The night passed by in what seemed to be seconds, and the most exhausted of my women by far was Alexia. Her legs twitched as I made sure that she received the special attention I thought that she deserved. I made it known why I was so happy with her as she planned my days without me knowing. She was excited, although she remained unconscious a little longer than she probably wanted. Yuri would fill in for the morning as she got up earlier as she had been joining my women.
Florine was also exhausted as she had shown up for the first time in a while. It seemed that without consulting anyone that she had entered a closed-door practice for a couple of weeks. When she came out, she felt more powerful and made a breakthrough in strength. I was somewhat jealous as I would love to take a month to meditate myself at this point. The negotiations and the added challenge of now being the boss of my siblings didn't make things any better.
Yuri informed me that my sister was up and ready for our meeting. I sighed as I got out of the pile of bodies with me. I looked over, feeling satisfied. I had extra time after the meeting yesterday with my brother and sister. I took great use of it to start the festivities early and made sure to give each of my women attention that they rightfully deserved. Tina was feeling even more cock hungry lately with the pregnancy hormones in full effect. Kate wanted me to be even more violent with her, too, but I made sure not to go too far with her. It was an interesting balance that I still was not used to doing.
I got myself quickly cleaned up, and Emily made herself available inside the shower. She seemed to be doing this more and more often to get some extra time with me. She was even starting to show her pregnancy with twins. I even had to help her out of the shower afterward as I rampaged inside her anal cavity, making sure not to go too hard on her. Soon after that, with a much cleaner body, I dressed and headed to the meeting room.
I rotated through many of these in diplomacy as I had learned that I might make them dirtier than needed after specific meetings. Inside, my sister was sitting on the couch waiting for me as I came in and sat down.
We both sat across from each other in silence for a couple of moments. After a night of resting, she seemed to have only looked better than yesterday. I realized that a boat trip that takes weeks would make anyone feel better after a night of rest. Still, the silence was getting to me, and I decided to take the first sentence of what I expected to be a complicated relationship.
"So Christina, although I was hoping for subordinates and not brothers and sisters to be dispatched. I am quite happy to see you here. The Spy ring, due to neglect or deliberate sabotage, is in ruins. I have had a subordinate in the meantime trying to expand it. They are inexperienced in subterfuge. This is something that by your achievements makes this a great way to show off your skill. I am quite happy that you were dispatched to help me out." I began honestly that her experience was something that I was delighted to use. "Now, if you do not mind, I would love to get to know my Sister a little better. The ability to hide your emotions is already exemplary. I would like you to tell me how your journey went and where you went."
"Okay," Christina simply replied before starting, "I went to the theocracy in the north cut off from all other humans. They are surrounded by the Dwarfs and our brethren wild Beast-kin on the south and east. The Elven forest on the west and to the Wild Mountains exist. They cut them thoroughly off from all other humans. They are quite Isololated as well, using their excuse of God to do whatever they want. The preists use Mana as a way to control the population. Once you enter their lands, it is much harder to leave. When I entered, there wasn't much information about what was going on there. I was naive and got trapped in their lands due to curiosity." Christina began.
"I was exploring around when I was picked up by a paladin division that tried to prosecute me as a heretic. The reason I found that they believed that later is that they think all non-human races are Heretics. They attacked me indiscriminately and brought me into their town to jail me." The emotion was absent as she continued to talk, "They placed me inside a cell that I escaped from. That was when I learned that although many things their nation may be culturally; they were not in the arts of mana. The priests and paladins there are dangerous and can detect many types of magic. They were ruthless after I escaped hunting me down. Still, I knew I would be publically executed if I allowed myself to be captured again.
"I quickly found out that the only way for me to eat was in trash cans of their inns. The only place to sleep was in the corners of alleys as I couldn't stay anywhere. I became a scavenger living on the streets, finding whatever hole I could find to sleep during the day. At night I would scavenge for food; my bottom line became nothing as I learned that I had to slaughter my way out if I was discovered. With each spotting of me, the hunt increased. When I tried to leave the Theocracy to get to better lands, they seemed to know where I was. I soon found the safest area for me was in their capital city and the most dangerous. Months went past, and I became scared to try and leave the theocracy.
"I knew why at this point why no information about the theocracy typically leaves their lands. They seemed to have some type of spell formation that tracks their general location when someone is declared an enemy. They knew I was in their city but not where in the city. This meant if I tried to run, I would be discovered the general direction I was running in, and they could catch me. After the first close call, I knew I couldn't run, so I scavenged like a street rat and ran at the slightest signs of imminent danger.
"I was a D rank wizard when I was first caught, and I started to train while running from the paladins and priests. Soon while under the pressure of one escape, I broke through to C rank, barely surviving the encounter where they almost cornered me. The pressure somehow kept increasing as I fought with the hunters off and on. I realized after a year the best way to survive was to break into a house and slaughter the occupants to eat their food before moving on. I became a reaper, and the population became scared as I typically targeted homes with a single person. This allowed me more time to hide.
"After two years of slaughter and hiding, they came up with a new law that all the people followed. It allowed the priests to have more control over companies that if someone went missing, they must report it, or they were considered a heretic themselves. After they slaughtered some of their own population, they started to find me again reliably. The hunt began afresh with a game of cat and mouse. At that point in time, I began focusing on stealth with my mana and became a Pure shadow mage. I gave up our proud versatility to survive in this harsh climate.
