Chương 40: Ch. 40 Sleeping Beauty
Medea being enthusiastic about her new arrangements would be an understatement.
The young woman was quite greedy for magical knowledge, to the point my staff had to knock her out in order to drag her out of the library so she could sleep from time to time, or I teleported her into a bath because she hadn't left her room for a few days, or someone went to force her to come to dinner.
Scáthach didn't care what she was doing or how 'busy' her new student was either. When it was training time Medea was to be in the training hall or she was going to be dragged there and punished before the actual training began. Said training did involve a lot of magic and rune learning, but my queen wouldn't be herself if she didn't also beat her students to exhaustion afterwards. Sometimes Scáthach even brought some of mine or Sera's peerage to mix things up or got Diana and Perseus with Medea to get them more experience in teamwork and combat.
I should say that this has helped Medea's healing arts grow a lot and that my own healers are very good at what they do.
Also, all the potion/poison fumes from the new recipes she was constantly trying weren't exactly great for her health or whatever room she happened to be in either. At one point I caught her talking to one of the decorative/automated defense suits of armor about the finer points of enchantments on its armor. I think she thought there was actually someone in it and that he/she didn't appreciate the high level work they had received.
But I was seeing her smile a lot as she talked or debated with people who shared her passions, spent some time learning under my girls, or even when I found her passed out on a book she was reading. Those smiles told me more about her than anything else.
I truly don't think wanting revenge against those who betrayed you is a wrong thing. Everyone copes differently and many simply can't just let things go. But it was good to see that she wasn't losing herself in it completely like many avengers tend to, like her own ancestor did.
On a separate note, since she had a sacred gear we wanted to see if it was really one of the lower end ones like a twice critical or something, or if it was one she had simply misunderstood and didn't know how to utilize properly.
Turns out she had a Scared gear called paraváti kanónon or Rule Breaker. It was a higher mid-level Sacred Gear used to get out of contracts and boost the power of ritual magics. It is an iridescent and jagged dagger with a seemingly thin, brittle, and blunt blade. Its effectively nonexistent in its capacity as a weapon, comparable to that of a regular dagger at most, and it would not be suitable for even killing a single person.
And while I could understand why Medea found it to be rather useless in battle, I couldn't help feel that it had more potential. All Sacred Gears evolve based on the desires and wills of their wielders, and one which shares some of the same abilities as my own Longinus' Balance Breaker cannot be as simple as it appeared. So my advice was to push deeper and to attempt to evolve the ritual boosting and contract cancelling to the next level as a goal.
For now it couldn't be used during combat, but it would help Medea to learn more about Rule Breaker by practicing its current abilities and finding the limits of what is considered a 'contract' and what it considers a 'ritual'. Words can be rather vague after all.
But now that my new guest was being tended to, it was time to return to my next most pressing issue: Waking Medusa.
While I was busy, Da Vinci was going ahead with the project and made some great progress.
She decided that it would be safer to use some equipment to assist my dive into Medusa's head, creating a set of helmets linked to an enchanted rune based crystal terminal to serve as a buffer between our two minds. The idea was to have a quick method of escape if things were going wrong and that neither of us would have our minds in direct contact thanks to the established buffer, this being because we didn't know the effect of two minds meeting in such a direct manner and wanted to avoid unintentionally altering each other.
After rejoining the project properly, we worked on the performance and safety measures until we began running tests.
Obviously we weren't going to do it ourselves, so I 'convinced' two criminals to participate and tell us everything they experience afterwards. Luckily for them, their brains didn't melt or explode, and the helmets allowed for them to meet each other within, speaking of great metal pillars and some other representations of their desires, dreams, past and other things. So we ran a few more tests and used a couple more 'willing' test subjects before hammering out a few bugs which made some damages sustained within the mind appear on the physical body or left the subjects with some traces of the other's traits. Overall taking about a month from beginning to end in order to create a product we deemed safe enough to use on myself and Medusa.
"Just for the record, I advised you inform Sera-chan about this." Da Vinci said as I began strapping myself into our creation.
"I would have if she hadn't left for an urgent meeting with some Chinese gods who complained about a Devil lord's son insulting a few of his concubines and trying to seduce his one of his wives." I replied without stopping.
"Again?" Da Vinci simply asked with some amusement.
