Lily had just made a joke that she would have married Misaki if she was a little older when there was a knock on the door. It turned out that it was her mom, and she didn’t wait for permission before entering. Her vision seemed to have turned red when she noticed the naked duo of Celine and Megan. Mommy proved quick to comment on their nudity, and said, “Just because a lot of demons like to live around here doesn’t mean it is okay for kids to walk around naked.”

Phyllis was first to respond, and with a wry smile said, “You should probably get used to it. You must be Ivy, right? I heard you are living in the dungeon.”

“I guess you must be the guild master. I do recognize Misaki though. Has my daughter caused you two any trouble.”

Phyllis laughed, “No not at all. In fact, she seems to be a little jealous and wants to marry us.”

Lily red-faced was quick to protest that statement, “Hey, I just said that if I was a little older I would marry Misaki!”

Phyllis giggled, and said, “Well, you would be getting me in the deal as well. Hope you don’t mind sharing too much.”

Ivy chuckled as well, and she closed the distance and knelt in front of Lily before saying, “Now baby you are a little young to be thinking of marriage, but if you still want to marry Misaki when you are older, I am sure we can work something out.”

A sudden voice said, “I don’t think it will change much later.”

Ivy turned and Lily looked up to see a gorgeous and naked woman standing in the middle of the room. Misaki a bit surprised said, “Dewari!? Why are you here?” then seemingly worried, “your not here to make me do something are you?!!”

She shook her head, and said, “No just giving you a bit of a heads up, and to congratulate you on a successful birth. If you hadn’t noticed already one of your wandering bosses evolved, and did so by eating Tina’s mana.  She also got Tina pregnant while she was at it.”

Misaki, of course, had been a little distracted lately and was completely unaware of this happening, and quickly asked, “How did that happen? I didn’t think Tina ...”

Dewari flashed a mischievous smile, and said, “I just gave her a little taste of her own medicine, although with a little twist of my own.”

Lily wasn’t entirely sure of the exchange going on between the two, but she did realize that the newcomer was a goddess. Her aura gave that away in fact. Lily settled the little one she was holding on the cushion beside her and ran up to Dewari. Who crouched down to her height, and grabbed her before pulling her into an embrace. Much to Lily’s surprise, and as she was pulled into an embrace Dewari fell back into a chair that appeared out of nowhere.

“You are far cuter than Erosi claimed. So you want to marry Misaki? Do be honest about that,” said Dewari.

Lily was silent for a while, and while she didn’t have many opportunities to interact with Misaki, she had enjoyed every encounter. Not to mention she felt a strong pull towards being closer to her. “Yeah, if I was a little older I would do it in a heartbeat.”

“Well I can’t change your age, but that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for the future. Also, just because you are young doesn’t mean you can’t form a bond with her. You just can’t do somethings, and are you certain about this?”

Lily nodded her head, she really did want to be closer with Misaki for a number of reasons. They came from the same world, died the same way, and were reincarnated here. Thinking of those reasons she remembered her old life and she quickly suppressed those memories. She didn’t really want to think about her old world. Earth had its good points, but life was kind of boring there. It was why she was always chasing boys and in general seeking amusement and pleasure. Might be why she ended up with Erosi as her patron.

Suddenly her mom who had been quite for until now spoke up, “LILY! Be careful what you say, she is a goddess!”

Dewari looked over, and shook her head with pity, “Your daughter is quite aware of that, and she is very sensitive spiritually. One of the reasons, Erosi so happily chose her as his champion.”

Mom looked confused, “Wait Erosi?”

Dewari quickly replied, “You didn’t know? She agreed to be Erosi’s champion.”

Lily had never mentioned to Mom her status as Erosi’s champion. It just never seemed like the right time to mention that. She had a strong feeling that she would be having an awkward conversation later, but in the meantime, Mom seemed to be surprised. However, before Mom could say anything some else materialized in the room. They felt familiar, but Lily didn’t recognize them, at least not at first. Last time she had seen them, they had been the most handsome man she had ever seen in a stunning suit of armor.

Now they were a stunning young girl in a swimsuit. The kind that were popular with girls on earth. It was a cute bikini with a flower pattern on it. As for the girl she looked to be around a hundred and sixty centimeters. She had a lovely figure, with modest breasts a well-shaped butt. Toned muscles and enough fat to give her the right shape. Her face seemed to have been molded by an artist, and it was framed by some lovely light brown hair.

She muttered quietly, “Erosi?”

The young girl giggled and practically bounced towards Lily before sitting on the floor in front of her. Next thing Lily knew she was in the girls lap getting a good petting, and she was talking with Dewari.

