Masako held a hand to her forehead as she sat cross legged upon the ground. She rubbed her palm as hard as she could into her skull, as though it would alleviate the massive headache she was experiencing right now. She looked down at the human standing before her two hundred meter tall frame and could see she was looking nervous. The blue haired giant let out a sigh, shoulders falling as though a great weight was sliding onto them.

“So. If I understand that nonsense just now. Prince Zazia killed or captured the rest of your siblings after your mother passed and stole some power that is in your blood. Once he has all of that power he becomes Emperor of Xing.” Masako repeated.

Rei nodded. “Correct. The Imperial Grace is the divine power that rests within us and make us able to perform acts of great strength and power.” She flexed her arm as if to show off. Masako looked less than impressed.

“General Fa is his loyal subordinate and is about my size. She’s the leader of his armies as well. He has used his powers to supercharge some of his greatest warriors into giants and they have been ravaging all the lands that resist him. The General is the one who has defeated all of your siblings and either killed them in combat or taken them alive.” The Ronin said as she looked up at the sky. Her size. She had never met anyone as big as her. Interesting.

“Yes, General Fa is incredibly powerful but she has other giants serving her that are about half your size. They are extremely strong and skilled warrior women supercharged by Zazia’s terrible power.” Rei confirmed.

Shortly after Masako had made her threat she had seated down in a clearing not too far away and let Rei give her all of the explanation of what that all was about. Evidently she had stepped right in the middle of an inheritance dispute that had the whole country wrapped up in a war. Because of course she did. It was just her luck. Maybe if she had slept in today then she wouldn’t currently have to deal with this.

“Also, you are now the last person on his list since the General just killed your brother in a battle a ways up the river last night.” Masako said.

“Yes. I don’t know why you are repeating exactly what I told you but that is the case.” Rei coughed.

“Just trying to wrap my head around how much you made me step in it. So. I’m hearing a lot of how fucked over I am because of your stunt back there but not a lot of reason to not just step on you and be done with it.” Masako said with a glare down at the tiny woman before her.

Rei took a step back and her face paled a bit at the threat. She likely was about to open her mouth to say something imperious but seemed to think better of it and instead took a second to think. She had taken off her silver armor and was dressed in what had once been some nice looking clothes but were currently wrinkled, torn and covered in dirt and mud. For a human, she was pretty. Very beautiful actually. Masako normally would totally be fine with a human like that depending on her. But this one came with a lot of baggage. About a nation’s worth.

“I doubt enticing you with an offer of when I become Empress I would shower you with gold would work.” She said.

“Considering you are sans an army at the moment while this Zazia guy has like a lot of people under him? Yeah not too appealing of an investment.” Masako remarked sardonically as she set her elbow on her knee and placed her cheek in her palm.

“How about this then. You escort me until we reach Seiyan, it’s a port city led by a close ally and friend of mine. She is a friend who would very much pay you for your services if you brought me to her. Whatever you might demand as payment she could give you, easily.” Rei said, crossing her arms. “That seems like it would appeal to a mercenary.”

Masako closed her eyes and thought about it. The Princess looked up nervously and was fidgeting. It was a decent offer, not her first escort job she supposed. The blue haired Ronin mulled it over for a bit before finally nodding to herself. She reached down and plucked up the woman, who looked rather cautiously optimistic. Her thumb and forefinger plucked the princess up gently but firmly, bringing her up before the massive face of the giant warrior woman.

“I’ve decided to not kill you…” She started.

“Oh thank the gods, you won’t regret this-!” Rei started.

“…Because I’m gonna hand you over to General Fa.” Masako finished with a deadpan look on her face.

Rei blinked. “…Huh?”

“Yeah I am not seeing the good odds in helping you. There *might* be a reward on the other end. Meanwhile, if I hand you over to this General Fa chick, Zazia becomes Emperor, all the misunderstandings can get cleared up, and I get a pay day. I mean. That is literally a no brainer.” The samurai remarked as she stood up and cracked her neck from side to side.

Rei stared up at Masako for a few minutes with an owlish expression, almost not believing what she was hearing. Of course that ended in a few moments and then she started kicking and flailing and screaming between Masako’s fingers. Not that it was doing her a lot of good; it was pretty much like trying to push a mountain off of her. The gulf of their strength was far too great to be properly measured. Course the protests were pretty screeching and loud.

“No! You can’t do that! Let me go! I can go on my own if you won’t help me! I’m not some piece you can trade away on a whim!” Rei screamed as she tried to bite into the thumb of the blue haired woman. It did nothing but make her teeth ache.

Masako cleaned out her ear with the pinkie of her other hand. “Yeah if I did that I’d still have a target on my back thanks to you. Only got yourself to blame there.” Masako remarked.

“You savage! Have you no class!? You’d just hand over a defenseless woman like that!?” Rei protested.

“Man, you sure do shout a lot.” The Ronin remarked as she started walking down the road, having finished her side track. “And yes, if said defenseless woman dragged me into a conflict I’m not looking to fight, absolutely.”

“You can’t! Don’t you know what she’ll do to me!? She’ll make me her plaything! Keep me in her boots until I’m screaming for mercy!” Rei continued.

“Sounds pretty kinky to me.” Masako said. “My kind of gal.”

The screaming and protests kept coming however, the princess screaming herself hoarse and still keeping on. It was actually getting kinda grating if Masako was being honest. Plus her hands were kinda not free like this. The blue haired woman reached into her pack and pulled out a length of rope between her fingers. This done she manipulated the arms of the struggling woman and bound them with both ends of the rope. She was squirming the whole time which made it harder of course.

That done Masako allowed her to fall from her fingers down the front of her kimono. She let out a yelp of pain as her arms were pulled taught by the rope which was wrapped nicely around Masako’s neck. The Ronin set her spear on her shoulder and kept on walking with her new jewelry in tow. It didn’t do much for the screaming honestly but it kept her hands free and every step seemed to cause her captive princess to forget her anger for discomfort instead. As it turned out as well, eventually she just lost her voice from all the screaming so it wasn’t really an issue for much longer.

“Hey. Only got yourself to blame here, lady. If you had just gone along with those guys, wouldn’t be where you are right now. I could have gone along my merry way. Maybe think about dragging folks into fighting your battles while you are hanging around.” She snorted in amusement at her own little pun.

Of course the thought did cross her mind that the General might just try to kill her and take the Princess anyway. Or that one of her subordinates might be hungry for glory and do it. If that happened, well. She’d cross that bridge when it happened. Logically speaking, it would be better for them to accept her offer. Princess for forgiveness and money. Seemed like a steal to Masako since it meant their leader was on the throne finally and the war would be over.