Chapter 137: The Beast’s Den
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137: The Beast’s Den
My progress with the Solar Divine Art was sluggish at best.
From my perspective, the martial arts experts Hindel had commissioned were all total frauds, resulting in a trash-tier technique that stunted my growth. However, with no other options available, I had no choice but to keep trudging down this path.
"Wow, seriously… Master, you have… zero talent."
Aoi Takahara, the grey wolf beastwoman, was pricking my pride again today.
"…You told me I learn survival skills fast! You said I could be a great ranger!"
"That’s because that stuff is just repetitive training. If you’re smart, you pick it up quickly."
The wolf started getting cowardly honest with me. In times like this, I needed my kind, gentle Goldie to take my side.
"Youfei! Youfei! Youfei Lee, the Dairy Cow!"
"Yes~! Did you call for me?"
Goldie, who had been sitting on the sofa flipping through reports, came rushing over.
"That doggie keeps lying and saying I have no talent! Scold her!"
"Ahaha… I-I see…. Hang in there!"
Seeing Goldie look at me with that troubled expression felt like my heart was being torn apart. She was supposed to pretend to scold Aoi or pamper me completely to make me feel better, but her ambiguous stance only made me angrier.
"No, I said scold her!"
"It’s a bit much to scold someone for being honest…. Come now, why don't we play 'Ride the Pet' today~?"
It seemed these pets didn't truly understand their Master’s greatness.
Mr. Smarty: Grrr… Should I just fuck them all?
Calm down, Mr. Smarty. We did a good job with Alicia and Mom, but the ones here are literal beasts. You can't just jump them recklessly.
Following that rational judgment, the tension in Mr. Smarty began to slowly fade. Youfei grabbed me by the armpits and placed me on top of… no, not a Umamusume, that’s a bit dangerous.
She placed me on top of the black-haired Majin sister. She was one of the executives under Marika, but since she was always gagged and waiting to be used as a mount, I’d never had a proper conversation with her and didn't even know her name.
Since this wasn't her first appearance but rather a recurring "mount" (pet), anyone who thought this was their first time seeing her needed to reflect on themselves.
"Let’s go, Black Horse!"
In the past, she was a jump rope, but now she was a full-on item-user wearing a gag. I slapped the Black Horse’s butt.
Spank!
"Hngh…!"
The Black Horse sister seemed a bit off today. I adjusted my seat.
"Ngh…!"
"Are you hurting somewhere today? Should I ride someone else?"
The Black Horse sister shook her head violently.
By the way, I called her Black Horse because of her black hair, not because she had brown skin like a dark elf. You have to understand—she was a Kuroge (black-haired) because her hair was black!
Worried about the Black Horse sister, who was moving forward one trembling step at a time, I hopped off after only one lap around the training ground.
"If it hurts, get some rest! Got it?"
"I-I can do more…."
It was the first time I’d heard the Black Horse sister’s voice. Seeing her look up at me with teary eyes made me think she was seriously ill, so I coldly cut her off.
The Black Horse sister’s shoulders slumped. When I pointed at Youfei as my next mount, Aoi quickly approached the Black Horse sister.
"Shakal, are you sick?"
"…No, it grew."
"What did?"
"It’s an estimate, but at least 20cm…!"
"Wh-Wh-What?!"
Ignoring the strange noises coming from behind me, I climbed onto Youfei’s slender back. Goldie didn't really like using a gag, so I had no choice but to use the common item (riding crop) to swat her butt.
"Giddy up!"
"N-Ngh, mooo…!"
"Good, good. Forward, Goldie! Let’s go!"
To be honest, I wasn't some kid who enjoyed playing "ride the pony," but this was a necessary time for these sisters—who were much older than me—to repeatedly learn that I was the Master while shaking their tits and asses. I had no choice but to play along.
"Ngh…! Ngh…!"
"What’s this? Is Goldie sick today too?"
"N-No…. Haa… N-Ngh, mooo…!"
The pets were acting strange today. I checked to see if anything had changed, but all I noticed was that their thighs were trembling more than usual and the sticky fluid on their legs seemed a bit more viscous.
"Even so, 20cm…? Master is still in his growth period, you know?"
"Is it because of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Carp? It has to be. Based on the compressive force of the corpus cavernosum I felt through my muscles, it’s at least that much."
The Black Horse sister and Aoi were chatting excitedly, repeatedly mentioning a number that sounded very familiar. I kicked Youfei’s chest with my heels to bring us to a halt.
"Youfei, come here. Youfei, Youfei. So, how big is it?"
"Y-Yes? Huh…?"
Youfei, who had been dazed while on all fours with no intention of getting up, seemed to snap out of it at Aoi Takahara’s call.
"Ah, that… well…. F-First of all… the base type is about 16cm…."
"See? If the base is 16cm, it’ll hit 22cm when he’s fired up!"
The sisters were chatting away, throwing around suspiciously familiar measurements.
"No, how is that even possible? Is that even a human's tool? Okay, let’s say it is possible. He still has so much growing left to do!?"
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Carp…."
"I. Get. That. I know the Fire Carp makes it bigger, but the numbers are insane! I’d understand if 16cm was the fully powered version, but what the hell is 22cm?! Even 16cm is already out of this world…."
Aoi was getting worked up. I wondered what these crazy bitches were talking about, and it turned out they were estimating the length of my "tool."
