WIEDERGEBURT Act IV: Chapter 22

“Look at that! Raul’s crawling! Look at how good you are at moving! Come here, Raul! Let daddy hold you!”

The wagon moved along the sand dunes, but I hardly noticed as I sat on the floor with my legs crossed and held my hands out to Raul as he crawled toward me. I was so proud of my son. He’d be coming up on three months now, which wasn’t very old, and he was already learning how to move.

Kayli had been the same way.

Didn’t that mean all my kids were destined to be amazing?

Raul had a happy smile on his face as he crawled toward me, giggling and gurgling, placing one hand in front of the other. He stopped after reaching the halfway point, however. That made me a little worried.

“What’s wrong, Raul? Come on. Come over to daddy.”

Raul looked at me, then turned his head and looked at Fay, currently sitting on the couch to his right. He looked at me again.

Then he turned and began crawling toward Fay.

“W-what are you doing, Raul?! Are you not going to crawl to your dad?!”

Raul didn’t listen to me. It was like he couldn’t even hear my words. He crawled to the couch until he was right at Fay’s feet, then lifted his hands toward the redhead, who smiled as she leaned over and picked him up.

“Did you want to see your mommy again?” asked Fay with a doting smile. “You love your mommy, don’t you?”

“Ma! Ma!”

Raul was giggling and calling Fay “Ma,” and I was truly happy my wife was so loved by our son. But! At the same time! Yes, at the same time, wasn’t it a little unfair that he only seemed to care about his mother? What about me? What about his dad?!

“Ugh… this world is cruel…”

“There. There.”

I felt someone patting me on the head and looked up to find Siv standing above me. She wore one of those placating expressions I sometimes saw people use on distraught Spiritualists who failed their quests. Her hand was soft, so I guess I didn’t mind being petted. At the same time…

“That really doesn’t help.”

“It doesn’t?” Siv tilted her head. She seemed to be pondering something. “Then… do you want to have sex?”

“Not when Raul is awake,” Fay said as she slid her the left sleeve of her shirt down, baring her chest and allowing Raul to latch on. The boy drank quite a bit. I bet that was why he loved Fay so much.

“I’m sure Raul would love me more if I could produce breast milk…”

Fay gave me an amused smile. “Are you really trying to compete with me for Raul’s affection?”

“Of course not. I would never do that.”

While I told her I wasn’t trying to compete with her, I still felt my cheeks swell like balloons filled with hot air. Fay and Siv must have noticed my pout because they both giggled at me. I felt like pouting even more.

“Hey, you three!” Kari leaned down and called out through the open window near the driver’s seat. “We’re coming up on the lamia city.”

Since it looked like we’d be reaching the city soon, I placed my boots on and went outside, stepping into the blazing desert air. The difference between the inside of the wagon with its regulated temperature and the outside was astounding. I quickly channeled the water element through my body to keep cool.

Before anything else, I checked to make sure the lamia caravan was in good shape. There were about thirty lamia with us, not including Lin, and none of them seemed to be having problems. Of course, they only had issues during the night when it was cold. Their self-appointed leader, an older woman called Shakira, was at the head of this procession. She saw me and raised her hand in greeting. I waved back.

Lin was with Kari. She couldn’t sit in the driver’s seat, so she walked alongside the driver’s seat and spoke with her “Big Sister” in a loud voice.

“This princess is telling you, Big Sister, people are weak. She doesn’t understand it, but even Muhammad was pathetic. Why is everyone so weak these days?”

“Don’t you think it has less to do with them being weak and more to do with you being strong?”

“Maybe…”

“Sounds like you two are having an interesting conversation.”

“Darling!” Lin hugged my arm to her chest and smiled at me. “Listen to this, Darling! This princess and Big Sister defeated Muhammad in a single technique! All we had to do was hold him down. Then Big Sister launched this golden spear at him. It went right through his head and killed him instantly. Isn’t that pathetic? He turned into a giant snake, so you think he would be powerful, but we killed him with one attack!”

Lin had already told me the story of how she and Kari killed Muhammad. I also saw the spear as it blasted its way through his mouth and out the back of his skull. By this point, I was fairly certain Lin was just looking for praise.