"Those Chinese gods have even less restraint than devils do, I swear. Most of those gods have harems in the hundreds and at least half a dozen 'wives'. I am half certain devils take it as a challenge." I replied as I honestly didn't care much much for the clusterfuck that is divine court culture.
It really doesn't help that the Chinese gods are insecure due to the Buddhas and Hindu gods, so they inflate any kind of problem to feel important.
"I don't think Sera-chan will allow you to have that many." My Bishop commented.
"I won't allow myself to have that either. It sounds like a nightmare and a mess. Just having to deal with the Scáthach situation has been weird to me." I replied in a deadpanned manner.
"What's so weird? Accept her love and make her happy." Da Vinci asked care-freely.
"*sigh* But she deserves to have someone who can be only hers. I already feel guilty for leaving Yasaka alone so much and adding a third would just not be fair to any of them." I responded as I picked up the helmet which would allow me to enter the mind of its twin's wearer.
"I think it's for them to decide~" the polymath said in a singsong manner.
"Maybe, but since when has anyone ever known what's really the best for them?" I replied a bit cynically.
"We don't." Da Vinci answered before turn towards me with a gentle smile, "But we always hope."
"Having someone's hope is a heavy burden." I said as I placed the helmet on my head.
"That's why we only give it to those we trust after all." Was the reply as we both finished preparing. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." I answered as I still felt a bit nervous.
"If anything our creation might lead to a great tool in mind healing, interrogation and to understand the mind." Da Vinci excitedly said as her eyes were shinning exactly as they always did in front of new knowledge.
"Let's begin then." I declared as Da Vinci nodded and activated our device.
I immediately felt a tug on what would be classified as my astral body, pulling me along the rails we had set for my destination.
The experience was a fascinating one as I could see thousands of lights with various colors and brightness zooming by.
'From preliminary observations, it would seem that the idea of a collective consciousness wasn't totally wrong, but had some basis as this seemed to be something like an astral realm. Each light is generally where I had felt a person and they vary depending on one's strength or a combination of mental and spiritual power.
I will need to study this intensely with Da Vinci as this could open up thousands of applications.' I thought at incredible speeds thanks to not being impeded by my physical brain.
Nearing the end of my trail, I was met with the interesting sight of Medusa's astral form.
It was much brighter than the average I would see, but hers looked fragile as it seemed to be a burning flame flickering with two smaller pinkish-purple orbs circling protectively around.
The collision was unexpectedly smooth as my astral form joined into the trio without any sort of initial rejection, entering the mind of Medusa with no issue.
Within I was met with the manifestation of Medusa's mind, which in this case seemed to be an island of sorts.
This island had a central mountain with trees circling the bottom and creating a small forest, then some grassy or rocky terrain before reaching the sandy beaches. There was also an area covered in Greek style ruins, with broken pillars and cracked floors, all near a temple like residence.
'My guess was that Medusa would likely be either in a deep sleep or hiding where she would consider safe or close to her heart. Knowing her story, this must be the Shapeless Isle and that temple-like building should be where the sisters stayed.' I analyzed as I did some initial checks regarding my connection to my own body and my current state.
Everything was working as it should and nothing was indicating that I was unstable or my astral state was in any sort of danger, so I proceeded.
"To think even now a 'hero' comes to our home for 'my' sister." A girls melodious voice said as I approached the building.
"Indeed. It would seem fate is not so easy to fool." A second voice eerily similar to the first followed up.
Two small figures appeared in my path, but aside from a similar hair and eye color, these two were very different from Medusa's curvy and beautiful face and body. The two were essentially little girls to me, maybe 12 or 13, and even though they were very cute, with flawless youthful faces, lush purple hair tied in matching twin tails, delicate skin, dainty hands and feet, and the rest of their barely maturing bodies were covered in simple but elegant white dresses.
The only visible difference between the two would be their expressions. The one on the right had a more aloof expression as she looked at me, while the left one had a more mischievous and haughty look.
'I get that beauty standards and things considered appropriate change with time and between cultures, but it's ridiculous that these two little girls, who look cheeky as hell, were considered idols of mankind and some of the most beautiful goddesses of the time.' I thought as i looked at the two with some exasperation over humanity. 'I can also kind of understand why Poseidon went after Medusa over these two, but I think I'll still send something like a one time use voodoo dildo to his wife.'
