Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

During dinner, there were obvious tensions in the air because Riveria had shown up in a completely different outfit than normal, with she and Vahn being the last to arrive at the table. All of the girls on the network knew what had occurred but it was very obvious something ’more’ had happened since Riveria spent the majority of the meal just blankly staring at her food and picking at it. She would occasionally glance at Vahn until he eventually explained the situation to put Riveria’s mind at ease. He had expected her to bring it up at some point but it was apparent she had left the matter almost entirely to him, not that he had an aversion to it from the outset.

Once everyone had eaten the majority of their meal, Vahn smiled and placed down his chopsticks with a bit of a ’clank’ to get their attention. As calmly as he could manage, Vahn explained, "There are a few things that everyone needs to be aware of that will likely take place in the near future. Most of you may be unaware, but Riveria is the daughter of the Elven King and, because of our relationship developing further, we have decided to get married before matters become more complicated..." Other than the goddesses and those of Elven heritage, everyone else had been completely in the dark about Riveria’s status and the atmosphere became full of excitement and intrigue, contrary to Riveria’s expectations.

Before Vahn had explained things further, Eina, who had been sitting to his left, brought her hands together happily and said, "Congratulations, Riveria~!" Ryuu and Lefiya also piggybacked Eina’s words, causing everyone else to congratulate her as well, even though some of them had eager looks of their own when thinking of ’marriage’. Vahn had tried to be considerate to the girls and left the decision up to them if they wanted to get married, but they would still have to come up with a justifiable reason to adopt the status in public since it would make them an even larger target.

In lieu of actual marriage, Vahn had gone over the various courting ceremonies and appealed to the girls as best he could, such as how he recently gave Emiru and Maemi their red beryl necklaces. Marriage wasn’t actually that ’important’ on the continent, with the vast majority of people simply saying they were married without any ceremony or officiation at all. The exceptions were when nobles, famous merchants, or influential people got married, as it was important for the status of those involved to be ’recognized’ publically.

Riveria was slightly taken aback by everyone’s reactions and felt a bit of warmth inside her chest after hearing their congratulations. As if broken from a spell of silence, Riveria smiled slightly and looked to Eina, saying, "I owe you an apology, Eina, as your life may become complicated until we resolve the matters with the Elven Kingdom..." Because Eina was a Half-Elf, she was already severely disliked by the majority of Elves and High Elves that grew up in the Western Forests. Most of them didn’t even know of her existence but, once the matter of Riveria’s and Vahn’s marriage became known, they would very quickly learn that he was also married to a Half-Elf. Not only that, but she was Vahn’s ’first wife’, giving her a fundamentally higher status than one of their revered High Elves.

Eina simply smiled and said, "Riveria, I’m willing to face whatever life throws at us since I believe we can overcome anything if we all work together. Everyone here is one big family, and I believe Vahn has the capacity to make all of us happy if we work together to support him..." As the ’head’ wife representing the mortals within the residence, Eina took the opportunity to say a few words to encourage unity within the group. They were already working well together when it came to taking care of Vahn’s mental wellness, so Eina believed that a proper ’balance’ could be maintained, at least in the interim.

At this point, Vahn decided he needed to speak up to clarify some things so he raised his hand to draw everyone’s attention and said, "We will be sending a missive to explain the situation to the Elven King, but the actual marriage will be a relatively private matter. I’d rather allow the information to diffuse naturally so it is more hearsay than anything, at least for the time being. I will leave Riveria to decide how she wants to publicize things since there are various matters that need to be taken care of before the information is disseminated to the public..." Larfal would probably freak out when he learns that his daughter was not only married but pregnant as well. However, he would keep the information to himself for the time being and try to resolve the situation privately instead of letting it be known to the public and causing internal strife within the Kingdom.

Riveria nodded her head with a solemn expression before she said in her somewhat husky and cold tone, "It shames me to have to involve everyone in my personal matters, especially with how they relate to the Elven Kingdom. I will do my best to-" Before Riveria could finish, Vahn held up his hand to bring her to a stop and released a heavy sigh before asking, "Is anyone here bothered by the situation...please be honest, as it is perfectly naturally to have inhibitions about politics and strife between our factions..." After Vahn’s words fell, everyone looked in curiosity to see if there was anyone else at the table that was worried. There wasn’t a single person amongst those gathered that seemed to even rationalize that it was a ’problem’ worth worrying about at all. Riveria watched this somewhat ’unique’ situation play out with confusion at first before understanding what Vahn was trying to help her understand as silence continued to dominate the atmosphere.

