Chapter 57: Making plans 2
I sighed, snuggling Archer close. She opened an eye, peering up at me.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked softly.
"Not wrong, per se, just… different." I shrugged. "Believe me, I love the peace and quiet of home life, it's just… not really what I'm used to."
She smiled, shifting her position so she could more easily converse. "I know the feeling." She didn't even bother covering her bare form as she propped herself up on an elbow, creating a tantalizing sight. "Sex is amazing, but… it's not all there is to life. My biological clock has a few decades left before I'm ready to conceive, and Noa wouldn't have a clue what to do with a child if she had one."
"We are having children, though." I checked.
She nodded, smiling. "I've wanted them ever since we first started dating. You would be a wonderful father."
I snorted. 'Oh, yes. I would pass down the fine art of lying so instinctively and smoothly that one might as well be a sociopath. I'm sure they'll get lots of use out of it.' "Not sure what a Dragon-slash-Lust Archdemon hybrid would make." I said instead, pulling a thoughtful expression. "Male or female, it seems incredibly dangerous to the general population."
Archer blinked, then paled slightly. "Oh, God. An Archdemon with your endurance?"
"Exactly."
She shuddered, leaning forward into my embrace. "They would be a nightmare to raise."
"But worth it."
Her smile returned. "Undoubtedly worth it." She fell silent for a time. "What do you say we go adventuring again?"
I raised an eyebrow. "I seriously doubt we'll meet anything worth fighting."
"No, no… just traveling around, exploring the world." She curled into my arms, tail laid lazily across the bed. "Make maps, explore the continents. Learn more about the world we're in. Firsthand. Shabti were nice when we weren't sure what to expect, but now I want to do something outside of our home."
I nodded slowly. "That would work quite well, actually. Not just to explore, though. I was thinking of taking clippings of Noa's tree and planting them everywhere we can. That way, if her original tree ever dies or we're forced to seal it into another dimension, she can just hop over to one of the other ones."
Archer smiled. "We would need to take Noa on this adventure with us, of course."
"Of course." I agreed, hiding a smile of my own. "We would need her approval to plant the clippings. They are parts of her, after all."
"And you just so happen to have found a starting location where her sapling would be protected and even worshipped." She went on.
"It seems highly coincidental." I agreed innocently.
"…You already have a teleport gate set up in the mansion, don't you?"
I smirked. "Guilty as charged."
"Where to?"
I chuckled. "I had a plan of my own, a way to justify our plan to Demiurge. If we could set up a series of Waypoints, like back in YGGDRASIL, then we could start a centralized method of transportation for Nazarick. Rubedo already made the framework for the new teleport network, all we need to do is put the markers in safe places." I raised an eyebrow. "And if a fragment of the World Tree were to deflect outside Magic away from the markers, they would be completely undetectable, no?"
Archer rolled her eyes. "You do realize you could have just told Demiurge we were leaving, right? You control him, not the other way around."
I blinked, feeling momentarily sheepish. "…He reminds me too much of Ulbert." I mumbled. "Asshole would actually hunt me down if I didn't give him a good excuse for what I was doing. Guess it's just force of habit."
Archer's lips twitched. "If memory serves, he was right to do so. Every time he left you alone, you wound up discovering and exploiting a flaw in reality."
I shook my head, sighing. "Well, whatever. We really should have a transport system, and this way we hit two birds with one stone. Rubedo already knows, so it won't be too hard to convince the others. Call it a crash test, if you will—we'll still be only a step away if things go wrong, but we'll be out of contact otherwise."
"Not right away, I assume."
I shook my head. "Not in the least. Still, I figured you'd want to adventure around one of these days, so I made the arrangements."
Her lips curved into a smile. "You know me so well."
There was a knock at the door. Archer blinked, sitting up. Noa would've just walked through the wall or barged in without a word, so it definitely wasn't her.
"Who is it?" She called.
"Ah… my lord, is there anything you needed me to do?"
I blinked once. "Ah, right. Fuck. Forgot about that. I'll be down in a bit, could you wait in the living room?"
"Of course, my lord."
Archer nodded after a moment. "She's gone." Her cheeks pinked. "Not sure how I missed her, guess I was distracted."
"I'm distracting, now, am I?"
"Perpetually." She sighed, leaning over and stealing a quick kiss. "I should probably leave you two to it. I'd only get in the way." She smirked. "Just call me in if you decide to seduce her, mmkay?"
"Wait, hold up." I raised a hand. "She might be Chagama's daughter, but she isn't Chagama. Aura's her own person."
"Who totally has a crush on you." Archer said flatly.
I held up my hands. "Hey, you can't fault her for good taste."
"Ko, be serious."
I rolled my eyes, relenting. "To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure what to do with that." I admitted with a sigh. "Hence why I've left it alone."
"Dragons have as many mates as they need." Archer tilted her head. "Just take her in, too."
I gave her a flat look. "What, you think I'm going to build a fucking harem without letting you have a say in it?"
She smirked. "Oh, if I weren't all right sharing you with others, would I be the one to suggest it?"
