37. Gwen (7)
37. Gwen (7)
Cells becoming creature-fied isn't actually a good thing.
To dominate humans, the brain needs to be encroached upon by the creature, but there's no benefit to the body becoming creature-fied.
It just makes them taste worse. Ah, of course, the brain is fine, so the tastiest part would still be tasty, but the human brain is a really small part of the human body.
In the end, what I eat the most is the human body, so if the body becomes tasteless, that's a huge loss.
I learned through Niv that my saliva turns human bodies into creatures little by little, and I regretted it slightly.
Right now, only Gwen and Niv have ingested my saliva. The problem is, Niv doesn't matter, but Gwen is the issue.
One might say, "Isn't it a gain if she gets addicted to my saliva and falls into depravity?" But there are many facts that haven't been revealed yet.
The question remains: "If the body changes due to my saliva, can she get pregnant?"
Gwen is the most outstanding human I've met so far, one I've acknowledged.
I'm looking forward to a tremendous creature coming out if she gets pregnant with a creature and gives birth with such a body.
But her body is becoming creature-fied.
Human pregnancy is something you have to be really careful about anyway. Pregnancy is exactly the kind of thing where even a trivial matter can cause problems. But I don't know what will happen if an impurity like a creature body enters the mix.
It's been a week since Gwen started drinking tea with my saliva in it. That amount of time wasn't enough for her to change significantly.
Even with my Hive Mind, the creature cells felt in Gwen's body are truly minimal. Just like adding 0.1% flavoring?
To make her turn into a creature completely, I'd probably have to force Gwen's mouth open and pour my saliva in.
Since there hasn't been a human who has consumed my saliva long-term and in large quantities, I don't know what would happen if she consumed it consistently, and I don't want my pet human to break, so I decided to seal my saliva for now.
==
"Ah..."
Gwen let her shoulders slump at the bland taste of the tea.
It had only been about a week since she started drinking Lea-nim's tea, but Gwen had already become a body that felt uncomfortable if she didn't drink tea containing Lea-nim's saliva at the end of the day.
Even so, it was ridiculous to say to Lea-nim, "I want to drink tea with your saliva in it."
Isn't that too perverted?
Having no choice, Gwen, who drank ordinary tea, went down to take a bath.
Gwen was deeply enamored with the orphanage bathhouse, which was better than the one in the Knights Order.
'How on earth do they operate this large bathhouse?'
A considerable amount of mana would go into managing this much water and maintaining this temperature.
On top of that, supplying the water that fills the bathhouse is also a significant task. She comes every day, but it was always very clean water.
Even Gwen, the Knight Commander, found it hard to see water this clear.
'And that's in an orphanage in the slums, too.'
The slums don't have good water. No, it's contaminated water. Most of that water is murky and smells so bad it's hard to drink, but this bathhouse alone is cleaner than anything you'd see at a noble's party.
'No, maybe the water isn't just clean, but has been purified?'
Gwen slowly lowered her body into the steaming bathhouse.
'It's entirely possible. Lea-nim's saliva has the effect of washing away body fatigue, so it would definitely have an effect on the water that Lea-nim's entire body was submerged in.'
Gwen cupped her hands together to scoop up the bathwater and lifted it.
It was so transparent that her hands looked no different than when there was no water.
'If I drink this, wouldn't it taste similar to the tea?'
Come to think of it, this bathhouse has Lea-nim's sweat and waste—
'Wait, would waste even come out of Lea-nim's body...?'
Just as Gwen lowered her head and was about to bring her hands to her mouth, she felt someone behind her and immediately lowered her hands.
"Oh my? Gwen-nim?"
The owner of the presence was none other than Lea.
Originally, the two had different times for using the bathroom, so they never bathed together, but today Lea came in on purpose to observe Gwen.
"I apologize. I will leave right away—"
"No, it's not. It's not a small place, so let's just bathe together."
"Understood."
Gwen admired Lea as she entered the bath.
'How can a person's body be this clean? And since she's a Saint, is that why she doesn't have any hair down there?'
It was a body with perfect proportions and figure that made one think it could only have been made by a goddess herself; it was a body that made even the same woman fall for her.
"Have there been any developments lately?"
"..."
"Gwen-nim?"
"Ah, ah! Yes, yes!"
