WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 35

“And then what happened? And then what?!”

Lin’s tail thumped against the ground as she and Kari sat on the floor of the royal princess’ bedroom. Kari, dressed in a simple gown without shoulders, sat cross-legged in front of her. Since she had a long snake tail, Lin couldn’t sit like that. Instead, her tail was coiled underneath her like a spring. Only the tip, which continued hitting the floor without conscious thought, was loose.

“After he asked and I said yes, Eryk was all like ‘Okay then…’ and he leaned down and kissed me.” Kari placed her hands against her cheeks, which were glowing with a vibrant luminosity.

Since Eryk and Fay were currently speaking with Stelys Valstine to request his permission to marry his daughter, Kari and Lin had been left alone. Naturally, Lin was curious to know about what happened the night Kari had given herself to Eryk. They had been so busy doing other things that she hadn’t had the chance to hear it yet. She was dying to find out the details!

“And then?! And then?!”

“Our kiss was unlike any of the others kisses he and I shared. This one was filled with so much passion I thought I might melt! And afterward, he brought me over to the bed and laid me down.” Kari was wearing the dopiest smile Lin had ever seen on the girl. It was even sillier than the excited smile she’d worn when they discovered those ruins. “It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Eryk was so passionate, but he was also gentle. He pleased me in ways I’d never known were possible before. It was like… like…” Her face scrunched up as she struggled come up with the words. Lin’s tail began thumping even faster. “It was like he knew exactly what to do to make me scream, like he and I had slept together hundreds of times and he’d already thoroughly explored my body.”

As Lin listened to Kari give a detailed accounting of her first time, Lin imagined what her own first time would be like. She pictured herself in Kari’s place as Eryk kissed all over her body, played with her breasts, and pleasured her in ways that made her scream out his name. The idea caused her to shiver with barely repressed desire.

Eryk had been a lot more receptive to her advances lately. He cuddled with her when she wanted attention, held her hand when they were taking a stroll through Nevaria, helped her with her studies, and kissed her without ever being told. She would even go so far as to say he’d been more aggressive since learning that Marko wanted to court her. That was what she enjoyed the most. His possessiveness and jealous tendencies made her feel wanted, desired.

However, listening to Kari made her want more.

“This princess wants her first time to be like yours,” Lin said as Kari finished her retelling.

“I don’t think your first time will be exactly like mine.” Kari eyed her tail with a speculative gleam. “But I’m sure Eryk will be able to please you.”

“This princess hopes so.” Lin felt gravity overcome her face, causing her lips to turn down. Her tail stopped moving. “But… she is a little worried.”

“About what?”

“Well, it’s… what if this princess can’t please Darling?” Lin asked, suddenly pensive as this new thought occurred to her. “She doesn’t want to be the only one receiving pleasure. She’s worried that Darling might not find sex with her as enjoyable.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Kari said.

“You wouldn’t?”

With a shake of her head, Kari explained herself. “I didn’t really do that much this time either. I mean, it was mostly all Eryk pleasing me. Of course, I feel a little guilty that he did basically all the work, but you know what? He seemed really happy. I think he enjoys pleasing others.”

“He does do a lot for us. This princess did get the feeling that Darling likes to make people happy.” That was one of his more charming traits. “Even so, this princess doesn’t want to be the only one receiving pleasure. She wants to make Darling feel good as well. Her pride won’t allow her to just be pleased without returning the favor.”

Kari nodded along with her words, understanding where Lin was coming from—at least to some extent. Lin had noticed this before, but Kari didn’t have her pride. She was more the kind of person who went with the flow.

The afternoon air was warm. Even though they were on top of a mountain, the breeze that was blowing in through the window warmed Lin’s body. She wondered if Fay and Darling were back from the Valstine Family’s estate yet.

“Well, I do understand where you are coming from,” Kari said. “But I’m sure everything will work out.” As the words left her mouth, she furrowed her brow. “By the way, Lin… are you okay?”

“Okay? Why wouldn’t this princess be okay?” asked Lin.

“Hmm… maybe it’s just my imagination, but your face seems a tad red.” Kari leaned further forward, and for some reason, Lin felt an odd wave of heat as her tongue flicked out of her mouth. “You don’t have a fever or anything, do you?”

“Lamia cannot get sick,” Lin said. “At least, this princess doesn’t think we get sick. This princess has never been sick before, so…”

Kari’s brow furrowed even further. There was an unusual scent coming off the girl that Lin immediately zeroed in on. It smelled like… yes, it was Darling’s scent. Lin knew this scent well since she used to spend days with her face buried in his pillow. This was before she’d been able to leave the house and had nothing to do. Tasting his scent on her tongue had made her feel less lonely.

