Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos-Novel

Chapter 815 - Stance

After the girls had awoken, Vahn spent around half an hour explaining things to them, keeping it moderately more concise than his discussion back at the Manor. Shakti and Rufina, who had already taken vows of secrecy long ago, were also in attendance. Neither girl really understood the true meaning behind his words, as they hadn’t been privy to many of the things happening behind the scenes. However, once Lefiya volunteered to help him make a few things clear, allowing him to change her hair color and b.r.e.a.s.t size a few times, it was a lot easier to believe what he was saying. Following this, Vahn also brought up the idea of becoming his subordinate or retainer, clarifying that it wasn’t a means to simply change their appearance and they needed to put a lot of thought into it before making a decision.

Tiona had been very keen on the idea of becoming his retainer after seeing Lefiya’s b.r.e.a.s.ts inflate and deflate a few times, but ultimately gave up after Vahn affirmed that she was fine the way she was. Since she was one of the girls that had the (True Love) parameter, it would be nearly impossible for her to become his subordinate or retainer in the first place. The only girls in the group that could easily fall into that category were Chloe, Lili, Haruhime, Mikoto, Shakti, and Rufina. There was simply a lack of ’perspective’ on the part of the other girls, as their personalities and individuality had been defined long before their exposure to Vahn. Even Shizune and Tina weren’t good candidates as their affection had developed to an extreme in a somewhat skewed manner.

Ultimately, Rufina agreed to become his subordinate, but not before asking, "Tell me, Vahn...do you even like me...?" To this, Vahn nodded his head and honestly stated, "Rufina, I won’t deny that I’ve always had an interest in you. However, with your past, I didn’t want to pressure you in a strange manner and manipulate your feelings while you were still trying to adapt to a normal life. If you’re asking if I love you, the answer right now wouldn’t be a clear yes or no...I do care for you, especially after seeing how well you get along with the children...but it isn’t at the level you may require of me, at least not right now."

These words had dealt a bit of a blow to Rufina but she bounced back a few minutes later after thinking over the words carefully. When she had seemingly made up her mind, she lifted her head and said, "Even I’m not sure if what I feel is love...I can kind of understand where you’re coming from...haaaa...this is f.u.c.k.i.n.g annoying..." As she was speaking, Rufina had walked toward Vahn and looked up into his eyes, adding, "Kiss me...at least once..." To this, Vahn unhesitantly pulled Rufina into his embrace, startling her a little as he made his affections known. She tried to pull away after a few seconds, but Vahn held her waist for much longer than she had expected before finally releasing her...

When they finally separated, Rufina had a dark blush on her face but ended up releasing a sigh as she said, "It’s weird...I enjoyed it...a lot...but I still don’t know how I feel...something just feels off..." This time, Rufina looked over towards Shaki and Vahn was able to feel her heart thump a few times since they were still close together. Though her heart throbbed a few times when they were kissing, Vahn could tell through the Affection system that Rufina didn’t quite love him. Her bracket parameter still showed (Love?) and it didn’t seem like it would change any time soon. Even so, she agreed to become his subordinate just for the chance of spending more time with him in a more meaningful manner. She also requested to be converted from a half-creature into a pure human, something Vahn easily acquiesced to. Noᴠelꜰire

Shakti was still loyal towards Ganesha and couldn’t make her decision at the moment, even though Vahn could tell she had wavered a great deal. When he saw this, he clearly explained to the two girls, "If you’ve made the proper resolution, you are always allowed to stay within the Hestia Familia tent. Be warned, however, as I’ve decided to stop holding back on the things I want to do...the next time I find the two of you alone, well, I’ll leave that to your imaginations..."

Vahn cracked a smile toward the end of his words that made Shaki and Rufina blush furiously, especially the latter. She balled up her fist and looked like she wanted to take a swing at him but Vahn just kept eye contact with her until she averted her eyes and ’dragged’ Shakti away by hand. As they were leaving, however, Vahn stretched out his hand slightly and sent petting energy through his domain as he caressed across both girls’ butts. This caused Shakti to release a rare yelp, looking back with wide eyes as Rufina dragged her away even faster...

