Previous Chapter
In Orario, the custom regarding childbirth was quite different from back on Earth. Rather than, you know, lying in bed and pushing, which I'd been under the impression was inefficient and wrong back on Earth, instead, you had the woman in question holding onto a rope attached to the ceiling, gripping at it as she spread her legs in a posture that looked really awkward to me.

In this case, it was Aisha and Riveria who were actually attending to Lena's birth, my young wife gripping tight to the rope as she wobbled in place. "Do your best to relax, Lena," Aisha said.

"Yes, what Aisha said," Riveria said. She seemed flustered as she watched Lena work to give birth, but I didn't get the impression it was because of prudishness. It seemed more like she just... didn't know how to do it.

Loki had chosen to skip out on the situation, citing that "mortal reproduction is super gross." I couldn't really disagree, but this was the mother of my child, so I felt an obligation to be present no matter how gross it may have been.

"Am, am I doing good, Drake? Nnn!" Lena whined as she shivered in place, tugging hard on the rope and making me briefly worry she was going to pull down a bit of the ceiling with her falna-enhanced strength and childbirth-enhanced desire to pull on the rope.

"You're doing great, Lena," I told her, glancing at Aisha for reassurance, but Aisha was focused on the task at hand. I guessed that being one of the more mature women at a brothel meant she knew more about midwifery than average. As I watched Lena in pain, sweat forming on her forehead as she struggled to give birth, I had a thought. "Can I use Celestial Bliss Trick on her safely?" I asked.

"Can you what?" Riveria sputtered out.

"It's a Skill that makes your entire body turn to pleasure," Aisha said, considering Lena for a long moment. "Hm. Lena's Level Three. I think it would be safe to do, yes."

I reached in between Lena's breasts, and she gave me an uneasy smile as I plucked at the appropriate strand of Fate.

It did help her have a painless birth.

* * *

Lena just laid on the bed, her legs having turned to spaghetti at some point during the childbearing process, which was the reason for the whole rope thing. I held our daughter - my first child - in my arms, lying next to her so she could reach over and touch her. "She's sooo cute, Drakey-wakey," Lena said, a somewhat fuckdrunk look in her eyes as she spoke. "Ahh, she's even cuter than you, sorry!"

"It's fine," I said. "What do you want to name her?"

Lena seemed surprised at the question, like she hadn't even thought of it before. "Let's give her a pretty name, like a flower, or a gem!"

"Lily? Rose? Amaranth?" I tried to think of some gems. "Uhh. Cabochon? Sapphire? Emerald?"

"Hm... I like Amaranth! Amy, for short!" She booped Amaranth's nose, and the girl in question immediately started crying, which made Lena's eyes widen. "Oh no! Sorry, Amy!"

"She might want some milk," I suggested, gently pulling down Lena's top and attaching Amaranth to her nipple. She did immediately start to suck.

"She should just say that, then!" Lena said, but gently patted the back of Amaranth's head. "Don't worry! I'll feed you, and take care of you, and you'll grow up big and strong, just like your dad!"

* * *

Julia leaned over us, smiling warmly at the newborn Amaranth, who Lena quietly held to her bosom. "Hi, Amaranth!" She did that little finger-waving thing, her fingers rolling with a wave. "That's such a pretty name! I promise to help take care of her whenever you need help, Lena," she said.

"As the top wife, it is also my duty to help take care of all of Drake's children," Noriko added from the sideline, one hand on her own stomach.

"Thanks, both of you!" Lena said.

Erza pretty much just barreled into the room, the door bursting open as she slid inside. "I just heard from Drake!" She said. "Congratulations, Lena," she added, moving towards the bed and cooing over Amaranth.

"Thanks, Erza!"

Over the next hour or two, pretty much all my women entered the bedroom to take a look at the newborn. I told them myself, thanks to my multiple bodies.

Cass just quietly pet Amaranth. "Hi..." was her simple speech, the kid looking up at her briefly.

Rei pat Amaranth's head. "Nice to meet you," she said; once she was out of earshot of Lena, her lack of motherly instincts were put on full display. "Yep. That sure was a kid."

