Interpersonal Relationships
I felt pretty well-rested, which made sense since I had been sleeping for over 12 hours. Now that I was up, I wanted to do something productive.
I started to ask if Gilda needed my help with anything but, before I could get it out, we were interrupted by the arrival of Idomu and Byakuren. They were both in their natural tanuki forms, looking something like a cross between a raccoon and a fox. They were both cute, or maybe it would be better to say Byakuren was more pretty than cute because her pure white fur gave her an extra touch of elegance. When they saw I was already up, Idomu excitedly scampered up to me. On the other hand, Byakuren calmly sat down at the entrance in her dignified way.
"What's up, Otuoto! I knew you were too tough to be down for long."
"I am also relieved to see you in good health, Willie-sama."
I couldn't hold back a smile of amusement at how different these two were, even though they were mates. Over time, Idomu had become even more casual and affectionate with me, eventually even taking to calling me his little bro. Byakuren was equally friendly but always retained her respectful and dignified bearing, as befitted her stature as a princess. For my part, I had taken to respectfully referring them to as my older siblings. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, and my parents were already dead, so it was nice to have that type of relationship with these fellow abductees from Earth.
"You know it, Aniki. You can't keep a good cowboy out of the saddle for long. It's good to see you doing well too, Anego."
We naturally fell into a conversation about random stuff. It was a little while before I realized something weird was going on.
"Hey Aniki, how come we can understand each other right now? My AI is shut down for repairs, so the auto-translator shouldn't be working."
"Oh yeah. Once Cordie-san became aware that your AI would be out of commission, she decided to expand more dungeon functions to cover Gilda's part of the spaceship. That way, her magic-based auto-translator allows us to communicate with each other. We can even read the alien languages now. She set up some other big surprises for you too. That girl is really doing her best, you know."
That last bit was said with a suggestive wink, which, even though I had spent a lot of time with them, was still a strange expression for me to see on a tanuki's face. But that aside, I knew what he was getting at. Cordelia had become much more affectionate and considerate towards me recently. I was sure some of that just had to do with her missing Millie, but it was also obvious she thought of me as something more than a friend.
I honestly didn't know how to respond to her feelings. I felt like something was going on between Gilda and me, even if we hadn't made it official or even said anything out loud. But Gilda didn't seem bothered at all by Cordelia's physical expressions of affection towards me. If anything, she seemed to be relieved about it. The whole thing confused me. Shouldn't she be jealous of another woman being all over me if she really liked me? Wasn't Cordelia bothered by my prioritization of Gilda? At some point, I would need to sit each of them down and talk it all out. The only reason I hadn't already was because we had been too busy working on preparations, and the situation with Millie remained unresolved.
As if she had read my mind, Gilda chimed in with a smile.
"If nothing else, that girl is certainly a hard worker, especially for your sake. You should go see her when you get a chance. I think you will appreciate what she set up for you. I was impressed myself."
Idomu and Byakuren both nodded their heads in agreement with what Gilda had said.
"A maiden in love is always so much fun to watch."
I thought Idomu was enjoying watching my embarrassment as well. He took every opportunity to prod me over my supposed harem. Often proudly saying how it proved beyond a doubt that I really was his little bro. Mostly, I just tried to ignore his teasing.
"Regardless of her feelings for Willie-sama, the hard work of Cordelia-sama has borne much fruit for us as well."
I couldn't help but be intrigued if even Byakuren was singing Cordie's praises. There was no doubt she was a workaholic, or maybe that was just her nature as a dungeon core. She was always doing something, usually in conjunction with Gilda. Honestly, those two were closer in temperament than I would've expected. Despite her sharp tongue and frequent grandiose pronouncements, Cordie was an incredibly diligent person when it came to her work.
"I'm glad to hear she has helped you both too, Anego. Maybe I really should go see her since I need to let her know I'm up now anyway."
Everyone agreed that was a good idea, even though we all knew that Cordie could already see everything that happened on the ship through her dungeon functions. She undoubtedly knew I was up the second I woke but clearly wanted me to come to her. Whatever supposed surprise she had prepared for me was probably the reason.
Gilda said she had some work she still wanted to deal with, so she would remain in the lab. The tanuki couple also decided not to accompany me into the core. But I suspected that was just their way of giving me some space for alone time with Cordelia.