“Muhammad died so quickly because you two have become so strong.” I reached out with my free hand and rubbed her head. Lin hissed pleasantly as she leaned into my hand. “In either event, Muhammad had reached the Third State of Spiritualism for the poison element, from what I hear, but he hadn’t mastered that ability in all the time he was alive. He only reached it because he lived for so long.”

“This princess trained hard to use her elements to the best of her abilities,” Lin added.

“Exactly. Aside from having worked hard to refine the powers you have, you also reached a higher state of Spiritualism with darkness, earth, and poison. It’s only natural you’d be stronger.”

We soon came upon the lamia city. There were a pair of guards present, but they began shouting and one of them hurried back into the city when they spotted our caravan. They were probably going to alert Queen Medusa.

“We’ve been waiting for your return,” the lamia who remained behind said. I realized it was Aliya. “It looks like you successfully rescued the kidnapped lamia.”

“Yes,” I said.

“This princess and Big Sister also killed Muhammad,” Lin said. She puffed out her chest with pride.

Aliya’s indulgent smile reminded me a bit of Kari’s smiles. It was that sisterly look. That kind of made me wonder if Kari would find herself competing for the title of “big sister” at some point.

“I would expect nothing less. You did a great job, Princess Lin.” Aliya looked at me. “You too. Thank you for rescuing our people.”

I shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

Our group was let into the city. Aliya joined us as we traveled.

It was relatively early in the morning, despite the heat, and there were a large number of lamia lounging around. They were just lying on the ground. Lin often did this as well. She said that by lying on a hot surface and basking in the sun, she could warm up her body much quicker than if she remained indoors. Sometimes during our expeditions into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, I would catch her doing this when Kari was dragging Fay through various ruins.

This, I discovered, was also the reason lamia did not wear clothes. It was simply easier to warm up when you weren’t wearing anything. Since that was the case, their culture had been built around the idea that clothes were useless and discarded them many centuries ago.

A lot of the lamia looked up as we passed by, but I didn’t pay them too much attention. We had soon reached the town square where the party had been held. Queen Medusa had already come down from her palace and was standing in front of the stone stage. Her eyes looked calm and collected, but her tail was thumping excitedly against the desert sand.

Like mother, like daughter, I guess.

“Queen Medusa, you will be pleased to know that we have successful rescued your people and taken care of Muhammad,” I said.

“This princess was the one who killed him,” Lin added.

Kari rolled her eyes. “I believe I was the one who struck the finishing blow.”

“But this princess helped!”

Queen Medusa’s face cracked into a smile. “Muhammad is even more powerful than this queen. You have grown very strong, Lin.”

“Eheheheh.”

While Lin rubbed her head like a bashful young girl, with none of the arrogance she had displayed earlier, Queen Medusa turned to me.

“You have done us a great service. This queen will always remember what you have done for her and her people. While it is not enough to compensate you, this queen would like to host a feast in your honor.”

I could have refused. I actually had half a mind to say thanks but no thanks, but I didn’t. Queen Medusa was Lin’s mom. Having myself, Kari, and Fay join in another celebration--one that hopefully wouldn’t be destroyed by a group of idiots attacking us out of the blue--could also be a good opportunity to help the lamia become more inured to humans.

That was why I did not object.

Thus preparations for another party began.

***

The party was going to take place two days after we rescued the lamia. I did not have a hand in preparing the meals during that time. Queen Medusa said that since this was in my honor, it would be inconceivable to allow me or my wives to cook. Those two days before the party were mostly spent relaxing or exploring the palace.

Just like Kari had suspected, this palace was indeed an ancient ruin from before the Catastrophe. The basements beneath the palace proper had already been cleaned out, but the many rooms located inside appeared to be bedrooms, storage rooms, training rooms, and a meeting room that made me think of a place where war councils were held. It might have had the aesthetic of a temple, but it was definitely something designed to combat the Sekbeists.

At the moment, it was just Kari and me.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve gone exploring on our own,” Kari said as she walked with her hands behind her back. We were traveling down a spiral staircase that led further into the basement levels of the palace.

“We usually do things as a group,” I agreed.

