854 Breakfast meeting
"I saw that red-haired elf leaving your room this morning. She was still flushed, and what was the thing you showed her to make her run back to the door?" Vash joined in.
"She forgot her underwear," Hera smiled and sat in one of the free seats around the table before activating the soundproof bubble, "But honestly, it was weird."
"She wasn't into it? Or was she inexperienced?" Skyler asked.
"No, for the first question. I'm not sure about the second one. But I was weird. It was the first time I did something like that with this new body and like… what do I do with my tail?" Hera explained.
"I can imagine one thing you can do with it," Roan joked, but just got a blank stare from the rest of the group.
"And you made it gross. Thanks," Vash huffed.
"Just for the record," Hera raised her tail. Even the tip was about the size of her fist, "This is the size. Do you want to test your idea?"
Roan stared back at the Empress, "Point taken, my bad."
"Anyway. Since the topic of Hera's first time was ruined, let's move on," Neria gave Hera a playful smile.
"Hey! It wasn't my first time," the Empress huffed.
"Technically, she isn't wrong," Vash teased, "But yeah. Let's move on."
"Ok, so do we have any new information about Delta, or what the humans are doing?" Flint asked.
"Sort of. We do know some of the movements humans are making. They seem to be gearing up for another attack. A bigger one this time. Probably in the next few days," Roan replied.
"Or, they are doing all that to keep us on edge and will keep running drills and threatening to attack for months to make our morale plummet before the actual attack," Skyler added.
"So we are in the exact same place we were before the attack?" Vash asked.
"Yeah," Roan and Skyler slumped back.
"About Delta. I got some information," Hera was the one to speak up this time, "Brave Warrior Miller sent me the file as a form of courtesy for my contribution. Also, apparently we are getting, like, reputation or some form of points for our missions. Kind of like a ranking. For now, that means nothing, but we will get some rewards when the war is over. We got some extra because of Delta. Anyway, when he died, all that red from his body vanished, revealing a tattoo on his chest and another on his neck. They are trying to see what that tattoo actually is, but it seems to be connected to the experiments. Another reason for that is that some of the people who were rescued also had tattoos that they didn't have before."
"I remember you mentioning that. They think those are connected? Wasn't the tattoo on the survivors just a thick black line?" Neria asked.
Hera nodded, "It was, but that doesn't mean it wasn't just hiding something underneath. Maybe that line was just a way to hide the ink. Like a way to safeguard their original tattoo."
"Why didn't they do the same thing with Delta then?" Roan frowned.
"Maybe it's too much interference. Or the black line would make the effect weaker," Hera replied.
"Or it could be a pride issue. If the humans are being super racist against us, maybe even sharing the same tattoo as someone like us would be an offense. If that's the case, then having the black tattoo band makes the soldiers less likely to feel like they are on the same level as the victims. Or it could just be a way to brand our people. Many civilizations in history are known to like tattoo criminals, brand slaves and such," Skyler heard a ring coming from the side. She opened a small slot on the wall and saw their order for breakfast. They got that before the Empress arrived, but it was a nice enough spread not to have to worry about anything. And if anyone wanted something else, they could still order it.
"Lovely. Not happy with experimenting on us, they are also treating our people as slaves," Neria shook her head.
"I mean… technically, they are not. They are lab rats," Vash started getting food on his plate. He also pulled the pitcher with orange juice and poured a glass.
"Is there any difference? Being a guinea pig is just as bad," Neria crossed her arms.
"Ok, ok. Let's not go there. Both scenarios are absolutely awful, we don't need to debate, which is worse," Hera jumped in and noticed what Vash was working on, "What the hell are you doing?"
The Harpy had just dropped a full shot of espresso on his glass of orange juice, "Some people in the army suggested this and I got curious."
Everyone just watched the man as he finished mixing the concoction and took a sip. He frowned at first, but then nodded with a surprised expression, "You know… this is kind of nice. Weird, but nice. Anyone wants to try?"
They all raised their hands and started to pass the glass around the table. Flint took a sip and frowned, not liking it one bit, "Ok. Did you get any other information?"
"No. That's all. Apparently, they are still waiting for the results. The body is in the morgue for now and they are worried about sending it away. So it's likely that someone will come here to analyze it," Hera started spreading butter on her bagel.
"Isn't that kind of dangerous? What if the humans send in a team to retrieve it?" Roan sipped the orange espresso and quite enjoyed it. After passing the glass along, he made his own to drink with the meal.
"So far, no one was able to invade the city. The army is covering the entire length of the room, so it will be almost impossible for someone to sneak inside. Which means this is likely the safest place for the body," Skyler explained as she started to cut some fruit for a salad.
