A flash of grey appeared among the cat herd in the forest. Floating through the air without a wielder, a katana cut the cats. A long grey haired maid smiled lightly standing above the corpses. Fubuki finished her work.

She wondered how the other maids were doing. Using her bugging magic, Fubuki put a white moth on one maid in each of the four combat groups to monitor them. She would check on them without their knowledge, and if needed, assist them, and afterwards discipline them properly.

Fubuki saw that she had trained her maids right the first time. They already circled around through the forest and back to Danberu's fortress. Fubuki saw the fourth group, Delta, standing near Renya, Avar, and one of the tanuki. An old large looking one, he knelt on the ground, looking over the corpses.

Fubuki tilted her head as she listened in. Danberu growled from his position on the ground at Renya.

"Monster. This is your fault. You drove us too hard, now, look what you have done. There is nothing to be done. There is nothing I could do. Leave me to mourn, or I'll see to it that you regret it."

Renya stared down at the tanuki.

"Very well. I'm sorry. Even I make mistakes from time to time. These things happen."

Fubuki noticed something weird on her face. A smile. She was lying. Fubuki knew that Renya was placating the tanuki lord. Renya had told her the truth before about her and Ichi, how they had a silent pact. Renya would try to harm Ichi, and Ichi would fight back. That was as far as Fubuki could fathom the real relationship between the two went.

At first, she thought Ichi a masochist, but no, clearly she overestimated him. He must be dumb or mislead by his youth. At first, she thought Renya a sadist, but no, clearly she had little feeling for anyone. It was as if she drifted around in a storybook of her own making.

Even the robot maids felt more alive to Fubuki. She silently chided herself for not training Renya properly.

Either way, she put a mental note that Renya was to be disciplined. She'd get the truth out of her as well, whatever she did, at the very least letting the tanuki around her die was enough to warrant Fubuki's discipline.

Fubuki switched her attention to right in front of her body. In the distance her eyes caught a glimpse of crowds of cats running towards the mountain. The bakeneko lord Avar had the ability to marshal cats to his army by his presence alone. Renya told Fubuki that much, but now, Fubuki suspected there might be more afoot with Avar and the bakeneko. She followed the cats from behind, teleporting from tree branch to tree branch above the running cats.

Fubuki sneered at the cat herds below her.

Why leave any alive at all? It didn't sit right with Fubuki. Plus, leaving Avar alive? Usually, Fubuki as a maid should leave the matter in her Master's care and let him decide. However, she doubted his competency.

It was always in question, these events merely pushed her slightly over the edge, is all. Fubuki nodded to herself. It's no big deal. She's taking some time off. Ichi forcing her to fight a war when he was lying under the covers in the castle like a child was no small matter.

Fubuki tracked the cats to a cavern in the side of the mountain. Noting the position, she placed a white moth on the stone. It faded from sight, and so did Fubuki. First, Fubuki had some cleanup to do.