting whoever they are free."

We wait another ten or so minutes, and another three orcs, one of them carrying a person over his shoulder, and another carrying what looks like a comedically large bag on his back.

"[D] Oh, we're stopping?" The cloaked woman, apparently conscious, begins looking around, her horns poking into view. "[D] Oh, a big church! Are we finally at Riverbend?"

I interrupt her pondering. "[D] And who are you?"

She turns a bit more, only to be dropped abruptly onto her rear. "[D] ...could have been a bit more gentle..." After she makes eye contact with me, she continues. "[D] Ooo, nice wings. Oh, right, introductions. Call me Knack, like knick-knack." She stands, offering a hand. Well, both hands, since they're cuffed together in fuzzy handcuffs.

I furrow my brow and share a look with Eve before shaking her hand. "[D] Dusk. What's a devil doing this far east?" She looks mostly human, if it weren't for the red skin and horns. A succubus?

"[D] Well, when rumor came to Bestion of a monster becoming the lord of a human town, I just knew I had to see it." Her eyes drift to across the river. "[D] Huh, a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Oh well." She recomposes herself, dusting off her long skirt. "[D] Anyway, I'm a wandering merchant, and I thought I'd see if you're willing to trade."

Cocking my head, I motion to Eve to have her follow me. Once we're a short distance away, I ask her outright. "What do you think?"

The former elf looks at the 'merchant' curiously. "It's possible... I'm sorry, I don't know what to think about it right now. It can't hurt, can it? We need ten gold...she might be our best option to get what we need."

I purse my lips. "That's part of what I'm worried about..." Taking a step closer, I speak up so the devil can hear me. "[D] What do you have to offer, Knack?"

The devil looks expectantly at the orc holding the big bag, and when he looks to me, I gesture to give her her stuff back. After he does so, she begins reaching in and pulling things out and tossing them to the ground. "[D] I've got leather cuffs, rope, a few antidotes, a dildo, aphrodisiacs, a couple whips, a double-sided dildo, a defective **** collar, some bandages, a strap-on dildo, a leash, a couple daggers-"

I raise my hand. "[D] Hold on. That's...a lot of sex stuff."

She looks at me confusedly, another dildo variant in her hand. "[D] Oh, are you one of those asexual monsters? Kinda sucks, in my opinion, worst lottery win ever, am I ri-"

"[D] No, no, I'm just saying...more than I'd expect." I look to the items now sprawled out on the ground.

"[D] Oh, yeah, you're not a concubus, are you?" She looks to my side, at Eve, waving the dildo in her hand. "[D] Looks like you're interested, though. What'll it be? Vibrating panties? Insta-Cum tonic? Hyper-sensitivity cream?"

As my gaze falls to the former elf, I can see her brownish face staring at the lot. She manages to tear herself away and looks at me, almost as if she's asking permission or waiting for me to act. Sighing, I look back to Knack. "[D] What would be the prices?"

The devil pauses, putting a finger to her chin. "[D] Didn't think about the conversion rate, did I? Is there even a conversion rate between demon coin and human coin? Eh, whatever. If you can hook me up with a place to stay for the night, I'll give you something for free, but after that, it ranges from around fifty copper to a silver per item."

That actually sounds half-reasonable...discounting the fact that I still don't know the conversion from copper to silver... "[D] If you go back to the Demon Kingdom by tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. For now, do you mind sticking around this side of the river? No offense, but I'm already having problems with how accepting the people are."

Knack waves the dildo in her hand dismissively. "[D] Eh, no worries. Running any kind of group is a hassle, but especially ones where they don't even like you."

I nod. "[D] Alright. In all honesty, if this 'deal' goes through, Eve is probably gonna pick for me." I gesture to my girlfriend. "Pick whatever you want later, but for now, let's focus on what needs to be done here." Turning to address all the goblins, I speak up, activating Dark Lord to use up my inviolable edict and letting Eve translate. "You are not to harm anyone outside of self-defense while you remain here." I notice Torch scrunching her face and blinking a bit as I finish, but other than that, it seems to work.

"Anything else?" Eve looks up to me, seemingly focusing back on the task at hand, despite her eyes glancing down at the pile of sex toys.

"I think that'll do it for now. We need to check in with Miki and Kaguya about this map. Have Torch organize building a shelter for now. We'll focus on building actual houses once we can use the bridge." Eve translates again, then makes a point to turn away from Knack's 'wares'.

"Great. [D] We'll be back in a bit, assuming I don't have to deal with a riot or something." I pick up the former elf and begin jogging over to the riverbank, leaping and gliding over to the other side.

