บท 673: Stirring
With the return of the girls, there was a massive transition within the City itself since news of the Expeditions success, and the construction of Lil Geirr, had started spreading through the City. Also, though it had been kept under wraps previously, it eventually got out that Loki and Hephaestus had given birth, earning a great deal of intrigue from the godly community, causing a disgruntled Vahn to put on a pretense of amicability as he met with more than a hundred gods over the course of a single week. Fortunately, most of them were able to realize they were bothering him and simply excused themselves after sharing pleasantries. Some, however, weren't as tactful and there was even one god, who had been ejected from the premises, after trying to arrange a marriage between one of his children and one of Vahn's daughters.
Though such arrangements weren't that uncommon in the world, the fact that the god's son was already twenty-eight years old gave Vahn a powerful urge to force the god back to Heaven. Fortunately, Hestia and Loki had both been present at the time, releasing their Divinities and swearing to declare War upon his Familia if he ever had the audacity to make such an offer again. That night, Vahn spent several hours sitting atop the Manor with only Fenrir to keep him company, sitting in his lap quietly as he contemplated the future.
Vahn had already talked it over with all the current goddesses he associated with, at least if there was a chance they would one day bear his children. They were in agreement that, even though the Vanir reached maturity at a very young age, the same restrictions that applied to other races would be imposed on them. Until they reached fourteen years of age, chronologically, they would have to continue their studies and avoid relationships, except in the case where there was an obvious, and mutual, connection.
To Vahn, it was far too soon to discuss matters of marriage and, though it was common in this world, he was more than a little offended at the prospect that people thought he would make such decisions on his daughters' behalf. Even thinking about it made him feel as though he had betrayed their trust, even though he never had any intention of making such arrangements. He simply couldn't understand how any Father, or parent for that matter, would treat their own flesh and blood as something to be exchanged for benefits...
As dawn crept into the world, Vahn saw some of the girls exiting the Manor, keeping up their morning training without slacking off. Tina, surprisingly, was one of the first to come out, wearing some casual training attire while Milan followed behind her. Vahn perked up a bit when he saw Tina overlay her hands together, pointing towards one of the large metal slabs he had put in the yard for testing spells. They had the ability to absorb magic and, after arranging things with Terra, even supplemented the massive formation in the ground using the ambient energy.
After a long chant, more than eight verses long, a white prism emerged from Tina's palms before creating a beam of light nearly a meter wide, striking the black metallic pillar for eight seconds. Completely spent of her mana, Tina plopped onto the ground, drawing several deep breaths before climbing to her feet. One of the best methods to train your magic power, other than studying, was to use spells and then train while your body was recovering. During the formative years of a person's life, their cells were far more adaptive, allowing ambient mana to reside within the interior of each cell while strengthening the magic circuits. Though Tina hadn't been able to use magic previously, the Grimoire that had been given to her ended up containing a powerful magic spell, called [Light of Purification]. It was a powerful light-based magic and, amazingly, gave Tina a slight light affinity when she absorbed the energy contained within the grimoire.
Knowing that a grimoire could change the elemental structure of a person's mana, Vahn had asked Loki to secure as many as possible. It would take time, but Vahn wanted to make sure each girl could adapt several elements, covering any weaknesses they might have. Because of how the magic system was structured, people would take increased damage when facing spells that countered their own affinity. Though it might not have a great effect, Vahn wanted to cover everyone's weaknesses to the best of his ability, not minding the cost of grimoires in the slightest.
Vahn spent the rest of the morning watching the girls train, taking special notice of the interaction between Chloe and Shizune, both working hard to master their shadow-related abilities. Shizune now had three Goblins at her command and a single Kobold, each possessing around half the strength of their constituent parts. Shizune could fuse similar shadows together, further bolstering the strength of her Shadow Summons, but currently had them split apart since Chloe was actually a natural counter to her. Unless she focused her senses adequately, Shizune couldn't even damage Chloe with her shadows since the latter could simply move through the summons as if they were illusions. It was their hope, which had been going well thus far, that they would both increase their proficiency while training to overcome the weaknesses of their [Pactio]s.