"What a beautiful child," Koriand'r said.

Ganko was excitable, cooing over the little one. "She's super cute, just like you, Drake! I promise I'll make sure she's safe and nothing bad ever happens to her because she's your kid! Lena, if you ever want somebody else to watch over her, then you can call on me, okay? I'll make sure nothing bad happens to her! I'll defend her with my life if I have to!" Luckily, Lena was too... Lena to feel like Ganko was being overbearing.

"What a beautiful child," Haruhime said, her voice soft. "The miracle of motherhood is quite something. I hope all your children are born healthy, and grow old happily."

Jahanara was more flustered than the others, by the newborn, looking at her with awe and trepidation, gingerly reaching out with one hand. "So this... this is Drake's firstborn. I am honored to be here to meet her," she said, glancing up at me hesitantly as she softly ran her fingers along the baby's head. "I hope one day I can be considered worthy of bearing his child too."

"It's not a matter of worthiness," I told Jahanara. "If you want a child with me, you can just ask."

"I-, I-, that is, v-very kind of you," she said, lighting up, and then fidgeting, and then retreating. I was going to at least wait for her to be self-confident enough to ask for herself, before knocking her up, even if it was pretty obvious she wanted my kid.

Setsuko's response was warm and friendly, actually kneeling next to the bed so she could be at eye level with Lena. "I remember when Noriko was this little. She was such a well-behaved little one. They always are so cute at this stage - and they grow up shockingly fast." She let out a little laugh. "Well, when you're raising them, sometimes they don't, aha," she added.

"I don't get it?" Lena replied. "How can they grow up fast but not?"

"Well, when you have a child, they can be very taxing," Setsuko explained. "You know, looking after them, making sure they're healthy, that they're fed, that they don't do anything bad... but when they grow up, you can't help but feel like it happened all too fast, that you wish they were still the little one tugging at your skirts and asking what this bug was and if it was edible."

I snorted at the description of Noriko, while Lena just looked down at Amaranth with a sort of quiet awe. "Don't eat bugs, Amy!"

Naomi spoke up at that point. "That isn't-" she started, then cut herself off. "She's just making a point about how you look at the time spent with your child, in the moment versus retrospect." She glanced at me, one hand on her stomach. "With the falna, though, you can always become a mother again, I expect."

"Yes!" Lena said, nodding rapidly. "Drake says we have to wait until Amy's done with breastfeeding, though!"

The door opened at that point, both hands over her eyes, peeking out from behind them. "It's all done, right? All the gross stuff? I don't want my immaculate perspective on the beauty of the female form ruined by placentas and umbilical cords and all that gross-out stuff!"

"Yes," I told her. "It's all done and cleaned up. You can remove your hands from your face at any time." Loki seemed to consider it for a second, then pulled them down.

"Right... so this is the great Drake's first kiddo. Looks like any other Amazon," Loki said, peering over the bed at her. "Hope she gets a good pair up top. How were your mom's tits?" Loki asked.

"...large," I admitted, with some annoyance at the question.

"Well then! I look forward to seeing her all grown up, heh," Loki said, rubbing her hands together excitedly.

"If you grope my daughter without her consent then I will be extremely upset with you. Even madder than when you tried to kill Julia."

"Gah!" Loki recoiled as if struck.

"Who's Julia?" Lena asked.

"Bitch," I said.

"Ohhh. Is Bych her last name or first name?"

"It's her only name. Just keep calling her that. She can't respond to Julia, I just say it sometimes when she's not around."

"Got it!" Lena said.

"No, hang on! Why shouldn't a young, buxom fourteen year old Amaranth Holt get to enjoy these silken divine fingers upon her bosom?" Loki said, making a groping motion. I just stared at her sharply. "Come on!"

"I guess I'm turning into a dad because I'm thinking of getting the shotgun," I told Loki.

"Shotgun?" Lena and Setsuko both asked at once.

"Fine, fine," Loki said. "Fine! Bah! But what if her tits are as big as Setsuko's! Or Noriko's?!"

