Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 232 - Caretaker

After the ceremony ended, it was now time for Fenrir's bath since Hestia didn't want her to track dirt, grime, and blood through the neat interior of the Manor. Vahn wanted to let Hestia take care of Fenrir since it might cause problems in the future if she got accustomed to bathing with him. However, there was an incident soon after which Vahn should have expected yet had overlooked since it had never really been a concern previously. Responding to a shout coming from the women's changing room, Vahn entered inside to see Hestia on the ground nursing her hand while Fenrir squatted away at the side of the room in an obviously frustrated manner.

Vahn motioned for Fenrir to come near him while he walked over to inspect Hestia injury and find out what happened. He saw that, other than a light abrasion, there wasn't any puncture wounds or anything so Vahn was somewhat confused until Hestia explained through teary eyes, "When I tried to take off her top, I felt some kind of strange impact that knocked away my hands~!" Vahn looked to the anxious Fenrir and she said, "Fenrir do nothing, Fenrir not bad!"

Realizing what happened, Vahn healed Hestia's injury while comforting Fenrir as he explained, "It is like the necklace I gave you Hestia, Fenrir's clothes can't easily be touched by other people. I'm sorry, I had completely overlooked the matter. I'll go and purchase some normal clothing for her to wear in the future so things like this don't happen again." Hestia seemed to be understanding with his explanation, but Fenrir was still very anxious because she thought she injured Hestia even though she was ordered not to.

Vahn coaxed her a bit more and gave her a snack as he helped her undress with a bit of difficulty. Hestia watched from the side with a somewhat strange expression and remarked, "She is like a child..." Though she spoke quietly, Vahn had heard her and nodded his head before saying, "Yes, I think so as well...we'll need to make sure she is able to mature properly and teach her plenty of things. The more she learns, the less stressed out she should be when dealing with others." Vahn also explained about Fenrir's habits and avoidance of strangers, which wasn't a bad thing considering she still had the habits and instincts of a monster.

After she was n.a.k.e.d, Fenrir also tried to get Vahn to take a bath as well, but he managed to convince her to take one with just Hestia. He still had some work to do and there would be no point to taking a bath now when he would have to take one in the evening anyway. Though she was very reluctant, Fenrir seemed to be opening up to Hestia who managed to lead the way into the onsen after a bit of encouragement.

When the two girls had disappeared through the door, Vahn didn't immediately head away to work since he was still very worried about any incidents occurring. Instead of leaving, he sat along the outside wall and used his ability to sense auras to track the two girls as they began bathing. He couldn't see their actual figures, but he would be alerted if anything happened if either of them began to get stressed. Though Vahn couldn't see the actual 'aura' of Fafnir and Fenrir, he could see detect the fluctuations of her energy since it was identical to his own.

Fortunately, after a half hour, the two began making their way back to the changing room and Vahn released a relieved sigh. Since it was a long bath, Vahn knew it should have gone well and he smiled when the two girls entered the changing room. Fenrir had a 'comfortable' expression on her face and Hestia had a cheerful smile, at least until she saw Vahn 'waiting' for them. Though she was a bit startled, her cheerful smile turned into a teasing one but Vahn spoke before she could say anything, "I have a change of clothes for Fenrir, and she wouldn't be able to put them on herself."

Realizing the truth in his words, Hestia's expression collapsed a bit as she watched Vahn help Fenrir get dressed. She bit her a lip a bit and wanted to get him to help her dress as well, but Vahn remarked that he had already seen that she can attach and detach her godly raiment. As if to rebut his claim, Hestia dangled her untarnished white panties about like a flag until Vahn chopped the top of her head and saying not to teach Fenrir strange things. Even though he had to help her dress right now, he didn't want Fenrir to place any kind of strange emphasis on the act.

For the rest of the day, Vahn worked in his secret forge but only after setting up a sofa on the inside so the two girls could sit. Fenrir didn't seem fond of being away from him, and she had long developed the habit of watching him work whenever he was inside the orb. Vahn had also given Hestia several picture books and heroic tales to read to Fenrir so that she could improve her speaking capabilities and learn to read. Though he also wanted her to be able to write, there was almost no practical manner for Fenrir to hold a quill using her paws.

The best thing she would be able to do was carve the letters into a hard surface which also became an exercise in 'control' so she wouldn't accidentally harm others. Though he had healed in a short period of time, Vahn's tunic had been completely ruined by Fenrir in their walk back to the Manor and he also had several accidental puncture wounds on the ride side of his body.

Though he was primarily focused on his work, Vahn would glance over at the two girls from time to time with a smile on his face after seeing how well they got along. Hestia was exactly as kind and gentle as the goddess in his imagination and, even though she was actually the smaller of the two, she let Fenrir lay against her lap while reading picture books to her in a quiet and gentle tone. To keep her from accidentally getting stressed out, Vahn had created a small golden hole where [Enkidu] was dangling for Fenrir to chew on while she looked at the contents of the book and listened to Hestia's words.

The most amazing thing of all was, by the time dinner had rolled around Fenrir hadn't asked for food a single time or complained about her hunger. This allowed Vahn to confirm once and for all that she didn't actually require food to appease her hunger, but it was more like an instinctual desire to try to alleviate her stress. Of course, this didn't mean she didn't like to eat at all as she went through more than 50kg of food during dinner which shocked Hestia quite a bit. Even though she also didn't gain or lose weight as a goddess, she was still somewhat envious of Fenrir's ability to put away food. Since Fenrir was only around 40kg, the fact she could casually eat more than her entire body weight in food was quite a sight to behold.