Of course, though he wasn't paying special attention to her, Tiona had one of the most impressive transformations. She was currently fighting against Ais, Tione, Naaza, and Lili, all at the same time. Unless she suffered an instantaneous fatal blow, Tiona could rapidly regenerate almost any injury, often adapting to become 'immune' to whatever damaged her. When Lili had smashed into Tiona's arms with her staff, fracturing the latter's bones, Tiona's skin took on a bronze coloration and, though it wasn't obvious from the outside, her bones had become much harder, with several layers of protection surrounding the precious marrow that powered her regeneration further.
Each girl was going all out in their training, though they weren't proactively trying to kill each other since wasting a [Effigy of the Hero] was a rather big deal. Though several months had passed, seeing Vahn get his head blown off had left a deep impression on everyone's minds and they treated the small humanoid figures with a deep reverence. Life was, after all, a very precious thing and nobody wanted to be responsible for the death of a close ally. Thus, though Ais would sometimes bury her sword within Tiona's flesh, she never aimed for a vital point and only used her [Ariel] very sparingly, primarily for quick movement since Tiona's speed rapidly increased during the fight.
By the end of training, the only two left standing were Ais and Tiona, the latter now having small scales covering most of her body with her hair now extending to the middle of her back. Since her hair was somewhat unkempt, with a metallic sheen to it, Tiona looked a bit feral and, given the fact that the tattoos on her body glimmered with a golden light, she cast an awe-inspiring sight for those fortunate enough to behold her form. As for Ais, most of her training gear had been damaged at this point, even showing off her left breast where a small trickle of blood could be seen. Fortunately, the only male presence in the Manor was Vahn, thus Ais didn't mind being seen as she continued to brandish her sword in preparation for Tiona's attack.
Much like Fenrir, Tiona's hair stood up like the haunches of a crazed animal as she leaped toward Ais with enough force to crack the ground, which was very impressive considering that Terra had reinforced it greatly. Fortunately, the formation now how a self-repairing function and, even though there had been several craters created during the fight, everything returned to normal after a few minutes. Terra had picked this up after inspecting the structure of the Dungeon, as part of it was now encompassed in her territory. Thus, as impressive a feat as Tiona's strength was, the cracks she made were gone a few seconds later, much like the small craters that resulted from her final skirmish with Ais.
After being charged by Tiona, Ais took to the sky, spinning her body as a blade of wind was launched from her sword. Tiona, unable to fly without the assistance of her wand, jumped to meet Ais in the air, crossing her arms to defend against the blade of wind. Even through her defenses, the blade cut into her flesh, fortunately dissipating once it hit her reinforced bones. However, the chaotic wind energy began to wreak havoc in her body as a result, something Tiona completely ignored as she flipped through the air and kicked against the side of Ais' sword. Much like Tione had in the past, Tiona's ability triggered without warning, making her strike several times stronger as Ais' arm buckled under the tremendous might of Tiona's kick, fracturing the bone in several places as she was sent careening towards the ground below.
Fortunately, as she had become very accustomed to flight, Ais managed to right herself as she landed on the ground, creating a large crater as both of her legs complained against the strain of her fall. Even so, Ais stood up, using her Wings of Light as support while a tempest of wind energy surrounded her body. Tiona gave a wry smile as she made herself into the smallest shape she could manage, knowing that Ais' counterattack would likely be very fierce. As capable as she might be, Tiona was unable to dodge while in the air. She had forgone the use of her wand during the spar, as the purpose of their battle was to familiarize themselves with their [Pactio] forms, not rely on external transformations.
