“This is…a human’s weapon?” Slightly wary of the blade, Numila didn’t accept it right away, but instead asked, “What are its uses?”
“This blade is able to increase the effects of one’s fire magic, as for what that means exactly, you will know once you use it.” Shoving the blade into her claws, I smiled thinly before pointing at the hilt: “You grip onto this and draw it out.”
“Like this?”
While Numila had no hands to speak of, gripping a hilt was still possible for her claws. With her left claw wrapped tightly around the hilt and her right claw securing the scabbard, she gingerly tugged on the blade. However, the blade barely budged as she fumbled around with the scabbard.
“Not like that, normally you use your right hand to grip the hilt since that’s the main hand.” I immediately corrected her while shaking my head.
“Oh.” She flipped her claws around and this time the blade instantly flew out in a shower of fiery sparks. In just a few moments, the fiery blade was in full view of the harpy witch. “This blade…it’s gorgeous!” She exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
“It’s so beautiful, thanks for giving me this blade.”
“I’m lending it to you, not giving it…”
“Ah, just lending huh…” She trailed off in a slightly dejected manner. Even so, that didn’t stop her from waving the blade around enthusiastically with her right claw. With every wave, it seemed like the flames on the straight blade grew ever brighter until finally, even I was hit by a wave of scorching heat despite the distance between us being over two meters. This heat…wasn’t it a lot scarier than when I wielded it?
“This temperature…this magical output…why does it feel like my flames have gotten hotter even though I infused less mana into it. Furthermore, this blade seems to be sharper than my claws! “Unbelievable! Was this really created by humans? So humans were actually such amazing creatures…uncanny…unreal…un…”
Auntie, are you about done with the uns? Don’t tell me you’ve become a die hard fan of humans just like that?
“Mhm, this blade was truly made for creatures with an affinity for fire. In the human world, such a blade could easily cost a fortune worth tens of thousands of slaves.”
“That much? That’s more than ten times the size of my clan.”
Even though she hadn’t left the Prison of the Dead before, it seems like the word slave transcended cultural barriers. As a harpy, she naturally understood the term as referring to those poor males caught in her nest.
Looking at that stunned look in her eyes, I suddenly felt a sense of pride for being a human: “Such a powerful blade isn’t something that can be crafted by any old craftsman, it’s a high-grade enchanted weapon after all.”
As she happily waved the blade around, within her she clearly felt the increase in strength caused by the blade. With a crazed “Wahaha” she laughed, “Kwah, you actually gave me such a treasure, I’m so happy!”
“…I’m lending it…not giving it…” How did this suddenly turn into me gifting you the blade? Was this the so-called bandit nature of the harpies at work?
“Don’t mind those minor details, if a girl’s too miserly, her kitty cat will start to shrink.” After throwing out those words, which I couldn’t find the energy to tsukkomi, she puffed up her chest and pointed her feathery weapons at me. Dang…those must’ve been a pair of 36Ds if those feathers were removed.
“How many times have I said this already, I’m a male not a female!” Just as that last word left my mouth, an alarming thought crossed my mind. What was her reaction again when I last said this? Didn’t she inspect my lower ha—that, don’t tell me she’s going to do that again…no way!
I immediately shielded my pee pee or lack thereof with the Grimoire of the Dead.
“Lies, don’t think for a second that I’m not aware of what a male has hanging down there, and you definitely don’t have anything hanging down there.”
“But I’m really not lying, that thing will grow out in the future, mhm, that’s right, it will grow out in the future, definitely!”
“Really?”
“Really! Realer than reality!”
“If you’re really a male then I permit you to be my fiance, as long as you give me this blade.” Instead of the predicted inspection, instead she seemed unusually embarrassed and…when did I say that I wanted to marry you? Please spare me sister, I know demonic ladies are a genre in of itself but that’s in the 2D world. What do you want me to do with all those feathers in the 3D world?!
In the midst of my furious tsukommis, my silence ended up being taken as consent by the seemed-to-have-roasted-her-brains harpy.
“Hey, whatever you’re thinking of right now, the answer is no”
“Why’d you say no…isn’t this one beautiful enough for you?” For a tomboy like her, who would’ve expected her to have such a charming side when she spoke in such a gentle tone…
“It’s not that, you’re really pretty and all but our races are different…”
“It’s alright, there are only females in the harpy witch race so we have to get our males from the other races anyway.”
“That…” How should I even say no to that? If I’m too forceful will she turn on me right on the spot? But if I’m too soft on her, she might just think that I was willing to marry her except that I had some other considerations…
“Are you worried about this one’s “thing”…don’t worry, this one’s body hasn’t been touched by another male yet. Harpy witches are different from harpies, we are absolutely loyal to our mates.” As she said that, her bewitching face inched ever closer towards me…to the point where I was able to smell her scent, her musky…stimulating…scent.
