Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

I shivered as we walked down the road towards the adventurers guild. "This maid uniform is not made for early spring." I muttered.

"It does help to be undead." Hatsumi admitted, as she looked at me. "The short sleeves help me with my runes, which is a problem when I am wearing your clothes. I guess I have to become better at manipulating them without touching them, if we switch more often. Also, we might have to paint some runes on you."

I frowned. "I don't think we are going to change that often and our eyes are clearly different. You have red eyes and the normally white part is black!"

"A black sclera is rare but unusual eyes are not unheard of when it comes to mages." Helena replied. "You are already exotic as dark foxkin, I think that's why a lot of people don't react that much to her eyes."

"To see the eyes you have to be close, the runes are more visible. I believe we should carry some form of paint to ensure you can switch roles more easily." Kaito suggested.

"If someone doesn't know you they won't know how your eyes look anyway. We could spread rumours about your eye color? It's not like there are any paintings of you around, everyone has to go by a description." Rose pointed out.

"We could commission a painting of Hatsumi posing as Koyuki and hang it somewhere public." Garm suggested.

I sighed. "Wouldn't that lead to more confusion, or people no longer believing it's me?"

"You do have your licence for officials but spreading some confusion might be helpful. Your allies know who you are anyway." Helena said.

"We can start with those adventurers, they have seen the real you and will be confused when you are the maid now." Hatsumi suggested. "Perhaps they can help to spread some rumours?"

"Wouldn't it be best if no one knows that we have switched roles? Shouldn't we keep that hidden instead of creating confusion?" I asked.

"You have captured two assassins who know and there was your guard report, I believe there is already a chance that the idea of you switching roles gets out. Further, Hatsumi hasn't suggested that we admit that fact to the adventurers, we just want to confuse them about your features." Kaito pointed out.

"They didn't seem that smart, or that attentive, so it might work." Helena said.

I sighed. "I guess I will be a maid for a bit longer…"

Helena put her arm around me. "You are going to be fine and at least your affinity makes the cold more bearable. Imagine if Cassie had to wear short sleeves in that weather."

I chuckled. "I can already imagine her complaints."

"Mistress, your girlfriend is cozying up to your maid, it's quite scandalous!" Rose said to Hatsumi with a grin.

"Oh, we are going to start some juicy gossip." Helena said with a grin, while pulling me slightly closer.

I sighed as my undead and my girlfriend teased me but it did bring a small smile to my face.

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We arrived at the familiar building of the adventurers guild and went inside. By now it was already late afternoon and I was really looking forward to a bath and a proper meal tonight. Our lunch had been some sandwiches, which weren't too bad, but I wanted something hot, especially since this uniform wasn't very warm.

I approached the counter. "Greetings, my Mistress is seeking some adventurers. They are a group of four led by a man named Barny."

The man frowned at me, perhaps trying to figure out why I looked different? I hadn't been to the adventurers guild very often but my amount of undead made me memorable.

"Why is your Mistress looking for this group?" He asked.

"She has business to conduct with them, they might help in an investigation." I replied.

"I see. Well, they have rooms at the drunken ox. They were looking for some work earlier today but didn't seem to find anything so you have a good chance of finding them there." The man said.

"Thank you." I replied and we left. As we stepped onto the street I stopped. "So, does anyone know where the drunken ox is? I guess I should have asked that."

"I suspect it won't be in the expensive part of the city." Kaito said. "Let me see if I can find out."

Having Kaito do the questioning might not have been the best idea, since his appearance could be a bit intimidating. His butler uniform really did a lot of the heavy lifting there, people just didn't think a butler would attack them. However, they remained weary. In the end we got our directions.

"That's pretty close to where we started today." I noticed.

"It does make sense, they had probably left their inn just shortly before we met them." Helena said. "It was early morning."

"It wasn't that early." I replied.

"I suspect some adventurers like to sleep in since they have no requirements to get up at a certain time." Kaito suggested.

"Like cats." Garm commented.

"Meow." Nyx sounded like she was agreeing while also being offended.

It also reminded me of something else. "We have been walking around with a corpse the whole time. Oh, maybe that's why the receptionist was looking strangely at me?"

"You know, it's interesting that I find it normal now that we have a corpse with us." Helena mused. "But we shouldn't bring it inside an inn."

"I can guard it." Garm offered. "I could also carry it, since Nyx prefers to be small most of the time."

"Meow!" Nyx immediately took the offer and we moved the corpse from her back to Garm's.

"Maybe we should also keep the goblin assassins out, they look a bit sinister…" I said, as we stood in front of the inn.

"Perhaps a wise choice." Kaito agreed.

The inn looked more like a tavern at the ground floor and it was about half-full. By now it was around 17:00 and while it was a bit early for lunch most people enjoyed some drinks.

"Oh, that's the kinky maid!" I heard someone mutter.

We approached the table with Barny's group and I said: "Greetings, my Mistress has some questions for you."

Barny frowned at me and then he looked at Hatsumi. "Weren't…"

"Did you see some other people enter the sewers, before us?" Hatsumi asked, before he could say something. She also stepped in front of me to block an easy few on my runeless arms.

"Wow, you have a headless one with you this time." One of the men wearing leather armour said.

"Greetings, I am Kaito." He said, while tipping his head.

"Woah…" Barny.

"So, have you seen someone else? There has been some sabotage to the city's runes." Hatsumi said.

"Oh, that sounds serious." Barny replied.

"You know, there was this redhead boss, the one with the big… Uh, the nice looking one. Really magey with robes and stuff." One man said.

While Hatsumi was talking I took some time to actually study their group. Barny was big with a lot of muscle and had a clean shaven face with short brown hair. The other man in chainmail was bald and a bit shorter. The one who had mentioned the mage had short black hair and a more lean build. He was still in good shape, it was clear that they were all used to fighting. He was also the youngest and might still be in his twenties, while the others were more likely in their late thirties. All of them had rough skin with the occasional scar. The last man of the group had been mostly silent. He had short brown hair and a full beard.

The whole group still wore their armour inside the inn, however they only had their arming stores and no additional weapons this time. They seemed generally rather relaxed and enjoying their drink. There was no sense that any of them was nervous about our presence.

"The mage? We didn't see her go into the sewers but she did look a bit out of place." Barny said.

"Could you describe her?" Hatsumi asked.

"Well, red hair that went to her shoulders, a blue robe, matching eyes, I think,..." Barny said.

"And uh, very, uh, um…" The young one said, while staring awkwardly at Hatsumi's chest.

"I see." Hatsumi nodded. "Thank you for your help."

We left the tavern again and while we hadn't learned much, it was something. Maybe we could have a look at the mages the city employed normally and see if there was a match. However, that would have to wait until Brian gave us that list.

"Ok, I guess we call it a day and actually get clean and have some hot food." I said.

"Sounds great." Helena agreed.