Chapter 41: Answers

“Haru…” A whisper followed the wind. “I can’t… Now isn’t the time…”

Haruki’s eyes widened. He could never forget this soothing voice, not even in a million years.

“Why did you hide everything? Why?”

“I’m sorry. It was necessary to keep them away.”

“Them? Who? Are they your murderers?!”

“My murderer…” she trailed off.

Haruki felt a warm body pressing against his back. The supple softness of his mother was ingrained in his mind. Her unmatched breasts were the point of envy of every woman in the neighborhood, and he got a feeling of them every day when she sent him off to school with a bright smile and a warm embrace. The woman hugging him wasn’t his mother.

The scent coming from her belonged to Sakura.

“Did you possess Sakura?”

Kaede decided to ignore his sharp awareness with Sakura’s body and scent. “I’ll apologize later.”

He grabbed her hands from his shoulder and turned around. The softness in Sakura’s gaze was melting. It was undoubtedly his mother.

“Kaa-san.”

He threw his arms around, pushing her back on the bed. He was on the verge of tears when she ruffled his hair and squeezed him in her arms. His dragon pride didn’t let him shed a single tear, helping him keep some dignity before the woman he loved.

‘I wanted to spank her for what she did, but it’s Sakura’s body.’

Sakura’s bust wasn’t any less than his mother’s.

“How does Sakura-chan live in this body?” Kaede asked, surprised by the number of worm crests swimming in Sakura’s blood. “I was right to dote on such a tragic girl.”

“Can you fix her?”

“These intricate tasks are suited for Medea, not me,” she admitted and rubbed her chin on his shoulder. “I won’t tell you about my murderer. You’ll die even with your little servants.”

Haruki’s eyes stretched in shock. “It’s friggin’ Alaya who murdered you?”

“Alaya won’t make a murder sneaky.” Kaede shook her head. “He still qualifies as a calamity.”

Hearing his usually gentle mother cursing so casually made him think back to the bold, provoking pictures.

“So it’s a man… is he my father?”

That would make sense about his lineage. Calamity could be anything in Nasuverse. Beast-Class servants, Types, gods, daemons. It was hard to guess which one killed his mother.

“Um, no,” she said. “About your father… he is long dead.”

‘Already kicked the bucket.’

Even if he was alive, Haruki wasn’t letting him meet his mother. She belonged to him. Not the scum who never showed his face after Haruki came to this world.

“Did you love him?”

“Never,” she denied in a jiffy and nuzzled her cheeks with his. “I only love you, my momcon son.”

“Aren’t you a soncon too?” Out of all retorts at the tip of his tongue, he chose the most gentle one.

“I am,” she confessed. “I’m proud of that!”

‘Didn’t I say the same words to Arch?’

The gears of his mind turned, but he couldn’t find any resemblance between them. His mother was bold, a master manipulator through and through. One so high that his mind, which had been sharpened through numerous lows and highs, couldn’t see through her. Another was a forgetful goddess, who watched him for nearly two decades but forgot to activate his system. Like how high must one be in order to achieve this brilliance.

“Don’t compare me to her,” Arch growled. “I’m a dragon goddess, not a foolish mother. I had my reasons to neglect your system, hmph!”

“Haru…” his mother whispered. “I always wanted to ask… Do you love me? Do you see your mother as a woman?”

Haruki was about to nod, but his mother’s hands trailed up his spine and caressed his back. Her tits squished against his chest. She released a hot sigh, and bit on his earlobes. His body heated up, and he found it harder and harder to control the lust building in his core.

“Do you see me as a female you want to fuck every day and night until her belly is like a balloon?”

Her sultry voice sent shivers down his spine, nearly causing him to pop an erection. If she had tried this trick before, he’d have let go of his restraints and pushed her down. The disparity between the woman he grew up with and the woman confessing her feelings to him couldn’t be any wider.

“I do.”

Kaede licked his earlobe before she backed away with a giggle and pulled him into her chest. “I wish I had tried this before… Haru, Mama wants a kiss.”

“Uh, but you are in Sakura’s body.”

“Sadly… You kick the other servants’ asses and get the grail,” Kaede said and hushed her voice into seductive whispers. “I want to be embraced in the body you create for me, my dear Haru~.”

“Fine by me.”

“I’ll return Sakura’s body before it explodes!”

She patted his head once before she vanished from his face. He straightened himself and took a sigh.

‘At least she is alive and well. Did Sakura see what happened here?’

It would be a little awkward if she saw him in his vulnerable state. He wanted to be a reliable person in her eyes. Her reliable man to be precise.

A gentle breeze told him of his mother’s arrival.

“Anything else you want to ask?”

“I wanna see you.”

“I left photos for you, Haru. One of them shows everything. So please don’t make that face…”

She barely managed to hold her ground before Haruki’s sincere gaze. She will never show the ugly scar to him.

Haruki could only accept what she said. If she didn’t want to reveal herself, then nobody could force her to. Her stubbornness was on whole another level. If stubbornness could be scaled from 1 to 10, his mother would be 11!

“Close your eyes,” she said.

“Fine.”

As he closed his eyes, Kaede appeared before him, her golden eyes flickering. The adorable face of her son up-close flooded her chest with warmth. It reminded her how much he meant to her. She tried to cup his face in her hands, only for her hands to pass through him.

‘Stupid Daemon. Why did he have to kill me?’

Kaede pouted her cheeks. “Don’t rush the war for me… take your time and become stronger. We’ll have to fight stronger entities in the future. I know you can do it!” Kaede vanished with those words. “You can open your eyes now. The girls worked hard on the dinner. Don’t let it go to waste.”

“Strong entities?”

He blinked his eyes. He had to fight Heracles and Gilgamesh. Golden Boy had Enuma Elish; the sword could casually destroy half the world, and she called him weak.

He didn't want to imagine how he could fight them as he was now.

‘No point in letting it weigh me down.’