Of course, she would never tell him that.

Before either of them could speak again, a knock came at the door.

“I’m coming in,” a familiar voice said before the door opened and Fay walked in. The redhead shut the door behind her, and then pressed her back against it. “I’m back.”

“Welcome back,” Kari greeted with a smile.

“Did everything go as you hoped?” asked Lin, trying to shake off her addled thoughts.

Fay smiled as she walked further into the room and sat down, forming a triangle between the three of them. “Father has given Eryk is blessing.”

“That’s wonderful.” Kari clasped her hands together. Her eyes were sparkling. “Now that Eryk has your father’s blessing, we can inform Mother and let her know. I’m sure she will pay your father a visit sometime soon to work out a date for the wedding.”

“Is Darling not with you?” Lin asked curious.

“He is not,” Fay stated. “He said something about wanting to make a quick stop by the Alchemist Association.” After saying this, she turned to Kari. “When do you think the wedding will be held?”

Tilting her head, Kari gave the question serious consideration before answering. “I doubt it will happen any time soon. You and I are still attending the Spiritualist Academy, after all. I believe the wedding itself won’t happen until after we graduate, but the announcement of our marriage will probably happen sooner rather than later.”

As the conversation turned from Kari’s first time to wedding plans, Lin suddenly had a thought that caused her blood to run cold.

“Um…” She raised a tentative hand, halting the conversation between Kari and Fay. “Do you think… this princess will also be able to announce her marriage to Darling too?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Kari. “Aren’t you already married?”

“Um…”

Fay nodded. “Since you and Eryk are already married, you don’t actually need to announce your upcoming marriage since no marriage is actually upcoming.”

“But…”

“Just be satisfied that you got to marry Eryk first,” Kari added.

“But that isn’t fair! This princess wants to announce her marriage and have a ceremony too!” Lin shouted with tears in her eyes.

***

I believed it was time to introduce another pill I knew to the Alchemist Association, which was why I met with Feinrea Kuunis, the Head of the Alchemist Association, instead of traveling back to the Imperial Royal Palace with Fay.

“What is this new alchemy pill you’re planning to introduce called?” Feinrea asked as she tucked a strand of orange-tinted red hair behind her ear. The alchemy robes she was wearing had been heavily modified. It was a cleavage revealing purple dress with darker purple robes thrown over the top. The robes were loosely tied at the waist and didn’t do a thing to cover her heaving bosom, which was even larger than Kari’s.

“It’s called the Immortal Phoenix Pill,” I answered. “The name is pretentious, but the pills effects are impressive. This is a one-time life saving pill.”

Feinrea’s office looked almost the same as always, but it was much better organized than it used to be. Shelves lined the wall on my left. Most of them were filled with bound notebooks, which I believed held all of Feinrea’s notes on ingredients and their effects when mixed together. There were a few plants to the right. It looked like she had removed the paneling on the floor and created a miniature alchemy garden. Several plants that I recognized as ones that could be grown indoors were in the process of growing in the soft brown soil. The ceiling in that area had also been removed to create a sunroof.

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean by ‘one-time’.” Feinrea was frowning at me.

“I mean it can only be used once.” As I prepared the ingredients Feinrea had provided me, I explained how the alchemy pill I was going to refine worked. “This pill is able to heal someone completely, even if they are on the brink of death. So long as there is even a little life left in their body and their spirit hasn’t left, if they take this pill, it will return them to how they were before their injury, almost as though time itself was being rewound.”

All of the ingredients I needed to refine this pill were present: Phoeniceae, a miniature palm tree with red leaves; the monster core of a B-rank Demon Beast with a fire affinity; red fire grass, which literally looked like blades of fire; Burning Thistle, a flower with a red stem, blood red leaves, and sharp prickles; Drake Blood from a Fire Drake (a B-rank Demon Beast and consequently the one whose monster core I was using); Ambrosia, which was a unique type of alcohol with spiritual enhancing properties. These six ingredients were lined up on the table next to the advanced alchemy set.

“That is an awfully powerful sounding pill,” Feinrea said as she took a deep breath.

“It is,” I agreed. “It will save your life from any ailment, including dismembered limbs, deadly poison, and even a destroyed heart. It does this by invoking a powerful healing flame inside of the body, which is how the pill received its name.”