Because of Fenrir's presence, this was the first day when Vahn hadn't visited the Hostess of Fertility in a while, but he managed to contact Syr through the communication scroll and explain things. Though Vahn was aware of the network that had been established around him, he was somewhat surprised to find that Syr was the representative for contacting the Hostess of Fertility, when he was closer to Chloe than anyone else. This made it even more apparent to him that Syr was something akin to the 'lynchpin' within the pub and had a say in everything that happened behind the scenes.

After sending his message, Vahn took a bath alone even though both Hestia and Fenrir wanted to join in. Vahn dissuaded them by making an excuse about waste and extravagance and the fact that they had just bathed earlier in the day without working up a sweat or anything after that. Though it was a bit 'lonely' to bathe alone, Vahn still wanted to help break the habit for Hestia while also preventing Fenrir from developing it in the first place. He knew he would still probably bathe with them at some point, but he wanted it to be the 'exception' and not the 'standard' that they lived by.

Though she was somewhat insistent at first, Vahn managed to shut Hestia down when he talked about her negatively influencing Fenrir who still needed them to teach her proper behavior and how to interact with people more sociably. Since she was likely going to be the 'caretaker' of Fenrir in the future, Hestia didn't have any leeway to argue against Vahn and retreated to the room while 'pouting' to Fenrir about how 'mean' Vahn was. When Fenrir immediately took Vahn's side, Hestia laughed awkwardly as the two disappeared from sight.

After the bath, Vahn went into the room where Hestia was once again reading a book to Fenrir as she used Hestia's b.r.e.a.s.ts as a pillow. Since she was slowly nibbling on a magisteel block he had given her, Vahn could feel a pressure in the bridge of his nose and couldn't help but mentally exclaim how adorable the scene was. Noticing his arrival, Hestia closed the book as Fenrir rolled off her body and walked over to Vahn before finishing up the remainder of the metal snack. As if following a script, she looked upward into Vahn's face and said, "Master, massage? Super amazing?"

Hearing her words, Vahn looked over at Hestia who was covering her mouth to prevent herself from laughing. After squinting his eyes a bit, Vahn smiled and stroked Fenrir's head and said, "Sure, but we need to find out where you'll be sleeping first." Because she had been laying in the bed with Hestia, Fenrir pointed over with her tiny claws and said, "Fenrir sleep!" Though Vahn might have agreed normally, there was a big problem that still needed to be addressed.

Holding her paws in his hand, Vahn squeezed the pads on her fingers and Fenrir's claws extended further. She couldn't retract them fully, but Fenrir's claws were actually quite a bit longer than their normal appearance. If she grabbed away at either himself or Hestia while she was asleep, they could both potentially be in danger. Vahn explained the danger of Fenrir's claws and even showed her the areas on the bed where she had already cut into the fabric when she was moving around normally.

In her frustration, Fenrir tried to do something that Vahn hadn't expected at all. She lifted her paws toward her own mouth and tried to bite through her own claws and successfully did so even though she had a pained look on her face. Vahn immediately grabbed her paws and saw the bleeding tips and sat Fenrir down as he started healing them. She wanted to resist and tried to pull her hands away, but Vahn continued to coax her as even Hestia came over and stroked her hair while hugging Fenrir from behind.

Because she seemed to have very high regeneration, it only took around twenty minutes for Fenrir's claws to grow back to their maximum length. Vahn was even relatively certain that they had grown back even sharper than they were previously. Since she couldn't easily resist the care and concern Vahn and Hestia showed her, Fenrir let them tend to her even though she had a very frustrated expression on her face. Even though she didn't have the habit of sleeping with anyone before, now that she had laid in the bed with Hestia, Fenrir didn't want to be left out.

Vahn thought of a solution that might work, but he had trouble bringing it up since he knew she would be averse to it. Demonstrating the principle first, Vahn had Fenrir place her palms together and interlock her claws between the gaps of her fingers. Since her body seemed to have an immunity to her own claws, Fenrir was about to perform the act without injuring herself at all. Vahn explained, "The only safe way is if you can't accidentally touch anyone with your claws, and the only guaranteed way for that to happen would be to temporarily bind your paws together."

Fenrir frowned deeply at his words, but Vahn continued as he showed her a relatively low-grade leather band that could be tied around the hands. He showed her that, if she put in a little effort, she could easily break through them without any difficulty. The only thing the band did was help her develop the habit for now and she would eventually be able to sleep without having to rely on it when she learned to control her own claws better. Though still reluctant, Fenrir nodded her head and allowed Vahn to bind her wrists and paws together. As if to confirm it herself, Fenrir tried to break free and was able to do so with the ease that Vahn promised. With a small smile, her tail thudded on the ground twice as she let Vahn tie her paws together once again.

Once they were firmly held together, Fenrir shook her hands around a bit to get used to the sensation before the three crawled into bed. Though Vahn noticed the claws on her feet were also a problem, they didn't seem nearly as sharp as the ones on her hand. Vahn suspected it was because she fought with her front claws as a kobold and still had an instinctual reliance on them. Hopefully, she would be able to control them properly in the future and neither her hands or feet would be an accidental danger to others.

Keeping his promise, Vahn gave a massage to both Hestia and Fenrir before it was finally time for bed. Like Hestia, Fenrir also reacted in the 'normal' way which allowed Vahn to confirm his suspicions that the reaction of the other goddesses was because they were in a state of arousal at the time. Even though Hestia acted somewhat promiscuous, she didn't have any experience with s.e.x.u.a.l matters at all and had a severe lack of understanding about the emotions involved. Since Fenrir had been a monster her entire life before her evolution, she didn't have any strange response at all and just enjoyed the massage in silence. Vahn noticed that her eyes had become placid like deep scarlet pools and he stroked her hair a bit before going to sleep.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn forcing his 'problems' to deal with each other','Hestia's bad influence','Happily 'bonding' with the danger floof')

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