Chapter 152

--- 24th Day, Evening ---

“What?” Zoe and I asked together.

“Mom didn’t tell you anything?” Virelia asked, still standing in the doorway.

“If by mom you mean Gemma, then no,” I replied. “She didn’t mention anything.”

“Well…” Vi sighed. “I’m your daughter.”

“What kind of joke is this?” I asked, looking at Sage.

“Man, I have nothing to do with that,” she replied, gesturing toward the younger blonde. “I just learned this today.”

“And something like that, Gemma told you first?” I asked.

“Oh no, Vi did,” Sage replied with a smirk.

“Mom doesn’t know I’m here,” Virelia added. “I wanted to meet you as soon as you woke up, but you were already gone, and she didn’t want to tell me where she sent you. Some bullshit arguments, always saying that I’d meet you soon,” Vi said, rolling her eyes. “I had enough and decided to find you myself,” she added. “And if anyone would hear about a man who has mana, it would be Aunt Sage,” she finished, glancing at her.

“And you told Sage everything?” I asked.

“Not everything, but she didn’t want to tell me where you are until I told her why I was looking for you,” Vi explained.

I looked between Sage and Vi for a moment, wondering what kind of sick game this was. “I’m not falling for this,” I said, looking at Sage. “I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve this way, but I’m not an idiot.”

“I swear I have nothing to do with it, and I’m even more surprised because you really don’t know. The stone proved that. By the way, if you could pass it to Vi, everything would be much easier.”

“I’m not going to use it!” Vi said, raising her voice at Sage.

“Oh, come on, you’re still mad about it?” Sage asked.

“I’m not mad, but I won’t ever use that stone,” Virelia replied. “Thank you for bringing me here, but you should go now.”

“What?!” Sage gasped. “No! You can’t do this to me!”

“I need to talk about things you shouldn’t know,” Vi replied more calmly.

“Oh, come on! That’s not fair,” Sage protested.

“Please?” Vi pouted, her voice turning childish as she looked at Sage.

“Agh!” Sage groaned. “I’ll find out the truth anyway,” she murmured, stepping out of the silent dome and turning to leave the house.

I snorted. “She actually listens to someone?”

“To me,” Virelia replied with a grin, before it faltered as she looked back at me. But before she could say a word, Sage was back in the room.

“Give me back the stone in that case,” she demanded.

“I’m not going to use it anyway,” Virelia said.

“That’s the only thing that could actually prove you’re telling the truth, and you don’t want to use it?” I asked. “Can you behave even more suspiciously?”

“I have my reasons,” Vi replied. “Besides, you can deceive that stone.”

“Vi!” Sage gasped.

“So you were using it on him too?” Virelia asked. “Did you at least explain what it does, or did you pretend it’s a gift too?”

“Just give me the stone and I’m gone,” Sage said.

I pulled it out and handed it to her. She quickly stepped out of the room, sticking her tongue out at Virelia on the way. If she even was Virelia.

“How do you deceive her stone?” I asked.

“It’s actually super stupid,” Vi replied. “The stone detects whether you’re telling the truth, but it doesn’t care about volume. So as long as the statements I say are true, it won’t react, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t hear half of what I’m saying. And then there is always an option to say things in a way that they still stay true, but you mislead the person who’s using it on you.”

“Why don’t you want to use it?” I asked.

“When I was eight, Mom left me with Sage to take care of me for a few weeks, and my aunt gave me a necklace as a gift, but didn’t mention that part of it was that stone. And actually, she tried to ask me about you, I almost spilled everything back then.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I replied. “Who in their right mind would leave a kid with Sage?”

Virelia snorted, giggling. “Aunt is not that bad. Besides the necklace, she took good care of me.”

“Why would I believe that you are really who you claim you are? It’s more likely this is some joke or stupid game of Sage’s.”

“I…” Virelia trailed off, uncertainty returning to her face. “Umm… not how I imagined this would go, but maybe let’s start from the beginning. I’m Virelia, but everyone calls me Vi.”

“Tobias,” I replied.

