"What do you mean 'adopted you'?" Scáthach questioned, Raikou listened along with rapt attention.
"Just exactly as it sounds." I replied. "Apparently, she adopts all the Campione and takes them as her Step-Children. For some reason, they don't really remember her all that much due to the process. She was very nice to me so I wanted to say goodbye before we left."
"Master….." Raikou quietly tugged on my sleeve.
"Hey." I realized I touched something sensitive for her. Reaching my hand out I cupped her cheek. "Please don't misunderstand. You're invaluable to me and no one can take that away. She's not a replacement, nor is she going to steal any kind of position from you. You're mine, Raikou. You're my Raikou and my Servant, and I never want to give you up."
She made a little noise of happiness, and her cheeks turned a little red. "Ah, you're making your mother so happy." She looked down in embarrassment.
Thank whatever Gods that she wasn't still under the effects of Mad Enhancement, or I'd never bring her around Pandora. Well, one of the things she desired was complete acceptance; I suppose I wanted to make sure she knew where I stood. Even if I said it before, sometimes some people needed it to be repeated from time to time.
"Hmm, I was worried that you were stretching yourself too thin by grabbing so many women to your side. Not giving any of them the attention they deserved. But I see I am merely worried for no true reason. " Scáthach walked up and locked her arm with Raikou's, making me raise an eyebrow at the closeness they had apparently formed. "Make no mistake, If you had not properly relayed such words, I would have given you a thorough beating. I refuse to be the woman of a horn dog who cannot look after the ones he had already stolen something precious from."
Raikou looked so happy to have Scáthach acting like a sort of friend to her. I don't know if they truly bonded in these past few days, but it was at least a step in the right direction. I think Scáthach also wanted to perhaps reach out herself. The loneliness she suffered in life had certainly done her no favors.
"He's gotten very good at his honeyed words, has he not?" Scáthach looked at Raikou.
"Hmm, he sure has. We should be wary of any more approaching women, lest they also fall to his seductive words." Raikou nodded, seemingly adopting an amused smile that was mimicked by my teacher.
"An endeavor that may beyond my far from insignificant abilities." Scáthach pursed her lips. "Would killing a God be an easier labor, I wonder?"
"Ara, I'm sure if you just exude that bloodlust of yours, no one will dare approach."
"Fuuu, or we can just keep you around." Scáthach snorted. "With these large udders of yours, who would think to usurp your position, hmm?"
"Yes, I'm sure jealousy is a powerful deterrent~"
"You think this Scáthach is jealous!?" Scáthach puffed up her own chest. "Shall we have my Student pick his target of desire?" She let go and instead went to drape herself over my arm. "Tell me, my student, for whom do your eyes linger on the most?"
"Master, your mother wants your attention~" Raikou grabbed my other arm. "Tell this old hag who you really prefer." She took my other side.
I glanced at both of them who held a gaze of expectancy.
"This is a trap." I said without any hesitation.
They both started giggling at my expense.
"He has learned well." Scáthach grinned.
"My Son has good sense." She pushed her cheek against mine.
They were teasing me. Gods, they were practically acting like sisters at this point. "See how I give you both a spanking later."
"How bold of you, my student. Is that a promise?" Scáthach laughed, unperturbed.
"Be gentle on your mother~" Raikou smiled brightly.
I could only shake my head at their antics. Words couldn't describe how happy it made me that they were both getting along like this. "Shall we head over? I do want to go home soon." I really miss my other girls as well.
"Lets go meet your Goddess." Scáthach's expression turned neutral.
"Yes, let's go meet your new 'Mother'." Raikou said dryly.
I guess she's still…annoyed, for lack of a better word. Though as it was not the product of her cursed mindset, I didn't dwell on it. People were allowed to have their own opinions, their own dislikes and what-not.
With another thought, I opened a portal to the place I had Calculated before. The strange place, the room I had been in, had changed slightly.
I saw the familiar Goddess. She was laying on the ground as she lazily watched a TV playing infront of her, and a bowl of snacks she was munching from.
There was silence as she stopped what she was doing, staring at us incredulously.
"Hi Mom, I'm back." I stated.
"AHHH!" She threw the bowl at me.
I blinked as it bounced off my Aura.
There was silence for another moment.
"Are you going to throw your shoe again…?"
"N-no, who would do something like that!?" She quickly jumped to her feet.
"Maybe a Loli Godde—"
A shoe smacked me in the face, somehow bypassing my Aura.
"I'm a Mature and Beautiful Goddess!" She huffed before she settled down. Her eyes roamed all over us, as if inspecting us individually. "….As happy I am to see you again."
"You have questions?"
"Yes. First question." She cleared her throat. "WHAT!?"
"Second question?
"Second question." She nodded. "WHAT!?"
"I think I can guess your third question." I snorted.
"Explain!" She appeared infront of me, eyes practically bugging out of her head.
"Introductions first?" I offered.
She looked at my companions around. "Introductions!" She quickly repeated. "I've never had any other proper guests before! It's usually some stupid God that comes to try and make trouble or one of my Children! What am I supposed to do!? Oh no, it's all a mess!" She started to whine, and immediately ran around the room throwing stuff every which way to make it look tidier. She moved like a whirlwind, and soon the place looked much cleaner when she jumped back infront of us. "Welcome to my nice, clean home! I am Pandora, the All-Giving Mother."
I noticed Scáthach and Raikou glance at each other.
"I am Scáthach." My teacher simply introduced.
