endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 130

After Loki finally left, everyone other than Vahn seemed a lot more tired than usual. Tsubaki tried to lighten the mood by laughing and teasing Vahn a bit, but he was somewhat distracted at the moment because of various system notifications. Seeing that Vahn wasn't playing along, Tsubaki wanted to teach him a lesson, but she was prevented from continuing when Lili used the lull to approach Vahn.

Vahn was still a bit dazed and didn't see the small Pallum girl approach him. It wasn't until he noticed a change in the atmosphere when she used her magic to transform that he finally looked up. Once Lili had gotten near him, she transformed into a chienthrope and started sniffing his body all over with a bit of frustration on her face. Her actions reminded Vahn a lot of what Loki had done previously, and his guess ended up being correct when Lili said, "It was that blondie and the Amazon girl, wasn't it?"

After finding his convictions earlier, Vahn had decided he wouldn't try to hide that type of information, so he looked into Lili's eyes and nodded his head. "Their names are Ais and Tiona. Ais is the girl with the golden hair and eyes, and Tiona is indeed an Amazon." Hearing his words, the people in the room all had slightly different reactions.

Tsubaki gave Vahn an approving nod, as she was very aware of the two girls. They were both beautiful, strong, and very sought after. Tsubaki felt like it was a good achievement on Vahn's end. Naaza and Lili seemed to be lost in contemplation for a while as the two stared at each other in some kind of non-verbal form of communication. After a moment of silence, Naaza nodded and showed a small smile which seemed to give Lili a bit of confidence as she looked back toward Vahn and said, "We'll continue to work hard, so don't abandon us just because you got your hands on those two girls, okay?"

Vahn was very surprised by the question, but before he could answer, Hephaestus grabbed him by the collar and started pulling him toward the door. She shouted over her shoulder as she dragged Vahn away, "You two should know very well what kind of fool this is. Work hard and focus on your own stuff for now, and try not to distract him in the near future too much." Hephaestus had been a bit frustrated since earlier, and seeing Lili and Naaza plotting right in front of her didn't help matters any. Before Vahn could start making more promises, she dragged him out of Tsubaki's manor and made her way along the sidepath toward Vahn's residence.

Naaza and Lili were left in the dining room with Tsubaki laughing her butt off at how 'cute' Hephaestus was acting. After she was satisfied, she looked toward the two girls and said, "You understand, right? Vahn is finally starting to grow up, but even though you two had a head start, you are not in the same position as some girls. You two are people he has 'saved', and he has a lot of affection for you because of that. If you want to change your position, you need to work harder."

The two brown-haired chienthropes nodded their heads at her advice, but Lili seemed to be a little rebellious as she said to Tsubaki, "And what about you, Tsubaki-sama? Vahn also has a lot of affection for you, and he seems to want to tease you more and more." Tsubaki, hearing Lili's accusation, raised her brow and remembered Vahn's actions in the recent days. She had noticed that, as soon as he started paying attention to the differences between men and women, he seemed to act a lot more precocious around her.

Looking at the two girls that seemed to be waiting for her response, she gave a big cheeky grin and said, "Who knows~? If you two don't work hard, maybe I'll get to him before you do!" Tsubaki started laughing again as she excused herself from the room. Naaza and Lili stayed behind in silence for a while before Lili looked to Naaza and said, "I think we have even more competition now..." Naaza nodded her head slowly at the words and the two talked for a bit about the future before going about their separate ways. Lili went to the study to read, while Naaza went into her workshop and started preparing new ingredients.