“And with this, I decre all the orphanages reopen again!”

  I said in excitement while in a meeting with Lassie and the orphanage staff, it didn’t took as long as expected, now the pace it’s kid free, I don’t have anything against the kids, they all felt sad about leaving the pace at some point, I have to admit the girls pying princess and the boys pying knights was a bit heartwarming, now the only child left it’s Ellie running around.

  “Say Lassie, how are your kids doing?”

  Her orphanage was also remade, and she still looks after her kids from time to time, but I’ve seen her leaving them to the hired caretakers more often than not, I know she did so to help me out, but is she really ok with that?

  ‘Yes, we’ve all had a rough time but we should be fine now’

  “If you write so”

  ‘What now?’

  “Well, Now that everything settled down, I should probably go back to boring stuff like actually boosting the economy, and there’s loan sharks lurking around, so there’s that as well”

  Honestly I can’t believe the amount of things that are piling on top of each other, I really need more hands on deck I can trust, Lassie it’s one of them, so...

  “Say Lassie”

  Lassie didn’t write an answer, she just tilted her head as she usually did for these sorts of questions, instead of writing down what she thinks, she’s been getting really fast with the pen at any rate.

  “I’m gonna keep it real, I need you, what do you say about being our head in social programs?”

  She simply pointed at herself as if questioning my decision of picking her.

  “Yes you, I wouldn’t pick anyone else to be honest, you’ve been nothing but helpful all around, ever since we met, I feel like I can trust you with my own life even!”

  To my words, Lassie then became incredibly flustered, as well as somehow sad for some reason, I really don’t understand what’s going through her head sometimes.

  ‘I have a confession, could you come over to my house in the afternoon?’

  “You have a home!? I always thought you lived in the orphanage, plus you slept here in the pace all the time while we sorted the orphanage things”

  ‘It’s complicated, can you come over here in the afternoon then?’

  Lassie then handed me an address. I've been getting good at remembering streets but I’ll have to ask Heather for directions ter, or maybe the guards.

  Either way, for now I said goodbye to Lassie as she headed back to her orphanage I’m assuming, as for me, I headed over to the courtyard, where Rushka and Heather were practicing with the new prosthesis version.

  “Ok, it seems you got the gist of it! let’s try another couple of ps more”

  “Got it!”

  What I saw reaching the courtyard was Heather running ps around the courtyard, I looked at her new arm and leg, where have I seen something simir? Ah yes!

  “Hello my eldritch brothers~”

  I said jokingly but Rushka and Heather just looked at me like I’m insane, no surprise there, fake limbs aren’t a reference in this pce.

  “Err, hello Marisa”

  “How are the new extremities Heather?”

  “They’re... uncomfortable”

  She responded with a bit of a regretful look for some reason.

  “Really?”

  I looked over at Rushka, the arm and leg are connected through long wires to a sort of panel that she’s operating.

  “Heather can’t use magic so I’m using this generator to make do for the autonomous parts of the movements, and constantly measuring the input to the device!”

  “Yeah, and moving them accordingly it’s somewhat difficult...”

  Heather has a complicated face, it’s obvious she’s trying her best but controlling the thing properly seems to bring her issues, and that frustrates her probably.

  “Honestly it’s nothing more than a novelty at this point, barely useful outside of a controlled environment!”

  “Feeling like I should try to regrow your limbs Heather?”

  “Honestly it might be a better option, still, I don’t want to be a burden anymore”

  I don’t even know if regeneration magic can help her at this point, but I can try.

  “Hey! you’re gonna make me waste all the effort I put into the prosthesis! You should’ve told me earlier!”

  “I don’t even know if I can make Heather regrow her limbs though”

  I probably can let’s not fool ourselves, I’m pretty outrageous after all!

  “No, I might actually not want to, Marisa!”

  “Eh? Why not?”

  “You’re gonna show her ‘that’?”

  “Can we do it?”

  “Sure! let me go get more mana stones for the generator- actually, why waste, Marisa can you help me by shoving mana into the generator?”

  “Sure”

  “I’ll get the bricks”

  Bricks?

  As I was pondering, Heather went to a pile of bricks and then with a very stiff motion, carried a dozen or so of them, and pced them in a vertical pile one on top of the next, while I started pouring mana into the pce Rushka told me to.

  “Ok, that should be enough”

  “What are you girls thinking of?”

  “You’ll see~”

  To her words and after Rushka gave Heather the thumbs up, her prosthetic arm began to shine slightly, and then she simply nded a punch down and destroyed the brick pile effortlessly!