"Oh," Setsuko said. "Ah... Drake, is it alright if I let Loki grope my breasts? Noriko had mentioned she was always asking about groping Noriko's breasts, but that since Loki wouldn't marry you, she didn't let her."

"Wha-" Loki snapped her head over to Setsuko, her gaze instantly going to Setsuko's (very large) tits. "Ohhh, I couldn't possibly impose," she said, fingers coming up to grope.

"Yes. Loki, you can grope Setsuko's breasts as long as she lets you," I told Loki. "But by the same token, you can't grope Amy's breasts unless she lets you."

Loki was already on Setsuko at that point, rubbing her cheek against Setsuko's bosom, both hands digging into the MILF's tits. "Ohhh they're so big and beautiful and soft, oh these are the sorts of breasts you have to wear a bra for, oh! Oh!" She said, cooing and rubbing her cheek against the tits. Setsuko had a soft, maternal smile, her fingers reaching up to pet Loki's hair. "Whatever, I'm so seductive and hot that your daughter would be stupid not to let me grope her tits!"

I decided not to argue with her on that front. Especially since I knew she was smart enough to recognize that pretty much every single Amazon was 100% straight.

* * *

My own feelings about my newborn were my own. My first and foremost thought was How is she going to get milk? At first, this seemed a desperate conundrum, since literally all my wives regularly went to the Dungeon, which was absolutely an inappropriate place to take her. I could look after her, but sadly (?), men can't breastfeed. Then I remembered that Rei existed, and had a bunch of bodies too.

"Oh come on!" Rei said when I pointed this out to her.

"You're at home all day anyway," I pointed out. "Plus you can just split off an extra body, besides the nine that go in the Dungeon."

"I don't want to watch a kid!"

"You literally, maliciously forced me to knock up Lena."

"Y-yeah, okay, but! Look at me! Do I look like I could be a mom?" I looked down at her enormous tits - and she actually shrunk them, for the first time, ever, just to win this argument. "Oh darn, no megamilkers here-"

"Look, Rei. I'm not asking you to watch the kids constantly. I have six bodies. I can watch Amaranth. But I can't produce breast milk, which babies need a lot of, and you can produce breast milk, since you can tweak and adjust your body however you want."

Rei pushed her tongue against her cheek, seeming to contemplate the question, then she sighed and made her tits get big. "Alright, but I deserve something nice for this," she said.

"Sure. What do you want?" I asked her.

"I want to watch you knock up Jahanara, that brown-titted-" I have no idea if she meant to say brown and big-titted, or if she meant to say that, "-babe is fucking begging for your babies with her eyes every time she looks at you, or at any of the ladies you've gotten pregnant!"

"I'm not pressuring a recently-freed slave to have my child."

"Ugh! It's not pressuring!" Rei said. "She fucking wants it, dude! She's a girl, so she's got to, y'know, kinda hide her feelings on account of gender politics or whatever. Ask Julia! She'll back me up! Ohhh, man, you should fucking knock up Julia too! Two hottest people I know makin' a baby, fuck yeah," Rei said, practically panting the words out.

"Julia doesn't want to get knocked up," I replied.

"So what? Bitch'll do whatever you say. Plus it's hotter to involuntarily knock a girl up, anyway." It was sometimes easy to forget how much of a little shit Rei was about concepts like 'consent.'

"She is concerned about the health of the child, because of the Nameless Curse."

"You told me it'll be fine! She'll just get headaches for a month after popping out a half-black baby!"

"I can't guarantee that result," I said. "The actual results of invoking the Neverborn's whip are wildly variable."

"Oh my God, dude, the baby'll be fuckin' fine, and Julia definitely wants kids, trust me! The way she looks at Amaranth, she's thinking, Gosh, I wish I could have a child just like that!"

"I believe she wants children, and I also believe she's more responsible than you," I said.

"Ughhhh," Rei said, flopping onto her back on the bed. "Every girl you knock up from here on out, I get to watch, in person, when it happens. Then I'll take care of the kids, okay? And by take care of, I mean breastfeeding."

"Alright," I told her. "Have you thought about having a kid of your own?" I asked her, mostly out of curiosity.