"I believe he just thought of some rather rude things." The right one said as the two lightly glared.
"Yes he has. Even if 'I' am thankful for the saving of 'my' stupid sister, rudeness is not to be tolerated." Agreed the left one.
"Right, sorry about that." I hurriedly responded as I just didn't question the cheat that is womanly intuition in anime worlds. "You two must be Euryale and Stheno, a pleasure to meet you. My name is Lith, half-Devil lord of House Azaroth."
"So you knew about 'myself'." The right one stated.
"To think a Devil would hold a tool of that fool and help us." The left one said in mild wonder.
"It seems you two are aware many things, but yes I knew about you two and already have some plans in motion to make sure all three sisters return into this world of ours." I said to them as the two raised an eyebrow over my statement.
"What bold claims." The right one said as the two approached me with critical eyes.
"You think you can create suitable bodies for 'me'?" The left followed up.
"Yes. Now that I have your appearances I am certain of it." I answered with confidence.
"To think he would boast of recreating 'my' perfect self." Right replied as the two stopped circling me.
"It remains to be seen, but 'my' divinity would handle any imperfections anyway." The left said with a bit less care.
"Indeed." Right agreed with a nod.
"…Right." I simply said as I held back my words regarding their physiques being much easier to make than Medusa's, "Anyway, I am going to awaken Medusa now. It isn't good for her to stay as she is and she deserves to live freely."
As I began walking past the twin sisters, they quickly chased after me.
"Wait you fool!" Right yelled as she rushed ahead of me.
"You can't just save the girl like that." Left continued.
"You must overcome a trial to obtain her." Right said as if it was obvious, but I was looking at them like they were idiots until I saw the glints of amusement sparking in their eyes.
"I get it. You two little girls are sadists." I stated in understanding.
""Little Girls!?"" The two shouted in outrage.
"'I' am the ideal embodiment of womanly beauty you uncultured swine." The right one haughtily said.
"Hundreds have come from near and far to admire 'my' beauty and to attempt to make 'me' theirs." Left followed up with pride, but I could tell there was disgust towards those same people.
"So? To me Medusa is much more beautiful and her matured body is much more to my tastes than yours." I replied straightforwardly, but surprisingly the entire place shook and heated up once I did.
"""What the?""" The three of us all said at the same time as we looked around in case something bad happened, but nothing did as things settled down.
'Is she aware of what's happening?' I briefly thought as the possibility of someone being basically omniscient in their own mind passed my own. 'Maybe it's also because I am not trying to conceal my presence and more subconscious attention was put on me, or it could be because Medusa pays more attention to things involving her sisters because of some traumas regarding them. It's really hard to tell without a full understanding of someone's psychology.'
But taking advantage of a distracted pair of sisters, I continued on my way.
""Hey!"" The two shouted as they chased after me again.
I wasn't exactly trying to get away or even doing anything to stop them because it was amusing to mess with sadists.
"You can't just go in there without passing the trials!" The one on my right said as she tried to slow me down by grabbing my arm.
"Exactly! You have to follow the plot." Her twin agreed as she did the same as her sister on my left.
Too bad this wasn't even a physical world and my astral body was a lot stronger, so they felt like little kids trying to slow down a heavyweight fighter.
"Since when do devils play by the rules for humans?" I asked in amusement at their struggles.
They honestly looked cute like this as they were getting frustrated over my words and actions.
"…" the left one was without an answer at that one.
"I-it doesn't matter what race you are! You are a hero trying to save a girl, so you have to go through trials!" The right one hurriedly justified.
"First off, I already saved the girl from the monster. Even if she technically was the monster." I replied as I picked up the two girls by their dresses and used a bit of magic to disperse the force of my grip while hoisting them onto my shoulders. "And secondly, I am not a hero trying to save a girl."
"Kyaa! T-then what are you supposed to be?" The surprised right one asked as the two either grabbed onto my head or lifted arm to stabilize themselves.
"An employer recruiting a potential talent." I answered with a devilish smile as the three of us entered the temple-like home.
With what was basically two speechless loli goddesses on my shoulders, I was feeling a bit weird as I found myself in a large chamber essentially divided into three sections. The two largest were lavishly decorated with either colorful and fragrant flowers or cute animal toys, comfortable looking beds and pillows and various scented oils. Meanwhile the third part was noticeably smaller than the other two, with a simple rest area, little to no decorations and a noticeably worse quality than the other two.
