After thinking for quite a while, she started to suspect that it was happening because of Feyre. But it was hard to believe that a vampire could do something like that to her.
Even the Succubus Queen, Lunatic, had used her unique skill, Shapeshift, and could only change the size of her breasts and make some slight changes to Scarlett's body for only a short period of time. Not to forget, that was when Scarlett didn't try to resist at all; in fact, she was actually cooperating with Lunatic.
"Ahh... fuck it. I just need to hide it until I get well. It's nothing serious!" Scarlett chuckled dryly to herself, trying to convince herself it was true.
"I don't think you should hide it," Aoto said, his voice serious.
"You should talk to the others instead. Maybe they'll help you!"
"Hell no," Scarlett shot back immediately. "If I show even one weakness, they'll surely use it to their fullest!" she replied, her voice firm.
Telling others like Xao, Cryptus, or Seiira would probably be fine. But if, by any chance, Lunatic, Reiza, or Irish got any idea about it, they would surely use it to their advantage and tease her endlessly.
"As you wish. That was only a suggestion," Aoto said, raising his hands. "I'm gonna go outside and flirt with some demonesses!" He waved his hands and turned to leave.
"You can, but if you harass anyone, you'll surely get a beating of your life!" Scarlett warned.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a respectable hero after all!" Aoto said dryly, waving his hands one last time as he left the washroom and then Scarlett's bedroom.
***
He walked outside, looking around the streets. When he arrived, it was nighttime, and a festival had been going on. The whole of DreadHaven had been decorated, but now, in the morning, it felt very peaceful and gave a clear view in the daylight.
Some people were taking down the decorations from their shops, while others were cleaning the roads and collecting garbage.
"Hmm... I thought there would be a lot of people on the streets," Aoto thought to himself, slightly puzzled. "But it's feeling quite empty. Do most monsters and demons here sleep in the morning?"
He decided to investigate it a little. Aoto walked around some houses, trying to take a peek inside. When he finally did, he saw people engaging in intense intercourse, like wild beasts.
He immediately felt embarrassed for peeking into someone's private moment and ran away as fast as he could, hoping no one saw him doing such a mannerless thing.
After running for a long time, he finally stopped, panting heavily as he looked around.
"I forgot that monsters are not humans. It must be their mating season. I actually learned that on my first year at the academy!" he sighed to himself, feeling disappointed and a little flustered. "Now I feel so stupid!" he added, shaking his head.
He tried to forget whatever had happened a moment ago and looked in front of him. He had actually arrived at the training area.
Li Feng was busy training hundreds of new recruits. He showed them his skills and demonstrated how to do each move correctly. For a few seconds, Aoto watched his teaching style. Although he didn't like Li Feng's personality very much, his way of being serious about his work was truly praiseworthy.
"Hey, Li Feng! How's the day going?" Aoto shouted, trying to have a short conversation.
Li Feng stopped his demonstration and slowly looked back at Aoto. But instead of replying or even nodding, he just turned his back and continued teaching, completely ignoring him.
Aoto's lips immediately twitched in anger. "This guy... I'll surely beat him up someday!" he muttered to himself, clenching his fists.
"Mr. Aoto, what are you doing here?" Seiira said, walking towards him casually.
"Seiira, was it? Nothing much. I just got pissed off by that guy, and I'm hoping I can beat him up someday," he replied truthfully, not bothering to hide his anger.
Seiira chuckled lightly. "Aren't you quite straightforward!"
"Well, Lady Scarlett and Mr. Li Feng are always fighting like kids. Maybe that's why he got the wrong first impression of you. Other than that, he's actually a friendly guy!" she added, trying to be helpful.
"Always fighting? That only means he gets beaten often by Scarlett, right?" Aoto said, a small smirk appearing on his face.
Seiira chuckled again. "You can put it that way!"
"Phew, now I'm kinda feeling good. Scarlett took my revenge in advance!" Aoto thought to himself, feeling satisfied for some reason.
But then Aoto's gaze landed on Seiira. She was wearing a big backpack/luggage on her back, as if she was going for some long vacation.
"Are you going somewhere?" Aoto asked.
Seiira nodded. "Yes, there's a mana cave a few dozen kilometers away. I'm going to do cultivation there for the next two days. There are other things with me that need to be put there for others to use!"
"Cultivation? You can do cultivation?" Aoto's eyes slightly widened as he asked in surprise.
Seiira scratched the back of her head with a puzzled look. "Yes, everyone does it. Although not more than twenty people are allowed at once, so people take turns doing it!"
"Wow, Scarlett never told me about it!" Aoto thought to himself, feeling a bit left out.
"Can I come with you?" he asked with genuine curiosity.
"Umm... yes, but cultivation takes time. I think you might have other important works to do!" Seiira said, trying to be practical.
"Don't worry, I'll just take a quick look and come back," Aoto said, not wanting to miss the chance.
With no choice left, Seiira agreed to let him tag along with her.
They walked into the forest, covering the distance. Although the path was much easier and recognizable than before. Since so many people of DreadHaven cultivated there, the grass and trees were cut and the dirt was cleaned to make a rough but usable pathway.
But Seiira wasn't just going to walk around. She jumped on trees to cover distance fast and save a lot of time. Aoto followed her behind, jumping from one tree to another.
"Miss Seiira, how about you give that bag to me? It's quite bad to let a woman carry heavy things when there's a gentleman here," Aoto said, trying to sound all cool and chivalrous.
"Okay!" Seiira agreed and threw the big backpack towards Aoto.
Aoto opened his arms and grabbed the backpack, but the moment he did, he felt intense heaviness that he almost lost his balance and fell from the tree. But he immediately put strength in his hands and carried the backpack on his back, his muscles straining.
"Umm... what's inside it? It's actually so heavy!" he thought to himself, his mind racing. Although he wanted to ask, it would be quite embarrassing for him to do so.
At the same time, he was amazed that Seiira could easily carry this heavy backpack without magic or a skill, and so effortlessly, too.
Later, Aoto used his unique skill, Reality Manipulation, to turn the heavy backpack into light as a feather and followed Seiira, feeling much better.
"By the way, what species are you? From the looks, are you a martial demon, same as Miss Xao?" he asked, trying to make conversation. Judging by her almost human-like appearance, the only difference was the single horn coming out of her forehead.
It was quite similar to martial demons.
"No, I'm actually a goblin!" Seiira answered.
"Goblin? No way!" Aoto almost froze from the answer, and he almost shouted in disbelief.
But Seiira didn't say anything in return and just stopped on a tree branch.
"We are here!" she said, pointing towards mouth of the cave in front.
****
"It's quite big. Why are only twenty people allowed?" Aoto asked as he looked up.
Standing in front of the mouth of the cave, it was actually big enough that even an elephant could get in easily. And by the looks of it, there was even greater space inside.
"The cave is filled with dense mana. If too many people cultivate at the same time, the quality will drop. That's why I also carried mana crystals to put inside the mana cave. It's like using ice to keep water even cooler!" Seiira explained, her voice clear and informative.
"Mana crystals? It's actually quite a rare item. No wonder the bag is so heavy," Aoto said in amazement, his eyes wide with realization.
"There are way more inside the cave. Lady Scarlett can even create artificial mana crystals with her mana!" Seiira said as she spoke and walked inside the cave.
Aoto followed quite behind her. Everything felt normal, but the moment he took the first step inside the cave, an intense pressure fell upon his body, like a huge boulder was on his shoulders.
His stomach twisted the next second, and he started feeling like vomiting. He immediately stepped out of the cave and coughed hard, his body feeling weak.
Seiira noticed him and stopped as well. "Are you alright? Maybe it was too much for you. It's your first time after all!" Seiira said in a concerned voice, her eyes looking at him with worry.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It just surprised me a little!" he chuckled dryly, trying to act tough even though he felt shaken.
"It's my fault. I should have given a warning in advance!" Seiira apologized, her voice sincere. "Humans have more impurities after all," she added, as if that explained everything.
"Now I can kind of figure out why no human could beat a demon king for the past thousands of years. There are so many upper hands for them. Even a weird goblin is better than me!" he thought to himself, feeling a little unmotivated and disheartened.
Although he could easily enter by using his Reality Manipulation, by doing that, he wouldn't get the benefits of cultivation either. The surroundings would be the same as a normal atmosphere.
"Or who knows, maybe this is actually the training arc of my story? A huge power boost!" Aoto immediately motivated himself back and decided to do it the hard way.
He was about to step in again but then Scarlett's voice directly came inside his mind via telepathy.
[Where are you? Don't you want to meet Avion?] she said, sounding like she was looking for him for quite a while.
[Ohh, wait for me, I'll be there in an hour!] Aoto replied immediately, his mind racing.
[Hour? Where the fuck did you go? Weren't you going for a quick stroll?] Scarlett shouted inside his mind, her voice sharp and annoyed.
Aoto rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. [I'm coming... We'll talk later] he replied, cutting off the telepathy.
He looked back at Seiira. "I'm really sorry, but I need to go. Maybe I'll come some other time!" he said, feeling bad for leaving so suddenly.
Without even waiting for Seiira to give a reply, he immediately dashed and ran towards DreadHaven to reunite with Scarlett again. As he jumped over trees, he looked back, having one last look at the cave.
"I should definitely come back here someday, and maybe take Ingrassia and Richard with me!" he thought to himself, a new sense of determination filling him.