Hilda had completed a lifelong goal.

  As a young girl in the DuSonde estate, she had resorted to reading as much as she could about the world of her transmigration. The serpent and the city, the gorge and the temple, these things had long tickled her hopes and imagination. It was a world of magic, adventure, and mystery for her to explore.

  She just hadn't expected it to be over so quickly and easily.

  They were already leaving! It had been a quick surface survey of the city. That's it. Both Hilda and Zerel had wanted to explore the gorge, but after Dawn told them it took her three days to come from the serpent's tail, they realized that wasn't going to happen. At least not yet.

  The queen was expected back at her fortress, and they didn't have enough rations to take a weeklong trek into an undocumented holy site.

  The eyes had been enough. As best anyone could tell, the visions given by the skeleton were from the serpent's memories. Ultimately, only Zerel, Hilda, Aramis, and Sheryl took the risk. Aramis cimed to have seen a mass grave, and refused to talk about the actual events he witnessed. Zerel said she would tell the others about hers ter, once she had processed it. Dawn mentioned to Hilda what Zerel had already said, though. The noblewoman wrote herself a note to look into information about giants when she had the chance.

  Her own vision had been another reminder that she was hardly a nobody in this world. The ascension of Tyrne over the Sondespieg and the subsequent founding of the stewards. A taboo part of the continent's history which Verea taught to the whole family, since the duchess didn't want the history of her homend forgotten, and also since Hilda’s stepmother, Matilda, would have done it otherwise.

  It was rather impressive to actually see the rolling hills of the Sondervand's reflection covered in greatwurms. Apparently there hadn't just been wurms at the convergence, either. The Serpent of Eyes had been there, or it had at least witnessed the events, which wasn't surprising, just… interesting.

  Sheryl witnessed something that both Zerel and Hilda recognized. In their respective research about god beasts, they had both encountered the old felind creation myth. There had once been a Grand Panther; a remarkably simple godbeast from ancient myth, said to be the most powerful of all cats. Over the millennia, the panther grew to love mortals, and eventually decided to live among them. She split her own body into a new people, the felind. Sheryl was shown the inception of her own people.

  She took it remarkably well, and the girl even seemed more confident with the knowledge that she was more or less descended from a god. It also led her to reach an oddly close retionship with Dawn. On the st day in Dé Cyon, the cat and the snake had been found in a pza zing in the sun together.

  Hilda was a little jealous, but she couldn't really stay mad at either woman. She was dating Sheryl, and Dawn’s occasional bouts of cryptic omensaying did little to temper the noblewoman’s attraction. If anything, it made it worse.

  On the second day of their journey away from the city, Dalia and Dawn went scouting ahead together. The transmigrator’s grasp of the Imperial nguage had been coming along remarkably fast, and she said she wanted to hunt something, since eating her fill of the expedition's rations would be a hit to their remaining supplies. She had apparently been kindly fibbing about having enough to eat, and expined that it seemed best for her to catch some of her own game to devour.

  By unspoken agreement, the three remaining behind had avoided discussing it until then.

  “Okay,” Zerel said as they trekked, “we gotta talk about it while they're gone for the day. The Eye.”

  Sheryl's ears fttened as Hilda sighed through her teeth. “It's beautiful,” said the noblewoman.

  Zerel held up her hands like she was weighing fruit, “Yeah, in a strange sorta way. Losing yerself in someone's eyes has never felt so literal.”

  “It was calming to look at. Like ying in the sun.”

  Both Hilda and Zerel gave Sheryl odd looks, “Are you sure you’re not just associating ying in the sun with Dawn, Sherry?”

  Sherry’s ear twitched, “No! Maybe. Look, it’s just not as scary as she seemed to think it’d be?”

  “Maybe we're biased?”

  Hilda redirected her look to Zerel, “How would we be biased?”

  “Well,” Zerel started hesitantly, “you two are gay. And, I’m gay. All of us could be biased by attraction to her. We’d need another opinion.”

  “From someone who’s not gay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we could ask Isra?”“No, she’s bi.”

  “Huh. Still, it’s… I think that we’re probably supposed to have found it more unsettling than we did.”

  Sheryl tossed her hair, “Suit yourselves, I’m purrfect.”

  “You are,” Hilda agreed, before grabbing a startled Sherry by the hair and giving her a quick kiss, “but you know what I meant.”

  In the meantime, Dawn had successfully taken down another nd drake. With a little help from Dalia, she found one that was none the wiser, and tested her venom for a second time. It worked like a charm, disabling the beast in less than thirty seconds, and her companion was impressed. Dawn was fast and anything caught in her coils had probably lost the fight already.

  The snake woman’s intimidation factor went down briefly when she nervously asked if Dalia would step away while she ate the drake. The elf smiled at her friend's request and lied. She said she would step just out of sight and Dawn could call her when finished.

  Dalia watched from a distance, hidden in the brush as Dawn tore flesh from bone, eating in a brutal fashion. The elf had to admit that there was… something attractive about it. She had never met any of the most powerful residents of the Vexwood, but certain powerful fae were often described as being beautiful in the same way as a terrible weapon or an apex predator. Dawn seemed to fit that description well.

  By the time the serpent woman finished her meal and called for her friend, Dalia was pondering the fae societal implications of any sort of retionship with a being like Dawn. Sure, the woman knew very little of this world and likely would be easy to misdirect, but it had always been of some import for the retive power level of parties to factor into the equation. If she, the child of the serpent, was as powerful as said serpent, then crossing her was not a good idea. Which conversely made her very good to have on… or at one's side.

  Of course, for a common elf like Dalia, an amicable retionship had only upsides. Particurly given her current status. Being caught like she was would cost her a demotion if- when Dalia returned to the Vexwood rangers. It was a sting mark of shame for any fae to be apprehended by mortals like that. Even if she just took a sabbatical and returned to her birthpce. People would know.

  “Do you feel better?” Dalia asked as she approached.

  “Yes,” Dawn said pinly, “It's not the most filling thing I've ever eaten, but it's better than a few bowls of soup.”

  “Oh I can imagine,” the elf tittered as they returned to scouting ahead. “Those are supposed to feed a dozen soldiers for three days.”

  Uneasy at the prospect, Dawn changed the subject, asking, “So the three of you are dating each other?”

  “Yes. It's rare, but not unheard of. I suggested the idea given that Hilda's mother is in a simir arrangement.”

  “Oh. I hadn't realized… and I'm going to be meeting her mother! What is her retionship like?”

  “Hilda's mother, Duchess Verea DuSonde, has three husbands and one wife. Two of her husbands were pledged to her service before she married them, and the other two spouses were somewhat arranged. If Hilda didn't have so many siblings, I wouldn't be surprised if she was to be arranged into a marriage as well. They're very important people. At least in the empire.”

  “...Do you like both of them?”

  Dalia was silent for a few seconds, “you're asking me the hard questions. I like them both.”

  “That sounds nice. I don't know if I'll ever be in another retionship.”

  “Because of your wife?”

  Dawn averted some of her eyes and closed the rest as she tried to keep herself calm, “Yes. Definitely, but I'm also this-” she gestured with all four hands at various parts of her body, “and I don't know who'd ever be interested in me. I guess I could learn some transformation magic somehow? Make myself more patable.”

  “Oh by the stars, no! Dawn. Don’t lessen yourself just for the adoration of others. Besides, I know for a fact that at least one person in this expedition finds you incredibly attractive.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “I can't tell you, that'd ruin the fun of leaving you guessing! I promise you it is true, though.”

  “Is it you?”

  With a devious smile, Dalia said, “it might be.”

  Dawn blushed and changed the subject, “wh- why didn't you go into the garden?”

  “I wasn't invited.”

  “What?”

  “Some pces have rules, and some rules are stricter for fae. I didn't want to enter if I wasn't explicitly invited.”

  “What could happen if you did?”

  “Something could inflict a penalty upon me. That pce is old and abandoned enough that any rules or their consequences have long been lost. There's not much way to know what might happen. I would have come in if you had invited, though. If anyone has authority there-”

  “It's me. Of course.”

  The two spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the peculiarities of powerful pces like the gorge. Some small talk and teasing from Dalia kept Dawn engaged until they returned to the group for dinner and rest.

  The next day, they finally returned to Ademhill, where many goblins had to be reassured that the giant snake woman was safe to be around. Zerel quickly became busy with matters of state, though she referred to it as “goblin herding” to Hilda and Dawn. The monster woman took refuge with the goblins as the mercenaries returned to Thraes Hold.

  They diverged from Aramis, who needed to report back to Count Vasi, and Hilda kept them on task since wanted to send letters to her family as quickly as possible. Dé Cyon was vacant, and would quickly be occupied by the Ademhill cn. The serpent of eyes was dead, and its progeny was roaming the frontier. Half, if not more, of her report should be encoded, such that the information would only reach its intended recipients. Frankly, it was a lot of effort that Hilda wished she could go without, but favors are favors, and given the gravity of the situation, she'd definitely be getting a favor back from Ana.

  So they returned, checked into their preferred inn, and Hilda sent her companions to check the post while she worked on composing her messages. When Dalia and Sheryl returned, they brought Verea's regur correspondence, which Hilda had been expecting.

  With a little prompting, the noblewoman agreed to read it aloud to her girlfriends. As she read, her tone grew increasingly concerned:

  Hilda,

  my daughter,

  As always, I'm delighted to receive your messages. I've been growing excited to hear back about your journey to Dé Cyon. Some of the mysteries of the south have long tickled my fancy, but as we both know, I'm forever tied to the Sondervand. Your reports on the Ademhill cn have intrigued me as well. You will have to tell me your thoughts about the goblin queen.

  I have also heard, incidentally, that you have a new romance in your life? Two romances, even! When do you pn to introduce your partners to your mother?

  Little has changed here at home, though there is some turmoil. I fear it may be my fault, as I have come into conflict with Kirk. He had been unsuccessfully trying to convince Marc to help him summon a demon. When I asked why, he said he wanted a potion that would turn him into a girl!

  We had an extended disagreement about it, during which I reminded both father and son that demon summoning is highly illegal in the empire. When I insisted he take a different route to his wish, Kirk seemed to think that studying alchemy and magic in the capital’s colleges would be a hopeless endeavor. I'm honestly unsure what I can do to help. He dreads the growth of his own body.

  To make matters more complicated, Ana has abruptly announced that she will be returning to the estate for a time, because of a family emergency. I'm unsure what exactly she thinks the emergency is, but she is tying up ends in the capital before coming home. It may become fairly noisy around the estate again when Cecilia returns on shore leave. Particurly since Prince Tobias seems intent on following his betrothed.

  I look forward to hearing back from you. As always, if you need guidance or support, simply ask and I will provide whatever help I can.

  With love,

  Your mother, Verea

  It was silent for almost a whole minute after she finished while Hilda stared bnkly at the letter. Dalia eventually spoke up, “…Hilda? Are you okay?”

  Ceasing her stare, Hilda released a strained sigh, folding the letter and carefully pcing it back within its envelope, “…We have to go back to Ademhill as soon as possible. We’re taking Dawn and Zerel to Sondegürd."

  SpoilerThe News Zone:

  AnnouncementHey folks, thanks for reading Isekai Trans Panic. In the st week or so I finally republished my patreon, which is now linked at the bottom of chapters. At the moment, the next chapter of Isekai Trans Panic is avaible to subscribers, and in the future I pn to host early chapters of Synaptic Eclipse.

  I hope you are all having a wonderful December,

  -ViolentR

  [colpse]