Leveling Up by Eating a Pixie #6
Kerasis, the great Duchess of the Demon World.
The garments that had been concealing her voluptuous flesh were being removed one by one. Starting from her outer coat, down to her undergarments, everything was discarded.
—Whoosh.
As the layers fell away, the suppressed aura of lust surged forth, encroaching upon the entire space. The beautiful Duchess, overflowing with feminine charm and maternal warmth, began to emit a pinkish energy from every corner of her lascivious body.
The clothing the Duchess wore was, in essence, a form of restraint. It was an artifact designed to powerfully control and bind the aura of carnal desire—an aura so potent that it would encroach upon everything around her even if she remained perfectly still, making it impossible to manage no matter how much she tried to suppress it.
It was the influence of her bloodline.
The Duchess was a being who scattered beautiful allure without even intending to, turning anyone who laid eyes on her into a prisoner. This was true even when she wasn't actively exuding lust, but if she chose to release it, that ability was amplified tenfold.
The aura of carnal desire, possessing such characteristics, only grew stronger as the Duchess's power increased. It was a force that could seduce and enslave everything in its vicinity just by her standing there.
It was useful, but at the same time, it was inconvenient.
Therefore, the occasions when the Duchess completely shed her clothes to expose her bare skin were extremely limited. She only undressed in her own sacred space, where no one could intrude.
There were only two such places.
Her bedroom or her bathroom.
—Splash.
The Duchess had undressed to bathe.
"Haa."
As she stood under the cascading warm water, the Duchess caressed her own voluptuous body. She rubbed her breasts, which seemed ready to burst with maternal softness, and stroked her full hips, which contrasted sharply with her slender waist.
While she could purify her body with mana whenever she pleased, the Duchess loved washing herself with water infused with mana. Bathing was one of her few hobbies.
—Slide.
After finishing her shower, she stepped into her bathtub.
"Hnnng."
The warm water, with its concentration of mana and temperature perfectly calibrated to her preference, enveloped her entire body. A pleasant moan escaped her lips. The Duchess closed her eyes and quietly savored the sensation.
"..."
And she thought.
About what happened just a moment ago.
'Carti.'
Carti had submitted a very special report. It was classified as Grade 1. Because it was information deemed highly important, the Duchess felt a rare surge of interest.
It was information emphasized as being that significant. It had a high probability of being something that would amuse her.
'What could it be?'
To fully enjoy that sensation, the Duchess had entered the bath. Checking the most interesting information when she was at her most relaxed—that, too, was something the Duchess enjoyed.
—Zing.
Opening a sub-space, the Duchess pulled out a report and a crystal orb. The report was quite thin. It was because all the important information had been stored inside the crystal orb in the form of a video.
'Shall I take a look?'
—Flip.
The moment she turned the page of the report while thinking that.
"Hmm?"
Duchess Kerasis expressed genuine confusion.
"Culs?"
It was such unexpected information.
"My son."
Culs.
"A child with such immature thoughts."
She had heard reports that he had succeeded in surviving, but... it wasn't exactly a matter of great importance. It was pitiful and sad, but merely surviving was useless. If he couldn't even manage that much, he would be disqualified as a demon. Only by proving one's value did one become useful.
"Why is such a Culs...?"
Yet, information about that very Culs had returned, wearing the mask of a Grade 1 report. At this point in time, most Grade 1 information concerned the angels. Because there was nothing more important than that in the Demon World right now.
But... it was Grade 1.
Does that mean... he had achieved some kind of result?
The first thing she thought was:
"Impossible."
That it was impossible.
She couldn't imagine that Culs, who was weak both physically and mentally, could achieve any meaningful results in the Middle Realm... Logically speaking, that should be the case.
The Duchess read through the report with even greater interest.
"Hmm."
It wasn't a very detailed report. Nor did it contain any important content. The short report simply concluded with a note saying that she should watch the crystal orb to judge the details for herself.
"Carti isn't the type of child to do her work like this."
Going to such lengths?
If so, she had no choice but to watch the crystal orb. The Duchess immediately floated the orb in front of her eyes, touched it lightly with her finger, and infused it with mana.
—Whoosh.
And the video began to play.
Culs had survived on the soil of the Middle Realm.
"..."
It was quite an encouraging development.
The Middle Realm was not a place overflowing with mana like the Demon World. It lacked the most important resources for demons.
But perhaps that had actually become an advantage for the weak Culs?
