Chapter 347: Light Advances
It has been one month and two weeks since my little Kali was born. The advance of my troops into the angel kingdom is going totally well. Despite a few casualties here and there from time to time, everything is within what was stipulated and calculated.
As for Eve, she is very good at teaching, far more than I could have ever hoped for, so Shizuka is rapidly growing stronger and learning to use her powers through the tutoring Eve gives her.
Obviously, there’s no denying Shizuka’s own talent, as she absorbs all knowledge like a super sponge in water.
Since everything is going well for now, I have few worries about the near future, though I think everything is only going so well because I’m obeying everything Esther says, and Esther’s powers obviously dictate the best course of action to reach the most favorable scenario.
With everything leadership-related resting on Esther’s shoulders, I’m more focused on taking care of my daughter and having conversations with Eve using my other body that’s over on the angel continent.
I’ve also been using this time to train everything Nerina taught me, like using my domain powers without needing to manifest the domain itself, and also the powers involving liquids!! Maybe in the future I’ll manage to create a completely liquid weapon that changes shape!! It would be good for Eve to use without breaking it.
But that’s for the future. At the moment, I’m more focused on my daughter, since I have to learn to be a mother with almost no support on how to do it.
’Hmm... she really is just a baby...’ I look at Kali. She isn’t some kind of super genius or a mini-adult. She acts exactly like a baby would. Maybe I expected that, because she’s a demon and Esther’s daughter, she would learn to speak absurdly fast and wouldn’t act like a baby.
Incredibly, I was dead wrong. She literally only does normal baby things and nothing more. Although she is clever, it’s still an intelligence at the level of a baby, with silly confusions.
"Come on, daughter, pick a little cup!! Your favorite ball is inside one of them!!" I say to Kali, who is staring at three cups. Inside one of them is the little ball she always plays with, a squeezable ball she took a liking to.
Although that damned Esther said she liked it because it’s similar to crushing a small animal. Esther is so mean! It’s obvious Kali doesn’t like the ball because of that, but because it’s bright, soft, and moves when she throws it.
’I must not think about the nonsense Esther says!! My daughter only likes the ball because it’s fun for her to play with these things and nothing else!!!’ I look at Kali, waiting for her to touch one of the cups on the bed.
"Baaahhh!!" She leans back, falling onto her back on the bed and staring at the ceiling without caring about the cups. I sit her back up for her to choose one.
"Come on! Just pick one!! Don’t you want your little ball? It’s right here inside one of these cups!! It’s not that hard" I say, trying to teach her new things!! If she can always pick the right one, it will be an incentive to help her do new things.
"..." She stares at the cups, confused, and then puts a hand in her mouth, starting to suck on her fingers. I lift the cup, showing her the little ball, and then cover it again, rotating the cups among themselves. She stares at the cups and then looks at me, confused, her little fingers still in her mouth.
"Ahhh... forget it..." I don’t know how much a baby is supposed to know about the world. Can babies not figure this out? But she saw the ball; she should know the ball is in one of the cups, right?
"...Hmm..." I create a doll that looks like me. It’s a doll made of soft threads, totally safe for a baby, and I show it to Kali, whose attention is stolen by the doll that looks like me.
"If you guess which cup the little ball is in, I’ll give you this doll!" I say to her. She looks at the doll with a smile, moving her little hands toward me, squeezing her little fingers as if asking for the toy.
"Pick a cup first... reward only after you’ve gotten it right." I keep staring at her while she, unable to reach the toy after some time, gets frustrated, and soon she starts to cry.
"D-Daughter... don’t cry!! Here’s the little ball." I get the little ball for her from inside the cup, but she keeps crying while staring at the doll. To make her stop crying, I just hand the doll over to her right away.
’I don’t understand...’ I’ve never had to take care of a baby. I thought a baby would know how to choose. I even used her favorite ball so she would try to find it. Could it be that the fact of not seeing the ball just made all her interest fizzle out?
...
...
...
"Esther... Here’s the new batch of medicine for you and for Evelyn," Saluvia says, handing me several blister packs of tablets ready for use. I immediately take one pack, tear it open, and swallow a pill to deal with the hunger.
’Tsk... there are so many. She should be able to make a more precise and longer-lasting batch so we wouldn’t need to stockpile this many.’ Considering the expiration date, more than half of these blister packs will spoil before being used.
But I won’t criticize her for now. It’s just inconvenient for the moment. I know Saluvia does it on purpose. As long as we have a need for her making medicine constantly, we can’t get rid of her, and she knows it, so her medicines have a shelf life of a few weeks at most, meaning you can’t request a stockpile to last several years.
I shift my focus to something more important. Since Evelyn has just given birth, I’ve been avoiding trying to devour her body so she can concentrate on Kali. Even though I hate this little parasite, I still love Evelyn too much and want to give her this time.
"Besides, Esther, since I already brought this week’s medicine shipment, I believe it’s a good opportunity to say... I think I’m going to stop helping you with your training." When Saluvia says this, I look at her with seriousness.
"Why?" I question why she decided this so suddenly. I hate to admit it, but thanks to the training she provided me, I got much stronger, and I don’t want to have to stop now without a reason.
"..." She stays silent for a while, as if thinking about the best and safest answer to give, knowing that depending on her answer, my reaction won’t be so amiable and will make her life very difficult.
"You’ve already grown too much. There’s not much I can teach you. You learned everything very quickly. Without you telling me what exactly your blessing is, there are no more situations where my help will make you improve."
"After all, it’s difficult to tutor a power when I don’t even know for sure what it does. I had to give lessons and training for something 100% abstract. This is the limit of how far the abstract can be taught." She gives a good and acceptable answer.
"..." I’m not going to reveal my ability, since it’s more useful to me if no one knows about it. Evelyn is the only one who knows exactly what the power of my blessing is, and I prefer to keep it that way.
"Whatever. I don’t need you anymore anyway. Just keep making the medicine and that will suffice... besides that, what are the chances of that girl dying of some disease?" I ask about Kali.
"None." She gives the answer I wanted the least, and exactly the answer I unfortunately already expected. After all, she seems like a very healthy baby.
"It didn’t hurt to try. Does she really have no problems?" I question again just for one last confirmation, wishing she had something and would die on her own.
"No, nothing. She is totally healthy. It’s impossible to know what biological disadvantages she inherited from you and Evelyn, but nothing that will kill her or become a risky problem for her life."
"Tsk."
"What’s her average lifespan?"
"I don’t know. Considering the hybridism, around 5,000 years if nothing kills her and she doesn’t get sick. But since she inherited more of your characteristics, she probably lives forever as long as she feeds on blood regularly."
"DAMN IT! That little parasite will never age after reaching maturity!?" I speak full of rage.
"...Well... yes, that’s what I said... it’s not like you and Evelyn will age either... I think the only problem is the fact that Evelyn gives too much affection to Kali, considering the draconic heritage..."
"I KNOW!!! That little parasite is going to latch onto Evelyn literally like a damned parasite!! And as long as Evelyn gives her affection, this disgusting little brat won’t want to distance herself!!!"
’I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.’ I knew this little parasite would steal my time with Evelyn.
I was absolutely certain she could be a problem that would steal Evelyn’s attention and try to fight me for affection. I always knew!! But I will never let her steal Evelyn from me.