“Umm… I’m Zoe,” the succubus at my side said when Virelia looked at her. “And that’s Azura,” she added, as the wolf shifter only hummed.

“How much do they know?” Vi asked with a frown, looking back at me.

“Everything,” I replied.

“Everything everything?” Vi asked.

“Everything. The question is, how much do you know?” I asked.

“A lot,” Vi replied.

“You need to tell me something first,” I replied. “Something that Sage doesn’t know.”

“Like, for example, what class do you have?” Vi asked, then looked from me to Zoe and Azura suggestively.

“They do know that,” I said.

Vi stared at me in silence for a moment before groaning. “She was supposed to tell you everything first, but no, you need to be patient and wait,” Vi said, clearly mocking Gemma. “And now I’m supposed to explain everything when I don’t really know much, because she didn’t want to tell me either. You didn’t know you have a daughter?”

“I don’t have a daughter. I didn’t fuck with Gemma.”

“Mom said you might not remember everything correctly,” Vi murmured. “Well… to give you the Sex Mage class, there was some ritual required. I don’t know all the details, again she didn’t want to tell me, but… apparently I’m the result of that ritual.”

“You know about…” I murmured, starting to question whether this really was Sage’s joke, or if Vi might actually be telling the truth.

“Yeah… ugh… So there’s not a lot that I know, but after my mom brought you here from another world, you went through a ritual that was supposed to give you the Sex Mage class. And part of it was you two having sex so I could come into this world. Simple, but then things get complicated when you fall into some kind of hibernation. And Mom couldn’t wake you up. Then I was born, and my class didn’t exactly work, it was blocked until I turned eighteen. And I did, twenty-four days ago.”

“The day I appeared in this world,” I murmured.

“No,” Virelia shook her head. “You appeared here almost nineteen years ago, but you woke up on the day of my birthday. Mom suspected it would happen, but when I woke up that morning, you were already gone. She moved you somewhere during the night and didn’t want to tell me where you were. She kept promising we’d meet, but every day she just told me to wait and be patient.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Zoe said. “He’s twenty. He can’t be your father.”

“Well… I was thirty-six when I came to this world, and… my status shows fifty-five,” I explained.

“What? I’m dating an old guy?” Zoe asked.

“Hey, I’m not old!” I protested.

“Wait until I tell Amber about this,” Zoe replied with a mischievous smile.

“Don’t tell her,” I said, already imagining the amount of teasing I’d have to endure if she found out.

“And how are you going to explain that you have a daughter?” Zoe asked, looking back at Virelia.

“How can I know that everything you said is true?” I asked Vi.

“You can just ask Mom,” Virelia shrugged. “You’re in contact with her, right?”

“Yeah… If this isn’t a joke, we’re going to have a serious talk,” I murmured. “So supposedly I was in some weird magical coma for nineteen years?”

“Yeah. You don’t remember anything?” Vi asked. “After you made a deal with Mom.”

“I made a deal and then woke up in a cave with Zoe,” I replied.

“Oh…” Vi murmured, a sad grimace crossing her face. “I… ugh… I used to talk to you a lot, and I always hoped that… maybe you could hear me.”

“You knew where I was?” I asked.

“Mom kept you close,” Vi shrugged. “But maybe it’s better if you don’t remember. I mostly just complained about Mom and the situation with my class.”

“So if you really are my daughter, why didn’t Gemma tell me about you when I woke up?” I asked.

“She suspected you might not remember anything and wanted to give you time to adjust to this new world, but I think that’s bullshit.”

“That I need time, or that I wouldn’t remember anything? And why don’t I remember anything? Did she erase my memories?”

“I don’t know,” Vi shrugged. “She claims her own memories from the ritual are fuzzy, but she didn’t want to tell me any details. I… might have snooped a bit through her things. I didn’t find much, but I think the ritual went very differently than she expected. It’s hard to tell what really happened when she refuses to explain it to me, but from what I understand, it wasn’t normal magic, just… something else. And it had unexpected consequences.”

Virelia knew far more than Sage ever could and I was really starting to believe that it was true… I had a daughter. That would explain the nineteen-year gap in my status. That would explain where Virelia’s father had been all this time. And even Gemma’s strange behavior. What I thought was jealousy when I asked about Virelia… was worry, because she was my daughter.

Why would Gemma hide something like that from me? What happened to my memories? Even if the ritual affected them, she couldn’t have just rushed into it right after bringing me to this world. She would have needed preparation. Something…

But one moment I was in my apartment… and the next, I was in that cave.

But there was that dream. Of me and Gemma together. Fuzzy, like seen through a mist. I thought it was just a dream. But now… perhaps it was a memory buried somewhere in my mind, lost because of magic.

“I think you should talk to Mom now,” Virelia said, breaking the silence. “And nothing can give us back those eighteen years, but I was hoping that maybe you’d want to… I don’t know, get to know each other? And maybe talk about our classes?”

“I would,” I replied, then frowned. “Our classes?”

“Oh, I have a Sex Mage class too,” Virelia said.

“You… what?!”

“Another one of the unexpected results of the ritual,” Vi replied. “Mom claims she didn’t know it would happen.”

“That’s… What skills do you have?” I asked.

“Increased Endurance, regeneration, charm. Fertility control. And Achievement System.”

It was the exact same list of skills I had at level one. She really did have the Sex Mage class. And…

“You really are my daughter,” I murmured.

“Yeah…” Virelia replied with an uncertain smile.

I stared at her in shock. I had a daughter. An adult daughter, one whose entire life I had missed. I hadn’t raised her. I hadn’t seen her as a child, hadn’t watched her grow into the woman she was now.

And now… what was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say to someone I didn’t really know, but who was suddenly so close to me?

Virelia was the first to break the silence with a quiet grunt before speaking. “Maybe I should give you some time to think about it. I kind of dropped all of this on you.”

“And I must talk to Gemma,” I murmured.

“She’ll be pissed,” Vi replied. “I kind of ran away and came here without her knowing.”

“She hid the fact that we have a daughter,” I replied. “If anyone has the right to be pissed, it’s me.”

“Maybe you’ll learn more from her, and maybe you could tell me more about it tomorrow… and about you?” Vi asked.

“I’d really like that. I want to learn more about you too,” I replied.

“And maybe we could talk about our classes?” Vi asked.

“Ugh… I don’t know what there is to talk about.”

“I guess you’re a higher level than me,” Virelia said, glancing between Zoe and Azura before looking back at me. “I’m… still level one.”

“I… isn’t it weird? I mean… you’re my daughter, and this class, by its nature, is…”

“Maybe. Kind of. But you’re the only person I can talk about it with. Mom doesn’t even want to mention it. And you’re ahead of me, so you know what skills I’ll get, and… well… I don’t know. It’s just the only thing I know we have in common, so I thought maybe…”

“I’m sure we’ll find more things to talk about,” I replied, unsure if I really wanted to talk with her about sex and our classes. It felt strange, but at the same time, I didn’t really know her and she was already an adult.

“So… can I come here tomorrow?” Vi asked.

“Of course,” I replied. “I’d be really happy. I’m supposed to explore the dungeon in the morning until evening, but I can probably cancel.”

“No, no, there’s no need. I need to take care of a few things here in Ortas, so evening works best for me too,” Virelia replied.

“Okay,” I said.

A moment of silence followed. I just stared at my daughter, still in shock over what I had just learned.

“I should go,” she said, sounding more like she was asking than stating it.

“Do you have a place to stay?” I asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Vi replied. “I’m staying at a friend’s place.”

“Okay…” I said, and another awkward silence fell between us. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say or do, the whole situation was so far from anything I could have imagined happening that day.

“So, umm…” Virelia said. “Bye…” she added, sounding just as uncertain as I felt.

“Bye… and see you tomorrow,” I added quickly, really wanting her to come back. Especially if Gemma would confirm that it all was true.

Virelia nodded slightly, staring at me for a moment longer before finally stepping out of the room and heading for the exit, leaving me with Zoe and Azura… and, more importantly, with a million thoughts running through my mind, still completely shocked by everything I had just learned, overwhelmed by it all.