“So it’s like how a Phoenix is reborn from the ashes,” Feinrea murmured as she jotted down notes. She was standing just a little behind me, so I couldn’t see her, but I hear the movement of her quill as it scratched against the parchment of her notebook. “But I’m guessing this isn’t something you can just use on a whim, right? You said it has a one-time use.”

“That is correct. This pill is only effective once. After you take the pill, taking another one will have absolutely no effect. It has something to do with the chemicals from the pill remaining within the body. Because the ingredients are already inside of you, your body has built up an immunity to them. However, while this pill is only good for one use, it is still incredibly valuable.”

I’d taken this pill once before. I had been on the verge of death, having had my left arm ripped off, a massive hole in my chest, and a torn out throat. Despite being inflicted with so many injuries I should have died out right there, I had been restored to perfect health. That just went to show how powerful this alchemy pill was.

On that note, I did wonder if it would work for me again since this body was, technically, not the one I’d had when I took the pill.

“We won’t be able to sell this one, will we?” asked Feinrea with a frown. “Not only are these ingredients hard to come by, but since it only works once per person, it won’t be very useful to sell.”

“This is true,” I admitted. “However, there is another way to make use of this. Auctioning it off at the Valstine Family’s Auction House.”

“Ah.” Feinrea made a sound of realization. “Yes, the nobles would definitely be willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money for a pill that’s so powerful, it can practically bring the dead back to life.”

“Exactly. Now, pay close attention please. The process for making this particular pill is a lot more involved than the others I’ve shown so far.”

“I’m ready.”

The first thing I did was fill a 100 mL beaker with Ambrosia. The crystal clear liquid sloshed around inside of the beaker as I set it on a stand underneath a burner, though I didn’t turn the burner on. Instead, I grabbed the Phoeniceae and began slowly plucking the leaves off the fronds, leaving just the stems. Then I plucked the stems off the trunk. After separating the stems, fronds, and trunk, I grabbed the trunk and began shaving pieces of it off with a carving knife.

“Making the Immortal Phoenix Pill requires the use of a whole Phoenicea,” I lectured as I worked. “Each part is needed to act as a catalyst that brings each different ingredient together. The trunk is strong and has a mild enhancing effect for ingredients aligned with fire. We’ll be mixing this with the Red Fire Grass to increase its effectiveness.”

I ignored Feinrea scribbling into her notebook as I finished shaving the entire trunk into the mortar, then added the Red Fire Grass. Grinding the Phoenicea trunk shavings and Red Fire Grass with a pestle, I didn’t stop working until the whole thing had turned into a reddish brown paste. I scraped the paste into a 50 mL beaker, then cleaned the mortar and pestle with water and wiped it dry.

“Next is the B-rank Demon Beast monster core.” I grabbed the core, placed it into the mortar, and went to work on shattering and grinding it into a powder. “We’ll be adding the fronds to the this. We don’t need to worry about grinding the fronds, though. The Ambrosia will take care of that for us. Ambrosia makes a strong base for healing pills, but its only used in the most powerful types. It is so effective that it generally overpowers the other ingredients.”

I scooped up the fine red powder of the monster core and poured it into the beaker with the Ambrosia, and then I added the fronds, which I proceeded to stir into the liquid with a stirring rod. Once that was done, I cleaned the mortar again, and then brought over the Fire Drake Blood, Burning Thistle, and Phoeniceae stems.

“Finally, we’re gonna get started on the last part. For this, we use Burning Thistle and Fire Drake Blood. These two ingredients generally have adverse effects on each other, but we can counteract that by adding the stems of the Phoeniceae, which has a soothing effect on ingredients with a fire element.”

First, I ground up the Burning Thistle, and then I added the Phoenician stems before doing the same. After I finished grinding both into a fine paste, scooped it into a 50 mL flask, then grabbed the vial of Fire Drake Blood and poured it in. Before the three ingredients could combust, I placed a burner underneath the flask and activated it with my Spiritual Power.

Now I had a 100 mL beaker with Ambrosia, monster core powder, and Phoeniceae stems; a 50 mL beaker with paste made from Red Fire Grass and the trunk shavings of a Phoeniceae; and a 50 mL flask with with Fire Drake Blood, Burning Thistle, and Phoeniceae stems.

While the flask was mixing the three ingredients, I grabbed the 50 mL beaker and poured it into the 100 mL beaker. The Ambrosia mix, which had been a bright red, suddenly became a deep magenta as I stirred the ingredients together and turned on the burner. I continued stirring until all of the ingredients had mixed. Then I turned off the burner, took the beaker, and poured it into the cauldron.