"Dude," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm nineteen."

* * *

Finn looked out over the cafeteria; it was lunch hours, so most of the familia were gathered there. He took a chair, planting it atop one of the currently-unused tables, and then quickly leapt atop (climbing would look undignified). At that point, he loudly cleared his throat, and in short order, the cafeteria was silenced. "Loki familia. Enyo - or perhaps we should say, Dionysus - lies defeated. Orario is saved. His familia were mostly ignorant, and the most suspicious member, Filvis, has gone missing entirely. Given that Dionysus was returned to Heaven, it's most likely that she died without her falna, in the Dungeon or in Knossos."

There was a smattering of applause, even though, of course, the Loki familia hadn't had much to do with what had happened. Drake looked modestly unhappy with the thought of Filvis dead, which Finn understood - he was the one most inclined to believe in the elf's innocence, and it was still entirely possible she was innocent.

"I say all this as a prelude to what is important. We put off, and put off, our duties as an exploration familia. As the chief exploration familia," he added. "Now that Enyo is gone, all those excuses are gone as well. We will be going on an expedition, and as some of our highest Level members, Cassandra Cain - the Dark Knight - and Drake Holt - the Happy Ending - will be joining us for the first time. Come on up," Finn continued, clapping as Cassandra and Drake both rose from their respective seats, ensuring that there was a round of applause for them as they approached. "Now, both of them have a number of special abilities which we will need to incorporate into our tactics and plans. Cassandra moves more swiftly when unobserved, and can read the body language of humanoids with perfect precision. Drake on the other hand..." He trailed off for a moment. He had such a large number of distinct Skills. "Well, I'll allow Drake to explain his own abilities."

* * *

"I wish to join the expedition!" Erza practically shouted the words out as she slammed open the door to Finn's office. Tione had been leaning over Finn's desk, and straightened up, giving Erza an annoyed look, but Erza was focused. "I am as strong as Drake. I know I am just a Level Three on paper, but I-"

"Denied," Finn said. "That had nothing to do with the decision. You are pregnant, and quite far along, as well," he pointed out.

"That!" Erza started, somehow having not anticipated this line of argument. "Is correct, but I can still fight! I shouldn't give birth for another month and a half!"

"The expedition may take weeks," Finn pointed out. "If you start to give birth early, then while it will almost certainly be a safe birth - women with a falna virtually never experience miscarriages or maternal death - we will suddenly have an infant child in our midst to protect. It would force us to cut short our expedition, and, of course, risk the life of the child."

"Oh." Erza hadn't really thought about that. She was more than a month off, after all. "W-well, fair enough," she said, feeling a heat growing in her cheeks in embarrassment.

Finn gave her a gentle smile. "Don't worry too much, Erza. You're young and excited. This is the sort of thing that age and experience teaches." He remembered delivering one unexpected child in the Dungeon, a great many years ago now - fortunately, they hadn't been too deep, but the Dungeon's lust for blood had greatly spiked in response. They'd almost lost multiple members of the party. "I do wish you the best with your child, if we don't return quickly enough."

"Thank you," Erza said, sliding awkwardly back out of the office, and when she got out, Tione surprised her by joining her.

"Lena gave birth recently, right?" Tione asked, and Erza nodded, not knowing the significance of the question. "Doesn't it bother you? That Drake has eyes for other women? Whenever I think about another woman snatching the General from me..." she trailed off, her voice growing sharp, her eyes becoming more wild.

"No," Erza said. "It's wonderful, actually!" She patted her own belly, currently quite large from her pregnancy. "It means my child will have friends to play with, and many mothers to look out for him or her!"

"I see..." Tione stared at Erza for several long seconds, eyes narrowing curiously. "Alright then," she said, with a shrug. She then opened the door to Finn's office. "General!" She shouted, hurriedly rushing inside, and Erza only heard Finn let out a long, exasperated sigh as the door slowly swung shut behind Tione.

She hoped for the best for them both. They would make such a cute couple!

* * *

One of my bodies went to the Dungeon with the rest of the expedition. It was a pretty big expedition, with all the Level Fives and Sixes, plus thirty or forty support staff from the rest of the familia, plus a couple members of the Hephaistos familia as ride alongs who were there to help maintain and replace weapons, and collect valuable materials on-site.

Of course, given how deep we were going, literally nothing of interest happened the first day. Any unit can only move as fast as its slowest members, and we now had a significant baggage train to keep us all fed and supplied for the long expedition, so despite the fact that probably most of the people there had probably made it to Rivira in a few hours at some point, it took us a full day to make our way down - we'd left shortly after dawn, and we arrived shortly before dusk.

We did talk, on the way down, people exchanging gossip of a wide variety of kinds. Ais tried talking about swords with me, and thanks to my experience blacksmithing under Hephaistos, I could hold a decent conversation on the details. She seemed halfway surprised, though given her flat affect, it was hard to tell if she was really surprised as she asked about various sword guards and we exchanged our thoughts on the various advantages and disadvantages of different styles.

Of course, it didn't take too long before Riveria got upset and dragged her away, still trying to play the protective mother even though Ais was now sexually active and - to be frank - extremely horny. Ais had a bullheadedness about sex with me, which I honestly don't know to what extent it was motivated by raw sexual desire, and how much derived from a belief that if we had enough sex, she'd fall in love with me. Either way, in sexual terms, she was just voracious on a level that only Naomi really rivaled. Even Rei had enough social sensibility to try something like seduction - Ais just pretty much immediately went for "let's fuck" the moment she felt like it was an appropriate time to have sex.

Once we were at Rivira, setting up camp... well, at that point, Ais showed up to help me and Cass set up our tent, then brought her hands up in a faux-begging pose, which I am not ashamed to say got my dick hard again. "Arf arf," she said.

"Come on," I said, glancing around to see if anybody was looking as I followed her into the tent. Cass followed after. "Ais, I think we should do something other than... that sort of play." She only did it because Rei told her to in the first place. (And also because it was very effective.) Ais nodded in response to the statement. "Let's do something more... normal."

"Normal how?" Ais asked, tilting her head, eyes unblinking.

"How about just complimenting each other?" I suggested.

"Okay." She pushed me onto my back, straddling me immediately. "You are very physically attractive," she noted, reaching for my pants and pulling them down in no time at all. She hiked up her skirt and pushed her panties to one side, revealing her pink sex to open air - then she just slammed herself down my cock. "Your cock feels very nice inside me," she said, grinding around atop me.

"You're cute yourself," I told her, reaching up to softly caress her cheek. "I like how you're so eager," I told her. "It's-" I let out a soft groan as her inner walls gripped on my cock, "-unbearably cute," I explained, grabbing the base of my shirt and pulling it up and off, Ais's eyes running across my chiseled body with obvious interest. There was something intensely sexy about that, my cock pulsing in her wet sex as she bounced atop me, grinding herself at just the right point. "You're beautiful, too," I told her, cupping her cheek again, drawing her eyes to mine.

"I also think you are very nice. Sex with you is very good," she added, rubbing my cock against her inner walls in a manner clearly meant to get herself off. "Especially when you do that one trick."

"Let's try enjoying ourselves without it first," I told her, softly running my fingers down her neck to her top, starting to undo the various bits of her armor, eventually pulling it off and leaving her just wearing a plain white backless dress, my cock throbbing in her pussy as she ground away. "You're so earnest. I have to admit, I really like girls like that - who just say what they mean. It's probably pretty obvious, if you look at my wives."

Ais seemed to unfocus for a moment, thinking over what I'd just said, then nodded. "I like how you are very nice to all your wives. That suggests you'll be nice to me, once I fall in love with you and we get married." She leaned forward at that point, her breath tickling at my neck as she kept grinding her way against my cock. "You are also a very good kisser."

It was such an adorably straightforward line, and yet it seemed like she actually thought she was being subtle - whatever the case, I clasped her cheek and pulled her into a kiss, enjoying the taste of her lips against mine, her tongue dashing uncertainly around in the space between our mouths, spit dripping down pleasantly as she kept on grinding away at my cock.

I reached up for her hips at that point, grasping them in my hands and beginning to forcibly pump her on my cock, just pounding her up and down, groaning as her sweet, tight pussy gripped my cock, a lewd little noise escaping her lips in the process of my forceful pumps of her on my cock. She broke off the kiss after a minute or so, speaking up, her cheeks a little pink. "Your handwriting is very nice. Erza has shown me some of your stories, and they are very lewd and enjoyable," she explained, making me groan in delight at the words, the obscene revelation intensely erotic. "Your ability to walk on air is very incredible, as is the other thing you do, with the..." she trailed off for a moment - then she came, moaning loudly on my cock, howling out her pleasure loud enough that probably everybody could hear.

Cass stepped up to the plate at that point, clasping Ais's hips, claiming control over the pace from me. "Let me... show you... how to do it," Cass said, as she began to grind Ais's pussy along my cock, making both of us let out noises of pleasure as she found just the right spot to stimulate us. Ais was practically shivering, a bit of saliva dripping down from her mouth, splashing onto my bare chest beneath her, while I was groaning and jerking in place, my hard cock throbbing in her cunt as Cass worked her over.

"You're hardworking and goal-oriented," I told Ais, wanting to continue the complimentary dirty talk. "I like how bullheaded you are."

"Ah, I, also like, how sweet, you are. You are also, very considerate-" Ais let out a lewd moan, drawing ever closer to an orgasm, and Cass slowed her pace just so, grinding her away, teasing Ais on the edge of an orgasm, "-as a, luh, lover, which is, ni~ice," she got out, before coming on my dick once more, her pussy spasming around my cock.

For my part, I leaned up, softly sucking and kissing at her neck, quietly speaking to Cass in mumbled words against Ais's bare skin as I did. "Make sure she comes lots," I told her, in mumbled mushes of lip and tongue and teeth against Ais's flesh, and Cass nodded. "I kind of want it to be special without the use of Celestial Bliss Trick."

At that, Cass gently twisted Ais's hips around on my cock, making me groan at the sensations as her pussy quietly spasmed on my cock. I reached down between Ais's legs as I kept kissing at her neck, searching out her clit. The moment my fingertip made contact with Ais's clit, Cass shifted her movements, finding just the right angle to rub her around in, making her pant and moan against me, clinging to me with a sort of senseless arousal, her powerful arms wrapping around my body. "I love you," I added to Cass, who just blushed, then leaned forward, raising her lips in a silent request for a kiss, which I promptly gave her.

At that point, Ais came, groaning as she got wiggled around on my dick, pleasure clearly running through her whole body, her breasts pushing into my bare chest as she orgasmed on my cock. Her pussy felt ecstatic, powerful inner muscles milking my whole length, making me groan and jerk, my hips bucking up into her. Cass just kept grinding away, angling her this way, then that, making Ais half-moan and quiver in response to all my movements.

By the time I came inside Ais for the first time, Ais herself had come twice more. Cass let go of Ais's hips, perhaps expecting the sex to be over, by Ais quickly began slamming her hips stupidly up and down my hard cock, and Cass let out a small little huff of a noise, grabbing the base of Ais's dress and yanking it up and off, revealing her naked body as the horny adventurer just rammed herself up and down my cock in delight.

* * *

Back in Orario, I went into the Hostess of Fertility. Chloe scurried around a corner, cheeks flush red, no doubt remembering when I'd fucked her silly as a shota, but I wasn't here for her. "Ah. Drake," Ryu said, giving a small bow. "Please, take a seat-"

"I want to talk to Mia," I interrupted.

Ryu's brow furrowed, her lips pursing, but after a moment she turned her head. "Mama Mia," she called out, making the older, bulkier woman turn her gaze witheringly our way. "Drake would like to speak to you."

"What is it?" Mia asked. Even though I had a few inches on her, she managed to make it seem almost as if she were looking down at me.

"I'd like to speak to you alone," I said, and Mia rolled her eyes but jerked her head, taking me into a hallway to speak. "You need to free Ryu."

