[An achievement has been made: Left Dungeon]
[Granted skill: |Portal|]
Knowledge rushed into my brain, like a river would the sea. There wasn't much to parse. Just a tiny passage of knowhow and knowledge. Pretty much just telling me that I could return to my core any time I wanted.
It gave me many ideas. The first, and the only one that mattered right now, being that I could ingratiate myself into the human world while passively earning experience. Even if I was pathetically weak outside of my dungeon.
I groaned, signally to the woman that I was awake. She loomed over me with a passive expression. Trying to make herself seem more... hm- normal. Yeah that was probably the best word.
"Sorry to wake you." She spoke. "But you never told me your name."
I touched my finger to my chin. Contrary to the story I was weaving... but that didn't matter. "I..." I shook my head. Giving her what amounted to puppy dog eyes. "No one ever gave me one."
And despite the mystique I had tried to cultivate for myself, leaving hints of what I truly was... well that went out of the window the moment I yawned and curled closer into her warmth.
"Then I will." She seemed so resolute. Her voice a great tune against the backdrop of the forest. There were animals that sang their morning cries... there were the rustling of leaves as the wind ran through its course.
And then there was her warm voice. I closed my eyes gently, waiting for her to take me closer. Her voice singing sweet nothings.
"Rest well."
I did.
And when I woke. It wasn't to some great warmth but to the yelling of another. The woman I had trusted my unconscious body to covered my body with hers. I could still see in front of her.
Lo and behold. A man of short stature and even shorter temper. He yelled with vitriol in his voice. "I don't care how much danger you'll be in! I hired you to find the bodies. So go!"
But she didn't take that well. Rather her face - I assumed - curled into anger as she yelled right back. "How many times do I need to repeat this." She breathed. "I have done enough! I've fulfilled my duty to the best of my abilities. Do not push me further! I may well take this as an act of hostility, not against me but mine too."
Mine? Who were they? Some sort of organization that she led. I tilted my head and stared at her strong back. Some sort of agreement, a search and rescue in exchange for...?
"Lily...!" The man growled. Ah- was that her name. Lily. A cute name. Oh- but she was in some position of power, that was good. Quite good in fact.
Oh... but whatever the old man had to say was quieted by Lily. There was a small burst of power, a shrill shriek and some rancid smell. And then the man was gone.
"Mmm..." She hummed, turning to me once the man was well and truly out of sight. "Sorry you had to see that."
She smiled and kneeled down to me. "Oh but on the other hand I have good news."
"Good news?" I questioned.
She beamed.
"Yeah. I've found a great name for you."
I lit with happiness. "Truly?!"
"Truly~"
I threw myself onto her. All part of the deception, I promise. Yeah, it was all part of the process, it wasn't like I craved having a name that much... yeah that was the truth.
"Inari. Said to have servants of pure white hair... just like you." She ruffled my hair. "Or foxes... but you were too cute... and well the name just fit. I can't think of anything else now that it's in my mind."
"Inari..."
I tested the name on my lips. Yeah... It just... well it just fit so well. I smiled and hugged her tighter, deciding to increase the deception, if just a little more. "Inari... I like it. Thanks... thanks so much mom!"
She took me closer to her, holding me high above her head. Her smile so pure and great. Even if we both knew that this was a deception. If only for a moment she reveled so greatly in the duty that was motherhood.
Though... I looked down at her. My smile becoming a bit more watery as drool poured down my lips.
"Oh, is my little Inari hungry?" She cooed.
Before I could correct her, for it was a misunderstanding. Yeah, I was hungry, but for something else. And something that she offered quite freely if the lewd smile on her face was any sign.
Lily bared her neck for me and brought me into her chest. I took a bite, licking the outside as blood rolled down my throat and into my stomach.
And if she moaned... well I would just pretend that I didn't hear that. Yeah... she could go and do what she wanted. As for me... well I was just hungry.
/./
My hands closed around Lily's neck. With eyes closed and my breath light and rhythmic to paint a picture of sleep. She held onto me quite tight as her feet carried us towards some nascent place.
Hah- I sighed. I could've gone far further. So why? Well, that was because I had decided - in a moment of impulse - to claim her as my mother. Yeah, it worked. But I could very well have just claimed memory loss and have been done.
And if I had done that well I could've gotten so much further. She was attracted to me, that much was clear by the blushes and inappropriate touching. But no~ I had to go and shoot myself in the foot.
Hah- I guess if I was thinking in the long run then yeah it would've been fine. I rolled my eyes, but I wanted more. So much more.
It was practically midnight by the time I fell asleep in her arms. She cooed me to sleep trying to say that 'a growing boy should sleep well and eat well' but I clearly didn't need sleep seeing that I had just napped twenty minutes ago.
I wanted to ask where we were going but that... well I wasn't quite sure. Maybe some vehicle... a camp. Something? I wasn't quite sure.
The world seemed about the same as my old one so the technology should be about the same, right? I think so at least. If I was just judging by the things on Lily then yeah, the shirt was made by some intricate machine and her jewelry was excellently carved. Her shoes were made of half plastic too so there was that.
Oh- and the phones that the kids had used when invading my dungeon. That said something too.
I blinked. Lily tried to coo me back to sleep but I wasn't going to. Not when we were surrounded by dozens of strange people. A military camp? Well when they had this many guns, swords, bows, and people I guess.
But it was a really weird mix. I mean why use bows when you had guns, why use swords when you had guns. I just shrugged and moved onto reality.
"Yo." Some guy spoke. "Who's the kid."
Lily growled and waved his concerns away. "Doesn't concern you, and to answer your next question. No, we didn't get permission." She scowled at the man and shoved me into his arms. I blinked just as much as the man. "Take him to my tent. I'll be back."