Well, yes. Frankly, I programmed you to think that way.
"I seem to recall you growling at a bunch of Hamadryads not too long ago."
"That was different." She dismissed. "I was keeping hussies away from my man. Aura has had the most adorable crush on you since long before we left the Old World."
I raised an eyebrow. "So, what, now we're letting anyone from the Old World in?"
"I never said that." Archer frowned. "What's your problem? I didn't think you'd be so against having another girl in your nest."
"Another mate." I corrected, tone softening. "Archer… Dragons aren't like humans. Humans are 'passing' existences. All things pass for them. Emotions, memories, even their own bodies pass eventually. Dragons are 'eternal'. We have no set life span, no expiration date. And when we feel something for someone, it's something we'll carry with us for the rest of our lives. That is what it means to be my Maiden, Archer… I will love you for the rest of time, and no one will ever be able to replace you."
I hesitated.
"With you, it was a gradual thing. We nurtured love over the course of many years, helping those feeling grow together. I was yours and you were mine. Even apart, we had something special enough for you to pick a fight with Bukubukuchagama over."
"It wasn't picking a fight." Archer's cheeks puffed out. "We were love rivals."
I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Yet when Noa joined, we both fell in love with her at once. She was the missing piece we never knew we needed, a part of our little family that can never be replaced. It wasn't a rivalry, it was another love, one we both nurtured together. When it grew, when she grew, we held her close and made her ours."
"Because Noa was adorable as fuck." Archer said, shrugging. "I couldn't ever see her as a threat."
"My point," I said, raising an eyebrow, "is that Aura has a crush on me, but it's nothing like what we had. Any love we build would be bordering on worship for her. With you, with Noa, we all built our love from nothing and made something special of it through trial and hardship."
"So we do the same with Aura." Archer smiled, reaching up to cup my cheek. "It's all right if you don't want to, I can't force you to love anyone. You're right, we can't approach her as we've done before… but that doesn't mean we can't do it at all. Aura is a good girl, she deserves a chance at happiness. I think we both know that she's not likely to ever stop chasing you, so we may as well give it a chance."
"I'm more shocked you're considering this at all." I admitted. "You were ready to tear Chagama apart on several occasions, and you were acting the same towards those ladies earlier."
"Chagama and I are both natural predators." Archer said, frowning. "That's part of it, at least… that and her unilaterally declaring herself your Maiden definitely pissed me off."
…Okay, a lot to dissect there. "Predators?"
"Yeah." Her tail rose, the arrowhead pointing straight down for emphasis. "I'm a Lust Archdemon, a being evolved to conceive powerful children. Functionally speaking, my Race exists to create armies of Demons. Males and females alike, we're specialized for reproduction."
I blinked. "…Okay?"
She laughed at my expression. "What did you think we were for?" She teased. "Wild Lust Archdemons, unmated ones, that is, seek out powerful beings in order to reproduce with them. In my world, the first one created eventually mated with Lucifer, giving birth to every Demon in Hell. When I became an Archdemon, my instincts weren't so bad because I already had a powerful male capable of…"
And there was the cute blush I had been expecting.
"…A-anyway, once we're Mated, we spend ten years or so developing the right equipment. We gain the ability to breed specifically with our chosen partner, and from then on we become highly fertile." She cleared her throat. "I mean, highly highly fertile. And since the gestation period for Demons is about a month—"
"Wait." I cut in. "A month?"
She nodded. "There are Racial Skills that can cut down that time even further… but the cost for those are paid by lowering the intelligence or capabilities of the child."
"Right." I nodded. "Interesting but a bit out of the way of the point."
"Right. Sorry." She shook her head. "I spent a lot of time researching to rationalize my hatred of that pink—of Bukubukuchagama. The main issue is that we're both Mother Races; I'm a Lust Archdemon, she's a Ubbo-Sathla. Her kind is like mine, just for slimes. They find a powerful male and reproduce with them until there are hundreds of tiny slimes."
I blinked, searching my memories for a moment. If I recalled correctly, Chagama's base Race was 'Redeem Slime', but she did have 5 Race Levels in Ubbo-Sathla for the Duplication ability it granted.
"Interesting." Was all I said. "For now, let's just focus on what's at hand. What should we do about Aura?"
"…Take things slow, I guess." She brushed back her hair. "I see your point on where things stand… I guess I just got hung up on having someone new. Her Lust tastes incredible, and I can't wait to see what those legs are like in bed. Just, if you feel the tug, don't fight it. Let it happen."
"Should I be concerned that my wife is looking so intently at other women?" I teased.
"Only if you feel insecure." She shot back, rolling her eyes. "I could start wearing one of those outfits that shows off my Crest if you like?"
"Fine, fine, no need to bite my head off." I drawled. "I'll have her run your normal perimeter checks for now, is that good?"
She nodded, reaching over to snag a book off the nightstand. "I'll be waiting."
I slipped out of bed and tugged on clothes. Descended the stairs.
Best check on Noa too while I was at it…
Word count: 2050
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone