(Illustrations of Fravi and Mei on my Twitter @HectorAngelAlv2.)
CHAPTER 43 - A fight between old friends.
(Pov- Kei.)
Ay, ay, ay. Yes, it was my idea for the punishment, but I didn't take into account Drin's immense strength. She left me with all my bones broken.
I wasted many healing potions, but now I feel a little better.
I cheated on them, I slept with Mia and Treka while they were here, preparing everything. While they worked, I cheated on them. If I didn't receive a punishment, I would still feel very guilty.
I planned to let Drin torture me as she usually tortures her victims, but she flatly refused and begged me not to order her to do it. I don't want to take advantage of the power I have over her, so I agreed to just let them hit me like a piñata. They also refused to hit me with nails on sticks, but fists were more than enough to make me suffer.
Oh, my poor little body. It still hurts a lot. I don't think this pain will go away for several days. That's what happens when I get hit without any protection, as I didn't use magic to protect myself.
Oh... Ah... But hey, I have two other girlfriends... Mia and Treka... Damn it! I really only wanted to have them as friends. Why did my damn ability get out of control?!
Oh... Am I doomed to have no friends? Well, my girlfriends can also be my friends, right? Oh, I'm still very inexperienced in this whole romantic relationship thing.
If Cris were with me, he could help me. He was very wise in social matters, like friendship and romance, although he said he had never had a girlfriend. What a waste. He was one of the most handsome boys I've ever met! Why was he wasting his potential?! Sometimes I suspected he was gay, but I doubt it, because I found lesbian porn on his phone when he lent it to me to do my homework, as my phone had no battery.
I pretended not to see it, but I admit that I was surprised that he had porn on his phone. Wow, wow.
... I miss Cris.
I mean, after all, I still consider him my best friend. Without his and Nia's help, I would still be a fat antisocial boy. Nia supported me with words and diets, and Cris helped me exercise and train at the gym. I am really very grateful to them, but a little more to Cris.
Cris was really a very special person to me. If my luck with women continued to be shit in my world, I might have become gay and tried to win Cris over.
It's a joke... Well, a little. I admit that I felt a little confused about my feelings in the past.
I was attracted to Nia for a while, but also to Cris. Am I bisexual? I don't know... I think I just confused gratitude with attraction.
Besides, if I were bisexual, I would be attracted to men, and no man has ever liked me in that way in this world.
Yes, I just confused my feelings.
... Cris...
"Oh, that name brings back memories."
"Darling, what are you doing?!"
"Oh, hi, Drin. Are you done bathing already? I think we still have time to tour the city. By the way, nice dress. You look beautiful. You too, Eris, that black dress looks great on you, but I think it's too tight on your chest. Putting that aside, you look beautiful. I'm a lucky guy, huh?"
"T-thank you, darling!"
"Fufu. I have big breasts, wearing a tight dress emphasizes my two great attributes, nya."
"Uwaaaah! B-but that's not important, darling! Why are your hands in boiling oil?!"
"Oh, right, I forgot. I lost feeling in my hands, that's why I forgot."
I completely forgot that I put my hands in boiling oil to punish myself for cheating on the girls. I did it while they were bathing, because I felt like I hadn't received enough pain.
Thinking about Cris made me forget what I was doing. Oops.
"Drin, cut off my hands with that knife, please."
"Darling, I'm sorry for this, but you're an idiot!"
"I know."
Drin cut off my hands with a knife.
I raised my arms to see my wounds... Yes... I am definitely a sick psychopath.
I am so accustomed to pain that doing this to myself does not affect me psychologically... I am a monster.
I quickly used healing magic to regenerate my hands and sighed.
"Well... Well... Yes, I feel better about myself now. Do you want to dine at some fancy restaurant?"
"Kei, we already accepted that you will have more girlfriends. Why can't you accept it, nya?" Eris said.
"Of course, I accept it, but that doesn't mean I don't feel bad about it."
"Darling, please don't do it again.
"... I'd rather not talk about it anymore.
I returned to my form as Crisfa and smiled at them.
"Fufu. Alright, Crisfa is ready to go out! Beauties, will you accompany me?"
They looked at me with doubt, possibly still worried. Ah, I think I really am an idiot.
I took their hands, pulled them towards me, and hugged them around the waist.
"Leave your worries for later, lovelies. We're in the city of freedom! Let's party! Put your problems aside and enjoy. We don't have free days every day."
"Wow. I'm surprised at how good an actor you are, Kei, nya. Crisfa and Kei Molfer really seem like two completely different people."
"Fufu. Of course, you damn cat! Never doubt the natural talent of my darling!"
I put my fingers on their lips to keep them from talking.
"Shall we go?"
They nodded quickly.
"Let's go."
I'm sorry, girls, but I really wanted to feel better about myself.
I have a harem... Harem... I know any man would be jealous of me, but I don't enjoy it. I've always thought that the harem is unfair to women. Why should they have to share the man they love? It's not fair.
Love is a special feeling. If a man shares that feeling with many women, it ceases to be special and becomes more generic.
I love my girlfriends equally because of my ability, which is why that feeling, although it hurts to admit, is not as special as true love. I must live my whole life with an artificial feeling of love... It's not fair to them.
Ah... Zius, please, when all of this is over, divide my soul and body into many parts, so that each of my girlfriends can have a Kei for themselves and not have to share.
I wonder if there's a spell that would allow me to divide my body.
We left the house and I took a breath... Ah... Well... Pretend it doesn't affect me... As always.
•
•
Kei and the girls decided to go out and explore the city as they had all their free time in this place, to make sure that everyone in the city knows the name of Crisfa, the next class S adventurer.
Obviously, Drin and Kei were using their adventurer forms.
"I heard there's a festival. Do you know more about that festival?" Kei asked.
"I think they celebrate the beginning of the 'Fate' tournament, nya," Eris said.
"It's true, it starts tomorrow... Tomorrow... Tomorrow?! Shit! I don't have time to prepare. My mother will kill me! She'll humiliate me! She'll wipe the floor with me!" Kei exclaimed.
"Don't be so pessimistic, darling. I think you can beat her," Drin said.
Kei remembered how his mother defeated Near. He began to tremble with fear just by remembering her.
He was no match for Near, so he couldn't imagine a scenario where he could defeat his mother.
If his mother could defeat Near, a hero, it was impossible for Kei to defeat her if she took the fight seriously... And Sei Molfer always takes fights seriously.
"I'm dead," Kei said, imagining his mother smashing his face.
"You have to show your kids that you're a great adventurer. I'm sure you can defeat her, nya," Eris said.
"Thanks for your confidence, Eris."
Meanwhile, a Slime was stealthily following them, far enough away so as not to be detected by Kei and Drin's monstrous instincts. The Slime was also listening to them to get more information about them.
"She's the demon. Hmm... But she's very weak... What are they planning? Did the demons really manage to convince Kei Molfer to betray humanity?" the Slime thought.
While the Slime thought of several theories about Kei, he began to get nervous, and it wasn't because he felt the Slime's presence, he became nervous because of the words that came out of Eris. Words that scared him too much.
"W-wait... What do you mean 'kids'?"
Eris laughed as her ears moved cheerfully.
"Fufu. It was a surprise, but we'll tell you... We're pregnant, nya!"
And upon hearing that, Kei's heart stopped for a second.
"Eh?"
Kei began to sweat coldly, while his whole body trembled, both with excitement and fear.
"What?! Pregnant?!" he almost shouted, drawing attention from the people around them.
Eris just smiled at him, and Drin took his hands and looked him in the eyes.
"Aren't you happy? We're having a child, darling," Drin said, with shiny and adorable eyes.
"Those shiny and adorable eyes won't work! Of course, I'm happy, but this must be a mistake! Uwaaaah! I knew I should have used protection! Magic isn't that powerful!"
The Slime watched them in silence as they argued, at the same time transmitting messages to Cris.
[Is it possible to impregnate a demon? Humans and demons are incompatible.] The Slime said to Cris, through the [Thought Communication] ability.
[Tsk. Kei Molfer has a romantic relationship with two women. Kei Edna would never do that, he hates harem and infidelity with all his being. He's definitely not my Kei. He's just an impostor.]
[Cris, Kei Molfer activated a soundproofing field when they mentioned the pregnancy. I can't hear anything. What should I do?]
[He's not Kei Edna, he's an impostor. Let's get rid of the impostor.]
"We must prepare!"
Kei took out all the money he had in his pockets.
"I need to buy diapers, clothes, toys, and so on, and so forth! We have to buy a lot...! Huh?"
And finally, he realized the mistake he was making.
He realized that the girls were lying to him, but he realized too late because those words really surprised him, even though it was a lie.
