As expected, Gremshow complains about having to camp out while we are eating. A couple of Mavel’s daughters also complain, but they are nowhere near as bad as Gremshow. Surprisingly, neither King Cecil or Queen Estel has had a single complaint since we picked them up.

They have been with us a shorter time, but it still raises my opinion of them by another notch. It is actually their conversation over dinner that gives me more information about King Vex. It turns out that he is the youngest of this group of rulers as he is in his early twenties.

He is also single, which is what led to the other rulers betting on which of Mavel’s daughters will snare him. I don’t really care about that, I just hope they don’t get in the way of what I need to do. They can flirt with Vex all they want once more important things are dealt with.

In fact, it would be nice if he took all of their attention so that they would leave me alone. Mavabel has backed off a lot since I scared her, but she hasn’t completely given up. It would probably be worse, but her opportunities while we are traveling are limited.

It probably also helps that I have had one of my wives by my side for most of the trip. Flirting with me in front of one of my wives takes a lot of courage and confidence. Either that, or Mavabel has figured out that it isn’t my approval she needs, it is my wives’.

Whichever it is, I am glad to have one less thing to worry about, at least for now. However, it is going to be interesting to see how she reacts to Lin, that will be the real test. If she can actually impress Lin and make friends with her, I might be in trouble.

Luckily, she isn’t a beastwoman, since adding another human wife would be bad for the balance. As far as that is concerned, Leylisha is probably more of a threat, but I don’t think she is interested in me. At least, I haven’t seen any signs of her being interested, but I also suck at reading women.

I am fairly confident that the only one Leylisha is interested in is Lizzy, as a mount. Other than that, Leylisha hasn’t shown any romantic interest in anyone as far as I have seen. Then again, I have no idea how such things are done in her tribe, they could have completely different traditions.

Thinking of all that, I still need to talk to Lizzy and see what she thinks of Leylisha. However, there is no rush for that conversation, it can wait until other things are settled. Delaying it will just give the two of them more time to get to know one another.

What I really need to do is find something for them to fight, fighting together builds bonds. That is especially true for Lizzy because she is such a battle maniac, not that I have room to talk. That is also part of the problem, finding something that will be a challenge for her.

When I am finished eating, I use the excuse of setting the wards to escape the conversation. Mercy is quietly laughing at me as I escape, but she knows I hate being social. She however loves it, so she is going to stay and gossip for a while before heading to bed.

Once the wards are set, I place the cabin and then go looking for Lizzy and Leylisha. I am not planning to have the conversations right now, I just want to check on them. However, when I find them Koko is also with them and that reminds me of something.

“Hey Koko, can you do me a favor and hide for a minute?”

Koko says “Sure.”

She then disappears and I start using every technique I have to try and find her. Unfortunately, none of them work and I find myself grilling my brain for a way to find her. Then I remember a technology from one of the games I used to play that scanned for air displacement.

Luckily, it is very similar to how I searched for that creature by looking for voids in the mana. Koko, no matter how invisible, will still displace the air like a ship displaces water. As long as she doesn’t also turn intangible, I will be able to detect her by the void in the air.

Come to think of it, I should also be able to detect her by the air movement as she breathes. My first attempt at the spell does work, but it is an overwhelming amount of information. The air is rarely still and just seeing the movements in a small area overloads my brain.

My second attempt, tuned to look for voids only, works much better and allows me to spot Koko. The spell could still use some fine tuning, but the fact that the idea worked is the important part. Now that I can see her, I reach out and pat Koko on the head, which makes her reappear.

Koko says “What?!?”

Lizzy says “You actually found her?! Even my senses can’t detect her when she is hiding! How did you do it?”

“By looking for the air she is displacing. No matter how invisible she is, she still takes up space. That area where air can’t enter is what I detected.”

Koko yells “Cheating!!”

Lizzy says “Can you teach me how to do that?!”

“I should be able to.”

Lizzy says “Good! I am sick of Koko sneaking up on me!”

Koko just giggles at that and I start trying to teach Lizzy how to sense voids in the air. Surprisingly, Leylisha is the first one to pick it up, followed by Koko, but Lizzy is still struggling with it. She is used to just depending on her natural senses and is having trouble using mana.

Koko is learning it mainly to see if she can figure out a way to beat it, but I don’t mind. I mainly wanted the ability in case of assassins who have a similar ability to hide. I make sure that Leylisha has the ability down and then leave her to help Lizzy figure it out.

That’s because I noticed Mercy leaving the group of rulers and heading for the cabin. I shapeshift to human form on the way and enter the cabin just behind Mercy. She makes me chase her around the cabin and we have our fun when I catch her.

After Mercy is asleep, I open a soulscape as usual, but I only invite my wives to start. Once everyone has arrived, before I can say anything, Mercy tells the group about Leafa. She doesn’t exaggerate and tells the story accurately enough that I don’t feel the need to comment.

My only contribution to the conversation is to create an illusion of Leafa for them to see her. I then get asked if I can invite Leafa to the soulscape, but I have no idea if it will work. The only way to find out is to give it a try, so I invite her, but I am surprised when she actually shows up.