[|||| =LEVEL 9= ||||]
I woke up feeling light, like I had let a burden off my chest, but also heavy in that my mouth was dry and my head hurt a bit. The first sight to greet me, which simultaneously made me feel more light and exacerbated my headache, was Ophis' face sound asleep and Kuroka's long hair behind her falling down her chest. She was also naked, but really as weird as my life had been, nudity wasn't surprising anymore.
I closed my eyes and dragged up what had happened… Hermione, the emotional breakdown, Helen's decision not to talk to me, and saying a lot of really hurtful things I didn't mean. I felt bad again and found myself squeezing Ophis a little more and felt better. A little life magic flushed my headache away and I put a parallel to work making breakfast for the three of us while I hugged everyone a little tighter.
It wasn't long before Kuroka woke up, a very cat-like yawn escaping her, and I cracked an eye to look at her. She looked to me with lazy eyes. "Morning," she whispered. "We can talk later." And she closed her eyes again. I noticed that she was hanging off the edge of the couch, which was already crowded with me and Ophis, but she didn't seem disturbed by her perilous position so I didn't ask. I didn't feel like speaking much. I was a bit emotionally drained. If there was anything stressful at all I'd just explode it.
… I wasn't going to work today.
Eventually I decided enough resting was enough and moved to get up. Kuroka rolled out of bed herself and went straight to the shower, still yawning.
"It's time to get up?" I heard a voice ask. I looked down to see Ophis' grey eyes looking up a little at me, seeming inquisitive. I nodded in response to her question.
"Do we have to wear clothes?" she asked. I blinked and thought about it.
"No, I don't think so." She smiled a little and I rolled up myself. She took the blanket Kuroka had been using and rolled herself in it and propped herself up on the arm of the couch. I walked to the shower, which was already running, and stepped in with Kuroka. I kissed her softly and we started washing each other. That, of course, led to sex, but it was hardly exciting sex. It was slow and somehow rejuvenating. I felt like it was both of us saying everything was alright.
When we both got out dressed in casual clothes, Ophis opened an eye and a black glow covered her for a moment. It faded and she had on a bra and panties on but nothing else. Then she grabbed towards one of my shirts in the bedroom and it flew to her hand, where she promptly slipped it on.
"It smells like silence," she explained. I looked at the shirt through my magical senses but didn't see anything void-related. Maybe she was just associating me with the void at this point.
I took the breakfast from my parallel, a bacon and egg sandwich for me and Kuroka and sugary cereal for Ophis that had been wiped of affinity with void (She seemed pretty happy with it judging by her small smile when she saw it). We sat at the small table Kuroka had for a minute before Ophis spoke up.
"I love you," she said, looking at me. "Does that mean we should have sex?" I didn't know how to respond to that so I just said what came naturally.
"Do you want to?" I didn't mind either way, though Ophis' body looked a bit immature. I knew it might cause problems later but in my current state I dismissed it as a 'later' problem. Things got complicated when a god looked like a cute twelve year old. Maybe she'd change it later. I knew she would if I asked, but I wanted it to be her decision for some reason.
"I don't know," she said simply. "I've never loved anything but the void before."
"Hmm…" I thought. It made more sense to me now why she loved me, if she really did. She had no reason to lie, of course, but love was a weird and difficult subject. "Do you want to have kids with me?"
"Yes," Kuroka said immediately with a smile. We both ignored her.
"That sounds… nice," Ophis said, tilting her head a little, her eyes staring into space. She looked down into her cereal. "Can we have kids?"
"… Yeah," I said quietly. I had just about come to terms with the fact that I was a very lonely person. I needed more people in my life to anchor me. It was a selfish reason to have kids but a good one, I thought.
"And sex makes kids?" she asked, her eyes not ashamed at all. Not that Kuroka or myself were ashamed either. The mood didn't really allow it.
"Physically it does. If it's you and me, our souls make a kid. You don't truly have a body, do you?"
"I have a physical presence. My soul is too… big to not have one," she said. I shrugged.
"That's probably good enough. We can try out sex and see if that works. If it doesn't we'll find another way. I'm still going to travel, though. I'm just going to always come home at the end of the day. There's still so much for me to do." Ophis smiled in a small, pleasant way and changed seats to sit beside me rather than across from me to rest her head on me. I leaned down and lightly kissed her. She reciprocated amateurishly but was smiling a little brighter at the end of it.
It felt right again, seeing her smile. Off to the side Kuroka watched us fondly. I had no clue what was going on in her head but I had a good feeling in my chest that things would work out.
[|||| =-= ||||]
"So… do you want kids… now?" Kuroka asked a little hopefully. She was laying down on perhaps the greatest couch in the world while I had Ophis on my lap, one of my hands resting on her head, and was reading some of my old research notes. I paused and then nodded.
"Just a few to start. At this point it would feel like procrastination to say no. And I repeat, I'm not going to stay in this dimension. I'll be doing pretty much what I'm doing now but I'll be home often to take care of any kids we have." She smiled kindly.
"Yeah… and you're up for the harem?"
"I prefer the term polyamorous relationship but essentially yes," I said. I scratched Ophis' head a little. She sighed in bliss and reclined on me. "I don't know what I'm going to do about Esdeath. I guess I'll just tell her the truth and see how things go."
"What about Claire?" she asked.
"I… I think I was using the zombie world to avoid something. It didn't really solve my boredom. It just distracted me. I don't think I want to go back there. Time doesn't pass in that dimension anyways. I might revisit it eventually, but it only has bad memories for me now."
"Good. Be happy," Ophis muttered.
"That's why I'm okay with this thing you have with Ophis," Kuroka said. I looked at her curiously, imploring her to go on with my eyes. "You weren't really happy before," she explained. "You had happiness when you visited Esdeath and had fun stealing furniture - weirdo - but I started to wonder why you always had to be busy doing something. It was like you couldn't stop to smell the roses and kept getting more work for yourself. I… I didn't know what to do about it. I'm sorry."
"It's fine," I said. My hand left Ophis' head to scratch Kuroka's ears. She closed her eyes and purred happily.
"I have to share now," Ophis said unhappily. I set the book down and scratched her head with my left hand. "Better," she said approvingly. I continued for a moment and withdrew my hands, wrapping my right arm around Ophis and reading with my left.
"… So Ophis do you wanna know some tricks for sex?" Kuroka asked mischievously. I sighed. Ophis looked at Kuroka out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at me and my flat gaze. She slipped out of my arm and grabbed Kuroka's hand. The two disappeared behind the bedroom door and I heard murmurs. I consciously tuned out anything they talked about and immersed myself in my old research.
[|||| =-= ||||]
I had brought out my old games and was playing with my two… wives? Girlfriends? Family. Family works best. It was fun to play with other people for once.