Since they had understood what happened, Tiona had an expression of ’awe’ as she said, "Vahn has become a lot bolder now...I’m a little excited~?" Tione nodded her head, swallowing hard as she said, "Yeah, it’s like he finally grew up into a ’real’ man all of a sudden..." This caused Vahn to furrow his brows slightly, sending her a ’warning’ look from the side of his eyes that made both girls somewhat embarrassingly protect their butts with their hands. Seeing this, Vahn began to laugh boisterously as all of the other girls made a few comments of their own.

Following that, each of the girls that had an easy means to become his subordinates/retainers ended up agreeing to do so. This resulted in Haruhime and Lili to become his official subordinates while Mikoto and Chloe became his retainers. Since what Haruhime and Lili had towards him was a very powerful ’devotion’ that centered around feelings of love, they leaned towards the category of being subordinates. This was subtly different for Chloe and Mikoto, both girls who had wanted to be his ’shadow’ or his ’sword’ in the past, always thinking about how they could help him manage things instead of how they can be ’with’ him.

To prevent ’exploitation’ of the modify ability, as Lili had almost immediately asked him to change her from a Pallum into something else, Vahn said they needed to come up with a justifiable reason for requesting changes, other than simple ’wants’. He did, however, help Lili increase her height slightly and was able to discover another ’limit’ on the function. The ’maximum’ height he could increase Lili to was only 122cm, much better than her 110cm default height, but still a bit on the short side. This was a natural limitation of a Pallum’s physiology and, without altering the very structure of her body, making her any taller was impossible.

Even so, Lili was very excited to have her height increased by more than 10%, even though it made her look much thinner than she had been previously. That was something that she could fix through proper diet and exercise so she didn’t have any real complaints, repaying his ’assistance’ with a monstrously strong hug that nearly brought him to the ground. As for the other girls, Mikoto surprisingly asked for her b.r.e.a.s.ts to get reduced, giving the reason that they got in the way during combat and it was painful to wrap them. As a result, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were reduced to a modest B-Cup and she seemed surprisingly happy by the change, apparently having been a little bothered by how much her b.r.e.a.s.ts were growing.

Though there were a few other ’minor’ requests that Vahn gave in to, it was nothing that extreme since Shakti had eventually returned, informing that Finn had already started to gather people for the continued investigation. Vahn thanked her for delivering the message and chuckled when she very quickly left the tent after the fact.

Before he left, Vahn turned to Alexa and stroked her head for a short while, softly whispering, "There is no rush to make a decision...I am your father, Alexa, and I will never lose my patience with you. Just remember that I do not wish to hurt your feelings in the future..." Vahn had already explained things for Alexa and believed that, even if she chose to remain a True Dragon, things would work out. Even if he had to break her heart in the future, that was something he would have to do as her Father, regardless of how difficult it would be for both of them.

Alexa took a deep breath and rubbed her head against his palm, saying, "I like being a True Dragon...and I like being a girl...at least for the time being, I am fine with just being together with you, even if it never goes any further...one day, even if it takes thousands of years, I will eventually begin looking for a partner of my own...for now, I just want to stay like this..." As she was speaking, Alexa tightly wrapped her arms around his waist and brought her wings around his body at the same time. The girls all witnessed this and remained relatively silent, understanding this was something that needed to be worked out between father and daughter. There were some, such as Arnya, Haruhime, Lefiya, and Chloe, who wanted to help Alexa find a different form of happiness and Vahn had already exchanged glances with them, spreading a telepathic message to take care of Alexa for him...

After leaving the tent, Vahn made his way over to where a long queue had already formed, heading inside where Finn was still cleaning up from the previous night. He had consumed the potion Vahn left for him, completely removing his hangover, so Finn showed a vibrant smile and asked, "So, did you come up with anything? You seem...different..." Vahn returned a smile of his own and said, "I’ll explain the details to you later in the day. For now, let’s get this investigation over with and start planning for our next course of action."

