CHAPTER 61 - Complications.
The night was quiet and the atmosphere was normal, at least for Kei's companions.
Nem was devouring the pastries that Kei had brought just for her (so she wouldn't eat the others' food).
Terkiana was preparing dinner with Terniak, who offered to help her.
Nirkat was on the roof of the house, looking at the stars, reflecting on the current situation she and her sister were going through, especially the dangers that awaited them.
Eris was deep in the forest, trying to control her bestial transformation. It is well known that demihumans can transform into animals, and they can evolve that transformation to become powerful. Eris can transform into a huge cat, but she becomes weaker because her transformation decreases her strength to make her more agile and fast, and since she focuses more on her strength, she doesn't want to lose it (and also because her transformation as a cat makes her wild and she doesn't want Kei to see her like that). She trains to be able to evolve her transformation once again. Drin is helping her, taking notes of the failures and analyzing any small improvements she may have. Mio is sitting with Drin, waiting for Eris to run out of magical energy to take her place. Mio has wolf-like characteristics, and even though she is not a demihuman, she can transform into a wolf, which is why she trains with Eris to evolve her transformation and become more powerful.
They focused too much on making their transformations powerful, but they were doing it the wrong way because they trained using their transformations. Drin told them that the base form is the most important because the power of the transformation depends on it. If the base form is powerful, the transformation will be more so.
Drin also recommended that they find a way to combine their animal transformations with their base form, because their large size as animals would make them easier targets to attack. An intermediate form. Mio doesn't lose control, but her large size is a problem, and although she can become a small wolf, the smaller she is, the weaker she becomes. Having an intermediate form is vital so that they are not easy targets and can increase in power.
Eris growled, her eyes turning completely black and her nails growing into claws, while white fur began to emerge from her arms.
"Keep it up, you're doing well," said Mio, while Drin picked up a rock from the ground.
Eris began to grow in size. Her fur-covered breasts destroyed her blouse. Her feet twisted and became paws, but before she could grow any larger, Drin threw a rock at her head, managing to deactivate her transformation and triggering Eris' fury.
"Kya!"
She jumped on Drin and grabbed her by the neck with both hands, but Drin paid her no attention and continued taking notes. Eris' growls near her didn't bother her, after all, in a fight, Drin would come out as the winner, and she wasn't in the mood to fight either.
"Idiot, I've had enough of telling you to pull my tail, nya! Stop throwing rocks at me!"
"How the cat whines. Another failure to add to the collection. Can we move on to drugs?"
"I refuse! I will achieve it on my own, I won't depend on drugs, nya! Besides, don't forget that Kei prohibited it."
"He prohibited it for me, not for you."
"It's the same thing! If he prohibited it for you, it means he doesn't agree with the use of drugs, nya."
Drin wanted to create a drug that would temporarily increase their power, but Kei rejected the idea for two reasons. One: All power, especially drugs, have side effects. Healing magic regenerates parts of the body but uses a lot of magical energy. Transformation magic is incredible but doesn't allow you to use all your power. And if Drin is able to create a drug that increases power, the side effect could be not being able to use magic after the effects wear off, and he doesn't want to take too many risks. All spells that have some benefit have a very negative side effect, which is why Kei believes it's a characteristic of this world. And the second reason: his pride doesn't allow him to accept gaining more power through drugs.
"Could you let go of me, cat? Only my darling can strangle me."
"Tsk."
Eris let go of Drin and sat on the ground, irritated by yet another failure in her record.
"It's useless to gather magical energy in my arms, the blood becomes infected and ends up circulating. It's inevitable, nya."
Thanks to Drin and Mio's research, they realized that the transformation is activated because the magical energy Eris uses to activate her transformation contaminates her blood, and as it circulates through her body, it ends up transforming her entire body. If she wants to evolve her transformation, Eris must learn to modify only certain parts of her body without transforming completely... Or, well, that's what they believe is enough to achieve evolution, as they rely on Kei's generic knowledge in fantasy.
Drin took out a notebook from her bag, where she had drawn how Kei imagines a transformation of a cat girl would be like.
As Eris wants to surprise Kei with her new transformation, she keeps it a secret to surprise him one day when she achieves it. And although Drin hates Eris, she wants to help her surprise Kei to see his reaction. That's why Drin asked Kei to describe the fantasy creatures of his world and their transformations, just to get inspiration and draw, because she loves drawing. A good excuse, because since Kei wants to see her always happy, he didn't hesitate to tell her everything he knew about fantasy creatures and how they would look if they had some transformation or evolution.
According to Kei, a cat woman with a transformation would have arms full of fur, but keeping her human hands, huge claws, big fangs, completely black eyes, and cat paws, keeping the torso, figure, and human face.
Eris manages to look like the drawing, but only for seconds.
"Thanks to my darling, we saved a lot of trial and error time. We just need to prevent your blood from infecting the rest of your body."
"Kei was right about the completely black eyes, so it's possible that the evolution is like this. We're on the right track," said Mio, looking at the drawing.
Eris didn't use any tricks to change her eyes, they really turn completely black when she tries to evolve her transformation. Kei has seen demihumans with their transformations, but their eyes remained their original colors, they didn't change. And if Eris's eyes turned completely black, it meant that Kei was right about his vision of how a cat girl's evolution would be.
"Is there any evolution for an Elf like me?" Nerka said, landing beside them.
Nerka always helps her grandmother prepare dinner while they train, so she didn't know anything about this. But since Terniak offered to help her grandmother, Nerka took the break to see what Drin and the others were doing every night.
Drin and Mio knew that she was spying on them, but since Nerka is afraid of Drin, they know she wouldn't dare to tell Kei what they were doing.
There's another Elf spying on them, but Drin will take care of her personally.
"For an Elf... Hmm..."
Drin started searching in her drawings until she found it. A drawing of an Elf surrounded by flowers and animals. An Elf without any physical changes.
"Here it is."
"Let me see, let me see...! Huh? I don't notice any difference."
"My darling says that the Elves he knows love nature very much, they are beautiful and great archers."
"Well... We are the same as the ones in his world."
"Exactly, there's hardly any difference, except that the Elves in his world live for thousands of years, and the maximum in this world is 1,000 years."
"And what would be the difference between a normal Elf and its evolution?"
"Controlling nature, creating trees and flowers out of nowhere."
"... Oh..."
Nerka was very disappointed to hear that. She thought she would have a cool transformation like Eris, but knowing that she could only create trees and flowers destroyed her hope.
"Don't worry about that, every transformation must have its advantage, it's just a matter of finding it, nya."
Drin searched for a certain page, and when she found it, she looked up and stared into the eyes of a certain Dark Elf who was spying on them, filling her with fear, so much that she urinated and immediately escaped, full of terror, as if her life were in danger.
But Drin didn't even bother to chase her, her speed is very disappointing. In less than a second, she appeared behind Nirkat and grabbed her by the neck with her arm, preventing her from moving any further.
The fear she has is so great that she dared to say the stupidest thing she could say in front of Drin.
"T-that inferior being forbade you from hurting me!"
Insulting Kei in front of Drin is like asking a monster to kill you.
And, of course, Drin's furious reaction was not long in coming.
Like a wild animal, Drin began to growl, and her previously serious expression turned furious and full of resentment.
Insulting Kei while Drin has her held by the neck is not very intelligent on her part.
She tightened her arm and began to strangle her, enough to make her suffer, but not to kill her. Nirkat is someone very easy to kill, that's why she must be very careful.
"Grrrr! How dare you call him that?!"
"Gkghhhh!"
She tries to free herself, scratching Drin's face, even trying to gouge her eyes out, but she can't even scratch her eyes, which are known worldwide for how fragile they are, reflecting the great difference between them.
Her body twists like a fish out of water, while she suffers from lack of oxygen, going through hell and seeing her life flash before her eyes.
A life full of pain.
She saw her parents, who sold her to an organ trafficker.
Her life on the streets, begging for survival.
Stealing to have something in her stomach.
All the suffering she had to go through to keep her sister alive.
A life where she was only happy when her sister was happy, and now that she thinks she will die and leave her sister alone, it made her feel the worst pain she has ever felt in her life, filling her eyes with tears, full of regret, sadness, and helplessness.
Tears that didn't make Drin feel anything, not even pity. Since she heard Nirkat insult Kei, she only sees Nirkat as simple worthless trash, who deserves nothing in life.
"So this is how you thank my darling for saving you from death, you ungrateful whore?!"
"Uwaaaah! S-stop, you idiot!" Eris shouted, trying to stop Drin by pulling her arm.