"Your people are so unhappy," I said in amusement, looking at the little frowny face on the toolbar as Ophis took her turn playing Greece in Civ 6.
"They will suffer so that you may fall," she said darkly, continuing to sell all the commodities like marble she had for gold to fuel her armies invading Africa.
"Could you take care of the barbarians around India for me? You've got so many soldiers. I can pay," Kuroka asked, having been pinned against the Pacific where Japan constantly invaded her and a stream of barbarians from the west for the entire game. She had been stagnating for most of the game.
"Do your own work, cat."
"Yeah, Kuroka. You'll never get better if not through conflict."
"I'll never get anywhere without growth either!" she complained.
"Oh, really? What a shame," I said humorously. I kept conquering North America. I had most of Canada already and was slowly making my way into Central America. I was also keeping a few warships around Mexico to annoy Kuroka later even if it would be better to wear down South America with them before I conquered it. I felt like Ophis was thinking of doing the same thing with her armies around Arabia and was waiting for her signal. My turn finished quickly, I was much more experienced after all, and it was Kuroka's turn again.
"Yeah. A real shame… can I politically marry? I've got some diplomats hanging around doing nothing."
"Trade with Japan," I said.
"They're at war with me!"
"No, no. I meant trade your nation to them. It's inevitable anyways."
"Psh. Nope… hey wait, Indonesia has stuff worth trading for now." She looked at the trading menu with interest.
"Get better boats," Ophis recommended.
"Can I buy off Japan?" She ended her turn.
"No… but you can buy off me," Ophis said, moving her armies through India and sweeping the barbarians in one quick turn.
"What? Why?"
"Operation pincer is a go." I began moving my fleets across the Pacific.
"What?! Oh, come on!" she exclaimed, realizing what we were doing. I made a fist towards Ophis, which she fist-bumped, while Kuroka looked at us in betrayal.
"The dark empire knows no honor. Only blood can satisfy my citizens."
"Or you could stop selling all your commodities."
"No."
[|||| =-= ||||]
"I can't believe it…. They were useful," Ophis said in some faint awe.
"Well actually… I mean, yes. This is here entirely because of my excellent cult management skills," I lied bold-faced. The three of us stood in front of a large manor in the middle of nowhere if nowhere was southern Maine. It was basically nowhere.
The manor was a little plain for its large size. A lot of lumber had clearly been used in it's creation where it had wood pillars at the entrance, varnished wood around all the windows, wood floors everywhere, and just in case you decided you needed more wood there was a wood stockpile outside the manor beside a wooden tool shed. I had five square miles of more wood all around me that I now owned too, because why not?
"I never thought your cult would turn out to be much use," Kuroka agreed, stepping forward and opening the door to the manor.
"They've swelled a lot since I took down the old devil faction. I got a lot of devils who appreciated me a lot. I got donations, recruits, and people donated safehouses like this one that I don't pay taxes on. So this is my house now."
"I like it." Kuroka grinned, looking around the entrance of the manor.
"It's quiet," Ophis said, closing her eyes to listen around the forest. That meant she liked it too. It was silent, though.
"I'll factor in some void enchantments when I create the runic defenses. I'm intending to repurpose the panic room in the basement for you to use. It'll be quiet. Besides, there's not much use for a panic room when we're… us."
Ophis looked pleased and started wandering around the manor. I kept my parallels working on making layers of rune circles coming inwards to the manor. I wanted the place to be able to tank a shot from Sirzechs and work fine. That was doable since I had a few billion points of mana in my sub-dimension and a LOT of affinity. I just had to make some runes to hold the affinity and mana, and use them as fuel for the defenses.
Ophis and I wandered around the bottom floor, of which the most important areas were the kitchen, the workshop, and the spa. The spa inside the manor was probably one of the best features. It was too cold outside for a pool, after all.
When we went upstairs I looked around the empty rooms and a few commodities like a recreation room. The master bedroom was nice, and it had a big closet to store all the outfits women apparently needed. Ophis didn't understand it either, but Kuroka insisted that it was important.
The bed was also a lot bigger than Kuroka's old one at her apartment. You could fit like six people on it. I suspected that it was preparation for my apparent lovers, but Kuroka hadn't given me the house. Elseria had…
I pushed those thoughts far away. Whatever she thought I did in my free time was to be in her head and away from mine.
"That's a big bed," Ophis said, mirroring my thoughts.
"It's convenient, suspiciously so," I agreed. We waited in silence for a moment and I moved to leave, but Ophis grabbed the back of my shirt.
"I like this place… It will be good for kids," she said. I was getting better at reading her emotions after spending more time with her. It made me curious as to why she was purposefully acting more stoic than usual.
"Yeah, it will be. There might be better ones though." Ophis nodded.
"It's just a house… And a little dusty. But I like it. It's ours," A faint tinge of red went to her cheeks. "So…" I looked between her and the bed.
"Oh," I said dumbly.
"I want kids," she said in the same tone. I was pretty sure it was a demand, though.
"I want kids too!" Kuroka yelled from outside the room. Was she listening in?!
When Ophis glowed black again I gave in and took my shirt off. So this was happening.
"Nyaaa! The door's locked! I want to do lewd things too!" I didn't mention that I was keeping the door locked with my metal affinity and sat on the bed, putting Ophis onto me. She looked up at me, still too short, and frowned.
"Tiny…" she muttered. She closed her eyes and glowed black again. She grew a little, still tiny, but she was tall enough that she could kiss me without me having to lean down awkwardly. She looked more mature, more like a short seventeen year old than a twelve year old. I felt relieved that I wouldn't feel like a pedophile and kissed her a little harder.
"... I like that," she said, looking pleased. "Give me more."
"NYAAAAA!" I would let her in after Ophis and I had warmed up a bit. She would just rush things and I was happy to have a slow day. Kuroka kept whining loudly outside the door as we kept making out. I didn't feel bad about it at all.
[Lemon - starts slowly]
Ophis was amateurish when it came to kissing. She obviously had a little experience but for the most part she was fumbling trying to see what I liked and repeating that. I patiently guided her through it, occasionally humming or growling to direct her. Kuroka, thank dust, quieted down after some more whining and complaining.
Experimentally I tried nibbling on her lip. Ophis yelped into my mouth and bit down. I winced.
"Ahow, sthtahp, Othis, hey." She opened her mouth and stopped biting my tongue while I grimaced and quickly healed my tongue while she looked confused.
"Why'd you bite me?" she asked.
"Some people like that."
"Some people love that!" Kuroka's voice shouted distantly. She wasn't outside the door. What was she doing?
"Oh… can you do it again?" She looked up at me innocently. I leaned in again and our mouths met again. After a moment I bit again and she groaned. "I like that," she mumbled into my mouth. She squirmed on my lap a little and her hands started to grip my shirt. All the heavy kissing, as well asher movements, even if they were unintentional, were getting me in the mood.
I decided to speed things up a little bit and pulled her closer, though I had to lean down a little bit more to compensate. Ophis got a little more explorative and put her hands under my shirt before making an odd noise.
"What?" I asked, separating for a moment of rest.
"Muscles," she said shortly. She sounded strangely pleased.
"Uh, sure." I ignored the strange interest, probably Kuroka's doing somehow, and pulled her shirt off, I followed immediately after.
"Mmm." She inspected my abs shamelessly. I was just confused. I had no idea that Ophis liked muscles. "Lie down," she ordered. I had no idea what she was doing but complied. She knelt down over my leg and looked at my abs.
"Gah!" I jerked a little when Ophis licked my abs. "What the-? You-? What?" When did she ever have those kind of tastes? What was going on?
"The cat was right," she noted, smiling creepily.
"Can we please move on?" I asked awkwardly. Why was I awkward? She was the virgin here!
"Mmh." Without hesitation she pulled off her shorts and threw them aside as I did the same. Then she knelt down again.
"Save it for Kuroka. Otherwise it's just messy." I pushed her face away from my dick and she nodded.
"What now?" I sat up and began trailing my hands over her. She squirmed a little more.
"Relax," I whispered in her ear. She held herself stiller but was still somewhat tense. I kissed her a little more to set her at ease and slipped two fingers into her when she was distracted.
A quick intake of air was all I got this time, having apparently learned that biting was not for other people's tongues. I was as gentle as I could be as I slowly slid my fingers in and out of her. She got progressively more comfortable with me, and wetter, as we continued. I was happy to feel her get more energetic and a bit sloppier as a consequence. She was finally beginning to get eager for sex instead of just curious.
I spent a few minutes heating things up further, kneading her small breasts and slowly fingering her faster. Then she whimpered, though not quite in a bad way.
"I think I'm coming," she said with a strange expression, something between aroused, curious, and excited. On the normally stoic girl it was foreign.
"Relax. It's your first time. Enjoy this," I told her. I rolled the tips of her nipples in my left hand and curled the fingers of my right. She began panting lightly.
"Oh… oooh," she moaned. I kissed the sides of her neck and went in for the kill. I pinched her clitoris lightly and she gasped as her hands tightened at my sides. I didn't let up and she squirmed again as she closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling.
"So?" I muttered after giving her a moment to recover.
"That was… nice."
"Excuse you, you're talking to a professional here."
"Very nice," she said in the same tone, sighing just after. I noticed a jingle from the doors and flexed my magic.
"Damnit!" Our pet cat cursed from outside.
"Get a better lockpick, you amateur," I called out. This prompted a slew of hissed and spat curses at me, my parents, and my genitals before she raced away to concoct another plan.
"Now?" Ophis asked, looking up at me with glittering amethyst eyes.
"Now we get to the sex."
"I like the touching."
"Then you'll love sex." This earned a doubtful noise from her while I curiously eyed my wet fingers and licked them. "Blackberry?" I asked a bit disbelievingly.
"Cat," we said at the same time, myself in realization. I scoffed at my first lover and pinched Ophis' butt, prompting a jolt and an annoyed look from her.
"No more delays. Come on." I turned us around and picked her up by the knees, holding her up above the bed.
"So how-nngh!" I kept to my word and pushed myself into her immediately, cutting her off. There was a moment of silence as I saw how she
"…More," she said, reverting to monotone, though there was still an embarrassed overtone to her words. I obliged and began thrusting, going faster than I normally would with somebody who seemed as gentle as she was. I had absolutely no chance of hurting somebody as powerful as Ophis. I could still fuck the hell out of her and make her first time memorable, though.
Ophis continued to squirm in my arms but I didn't stop thrusting. I might have even sped up a little bit. It seemed like Ophis liked to struggle a little for some reason. I'd find out later, maybe. I was more interested in how she wrapped around me.
Among the admittedly few lovers I had had Ophis was the tightest. She wrapped around me like a vice in what might have been a literal sense. My sense of pressure was a bit warped by my durability. It took actual effort to move in her no matter how wet she was getting since she just kept sucking me back in so hard.
"Harder," she muttered quietly. I worked to oblige, though it wasn't easy. I started moving her up and down with my thrusts. "Harder." I was going nearly hilt deep now and I could feel her insides writhing around my cock. Sex was a gentle term. We were fucking now and judging by how hard Ophis kissed me, she was liking it. I still had to nudge her hands to do more than grip my shoulders, though.
I didn't stop when I heard a boom behind us, though out of the corner of my eyes I saw Kuroka flinging her clothing off of her and even tearing her panties in her rush to get them off. She stepped beside me and Ophis and forced our mouths apart with her own hands, having to put actual effort into it. At Ophis' genuinely angry expression she pressed herself against her, shoved her tongue down her throat and pulled one of her smaller hands to her large chest.
"Push her down. Mmf! For the love of God she wants to be fucked, Abyss! Man up!" Kuroka nearly yelled at me with a brief interlude for rough making out. Ophis was gone now, her eyes more draconic than anything, her pupils slitted with a clearly magical aura that screamed possessiveness around her. Then Kuroka's words registered in my mind.
I dropped Ophis down onto the bed and positioned myself to thrust deeper and harder after a very brief second to wonder why sweet, gentle Ophis, who slept most of the day, would want rough fucking over gentle sex, though she seemed to like the latter a lot too.
Oh, whatever. Dragons, I guessed. I thrusted harder.
Kuroka moved Ophis' free hand to her pussy and grinded against her fingers until she got the hint. I began kneading her pert ass while Kuroka took her upper body over from me. Ophis' eyes were lost with bliss, nearly rolling up with both of our efforts at dominating her.
This continued for almost ten minutes. Ophis came twice, her legs wrapping around me both times and pulling me into her while the strange draconic aura around her flared, becoming almost oppressive around Kuroka and myself, though whether my first lover even noticed was debatable. Finally I came in her. I gripped her harder than before and pushed myself as deep as I could before pushing Kuroka out of the way to press Ophis deep into the bed and kiss her as deeply as possible. A more than satisfied moan left her as she finally came out of her craze a little and moved her hips against mine a little to try and ride her orgasm out. We both took a moment of stillness to recover before we were interrupted.
"Okay, your bliss is great but I am really horny so get up again," Kuroka insisted. I felt one of my ears flit in annoyance at her pushiness.
"Weren't you supposed to let us have our first time alone? So we could make it special?" I growled. I saw how Ophis was just laying down, utterly spent from her sexual frenzy.
"You were being slow," she insisted. I was tempted to dismiss her as payback. "I'll totally repay you but please, Abyss!" she pleaded. I considered it before pulling myself out of Ophis, after which she promptly crossed her legs and rolled over to meet Kuroka kissing me again.
"Ugh, fiine," I said in a faux-whine.