"Free her?" Mia asked.

"You saddled her with a comically large debt with no real justification," I told her. "Forcing her to work for you is just slavery at this point."

Mia crossed her arms, glaring at me harshly. "She's fine here."

"If she's fine here, then you can free her, and she'll still keep working here. If not, then you're just lying to yourself."

Mia stared at me, then let out a small bark of laughter. "What brought this on?"

"I'm Level Five now," I told her.

"I'm Level Six," she countered. I just shrugged - Cass was Level Six too. "Fine. I guess you're right, anyway. Ryu!" She yelled, and Ryu arrived shortly, gaze flicking between the two of us, obviously wondering what we were talking about. "Your debt's discharged. You can leave whenever you want, or keep working here if you want. If you keep working here, don't think you can slock off, though!"

Ryu just blinked, her gaze going to me. I gave her a gentle smile, and then her gaze turned back to Mia. "I'd like to keep working here."

"Great," Mia said, giving me a glare out of the corner of her eye. She smacked me in the back, sending me stepping towards Ryu involuntarily. "Then you can see to this loverboy getting a good, hearty meal. Make sure he tips good."

"Yes, Mama Mia," Ryu said, directing me back to a booth. Once I was seated, she took out a pen and pad to write down my order. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Drake. I hope that Mia did not charge you too much to pay off my debt."

"That's not- that's not what happened. I talked to her, and convinced her that it was wrong to keep you in debt. That's all."

"I see. Thank you," she said. "What will you be having to eat?"

* * *

Ryu did not have 'the emotional awareness of a rotten tangerine,' as Rei had claimed. She was actually quite capable of recognizing her own emotional state. For example, she was in love with Drake, who had done an enormous amount for her, entirely out of the kindness of his own heart, making her very happy. He had gone so far as to reunite her with Alise, and then considered that not good enough, working to free her from debt slavery.

She felt a certain heat bloom in her cheeks as she thought about Drake, and she was busily scrubbing a plate clean when Syr interrupted her. "Thinking about Drake, huh?" Ryu jerked in surprise, having been losti n thought. "You've been cleaning that plate for two minutes," she pointed out.

"Oh. Yes," Ryu said. "He is very kind."

"Yeah. That's what everybody says. Oh I love a guy who goes out of his way for me, even if he's banging fifteen other girls."

"I believe it is sixteen, actually," Ryu replied.

"Cass-" Syr sounded wistful, as she counted out numbers on her fingertips, "-Noriko, Black Agony, Erza, Rei, Lena, Haruhime, Koriand'r, Setsuko, Ganko, Aisha, Loki, that new girl from Kaios, Ais, me, and who else?"

"There is a new girl in the Hestia familia," Ryu started, and Syr stilled, "Naomi Evans."

"Oh," Syr said. "Gah! What's so nice about a guy who sleeps with sixteen other people! He's sleeping with me, and I'm not in love with him!"

"It is not the sex, though the sex is very nice," Ryu told Syr. "He is very considerate and thoughtful. Did you hear from Mia Grand?"

"No, what happened?" Syr asked.

"He spoke to her and convinced her to discharge my debt."

"Wha- finally! He was whining to me about that back in the Kaios desert! He waited months, Ryu, months!"

"I am sure he had a good reason."

"I'm not! He's totally just taking advantage of your innocent nature! He's half again as old as you, you know?!"

"Yes," Ryu said. Obviously she knew that. "I do not think he was taking advantage of my innocent nature when he went into Knossos to find Alise."

"...ugh, fine. Yes, that was great and all, even if 'Alise' is obviously all fucked in the head." Ryu just stared at Syr. "Come on! She doesn't remember anything!"

"She has been through a lot. I am sure she is still herself."

"I hope you're right, or you're in for an even worse heartbreak than when you realize what a cad Drake is!"

* * *

Revis had watched the Loki familia set up camp from her perch amidst the trees of Rivira. Her gaze was focused on the group, a pair of telescoping lenses as she watched them go about their business. She couldn't attack now.

She couldn't take Ais now. She'd have to wait for her moment.

Next Chapter