Permission (2)
I had no idea what was going on, but everyone still looked kinda down—not as bad as before, but off enough that I was thinking about dropping to my knees and begging. That's when Lilith spoke up to me.
"Hanjo, you're still not handling your Gift properly, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
I nodded at Lilith's words.
She was spot on, after all.
The power of my Gift that I could actually control was just a fraction of the whole.
Through sex, I could use the abilities of the women who loved me, the racial traits they possessed. But that was really just a mutated offshoot of my original Gift mixed with the pseudo-Level Drain Lilith had cast on me—the Jotaechang. It wasn't the true capability of my Gift.
What I knew about my Gift's abilities beyond absorbing powers was pretty much just that it made the opposite sex like me, boosted my physical stats a bit, and gave me strong resistance to mental abilities.
The other stuff...
Like the enslavement brands engraved on Sati, Liliana, and Yustitia in a slightly different way—I still had no clue what conditions triggered them.
Beyond that, why I could wield abilities from such diverse races, and why I could freely use multiple ones at the same time without issue—Yustitia hadn't figured out a single thing about it yet.
And above all, even the part I did know about—gaining favor from the opposite sex—was something I couldn't control at will.
There were racial and individual differences, sure, but every woman I'd been with always ended up feeling affection toward me. I had no say in it.
In other words, just like Lilith said, I still couldn't properly wield my own Gift.
It was a bit different in my case, but it was like those classic examples of people who couldn't control their Gifts, like the "Breath" users. My Gift was something even I, its owner, couldn't regulate myself.
Just like how "Breath" users would drown in their own uncontrollable exhalations the moment they opened their mouths, I couldn't stop the women I slept with from eventually developing feelings for me, whether I wanted it or not.
But why the hell was she bringing this up out of nowhere? That's when I saw Lilith looking at me and sighing.
"...Anyway, there's nothing we can do about Ariadd. Everyone's accepted it."
"Uh... you good with that?"
"You fucking idiot, how can you even ask that?"
Fair point.
I hadn't expected Lilith to give in so easily.
Anyway, after glaring at me for a while, Lilith whacked my side with her tail—thwack—and said,
"...She ignored my warning from before and still went for it, so she must've been dead serious. And if we opposed making Ariadd your wife, you'd just nod and move on? Right?"
"Well..."
No, I wouldn't.
I'd have banged my head on the floor or done whatever it took to convince everyone until they agreed.
Watching me, Lilith poked my forehead with her tail—poke poke—and said,
"...See? You weren't planning to back off either. That's why we're okaying it. It was gonna happen eventually anyway. I just never imagined it'd be in a week... and with Ariadd first, no less."
"Wait, hold up. You thought it'd happen someday? You had that little faith in me...?"
I hadn't even considered cheating, so it felt kinda unfair. As I said that, Lilith shot me a side-eye and opened her mouth.
"Like you'd leave Liliana, that silver-haired kid, and the wolf bitch alone? Right?"
I hadn't expected Lilith to bring up those three first, so I shut my mouth.
Seeing me fold like origami, Lilith said,
"I figured it'd take at least a month of tiptoeing around, but a week... You're always faster than I expect. In every damn way."
Haa.
How the hell did I end up with a jerk like this...? she muttered, making me hunch my shoulders even more and stay quiet.
"...Whatever. So? What ability did you get from Ariadd?"
"Oh, that..."
Hard to show here.
I wanted to demonstrate like Lilith asked, but it was tricky in my house with no plants around.
Back in her World Tree domain, surrounded by them, I could use it freely. But my ability was plant growth and control—not creation.
I could alter existing plants' traits a bit, like turning them into milking machines with Ariadd's sap, but conjuring plants from nothing? No dice.
"Plant growth and control... Yustitia, got anything?"
"Hmm, let me see... How about this?"
Shloop. Yustitia pulled a massive seed from her subspace.
I wondered what it was, and she explained,
"It's a seed from a tree monster called a Plent... basically a carnivorous moving tree. Since it's still a plant, wanna test it out?"
