Author note: A new girl! Next chapter is the Vina lewd scene!
Before Gilgamesh arrived, Cecile and the others had been evacuated to the northern province, hoping to avoid the scrutiny of other symbiote users.
As long as Hiro stayed silent inside Cecile, he wouldn't be detected, but the general feared Gilgamesh might suddenly talk down to them—or worse, challenge them to a spar to prove that Litmus truly had four new symbiote users. Symbiotes were notoriously difficult to proliferate.
As Cecile's group packed their belongings, a beast woman watched them from a distance.
Ever since the Litmus coalition occupied Latvin, all beastfolk enslaved in Latvin had been sent by carriage to Delana as part of the treaty. At first, they didn't trust Altair or the general—both were human—but with persuasion from Val's former subordinate—many were beastfolk—they agreed to leave Latvin. They hated this land and preferred to stay with fellow beastfolk rather than remain here.
Ideally, they would have returned to their homeland, but since Val had lost the duel, Vertia would no longer fall under Delana's rule. It would instead be claimed by either Mutual or Litmus. Their choices were bleak: return to a Vertia likely to be occupied by humans, or migrate to Delana—another beastfolk nation far from home.
"Chris… Chris…" Vina wandered the street until she spotted Cecile. Hiro peeked out from her collar, slithering around her neck. Vina looked lost—like a part of her soul had been ripped away, something precious stolen by Latvin.
When she saw the tentacle nudging Cecile's cheek, joy and disbelief flooded her. Leina's words had been lies—her beloved symbiote was still alive.
"Chris! Chris! I missed you!" Vina threw herself at Hiro, who had been helping Cecile load cargo onto their horses. She pounced with a crushing hug, sandwiching Hiro between her two abundantly generous hills.
Hiro was startled. He defensively flared out all his tentacles, prompting the group to ready themselves for an attack—but when they noticed the girl crying, they hesitated. She was a beastgirl, so she wasn't an enemy. attacking her might had a diplomatic repercussion.
"Who is she?" Rebecca asked after Cecile and four other soldiers restrained the crying girl, who refused to let go of Hiro.
"She seems to be mistaking Hiro for someone else. But how could anyone mistake Hiro?" Cecile said, glancing at him—half suspicious, half confused. Hiro shook his tentacles; he clearly didn't know this girl. He would have remembered this beautiful blonde catgirl anywhere.
"Let's ask the general," a soldier suggested.
They brought the girl to the general. Vina was dressed in rags, and the general recognized her immediately—she was supposed to be on the first carriage to Delana. She was atechnically a royalty after all."
"No! I don't want to go to Delana! I need to find Chris!" Vina cried.
"...If she doesn't want to return…" The general frowned. If she refused to go to Delana, there was nothing they could do. Immigration wasn't mandatory. That was likely why the soldiers hadn't stopped her from escaping the carriage.
"Milady, If I may ask, who is Chris? A relative?" the general asked.
"Um… Chris is her symbiote," Sheena said. "They bonded about two years ago. Vertia gave her to us in exchange for a truce… which we violated a month later."
Sheena winced when Cylia shot her a glare. "Look, I didn't agree with their methods either. Not only they ripped her symbiote out, endangering her life, they also violated the truce."
"But she's alive. How is that possible?" the general asked. "I thought symbiotes and hosts were bonded for life."
Under normal circumstances, forcibly separating a symbiote resulted in the death of one—or both. He couldn't imagine Latvin sparing the host instead of the symbiote.
"It's rare, but possible for both the host and the symbiote to survive, but they will be severely weakened. Right, Sheena?" Cylia prompted.
"Yes. When the kingdom used the drug to separate them, Vina somehow survived, and she was placed in solitary confinement afterward."
"So where is the symbiote? We have to return it to her!" The general ask.
"...The symbiote died during the implantation," Sheena said quietly, turning her face away, guilt tightening her voice. "I only read the report, so I don't know the full details. Apparently, the symbiote resisted the implantation and double suicide the king's niece."
"...No! Chris is alive! I finally found him!" Vina shouted. "He's right there! She stole him!" She pointed at Cecile.
"Hey! Hiro has always been my symbiote!" Cecile snapped. "He's not Chris! Don't try to take him from me!"
"He is Chris! Return him!" Vina screamed.
Hiro was flabbergasted. He had never encountered someone mentally broken before. She was beautiful, but he felt unsettled by how desperately she wanted him.
Hiro wasn't a symbiote—but if someone, especially the cute blonde beastgirl in front of him, wanted him to parasitize her, he would gladly oblige. All he needed to do was make another core.
"This will be added to Latvin's list of crimes," Cylia said coldly. "Separating a symbiote from their host is illegal—especially when the host has committed no crime. Mutual will be enraged if they learn of this transgression. They would rather execute a symbiote user and their host than separate them with drugs. I suggest we silence this beastgirl. Otherwise, Sheena may undergo the same surgery in retaliation."
