Nusia returned very late in the evening. Behind her was a very large animal that looked like a deer on a wooden stretcher dragging on the ground. She already gutted the creature and it was ready to cook, well, after skinning it, of course.

The girl surprised him when she leaped to a hug as he got close, and she even gave him a quick kiss for some reason. The reason was clear when Kent followed from behind favoring his right and a red face.

Only on one side of his face.

“What happened?” he whispered to her.

“He thinks I’m a whore,” she whispered back.

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

“I’m fine. I kinda knew this would happen,” she added in a whisper before kissing him again.

“What happened to Kent?” asked Jane from behind.

“Oh, he fell down after refusing to listen,” answered Nusia instead of stating the truth.

Kent had a relieved look on his face before he walked past everyone without saying a word. The poor guy didn’t realize he was lucky that Nusia didn’t just murder him. She is very capable of that, Artus’s guts were telling him.

“He is just tired,” Nusia assured Jane before she dragged the blanket of meat to the small cabin.

Artus followed the hunter back and Jane tugged on his arm as he passed by. The girl was shocked by the size of the animal that Nusia dragged like it was nothing. It was almost four times bigger than her.

Nusia noticed the linked arm but she hadn’t reacted other than a short pause. Jane probably didn’t even realize what she had done as her hand twitches when she did notice it.

But she didn’t let him go when he acted like he was oblivious.

‘Ah, the joys of youth,’ the old man inside his head mused.

He knew that he was just as young as them, but he didn’t particularly feel young at all. Maybe that’s why he had accepted Nusia’s offer without much thinking as it was clear to him that it was what she had wanted too. Two adults agreeing to sex wasn’t a rare thing to him, but this innocent budding interest in the opposite gender was precious.

‘I wondered when the last time I had the same feeling?’ he asked himself. ‘It will be a crime to betray this feeling.’

He would have hated it too if someone took advantage of his pure innocent feeling. It might be a simple curiosity nagging inside her to be answered, and the nudge to explore the other while learning about herself. Well, at least according to the internet.

Artus chuckled and patted Jane’s hand. She still jerked her hand back but she grabbed his hand when he had offered. The girl giggled as he waved their knotted hands around.

The dinner went without any incident other than everybody enjoying the meat and the gruel cooked by Cindy. It was herbaceous and by all means, made him full to the brim. He was up to excuse himself to the lonely barn when Nusia got up with him.

“I’ll teach you how to meditate and absorb your filled belly,” she said in a loud whisper as they walked out of the door.

Her action of pressing her sizable breast to his arm had only suggested the opposite to the people who were watching. The slight giggle helped to add the image into their heads that she wouldn’t be returning for tonight.

The green-headed girl is really crafty. She leaned on him as they walked in silence towards the barn.

Artus chuckled when her nose twitched from the smell when they entered the barn. The smell was less intense after it was left aired but the difference was apparent. What she did next clearly told him that she wasn’t a simple girl.

White light glowed from her and washed over the whole barn in almost an instant. The smell completely disappeared after that. Nusia didn’t look satisfied though.

“We are going to need some flower seeds,” she said.

“For what?”

“Grow flowers, of course,” she quipped.

“What is that white light anyway?”

“A spell called [Cleanse],” she stated. “Its function is simple, it cleans, but very useful.”

“But then, why don't you use it before?”

She looked at him a little disappointed, “It is safe enough around here to waste some mana. I made sure of it yesterday.”

He scratched the back of his head out of habit. That’s what he gets when acting like an idiot.

“So what’s this food absorbing meditation thingy?” He changed the subject.

Nusia dragged him up the second floor without saying anything. She waved her ass at him until he couldn’t think of anything but to nail her from behind. The woman is really good at playing with men’s heads.

“I lied,” she said and turned with a big smile. “This is another lesson to you, love, even someone who loves you will lie with a straight face if she thinks she is doing the right thing. Not to mention others.”

“Why did you lie to me then? You got my hopes high, you know.”

“Because I’m doing the right thing,” she cajoled.

