As I awoke, I was startled by the scene in front of me. Rikki was flying in front of my face, his one eye staring at me impatiently and playfully, waiting for me to get up and feed him.
Rikki was the runt of his litter, and was actually going to be killed when I first met the little guy. I stole him from the, Monster "Breeding" Farm. Which was basically a bunch of monsters forced with each other in order to make more desirable "monsters," It was a sick place, and I Stole Rikki and Doren from the slaughter line and got them as "pets" for free.
He and his best friend Doren were both the result of misbreeding and so they ended up looking more creature or animal than human, Especially Rikki though they were technically brothers due to litter numbering they were not blood related.
Rikki smiled as he saw me waking up. His bat like wings were flapping quickly and he seemed to be excited about something, as his one visible big eye was in a closed eyed smile.
"Ik-Ik-Ik, Good morning Zara! Rik-!" He said as he perched himself on the top of my bedside table. I yawned and stretched out as I greeted him good morning. "Where's Doren? Is he off getting into trouble again?" I asked playfully as I booped his nose.
"Ik- ? No, he said he saw an old friend and wanted to catch up with them, so he's doing that right now, Rik-." He said as he hopped off of the bed post.
"I see, alright then. Well, how is your training going Rikki?" He smiled as I asked the question.
"Very well -Ik. I recently got my second eye to show up-Rik!" He exclaimed happily.
Rikki was also a humanoid, it was just that he was born without the organ most 'monsters' had that would force others of his kind to permanently remain in their human state, meaning he had to learn how to turn into a humanoid like form manually.
I swung myself around in an attempt to get my legs to hang over off of the side of the bed, only to roll off of the bed and faceplant into the floor.
"Don't you dare Rikki..." I said as I saw his smile threaten to turn into laughter. He looked at me and did the best nod he could manage seeing as he had to flap his wings to stay airborne.
"Honestly... Hey Rikki, did you check up on the little girl I brought here? Her companion wasn't too fond of me trying to get a look at her injuries, so I've no idea what kind of condition she's in." I asked as I sat myself back up, holding my hand over my nose.
"You bet, she's doing much better now that I convinced her to eat something! Her injuries were mostly scratches and bruises, so a majority have healed. Ik-Ik-Ik, she should be better in no time as long as she takes it easy. Rik-!"
I sighed quietly as I shooed him out of my room so I could get changed. Sliping into a casual evening gown, I put on my heeled shoes and headed downstairs.
"Young mistress, we have news!" Marianne yelled as she galloped over to meet with me at the bottom of the stairs. Marianne was a horse beast-man and was the shy one of the group. Her blue hair always being braided up into a french braid, and a quiet demeanor about her, she was almost like a fairytale princess in her mannerisms.
"It's your father, Lord Venitź has been-" I cut her off with a grimm smile.
"I know. Marianne, it was bound to happen someday, so I bear no ill will. Please, don't concern yourself with me. Tell everyone else that my pig of a father is no more, and that they can release all of his... 'prisoners.' And inform them of the rebellion. The more allies we have spreading the word, the better." Holding her free hand In mine I gave it a small squeeze and headed to the kitchen.
Yawning a bit, I began to go through the pantry, pulling out different ingredients. Cracking eggs and melting butter, and adding some sugar among other things. I went to get the final bit. Finally reaching for the flour, I stood on the tips of my toes to grab the edge of the sack.
*Poof*
*Crash*
"Ouch!" I exclaimed as I rubbed my back. The flour had spilled out over top of me and made me fall forwards, the still half full bag landing on my back with a thud.
"Tch, you really do do things without any help around here then. I'm surprised. Now get up, you look utterly ridiculous human." Said a slightly less hostile version of a voice I had heard only recently. Laughing I rubbed the back of my head and sneezed.
Sighing, the snake offered his hand to me and I accepted it.
"You know, at first I saw you as a possible threat, but now I'm just embarrassed to have even considered it." He said as he lifted me off of the ground.
"Now what were you doing human?" Dorren asked as he looked down at me coldly.
