"So tell me again why we needed to do this? I seriously can't see this as being so incredibly worthwhile for right now. We were going to be hunting tomorrow anyways, if Satanya's words are to be trusted. So why are we here, skinning and butchering this..."
"Kindred Sword Stag."
"Butchering this Kindred Sword Stag instead of resting and enjoying ourselves back in Custodia? Sure, we might not have come across this monster in particular, but we most certainly would have found more than enough monsters and animals to hunt tomorrow when the sun is shining."
Sliding my dagger through the dark crimson meat, I cut another slab of what looked most similar to venison but far more firm than normal, whilst the level of fat surrounding certain portions of the monster were larger than normal as well, meaning this would make a damn good steak...
lightsΝοvεl ƈοm Adding that slab of meat to the ice chest, I sighed softly as I began to cut off more, moving quickly and efficiently as we forced the monsters corpse to remain corporeal with our mana, though that would only prolong its physicality for so long.
As a whole, if left connected and together as a corpse, the mana would eat everything that remained and return it to the earth to be used for the next monster, but when it was harvested that mana that once belonged to a larger entity - the monster - was cut away from being a collective, allowing it to exist on its own.
A rather complicated set of conditions and reactions that I wasn't the most studied in, but it really boiled down to this: if corpse, dissolve; if outside mana is introduced, remain until outside mana dissipates, then dissolve; if a piece is removed from corpse, that piece is no longer a part of the collective.
That was my understanding of this phenomenon, but I wasn't allowed to think of it for long as I replied "The reason... It boils down to the children, I guess. Even with us utilizing most of our own supplies, the amount of food we consume is damn near equal to the humans, and that brought them down to a low amount of food left in reserve. I could care less about the adults and elderly amongst the humans, but the children are innocent and undeserving of being left to starve. It's... not something I want to see. They don't deserve what happened to them, they don't deserve to go hungry in the morning and be forced to wait until we come back with food..."
Jahi pursed her lips as she looked at me for a moment, returning to carving the monster up as she nodded, only to smirk as she said "Then the reason is you having a soft spot for children? Despite being a rather cruel, sadistic murderpuppy, you DO~ actually have a heart hiding beneath that abundant chest of yours~!"
Glaring at her, I raised the dagger a tad, only to roll my eyes as Jahi's gaze grew hotter, the Demoness returning to harvesting the monster only because we were on a timer, though I sensed the hastening of her movements as well...
"Well, it is good to know that you'd go this far for some random brat that you know nothing about. It inspires confidence in me for when its not just some random brat, but our child instead."
I froze for a moment before continuing on, my heart skipping a beat for what felt like no real reason since it was a rather normal thing to say, but...
"I mean, I've been able to see how you've acted with our younger siblings, and that was warming enough to witness, but this... this is nice as well. You already act like such a Mother to the rest of us, so I can only assume that that would transfer to the children you would bear for each of us... as well as the children that are borne from Anput and Leone as well."
My cheeks reddened as I kept carving; not with the blood of the monster, but with my own blood as I blushed, finding this avenue of conversation to be rather titillating despite its relative 'innocence' from Jahi's words; there was no crassness or sexiness coming from her voice, only fact as she sliced another slab of meat from the monster, adding it to her own ice chest and continuing to speak, 'unaware' of my current tumoil... as unaware as a woman who 'owns' my soul could be.
"Mature, competent, gentle and loving with us, sometimes it's hard to remember that those aren't just... natural traits to everyone, I guess. You show an ability to nurture and comfort us all the time, and while its incredibly nice to feel as your lovers, I can only imagine that those traits would be perfect for a Mother. And now that I got to see another... 'side' of you, I guess, I can appreciate that even more. After all, if you're willing to go this far for those human children, I would think that the amount you'd do for our own child would be significant as well."
I blinked as I stared at her, wondering if my lover was doing this to make it easier to get inside my pants or if she was returning to being her rather honest, yet so damn oblivious self as she knelt near me, her eyes focused on the carcass and not on me.
"Sometimes, I really do think it's a shame that we were born as we were; into a House as storied and valued as my own, and born into a time where things seem particularly unstable. The idea of just being a low level Noble - hells, just some random woman really - and being able to focus entirely on you, and only you sounds like such a blissful existence. Just me and you, married and living together, a nice, slow, peaceful life together as we go about our days and return to one another at night, making love and unworried about the time as we began a family of our own... maybe we'd find Anput and Leone somewhere along the way and manage to convince them too..."
Trailing off, Jahi looked up from the monster and met my eyes, her wistful tone at not having such simple life of just me and her adding the last piece of kindling to the fire inside me as I felt my heart pound inside my chest, full of love and want as I stared at the Demoness.
A scenario that we both knew had been impossible from the start, an alternate universe where we were able to just be ourselves; no worries about fighting or managing a large swathe of land as Nobility, no worrying about death or Fiends, nothing.
Just us as we lived a normal, uneventful life.
Jahi and I, and like she suggested, perhaps Anput and Leone would find their way to us again as well, but until that happened...
Just Jahi and I, until eventually someone else came to join us; a result of our love, growing and making itself known inside my womb...
A world that we wouldn't be able to see ever, but one we could eventually make for ourselves; peaceful and stable, ready for us to take that step from just lovers to something more...
Perhaps I was overthinking things, perhaps I was simply horny, perhaps I was being affected by the life I had once lived, where I had been incapable of even imagining a life like this...
A life where I was loved by someone so much that they wanted to go further, to stay by my side forever as we fell further in love, to the point that it bore fruit.
To be able to pursue the unique love of being a Mother; to have that warm, whole feeling as I accepted my wives everything and turned it into a product of our love...
Having a child...
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