NOVEL WEB Chapter 293: Responsibility
With no reason to overstay his welcome, Vahn departed from Tria shortly after inputting the coordinates of the waterfall basin's Waystone into the one the Revolutionary Army kept in their basement. To confirm it worked, he used it to return, resulting in him appearing in a dirt clearing encircled by three-meter-tall runestones that provided a permanent barrier against monsters wandering into the area.
"Hm? What's this...?" Vahn wondered aloud, his brows rising slightly as he noticed several fantasy-esque buildings had been erected in the relatively short time he had been gone. There were seven in total, the most notable being a three-story tavern with sloped, crimson-tiled roofs with emerald-green trim, a gold wood facade, and a nameplate with a dancing fairy and the words FAIRYTAIL emblazoned on the front without a space. The rest of the buildings appeared to be a bakery, three residential structures, one of which was markedly more extravagant than the others, a butcher shop, and a tailor with a now familiar paw print emblem above its entrance.
"I haven't even been gone for two full hours, and Fairy Tail managed to pack up and transplant all their buildings here...they work fast..." muttered Vahn, his curiosity piqued. He found it strange that Carla's shop would be among the transplanted buildings, but he soon discovered the truth as he habitually spread his domain. Millianna was sewing a large cat plushie in a room on the second floor of the building, so the simplest explanation was that Carla had hired her to operate the storefront on her behalf, which, in turn, explained why the buxom cat girl referred to the Exceed Princess as her Mistress.
Shifting his gaze to a third-floor window of the more extravagant-looking residential building, Vahn adopted a casual smile and raised his right hand to wave at the tall, muscular, full-plated man observing him with crossed arms and a disapproving grimace. The man had deep-set green eyes, high cheekbones, and notably spiky black hair that stuck up and flared out like a broom. Below that, he had thick, angular eyebrows and sideburns that flowed seamlessly into a tufted, brush-like beard—reminiscent of an older Asuma.
Recognizing the man as the Commander of Hisui's Royal Guard and Chief of the Fiore's Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron, Arcadios, Vahn knew why the man was upset with him. The virtue of a Princess was a valuable commodity to most Kingdoms, so by offering her virginity to him, Princess Hisui could no longer be wed according to Fiore's existing customs.
"Oh, hey! If it isn't Vahn...!" exclaimed a familiar voice, drawing Vahn's attention to a familiar salmon-haired youth with spiky hair, sharp black eyes, and a near-perpetual smile. With him was a bipedal, large-headed cat with sky-blue fur, large black eyes, a white-tipped tail that was longer than his body, and a green rucksack fastened around his neck. Notably, unlike the salmon-haired youth, Natsu, the roughly 60cm tall cat, Happy, sported a look of disapproval mixed with resentment.
"Natsu, it's good to see you," greeted Vahn, extending his hand for Natsu to clasp rather than shake.
"You bet!" chimed Natsu, producing a loud, echoing pop as his hand met Vahn's. Then, sporting a toothy grin, he added, "I heard there's going to be a fighting competition and that you're planning to accept challengers. I'm fired up!"
"Aye...let's see if that handsome face of his can take a punch..." appended Happy, staring intently at Vahn as if the latter had eaten his favorite fish to extinction.
Pretending he hadn't heard Happy's hushed grievance, Vahn affirmed, "As far as I'm aware, the format hasn't been settled yet. But since quite a few people seem to want to fight me tete-e-tete, I imagine things will play out that way."
"Right on...!" exclaimed Natsu, retracting his hand before thumbing over his shoulder with his left and asking, "Happy and I were planning to head out and explore the surrounding biomes, but since it's been a while, want to grab a drink? We brew everything in-house."
"I appreciate the offer, but the other men in your Guild aren't particularly fond of me," stated Vahn, shaking his head and smiling wryly as he added, "Let's meet again once a restaurant or something similar has been set up."
"Oh, right, I completely forgot everyone hated you for stealing all the girls in our Guild," remarked Natsu, crossing his arms, cupping his chin with his right hand, and staring up at the sky as he muttered, "That would explain why everyone has been grumpy since last night..."
"I understand why they might feel that way, but I didn't steal anyone..." contended Vahn, exhaling exasperatedly from his nose. Happy frowned at this, but Natsu, genuinely feeling it was no big deal, shrugged and asked, "Well, what can you do? People get jealous when the girls they like fall for other guys. Anyways, I guess I'll see you around."
"Sound's good," responded Vahn, extending his right fist to bump Natsu's before the latter promptly departed. In the process, Happy glared back at him and made an I'm-watching-you gesture with his left paw, but since he hadn't actually done anything to steal Carla from the blue-furred Exceed, Vahn just smiled, shook his head, and departed in the opposite direction...
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"Welcome back, Danna-sama..." greeted Grayfia, awaiting Vahn in the foyer and offering him a slight bow the moment he entered the cottage.
"It's good to be back..." affirmed Vahn, his aquamarine eyes flashing but his expression unchanging as Grayfia raised her head and the front of her skirt in the same motion, providing him a glimpse of the black, crotchless lace panties she was currently wearing.
"I see that things are still as lively as they were when I left..." remarked Vahn, approaching to slip his hands around Grayfia and grab her bottom. Immediately after, they exchanged a protracted kiss that was interrupted when Venelana parted with the impromptu planning committee, gathered in the living room, to come and greet him.
