“Mhh…”
“Yumi, don’t you have enough by now?”
“I’ll never have enough, Sis.”

Lying on top of a naked Karen, I was currently burying my face in her breasts. And since I was similarly naked… Being able to feel Karen with all of my body… There was no way I could have enough of this indulgence, was there?

“Ehehe… This is bliss. Pure bliss.”

I knew I couldn’t enjoy this forever. As such, the only choice was to enjoy it for as long as I could, right?
Karen’s smooth skin, her slightly squishy tummy, her soft, modest breasts…

“Ehehehe.”

If this was heaven, I never wanted to leave.

“Seriously… If we weren’t naked, I would’ve wondered if you’re a little child.”
“I wouldn’t mind that if it means that I can enjoy this more often.”
“...”

It was a small price to pay in exchange. Who needed dignity in the face of this heavenly place.

“Also, Sis… Don’t pretend I’m not noticing that you keep fondling my butt.”
“...”

Both of her hands were firmly grabbing my butt cheeks, squishing them without pause. She was enjoying herself quite a bit as well.

“Do you have a thing for my butt, too?”
“... A little, I guess?”

My butt, huh.
Well, I didn’t mind if she was fondling it. It was a rather pleasant feeling.

“Haaa… Seriously. What are we even doing…”
“Nn? What do you mean, Sis?”
“You do know we are technically supposed to work right now, don’t you?”
“... Nn.”

This was officially the time we should be working in the wagon, figuring out stuff. About me, about the tentacles, and stuff like that.
Instead, Karen and I had used that time to spend some quality private time. Or to put it more bluntly, we had sex. And I was still wearing that collar to boot. We were rather far removed from working...

“Haa… What’s done is done, I guess.”
“Nn. It’s not like anyone has to know anyway, right?”
“... I guess so.”
“And I’m sure the Captain won’t mind such a small thing.”
“Small thing…”

The Captain knew full well about our relationship. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he already expected us to do such stuff in the wagon in private. As long as we actually worked as well, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.
He was the one who told me to be a little free anyway.

“Nn. So, don’t worry about it, Sis.”
“... I’ll try to.”
“Nn.”
“But we should still work at least a little today, okay?”
“... Nn.”

To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to do any work right now. I’d rather continue spending my time with Karen. Alas, I understood as well that we shouldn’t overdo it.

“Also, Yumi…”
“Nn?”
“... Is it just me or is it getting rather hot here.”
“No, it’s getting pretty warm.”

The wagon finally started to heat up. It was standing in the sun, after all. Fortunately, tt wasn’t too hot yet. For now.

“We should’ve brought a bucket or water or something like Wormaz suggested.”
“Nn… Now is too late. I’m not going to fetch one now.”
“... I guess we can just keep the clothes off to cool down.”
“Nn.”

And if we didn’t move, it’d be even better. Perfect.

“Yumi, can you get up?”
“...”
“Yumi.”
“...”
“...”
“... Nn? Hyah?!”

The world suddenly turned around. My comfortable breast pillow was gone as well. Instead, Karen was looking down at me.

“Si— Mmghgm?!”

She was kissing me, shutting me up before I could protest.

“Mnnmnghh— Haaaa! Haa… Haaa… Si… s...”
“Mm. That’s what you get for not listening.”

Satisfied, Karen stood up from the bed, leaving the heavily breathing me behind.

“Uhhh… That was unfair, Sis.”
“What, so you don’t want a kiss?”
“... I do.”

Karen grinned, hearing my reply.

“Then everything is fine, right?”
“... You’re quite mean today.”

I fiddled with the collar around my neck and averted my gaze, to hide my embarrassment. It wasn’t possible for me to remove it myself, it seemed. Well, I didn’t mind wearing it anyway in private. At some point, it stopped shocking me as well. Weird thing.

“Hey, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“What was actually the point of you wearing that collar?”
“Nn?”

Karen stared at the collar on my neck, furrowing her brows.
The point? Didn’t I tell her already? I did. I wanted to belong to Karen and the collar made me feel that way rather strongly.

“Well, I mean… We just did it like usual. And you immediately switched back to calling me ‘Sis’ as well.”
“... Ah. You’re right.”

I looked down, trying to see the collar. Which was harder than I expected, since it was around my neck. Only a small part of it was visible. But… I could clearly feel it around my neck.

“Nn… I think this was fine. Just wearing it is fine.”
“Huh…”

Karen tilted her head, probably unsure what to think about my reply.

“What about you, Sis?”
“Eh? Me?”
“Nn. You… wanted to do this as well, right?”
“Me… I don’t know. I think I… Uhm…”

She averted her gaze, fumbling with her words. Even though we both came clear with what we wanted, it was still a little hard to say such things… Patience, patience.