  “Wow”

  Impressive, sure I could do that with a pinky, but Heather doing it, it’s astounding honestly, still, kinda hard to pull off in an actual fight however, given I put the energy source, and was somewhat slow and required wind up.

  “I can’t wait to put cannons and maybe a bde! It’s-”

  “Rushka dear, I would rather not make it super encumbering, I just need a working arm, and the enhanced strength already made it much clunkier to carry around!”

  “I think the super arm and leg are cool!”

  “See, Marisa likes them”

  “Well, I would be lying if I said weapons aren’t useful but-”

  “Mari! I’m bored!!”

  “Ellie?”

  As we were talking about Heather’s prosthetics, Ellie came running towards me, god knows where has she been tely, I know she pyed with the other orphan kids but now it seems there’s no one else to entertain her, in reality I’m grateful to her, she helped me ease the other kids as well even if by her own selfish reasons, she was sad when the other kids left but she goes to the orphanages to visit them every now and then.

  Heather was against her going by herself but she’s probably stronger than most people now that she’s a half demon, more so after the fight the other night so it’s probably fine, I gave her permission despite Heather chewing me about it, at least she finally has friends that are not adults, and can py with her a bit more than us.

  “Ellie, why don’t you py with Heather? I have some things to attend to”

  “Bu! Mari and big sister haven’t pyed with me in a while!”

  “Sorry, sorry, let me make it up for you, how does a vacation sound!”

  Honestly, I’ve been having nothing but work and worries, and I’ve been pushing everyone to their limits, so it’s only understandable that everyone it’s a bit stressed, plus I’m sick of working too!

  “Yay! Vacation! What is that?”

  “...do you seriously not know? Well-”

  “Ah, let me expin it Marisa, I’m sure you have more things to take care of, no?”

  “Let me be Heather, I’m getting worked to the bone! At least this much I can tell to Ellie”

  “Eh? Y-yeah sorry”

  “Now listen well Ellie, a vacation is-”

  Just as I was gonna start expining a loud thundering sound echoed across the pace, as the earth started to violently shake, Rushka, Heather and Ellie lost their bance, falling to the ground, I quickly tried to go to them, as the building started to shake in pce, all of a sudden, I felt goosebumps all over my body, it was a horrible feeling, one I cannot describe with words, but it wasn’t fear, it was, different...

  Then the rumbling stopped, everything started to calm down and go back to normal.

  “What was that!?”

  “I don’t know! Are you ok Ellie!?”

  “Big sister!!”

  “Is everyone ok!?”

  I yelled, but they seem to be doing fine, the building luckily didn’t colpse, was that an earthquake? Most likely but what’s this unpleasant feeling in my heart...

  “Y-yeah, we’re fine”

  “Girls, I’m, I’m gonna go out, can you take care of yourselves for a bit?”

  “Of course Marisa! Don’t worry about us!”

  “Thanks”

  Now to investigate the mysterious rumbling, it affected the whole town apparently, fortunately everything seems to be somewhat ok, some old buildings have cracks here and there, but the more proper built pces are completely intact, including the orphanages, so it was most likely nothing more than an earthquake, as I was investigating, I came across a rather peculiar person, it was Az!

  She’s been working for the orphanages, and was finally let go of the cell, she really has the best interest of the kids in mind, not only that, she’s the only clue I have about the church, she dislikes revealing secrets, but also, she basically knew next to nothing anyways, still, her cooperation without hesitation as appreciated.

  “Marisa!”

  She used to call me ‘Midy’ or things like that, but I gave her permission to use my name, besides the stiffness is awkward.

  “Hey Az, what’s up?”

  “N-nothing, I thought the rumble from before was your doing!”

  “No it wasn’t, why would you think that?”

  “I... you’re right, why did I assume that? it’s just, I felt an ominous well... feeling? It reminded me of you for a second”

  “Hmm... no it wasn’t me, at any rate, if you’re done idling, report back at the pace, I’m sure we can find you more work to do, even if paperwork is not your strong suit”

  “R-right away midy!”

  Nevermind about the stiffness... whatever, Az works without any pay, she’s still a criminal, and will be treated as such, I’m sure we can find something useful for her to be able to do, the orphanage tasks are for the people hired for that specific purpose, not her.

  It still makes me wonder however, she mentioned an ominous feeling, and that is something I can’t get out of my head. There's something wrong, I can feel it in my bones, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

  Looking around town I see the common folks going about their daily lives and coping with the earthquake, even Heather and Rushka acted normally all things considered and yet, what is this feeling of unease I can’t shake out of my chest.

  I need to ask someone who’s lived here way longer than I. Not only that, I needed to see if she wasn’t buried in her own decrepit apartment complex, I sent the piggy to her as well. It's a good opportunity to see how they’re doing.

  When I approached the old building with cracks that I’m unsure were made by the earthquake or they were always there to begin with, I could feel both of Adele’s and the piggy’s presence inside, without a second thought, I entered like I own the pce, I kinda do as it is my town, but whatever.

  The piggy was carrying stacks of books across different apartments, sweating while doing so, and with wobbly arms and legs, it seems she isn’t used to strenuous work, I’m gd that Adele is putting her to good use and not straight up dissecting her.

  “M-Marisa! What do you want!?”

  “Nothing with you pipsqueak, I’m here to talk with Adele”

  “Hmpf! Suit yourself!”

  Said the ex-piggy, tripping and dropping all the books she was carrying, I would help her if she was anyone else, for now I entered the room with the lich stuck around a pile of books, as always.

  “Marisa?”

  “Heyo~ what are you doing?”

  “Researching, as requested...”

  “Right, you need a break, anyways, I came because-”

  “You felt it too, no?”

  “Yeah, what... was that?”

  Gd nothing gets past the old adventurer perception, she was the only one that doubted me when we first met, plus she’s so knowledgeable, if someone other than Celestial knows something, it's her.

  “I have no clue, but it’s not the first time I felt it in my life, a feeling of dread followed by rumbling is something that has occurred all across time, mostly associated with folklore tales however, nothing has ever happened of note afterwards, and the cause is unknown”

  “So like a natural disaster? Nothing to worry about?”

  “Probably not, still, I will keep my guard up around here for a while, if something happens I’ll let you know”

  “Thanks, I will do the same...”

  Did Adele sensed that I was feeling uneasy as well, it’s like she’s feeling the same, but doesn’t want to tell me about it, I’m probably overthinking things, that must be the case, for now I look at the hour, it might be a bit too early to meet Lassie but, I want to see her, I want to make sure she’s ok for some reason...

  I asked a guard, and he took me to the location Lassie pointed me to, it was in the lower districts, and the house, if it could be called that, was nothing short of a rundown pce, wooden beams rotted and stone walls colpsed, it however, still had a single room standing, I entered it knowing full well that Lassie was not inside, I would simply wait for her inside, and to my surprise, the pce is filled with trash.

  Well I say trash, it’s mostly random stuff from things as small as pieces of cloth, to vases and other things that-

  Wait a minute! Isn’t that part of the pace decoration!? What is it doing here? I noticed some things going missing around the pace, but I assumed it was simply the kids doing pranks, or maybe suspecting the workers of thievery, but since nothing important went missing, and there was no time for investigation, I never bothered to go after the culprit.

  For now I waited patiently for Lassie, so she could give me an expnation. It took a few minutes, but she finally showed her face in the room I’m unsure was always rundown or fell on the shaking. I simply sat on a decrepit chair to wait for her with my arms crossed, making an angry face to mess with her a little.

  “Care to expin?”

  Lassie panicked, and then started furiously writing in the notebook. I ughed at her expression, it’s funny to tease her a bit.

  “Rex, I’m not angry in the slightest, I just wanted to see your expression~”

  She’s ghostly pale! Almost reaching Adele’s skin tone.

  “Sorry, sorry, I’m not mad at all, I promise!”

  I said holding a hand on my chest, feeling my soft and squishy bump that I still sometimes forget I have.

  ‘This are the things I stole’

  “You stole them? Why? It seems like junk mostly, and I know there’s more valuable stuff in the pace than decorations, why take it?”

  The chair I was sitting in colpsed for some reason, so I simply sat down on the floor, and beckoned Lassie to sit next to me as well, it seems she’s gonna write for a long time, this way I can read as she write, and comment more often instead of waiting for her to finish.

  Lassie then told me about her past, about how ever since she’s small, she’s had this impulse to take things that don't belong to her, and how it has gotten her in problems before, even if she didn’t mean to take any of them.

  ‘You probably don’t believe me’

  “Oh I do! You don’t strike me the thief kind, not anymore, the only reason you stole money was for the kids, and all this garbage is well, that, garbage, we will see about returning things ter”

  ‘So you believe me?’

  “Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”

  She’s always doing what is right, and it sounds to me this problem afflicts her a lot, given the expression she’s showing me at this moment.

  ‘How can you believe me without any proof?’

  “Well, tell me then, did you steal all of this on purpose?”

  Lassie simply shook her head from side to side, I can tell when people lie, so I know she’s being honest.

