Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 389 - Instincts : Intuition

By the time Vahn arrived at the Hearth Manor, his tensions had increased a great deal and he felt like, instead of entering his own home, he was about to face a floor boss in the depths of the Dungeon. However, even though he felt some inhibitions, Vahn was somewhat looking forward to what might happen. He continued forward with a subtle smile on his face and tried his best to maintain a casual demeanor all the way up until they made their way into the foyer.

Because they were able to detect when people arrived at the gate, the group's arrival had already been noticed by various people inside the Manor, including the 'fearsome' four. Soon after their entrance, several girls came into the foyer from connecting corridors including Hephaestus, Eina, Loki, and Anubis. The very moment they laid eyes on him, Vahn could see a visible shift in their auras as they began to flare up with vibrant and warm colors. Vahn released an awkward laugh as he held out his arms to make it easier for Hephaestus, who had walked over with a fast gait, to pick him up.

For what felt like the tenth time today, Vahn was squeezed into a pair of b.r.e.a.s.ts as Hephaestus practically squealed, "Hnnnnnn, how can you be so cute!? I didn't believe it at first, but you really have become adorable, Vahn! Ahhh, I just want to keep you for myself~fufufufu..." Vahn was getting somewhat accustomed to being 'handled', but he wasn't going to let her go at her own pace as he sneakily fondled her butt a bit with his tiny hands. Hephaestus made an 'Eh?' sound before tilting her head down toward Vahn and saying "Uuuuhh, even if you look like a little boy, you're still a 'man' after all..."

Unwilling to be left out, Vahn ended up having to be hugged by Loki, Anubis, and eventually Eina. Loki, as expected, had teased him a fair amount before whispering in a low voice, "Your curiosity knows no bounds...did you want to give it a go~?" Without Vahn having to say anything, Loki took a fist to the top of her head for her troubles. Anubis had strong motherly instincts, so she behaved in a relatively tame manner and just cuddled Vahn a bit before turning him over to his new protector, Eina. Though Vahn had expected her to have a reaction, Eina surprised him a bit with her somewhat flushed expression as she 'gently' hugged his body and patted the top of his head.

When she thought the others weren't paying attention, she had whispered into his ear, "Can you...call me big sis? Just once is okay..." Vahn had already expected something like this to happen so he leaned forward, very close to Eina's pointed ear, and whispered in a gentle voice of his own, "Big sis..." Eina released a strange laughter and hugged him tightly before taking Fenrir's place as his temporary 'caretaker'. Though he had to interact with everyone, Eina was almost always at his side for the rest of the afternoon as they discussed the plans for the Monster Feria the following day. During dinner, Vahn was sitting in her lap while Hephaestus and Loki sat at his flanks. Even if there were a schedule for the other girls to sit with him, it was superseded by the presence of the 'head wives' and Loki.

By the time the discussions had come to an end, Vahn had another interesting experience where he had to send off each of the girls after allowing them to hug his body. Vahn felt it was a little strange, since he was actually in the form of an a.d.u.l.t Pallum. The fact all of the girls were treating him like a child left Vahn a little confused so he had asked Eina, "Eina, why is everyone behaving so strangely after I became a Pallum? I don't think there is anything wrong with the image I used for my transformation..."

Eina's response was to hug him tightly and laugh before explaining, "Even if you're a Pallum, you look like a younger and frailer version of your usual self. It's almost like you've regressed and become a child, much like Shizune. I'm sure everyone just wants to protect you because of their motherly instincts...after all, we all know about your past and many of us would have wanted to help you...myself included. The only thing I've ever wanted for you is to allow you to live a normal life, Vahn..."

As they had all been in his room, Eina's response was heard by the other girls and Hephaestus nodded her head and continued, "Eina's right, Vahn. Especially now that I'm pregnant, I've been thinking a lot about what I can do to take care of our child...seeing you like this is like seeing what our own child would grow up to look like...haaaaaauuu~." Loki also began to laugh as she rubbed her own exposed belly and said, "I'm actually wondering what my kid will look like since Vahn is so easily able to change his form, kekeke, the future is looking more and more interesting every

single day~!"

As for Anubis, she was sitting silently in the bed and looked like she wanted to take Eina's position and hold Vahn but kept silent about the matter. She just had a gentle expression on her face as her moonlight eyes glowed in a very subtle manner. If not for the fact that her tail was gently beating against the bedspread, it would have almost been impossible to tell she was affected by the situation. There was also the existence of her large aura, but that was someone only Vahn could see.

Though it might have been an 'opportunity' to experience something new, it became a situation where Vahn was simply pampered by the four 'motherly' girls until it was time for bed. Even though his body was still 'mature', it was somewhat difficult to see him as anything other than a childlike version of himself so the girls, with the exception of Loki, were more interested in showing gentle affections than doing anything more intense. When it finally came time for bed, Vahn ended up sandwiched by Hephaestus and Eina in a combined embrace and he realized just how small his body was when there were two mature girls surrounding him. Vahn felt like he was going to be enveloped by the two girls and went to sleep fully immersed in their warmth.

