A is a happy

I wandered a little through my dungeon after I left Lilith to sleep. Everything was dark and quiet… Well, not significantly darker than usual, but without Children, minions, and slaves running around, it certainly felt much more lonely. Without me as its centrepiece, the entire breeding program had come to a halt, and the harem girls that would normally be brought to my throne room were still kept in their leaf beds as a result.

Of course, I was aware that only the heart of my dungeon was affected. The more remote sections where the male slaves and my minions worked on expanding the dungeon, infants were being reared, and so on, were still bustling with activity. But here, there was unusual peace and quiet.

I had to admit, it was a nice change for once. Perhaps, I should allow myself to enjoy it a moment longer…

And so, I wandered through quiet halls and long corridors, until I arrived in the harem chamber. It wasn’t much different, even during full activity it was always quiet in here, as well as darker and warmer, due to the girls sleeping in their heated leaf beds. If at all, there were noticeably more girls present and fewer interruptions since the breeding cycle stood still.

Still, in my human form, I walked between the sleeping, naked girls. I couldn’t see much of their bodies, they were hidden by the leaves. But I could see the tentacles attached to their shoulders, their flower-like tips covering large amounts of skin, and their needles hooked inside the bloodstream of my girls. You’d expect that to be painful, but it wasn’t. When I made my dungeon plants to grow these appendages, they developed a serum that acted as a painkiller completely by themselves.

Plants, I guess. I quietly shook my head. Even though I was both therionic and erosarkic, I couldn’t just develop new compounds without even thinking about it, and my plant children certainly didn’t possess intelligence. Of course, I copied the new compound and added it to my repertoire. Maybe, I could use verdure monsters to create new or at least more of existing compounds in the future?

But that was a thought for another day. Right now, I was looking at my harem, slumbering in the soft, yet inescapable embrace of our children. They looked so peaceful…

Suddenly, I noticed that one of the girls had opened her eyes. At first, she looked sleepy, just letting her gaze wander about. But when she noticed me, her eyes shot wide open, full of surprise, and hope.

“Have… Have you come to rescue us?” she whispered, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

The harem wasn’t forbidden from talking, but they were so busy moaning and screaming for me most of the time and didn’t have anybody to talk to during the rest.

I looked at her for a moment, equally surprised. Then I realized, that in this world, nobody had ever seen me as human. I smiled devilishly and shifted back. My body grew again, and I had to shift my legs carefully so as not to step on any sleeping harem girls. Then, I lowered myself onto one knee and let my snout, its maw filled with sharp teeth, however right above her.

“NOW, WHY WOULD I DO THAT?” I asked her as quietly as I could as to not wake the others, my voice dangerously low.

Her eyes darted between my dangerous teeth and my six glowing red eyes. “I… I… am sorry master, it’s just…” she was terribly afraid, I could smell it in her scent. Tears began quietly streaming down her face.

I was confused. By now, she should be aware that I was only intend on breeding her, having her bear my children and raise them for me, as best as she could anyways. And since she was already heavily pregnant (I could smell it on her, although not see it), there was really nothing to worry about.

But then, I remembered. In my old world, keeping a **** under horrible circumstances for extended amounts of time never worked. They withered and died, without exception. Even if their bodies were perfectly healthy, they could still die of what was called broken heart syndrome or at the very least get so depressed that they killed themselves. It was really hard to **** someone to stay alive, even though they had lost their will to live.

In this world, that was different. Here, there was magic, including such miracles as instant healing and even resurrection, although I could not cast that one yet. When planning out my harem, their mental anguish had simply not been a concern of mine, as it wouldn’t kill them in this world. But they were still human. And they were suffering.

I shrank back down to human form. She had closed her eyes and was sobbing quietly, so she didn’t see it.

I gently laid my hand on the girl’s head, caressing her long, soft locks. “Sleep, my little pet. When you wake up, the world will look different.” I whispered as I cast sleep magic on her.

And indeed, I was already reaching for my dungeon plants with my life magic, reconstructing them to constantly feed a mixture of aphrodisiac and sensitivity potion through their flowery tentacles into my harem.

I left the harem chambers and headed towards my throne room, it was time to resume ordinary operations. But just when I walked around the last corner, there was Larell on the other side, accompanied by a few minions.

“Who are you?!” she asked me in a startled voice, hiding a few steps behind my minions. Had I been an intruder, they would have sacrificed themselves to protect Larell without a second thought. But since they were minions and quasi-telepathically linked to me, they were aware that I was their master.

“It’s just me, Larell. The giant minotaur with the tentacles that took Lilith and you in.” I said calmly.

Under normal circumstances, she would have protested at the notion of me taking her in, rather than abducting her, but right now, there were different things on her mind. She was stunned, and evidently not convinced.

I sighed, and with a wave of my hand, I ordered my minions to kneel. They obeyed immediately.

There was a moment of silence.

“So… you can look human?” Larell asked indignantly, now apparently convinced, but still confused

“I can. In fact, I was even human once. This is what I looked like, especially my face. Though I made myself a little taller and a *lot* stronger this time around.” I explained to her.

Larell looked over my incredible amount of muscles and then lifted her gaze up at my face, past my sharp features, right into my piercing, pale blue eyes. I was about two heads taller than her. She blushed ever so slightly, fidgeting in place almost unnoticeable, biting her lip.

“Why didn’t you show me earlier?” she wanted to know.

“I am a monster now, a massive minotaur. There is no reason to pretend otherwise.” I answered.

Larell looked like she wanted to disagree but kept quiet about it. “Why change your mind now?” she inquired.

“Lilith had nightmares again, and you were nowhere to be found,” I told her, slightly annoyed.

“Oh… I am sorry, I was over at the nursing halls, and-“ she explained, but I stopped her by lifting a hand.

“Doesn’t matter now, I enjoyed spending time with her. And… she called me daddy.”

There was a moment of silence. Maybe I shouldn’t put this all on Larell

“She… what?” Larell asked.

“Lilith called me daddy just before she fell asleep. I don’t think it was an accident or something.” I repeated.

“What are you going to do now?” Larell wanted to know. Her eyes showed uncertainty and a hint of fear.

“What I should have done a looong time ago.” I sighed.

“Adopt her!”