"You are going to have sex with this super hot cat girl and like it," she teased me.
"Mm-hmm," I grunted. I slipped a finger in her beyond easily. She was as wet as an ocean. It might have actually been a bit unhealthy to be that wet. With that done I felt an evil plan form and sat upwards.
Without wasting a beat I grabbed Kuroka's shoulder and pushed her down onto the bed. She groaned at my aggressiveness, though a throaty chuckle left her a moment after. Her ass wiggled at me suggestively and she smirked in anticipation as she looked back at me. I locked eyes with her, making myself look almost bored, and thrust inside her. She groaned at the feeling and I pushed forwards and backwards inside her a few times, to her confusion, though she didn't quite show it.
Then I pulled myself out of her.
"Wha? Hey! I was liking that! What-EEP!" I pushed myself into her asshole, more than lubricated enough from her cunt.
"If you want sex that badly, leaving me no chance at all to take a moment to rest, I might add, it'll be on my terms," I said with a slight drawl.
"But - but butt stuff is for… I'm so wet - gah!" I pulled out and slammed into her for that.
"No. My terms," I pulled out a bit and began slowly, almost effortlessly, sawing in and out of her. "Honestly you might be breaking records for just how wet you are but I don't really care. I'm also a bit peeved from not being in control with Ophis. I might have been on top but let's be honest, neither of us were really in control there. Stopping wasn't an option."
"I… yeah." Her voice sounded strained. I wasn't going fast enough for her, only making her hornier instead of relieving her. She tried to struggle a little but I pushed her down again, this time gripping her face. I pulled back for a moment before my other hand came down on her ass with a rough slap.
"Son of a-! That hurt!" she protested. There was a pause as she realized that I wasn't thrusting. "And keep moving, damnit!"
"So demanding… no. I want you to ask politely." I slapped her ass again and she hissed, genuinely hissed like a cat, and tried to move back. I gripped her ass and pulled nearly out entirely, barely leaving in my tip.
"No," I said sternly. We were both silent as she refused to ask instead of demand. It was mostly her obstinance and a desire to keep up our charade that kept her from asking politely. Some part of her wanted me to keep teasing her.
She squirmed again. I slapped her ass harder. "Gah! Fine! I'm sorry. Can you please keep fucking me?"
"Better," I acknowledged. I continued at my previous pace.
"Faster… please."
"See, now you get results." I obliged her, getting back into the mood myself. I let up the pressure on her, letting her lift her head up from the covers of the bed. I didn't let her move herself, though. The pace was still too slow for her.
"Good god, fine! Abyss, my awesome, super powerful and total dom of a lover, would you please, please please fuck the daylights out of me? I don't care if it's my ass! Just fuck me!"
"Better," I growled, letting my possessiveness shine through. I enjoyed her ass a little more, kneading it as I moved my hips. Her ass felt great, tighter than her pussy, but it still felt similar. "Now… why are you so horny?"
"Ophis!" she said loudly, her voice breathy. "Watching you fuck Ophis!… Dust, that was so sexy." I slapped her ass lightly this time. She tensed around my dick and I enjoyed the sensation. I wanted more from her. But making her do what I wanted was just as fun.
"Hm? A voyeur?" I asked, thrusting a little extra hard inside her once to see her ass ripple.
"God, yes," she shivered. "The polygamy thing… that turns me on. Your cock is fantastic but having Ophis kiss me like she did was awesome!" That was hot I leaned down to her neck and bit a bit harshly. She clenched again around me and I slammed into her just a little harder one time before stopping.
"Mhm… I think you've earned it. Between the three of us, you do make a wonderful sub." I let her up and grabbed her shoulders as I began thrusting hard enough to give her relief. We took it slower than before since I was more tired than when we started out.
In the doggystyle position we started in I kept up my pace for a few minutes before we both started to get bored and I tried some new angles. It was fun when I pushed her forwards into the bed frame and pounded her against it.
Then I lifted a leg up and began to finger her. The two feelings from her pussy and ass made her gasp out and sag a little, when I took the opportunity to bite her breast and grope the other. She bent flexibly to grab my sides and cry out. Her nails left light gashes in my sides. I didn't mind. It was proof that she was having a fantastic time.
Finally I leaned back and she began riding me, rising and falling energetically with my cock in her ass, her hands pressing on my chest as I simply let her take over. She eyed me with eyes filled with lust and leaned over me, her breasts swaying.
I didn't even hesitate to be a little rough, once more going at my own pace as I enjoyed her breasts. I recalled all the times she had used them to get me off fondly and how, despite how I loved to play with them, like almost every hot blooded man, she was still sensitive by some miracle.
It was the thought of her breasts and lips around my cock that finally put an end to me. I groaned as I filled her ass. Hoping that she would be done I slapped her ass one more time and smiled when the surprise finished her off, her body clenching around me, though that didn't stop her from bouncing on my cock a few more times.
"Aaahhh… way better," Kuroka sighed, having finally reached satisfaction. I leaned back on the bed, thankful that it was large, and wondered if we were going to get going.
"… So how do you give a blowjob?" Ophis asked Kuroka. The perverted cat's eyes lit up once more. I groaned and pulled on my life affinity. I was in for a long day.
I did really want to see both of them sucking on my dick, though. I was living such a good life.
[End lemon]
[|||| =-= ||||]
I spent five days doing almost nothing with Ophis and Kuroka. After the first, I reached out to Elseria and took over the manor. The rest of our time was spent putting some personality into the residence and doing some cleaning, though most of that was my parallels using avatars.
An eclectic array of furniture was spread throughout the place, sometimes in odd fashions. I had stolen a lot of furniture from the teigu-verse, my time in Remnant, and my little adventures with Claire when I could get away with it. One or two sofas were fancy felt seats with golden sculptures of lions coming off the arms, while another might be nothing more than plain leather. All of them were comfortable, though. I had some other furniture than sofas: tables and recliners and a hammock. I didn't put them all out, but I filled in a lot of the empty space.
I also took over the kitchen and met no protest from anybody. I put pans in cupboards, glasses sorted by height and make, alcohol locked away in the basement or, in the case of some of the nicer ones, in a cabinet, and I made sure to stock the fridge with everything I would need, including a few more exotic ingredients I had found in other dimensions.
Kuroka went on her own thievery spree and stole artwork from wherever she liked. I had to teleport her around a lot, though. In the end of it she had collected enough nice artwork to make the walls a little less barren. She also painted over the plain wood of a few rooms by herself, mostly using soft colors like royal purple and light blue.
Even Ophis chipped in when she wasn't enjoying the benefits of our new relationship. The casual thievery I committed and Kuroka's own spree seemed to rub off on her. Little baubles appeared around the house on side tables and windowsills from time to time. There were some statues, strange flowers, and a powerful holy sword that was probably treasured by the church before she stole it.
I worked hard on the runes when I left my body to sleep. I didn't need it all the time, after all. Motion mana engraved large trenches in the ground, big enough to lie comfortably in. Then metal affinity formed the strongest, most magically conductive metal I could produce into the grooves. I repeated this for all the thirty acres I officially owned.
The runes were just a barrier, but they were able to sense intent thanks to mind affinity and would set off an alarm if the circuit was tested or breached.
If somebody intended to harm me or the people whose mana was keyed into the barrier, they would be blocked. If somebody was just wandering around or passing through, they'd be fine. It was simple, but with how large the circle of runes was I put an enormous amount of mana into them.
Just in case, there was another barrier around the house that used hard light to disguise the house as just another part of the forest. Those two defenses were enough for me, though I might have to make more later.
Oh, and of course I made Ophis' chamber. Void was so heavy in that little panic room that it was actually affecting reality. I just had to trap imprints of my aura in runes that made a barrier and poured void into the room. It couldn't harm my soul so it just lingered in the room to Ophis' delight.
She still preferred to spend time with me and Kuroka, thankfully. It made me feel better about us as a couple that she chose me over the silence of void. She even tolerated Kuroka, though I got the odd impression that she thought of her as a cute pet more than anything. They got along well enough, though, which was plenty.
The manor didn't really feel like my home, but waking up between Kuroka and Ophis felt like one step closer to having a new family.
[|||| =-= ||||]
"Where have you BEEN?!" Esdeath demanded, furious, the moment I brought myself to the teigu-verse. I stood a little straighter, a grimace settling into my face. She looked utterly furious.
"I…" Sleeping with my two girlfriends, playing video games with them, playing games while sleeping with them, and doing house work. Truly pressing things.
"Dealing with personal problems," I answered. Esdeath must have picked up on something since she glared at me harder. The room got colder. My breath misted in front of me and I saw frost collect on the sleeves of my shirt in the corner of my eye.
"Personal problems, " she said, her voice the utterly calm tone that spun poetry about how you had horribly fucked up. "And would you be specific as to these… Personal problems?"
I felt like I was a single mistake away from being killed, so I paused and decided to answer honestly.
"I was dealing with romantic problems. There was a bit of a shift in my relationship with Kuroka. I'm still working some things out." Esdeath stared coldly at me, as though putting my life on a scale.
She waved a hand upwards while clenching it. A small pillar of ice rose not far from her. I sensed her soul leave her body and move to the pillar. Her previous body turned to ice and I watched her step out of the newly formed ice somehow.
"I learned how to teleport with my ice and how to turn my body to ice. As per our agreement, you're cooking for me. Go. The cooks will move for you," she commanded me. She turned, her long hair whipping me in my face, and I finally had a chance to focus on something other than Esdeath's furious presence. General Liver, Esdeath's second in command, was standing in the corner looking stoic besides the sweat on his brow.
"So… what was that about?" I asked him. "She isn't on army rations any more, having taken over the palace and she's been busy managing all this occupation stuff, why is she that angry?" He looked at me with a bit of pity.
"I'm sorry, Sir Mavros, but I have no wish to anger Esdeath." I frowned but didn't press him. Instead I made my way to the kitchen and watched the few cooks making snacks see me and flee in terror. Dishes cooking were taken off and shoved into corners, the maid at the scrubbing pot scrubbed like her life depended on it, which by the look on her face, it might have, and the cooks stood at attention against the wall farthest away from the stoves and counters save for the desperate maid.
"So… what's this about?" I asked. The cooks flinched and looked among each other. After a moment one plain looking cook stepped forward.
"G-General Esdeath said to give the kitchen to you immediately if you entered it."
"But then why are you all so afraid?"
"She yelled the order." I stared at the man, expecting more than just that. "Sh-she had her sword drawn! She said 'If Mavros enters this kitchen, even if he's just passing through, get out of his way immediately and do whatever he says. He is a master chef and a great friend of mine. Treat him like you would me or Liver.'"
Some facts started to click together. "Ah, you think this is serious enough for the death penalty," I concluded. The cook looked at me in confusion.
"It's not?" I thought about how much Esdeath enjoyed the dinner I made for her when we infiltrated the castle. I didn't have to wonder what she'd do if I had tried to take that dinner away.
"Actually, come to think of it, she would definitely kill you if you were late." The maid at the dishes squeaked in fear and set a pot half cleaned aside and sprinted across the room to the side the cooks were on.
"Just stay over there and try to blend into the background. I don't want you all to distract me. Actually… who among you knows every ingredient in here and where it's placed?" The cooks shrank back and looked around. I saw the most eyes settle on the one who spoke. "They're looking at you. Are you the head chef or something?" The plain faced chef nodded. "What's your name?"
"Shinji, sir."
"Well you're going to be helping me cook. Keep an eye on things and hand me the ingredients I ask for. I don't know where everything is. Now get me pepper, salt, ginger, coriander, peanut oil, margarine, and hand me an onion. We're making curry. The good kind that I can make. Not the powdery stuff, not that that you have curry powder here."
Shinji ran around the kitchen, immediately handing me an onion. I got to chopping on a cutting board. "I-if I may, sir? Who are you making this for?"
"Oh, I lost a bet with Esdeath. I'm cooking for her." Shinji jumped upwards and hit his head on the overhanging corner of a cupboard, dropping the glass jar of peanut oil. He froze in the face of death as it fell to the ground. I held my hand out and it shot to my hand. Nearly the entirety of the cooks in the kitchen breathed a sigh of relief except for Shinji, who had just stared into the face of death himself and had a pale-faced thousand-yard stare.
"Just so you know," I said. "If you actually drop something without good reason and I can't save it, I'm blaming a poorer quality meal on you. She's already pissed at me for leaving for five days. I'm not honorable enough to take that blame." Shinji nodded and I started giving him more orders] to fetch ingredients.
[|||| =-= ||||]
The cooks looked in interest at the curry I had made. Shinji had helped keep an eye on things and done the easier stuff like chopping some tomatoes and garlic. Well, he actually messed up with the garlic and was going to put it with the skin into the pot, the madman, so he had to do it again, but he was helpful all-in-all. I had to provide the rice myself and a few seasonings.
I also thought about adding a little grounded ice dust, since dust of a person's primary affinity tended to give you a nice feeling that went well with good food, but I couldn't think of a way to put it in without making the curry cool down too fast. It was a shame. I really liked the pop storm dust gave food sometimes, especially sweet products like cotton candy, not that I was much for candy. Maybe I could make… hm.
"Shinji," I said.
"Yes?" he asked obediently, much less afraid of me after I had only threatened to kill him after the garlic incident.
"Go collect the purest, finest, fluffiest snow you can. A whole bucket of it. Put this in it to keep it cool." I tossed him an ice dust crystal. He caught it and nearly fumbled it in surprise at how cold it was. "Bring it here and pick out any ice crystals. But first, do you have fruit syrups here?" He shook his head.
