Tama

  Saki guided me through my 'UI' as Anna called it when she got back. Anna apologized and promised she wouldn't do that again, but that it was totally worth it. Saki glared at her but said nothing, and I let her reattach as my gi. The toe-sucking thing was apparently removed as a 'quest' as Anna called it, and Saki looked relieved.

  She looked up at me and said, "Since it's clear you can set quests, does that mean you can see them too? I know Anna is gonna have to answer, so I am going to say this now. Anna, if you are caught lying to me, I will erase you next time and will learn summoning to replace you with a more behaved elemental."

  Anna shimmered and giggled at that before responding, "I am a DIVINE Water spirit! You can't survive without me!"

  In response to her proclamation, I pulled her off me and squeezed until she said sorry. I then threw her over the wall again to Saki's irritation.

  "We needed her, Tama! Unless you suddenly learned to read!"

  While we waited, Saki tried to get me to share the map thingy. In the end, we couldn't figure it out. I even tried cutting it, causing Saki to jump out of the way. Silly Saki, I only hit what I am aiming for! Anna finally returned and, after profusely apologizing, was allowed back in.

  "Okay, so there are ten current city quests including Saki's quests," Anna said matter-of-factly, highlighting a list that appeared next to the map thing. "These are clearly specifically for Surtank. However, there is a tab for the kingdom of Trissaile here."

  Another area of the UI lit up and I nodded.

  "Here are your current requests. These come from many things. The most common are requests from your subordinates." Anna continued as she highlighted what looked like a closed envelope with a red number on it. It was a big number, since it was clearly bigger than twenty.

  "The number is eighty-seven, Tama," Anna said matter-of-factly. As she spoke, the envelope thing seemed to open and another popup appeared, lots of words with lots of those lines with dots on the ends.

  "Those are exclamation points. Around forty-eight of these are from your aunt. They all say the same thing. A sking where you are, if you are safe, if the royal guard can come pick you up. Here is one about visiting your mother's burial site! Apparently, she was buried in the kingdom's royal tomb against her wishes."

  I nodded and asked, "Who is Tama's aunt?"

  Saki responded, "Since you are princess of Trissaile, it means there is a very high chance your mother is the one and only Queen of Trissaile. And since Trissaile is a matriarchy, she most likely needs you if she has no children of her own. Which, as of a year ago, she did not."

  I nodded at that and said, "We should help her find the Princess!" I wagged my tail and smiled happily at a new quest to save the day!

  "Tama..." Saki said with a long sigh. "You ARE the princess..." She shook her head and looked at me sadly. "And there is a very high chance she needs you so you can claim your throne. She has most likely been ruling as regent this entire time. First your mother, then you."

  "Claim the throne?" I asked, but I already had a feeling, and I didn't like it even a little bit.

  "It means you need to be crowned Queen Tama, and rule over your subjects. They need your guidance. Earth help us..." Saki added that last part under her breath as she seemed to realize something really bad. She looked at me and paled as whatever hit her seemed to solidify. "We are all doomed," she finally stated under her breath with a sigh.

  I looked around to blink away but turned back to Saki. She stared at the ground, her eyes darting back and forth on the ground as she seemingly tried to think quickly. Finally, she looked up and grabbed my arm . N ot to stop me, but because she seemed to have an idea.

  "Maybe, Tama, you don't have to be Queen. We still need to meet your aunt, but if I am not mistaken, we can in fact create an heir for you. Have your aunt rule in your stead for around ten more years.

  That is harsh, but she should survive that long. Then your child, which I will personally teach, can take the throne from her." As she finished, she looked almost crazed as she muttered under her breath, "Yes, that works!"

  I asked, "Why can't Trissaile just not have a Queen?" I leaned in and tilted my head. I was pretty sure I just solved the problem!

  Saki just stared for a moment and sighed. "Because, Tama, without a Queen, the kingdom would literally start crumbling, and all the protections the kingdoms provide would practically dry up overnight. You would be sentencing hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths."

  "Then can't we just pick a new Queen?" I asked, my ears twitching in irritation.

  "No, Tama, royal bloodline succession is a thing. You can't just pass it off. Your line was chosen by the elements long ago. If your line dies off, the entire kingdom is donethat's it."

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  "Saki has known Tama was a princess this whole time! Why didn't she say anything!" I snapped. "It must not be that important!" My tail lashed angrily as it became clear what she was suggesting I was required to do to save people. I had to rule a kingdom, and I refused to do that for anyone.

  "Tama, you don't understand. I knew things were bad, but I didn't realize they were this bad. I figured your aunt had a plan. But if she has been sending distress letters to you this whole time... When was the last letter, Anna?" Saki asked suddenly.