---

Since he had made no effort to maintain the image, by the time Vahn awoke the next morning he looked more like a Half-Pallum than a pureblood Human or Pallum. His body had increased to around 150cm while he was asleep so, before the other girls woke up, Vahn focused his mind to fully transition back to his normal appearance. One thing he had decided to change, however, was his original height. Though he liked to be the same size as the women around him, Vahn had developed a desire to be 'taller' than they were now that he experienced being small. It wasn't much, just a few centimeters, but Vahn's final height had come to 170cm.

As one might expect, the girls began to wake up as Vahn's body was literally 'growing' in size in their embrace. In his Pallum form, he only weighed around 37kgs and was very small. Now, however, he had become much taller and weighed around 80kgs with a lean and athletic body. Hephaestus and Eina had watched the later part of his transformation quietly until Vahn opened his aquamarine eyes and hugged them tightly against his bare chest. He had removed his clothing since it had been tightly sticking to his body earlier and was now completely n.a.k.e.d while the two girls rested against his body.

Vahn heard Eina release a silent sigh and laughed a little before giving her an 'unexpected' kiss. When he finally released the bashful half-elf, Vahn teased her a bit by saying, "Big sis...do you not like me unless I'm smaller than you?" Hearing his words, Eina's face flushed even more and she buried her head into his shoulder and mumbled, "Hauu, I miss the small Vahn...no you're going to bully me freely...ehehehe~!" Vahn had started to panic a little bit at Eina's reaction, but she sneakily gave him another kiss when he tried to say something to 'console' her.

Hephaestus wasn't willing to remain second fiddle while the two flirted, so she proactively sought a kiss from Vahn as well which eventually required him to kiss the now awakened Loki and Anubis. If not for the fact that Eina was 'reserved' for the future, Vahn expected things might have developed in an interesting direction afterward but they instead just flirted and made out a bit before finally leaving the bedroom around an hour later. From this experience, Vahn realized it was actually more difficult to manage multiple girls when they 'weren't' having s.e.x with each other. Showing simple affections was somewhat difficult since it was harder to regulate things and make sure everyone was enjoying it.

As they needed to head out and arrange the security for the Monster Feria, Hephaestus, Loki, Anubis, and Eina ended up leaving soon after having an early breakfast. In exchange for allowing his exhibition, the Alliance had guaranteed they would provide security for the event and would be seated alongside Ganesha during the opening ceremony. Though they wouldn't be handling all the matters personally, there were still several hundred people that needed to be assigned throughout the area. As for why Eina was also leaving, she had asked a friend of her's to cover her shift the previous evening in order to visit Vahn. Since her replacement had been on during the morning shift, it meant she would have been at the Guild for nearly 24 hours by now and Eina needed to hurry back before an incident occurred.

Since the Hestia Familia was also part of the Alliance now, they also had some duties to perform but it wasn't going to be as normal security. Their task had been designated as ensuring that Fafnir didn't cause any damage 'if it lost control'. It was a pointless assignment, but that was only due to the fact that Vahn's 'taming' was fundamentally different than normal. Other monsters could actually betray their tamers, but Vahn's would continue to follow his every 'order' unless their Loyalty had reached 0. Vahn couldn't give this type of information to anyone, as it was a function of The Path, so it was a well-kept secret and anything that had been intuited by the girls around him was simply speculation.

After idling about and spending time together in the morning, everyone began to leave the Manor in one large group with Vahn leading the way. They needed to walk all the way to the eastern side of the City where the Coliseum could be found so there was quite a distance to cover. Tiona, Ais, Tione, and Lefiya had all left with Loki, since they were part of the security detail, but Riveria had stayed behind because she would be taking part in the exhibition. Vahn led the group of sixteen girls through the City while drawing a lot of attention from passersby. Since they were moving as a Familia, Vahn was proudly carrying a large banner that he had made which displayed the Hestia Familia Emblem. Though they weren't well-known for any achievements yet, the Hestia Familia was incredibly famous in the City because of Vahn's exploits and their inclusion in the Alliance.

When they had talked about it the previous night, Loki and Hephaestus had mentioned that Vahn should focus on 'exposure' and publicizing the Familia more often if he wanted to avoid all the negative rumors circulating. Though it was commendable to help others, the only way he could truly influence public opinion was the advocate to the public and garner support from the masses. Staying low key would just make him look mysterious and cause even more rumors to circulate so it was suggested that, if he truly wanted to increase the rapport the Hestia Familia had with the public, he needed to act more openly and slowly change the impression of people through his actions in public.

The Monster Feria was an important first step, but displaying the forces of his Familia was equally as important. Even when the Loki and Hephaestus Familia's returned from expeditions, they would turn it into a minor event by marching all the way to the Guild in order to report the successful completion of the mission. This publicized their forces and increased the reputation of their Familia and also made it easier to recruit people in the future, though that probably wouldn't apply to the Hestia Familia for the time being.