Not giving Tiona the chance to land, as this would spell her loss, Ais created a large tornado of wind elemental energy before lunging towards the still airborne Amazoness. Though she had resisted the blades of wind cutting through her body, rapidly healing the wounds while absorbing the ambient energy contained in Ais' attack, Tiona's defense wasn't high enough to counter Ais' final attack. Knowing she would be overcome, Tiona aimed for an internecine outcome instead, twisted her body in the air to avoid taking a critical hit from Ais as she bured her fist into the young swordswoman's shoulder. Tiona ended up having her side completely gouged, sending a large volume of blood from her wound while Ais' shoulder had been almost completely turned to dust. They both fell towards the ground, having lost consciousness as a result of their final strikes.
Vahn, having completely recovered from his earlier mood, moved to catch both of their figures as Lefiya came forward, holding her pitcher with both hands as a worried look appeared on her face. Fortunately, though the wounds were rather serious, Tiona was already regenerating even before Vahn caught her while Ais, having channeled a large amount of wind elemental energy in her body, had cushioned the shockwave from Tiona's strike. They were truly geniuses when it came to combat, especially Ais, as she was able to emulate enhancement magic using her [Ariel] without having actually learned how to use the proper spell. If she had trained under Eva, Vahn was certain that Ais would have been able to learn [Magia Erebea] since she was already able to infuse her cells with mana, even if it was limited to wind energy.
Tiona woke up a few minutes later, breathing sharply when she sat up since her wound hadn't completely healed just yet. As for Ais, she had passed out more from mental exhaustion than a lack of stamina, thus she was still sleeping with her wounds already completely healed by Lefiya. Unless the person was already dead, her artifact could heal any wound without a single sign that an injury had even existed. Unfortunately, this only applied to physical wounds and there was still a bit of instability in Ais' mana circuits until Vahn had repaired them. Knowing she still had room to improve, Lefiya wanted to learn how to use [Hands of Nirvana] in the future, becoming one of the few practitioners of the rare ability. Thus far, the only people learning it were Eina, Preasia, and Naaza, the latter of which had only recently started learning the skill since she had an affinity for healing magic.
Since she didn't remember how the fight had ended, Tiona had a defeated expression on her face as she plopped down on the ground, sprawling out her arms and legs as she said, "Graaaah, I want to become even stronger~! Vaaaaahn, teach me a cool skill!" As if realizing the key to her growth was in a Vahn-shaped package, Tiona rolled to her feet and launched herself at Vahn, clinging to him as if her momentary lamentation had never existed. Vahn, already drawing the attention of everyone with his presence, released a small sigh before smiling as he said, "Sure." He then went on to demonstrate [Shundo] for everyone, giving a detailed explanation about each aspect of the spell before watching their own attempts.
Tiona already had some success with the skill in the past but, after having Vahn fix all her mistakes, she began to get the hang of it after a few hours. Though their training had originally come to an end at the normal time, Vahn's instruction had caused everyone to stick around and work on the skill. Emiru, Maemi, and Milan, who had gone inside to prepare breakfast, brought out large baskets full of food, accompanied by the rest of the girls, including the small figures of Ina, Vana, and Erika. It hadn't been planned, but things progressed to the point where everyone was simply enjoying their time together, training and talking about various things in a good mood.
Ina threw a small wrench into things when she woke up, immediately 'snapping' her eyes towards Vahn's figure the moment she came into awareness. As for Vana and Erika, the former seemed excited by the presence of so many people and happily enjoyed the attention of everyone during the impromptu outdoor gathering. Erika, being the most mature of the three, even though she was technically the youngest, sat at the outskirts with Syr, watching the ongoing training with slightly parted eyes. She couldn't follow the movements of everyone but, seeing them pop in and out of existence made her aquamarine eyes glimmer with intrigue. Even Doppel, who didn't seem capable of speech, watched everything happening with unblinking eyes as she cemented the image of such powerful existences in her mind... (A/N: Doppel can only repeat words that Erika uses. She/It doesn't have the mental faculties to process the meaning behind her words just yet.)