  "Ah, the last one was from three days ago. Wait, a new one just came in thanking Tama for responding. She is sending the royal guards to us," Anna said cheerfully.

  Saki screamed before grabbing her head and taking deep breaths. "Please, Anna, please tell me you did not respond to the Queen of our void kingdom without telling us!" she said, her eyes bloodshot and her tail snapping aggressively back and forth.

  "Okay, I won't," said Anna as she giggled and swirled on me. "But I would like to mention she is really nice and offered us cookies when we got there."

  "But wait, how are they going to find us when we are lost?" I asked curiously.

  Anna answered, "Simple, I gave them directions. They should be here in about two weeks."

  Saki was now pulling her hair and her eye was twitching. After a moment, she calmed herself and gently sat down and began trying to meditate. She was doing it wrong, but I didn't want to upset her more.

  After a few moments, she stood back up, took another deep breath, and said, "Later." Then she took my hand and we kept moving towards a large building with weird shiny stuff on it.

  We walked into the building and up to a desk where the lady from earlier was sitting. Trixua looked up at us and smiled. She stood and bowed before saying, "Empress Tamaneko, how may I serve my kingdom today?"

  Saki stepped forward and answered her. "How is the ruling for anti-slavery going?"

  Trixua looked at me for another moment and I pointed at Saki. She turned to Saki and answered, "Ah, yes, the paperwork is almost entirely filled out. But the traders are... unhappy with the new rules and are threatening to overthrow the city."

  Saki nodded at this and asked, "Will they be doing this in the arena?"

  Trixua nodded and Saki turned, before walking out of the building, holding my hand to drag me along. We moved towards a really large, fancy building. I heard fighting inside and got excited. Saki stopped us at the door where two guards sat on either side. One was picking his noseSensei said that was rude to do in public. Why did goblins get to do all the fun stuff?

  Saki turned to me and said, "Tama, there is a high chance the slave traders will use their slaves to attack you. Illegal or not, they will. You are going to have to kill him and any slaves with collars on them. Can you handle that?"

  I considered for a moment before asking, "Will Tama have to take care of another slave?" I raised my eyebrow and she shook her head.

  "Then Tama is willing!" I exclaimed happily.

  Once we made it halfway down the hallway to the arena, I heard a familiar voice and got excited. "Is that all you pathetic slavers have got! I expected more from the people who caused my mistress trouble! You are not worth the slime on your worthless skin!" Tristy's voice boomed through the arena, and the sound of explosions started.

  When we reached the inside, I blinked ahead to watch just as Tristy, over ten feet in the air, suddenly had her feet on fire and held her in the air. Tristy was flying using her fire! She wouldn't be able to keep it up super long.

  That had to be draining. Still, she raised her hands and started shooting fireballs at dozens of slaves, all of whom were attempting to fire at her with bows or dodge. Tristy, however, just swayed left or right and the arrows missed as her fire feet shot her in whatever direction she wanted.

  I pulled out my dagger and blinked to the nearest slave. I sliced through her collar and it came off. She instantly died and fell over. I blinked to another one and pushed my hand against her right breast and summoned a water dagger, stabbing her directly in the heart.

  I blinked into the air and threw a water dagger at Tristy, who dodged and threw herself to the ground, creating an explosion around her and blasting everyone away. She used her blink to reach a nearby enemy and punched them with fists of fire.

  I blinked to the right and swung Serenity down at another slave, but before I even hit him, he simply fell over dead. I frowned and looked around to see all the slaves were dead. I saw Saki. S he was standing next to a goblin corpse, one of her tails sticking through him.

  "Got one," she said casually as she flung the corpse off her tail. She looked around the arena and said, "Kind of stupid to be the only goblin here. Made it obvious who was the slave trader. You take out the master, the slaves die."

  I nodded sagely, not caring about the reason. I looked over to Tristy, who was maniacally laughing and shooting balls of fire at corpses, leaving nothing but ash in her wake. She was a true apprentice! Never leave bodies! I walked over to Saki, who opened her paper and nodded to herself.

  "Okay, we are good. Slavery is no more in Surtank, Tama. Now, we have to get out of here before your aunt arrives." She looked up at me seriously and I nodded aggressively.

  "We need to hurry! Tama doesn't want to meet her aunt and be Queen!" I said fearfully.

  Saki just sighed and said, "While I understand your fear, Tama... probably more than even you do. That's not why. We can't meet them like this. I am genuinely terrified how they will react to a conquered goblin city and a Kitsune being your royal advisor. No, we need to plan, and two weeks sitting around in a conquered goblin city is asking for trouble."