Chapter 510 – Elora’s Thoughts

Do I ask Elora about the other possible past right now?

Yes, and I can check up on our growing baby as well. I can see if Elora thinks her praying has worked for the kid. It looked good the last time I checked, and the Goddesses all say it should work, but it won't hurt anything to check again. She is mine in this timeline.

"Kou," I say.

"Yes, My Empress," Kou asks. "Is there something you need?"

"Yes, I need to meet with Elora for a bit," I say.

"Does this have something to do with the two newborns you have in your arms, My Empress?" Kou asks.

"Perhaps," I say. "Well, yes. I don't know why I'm being mysterious. Yes. Bring Sarania and Fyserreia, too. They have a new Aunt. I'm sure they will love that they get to be the ones to tease her about changing her diaper when she's small instead of it being the otherway around. They even get to tease their Mother about meeting the newborn first."

"I believe so, My Empress," Kou says. "And the other one?"

"I have some questions for Elora, and maybe Yumanea," I say.

"Perfect, My Empress," Kou says. "They're both in this realm for a bit. One at a time, or together?"

"One at a time would be best," I say.

"Well, I'll call Elora up, My Empress," Kou says, giving a little bow to let me know she did so. I don't get how the maids can communicate so quickly and easily. Why isn't this a widespread thing? Is it some Skill for the maid class, or does having that status give you the Skill? Kou just dodges the question whenever I ask her about it, and the Goddesses laugh about it.

I'll figure it out when I ascend.

Oh, I wonder if Elora is going to be coming in decent. If Elora hears that Sarania and Fyserreia are coming, she'll get the wrong idea. The World was decent enough... I REMEMBER HER NOW! The bitch has been messing with my brain, and Past probably fixed that little issue for me. Anyway, I'm in my bedroom. The World was decent enough not to kidnap me while I was in the middle of something. How very nice of her.

"Hello?" Elora asks, stepping into my room. She's in a sundress and barefoot, something my wives like to tease me about. I think it was Mai who started the barefoot-pregnant-wife thing.

"Thank you for coming quickly," I say. "I have an interesting new kid. One that gave me an interesting vision. Come on, join me. I'm not about to put more into you or anything. The succubi will be joining us, but nothing crazy will happen with kids in the bed. They have a new aunt and daughter. Our family tree is a mess."

"Most are," Elora says. "The number of loops in noble trees is a bit crazy, and you have made it a lot worse. But there is a reason we don't go around showing everyone the royal family line."

"Well, enough about the weirdness of our families," I say. "This one, the Goddess, showed me an interesting vision. Can you guess what she showed me?" Why shouldn't I make her sweat a little? I'll see if I can get something interesting out of her.

"Hmm, well, I don't have a guess as to what she would show you," Elora says. "I can guess that it has something to do with me, but that isn't a hard thing to predict. Would you like me to list out what I did over the last week? Or would it be the future? Or possibly a promise? I'm not sure. She looks just like Lactation did when she was a baby."

"I'm glad you're so open," I say. "Good, but it would be your past if she were showing me something that had happened. Though I guess possible pasts also fall under her purview. It was an interesting scene, but I wonder how it could have happened. You see, just a few days after I was born, you picked me up. Not your Mother, you. Just you. You took Mommy and me somewhere. You said it would be the capital, but later scenes showed it was somewhere else."

"Hmm, let's see. That was almost thirty years ago," Elora says, moving to join the cuddle in the bed, her belly pushing into my side. "The most likely sequence would be Royalty told Mother about a Champion. And I, being greedy for the throne, as you know, decided that it would be better for me to get the new Champion. How I heard about it, I don't know. Mother wouldn't normally share things with me. But maybe I picked up something from the commotion of her preparing to greet you in force, so I just ran out before she could. I did bring your Mother, right?"

"Yes," I say. "But you said it would be best if it were just me."

"I was just getting greedy," Elora says. "Hoping to have a Champion all to myself. I probably convinced one of my supporters to hide me in a manor once I got you. How did we end up?"

I give her a little kiss and pass Past over to her. Kou must be keeping Sarania and Fyserreia outside for now. "You took me to a brothel," I say.

"What do you mean?" Elora asks, her eyes going wide. Her lips tremble a bit as her eyes refuse to blink.