Though he continued to coach everyone, Vahn began playing around with Ina and, after realizing what was going on, Vana. She wasn't nearly as attached to him as Ina was but, whenever Vahn was playing with the latter, Vana always wanted his attention as well. Being the doting father he was, Vahn couldn't deny his daughter's pouting expression so he ended up flying around in the sky with the laughing twins while their guardians chased after him with teary eyes. If they could speak, Vahn had no doubt they would have been cursing him for bullying them all the time. As for why he knew they weren't actually forming words, it was because he could understand any language, even those used by the monsters within the Dungeon.
Erika, seeing her 'Papa' flying through the sky, almost wanted to join in but, after noticing the looks she was receiving from everyone else, lowered her head with a small blush on her face. Loki, seeing her daughter's reaction, laughed in a mischevious manner, hugging her from behind as Erika tried to free herself. As if she was unaware of her daughter's discomfort, Loki rubbed her cheek against Erika in an affectionate manner, musing, "You know, you have to be more honest with yourself, Erika. Your Papa is a smart man, but he isn't that good at reading people that keep their thoughts to themselves. There will be even more children for him to tend to in the future, so make sure you enjoy the opportunities you have while they are available..." Loki always spoke to her daughter without a filter, never treating her like a child since she knew it would adversely affect her rapid mental development.
Though she had a slight resentment towards her Mother, who never seemed to respect her personal space, Erika always listened closely to all of her words. Reflecting upon them, Erika realized there was a great deal of truth to the matter since she had already been informed that, in as little as five years, she would have reached physical maturity and would likely cease growing for hundreds of years thereafter. Though there were many concepts she didn't understand yet, Erika knew that time was a very valuable thing and, while she had a great deal to work with, there were severe limitations on the actions she could take now.
Deciding she didn't want to grow apart from her Papa, as he was like a beacon of light in her life with the steadfastness of a mountain, Erika's eyes wavered before she called out in a small voice, "P-Papa..." In the blink of an eye, even though he had been several tens of meters overhead, Vahn appeared at Erika's side, showing a gentle smile as he asked, "Did you call for me, Erika~?" Though she felt very embarrassed, Erika nodded her head and said, "I want to play with Papa..." in a shy tone of voice. When everyone around her showed kind looks, Erika felt her cheeks heat up and wanted to hide her face. This caused Doppel to 'panic' for a brief moment before a shell of hair wrapped around her body, creating a cocoon to protect her from the view of everyone except Vahn.
Vahn found his daughter's actions to be very adorable so he hugged Ina and Vana close for a few seconds, coaxing the girls into letting him spend some time with Erika. Ina was very reluctant to part but, understanding that Vana would want to copy her, decided to relinquish 'her' Papa for a few minutes. She gave herself the excuse that she was hungry and, after her Papa had passed her over, Ina hid her face against her Mama's chest and muttered, "Mama, hungry..." in an almost sobbing tone. Hephaestus felt her heart melt, understanding that her daughter had made a very mature decision for someone as young as she was. She hugged her daughter in a warm embrace, saying in a soothing tone, "I'm so proud of you, Ina...you are such a good girl." Ina's only response was to sniffle a little, causing Vana to show a concerned face and begin crying a little until Hephaestus carried both girls into the Manor for feeding...
As reluctant as he was to see them go, Vahn didn't make any attempts to stop their departure, following their retreat with his gaze until they disappeared inside the Manor. Like Hephaestus, he was very proud of Ina, as such decisions weren't something you would expect from someone that was less than a month old. When he picked up Erika, she had a strangely solemn look on her face as she said, "I'm sorry..." in a quiet voice. Vahn felt like his heart was going to break when he heard the uncharacteristically apologetic tone Erika used. He held her close, patting her back as he slowly rose into the air as Doppel clung to his leg. Vahn gave a smile towards the small humanoid creature, not minding the constrictive force of its hair as he ascended high above the Manor.
Erika, feeling the warmth of her Papa and the comforting energy in her back, eventually calmed down enough to open her eyes. She was very surprised to be so high up but, knowing she was safely in her Papa's arms, got over her momentary fear and released some of the tension in her tiny grip. Vahn, understanding that Erika was a very intelligent girl, softly said, "Erika, you are an incredible young girl. It makes me so proud to have you as my daughter..." Though he tried to keep a stoic appearance in front of his daughter, Vahn couldn't fight the moisture building in his eyes, something that caused Erika's to open wide. Seeing her reaction, Vahn laughed, hugging her close as he said, "I love you, Erika. Please, if you ever feel lonely, I will always try to make time for you. It doesn't matter how old you get, after all, I'm your Papa..."
