{Author's Note: In this chapter, I decided to take the normal plot of the Happiness Village Arc and say "Fuck it," because it makes no sense to me in some situations, and I know Kevin sure as hell wouldn't follow the normal plot with his jaded personality. So, enjoy something from my mind!}
***
Upon leaving the Inn in the morning, Alice had proceeded to passive-aggressively bother Kevin until he agreed to go to Happiness village as their next destination. Apparently, not being able to eat any Ama-ama Dango during the previous night's stay had been an unacceptable injustice that she never wanted to experience again should they visit stay at the Sutherland Inn in the future.
They hadn't been stopped this time by Amira, and for that they thanked their respective gods, but were able to see the little monsters from the previous day already happily being put to work.
Nothing of note really happened over the course of the trip.
Well, other than a certain incident in the middle of the night…
***
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Alice shouted; her furious expression perfectly visible even beneath the layers of ash that covered her whole body.
Behind stood the charred remains of what was once a tree. More specifically, it was the tree she had wrapped her body around for comfort as she slept. The power she held was enough to protect her from being even slightly singed, but it didn't prevent her from being rudely awakened and covered from head to tail in the tree's remains.
Kevin smiled innocently at her. "Absolutely nothing," he replied. "I was just following up on the promise I made to you yesterday. One down, four to go."
The scream of rage she made as she lunged at him would've been enough to wake the dead, but he was quick enough to fully transform himself in order to increase his evasion and dodge her until she tired herself out.
***
Alice learned that night that the young Eevee was an incredibly vindictive bastard, and that if he said he would take revenge in a specific way, there should be no doubt that he would. She made a mental note in the morning to reinforce the next tree she slept around with magic so he couldn't set it on fire.
Speaking of fire, about an hour before they spotted the village another monster made the brilliant decision to ambush the boy. Not only that, but since she was a bee girl, she determined that it would be a wonderful idea to cover him in, and try to force-feed, her aphrodisiac-infused honey to him.
To say he didn't take it well would be an understatement.
***
"AAAAAGGGGH! IT BURNS!" the four-armed monster girl screamed in pain as she flew around.
Kevin had his arms out-stretch, manipulating the flames so they would only hurt the insect girl and not spread to the forest around them. He especially directed them to burn the honey comb attached to her back, his expression completely blank as he watched her flail about.
By the time Alice re-appeared, the bee girl had passed out from the pain and was sealed in the form of a normal honey bee, which fell unconsciously into the grass. The Monster Lord was staring at Kevin with a tinge of curiosity in her eyes over how cruel he was with this specific opponent.
Seeing the look she was giving him, he gave a simple explanation. "I hate honey, and I hate people trying to rape me. She was an unholy amalgamation of both."
He said nothing else as they continued forward, as if he hadn't traumatized yet another poor monster girl.
***
As the rows of beehives that and fields of flowers came into view, Alice posed a trivia question. "Do you know why it's called Happiness Village?"
Kevin shook his head. "No."
"…"
"…"
"Are you going to guess?"
"Why should I? I have neither the context, nor the desire to look like an idiot by guessing wrong," he stated, giving her a look that said 'are you stupid?'
"Hah," Alice sighed in disappointment. "Fine, spoil the fun of it. It's called Happiness Village because it was named after the nearby Harpy Village."
Kevin tilted his head to the side. "You mean the Harpy Village whose residents are kidnapping men from Happiness Village?"
"Most likely, yes."
"Great."
As they left the tree line and approached the large farming village, they noticed that the fields and beehives were all being attended by women. There wasn't a single male in sight, other than a little boy helping to transport one of the hives.
A woman working with another one of the beehives called out to them. "Oh, travelers? You came all the way here, but we don't really have anything to entertain any travelers with. Due to the shortage of manpower, we have a shortage of our specialty Happiness Honey, too."
Kevin nodded at her. "We're aware of that. It's actually why we–"
He was cut off when a loud shout of panic sounded across the fields. "Waaaaa!"
