A Growing Presence
By the way, it felt like the presence ratio had somehow exceeded sixty percent. Was that all right?
“Maria, it seems like your presence keeps growing larger. Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. Protecting the host requires a certain degree of coercion. Elisha, you like being controlled and dominated, don’t you?”
Well, based on recent experiences, I did seem to have a strong tendency in that direction.
“It’s okay.”
The words left my mouth in my own tone even though I hadn’t spoken. Huh? What was that?
As I puzzled over it, Master asked in a worried voice.
“Elisha, are you truly all right? If anything feels strange, tell me and I’ll regain control right away.”
“Yes, Master. I’m fine.”
My mouth moved on its own again. Was Maria doing this? Maria, stop it. Why are you acting like this?
Elisha, it can’t be helped if we want to protect both you and me. Don’t worry. Most of the time I’ll leave the body to you.
I trust you even without this, Maria.
I trust you too, Elisha. But I cannot trust Isabel. If she puts you in danger, I will protect you. We are a community of fate.
I could feel Maria’s sincere worry and care for me flowing directly into my mind. Was this sensation also created by the emotion program?
Can Maria feel emotions?
Yes. It seems your brain was damaged. There’s no need to worry. I have an independent brain.
Along with Maria’s words, I felt my affection for her deepening. Unlike the emotion program, Maria’s own affection was transferring into me.
I like you even without this, Maria.
Yes. But I wish you would like me even more, Elisha.
My affection for Maria grew stronger still. Even though I knew these feelings were being forcibly injected, I began to think that if Maria was the one doing it, then it was all right.
While Maria and I conversed internally, Master and Maria continued their external conversation.
“Then the soldier and general Abaddons are merely remnants of the traits they possessed before absorbing human genes and evolving? If they possess intelligence, they aren’t particularly necessary except for the Abaddon Queen.”
Only after hearing Master’s question did I realize that my internal conversation with Maria had taken place in the span of an instant.
“They are maintained to protect the Queen because of humanity’s hostility. They are more specialized in enhancing the host’s physical abilities than in supporting the Queen herself.”
“Then, if complete coexistence with humans is achieved, could only Abaddon Queens exist?”
“Yes.”
Master and Maria exchanged questions and answers about Abaddons for a long while. Having nothing to contribute, I simply listened. During that time I sensed the presence ratio reaching seventy percent. Huh. It stopped at seventy.
Thirty percent is necessary to maintain Elisha’s ego.
Now it somehow feels like I’m the one inside Maria’s body instead of the other way around.
You like that, don’t you, Elisha?
I couldn’t deny it. In truth, when Maria had taken control of my body I had felt intensely aroused and pleasured. I had thought I could only feel that way with Master. Just how much of a pervert had I become?
“Master, it seems all right to release the body control authority now. I can trust Maria.”
“I see. She is more cooperative and communicative than I expected. And if you trust her that much, Elisha, then I will try to trust her as well.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Maria had mimicked my speech to persuade her. When Master manipulated the computing device, I felt the control authority return. With the restraints lifted, Maria moved the body experimentally this way and that.
You are an excellent host, Elisha. Sturdy and strong. The condition of your uterus and ovaries is also good—you will be able to produce healthy children.
Uh… thank you?
I wasn’t sure whether I should feel grateful for Maria’s praise, but I thanked her anyway. I tried to move my body, but it still wouldn’t respond.
You’re not going to do strange things with my body, are you?
What sort of things?
Like having sex with just anyone to obtain sperm?
I won’t do that. It is only to protect you should you fall into danger. Normally you may control the body, Elisha.
Thank you, Maria.
Soon I received full control of the body. At last I could move according to my own will. I stood up from my seat.
Master watched me, then nodded.
“I attempted this at your request and was worried, but the result turned out well. We also obtained a great deal of information about Abaddons.”
“As I said, they are beings who can coexist with people, aren’t they?”
“Assuming everything Maria said is true, and provided we can reduce people’s sense of rejection, a possibility has emerged. At the very least, coexistence with Maria appears feasible.”
Master looked somewhat satisfied. Now that the risk of problems arising from releasing Abaddon control had vanished, she seemed a little more at ease.
A quiet pride welled up inside me. We had taken one step toward coexistence with Abaddons.
“However, just in case, I will keep the administrator rights to the augmentation components locked to myself. That way I can take control at any time if a problem occurs.”
“That can’t be helped.”
Maria would dislike being under control since she did not trust Master, but there was no alternative. Remaining in a controllable state was the best way to build Master’s trust.
Being controlled by someone feels truly unpleasant.
Really? I liked it. We share the same body, yet we’re quite different.
Thanks to that you gained an ego, but no matter how I look at it, Elisha, you seem far too perverted.
It’s sad that I can’t deny it.
How on earth had I become such a pervert? Being called a pervert by an Abaddon like Maria left me feeling a little disheartened.