(A/N: BTW, my personal rating for the strength of [Pactio]s puts Tiona at first place, Ryuu at second place, and Shizune at third place. However, the [Pactio] with the most functionality is Riveria's while my 'favorite' of them all is Mikoto's (UwU)~! Oh, this is also the last chapter for today since the first one was like 5k words, while they were all more than a little over 2k words each xD.)
(A/N: Alternate Titles: '[Pactio] Training : Tiona's Dominance','There is Always Room for Growth','Don't grow up too fast, Erika-chan (TT_TT)')
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บท 674: Flow
After the birth of his daughters, time seemed to move much faster than normal, something which Vahn was both grateful for and lamented greatly. He spent the majority of his time helping the girls master their [Pactio]s, as forging equipment for them wasn't nearly as important as the development of their new skills and abilities. The rest of his time was spent between his duties for the Alliance, educating the girls so they would be able to use the new magic system, and, perhaps most importantly, spending time with his children. Ina and Vana now looked to be closer to a year old, with the latter being much more lively and energetic than her younger twin. It was more than a little likely it was a result of their differing dietary habits, but Vana was already a few centimeters taller than Ina and seemed to contain nearly limitless energy, at least until naptime.
Ina, unlike her sister, spent the majority of her time, especially after learning to walk on her own, following Vahn around, though he would usually carry her. She looked like a doll that had been sculpted from divine-grade materials, with her light blonde hair now extending past her shoulders with slight curls at the end. Most striking, however, were her pale blue eyes, which had become more pronounced with time and always seemed to glimmer with intrigue, especially when she watched Vahn work and train. Of course, this wasn't all she spent her time on, as her tendency to take things apart had developed further, causing Hephaestus to begin teaching her a few things for around two hours a day. As expected, she had a natural talent for crafting things and already had a very surprising amount of dexterity for someone that was around 12-14 months old, physically. She could already make small trinkets that didn't require any forging and, after seeing that Erika could already read, had taken up a few simple books of her own.
One of the important discoveries that had been made recently was, after Erika appeared to be around a year old, it was decided that they would receive their Falna. It wasn't that uncommon for children to receive their Falna shortly after birth, especially if they were born into a Familia. Though it wouldn't make a drastic difference in their parameters, it would help them become marginally stronger as they trained. Unfortunately, the moment Loki tried to conduct the ceremony on Erika, the hieroglyphs began to fade away, almost as if the existence of the Vanir couldn't be bound by the influence of the Falna. Current speculation was, as they were already very close to being gods, who were unable to receive Falna from other gods, the blessing simply had no effect on them. This didn't mean they wouldn't be able to increase their strength, just that there would be no 'shortcuts' in their path towards the peak.
By virtue of their existence, a god already had very high potential and, though they didn't have actual Levels, they could still be graded by the power systems used in the world. Ultimately, it depended on their efforts with how strong they became but, the most concerning matter, was whether or not the Vanir would be able to increase their strength in the Dungeon. There was a very high chance that the Dungeon may recognize their presence itself as a major threat, especially with the mixture of source energy and pseudo-divine energy. Vahn was already slightly worried that his presence was increasing the strength of monsters in the Deeper Floors and it now seemed as if he would have to take into consideration the influence of his own children...
Fortunately, they had made several other discoveries over the last few weeks, including the fact that the guardians possessed by the Vanir could increase their strength very quickly. Though they were very small at first, Ina's tiger cub was now larger than most dogs while Vana's dragon pup was around the size of a pony. The only exception amongst the three was Erika's doppelganger, which seemed to be roughly the same dimensions as Erika herself, though their features were distinctly different. Most importantly, however, was that the strength of their guardians directly influence the power of the girls, especially when they were fused together. They provided a large amount of energy to the girls, allowing Vana to already create large fireballs, much to the lamentation of Emiru and Maemi, who often had to clean up the mess after Vana accidentally burned something.