Finn nodded his head and made his way out of the tent to send in the first person while Vahn sat down on the opposite side of the large wooden desk and disposed of the remnant alcohol from the previous night before setting out some incense. Though he had already dealt with all the people possessing negative auras, Vahn wanted to be ’fair’ so he made sure to ask about everyone’s reasons for wanting to assist in the production of Haven. Unfortunately, this sometimes led to very strange revelations and, seeing that the first person to come into the tent was an Amazoness, Vahn knew it would be much the same as the previous day...

The Amazoness was an attractive and fit beauty with healthy brown skin, light brown eyes, black hair, and wearing an outfit many women would classify as underwear. Though she wrapped a pareo around her waist, like many Amazonesses who tried to ’fit in’, she very ’casually’ removed it after entering the tent. With a very similar expression as most of the Amazonesses who interacted directly with him, the girl has a somewhat eager look on her face as she smiled and said, "Good morning, Vahn...my name is Agda Jedha...will you be checking my body personally~?" As she spoke, Agda played with the clasp holding her panty-like bottoms to her h.i.p.s and Vahn knew it would only take a small indication from him before a flash of tantalizing brown would meet his gaze.

Unlike how he had simply been ’dismissive’ the previous day, Vahn raised his hand this time and swept a wave of energy across Agda’s body as he said, "Calm down...I just have a few questions for you..." From Agda’s perspective, it was like a gentle and calming caress had touched every part of her body, causing her to release a hot sigh as a look of intrigue appeared on her face. However, when she saw the ’serious’ look in Vahn’s eyes, a shiver ran up her spine and she obediently sat in the chair opposite of him. Though her instincts were compelling her to try and get with the man in front of her, Agda felt a strange ’pressure’ on her mind that made her fearful of trying to push things too far...

Vahn had noticed this previously, but he was able to meet the requirements to view a person’s affection by ’touching’ them with his [Grooming] through his domain. He saw that Agda’s Affection was at 78(L.u.s.t) and temporarily removed her name from his plans. Since he was serious when he mentioned acquiring 10,000 followers, subordinates, or retainers, Vahn was looking for people that specifically had the (Loyal), (Exalted), and (Respect) parameters. Though he would certainly be able to appease a large number of Amazonesses, this would instead cause greater problems until he had dealt with Telskyura. Thus, though he was somewhat tempted by the fit and curvaceous body of Agda, Vahn told himself that he could always go to Tiona, Tione, Lili, Fenrir, or Aisha if he just wanted to spend time with an Amazoness...

After questioning Agda, learning that her reason for going to Haven was much the same as other Amazonesses, he sent her on her way. She was simply looking for a ’mate’ to produce a capable offspring and had ended up joining one of the Alliance Familia after learning how accepting they were of Amazonesses in general. There had been a large flux of their people into the City, much like Pallums, Beast People, and Elves, and things had been going relatively smoothly thus far. They almost all followed the rules that were laid out for them so Vahn didn’t have any problem with some of their people coming along just to satiate their biological ’need’ for strong mates.

Following the first, Vahn went through nearly an entire Unit of the expedition before finally wrapping things up in the early afternoon. He still needed to discuss things with Finn and Gareth before any attacks began and also had to wrap up some of the things taking place on the surface. Things were starting to get very busy but, after making sure things were running smoothly near Daedelus Street, he spent the majority of his day thus far in the orb making magic items with Asfi. She was also aware of the ’changes’ now and had even wanted to become his subordinate by her own volition. Since she was already his ’possession’, having the potential for greater benefits wasn’t something she was going to pass up on...

As a result, Asfi had asked Vahn to help her ’slim’ down a bit but, outright refusing to do so, Vahn then spent the better part of an hour ’showing’ her that she was fine just the way she was. Though they didn’t have s.e.x, as Vahn felt that Asfi simply wasn’t ready for it just yet, it didn’t stop him from allowing her to experience his ’Godhand’ for the first time. Since she was still a v.i.r.g.i.n, things weren’t as intense as they could have been but Asfi still ended up laying n.a.k.e.d on a spare bed with a very large wet stain on the bed from when she had peed herself...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Next thing you know, Rufina is going to ask to be a male so she can smash Shakti...O_O’,’Poor Alexa, got Daughterzoned...?’,’RIP Asfi, may you rest in peace(piss)...’)

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