Where am I…it feels like I was out for a long time…although, it also feels like I was out for just a few seconds as well.By the time I fully came to my senses and opened my eyes, my ears were filled with a mult.i.tude of voices, some familiar, some foreign.
“Awake…Master"s awake!”
Looks like there really was a crowd gathering around me. Violet Snow, Mimiya, One-eye, Nine-finger, No.3, No.5, Big 4 and the demonic half-orc Baccarel. There was also Mo En whom I had only seen once and a tall l.u.s.t demon who was clad in garments sewn together from some sort of fur.
“Are you sure you don"t want to sleep for a while more?” Mo En was just like before, shaped like small imp with a face that could only be described as wretched. As he said that, he lowered his body in what looked like an attempt at sitting; however, this was immediately hindered by a discreet kick from the l.u.s.t demon beside him. His relaxed legs immediately straightened up.
“Mhm, either way being able to meet like this again isn"t so bad. This is my precious granddaughter, the fiancee I was talking about before.”
“Yoo, how are you doing. Even though this one still thinks you look like a l.u.s.t demon, this one is willing to consider your courtship a.s.suming you"re still interested.” The primal devil raised her hands as if she was a kid in a cla.s.sroom, and in a serious voice said: “This one will listen to grandpa.”
You make it sound like I"m forcing you with a knife to marry me…the problem was that if I didn"t do so, I probably wouldn"t have been able to return to the Western Human Realms at all. As recent events have proven, I was right in making that decision. While I didn"t end up finding Nicole, waiting to be summoned was the right move.
Even so, waiting patiently to be summoned wasn"t an option either. Ancarin was still too weak for that, and by the time she got stronger, I would have evolved as well. By the time she was able to summon me…several decades might have already gone by.
In the end, one should always depend on themselves first. Depending on others simply wasn"t a stable solution.
“If you don"t mind me asking, are you really not a l.u.s.t demon?”
The l.u.s.t demon bowed before me with a faintly excited look in her eyes. In a humble tone, she asked, “Then may I hazard another question, are you a Soul Bard? Are you of the warrior or bewitching branch, and that tattoo on your face…”
This must be the legendary wife of Mo En. She"s rather pretty, I have to admit. I bet she could be considered beautiful even amongst the elves who were known for their beauty, whether it was in terms of her figure or her face. Judging by her aura, she was probably a four-star as well.
“About that, probably both.” I smiled weakly before pointing at the tattoo on my face. “Strictly speaking, I"m not a l.u.s.t demon but you may treat me as one…”
“I don"t really understand what you are saying…but I"m able to sense an exalted soul within you, as if you were born to be our queen…I…I"m not wrong, am I…”
“…mhm, because of certain reasons, I…you may see me as such.” I initially intended to tell her about Ferti"nier"s soul within me, but thinking about it, this news was too important to reveal so lightly. For all I know, I might end up committing some taboo. After all, devils were a life form known for their slyness and evilness.
Thus the l.u.s.t demon knelt down…
“My Queen…”
Seeing his wife suddenly kneel, Mo En was momentarily stunned, but after being glared at, he stupidly knelt down as well.
And this was how I inexplicably turned Mo En"s family into my subordinates.
Since I had become their master, that marriage with Mimiya was now nothing but a joke. In the words of that l.u.s.t demon, she wasn"t worthy enough to marry me since our relationship now wasn"t an equal one. It was now of a master and his servants, rather than a marriage between equals.
As for why this even happened, it goes without saying that it was the effect of Ferti"nier"s soul at work here. She was basically my transmigrator granddaddy now, though she wasn"t a particularly dependable one.
(TL: granddaddy / grampa – typical old man that shows up and bestows you with powers etc in typical xuanhuan / wuxia stories)
Mo En"s wife was known as Julia, and she was a four-star primal devil as well. She possessed all the physical aspects of a l.u.s.t demon….the goat horns, the crimson long hair, the flesh wings on her back, her heart shaped tail and hoof shaped feet…mhm.
The way to tell apart the grades of a l.u.s.t demon"s bloodlines was by looking at their feet. If her bloodline was of a high grade, her feet would be similar to a human"s while a low grade bloodline was indicated by hooves.
Julia"s bloodline was of a lower grade; furthermore, she was of the carnal branch. Her strength didn"t lie in combat but rather lied in tactics and charm. Julia was born alongside Mo En. While she was of the carnal branch, she didn"t have a relationship with any other male devil. Not only that, thanks to his unique personality, the final say in their devil clan ended up lying with Julia.
Using a highly appropriate quote from one of Zhao Benshan"s skits: “Before getting married, we had a discussion, serious matters would be decided by him while the minor matters would be handled by me. However, in these ten over years we"ve been married, we haven"t had any serious matters.”
Mhm, that was the kind of feeling I was getting.