Vana was still very smart for her age but, unlike Ina and the startlingly intelligent Erika, she was very emotional and prone to outbursts. She never sought out attention proactively but, the moment you stopped paying attention to her, Vana would become teary-eyed and do something to draw your attention back to her. This was mainly aimed towards her younger twin though, when asked how she felt about Ina, Vana simply said she loved her sister but didn't want to 'lose' against her. What she didn't want to 'lose' at, Vana herself didn't know, it just made her feel sad if she didn't get to play around when Ina was playing. For someone like Vana, who was constantly full of energy and getting into trouble, it broke Vahn's heart to see her sad so he always relented and tried to play with both of them whenever possible.
Erika wasn't nearly as 'clingy' as Ina and Vana but she had gotten into the habit of asking Vahn to help her study and to teach her new things. She also seemed to enjoy sitting in his lap and reading books, assuming there was nobody else around. For some reason, Erika seemed especially aware of how other people looked at her and, though she only looked like a 15-17 month old child, she didn't like being treated as such. The only exceptions were when she was with her 'Papa', who always made her feel safe and, no matter what she did, seemed to accept to her. Unlike her Mother, and some of the other girls and goddesses, her Papa didn't seem to have any expectations towards her other than the desire that she is happy. This made Erika feel very comfortable around him, though she had slowly started to open up to others, becoming good friends with Vana after the latter could walk around and form simple sentences. She didn't much like Ina, however, as her presence made it difficult to have any time to spend with her Papa...
Of course, Vahn wasn't only splitting his time between Ina, Vana, and Erika, as, at this point, Aki and Arnya had both given birth to two healthy young girls with Tsubaki expecting any day. Both Aki and Arnya, taking notes out of Loki's book, ended up naming their daughters differently than their first choices, Aki deciding upon Anise while Arnya chose Meinya. When Vahn helped them deliver the children, he once against got to experience the overwhelming sight of new life being born into the world. Though they weren't visually as stunning as the Vanir at birth, Vahn felt like his daughters, especially with their stubby tails and droopy ears, were exceptionally adorable. Anise had been born with a tuft of black hair, having similarly black eyes and a small pointed nub at her lower back. As for Meinya, she unexpectedly had a mix between brown and white hair with similar rings on her tail as compared to her mother.
Ina seemed a little saddened by the birth of new children within the Manor but, after being talked to by Vahn and Hephaestus for a bit, she decided to be a good 'big' sister. As for Vana and Erika, the former was very interested in her new sisters, spending time watching them in the cribs and saying a few quiet words when nobody was looking. Erika seemed the least affected but, from Vahn's perspective, she had undergone the biggest change since the presence of Anise and Meinya seemed to be the catalyst for her wanting to spend more time with him and 'uncharacteristically' acting her age...
Much like his other daughters, Anise and Meinya came into the world with guardians of their own but, to Vahn confusion, lacked the inclusion of what he was referring to as a soul-grade artifact. Also, likely as result of the difference in their inherent soul tier, Anise and Meinya were considerably weaker than the Vanir at birth while their guardians, while still being strong, had markedly less potential than the 'primordial' grade creatures assigned to the Vanir. Anise ended up getting what looked like a grey wolf pup, called a Steel-backed Wolf while Meinya obtained a brown bear cub with tufts of red fur, descending from the Mountain Tyrant Bear species. Each was very powerful in their own right but the auras they emitted were significantly weaker than the Celestial Winged Tiger, True Flame Dragon, and even Erika's Doppelganger...