"Also, I am 80% sure that information is fake. Something they are saying to anyone who asks while they do something else with the body," Hera took the orange espresso glass and took a sip. It was weird, but pleasant, maybe not, It was very hard to describe. This wasn't like fries with ice cream that just worked. It was as if both liquids were still separated, but not in a bad way. Even then, it was hard to say it was a good thing.
"Ok… so what about us? What are we going to do?" Vash asked, having just started to eat his bacon and sausages.
"I mean, we are still doing a mission. We need to take Randolf, Remy and the others back to the Kalandria Empire. I sent a text to Milla, and she is checking if there are any missions that we can do on the way. Minor things like dealing with a specific monster. Or helping people fix something. Nothing that would make us get delayed for more than a day," Skyler pulled the tablet, "Yeah, she didn't say anything aside that she was going to look for the missions."
"But is that what we want? I mean, after Delta, this battle and everything. Is everyone fine with continuing to do what we were doing?" Vash pressed.
Hera leaned back, "Honestly. I don't know. I do know that I don't like being here. The front line is not a place for me. I won't shy away from a fight if I see one, but I rather not be involved with this part of the war. And honestly, I do want to help the Strength Spirits. And the people who were captured, of course."
"I do want to continue helping people. But I don't know if staying in the front line is the best option. I mean, I really lost my mind here, and I don't see that changing even after we had that conversation," Neria drank the orange espresso and almost spat it out, "This is disgusting!"
"Hey! Just because you don't like it, you don't have to be that harsh," Roan huffed. After passing the cup, he promptly dumped his coffee on his orange juice to enjoy the beverage.
Flint spread some butter on his toast, "Honestly. I think everything is still a bit too fresh. I'll give you my answer after we finish this mission. Then I'll know for sure what I'm feeling about all of this."
"That's a good plan. I think we need some time, and we will have a week, anyway. We also don't know if the agency will ask us to do anything specific to repay the power leveling we did," Skyler nodded.
"I do remember Ka'mal saying that they would ask us to deal with problems in higher-level rooms. He didn't specify if those would be just regular problems or something specific," Hera took a bite of her toast.
"Yeah. He talked about that, and when we reached the level, they asked us to reach. 60. Or 56 in Hera's case. I think the intention was to give us a couple of days off before actually sending us away. We spent 63 days running the same dungeon over and over every single day. Even during wartime, people need to rest," Roan added.
"So are we done? Is this everything serious we had to talk about?" Vash asked.
"I guess so. Why?" Skyler tilted her head to the harpy.
"I have some tea! Did you know that Pilla apparently is dating a captain who is here? But here is the juicy part, Brave Warrior Miller asked her out. She refused, saying that she wasn't ready for a relationship. Then bam, two days later that captain swooped out of her feet, and now they are a thing."
"Miller should be pissed!" Skyler giggled.
"Really? Are you gossiping about the Brave Warrior?" Roan frowned.
Vash turned to the beastman, "What?"
"Put some respect to the title," Roan grumbled.
"C'mon. I'm not being disrespectful. I would follow his orders and knowing about his personal life won't interfere with a thing. It's just fun," Vash smiled, but the beastmen still complained.
While that was going on, Neria scotched closer to Hera and whispered, "Hey. I know it may not be my place. But can I make a suggestion about your sex life?"
Hera raised one eyebrow, she didn't think they were that close. But then again, getting to that level of intimacy with someone required a first step, "Sure."
"Have you seen tentacle porn? That might give you some ideas."
The Ophidianite blinked, "Are you saying my tail is like a tentacle?"
"Well… it's an appendage. I never thought about what would be the most similar thing, but since we had this conversation. The idea popped into my head. Maybe there is something there," Neria continued.
Hera stopped to think for a moment. She knew about those kinds of videos, mostly animated, but she never watched any of them, "Ok… I get your point. But I have no idea what is a good one. Do you have a suggestion?"
"I'll send you a few links later," Neria smiled.
Hera smiled back and chuckled, making the triton give her a look of offense, "I'm not laughing at you. I was just thinking, if we were working in an office building. I think this conversation is when someone calls HR."
Neria laughed, "Fair, but that's only if either you or me call them."
"Or anyone around the table. C'mon, at our level, you can't expect everyone not to be able to hear our conversation," Hera tilted her head to the side. Skyler and Flint looked up and gave the two a knowing nod.
That made Neria turn a shade of purple almost instantly, "I… should've talked to you later."
"No one is going to think any less of you because of what you like. Besides, you are a triton. Everyone looks up to your kind for resorts and ways to relax. It may be bad of me, but I kind of always imagined that you were very sex positive because of all that," Skyler said.
"We are, it's just… Different when you are admitting something," Neria glanced up, catching Flint's smirk.
"You didn't admit a thing," the dwarf paused and took a sip of his coffee, "Until now."