And on that low quality bedding, was the sleeping form of Medusa wearing a short black dress-like outfit.
"I can guess that the two of you are probably spoilt and sadistic, but how can you treat someone you care for enough to sacrifice yourselves in order to protect them at such a level that even in her mind she still treats you two like this?" I asked in exasperation.
I could already guess how the power dynamics between the three went from this initial observation.
"'I' am an idol for men. 'I' do not do menial jobs." The right one answered with a smug smile.
"Got it. Selfish and lazy." I simply answered as the two didn't seem to appreciate and started pulling on my hair and biting me in protest.
Of course they didn't get far due to literally being too weak to harm a hair on my head, but they seemed pleased anyway so I let them be.
Approaching the more mature purple haired beauty, I began looking at her with a critical eye in order to see if anything was wrong. This is likely the most 'direct' look into a persons mind and soul currently possible as any damage, flaw or issue is simply very difficult to conceal here, so it's the best time to check.
'Let's see here…
Like her sisters she has a general aversion to men, but it's surprisingly less negative than them. The two were almost to the point of hostile when seeing for the first time, only calming down when I guess they recognized me as the person who helped them and then more so when I didn't treat them as sexual objects like they would have been in Ancient Greece.
Inferiority complex with herself and her sisters due to being an 'incomplete goddess', not conforming to the same beauty standards, and because of how they treated.
Even though I sealed much of her memories of her time as the Gorgon, she is still traumatized about it and dreads falling to it again. She will likely have nightmares until she comes to terms with the fact that this was beyond her control and that she is now free.
Her divine spirit is rather unstable and slowly recovering from the stress put on it by the Gorgon curse. It is also being influenced by the general beliefs regarding Medusa, likely another layer of assurance planned by Athena to screw the girl over, but I can help with this one.
But overall, thanks to her not actually being really conscious when the Gorgon was in control and me sealing the rest of those memories, she is far less damaged psychologically than I thought. I will need to get her away from her sisters and around supportive people once she wakes up to get over her own complex. The male aversion will be a gradual process as well. And finally I can help her divine spirit recover after she wakes up.' I thought as I pulled my eyes away and finished forming a plan to handle Medusa.
"But how do I wake her up?" I said aloud as I came at my real problem.
There was nothing telling me why Medusa was still sleeping beside maybe her stressed divine spirit requiring rest, but Stheno and Euryale are both active with less Divine Spirit so that lowers the chances of that.
"It is obvious you large oaf." The right one scoffed.
"One must kiss the girl to wake her up from her slumber." The left followed up with a sly grin as the surrounding shook and warmed up much more than earlier.
'So this is how a mind reacts to embarrassment.' I thought until what they suggested computed.
"Wait a minute. How do you two know about that story? It was way after your time and from another country." I asked the two with slight bafflement.
"Humph! 'I' am a goddess idol for men, of course i know stories of man." Was my answer coming from the right.
"… Sure I'll buy that explanation. Heard weirder things before." I replied as this really wasn't an important point, but I was considering my options.
'Medusa is more than likely aware of what is happening to a certain degree, as such an overload of feelings might actually result in her waking up. And going by her reactions to my opinion of her looks and the suggestion to kiss her, she will have a a strong reaction if I actually do it.' I thought as it started raining outside and it became heavier the longer I took.
"What are you waiting for?" The right one asked as she pinched my ear.
"Did you not say that you found her more beautiful than 'I'?" The left urged as both now had teasing smirks on their faces as I could feel them becoming excited over this.
Now this place was a weird mixture of hot and rainy.
"I just felt it wasn't exactly fair to her to be kissed by someone she doesn't love or really knows, and I didn't exactly want to get into trouble with my girls, but I am willing to do it if it helps." I replied as I decided to just go for it.
It might not help my case much, but it's not like this is the real world. Not even technically kissing her.
So removing the two loli goddesses from my shoulders, I then approached the sleeping beauty and began approaching her lips.
Her two sisters were on either side of me while the room began heating up remarkably the closer I got. When I finally kissed Medusa's full lips everything seemed to stop as the heat and rain disappeared and her 'body' stiffened. Pulling away, I saw that Medusa's eyes were wide open in shock as she looked at me in disbelief until she brought her hand up to touch her lips and started to blush massively.