"Wait... This is impossible! I can't have children, literally! When I was a kid, I sometimes slept with my parents... And since they're married, they have sex... And since I was next to them, I could hear them... Unfortunately, I was a baby, I couldn't tell them to stop... It was a disturbing experience... Well, the point is, after they finished, my mother took a potion. Years later, I found out it was a contraceptive potion. If she took that potion, she couldn't have children for a certain time. So I bought a potion and improved it with my magic... The results showed in my mind. When I took it, I woke up a new ability: [Sexual Protection]. It's an ability that protects me from diseases and prevents me from having children... It's impossible for me to have children! Although I would like to... If I defeat Fravi, I will deactivate the ability and have children... And, Drin..."
Kei approached her ear and whispered to her.
"Humans and demons are incompatible. We can't have children... But if we survive, I'll find a way for us to have children."
He stroked her head and smiled at Drin.
"It's a promise."
"Y-yes... It's a promise, darling."
Kei snapped his fingers and sighed.
"I removed the soundproofing field. Uffff. I have to admit, I was really scared to hear that."
"We were just joking, nya... But you seemed excited a few moments ago."
"I do want to have children, but not now... I don't want my children to be orphans... It's very possible that I'll die. If the heroes or my mother find out about me, I'm a dead man. It's very possible that I'll die and..."
"It's not just possible, it's a reality," said a girl.
"Huh?"
"Darling, she heard you whispering. It's not normal," Drin said.
"Did that girl just threaten you, nya?"
"The mother Slime?" Kei said.
Cris approached them, and Kei felt her thirst for blood.
Immediately, he put his arms in front of the girls and stepped back a few steps from Cris with them.
"What? Is she the mother of the girl I helped?"
"Is that the Slime woman, darling?"
"She looks like a human, nya."
The little Slime jumped onto Kei's shoulder.
"If you don't want them to find out you're helping the demons, accompany Cris. We can't fight in the city."
"Cris? Is your mother's name Cris?"
The Slime jumped and moved away from Kei.
"This way."
Cris walked away, and Kei clenched his fist with force.
He has no choice but to accompany them. They know his secret, if he lets them go, his secret identity could be in danger, completely ruining his plans.
"I let my guard down. I'm an idiot... Let's go, we have no other choice."
Kei and the girls followed her, while Cris simply walked without saying anything.
"Darling, I feel hostility from them. Did you make a mistake?"
"No, I definitely didn't feel any hostility from them. They seemed like good people to me."
"Kei, I'm sorry to say this, but you made a mistake. Slimes are not human beings, they are monsters, and they don't have a heart. It's quite easy for them to fake emotions and deceive." Eris said.
"Damn it." Kei clenched his fist until small drops of blood began to fall.
Cris looked at him and after seeing how angry and desperate he was, she sighed and continued walking.
"My Kei is not an idiot, you damn impostor," Cris thought.
And that would be the biggest mistake of her life.
"Darling, she probably belongs to the Nero Slime clan. Their leader, Commander Nero, is a Slime who can take on human form. She's a demon."
"I let my guard down with a Slime... I let my guard down with a Slime!"
"Kei, Slimes are the weakest monsters in the world. No one would imagine that there are powerful Slimes. It's not your fault that you let your guard down. Your instincts didn't warn you because your body doesn't see Slimes as a threat to you," Eris said.
"My only mistake was trusting my instincts completely... damn it!"
"Darling, I also made a mistake. It was also strange to me that there were intelligent Slimes in this place, but since you said you didn't feel any danger, I never thought of the possibility that they were pretending to make you let your guard down."
"But they are still demons. Even if we lose and they reveal that Drin is a demon, we can fake Drin's death during the fight and deny everything. Who will they believe? A demon or you, a Molfer?"
"Also, darling, if the heroes become suspicious of you, I could take on the identity of the hero Kei and appear in small villages or cities so that you stop being a suspect. Don't worry, darling, this problem has a solution."
Kei looked up and watched Cris's back.
"You fooled me, and I thank you for it. Thanks to you, I learned something new. You learn a lot from mistakes. After I kill you, no one will ever be able to deceive me like you did," Kei thought.
•
•
(Back in time)
17-year-old Cris was watching Kei eat in the school cafeteria.
Cris was eating with his friends and Kei was eating with his friends.
They were best friends, but that didn't mean they were always together. When Cris hung out with his friends, Kei would distance himself and sit at other tables, thinking that Cris wanted to be alone with the girls to flirt with them, but the reality was different.