“Mmhh… I think… I think I’d like to do it properly… Sometime…”
“Nn, that’s fine. Then, we should probably ask Ria how the collar works, huh. It kind of stopped reacting somewhere halfway through.”
“Eh? Are you sure we can?”
“Nn.”

While I was perfectly fine with just wearing it—for the atmosphere, in a way—Karen apparently wanted to do it properly sometime. So, in other words, a proper slave roleplay? Seriously, I had said that I wanted to wear the collar but I never actually thought about the stuff that came after that. Guess that just meant I was fine with whatever as long as I was wearing it.

“... Are you really sure?”
“Sis, I think that it is already a little late to ask that, after we went halfway in that direction already.”
“... That’s… true.”
“Nn.”

Karen wanted to play with my tentacles and wanted to do some slave roleplay. I wanted to wear the collar. 

“In the first place, it’s not that I dislike doing it. Rather, I… guess I’m quite interested as well. Nn.”

But…
We should make the boundary clear. This was, in the end, just a play-pretend game. It wasn’t reality. And I was honestly worried that… we might forget that boundary. Or at least, I was worried that I would forget it. Because, after I had started wearing it, I was sure I wouldn’t mind at all doing it for real.

But that’s no good… It would completely destroy our current life…

We weren’t alone. Other people were here as well. Our friends and family. And Karen also said she didn't want others to see me as a slave or pet. Neither did I. Thinking about how others might think of me like that… Made my skin crawl. Therefore, bringing it into our normal life was a big no.

But… If we ever lived alone… No, that’s something we should think about then. Not now.

I shook my head, chasing away the thoughts swirling around in my head. Earned me a confused stare of Karen as well.

“Yumi? Something wrong?”
“Nn? Ahh… Just…”

I paused for a moment, unsure if I should mention it to Karen. On one side, I didn’t want to ruin the fun but… It was important, so it was better to mention it.

“Nn, you see. I just thought that we should be careful that it stays as roleplay and we don’t forget ourselves.”
“... Forget? Mh? You mean, that we do it outside of sex?”
“Nn.”
“I see… You’re right, we should be careful about that.”

Karen nodded in agreement.
Yeah, it was good I mentioned it. I stretched my arms and then stood up from the bed as well.

“It’s really quite warm…”

Oddly enough, I wasn’t really sweating. Or rather, I wasn’t sweating at all.
My body sure was weird. The heat wasn’t exactly pleasant but it also didn’t bother me all that much. Didn’t seem like I was all that affected by temperature differences…
On the other hand, Karen was… sweating quite a bit. And the smell of her sweat reached my nose as well. Together with another slightly lewder scent.

“Yumi, what are you sniffing around for?”
“Nn, just enjoying your scent.”
“... Do I smell?”
“You smell good.”
“I guess I should take a bath later.”
“Ehhhh?”

What a waste.

“Yumi, even if you like it, I don’t want to smell sweaty around everyone else.”
“Nn… Nobody will notice. The mercenaries are always sweating as well, right?”
“Just because they are smelling of sweat doesn’t mean I should too.”
“Mrmm… Then I’ll have to enjoy it as much as I can until then.”

I hugged Karen, burying my face once again in her chest. From this close, not only could I enjoy Karen herself but also her scent. I really was quite needy, wasn’t I?

“Yumi...Haaa… There’s no helping you, is there?”
“Nn, there isn’t.”
“You’re a troublesome little pervert. But I guess you’re my little pervert.”

Karen returned the hug, patting my head.

“Only for a little, okay? We still got things to do.”
“Nn.”

And like that, I managed to indulge myself for a little more.

---

“Sis, I finished over here.”
“Really? Give me one second, then I’ll be done as well.”

After we had finally managed to separate—much to my chagrin—we unpacked and stowed away our belongings. Since neither of us had a lot of stuff, it actually took more time deciding where to store them.
In the end, we postponed the problem and just decided which desk each of us would take. After I stuffed everything into the single drawer attached to the desk, I was done.

“Okay. That should be fine for now.”
“Nn.”

I sat down in the chair, leaning back and staring at the roof.

“... We’re really going to stay here, huh.”
“We are. We really should thank Miss Ria and Mr Captain.”
“Nn. Wormaz as well.”

They’ve done a lot for us. I still wasn’t quite sure what Korwen had originally thought when he picked us up. Was it really just because we could use magic? I had no idea.
Either way, he had done a lot for us. They all had.

“Sis.”
“Yes?”
“We should do our best.”
“We definitely should.”

Karen smiled in my direction. Maybe she had figured out what I was thinking of.

“Then, since we still have some time left, we should probably start doing some work.”
“Work… But, Sis… I still don’t really know what it is that we should be doing.”

Saying we should do some independent research about me was easy. But actually doing it… Where should we even start?

“Mm… Maybe we should start with collecting ideas.”
“Ideas, huh... “
“Then we can try to work on each idea. It’s better than just blindly doing something, right?”
“Nn, that’s true.”

But ideas… Ideas…

“So, Yumi, since we’re mostly talking about you… Is there anything you want to know or try out?”
“Nn…”

There were tons of things I wanted to know, just without any way to get an answer.
But things I wanted to try out… There might be some.

“Things I want to try… Maybe, like… feeding those tentacles in the other room and see what happens after a while?”
“I get the feeling that’s not going to end well…”
“They won’t explode. Probably… Okay… Yeah… Let’s try to be careful.”

Fairly certain Korwen wasn’t going to be the only one getting angry if we managed to blow up the wagon after it was reinforced.
And while the tentacles themselves might not explode… If they started growing uncontrollably, they might burst the wagon nonetheless.

“Okay, noted. So anything else?”
“You’re taking notes…”
“Of course. We’d just forget it later if I don’t.”

Good point.
That would probably happen.

“So, any other ideas?”
“Nn… Give me a moment.”

Thinking of ideas on the spot wasn’t so easy. There should be a few things for sure, though.

“Maybe if there are different types of tentacles among them? Actually, if I can grow those, maybe I can grow other kinds of tentacles?”
“Other kinds… Mm, noted. What else?”
“Uhh…”

Other things we could do…

“Can’t think of anything else for those tentacles for now... “
“No worries, if you get any other idea later, that’s fine as well. You just need to tell me so I can take notes.”
“Nn…”

But only two ideas I could think of… That wasn’t a lot.

“How about you, Sis?”
“Me? Mmhh… I think we should probably observe the dolls a little. They are multiplying for some reason, after all. Also, the Captain asked you to make some mana eggs for the new ones, right?”
“Oh, right.”

That had completely slipped my mind. The dolls needed mana crystals to function, but the ones with the mana egg got their own mana from the surroundings. In the longer term they were cheaper.

“Then, we should also see what some of those tentacles of yours do. You don’t know about all of them, right?”
“Nn, I don’t.”
“Maybe we can find some references among ropers as well. Mr Wendl had a few books regarding them, right? And I am sure Miss Ria has some as well.”

Comparing them with ropers? That hadn’t occurred to me at all.

“We should also see what you can do fully transformed. You only fully transformed that one time, right?”
“Nn.”

That one time I had been stuck on the floor.
I didn’t have much time back then to test out everything, so that was indeed a good idea.

“And after that… There are also some other… things I’d like to figure out.”
“Nn?”

Karen stared at the sheet of paper where she had written the notes on.

“It’s more… about me.”
“... Ah.”
“For one, I want to know what exactly happened with me. And is still happening. There are a few things I wanted to talk about with you anyway. Also, I want to know more about everything else as well. Like, why are my eyes glowing. And what kind of demonkin I actually am. The things that were already different before we met.”
“... I see.”

It was easy to forget but… Karen had a lot of mysteries surrounding herself as well. She didn’t even understand them herself.
The Elder seemed to know about it but… She didn’t want to talk about it.

In other words, it might be a dangerous topic…
“Speaking of which, Yumi, are my eyes still glowing?”
“Nn, they are. It’s not as strong as earlier, though.”
“I see… I don’t even feel particularly different.”

Karen blinked a few times, staring into empty space.

“Mm...It’s really just like always.”
“Huh…”

It always happened when we were doing lewd stuff, though. So it surely had something to do with that.
Actually, couldn’t we say that us having sex was part of our work? Since it was related to Karen’s problem. Not that I’d ever actually say that to anyone.

“Mm, it sure is troublesome that I don’t even notice it myself. I hope they stop before we have to finish up.”
“Right, we still have work later…”

Later today we were going to feed and care for the waroxen as part of our duties. Lily and Rina would be there as well. It was pretty simple work. Although it wasn’t so simple when one of the waroxen tried eating you instead of the feed.
They kept mistaking my hair for food for some reason. And only mine… It was honestly horrible. All the drool and other stuff… Ugh… I didn’t want to think about it.

“Sis, you said you wanted to talk with me about something?”

Best way to get rid of those thoughts was to change the topic.