"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wah!?!?!" The beauty cried out as she almost stumbled out of her bed to distance herself.
""Hehe."" The two sisters appeared beside their sister with teasing smiles.
"So… how was your first kiss?" The right one asked.
"Must be nice to finally find someone willing to kiss a gorilla such as yourself." The left followed up.
"Elder sisters!" An extremely embarrassed Medusa shouted as she hid her face until she seemed to realize something. "Elder sisters!?!?"
"Yes yes. No need to shout like the beast you are." The right one lazily replied.
"True. Are you so stupid you even forgot about 'me'?" The left one followed up as the two seemed hell bent on insulting their sister even now.
"That's enough from you two." I said as I picked them up by the scruff of their dresses. "Just because you can't be honest about your feelings towards her, doesn't mean you have to be mean to her."
"W-what is happening? How are you both alive? Who are you and why did you k-k-kiss me?" Medusa asked in clear confusion.
"I guess an explanation is appropriate." I replied as I began to tell her about her situation.
While I explained how she was freed from the Gorgon curse, where we were, about the status of herself and her sisters, and about why I kissed her, Medusa's expression shifted from happiness, relief, sadness, disappointment, regret, embarrassment and many other emotions.
"Then… I truly killed you elder sisters?" Medusa asked with deep regret and sadness.
"Don't make that face of yours even uglier for no reason you idiot." The right one replied with a wave of her hand.
"Right. This barbarian boldly promised he would create new bodies for 'myself'." The left one added.
"It was 'my' decision anyway." The right finished as I could tell the two were feeling a bit embarrassed.
'How Tsun can these two be?' I briefly thought.
"Truly!? You can bring back my sisters?!" An almost desperate Medusa asked.
"Yes. It really shouldn't be a problem. We just need to prepare suitable bodies based on another goddess, use some of your own genetics to get everything more compatible, and then shift their divine spirits into them. Their spirits will handle the rest and it fully transforms their new bodies to match perfectly." I generally explained as the process would be pretty complicated, but there wasn't much of a point in explaining it now.
"Please! I know I am not in any position to ask anything! Also, a brutish woman such as myself might not be worth much to you, but I will give you my everything if you could bring my sisters back!" Medusa begged as emotionally spoke.
"Then become mine Medusa. You shall join my house and in exchange I will return your sisters to you and help you all become the powerful goddesses you were meant to be before the foolish Greeks almost ruined everything." I told her as even the two smaller ones became a bit intrigued over my bold claim.
"I swear! On everything that I am! I shall serve you with eternal loyalty should you return my sisters and fix my mistake." Medusa answered as her spiritual body glowed and the chains of her vow linked themselves to me before disappearing.
"You better take care of us properly you barbarian." The right one stated.
"I hope we will have plenty of amusement as well." The left commented.
"Yes yes." I casually replied before turning to Medusa, "I never asked this but, which one is Stheno and which one is Euryale?"
"Oh. Sister Stheno is on you right, she is usually lazier or calm, and sister Euryale is on your left master, with more a more carefree attitude and is the spoilt one." Medusa answered quickly before her eyes widened and she looked over at the two girls fearfully.
"Oh? It would seem baby sister has grown bold without her punishments." Stheno said as her eyes narrowed.
"Indeed. Which punishment should it be. Maybe bloodsucking? 'I' am feeling nostalgic and thirsty." Euryale followed up.
"I am sorry elder sisters! Forgive me! It was a slip of the tongue!" Medusa quickly said as she became very nervous.
""Punishment."" The two lolis jumped off my shoulders and chased after the fleeing Medusa.
It was quite the funny gag scene as the more mature looking beauty was running away from her two sadistic loli elder sisters with anime tears in her eyes as she screamed for mercy and help.
After a few minutes i intervened since they wouldn't be able to get blood here anyway and said goodbye to the two goddesses since I won't be seeing them until they have new bodies. I then gave the mental command for the exit procedure and felt myself being dragged back to my own body.
A moment later I was awake and taking off my helmet as Da Vinci approached with a few of her scanners.
"How do you feel? Any noticeable changes? Did you succeed? How was her mind?" My Bishop rapidly asked with excitement.
But before I could answer, our focus was taken by the stirring Medusa. Seeing that, Da Vinci hurried over to her looking even more excited as she began scanning the goddess.
Medusa was understandably confused and startled by the strange woman in weird clothing hovering around her and it wasn't until she saw me that she calmed down. So taking this chance I began to inform her about where she is and how things work in my castle and lands.
Although some things didn't fully click yet, she had just woken up and we had plenty of time to get her up to speed on everything anyway. It wasn't like there was anywhere like my lands out there anyway and I was used to people having culture shock when seeing things for the first time.
After Da Vinci was done with the current scans, I told her i would write a full report later and left her to her own devices while I took care of Medusa who followed me like a duckling while curiously looking at everything around her in awe. The way she earnestly followed me with a look of near innocence was rather cute to me.
For the rest of the day I made sure Medusa would have everything she would need and received a proper tour of my 'home'. She was introduced to the staff and those I considered family, with my wife being as welcoming as always, Musashi challenging her to a spar, Jeanne was apparently feeling a form of kinship with the shy goddess, Mana cordially welcomed her, Scáthach thought of her as having great potential and offered to train her, and Da Vinci was crunching data at the table. Eresh was actually the most surprised when she was informed about Medusa joining us and being a goddess as well. The two were getting along quite well. And Medea was a bit sceptic about the former Gorgon, but soon decided to give her a chance since she wasn't in a position to really do anything about it and she honestly felt more curious about her petrification and poison than anything.
For the next week Medusa was able to experience the luxuries and freedom my capital city offered as my girls took out the shy and very unconfident girl to help her get out of her shell and get to know her better. Medusa might not be a peerage member, but thanks to her vow she would become a member of the house and they wanted to at least be friends with her.
I could tell the girl likely thought this was all a dream by the way she looked at everything and was still very self conscious about herself, but these things would take time.
Eventually she shyly came to meet me one day in order to ask about her sisters and if she could do anything in return for housing her. The girl felt guilty 'taking advantage of our kindness'.
I told her that her sisters would take maybe a two years to bring into the world due to having to create divine bodies. The process would be that short simply because we have a large enough part of their divine spirits. If that wasn't the case I wasn't even sure if it would be possible. Medusa at least understood that basically reviving two goddesses wasn't exactly as simple as I had said, so she felt two years was quite short.
As for her second question, I had to determine what she was skilled and experienced in. The girl was strong and knew how to fight, but she didn't enjoy having to do so, hence I didn't offer her a place with Heltana or anything related to the military. But when she said she was used to cleaning, doing laundry and cooking due to her sisters, I offered her a place among the maid staff, which she accepted.
Thus from then on one could find Medusa under the wing of Fia as she taught her how to be a proper maid of house Azaroth. The standards for that were still mildly ridiculous to me, but they did a hell of a job so I couldn't really complain unless an actual staff member did first.
I have to say that she did look stunning in that maid outfit though. I even gave her some glasses to help her control her eyes due to being self-conscious about them.
Of course Scáthach wasn't willing to let such a diamond in the rough remain unpolished either and forced her to train regularly. And although Medusa did seem rather uncomfortable with it, she ended becoming quite driven after some time and began to participate in my peerage's training sessions as well.
The insecure goddess even began to give out small smiles much more often as she enjoyed camaraderie and work she found fulfilling as she was praised for her good job and taught how to improve by Fia in a firm but supportive manner instead of being berated for everything.
It was during this time that I suddenly felt a familiar presence trying to enter my castle itself.
"To think Ciri would actually return so soon. I thought she would be world hopping." I said aloud as I stood up from my desk and opened a portal for myself and Scáthach to the yard where I permitted the girl's entry.
Her usual light green wormhole-like portal appeared as Ciri galloped through at great speed on the same Unicorn she had left with, only it would seem that she now spotted a large crescent wound over her left eye which was still bleeding, and she was carrying a heavily wounded figure protectively.
I knew some Wild Hunt fools would likely be chasing after her in this situation, so I decided to just forcefully close the passageway, destroying the avatars they had sent in pursuit alongside some of the real ones as they were torn apart by the gap between worlds.
"My dear, it would seem you need some more training of those weaklings were able to get such a hit on you." I commented as I inwardly felt relieved her eye wasn't actually damaged for that wound.
