Chapter 155

--- 25th Day, Evening ---

After leaving the dungeon and stepping outside the building surrounding its entrance, Mari grunted and stayed behind.

“Yes?” I asked, holding back a groan.

“Pay me my share,” she demanded.

“Are you going to sign the work contract?” I asked.

She huffed before replying, “I’m not a liar.”

“Today at the library after it closes?” I asked.

She stared at me without reacting for a moment, only her ears twitching. I wondered if they were as sensitive as Amber’s or Mia’s. From what I understood, they should be.

“I’ll be there,” Mari said. “But give me my share of the loot.”

I took out the coins, already knowing how much I owed her, and handed them over.

Mari stared at the money in her hand without a word, and I prepared myself for some more bullshit from her, demanding more money or just bitching for no reason.

Instead, she picked out a few coins and held them back out to me. “Put that toward Mia’s debt.”

“Is that your apology?” I asked.

“Do you have to comment on everything?!” she hissed.

“I’ll pass it on to Mia,” I replied, genuinely surprised she was capable of any act of kindness. And when I thought about it, it was probably the most practical apology she could offer, though I wasn’t sure Mia wouldn’t prefer a simple verbal one.

Mari said nothing else, turned around, and headed back into the building we had just left.

“Are you going into the dungeon again?” I asked, but she ignored me. “Stick to the lower levels,” I called out before she disappeared through the door.

Mari was strong, but she was a mage. While she could kill enemies before they reached her, what would happen if she ran out of mana? Or if there was more than one enemy and they managed to close the distance?

“Is it safe for her?” I asked, looking at Cassia.

“If she listens to you and stays on the lower levels,” Cassia replied. “She has her ice spear. Can she use it?”

“I think so,” I replied, frowning.

We had stayed on the second level to give her a chance to recover after being healed, and now she was pushing herself by going back in alone...

I sighed and shook my head.

She wasn’t my problem, and it wasn’t like I could do anything to stop her. Not that she would ever listen to me, even if it was for her own good.

“Let’s head back home,” I added, leading our team toward Ortas.

I had more important things to deal with than Mari making one stupid decision after another.

“What happened between you and Mari?” Marcellina asked while we were still on the road.

I glanced at her, wondering what she could sense from me, or more likely from Mari, since my own thoughts were occupied with Vi rather than the kitsune.

“She was living with us, but I kicked her out today,” I replied.

“Why?” Marcy asked.

“Do you remember Mia?”

“The stammering bunny girl? Of course I do,” she replied.

“She was kind to Mari, helping with her recovery, taking care of her, cooking for her, and yesterday Mari yelled at her, told her she hated her, and basically made her cry. Now Mia is scared to interact with her, which is kind of inevitable when you live under the same roof. So the fox is out.”

“It’s almost like Mari can’t accept that someone might genuinely be kind to her after everything she’s been through,” Marcy replied.

“If she keeps behaving like that, even people who want to help her won’t stick around for long,” I said. “Relationships work both ways.”

“She did give money to help pay off Mia’s debt,” Marcy pointed out.

“One thing after two weeks of being a complete bitch. And for that to happen, she first had to reduce the sweetest person in existence to a hysterical mess.”

“It’s a start,” the lioness shrugged.

“Why are you defending her?” I asked.

“She went through hell,” Marcy replied. “And she may be rough on the outside, but she's deeply hurt on the inside. She’s... very vulnerable, and she’s trying to protect herself any way she can think of. Unfortunately, that means being a bitch.”

“Now she doesn’t need to protect herself from me anymore,” I replied, frustrated, as if I had ever done anything to suggest I might harm her in any way. “We’ll limit our contact to the dungeon.”

“Or you could try to help her,” Marcy suggested.

I snorted and shook my head. “Why would I do that to myself?”

“I don’t know. You helped heal her body. Maybe you could try to heal her soul.”

“Healing her body was strictly transactional,” I replied. “She still needs to pay for that.”

“Was saving Amber when she was kidnapped transactional? Or saving Azura’s mother and sisters?” Marcy asked.

“No, but I care about them. And we’re back to the same thing, kindness works both ways. They’re nice to me, so I’m nice to them. Well... maybe Amber wasn’t exactly nice, but...” I sighed. “It’s more complicated with her.”

“What about helping Mia and Terra? You didn’t know them back then, so you didn’t care about them yet.”

“It was transactional with Mia.”

“And if she had asked for help without knowing what happened to Amber, would you have refused?” Marcy asked.

“No, but she didn’t start accusing me of having bad intentions. She tried to be nice, and in return, I was nice.”

“Maybe Mari needs someone who’ll be patient and kind until she’s okay again.”

“Marcy, if you want, go be that person,” I replied, growing frustrated. “Mari’s homeless right now. Take her in and help her heal. I’m too tired of dealing with her, and I’m too busy. Besides, you can’t heal her in a single day. She needs time. And maybe some time alone is exactly what she needs.”

“She’ll never take me seriously,” Marcy replied.

“She doesn’t take anyone seriously. She hates everyone.”

“Maybe time will help,” the lioness murmured.

Especially time far away from me, probably for both our sakes. Perhaps if she didn’t feel the need to attack and accuse me of everything bad in her life, she’d finally have some time to reflect.

But who was I kidding? In the end, it would all be my fault anyway.

When we reached Ortas, we parted ways with Marcy, Cassia, and Terra, while I headed back home for my meeting with my daughter.

When we returned home, I heard giggling coming from the room Zelda had occupied before. Curious, I peeked inside and saw Mia sitting on the floor while one of Azura’s sisters, most likely Anna, was in her wolf form, licking all over the bunny girl’s face.

“Oh!” she gasped when she saw me, pulling back from the wolf. “I-I was cleaning when Anna came to play. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” I snorted. “You don't need to work all the time, and you can have fun whenever you want. It’s good to see you laugh,” I added.

She wasn’t much older than Anna and almost the same age as Alysson. In the end, Mia was barely an adult, not even a month past her eighteenth birthday.

The bunny girl flustered, and even if she had wanted to answer, she wouldn’t have been able to when the wolf sitting in front of her gave her a long lick across the face, making her giggle again. Seeing her happy like that, I decided to not mention money from Mari yet, to not destroy her good mood.

“Is Amber home?” I asked, wondering if she would have a chance to meet Virelia. I wasn't even sure if she would want to, but now they were both part of my life, so it was inevitable.

“No, she went to the library,” Mia replied.

Anna barked once.

“Oh, right, she went with Alysson,” Mia added “Um... she wanted to talk with her mother because you told her she could become a warrior.”

“I...” I started, but then just sighed, realizing that either Alysson had misunderstood me or was doing it on purpose. Either way, I wanted to talk to her mother first to see if it would even be an option before encouraging her. Now, Hannah would think that I was making decisions about her daughters without her input… But that was a problem for later, hopefully one we could peacefully talk about.

“I’ll have... someone visiting us soon, and I would prefer not to be interrupted,” I said.

“Of course,” Mia replied, nodding. “Should I cook something?”

“No, there’s no need. Thank you. I’ll leave you to your cleaning,” I added with a smile before heading to our room with Zoe and Azura to change after the dungeon.

Just a blowjob the previous night and a lot of kissing in the morning had left me pent up, and when Zoe took off all her clothes and bent over in front of me, her ass pointed in my direction and her pussy peeking out from between her pale thighs as she searched for something, most likely pretending and tempting me on purpose, I couldn't stop myself.

We still had some time before Vi was supposed to arrive, and we used it with Zoe and Azura, having some quick sex before taking a quick bath and heading downstairs just in time for someone to knock on the door.

I opened it for Vi and invited her inside, once again leading her to the living room.

“Have you talked with Mom?” Vi asked as we all sat around the table, with Zoe surrounding us with the Silent Dome.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Is she pissed at me?” Vi asked, not sounding like she was really bothered by it.

“She was more occupied with explaining herself. But she wanted you to know that you're grounded when you get back home.”

“I’m not planning on going back,” Virelia replied. “I was joking,” she added quickly, rolling her eyes, probably noticing my expression. “But maybe she should wait this time for a while, right?”

“Her reasons might be good or bad, but there’s no point in being petty about it now,” I replied.

“I’m not being petty. I just want to spend some time here, in Ortas. Closer to you. Further away from her.”

“I’m not going to complain if you stay around longer.”