  “That’s all the proof I need! Lassie, you’re important to me, more so than what you can imagine, I will never doubt you”

  I said, looking straight into her beautiful brown eyes, the same eyes that started to water at my words, before I knew it, she was cleaning her tears with her sleeve!

  “I-is everything ok!? Did I say something I shouldn’t!?”

  Lassie moved her head from side to side, and wrote down shakily on the notebook.

  ‘You’re the second person in the world to have ever believed in me’

  That’s harsh, but also, this world is cruel and I have an advantage with my stupid senses, so maybe it’s not a fair assumption the one she has towards me, but I would be stupid if I didn’t capitalize on it!

  “I will always believe in you, and I hope you think the same of me”

  Lassie closed her eyes and nodded, I couldn’t help but blush looking at her cute face, it’s now or never I think, I postponed this for far too long, so after she opened her eyes and we stare at each other face to face for a minute or two, I leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips.

  She seemed taken aback for a second, but despite the uneasiness I felt from her at the moment, she didn’t fight back or tried to push me, even involuntarily.

  “Lassie, I know it’s a bit sudden but...”

  Here hoping I don’t screw things over!

  “I love you Lassie, I really do!”

  And also I’m horny about you, that’s also a form of love I think! My libido urges aside, I really couldn’t see myself without Lassie, I’m just crossing my fingers in my mind that she feels the same way!

  “...”

  The silence is deafening, I feel like my heart is gonna jump out of my chest, and after a determined look, Lassie looked back at me.

  “A... OU… U!”

  That’s the first time I heard her voice! She doesn’t have a tongue but she HAS vocal cords, it seems her muteness is just that she wouldn’t be understood even if she spoke, but the words she shared with me, even if choppy, conveyed her message better than any old notebook could.

  I couldn’t contain my excitement, words were unnecessary for both her and I! I simply approached her lips once more, holding her head in between my hands.

  We shared a passionate kiss, as I started shoving my tongue inside her mouth, it was an odd feeling since she doesn’t have one, so I used my tongue to run along her teeth instead, or even feel the pce where her tongue would usually be.

  My hands let go of her face, and started tracing across her body, after I accidentally pushed her on her back with my own weight, we’re both lying on the floor in this trash filled room, and my hand is slowly creeping into her clothes, gently pushing away the modest bra holding her round and fluffy chest.

  “Hmm~”

  Lassie’s throat voice is somewhat adorable, her chest is different from Heather’s marshmallows that cover my entire hand, or Rushka’s ft and charming figure, she’s closer to my size I believe. I gently knead them in my hands, without letting go of her mouth with mine.

  “Can I?~”

  She already knows about my situation from under my skirt after the whole first meeting fiasco, I hope she hasn’t forgotten, but I asked as one of my hands let go of her chest and traced along her belly into her lower torso, to which she nodded in a bashful manner.

  Lassie is always hiding, always seems to be blending with the background at all time, but now that it’s just us two, I can appreciate her beauty face to face, I quickly lift my skirt up for a bit, as my member is eagerly sticking out of the upper part of my panties, Lassie stares in what feels to be fear and excitement, and for now, I simply touch her hips as I slid her underwear down, revealing her precious and pink flower.

  “I’ll try to be gentle, but push me away if it’s too much”

  I said, my body touching hers as I’m kinda on top of her, she is slightly taller than me, but not as much as Heather, so it doesn’t feel awkward.

  My dick is above her privates, gently rubbing her with the shaft, before actually inserting it inside her, I want her to feel a bit more aroused for both our sake.

  We continued our kissing, my right hand caressing her chest, as my left one is gently rubbing her clit to get her more in the mood, she’s simply holding me in a hug, while I do all the work.

  “I’m going in~”

  “Hm...”

  Here it goes, and she’s tight, it’s a nice feeling of being embraced within her, one that I can never get enough of, although it’s the first time I feel this with her, the fleshy and moist skin contorting around my member, as if trying to keep me from pulling out.

  “Lassie!~”

  I start gently moving, much to Lassie’s unease, she’s moving her hips in an erratic manner, as if not knowing how to feel, once again I’m sadly not entirely in, but I shove it until I feel that I’m hitting the end, and pull out to my tip.

  The motions speed up, and as I do, I feel that iconic frustration of having to be so gentle, maybe with more practice things between us will get better eventually.

  In and out, in and out, my breathing is getting a bit heavy, and as for Lassie, she’s moaning incoherent mumbles, I really can’t understand what she says besides ‘Ah’ and ‘Mhm’.

  “Haa!~?”

  So warm and cozy within her, before I knew it my thrusts became fast enough to maybe make her feel uncomfortable, she pced her hands on my chest, which made me moan for a second, but maybe she wants to stop for a moment.

