Chapter Thirty-Nine: Trip Preparation (Arc 2 – End)

    When I returned home with the good news, I left the prosthetics with Kokan for his analysis while Ichiha searched her room for two belts. Meanwhile, I took a quick bath to remove the dirt and soot from my sore body. After getting dressed in my shorts and shirt with Sekh’s loving touch and assistance, we returned to the kitchen.

    Kokan was proud of what I had crafted with his daughter. My heart felt warm to receive his compliments. “Here, Mila. I found them,” Ichiha said when she returned to the kitchen. I took the two leather belts and wrapped them through the holes in the socket, placed Niva’s leg stump within it, then tied the belt around her upper thigh.

    Niva’s face was an excellent indicator to see if it was too tight or loose. She nodded when I asked if it felt right, and I put her foot on. I stood at her side and kneeled a second time.

    “Raise your leg.” Niva followed the command. Then she lifted the right leg, then the left, to get used to it. In seconds, she was already out of breath and sweating like crazy. “Okay, this might hurt, but I’m going to help you stand up, okay? Don’t even try to move. Just try to stand, okay?” She gave me a pained glance and closed her eye. Her hand gripped mine for safety and comfort. Then she shook with all the sheerness of being abandoned in the arctic.

    It was like time slowed to a crawl during this heart-palpitating moment. I felt Niva''s weak fingers tremble when she actively pulled to lift herself. Enduring the pain... Throwing away the harsh reality of having to learn to walk all over again... It seemed like the only thing in her mind was a singular desire to stand upright.

    And she did it without any help from me. For four seconds, she stood on the prosthetics we toiled endlessly over the better part of a month. Very slowly, Niva turned to my cheering voice and gave me the tiniest smile—her first showcase of a positive emotion since I took her under my protection. She gleamed at having tasted just a sip of potential independence and mobility. Niva let go of my hand and balanced for a handful of seconds,

    She was a fighter—through and through.

    I was told I would never amount to anything in my life. That I should have died as a failure and not a disgrace. That the world would be better with me six feet in the ground. That everything I touched turned to trash. That I’d never be that important to someone... That I’d never be worth something to someone else... That I’d never know the feeling of being loved... For fifteen years, I was beaten down at every turn of the road. It was smacked into me daily... Through pain...heartache...beatings... and burnings...

    I proved them all wrong...

    You see what I''d done, Lucas? This is what I could accomplish, Florence. Your little Shuuta’s done something with their life. What the fuck have you done? Other than relying on Mia to live the lives you two fucking couldn’t? Huh? I grabbed life by the fucking horns and got shit done!

    I brought a sense of independence to a girl that had it all taken away by people who were just as bad as you.

    And you know what? That was a fucking victory in my books.

    SNAP!

    Then the prosthetics shattered at the ankle, but I acted fast and caught her with gentle care. All eyes were on me, including Niva’s, and I wondered how they wanted me to reply?

    Was I supposed to be sad? Upset? Annoyed? Disappointed? Was there a right emotion?

    “Mila... I’m sorry,” Irisa said with tears in her eyes. I figured she was regretting not going with hers because they were better.

    Sucking air through my teeth, I asked the AI, but Tilde answered. “It used the data it had at the time to create the best plan it could. However, that wasn’t enough because the prosthetics only lasted a few seconds. But remember what I said? It’s constantly learning, and you’re damn it learned a thing or two from it breaking. You know what this means, right?”

    “Yeah, I do. Niva, I''m sorry. Do you think you can wait just a little bit longer?” I asked, smiling at the girl I held in my arms. Her mouth opened slightly, but she nodded and softly curled her lips into a smile.

    “Wait, so you’re not upset?” Irisa inquired. I shook my head while we all sat down for a nice dinner and enjoyable conversation. It was pleasant to eat without worrying about the stresses of my failures, and even though I didn’t see them that way, a wave of relief washed over me. The baked fish with cabbage and potatoes were downright scrumptious. Ichiha even made a separate pan that cooked longer at a low heat so Niva could eat it. It was her first time having something that wasn’t soup. Even though her condition, I knew she loved it. That made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

    If I’d used Irisa’s prosthetics, it wouldn’t have broken. And I’d never learned about the point of failure at the ankle. She had left them in her shed at Smithy’s Corner.

    After a few rousing games of tic-tac-toe, it was time for bed. Sekh went ahead of me and made herself comfortable after helping Niva to bed, but I wanted to spend a little more time with Irisa. We just sat on the couch and talked about nothing, but I''d like to believe it was a good bonding experience for us. Especially after we’d finished such a strenuous project. I felt we were close before, but I felt even closer to my favorite green-skinned woman. She looked cute in that low-cut tank top and pajama bottoms. When she raised her arms to stretch, her toned tummy peeked at me.

    We hugged goodnight and sensually rubbed each other’s back, and I walked backwards to my room smiling and waving at Irisa. Niva was asleep, but a meek, quiet noise escaped her lips. After concluding there was no cause to be alarmed, Tilde flew to her dresser, yawned, and tucked herself under her handkerchief. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com

    I slipped into Sekh’s waiting embrace after canceling my night vision. With my head on her shoulder and her arms wrapped securely around my back, she kissed my head while cuddled. Her skin was so warm to the touch, and she smelled so good, too. We stared at the dark ceiling, our breaths matching the other in sync. The comfortable silence was broken by an innocent sentence filled with something my younger self desired.

    “I’m proud of you, my liege.”

    “Where’d that come from?”

    Sekh stroked my head with all the gentleness of a river. She took her right hand and interlocked my fingers. “I just wanted you to know that.”

    Sekh’s words were always sweetened with sugar, but they hit differently tonight.

    “I love you, and I’ll always be proud of what you’ve accomplished with your second chance. This is just the beginning, my liege. I can’t wait to see what you’ll achieve as the Transcendent Dark Lord.”

    I looked up at her, she looked down, and we pressed our lips together. Afterwards, I monopolized her graceful touch and fell asleep, drowned in her love.

    I haven’t been spending much time with her... I need to apologize and make up for that.

    “I’ve found the solution to your problem!” Kokan suddenly said with a piece of bread in his mouth when Sekh, Tilde, Niva, and I emerged from our room.

    “Okay, I’m listening,” I replied, putting Niva in her chair and sitting beside her. She slept through the night without the nightmarish terrors jolting her awake, and I wanted to believe that was a good omen. She also seemed more cheerful-- possibly because I’d followed through on my promises. And probably because her HP finally reached 15%.

    I showed her I was someone she could trust because I''d been in her shoes before.

    “Last night, I was doing some thinking. There’s a village about three days away that’s home to an exceptional blacksmith. Even though he’s pushing 90, he’s your man.” Kokan hit me with a bombshell of information I couldn’t ignore. “He doesn’t forge weapons and armor. He’s a grandmaster of the small and delicate. If you need gears for a waterwheel, he’s your guy. A small pin for a wheelbarrow? He could make one 1/64th of an inch wide with impeccable craftsmanship. You probably want to make the prosthetics yourself, but it’s hard to overstate his sheer ability.” I asked how he knew this, and he said he randomly wandered into the village about five years ago. He couldn’t take one foot inside Ria without receiving a hundred threats—due to the obvious.

    “That’s fine with me. The AI could probably get some fantastic data from watching him.”

    The rainbow-colored pillar of stone materialized by itself and jiggled. “The data gained would be invaluable, my lord.”

    “Yes. They’re enchanted with a minor mana restorative effect, right?” Sekh asked, sitting on the bed. She carefully folded her hands in her lap and smiled up at me.

    “Niva, you’re going to wear this dark blue robe,” I said, producing the item. It was a good thing I’d cleaned them a while back. I helped her sit up from her bed and put the robe around her. The AI helped by marking the spots I needed to adjust with its AR functionality. I took it off her, sat at the desk with my sewing kit gainfully acquired from the Barclay’s store, and got to work cutting, snipping, and threading. The AI was always a helpful assistant. Without its help, I’d probably remain in this uncomfortable chair until the early morning.

    Sekh stared as I worked, then a feisty smile curled upon her pretty lips. She hopped off the bed, put her hands behind her waist, and skipped over to me. I met her cute smile with one of my own as she moved behind me and pressed her hands to my shoulders.

    “I take your moaning as a sign I’m doing something right,” said Sekh. She leaned down and kissed my head.

    “Mmn, you are. I’ve...never had a massage before.”

    “Tilde told me to do this. She said it’ll make you relax.”

    “She wasn’t wrong about that,” I said, looking at the fairy. She hovered in front of Niva and was talking to her about something. Sure, I could have eavesdropped, but I gave them their privacy while I continued the alterations.

    I finished up about ten minutes later. With a gentle touch, Sekh held Niva as if she was standing while I put the robe around her. I cut the sleeves down to where they stopped at her wrist, but the robe reached her ankles.

    She just didn''t have any.

    The hood was far larger than her head, which helped disguise her even more.

    Huh... That looks good on her. The light blue skin and dark blue robe work well together, and I can still see the sleeves of her blouse sticking out.

    Until Niva used magic, I couldn’t tell if the mana regen effect was working. She’d need to speak for that to happen. It was imperative to diagnose the reason behind her muteness so I could cure it, but if [Analysis] didn’t show me, then I didn’t know. I hypothesize it had something to do with her wounds, but they were fading by the day. She’d recovered so much there wasn’t any more blood in her feces or urine, which Kokan was extremely happy about since it meant her body was fighting hard and succeeding.

    Tilde said Niva needed a staff to complete the spirit summoner look. I had just enough iron to make one. “Ah, no, you don’t need to make one. Having a staff allows her to focus when she’s casting spells. Basically, you can direct the flow of mana through a core object to help stabilize it. Even someone with the innate ability to use skill via thought would benefit from a staff or wand. Hint hint, nudge nudge.”

    I stretched Niva’s legs and massaged her calves and arms. Her face showed strain, but this had to be done, and she knew it. When I finished, I left the robe on her. It looked good on her, and I thought she liked it. It was a gift from me, after all. I doubt presents were a common occurrence in her life.

    After telling her good night, I stripped and hopped in bed with Sekh. Niva wasn’t having any more night terrors, so I didn’t have to worry about jumping out of bed and tending to her mental worries. Sekh was waiting like a beautiful siren as the moonlight illuminated her immaculate fur that was so wonderful and soft. I desired her touch, so I almost wrapped myself around her like a crab. She kissed me gently, put her hands over mine, and stroked my fingers. Her love was too much for someone like me, especially since I almost neglected her...

    Might as well face that uncomfortableness head on...

    “Have I been neglecting you?” I asked suddenly. Sekh answered with another kiss and a subtle shake of her head.

    “Why would you ask that?” she whispered, holding me tighter.

    “My head’s a big mess right now, so I dunno... But it feels like I have. We only see each other at night because I spend all day at the forge. I just feel bad...”

    “That’s something you shouldn’t feel because you were doing something incredible. Without you, Niva would be dead. Or if you hadn’t worked so hard for her, she’d never experienced the joy of independently standing. You did something no one else wanted to do.”

    I told the AI to alert me if Niva woke up because what I wanted to talk about wasn''t meant for her ears.

    “But I didn’t do it out of kindness, Sekh. I was solely thinking about her power. Even if I try to convince myself otherwise...the prosthetics were a contingency plan in case her hatred of Gloria wasn’t enough. I want to care about her because... I mean, I want her to live, but it feels like a part of me doesn’t care if she dies since the ultimate backup plan was me eating her for her skills. Be honest. If you’d met her under the same circumstance 1,000 years ago—”

    Without even a moment’s worth of hesitation, Sekh nodded. “That’s the past, and this is now, and since we pledged our loyalty to you... Camaraderie is an unknown feeling, but without the curse dictating how I need to live my life, it’s not something I dislike. My primary goal is still the destruction of this world, but I’ll even go as far as to say I can’t wait to see her evolve. On that note, I want to thank you for not killing her. Seeing her go from a meek girl to someone who can even balance with legs, not her own, is inspiring. Yes, she had support, but it doesn’t make it any less amazing.”

    I snuggled closer to Sekh until she held my head against her chest. She wrapped her arms around me and promised to never let go. “But no, my liege, you haven’t neglected me. Every morning, I’m still blessed to see your beautiful face, and I’m thankful you’re the last thing I see before I go to bed. When you’re off at the forge, I train with Kokan and learn from Ichiha. I’m grateful to them for teaching me so many things, but...”

    “But?”

    “It’s...been a while, my liege,” Sekh whispered. I looked up and saw a gorgeous blush dance around her pretty cheeks. “Since we made love, I mean. Times have been busy, so it’s understandable. And with Niva sharing our room, I suppose we hadn’t had the chance.”

    "Then... What about a date?”

    “Date?”

    “Yeah. When we get back, I’ll take you out on a date. It’ll just be you and me. No Irisa, no Niva, and no Tilde to get in our way. We’ll do whatever you want to. It’ll be my way of saying how much I love and appreciate you.”

    “I’ve never been on one before...”

    “Neither have I, but I want my first to be with you. You’re gorgeous, Sekh. I mean, I can hardly keep my eyes off you.:

    "Really?" she whispered.

    I nodded. "We can walk around and get you some new clothes. I can see it already. We''d be holding hands, living a slice of life we were never granted. If we find a secluded spot..."

    “Hmm... I can’t wait, my liege. And neither can you, apparently,” Sekh said. She held me closer to her chest while reaching a hand down to my erection.

    She poked the tip with her fingers and brushed the back of her dainty palm against my balls. I shimmied down the pillow just enough to cup my mouth around her nipple and sucked away while she placed my cock between her thighs. She shifted back and forth to stimulate the sensitive tip after peeling my foreskin. “I’ll clean up the mess, my liege. Just let it out whenever you want,” she whispered, licking the tip of my ears.

    It seemed like the main course was delayed, but even the strictest person would indulge in an early appetizer, right?