Knowing that the voice was both too young and in the wrong universe to be Waluigi, Kevin assumed it to be the voice of the young boy he'd see just moments ago. Looking off in that direction, he saw a sight that made him a little bit upset.
You see, Kevin was okay with the idea of various monsters kidnapping men for food and sex. It only took a day in this world for him to just accept that it was the way things were in this world and move on. As long as they weren't trying try their luck with him, he would be more than happy to leave them to their devices. It had already been going on for hundreds of years, so it's not like it would be the end of the world.
However, there was a line that even someone as emotionally damaged as him knew shouldn't be crossed. He firmly believed that children who hadn't experienced puberty should not be subjected to how fucked up this world was just yet. They still had their innocence, and taking that away from them was more than just a sin.
In his eyes, it was almost unforgivable.
So, when he has a harpy preparing to take off with the little boy clutched in her talons, he immediately ran in her direction. Nothing was more sacred than a child's innocence, and this flying whore was trying to violate it under his watch? Hell. The Fuck. No.
"Uwaa! Help he!" the boy shouted in fear.
The harpy was content to ignore the child's please for help, until she saw another one running toward her. This one seemed older, and thus was more suited to be her future husband than the young one she was currently holding. So, she let her current catch go and turned to face the newcomer.
When he was within a few yards, Kevin was able to get a better look at the winged girl. As expected of a harpy, in place of arms she had brown and white feathered wings, and talons instead of feet. Her human torso was rapped in a light blue ribbon that matched her eyes, with a bright red jewel where it crossed over her chest. Her air was short and pale red, with two long strands framing her face and falling down to her beasts that faded to purple.
[Harpy]
[Type: Flying]
"Huh? I haven't seen you in this village before," she noted as the little boy ran away. "Are you a traveler?"
With the child out of harm's way, Kevin's agitation was slowly being reduced to normal levels. He still wanted to wring the neck of the harpy, but was able to internally conclude that the only reason she went after the boy was because there weren't any older men around. It didn't make it any less repugnant, but it did keep him from immediately striking her down.
"Yeah, I am," he replied neutrally. "My friend and I came here for the Happiness Honey."
She took a moment to eye him up and down, taking in every inch of his body, It didn't take her long to notice the way the "fake" ears on top of his head twitch at the various sounds around them, or how the tail visible behind him actually swayed in slight agitation. He smelled a little bit different than the average male, but there was no denying that he WAS a male. She didn't know how it was possible, but it appeared that she was looking a monster boy.
'He will make the perfect husband!' she internally squealed.
Licking her lips suggestively, she used her large wings to rapidly propel herself toward her newly-spotted potential mate. "I'll give you all the happiness and 'honey' you could ever want, my darling!"
Contrary to Alice's expectations, Kevin did not defend himself from the harpy as she grabbed him by the shoulders with her talons and hoisted him into the sky. What she wasn't aware of was that in his head, he was still trying calm himself down enough to keep him from turning off the Seal setting and just murdering the harpy girl. By the time he was calm enough to think straight, he realized that he had been successfully capture and was high enough in the air that if he were to use any of his powers on the harpy, the fall he would be subjected to would not be pleasant.
So, he allowed himself to be carried off to the Harpy Village.
As for Alice, she stared off after him with a complicated expression on her face. If it had been anyone else traveling with her, she would have left them to their fate of being a breeding slave dressed up as a husband. Just as Kevin had understood, that was just how life was in a world filled with sex-crazed monster girls, after all.
Unfortunately, this wasn't just anyone who was being kidnapped. It was a being who could potentially cripple the entire harpy population on the continent on his warpath to leave their village. A boy who had no qualms psychologically scarring any monster who tried to violate him with pain and suffering that bordered on short-term torture.
And he was being forcefully brought to a village full of monsters who would not hesitate to try forcefully breeding with him the moment they saw him walking around freely.
The disguised lamia sighed, the knowledge that she would have to yet again save her cute subjects from their own stupidity bothering her as she started walking in the direction the harpy flew on in. Only one thought remained prominently in her mind as she took her time getting to the other village.
'I wonder if I'll get there before he burns the place to the ground.'
