Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

 

"Let me go! Mother, help me!"

Oh? Oh? What's this?

A baffling scene greeted me when I returned from the town. It was like something straight out of a movie somewhere.

"Stop struggling, no one's coming for you."

How did you get captured in the first place? Wings and [soothsayer] are wasted on you.

In fact, I was watching from behind as this Jud-Stefta, or as I referred them to as ferretfolk, had Smoothie pinned down on the ground. The guy didn't notice me since I had quietly snuck behind them. Moreover, because I noticed that there was another ferretfolk patrolling nearby, I was wary of possible military reinforcements in this area. Beating up that baddie would only escalate the situation.

Honestly, it was strange how they weren't around earlier, at least I didn't see any scouts around. Or, perhaps they were hiding in small burrows.

What to do? If they have reinforcement around, I'd be screwed if I mess up.

I thought about it for quite some time until I noticed her dress was being ripped into pieces. Though, I couldn't see her face, she was probably crying by now. The thing was, I didn't believe fey beings could cry. That would make the imitation body too realistic.

"I haven't had a pretty girl for so long."

A girl? Did I hear that right? They're not even same species or class... Awkward! This dude must be a deviant to have such beauty standards...

"No, please! I'm saving my first time for Mother!" She wailed desperately.

Why do I get a feeling something isn't right? A girl, first time? Is that even possible? Are you not fey? Saving your first time for me? That doesn't even make sense.

"Stay still! It'll be over quickly. I promise, you'll love every moment of it!"

I couldn't see his face but I was sure he was smirking with delight.

Tch. There are people like this in every world.

You asked for it. I don't care if your libido is out of control or you're just letting out your stress. You don't get to touch her without my permission!

With all those pieces of her dress scattered on the ground, they became the proxies or clones I needed to fight with. When I infused them with my mana and essences, thick vines burst forth, binding the ferretfolk in place. As I approached, I had my vines stuff themselves in his mouth to prevent him from alerting his friend nearby.

He was in such a strange position like that.

"Careful not to bite them, or you'll end up dead," I whispered next to his ears.

Consuming my vines was even more deadly than eating my strawberries. At least my strawberries' addictive property counteracted |reaper| a bit.

"Vmmmm...!" His eyes bulged with fear.

"You tried to harm my child. What excuse do you have? Hmm?" I stared into his eyes with my deathly gaze.

"Mother." She whimpered.

"Smoothie, are you hurt anywhere?"

"Why didn't you come sooner?" She asked as I pulled her out from beneath the ferretfolk.

"A better question, how in the world did you get pinned down? These folks can't even fly, so you should have been able to avoid them easily."

Although this place wasn't a dense jungle, there were still quite many trees around she could hide behind. With her being only half my size, hiding from foes in this terrain should have been a piece of cake. 

She lowered her gaze, "I was... I was... I was playing with the crawlies... because I was bored. I'm sorry."

Playing with tiny bugs, here? How childish!

I couldn't be more disappointed with her but I didn't want to waste my time scolding her. A child was a child. Thinking back, I used to play with beetles too.

"Don't let there be a next time. Let's get you a new dress."

"Mm. I'm sorry."

As I scanned her body for any bruises or injuries, I noticed one thing in particular. There was a vertical slit underneath.

Huh... Odd... Was it there before?

"Mother, stop staring at me like that," she blushed.

"Smoothie... What is going on? What are you?"

"I'm a fey being just like you. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Never mind, we'll discuss this later."

This wasn't a good time to have a chat so I quickly synthesized a simple green dress for her.

"Now, now, about you," I turned my attention to the beast in custody, "since I don't want to make an enemy out of your country, you'll be free to go. You did not see us today, understood?"

"Vmmm!"

After Smoothie and I had distanced ourselves from that ferretfolk, I retracted the vines that had kept him bound. That was the end of the matter as the two of us fled northward. There was no way I could have trusted someone like that.

"Smoothie, explain yourself." I stated flatly.