“Because the Fire Drake Blood mixture is so potent, we have to add it last,” I explained as the magenta liquid filled almost one-third of the cauldron. “If we added it into this mixture before adding the Red Fire Grass and Phoeniceae trunk shavings, it would negate the effects of those two ingredients.”

I went over to the flask containing the Fire Drake Blood, Burning Thistle, and Phoeniceae stems. Thanks to the heat from the burner activating the Fire Drake Blood, the liquid was glowing a vibrant shade of scarlet. Wafts of scarlet smoke also puffed out of the small opening. After turning off the burner, I removed the flask and went back to the cauldron.

“When adding the last of the ingredients, we need to do it in small amounts,” I informed Feinrea as I grabbed another stirring rod, placed it in the cauldron, and began stirring the ingredients while tilting the flask just a little to allow some of the glowing liquid to trickle in. “We do it this way because if we don’t, the ingredients won’t mix properly. Due to the volatile nature of mixing Fire Drake Blood and Burning Thistle, it can easily destroy all the ingredients if not carefully controlled. While adding the last ingredients, we mix it all together and pour our Spiritual Power into the liquid to activate the other ingredients.”

I did exactly as I instructed. The liquid inside of the cauldron began bubbling and sparks flew from the surface as I poured my Spiritual Power into the cauldron. Feinrea was staring into the cauldron with a face that epitomized the word “fascinated”. When all the liquid from the flask had been poured in, I stopped adding my Spiritual Power. The now red liquid looked almost like molten lava.

“Now that all of the ingredients are perfectly blended together, I’m going to refine the pill itself.”

Feinrea walked to the other side of the cauldron as I placed my hands on either side and channeled more Spiritual Power into the ingredients, exerting my will over it. The liquid bubbled as it grew smaller and smaller, condescending and forming into the shape of a small sphere. After reaching a certain point of density, a new color appeared on it. Blue. The blue areas took the shape of a bird flaring out its wings as the outer layer of liquid formed into a hard shell.

“There.”

I released a deep breath before reaching into the cauldron and taking out the pill. It was about the size of a very large marble, mostly red, but with the blue phoenix shapes around it. Feinrea reached out and tentatively, almost as if afraid of dropping it, picked it up when I offered it to her.

“So this is the Immortal Phoenix Pill,” she whispered in reverent awe.

“Yes.” I grabbed a towel folded on an empty shelf and used it to wipe the sweat from my brow. Refining alchemy pills was not physically strenuous, but the mental exhaustion I felt after finishing such an involved process was acute. “Do you have any questions?”

Feinrea shook her head. “None. I understand how all the ingredients work together and each step in the refining process. You do an excellent job of explaining why each step needs to be done.”

“Thank you.” I walked back over and held out my hand. I almost snorted when Feinrea reluctantly placed the pill back into my palm. “Now, I am going to refine this pill two more times. I want you to watch closely each time, and then I’ll have you attempt to refine the pill yourself.”

“Why two times?” Feinrea frowned.

“Because I want to make two more,” I said. “One for Kari, one for Fay, and one for Lin.”

“Oh, I get it.” Feinrea’s expression went from studious to sly in an instant. “So you were planning to make these for your three fiances, and you decided to teach me how to make them as well because ‘why not?’, right?”

“Basically,” I admitted as I prepared the second Phoeniceae—only to pause when her sentence fully registered with me. “Feinrea?”

“Yes?”

“How did you know I was marrying Kari, Fay, and Lin? Did Stelys tell you?” I frowned. “No, he couldn’t have. I literally just asked his permission to marry Fay.”

“Stelys didn’t need to say anything,” Feinrea said with a proud smile as she thrust out her large chest. “I don’t know if you know this, but everyone is already aware that you are courting those three. You’re seen with them around Nevaria so often that some people have even given them the nickname ‘Eryk’s Three Princesses’.”

“That’s a dumb nickname,” I muttered.

“Then what would you call them?”

“The Three Goddesses.”

“That isn’t much better.”

“Whatever. Just pay attention to me as I refine these pills.”

“Yes, yes. Okay.”

***

I sat at my desk, a small monster core lamp and the twin moons giving me light to write in my journal. It was a detailed report of everything I’d done that day. This was something I’d started doing ever since returning from the Demon Beast Mountain Range for the first time since returning to the past. I could probably consider this my autobiography.

There was no real reason I was doing this. I honestly just thought future generations might be interested in knowing what happened during this part of Nevaria’s history.