Vahn smiled at everyone and felt very proud to be associated with so many capable and understanding women. The vast majority of those gathered here had been working hard to overcome their pasts and create better futures for themselves. Through the network, and interacting with each other on a daily basis, many of the girls had become very close and could at least understand the situation without letting it bother them. They had already unified for a common goal, which was the happiness of everyone gathered, so it didn’t really matter what difficulties they may have to face. Ever since the discussion regarding the Divination had occurred, everyone had been thinking about the long term instead of just focusing on the present, causing even girls like Ais and Tiona to seriously consider matters.

Hestia was also very proud of everyone because they were her ’children’ and she had the fortune of being their goddess, even if they were only connected to her through Vahn at first. One of the reasons gods loved mortals was because they were able to create powerful bonds over a short period of time and, even though their individual existences were often insignificant, their ability to work alongside each other towards a common goal was very inspiring. If they came across a situation that couldn’t be overcome with just a single person, they would band together and could even create miracles, something the gods themselves envied a great deal as their power was ’fixed’ from the moment of their creation. Only by descending to the mortal world and placing heavy restrictions on themselves could they even get close to experiencing what it was like to be mortal, though many were never able to since their Divinities shaped their actions...

After letting the silence continue for a while longer, everyone at the table started to realize Vahn’s intent as well and started to giving knowing smiles to each other. Vahn looked at Riveria and saw her aura wavering about with ’happy’ colors even though she had a complex expression on her face. She was used to people acting as individuals and didn’t really know what it was like to have a ’family’ as, even in the Loki Familia, she had been at an elevated status and never opened herself up to other people. Now, however, Riveria realized she had already been integrated into the group even though she usually kept to herself and spent time in the Library or at Terra’s Garden. She started to realize that, not just toward Vahn, but Riveria owed everyone present a debt of gratitude that she could only repay by opening her heart to them.

At this point, Tsubaki was leaning against the table and remarked, "Riveria, you shouldn’t overthink things so much~" in a playful tone. Riveria’s eyes widened and a small blush touched her cheeks because the remembered her earlier interactions with Vahn and how he kept repeating Tsubaki’s words. Her reaction was noticed by everyone at the table, causing shock and smiles to appear on the faces of those gathered. Tsubaki herself began laughing boisterously while Riveria furrowed her brows in a pout and ’glared’ at Vahn with a look of blame in her jade-green eyes. Vahn hadn’t actually done anything to cause her any embarrassment, just as he had promised, but Riveria still felt like he was the ’cause’ of the current situation.

Vahn felt a little awkward under Riveria’s gaze and coughed to gathered everyone’s attention before saying, "The wedding will likely take place next weekend and it will only include Hephaestus, Eina, Hestia, Loki, Anubis, Ryuu, Lefiya, and, if you choose to bring her along, Aina. We don’t have enough room for everyone to safely attend the wedding but there will be a small celebration at the Manor when we return, so don’t be bothered by the situation." Since the list was somewhat short, many of the girls had melancholic looks on their faces until Vahn clarified there would be a celebration after the fact. As for Riveria, she was hanging her head with an exasperated expression at this point and seemed to have ’given up’ after hearing Vahn’s words.

The wedding would be taking place far sooner than she expected but, after realizing it wouldn’t take Vahn much time to create the ’belt’, it made sense that they would be married sooner rather than later. They still needed to ’create’ their child and she couldn’t actually be with him until they had officially tied the knot, as it would cause a lot of problems later on. Realizing that her chastity just received an expiration date of eight days, Riveria felt giddy and sick at the same time as her face alternated between being pale and having a deep blush. Fortunately, Vahn had waited until dinner was almost completed to bring up the topic so she could excuse herself with Ryuu, Eina, Syr, and Lefiya following after her...