Even so, it didn't matter to Vahn at all how much potential the girls might have at birth since, if they worked hard, it wouldn't be impossible for them to even exceed the Vanir in power. They still had strands of source energy coiling around in their bodies and, with capable mothers like Aki and Arnya, combined with the resources of teaching methods available to them, both could become very powerful. Most importantly, Vahn learned that all of his daughters could make use of the consumable items within his shop now, as their body could actually adapt and process the energy contained within the items. This meant he could help them train and refine their bodies through the system shop, even if the efficacy was limited by the development of their source energy.
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Vahn was currently walking alongside Arnya, carrying Meinya in his hands as they leisurely strolled through the illusory forest, which was now much larger than in the past. Though she wasn't 'gifted' with an affinity for space magic, Terra had set up a large ward to encompass the forest, causing the interior to increase exponentially in size while it seemed completely unchanged from the outside. Other than passing through a viscous membrane, which only a select few like Vahn, Riveria, Ryuu, and Lefiya could sense, you would enter into the now massive forest. Terra also arranged it so there were some scenic paths to travel that could be safely walked, including one that led directly to the clearing in the center, now more than 1km in diameter.
When they reached the center, Vahn saw the familiar figure of Mikoto, training hard while Haruhime sat at the side with a small picnic basket. Mikoto, sensing his arrival, momentarily stopped her training, nearly bowing out of habit before seeing Vahn's slight frown and deciding against it. By the time Vahn neared her, Haruhime had also walked over as Vahn said, "I'm going to be making a supply run down to the 39th Floor this Friday. I wanted you two to accompany me this time around, though I don't expect anything will happen." One of Vahn's duties had been making sure the supplies of Lil Geirr never ran out. This would be his second trip down after his previous return, making the round trip in as little as sixteen hours.
Mikoto gripped her katana tightly, showing a small smile as she nodded her head and said, "Thank you for this opportunity, Master." Knowing that Vahn was giving her a chance to test her skills, Mikoto was determined to show him her growth. These past few months, much like several of the other girls, she had also been contemplating her own future. She wasn't ready to have a child just yet, as it would interfere with the development of her magical power and bring a temporary halt to her training. Her hope was to wait until she was around 18-20 years old, when her magical power began to stabilize, before finally committing to the deed. However, she also understood that there were no guarantees in life and, though just a little, she began to open up and try to spend more time with Vahn when the opportunity presented itself.
Haruhime was also very happy to accompany Vahn, especially if the giddy Shirohime was any indicator. The little fox had been enjoying her time around the Manor more and more these days, especially since the number of people she could interact with had increased. Though she was fairly jealous of the fact that her 'counterpart' wasn't able to get Vahn's attention as much as in the past, Shirohime simply couldn't dislike the children. She often spent time playing with Ina and Vana, though Erika was her favorite since Vana would sometimes pull her hair and Ina would outright ignore her when Vahn was around...
After Shirohime crawled up to his shoulder, looking down at Meinya with glimmering gold eyes, Vahn smiled and explained, "Our goal this time around, other than resupplying Lil Geirr, is to capture and subjugate another rare monster. Mikoko, I'll be relying on your scouting abilities to track down the unique energy signatures of any variant species and I want you both to practice using your [Pactio] in a live combat scenario. Fenrir will be accompanying us, but it will just be the four of us going down this time around." Haruhime showed an elegant smile as a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes. She didn't say what was on her mind but, judging by the fluctuations in her aura, Vahn expected Haruhime wanted to use the opportunity to spend some more time with him.
As he already expected something like this to happen, Vahn had actually cleared up three days of his schedule since he wanted to try to capture a Unicorn or one of the variant species with a strong elemental affinity. Loki's Wyvern ended up becoming a large black dragon named Khaos, as it was one of the few names Vahn could find that related to both space and time that also suited a dragon. Its form was only 11m at present, making it much smaller than Fafnir and Terra, but the energy contained within its body was rather terrifying, It was presently only Level 3, but Vahn could tell it would become much stronger once it trained. The presence of Khaos seemed to motivate Fafnir quite a bit as well, now spending most of its free time 'pestering' Terra to help it train. Terra's response was to 'throw' Fafnir's spirit into one of the test orbs she had been working on, having her memory fragment deal with her 'troublesome' younger brother since she would much rather just soak up some sunlight.