"Fine. I'll dig into my stores. I think I have a little," I checked my soul space. I only had blueberry, strawberry, and lemon syrup. "I have enough. Go collect the snow. Make sure you're back before Esdeath asks for dessert from me and remember that she eats fast."
"You, you, and you! Follow me!" Shinji pointed at the three burliest cooks. "We're taking the horses!" He ran out of the kitchen immediately without questioning my orders. I looked after them, hearing their pounding footsteps grow fainter.
"Hey wait a second, I can make pure snow," I realized. I channeled some ice affinity to my hands and let it out in tiny crystals. Pure snow appeared in my palm. "… Eh, whatever." It was something to laugh about with Esdeath. I looked at the waiting cooks.
"Well what are you waiting for?! There's food here that needs to be presented to your commanding General! Do you expect me to do all the work myself?!" Cooks sprang into action. The single nice plate with curry and some roasted vegetables and steamed carrots I had made as an afterthought was put on a silver platter and had an ornate cloche put over it. One handsome cook struggled to pull a nice suit on in the corner and the others put the saucepan, food, and some wine on a cart.
While they fiddled with a few things to make everything look fancy, even if it was just curry and vegetables, they looked at me for orders. I found Esdeath upstairs writing something in her room by sensing her affinities and started walking, the cooks following.
The one in the suit looked very comely in his suit and carried the platter with Esdeath's food in a dignified manner. The platter hardly tilted at all. It was kind of weird to see the food I made treated so well when most of the time I'd been feeding it to my sister, Raven, and a bunch of hungry ex-bandits. They didn't exactly respect fine dining rules.
When we reached the stairs the cooks muttered among themselves and four of them grabbed onto the sides of the cart and picked it upwards. "Stop," I said. "Put it back down there." I pointed at the ground floor. The cooks exchanged some looks and set the cart back down. I walked down the stairs and waved my hand, making a portal to the end of the stairs up at Esdeath's floor. I walked through it and the cooks followed after a brief hesitation.
I walked to the door, the cooks still following, and knocked. Immediately, all but the handsome cook and another calm looking one fled down the stairs for some reason. I ignored them, I heard Esdeath say "Enter," from behind the door. I opened it and stepped inside.
The king's chambers looked mostly the same except for some furniture having been moved around. The bed was sitting right next to the window now, which might have been cold for most people, but for Esdeath it didn't matter, ice demon blood and all. I ignored most of the changed furniture for the only table in the room, where Esdeath was sitting down to write in some journal. I noticed that she was in casual clothes rather than her officer's uniform, which was all I usually saw her in.
The clothes were simple but also pretty nice considering what I normally saw in the teigu-verse, where people still wore potato sack in some places and most people only had roughspun cotton, at least from what I saw in the Empire's capital. It was only cotton but it was still much finer than what the peasants were wearing, a long sleeved loose black shirt with open lace threads around the arms and wool pants. It was also, come to think of it, the first time I had seen her without her rapier on, though I noticed that it was leaning next to the bed. I absently noted that I was right and she did look better without a hat.
"That was quicker than I…" She trailed off and frowned. "Where's your plate?" She seemed confused.
"I thought I was just bringing you dinner," I said, equally confused. She seemed to realise something.
"Idiot," she muttered. She looked at the handsome cook in the suit holding her platter of food. "Set that down and go get a plate for him. At least tell me you made extra." The cook bowed his head and set the platter down on my side of the table. Esdeath looked down to her journal and up to me but then did a double take with wide eyes and tossed her journal away suspiciously quickly onto the bed and pulled her meal towards her, though she didn't take the top off the platter.
"I normally make extra. I thought you might want leftovers later," I explained, glancing towards the journal. I pushed aside my curiosity and figured I'd be with her for awhile so I pulled the second chair out and sat down as I put my sword into my soul space, leaving me in just a long shirt and pants.
"You know, some people in my position would be offended that you insinuated that they'd eat leftovers."
"Those people are far too picky. Nobles?"
"I'm technically a noble." She shrugged.
"Do you get some sort of special card that exempts you from having territory?"
"Actually yes," she admitted. "It's called military service. Politically any and all lands I had as a noble were turned into the kingdom as I signed my entire noble family up in service to the Emperor. It's usually done in penance as a more merciful way to atone for some sort of crime. Considering that I didn't have any lands or possessions when I joined the military it was just lip service from Honest."
"Honest?"
"The prime minister. He… 'advises' the Emperor and oversees military affairs, meaning me, until the prince is of age, though all of that is also a formality. He rules the Empire from behind the Emperor."
"Wait… is he that horribly obese noble? The one in the paintings around the halls of the palace?"
"That's him. You didn't steal any of his portraits, did you?"
"Of course not! I wouldn't want such ugly portraits." Esdeath snorted as the suited cook came into the room looking a little harried, but carrying a silver plate just like Esdeath's. She lifted up the cloche covering her plate and looked curious as he started dishing me up, trying to copy how I dished up Esdeath's plate.
"Oh? What's this?" She picked up her regular sized fork, ignoring the others, and cut into the curry.
"It's curry," I explained. "It's a bit spicy, but it's rice with a sauce made from quite a few things with some seasoned chicken thrown in."
"Chicken again?" she asked, taking a bite. By her smile she liked the food.
"There's not much white meat that people eat often. Pheasant, fowl, turkey, chicken, and probably some more obscure things. I think small monkeys have a lot of white meat on them. Red meat like boars, cows, deer, and rabbits… I've never tried it in curry before. Hm, I'll experiment some other time."
"Well it is delicious, though I don't normally like spicy foods. I prefer tangy and sweet kinds," she said, taking another bite. I started on mine as the cook set my plate in front of me.
"Don't ignore the vegetables." Esdeath made a face. "Really?" I asked in exasperation.
"Fine," she said grumpily. She tried one and nearly choked in surprise. She gulped and took a deeper drink of wine, coughing once.
"I thought I did well with that," I muttered. I took a sip of the wine and thought it was surprisingly good. It was pretty fruity.
"It WAS good! That was why I was surprised!" she said in joy. She speared a carrot and kicked her feet a little under the table in childish happiness.
"Wait, you've never had decent vegetables?" I asked, confused again.
"No!"
"It's just salt and properly roasting them! I didn't even do anything to the carrots! They're just steamed!"
"Well the palace cooks always either char them or give out salads." She started digging into the vegetables more than the curry.
"That's just stupid," I muttered, slowing down with my food a little.
"Mm." Esdeath didn't really answer. She was too busy eating. After chewing for a moment she swallowed quickly. "So… where did you grow up?" I blinked in surprise, not expecting to have personal questions during the meal.
