I didn't open the door right away. Out of force of habit, I took a deep breath and let it back out.
Even though I didn't need air anymore, it still made me feel better and more relaxed to do so.
I closed my hand around the door handle, pressed the lever, and pushed it open. Lidy was sitting up in her bed with her back against the simple wooden headboard.
She had an even expression on her face, but Lidy didn't look mad, but she did look tired. I could only imagine what it must be like for her right now, but she looked to be uninjured.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I walked over to the bed with my plate for her.
I was hoping to share some of what I had brought, but I would be fine if I had to scrounge up something after.
"Tired, but that was my own fault for losing control like that, but I was irritated with how I had just asked such a simple th
I was curious to know how Missy was doing now, and I still hadn't taken her one as one of my girls. I was sure that the girls were still eating, so I headed over to the doors but was unsure of which one to go see first.I reached for Mary's door but then stopped and knocked instead of walking in.Last time Mary had been a little witch to me even after I kissed her, and that kind of miffed me. I hoped that this time we might have a better talk, or even words, those would be nice too; not like I didn't love and miss her cute hissing.*Knock, Knock!*"Who'sss isss it?" I heard Mary hiss, but then I heard Missy speak up."Who is it?""I don't knowsss, I jussst asssked!" Mary hissed in a more muffled voice, and I assumed she turned to scold her sister."It's just me, Kazz. I came to check up on you two and see how you were both doing," I called, trying not to be too loud since I just left Lidy to let her rest."Yesss, K… you
I sighed again as I walked to the edge of the pool where the girls were being kept apart. I activated my Fire Force Pact and the Water Undine Totem, concentrated on projecting my clam out to the girls that were balls of rage.The intense feelings I was getting from the two of them were animalistic, but I shouldn't be surprised. I kept on trying to treat these women like ordinary girls, but before I came, most of them were constantly trying to kill each other or avoid being killed.Still, Things were different for these girls now and the rest of them. I would have to start working on this more with them and maybe play referee a little better.Maybe this was another case, the same as Lidy, and I really just needed to look at what the problem was and deal with it.For Lidy, that problem had been my lack of understanding of how her abilities worked, so maybe Mary was something of the same thing. I have known since she first bit me that she doesn't like being
Maybe it was my pointing out her teasing, or maybe she had decided to get nervous. I had no idea, but now wasn't the time to be diving into another problem.I would have to talk with her more on the boat if we were leaving in a few days, but Missy wasn't as important right now as Tiga and Jessabell. I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do about the Omniphobic Minostien.There was Tiga, the Manitken, and her father to deal with, who might or might not be an idiot. All more things to add to the stack, but I was making progress, and soon I would be off this island, and I could relax for a bit once we were on the open sea.[Relax? Good luck, but you are right about having some less violent excitement for a while, at least. At some point, you will have to move off the beaten path, and you will be back in the thick of it again. Trouble and people with problems seem to gravitate towards you, and even on th
"Heard people talking about it in the village," I lied, not wanting to talk about Hero.It wasn't like I hadn't talked about him before, but now I thought that it might be better to keep quiet about him. I would have to do something about the ones that did know, but I am sure we will figure it out.[It is probably a good idea to keep quiet about me rather than let the rest of them know. As for getting rid of the memories, there are Demons that can, or the Sphinx can remove some things on request, but I don't advise it, even with Veronica. The Sphinx takes everything about whatever the memory was, meaning that you would be gone as well.]That was fair, and I was glad for the advice. Looks like I would be looking for some kind of memory-altering Demon of sorts.Nushi's horns still crackled, and Mary was starting to growl from behind me, but Nushi wasn't talking. I concentrated without flexing and then looked at Nushi with a stern expression.Her horn
I nodded for either of them to explain, and Mex was the one that answered, and Nixi gave an eye roll that said, just watch, this is going to be rich. While Nixi was stronger and older, she was not a Demon Lord, and Mex was, but I understood why she was rolling her eyes."There are other Demons there, but they are all beholden to Neft using his powers as a Demon Lord. I had them before but never used them, and once you kill Dao, you will have access to them. They aren't really a Demon thing, more like your Ranching ability, but far more limited in most ways. What it can do is assert control once you are bound with the people," Mex explained, but I was confused."Sorry, but you all don't really seem like the bonding type," I joked with a grin, and Mex laughed back."You aren't wrong, and I say this for you because you aren't the only person I have trusted, but you are the first person that Nixi has. The heroes come, take power, make a mess, and then leave without
"Fine, but what about where I find Neft? Isn't he going to hide when I storm into the place?" I asked.After the little chat I had with Neft, I was sure that he would be the type to run at the first sign of battle."You won't have to go looking for him once he knows that you are inside the Keep. That one is a proper Demon and didn't get the title of Demon Lord for nothing. Don't worry about that part," Nixi explained to me, and I nodded, reaching forward to put the plate on the table.Mary was curled into my chest now, and her snake was barely making any noise now. I had stuffed a lot of them and even got some of the meat for myself.I decided to change topics and leave Dao for tomorrow, but there was still Tiga that I needed to learn about and her father."What can you tell me about Tiga and her father? You said he was an idiot and hated his daughter, but he saved her and had to know then what she looked like. What am I missing here, or what aren'
I walked up the next flight of stairs with Nushi in my arms, and she pointed me over to a door that had her name on it. I walked over to the room and entered, closing the door behind me, but I was amazed at how much like her other room this was.I walked into the room with Nushi, around the table that we had all sat and eaten the first time I had given the girls eggs and cooked for them. Just a couple days felt like months with the speed that everything had been happening at.I walked around to the side of Nushi's four-poster bed and laid her down on it, but gave her a hand up to sit back up with me. As much as I wanted to tear the little bit of clothing she had on, I wanted to get some more information about the Nauticus.Whatever force was surrounding the mermaid girls, it must be something essential and maybe something I might use in the future."So, can you tell me a bit about the Nauticus and why you got so worried when I mentioned their names?" I as
"Not until I say you can," I said as I took the other hand away from her breast and then put both hands above her head and started to tie them."Don't be too rough with me; I don't like the hitting stuff that I had seen being done when my father tied up my mother. I just like the way that it feels to be restrained, but I can't do it; it's not the same," Nushi explained to me as I bound her hands, and I nodded to her.This wouldn't be like with Lizy, and this was just some bondage play, but there was no reason we couldn't have some fun with it."Sure, I will be gentle with you, but I am still going to have some fun with you," I said with a grin as I crawled on top of Nushi's small body to tie her hands to the headboard.Nushi's body writhed beneath me as I finished securing her, and then I moved my face down to hers and then softly kissed her blue lips. Nushi tried to kiss me more passionately, but I pulled away from her and climbed off her and the bed.