I awakened in the carriage stationed near the golden apple trees.
I quickly noticed something warm in my arm. When I looked, I found Marcho.
She and I spent the last night together.
As a result, I was helplessly falling even more in love with her.
…my first time was amazing. Unbelievably so.
In a way, it might have been better to have remained a virgin. Because now that I knew of this pleasure, I might just get addicted to it.
And so, I should be careful to not get too caught up with my feelings and desires toward Marcho and turn into nothing but a lovestruck idiot. More importantly though, I should be careful around my girls.
They usually enjoyed a fair bit of skinship with me. That was fine before, but now with my newfound knowledge, I might get weird thoughts and go over the line. If that happened, I would never be able to forgive myself.
"I was shocked you were that good, Procell. I intended to take the lead all throughout, but toward the end, I just let you do what you wanted. And I tell you, it felt so good"
Marcho awoke, said so, and then kissed me.
It was an adult kiss, and it got me excited. One particular part of me got excited too.
Because Marcho and I were locked in embrace as we kissed, she noticed it and then laughed.
"Hoh, after doing it so much last night, you"re still energetic, huh. Alright, let"s do it some more. A lot more."
"…sorry"
"Don"t be. I don"t mind being wanted by you. So, instead of feeling sorry, just be sure to love and hold me more, okay?"
"It"s a promise."
Like that, Marcho and I made love again.
◇
After that, cleansing herself in Avalon"s famous hot spring, and eating breakfast, Marcho returned to her dungeon.
It saddened me to let her go back, but she had duties to attend to in her dungeon and thus couldn"t stay for much longer.
After seeing her off, I returned to my estate. There was a lot I wanted to do.
"Oto-san, you didn"t come home! Kuina was worried!!"
Kuina greeted me with a pouting a face.
It seemed like Rorono and Aura had already left for their jobs.
"I"m sorry. Marcho and I… had a lot of work to do."
"Oh, it can"t be helped if it"s work."
A strange feeling of guilt hurt my chest.
In the first place, why did I lie and say it was work? At any rate, since Kuina"s here, let"s do one of the things I wanted to do and cross it off the list.
"Kuina, there"s a dungeon room I want to show you. It should be very useful for your evolution."
"Really? Let"s go! Kuina"s so excited"
I had purchased another [Forest] room using the DP gained in the [War]. There was still some left afterward though. I thought of buying another [Maelstrom], but decided on something else.
That something else was a [Recovery] room. It was on par with [Treasure Vault] and [Transfer Labyrinth] in terms of being very expensive, but just by staying in there, one"s wounds would be healed and their magic power would be replenished quickly.
For myself who uses [Creation], for Rorono who uses [Materialization], for Aura who makes the [Water of Life], and for Kuina who save up magic power in the thousands of furs in her tail, such a room was very useful.
As great as it was though, a [Recovery] room was a double-edged sword. After all, anyone who was within the room enjoyed its benefits, not just one"s own army. The enemy could occupy it and turn it into a forward operating base. In fact, Marcho had experienced this firsthand when she was attacked.
And then, there was also the issue of the jewel placed in the middle of the dungeon room. If that jewel was to be destroyed, the very expensive [Recovery] room would turn into nothing but a [Stone Corridor] room.
But so long as those were prevented, the [Recovery] room was highly useful.
Thus, thinking that the benefits exceeded the risks, I decided to buy one. Before that though, I had to buy an additional floor as there was nowhere left to put the room. While I was at it, I bought a [Treasure Vault] room to add to the new floor.
Between the [Forest] room, an additional floor, the [Recovery] room, and the [Treasure Vault], the DP gained in the [War] was almost gone, but I daresay it was DP well spent.
The [Treasure Vault] periodically produced magic items. I was interested in those as some of them couldn"t be made through normal means. Giving those to Rorono should help her growth.
In a sense, the [Recovery] room was a reward for Kuina and the [Treasure Vault] was for Rorono.
◇
And so, Kuina and I travelled to the [Recovery] room.
"Oto-san, this room"s amazing! Power is welling up from within Kuina! Woaaah, woah!"
While Kuina was exclaiming a series of woahs, the furs in her tail stood in excitement.
She was absolutely adorable.
"Glad you like it. Now, let"s see what happens when you drink a golden apple potion while you"re in here."
"Let"s! *Glug, Glug*… They"re both taking effect!"
As I predicted, their effects stacked.
I was thinking of it before, but now I was convinced that I should place a golden apple tree here. The synergy between the golden apple tree"s sacred Ki, the [Recovery] room, and the potions made from the golden apples should prove to be dreamlike.
I can also remove the ceiling so that the sky could be seen. Some terraforming should be important too.
Thinking like that, I decided to consult Aura later.
But then, another thought popped in my mind. It was about building a house here and making it our new home. Our current home located in Avalon could serve as an office, instead.
Then again, that was only if the golden apple tree"s effect worked together with the [Recovery] room"s effect. From my experience, basking in the golden apples" Ki had about the same potency as staying in the [Recovery] room, so if the effects didn"t stack together, having a resting area in the city part was good enough.
"Oh, before I miss the chance again, there"s something I want to ask you. There has been a sudden increase in the amount you"ve saved up, right? I don"t think even staying near the golden apple trees and drinking their potions wouldn"t explain that spike. So, how did you do it?"
Recently, Kuina was storing magic power to her tail"s furs at a much greater pace. That had me curious on what unknown method she was doing to achieve such results. But due to other matters, whenever we had the chance to talk, there was always something else more pressing to talk about.
"Kuina"s been borrowing from the Mythological Foxes! Oto-san, do you want to see?"
"Yeah, I definitely do."
Hearing her answer got me even more interested, so I asked her to show me how.
◇
Night fell, and the Mythological Foxes" work in the city ended. The Mythological Foxes then headed toward the reception hall of the inn managed by Duke to meet up with Kuina. Once they were all gathered, Kuina handed them money which was likely from her savings.
Because of the Mythological Foxes" ability to transform be more human-like, they could be a.s.signed to work in all sorts of workplaces. And due to that, they were now wearing all kinds of outfits.
There was a waitress, a cook, a maid, a weapon shop clerk, a bunny girl, and more.
Fox-eared beautiful women wearing such work outfits surely was a sight for sore eyes… it almost felt like a cosplay event.
"Please everyone, take care of me today as well!!"
Kuina stood at the highest place in the reception hall and loudly declared so.
When she did, the Mythological Foxes lined up, evenly s.p.a.ced from one another.
And then, it began…
"""One, two, FOX, konkonkon ♪"""
Kuina and the Mythological foxes began to sing and dance.
They were swinging their arms up and down in alternate order while their hips were lowered and were swinging left to right.
"""Shake the tail, shake, shake, konkonkon ♪"""
This time, they turned around, put their hands on their waists, and began shaking their hips and tails.
"""Our ears, only the tips are black ♪"""
They put their hands over their ears
"""But our tails, only the tips are white♪"""
Next, they supported their tails up with one hand while pointing at it with the other
"""One, two, FOX, konkonkon ♪"""
They then repeated the first line, leading me to think it was the song"s chorus. Of course, they repeated the movements they did for that part too: swinging their arms up and down in alternate order while their hips were lowered and were swinging left to right.
…wait a minute, I"ve seen those moves before! It"s in the opening credits for Overman King Gainer!
"""Shake the tail, shake, shake, konkonkon ♪"""
They again shook their hips and tails.
"""Ko—————n♪"""
To end it, all of them jumped at the same time.
It was an incredibly adorable dance. Especially so since it was done by these fox-eared girls. It was picturesque.
It wasn"t just a dance though. It was also a ritual.
The Mythological Foxes" magic power all went to Kuina.
It was highly likely that the purpose of their song and dance routine was to improve their synchronization to the point that their hearts were united as one.
Transferring one"s magic power to another person was originally an extremely difficult process, but with both sides perfectly in sync, it should be like cakewalk.
But then, I started to act up.
They"re so cute, I want to gobble them up. I want to pet them all. Let"s make today a fox festival! …wait, what am I thinking? Okay, calm down. Petting them without permission is unacceptable. Especially since I"m their Demon Lord; if I ordered them to, they will have no choice but to obey. That"s just too despicable.
Okay, okay, deep breaths, deep breaths, there, back to normal.
"Everyone, that was such an adorable song and dance number. I see now how Kuina was able to gather that much magic power in a short time."
"Yup, it"s all thanks to the Mythological Foxes!"
The Mythological Foxes were B rank monsters and thus didn"t have a stellar amount of magic power. But the story changes when there this many of them.
"Where did you learn that song and dance though?"
"We have no idea! Kuina and the Mythological Foxes just knew about it when we were born! It"s been carved into our souls. We just know that if we sing that song, we can become one."
Mythological Foxes nodded to what Kuina said.
It was quite incomprehensible, but I had a feeling that asking further wouldn"t make it less so.
It"s cute and that"s all that matters.
"I see. Well, everyone, thank you for helping Kuina. Making her evolve faster is synonymous to making Avalon"s war potential stronger. So, I think a reward to those who are lending a hand is in order. From now on, your salaries would be increased."
The moment I said that, the Mythological Foxes shouted in glee.
What should I buy, one asked. Let"s eat at that expensive store we"ve always wanted to go to but can"t, said another.
"Is it alright for you girls if I come by again later and see you doing that song and dance?"
"Of course!"
It would be a great shame to never see such a cute performance again.
So, I decided that if I had the free time, I should go see them again.
For now, it was time to go home.
Just when I was headed to the exit though, the exit"s door opened with great force.
An Ocean Singer then came through.
"Procell-sama, I"ve been looking everywhere for you. You have a visitor. A Demon Lord visitor."
"A Demon Lord? Is it someone I know?"
"No. I believe this is going to be the first time the two of you will meet. He says he"s [Despair] Demon Lord Belial. He also says he came here to ask you to form an alliance with him."
For me, who was being targeted by the anti-Procell alliance, an ally was just what I was looking for.
I had antic.i.p.ated that this would happen. After it was known that I had enough power to defeat even the [Pig] Demon Lord, it was only a matter of time before someone offered alliance.
However, there was also the possibility that this offer could be a trap. Rather, it was more likely to be a trap.
"Kuina, come with me and be my guard, okay?"
""Kay ♪! Leave it to Kuina!"
I have to be cautious in the negotiations.
If I wasn"t careful and if this was indeed a trap set up by the anti-Procell alliance, receiving a fatal wound was a realistic possibility.
If it smells like a trap, I should turn it down… better yet, maybe I can even use this against them.
While thinking of that, Kuina and I headed toward where the visitor was waiting.
TL Note: Kon is the sound that foxes make. Yup, that’s what the fox said.