WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 15

 I opened my eyes and stared at the latticework of the unfamiliar ceiling. The amount of detail put into the ceiling, which possessed swirling circles and hard angles, was something that, with my currently sluggish brain, I couldn’t help but find astonishing. At the same time, I had to wonder why this ceiling used latticework. Were these like vents?

Groaning, I made to sit up, but then I realized Kari was lying on top of me. Literally half of her warm body was resting against me, which I realized was partly because this bed was so small. With that in mind, I scooted back and slowly eased myself into a sitting position where I could rest my back against the headboard. Kari mumbled something as she was jostled a bit. Then she settled down.

While I waited for her to wake up, slowly running my hand over the smooth curve of her hip, I thought about what had happened so far. We had traveled to another world and met with a group of people called Dwoergs. From them, we had learned that there were nine worlds, that the Sekbeist currently attacking us had been enemies of these nine worlds thousands of years ago, and that nine people called the Great Overlords had sealed them away.

It was a lot to take in.

Kari woke up as I was trying to absorb what we had learned yesterday, lifting her head off my chest and looking around before her eyes locked onto me.

“Morning,” she mumbled as she leaned up for a kiss. I didn’t get the chance to greet her before a pair of lips were hampering my own, but I decided that if things were going to be like this, I would just use my tongue to greet her. When she pulled back, cutting the saliva string connecting us, her nose wrinkled. “You smell.”

“So do you,” I replied.

“Right. It has been awhile since we’ve been able to bathe, huh?”

“It has, so let’s at least rinse off.”

At my suggestion, Kari climbed off me and wandered over to the basin, discarding her clothes with little care as she went. I almost sighed, but it wasn’t like I didn’t understand how she felt. I discarded my own clothes and set them on the bed before making my way over to the basin of water.

“It’s empty,” I muttered upon seeing no water in the basin.

“Yeah…” Kari was also frowning.

The basin itself was rather intricate, with golden designs like nothing I’d ever seen carved into it. They appeared random at first, but all of it flowed together in such an intricate way that I couldn’t help but wonder. It seemed almost wasteful to add such detail into a simple basin.

“What are these things?” Kari murmured as she leaned over. I looked at what she was looking at and saw several knobs located around the edge of the basin. She grabbed one of them as though merely feeling it out, but then the knob accidentally rotated, and suddenly enough to startle us, water burbled up from several holes in the basin’s side, filling it to the brim with hot water.

“It looks like these knobs somehow bring water into the basin.” I tilted my head. “I guess they are like the showers we have back home?”

“Seems so.” Kari seemed to ponder this for a moment, but then she smiled. “Well, either way. It looks like we can clean off now.”

“Yes… though we don’t seem to have any towels, rags, or even a loofa to scrub ourselves with.”

Kari’s eyes popped and her mouth parted at that. She glanced around as though searching for something we could use to wash ourselves with, but as the reality of our situation came crashing down, her shoulder began drooping. I could tell she was on the verge of despairing. That was why I looked around as well.

I immediately noticed the stone drawer to our left, which had the same ridiculously artistic aesthetic as the basin. I went over to it and opened one of the drawers. Inside I found several towels and something that looked like a brush made of foam. I was pretty sure this was the Dwoerg version of a loofa.

“Found it,” I said, grabbing the brush and holding it up.

Kari’s face lit up like the Sun. “I love you, Eryk.”

“So all I need to do for you to love me is find a loofa?” I asked as I came up behind her.

“Only when I’m desperate to get clean. You’ll have to work harder once I’m clean.”

“Good to know.”

Pulling her long hair over her shoulder, Kari presented her bare back to me. Now that I was really looking, she was absolutely filthy, covered in dirt and smudges and dried blood. I probably didn’t look any better. That said, it was almost shocking for me to realize only now that the two of us really were in a rancid state.

After soaking the foam-like section of the brush in the water, I turned my attention to Kari, reaching out and using the loofa to scrub away the dirt around her shoulders and the back of her neck. As the water trailed down her body, they left muddy streaks on her skin. Everywhere the loofa left became a soft pale color so unlike the blackish brown it had been. As her shoulders became clean, I moved down her back, causing the thick, black water to run down her buttcheeeks, between her buttcrack, and then dripping down her legs and onto the floor.

