Chapter 320: Bed-sharing (8)
Chapter 320: Bed-sharing (8)
“Pyaaaaaaaaak!!!”
With a characteristically bizarre scream, Elisha collapsed onto the floor with a wet thud.
She looked pathetic, sprawled out like a frog run over by a carriage. Between her parted legs, the semen she had just received trickled down in a steady stream.
“Elisha?”
Slap, slap.
I patted her buttocks, where reddish handprints had bloomed like autumn leaves, but there was no response.
It seemed she had well and truly fainted.
“Phew.”
I let out a long sigh and flopped onto my back.
Even for me, squeezing myself dry four times in a row was exhausting. I felt completely drained. Of course, I was already recovering rapidly at this very moment, so I’d be back to normal in no time.
As I stared blankly at the ceiling, Carla, who had been sucking her thumb while waiting for her turn, sat down beside me, her hip pressing against mine.
“Sorry, Carla. Somehow, you ended up being the last one.”
I offered a light apology, suggesting we should have just done it together while I was with Elisha, but her response was entirely unexpected.
“Huh? It’s alright, Master. Even if you went through the others first, you eventually came back to my side, didn't you? That’s enough for me. …No, actually, thinking that I’m your final woman for the night makes me even happier.”
What kind of apocalyptic conqueror logic was this?
I let out a small chuckle and pulled Carla down beneath me.
“Kyaa~”
With a playful squeal, Carla obediently surrendered her body to my touch.
There was no need to wait for a full recovery. Since there was no one else waiting after her anyway, I decided to take things slow and enjoy the moment.
*
After finishing a session that, while not quite fainting-inducing, was thoroughly satisfying.
A languid-looking Carla lay down carefully beside me. When I reflexively extended my arm, she rested her head on it as if she had been waiting for the gesture.
As we lay there in an arm-pillow embrace, simply breathing in the silence.
Squish.
Carla snuggled closer and hugged me.
Her slender arms wrapped around my neck. Her soft breasts were pressed against my chest, and her legs intertwined with mine until we felt like one.
Enjoying the pleasant lethargy, Carla, clinging tightly to me, whispered softly.
“Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Just… for everything.”
Carla rubbed her cheek against mine before continuing.
“When I was first sold to you, I was in utter despair. From anyone’s perspective, I had been sold to a nasty, perverted old man.”
“Ah… I was using a Polymorph potion back then.”
Even if it was to hide the fact that I had a massive amount of money, I had to admit my appearance back then was pretty dire.
“Hehe. Do you know how shocked I was when you dispelled the disguise? To think that someone younger than me—and exactly my type, no less—was my Master!”
“Thinking back, you really loved my face, Carla. There were times you’d spend the whole day just staring at me, weren't there? Though it doesn't seem to be quite that extreme anymore.”
When I shrugged and added that last part, Carla tilted her head as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“I still love your face, Master.”
“Huh? Then why…?”
“It’s just that I’ve grown to love other parts of you besides your face.”
Carla gently brushed my hair back from my forehead to my cheek, then pulled me so that I was looking directly at her.
A brief kiss followed.
Chu.
“I loved seeing you change as you slowly opened your heart to me.”
Back then, I was always mindful of my status as a Treasure Goblin.
I never knew who might approach me after noticing the contents of my inventory, or when I might be kidnapped to have my knowledge and gold extorted. Even if it wasn't that, I lived with the fear that a disgruntled noble or a high-ranking knight might take my head.
That anxiety was always tucked away in a corner of my mind. Naturally, I had to keep my guard up against everyone.
But then I met Carla, learned magic, and acquired at least a minimum level of martial power.
I came to know the soft skin and warmth of a woman, and though it was predicated on the relationship of slave and master—a bond that could never be betrayed—I remembered how to trust someone.
For me, who had been alone ever since falling into this world, a human relationship had finally formed.
It would have been stranger if I hadn't changed.
But Carla wasn't finished. Her whispers continued, accompanied by the tickling sensation of her lips against my skin.
Chu.
“I was so happy when you said you wouldn't abandon me, even if you got other slaves or even if you got married and had a wife.”
Chu.
“I was grateful that, despite your grumbling, you helped Elisha.”
Chu.
“I loved the fact that, like my ancestor, the blood of a dragon flows through you.”
Chu.
“Oh, and I can't leave out how graciously you accepted me projecting my dream of the Lindelheit revival onto you.”
Chu.
“Even as more women—who are just as or even more attractive than me—gathered around you, you always took care of me first. Every time you did, I felt like my heart was going to explode.”
