EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 244: Compassion
Chapter 244 - Compassion
Ding
'I miss my time compression...' thought Vahn, mid cumming inside Miu for an eleventh time when the tell-tale ding of a priority notification sounded in his ears.
"At this rate...I'm really going...to get pregnant..." panted Miu, her blue eyes shimmering and unfocused as she tightened her legs around Vahn's waist, forcing his glans to press against her cervix as intense, stimulating pressure and heat filled her womb. She nearly had a panic attack when he first came inside her, but now she actively yearned for it.
"It's possible..." hummed Vahn, sending faint tremors through his cock as he buried his face into Miu's neck and proceeded to give her a hickey with his eyes closed. They kicked things off with a simple missionary, but after cycling through a dozen different positions, including letting her take him for a ride, they settled on a mating press. Not because it was his favorite position but because she kept her legs locked around him—refusing to let him pull out.
"Hawawaaaa..." mewled Miu, strengthening her hold on Vahn's body even more as her entire body trembled from the subtle quaking and persistent stimulation. At the same time, Vahn pulled up his chat interface within his mind, giving him the impression he was piloting his body like a mech as he read the ill-timed message.
[I don't care if I have to become your woman or whatever! Please help me save my father!]
Though he had checked who sent the message before reading it, Vahn's inner eyes shifted to the left of the chat window, where the names of his contacts, including the person he was chatting with, were listed.
'Jewelry Bonney...then this must be related to Kuma...' concluded Vahn, a wave of melancholy washing over him. Bonney was the fourth Ascendee to be invited to the Tower alongside Luffy, Nami, and Whitebeard, but due to her cautious nature and presumably his status as a Dragon God, which she likely viewed as a parallel to Celestial Dragons, this was her first time contacting him. Had she done so earlier, he would have readily intervened to ameliorate her situation. After all, she was just a ten-year-old girl at the time...
[Do you need me to come to you, or can you explain the situation at the palace?] asked Vahn, his muscle-memory ministrations compelling Miu to cry out and moan as loudly as she was able. S-Rank Bedroom Arts was on a level approaching Divinity, so he typically held back to avoid sending his lovers into a state of pleasure-induced insensibility or catatonia. Lucky for Miu, though she might disagree, he caught what he was doing and reined himself in. Lucky for them both, Bonney had agreed to meet at the palace, giving them time to wrap up what they had started...
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After reaching the lounge Bonney had been shown to, Vahn had barely entered the room when:
"It's about damn time you showed up! Didn't anyone teach you it's rude to keep a lady waiting!?" exclaimed a buxom woman with long, pale pink hair, a narrow waist, full hips, and notably long legs garbed in hot pink and red stockings with a white lace hem and a yellow sun-like pattern. The rest of her outfit consisted of black, calf-high, high-heeled buccaneer boots with curtained lace around the top, an elastic, lace-trimmed white top that left her belly and lower back exposed while exhibiting a demanding amount of cleavage, a long-sleeved, fur-lined brown jacket, thin black suspenders, a pale orange belt, and tight, presumably elastic, orange-and-black striped short-shorts that barely covered more than a pair of buruma.
Recovering from a brief pause, Vahn made his way around to the front of the hearth-facing sofa where the woman, Jewelry Bonney, was seated on the floor in a very unladylike fashion—her feet drawn up and her long legs spread unabashedly wide as she sat with her arms crossed, glowering at him with her angry purple eyes, accented by a gold anti-eyebrow piercing on the right side of her face. Notably, she was also encircled by towers of stacked plates and remnants of hastily devoured dishes, the smatterings of which were present across her body.
Instead of commenting on Bonney's presumably deliberately unseemly appearance, Vahn smiled, extended his right hand to her, and asked, "Are you still hungry?" in a soft tone, adding, "Because I don't mind if we have our discussion over a meal."
"Ugh! There's nothing more I hate than people who pretend to be nice and friendly when they're really just perverted scumbags...!" exclaimed Bonney, smacking away Vahn's hand before rising to her feet unassisted. A split-second later, undoubtedly the result of her utilizing her System's Equip Function, she was completely naked, her hands on her hips and her red face sporting an aggrieved, teary-eyed glower as she shouted, "Let's just get this over with...!"
"You need to calm down..." said Vahn, his expression and tone firm as he materialized a warm, weighted blanket around Bonney's shoulders and pulled it closed at the front. There was no risk of his eyes wandering, but he knew Bonney wouldn't be able to remain calm posturing before him in the buff.
"Calm down? Me? I'm completely calm...!" countered Bonney, briefly attempting to shed the weighted blanket before Vahn grabbed her shoulders, his brows furrowed and tone even firmer as he asserted, "I don't know what you've heard or convinced yourself of, but I'm not the kind of person who would take advantage of a child. Now, I'm going to step outside. Take as much time as you need, and only message once you've calmed down and are ready to talk."
Without waiting for Bonney's response, Vahn vanished in a flash of golden light, reappearing outside the entrance where he closed his eyes, exhaled a tired sigh, and shook his head in exasperation. He half-expected Bonney to tear open the door and attempt to pull him back into the room. Instead, she sat back down on the floor, drew her knees to her chest, and hugged them with her head down for nearly an hour, softly sobbing and grousing to herself about how he was a stupid, insensitive jerk—among many other things...