"Hearing Amber's story, it seems you've been using a syringe-like thing in the air."
"Ah! That is called a Mana Location Tracking Tool."
"A Mana Location Tracking Tool? I've never heard of it."
"This is still a prototype. On top of that, the cost to make one is considerable, so for now, I have the only one in our city."
Lea felt a slight sense of unease at Gwen's words.
"It's a tool that collects traces of mana that an ordinary person can't see, and once it's full of a certain level of mana, it analyzes the mana and finds the owner of that mana."
"You mean it tracks them?"
"Yes, that's right. Fortunately, even though the monsters have intelligence, they didn't perceive mana, so they left a lot of mana traces. I've collected all the mana, and now I'm just waiting for the analysis. I've already prepared the knights as well."
As soon as she heard that, Lea became anxious.
==
Traces of mana.
It's a term I've never heard before.
It's not something I've heard even from Yui, the only mage in our Colony.
That means that seeing and collecting mana traces is quite difficult in itself.
Listening to what Gwen says, that tool itself is the only one in this city.
'Should I destroy it?'
This isn't a matter of my life being in danger or anything like that.
It doesn't matter at all if my identity is discovered. It doesn't matter at all if my children are discovered.
It's just that the identity of the orphanage must not be discovered.
Think of how much effort I've put into these humans.
I've raised them as elites, starting with expensive food and exercise, and even giving them magic education.
I'm waiting for the time when those children become adults and their brains become the tastiest, so if it collapses here, I'll be really angry.
'I've been too complacent about mana until now.'
I only increased my mana, but I had no thoughts on how to utilize it and how to control it.
I just increased it because I wanted to increase my mana.
But that mana has now become a weapon threatening the orphanage.
'What should I do about Gwen—'
When many thoughts were going back and forth in my head, I made eye contact with Gwen.
She wasn't looking at me with suspicious eyes, but was glancing at me like a puppy caught in the rain, and when we made eye contact, she lowered her head and avoided my gaze.
I was about to swallow the saliva that had gathered in my mouth, but I stopped.
Saliva starting to gather under my tongue.
Will I choose the orphanage, or will I choose Gwen, who tastes worse and might not be able to get pregnant?
This obviously forces me to choose the former.
Because the latter is ultimately choosing what's good only for me, and the former is a matter of food for my children.
No matter how much I want to have a strong creature and a pretty and cool Gwen, the children who live for me and trust me right now are important.
I opened my mouth without swallowing the saliva.
"The tea hasn't been very good lately, has it?"
"Ah... that... yes...."
"I was also a little embarrassed thinking that my saliva was going into it..."
"Th... that's right."
"But if you really want it, I, I can put it in..."
"R, really!?"
Gwen stood up abruptly in the bath.
Gwen's naked body, with various scars from her long training as a Knight Commander, was exposed.
But Gwen didn't seem to be thinking about such things, and only what I had just said seemed more important.
'No, is my saliva really that good?'
Niv was just an ordinary human, so that's understandable, but Gwen is a human with a lot of mana in her body.
And she hasn't even drunk much of my saliva for a week. It's really just a few drops of saliva, yet she reacts like that.
I carefully put my index finger in my mouth, coated it with the saliva that had gathered, and carefully held it out.
Just like last time, the saliva stretched long from my mouth to my finger.
""...........""
The bathhouse became quiet again.
I, who held out my finger, was embarrassed, and Gwen was embarrassed too.
But Gwen, as if she had made up her mind, carefully approached me.
Splash. Splash.
Gwen eventually put my finger in her mouth and sucked on my saliva.
Seeing that, I smirked.
==
Gwen blushed at what had happened earlier.
No matter how much she couldn't forget that taste, she couldn't understand how she had thought to suck the saliva off a person's finger.
'Have I finally gone crazy... but.'
It was too delicious.
Bip.
At the sound from the Mana Location Tracking Tool, Gwen raised her head and looked at the Mana Location Tracking Tool.
"Huh?"
Gwen was greatly flustered by the brightly shining Mana Location Tracking Tool.
There is only one reason why the Mana Location Tracking Tool is shining.
It means it has detected mana identical to the mana collected so far.
On top of that, the fact that it was emitting that much light meant it was right nearby.
"Don't tell me..."