"Haa… haaa… haa. It's not my fault! They used a poisoned Avallac'h as bait and then sneak attacked me while I was protecting him." Complained Ciri.
"Why are you even protecting one of them? All they want is your blood like most people from you world and the nearby ones to it." I asked in return as I really didn't like those uppity elves.
"Well, he was the only one who was sorta nice to me and I didn't want him to get tortured and die because of that." Ciri answered a bit awkwardly.
"At least tell me you didn't get wounded because you have a crush on him now." I responded after remembering that she did have a crush on the ex-elf king before he died from aphrodisiac overload due to not being able to get it up with a human.
"What!? No!" Ciri immediately denied.
"Ok then. At least we didn't train a complete fool." I said as Scáthach nodded in agreement.
"Just help me out Lith. Please. He still did try to help me with Geralt and Yen this time, even if he was a manipulative prick the first time around. He also offered to help me learn more about my powers, which is kind of pointless with you around but it's still more than most people have ever offered and been able to fulfill." Ciri responded as she gestured for us to help her take the elf.
I just teleported him to the infirmary because I don't like him or his people.
"Really?" Ciri simply asked.
"Yes." I answered without any shame. "Now show me that eye of yours."
"It's fine. Just a scratch." The girl replied as she dismounted the unicorn.
"I know, but I still want to make sure my little student is ok." I said to her as I got a better feel for her.
She hasn't been eating great since she left, a good amount of fatigue and stress has built up and she has a few healing scratches and cuts here and there beside the big one on her face, but fine overall.
"We can easily heal this up without any kind of fuss and your room is still there, so I'll ask Fia and Liora to get some things ready for you and we can talk more tomorrow ok?" I said to her as I was acting a bit parental.
"Thanks." Ciri softly replied with a small blush. "But can I keep the scar?"
"Sure. Not like we can't remove later if you want." I answered with a shrug.
"Not even asking why?" The teenager asked.
"You're a tomboy princess who likes to sword fight and wants to become a monster hunter, thinking scars are cool isn't really that weird." I answered with casually.
"Fair." She responded as I took out some salves and healing potions.
"Welcome back by the way." I said to the girl as I began applying everything.
"Good to be back." Ciri replied with a relieved smile.
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EXTRA AUTHOR NOTES:
Writing this I was debating making it dramatic or not and it turned out that it felt more right to make it lighthearted.
Medea is going through a sort of high on progress and learning as she now has access to what is basically the largest depots of magical knowledge in the underworld and Lith's established systems of learning.
The plan is to essentially have a little time skip of two-ish years to have Medea and Ciri go off for a bit since one is going off for revenge and the other is off to do a modified Witcher 3. At the same time Yasaka should be done unifying Japan and some other projects are going to be seeing some success.
Now for my handling of the Gorgon sisters.
Stheno and Euryale were said to basically refer themselves as a singular person due to their powerful bonds with each other so that's why they say 'I' and 'me'. I decided to make Stheno usually the first to speak as her sister follows up but both pretty much always support each other. I also kept the weird relationship the three sisters have for now. I have the general idea of turning them into something like Goddesses of Trials, temptation and youth. (Some suggestions can be taken but they won't be a big deal since they'll mostly just be chilling.)
Medusa is planned to become Lith's new personal maid as Fia now has to oversee all the servants of House Azaroth and is too busy to always see to his needs. She is currently weakened, but she will become a mainly physical fighter like her Fate Rider form until she learns to use some of the leftover Gorgon abilities she retained. Due to her personality and strength she will end up being quite similar to Grayfia in terms of behavior as I am basing things off Fate. As for her divinity, I am thinking of things like Redemption, Snakes, beauty and monsters, but suggestions are also appreciated.
As for things unrelated to characters, the 'astral-plane' is something that kind of just popped up and now made me think of an few interesting ideas for the next big time skip where Lith will massively expand his territory and population. The idea was kind of out there, but I like and hope you all will too.
So yeah, next chapter should be the last before a larger time-skip. Enjoy.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Alexander_the_grey
Alexander_the_grey Being sick sucks.
Now this is the last chapter of the year. I’ll see if it can get anything done in a few days as the first chapter of the year.
Beside that, I wish you all a happy new year to those celebrating it. Even if Covid is doing another comeback I hope you can have some fun with some family or a few friends.
Enjoy.
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-- Xếp hạng
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-- Đá
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