Festival

Slowly opening my eyes, I squeezed the pillow in my arms and turned in my bed, enjoying the softness and the warmth that surrounded my body. Realizing that I was hugging a pillow instead of my wife, I groped around under the blanket to locate her body, but I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I tried. After fumbling around for ten seconds, I got pissed off because I couldn’t find her and sat up to look around.

“Lien?” Ignoring her torn clothes on the ground and the mess we made at night, I scanned the house and found her presence in the kitchen. I knew that she was just making breakfast so I thought about sleeping in and lazing around until it was ready, but in the next moment, the fragrance of bacon and eggs entered my nostrils, making my belly growl in hunger.

“Ugh, I hate waking up,” I grunted as I rolled out of my bed like a worm and slowly stood up from the ground with a loud yawn.

My image was befitting of my grand title and the power at my disposal.

I was sure everyone would laugh if I said that out aloud after seeing my performance, but I didn’t care. Even if I was called the ‘Mage Emperor’ and other fancy titles, I still didn’t feel that I was any different from others, or that I was special in any way. The last thing I wanted was to become self-conceited.

“Hmm, it’s not wise to stand in front of the window while I’m stark naked, is it?” I mumbled to myself as I felt a slight breeze on my morning wood. Scratching my face, I wondered about what kind of clothes to wear, and then created black shorts and a tight T-shirt to please my wife’s eyes. After so many years, I knew all too well what aroused her and what kind of clothes she liked, not to mention that she admitted it herself many times before.

After fixing my bed-hair, I went to the kitchen and found my wife in front of the window, smiling gently as she looked into the distance. Seeing her sexy shape from behind, I couldn’t help but run my eyes over her body a few times.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" She asked as she turned her head to the side, looking at me from the corner of her eye. Her long eyelashes glimmered as the rays of the sun shone through the window, once again taking away my breath. Mesmerized by her beauty, I spaced out for a few seconds before answering, “I can’t say I slept a lot, I just took a nap.”

“Is that so?” She smiled at me, this time turning around completely.

“I wonder why that is the case. Could it be because you couldn’t hold back your lust?”

Walking up to her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and looked deep into her eyes, staying so for a few seconds before replying. "Can you blame me when you look this beautiful?”

“Do I?” Taking a step back, she sat on the window sill and spread her legs. Considering that she was wearing nothing but a transparent white gown and laced white underwear, her sight was a bit too destructive for me to handle, especially so early in the morning.

“You are bad…” I rolled my eyes, quickly turning around and pulling back my mana to prevent my senses from forming an image of her.

“Hahaha, you are cute when you are trying to hold back. Now give me some clothes,” she chortled as she let go of the pan and stuck it in place with telekinesis. Seeing that I didn’t move, she jumped onto my back and wrapped her limbs around my body.

“Piggyback? Where do we go now?” I smiled as I grabbed her legs.

“I don’t know, do you have any plans for the day?”

“Before that, you should wear these.” Placing her on the table, I turned around and tapped her shoulders, turning the air around her into a shoulderless light-yellow colored top and black knee-long leggings.

“This is so comfortable. Is this a new material?” She raised her brows as she ran her fingers across her clothes, noticing the difference right away. “It’s soft and feels similar to cotton, but it’s still cold. How strange,” she murmured to herself, noticing the difference right away.

“One of the monsters I killed on Yenasari had this kind of fur, so I scanned it a bit more thoroughly and tried to recreate it. It seems you like it so you can keep it on for the rest of the day,” I explained, slowly caressing her shoulders.

“I didn’t know that I was a tester, but I’m glad I am,” she smiled as she looked into my eyes. We continued staring at each other in silence for a few seconds, enjoying each other’s loving gaze.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied, brushing her hair behind her ear. Taking hold of my hand, she gave a small kiss on it and then used telekinesis to set the table with plates and utensils.

Reaching to my right, I grabbed the handle of the pan and put it on the table. “You left this out,” I said.

“No, I left it for you.”

“By the way, what’s this new way of cooking? Why are you using your bare hands as a gas stove?” I asked, raising my brows.

“The weather is so goddamn nice that after peeking through the window, I sort of wanted to bask in the sunlight, so I used my palm instead,” she replied.

“I see. If that’s how you feel, I think that you’re going to like my idea. I thought about the residents of Leviathan and realized that their life has turned quite dull over the years. Training, missions, learning, training, missions, learning, and the same thing gets repeated every time, but what if we organized a festival and invited everyone to take part in various competitions and events. I’m quite sure it would be a big hit and liven up the mood. What do you think?”

Furrowing her brows, she stared at me for a while before asking, “Are you still my husband?”

“...”

“You want a social event for all the people? You?” she laughed as she poked my belly.

“Why is that so weird? I don’t mind such events if I’m with reasonable people, much less if I’m with my dear wife and children,” I replied, rubbing my nose against hers.

“And do you want to organize this event today?” she scratched her nose cutely.

“Yes, isn’t it nice to do something spontaneously?”

“This- I admit that I like the idea. No, let me correct that, I love it. Let’s go for it. This will be a surprise day for everyone!” She clapped her hands, and after getting off the table, she stormed off in a hurry, her voice filled with excitement.

“Huh?”

