"And I thought I'd find you frantically trying to get back..."
I spin my head around at the familiar voice and look in the direction it came from. Floating in the air behind me is a colorless, translucent version of Senka. She's staring at our situation with a disapproving frown. What is our situation, you ask?
Well, a bespectacled Hestia is lying on the bed, sullied, bloodied, and asleep or unconscious from the earlier consummation of our relationship, and I'm leaning over a naked and equally bespectacled Asoko, ready to engage in the absolute height of incestuous relationships. The appendage between my legs is standing at a raging right angle, its length just under a fourth of Senka's total height. And it seems she spots it upon me turning around, as her eyes go wide at the sight.
"Wha-" Her mouth flaps open, closes again, then she blinks her eyes and stares at it. "... that's a murder weapon! Did you kill Hestia with it?!" She inches back from me, then notices who exactly it is that I was about to ravish with this killing tool. "Wait, did you create a clone of yourself because you didn't have enough bloodshed yet?"
"Hey, don't jump to conclusions! Hestia really enjoyed it! And this is Asoko, she's... another me." Yeah, it sounds like she's just a clone when put this way, but that's not it!
"... who're you talking to?" The other me looks up to me with a skeptical expression.
"Huh, what do you mean?" I turn to her and then to Senka again.
"Hm... the fact that she can't see me means that she was created before you left the academy." Her expression changes to a contemplative one. "This is one of my special techniques. I finally found a piece of you in your ruined room and consumed it, which allows me to communicate with you over a long distance." The cursed doll explains with a dismissive gesture and glances at Asoko again in curiosity.
"What's that ability you're speaking of? That sounds mighty convenient. Why didn't you use it before?" If she can use it to talk with me over such a long distance, she could have asked me for a piece of my body much earlier.
"Because I didn't think we'd get separated so easily!" Senka's expression is filled with a hint of loneliness. She's really awkward in expressing her feelings, and this much is enough for me to know that she's really missing me. Aww, now I want to hug her. But considering she's most evidently a spirit of some sort, I won't embarrass myself by reaching out to her and embracing thin air.
"When I'm back, I'll give you lots of love, Senka-chan~" I look at her with a warm smile. She sees it and turns away pouting, but I understand that she's actually quite happy about it. Then her eyes glance over the situation in the room once more and annoyance fills her face.
"Like you're doing to Hestia and yourself, huh? If you do, not with that... thing... but that's not important right now." She sighs and floats down to come eye to eye with me. "Kamii is safe with Rolan and his party." Upon hearing this I undo my body transformation and become completely serious.
"Tell me what happened after I was teleported away."
"I see... So they thought I put some sort of mind control on her, huh?" I sit on the bed beside the sleeping Hestia and clean up the mess I made on her face by absorbing it into my body through my fingers. If I didn't have this convenient body, it would have never occurred to me to do something like this, and I would have thought the mere idea gross. "Did they do anything to her memories?"
"I was inside her head during the ritual, and there was no hint of any hampering with her memories. Basarab and Arcelia really only looked for corruption from you in her mind and when they didn't find anything, they stopped." Senka explains, although I wonder what she means by being inside her head, but judging from her abilities, it must be some sort of control over mind and spirit.
"Are they taking good care of Kamii?" I'm completely focused on her well-being right now.
"They're bringing her along on small requests that only require some legwork. She's alright now, but she feels lonely at night and will talk to me about you all the time." The cursed doll is floating right above my lap, replicating being held by me, but obviously she's immaterial and there's no feeling at all. Still, I guess it calms her down, and it's somewhat nostalgic, as it's been a while since we were last like this.
"And how are you feeling, Senka?" I motion to embrace her after all, and while to Asoko it may look the strangest of my actions yet, I don't care. Of course, there's nothing to touch, so I simply hover my arms around her. Upon seeing it, the little doll lowers her head in what I perceive to be embarrassment.
"... I'm fine..." She mutters and lifts her arm to touch mine, even though she knows that it's futile. "Just... come back quickly..." Her tone pulls on my heartstrings. So this is the dere side of a kuudere showing itself, huh? It's incredibly stimulating for me on an emotional level, rather than a physical one. It makes me want to cuddle her tightly.
"Yes, I'll do my best. Can you find out how transportation magic circles are drawn?" I ask her, but she shakes her head.
"Even though I've seen the ones you used, I don't have a photographic memory. And I already pushed my luck when I infiltrated the academy to find a piece of you. I don't think I'd be able to get away with entering the forbidden section of the library and stealing what you're looking for... but I could try it..."
"No, don't risk your life for this, we'll get back the normal way." I know Senka's immortal, but she's most certainly not invincible. If she's caught and locked up somewhere I may not be able to reach, immortality would instead work against her and condemn her to a long time of loneliness. I can't subject her to that. She shows a slightly happy expression at my concern for her well-being, but quickly hides it away. "But really... even though I was able to recall that I teleported out and back into the academy, when I try to remember how, it simply eludes me. I just can't recall how to draw the circles."
"That's because the memory-wipe was a hasty measure taken in the middle of combat and left many contradictions. Just think of it as your short-term memory of how to draw the transportation circles becoming unreliable with time. If he was able to just perfectly manipulate memories within mere moments, I see no reason why there isn't peace in this world already." Senka has a good point there. I also considered the fact that Basarab wasn't able to work things out perfectly since there were too many memories left over. Given enough time, he may be able to turn me into a completely blank slate, though... I shudder at the thought.
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"Next time I see Basarab, I'll kill him instantly without even giving him the time to speak..." I mutter in suppressed anger. This whole situation is solely because of that teacher with the aphrodisiac-like voice, starting from the moment he told me about the conspiracy.
"I think it'd be better to leave the academy alone. You took them by surprise last time, but they will be prepared for you now. Don't think you'll be able to defeat them again that easily." She says and floats out of my embrace to look me in the eyes. "Just come back, take Kamii and me away from there and find a peaceful place to live in, like you intended to in the first place." Her eyes show worry for me and I understand her sentiment. I was rushing back under the impression that I would wipe out the academy, and potentially the entire kingdom, depending on how they had treated Kamii, but this took the wind out of my sails. There's no reason to do that anymore, and I can just avoid a confrontation altogether.
"Yeah... let's do that." I show her a smile and she returns it with her own. Even with these gruesome scars, it's really charming when she smiles from the bottom of her heart.
"I have to go now. This isn't a technique I can use very often, but if there's an emergency, I'll let you know." Senka says and slowly fades away. "Come back soon, Makoto..." I think this is the first time she's called out my name, and it makes my heart skip a beat. Especially the longing smile she shows at these words, before fully disappearing, serves to give me an incredible motivation boost.
"I will... see you soon, Senka." I whisper, despite knowing that she's no longer there.
"So..." Asoko says after a moment of silence. "... are we going to... you know...?" It's cute how awkward she sounds, but I'm no longer in the mood.
"Another time." I say and create clothes from my body. "I'm going out for a bit. Look after Hestia." Stopping to think for a moment, I realize that there's a condition I have to add to that. "And don't you dare abuse my absence to touch her indecently." With this, I leave to do something productive.
My aim is to increase my mass and build up a reserve. I know for a fact that my body needs very little rest, and sleep is only to satisfy my human mind. If I wanted to, I could go without it for a long time, and most likely for long enough to finish the rest of the journey in one go. For that, I need to gain more mass to work with as quickly as possible. Luckily, this town seems quite rich in resources, so that I don't have to stoop so low as to graze on the surrounding forest. That is, if what I can find here is enough to satisfy my needs.
I ask my way around and quickly find the bank the old store owner who sold me the map mentioned. The currency in this nation has a much simpler system, consisting of two precious metals rather than three. The lower valued one is made of copper - and named the same - and the ones using silver are called Asimi, with one hundred copper being one Asimi. I don't have the mind to properly remember all this, but considering the geographical closeness of the Mineva Republic to the Kingdom of Lares, I maybe should, since I see myself returning here someday with a much higher likelihood than I do for the Khurut Sultanate. Two Eyebtam equal five Asimi, while twenty-five Lakin only equal four Asimi.
Incidentally, the map I bought cost as much as the rent for our room at the Ebony Stallion. I ask the bank clerk for prices of various things and find that exchanging just two hundred Eyebtam should be enough. I made sure to simulate an outfit from the sultanate, which features large robes under which I could hide a large purse - although I'm keeping it all inside my body anyway - so that people don't look at me strangely when I pull out a large purse filled with an incredible amount of coins from inside the folds of the robe.
After the bank comes my true aim. I enter a store that sells a large hand-drawn cart - costing me twenty Asimi - and pull it through town, buying all the food I can find in bulk, and loading it onto the cart. I can't very well eat as I normally do in front of everyone, and instead act as if I'm buying to feed a lot of mouths. When the cart is filled up completely, I go into an alleyway, make sure nobody is around, before consuming it all in one go. Of course, I don't leave the alleyway the same way I came in, instead taking the cart inside my body and transforming into a different appearance, before walking out as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.
I repeat this process across town, going through each store several times for differing quantities to not arouse suspicion, until they close down. In the end, I've gathered various foodstuffs that easily add up to over a ton in pure mass, but feels like much more in their combined nutrition value. This should be more than enough for what I have in mind, especially since I still have quite a bit left over inside me from the marketplaces during our journey.
Thus, I return to the tavern and find Asoko asleep in her bed, and Hestia missing. For a moment panic rises up inside me, before I hear the sound of water from the bathroom. Unhesitatingly, I walk in without even knocking, and find the fallen angel sitting in the bathtub with her wings outstretched awkwardly to avoid them getting wet. She stops in the middle of her motion to wash herself and looks up at me in surprise. Then a tender smile plays across her face as her eyes meet mine with infinite love. That expression causes my heart to flutter and I walk up to her swiftly while undoing my clothes transformation.
No, I'm not going for another round. Instead, I lean in on her and give her a passion-filled but superficial kiss on the lips. It's not for the purpose of arousing each other, but to respond to her love with my own. If it wasn't clear in my mind before, it is now. I love Hestia, from the bottom of my figurative heart.
But still, my love is bigger than that. I have enough for Kamii and Senka as well, and even more to spare. Hestia has been aware of that ever since our night on the library rooftop, and I now understand what she meant when she told Kamii about it. I look into her crimson eyes and see a different kind of expression of love, when compared to the one she shows whenever I display my power in front of others or put her in her place when her yandere tendencies take over. Even if she's a masochist, she knows that I'd never abuse that to really hurt her.
I kiss her again while taking hold of her face, and let my passion go, which she returns in kind. It's a different sort of love-making and it appears we both welcome it whole-heartedly. Today, a lot of things have become clearer about my relationship with two of the girls around me.
The next morning, we leave the town, refreshed and ready to set off on what I have decided to be the final stage of our journey. We will put the rest of the distance behind us in one go without taking a single break. For that, I have explained my plan to Hestia and Asoko. The latter has the same capabilities as I do, although not as much mass, but she should be able to hold out on sleeping as long as I can. The former understands what I'm trying and looks at me with newfound adoration.
We travel a short distance, out of sight from the town, and lift off into the skies. When we reach a high enough altitude, I pull out the image I have from inside my memories. An existence that exudes power and violence, with flight capabilities far more powerful than those of Fatas, which seem to be losing various aspects of an airborne race - as seen in their vestigial bird-like tails. What I have in mind is a creature revered throughout the centuries and mentioned in many mythologies of my previous world.
Luckily, I have all elemental affinities, as I might hurt myself in the process otherwise. I burst out in an explosion of fire and heat, and take the form I only saw for a short moment at the academy. Powerful wings with an immense wingspan, armored skin that would seem impervious to any form of weapon, a mighty roar that shakes the very skies. Emerging from inside is the form of a tyrant, a being born to rule the skies, an apex predator of this world.
I transform into a dragon, using the image I got from Dregana Tarragon, and supplying the aspects I couldn't see from all the fantasy games I played before. As the fire around me clears, Hestia and Asoko land on my back and fold their wings, holding onto the armor plates that cover my body. I realize that their weight is completely negligible, as I beat my wings and accelerate to a speed far beyond what a Fata is capable of.
Now, once again: Wait for me, Kamii. I'm coming back to you without any more delay.