. . .

Miki opens the door, acting surprised to see me. "My lord, what an honor! To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

I sigh, hearing the sarcasm drip from her voice. "This is about yesterday, isn't it?"

"What ever could you be talking about, my lord?" She cocks her head to the side, a fake grin plastered on her face. "Please, come in, I have some tea on the fire." She opens the door wider, allowing me to enter. The only other person in the room is Kaguya, sitting at his usual place at the table. "It's such an honor to have you in our humble abode, my lord."

I sit at what has become my own 'usual' seat across from Kaguya and Miki at the head between us. "Please, Miki. I understand you're upset, but at least be up front about it."

"Sir, I would nev-" She's cut off by her husband placing a hand on her thigh.

After a glare from the kitsune, Kaguya continues. "Please understand, Dusk. Miki has been used to having...an absolute authority, not only over this family, but over our previous home. Yesterday, you didn't give us much choice in taking care of your children, nor on..." He raises a parchment from his side, placing it on the table in front of me. "...your map."

[I tried uploading a map, but it's not imbedding for some reason, so here: https://imgur.com/a/JGAGlXy]

The town was small, taking up only the center ninth, maybe tenth of the whole parchment, which itself is probably a two-foot square. "We focused on the town itself first, then worked with what we knew about the surrounding area. We're aware of a small pond north and slightly east of town, but we didn't want to put it on the map because we don't have an exact location yet."

"Someone filled our hands with another duty."

I take a deep breath with my eyes closed. "Thank you for your work on this. Apparently one of the monsters that showed up yesterday remembered the locations of some possible dungeons, and this'll be necessary to pinpoint their locations."

"More focused on hunting than your own children?"

Kaguya nods, deep in thought. "It is not impossible for there to be dungeons nearby, but I feel as if we would have discovered them by now. Miki and I have gone hunting at least once a week and haven't found anything unusual recently."

I shrug. "Tell that to the goblin dungeon we found yesterday. Just keep an eye out."

"Of course, how could we forget to be careful when out in the wilderness?"

The man nods again. "We always do, Dusk. Will we be enjoying Violet and Daisy's company today as well?"

I shake my head. "Camilla's getting to the point where she shouldn't exert herself too much, so she and Kara volunteered."

"And I was so looking forward to teaching them how to properly respect their parents."

I wipe my face. "Miki, I get it!" After snapping, I take a breath. "Sorry, sorry. I'll try not to **** things on you again, okay? There's a lot going on and I'm under a lot of pressure from a lot of different people. If I don't succeed with the king, I'll either be imprisoned or an outlaw. If I don't defeat the Saintesses, I'm in hot water with Melanoche and Carnachias, who are the entire reason I'm even alive right now. If I do, I'll probably be smited by the the other gods. Even discounting all that, I know about Orchid's plans to become the new Demon King and take over the world. On top of that, I've got two women under my control that, if left unchecked, will take over the world."

The kitsune sighs, clearly in thought. "...I don't know about this business with Melanoche...but as long as you still intend to fight Orchid, you will have our support. However, we are not underlings you can order around, and even if Kara could be considered as such, I expect you to treat us all with respect."

A thought occurs to me. "I will try my best. Speaking of Kara, something...strange happened this morning. She had started making tea and I possessed her to have a conversation with someone...but then I invited them in as if I was the one that was making tea. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but-"

Miki raises a hand, curiosity on her face. "This is...sooner than I expected. I suppose several things have occurred sooner than expected with this girl recently..."

Kaguya continues. "What you describe doesn't have a proper name, but it is something that happens when a kitsune is possessed or channeled through their bond with another. While it may seem as if you start as two cloths stitched together, the seam between you and her can disappear with time, as if you were the same cloth to begin with. There shouldn't be many effects outside of possessing or channeling, but while together, you may 'remember' things you've never experienced yourself, or even 'forget' you were ever separate to begin with. In moderation, this isn't a bad thing, merely another thing shared between a kitsune and her lover." He sets a hand on Miki's thigh, smiling as they stare into each others eyes.

I cough. "Sorry, don't you mean 'bonded one' or something like that?"

They share a look before Kaguya gives her a very slight smirk, nodding his head to the side. They both turn back to me, the man answering. "Of course. Slip of the tongue and all. Most such bonds are with lovers, after all, so surely you understand."

Miki continues. "Now, why don't you get back to your duties? If you plan to pass the king's test, you've got quite the road ahead of you."

I stare curiously, before nodding. "Yeah, I guess I will..."