I didn't know how they were estimating the length of someone else's "tool" when it turned into a total monster, but it was terrifying… actually, it wouldn't be so bad if a rumor like that spread far and wide.
"Aoi! Master can hear you!"
"No, I’m allowed to ask this as a pet! Master, how many centimeters is your third leg?"
"You crazy bitch..!"
The Black Horse sister pulled Aoi back as she tried to approach.
"M-Master! L-Let’s talk later! R-Lisar is upstairs! Go play there!"
"Hey! Hey! Let go! Let go! Fuck, I have to see it!"
Aoi was spouting crazy nonsense without a care. Goldie and the Black Horse sister pinned Aoi down, trying to chase me away.
"Hmm? You want to see it?"
The Black Horse sister and Goldie snapped their heads toward me.
"But what’s a 'third leg'~?"
The shoulders of all three women slumped.
***
When it came to learning martial arts, neither Hindel nor Marika were the most helpful.
Both were so busy that they only ever checked my progress.
Some might ask what they were so busy with—extorting money through subordinates, collecting protection fees, and inciting protests to make a profit—so let me explain a bit.
I was curious myself, but when I asked, Marika summoned the Future Strategy Department and spent three hours explaining the company's portfolio to me.
I wanted to ask if a bunch of thugs really did all that, but it was boring, so I didn't dig deeper. Still, based on what I understood:
They won contracts with minimum bids and then dumped them on subcontractors. They engaged in "land-blocking" in major development zones. They had a distribution business that was expanding despite razor-thin margins. Security and labor services. PMCs in the colonies. Large-scale Awakened clans in the colonies. A liquor business with questionable sales outlets, and so on.
At a glance, these people were clearly trash who contributed nothing to society! That evaluation was on the tip of my tongue, but then I remembered I was currently sucking the marrow out of this place like a leech, so I settled on grading them as "moderately bad trash."
Anyway.
Unlike Youfei Lee (Goldie), who specialized in killing techniques and mercenary tactics, or Lisar (Darkie), who specialized in schemes, lobbying, and information trading, Aoi Takahara was a pure martial artist. It was only natural that she became my martial arts teacher.
Even if this wolf looked like a total pushover loser, she was still a martial artist who had reached the Enlightenment Realm.
Some might ask why such a piece of trash wasn't a demonic practitioner, so I brought it up.
"Why did I learn orthodox martial arts? I have a short temper, and I knew I’d destroy my own body if I tried anything else, so I just picked something stable when I started. I bought and learned the high-level arts later."
She was a Whitey with surprisingly good self-objectivity, yet I had no idea where she got the nerve to keep getting on my nerves by saying I had no talent.
"Is it okay if I go home late today? Aren't you overdoing it?"
"My mom’s on a business trip. Her friend is there, but she does whatever I ask, so it’s fine if I’m late."
Even if I went home, the youngest would probably just deceive me with magic. And even if I went back early, spanking that pervert vampire’s butt and grinding against her was only possible after Gracia fell asleep, so going home early would just make me restless.
Still, maybe because I worked harder than usual today, I didn't even have the strength to wiggle a finger. Just as I was thinking about asking Aoi to carry me home on her back—
Sniff, sniff… sniff, sniff… Haaaah…
"Aoi, that tickles."
"It’s a reward, so just bear with it for a bit."
The Whitey was sniffing my neck and stomach, and she even sneakily stuck out her tongue to lick my sweat like a total pervert. But since wolves are canines, I had to forgive her.
Wait, more importantly.
"HAAAAAAH!!! HAAAAAAH!!!"
I also had to put up with this crazy wolf putting her nose right against my crotch and inhaling deeply.
For some reason, maybe it was a sense of superiority, but because Mr. Smarty had been performing so well lately, I felt a surging desire to show him off to someone.
Whether it was the influence of hormones or just baseless confidence.
I found it hard to resist the urge to swing around my Neo Armstrong General Cannon, which was much larger than the average adult male's by my standards (from my past life) and was treated as monstrously huge in this world.
I managed to hold back because I had a pervert vampire sister at home who, despite being a top actress, had a slender, agile build like a black panther.
"Ah, now keep your promise! I did twice as much as the Chairwoman or the President ordered!"
Overtraining was a necessity to beat Im Su-yeon. Because Marika and Hindel had strictly forbidden me from overexerting myself, I’d been forced to offer Aoi Takahara a "wish" to convince her, and now it was coming back to haunt me.
Even if it was a wish, it was fine as long as it was within the realm of common sense. And even if she was a crazy beast, Aoi was the type to act within reason unless it was something extreme, so I’d just thrown the offer out there.
"What should we play?"
"Pets!"
Look at this simple, stupid, easy-to-use grey wolf sister.
"We do that all the time."
"All day long!"
"But I have to go home?"
"Get permission from the Police Executive~! Please~ please~!"
It was an incredibly ambiguous request. I wanted to compromise by just showing her Mr. Smarty.
If Mom had been home, I could have ended it quickly by dealing a single look and a sniff of Mr. Smarty.
But since Mom was away on a business trip and I had Alicia, whom I could boss around as I pleased, I figured I could grant the wish. Besides, seeing Aoi’s figure clearly outlined in her spats, I couldn't bring myself to refuse.
"Fine. I’ll be your pet until tomorrow!"
"Yay~! I’m going to sleep while smelling Master all night long~!"
Aoi Takahara beamed with a wide smile.