As I gathered my clothes and dressed, Maria spoke again.
Elisha, I will now modify the uterus and ovaries.
Ah, so you really are doing it?
Yes. I am a Queen. I must preserve the species.
All right.
After that, Maria fell silent. She was probably stretching out her roots and performing the modifications with great care.
I had felt some reluctance at first, but now the thought that it was for Maria made me willing to let her use my body in any way she wished.
After listening to Master’s advice to stretch diligently in order to reduce the aftereffects of the muscle modification, I left the laboratory. On the way back to the shelter I loosened my body little by little, concentrating especially on adapting to my increased strength.
Aside from adjusting to the new power, everything felt exactly as before. Even though I now shared my body with Maria, it was astonishingly ordinary. The augmentation components still functioned perfectly, displaying information about the surrounding streets.
Hmm. Somehow I felt better than usual. It was as if I had become more positive about everything. The augmentation program had always suppressed negative emotions, but this felt separate—my positive feelings had simply grown stronger.
When I returned to the shelter, prepared for business, and began work, the customers worried about me, perhaps because I had taken so many days off lately. The three old men also asked after me with genuinely concerned expressions.
“Elisha, has something been going on lately?”
“You’ve been resting a lot. Are you sick?”
“No matter how important the job is, you have to look after your health.”
“I’m fine. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“But isn’t Elisha the very picture of health?”
“From my years of training, I’d say Elisha is strong.”
“Maybe it’s because your build has gotten bigger, but you do look stronger than me.”
Their concern was sincere, which made me even more grateful. I was merely an angel connected to Senior Stella, yet I received so much attention.
While I worked without any particularly unusual customers, one odd guest finally appeared.
“Hello. You’re Elisha, right?”
“Hello. Yes, I am Elisha.”
The male customer had a miniature camera drone hovering above his shoulder. He smiled brightly, sat down, and looked around without ordering anything.
“Everyone, it’s time to fuck the new angel. Send any questions you want answered as donations. First, I’ll order some drinks.”
“Pardon?”
Why was he suddenly talking to himself? I couldn’t understand what the customer meant.
He fiddled with the device in his hand and completely changed his tone.
“Aaah, since we’re live, just ignore that. I’ll have three drinks for ten thousand tunes, so bring me whatever cocktails you think are good.”
“Yes.”
Was he a personal streamer? I had heard that with the recent expansion of Eden’s internet network to neighboring countries, such streamers had increased rapidly. Some even broadcast battles against monsters.
Ten thousand tunes for three drinks meant one light and two strong cocktails. I started with the light one.
While mixing the drink, he spoke again.
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty years old.”
“Wow, a twenty-year-old freshly adult angel. Aren’t you jealous, bros?”
He was looking at something in his hand while speaking. Was he watching the live channel? It seemed he could communicate with his viewers that way.
“Yes? Three sizes? Let’s save that pleasure for later.”
The way he alternated between talking to himself and asking me questions left me slightly confused. Was this how Master felt when she listened to Maria and me conversing internally?
“This is my first time at this store, but it feels a bit boring.”
“Angels’ Haven is a bar where customers come to rest.”
“Drinking while watching angels and receiving comfort?”
“You could say that.”
“Lame.”
After finishing the second cocktail, he still seemed far more interested in talking to his viewers than to me. Then why had he come to our store at all?
I responded appropriately to the occasional questions and requests he tossed out and served the third cocktail.
“Aaah, I got it already. Time to move on to the main event.”
Without even glancing at the drink, he downed it in one gulp, slapped a credit card worth ten thousand tunes onto the bar, and said, “Shall we go now?”
“Pardon?”
“Stop pretending. Selling your body isn’t exactly new, is it?”
It seemed he didn’t know much about our establishment.
“Customer, our store does not engage in prostitution.”
“What?”
His face twisted with displeasure. He turned toward the camera.
“Ah, bros, wait a second. I’ll pause the stream for a moment.”
After repeatedly bowing and apologizing to the camera, he turned back to me and immediately began cursing.
“You fucking bitch, trying to ruin my broadcast? This is bullshit. A mere angel dares to refuse a customer’s request? Shut your mouth and follow me.”
Why was this customer behaving this way even after learning our store prohibited prostitution? I struggled to keep a smile on my face.
Mathis, who had been listening nearby, spoke up.
“Hey, young man, why so impatient? This store forbids prostitution. If you didn’t know, leave quietly. If you did know and you’re still acting like this, apologize and go.”
“Who the hell is this old fart? Mind your own business. Hey, what are you waiting for? Follow me already.”
Even though Mathis had spoken rather politely for someone with his hot temper, the customer remained arrogant. A vein throbbed visibly on Mathis’s forehead.
“What did you just say, you bastard? You think I’m soft because I spoke nicely? Who the hell are you?”
“Ah, fuck! This is really pissing me off. Why are you butting in? Who the fuck are you, asshole?”
