Results and Plans

Your time walking through town is a bit...odd. Fortunately, no one seems to be looking at Camilla's new sister. Unfortunately, there's far too many dead hornets around to actually enjoy the pseudo-anonymity.

Eve tugs on your hand. "At least there's food for months, now."

You chuckle. "It'll rot before then. Maybe we can give some of it to your tribe."

"Oh! Maybe we can share with the other tribes, too!" She pulls an arrow out of one of the corpses and sets it in her quiver.

"That's a great idea. I can't imagine this many hornets sitting around is good."

You end up passing by a semi-organized cleanup crew dragging bodies from the streets as you approach the church, and a pit forms in your stomach. You spot the giant of a man himself, Garth, limping from a small fire, carrying a teapot through the stone archway. "Okay, everything's gonna be fine..." You clutch Eve's hand as you, her, and Camilla distantly follow Garth.

"Relax, Private," the captain slaps your shoulder, "you've done far too much for this town for them to throw you out." You're unsure if she's convincing you or herself, but it's appreciated nonetheless.

You all head inside, spotting Garth pouring Gilford a cup of tea. "Thank you, Garth." The priest takes a sip as his hands lose the glow they had moments before. The church is packed now, at least relative to before. There's easily a hundred people in here, each in various degrees of distress and discourse. Camilla gently pushes your back, urging you to go talk to him. With a deep breath, you and Eve approach.

"Gilford, I know this isn't the best time, but this is Eve. She's the amnesiac we were hoping you could help. Oh, yeah, and I'm 'you know who'." You nearly forgot that you weren't appearing as your usual self.

"Hi again." Eve waves.

Gilford sighs. "I don't know why I expected this to be about a human... I can't guarantee anything, but I might be able to do something once we take care of the injured."

"Then let me help." You drop your polymorph, immediately feeling cramped in your borrowed clothes, especially in your groin. The chatter in the room immediately stops as all eyes turn to you. "I've got healing magic too, so just point me to those that need it."

With the two of you plus Camilla working on healing everyone, and Garth supplying you all with mana-restoring tea, you're nearly done by the time you see Eve tugging on your blouse, her face flushed. The two of you take your leave as the church gets more crowded, with you polymorphing back into your futa form to leave. One thing you confirm with the following quickie is that it seems your pheromones have no effect on Eve if you're not in your true form. It's a nice revelation, and you're glad you can avoid effectively knocking out people you have sex with. On the other hand, Eve has some thoughts on it: "It's not as good as earlier..."

You once more sit inside Camilla's abode, Eve on your lap as you both wait for word of the verdict. You refrain from gaining an erection, despite your current situation, and as such, Eve seems to keep things more civil. You don't really discuss anything, just sit around and cuddle. It'd actually be nice, if you weren't distracted by everything, from the fact that a goblin of all things is sitting on your lap (which you didn't even realize existed until less than three days ago), to the fact that you're 'destiny' in this world is still to kill someone you considered a friend. Consider. She's not dead anymore...but I guess she barely ever was...

Your internal monologue is cut short, with the door opening, revealing Kara and Camilla. "Congrats, Private!"

Kara quickly claps her hands together and holds them to the side of her head. "You definitely made an impression today."

Camilla walks over and claps you on the shoulder. "You're officially allowed to stay in Riverbend! That goes for you too, Eve."

"Garth is going to let you have a room until a house can be constructed for you."

You're actually a bit shocked. Sure, you helped save the town and healed some of the injured, but you didn't think it'd be that easy to get the town on your side. "R-really?"

"Well, there is one thing." The captain sits in one of her chairs. "But it's basically nothing. For you, Dusk, you have to stay in human form while in town, except in the obvious case of invasion or something. For Eve, unless she's been hiding it, she can't do that, so the others are...well, they're at least somewhat okay with her as long as she doesn't try to hide herself. So no hoods. Other than that, you both seem to be in the clear, as long as you don't try to hurt anyone."

Kara speaks up, by now in the other chair. "You also have to still act as a town guard, but it seemed like you were going to do that anyway."

"Yeah, I do plan on travelling around a bit, but I was gonna try to use this area as a home base of sorts, sticking around when I can." They don't quite need to know yet that I have Pure Land. But either way, I was hoping to maybe get a dungeon core at some point...which will probably be harder because of my hybrid nature... I'll need to ask about that.

"Travel? You have any destinations in mind?" Kara seems the most curious of the bunch.

"Well, the demon kingdom is one, but as for everywhere else..." You try to remember details about the rest of your 'targets', coming up short on a lot of them. "I feel like the elven capital would be one, if I ever feel the need to talk to the archbishop, but I'm drawing a blank on where I should go for other...for lack of better terms 'targets'. Sorry, quick recap, Eve, I'm not from this world, and I was originally supposed to take out all the Saintesses, the heroes of light. Before I got here, I was bribed by an angel to turn my back on the gods who reincarnated me."

The goblin hums. "That...makes sense, I guess. You are a bit different from most monsters."

You nod. "Yup. Anyway, I don't plan on killing the Saintesses, but a fight is probably inevitable."

Camilla nods her head, thinking. "Well, in terms of humans, the Arch-Imago is probably in Crehan, the human capital. It's probably a week's travel East, as the crow flies. The Amazon Queen... I'm not sure. I imagine she's normally found in the Barian Fields, or the towns surrounding them. Follow the river north and you'll reach them eventually. I'm not sure about any of the others, though."

You shake your head. "Alkadabuki isn't even an option right now. I don't know a lot about her, but I know I'm probably a flea compared to her. Citrinas...she might be another story. From what I remember, I should be able to convince her not to kill me pretty easily. Even so...I don't think I should be taking such a trip anytime soon... The Hornet Empress is such a huge threat that I don't think we can ignore her."

A silence settles through the room, before Kara speaks up. "Empress? You mean there's more than just the hornet queens?"

You pause, only now realizing that the Hornet Empress' existence isn't common knowledge, if people even know about it at all. "Uh...yeah. Ariel told me that the Empress conquered...a lot of hives, and ended up evolving. All of her children grow into queens in their own right."

Kara and Camilla share a look before the captain stands, walking over to her dresser and pulling out a sheet of parchment and a bottle of ink. "Tell me everything you know about the Empress."