"Scáthach who isn't Scáthach." Pandora repeated. "Strange, strange. Who are you really?" She narrowed her eyes.
"I'm this fool's woman." She jabbed her thumb towards me, ignoring the obvious meaning in her words.
"Kyah!" Pandora let out a small squeal, erasing the tension she previously introduced. "Call me mother!"
Scáthach blinked at how easily Pandora changed her attitude. "What a strange Goddess you are."
"I'm the best Goddess!" She puffed up proudly before turning back to Raikou, waiting expectantly.
"I am Minamoto-no-Raikou. I'm Master's Mother." She looked rather smug at her declaration.
"She's also my woman." I added.
"Ah, my son is so sweet." She smiled brightly. "Mother is also your woman." She repeated.
It was Pandora's turn to give a blank look. "I don't even know where to being with that." She pursed her lips. "However.....grandbabies! I'm going to have so many!" She threw her hands up excitedly.
"C-children!?" Raikou blurted out. "My son wants to have children with me!?" She seemed to go off in her own little world.
I actually think I blushed at that. And I believed Scáthach noticed because the corners of her lips curled up.
"Fufu, Wilhelm, my precious student. Could it be that you wish to have me bare your children?" She looked towards me with clear humor in her eyes. "Do you wish to impregnate this Scáthach, hmm?" She moved her mouth close to my ear, and spoke with a whisper. "Do you desire to see me with a large and round belly?"
I just groaned at her teasing, covering my face. "Having you all meet was a terrible idea."
I never really had the proper talk about children with any of my girls except Meridia, and that wasn't really a 'full' talk. For some reason it was making me flustered now that it was brought up.
Pandora started giggling to herself. "I like them." She seemed to approve. "Not like those stuffy old fogies from the Realm of Immortality. I don't know where they came from, but your mother approves!"
"You really can't tell what they are?" I questioned. I was curious about how much insight a Goddess would have.
"Hmm." She gave them another look over. "They both have Divinity, which is strange because they are neither Campione nor Gods. I can understand where it comes from for both of them, yet they don't appear to be match what I know. They are also not normal humans, and now that I look closely, they don't seem to be properly living. It's frighteningly close to how us Gods exist, yet at the same time, extremely different."
"Not bad." Scáthach nodded. "For being able to gleam such information, your insight is commendable. However…" She turned to me. "Is it wise to discuss such things here?"
"Well…." I scratched my cheek.
"No being in this world can peer into my realm right now. I made sure of that as soon as you three entered." She waived Scáthach off. "If you're speaking about telling me things, I won't pry." She gave a small smile. "Your mother will wait for you to tell her when you're ready."
"You are a strange Goddess." Scáthach muttered.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Pandora smiled brightly. "However, I will need to know how you entered here. It's not something even a God can accomplish unless some drastic measures were taken under some intricate circumstances."
"Magic."
"…."
She smacked me on the head.
"Owww!?" I rubbed my head where she bopped me.
"I saw nothing." Raikou hummed.
"You deserved that." Scáthach said dryly. "If she didn't do it, I would have."
"Yeah yeah." I huffed. "To be more specific, I have a very…..unique Magic available to me that allows me some control and operation over Dimensions and Space. There are very few places I can't actually go to."
Pandora was silent as she apparently mulled over my words. "It's how you entered the Netherworld before." She muttered. "I see." She nodded to herself. "Tell me, are you able to enter the Realm of Immortality?"
"…Technically? I can if I wanted to."
"Never go there." She quickly followed up. "Promise me you will never enter the Realm of Immortality." She grabbed my shirt and looked at me intently.
"I promise." I said without any fanfare. "I never had the intention of doing so anyways."
"Good." She nodded. "I fear what would happen to you if you went there. The Gods would tear you apart and there's nothing I could do."
Yeah, I wouldn't want to fight every God in existence at the same time...
"Why are you such an enigma?" Pandora got right in my face. "I can't understand your origins at all, nor that of your companions. It's both infuriating and interesting. I've never been so clueless before, it's a new experience."
"I'll explain properly at another point." I said quietly.
"I suppose that's the best I can get. I can't expect you to trust me so soon after just meeting me." She sighed. "Thank you for telling me this much at least."
I couldn't help but reach out and hug her.
"Hehe, my son came back home and gave me a hug. This is the best day."
"Is it okay if I come back in the future?" I asked. "I have….other girls I want to introduce you to." Is It weird that I already felt a connection to her?
I am really a sucker for this kind of thing. Especially when she holds no kind of deceit in her actions.
Pandora let out a laugh. "More? My, you are such a Casanova." She gave my chest a little poke. "And I can't forbid you from coming." She gave an exaggerated little shrug. Though I felt it was accompanied by a 'wink wink' kind of feeling. "But if you happened to drop by, I would be extremely happy."
"Of course, he will return." Raikou confirmed. "A son should not be away from their Mother for too long." She nodded to herself.
And I had to do a double take as she practically did a 180 on her previous feelings. Was it the comment about children that won her over? Well, it was pretty hard to dislike Pandora, she came off as very sincere and genuine.
"You understand!" Pandora flew over, grabbing Raikou's hands. "As expected of my Daughter-in-law."
"Mother!" Raikou was practically giddy in response.
Scáthach turned to me. "You surround yourself with strange people."
"….I can't deny that."
"But it's nice." She added.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything."
***
Well, they should be heading off next chapter and the follow one is an Interlude before DxD starts proper.
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