Chu.
“You promised to clear the false charges against me and my father that no one else cared about, and you actually kept that promise.”
Chu.
“And finally… when I was too much of a coward to seize the chance to return everything to the way it was, you shouldered the name of Lindelheit in my stead.”
Chu.
“You told me not to worry about anything and just stay by your side. You said that if I just loved you with everything I had, you would give me everything I ever hoped for and wanted. I don't know of any confession more romantic than that.”
Having said all that, Carla kissed my lips this time instead of my cheek.
A soft sensation. Warm breath. Her tongue entered my mouth, intertwining with mine in a manner that was polite yet overflowing with affection.
We kissed for a long time, only pulling apart when we were both breathless.
With a dazed expression, as if intoxicated by something, she whispered to me.
“Master, Master.”
“Yeah?”
“I am Master’s Carla.”
“Right.”
“And you are my Master.”
“I suppose so.”
“You’ll stay my Master forever, right?”
“I think I’ve said this before… even if you say you hate it, I have no intention of letting you go, so be prepared.”
“I know. I just wanted to hear it one more time.”
She giggled like the happiest person in the world.
Seeing her like that, I realized something.
I wasn't the only one who had changed. Carla had too.
No, Elisha, Iris, Fay, Iona, Helena, and Solari as well.
Not a single one of them was the same person they were when we first met. Because many things had changed as they met me and met each other.
Elisha was no longer obsessed with proving her worth. Though she did joke that if I became the best, she would become the best too.
Iris had let go of her longing for past glory and her impatience to reach the realm of an Archmage. She was finding happiness as a woman and a partner, rather than as the one carrying the hopes of the elves.
Fay was still gloomy, but she no longer despaired or felt bitter about her circumstances. She said it was enough as long as I acknowledged her.
Iona had completed her revenge. The ghost haunted by the past was gone. All that remained was a vampire taking careful steps, one by one, toward an unseen future.
Helena had come to know human love rather than just divine love. Once a pious nun, she had become a Saintess and reclaimed the life that had been sacrificed to God.
Solari had briefly cast off her duties as a goddess and faced her true self. Her grand cause was no longer a shackle. There was no rule saying that a savior could not be saved.
In this way, everyone was changing little by little. It was only natural for lives to influence one another as they overlapped.
Yet, there was one thing that remained unchanged.
The affection that wove and sustained all these relationships, the desire to live happily together for a long, long time—that was the constant.
“Ah.”
The moment that thought occurred to me, a sudden realization struck. Magic was the same.
Mana could become fire, it could become wind, or it could become a formless force.
It was called magic because it could transform into anything, provided imagination and mana supported it.
But no matter what form the mana took, there was one thing that never changed.
My will to manifest that magic.
Previously, Carla had compared will to mana, but the will I was thinking of now was slightly different.
It wasn't the mana that followed the exercise of will, but the heart’s desire to do something itself.
Mana turned into a fireball and burned a target. Then, what was it that defeated the enemy?
Was it the intense heat? Or the respiratory distress caused by the heat and smoke? Perhaps it was the mana that served as the foundation for it all.
But they were all wrong. In the end, it was my will that burned the opponent.
Because I willed them to burn, the mana ignited; because I willed them to burn, it flew in the form of a fireball and struck the enemy.
This principle applied even to things that weren't magic.
If I peeled an apple with a dagger, what was it that cut the skin?
The dagger? Or the person holding the dagger?
If I gave a different dagger to someone else and told them to peel the apple, what was it that prepared the apple to be eaten?
That, too, was me. It happened because I willed it so.
Whether I peeled it myself or had the person next to me do it, there was no difference.
All things in the world change and transform. But that which remains unchanged even after a long time—that which, in fact, drives the changes around it.
That was always my pure, unadulterated will.
Will alone was everything.
The classification of magic, attributes, complex formulas, understanding of phenomena, and even the minimum required mana.
In the end, they were nothing more than tools to enforce my will upon this world.
They were necessary, and sometimes important, but they were not the core.
“Ah.”
The moment I realized this, all the experience I had accumulated, the techniques I had unconsciously performed during Dragonization, and the knowledge I had diligently learned…
All of it scattered inside my head before merging back into one, over and over again.
Not the magic the world spoke of, but the magic I spoke of.
Not magic that anyone could use, but magic reassembled solely for me.
Magic. Mana. Will. And me.
A clear standard was established amidst the concepts swirling chaotically.
And then.
Boing.
“…….”
Why is it standing up again?