Terra had already finished the basic structure for a few of the orbs they were going to make use of but, as she was still trying to refine the laws contained within the orbs, they have yet to be used by anyone in the Manor. Fafnir became her 'willing' test subject and, as it was able to increase its strength a fair amount, didn't seem to mind becoming her guinea pig. Dragons, especially True Dragons, placed and instinctual emphasis on strength-based hierarchies. Since Terra was currently much stronger than it was, Fafnir had essentially become Terra's lackey, only ignoring her orders if it conflicted with one that Vahn had issued. Vahn had even found it, though it was entirely unnecessary, protecting Terra's egg when she had flown off to strengthen a section of her dominion. Seeing the slimmed down version of Fafnir, as it was getting progressively better at transformation magic, coiled around Terra's egg in a protective pose made Vahn shake his head with a wry smile...
---
After parting with Haruhime and Mikoto, now carrying Shirohime on his head, Vahn made his way back to the Manor. Along the way, he passed by the sleeping figure of Khaos, covered with red and black scales with four black horns framing its head like a crown, covered in small purple veins that radiated a frightening magic power. It opened its eyes as he passed, sending an icy but reverential voice into Vahn's head as it said, ("Good morning, Master. Mistress Loki had something to discuss with you...") before putting its head down. Khaos had a significantly easier time maintaining its form compared to all of Vahn's other subordinates as it could fly into space and absorb the chaotic energies present to sustain itself. However, it still spent a fair amount of time just lazing about and, if it was certain it could get away with it, complaining about Loki.
Arnya laughed at Khaos's lazy behavior, nudging Vahn's arm to get him to continue forward since the latter had stopped moving. Before they reached the Manor, Arnya took Meinya from his hands, giving him a quick peck on the lips and saying, "Go see what Loki wants. I'll be in the maternity ward if you still want to spend time with Meinya." Then, without waiting for Vahn's response, Arnya happily made her way inside ahead of him, tail swaying about in a playful manner. She had been in very high spirits ever since her daughter was born, spending most of her waking moments accompanying Meinya and tending to her every need. Unlike the Vanir, Meinya was fed exclusively by Arnya and, though she sometimes relied on others to help babysit, Arnya was the primary caretaker of her daughter. She only really took breaks for morning training and sleeping, often times only really getting a few hours in every night and, much like Mona had in the past, taking small 'cat-naps' during the day.
Vahn already had an idea of what Loki wanted to talk about as, very recently, the Dwarves of the Iron Hills had started to try and counterpressure Orario after getting annoyed with the constant requests for aid from the Elven Kingdom. Though they had no intention of actually fighting on the Elves' behalf, the Dwarves didn't mind trying to take advantage of the situation for their own benefits. They were actually trying to play both sides at present, greatly increasing the price of goods they were bringing into the City while also allowing smugglers to make use of their routes into the Western Forest in exchange for a toll fee. In exchange, the Elven Kingdom had sent several lesser clans of Elves to reside within the Iron Hills, totaling nearly 1,300 people, to act as 'breeding stock' for some of the larger Slavers Clans. The slave trade was one of the most successful business enterprises at present and, being notoriously greedy and focused on wealth, the Dwarves were the most successful slavers on the continent. Generally, the only way they could get Elven slaves were if they were either sick, criminal exiles, or males. Having 'fresh' stock was a major boon so, though they weren't putting that much effort into it, the Dwarves had finally decided to 'help' out the Elves...
(A/N: I'm feeling a bit out of it from traveling so I'm not entirely sure how many chapters I will release today. At the bare minimum, there will be three and, if I'm feeling better after writing those, I'll put out 1-2 more, aiming for 15k words today. Tomorrow's releases should happen at the normal time, so you can expect them to come out ten minutes before the reset and every two hours after that.)
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Slow down (TT_TT)','Loki, Goddess of Tricksters, Master of Khaos','Shameless Dwarves (o,...,o)~!')
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