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"So, what happened...?" asked Vahn, seated across from Bonney at a low-lying dining table, atop which sat enough food to satisfy even Goku twice over.
Contrasting her pirate moniker, Big Eater, Bonney didn't touch the food, head hanging, shoulders slumped, and body trembling as she revealed, "It's my father, one of the Seven Warlords, Bartholomew Kuma...the World Government...they...they did something to him..."
"Take your time..." said Vahn, his tone gentle as he picked up a cup of tea and sipped it with his eyes closed.
No longer able to restrain herself, Bonney picked up a piece of bone-in meat bigger than her head and began scarfing it down. Eating was how she dealt with her immense stress and emotional trauma, so for several minutes, she focused on satisfying her hunger before staring at Vahn with a deep frown, mid-chewing as she questioned, "Does it even matter what happened? Are you going to help me or not...?"
"I am," confirmed Vahn, nodding affirmingly before asking, "What, exactly, do you need me to do...?"
Not expecting Vahn to agree without first telling her what she needed to give him in exchange, Bonney narrowed her eyes and asked, "What's your angle? Everyone knows you only assist people if they're beautiful women willing to let you do whatever you want with their bodies or so desperate they're willing to become slaves—giving up half of everything they earn to the Dragon's Pavilion. Why are you pretending to be a good guy?"
"Have you met or spoken with a single person who came to an agreement with the Dragon's Pavilion that wasn't satisfied with the outcome?" asked Vahn. "I'm genuinely curious."
"Are you an idiot?" asked Bonney, harumphing loudly before contending, "I don't need to go around interviewing people like some kind of reporter to understand some shady things are going on. And don't even try to act like you don't collect beautiful women. Everyone knows about your Maid Battalion, and I've been asked multiple times why I don't show up at the naked lingerie parties you host on the higher floors."
"I understand you harbor a deep-seated grudge against the concept of Nobles and Dragons, but it sounds like you've formed your opinion of me based on tidbits of truth mixed with presuming the worst..." stated Vahn, exhaling faintly from his nose.
"Oh, really? Then what's the truth, Mr. Nice Guy Dragon God? I'm all ears," retorted Bonney, exuding the temperament and standoffishness of a very precocious, streetwise child.
"There is a Maid Battalion, and there are parties like what you described on the higher floors," admitted Vahn. "But members of the former receive tremendous care, benefits, and pay for their services, while the latter is a non-mandatory social gathering for adults. Those who attend them do so because they seek to secure advantages or form connections with other female Ascendees or members of the Dragon's Pavilion. Of the seven that have been hosted, I have only attended one."
"Likely story..." retorted Bonney, her expression flat but unable to conceal her doubts as she looked down at the spread before her and reflected on Vahn's treatment of her. She knew for a fact that her adult form was super sexy, so if he were truly the perverted, in-bred freak she presumed him to be, he surely would have ravished her brutally before hearing her request as an afterthought.
"More to the point, while it's true that we charge Ascendees who accrue debt with us upwards of 50% of their earnings, we don't charge interest or designate collections," stated Vahn. "In other words, they pay us back at their leisure, and there are absolutely no consequences for not doing so in a timely manner. And we only indebt them the equivalent of what they ask for—no more, no less."
Hearing Vahn's calm, patient explanation, Bonney reflected on her past interactions with people who had gone to the Dragon's Pavilion for help. Most did seem happier after the exchange, and as far as she was aware, Vahn wasn't lying when he said the Dragon's Pavilion didn't go around shaking people down or demanding tribute. In fact, they would often do things like buying out restaurants or taverns on the first floor or financing sales on the second to bring people together or promote struggling or just starting businesses...
While Bonney was lost in thought, Vahn used the time to check on Kuma's condition, his brows furrowing when he discovered the cybernetic Warlord suspended upside down by his ankles and bound by seastone chains as a young, snot-nosed Celestial Dragon treated him like a pinata, egged on by several others around his age at what appeared to be a gala or perhaps a birthday celebration.
'These people really don't deserve to be in their position...' thought Vahn, his mood souring as a frigid sensation permeated his mind. He knew the Celestial Dragons would receive their fated comeuppance within three to four years, but every time he peered in on them and how they went about their daily lives, the urge to wipe out the entire group swelled within him...
"What's your problem? Why are you suddenly making a scary expression while staring off into space?" asked Bonney, her body tensing instinctively as if she abruptly found herself in before a slumbering dragon on the cusp of rousing.
Regaining a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes, Vahn responded, "It's a personal matter. On that note, I need to leave you for a short while. Finish eating."
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"H-Hey! What the heck's your problem, baldy!?" exclaimed Bonney, not expecting Vahn to suddenly act distant after he made such a concerted effort to convince her he wasn't a bad person. Unfortunately, though she would later view it as a good thing, Vahn didn't stick around to explain the situation as he had already moved Kuma and every other slave present at the gala to the sixth floor's medical ward...
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