When I entered the core, I found myself in a vast, blank white room, which was unusual. Usually, I was instantly transported to one of the recreated Earth habitats where Cordelia protected the revived Earth creatures Gilda had collected as samples. It was like a vast zoo but would take weeks to travel through on foot. And it was all created from the mana Cordelia absorbed from those same creatures. Apparently, a dungeon core's mana efficiency was incredibly high. Gilda's theory was since the dungeon function system was designed for specific and highly repetitive tasks, it had been highly optimized. Or possibly it was some sort of tradeoff for the fact the cores were mostly immobile.
Anyway, Cordie was there, waiting for me in this white room. From the outside, she looked almost like an exact twin of Millie, except for her pink hair, which she typically matched by wearing pink clothes. Since her core and mana were also pink, I thought it wasn't so much a fashion statement as just an expression of her identity. Cordie wasn't as casually sensual as Millie and showed very little of her gentleness. But I couldn't deny she had a charming cuteness all her own... until she opened her mouth, which usually broke the spell for me.
"It took you long enough! Such a lazy servant deserves to be beaten for making his mistress wait so long."
Crossing her arms under her chest and slightly lifting her nose in the air added to the exaggeratedly indignant effect she was obviously going for. The tapping foot was the added frosting on the cake that told me I was fully expected to apologize. Sighing, I dutifully played my role.
"I'm sorry, my Queen. It won't happen again."
I could barely squeeze that nonsense out. The whole thing seemed so ridiculous, but that was apparently the answer Cordie had wanted because her demeanor totally changed, and she rapidly shuffled over to me. She suddenly grabbed me in a hug, rubbing her face against my chest while continuing to insult me.
"See that it doesn't, fool."
I didn't take her badmouthing seriously. At this point, I could only take it as some sort of weird role play that she felt compelled to do. Playing along seemed to make her happy and was generally just the easiest thing to do, so I usually gave up and went with it.
"Yes, my Queen."
She suddenly looked at my face, her eyes shimmering in anticipation.
"I believe you shall present me with a mana offering as atonement for your misbehavior."
"Yeah, yeah..."
I knew what she wanted. When time allowed, we had been experimenting a little with me passing synchronized mana into her. There had been some intriguing long-term results, but there were also some short-term side effects. Namely, that she became very aroused and attacked me afterward. Gilda was very interested in the changes that were taking place in Cordie as a result of these experiments. So she encouraged us to continue, but the whole thing really confused me. I mean, I really liked Cordelia and definitely found her attractive, even though I knew she was really a dungeon core. But I felt a bit guilty when I came back to my senses afterward. The only thing I could tell myself was that there wasn't anything official between Gilda and me just yet. I mean, we hadn't even kissed yet, despite what ultimately happened between us in the alternate future timeline.
So, feeling just a touch of guilt, I quickly synchronized my mana wavelength to Cordie's and passed some into the small of her back where my hand was already pressed. Her knees became weak for a moment, and I held her up. Once she recovered, she was all over me. Eventually, she pushed me down onto the white ground and straddled my lap while kissing me. I had gotten pretty into it myself, and she was grinding her hips against me as I grabbed her ass.
Right before it seemed like we might go all the way, she came back to her senses and cooled down. Sitting up, she looked down at me with a smug smirk.
"Apology accepted, peon."
Abruptly standing up, she walked a few paces to my right and made one of her typical grandiose statements as she smoothed out her clothes.
"As a result of your foolishness, you are now not able to train in the simulations. So, as a show of my great power and magnanimity, I have prepared a suitable training ground for you. You may praise me now."
Truthfully, my balls were feeling pretty blue right now, so I wasn't exactly in the mood to be praising her. But if she had some combat training lined up for me, I figured I might be able to work off my excess sexual energy that way.
"Thank you for your grace, my Queen."
I said it in as deadpan a voice as I could manage, but she didn't seem to either notice or care. She just turned to me with a satisfied smile as the environment instantly shifted into a cave. Something like glowing moss was growing on the walls, which gave some light, but overall it was dark and gloomy. However, Cordie seemed extremely pleased with herself as she made a final pronouncement while fading away.
"Try not to die. I'll be watching you struggle in vain. And, if by some unimaginable chance you manage to conquer my special dungeon, I shall bequeath upon you a suitably fantastic reward."
Finally! A cover image. Millie (and also Cordelia in core form).