“It’s almost shocking to see how much dirt you’ve accumulated,” I muttered as I began scrubbing her butt. The elasticity of her rear end was something I never tried off. It was springy and bounced even when I barely touched it. Running my hands over her ass, even if it was just vicariously through the scrub right now, gave me a thrill of pleasure.

It had been far too long since she and I had sex.

Despite the fact that I felt pretty ravenous just then, I ignored my arousal and continued cleaning Kari’s body. After I finished her backside, I cleaned her arms, and then moved around to her front.

“Your chest is filthy,” I muttered as I glanced at her breasts, which were coated with just as much grime, sweat, and dried blood as the rest of her.

“Says you,” Kari fired back.

“Anyone who saw you right now would say this.” I grinned as I placed the loofa back into the water, watching as the inky black substance that was the accumulation of several days without bathing soaked into the water. “Now that is gross. Is there a way to replace this water?”

“Try twisting one of those knobs,” Kari suggested.

“Worth a shot.”

Since I really didn’t have any other ideas, I grabbed the knob to the right of the one Kari had twisted. There were four in total, so I figured one of these would drain the water. The first one I grabbed did not drain the water. It squirted a strange blue substance into the water. I didn’t know what it was at first, but when I leaned down and took a whiff, I realized it was some kind of shampoo.

The second one I tried was on the right of the one I had just twisted, and it shot out soap. Reaching for the last one, I watched as something behind the drain opened and all the water was drained out of it. Twisting the knob Kari had first twisted, I filled the basin with more water, and then used the last knob to squirt out some soap.

I went to work on Kari’s front. Working my way from top to bottom, I first cleaned off her face and neck, and then moved across her collar bones. When I reached her chest, I took extra care to make sure I missed nothing. After roaming over the peaks of her breasts until her nipples were visible again, I moved the loofa down the valley between them. Her breasts jiggled as I worked. Kari bit her lip and stifled a moan, but it wasn’t like she could completely stop herself. I had to ignore my boner as I lifted her breasts so I could scrub her underboob, which had more sweat than the other areas.

“Ugh… my underboobs sweat so much,” Kari complained.

“Would you like me to lick it off next time?” I asked.

“Would you if I said yes?”

“I have before.”

“Oh… in that case, make sure to clean it thoroughly with your tongue from now on.”

“As my queen commands.”

The two of us traded banter back and forth as I moved lower, pressing the loofa over her flat stomach. Her muscles twitched several times. I was sad that I couldn’t feel her stomach twitching under my fingers. One of my greatest pleasures was rubbing my hands over that stomach when we were taking a shower.

I had to rinse the loofa again, but then I started in on her legs. They were probably the cleanest part of her. The boots did a good job of at least keeping her calves and feet from getting dirty, though even then, she had sweat so much I wasn’t sure it mattered. As I cleaned around her crotch, her smooth pussy came into view, but even though I was somewhat tempted to lean up and clean her with my tongue, I continued scrubbing her down with the loof until I reached her feet.

“You know, I just realized that even though this floor should be soaking wet with dirty water, there’s hardly a single drop of water anywhere,” I said as I found myself staring at the floor around her feet. Kari’s toes wiggled a little bit. They were wet, but she wasn’t standing in a puddle or anything.

“Now that you said it, you’re right.” Kari also looked down.

I noticed after a minute of staring that this area had a slight cant inward, moving toward the basin, which had drains at the bottom. So that was how it worked. That was kind of ingenious. I still believed a shower was better, though.

“Raise your foot please,” I requested.

Kari placed her hands on the lip of the basin and lifted her left foot. I grabbed her foot and first cleaned off the bottom. Her cute toes wiggled a little as I dragged the scrub from the sole of her foot all the way to her toes, which I made sure to clean between before setting her foot on my knee and cleaning the rest off. Once her left foot was done, I cleaned her right one.

“I feel so much better,” Kari said as I stood up, drained the basin again, and refilled it with hot soap water. During this time, Kari ran her hand over her breasts as though testing them. They bounced several times as she hummed. “I do kind of wish we had a bathtub, or at least a shower. Maybe we should ask if they have something like that.”

“It couldn’t hurt,” I said.

“Hmm, I’ll do that then. But first, since you’ve already cleaned me…” Kari licked her lips as she grabbed the loofa scrub from my hands and plunged it into the water. “I am going to clean you.”

I realized from the hungry look in her eyes that we would probably be doing more than just getting clean. Well, so long as she made sure I was actually clean first, I didn’t mind getting dirty again.

***

The next morning, our group packed up camp and moved out. Our goal that day was Nymph Lake, a well-known gathering spot of Water Nymphs. I only went there once in my previous life, and at the time, the Water Nymphs living there had been under the rule of a Water Queen. Given how many years it took for a Water Nymph to evolve into a Water Queen, I didn’t think we’d run into one this time.

Our journey took us deep into the forest. In this area, we had to remain on constant alert. Even though we weren’t too deep into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, this particular forest was home to many C-rank Demon Beasts. Even though I had every confidence that I and the others could take care of them, I didn’t want us spending too much energy on Demon Beasts that weren’t our target. It would be bad luck on our part if we exhausted ourselves before reaching Nymph Lake.

Spiritual Perception was not very good at sensing Demon Beasts, which exuded very little Spiritual Power and therefore had no real signature. Some of the most powerful Demon Beasts like the A and S-rank ones had a strong Spiritual Aura, and the B-rank ones could be sensed to some extent as well, but Demon Beasts ranked C and below tended to have so little Spiritual Power that it required an existential amount of effort on my part to sense them.

We did end up running afoul of a few Demon Beasts. Fortunately, all of them were easily take care of by Kari and Fay. Earland, Geirolf, and Mikkel had tried to fight them at first, but I held them back. I wanted those two to gain some experience.

“It seems Big Sister really is strong,” Lin said as she slithered along beside me and Dyr. We were immediately behind Kari and Fay, who were taking point with Mikkel at my suggestion.

“They have been training hard,” I answered. “I’m not sure what kind of training Kari has been doing since she’s been trained by Hellen Brynhild, but Fay has been working incredibly hard to become as strong as she is now.”

“Hmm… it is unfortunate Lamia cannot gain power through training,” Lin lamented.

Looking at her from the corner of my eye, I spotted the somewhat petulant way her cheeks were puffed. Some part of me wanted to put my hand on her cheeks and push the air out. I’d have probably done that if we weren’t in the middle of a mission.

“What about physical strength and combat training?” I asked. “Surely you can become physically stronger and learn more about fighting?”

My question almost caused Lin to stop moving. I saw her stop, then start again when she lagged behind a bit. She considered my question for a moment before nodding.

“Yes, we Lamia can indeed become physically stronger and more talented through training. This princess remembers witnessing her guards train in this manner, though she has never done so herself.”

Hearing her answer, I made a mental note to convince Lin to join us for physical strengthening and combat training once we returned to Nevaria.

Our group traveled for nearly half an hour longer before Mikkel raised a hand. That was the signal for us to stop, which we all did. While the the six of us—myself, Kari, Fay, Lin, Dyr, Geirolf, and Earland—remained in place, he moved forward with slow, cautious footsteps. The area in front of us was covered with heavy amounts of foliage, so we couldn’t see anything. Mikkel had to move into the foliage and push it aside before he could get a glimpse of the other side. After a moment or two, he turned back.

“It looks like we’ve arrived,” he announced.

“Did you get an estimate of their numbers?” I asked as I walked up to the front.

“I counted no less than 12 Water Nymphs,” Mikkel said.

“That’s more than I expected, but I think we can still take care of them if we act with caution.” I could probably take care of that many by myself, but this was as much a training exercise for Kari and Fay as it was a mission to acquire Water Nymph Bone Marrow. “I’m going to circle around to the other side and begin my attack. Once I launch my Spiritual Technique, Kari, Fay, and Lin, I want you three to launch whatever techniques you have to separate them.”

“But how will we fight them?” asked Fay. “Won’t they be in the middle of the lake?”

“If they are, they won’t be for long,” I said. “Just keep your eyes and ears open and get ready.”

I didn’t say anything more as I wandered away from the group, slowly inching my way through the forest, keeping myself mindful of the lake’s position relative to my own. While moving, I caught glimpses of the lake through my peripheral vision. I couldn’t see much, but I was able to at least confirm the existence of Water Nymphs. There were quite a few lounging around in the lake.

Using Spiritual Perception as a marker, I walked until I was certain that the lake was between me and the others. Then I turned around and crawled until I was hiding beneath a bush. I pushed away the last few leaves in my face, and then caught sight of the lake as it spread out before me.

The lake wasn’t very big, but the water was purer than most. That was due to the Water Nymphs. As Demon Beasts with a strong affinity for water, they had an odd purifying effect of the water they lived in. Speaking of, I counted 12 Water Nymphs just like Mikkel had estimated. It looked like most of them were just lounging around.

Water Nymphs looked like beautiful women with blue skin. Their naked bodies were voluptuous, with large breasts, tiny waists, and wide hips. Although they looked gorgeous, they were only about half the size of a full-grown adult. Water Nymphs were quite small. Only the Water Queen, which was a Water Nymph who’d exceeded a certain level of Spiritual Power, had the height of a full-grown woman. There were some Water Queens who’d actually grown to be twice the size of a normal person.

I couldn’t see a single Water Queen.

Creeping out from underneath the bushes, I kept an eye on the Water Nymphs as I made my way to the lake’s shore. All of the Water Nymphs were in the center of the lake, which meant that in order for Kari, Fay, Lin, and the others to fight them, I needed to push them to the other side. That should be easy enough.

Placing my hands in the water, I released a surge of Spiritual Power through my hands and directly manipulated the water in the lake, causing the water in front of me to swell abnormally. The Water Nymphs immediately saw the rising water. They didn’t seem to realize what had caused it, but all of them released unusual shrieks as a massive wave rose high above their heads. Some tried to get away from the wave. Others were just staring at it like they couldn’t figure out what was happening.

It didn’t matter what they tried or didn’t try to do.

The wave soon descended upon the lake, crashing down and sweeping all the Water Nymphs along with it. I couldn’t hear their squeals over the sounds of rushing water. However, I could see the looks of panic on their faces.

At about the time I unleashed my Spiritual Technique, the other member of my group—sans Dyr—emerged from the bushes on the opposite side of the lake. They halted for a moment when they saw the rushing wave. It was only for a second, though, as they soon realized this was my technique when the Water Nymphs, disoriented from the surprise attack, were washed ashore.

I cut straight through the lake and ran across the water’s surface. Everyone else had already launched their attack. Kari, Fay, and Lin were acting in tandem. Fay was protecting Kari against potential attacks as the blonde girl rushed up and skewered a Water Nymph on her spear. The creature shrieked, which alerted the others to the danger.

Several Water Nymphs tried to attack Kari, but two of them were blocked by Fay and another was struck in the face with a dark purple whip made out of Lin’s Spiritual Power. The one who caught struck let out a agonized shriek. Even from this distance, I could see the blackish vapor wafting off her face. That would be Lin’s poison—a specialty of the Lamia race.

Fay was having a bit more trouble defending Kari. She rotated her right arm as she pulled it into her torso, and then released it in a powerful thrust while putting her entire body into the attack. Her fist burst into flames, which were launched forward and slammed into the Water Nymph, but while the attack caused her enemy’s body to boil, a Water Nymph’s physical composition derived from their strong water affinity made them strong against fire attacks. The one she had struck was pushed back but not killed.

Fortunately, Fay’s primary duty was to protect Kari, which she did admirably, keeping several Water Nymphs at bay with her talent at close-quarters combat. She activated her Spiritual Aura to protect her own body. The fiery red aura blazed around her body like an intense flame as she fought. I could actually see the heat waves forming along the air as she blocked several slashing attacks with her forearms. Her metal gauntlets also offered some extra protection.

While she was acting as a defender, Kari was dancing across the ground, twirling her ranseur around as though it was an extension of her body. A golden light emitted from the tip. It left a trail in its wake, which soon transformed into a series of small spear-shaped objects that flew forward and pierced a Water Nymph. That particular Demon Beast went down, its body full of holes, and Kari went on to attack the next one.