"Still, they started to learn my tricks, and I continued to fight back as I hid. I began to become better at disguises. I had already started to get better before the refresh of hunting, but it was still amateurish. The population wanted the hunts to stop as well. They hated me more and more as the preists and Paladins began to interrupt their lives even more. I started to blend into the population more and more, hiding among the masses, becoming an imposter.
"This began the Heretic trials, and I felt like a noose was wrapping around my neck. They were relentless until I learned how they didn't detect the population flooding them with information. It was here that I learned that the Priest baptizes kids in what I initially thought was water. I found instead that it was a potion that they concocted that stays within the skin. Then they place it on their children; they grow up with it making them undetectable unless declared and marked as an enemy.
"When I learned this was when I saw my ability to escape the blasted lands of the Theocracy. While hiding, I started to use my shadow mana to see if I could make something that imitates it. My research was slow as I had to continue hiding, and I had to change cities twice. After five years, though, I finally could do so, and I escaped the blasted lands of the theocracy. When I came home, I found that I was welcomed back and placed in the espionage sector of the Silvermoon tower, working for the Kingdom of Arlin division. I hear there is a purge going on with the demon lands division on why they never reported the issues you were having here." Christina finished.
I was left astonished at the level of difficulty that her journey was, and when I reached out with my mana, I found nothing in front of me. I was astonished and found Christina with a small smile. "I am now a B-ranked Shadow mage, Sister. You will not see someone specialized in anti detection like me, Sister." This was the first trace of a smile I saw on her face.
"You are right that I cannot detect you with your superior anti detection. I will not attempt to at the moment, although I hope you will forgive me for trying later, though. I am delighted you survived your journey, though, sister, and I hope that you have found something to make you happy in the meantime. I am also very grateful to have your experience available to me." I began, "Your track record in the kingdom of Arlin shows you know what you're doing. So, Sister Christina," I paused for a moment, "I will cut to the chase the gold that you will be used to create a network will be mine. I am entirely funding this with personal gold and not that of the embassy's; you understand this, correct?"
Christina nodded, "Yes, it is cheaper to maintain a network most times than to start anew. It will be a costly endeavor as it seems you understand." Christina replied.
"Good, I will tell you then that your basic budget at this moment will be a hundred thousand gold coins. You will have a week or more, if you ask, to bring to me a budget that makes sense for the espionage for our nation. I will listen to any points that you give me. In the end, you can add anything you want to the budget. I will allow unlimited funds that I have available on one condition; Prove that you need it." I finished looking at her thoughtfully. "If you need it, I want you to have it or be able to bribe it. I do not have unlimited funds, though. What you need to convince me or prove to me you need it, and you will have it. Worse comes to worst; I will spend more time in the alchemy lab to make more potions to sell to make ends meet. Do you understand this point? I need a running information source as soon as you can provide it, and I needed it months ago."
Christina's serious face changed to surprise, "You look at this very seriously, Sister Chelsea; why?" She asked.
"Christina, I will be honest with you. I am blind. I have no idea what makes my allies tick. I have no idea why the succubi are so pissed off with the previous Ambassador, let alone even more important things like why the Venomancers hate us. I have no idea what the Imps are up to or the Devils. This is a severe problem when negotiating a mutual defense agreement or Free trade agreement. I am in a fight with them with both legs tied to both arms all behind my back. I may as well be blind, deaf, and mute. I have more problems than solutions. I can't even play the rivals against each other!" I stopped here before I started to rant more. "You are the key right now to how we move forward as a nation," I said, pointing at her. "I need you to do your job, fast and doing a perfect job." I finished.
Christina nodded, "Alright, but with the speed your asking, you are looking to increase the costs." She responded, her face returning to the lack of any emotions.
"Good, I am relying on you, Oh and one more thing." I said as the meeting was coming to a close, "What is your relationship with our older brother?"
This was the second time in the conversation that she was surprised. It was only for a second before the face devoid of emotion returned. "We have personally not talked much before we were placed on the ship and brought out here. I hear though inside the Silvermoon tower council there are some very friendly faces towards him." Christina stood up as she said that, moving towards the door. She paused before exiting, "Chelsea, it was interesting meeting you in private I will have my budget ready for you as soon as possible. Please, who should I go to, the Purple Dragonic girl or the Red-headed bunny-kin to get you for a meeting."
"Talk to Alexia most likely, if you can't find her the purple Draconic Yuri," I told her, and she stepped out of the meeting room. I was lost in thought as I processed the meeting that just transpired.
Christina kept most information about herself private. Even the entire story about her journey sounded out of her mouth done by someone else. It was like she detached the moment it left her mouth. I could only assume she had stated the story one too many times. Another would be she was captured and trained into a double agent by the Theocracy. That was dubious as the council had its own methods to make sure that wouldn't happen.
Regardless my Sister would always be a tough nut to crack. She remained very reserved when it came to me and barely gave any of her thoughts away. She was surprised that I was willing to increase her funding to as much as she could convince me. This meant that there might be funding problems related to espionage at home.
I leaned back, taking in all the gains from the conversation with Christina. She was a very experienced woman with formidable powers. When I tried to detect her, I felt nothing. No, it was more like I felt the ambient mana, only like there wasn't even the absence of something. If I equated the air to a pool, you would detect the lack of water somewhere if someone were invisible inside the pool. Instead, I even felt the water where I could see her.
This made Christina a very powerful opponent to mages. I didn't know how shadow magic worked either, as she was the second I encountered. The first being a Cat-kin that tried to kill me years ago. I leaned back, thinking more in-depth while I ignored the second problem that would be coming in next.