"What do you mean? I explained everything."

"No, I mean your body."

"I'm a fey being."

"You're not trying to dodge the question, are you?"

"I'm... I'm... I'm your daughter." She said hesitantly.

"I was sure you had no gender. What happened? You said fey bodies are imitations of the physical bodies, right?"

"Yes... It seems I've always been a girl. I only noticed my body had transformed after I merged with your clone."

"All the way back when Haelley and I took on the Po-Hatorshi?"

"Seems so."

"And, you didn't bother to tell me about it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't abandon me," tears welled up in her eyes.

I didn't even notice I had raised my voice at her. There were just too much I didn't understand, and she was one of the biggest mysteries to me.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice," I squeezed her tightly while caressing her. "Please tell me these things sooner. I'm completely clueless about these things, you know?"

"Mmm... You're the most oblivious parent I can ask for," she replied.

Tch, that tongue of hers. Maybe I should just remove it altogether.

"Now, explain to me what you know about the transformation. I'm still genderless even though I'm pretending to be your mother. You said something about giving your first time to me. What was that all about?"

She gasped, "You heard that?"

"What happened to your [soothsayer]? It should be able to predict what I would say, right?"

"Yes, but aside from mana usage, I learned that it's no fun to know so I don't use it on you. Surprises are exciting, no?"

"You know what surprise is coming from me if you keep this up, right?" I flicked her forehead.

"Ow," she pouted.

"Now, talk." I commanded.

"I'll tell you as much as I know. I was born a female to begin with. I'm girl. That was probably why I couldn't grow strawberries by myself. You killed the flowers before anyone tried cross pollinate yours onto my flowers. I'm okay with that because I get to be with you," as she tried to rub her cheeks on me.

"And, the transformation?"

"I'm not entirely sure but it was an automatic process. Since you have accepted me as your daughter, my |bewitching| trait might have altered my appearance to match. It's just appearance, nothing else. I can't mate because you already sterilized me. I can't undo it by myself."

She made herself sound so pitiful. Sterilized? I only stopped you from flowering so those despicable elves wouldn't mess around. If they messed around with my flowers or clones too much, their lives would be forfeit. It was simple as that, not that I could monitor all of my clones at once.

Using [transformation], I could enlarge my chests, but it didn't allow me to give myself any gender specific properties. That information just didn't exist so I had no way to transform myself unless a variation of that information existed somewhere within me. However, now that I knew it was possible, perhaps I had overlooked something vital regarding [transformation]. Either way, now wasn't the time to look into it. We had to move on before war swept our way.

"I was protecting you!" I sighed, "Anyhow, this fey body business is annoying. I can't ever seem to fully grasp it. I have organs and yet I don't really. I'm living and yet I'm not fully alive. Tell me, if your heart is pierced, do you die?"

"I don't have one and I can't create one either. However, if my fey core is destroyed, I will die. The same doesn't apply to you because you have |parallel bodies| trait, meaning you have multiple fey cores backed up."

Now that she put it that way, wasn't I just super amazing? Supposed my head was blown off, not that I would ever wish for that to happen, if my fey body was still intact, I could literally just synthesize another head. I couldn't ask for a better body, especially when combined with all my abilities and traits.

Anyway, I pressed her for more answers as we travelled.

"I have never heard about this core thing. Where is it and do all fey beings have it?"

"All fey beings have one or more fey cores depending on their species and evolution. Mine is in my belly because I know other areas are more likely to be targeted by mortal races. I don't know where you keep yours and you don't have to tell me. They're normally not visible and can only be felt inside you. For me, it's a warm little orb."

"Isn't that another weakness to watch out for?"

"Not really, fey cores are normally impossible to destroy, and I doubt even soul eaters could harm them. Also, they can't be captured either, at least not that I'm aware of so you don't have to worry about it."

"I was all concerned for no reason. I guess keeping out of physical harm is the way to go for you."

"Yes."

Yep, let's forget about this core thingy. There's no point knowing about it.