The Mysterious Floating Bag
While I was away for about thirty days producing bioroids, Ruya had become utterly absorbed in the mare races. She was practically living at the racetrack.
“So what did you say?”
“I want to ride in a carriage pulled by a mare and experience the race myself!”
Her face brimmed with anticipation as she clenched her fists and shouted, eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Being a jockey isn’t something just anyone can do, you know. It requires proper training and experience.”
“Aw~ I’m not talking about entering an official race. I just want to try it once.”
“Hmm, well. If it’s only for the experience, that should be fine. Then we can choose a suitable mare and…”
“I want to ride Jerua’s carriage!”
“You really do adore Jerua.”
True to her particular fondness for Jerua, she strongly insisted on riding the carriage he pulled.
“All right. I’ll contact the vice president.”
“Thank you, Elisha!”
“I have another place I need to stop by, so I’ll head there now.”
“Take care!”
Leaving Ruya behind—she was still shouting in excitement, unable to contain her joy—I made my way to Faust’s laboratory, located in the deepest part of the surface research complex.
It remained the facility dedicated to researching immortality through vital energy, and it had now become a proper pharmaceutical company bearing Faust’s name.
There I met Kyubey unni and QA, who had arrived ahead of me, and we discussed the reversal of aging.
“The age reversal that occurs when re-infusing digested vital energy. It’s not merely a brief prevention of aging from injecting vital energy into humans—it actually makes them young again.”
“Oh my~ I’ve never heard of anything like that~”
QA tilted her head cutely, her eternally youthful face creasing in a frown.
“How can Mother, the longest-lived among the only three succubi in the world, not know about this?”
“But I hate eating monster essence~ The thought of swallowing that tasteless stuff, purifying it, and giving it back is just awful~”
When Kyubey unni scolded her for not knowing something a centuries-old succubus should, QA pouted and whined.
“Wait, then does this mean Faust’s immortality research is pointless?”
“It’s only extremely inefficient, not completely ineffective, so it still has value, doesn’t it?”
“The inefficiency is the problem. With only two succubi capable of producing magic stones, output is limited. It’s hard to scale up from here.”
“For that reason~ how about our second daughter putting the collar back on~?”
QA trotted over lightly and clung to my back as she spoke.
The collar that had been embedded in my magic core when I first became a succubus. It had vanished with my new body, and due to complicated circumstances I wasn’t wearing one. Unlike me, I knew Kyubey unni had put hers back on. It was what kept her—who openly indulged in lust and devoured every kind of vital energy—from losing control and crossing the line.
“I’m not really inclined to. My magic core isn’t a normal one, either.”
“It fused with the latex slime, right? So the uterus itself became the magic core, if I remember correctly.”
“That’s right.”
“Ehh~ That sounds complicated~”
I lifted QA from my back and drew her into my arms. Laboratory rules required all test-subject succubi to remain naked, so the three of us were bare. The feeling of warm skin against skin was soft and pleasant. QA’s petite frame fit perfectly in my embrace, making the sensation even better.
Carefully avoiding her horn, I gently stroked her hair.
“More importantly, about the age reversal. Why does it show such a strong effect on non-human beings?”
“Who knows? Maybe because succubi are non-human too?”
“Hmm… I remember that it’s not only humans who can become succubi. Is that correct?”
“It is~ I’ve heard that in the far distant past there were succubi who weren’t originally human~”
“I wonder if it’s because we were created from human stock, or if it’s simply because we’re non-human from the start.”
It was a shame we didn’t have a non-human succubus for comparison. It would have been easy to tell then.
While the three of us chatted, the door opened and Faust entered, looking noticeably more vigorous.
“Heh heh, it’s nice to see you all getting along so well.”
“You’re here~”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, especially you, Elisha. It really has been a long time.”
QA jumped from my arms and ran to him. Faust caught her, then answered my greeting. His back was straighter and his wrinkles had faded; he looked visibly younger.
He settled onto the long sofa, carefully studying our bodies with his eyes, then smiled.
“Well then, has anyone created a new succubus yet?”
“There hasn’t been a woman who particularly caught my interest.”
“I don’t have one yet either.”
“That’s truly a shame. For an endangered species like the succubi, more numbers would be reassuring.”
Faust clicked his tongue with genuine regret.
Kyubey unni, who had been lying lazily on the bed watching him, suddenly rose. She grabbed his long beard, pulled his face close, and said,
“Why worry so much when three succubi will live forever from now on? We can increase their numbers step by step.”
“I want to see them thriving before I die so I can pass on peacefully.”
“Ehh~ That’s why you’re working so hard to overcome death~”
“Heh heh heh, yes. I’m doing my best so we can stay together as long as possible.”
Sandwiched between QA and Kyubey unni, he smiled with deep satisfaction. He looked less like a cold scientist and more like a kindly grandfather.
I felt no particular emotion toward him, but QA and Kyubey unni followed him devotedly.
As I watched them absently, the three gradually began touching one another. Before long they had naturally moved on to sex.
“I’ll be going now. Please pass along the information about age reversal properly.”
“Slurp. You’re leaving already? Why not come join us and enjoy together?”
“Let’s do it together~”
Kyubey unni, already naked and sucking his cock, invited me to stay, but I felt no desire to participate. Somehow Faust felt like the father of QA and Kyubey unni, and the thought made me hesitate. There was an inexplicable awkwardness.
“I’m fine. I have another appointment, so I’ll head out first.”
“Ah, then before you go, stop by the lab and let the researchers run some tests.”
“Tests? My body is unique—they probably won’t understand much even if they look.”
“They want to examine the uterus that became the magic core.”
“So that was the reason. Understood.”
Leaving behind the sight of unni pressing her face beside QA to lick his cock together, I left the room and headed for the researchers’ laboratory.
Following the wall signs, I reached the lab, opened the door, and stepped inside. The researchers, deep in their work, all turned to look at me.
“Hello.”
“Ooh! Isn’t that Elisha? It’s been a while!”
“Hi~ Come on in.”
Their faces were well stored in my memory data. They were the same researchers who had worked with Faust even back when I became a succubus, before I split from Kyubey unni.
“Kyubey unni told me to come to the lab. You wanted to examine my uterus…”
“Yes, yes. We wanted to see it for ourselves.”
“Come, lie down over here.”
The researcher quickly cleared the examination table and guided me onto it. I lay flat.
They prepared various instruments and activated a fluoroscope against my lower abdomen.
“Oh ho~ The entire uterus has truly become a magic core.”
“Fascinating. The latex slime consumed the magic core, correct?”
“The magic core’s capacity for vital energy is enormous. Is it because of the increased volume?”
The researchers continued their animated discussion while staring at the screen that displayed my uterus. The device translated vital energy into visible color, so the womb appeared dyed a vivid pink.
One researcher approached.
“Spread your legs a little. We need to collect a sample.”
“A sample?”
“Uterine tissue.”
I spread my legs as instructed. He parted my folds and inserted the device.
Feeling the cold metal enter me, I said, “Please don’t take too much. Las is a living being too.”
“Got it, got it.”
He answered distractedly and focused on maneuvering the instrument. After it pressed against my cervix, a sharp sting followed.
“Ow.”
“Ah, does it hurt? I should have used anesthetic.”
“It’s all right. Please continue.”
Only after collecting tissue layer by layer from the exterior all the way inside did the device withdraw from my pussy.
Then the waiting female researcher attached a flat, wired device to my lower abdomen and inserted a rod-shaped instrument into me.
After several more unknown tests, I waited for the next one when the researchers, who had been talking among themselves, approached.
“We’re finished. You can go now.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“You worked hard too.”
I left the laboratory to their farewells.
The frantic pace—running around so much that I had left Ruya alone—had been worth it. I had organized everything well enough that I could leave Eden without worry.
Ruya, who had finally ridden Jerua’s carriage and even received an autograph, prepared to return to Earth with a bright, beaming smile.
“Are you that happy?”
“Of course~ I met the player I admire as a fan, rode his carriage, took photos, and got an autograph. It’s the best~”
“Seeing you so delighted makes me happy too. The train reservation is almost due, so let’s get ready quickly.”
“Okay!”
Sensing her host’s good mood, Ruya’s parasitic tentacle tail shook with extra vigor. Watching it, I hurried my own preparations.
Once ready, we headed for the station that had been relocated behind the newly built outer wall and boarded the waiting train.
As a fairly well-known figure in Eden, I had disguised myself, but my hard-to-hide tail meant I spent the journey responding to greetings from passersby. I barely made it on time.
“Whew~ We caught it without being late.”
“Elisha, you really are a celebrity. Look—even now they’re waving and calling to you from outside the window.”
“I am essentially Eden’s royalty. I can’t help being famous.”
Even while talking with Ruya, I kept waving back to the cheering crowd outside until the train departed.
We left Eden smoothly and headed for the dimensional gate.
Since this crossing wasn’t scheduled, we needed another method: the dimensional caller. It was a device registered with specific coordinates that sent a small vibration to transmit a signal.
The drawback was that it had to be used near the gate’s opening point. We had to travel there first, send the signal, and wait indefinitely until the gate appeared.
After crossing the permanent dimensional gate, we reached the spot in front of the elf ruins where the gate would open. I took a folding chair from the subspace pouch that held letters the immigrated queens had written to their families on Earth and sat down.
“Signal sent. Now we just wait for it to open.”
“I hope it doesn’t take too long.”
“Before I left everything looked so busy that people seemed overwhelmed, but I wonder how it is now.”
Ruya, who had also taken out a folding chair and sat on a cushion her tentacle tail had coiled into, sighed and began munching on a snack.
A day passed, then two, while we waited at the elf ruins. Finally the long-awaited dimensional gate to Earth opened.
“It’s open! Let’s go!”
“Wait. We have to clean up first.”
I caught Ruya’s tail as she tried to dash forward and stopped her.
She, halted by her captured tail, quickly pulled down her riding skirt and said, “Okay, so let go of my tail. My skirt’s up and my underwear is showing.”
“There’s no one here but me. What are you embarrassed about? Let’s clean up quickly before the gate closes.”
“Fine.”
We hurriedly packed the chairs, tent, and utensils into the subspace pouch and jumped through the gate before it shut.
The moment we crossed safely, the familiar dimensional management office building came into view.
Feeling Earth’s air once more, I underwent inspection at the checkpoint and stepped out to wait for Ruya, who still hadn’t emerged.
Her inspection was taking longer than expected. When I glanced back at the checkpoint she was nowhere to be seen, as if she had gone somewhere else.
What was going on? Had something flagged her? I had passed without issue, so there shouldn’t be anything that would catch Ruya. It was strange.
I sat on a nearby chair to wait and looked around.
The once dusty, dirty building interior was now spotlessly clean. More races were passing through the checkpoint, bringing the place back to life, and the employees’ faces showed a new sense of ease.
Then an odd sight caught my eye: a large bag floating in mid-air.
The bag, stuffed until it looked ready to burst, drifted along with slight wiggles, but no carrier was visible.
I wondered if someone was using magic to levitate it and scanned the area around the bag, yet no spellcaster appeared to be present.
As I watched with narrowed eyes, the bag suddenly paused, then whipped sideways, finally revealing its true form.