Since he had little mana to begin with, he didn't seem to feel the burden even in a situation where mana was scarce. Culs lived an ordinary life and engaged in various activities to survive.
"Monster Domination, is it?"
In the process, he had captured the weak monsters of the Middle Realm, cast his domination magic, and placed them under his command.
"To think he had such a cute ability. Hehehe."
Watching her son's commendable appearance, a short laugh escaped her lips.
Not only had he survived, but he had also created a subordinate who was as weak as himself but followed his orders. Seeing him looking so purely happy about that fact brought a smile to her face.
Because naturally, seeing one's child happy makes one feel good.
'But it's not a special ability.'
It wasn't special.
Black magic that dominates monsters wasn't that efficient. Leaving aside weak monsters, it would have almost no effect against powerful ones, and the mana consumption was high.
The efficiency was very poor.
Domination was something possible even without using mana, and besides, domination magic wasn't absolute.
There was no need to consume mana or use domination magic to control an army. Discipline, fear, and providing fair compensation were enough.
'It's useful for now, but... ah.'
The video changed.
It was a scene of Culs looking happy with a few more subordinates.
"...Are you doing well?"
Goblins and imps. And a kobold. It was a scene of him getting along very well with such trivial monsters.
A question arose. How could he be so happy with things like that? The monsters were even following Culs with smiles on their faces. A dominated monster following its master so sincerely? Something was strange.
The Duchess focused on the video.
Without even a moment to enjoy the pleasant sensations of her bath.
"You're... doing well."
It wasn't dramatic, but he was doing well, step by step, slowly on his own. It was also fascinating that the monsters followed him so well. Was that Culs's true ability?
A unique ability.
Thinking that such a thing might reside within Culs made her heart ache. If she had known it would be like this, she would have treated him a little more kindly.
"A mistake."
Talent can sometimes manifest late.
As she was watching the video, the screen changed again. This time, it wasn't just Culs. Culs was stuck to some female-type monster.
"..."
Was he starved for maternal love?
Culs, having captured a female-type monster, was holding it close and persistently sucking on its nipples.
—Slurp, slurp.
That wasn't all.
As if trying to vomit out his own loneliness, he touched every corner of the female's body he was holding and rubbed his genitals against it. He repeated the act of ejaculation several times, yet Culs remained obsessed with the female, as if he were still craving maternal love.
"...Culs."
Watching it, she didn't feel good.
Bestowing love and maternal affection.
That was something she should have done in the first place. But the Duchess had never bestowed such great love upon her children.
"..."
Feeling that regret, she focused even more on the video. Culs was in a state of thirst for maternal love because he had been so lonely. His desire for maternal love had led to an obsession with the female body.
"...It's sad."
She should have embraced him as a mother.
She had always thought about it, but she had never done it even once. She felt that anew. And she would continue to be that way in the future. Because her children were her tools and her soldiers. The moment she gave more affection than necessary, she would lose the ability to make cold, rational judgments.
"..."
A feeling of regret.
She didn't think about the report. She had become curious about how Culs was living. Without even realizing she was being drawn into the video, the Duchess continued to peek into Culs's life.
Increasing his subordinates to subjugate hostile races, improving his individual strength, and training the monsters at the same time.
Culs was extremely interesting.
"..."
Without realizing it, the Duchess was exuding her aura of carnal desire even more intensely. Because of that, the bathroom was completely encroached upon by pink energy, to the point where she couldn't see an inch ahead.
Even so, the Duchess remained focused on the video.
Because Culs, right now, for the first time...
—Squish, squish.
—Squish, squish.
—Squish, squish.
...was engaging in normal sexual intercourse.
"...To realize it only now."
It was so pathetic that she felt frustrated. Culs had been having fun playing with the female's body, but perhaps he lacked the knowledge of how to actually perform sexual intercourse, as he had only persistently rubbed his genitals against her buttocks.
But now, he had finally succeeded in performing normal sexual intercourse. She even felt a strange sense of accomplishment at the thought that her child had finally progressed.
A sense of accomplishment.
As that thought crossed her mind, she felt a question arise once more.
'Why on earth did Carti submit a report like this?'
She could see that Culs was commendable, she felt he was brave, and she knew he had proven he possessed a somewhat cute ability, but this shouldn't have been such important information.
The moment she felt that doubt.
—Whoosh!
"...!"
The Duchess's eyes widened.
Because something had begun to change in the Dryad that Culs was ravaging.