I returned to our new room to tell Helena about the conversation. When I arrived I noticed that Hatsumi had finished unpacking for me. I quickly summarised what Erik had said.

"No maids? This is great news!" Hatsumi said.

That caught me by surprise. "But it was your idea…" I mumbled. Was she unhappy? Was…

"Yes, I love being your maid! But you will be the only person with one. You can rub that into Archibald's face. Should I dress in my maid outfit every evening for dinner? Maybe serve you food directly in the mess hall?" Hatsumi suggested, very enthusiastically.

I stared. For a moment I had been concerned she was unhappy, now I was concerned she would be too happy with her role.

Helena laughed. "I love it! We need to do that. I want to see Florence's face. You should dress more undead in servant uniforms."

Hatsumi smiled. "A brilliant idea! You should line the wall around you with undead dressed as servants. Imagine the faces of your enemies. Maybe they will overreact and need to be punished…"

"Erik said I should not take this too far! You are going to get me in trouble!" I protested.

Hatsumi petted me on the head. "No mistress, I am going to protect you from trouble by dealing with it effectively."

"I think we could have a little bit of fun with it…" Helena suggested.

I sighed. "Let's try not to provoke people unnecessarily. We shall see how it goes."

Hatsumi looked at me. "Koyuki, you were a maid. Now you have risen to be the only person here who has a personal maid. You have earned this. You have worked hard for this. And I serve you willingly. It is fine to enjoy this. You deserve it."

"What she said." Helena added.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I glared at them. "You just want to cause mischief."

"That too." Helena replied.

"Ok, different topic." I said. "Hatsumi, do you want to work with Gronir? And what about your accommodations?"

"I am happy to assist his research as long as it does not harm me, or you. Hopefully it will help me increase my powers. I need to grow my core. My bite is rather powerful but my magical abilities are still lacking." Hatsumi replied.

"Erik also mentioned some compensation. That might allow you to get your own room." I added.

"We should talk with Skadi about that. She is the most experienced among us when it comes to money." Hatsumi suggested. "As for the room, I would be fine with the storage room, although I would prefer to be closer to you to offer protection. As a vampire I can see well in the dark and I do not crave a window."

"You are doing remarkably well in sunlight for a vampire." Helena pointed out.

"Vampires are vulnerable to light magic, not light itself." I replied.

"I wonder about that. From what I have gathered vampires prefer the dark but I do not mind the sun, personally. Do you think it is because this body had a light affinity?" Hatsumi asked.

I shrugged. "No idea. Maybe the plant seeds also had something to do with it?"

"Are plants not more like earth and water?" Helena asked.

"Sure. But they need sunlight." I replied.

"You have consumed a potion made of those seeds as well. Do you feel different in the sun?" Hatsumi asked.

Helena shrugged. "Not that I noticed."

"Alchemy can be tricky. If you want to create something new you need to find ingredients that match and create a spellform together. Cassie is very talented at it, despite the occasional explosion. I just followed existing recipes when I did alchemy." I admitted. "And with Skadi and Hatsumi keeping an eye on her, to stop anything too dangerous, I trust the result."

"I am looking forward to seeing you improve! I wonder how you will change?" Hatsumi said.

"Change?" I asked.

"You are recreating the natural abilities of magical creatures, in a small way. Once the magic is in your blood it will start to change you, slowly. Maybe your skin will harden? You have already noticed a faster healing, correct? Even before the potion you were changing. Now your whole body will be improved!" Hatsumi replied.

"It is not that much mana that we are circulating…" I replied.

"True. But the bigger the core someone has the more mana they leak. Normally mages make no use of that mana so this is meaningless for them. They orbit the leaking mana around their core instead of circulating it. But for you? The more your core grows the more you circulate. And keep in mind that the mana can permanently change things in a creature. Every day your cells absorb more and change." Hatsumi explained.

"I did not know that bigger cores leaked more mana. I never noticed." Helena said.

"When I helped Cassie and Skadi we did some research. I read up on magical creatures when Skadi proposed the idea originally. I have spent a lot of time thinking about it. Remember that I learned a heal just to protect you? I have also read some healing books. I believe this path will help you grow!" Hatsumi said.

Hatsumi had given this a lot more thought than I had. The whole circulation thing had always felt natural to me. But I did have to teach my friends directly. We even had to connect our mana. Why had it been so easy for me? And why did it feel so right that it was now enhancing our blood? Was there something different about dark foxkin?

"We are so going to dominate this year! It will be awesome! Muahahahah." Helena started laughing.

"Meow." Nyx, who had been sleeping during this conversation, agreed.

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