Chapter 668: Meeting The Party
Asmodeus sat on his cheap bed while leaning against the sturdy wooden wall. He closed his eyes, and a golden shimmer enveloped his body, washing away all the tingles and dizziness of alcohol. Then he traced a shape in the air and formed a person-sized portal. On the other side, he could see Lumeria and his castle, where several women were cuddling together on a huge bed.
"Oh? it seems they’re sleeping together tonight."
He stepped inside the bubbling purple portal. Enveloped with the cooling sensation as if wrapped in gel and shaken relentlessly for several seconds. Then he took a slow step, pushing through the squishy film and found himself standing in the middle of the room.
"Girls?"
"E-eh... what?" Asmodea rubbed her eyes, wearing a dark red babydoll with see-through silky frills. "Honey?" Her sleepy eyes snapped open the moment she saw the tall figure. His long blonde hair and sharp blue eyes were the same as the man she had first met. "Ryuji!"
’I guess they’re exhausted.’
He caught Asmodea, who flung into his arms and lifted her in the air, spinning in circles.
"Kyaa! I miss you so much, Mmmmmn!" She kissed his face dozens of times while letting her legs dangle in the air with her crimson hair.
"It’s fine, to see you this energetic makes me happy."
Clack!
Finally, he sat on the stone table with elegant engravings, with Asmodea settling on his lap. She clung to his body while half-asleep and struggling to keep her eyes open. "We were so busy, trying to help and find you."
"I know, for now just focus on boosting the defences at Baltimore, and work with your dad to build stronger ships to prepare for the future."
"Nn..."
Her head flopped to the side as she hummed back. But he didn’t mind, because from the bed, both Alice and Vinea crawled closer.
"Darling!"
"Husband... you look so sexy."
Snap!
Asmodeus snapped his fingers, creating a warmth in the room that spread from the floor to the walls and lit the huge fireplace with a loud crackle. "You girls should take care of yourselves, okay?"
"You’re so caring, we’ve been flying around all day... Levia waned to work all night but we made her drink sleeping tables, hehe." Vinea became cuter after giving birth; she didn’t force herself to remain a princess all the time anymore.
"Is everything finished, or do you need more help?" Alice wrapped herself in a fluffy black robe made with dire-wolf pelt and furs. "I’ve started drafting idea’s and plans on what to do to help, but needed more information."
Alice slipped onto his other thigh, sitting on his lap without a care. "What do you need?"
Asmodeus beckoned the shy Vinea closer, his head lowering to kiss Alice’s cheek, its cool temperature comforting for him. "I’ve decided to take an unorthodox method, so cancel all invasion and aggressive plans."
"Eh?"
Vinea slipped beside him, climbing onto the table and hugging his back. "You look good in this form, are you playing adventurer again?" She leaned on his shoulder with her chin while grinning at him.
"Yeah, I met someone and realised that although the mainland are enemies, this isn’t true for all the people there."
"Oh? A woman?" Alice narrowed her eyes until they became sharp, aggressive slits.
"Nope, a miserable old dwarf who lost his son to a dungeon."
"Eh, a man!?"
Not just Alice but even Vinea and Asmodea gasped at his words. They looked at each other, then all three of them touched his crotch. The moment they felt the hot, throbbing object in their palms, they sighed with relief.
"So he’s not gay."
"You made me worry for nothing, darling."
"Oi!"
Pah - Pah - Pah!
With three rapid spanks, the girls pouted, but he managed to fix the situation. On the bed, Yumiko and Yuina rolled around with Levia and Erika using their tails as extra pillows. He watched his women for a few minutes before leaving Alice with what he wanted her to do.
"Can you do that for me?"
"Mm, but will you honestly enter a dungeon?"
"Yeah, why are you jealous?"
"It makes me miss the old days..." Asmodea hummed, before burrowing into his chest.
Asmodeus and his three wives spent hours speaking about the future and what had happened with their children. He also passed out candy and other gifts to the girls and boys. Then, as the sun started to rise, he tucked the three into bed again.
"Don’t rush to wake up, we’ve left notes... so please rest. I will visit you tomorrow."
"Nn..."
"Mmm."
"ZzZzz..."
He watched them sleeping with a smile, before kissing each woman on the cheek, then created a portal back to the inn where he was staying.
Logan would introduce him to two other party members later today, and then they would probably head to the cursed dungeon, the Iron Maw.
***
Once back through the portal, he removed his clothes, preparing to take a quick shower, but the strange jelly feeling clung to his skin and made it sticky. He stepped into the small shower room. "Phew." With a sigh, he placed both hands on the wall, and the warmish water poured down his body.
The sound of rushing water filled the cramped little room, steam pressing against the worn wooden walls and fogging them up. Asmodeus tilted his head back, letting the torrent rinse away the lingering traces of dirt and grabbed a deep red object.
Asmodea’s rose soap washed away the faint scent of sweat, and replacing it was a sweet, flowery aroma.
"Feels... normal," he murmured, dragging a hand through his long blond hair. "It’s been a while since I’ve used this human form for so long."
He turned off the tap, the stream cutting off with a hiss, and reached for the hard towel and stopped... Instead, he snapped his fingers, and heat spread over his nude figure, drying the excess liquid from his body.
After dressing in a simple travel shirt and dark trousers with a leather armoured tunic on top of the shirt, he sat on the edge of his bed and looked through the tiny window. The morning air carried a salty chill from the sea, and somewhere in the distance, thunder continued to roar.
’Like a never ending storm.’
The distant thunder resembled the aura of the abyssal fiend he once faced. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I hope it’s not one of them..."
He rested his chin against his axe with a narrowed gaze. "Iron Maw, huh...?"
Although they called it iron, Asmodeus believed it might not actually be iron; otherwise, those adventurers could shatter or destroy the metal. Instead, he wondered if it was a special, mana-enriched metal.
’If so, then I could benefit from this trip too...’
Because of the Mana-Enriched earth, the minerals in his demon empire evolved and mutated into special metals, but because of the demonic energies that fill the land to their depths. It meant that only dark metals like black steel appeared.
’This place could have the mythical Mithril.’
The people in the inn started to stir, with the sizzling of bacon and eggs and other foods leaking through the door and floorboards. "I’m happy I get hungry in this form. Bacon and eggs for breakfast remind me of being a kid."
He sensed movement from Logan’s room and shifted on the bed.
A faint knock came at the door.
"R-Ryuji? You awake?" Logan’s rough and haggard voice slipped through the wood. "Sun’ll be up soon, lad. You ready to meet the rest of the crew?"
He closed his eyes and remembered that he would be acting as the human berserker Ryuji. With a deep breath, he calmed himself and then smiled, tightening his boots and adjusting the strap on his axe.
"Yeah, on my way, old man."
When he opened the door, the dawn coated the streets of Stormvale in a muted gold hue. The scent of the ocean mingled with smoke from breakfast fires as they stepped into the quiet dining room.
’It’s so different in the morning.’
There was no beer, only fruit juices and sharp coffee and teas.
"Oh, they’re already here!" Logan chuckled as he scurried to another table.
Waiting near the dwarf were two silhouettes. A strange figure... one tall, one short.
The first was a rugged woman with a spear strapped across her back, her sharp yellow eyes gleaming beneath a tattered hood. The other, a young man with silver hair and a faint scar running across his cheek.
Logan grinned. "Lad, meet our party for this little suicide trip. They’re rough, but they’ve got guts."
Asmodeus met their eyes and nodded once. "Nice to meet you, let’s get started after a nice breakfast."
The two acted differently. The male huffed and ignored Ryuji, turning around and leaving the inn, but on the other hand, the female gripped her hood and pulled it down, which caused Asmodeus to hold his breath.
"A mermaid!?"
Ryuji couldn’t remove his gaze from her...
Long, silky blue hair like freshly washed velvet and soft blue gills on either side of her neck, with scales and slightly pointed ears.
She looked at him with a sharp glare upon hearing his words, and reached for her spear, until his next words.
"Your gills and scales are so pretty."
Then her face became bright pink as Logan elbowed Ryuji.
"L-Laddie... that kind of compliment to mermaid-kin is like confessing your love!"
"Eh?"
Ryuji could only watch as the gruff, muscular woman with a pretty face crouched down, with both hands covering her face... her gills fluttered in the air with a faint sticky fluid dripping from them.
"But Logan. She’s really cute."
"Hah!?"
The dwarf could only laugh, while the fierce woman he had known for years acted like a young maiden.
"Laddie, this journey is going to be amazin’. I can feel it!"