“So, my young Lily likes Misaki? Hm, I thought they could be good friends, but I didn’t think they would go that far.”

Mom interjected having rebooted, “What the hell is going on here!?” then she looked over at the others in the room. Celine and Megan were quite engrossed with watching Emily who was a bit distracted. They were pretending to play a game, but it was quite obvious to any observer that they were actually watching Emily and Crystal. Jesse was busing herself with the one infant she was holding. Misaki seemed unsure if she should say anything, and Phyllis seemed to be a little busy. She had separated from the cushions and was changing a diaper. Naturally, it was a reusable cloth diaper, and there was a basket nearby where used ones were being stored. Thankfully it was enchanted to keep the scent from stinking up the room. “Why are you all ignoring this?”

Phyllis interjected as she secured the new diaper, “Best not to draw too much attention when gods appear in the room. They can completely change your life, without you knowing why. Take myself, for example, I used to be a man. Then a certain goddess decided it would be funny to turn me into a girl. Events kept me from putting the pieces together until a few weeks after I got pregnant.”

Lily interrupted before her Mom could respond, and asked Erosi, “Why are you a girl?”

She gave a gentle smile, and replied, “Some gods don’t have set forms. The twin gods of war, myself, and the goddess of seasons are all good examples of gods without set forms. Our shape changes according to our mood, and in my case that includes gender as well. The twin gods of war are the same way changing form and gender according to mood. Speaking of them, they descended a week ago. Don’t know what they were up too, but they had taken forms similar to Tina’s.”

Misaki frowned, and so did Phyllis. Lily noticed, and realized they were concerned about something. Then she glanced towards Dewari and noticed that she didn’t look happy, “I hope you at least sent someone to watch those two.”

“I’m not stupid. I made sure to send someone to watch them, several someones in fact. Anyway, I didn’t come here to discuss a pair of troublemakers. I came here to discuss the mention of bonding.”

Lily was confused and asked, “Why did a discussion about bonding bring you down?”

Glancing down, Erosi explained, “Its quite obvious. You are my champion and Misaki is a dungeon belonging to Dewari here. While our aspects are compatible and we are friends a bonding between you two would represent an alliance between us. We have to decide if that works with our current goals. Although I don’t have a problem with it.”

Dewari smiled, and said, “Nor I. I think our current goals align at the moment, and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.”

Words that sparked a bit of discussion between the two goddesses. At the end of which, Lily was reading a surprising notification that she had not quite expected. Although she was happy to see what came with it.

Umeko entered the front room of Arlie’s house. She had slept well last night after coming back from the hunting trip. At the moment she had left the armor Arlie had given her in her room for now. So she was currently naked, but she found she felt quite relaxed while in the nude. She was glad her wings folded as well as they did but glancing at Arlie sitting at the table, she felt a bit of jealousy. Umeko was jealous of her ability to shapeshift her wings away.

She suppressed the feeling and then glanced at the table. Arlie had a bunch of scrolls stretched out on the table. The scrolls were covered with strange images and unfamiliar symbols. Arlie had an inkwell on one side of the table and was writing things out with an odd-looking pen. She dipped it in the inkwell for a minute and then went back to writing with it.

Settling on a stool that thankfully had no back, she looked them over and asked, “What are you working on? What language is that and ...”

Arlie chuckled, “Full of questions today, aren’t you. Well, this is Ancient Solean, a very old magical tongue and the original language of my people, the Solean Lords. As for what this is, it is the blueprints, in other words, the technical drawing of a Liritian Command Ship. It entered the range of my sight about an hour ago. I’m just recording what I see.”

Frowning, she asked “Liritian? Who are they?”

Arlie leaned back in the chair and put down her pen. “They are the reason Milith entered your world. You see my daughter sent her to your world to keep her out of the war between the Solean Empire and the Liritian Star Union. Naturally, she found her own way to get into trouble.”

Umeko ended up with even more questions then she started with. Both in regards to the language, and these Liritians. She began spewing those questions out rapid-fire.”

Arlie chuckled, “You really are full of questions today. Well, I guess I could answer a few of them. I’ll start with your language questions. Yes, there is a modern version of the Solean language. It is a non-magical derivative of the older Ancient Solean dialects.”