Riveria’s exit brought the dinner to an ’official’ end, even though some people still had food on their plates. Vahn helped clean up every and disposed of the scraps by feeding them into his system, surprisingly gaining a single OP back from the materials used. He had actually been tempted to have the wedding on the coming weekend but knew it would have been better to give Riveria time to process everything. She would probably want to contact her father and sort out some other matters beforehand and this would also give Eina time to talk with Aina.

After everything had been cleaned up, Vahn retired to his room with Milan, as it was her night on the schedule. This ended up being a very ’ideal’ situation for Vahn since he enjoyed spending time with her as her affectionate behavior was always very appealing. His previous night with the twins had been very exhilarating, but there were several other things going on that he needed to consider at the same time. WIth Milan, however, Vahn could simply enjoy the moment while experiencing Milan’s love for him in a very affectionate manner. She was usually a very mature woman on the surface, but Vahn knew that she had a ’switch’ inside of her that made Milan show an eagerness to please while also proactively seeking pleasure for herself. The ’best’ part was that, unlike how many of the other Cat People behaved, Milan was very quick to ’purr’ under his hands and Vahn greatly enjoyed ’spoiling’ her after they finished having s.e.x...

Once they had finished, Milan was breathing heavily against his bare chest and purring very loudly without a care in the world before muttering, "Your hansss...Vahnyaa...they feel so comfortable..." Vahn continued to just slowly stroke around Milan’s abdomen in response while using the fingers of his right hand to stroke and massage around her neck and chin. Usually, Milan would just end up licking his body like all the other girls in the past but, with his [Petting] having been upgraded to A she seemed to have completely forgotten about ’giving’ and was just allowing Vahn to do whatever he wanted to her body. Though he enjoyed being comforted by the girls, situations like this were preferable to Vahn because, even though it made him feel slightly ’possessive’, it allowed him to express the love he had for them without making things s.e.x.u.a.l.

Eventually, Milan actually ended up falling asleep even though there was still a gentle purr emitting from her throat. This was what Vahn had been aiming for and he was very happy since the only other cat girl to fall asleep in his arms like this had been Chloe, who was already somewhat ’lazy’ when he spoiled her. Since Milan was the give-and-take type, Vahn was happy that he had been able to ’give’ more than she could take without simply exhausting her body. Cat People only purred when the were very comfortable, as it required their body to relax almost completely around people they cared about deeply. Though some girls ’practiced’ purring to make their partners happy, Vahn knew it was an honest response from the girls around him and it made him feel a great sense of accomplishment and an overwhelming affection for the girls...

Vahn awoke the next morning and noticed that Milan was already awake, resting her head against his shoulder and letting the tip of her tail gently tap against the bed in a very contented manner. They would be going into the Dungeon this morning alongside Tina and Milan had woken up a little early while thinking about her daughter. The ’comfort’ she had felt last night was something almost ’foreign’ to her since it was very different than when Vahn gave a massage. She didn’t know it, but Vahn hadn’t actually made use of his [Hands of Nirvana] at all since he had been curious about the changes in his [Petting] Development ability. This meant that, instead of stimulating nerves and manipulating bodily processes, Vahn had simply ’pet’ her into a complacent state that was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

Milan now felt much closer to Vahn than before, even though it was far tamer than many of their previous experiences. She didn’t know it, but her Love parameter had gone up nearly three-hundred points in a single evening and her sense of ’closeness’ was an actual phenomenon and not simply a ’feeling’. The only thing Milan knew is that she wanted her daughter to experience that same comfort and, though she still had many inhibitions about the future, Milan now felt like it was a lot easier to accept now. No matter how she searched, it was unlikely they would ever find a boy like Vahn that could bring them so much comfort and Milan felt it would be ’unfair’ for either of them if they couldn’t experience such a peculiar state of bliss...

Unaware of the thoughts going through Milan’s mind, which Vahn slowly brought his hand to her chin, ’alerting’ her to the fact he was now awake, Without any resistance at all, Milan kissed Vahn and felt that same feeling of comfort spread through her body when he gently embraced her back. When he pulled away, Vahn looked into Milan’s hazy golden eyes and whispered, "Good morning, Milan, you look very beautiful today..." before kissing her on the forehead. Milan felt like she wouldn’t mind simply sleeping in all day as long as Vahn was holding her but, as she had already been thinking about her daughter, kept her sensibilities and said, "We need to hurry up and take a bath..." with a small smile on her face.