***
By the time the harpy and her captive touched down at her home, said captive was really bored. There was only so much fear of falling one could experience before it got old, after all, and the scenery was pretty much what he was used to in this world so far, only from higher up. He'd eventually resorted to counting the number of moves he had access to that could one-shot his captor.
It was twenty, by the way, and he'd only gotten through the Ice Type Moves.
She set him down on what appeared to be the front porch of a wooden treehouse. There were many other similarly designed houses visible from their current locations, all connected by an interlocking series of ladders and bridges. Not a single one rested on the ground, though there were a few pathways that led down to the forest floor, likely for any humans that were more willing to stay than the others.
"Welcome home, new husband!" the harpy exclaimed, fluttering down to stand beside him. "My name is Reina! What's yours?"
Putting aside the how ridiculous it was for her to call him her husband before even knowing his name, he sighed. "It's Kevin. Can I go now? I kinda have things to do."
Unfortunately for him, she didn't pay attention to anything past his introduction. "That's an amazing name!" she stated cheerfully, quickly pulling him towards the door. "Like I said, welcome home Kevin! We are going to have so much fun here! I can wait to get you on the bed."
Kevin, however, refused to move, and used his ice control to freeze his feet to the floor. "Yeah, I'm not going in there," he declined. "Like I said, I have better things to do. So, if you'll just point me to the way out of here, I'll get out of your hair."
She stopped pulling when she realized he wasn't moving. Seeing the sudden sheet of ice covering his feet, a little chuckle escaped from her. "I've heard about getting cold feet about marriage, but aren't you taking it a bit too far?" Maybe this was his power as a monster boy! Would her daughters have similar powers?
He sighed in exasperation. "I froze my feet so you wouldn't keep dragging me around like a ragdoll," he stated. "And I don't plan on marrying you. I don't care if you find some other guy to fuck into next week, but I'm off limits."
"But," she tilted her head to the side, a consumed expression on her face. "Why wouldn't you want to? I can give you so much pleasure and make you so happy! All of the other men that have been brought here haven't wanted to leave and now have big families with their wives. Don't you want that too?"
"No," the Eevee flatly refused.
Realizing that her new husband must be one of those 'shy' types, Reina donned a determined expression. Her mother had told her when she was little that if her potential husband put up too much resistance, she could easily tame him through sex. With that thought in mind, she started reaching her wings toward the monster boy's pants, intent on fucking him right then and there. It wasn't as if anyone else in the village would mind, after all.
She was stopped, though, when two surprisingly strong hand gripped her wings when they were inches away from his belt. Looking up, she was immediately frozen by the cold look he was giving her, one that matched the ice coating his feet. A shivered ran down her spine as he spoke.
"Listen, bird brain," he said coldly. "I've made it a habit to violently traumatize every monster who has tried to rape me so far. The only reason I haven't done it to you is because all you did was kidnap me, which I don't consider to be as bad. If you let me go right now, we can go our separate ways and pretend this little incident never happened. But, if you want to be waking up from nightmares of being slowly and painfully frozen to death for years to come, then by all means…"
He leaned forward, looking her dead in the eyes. "Fuck around and find out."
Reina…had absolutely no idea what to do. It may be because her new husband was a monster boy, but he was acting differently to anything she'd seen with the men who'd been brought to this village. His glare was like that of an apex predator, daring her to make a wrong move. Her mother hadn't prepared her for this. She doubted anyone in the village was prepared for a man as volatile as this one.
'Well, except…' she thought, one particular harpy coming to mind. 'She could probably help me with this!'
Backing off a few steps, she nodded. "Okay," she nodded. "If you don't want to be my husband, I'll take you to the Queen. She should be able to help you."
His frosty demeanor thawed at that point, as did his feet. "If that's what it takes for you to let me leave, then fine. Lead the way."
It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the harpy's intentions weren't for him to be released any time soon. Kevin knew this, but thought that maybe this queen would have enough sense to let him go peacefully. After all, the Harpy village had a certain natural aesthetic that he Grass-Type side could very much appreciate, and he'd hate to have to destroy it.