Picking up a piece of paper she drew a pair of links symbols on it and handed it over. “That is Ancient Solean for Fire. Channel a little mana into that will you,”

Umeko channeled a little mana into it. She had barely moved a single point into it when the entire paper burst into flames in her palm. “As I said, Ancient Solean is a magical language. In fact, it was the first magical language and its words have true meaning. Just a little mana and intent combined with our words can shape reality. This nature is exactly why we created Modern Solean. Not that I can teach you that language. I never learned the modern dialect of Solean. I still speak the original magical dialect, but I don’t need to learn the modern language anyway. In fact, I am actually speaking to you in Ancient Solean, but my magic translates my meaning for you. So you hear me speaking your language. Its a very useful skill that most members of my race have.

Now on to your other questions. The Solean Empire is a powerful and ancient civilization that controls countless worlds across the stars. Entire galaxies fall under its domain, and a galaxy is a vast collection of stars and the worlds that orbit those stars. Long ago in my past, I founded the Empire and for millennia I ruled as its Supreme Protector. The closest mortal equivalent to that title is emperor or king. I retired and passed the Throne to my daughter about eight hundred millennia ago. As for the Liritian Star Union, I can’t tell you much about them.

Apparently they are a vast civilization and their territory is about five times what the empire currently controls. That makes them twice as large as the Empire was at its height 2.3 million years ago. Politically they are a Federation, a type of government in which numerous allied states work together under a single governing body. This body is made up of elected representatives from each state under the Federation. The Liritians themselves apparently founded this Federation and are the ones who are most active in its defense and expansion. They are also the aggressors in this war. I won’t go too far into the details, but they entered this region around the same time that the Empire was reestablishing its presence here. They refused to accept our ancient claims on these stars, and decided to ‘protect the young races from imperial aggression.’ Not that they are doing so well at it either”

Umeko was leaning forward a bit finding herself interested in all this, “What does a Liritian look like?”

Arlie smiled mischievously, “Well I could tell you, but it will be easier to show you.” Just as she said show you, she snapped her fingers and a weird energy coalesced in a corner. Suddenly there was a shimmering and a small female materialized. She was a little larger than Arlie at around a hundred forty-five, maybe a hundred and fifty centimeters tall. She wore a strange bodysuit that clung to her frame like a second skin. She had three pairs of visible breasts on her chest. Her hands had only four fingers. Her feet and legs were clearly shaped for running. A pair of cat-like ears extended from the top of her head. The color hidden by her suit. The only part of her body that wasn’t hidden in some way was her face. She had a bit of a snout with her cat-like nose and whiskers, but her mouth seemed human-like, and so did her vibrant golden eyes. The overall effect was like blending a human face with that of a cat. To Umeko, it was like looking at a new breed of catkin, but one she had never seen before.

The girl herself seemed to be a bit frightened but given how she had been revealed Umeko didn’t blame her. Arlie waved, and calmly said to the girl, “Yes, I knew you were there the entire time. Your stealth suit doesn’t do a good job of blocking my eighth sense. Any Solean could see through it, and I also saw your ship land, but so did a few local dragons. Now, since there isn’t much in the way of high technology here, I am curious about why you are here?”

The girl looked around nervously for a moment, and then sighed, “I guess you will find out eventually, but we had heard that a Solean Elder could be found here. I was supposed to confirm this, and if possible learn why they were here. I didn’t expect to find someone so important here, but it sounds like you really are extremely long-lived like the rumors say. If you don’t mind me asking how old are you?

“Elder? That term is often used for those far younger than I am. Guess it works though, and no I don’t mind. I am five million three hundred seventy-one thousand and two hundred and thirty-three years old. It will be thirty-four in three months. Don’t act so shell shocked, there are twelve other beings almost as old as I am on this planet. My good friend Aurora is the second oldest being here and she is only seven thousand years younger than I am.”

Umeko wasn’t all that surprised, and before her change, she had encountered some truly ancient immortals. Arlie was a good deal older, but she was a primordial goddess and that extra age was to be expected. The Liritian girl, however, seemed shell shocked, and she just stared out into space. Umeko glanced to Arlie and asked, “What are you going to do with her?”

“Well, I have no plans to enter the war. So I’ll just punish her a bit for trespassing in my house, and then drop her naked smack in the middle of the nearest Liritian colony.”

Umeko was confused, “Why don’t you plan to help your people with the war?”

“I am the second most powerful being in the universe. If I participated directly in the war it would be over in a matter of days, but doing so would deprive my daughter of an experience she needs. The union also needs this encounter but for different reasons.”

Umeko had just heard something so big that all her other questions seemed inconsequential, “Wait! Second most powerful? Who is more powerful than you?”

JCountry

I thought this chapter turned out pretty well. I hope you agree. Also if you haven't already do consider checking out my Patreon.