Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic - Book 4: Chapter 20.2: Reunion Part II

Scarlet

“It wasn’t very hard to figure that out,” Allen says with a faint smile on his face. Then Cynthia chimes in, “Pretty much everyone that knows who you are also knows it was you who’s behind the change.”

Yeah, very awkward.

“Aaanywaays,” I drawl a little bit as I change the subject, “what all has happened here on Earth since my impromptu vacation to hell?”

Amelia’s lips quirk slightly at my name for what was essentially me being kidnapped to the demon world before she answers, “Quite a few things have happened since you were here. To start off, Black managed to expose Fredricka as a changeling to the world after he threw you in his attempt to save you. So the people have lost significant trust in their government, and even Black and Purple both withdrew their support of it.”

My eyes widen a little in shock at that.

“After that, the government started losing its power little by little until it no longer has more power than the Associations themselves,” Amelia continues with a rather pleased gleam in her eyes. “They can’t really do much anymore to force anyone to do anything, and to top it off, the rest of the changelings were sniffed out after Cipher’s father figured out how to detect these higher Class changelings that were previously undetectable.”

I glance at Allen at that, finding him with a smile on his face as he nods in confirmation. Then I look back to my biological mother again who currently has a rather smug look on her face. And I find out why rather quickly.

“The top Associations began to take charge of the Republic and the war effort in their entirety after the government nearly collapsed entirely thanks to the cleansing, and the first thing I had them do was significantly improve the treatment of the orphans,” Amelia explains, making me smile a little at that. “It turned out that the changelings equated to every last councilmember and government official who was severely opposing the orphan’s rights acts that kept being rejected. So the opposition pretty much vanished from the rest of the government.” The woman’s lip quirks up a little. “Not that they’d have the power anymore to stop us even if they did oppose it.”

That’s good. That’s very good.

I flop back letting my head hit the pillow with a smile on my face.

No more poor treatment of orphans.

“The Republic’s been cleansed but we still have a war to fight,” Cynthia says with a stern look on her face in the corner of my eye. “And with this new information about the Demon King, I really don’t think we can do much of anything to win it beyond stalling their progression until Scarlet can upgrade that skill and remove those curses.”

Everyone nods at that, and I do so as well despite lying down flat on my back on the bed.

Can’t forget the war. The cleansing of the Republic’s leadership was only one major step in the direction we need to go. It isn’t the end by any means.

I sigh at that thought before rising to a sitting position again and turning to Amelia to ask, “Where do you think I’ll be able to hunt the most on the frontlines?”

Amelia smiles at that and answers, “The Eastern continent.” Her smile fades a little. “You won’t be able to fight as well in the Arctic since the demons there are all mostly undead, unlike the demons in the Eastern continent.”

“The demons on the Eastern continent are also stronger since they’ve been here on Earth for longer than the ones in the Arctic,” Allen chimes in while rubbing his chin a little.

“Then the Eastern continent is where I’ll go,” I declare with a nod of my head, making Belle only look briefly worried before she calms down. Which is rather surprising considering how protective she can be sometimes.

“I’ll be going with you,” Belle says, surprising me a little. But before I can say anything in response to her, she continues, “Don’t try to stop me. I’m already assigned to go by the logistics council.”

I purse my lips for a moment before sighing again and saying, “Alright. Just be safe, okay?”

She looks surprised by my answer as she dumbly responds, “Y-yeah… of course. You too.”

I raise a brow at that and chuckle, only to notice that the others seem a little surprised as well.

Wonder why?

Tar appears in the air and goes down to my lap as he says out loud, “Scarlet matured a bit during her time in Tartarus, so don’t be so surprised.”

I blink at that, simply staring down at the tanuki in my lap while everyone else does the same.

“Matured?” Belle asks before glancing at me and looking me up and down, making me frown at her.

“Not in that way,” Tar comments, sounding slightly exasperated at Belle, who only shrugs a little at his words. “I’d say that she’s become more comfortable with people in general, with no little help from the kitsune.”

I shiver at the mention of those demons. Terrifying creatures, the kitsune. Far scarier than the demons I’ve been hunting for a long time now.

Especially the Raidens. They’re just straight up terrifying.

Also, the others look skeptical. Why do they look skeptical?

Actually, what do you mean by saying that I’ve matured?

Tar turns to look at me as he answers my question out loud, “You didn’t even react when they all hugged you and you explained everything clearly to them instead of glossing over the details of what happened on Tartarus. That’s not something you would’ve done before.”

I stare at him for a second before looking at the others and finding them slowly beginning to agree with the tanuki.

Huh. Was I really that bad?

“Yes,” Tar answers in my head this time. “You were.”

Oh. Uh, that’s… oh.

“Well, anyways, would you mind bringing me to the frontlines?” I ask Amelia, only for her to get a rather terrifying smile on her face. And she’s not the only one, as it’s mirrored on both Cynthia and Belle’s faces.

Meanwhile Allen starts quietly making his way out of the room.

I have a bad feeling about this.