"My, back so soon? Was there nothing worth seeing at the Revolutionary Army's base...?" asked Venelana, unabashedly including herself in Vahn's and Grayfia's embrace. Vahn, of course, readily accepted her, caressing her butt with his right hand and giving her a deep kiss while touching his abdomen to her and Grayfia's pregnant bellies.
Following the kiss, Vahn teased the intergluteal cleft of both women with his middle fingers while answering, "Their setup was pretty basic—mostly just farmland with a set of barracks, two separate baths, a combat arena, and an obstacle course that passes through an arctic tundra and volcanic plains. I gave Sabo some advice in exchange for a guided tour, but as you guessed, there wasn't much to see."
"Oh? What kind of advice...?" asked Venelana, her curiosity piqued as she and Grayfia simultaneously slipped their left and right hand into the front of Vahn's yukata, exposing his chest to caress his sides.
"Nothing much. I just encouraged him to confess to his childhood friend and second-in-command before she loses her patience..." revealed Vahn, followed by another three-way exchange of saliva. This included a saucy kiss between the two Devils before they met his gaze with narrowed eyes and alluring smiles.
"Shall we relocate to discuss the specifics of the upcoming festival...?" asked Venelana, sliding her hand from Vahn's side to his lower back as she and Grayfia nestled closer to him. Vahn had already decided to take the latter up to his room when she raised her skirt to reveal her glistening thighs, so instead of responding with words, he teleported them near the foot of his bed...
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[Three Hours Later]
With Venelana returning to the planning committee after receiving a healthy dose of life essence, Vahn spent the remaining time with Grayfia, making slow but passionate love before wrapping things up by soaking in a porcelain bath fitted with water jets.
"Thirteen more weeks..." muttered Grayfia, reclining against Vahn with a contented expression, her silver eyes focused on his hands and her own resting atop them as he caressed her increasingly pregnant belly.
"Would it be insensitive of me to ask if you've had a chance to speak with Millicas...?" asked Vahn, his voice low—exuding passion, love, and a touch of concern.
"I have..." confirmed Grayfia, nodding slowly before softly revealing, "But we didn't have much to discuss since I had been corresponding with him since his entering the training room. One thing of note was that he asked if we could speak with Kunou-chan and convince her to return..."
"Mmn...now that we're here with her mother, I highly doubt she'll return..." muttered Vahn, closing his eyes and shifting his perspective to the bottom floor of the cottage, where Kunou was presently using Yasaka's thighs as a pillow while nuzzling her pregnant belly.
"Are you aware of what happened...?" asked Grayfia, exhaling a tired sigh before muttering, "I know Millicas had her best interests at heart, but his approach was wrong..."
"Mmn...I'm unaware of the specifics, but I heard from multiple sources that he tried proposing to her and explaining how becoming his Queen was for the best to ensure mine and Yasaka's daughter didn't follow her example..." muttered Vahn, exhaling from his nose. He would be lying if he said a part of him didn't agree with Millicas's reasoning, but as Grayfia pointed out, he had made a colossal mistake by approaching Kunou and putting her on the spot. Even worse, he and the prospective members of his Peerage had spent a considerable amount of time trying to track her down after she parted with them, nearly forcing her to leave the training room altogether...
"It's my fault..." sighed Grayfia, her expression turning melancholic as she confessed, "Honestly...someone like me isn't qualified to be a mother. He was doing well under the care of Venelana and House Gremory, but I fear he has come to regard you as competition, someone he must overcome to prove or secure a place for himself..."
"You haven't done anything wrong..." proclaimed Vahn, his voice soft but firm as he nestled his face into Grayfia's hair and nuzzled her ear with his eyes closed, affirming, "You're both victims of a system we'll be changing the moment we return. No one can fault you for characteristics that were inscribed upon your very soul. Millicas has received care far beyond that of the average child, and he knows you love him. This is just him making a mistake and not knowing how to process rejection..."
"Could I trouble you to speak with him? I believe what he requires more than a mother's love right now is a father's guidance..." muttered Grayfia, causing Vahn to pause, confusion washing over him as he struggled to comprehend how the silver-haired beauty had rationalized he should be the one to speak with Millicas. He would do so since she had asked him to, but he had no clue what he would say once they met...
"I'll do it..." affirmed Vahn, his lengthy pause ultimately accounting for less than a hundredth of a second passing. Grayfia had noticed this pause, but she didn't point it out. Instead, she smiled, closed her eyes, and muttered a faint, "I'm certain you'll get through to him..." before relaxing the tension in her body.
'That makes one of us...' thought Vahn, his outward response being to kiss the top of Grafia's head. For the remainder of their bath, he checked in on Millicas using a display only he could see. To his surprise, Millicas had the appearance of a strikingly handsome young man, standing 175cm tall with an athletic build and an outfit that made him look like a refined nobleman-turned-adventurer. The outer appearance of Devils was heavily influenced by their perception of themselves and their innermost desires, so even at a glance, it was clear that Millicas had abandoned his childhood to sculpt himself into a man who could be considered his contemporary. And since Devil generations were denoted by centuries, it wasn't an exaggeration to say they were...
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