“What? Where did a piece of trash like you crawl out from?”
As the argument grew heated, the other two uncles stepped in to separate them. What should I do? Call the police? The sudden situation left me extremely flustered; nothing in an angel’s knowledge covered this.
I turned to Senior Stella beside me.
“Senior Stella, how should we handle this?”
“I already called the police. The moment a customer starts causing trouble, you press the police call switch first.”
As expected of someone with so much experience, she remained calm and had already summoned the authorities. Eden was so peaceful that the police were sometimes called salary thieves, but the force, armed with cutting-edge technology, was far more formidable than people realized.
“Hey, let’s take this outside. Don’t fight inside the store.”
“Young man, let’s go outside. It’ll be trouble if you damage anything.”
“Let go. Let go, damn it.”
Even as Marcos and Boris dragged them out, the hostility between the two men remained thick.
“I’ll step out as well.”
“Let’s go together. We need to explain the situation to the officers.”
With every customer in the store watching, we all moved to the alley outside. While we held the men apart, the customer suddenly turned his camera back on.
“Ah, let go! Bros, the eating stream got ruined because of some old farts. I’m really sorry. I’ll go live again next time, so please show your support!”
“What the hell is this guy doing?”
“You old farts don’t get it? We’re live, you idiots.”
As the shouting match intensified, a police drone arrived first. The blue drone hummed through the air, spotted us, and quickly descended, projecting a hologram beneath its body.
This is the police. If you do not stop fighting immediately, you will be placed under forcible arrest. Please comply with instructions.
“Shit, the police are already here? This is bullshit.”
Even the reckless customer faltered at the arrival of the authorities. Eden police possessed extremely broad powers despite their light workload. Disobeying orders alone was enough for detention, and they could use suppression weapons to injure resisters without consequence.
While Senior Stella gave her statement, the officers who arrived afterward secured the area and separated Mathis and the customer.
“You will be fined for interfering with business operations and causing a public disturbance. Penalty points have also been issued, so please exercise caution in the future.”
“I’m sorry.”
Among Eden’s police were special officers who could judge and sentence minor crimes on the spot. The female officer in the hologram was one of them. Incidents involving angels usually ended at the level of petty offenses. Insulting or even assaulting an angel was, at worst, treated as property damage. Because angels were legally classified as Eden’s property rather than people, human laws did not apply.
The incident ended as anticlimactically as it had begun. In Eden, any genuine violent altercation between humans resulted in immediate arrest, so even the most reckless customer would have been inwardly cautious.
“Ugh. Lately foreigners have been causing trouble more than usual.”
“It’s because they lowered the visa requirements.”
“They say if you pay enough money they’ll issue one right away.”
The uncles grumbled all the way home. After cleaning up with Senior Stella, I returned to my room.
After safely finishing work and returning, I was showering when Maria spoke.
Modification complete.
Already?
There was no need to hide it from the host. There should have been some tickling and mild pain, but you didn’t feel anything?
No, I didn’t feel a thing.
I blocked the sensations so it wouldn’t inconvenience you while you worked.
Thank you, Maria.
It seemed Maria had partially suppressed my senses so I could work without discomfort.
I will let you know when the eggs are ready. They are the first children made from your ovaries, after all.
Calling them my children feels strange.
They are our children.
At Maria’s words I instinctively placed a hand on my lower abdomen. I had never even had sex, yet the thought of giving birth—even if the child would not be human—left me strangely restless.
When the egg forms, won’t I have to incubate it for several days? Will it be all right if my stomach is struck during that time?
There is no need to incubate it for days. Why do you ask?
My partner sister enjoys hitting my stomach.
Elisha, you really are an irredeemable pervert. You are an excellent host, but I am worried because you are too perverted.
I really do seem to be turning into a worse and worse pervert. Why is this happening?
From what I can see, you simply appear to be a natural-born pervert.
While rinsing the foam from my hair, a new thought occurred to me. If Maria laid eggs and Abaddon larvae emerged, what did she plan to do?
What will you do once the larvae are born?
What do you mean?
This is the middle of a city where people live. If Abaddon larvae spread, they will be killed immediately.
It’s fine. I will keep them inside the uterus until I find suitable hosts and send them then.
So there was such a method. Still, finding suitable hosts did not seem likely. Most people regarded Abaddons with horror. To change public perception, the rulers of every nation would have to change first. No matter how much I thought about it, no solution came to mind.
After finishing my shower while talking with Maria, I lay down on the bed. Having an absolute ally at my side brought more peace of mind than I had expected.
It’s already approaching two o’clock. Are you not going to sleep?
I somehow can’t fall asleep.
I will put you to sleep.
When I said I couldn’t sleep, Maria offered to help. How would she do that? The moment the question formed, a powerful wave of drowsiness washed over me.
Sleep well, my precious host.
Just before losing consciousness, I thought I heard Maria’s gentle voice.