With the three of them working together, they took down five of the 12 Water Nymphs in a little under two minutes. That was impressive. Combat against a group normally took longer because it took time to kill each enemy, and it was harder to kill one when multiple enemies were attacking at once. Despite these three not being familiar with each others’ fighting styles, they were able to work well enough against these Demon Beasts to hold their own.

Earland, Geirolf, and Mikkel were fighting the remaining 7 themselves. I could see now why they were allowed to take regular trips into the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

Earland was acting as the defender, his Spiritual Aura burning furiously as he defended against three Water Nymphs at once. Sparks flew from his sword as he blocked a series of clawed hands. However, despite the three Water Nymphs pressuring him, he didn’t budge a centimeter.

Mikkel and Geirolf were the ones fighting up close. Geirolf’s gauntlets were encased in wind as he slammed them into a Water Nymph, crushing the creature’s chest to cave in and sending it flying. His attack was impressive, but it was Mikkel, who used his own water element to disrupt a Water Nymph’s ability to breath on land that really impressed me. He waved his hands in mesmerizing patterns, which did something to the Water Nymphs, making them gag and rasp, and that allowed Geirolf to kill them with precise strikes.

It looked like he didn’t have Earland or even Geirolf’s skill with actual combat, but his ability to use his Spiritual Powers exceeded those of his two brothers.

By the time I arrived, all 12 Water Nymphs were taken care of.

“Seems like you didn’t do much,” Geirolf said when I arrived. “Don’t worry. I took care of them for you.”

I said nothing, but Mikkel once more elbowed his youngest brother in the torso. “Do not mind him. He knows that without you releasing that Spiritual Water Technique of yours, we wouldn’t have even been able to fight like we did.”

“Tch! Whatever.” Geirolf rubbed his sore left rib and looked away.

“You guys did good.” I acknowledged their words with a slow nod. “You can leave getting the bone marrow and monster cores to me.”

“We will,” Mikkel said with a grin. I guessed he wasn’t a fan of cutting open something that looked human.

The three brothers walked away from the lake shore, and I made my way over to Kari, Fay, and Lin, who stood a little ways from where their battle had taken place. None of them looked the worse for wear. Fay seemed a little green in the face, but Kari and Lin looked fine.

“Are you three okay?” I asked.

“I’m doing fine,” Kari said with a smile.

“This princess is also in perfect health.”

“I think… I need to rest a little bit,” Fay admitted, though she sent me a look that was only somewhat reassuring. “I will be fine once I’ve rested.”

“This is your first time killing anything, right?” I said.

“Yes,” Fay admitted. “I guess I’m not quite accustomed to killing.” At this, a frown appeared as she sent her eyes over to Kari. “To be honest, I am surprised you don’t seem to be bothered by it.”

At this, Kari rubbed the back of her neck as her face took on an awkward expression, like someone who’d been caught stealing cookies.

Trying to play off how killing these Water Nymphs didn’t bother her, she said, “I already killed Grant Leucht. I might have done so because I was enraged by what he did to you, but it doesn’t change what I did. I think… because I’ve already killed a person, the idea of killing a Demon Beast who looks somewhat human doesn’t really bother me.”

I sensed that she wasn’t quite being honest, but every one had the right to keep some secrets. If she wanted to tell us, we would listen. That said, I wasn’t going to pry if she didn’t feel comfortable saying something to us.

“In the Endless Desert, there are many Demon Beasts that won’t hesitate to kill you,” Lin said. “Lamia learn very early that in this world, it is either kill or be killed. Those who are afraid to or hesitate to kill are often the first to die.”

“Yes, I realize that,” Fay admitted. “It is just a little shocking to me since I have never killed before.”

“If you wish to take comfort, this princess will comfort you.”

“I think she’d rather be comforted by Eryk,” Kari said with a grin.

“Hmph!”

I chortled just a bit as Lin’s cheeks swelled up in an adorable pout and Fay blushed to the roots of her hair.