“Men and women shouldn’t…don’t come so close…” Such an eyeful…there was nothing human-like about her except for her face and body shape, but that face of hers…it’s just so pretty…and those curves…I bet any man would die for a chance to bury their head in those curves.
Hey, get a hold of yourself, me! At this rate, I might just give into that allure and nod my head…sigh…3D demonic ladies are just too dangerous!
“Hmm, isn’t your face a little red?” She reached out and cupped my face with her leathery eagle claws. Strangely, they didn’t feel as bad as I thought they would. They weren’t hard like I thought they would be; instead, they had an unexpected softness to them.
As her thick musky scent filled every pore of my being, a haze seemed to form over my head. I subconsciously leaned in on her, lips parted as if I was going to kiss her neck…
“Then will you be this one’s fiance?”
“O…okay, but I still have other fiancees…” I muttered in a half-lucid state.
“It’s alright. You’re a man after all, how are you going to show off your charm and status with so little wives. But the position of First Wife has to be mine.”
“…First Wife is Nicole…or Yi Yi…”
As if she had discovered something inconceivable, she gave an interested smile and said: “Oh my, you are actually still able to resist, looks like those two girls are really important to you, then how about I compromise once more, the position of First Wife will be decided by our strengths.”
“…mmm…”
She pressed her advantage once more: “How about it, just promise this one.”
“Ok…okay then…”
Thus, I somehow ended up with another fiancee.
“Since you’ve accomplished what you wanted, how about waking her up now?” That entire process took place in whispers, so other than the two of us, only Habona who happened to be beside us at the time was aware of it at all. Seeing that Numila had managed to fleece a marriage agreement out of me, she folded her arms impatiently and snapped: “To think that you’re the head of a clan, you actually stooped to such underhanded tricks.”
“What do you mean underhanded, that was a proper marriage proposal.”
Habona coldly snorted: “You mean using your charm skill to propose?”
“Hng hng hng, it’s one of our racial skills, what’s wrong with me using it? Oh~ don’t tell me you’re jealous?” Numila threw the werewolf a derisive look and gave her a generous shove: “Hey, if you want to join us I don’t mind, but just remember, you have to be the concubine.”
“Shameless, utterly shameless. Don’t put me on the same level as you!”
“Oh~ you dare to insult me! Are you looking for a beating!?”
“Bring it on! As if I’m afraid of you!”
Thus, their verbal sparring devolved into an actual fight between the two violence-prone tomboys.
Brandishing her straight blade, a fire tornado immediately roared to life while Habona activated the illusory powers of the Inversion Cut; what was a backstep ended up turning into a charge. The fire tornado rushed at the oncoming werewolf neither too quickly nor too slowly. Twisting her body at the last moment, she lunged sideways at the harpy witch and swiftly appeared at her flank.
Having never experienced the Inversion Cut firsthand, Numila wasn’t aware of the skill’s uniqueness. However, she was still a four-star just like Habona and wouldn’t go down so easily, especially with the straight blade boosting her powers. Seeing the rapidly approaching werewolf, she spun the straight blade around, conjuring a fire whip which extended from the tip of the blade into a ten meter long fiery snake that immediately dove for the werewolf!
In her usual display of logic-defying agility, Habona twisted her body in between the crevices of the whip and leaped right at the harpy.
“This harpy won’t lose in a contest of speed either!” She lowered her body slightly, and with a few flaps, took to the air while easily avoiding the werewolf’s claws. “Don’t forget, this harpy can fly!”
Just as those words left her mouth, she violently flicked the straight blade in her hand, transforming the fire whip into a dozen flame bolts that swiftly surrounded the werewolf.
“Hahaha, this weapon is practically made for me. This harpy’s fiance is just too nice to her, with this blade, this harpy will be able to stomp on all the other four-stars! Fighting those two b*tches to a draw might even be possible, in fact, this harpy might even be able to win!”
“What fiance?” With some vague memory that I had just done something earthshaking, I was finally brought back to my senses by the sound of their battle. What are these two women doing fighting with each other? Didn’t we just start talking?
“Of course it’s you, my dear fiance.”
Seeing that I had come to my senses, the two of them knew to stop fighting without my instruction. However, that answer had just given me the fright of my life. When did I suddenly gain another fiance?
A while later, everyone seemed to have come to their senses.
Violet Snow immediately threw me a despising look as if to say “Scumbag men who try to start a harem should go kill themselves”.
As for the No.3 and the other potatoes, they all had a confused look on their face. How could a female devil like me become another person’s fiance?
Mimiya on the other hand, had an almost celebratory look on her face as she raised her voice: “Congratulations to Master Mo Ke for getting betrothed!”