"In a desert called Vacuo. My parents didn't want me to go outside because we lived in a terrible neighborhood. Water was a scarcity that a lot of people tried to monopolize, including gangs. My father was one of the few people who tried to stand up to them. The gangs came to our door one day and killed them both. I found out I was magical when I killed them in return and wandered into the desert. I spent years out there doing effectively nothing. Then I got caught. A woman called Summer got to me and… well, she pretty much adopted me into her family. There's some other stuff that happened but to keep it short I got my 'teigu'," I glanced at the cooks standing ready for us. "And I wandered even as I kept close to my family."
"Mm… I had a similar childhood." She looked into my eyes speculatively. "I was born into the Partas clan, a northern tribe. I learned from my father the ways of our clan. How to hunt, kill, harvest danger beasts, and the rules of the world. One day I came back from a hunt and my clan was burned to the ground, too weak to resist the attack of a rival clan. I left for the south and Honest found me. The rest you can figure out for yourself."
"Teigu?" I asked. She nodded and took a bite. "What do you mean by rules of the world, by the way?"
"The strong rule and live. The weak serve and die. I myself serve as point in case," she said casually. I sighed. She was another Raven. "Why do you sigh?" she asked curiously.
"What do you think strength is?" I asked.
"The ability to dominate others. Killing normally, but others like Honest are strong in a lesser way. I can see the value in leading and managing the people, you know? I'm not a brute who only sees the value in combat." She looked at me, annoyed.
"I never said that," I said. "But it's nice to know we think similarly." Esdeath was caught off guard this time. After a moment, though, a wide, genuine smile went over her face. Then it turned a little confused, though nonetheless happy.
"Then… why do you not want me to torture others? I'm stronger than them. We both know it." The cooks looked uncomfortable in my peripheral vision but I ignored them.
"Because it's petty and childish," I said. "I can get sadism. It's not for me but I understand that there's a satisfaction in crushing others. I feel it too, you know? I hate losing fights and when I win I sometimes want to rub it in. But I don't because I prefer to respect everyone."
"Honor is for the strong to the strong. The weak are weak of their own choice. Everyone has the potential to be strong and a responsibility to see their potential fulfilled." Esdeath disagreed.
"There have to be weak people for there to be strong people," I said. "Would you want to farm your own food? Build your own castles? Of course not. But the weak, people like these cooks, the average people, can do a lot together that even the strong can't do alone. Doing things like torturing them or killing them indiscriminately spits on that, the work they do for us. Alone, sure they're weak, but all of them together are strong and I think we should respect that."
"There are many common people. They're replaceable. If a stage director sees an actor doing poorly he might fire him and never see him again, easily getting a new, better actor who knows he might be fired too. But I enjoy killing. I would kill the first actor and inspire greater results. People fear being killed more than losing their job, after all. I enjoy it, the hypothetical actors all grow more in line, and the result of the previous actor is the same. He is never seen again."
"But what about the actor's family? The people who knew him?" I questioned. Esdeath raised an eyebrow.
"What about them? Their family member wasn't skilled enough to avoid death. If he had been more skilled, more persuasive, or simply better he might have lived but instead he is dead. Perhaps it inspires them to be more competent, unlike their family member."
"And what of the old? The infirm who never had a chance?"
"It is harder for them. It always is," she said, a little sadness in her tone. "Perhaps their family will support the old out of respect or the infirm will become useful despite their limitations. Yet life is not fair and it never has been."
I frowned. Her philosophy made sense in a cruel way but I disagreed. "That's a cruel philosophy. I can't say it isn't right, though. But that doesn't mean it's the only right philosophy. I like to think that people should respect each other, even if it's an ideal. Everyone has talent, after all. Maybe that poor actor would be an excellent warrior or a decent farmer. Maybe the people around him are dragging him down somehow. Life is unfair, yes, but that doesn't mean that people have to be, especially when people who are strong like you and I can easily afford to help others."
"Hm… perhaps. Ideals are… messy. Sometimes when everyone has them they can become a reality, if only for a time. But sometimes they only end up killing you." Esdeath and I ended our small debate there, polishing off our food we had been eating while talking.
"Aah, that was nice." Esdeath leaned back, tilting her chair a little, a content smile on her face as she stretched, which consequently displayed her breasts prominently. Her eyes were closed in a satisfied way.
"It was pretty good," I agreed. "Have you got room for dessert?" Her chair slammed back down as she rocked back forwards, her eyes' satisfaction gone in an instant for eagerness. I chuckled and looked to the cooks.
"Is Shinji back with the snow?" I could feel Esdeath's inquisitive stare on the side of my face but I ignored her.
"Um, n-"
"I'm… here, S-sir Aby-Mavros! Sir Mavros!" I heard an exhausted voice say from beyond the door. Shinji opened the door, carrying a wooden bucket full of a fluffy, fine snow. It looked like it was from a recent flurry for some reason.
"Where'd you even get that?" I asked, puzzled. Outside all the snow was hardened to ice. It clearly hadn't snowed recently.
"The Eversnow Mountain ten miles northeast, sir. It's always snowing there." he said.
"We've only been eating for like… half an hour! Did your horses gallop the whole way?" Shinji nodded but his face sported a proud smile as he held up the bucket. "Well I'm impressed!" I said with a grin. "Despite the fact that Esdeath could create snow of even finer make with a snap of her fingers and I could have simply teleport you there had you asked, you followed my orders above and beyond what I expected!" Shinji's smile grew wooden and strained. There was a tense pause as he silently looked down at the bucket and gently set it on the food cart. He took a deep breath as he stormed very politely out of the room.
When he shut the door I started laughing at him and realized that Esdeath was joining me, to my surprise. "Dust, Shinji is great. I only threatened him once while we cooked!" I said to her.
"The former king did have taste choice in staff," Esdeath giggled. I noticed the cooks become sad and a little angry but they quickly hid it. "Now why did you need snow of all things?"
"Snow cones!" I grinned.
"Snow cones?" She seemed mystified but excited.
"Exactly! Though of course I have my twist to it. Here, I'll show you," I stood up and walked to the cart, Esdeath following me. I took the plastic bottles of syrup from my soul space and set them on the cart. "Snow cones are pretty simple. They're just ice and sugary fruit syrup normally. You take a cone of snow and just pour some of the syrup on them. It spreads and flavors all the snow. Some people like to use crushed ice but I don't like the chunks of it. But I have my trick." I took out two vials of ground ice dust and poured them over the bucket of snow. A flex of my ice affinity blended the snow and dust together quickly, as though in a blender. It gave the snow little sprinkles of blue throughout.
I made a hollow cone of solid ice in my hand and put it in the bucket, packing snow into it with my other hand. I took it out and poured some blueberry syrup on it and handed it to Esdeath as I began making my own, lemon flavored. She looked at it curiously and cautiously took a bite of it.
"Hm? This is good… what?" She looked at the cone in interest.
"That's the dust, the stuff I sprinkled over the snow, " I explained. "If you push a burst of magic into it it explodes. Well it also explodes if you hit it too hard but with little grains like I used it takes a lot of force to explode or a tiny bit of magical power. With your ice demon blood it's delicious for you because of some magical theory I'm not going to explain in detail right now. To put it simply the magical ice power in the snow cone appeals to your ice powers."
"Mmm… this is delicious," she purred. Her cheeks were a little red. The ice affinity in the dust was basically massaging her ice affinity, stimulating it through the mate effect, where a strong dose of pure affinity sent the soul into overdrive and tried to reproduce, naturally with a soul of strong matching affinity. A little dust of below average quality like what I used wasn't nearly enough to trigger that effect, though. Especially not when dispersed through snow. Dust was more compact so it dissolved into affinity a little slowly. At most having all the dust in the bucket might mildly turn Esdeath on if she took all of it at once. As it was the dust was a pleasant tingle to her soul, just like it was to mine.
"So… you mentioned romantic troubles," Esdeath said leadingly. I sighed. I didn't really want to talk about that but I didn't think I had any solid reason to refuse her.
"Problems, yeah, but it's… complicated." I glimpsed the cooks leaving the two of us, taking the dishes with them. I nodded to them and the last one out, who was closing the door, gave me a thumbs up for some reason.
"Would you explain them to me?" she asked. I shrugged.
"I've been dating Kuroka for a few months now. We had a casual relationship for months before that but it was just sex to both of us, though she kind of liked me emotionally but was okay not pursuing it. Then I got struck down hard, something I don't want to talk about right now, and she helped me get back on my feet. We started dating because I needed somebody and she was surprisingly more reliable than I thought she was. So we continued like that for a few months.
"Now I lost a lot when I was… struck down. I don't think I'm over it now and it's going to haunt me for a long time to come. One of the people helping me with that was a friend of mine named Ophis. I thought of her as a friend and not much more, but pretty recently she helped me deal with some of my emotional issues, something I didn't think she could actually do. To make a long story short, we got together. While I was with Kuroka."
"I didn't think you were that kind of man." Esdeath looked at me with disappointment.
"Oh, Kuroka has been telling me to get multiple lovers for ages."
"… What?" she asked flatly.
"I don't get it either. Well, I know she wants other women to… 'play' with, which I'm fine with since I know she cares for me deeply, but she wants me to get other lovers for some reason. Maybe she thinks she's not enough for me? To reiterate, I don't know. Oh, and polygamy is pretty common in her world so that likely has something to do with it. So she knew I got together with Ophis, who I hadn't had any romantic feelings towards before. But it was really sudden. Looking back on it Ophis has been really attached to me but I didn't know it was romantic at all until five days ago. I care for her a lot and changing that to mutual love is a surprisingly easy process. What kept me for five days was working out what we as a trio of lovers rather than a duo were going to do.
"Thankfully Kuroka and Ophis haven't clashed at all. I don't get it. There's no jealousy or competitiveness between them. I know I'd get jealous and angry if Kuroka or Ophis slept with another man but they're just… fine with it. It just clicked between them. I called on some of my minions to get a bigger house and the three of us spent a lot of time together putting our own touches into it. I didn't want to leave because I didn't know how we were going to… work. I had to put everything on hold while I was puzzling out how everything worked between us. Now it seems like I'm leading the relationship and they're having no issues and I have no idea why. Shouldn't there be problems to solve? Are they glaring at each other when I'm not looking? It worries me, but I can't see anything going wrong at all."
Esdeath stared at me with her mouth a little open, her snow cone forgotten in her hands. When I looked at her she closed it and blushed. "Your life it… much more complicated than I thought," she admitted. "Do you see any problems, though?"
"As I said, no." I took a bite of my snow cone.
"Then don't go looking for any," she said simply. "Don't look away from them and if they have a problem try to solve it. Even if you don't do so the effort will appeal to them. As the saying goes, 'If it isn't broken don't fix it'. You're having no problems and your relationship isn't even slightly broken. It sounds like you… have a strong base for a polygamous relationship?" She looked at me quizzically.
"Thank you for not calling it a harem."
"… Are you socially dominant in the group?"
"…"
"Whose word has the most value between you three?"
"… Mine."
"Do you see the issue here?" she asked, amused.
"I don't like to call it a harem," I grumbled, taking a sullen bite of my snow cone. "I feel like it makes the others seem less important. I don't want anybody to think I like them just because of sex or that their word is worth less than mine when it comes to our relationship."
"When it comes to your relationship?" she asked. She had a little moustache of blueberry syrup now. I kept a smile away with difficulty and tried not to look at it.
"Ophis is magnitudes stronger than me," I said casually. Esdeath froze in the middle of another bite before she continued and gave me a slightly disbelieving look. "She's about the second or fourth strongest being in her reality, actually. She can travel to other realities too but doesn't do so often. She's universally feared but in reality she's really quiet and a bit naive despite being countlessyears old. I think it's because she spent most of her time in the void between dimensions. Too much magical activity gives her a headache, you see."
"I'm having a hard time picturing something stronger than you," Esdeath muttered.
"That's because this world is a small pond in an infinite world full of ponds, not to mention the oceans." She nodded and tipped her snowcone back, finishing it off. Mine was only half gone but I was done anyways so I tossed it in a portal leading a few miles away in the middle of nowhere. Esdeath tossed her cone of ice, which was stained with blueberry syrup, into the portal as well.
"I'm going back to the capital tomorrow," she said to me a little suddenly. "I'll be flying my dragon-"
"You have a dragon?!"
"Yes, now, I'll be flying my dragon back and I'd like for you to accompany me into the throne room as I make my report. I'll be doing as you've asked and finishing my business in this world. The Emperor is surely going to offer me a boon for my conquest, he does so every time I do so, and I will ask to retire and leave my armies to General Budo, who manages the defense of the Empire rather than the offense as I do. However, I will offer to eliminate Night Raid before I leave. I was going to do so in the first place. I'll form a temporary squad and lead them against the organization, destroying them of course, and then I'll leave. Beyond my duties to the Empire and a personal grudge against the leader of Night Raid, I have nothing left to accomplish."
"So those assassins in Night Raid are all that you really have to deal with, huh?"
"Yes." I smiled and nodded.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Esdeath smiled at me.
"Goodbye, Abyss. Tonight was… fun," She leaned forward a little bit for some reason, but hesitated and turned around, walking away towards her bed. "Now would you please get out of my room? It's getting quite late."
I disappeared home to see Kuroka and Ophis playing my games, specifically LEGO Star Wars.
"Hey! Abyss! Come on, we need a player three!" I happily obliged, smiling all the while when they snuggled up on me as we played.
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