Vi nodded, and for a moment we fell silent. I didn't know anything about her and couldn't really learn everything about her in a single conversation. I had no idea where to even start.

In the end, she was the first one to speak. “I know you were in the dungeon today, but do you do anything else for work besides that?” Vi asked.

“Some small jobs for Gemma,” I replied. “Do you work anywhere? Or are you still in school?”

“I’m not working, and you could say I graduated early.”

“Because you’re talented?”

“No,” she snorted. “The opposite. I was limited. With my class and mana blocked, I couldn't participate in some classes and didn't have access to any extracurricular activities.”

“Now you could attend them,” I stated.

“It’s too late, and I prefer learning on my own. Especially with our special class. I’m sorry for being direct, but I was wondering... are you a vampire?” Vi asked Zoe, completely changing the topic.

“Partially,” Zoe replied, bringing her tail onto the table between them.

“You have a tail,” Vi gasped softly.

“I do, and it can be quite useful, especially when it comes to my second nature,” Zoe purred, with a smile, slowly sliding her tail across the table, the tip vibrating while she kept her pink eyes locked on Vi.

“Zoe,” I protested at her obvious flirting.

“I’m sorry, Master,” she murmured, blushing and lowering her head.

“Mom is not a big fan of... slavery,” Vi said.

“Oh, it’s not like that,” I replied. “Both Zoe and Azura wanted it.”

“It’s true, and I had to convince him,” the succubus added.

“And with Mia and Terra, it’s to help them,” I said.

“Mia and Terra?” Vi asked, then smiled, tilting her head to the side. “How many girlfriends do you have?”

“They’re not my girlfriends. Their parents... adoptive parents made a slave out of Terra and sold her. Mia ran away and wanted to help her sister, so she asked me for help. I didn't have the money to buy and free Terra, so I had to enslave Mia and take out a loan with her as collateral. I’ll free both of them as soon as the loan is paid off.”

“Unless they don’t want to,” Zoe added.

“They will,” I stated.

“You could free Terra now,” she replied.

“I could, but she... doesn't want to,” I finished, realizing Zoe had caught me. “But it’s not because she doesn't want to be free. She wants to stand in solidarity with her sister.”

“And what if Mia didn't want to be freed?” Zoe asked.

“Let’s not think that far into the future,” I replied.

“So you’re half succubus, half vampire?” Vi asked, returning to the previous topic.

“Yeah...” Zoe replied, a bit more hesitantly.

“And… you're drinking my father’s blood and feeding on his life force?” Virelia asked with a frown, flicking her gaze toward me, a hint of accusation in her voice.

“I would never hurt him!” Zoe protested, grabbing my arm. “And I can't touch his life force when he has mana.”

“What about blood? Are you feeding on my father?” Vi asked again, narrowing her eyes at Zoe.

“She does sometimes, but I don't mind it,” I replied. “She heals me afterward, and... we love each other,” I added.

“You don't even know each other for a month,” Vi said.

“That’s true, but... sometimes you just know, and you can't really stop your feelings,” I replied.

Vi nodded before speaking again. “And Azura, you are...” she trailed off, leaving the question open.

“My girlfriend too,” I replied, wondering what reaction Vi would have to learning that.

“That much I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But you're a demon too, right?”

Azura hummed in confirmation, which Virelia of course didn't understand.

“Yes, she's a wolf shifter,” I replied.

“And not very talkative?” Vi asked.

“Not really,” I replied.

I then told her about Azura’s past, how she had lived in a wolf pack, and before that in the laboratory. That naturally led to the story of how we had become involved in taking down the laboratory and freeing Azura’s family. I also shared more about the last three weeks I had spent in this new world.

“Mom was very disturbed by the things they were doing in that laboratory...” Vi said. “Speaking of her... I was wondering... Are you and Mom going to... date? Give it a chance?”

“It’s complicated, but perhaps,” I replied.

“Because of me?”

“Do you mean are we giving it a chance because of you, or why is it complicated?” I asked.

“Either?”

“It’s not because of you. It’s because of how Gemma approached the whole situation.”

Vi nodded thoughtfully, but before anyone could speak again, the main door opened. I really hoped it would be Amber and not Sage, as it was still too early for Hannah to be back.