“Especially exploring ancient ruins like this.” As we reached the bottom, Kari turned to me and began walking backward. “I think the last time you and I explored ruins on our own was during our previous life.”

“It was before the Sekbeist became a problem,” I said softly.

“That’s right.” Despite the heaviness I felt, Kari’s cheerful smile made me feel better. Her bright grin was sunny and full of joy as she continued talking. “Back then, you and I had nothing to worry about except exploring our next set of ancient ruins. Life was very easy back then, huh?”

“It was.”

“Would you trade our life now for your old life?”

We walked into a corridor as Kari asked me this question, which I didn’t even need to think about to answer.

“No, I enjoy the life we have now and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Kari’s smile became softer as she reached out and grabbed my hand. “Me neither.”

Our explorations of the palace took us down to what looked like the last floor. At the very least, we were unable to find any other stairs leading down. As we traveled down a corridor with round walls, our travel was abruptly halted by the appearance of a massive door.

The door was made of mythril, the strongest substance in all nine realms. Despite being thousands of years old, there wasn’t a single rust stain on it, as if someone had come down and polished this door every single day. Numerous Runes covered the door. I couldn’t tell if they were functional or decorative, but it looked like they were telling a story.

“This is about the Drakvar,” Kari said as she placed a hand on the door and traced some of the Runes. “It looks like this is saying something about the Drakvar’s greatest treasure.” She turned to me, her eyes sparkling. “Hey, Eryk. Do you really think there’s treasure on the other side? What if there is? I really want to see it!”

“Unfortunately,” a voice said before I could speak up, “this queen cannot let you past that door.”

“Queen Medusa,” I said as I turned to watch the lamia queen slither up to us.

“You two seem to know a lot. Very few people know of the Drakvar. Even this queen only knows a little thanks to the legends and stories passed down among her family.” Queen Medusa placed her hand on the door and stared at it with a soft frown. “According to the story this queen’s mother told her, sealed beyond this door is the most powerful member of the Drakvar in existence. The story states they sealed themselves away from the world in order to contain a catastrophe. We don’t know what that catastrophe was, but this queen does know that someone is indeed sealed behind this door.”

“How do you know?” asked the curious Kari.

Queen Medusa smiled at her. “Because this queen has seen what lies beyond this door. In either event, this queen has come here because she wanted to speak with you, Eryk.”

“Me? What did you want to speak with me for?”

Gesturing for me, Queen Medusa began slithering off. “Come. This queen will explain what she wants to talk to you about.”

“I’ll head back upstairs,” Kari said when I glanced at her. “I’d like to spend some time with Fay and Raul now.”

“Okay.” I sighed. “See you later.”

I quickly caught up with Queen Medusa, who remained silent for some time as we took several corridors that led away from the deepest sections of the basement. We eventually ended up in a hallway with hundreds of doors.

“This place is what this queen wanted to show you.” Queen Medusa wandered down the hallway, and I followed her as she continued talking. “We call these rooms mating rooms. When a lamia takes a mate, they travel down here and are given several herbs that help stimulate their their ability to produce eggs. This queen is sure you have noticed, but Lin does not bleed once a month like human women do.”

“Now that you mention it…”

It was not something I’d thought about often, but it was true. Kari and Fay both had a period once every month, though they could regulate their bodies to stop it from happening thanks to the anti-pregnancy Spiritual Technique. Fay had regularly bled once a month and would often take time off from training when it happened until Kari taught her the anti-pregnancy technique as well. This was, of course, after she’d already been knocked up by me.

“Lin will eventually succeed this queen,” Queen Medusa said. “In fact, now that Lin has surpassed this queen in power, she should have already been handed the throne and become queen herself. However, Lin will not do that. She plans on continuing to travel with you.”

“Did you ask me to follow you and show you all this so I would impregnate Lin?” I asked.

“Not right now.” Queen Medusa shook her head. “This is something you and Lin will have to do if you ever want to have children.” She paused, then gave me a frown. “This queen assumes you want children with Lin.”

“It’s definitely something I have planned for the future,” I confessed.