"Hey, Cris, why don't you confess your feelings to Kei? I think he's gay too, he doesn't go out with any girls."
"It's true, he's gay. He rejected me instantly."
"Me too."
"And me."
Cris knew that Kei always rejected girls. He thought he rejected them because he didn't know them. That's one of the reasons, the other reason is that Kei thought they wanted to play a joke on him, so he always rejected them instantly.
"He's not gay, I asked him... I don't want to ruin our relationship."
"He hasn't rejected me and I like him... Does it bother you that I'm going out with him?"
"It doesn't bother me... Good luck... You'll need it."
"I'll tell him I want to be his friend first. Step by step. They made the mistake of wanting to go out with him instantly. The secret is to start as friends!"
Unfortunately, Kei died the next day, so that girl never got to tell Kei how she felt.
Kei and Cris were best friends, but that relationship is about to change due to a misunderstanding.
•
•
Kei and the others moved away from the city. They were in an isolated and quiet place, with no humans around, only trees. They were in the middle of a forest, the perfect place to fight without being interrupted, and where they could talk without attracting attention.
"Well... Who are you really? Do you work for the heroes? That medal on your blouse is the symbol of Frima's subjects," Kei asked.
"She probably stole it, darling."
"I'd like to think so, but medals can be tracked. Why would she risk being tracked? It doesn't serve as a disguise, because the medals are only known to the elite members of the world, and I know this because the Molfer family belongs to the elite. Why would she steal a medal and wear it? Taking the identity of one of the members is useless, because the medal confirms the identity of the bearer through its magical power, and without the original member's magical power, the medal does not activate. And to meet with Frima or another member of her subjects, one must confirm their identity. So, Cris, do you work for Frima or are you foolish enough to try to use something you can't use?"
"Well, well, well. I almost fell asleep with your long explanation. My name is Cris and I work for the heroes. You work for the demons, which is why I'll kill you," she replied.
"Did Frima not realize your true identity?" Kei asked.
"You wanted to fight in the city? That's false. You didn't want them to discover your true identity... You have demonic magic. You're a demon," Drin said.
"You're the demon, I'm just a simple and adorable Slime... Crisfa... Or do you want me to call you Kei Molfer?" Cris said.
Kei sighed and returned to his normal form, ready to fight at full power.
A red glow surrounded his clothes and his clothes shrank a bit, adapting to his body.
"You found me out," Kei admitted.
"Wow, your clothes shrank... What material is it made of?" Cris asked.
"It's magic clothing. My lovely Drin made it for me yesterday."
"Oh, lovely?! Thank you, darling!" Drin exclaimed.
"I see. Magic clothing, what an original name... One question, are you the hero Kei? Is your real name Kei Edna?" Cris asked.
"Did they order you to kill him? I knew Fravi would... I'm not the hero Kei. They know I'm not him, they've already checked. I just look like him. And my companion is a demon, but she's a good one. She's my familiar," Kei said.
"You're telling the truth... Except for the good part. You told a lie," Cris said.
"Huh?"
"I have an ability that detects lies, and it never fails. You're not the hero Kei, but she is evil."
"Detects lies? I am the hero Kei... Is her ability failing?" Kei thought.
"One last question... Are you helping the demons? Are you on their side?" Cris asked.
"I'm not helping them. I'm not on their side."
"Another lie."
"I'm not lying! My companion is a demon, but she's a good girl...!" Kei said.
Kei remembered all the evil things that Drin had done and regretted his words.
"Shit, she is evil... But she controls herself...! Sometimes..." Kei said.
"Very few times, really, Kei. We have to accept it, nya," Eris said.
"S-sorry, darling."
"I don't care what you say. You help demons, you must die."
"You have demon magic. You're a demon too, nya!" Eris said.
"Tsk. I don't have time for nonsense. Die...! Oh, shit. You survived."
Cris ran away with the Slime.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Someone descended from a tree behind Kei.
He didn't need to turn around to know who it was; her mere presence confirmed it.
"Hello, son."
Sei Molfer petted Kei's head.
"What are you doing here, Kei?"
"M-Mom?!"
"I felt your presence and came to see you. What are you doing here?"
"D-didn't you hear what I said?"
"I'm sorry, I just arrived. What did you say?"
"... We were discussing what to eat. I wanted to hunt a pink bear. Eris wanted fish. And Nia wanted giant rabbit."
Fortunately, his mother couldn't detect lies, so he could lie to her without fear.
"Well, well. Hello, girls. I hope my cute Kei is treating you well. He may be a man, but he inherited a lot from me."
Sei Molfer petted Drin's head.
"Thank you for taking care of my son."
"Y-yeah..."
"Why is she the favorite...?! Hmmmmh!"
Kei covered Eris's mouth to prevent his mother from getting angry.
Kei looked in the direction where Cris escaped.
"Heroes wouldn't trust someone with demon magic. Who was she really? I have to do something... What do I do...? I have no choice," Kei thought.
Kei looked his mother in the eyes.
"Mother, I don't know what you're doing here, but I have to go. Let's go, girls."
Kei ran away, and the girls followed him.
"Don't follow me, mother!"
"Wait, Kei!"
Kei realized that Cris was sitting under a tree and stopped in front of her.
"Cris, we'll meet here tomorrow and settle our issues. Is that okay?"
"I don't want to have problems with your mother, I'm not crazy. See you tomorrow."
Cris turned into a Slime and walked away.
"My mother really is very scary, huh?"
"Do you want to feel real fear?!"
His mother caught up to him and hit him hard on the head.
Kei was thrown and hit a tree, breaking it completely.
"I told you to wait!"
"It hurt, mother! I have to train! Because of you, I have to participate in that stupid tournament. And since we're enemies, I don't want you to see my secret moves. Also, some woman I don't know is challenging me to a fight! Ahhhhhhh! I just wanted to climb to class C, not participate in a stupid shitty tournament!"
"I see... I was training here too. Will your companions participate?"
"I don't know."
"I want to support Kei from the stands, nya."
"Me too."
Kei sighed and looked up.
"So many problems in such a short time... I'm an unlucky protagonist," he thought, before being hit in the face by his mother again.
"Who was the girl you were talking to?! Don't think I didn't see her run away when I arrived! And since you didn't chase after her, I figured she wasn't an enemy.
"Ahhhhhhhh! Damn crazy woman! What do you care?! She's my rival, not yours! Get your ass out of here, I'm training to break your face!
Everyone went silent and slowly Eris and Drin covered their eyes, anticipating the inevitable bloodshed that was about to happen.
"Kei loses control when he gets angry, nya."
"This won't be pretty at all."
Realizing he was starting to sweat, Kei understood that he had made one of the worst mistakes of his life.
"Uh... W-well... S-sorry, it's just... You know... Puberty and stuff."
His mother put her hand on his shoulder and Kei swallowed hard.
"Skin or boiling oil?"
"B-boiling oil."
"Then skin."
She pulled out a knife from her pocket and started peeling the skin off Kei's arms, while he tightly closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to bear the pain.
"I'm your mother, you respect me!"
"Ouch," said Drin and Eris, upon hearing what she was doing to Kei.
•
•
In Godfer, Fravi was kneeling before the supreme God.
Fravi's appearance was, without exaggeration, very beautiful. An appearance that is not worthy of the disgusting personality that Fravi has. Pink and long hair that reached her buttocks, blue eyes, large breasts and beautiful legs. She wore a white and tight dress that highlighted her cleavage and legs a lot. A Goddess whose appearance would enamor any man, but any person who knows her would prefer to die than be by her side, or even talk to her.
The Goddess Fravi, the eternal loner. A nickname she earned because, since she separated from Zius, no one has dared to speak to her, and those few who dared, ended up dead, as Fravi cannot stand to be spoken to.
But that feared Goddess was trembling with fear.
The reason was obvious, she was afraid of the supreme God. Not even the rudest and most dangerous Goddess in the world of the Gods dared to bother the God of Gods, the supreme God.
"Do you know what you just did?"
"I-I'm sorry, I have to protect my world... It was necessary to manipulate Cris's ability so that she would think Kei was lying."
"You're a Goddess. Your job is to observe and not interfere. I should eliminate you now."
"P-please don't! I'm sorry, it was necessary! Please forgive me! I'll do anything!"
"Anything?"
"Y-yes."
"Perfect. Send the following divine message: 'Cris used Frima. Cris is a demon. She plans to kill the heroes. Do not trust her.'"
"W-what?! B-but..."
"Do it. Now Kei deserves to have some help. With this, both will be even."
"Y-yes... I'll do it."
"Leave. You annoy me."
"I'm leaving."
Fravi disappeared and the supreme God smiled.
"Kei's identity will be safe for a while longer. Perfect."