  “T-too fast?~? Sorry, I’ll-”

  As I was about to pull out to let her rest, she quickly held me in an embrace once again, as if beckoning me to not stop, this was all I needed, as I continued my onsught, her breath and mine interchanging, as our voices got louder.

  “Lassie! Lassie! You feel so good!~?”

  “Ah! Am! U!~?”

  Her tail began to coil around my leg, which gave me goosebumps for a second. It reminded me of the intimate moment we shared, so I moved my own tail to meet hers.

  It’s a surreal feeling, the way we both tug gently at each other as we coil together! it sends a chill down my spine, making my cock throb as my hips keep thrusting with everything I have!

  “L-Lassie! I’m gonna!~?”

  She responded with unintelligible moans, is that permission? I have no clue, but I let go of everything I had within her, as her belly gently swells with my seed, she pressures me so hard, I can’t pull off even if I wanted to.

  “Haa~ Ahh~”

  Our breathing came into perfect sync, as we stared at each other once again, it’s a lovely moment of passion.

  “Lassie, let’s go again~”

  I mentioned, that is until a sudden chill of cold air breezed through, and since we’re both half undressed, we both felt it in the rundown pce that Lassie calls home.

  She seems uncomfortable about it as well, maybe this pce is not appropriate for lovey-dovey bonding.

  “O-or maybe ter, why don’t you come to the pace, and we can continue this ter~”

  Lassie nodded, and we both got up and dressed once again, that is when I realized, it’s cold, more so than normal, I wouldn’t usually pay attention, but it’s cold enough that a normal dress would not be appropriate attire, odd given it wasn’t as cold before.

  “L-Lassie, I don’t like to do this, but I feel like there’s something wrong, can I leave you for a moment? I will meet you at the pace”

  Lassie nodded, and I gave her a hug and a goodbye kiss before heading out once again.

  And so I dashed outside of the city, following my gut instinct, something it’s wrong I can feel it! Especially how chilly the town feels. I'm tracing the cold feeling, trying to find the source. But I can’t help but worry, st time I felt like the weather went cold out of nowhere was when I met Celestial, please let it be just my nerves and nothing more!

  I run through the woods, looking around for anything, but the forest is empty! Only trees and the cold air that lingers around unnaturally, I must be close! I can even see my breath in the air when exhaling from being so cold! But despite it I can’t find anything!

  ‘Hello’

  ‘Other me? What is it?’

  ‘This pce looks familiar’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It’s... do you not remember?’

  I should, we’re the same person and the same brain! So I stopped in pce and racked my head trying to remember, but nothing comes to mind, well almost nothing, for some reason I’m remembering the day I came into this dream for some reason.

  ‘Where are we?’

  ‘I wish I knew!’

  That’s when something caught my interest, that is 2 corpses sprawled one of top of another, they’ve been picked clean by nature, as only their torn clothes, and bones remain, unfortunate for them, I headed to look at the bodies and that’s when their skulls caught my attention, both had a hole in their head, cracking their skulls on the process.

  It’s them! the couple I first met when I got to this world, their corpses id here in the forest, no one bothered to take them away...

  I felt bad for them, since I kinda abandoned them too, their faces are unrecognizable from when I saw them on the account that they’re just bones...

  In the end, I simply used brute strength to dig a hole with my hands and magic, the same hole that I used to pce both of them inside.

  “I hardly knew you guys, may you rest in peace, hope you two are together, somewhere else...”

  ‘...’

  ‘That means we’re close to where we woke up?’

  ‘So it seems, let’s keep looking around’

  More forest, and more coldness. There's ice formations appearing in the forest now, I can’t sense any living creatures around whatsoever, they must’ve ran away from whatever it’s making the temperature drop.

  I need to hurry, I feel like I need to hurry!

  I kept blindly dashing through the cold forest, when I saw a little rundown entrance on the side of a cave, reminding me of the dungeon I explored with Adele.

  It’s tore down, the entrance in shambles, as I head inside, I find interesting looking marks all around the walls, but also, whatever it’s making the cold air it’s definitely inside, I then found myself behind a pair of gigantic silver doors, incredibly eborate and ornate, but one of them was torn in half, the sb on the ground making a huge hole to the inside.

  “Hello?”

  I said meekly as I peeked inside, that’s when I was greeted with a shocking surprise, for Celestial was ying inside in her dragon form on top of a puddle of blood, her wings covered in holes, and an awful slice across the side of her torso, covered entirely in wounds and not moving at all!

  “C-CELESTIAL!”

  Joanne_carper