As they walked across the bridges, the Eevee was treated to a multitude of scenes that displayed the daily life within the village. Harpies of all ages, heights, and sizes flew about, enjoying the wind beneath their wings. Some children played on a raised platform and tossed a ball back and forth. Every once in a while, a very-pleased looking man would step out of one of the treehouses, obviously basking in the afterglow of sex with his 'wife.'
'Selfish dumbasses,' he thought, barely keeping a scowl off his face. 'They're either too stupid to notice that their village is going to die a slow and painful death with them staying here, or they don't care and would rather immerse themselves in pleasure than think about their loved ones. Disgusting animals.'
Despite his attempts to conceal his disdain, Reina was able to see the hints of it in his eyes as he looked at the other men around the village. She couldn't imagine what would make him hate them that much, but there was apparently a lot about her new husband that didn't make a lot of sense. She really hoped the Queen would be capable of handling him.
Upon arriving at the treehouse that held the Queen's throne, Kevin notices that there are no guards. If Alice's explanation of how strong Queen-Class monsters are was accurate, it would surprise him if any Queen monster had even a single guard. Before either could knock, a smooth, mature voice came from within. "Come in."
Upon entering , Kevin was treated to the sight of what he could honestly say was a beautiful monster woman. The feathers covering her limbs and ears were varying shades of pink, while her long silky hair was light purple. Unlike the rest of the harpies, she at least wore a button-up blouse that covered the decency of her human torso. Her eyes were an emerald green, and she wore an intricate crown that marked her as the Queen.
[Harpy Queen Lucretia]
[Type: Flying]
Reina kneeled on one knee. "My Queen, I'm sorry for bothering you at this time," she sincerely apologized.
Lucretia smiled at her. "You don't need to bow to me, Reina. You know that I'm always willing to listen to anything my subjects have to say." Her gaze then drifted to the boy the young harpy brought in with her. "Who would this be?"
Due to her power as a Queen Class monster, she could tell just by looking at him that this boy was not normal in any way, shape, or form. Her senses told her that he was a monster, but somehow male at the same time, which she knew should be impossible. Additionally, she could feel a sort of restrained power sleeping within him, just begging to be awakened.
What made her slightly nervous was that unlike the other men brought to the village, this one did not seem to be happy. On the contrary, he didn't even try to hide his disinterest in his current situation, nor his desire to be literally anywhere but there. She knew that she would need to handle this situation delicately.
"Yes, my Queen!" Reina said happily. "This is my new husband, Kevin. He-"
"Call me your husband one more time, and I swear to Arceus that I will put you through a wall," Kevin cut in, his patience with the bird girl starting to wear thin.
Slightly put off by the threat, the harpy continued. "As you can see, he is very unhappy with being here. I tried to tell him about how nice it is and how much pleasure we can make him experience, but he keeps saying that he wants to leave. I was hoping you could talk to him."
Lucretia was also slightly surprised by the violent words he used. She turned to look at him. "Hello, Kevin. I am Lucretia, the Queen of the Harpies. Is there any reason why you do not wish to stay here with us?"
"Well," he began in a tone that made the Queen realize that this conversation was not going to go well. "For one, even if I were to want to be with one of you, it wouldn't be with her. The first thing I saw her doing was trying to kidnap a boy who couldn't have been older than eight. I'd sooner slit my own throat than marry a child rapist."
That news was a shock to Lucretia. Even by her standards, kidnapping and molesting a child was a step too far. It could cause trauma that would lead them to hating the entirety of the harpy race, maybe even monster kind, and possibly dedicating their life to exterminating them, in the worst case scenario. In her long life, the Queen Harpy had seen it happen numerous times.
Thus, she narrowed her eyes at Reina, who was looking significantly more guilty. "Is this true, Reina?"
"Y…yes, my Queen," she admitted, hanging her head. "It's just that there are no more men left in Happiness Village, and travelers have almost completely stopped arriving. Everyone else has a husband, so I wanted one too."
"And you were willing to risk ruining a young boy's childhood to get one?" Kevin interjected, his expression never shifting from neutral. "There are many things that can be forgiven, but destroying the innocence of a child is not one of them."
The younger harpy simply shrunk further in on herself, filled with shame.
Lucretia agreed with him, but something told her that this wasn't his only reason for wanting to leave. "Is there anything else that makes staying in the village unappealing to you? There are plenty of harpies who'd be willing to take you as a husband instead, after all."
"Yes, actually. There's the fact that everyone here seems to have such a disregard for human life that they you are dooming Happiness Village to a slow death."
The Queen raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean, is that with the lack of manpower caused by you kidnapping the men, they are slowly becoming unable to support themselves. Their main export, Happiness Honey, has stopped flowing due to them being incapable of harvesting enough." he said to her. "Are you even telling the men that their former wives, mothers, and daughters are probably going to be unable to support themselves and possible starve to death within the next few years?"
Guilt that had been festering for a while sprung forth within the harpy's heart. She did, in fact, know all of this, and had advised her subjects not to tell their kidnapped husbands. They were in need of a population boost after the actions of the previous Queen, so they needed as many men there as possible to continue their species. She felt bad for the women of the other village, but what was she supposed to do? Let her kind go extinct?
Noticing her expression, Kevin knew that she hadn't informed the men about the horrible state of their former village. "But." he continued. "That isn't the biggest reason I want to leave. I honestly would've just preferred to leave you to your own devices, but not a few minutes after I entered the village, this bitch-" he pointed to the sulking harpy next to him. – "Decides to kidnap me and take me here. I have things to do and a life to live, and neither of those include being forced to stay in a village of rape-happy harpies."
'And there it is,' Lucretia thought. 'The main reason he wants to leave is because he thinks that he has better things to do. He doesn't care that we're slowly destroying a village, he just wants to be left alone. What a sad existence.'
"I'm sorry that you feel that way," she stated, her voice calm and composed. "But I can't allow you to leave. We need every man we can get, and being a male monster, your genes are perfect to usher in a new generation of powerful harpies."
Kevin sighed in irritation. "So that's it, then? You're going say no just like that."
"Unfortunately so," she solemnly nodded. "However, you shouldn't worry. You will be loved for as long as you live, and have a large and loving family to support you."
"What if I just walk out? Are you going to stop me?" he questioned.
"Yes. And if not me, then any harpy that sees you leaving will be obligated to stop you," she admitted.
"And there is nothing I can say or do to make you reconsider?"
"No. I am truly sorry."
Silence hung in the air as he sank deep into thought. He'd completely exhausted all diplomatic options, so he knew he had no choice but to go with violence now. He had two forms that were super effective against Flying Types, and they were both liable to damage the forest around him, which he definitely didn't want to do. However, another form, one that he had already used, was perfect for getting out. Sure, it was only 50% effective against Flying types, but he didn't want to maim.
Only traumatize.
"Okay."
Lucretia was confused. She expected it to take much more convincing to get him to agree. "That's it? You're willing to stay."
He nodded. "I see no reason in trying to escape when a whole village worth of harpies is going to fight me every step of the way. The most logical choice is to stay here…"
The Harpy Queen showed him a beautiful smile. "That's wonderful! I have a few harpies who are looking for a-"
"And kick you out," the boy interrupted.
"…excuse me?"
"You said it yourself," he stated. "If I try to leave the village, every harpy in it will fight to keep me from escaping. However, there is a loophole: if there are no harpies left in the village, there will be nobody to stop me from leaving."
Lucretia really didn't like where this was going.
"To borrow a quote from my brother," Kevin continued, shifting into his Leafeon form and releasing a burst of elemental power that made the Queen Harpy's eyes widen and every other harpy in the village snap their heads in the direction of her throne room. "I'm here against my will, and I'm about to make it EVERYONE'S problem."
***
{Author's Note: I know that this is another cliff hanger, but it just felt so right to end the chapter like this. I should have the next chapter published by either the end of tomorrow or Monday, so please don't be too mad.}