Leaving the girls to their banter, I began the process of removing the monster cores and bone marrow from the Water Nymph’s bodies. I grabbed all of the corpses and lined them up in a row. Since I didn’t have a knife, I used the lightning element to create one, and then slowly cut up the area around their chest. A monster core was like the heart of a monster. While this sometimes meant the core was in someplace unusual, on a human-shaped Demon Beast, it was always located where a heart would be on a human.

The Water Nymph monster cores were small enough to fit in my palm. An almost unnaturally pure blue, these monster cores were highly prized by alchemists as a powerful catalyst for pills that had healing properties. Of course, what I was after was the bone marrow, but I figured there’d be no harm in taking the monster cores as well.

As I was cutting open the Water Nymph’s, removing their cores, and then pulling out their bones, I felt a pair of eyes on me. Looking up let me know who was watching me. Dyr stood about a meter away, staring down at the corpses, her face containing a sadness that caused her lips to tremble.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Everything is fine.” Dyr seemed startled when I addressed her, but she quickly reassured me that nothing was wrong.

“You know you’re a bad liar,” I told her as I finished cutting out the monster core of my sixth Water Nymph. After placing it in a pouch, I glanced back up at the girl. “Does what I’m doing bother you?”

“It isn’t necessarily that what you are doing bothers me,” she said in a quiet voice after several seconds. “I guess… I just feel kind of bad for these Water Nymphs, you know? They weren’t doing anything to hurt us. They were just minding their own business when everyone attacked and killed them.”

This girl’s thoughts were incredibly idealistic and naive, but I couldn’t fault her for them. Had my own circumstances been different, I might have had the same thoughts, though thinking about that was a moot point now. With what happened during the Demon Beast Invasion in my previous life, I don’t think I could ever feel bad about killing a Demon Beast.

“I get where you are coming from, but there is something you have to understand about these creatures.” The eighth chest was cut open and the monster core retrieved. I carefully removed each bone that could prove useful. Some were cracked, but most were intact. I could feel Dyr’s eyes on me as I continued to work. “Demon Beasts are not human. They do not have human thoughts, emotions, or feelings. They are monsters, pure and simple. Right now, these Water Nymphs might have been lounging around and relaxing, but had we arrived earlier, we would have seen them casually slaughtering whatever Demon Beasts had inhabited this place before.”

I finished cutting open the last Water Nymph. After storing the monster core in my pouch and placing the bones in a bag, I stood up and glanced at the others. Kari, Fay, and Lin had walked closer to me and Dyr as though they also wanted to hear what I was saying. Mikkel appeared to be listening to me as well, but Earland and Geirolf were too far away to hear me with any clarity.

Focusing on Dyr again, I continued. “Water Nymphs are nomadic, so they often don’t stay in a single lake. I believe they get bored after awhile and seek other places to live, but in either event, after staying in a lake for so long, they will travel to another lake. If there are already Demon Beasts living there, the Water Nymphs will brutally slaughter all of them and claim the lake for themselves. Of course, this is provided the Demon Beast is not stronger than they are. Like most Demon Beasts, these ones are exceedingly violent, to the point where they will kill anything that moves, including Water Nymphs that belong to other tribes.”

When I finished speaking, Dyr, Fay, Kari, and Mikkel appeared to contemplate my words. Lin, on the other hand, was nodding along as if she completely agreed. I studied the expression on Dyr’s face. She had scrunched up her nose a little and seemed to be struggling, unlike the others who slowly seemed to be accepting the idea.

“So, what you are saying is that it’s okay to kill them because they are evil?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t call them evil so much as vile,” I replied. “All Demon Beasts act on instinct, and their instincts appears to be a strong desire to kill and maim humans and other Demon Beasts. They don’t see anything wrong with killing each other or us, so I don’t think it is wrong for us to kill them in return.”

“I see,” Dyr said softly. “That’s kinda sad.”

“I suppose it is at that,” I agreed.

With the monster cores and bones now in my possession, we no longer had a reason to stay there. At Dyr’s request, I buried the Water Nymphs, and then our group left Nymph Lake and set off. Our last destination for this journey was the cave located about one day travel from here. It was already midday. I wanted to make as much progress as possible before we had to set up camp again.