After returning to the Imperial Royal Palace, I had spent time with Kari, Fay, and Lin. The four of us had practiced combat formations in the courtyard. Even Lin was joining us now. I believe her near-death experience in the Demon Beast Mountain Range this time had drilled the importance of learning how to fight effectively as a team into her.

We had dinner with the rest of the Astralia Royal Family after training. Then everyone had turned in for the night. The girls had gone into Kari’s room, and I returned to my room.

It was a true full moon tonight, meaning both moons were full, which caused an interesting effect of making the two moons look bright yellow instead of light blue. This was a fairly rare event that only happened three times out of the year.

As I set the feather quill down and stretched my arm above my head, the door to my room suddenly opened.

“Excuse me? Darling? Are you awake?”

Only one person called me “Darling.”

“Lin, what are you still doing—what’s wrong with your face?” I had to changed my question after turning around. Lin’s face was a bright red as she stood in the doorway, her shoulders and chest were heaving, and she was using her tail to hold the door handle.

“Nothing is wrong,” Lin said as she slithered into the room. Unfortunately, she forgot that her tail was still holding onto the door… which resulted in the door being ripped off its hinges. Lin continued toward me unabated. “This princess was just thinking about how we haven’t mated yet. She decided that tonight would be the night we took our relationship to the next level.”

I eyed the door, which Lin’s tail was slowly wrapping around. The wariness I felt suddenly increased when her tails tightened, squeezing the door until it shattered, the wood splinters raining on the floor. After witnessing this, I looked into Lin’s eyes.

Her eyes were crazy. It was like they were swirling around inside of her head, which only added to the unusualness of her affliction. When combined with her red face, heavy breathing, and the thing her tail just did, it made her seem psychotic.

I kept myself turned to the girl as I tried to walk around her, not willing to turn my back, but Lin was rotating with me, keeping me in her sights.

“Lin… you aren’t drunk or anything, are you?”

“This princess doesn’t get drunk.”

“I’m not so sure I believe that—whoa!”

I had no chance to evade when Lin lunged forward, slamming into me and knocking me onto the bed. Before I could consider myself lucky that she hadn’t knocked me to the floor, I found Lin pressing herself against me. Her crotch, which was not covered by any underwear because, well, we didn’t have any for Lamia, rubbed against my pants and quickly brought me to hardness. Lin was wet. Very wet. Her love juices soaked into my pants.

“Ha… ha… Darling…” Lin looked even crazier from up close like this. I was seriously wondering what she’d drank to make her act this way. “Did you know Lamia can make love all night? They coil around each other from their heads to their tails… just… like… this…”

As she spoke, Lin coiled her tail around my legs, completely trapping me. I think I could break out of her tail if I used all my strength, but I also knew that would hurt her. The chances of me actually tearing her tail apart were high. Aside from that, her tail was rubbing against my crotch through my pants, and it was distracting enough that I couldn’t even use my Spiritual Power.

“Now… let’s cling to each other and rub our bodies together… ha… ha… this princess is definitely gonna have you make love to her all. Night. Long.”

While I wasn’t against sleeping with Lin, and indeed, I had even planned on taking her to bed with me at some point, something about this situation made it feel wrong. Maybe it was the crazy look in her eyes, the strange flush of her face, or the fact that she had crushed a fucking door with her tail and was using that same tail to crush my legs. I didn’t know. What I did know was that now certainly wasn’t the right time.

“Lin… I think you should take a deep breath and calm down.”

“This princess is perfectly calm,” Lin said as she pushed my shirt up and leaned down. I groaned when her long tongue appeared from within her mouth and began liberally coating me in her saliva. I’ll admit, pained though I was by her super strong tail grinding the bones in my leg into a fine powder, something about this Lamia girl licking me was a major turn on.

That said, I still didn’t think doing it right now was a good decision. My danger senses were going off like crazy.

Just as I was wondering what to do, I heard the sound of footsteps entering my room. I looked up just in time to see Kari and Fay rush in with… wait. Were those wooden claymores?!

“HYA!”

“HA!”

I flinched when the two girls swung their claymores down and whacked Lin in the back of the head, knocking the girl out cold. Lin’s eyes rolled up into her head as she slumped into me, her tail uncoiling from around my body, which allowed the other two to grab Lin by her arms and begin dragging her out.

“We’re terrible sorry for not coming sooner, Eryk,” Kari apologized.

“Please enjoy the rest of your night and forget this ever happened,” Fay added.

As the two of them left, a strange solitude entered my bedroom. I looked at the now doorless doorway before slumping backward onto my bed and staring at the ceiling.

“What the heck just happened?” I asked of no one in particular.