"Test on a monster seed...?"
Well, whatever.
No one here would get hurt even if the Plent did something crazy.
"Will it work...?"
I had no clue, but since she suggested it, I gave it a shot.
And it worked.
Shloooop. As stamina equivalent to three loads drained out of me, a sprout emerged from the monster seed I held.
Wriggle wriggle. It moved on its own without me commanding it—probably because it was a Plent monster.
"Anyway, that's it."
I manipulated the Plent this way and that to show them, and Yustitia's eyes lit up with a "Hee!" as she said,
"Can you make it grow faster or anything?"
"Probably."
It'd take effort, but since it worked on a monster, that shouldn't be an issue.
"Hmm, so anything in the plant category works...? Then..."
"Yustitia. Save the experiments for later. Hand it over."
What the hell is that?
At Lilith's words, Yustitia went "Oh" like she'd forgotten and said,
"Ah, right. Here, Hanjo—take this."
"Ung...?"
What is this?
She handed me a chain necklace, so I took it.
"...So what's this?"
"A seal to bind the power of your Gift—the part that makes the opposite sex like you."
"Huh?"
A seal...?
"You can seal a Gift like that?"
I knew you could destroy one by ripping out the manifestation site, but mine was on my dick, so even Lilith couldn't do it.
No way I was ripping my cock off.
Anyway, when I asked, Yustitia answered,
"Yeah, well, it's not exactly sealing the power so much as countering it. There are tons of charm spells or curses out there, right? Like bewitchment. Naturally, the opposite exists too... spells that make people hate you."
Ah.
"Hanjo, we don't know much about your Gift's power yet, but I made this from a piece of that chain you gave me before. Figured it might work somehow."
That's why it's a chain.
She used that chain as material.
"But... why a seal all of a sudden?"
"To make sure shit like this doesn't happen again, obviously."
Again...?
I tilted my head at Hoaran's words.
Lilith, Yustitia, and now Hoaran too.
I couldn't keep up with whatever they were talking about.
Then Lilith said to me,
"You're going back to being a Dispenser."
"Ung...?"
Do what now...?
"Wait, you mean the Dispenser I know?"
"What, you think there's another kind?"
No, but still.
Suddenly?
"What about the branch manager gig?"
"You think we can throw you into that right away? I was gonna start you as an apprentice or something, with me training you on the side... but honestly, sticking with Dispenser work for now seems better. Actually, this works out perfect. The branch managers we were gonna pick from the new Dispensers are all top-tier anyway—wasting them just on management would be a loss. Dispenser branch managers should moonlight as Dispensers from the start."
Screw work talk for now.
She bitches about wanting to suck honey all day and retire, but then dives right back into work. Lilith was like that.
Does she actually want to retire...?
Anyway, I got the gist of what Lilith was saying.
She wanted me to Dispenser again—simple as that.
But why?
She was basically giving me permission to keep fucking other women.
Yet I was the only one freaking out; everyone else acted like the bombshell had already wrapped up.
They showed zero reaction to Lilith's shocking statement.
Was it because I'm human and just didn't get it?
My wives were officially okaying me sleeping with others, but instead of joy, I felt totally bewildered.
Disappointed, even.
It sounded like they didn't care if I fucked other women.
Sure, I'd come home carrying Ariadd without a word and declared her my wife too, so maybe I had no room to complain...
Still, it stung a bit.
But maybe that was just my human perspective. I decided to rethink it.
Non-humans might all be like this.
With so many races and cultures mashed together, the World Government's marriage system was basically free love—marry whoever you want, however many.
Guys marrying every lamia in the village, women wedding dozens of men—it happened.
Different races, different norms. Made sense.
Lilith had been a virgin until recently, but she was a succubus.
I didn't know about fox yokai or dragons, but maybe they didn't bat an eye at husbands banging others...
Fine, then... I'd roll with it.
Felt a little off, but what could I do?