"Kei will be angry with you if you kill her!" Nerka shouted, pulling her hair.
"Tsk."
That last thing, Kei getting angry with her, made her feel bad because she doesn't want her loved one to be angry with her. She doesn't want to cause more problems for Kei because he's already going through a lot of pain and stress; she doesn't want to make him feel worse than he already does.
Furthermore, from the beginning, she didn't plan on killing her, just scaring her so she would learn to respect Kei.
She let her go, and Nirkat fell to the ground, where she began to breathe heavily to catch her breath. The stress she went through was so intense that she was on the verge of passing out, but when Drin realized that, she grabbed her by the hair and forced her to stand up, preventing her from fainting.
Eris and Nerka tried to approach her to prevent her from being killed, but Mio grabbed them by the arm, shaking her head, because she knows what Drin plans to do.
Drin showed her a drawing of a Dark Elf, surrounded by monsters made of dark magic against a nighttime background.
"Dark Elves become more powerful at night. You have two months to show me that you're worth it, at least at night, or I will kill your little sister. Understood?"
"W-what?"
"Understood?!"
"Y-yes."
"Tsk. Worthless coward."
She threw Nirkat towards Mio, who caught her already unconscious.
"I love my darling, but I don't agree with his decision. I will kill them if they don't show progress when we go to see the Queen."
"According to Kei, the only advantage that Dark Elves have is that they become three times more powerful at night because the attribute of Darkness is the one that suits them best. But even though their magic becomes more powerful, they can't use it for a long time because their magical power does not increase. If we manage to increase their magical energy, they..." Mio said before Drin interrupted her by spitting in Nirkat's face.
"I don't care! I won't waste my time with them. I'll go see my darling."
She jumped off the tree and ran away.
Nirkat is officially repudiated by Drin.
"I somewhat agree with her. Dark Elves are the living representation of the word 'useless.' But killing them would be excessive," Nerka said.
"Kei won't allow it, nya."
"Do we tell Kei what Drin plans to do?" Mio said.
They all looked at each other, waiting for someone to sacrifice themselves, but none of them were willing to make an enemy out of Drin.
Silence filled the place until, tired of the silence, Nerka started whistling and walked away.
"I'm too young and beautiful to die!" Nerka shouted as she left.
"I'm not nosy, and I also like living, nya."
"... I'll think about it."
They are all afraid of Drin, and if they fear her even when she doesn't hate them, they don't know how she would react if she came to hate them, and they don't want to find out.
•
•
"Evil, laziness, perversion, addiction, and sadness. They will come for you someday." That's what Kei heard in his mind before opening his eyes.
Kei woke up agitated. He had fallen asleep in the garden when his body couldn't take any more training.
He woke up somewhat scared but also confused. He feels like something scared him, but he doesn't remember.
"That was a weird dream. What was I dreaming about? For some reason, I feel satisfied... I forgot my dream... Weird things happen to me in this world."
Without giving it much thought, he jumped up and yawned.
"Sniff, sniff. Smells delicious. Having dinner without me? How cruel."
•
•
In Godfer, the Supreme God was observing Kei while taking notes in a small notebook, or rather, drawing something.
He was drawing a line that, at a certain point, divided into more lines, and those same lines divided once again. What does that drawing represent?
"The bond has been completely strengthened," he said, smiling.
•
•
"Thanks for waking me up for dinner! Oh, what a good family I have!" Kei shouted, annoyed, as he entered the dining room.
"You're welcome. Now shut up and sit down," his mother replied, continuing to eat without caring about her beloved youngest son's anger.
"Hmmmh."
Reluctantly, he sat next to Mei, and she looked away.
Mei dared not look at Kei because she remembered the kiss she gave him, and it filled her with excitement, embarrassment, and... other immoral and illegal feelings in most countries.
Her father, seeing that, felt like throwing up because seeing her reminded him that she pretended to be an old man to bathe Kei and clean his entire body. Everything, everything, absolutely everything.
"Oh, daughter. What am I going to do with you?" he thought, rubbing his forehead.
Kei is so focused on regaining energy to continue training that he doesn't remember the kiss Mei gave him, so he and his mother are the only ones calm at the table and the only ones eating like pigs.
Kei quickly devours the food to regain energy as quickly as possible to go back to training, and Sei Molfer... Well, she's just a little excited.