After nearly two hours of travel, the group arrived at the Coliseum and were escorted to their designated area by a woman who introduced herself as Shakti Varma, Captain of the Ganesha Familia. She was a beautiful woman with short, azure blue, hair, a cool and confident expression, and a professional and stoic disposition. Shakti was around 175cm tall, which Vahn paid special notice of since he had just adjusted his height to 170cm earlier, and she had relatively modest b.r.e.a.s.ts that were around a B-Cup.

When they had arrived carrying their banner, a messenger asked them to wait for a moment before returning alongside the cool beauty. After introductions were carried out, Shakti looked around and asked, "I heard from Ganesha-sama that you were going to be performing an exhibition with a dragon? All I see is a horde of girls behind you..." Though Vahn didn't understand the reason, he could sense that Shakti was somewhat 'hostile' toward him ever since her earlier introduction. Though her aura didn't make her appear to be an enemy, it was very obvious she wasn't fond of him for reasons he was unaware.

Deciding not to mind it too much, Vahn smiled as best he could manage and said in a polite tone, "I have a method to keep it concealed so as not to cause trouble for others. Don't worry, I'm ready to perform the exhibition as soon as the arena is prepared." Shakti gave a curt nod after hearing his explanation and said, "Very well, you will be called when the time comes. Please don't wander around as you will be held accountable for any monsters losing control as a result of your negligence. If your Familia members would like to look around, they have access to the waiting area and the viewing stands alongside everyone else..." Without explaining things further, Shakti gave everyone a glance before quickly leaving the area.

Vahn didn't know what he had done to upset the woman since they had never met before this moment. Hestia, however, seemed to have seen through something as she commented, "That woman, she is viewing you as a man. Even though she is old, I can tell that she is still a v.i.r.g.i.n...that elephant fool had probably tried to set her up with you. He talked about it a lot during the Denatus, saying that he wanted to see if you were capable of taming the Captain of his Familia as well. Looks like she got mad seeing how many girls you had accompanying you, tough luck for her I guess, shishishishi~."

Though Vahn wasn't sure Hestia's intuition was on the mark, her sentiments seemed to be shared by many of the girls present and Vahn couldn't help but remark internally about the dangers of a woman's intuition. Shakti was a very beautiful woman, almost remarkably beautiful, but Vahn could tell she was also on the mature side of the spectrum. He couldn't tell her exact age, as she appeared very youthful, but Vahn could determine by the complexion of her skin and the flow of energy in her body she was likely in her thirties, perhaps even older. Since she seemed to be a normal human, it was very peculiar that she had remained single and pure well after what was considered the 'prime' of a woman's life in the Danmachi record.

Vahn decided to put the matter to the back of his mind, especially considering the fact that Shakti was the Captain of a Familia. Even if he wanted to pursue her, she wouldn't move into the Manor and would have to tend to her responsibilities, same as Tsubaki. Vahn had become somewhat promiscuous after his exposure to so many women, and he couldn't deny he was interested in Shakti as well, but he wouldn't go out of his way to pursue her at all. Just as he had done for Senna, Vahn wasn't trying to 'build up' the number of girls around him.

Though he wasn't against a temporary 'rendezvous', Vahn wouldn't do anything without discussing it with some of the girls on the network first. Just like he was treating Freya, Vahn was very interested in the potential experience, but he wasn't going to ignore his current relationsh.i.p.s just to sate his own curiosity. There were very nearly twenty women he could 'visit' if he was feeling lonely, so it seemed somewhat shameless to even consider sleeping with other girls.

It was currently slightly after 10 AM and the Monster Feria had officially started with the opening ceremony and speech of Ganesha. Hestia had left to join the other gods of the alliance and they were all seated around the somewhat outgoing and flamboyant god. As Vahn watched him move about excitedly and yell loud enough that the entire Coliseum could hear him, he couldn't help but feel a desire to befriend the strange god wearing a red elephant mask. He seemed like a really interesting person to hang around with and Vahn considered trying to approach him in the future. If he had really sent Shakti to him earlier, Ganesha was also likely considering working with the Hestia Familia in the future and had probably been trying to establish a 'connection' between the two Familia through his intervention in Shakti's love life.

As if he had been able to read Vahn's mind, Ganesha turned toward the waiting area where Vahn was currently standing with a large grin on his face as he loudly shouted, "Aaaaand without further ado, Ganesha says let the Monster Feria officially begin~! Today, the Ganesha Familia, in cooperation with the Alliance between the Hephaestus, Loki, Hestia, Anubis, Miach, and Takemikazuchi Familias proudly presents a special treat for your enjoyment! You may have heard some of the rumors, but let Ganesha be the first person to officially introduce you to the one, the only, the Legendary Sage Aldrnari, Vaaaaaaaahn Maaaaaaaasooonn~! Ganesha welcomes you, young hero, graaaaaahahahahahahahahaha~!"

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'This is mine now...','Shakti is not impressed','Ganesha is very excited, Gaaaaneshaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahaha~!')

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