While they were getting dressed, Vahn could feel a special ’instinct’ he had been polishing lately and remarked, "I feel like Tina is going to have another incident soon..." Not only was Tina herself aware of her unawakened [Luck] Development Ability, but Vahn had talked about it with Milan while explaining his conjecture to her and the gathered goddesses at the time. Tina wasn’t privy to the specifics, as it would probably alter her behavior a bit, but Vahn had needed to seek guidance from the others so that some misunderstandings didn’t get blown out of proportion. Because of this, Milan’s expression became somewhat serious and she simply released a sigh, saying, "She knows we were together last night so it will probably be in full effect...don’t worry, I’ll try to ’protect’ you from her if I can..."

The way [Luck] manifested was very difficult to actually understand and there was no way of knowing to what extent Tina would be able to ’benefit’ from its existence. Essentially, the more ’bothered’ by specific things she became, the greater the chance such events would happen because she actually wanted them to happen deep in her subconscious mind. This was why, even though Bell had been a pretty honest and innocent boy, he often found himself in compromising situations with women. Zeus had embedded the idea inside of his mind that he needed to be a hero and that it was the mark of a hero to be involved with beautiful women, especially if they were a damsel in distress. Since Bell had been drawn to various girls, he often found himself ’accidentally’ coming across them in very convenient manners that helped develop the plot further.

Since Tina had become very conscious of Vahn’s existence after he gave her the ribbon, her [Luck] was acting up and putting her in precarious situations, almost always related to him. Even if he tried to stay cautious around her, something would inevitably transpire that would either make him distracted or, if she couldn’t get to him directly, Tina herself would end up in a strange situation. One example was how, when Tina had been ’relieving’ herself behind a boulder, she managed to ’slip’ on nothing at all and fell out into the open with her butt facing toward the sky. Vahn had looked over out of concern and saw her pale white derriere in full view before averting his eyes and seeing Milan’s exasperated expression...

As they headed toward the onsen, Vahn could sense an approaching presence and immediately understood it was Tina based on the color of her mana. Vahn looked to Milan and said, "She is coming..." in a low tone, causing Milan to enter into the corridor before Tina could do something like ’sleepily’ falling down the stairs and into Vahn’s embrace. As expected, Milan saw her daughter wearing a pair of pale blue pajamas that were in a very ’compromising’ state with one of her shoulders exposed. Tina wiped her sleepy eyes with her long sleeves and said, "Good morning Momnyaa~." before getting ’snatched’ up by Milan before she could walk forward and ’trip’. Vahn had been waiting at the landing of the stairs with his eyes closed and allowed Milan to ’intercept’ Tina as it was the best method they had come up with to prevent her [Luck] from acting up.

To avoid an ’event’ from taking place in the bath, Vahn decided to simply wipe down his body and clean himself with his ’cleaning magic’ before heading out to the back yard to do a bit of early morning training. Milan could easily take care of her daughter without his assistance so he just needed to watch over both of them until his ’instincts’ informed him it was safe. Strangely, though he felt no danger directed at him, Vahn’s instincts were still firing and he wondered if her [Luck] had manifested in a different manner than usual. Though he was somewhat curious, Vahn felt like this ’curiosity’ might have been instigated by Tina’s [Luck] and decided not to investigate...

Unaware of the precautions being taken against her, Tina allowed her mom to help her get dressed as her sleepiness slowly faded from her body. She had never been a morning person but had felt like waking up early, even though she didn’t really understand why. Coming across her mom, Tina had felt like Vahn had been in the area but his scent had been masked by the smell wafting from Milan’s body. She smelled a lot like Vahn right now and Tina didn’t resist being ushered away at the time because it was a very comfortable aroma and she was used to her mom helping her get ready in the mornings. As for Milan, she felt a little awkward when her daughter hugged her waist and smell her belly because she knew that Vahn’s scent was still heavy on her. She hoped that her ’forgetting’ to wipe herself down after they had s.e.x was how Tina’s [Luck] had manifested today, as it would mean the ’danger’ had passed for the time being...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Unity, Balance, Affection’,’*Purring Intensifies*’,’Tiny Tina’s Terror’)