Now that Kei has arrived, almost the entire Molfer family is gathered. Kei's grandmother left because she had to investigate the matter with the hero Kei.
Kei put aside his anger, and time passed. Everything was peaceful... But once she finished eating, Sei Molfer couldn't stop watching Kei, and her intense gaze was hard to ignore.
He knew she had something to tell him, and before she could speak, Kei slammed the table with his hands, getting everyone's attention.
"Well, well."
A big smile appeared on his face as he got up from the table and pointed his index finger at his mother.
"Your next line will be: 'Kei, we need to talk'!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Everyone fell silent, except for the cough of a maid, which could be heard in the kitchen.
"Ah, my throat hurts."
"Hehe. It was a great night at the brothel, huh?"
"The 2x1 deal had to be taken advantage of."
"Ahhhhhhh!! We can hear you, perverts!!" Kei shouted, his face turning red with embarrassment, with the image of his maid, who seemed very pure and innocent, ruined with the image of her in a threesome with two men.
"I-I'm sorry, young master!!"
Silence once again filled the room, and filled with shame, Kei sat down.
"... Mother, you're supposed to say that line."
"Are you feeling okay? You're acting strange, brother," Mei said.
"I'm not even good at making references," he thought to himself.
He cleared his throat and looked into his mother's eyes.
"Mother, do you want to tell me something? Your gaze gives me chills."
"With two men at once, huh? Elena isn't as innocent as she looks," Kei's father said.
"In bed, you're worth a thousand men, love," Sei Molfer said, caressing his beloved husband's cheek and disgusting their children.
"Ahhhhhhh! Not at the table, please!" Mei shouted, shaking her head to get that disgusting image out of her mind.
"Tell me what you want to say so I can go vomit! Do you see what you provoke with your perversion, Elena?!! Keep your sexual conversations in your own homes!!"
"I'll kick your ass if I hear you again!" Mei shouted.
"I-I'm so sorry, young masters!!"
Sei Molfer sighed and got up from the table.
"Your father and I will be leaving for a while, we have a personal mission. We'll be gone for 2 years."
"Good luck! Let's go celebrate, Kei!" Mei said, pulling Kei by the arm, but he remained motionless in his seat, thinking about what he had just heard.
"... Oh... Forbidden continent? Did you make it?"
"Yes, we were given permission to go."
"They gave you permission?"
"Yes and no."
"Ah, what did you do?"
"I got tired of trying to ask Fravi for permission, so we won't do it."
Although the main gods in the continent of "Ether-Luna" are the aforementioned gods, Folpe and Fate, Fravi is the main Goddess of the world, she makes the final decision on everything.
In the past, the Molfer family has been able to go to the Forbidden continent by asking for permission from Fravi, including Kei's grandmother, but 85% of them ended up dead, and the remaining 15% barely managed to escape with their lives, including Kei's grandmother, who barely survived with 189 health points. Escaping is considered a humiliation for a Molfer, but necessary, because thanks to the information gathered, the Molfer family has been able to design a map with the locations of places that could hold great mysteries, like a certain legendary dungeon mentioned by a Molfer from 16 generations ago, who died without being able to explain why it was called legendary.
The Molfer's objective on that continent has always been to find that legendary dungeon, and now Sei Molfer feels capable of finding it.
But now, Fravi refuses to speak with a Molfer, and they interpret that as a refusal to give permission, but Sei Molfer doesn't care and will go anyway.
"The church has officially put a price on our heads. They say that Fravi will send our souls to hell and things like that. Fortunately, they know that your mother can kill Near, so they won't send any heroes to kill us," his father said.
"And threatening to kill you wouldn't do any good, we're still young, we can have more children."
"How much love you have for us!" Mei and Kei shouted, angry at those words, although they knew they would say something like that.
"Kei, Mei, you can take care of yourselves, but be careful, especially at night. One of you sleeps while the other keeps watch."
"We'll sleep together?!" Mei said, very excited about that idea.
"No incest!" Kei's father said.
"Idiot! We're not sickos!" Kei said, angry at his father for disrespecting Mei... Although, well, he's the only idiot in the house who doesn't realize it.
Sei Molfer sighed and decided to ignore that topic.
"My mother will be with you when she's not working or doing whatever she's doing."
Kei and Mei shivered when they heard that, because their grandmother is much worse than Sei Molfer.
"I-It's not necessary. We can take care of ourselves."
"T-that's right."
Sei Molfer smiled upon hearing that, mainly because she imagines how powerful they will become thanks to Grandma Molfer.
"Kei, Mei, I hate to say this, but... Never separate. Train together, take baths together, sleep together, eat together... The demons have been very active and we won't be here to protect you. I don't want what happened to Kei to happen again."
"Of course!"
Immediately, Mei became happy, but Kei became nervous because his way of life could be affected by Mei's company.
His father is also somewhat disgusted and worried, but considering that Kei is not like Mei and their lives are in danger, he preferred not to oppose the idea and trust that Kei will not stoop so low... Or that Mei won't use some trick to keep Kei by her side.
"Wait! Even when I work as an adventurer?"
"Do you have a problem with that? Mei can help you."
"W-well, well... Um... Wait, I need to take a breath and think."
Mei took him by the arm and looked at Kei with adorable eyes, trying to make him feel guilty and accept. She really wants to be by his side always, even using Kei's weakness against him.
"Do you find me annoying, brother?"
Mei pouted and Kei blushed.
She was attacking him using Kei's weakness. He can't refuse adorable girls.
"You're not a bother, Mei, but I have a personal life too."
"That's true. Kei, I wanted to ask you about your sex life," said Sei Molfer.
Kei turned completely red upon hearing those words. He was so focused on what would happen with his life from now on that this uncomfortable topic caught him off guard.
"W-w-what?!"
"You're too young to have sex, son," said Kei's father.
"That woman didn't force you to have sex, did she? Did she rape you?"
"..."
Kei remained silent... Rape. Did he rape her? Kei was wondering that, feeling like a despicable person.
"Drin... I used my ability to make her fall in love... Does that count as rape...? I don't know... I'm a shitty person," he thought.
Kei sighed and rubbed his neck, trying to calm himself down a bit and speak without fear.
"She didn't force me, I also wanted to do it. But it's a personal matter, don't ask anymore... I'll go get some fresh air."
Kei left the dining room.
"He's too mature for his age. He reminds me of myself," said his father, as he was forced to act like an adult from a very young age to survive in this cruel world.
Who suffered more physical and mental pain in life? The current Kei or the little father of Kei at only 5 years old? Kei's father, and by much, much, much more.
"Will I become a grandmother soon? I don't want to feel like an old woman."
Mei was biting her finger and blood was dripping onto her thighs.
"It's mine... It's only mine," she thought.
Mei was becoming too strange.
She was very jealous... Too jealous, at a dangerous level.
•
•
Kei was lying on the floor, looking at the stars, talking to the girls, informing them about the situation.
[And that's what happened. Mei can't detect demonic magic, so we'll be safe, but I'm worried about our relationship. Girls, from now on, we'll discuss demon-related matters through thoughts. I don't want my sister to find out I have a harem, so there won't be any kisses while my sister is around. Mei will sleep with me, so you won't have sex with me for a long time.]
Immediately, the girls complained about that decision, after all, they are very used to it and don't want to lose it. Like a drug addict when you take away their drugs.
[Everything but the kisses and sex, please!]- said Drin.
[Sex doesn't matter to me, but I can't live without your kisses and caresses, nya!]- said Eris.
[My cute husband, it's not fair!]- said Nerka.
[Coming from an old woman like me is weird, but... Kei, we became addicted to you.]- said Terkiana.
[It's true, I don't want to go through withdrawal!]- said Nerka.
[Girls... Aren't you exaggerating?]- said Mio.
[And why is Elena trembling and crying, saying that the young master will kill her? What did you do, Kei?]- said Mia.
"I don't want to be NTRed..." Kei whispered to himself.
He didn't tell them because he doesn't want to make them feel bad for him. If they fall in love with another man, he has no right to complain, or at least that's what he thinks.
[Girls, I'll think of something, don't worry. And I just scolded Elena for being a pervert... I have to go. Rest.]
The girls said goodbye to him, but Kei didn't hear them because he got distracted looking at the stars.
He deactivated the communication and sighed.
"It got complicated again."
He smiled as he looked at the thousands of stars in the sky. A beautiful view that relaxed him.
"No pollution. The stars look beautiful... This world is beautiful... But I miss my world," he thought, remembering his family.
The Supreme God, who was watching him, sighed at seeing him so sad.
"If only he knew the truth."
A truth that would completely shatter him.