CHAPTER 439: BRIEF MEMORIAL FOR LILITH AND GIFT FOR LYCORIS

I look at the grand memorial that was built for those who died in the war, it’s a real nice place with divided areas for each one based on the "importance" of the person.

And obviously in the most highlighted part there’s an image of Lilith, there are thousands of people here watching, praying, and just observing the place that honors those who have passed.

Many are saddened by her death, but they firmly believe that I killed her for important reasons, so to everyone she died in an honorable way.

’I gotta take care of that hydra... I think I’ll give it as a gift to one of my daughters...’ I’m seriously considering giving that hydra egg that Lilith gave me to Lycoris to take care of.

And the reason for this is first to teach responsibility, second to give Lycoris something to get attached to from the start, and third because with the hydra near Lycoris, they’ll naturally have servants always close by helping while when the hydra grows, it can protect Lycoris.

’The next saint... maybe Lycoris will like this gift...’ My servants said the hydra egg is close to hatching, though they don’t know exactly when.

"I’ll take care of that ’daughter’ of yours, Lilith, but I really hope that little thing doesn’t cause me any trouble," I say, throwing a completely obscured mana flower onto the memorial with Lilith’s image.

"..." I look at everyone here and decide to leave, before the memorial opens, I gave a speech to everyone, so I have no reason to stay here anymore, after all, the dead can’t come back.

I can’t easily revive someone who’s dead, I can only revive dead people in very special cases, like Velvet, where her soul is trapped in the title of Demon King, so I just had to build a body for her.

’Maybe if I were the Saint of Demons, I could revive Lilith... but I have no way to get that title...’ Her permanent end is what saddens me, but it also doesn’t stop me for too long.

"Haaa... Only you, Lilith, could make me stop my activities for so many hours..." I wasn’t going to make this memorial a big deal, in fact, it would have been simple and small, but since Lilith died, I ordered the memorial to be giant and beautiful.

"Wherever you are, I hope you’re still watching me..." I say as I teleport to my castle, exactly where the hydra egg is, there are dozens of servants around to take care of the egg that will be the next Saint of Demons.

"..." Everyone notices me and immediately bows as I look at the state of the egg.

’...The egg... is being better taken care of than I am... I think I should accept more of the servants’ care...’ I try to do everything myself, so most of the time I don’t accept the servants’ pampering.

"..." I approach the egg, seeing that it already has a crack, I can also hear the hydra’s heartbeat if I focus and the sound of it moving inside.

’It’s already fully formed... it just needs to break the egg and come out...’ I grab the egg and lift it carefully, soon I teleport Lycoris to this room, she immediately runs into the altar where the egg was, falling to the floor.

"Daughter, don’t run around the castle," I say to her as she gets up and immediately hugs my leg when she realizes it’s me.

"..." I look at her face, seeing tears and a blatant slap mark that seems to be a few hours old.

’Who the hell hit my daughter?!’ I’m furious, until I remember that in the last few hours Lycoris was with Zephyra, and no one else enters that room unless Zephyra says so.

"...Daughter, was it Mommy Zephyra who hit you?" I ask, as she looks at me with teary eyes and sadly nods in a melancholic affirmation.

Normally I would complain to Zephyra... but I know she’s under a lot of mental stress and is no longer used to normal life, maybe contact with Lycoris wasn’t the best idea.

’Maybe I should just talk to her normally, arguing with Zephyra isn’t the answer or she’ll never get better.’ I caress Lycoris’ head, crouching down to her level, while with one hand I wipe her tears.

"Daughter, you don’t have to cry, I called you here to give you a present, it’s this little animal," I say, knowing she’ll understand even though she’s very young. I move her away from me a bit while extending the egg for her to hold.

She touches it curiously before taking it in her hands, I see her wings opening in joy as her tail whips the floor excitedly.

"O-Ohh!!" She makes an excited sound, her eyes shining. I press the top of the egg and use magic to make the hydra want to come out, it’s obvious that it’s already capable, but it must be waiting for the food inside to run out.

And as soon as the magic is strong enough to seem like a threat, the hydra inside the egg starts thrashing furiously, causing the egg to crack.

"..." Lycoris watches the cracks curiously.