Fortunately, it was the drow. She appeared in the doorway, her gaze immediately locking onto Vi as she stepped into the Silent Dome.

“Virelia, I assume?” she asked.

“Yeah, and you're...?”

“Amber. Apparently, your father's girlfriend,” the elf replied.

“Nice to meet you,” Vi said before looking at me. “How many girlfriends do you have?”

“We're all here,” I replied.

“Is that because of our class?” Vi asked.

“No,” Amber replied before I could answer. “He's just greedy and wants more than he deserves.”

“Be careful what you're saying, or you might earn yourself a... you know what,” I finished.

“You're scared to say it, and I'm supposed to believe you're actually going to do it?” Amber taunted, with a smirk.

“As if I haven't already proven it,” I replied.

“I'll be waiting,” Amber said. “But maybe I'll just go to sleep like you did yesterday,” she added before walking out of the room, swaying her hips.

Vi followed the elf with her gaze before turning back to me. “She’s… feisty.”

“That’s just our dynamic, but she’s nice,” I replied. “Maybe you'll get a chance to know each other better over time.”

Vi nodded before asking, “Can I ask you something about our class?”

I sighed, wondering if I really wanted to have conversations like that with my daughter, but it was one of the few things connecting us. And even if it wasn't much, I had more experience with it than she did.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I want to start leveling up my class,” Vi said. “But I was wondering, do I need to go all the way for it to count? Or would taking things slower grant levels too?”

“I don't actually know,” I replied, glancing at Zoe.

“Right…” Virelia muttered. “There's no taking things slower with a succubus?”

Zoe blushed, averting her gaze and shifting a little closer to me.

“You’ll have to test things out yourself,” I replied. “Perhaps I don't have much more knowledge about it than you do.”

“I’ll first need to find someone to test things out with. But I think I’d prefer to stick to… one person.”

“That’s better. And Ortas is a big city. I’m sure you’ll find someone here. Just, please be careful.”

“Yeah…” Vi said. “I was thinking, maybe we could do something together tomorrow?”

“Sure,” I agreed immediately, unsure what she had in mind. “We’re exploring again, but afterward I’d gladly do something.”

Virelia smiled before asking, “And today? Do you have plans?”

“I do, but it shouldn't take that long,” I replied.

“It’s okay. I hope we don't have to rush things and that we'll have time,” Virelia said.

“Of course,” I replied. “As much as you want.”

Virelia nodded and got up from the table.

“You’re leaving already?” I asked, standing as well.

“I feel like I’m interrogating you,” Vi replied, gesturing between us and the table with an uncomfortable smile. “And doing something together might make it feel more…”

“Natural?” I suggested.

“Yeah,” Vi nodded.

“Do you have any idea what we could do?”

“We’ll come up with something,” she shrugged.

“Okay. Same time as today?”

“Yup. I’ll come here.”

For a moment, I wondered if I should hug her goodbye. We stared at each other in silence, but in the end, she simply said goodbye one more time before leaving.

That... wasn't a very long conversation, but it felt kind of awkward. I wasn't sure if, or how long, it would take before things felt more comfortable, like the family we technically were. At least she still wanted to meet again tomorrow.

“Really? Flirting with my daughter?” I asked, looking at Zoe.

“I’m sorry,” she replied in an overly cute voice. “She’s super into me, and it kind of slipped...” She paused as a smirk crossed her face. “Maybe I deserve some spanking together with Amber,” she added.

“Like that’s a punishment. Maybe I should spank Amber while I fuck Azura, and you would stay here,” I threatened, not really intending to do it.

“M-Master...” Zoe stammered, her eyes widening.

“Wait, Vi is into you?” I asked.

“Everyone is,” the succubus shrugged. “But if I had to guess, I'd say she's interested in women in general, not just me.”

It wasn't really surprising. It seemed that most women in this world were at least bisexual, especially those who had mana. Or maybe it was just my luck.

“Anyway, no flirting with Vi, okay?” I said.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I... it was stupid,” Zoe murmured.

“It’s okay,” I replied, then grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder, as she squeaked in surprise. “Some spanking as punishment and everything will be fine,” I added, giving her a light pat on the ass as I carried her upstairs.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time, since I was supposed to meet Mari, but first I wanted to talk with Amber.