"Ah, Right. I was making pancakes for everyone. Rikki told me that your little friend had a bit of a craving for them. And since she's feeling better, I decided to make some for everyone to celebrate." I explained dusting off all the flour that had made me to look a ghost.
Dorephan flew into the room with Rikki, who was flying around with two eyes instead of his usual one cyclops like eye. "Dorephan, perfect timing! Think you could help me with this?" I asked as he flew over to me. He nodded and took a deep breath. Within moments, the flour was all gone and dorephan had turned white.
Dorephan was a Beta rank, meaning he also had a human form, but he preferred his usual form over it. He was a Dragon slime, they absorbed magic attacks and barriers to become stronger, but could also absorb a number of other things as well, which produced energy for them. Dragon slimes were born as a dragon class monster with slime abilities. He was tiny, but in his human form, he was quite fast, as such he was often my messenger for delivering letters quickly.
"Thank you Dorephan!" I said as I gave the small white dragon slime a hug.
The maids were laughing as they socialized with the newly released prisoners that my father had wrongfully jailed for rather petty reasons.
Having finished making breakfast for all twelve of us with the help of Dally, who seemed a bit more trusting of me than before, I called everyone into the dining hall.
Marianne sat between Sora and Lyla, Dally and his companion Silvia sat next to each other, the newcomers sat in the remaining empty seats, while Leon sat next to me as Rikki and Dorephan were fighting over the remaining seat beside me.
"Alright everyone, I'm sure most of you are confused as to why you're eating with me today." I said, breaking the awkward silence.
"The reason is because I have news that may not surprise you."
"That being?" Dally asked calmly with a slight glare.
"My father, Lord Venitź is dead." I said with little emotion to my voice.
A few gasps were heard, along with some murmurs among the others.
"As you know, I am the heir to his business, and if you know this, then you should also know me well enough to know I don't want it." I say calmly folding my hands together.
"However, If I were to abandon our business entirely, I would lose all of you to someone who I know will mistreat you. Therefore, I believe it best we come to a decision on what we should do." I continue as I made the usual hand gestures that my mother used when I was young.
Everyone was now listening intently to my words as the dining hall was silent as they awaited my next few words.
"We have three options. Option one would be to continue doing business as usual while secretly doing our rescue missions. The second being we change the business entirely, including breaking off ties with all previous business partners and starting from the ground up."
"What's the third option then -Ik?" Rikki asked with curiosity shining in his two golden eyes.
"The third is... I get married to some snobby noble to gain influence and then share my cause with the world, hoping that there are others out there like me who want to help liberate beast-man kind." I said as I shivered at the thought of marrying some snobby old noble's child.
"Absolutely not!" Sora and Lyra yelled in unison as they stood up in protest to the third option. Even Leon protested against it which honestly surprised me.
"Thank the gods that you agree on saying no to that one!" I said as I held my hand to my heart.
"So about the remaining two plans... Which are we going with?" I asked as I took a bite of pancake.
"I vote we do a mixture of both personally." Dally said out of nowhere.
"Do explain." I said as all eyes went to him.
"We should modify the designs of the collars. Instead of making those wretched shock collars, you should add an extra feature that only you and other beast-men will notice. Perhaps a hidden lock-pick kit and a small map hidden inside would be useful for those who are kept in cages so they can escape and head here as a safe haven."
"Thats actually a great idea! No one would expect that the things they use to bind them in place would be what ultimately frees them! Not only that, but since we're the only company that knows how to make them we can even lessen the maximum voltage in the magic we use for making these."
"If it's a symbol for beast-men that you need might I reccomend the eastern Clan's symbol?" He said as he passed a piece of paper to me with a drawing of three claw marks.
"That's perfect! Alright let's set up teams."
We then continued to create the teams for the project.
Marianne was the operations manager.
Silvia, Lyra, and I were on the medical team.
Dally and Sora were on the meal making squad
Leon, and Rikki were my travel companions.
And Dorephan was quite obviously, the messenger.
Even telling the beast-men factory workers of our plan, to which they happily agreed to help even with little to no pay, of course I still planned to surprise them by paying them by the hour unlike my father who payed them by days.