“Ahh, I did. Well… It’s actually not really much or so, it’s just that I noticed a few things.”
“Nn?”
“Do you remember when we woke up in that shell? The first day? We hadn’t eaten anything for quite a while and neither of us was hungry.”
“Nn.”

This wasn’t going to end up being what I thought, was it?

“Well… I noticed that I haven’t really felt all that hungry since then. Or rather, I did feel hungry. But only very little. And I was still hungry after I ate something.”
“Huh? You were still hungry? Then, you’re hungry even now?”
“Actually… I’m not, right now.”
“Nn?”

She wasn’t? But, she just said that eating didn’t help much.

“... After we had sex, I somehow feel rather filled.”
“After… Really?”
“Yes.”

Did her hunger get replaced with that kind of hunger?

“It’s odd… I really feel quite filled right now.”
“Nn… That certainly is weird.”
“Yes. Hey, Yumi. Are you not feeling hungry either?”
“Me?”

I looked at Karen, who sat in the chair opposite of me.

“I actually feel hungry and want to eat something… And after I ate something I feel full.”
“... Wait, really?”
“Nn.”

Of course, I couldn’t say whether I could starve anymore if I didn’t eat anything. I sure wasn’t going to try it out either.
Regardless, I felt hungry over the day and wanted to eat. That much hadn’t changed. The only thing that had changed since I came here was the amount I ate. But that was probably to be expected as well, considering I was rather short. I probably weighed like half as much compared to my time in my old world.
Not that I could even weigh myself, here. Even if I could, they used different measurements so it was impossible to compare.

“... Even after we woke up?”
“Nn. I’m still getting hungry like normal.”

That’s why I thought at first that the day we woke up, our stomachs simply hadn’t caught up with everything yet and we forgot our hunger. Or that the shell somehow nourished us. Apparently I was wrong.

But why is she feeling filled right now? It.... It couldn’t be that… Right?

That might have been a little... 

“Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Nn… Ahh… Wait a moment.”

I stood up from the chair and walked to the crate with mana crystals, picking up a single pebble-sized crystal before returning.

“Sis… Do you feel like you want to swallow this?”

I help up the pebble in front of her.

“The… mana crystal? Yumi, a person cannot eat that. It’s dangerous.”
“Nn, but I thought… Maybe it is mana that your body wants?”
“... Mana?”

Karen furrowed her brows.

“Mana… That… might actually be the case.”
“Nn.”
“... I still don’t want to swallow a mana crystal on a hunch.”
“I see.”

At least, she didn’t have any craving for them. That might mean it wasn't mana, after all.
I sat down in the chair again and threw the mana crystal into my mouth, swallowing it down.

“...”
“... Just so you know, it tastes like nothing.”
“... I see.”

Not to mention the amount of mana inside one was miniscule.

“So, why did you swallow it?”
“... I just felt like it.”

Mostly because I was too lazy to walk back and return it. And I already knew I could swallow them. Though… Actually… This was actually still quite dangerous, wasn’t it? Regardless of whether the mana was dangerous or not, it was still a solid crystal and not some candy. The mana might be one thing but what if I choked on the crystal itself?

Better not do this again.

Unless they suddenly turned super delicious, it wasn’t a good idea to just swallow them...

“But if it’s not mana… I wonder what else it is then.”
“I wonder...”
“Nn…”
“Maybe… Uhm… It’s just… You know… My… Sexual desire?”

Her… sexual desire…
That certainly was the option but…

“... Does that really replace hunger and nourishment?”
“I can’t think of anything else.”
“Nn… Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“If it’s your sexual desire…”

I smiled at the thought of what this implied.

“... then you need to do it, right?”
“Yumi... Haaa...”
“Eh?”

Why was she sighing now?

“You really want to do it that much? I rather do it without such a string attached, you know?”
“That’s…”
“... Although, since we finally got a place for ourselves, we’d do it more anyway so I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“...”

Asking whether I wanted to do it that much… Of course I did. There was nothing wrong with desiring the person I loved, right?
Also, she didn’t really mind that much, seeing how she was smiling to herself.

“Let’s just say for now it’s probably that. We’ll see next time if it still is the case. I didn’t have any problem with being ‘hungry’ per se either.”
“Nn.”

Still, in my opinion, if she was feeling hungry it was better to fulfill that hunger, right?

“I wish Miss Elder would tell me more about this stuff…”
“Nn… You did talk with her about it before, right?”
“Yes, but… The few things she told I already knew about. There was just one thing she told me that I didn’t know about yet.”
“Nn?”

So there was something she had learnt after all?

“What was it again… She said that it isn’t anything dangerous, that we are just… Uhm… Closer to our roots? Than other demonkin.”
“Closer to your roots?”
“Yes. That’s what she said. I don’t know what she means either, though.”
“Huh…”

Closer to her roots.
Maybe they were something like throwbacks? The kind where an old trait reappeared in some? But… Well, if it was a genetic issue, then it would also explain why Karen and Rina were the same in that regard.
It might be something completely different as well, though.

“But, if it’s about your roots… Maybe we should have asked the Academy about you as well. They might know something about the demonkin.”
“Ahh… We sure didn’t expect that we can’t go there right now, after all.”
“Nn… But, let’s ask Ria and Wendl later. They might know something as well.”

Both were quite knowledgeable after all. They were a little eccentric but they were good people at heart.
Except, Wendl would stay single for sure with his behaviour. But that wasn’t my problem.

“Right… We’re at Ria’s after we feed the waroxen anyway, so might as well.”
“Nn.”

It really was quite a bother, being unable to enter the city. Fenna and her group had been allowed inside as part of their job but only to accompany those girls to the Academy for their classes. Apparently, a soldier had to escort them to make sure they didn’t go elsewhere. They really put in a lot of effort at keeping us away...

“So, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“With which one should we start?”
“Nn…”

With which one…
The dolls were… not around right now. They might come if we call for them, though.
Still, if we skipped them the only things we could do right now were related to the tentacles.

“Nn, let’s take a look at those tentacles, I guess? The dolls aren’t here and I have no clue how we’d even start with your issues.”
“The tentacles… Should we get dressed first?”
“Nn? Why?”
“Well…”

Karen glanced at the door behind her.

“Won’t they do something to us if we enter there naked?”
“... I honestly don’t know.”

With that said, I really didn’t want to get dressed right now…

“They… probably shouldn’t attack as. I think? Also, the heat doesn’t bother me too much but, Sis, you’re sweating quite a bit already.”

It was surprising how much an enclosed space could heat up. If the windows hadn’t been open, you could have probably cooked us.

“Well… But if they do something, they have to attack both of us, okay?”
“... Okay?”

It was a little doubtful if those tentacles would attack me though. Also, I… probably wasn’t yet ready to get attacked by them in that meaning. The thought was more than a bit scary. That Karen had actually done it... impressed me a little.

“...”

For some reason, Karen squinted her eyes a little, looking directly at… No, behind me.
I followed her gaze, seeing the open window.

“Sis? Is something wrong with the window?”
“Mm… No, it’s probably… maybe… fine... “
“Nn?”
“Forget it. Let’s go to the tentacles and take a look.”
“Okay?”

I tilted my head, wondering what was up. Still, I decided not to ask, instead standing up and walking to the door to the small room with the tentacles.

Having both parts separated was really a good decision by Wormaz.

The wagons were kind of spacious for just two people and even if you cut it in half, it was still quite comfortable. Although most of the space was for storage and the two desks plus the bed. But, we had a bed! I still couldn’t quite believe it.

Kaching!
“Huh? Sis?”

I turned around at the odd sound behind.

“... Why are you closing the window? Isn’t that only going to make it hotter?”

The window was only open facing the ground, so it wasn’t a lot of heat that could escape, but it was better than nothing.

“... No, you see. We don’t want anyone to overhear us, right?”
“Ah, you’re right.”

The tentacles were a secret, after all.

“Nn? Wait… Open win—
“Yumi, let’s go.”
“Eh? Ahh… Nn.”

Karen walked past me and opened the door to the room with the tentacles.
I followed her inside. Something was bothering me about the windows but I couldn’t quite place it…

Well, whatever. I can think about that later.

I decided to discard the thought for now. We had work to do.

“Seems they’re still lively…”
“Nn.”

Karen stepped inside, her feet making contact with the tentacles.

“Waaahhh… This is… This feels a little weird.”
“... Ah, you’re right.”

Since they covered the entire ground by now we were forced to step on the tentacles. And as they were basically just flesh, it created a rather squishy floor. And to add on that, the surrounding tentacles brushed our feet, tickling us.

“... It was a good idea from Mr Wormaz that he decided to wall them off. Look, they’re already covering part of this wall, too, Yumi.”

As the ground had been fully occupied by them already, the tentacles started expanding onto the walls. And that included the new wall in the wagon as well now.

“Nn… Are the dolls still feeding them?”
“Did you tell them to stop?”
“I don’t think I did…”

Maybe I should have, thinking about it now.

“Not like it changes much if we’re going to do it ourselves now anyway.”
“True..”

Karen stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the ground. There was one particular tentacle slightly bigger than all others.

“Now then… Should we start?”
“Nn.”