"Lycoris, that’s how you were born too, coming out of an egg, unfortunately the egg no longer exists, or I’d show you the shells." I had to destroy the egg shells to avoid further hurting Zephyra.

"Baahh!!" She lets out an excited squeak as a large piece of the egg breaks, and I stop using magic so the hydra doesn’t feel threatened. The hydra puts its head out, seeing everyone here.

But as soon as it notices me, the hydra panics, hiding back inside the egg with a scared grunt.

’It makes sense... it’s a monster seeing a much stronger monster...’ I watch as Lycoris sticks her hand into the egg and pulls the hydra out, it’s good to see my daughter isn’t afraid.

"Grrrh!!" The hydra growls at Lycoris, but quickly tries to hide in Lycoris’ arms when it notices I’m still here. Lycoris hugs it affectionately, smiling.

’I imagined she’d like it... kids like animals... even if this is quite different from a dog...’ The hydra has shades of black and purple, just as Lilith said it would be.

Since Lilith said this hydra would be similar to her in physical aspects, then black and purple were expected as the main colors, although I don’t see anything of the white tone.

"Daughter, you will have the responsibility of taking care of this hydra, it will be the next Saint of Demons, so it’s important, but since it’s still just an irrational beast, you can play with it and take care of it..." I’m also giving this hydra for another reason.

It’s so Lycoris doesn’t feel lonely, I noticed as soon as Lycoris was born, she’s different from Azazel and Eclipsya, probably because Lycoris was born from an egg, so she’s genetically "perfect" in a different way than her sisters.

The egg method is the best method for me to have a perfect pregnancy, this gives Lycoris abnormally high magical and physical attributes, in fact, Lycoris seems to have more magic than Azazel and Eclipsya combined.

But because she’s "perfect," she gets a lot of the "negative points" I have, for example the wild impulses, I think you could summarize this as Eclipsya and Azazel being more rational.

And Lycoris being more monstrous, Azazel clearly inherited more of the vampires’ behavior, and Eclipsya inherited more of Tsukuyomi’s behavior.

Lycoris, on the other hand, inherited more of my behavior, so I deduced that letting Lycoris have this hydra as a friend would prevent loneliness because the hydra is a monster and Lycoris is also a monster, so they can form bonds.

Just like I formed bonds with Lilith, Lilith and I were the only ones who truly understood each other even without words, we had that special connection that lasted until her death.

And I want Lycoris to have that experience of friendship with something that is similar to her as well.

And since they’re both babies who were just born, they can form bonds even more easily than Lilith and I, who had absurdly different ages.

"Gaah!! Baah!!! Mahhh!!" Lycoris makes sounds I don’t understand, but the Hydra looks at her, seeming to understand, and soon it snuggles comfortably in her arms.

’Hydras eat the same as most monsters... so as long as it doesn’t get as huge as Lilith, it’ll be possible to feed it with raw meat...’ I hope it doesn’t grow too fast.

Because Lilith was over 300 meters tall in her hydra form, and my castle doesn’t have the conditions to take care of something so big, but I know that at some point this hydra will have a humanoid form.

"Daughter, do you want to go for a walk around the castle with your little pet?" I say, giving her space. Lycoris seems to think about it before nodding her head, showing a pleasing independence.

"Great, you can go with some maids, while I’ll tidy up your room," I say, giving the maids a stern look, which they quickly understand.

I don’t trust the hydra or Lycoris 100% without supervision, to start with, nothing prevents Lycoris from trying to devour this hydra, and it would be terrible if the next Saint became a meal.

In fact, what worries me the most is just that, this hydra is weaker than Lycoris, so it’s unlikely to hurt Lycoris, while Lycoris, if she gets hungry, may try to eat the hydra, which is still a baby, so it must have low regeneration.

"..." I see Lycoris running out, carrying the hydra, which looks at me with two of its heads before Lycoris disappears through the door.

"Follow her, and don’t let either of them get hurt, and also find Aokitsu and have her keep an eye on the two." In the castle, Lycoris is not in danger, but it’s still better to have Aokitsu watching over her.

"Also, get me some paper and a pen, I’m going to send a letter." I’m going to send a letter to the Great Demon Alchemist, I want to order some relics to put in the castle and have extra security for my children.