"I had Mai with me at the end," I chuckle. "You must have taken me to a brothel for one of my birthdays, and I managed to fall in love at first sight or something, which means I was quite young when you first took me, if I was able to get her before she died."

"Well, it was the thing to do, and you're Fertility's and Sex's Champion," Elora sighs. "You had me thinking I gave up on you and sold you off. I- I didn't believe I could do that, but- Don't do that to a pregnant woman. You know how much that hurts. How far did you see?"

"Pretty far, I think," I say. "But it would have to still be in the past."

"Were you happy?" Elora asks.

"I looked happy," I say. "You, me, and Mommy were pregnant. I had Mai. I don't think I had all the wives I do right now, but I was happy. I don't know which timeline is better. I have a lot more women I love in this one, but all that abuse... I think I would choose that one. You must have done a lot more right in that timeline."

"Yes, it seems I did the right thing," Elora says. "I'm sorry I didn't hear about you until I was too stupid not to care. I should've grabbed you from the brothel immediately. I scared Ashryn into selling you, so I could've done that earlier. I could've still saved you, I just didn't think about it."

"I brought you up here to make sure you had a good reason to take me in this other timeline," I say. "Which it sounds like you probably would've. But unless Past does something extreme, the past won't change. Thank you for being better now. How is the kid?" I already know she's healthy and a girl. I'm starting to keep track of that now, since I'm hoping to catch a change in the frequency early. The numbers aren't quite even yet, but they're getting better. And more are herms like me. I think Fertility wants some control over the genders, and this may be the only way for her to fix it without giving up control.

"Kitsune is certain," Elora says.

"Good," I say. "Good. Should I ask your Mother about this?"

"I don't think it matters," Elora says. "The Queen is supposed to take any Champion found and raise them to become the best they can be. She would've done a good job, and it probably would've ended up similar to when I took you, but I wouldn't have been in your harem. She would never have let that happen."

"Very well," I say. "Do you have anything you need to talk about with me?"

"Can we stay like this for a bit?" Elora asks.

"Sure. Kou, can you let the succubi in? I can feel my lust dropping. Not that much, but it is dropping, so they're nearby," I say.

The sisters step in, one at a time; they're too big in their bellies to even think about coming into the room at the same time.

"You did it," Sarania says.

"Come hold your Aunt," I say. "Then Elora wants to relax for a bit, and I think we can end the day with some fun."

"Happily," Fyserreia says.

*** Alzi, fifth body ***

I dance up to Yuki's room. But I find it empty inside, so I check next door, where I find Yuki and Nakuma. Nakuma isn't pregnant this time around, but soon, I'll get her in bed. I need to see how she behaves when she knows she's pregnant.

I'm sure the problem was that she wasn't awake when she got pregnant. Somewhere in her mind, that let her pretend that only Yuki was pregnant.

Well, what I really want to do is get her, Nanoka, Kou, and Yuki heavily pregnant and stuck in my bed. But Nakuma likes tests, so I'll say it's a test and mention that she'll be stuck with Yuki. That will get her to stay in my bed willingly. And then I have to work on Kou. But that isn't what I care about right now.

Right now, I'm going to tell Yuki that I'm offering her services to the opera house in the city. I want to go on a date with Nanoka, and well, why not have Yuki provide some entertainment?

Yuki does get some breaks from Nakuma now whenever they have to help take care of the kids, but Kiyomi has sent us plenty of maids to help with the kitsune kids. But right now, well.

"Nakuma, please, stop," Yuki says, swatting away an orange tail.

"No, I have to ease your muscles," Nakuma says. "This is important."

"Hello," I say.

"Oh, Alzi," Yuki says, her eyes lighting up. "Please. I'm sorry. I love you. I love you. I love you. Please. I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. I love you. Please."

"Sorry, Yuki," I say. "But nothing has really changed. But I heard there is an opera house you used to perform in. How about it?"

"Yes," Yuki says. "I'll do it. Will you be watching?"

"Yes, I was going to drag Nanoka out for a bit. I'll see how flustered I can get her."

"Oh, you think you'll fluster me?" Nanoka says. "I'm used to this now, and I'll handle the date well."

"Oh, I think you'll do fine for most of the date, but at the end," I tease.

"I can handle that as well," Nanoka says. "Well, I won't be a schoolgirl, but you'll last longer than I will."

"Good enough," I say. "You probably won't get pregnant. I have a plan for later. Well, that is all. Yuki, good luck."