Apparently, Mo En"s son had already left the Prison of the Dead by himself, leaving behind a son and a daughter. The daughter was Mimiya while the son was a glutton who was rather fat. He was already a three-star and seemed to be an apostle of Gluttony. What"s worse was that he seemed to have inherited his grandpa"s unique characteristic; his brain wasn"t functioning well…
Being a glutton, Mo En"s grandson, Mo Xixidi was naturally chewing on a piece of meat as he lumbered towards us. Judging from his ma.s.sive girth, at least two meters tall body and those gigantic horns on his head, Mo Xixidi was probably a primal horned devil. Horned devils were, as their name suggested, known for their giant horns.
He was essentially a tub of lard wrapped in the crimson red hide of a devil. His tail was noticeably thicker than an ordinary devil and his horns were at least two times as large as other devils. They were curved horns that almost reminded me of a bull"s. While it might sound like a strange description, all you had to know was that it was a well-fed man sitting on the floor with a pair of bull horns on his head.
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And he was also a r.e.t.a.r.d…
Most devils who saw me would immediately try to flatter me; however, Xixidi was different. The first thing this meat potato said was: “Are you edible?”
Based on the serious look in his eyes and the word eat, I could safely say that in his eyes any life form he encountered could be cla.s.sified into three categories: Kin, edible, and inedible.
Naturally, the moment that stupid question left his mouth, No.3 and Big 4 immediately stepped in front of me, shielding me from the meat potato with wary looks on their faces, glaring at the meat potato who had a puppy dog expression on his face at the moment. Then, he received a solid whipping from Julia.
“You actually dare to offend our Queen!”
After a few cracks of her whip, Xixidi nonchalantly scratched his head: “Granny, hitting me like that isn"t painful at all.”
Everyone who had seen this r.e.t.a.r.d for the first time: “…”
Only Mimiya seemed happy about that reply as she happily cheered her granny on and clapped: “Granny hit him harder, I can help out if you want, I"ve always wanted to whip Big Brother.”
Ignoring the girl, Julia let out a resigned sigh and kept her whip: “Then I order you not to eat for the entire day.”
“…wah…nooo, I want to eat…ahhhh…Granny doesn"t love me anymore…” He immediately broke down like a three year old kid and wailed. The hurt look on his face was at least a hundred times worse than when he was whipped.
“No means no, the next time you"re rude to our Queen, I"ll ban you from eating for a week!”
“Alright, alright, it"s not such a serious matter…” Feeling that his wife had overreacted and fearing for his grandson"s stomach, Mo En tried to persuade Julia, but was immediately silenced by a glare from her. His head promptly shrunk back in fear and spoke no longer.
“Our Queen might still be immature but she is destined to become the queen of the l.u.s.t demons. I hope that everyone will show such an exalted existence the respect she deserves, if not…don"t blame me for being ruthless.”
She swept her eyes over the scoffing Mo En, the crying Mo Xixidi and the nonchalant Mimiya: “ Don"t think for a second that I don"t know what you lot are thinking. For the future of the l.u.s.t demons, I"ll do my utmost best to serve our Queen, till my very last breath!”
As she said that, a fire lit up in her eyes. With a fervent look on her face, she immediately got to her knees, humbly lifted up one of my feet with her hands and kissed its back…
“My Queen…your body is so exalted…your disposition is so saintly and pure, even the elven queen would lower her head in shame in the face of your beauty, your beauty has transcended the limits of this world…”
Word after cringey word spewed forth from her mouth, nearly making me want to cry. Didn"t I emphasize the fact that I was a guy?! That whole part about beauty wasn"t necessary, was it?
Just like that, I ended up gaining the support of Mo En and instantly gained 2,000 more devils; of which the four-stars were Mo En and Julia, while the three-stars were Mimiya, Xixidi and three other nameless demon childs. There were a total of 370 head imps while the rest were large imps.
It had to be said that this was a much needed replenishment of my army. In order to break through the legendary, una.s.sailable prison exit, I needed a lot of devils, the more the merrier. Having witnessed the terrifying dangers at the prison exit, Habona"s grandfather once told me that we needed at least 10,000 one-stars before he would pledge a.s.sistance to our cause.
Based on that alone, one could tell how dangerous that place was. It was said that anyone who had tried to break through forcefully were all dead!
Who would"ve thought that the problem I was mulling over when I woke up would instantly be lessened by 20% without me even lifting a finger.
Truth be told, I was beginning to feel that the old werewolf"s aid wasn"t even that important anymore. It wasn"t like their numbers were that many to begin with. Of course if I could recruit them I definitely would, but if it wasn"t possible it wouldn"t be such a terrible loss either.
While the trip to the Western Human Realms ended without me finding Nicole, I ended up gaining an important lead while I was there. Thanks to Ferti"nier"s hint, the next step for me was to break out of this prison and find Yi Yi in Abaddon. If everything worked out as planned, I would regain my male body, after which I could begin planning for my return to the human world. By that time, I should have the strength to protect myself and not get chased to the ends of the earth by demon hunters.