“Hey, what about breakfast?” I shouted after her.

“Call the children and have them eat. We both know I don’t need it and I need to discuss some matters with a few people if we want to make this work,” she replied through Link.

Scratching my chin, I looked through the window with a blank expression as I replied with a simple ok.

I guess she is seriously excited about this. Oh, well, let me wake up the kids.

“Felice, Reiner, it’s time to wake up!” I said loudly as I teleported to their room, and found Felice sitting on the side of Reiner’s bed, while the latter was fumbling around under the blanket.

My face turned ashen upon seeing the scene, but in the next moment, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry because my son asked one of the most daunting questions, “Father, help me! Why is this hard?”

“Brother, you should seriously calm down. I’m sure it’s going to return to normal after some time,” Felice shook her head, seeing her brother panicking.

Burying my face in my palms, I felt like cursing out loud when I realized that my passive sensing ability didn’t pick up on anything noteworthy during the past eight years, but the moment I turned it off, something like this happened.

Life is life, I guess. Even if I’m called the Mage Emperor, it’s just going to fuck me over.

After assessing the situation with my senses, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had horse genes or something, but I knew that wasn’t the case. He sure as hell inherited some ‘enhancement’ from me.

My son may become a casanova.

Stepping closer to Reiner’s bed, I cleared my throat to catch their attention and replied calmly, “Both of you can calm down, he is perfectly fine and most certainly won’t die. This just means that he has reached puberty, so it’s time I told you two more about genders and how babies are made.”

There were no porn advertisements, half-naked musicians, porn channels, and porn sites on the internet that children could watch early on in their lives to learn stupid things, so they were way more innocent in a sexual sense. On the other hand, killing living creatures was much more natural these days than in the past, even for children.

Seeing both of them sighing in relief, I couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to see them loving each other, and I honestly hoped that it would stay that way for the rest of their lives. You could find true friends and surround yourself with people, but nothing could replace the bond of a pair of siblings if it was strong enough.

Unfortunately, many children had bad relationships with their brothers and sisters, making true brotherly and sisterly love much rarer than it should be. It was a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Listen here. I’ve already told you that there are two genders in nature, male and female. Males are born with a penis while girls are born with a vagina. This is not without a reason. In nature, both of them are needed to make babies, just like your mother and I made you two.”

“Are babies born when we connect the penis and the vagina?” Reiner asked with enthusiasm, seemingly knowing everything about it, but I was sure that wasn’t the case since they’ve never caught me with Lien, and we had yet to enlighten them.

“...”

Clearing my throat, I said, “That’s right, but you shouldn’t say that aloud in front of others, especially not like that.”

“Why?” Felice asked with a frown. Her expression was seriously resembling her mother’s.

“Because it’s rude,” I rolled my eyes.

“Anyway, let me continue. After birth, both men’s and women’s genitals are immature and incapable of reproduction, but that changes when the time comes for adolescence. Your current state is referred to as ‘morning wood’ and is a sign of your adolescence. This will happen to you every morning from now on until the rest of your life, and I can assure you, that’s completely normal.”

Turning towards Felice, I continued, “The effects can be quite diverse for women, but most of them become easily irritable and feel cramps in their lower abdomen. Menstruation happens once a month and continues for about a week before disappearing. While this is also normal, you should go to your mother whenever it happens and let her check up on you, just in case.”

This whole thing turned out to be easier than I thought. It wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as I imagined it to be in my teenage. If anything, it made me happy to see that my children were growing up.

“I have had a mild headache since I woke up,” Felice muttered in a low voice.

“Is that so? Then let me check out my big daughter,” I smiled at her as I put my hands under her armpits, and raised her into the air.

“Dad put me down!” she flailed her legs while I scanned her body, but she quieted down once I pulled her into my arms and held her properly. She was so cute when she was holding onto my side, like a koala.

“Your first menstruation is going to happen today, so remember what I said and don’t be scared. Everything is going to be alright.”

Seeing her cute face, I couldn’t help but reward her with a big and juicy kiss on her forehead, much to her displeasure, “I’m not a crybaby! Why would I be scared?” she yelled as she tried to push my head away.

Seeing that she was trying to wipe off my saliva, I couldn’t help but laugh at her miserable expression, “Alright, my big daughter,”

It was a bit strange to talk about menstruation because Lien completely erased it when she rebuilt her body. Thanks to that, we weren’t bound by biological lifecycles, and I could knock her up anytime I wanted, as long as she allowed it.

I have never heard a woman say that menstruation was a good thing, and most of them dreamed of getting rid of it, just like Lien, her mother Lana, and my mother did. Hell, all the women who were strong enough in Leviathan got rid of it on their own by rebuilding their bodies in various ways. That being the case, I was quite sure that she would help her out in a similar way. I could do it myself, but I wanted her to start thinking about it as a private affair, something that she should tell only to other women.

I knew everything about her anyway, and I would be happier if I didn’t end up seeing her with all kinds of random guys in the future, lest I ended up murdering all of them.

Placing her back on the bed, I looked at them seriously and said, “Now there is one more thing I need to explain to you. Earlier you said that a child is born by ‘connecting’ a man’s and a woman’s genitals. You were right about that, but that’s what adults call sex.”

“We have heard that word many times before, but you never told us what it meant,” Reiner remarked grudgingly.

“Yes, and I didn’t tell you because you were too young,” I replied, flicking his forehead.

“Sex can feel good, but it’s only if both sides are willing. You two should never do it because you are siblings and sex is something that should happen between lovers, not brother and sister. Am I clear?” I asked.

Paying no heed to my warning, Felice looked at me with her cute, big eyes and asked, “Does that mean you have sex with mother?”

If only you knew, I laughed inwardly.

“This- it’s also rude to ask others about their sexual life, so you should avoid doing so in the future, even if you are dying of curiosity. Your mother and I are strongly in love, so naturally, we are also doing it.”

I was honestly hoping that these kinds of questions wouldn’t continue for too long because even my face was starting to burn.

“So how often do you do it? What is natural?” Reiner continued where Felice left off, his questions being even more embarrassing to answer.

“My son, did you listen to what I’ve just said?” I looked at him with a frown.

“But you aren’t strangers! I just want to learn!” he cried out, still demanding an answer.

“Please, can you tell us?” Felice hugged my arm, begging for it with her all.

What the hell should I do in this situation? I can’t just tell them that we are sex-addicts who fuck like rabbits whenever there is a chance. And I don’t even want to fix it! I cried inwardly, burying my face in my palms.

“Listen here, how often lovers do it is varying based on many factors, including things like physical attraction, the mood, the place, the time, and the list could go on. I would say that doing it three times a week is a healthy amount, and most people seem to be satisfied with it.”

“You still avoided the first question,” Reiner grumbled.

“Yes, and I’ll continue doing so until you understand what privacy means. But more importantly, I’ve got a question for you. Why do you seem to be familiar with all this already?”

“This- I’m not sure if I should say it,” he scratched the back of his head.

“Out with it.”

“A few days ago Ma’at came over and chatted with Mother and praised the cookies she made, so Mother sent me over a little bit after she left to surprise them with some cookies. By the time I arrived and knocked on the door, nobody answered so I peeked through the window in their backyard and saw her in the bedroom with Mr. Gil.”

Covering my face, I looked at my son between my fingers and mumbled into my hands, “These idiots, how can they not sense his presence?”

Pulling back my hands, I said aloud, “Whatever. You should never peek into other people’s houses if you don’t have a really good reason to do so. It breaches their privacy and if you aren’t in Leviathan, people could even accuse you of stealing and could try to kill you.”

“What? Why would anyone steal from another person? Can’t they get everything with some work?” he wondered.

“It’s not that simple in the outside world, my son. Magic isn’t as advanced as here and people are much poorer. Food and clothes aren’t free there either, and magic weapons and spell scrolls are worth millions, and for some, even the lives of other people. I will take you two out another day so you can see for yourself how different it is.”

“Based on your description, I’m not sure I’m interested in going,” Felice replied, while Reiner nodded upon hearing her words.

“Well, that’s also perfectly fine with me, but at some point, I think that it’s still better to go out for a short while to see more of the world. Anyway, you two should get dressed and come to have breakfast. We have a big surprise for everyone today.”

“What surprise?” they asked at the same time, their eyes glimmering.

“Is it still a surprise if I say it?” I flicked their foreheads.

“Ouch- stop flicking my forehead all the time!” Felice yelled at me while Reiner just glared at my finger, seemingly about to bite it.

“Hahaha, I’ll stop flicking your forehead once you can beat me!”

“But- then I’ll avoid you!” she said grumpily, knowing that she couldn’t achieve something like that anytime soon, though the truth was that she had no chance at all.

“Dad, are you going to participate as well?” Reiner changed the topic.

“Hm? Why would I? I’m the one giving the rewards, you know?” I laughed at his foolish question.

“Is it true that when you release your magic power, even Magisters can lose their consciousness?”

“Where would you hear that from?” I raised my brows.

“I overheard it from one of the groups in the training grounds who were chatting about you and mother. They also said that you could defeat people just by looking at them, is that true?” he asked as he jumped up. For some reason, he was very excited about my power whenever it came up.

“I would lie if I said I can’t do that, but the ‘defeating by looking’ is possible because I can force my mana into other people’s bodies, and since mine is much more potent, their bodies can’t handle it and may explode.” I ruffled his hair.

“How did you become so strong?” Felice asked, her eyes showing that she was seriously expecting a proper, and honest answer from her one and only father.

I don’t want to betray her expectations, so I want to answer honestly, but I can’t just tell her that by having sex with her mother every day, my magic power has grown this strong.

“It’s thanks to many, many hours of experiments with magic, continuous training, and my inheritance from an ancient god, which is my commandment. My commandment boosts the magic power amplification after sex, so it’s mostly thanks to that, though I’d still be the strongest magician on the Earth without my commandment. It’s just that I wouldn’t have survived some of the past events without it,” I replied.

“Regarding my commandment, you should keep it secret from others unless your life depends on it,” I added.

“No worries, I won’t tell anyone!” Reiner replied, finally satisfied with my answer.

“Can I have one more question?” Reiner asked as he sat down.

Seeing me raising my brows in anticipation, his face turned slightly red as he looked under the blanket again and asked, “When will this go back to normal?”

“Hahaha, once you stop focusing on it, it’ll go down by itself. Anyway, just ignore it and come with me. Breakfast is ready.” Afraid that they would continue asking even more embarrassing questions, I decided to drop the matter for now and talk about it again at another time.

Embarrassing or not, I believed that I was responsible for properly educating my children in every possible way. I just didn’t want to rush things and tell them everything right away. This was more than enough for now.

While having breakfast, I briefed them about my plans for the competition and today’s events, making both of them excited about the whole thing. They even begged that they could take part in it and since it wasn’t some dead-serious life and death competition, I allowed them to join in on the fun.

“Huff- I’m back.” Lien appeared behind me, just as we were about to stand up from the table.

“What were you doing Mom?” Felice asked, placing her feet on my knees under the table.

“Did you intend to do everything with your trait?” Lien asked, seemingly ignoring Felice’s question, but I knew what she was doing.

“Yes,” I smiled faintly. It was the truth, I had no plans to contact or talk to anyone because of the festival. I was planning to create all the food, the tables, and even the buildings with my trait. She knew me well, so even though I didn’t say a word and she left without asking, she contacted others to do some of the work in my place, so that I could focus more on planning the various events and whatnot.

Little did she know that I ended up enlightening our children instead.

Maybe some people would consider her actions uncalled for and call her a busybody, but I didn’t think that way even for a moment. In fact, after thinking about it, the people who weren’t combatant and lived doing their dream profession were most likely happy to prepare for these kinds of events, and if I did everything myself with my trait, they would probably feel like they missed out on something.

“Now, my dear daughter, I may not go to parties and whatnot, but I believe that the heart of a festival is the people who put the effort into organizing it.” She smiled at Felice as she sat down at the end of the table.

“Although your father could indeed take care of everything on his own, I think that people would be more surprised and shocked than immersed if they came to an all-ready place that appeared out of nowhere than if they saw and experienced the building process itself. It kind of gives that nice feeling to the whole thing, you know? But your father thought of this today morning, so I had to contact the bakeries, your grandfather, and the others to build all the scenery, and the list goes on.”

“So when is it going to start?” Reiner clenched his fork impatiently.

“They said that they need at least two hours, so I assume it should start somewhere around noon. It’s up to your father,” she smiled as she glanced at me.

Raising my finger to my lips, I showed them to stay quiet and then used a spell to broadcast my voice to every resident of Leviathan.

“I wish a good morning to everyone in my little world.”

“Some of you may be wondering who is talking and what’s happening, so in case it’s not clear to somebody, I’m Seth Clearfall, the creator of Leviathan. Those who have been living here since the beginning, surely remember, that there were more events in the old days, which sort of died down and disappeared over the years, mostly due to my laziness and because I paid more attention to other things. I apologize for neglecting you.”

“I know this is coming out of nowhere, but I decided to surprise all of you with a festival, sort of as a way to make you break free from your usual daily routines and spice up your lives with something different. It’s not like anyone here has a very serious work schedule and they can’t get days off, but today, I command everyone to take a day off and no missions shall be taken.”

“The festival is going to start exactly at noon and by then, everyone will get a list of today’s events. This will naturally include various contests in various fields with great prizes, accompanied by live music by our local artists. I hope that you will find the time to take part in it, and hopefully, enjoy yourselves.”

“I wish everyone a nice day.”

As I finished talking, I found my family staring at me in wonder.

“Father can make a speech?” Reiner cried out while Felice was making a similarly surprised face.

“...”

“I’m equally surprised. And it was all nice and proper!” Lien poured fuel onto the fire, taking the joke even further.

“My feelings! They are hurt!” I cried out.

“Hahaha” Lien laughed as she stood up and walked up to me, pulling my head into her bosom. “Should I console you, my baby?”

“I’m all for it,” I replied, playfully biting her breast through her clothes.

“Father, is this how you start having sex? Uncle Gil was also biting aunt Ma’at’s breasts!” Reiner cried out upon seeing the scene.

“What did he just say?” Lien asked with a frozen expression, clearly clueless about everything that happened while she was away.

“While you were out, Reiner experienced his first erection and Felice will most likely go through her first menstruation in about half an hour. I also enlightened them about what those things meant and told them what sex is,” I replied, taking hold of her hand on my shoulder.

“How could I miss out on so many important discussions? Why did you not tell me? I would have rather pushed this event one day forward!” she rolled her eyes, seemingly blaming herself for not paying attention. She could have easily done so with her power, but it was annoying to listen in on everyone so I wasn’t doing it either. That was also the reason she didn’t know anything about the matter.

“Why is it an important discussion?” Reiner asked, unknowingly saving me from looking for an excuse.

“Yes, that’s why. It’s not that important, I just briefed them about some adult things,” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to play it off cool.

Leaning over my shoulder, she looked into my eyes and showed me a fake smile as she gripped my shoulder with full strength, “Honey, I think that we will have to talk this over.”

“Erm- okay.”

I’m fucked.

Realizing that I was in the wrong, I said, “I’m sorry for not telling you, but worry not because there are still things we can talk about, so you can still have your input on the matter.”

“Well, my first input is that they shouldn’t ask questions like that so indiscreetly, knowing that it’s a rather touchy private matter,” she glared at Reiner who quickly lowered his head to avoid her eyes.

Since there was still time until the start of the festival, we went to the backyard and sat down under the shade of one of our large willow trees. While Lien held a biology lesson to our children and taught them how human bodies worked, I started sketching out the competitions for the day.

Once I was finished, I created thousands of black papers and burned the letters into them with my mana, giving them a fiery red look.

“Let me interrupt you for a moment. Do you think the programs are good enough?” I handed over a copy to Lien and my children as well and waited for their opinion patiently. Skimming over it, Lien said that it looked good while the kids once again got excited and told me that they were looking forward to it.

Since they all said that it was good, I sent a copy of the invitation to everyone in Leviathan, and then started listening so that I would hear what people were saying about it. I couldn’t help it, I was curious about their opinions.

A few minutes later, I concluded that most people were looking forward to it while a few of them said that it was quite generic. The latter didn’t feel too nice to hear and made me slightly disheartened, but after thinking about my options for a bit more, I came up with something nice that would surprise everyone.

“Lien, I’m going out for a moment.”

“Where?” She raised her brows as she looked at me, stopping her lecture.

“Elsewhere,” I rolled my eyes upwards to make her understand what I meant.

“Oh, good luck then.” She nodded her head, while Felice and Reiner were looking back and forth between with suspicion.

“Where are you going?” Felice asked cheekily, even though she most likely understood that we stayed quiet about it intentionally.

Appearing in front of her, I squatted down and poked her nose as I replied, “Do you think I wouldn't have said it aloud if I wanted you to know?”

“But Dad! Why do you have to keep it a secret? Tell me, please?” she once again begged me to pull the information out of me. She was evil incarnate!

Ruffling her hair, I smiled at her gently as I stood up. “You are very cute, my daughter, but that's not going to work now. It’s a surprise.”

“Then I will also surprise you!” She stomped on the ground, seemingly challenging me as to who could surprise the other more.

“Oh? Will you?”

“Yes!” she said firmly.

I felt prompted to just pull her into my embrace and hug her with all my strength, but I managed to restrain myself and respond properly, “I’ll be looking forward to it then.”

Winking at Lien, I teleported to Yenasari and went straight to the academy to tell my plan to Yehan. Just a few hours passed since we’ve left, so except for a few classes that we have missed, nothing should have happened.

Once I found Yehan’s position, I went to his office where I found two students with a red badge on their arms standing in front of his door.

Noticing that I was getting closer and closer to the door, the guy on the right side raised his hand and was about to say something, but before he could utter a word, I knocked out both of them. After I checked the office with my mana, I got inside and used telekinesis to pull the guards into the room.

“What have you done?!” Yehan jumped up upon seeing their levitating bodies, probably thinking that I killed them or something.

“Stop worrying, I just knocked them out. They will wake up in five minutes so let’s get down to business before it happens,” I said waving my hand.

Sitting back on his ass, he looked at me with a frown, “What do you want?”

“About ten years ago, I created a world called Leviathan, which is essentially a giant land that resides in a gravity node.”

“A what?”

“Have you ever seen an orb-shaped nothing in space?”

Seeing him shaking his head in confusion, I took a seat facing his desk and said, “Its original name is ‘black hole’ which originates from the days of science on my home planet. They called it so because from far away, it looks just like its namesake, a black hole. In reality, it’s not a hole but a large space that is surrounded by incredibly powerful gravity. If you try to cross this gravity zone without appropriate knowledge and magic power, you’ll be crushed on the spot.”

“And your world is hidden inside a thing like that?” he gawked as he looked at me.

“Yes,” I nodded. “Anyway, mine is an artificial one with a gravity zone that’s even more powerful than normal ones and it’s also surrounded by various restrictive spells that prevent outsiders from entering. It’s-”

Leaning forward, Yehan crossed his fingers and asked, “Then how can you enter?”

“I was about to say that. Teleporting into the inner-space is impossible for those who don’t have one of these catalysts.” I said, raising the small square-shaped stone in my hand.

“Would you mind if I visited your place?” he asked with a slight smile.

I knew he would be interested if I told him how it works, I sneered inwardly as I nodded my head.

“I’m going to host a festival in my world and since my wife found you and brought us together, I thought that I could invite some of you to take part in it as special guests. I’m going to organize various contests of power, endurance, and skill, the latter including not only a contest of magic, but also contests of cooking, painting, and other similar things. I’m sure that your presence would make the whole thing more interesting, even more so if you took part in the contests. I’ll also reward the participants with various things and the rewards will be more and more precious the higher they rank.”

“Are you interested?”

“I am!” he slapped on the table, getting a bit way too excited about the whole thing.

My surprise was most likely too obvious on my face because he quickly cleared his throat and composed himself as he said calmly, “I’m interested in your event so I’m willing to take part in it.”

“That’s great. I’ll give you a small tool that can translate your words to our language, so you and the people you are going to pick should wear it at all times. I’m not sure how many people should be called, so I’ll tell you that the population of my world is about fifty thousand. I thought that you could pick maybe a thousand people, what do you think?”

“That’s fine by me, maybe it’s even too much to pick on such a short notice…” he replied.

“I’m sorry about that. Do you think you can finish picking in a half ora?” Ora was their way of calculating time and one ora was about four hours on the Earth.

“I think I’ll manage, but I need to start doing it right away.” Nodding his head, he stood up from his seat and looked at me. “By the way, should I pick our most powerful warriors or students?”

“The competition will be divided by categories based on strength so it’s best if you bring some people from both groups to make things a bit more diverse and fun. But as I mentioned before, there will be skill-based competitions as well,” I smiled at him.

Furrowing his brows, he scratched his chin and stared at me in silence for a while before saying, “One more question. Are your people as powerful as you?”

“No… I wouldn’t invite you just to be slaughtered. They know way more advanced spells than you and your people but the general level of magic power is somewhat weaker. I plan to limit the spell usage to elemental magic so that you wouldn’t lose every battle. I reckon there should be some interesting battles to watch that way.”

“Are you telling me that we wouldn’t be able to win a single battle if you didn’t do so?” he said in a deep voice, seemingly a bit offended by my words.

“You can cry and complain all you want, but the truth is the truth and I’m simply speaking facts. The answer is a definite yes, but competition isn’t fun if it isn’t fair, hence the rules. As for safety, you can rest assured that everyone who comes will be able to go back home alive and without a single scratch. I guarantee it personally,” I replied.

Sighing loudly, he hung his head and waved his hand, “Fine then, I believe you.”

“You know, you are way more pleasant to talk to without your woman. You aren’t ignoring me half of the time this way,” he added, rolling his eyes.

“I’m sorry about that,” I scratched my face awkwardly. “I’ll try to be more considerate in the future.”

“It’s alright, just go,” he waved his hand.

“Alright. Good luck in picking your people then!” I said, and disappeared from the room with a snap of my finger, going back to Leviathan.

It was time to prepare the stage!

--- Felice’s pov ---

“What’s that rubbery-looking thing? It looks delicious,” I whispered to my brother as we passed by a stall. Some were covered in sugar-like substances while others were bare and seemed to be quite squishy.

“I don’t know but it looks like sweets,” he replied, eyeing the gummy greedily.

“Why are you two whispering to each other instead of asking me?” Dad asked, shaking his head.

“Then what is it?”

“They are called gummy sweets and as you can see, they come in all kinds of shapes. Do you want to try it out?” He asked as he grabbed our shoulders. His hands were so large, yet his touch was always as gentle as Mother’s.

“I will try it out then,” I replied.

“Here is one for you, one for you, and one for us,” Mom stuffed a paper bag into my hand, and then gave one to Reiner and kept the largest bag to themselves.

“I knew you would want it, so here you go,” she added.

“Thanks,” all three of us said at the same time.

Taking one out of my bag, I looked at my brother as I stuffed one into my mouth. His face lit up as he did the same and quickly reached for the next one, just like me.

While I was busy devouring the contents of my bag, Dad put his hand on the top of my head and ruffled my hair. He always messed it up after I combed it every morning, but I couldn’t feel angry with him. Seeing that he didn’t stop even after a few seconds had passed, I realized he was messing with me intentionally, so I grabbed his wrist, “Dad, stop messing up my hair!”

“I thought you were enjoying it,” he chortled as he stopped his hand. “I told you that you would love it but you should get going or we won’t be able to check out everything before the first competition starts.”

Pulling on his wrist, I pointed at the thing they built today, “Can we go to that thing you called roller-coaster? I want to try it out.”

“Sure,” he said with a nod.

It was noon and even though my father was worried that there wouldn’t be many people who came and took part in this festival, the area was filled to the brim with people and there were thousands of stalls run by the locals. Many of those stalls were set up by newer members who were trying to trade things from the outside world for various items they could normally get only for contribution points.

In the beginning, I didn’t understand how contribution points worked and why they were necessary, I just knew that it was important to others because they often talked about it. I came to realize its importance and how different my situation was only after asking Mother.

People earned contribution points by doing missions, inventing magic, reaching higher ranks in magic, and by practicing their profession. I heard that reaching the minimum wasn’t challenging, but if anybody failed in doing so, they would get kicked out of Leviathan and would have to continue their lives in the outside world. At the same time, for those who were trying to become stronger through the resources of Leviathan had to spend a considerable amount and work hard to be able to exchange for rewards.

During our practice and sparring, I came to realize that the weapons and the quality of the spells I used were way beyond the norm because they all came from my parents, and the last thing I would doubt was my parents’ power. Knowing that others had to work just to be able to live here while I not only didn’t have to do anything, but I even got the best of the best, I felt that I had to become stronger than others, otherwise I would bring shame to my parents.

My parents seemed to think otherwise because during the hundreds of lessons and training sessions I spent with them, they have never said that I should be stronger than others. The only thing I heard from them was that we should be capable enough to take care of ourselves. I have also learned that my body was special and provided me with a boost in training speed, so the least I could do was to become worthy of it.

After going a few rounds on the roller-coaster and checking a few more stalls, Dad took us to the center of the festival area.

Seeing the large stage, Reiner looked at Dad and asked, “Why is there a large stage? Are you planning to make people fight in such a small area?”

“One of the competitions is going to be a stage-fight where the contestants will have to fight in limited space, but this isn’t for that. Stay here with your mom and wait a moment. You will understand it soon.” Dad replied as he turned to leave.

Grabbing his wrist, Mom pulled him back, “Are you going to leave without a kiss?”

Glancing at me, Dad said in a low voice, “But the kids are watching.”

“I know, my love. I was just joking. How many will come?” She changed her tone to a deeper one.

“About a thousand,” Dad replied as he snuck his hand behind her back and sneakily moved it to her buttocks. I’ve seen Dad do that many times before and, even though I didn’t understand why he loved touching Mom’s buttocks, it always made her smile.

What is so good about this? I thought as I secretly fondled my own.

Strange. I feel retarded this way. Mom taught me a few more things in her biology lesson and said that men like fondling that part of the body. So why does it make me feel retarded? Is it because I’m doing it by myself?

“Bro, can you touch your ass?” I whispered to Reiner.

“What the fuck? Where would that come from?” he frowned as he looked at me. Leaning over to my left side, he looked at Father’s hand and nodded, “So that’s what this is about.”

“Listen here, Sis,” he grabbed my shoulders.

“Eh? What is it?” I asked, surprised by his stern gaze.

“I have never felt this way before, but since today morning, that thing happens to me again when I see women in short clothes, and for some reason, I also want to touch buttocks! Am I going crazy or what? What is happening to my body?!” he shook my shoulders, starting to panic once again.

“Why are you panicking? Didn’t Mom and Dad tell you that it’s called erection and that it’s natural for men? Mom also said that it happens when you are attracted to somebody. Are you attracted to every woman you see?”

Furrowing his brows, he pulled back his right hand and pondered about it, “Now that you mention it, neither you nor mother make it happen. But many others do!”

“Maybe you are a pervert.”

“What is a pervert?” he shook his head in confusion.

“There was a day when Mom and Dad went out for a date and came back about ten minutes later. Mom said something like - ‘why do men have to bother us every time we go out? We should just burn the planet’ - and then she also said that ‘all men are perverts and they want nothing but sex.’ You get excited by looking at women so you want sex, which should mean that you are a pervert,” I said.

“No way. How can I heal this? Is Father also a pervert?” he cried out, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

Feeling a crushing pressure descending on my body, I looked at my parents from the corner of my eye and found both of them glaring at us.

“Did I say something wrong?” Reiner asked, coming to the same conclusion as me.

They were angry.

“What did we tell you about using such words in public?” Mom asked as she stepped closer and grabbed our shoulders, her grip numbing my whole side.

“That we shouldn’t use them and call others names and point fingers?” I hissed as I felt her grip turning tighter.

“I see you still remember it,” she smiled at me, finally releasing her hand. “But do you?” she glared at Reiner.

“Ouch- ouch! I’m sorry, Mom. It won’t happen again!”

“You should go on with your speech, I’ll take care of this,” she said to Father, and then looked at Reiner with a frown.

“My son, you may don’t understand this for now, but your father’s genes are one of a kind that can put you well above others in terms of training speed. This benefit also comes with a small side-effect, which is why you get aroused more easily. He is going to teach you how to control it properly.”

“But why is it only us who turned out like this? The other kids at our age are much shorter than us,” I wondered aloud.

“You don’t seem to mind it?” she raised her brow.

“Why would I mind that I can achieve the same thing as others with not even half the effort? Is it a bad thing?” I shook my head in confusion.

“No, no, not at all. It’s good if you don’t mind it,” she said with a smile, brushing my hair behind my ear.

“You are somewhat different because both your Dad and I have reconstructed our bodies using mana cells, and some of those mana cells have grown into your bodies, considerably speeding up your training speed. When you reach the Magister rank and become physically immortal, we will help you in reconstructing your body.”

“You may have realized by now that these mana cells not only increase your training speed, they also make your body and mind grow faster. I’m afraid that if we hadn’t sealed your mana when you were toddlers, your bodies would have started maturing one or two years sooner,” she said.

“Does this mean that you and Father are progressing faster than us, even though you are so strong already?” Reiner frowned as he connected the dots in his mind.

I didn’t even think of that.

Seeing my mom smiling, I felt like banging my head against a wall. Reiner and I were hoping that one day we would be able to catch up to our parents, but as it turned out, the gap was just growing larger with each passing day.

“Aww, why the long face?” she asked as she pulled both of us into her embrace. Only her soft and warm embrace could make me feel as safe as Father's strong arms, though they enticed different emotions in me. Mother’s embrace made me feel that I could do anything on my own, while Father’s made me feel that he wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to me. I found this contrast quite strange, but it couldn’t be helped. I loved both of them anyway.

Noticing that my whole face was buried in Mother’s chest, I couldn't help but force my head out to look at my own, wondering if they would grow as large as hers in the future.

“Alright, let’s pay attention to what your father says,” she said as she suddenly pushed our heads away and made us turn towards the stage. Knowing that she was still behind me, I leaned on her and started listening to my father.

“And now, allow me to introduce to you today’s guests, who have come here from a far-away planet to take part in our competition!” he raised his voice, and then a giant portal appeared on the stage, with a bunch of strangely-dressed human-like people standing on the other side. Many of them wore confused faces as they looked up and down like some cavemen who have never seen a portal before.

But my ears picked up on a part of his last sentence. They were people from a far-away planet, which meant that my parents found another planet with life on it. Considering that I had yet to see the planet that was right below Leviathan, I wasn’t sure if I should be as excited about it as my parents were. In my mind, it was still just another planet I wanted to visit one day, and a place that was most likely inferior to my birthplace in multiple ways.

“Amazing, so our Emperor has started exploring the universe?” some guy whispered to his friend next to us.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we would be sent to other planets for missions in a few years? Especially if those planets had some hot chicks,” the guy replied, his smile making me shudder for some reason. I had a feeling he was thinking about something perverted.

Now that Mother taught me more about human bodies, I started understanding what all those subtle expressions and sentences meant that I shrugged off in the past because I didn’t understand them. With her help and guidance, I also rebuilt my own body so that I wouldn’t have to suffer from menstruation in the future. Just the headache and nausea I felt even before it happened made me think that it was annoying, much less the real thing. I didn’t want to lose my cool and become frustrated once a month for no reason.

Thanks to all those, the concept of sex was no longer just some blurry concept in my mind because I knew exactly how it worked in theory, even if I had no personal experience in it.

“Now I’ll let him say a few words before the first contest starts,” Father said before taking a step back on the stage to whisper a few words into the giant red-skinned man’s ear at the front of the group.

“Greetings to everyone!” As he started speaking, I could hear his real voice and words suppressed by the artificial translated voice that a magic tool generated for him. After saying a few words about their history and how they were looking forward to the competition, he turned silent once again.

Although the idea of a new planet didn’t make me excited, I wanted to fight against the ‘guests’ since I had no idea what kind of combat style they had. As I looked around in the crowd, I could see many familiar faces that I have sparred with in the past, and they all seemed to be equally excited to fight our new opponents. Most of us had to fight against the same person for years on the training ground, so having some fresh meat was a good thing.

I preferred stronger competitors because I had to think way more to win, simultaneously leading to a wider variety of tactical steps. It was the best way to improve my battle sense and decisions, not to mention that beating weaker opponents caused no more than a moment of fun.

While I was thinking about my battles against the new guys, Father declared the start of the first two competitions. One of them was a cooking competition while the other one was a forest fight. Based on his explanation, the competitors had to enter the Great Forest of Leviathan, which he rebuilt for the sake of the competition, and they would have to beat everyone else without using magic.

I have been using magic since my parents removed my seals, so a battle without it was something I found quite intriguing. It was an unrealistic situation for me since even if I ran out of mana, I could just use the mana in my environment, but a simple battle of power made no sense in a competition when most of the participants knew each others’ strengths exactly.

“As for the rules of the forest fight, there is a catch. Although you won’t be allowed to use magic, everyone will have to reach the same level of physical strength with body enchantment, and from then on, it will be your responsibility to maintain the same level during the event. If any of you uses more or less mana to increase or decrease your strength for more than a second, you will be disqualified. This isn’t just a battle of wits, but also a battle of control over your mana. Another rule is that if your power output differs by more than five percent, even if it’s only for a moment, you will be disqualified.” Father continued his explanation.

Hmm, it shouldn’t be too hard to maintain the same mana output during the competition, even if I fight with somebody. I just hope that I won’t accidentally use more mana if I get startled.

It seems this will be harder than I thought, a moment of carelessness could lead to disqualification.

“Every participant will receive a mana pool pill, which contains a weakened form of my mana. I’m encouraging all of you to at least give it a shot because the pills are useful even for sage-ranked magicians. Those who reach the top one hundred will receive a stronger version of the same pill, which is useful even for Magister ranked magicians.”

“Those who reach the top ten will receive an enchanted weapon of their choice, and the top three will be a surprise, but I can assure you, you will regret not trying your best,” he smiled mysteriously.

I wonder if I can pull it out of him if I snuggle up to him and kiss him.

“Now, those who wish to take part in the competition should come forward to the stage and cross the portal once I check your physical strength. To set this standard, we will use my children’s physical strength with a ten percent increase. Those who can’t reach it can still take part, but their disadvantage will be their problem.”

“Felice, Reiner, please come here,” he said, waving for us to get on the stage.

“Good luck, my loves,” Mom said as she leaned over our shoulders and gave a big kiss on my face, and then another one to Reiner.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I teleported to the stage, surprising many of the foreign competitors.

“Oh, one more thing, you aren’t allowed to cooperate with others, the punishment will be disqualification,” Father said as he glanced at Reiner on my left, broadcasting his voice to everyone. 

“And here I thought we could team up,” I sighed, looking at my brother. We knew each other the best and had very similar skills and ways of thinking, so fighting together was something I kind of enjoyed.

“It’s a shame, but we may end up fighting each other as a result,” he replied.

“I’ll show no mercy,” I winked at him.

“Me neither,” he grinned like a fool.

After Father finished measuring everyone, which took no more than five minutes for about ten thousand participants, he opened a portal behind everyone and then pushed us into it with a thought. Seeing a nano-mosquito flying around me, I knew that everyone would be tracked by nanobots, which meant that everything we did would be recorded and displayed on the giant screens that I had seen on the stage.

I better put on a nice performance.

Watch me, Father, Mother!

 

(AN: Next batch is out in case you care:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F4J2HXY?tag=roy0ec-21  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )