Volume 10 Chapter 5 (1/2)
A reply to the letter I sent to the [Despair] Demon Lord had come. He had agreed to a meeting that was to be held three days later here in Avalon. Once again, he was the one coming to visit.
Just from listening to people's voices, Ruhe could accurately read their feelings to the point she could tell when someone was lying. Given that, I decided to make her attend the meeting as well. That meant that we had to make adjustments to her church tour schedule though.
At any rate, it was currently breakfast time.
My [Monsters of the Covenant] have assembled around our dining table. Meanwhile, Tiro was already munching on the food served in her bowl.
”Everyone, breakfast is ready! I was able to get some fresh eggs so I thought today we could have some bacon and eggs.”
Aura announced so and then served the food she made on the table.
There were fresh salad, the aforementioned bacon and eggs, and some consommé soup. The menu could be called simple, but it was utterly appetizing.
”Yay♪Kuina loves this”
”…although bacon and eggs always present the dilemma of whether to pair them with bread or rice.”
The staple food in Avalon was generally bread, but once rice began being imported, there were more and more people preferring rice instead.
In our household, we ate according to our mood at the time.
”Aura-chan, Kuina wants rice!”
”And I'll have bread”
Kuina and Rorono requested so.
”How about you, master?”
”I think I'll have rice today”
”I'll get some, then”
As soon as Aura said so, she skillfully served rice in bowls for me and Kuina, as well as toasted bread for herself and Rorono.
When the table was set, we all took a seat.
”Well then, let's dig in.”
”Yay ♪”
”Mhm, I was getting hungry”
”There's more, so eat a lot, okay?”
Our fun meal thus began.
Kuina immediately grabbed an egg and some bacon, and put it in her bowl full of rice. She then broke the egg's yolk and spread it to the bacon and the egg whites. After dipping some of it in sauce, she thus begun eating it with the rice. It might be seen as inelegant, but her bowl sure seemed delicious.
Meanwhile, Rorono spread butter on her bread; added bacon, eggs, and some salad; and then folded the bread in half. Her sandwich looked delicious as well.
As for Aura, she carefully placed an egg's yolk on her sliced bread.
Much like how different their personalities were, each of them had their own way of eating their breakfast. I found that quite interesting.
After that, Aura brought out peach slices as dessert.
”Oh, right, Oto-san, we visited Duke's house the other day.”
”Oh, you did too?”
”Aura and I as well. Duke invited us.”
Apparently, when I talked about the meal Duke's Dwarf Smith wife prepared for me, Kuina wanted to try it too. Duke, perhaps after much consideration, gave in and invited the girls to come over.
My boasting of their home might have done more inconvenience to Duke's family than good.
”And then, we saw the baby. He was so cute!”
”Agreed. He's so little and squishy, he just makes me want to protect him.”
”Yeah, my maternal instincts kicked in too”
When the conversation turned to Caesar, Duke's child, Kuina and Rorono became excited.
Caesar… not only was it the title given to the great emperors of an ancient civilization, but also the name of a previous [Dragon Emperor].
Duke's child might be small, weak, and could only utter unintelligible sounds at the moment, but if he was anything like Duke, he might someday also become a [Dragon Emperor].
”Yeah, Caesar sure is cute. In the future though, I think he's going to be a fine, handsome man.”
His features resembled Duke's, so him becoming a handsome man in the future was pretty much guaranteed.
”Oto-san, I have a request!”
Kuina said so while looking at me with such sparkling eyes.
I have a bad feeling about this…
”Kuina wants a baby too! Dwarf Smith's baby is giving her so much joy and Kuina wants that too!”
”Kuina, no fair, stealing a march on me again. I want a baby too… Actually, master, I still have an unclaimed reward. I want to use it to get a baby.”
I found myself in cold sweat.
Both of them seemed serious.
Kuina might not fully know what having a baby meant, but there was no doubt Rorono at least knew how to make them.
What if I pretended like I can't make babies?
Allow me to go off on a bit of a tangent here. By destroying another Demon Lord's crystal, one could obtain that Demon Lord's unique skill. Sadly, one could only keep up to three unique skills beside their own.
Below were the three I decided to keep. All the others were discarded.
[Viscosity]: grants the ability to produce a viscous liquid that held various properties. It's possible to harden the viscous liquid.
[Evil]: grants the ability to conceive a child with a female of any race. The child's strength would be in accordance to the mother's. However, from conception to childbirth, a terrible burden is placed on the mother's body.
[Pig]: grants the ability to continuously reinforce the user's physical strength and endurance. It's possible to increase the output further, but only for an instant. Furthermore, this unique skill allows the user to gain the right of control of a female monster through intercourse with said monster.
A Demon Lord, by default, couldn't produce children. We could wholeheartedly treat the monsters we produced via medal synthesis as children, but if we wanted a more orthodox definition of an offspring, we had to rely on some other way.
Hence, why I decided to keep [Evil] instead of another unique skill.
Sure, it placed an incredible burden on the mother, but such a downside was something that could be worked around. For example, by giving proper checkups to ensure the mother was in perfect condition during pregnancy. And during labor, we could prepare potent potions as well as monsters capable of using healing magic.
…all that said, I had no intention of using this skill or anything like it on my precious daughters.
”Sorry, girls. I'm a Demon Lord, I can't grant that. I can make monsters with medals, but I can't make babies.”
”Awww. Kuina really wanted a baby.”
”If it's not possible, it's not possible. I won't push for that as the reward anymore. Such a shame.”
Kuina and Rorono both hung their heads.
Meanwhile, I felt Aura's gaze on me. A smile could always be found in her face, but her smile this time was one full of meaning.
”Come on now, it's almost time for work. Kuina-chan, Rorono-chan, can you help clean up?”
”Leave it to Kuina!”
”Mhm, I'll give it my all”
Kuina and Rorono said so and then proceeded to wash the dishes.
Making the food might have been Aura's job, but cleaning afterwards was left to Kuina and Rorono.
While the two were away, Aura came closer to me and whispered in my ear.
”Master, you have quite the habit of fibbing, don't you? You can make them, right? …I'm looking forward to it.”
Upon hearing that, I choked up.
From time to time, Aura liked showing off her frighteningly sharp perception.
”I have no intention of doing that kind of thing to any of my daughters.”
”Fufufu, but unlike Kuina-chan and Rorono-chan who have called you Oto-san and Father since the beginning, I've always called you master. And that's the kind of relationship I think we have, not the one you're saying.”
Aura smiled teasingly and then suddenly announced she was off to work.
I had asked her to replant a golden apple tree to the Recovery dungeon room. According to her, the task should be done two days later, give or take.
My girls certainly have grown. They have become stronger not only in combat, but also emotionally.
Not to mention, they have become quite adept at teasing me.
”Well then, I'm off to work as well!”
After declaring so to the two who were still washing the dishes, I went out.
My destination was the casino. Over there, I intended to have a very important conversation with someone.