"Whoa—um, Lady Cylia… wouldn't that be a bit unethical?" the general frowned.
"We need Sheena and her symbiote if we are to defend the northern border and Evesys territory, correct? Are you saying it's acceptable for them to kill her?" Cylia asked. Sheena paled. Her hard-earned amnesty was suddenly at risk.
"Well… it's not Sheena's fault," the general said weakly.
"Mutual originally wanted to execute every class of Latvin nobility, down to the knights," Cylia continued. "Only after much persuasion did they relent."
"There is a good alternative, isn't there?" Rebecca said. "Let's just give her Hiro. She wants Hiro, so we give her one. That should shut her up, right?"
She tapped her womb. "Hiro, you can make her your host, right?"
Hiro slithered out and nodded with a tentacle.
"Eh? Why is Chris there too? No way…" Vina whispered.
Hiro sighed. If Vina couldn't tell the difference between her symbiote and him—when the only similarity was color—then her bond with Chris must have been shallow. Or maybe she was simply desperate, hiro realized she had some loose screws up there. He wouldn't judge.
"Excellent," Cylia said, nodding. "Then we shall leave her in your care. Make sure she doesn't utter a word."
Then, with nothing else obstructing their way, they departed. Vina could ride a horse, but she kept it to herself, not wanting to separate from Hiro. Rebecca asked Hiro to split, but Hiro refused. He had a grin on his face after he took a second look at Vina. The gorgeous, slightly arrogant blonde beastgirl offered herself to him. Hiro hated netorare, but her symbiote was already dead, so he had no guilty conscience when doing her. She didn't look like used goods at all.
He wanted to make the experience pleasurable. He wanted to make her forget her symbiote on her first night. Hiro was willing to use his aphrodisiac skill to do so. But, he wanted to set the mood and Hiro was no flasher. He didn't want to do his host before others.
"Geez, Rebecca, show some tact. I did not know you had that fetish." Nana said, "Let's do it at the inn in the northern province. We are in a hurry to leave right now. We don't want Gilgamesh to see us, right?
"Huh?" Rebecca tilted her head. Hiro wanted to pat her gullible head. She was still so naïve even though Hiro had trained her alongside Cecile and Nana.
"Bonding with Hiro means… doing that, right?" Cecile, who understood what Nana said was red up to her nape. She wanted to do it so badly right now, but she was too shy to ask Hiro for it. The situation was also not very conducive. Hiro patted her cervix, promising to himself he would shower her with affection as soon as they arrived inside Fort Eloir in the northern province.
The gesture sent Cecile trembling. Her body heated up with sudden lust. Hiro stopped immediately while grinning. Despite several days of abstinence, Cecile's body still remembered her training. Hiro was satisfied. He could not let his girls forget their master like Marissa did. He needed to carve their bodies with pleasure. They must be ready whenever Hiro wants to play with her, for they are his slaves.
"Huh! W-w-wait a minute. I didn't mean that! Hiro, you could just attach to her for the time being, right? D-d-do we need to do that with her?" Rebecca's face boiled when she understood what Nana were talking about.
Hiro slithered out, nodding to her. At that moment, Vina pounced on him.
"Chris!" hiro slapped her head, trying to correct her.
"Let's go. We are late. Gilgamesh could arrive any moment now. His scouts and vanguard troops were already here." Cecile said.
They soon departed from Latvin's capital with extra baggage. Vina could ride a horse, but she preferred to hug Cecile from the back, seemingly trying to get closer to Hiro.
Her behavior made Hiro do a double take. He thought possessive characters were cute, but this girl was crazy and delusional. His guilty conscience was pounding at him along the way to the northern kingdom, wondering whether he had taken advantage of her vulnerabilities.
But her symbiote was dead. If her symbiote truly loved her to the extent of saving her life during their separation, shouldn't he be grateful if Hiro could replace him as her partner?
Hiro argued with himself as Vina hugged his tentacle behind Cecile.
Cecile, who steered her horse, eyed Vina with envy. Hiro chuckled at the rare expression shown by her. He slithered his tentacle, trying to pat her head, but Vina caught his tentacle and hauled it to her bosom. When Hiro patted her head, tickled her cute cat ears at the top of her head, she purred. This reaction was like Luna. Hiro guessed that all beastgirl was ticklish in their ears.
However, that would change later at the inn at Fort Eloir! Hiro will train her so she would feel pleasure from her ear. Princess Luna was more of the assertive and childish type, but this blonde catgirl should be lustful! Like a cat in heat. Prowling and pouncing like a kid didn't suit her! Unlike Luna, this girl has boobs and sexy hips after all. A lustful expression when Hiro caressed her ear would be more fitting.
Hiro would make that happen! He will train her as another one of his harem!