I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Chapter 228 Luna

<Demon Lands capital city>

"Urgh, why does the queen need us?" A 154cm cat girl sporting blue hair with a red highlight as well as 2 protruding red horns slumped over a table with a drink in her hand.

"It's on her orders, you don't want to end up like your parents Luna." A man who wore a suit and was of a similar race spoke up while drying dishes.

"Tch, I know old man." At the mention of her parents she became a bit agitated, but what he said was true.

"Then stop procrastinating and get going." The half-cat demon took Luna's drink and began to clean it.

"Fineee." Standing up from her chair Luna headed towards the door, flaunting her blue dress. It was an impressive piece, outlined with gold and layered with scales. On its sides were slits for easier movement and in the back was a hole for her tail, hidden by the flaps of the dress.

"Good luck and make sure you stay away from the frontline, especially if there's any battle going on." The old man gave his regards while she walked out of the room.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Luna walked out of the room which led directly outside. After walking a little further away from the building she came to a stop and focused on the pendant around her neck. As she did, the gem in its center began to glow. It was a deep blue precious stone engraved with mysterious runes.

Water then emerged around her feet and lifted her into the sky. Once she reached a certain height, she converged the whirling water into a stable platform hovering in the air. Only then did she let herself sit down. This entire procedure was done so quickly she made it look easy, but the truth of it was this was a very costly skill to use.

"To the demon queen's castle." Luna then picked up speed and flew over the buildings towards a castle that was just barely visible in the distance.

*

The terrain was rather barren and consistently painted in shades of red which made the place unappealing. However, it was perfect for the demons since they preferred to be left alone, so having the worst land gave them the quiet they wanted.

This did not come without its risk as the place was filled with high-tier creatures which were the cause of many towns being destroyed. With time though, the place became safer as magical defensive mechanisms got better. Generally speaking, unless you are outside of a town you are safe.

The Demon Lands were always in a state of darkness as the skies were filled with ash from various volcanoes. There was of course still sunlight, but with every day being cloudy it made for a rather grim atmosphere. Nonetheless, this was Luna's home for most of her life to the point she even became a demon due to living there for so long.

Originally she was just a half-cat born in the Elfhiem, but at a young age she was sent away to friends in the demon lands due to her parents being hunted.

Over time she was exposed to the demonic essence and ended up growing horns making her a citizen. It wasn't known exactly why, but demons were not born with horns. Only being raised among other demons from a young age would guarantee one's horns would grow.

Not many people ever questioned it in the first place, so the only thing that was known is that demons had a special kind of essence that was like mana but infects the body. However, once they grew older the mana in their body became a protective shield that repulsed the essence. As such, even if an adult without horns lives closely with a demon, he would never grow his horns.

This was the case with Luna as ever since she was a child she lived among demons and eventually grew horns. A side effect of this was also her hair gaining red highlights as well.

"I wonder what could be going on." While travelling over the barren land Luna pondered her mission. It was not yet beast season where towns would be attacked by an onslaught of beasts, so why was a high tier healer such as her suddenly called?

'It must be something bigger, I am the only healer they call for big missions after all.' Although Luna was taken care of by friends of her family, it didn't stop her from becoming an adventurer. She had an aptitude for water and took an interest in healing magic.

She tried using holy magic, but because she became part demon the holy magic almost killed her. As such, she opted for something of her own creation. It was one of a kind, but thanks to her understanding of the body, she was able to create her own healing magic with water.

'Hope they don't try to shoot me down like last time.' Luna was fast approaching the castle. Although she shouldn't be flying so close to its walls, she was too lazy to go through the front gate. Luckily this time no one shot at her, albeit the hoarse shouts from the guards made clear their displeasure.

"USE THE DOOR LUNA!" Hearing their yells Luna chose to ignore them and flew into an open window that led into the throne room.

It seemed the window was open just for Luna since as soon as she entered a bunch of small flying demons hurried to close it behind her.

"You never learn do you?" A woman sat on the throne with an imposing presence staring at Luna as she descended.

"Heyyy Ela!" Luna however, was not afraid at all despite the immense pressure.

"Elaina!" The demon queen tightened her grip causing her armrest to crack.

"Yeah, yeah so what did you need?" Luna jumped off her water platform and did a small bow to show some respect.

*Sigh* "It's the humans, they are making a move into our territory. To be more specific it's the pope and the admirals." Elaina explained the situation and Luna's eyes widened in shock. As far as she could remember, this was the first time another territory cared to even bother with the demon lands.

"I won't be sending you to fight, but I need you to stay here just in case." Elaina wanted to keep the best healer she knew close by in case an emergency arises.

"I understand." Luna knew this was important as it was the first time something like this happened so they needed to be ready, especially if the pope is personally involved.

"I will have one of the maids set you up in a room, so in the meantime get yourself settled in, and don't worry your friend Isaac will be coming soon." Clapping her hands a few maids appeared behind some pillars and gave a polite bow.

"Alright Ela." Luna waved and winked while she exited the hall with the maids. Elaina gritted her teeth since she hated the nickname, but there wasn't anything she could do.

***

<Demon lands mountain>

Behind a gate engraved with the symbol of the phoenix lay a small cave, inside of which a small bird was sitting on top of a large pedestal. Finally awakening from its long slumber, the bird rustled its feathers and then shifted back to her human form. This woman was of course Himeko, who after hibernating due to her reincarnate skill has finally gained some of her power back.

Rising from the ground, she was completely nude, but luckily she prepared the cave ahead of time to also serve a base.

? "I feel awful." Himeko rose from the pedestal, holding her head as she barely remembered what had happened. However, everything slowly came back to her as she made her way over to a door in the side of the cave.

Flashes of the treatment she received from the pope filled her mind causing her to fall to her knees. Seeing herself being reduced to such a low refuelled her anger as flames sparked off her back.

"That piece of shit!" Himeko wanted to get revenge right away, but her power was reduced to that of tier 8 and it would take a while before she returned to her peak.

Opening up the door to a hallway, to the side was a set of clothes and further down an open space. Grabbing the clothes she got changed on the spot, getting into a pair of pants and a white t-shirt.

Walking down the hallway into the open space, it was revealed to be a bedroom with a kitchen on the other side. It was designed just for her to stay while her power recovers and, although a boring way to live, it was better than venturing outside and risk getting found by the pope.

"Hope the girls are fine, they were in the dungeon when Ebonscale was attacked... Clara, you probably remember everything by now." Thinking back she remembered the artifact was stolen which meant the sealed memories of Clara should have resurfaced.

"I hope she doesn't hate me, that seal formed on its damn own because of how emotionally distraught she was." Himeko knew the truth of the situation and it wasn't her intention to hide anything. However, since the seal formed, Himeko rolled with it expecting it to never break, but in the end, it backfired.

"Oh well, she is in good hands now. Also Freja should be coming to see me soon." Himeko remembered she gave Freja a crystal that would tell her when Himeko entered the cave. So if everything worked she hoped to see someone come knocking at her gate.

"First I need to clean, I have no idea when I will get visitors." Himeko looked around the place and found it to be covered in cobwebs.