“Good. Then there is no need to worry.” Queen Medusa seemed satisfied by myself response. Smiling, she said, “Since it seems Lin has yet to inform you about this, this queen felt it was her duty to let you know.”

“I understand. It probably slipped her mind. She tends to forget about things she deems unimportant.”

“That sounds like Lin.”

As Queen Medusa and I shared an odd smile as we thought about Lin and her forgetfulness, another thought occurred to me.

“Do lamia need to use those herbs to have children?” When Queen Medusa just frowned at me, I explained my question. “It is just that I know a lamia woman named Neisha. She and her human husband Qawuin have one son and one daughter. The daughter is a lamia, while the son seems to be completely human.”

Queen Medusa tilted her head, surprised by the news that a human and lamia had married, but she said nothing of that as she answered my question. “It is not impossible for a lamia to have children without aid, but like I said, we do not ovulate like humans do. The chances of us getting pregnant through normal sex is nearly impossible. That woman you speak of must have been incredibly fortunate to have been blessed with two children.”

I placed a hand against my chin and rubbed it. So Neisha’s and Qawuin’s kids were literally just the luck of the dice? That was some pretty good fortune.

While I was lost in thought, Queen Medusa turned around. “Now then, let us head back up. Lin is probably looking for you by now.”

As we headed back toward the stairs, I thought about what I had learned of the lamia race, which I hadn’t known before. It seemed Lin would have a much harder time getting pregnant than Kari or Fay. I wondered if Siv also had the same issues when it came to birthing children.

Well, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting pregnant while we were trying to save the world.

***

As the one this party was being held in honor of, our group sat beside Queen Medusa. I was sitting in between Kari and Lin on a large cushion on the stone platform. Queen Medusa was on Lin’s other side. On Kari’s other side was Fay and Raul, then Siv. Also on the stone platform were the five remaining elders, but they were sitting at another long table.

The party was already well underway. Eshe and her group of maids had made the food using the recipes I taught them, and while I thought the stew was a little overcooked, it was still quite delicious. Lin and Siv had already scarfed down nearly ten bowls of stew on their own and were working on their eleventh. In contrast, I had only eaten three.

A lot of people had come up during the celebration to thank us for rescuing their people and slaying Muhammad. At the moment, however, we were being entertained by a group of lamia dancers.

Lamia had a great sense of rhythm. A pair of lamia men banged on a set of large drums made of Demon Beast bone and hide. The lamia women danced to the beat, their breasts swaying with every exaggerated motion of their hips. I couldn’t help but admire the way their torsos twisted and turned. They had a great range of motion. No human could swerve their hips the way a lamia could.

“Darling!” Lin suddenly stood up. “This princess wants to dance!”

Lin grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to my feet, pulling me off before I could tell her not to. I think I could have resisted. I could have also told her no. Lin was very good about listening to me, but I felt she deserved to have fun. This was her hometown, the place she was born, and she had returned after years of being away. It would be good to let loose.

That said, I soon found out that while I could dance traditionally thanks to all the practice I’d had under Hilda’s tutelage, I was no match for the lamia of the Endless Desert.

The manner in which they danced had no rhyme or reason. They didn’t follow steps or patterns. It was as if something took possession of their bodies and made them move in random yet somehow hypnotic sways.

I tried my best to keep up with Lin as she got in close and moved her body against me, but I really felt like I was just a pole she was dancing around. The scent of her hair as it fluttered past my nose tickled my desire. Sweat glistened from her skin as the bonfire next to us kept her cold-blooded body warm.

I felt foolish trying to keep up with Lin and the other lamia. It might have been my paranoia acting up, but I felt a little like everyone was laughing at me.

Lin didn’t seem troubled like I was. After she had her fill of simply moving like the others, she wrapped her arms around my neck and held me close as she swayed along to the beat.

Since Lin was enjoying herself so much, I decided to cast my worries away. For her, I would gladly make a fool of myself.

***

We stayed in the lamia city for one whole month. I learned a lot about the lamia people during that time, and the lamia seemed to become a lot more friendly toward myself and my wives. Raul was also a big hit with the women. He was gonna be a lady killer when he grew up. In either event, now that we had done such a great service for them, it wasn’t all that unusual for random lamia to wave and greet us whenever we met. I even knew a few of them by name.