“Doing what exactly,” he queried as their faces closed on each other.

“Let’s just make a good show,” she quipped. “Let’s make it a lasting memory. Just you and me in this barn.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he kissed her.

The rest of the night is theirs alone.

At least, that’s what he was led to believe.

-

Cindy gasped in her clasped mouth as the lewd moans continued once again. They had been going for hours and had no sign of stopping. Not even after the manly groan that had rattled her insides.

Her hand reached down and pinched her own once again despite knowing that she shouldn’t. It was just too much and rubbing her own chest felt not enough.

Eyes closed, she could see clearly inside her head what they were doing based on the sound they made alone. It was already burned on her skull and she couldn’t get rid of it even if she wanted to.

Cindy rode along until the moans got stronger and stronger before a manly grunt echoed again in the barn. Something burst under her along with the infectious cry Nusia gave.

The naive girl went limp on the floor.

On the other side of the barn, a young man had enough of it. He stood a little unsteady as he pulled his pants up.

After the second time riled up by the pair, he was clear-headed enough to find himself pathetic. He sneaked to the hole he came in but he was making more noise than he had liked.

He almost ate dirt when his knee gave out as he tried to kneel down. Kent cursed under his breath and swore that he would do something about the other young man as he made his way out and back to the cabin.

She was aware of all that happened in the barn. Nusia hugged the young man she loved too much for her own good. Their body had well acclimated but she still couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted to stay forever with him if she could help it, but alas, she couldn’t.

The tree wisps whispered grave news. No one should put their trust in these forest spirits and so she had to confirm it tomorrow.

And if it’s true, she had to leave him on his own for the young man’s own safety. She had to break her promise to herself and him, but she would make it up.

The naive boy, Kent, would be a good stepping stone, but without her by his side, she feared the worst for him. She recalled when the first Artus left her in the middle of nowhere to fend for her own. Goosebump crawled all over her skin even when remembering it.

Compared to that, this farm is nothing. He had enough tools and people to use or work with, he would be fine. Plus that shield of his could be his triumph card.

She only had to believe in him.

‘Belief in their spawn, isn’t that what mothers do?’ she thought as the ancient word she disliked came back to her. She had almost forgotten that side of hers, as she had stayed with the humans for far too long.

Nusia loved to be a human, she really did, but the fact was she wasn’t one of them. Artus had become her spawn when her essence had made this irresistible fleshy shell of his.

Her essence wasn’t like the human and they would never be able to resist it. He is a perfect recreation of a male Catherina, [Body] and [Core]. Artus had her flesh essence as she also got his. Their essences had exchanged and intermixed during the ritual creating an inseparable bond.

Nusia had always questioned the chances if she hadn’t ended up in that household. Would she meet someone like the young Artus later in life?

She doubted it. Regardless, Artus needed to learn to fend for himself if he wanted to stay by her true side. Too many dangers lurking to sever the tie if they could. Human politics would only be a child’s play compared to them.

She felt him growing within her again. She kissed the moaning mouth as her hips moved on their own, savoring the thickness within her. Nusia knew she had overdone herself when she made him.

Still half asleep, Artus grabbed her back and their tussle began again.

-

It was too bright already when he woke up, and he wasn’t surprised to wake up alone. Nusia had sucked him dry last night. Every time he was about to pass out, something warm would enter him and he was all ready for more.

Mana induced overtime sex was great and all, but it did remind him of something unpleasant. The morning felt like after the one last night before the girl moved on.

Of course, the situation was completely different but he could help it to feel the same anyway. Those other times he was just this nice buddy that girls with broken hearts had used to get over their pain.

Some would call him an opportunist while others doormat, and sometimes both, but at the time, he didn’t really care what others think.

People thought ill of others all the time as that was how they could feel good about themselves. Sometimes that was the only way they could feel good with their lives as their own was a complete wreck.

People just forget those opportunistic doormats had hope, wanted to be loved, and had feelings too.

People forget that other people are humans too.

‘Well, at least the sex was great,’ he chuckled. “While it lasted.”