Raul had grown quite a bit during this month, and not just in size either. While he still couldn’t walk unaided, so long as one of us held his hands, he could move about on his own two feet. He just had a problem keeping his balance.

I spoke with Queen Medusa on many subjects regarding the Endless Desert and the constant fighting between lamia and humans. My hope was that she would somehow reconcile with the humans. She didn’t promise me anything, not even that she would try, but I kept pushing the subject whenever I found myself with her.

Finally, the day that we planned to leave arrived.

“I can’t believe you are leaving already,” Aliya sniffed, tears in her eyes. “It feels like you only just returned.”

“Come no, Aliya. It is unbefitting for the newest member of the elder council to cry like that,” Queen Medusa said, though she didn’t reprimand her anymore and instead chose to look at our group. Her eyes eventually landed on Lin. “This queen wishes you would stay here and become our new ruler.”

“This princess might come back and do that at some point, but right now she wants to travel with Darling, Big Sister, Fay, and Siv.” Lin crossed her arms. “There is still so much this princess doesn’t know about, so many things she wants to learn, see, and do. She’d like to see more and go on a lot of fun adventures with her family.”

“Which is why this queen is not stopping you,” Queen Medusa said. “You may go out and travel as much as you want. Just remember to come back when you get weary of traveling. You still have a duty to fulfill.”

Lin pouted at her mom. “This princess knows that already.”

“If you know that, then why was this queen the one who had to inform Eryk about lamia births?”

“T-that--this princess just forgot! She was going to tell him eventually!”

A lot of people laughed at Lin, whose cheeks turned the same shade as a scarlet flame. She hissed at them. However, this only made them laugh more.

Aliya and Queen Medusa were not the only ones who had come to see us off. A large crowd of people stood behind the two women, a sea of heads and snake tails. It seemed as if the entire city had come to give us their goodbyes.

“Take care of yourself, Lin!”

“You look after our princess, you hear?!”

“The princess and her husband are going off on another adventure! Don’t you think that’s romantic?”

“Eryk, come back again some time!”

“Don’t forget to bring your wives!”

The lamia people shouted their goodbyes at us, and we waved back at them before climbing into the wagon. Fay and Siv took the driver’s seat while Kari and Lin climbed into the wagon with me. Raul was on my shoulders. He’d squirmed around a bit and tried to latch onto his mom, but I wanted some time with my son. Besides, Fay was going to be busy driving the wagon anyway.

It wasn’t long after we entered the wagon that Fay cracked the reins and got our Giga Monster moving. We kept the door open so Lin could continue waving at her mother and Aliya until they were nothing but specks in the distance. Only after she could no longer see them did Lin close the door.

We made ourselves comfortable on the bed. Raul was sitting in my lap and staring at the two women forming a triangle with us. His attention shifted when I pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them before asking Kari to lay the cards flat. As she did, I studied Lin, who stared intently at the cards with furrowed brows.

“How do you feel about leaving your home for a second time?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Lin looked up at me and tilted her head. Her tail thumped against the bed once. “This princess isn’t leaving home at all.”

“Uh… but…”

“I think what Lin is trying to tell you is that her home is not the lamia city. It’s wherever you are,” Kari said.

“Big Sister is right. This princess belongs with you. Wherever you are, that is where this princess calls home,” Lin said.

“I see.”

As we began playing a round of Pairs, a smile appeared on my face. Now that I think about it, my home had never really been Nevaria either. That home was destroyed in my past life and held no real meaning beyond what it meant for Kari. In which case, my home was right here with Kari, Fay, Lin, Siv, and Raul.

That was just another reason I needed to travel to the Northern Plains. We had defeated one threat to my loved ones, the Demon Beast Invasion of Nevaria and the man named Ask, but there were two far graver threats that would threaten everything if we didn’t deal with them.

The Sekbeist Invasion and the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain.

However, I couldn’t do anything about them for right now. We would not be able to fight the Sekbeists until after we arrived in the Northern Plains.

For now, I would simply spend time with my family as we traveled through the Endless Desert.