In Search of an Eternity Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

“Really now…” Seduction dripped off of Tamamo’s voice as she sidled up to me, “If you wanted to become my husband, you should have just asked, you know?”

I halted the hand she was trailing up my chest with my own, attempting to hide my discomfort as I answered resolutely, “I don’t want to become your husband. If we are to get together, I would rather you become my wife.”

She paused at that, her ears straightening in surprise as she stared up at me. Alice scoffed, while the sealed Nanabi started growling at me.

“You really are an idiot. Do you even know what you are saying?” Alice’s voice was full of derision, “Do you not think that many before you have tried?”

“I don’t get it.” Luka spoke, confused, “What’s the difference?”

“Many Monsters have a tradition for an equal marriage, where the Monster Girl and the Man are partners rather than the man merely being her plaything.” I answered him, “I don’t know what the Kitsune tradition for this is, but if I am to spend the rest of my life with someone, it will be as an equal.”

Nanabi only growled harder at this, probably thinking that me claiming to be her Lady’s equal was highly disrespectful, but I didn’t care. I knew that if I wanted to live in this world, I would eventually have to get married to a Monster, if only to dissuade others from trying. It wasn’t like I was against the idea, Tamamo was by far my favourite of the bunch, but if I did get married to her I refused to be submissive in the relationship.

Something to do with my male pride, I was happy to admit.

“Foolish, idiot man. Tamamo is one of the strongest monsters in the world, and you think that you will succeed in winning her heart? You really are an idiot.” Alice berated me, “If you were that eager to die, then just-”

“I accept.” Tamamo spoke, causing the room to still as she looked up into my face, “I will give you a chance at the marriage you want.”

“What!?” Alice squawked, “What nonsense are you spouting Tamamo!?”

“I admire a man with such bravery.” Tamamo spoke, tails fluttering behind her and she unfurled her fan, hiding her face behind it, “After such a display, I would be cruel not to let him try. Besides, if he fails I will just eat him.”

Luka stiffened at that, “Eat him!?”

“Of course. If he fails, he insulted me by thinking he could succeed. It’s only fair, wouldn’t you say, Lothar?” She smirked at me, the fan hiding her expression from the other two.

“I would expect nothing less.” I sighed, already resigned to live by the ‘victory or death’ maxim, “Luka, Monsters do not think or act like humans. Don’t expect them to.”

“But still…” He looked conflicted, but defeated.

“Regardless, Hero Luka.” Tamamo turned serious, staring at the boy who straightened up at the attention, “My romance troubles are not your concern. You braved dangers and saved my precious subordinates, so I shall grant you a boon. What ado you wish for, Little Hero? I have some thin fried tofu with your name on it.”

Luka looked to me, but I merely nodded at him, causing him to sigh, “I want the Bell. Poseidon’s Bell. It’s why we came here, after all.”

“Very well.” Tamamo fished it out from the sleeve of her Kimono and threw it over to the boy, who fumbled but caught it.

She then turned to the Echidna, “And you, Alice? What will you be doing now?”

“I don’t see why that’s any of your business, Tamamo.” Alice narrowed her eyes at the Kitsune.

“You have duties, responsibilities. Or have you forgotten?” Tamamo remained steadfast, staring down the snake girl.

“I remember better than you, fox.” Alice snarled back, “Focus on your own problems. It seems the Heavenly Knights have been doing that just fine without me.”

“Is that an order?” Tamamo narrowed her eyes, waving the fan and causing Luka to seemingly realise exactly who Alice was as he snapped his head to look at her with wide eyes.

“Does it have to be?” Alice pressed, crossing her arms.

“...No. Very well, if that’s the case, then I will leave with my own prize. Enjoy your vacation.” Tamamo relaxed, once again stowing away her fan and looping a tail around my wrist as she started to leave the cave, dragging me along.

“Wait!” Luka shouted, causing the Kitsune to pause and look at him quizzically, “Without the Bell, how will you get back? You live in Santora, don’t you?”

“Oh, we’ll just teleport.” Tamamo replied nonchalantly.

“Then what did you need the Bell for?!” Luka was exasperated.

“To deny it from Heroes like you… Or so I told the others, but really this whole excursion was just a whim of mine.” She hummed, making Luka fall even further into despair.

“Is this really the girl you love, Lothar?” He seemed unable to grasp the concept.

“Yes.” I answered, my voice deadpan, “Isn’t she great?”

---SESESE---

As we arrived into a rice field, Tamamo looked to where I was recovering from the sudden spatial disruption, “Don’t worry, you get used to it eventually.”

The queasy feeling was causing the taste of bile to cling to my throat, but I beat back the discomfort, “I will take your word for it.”

“I do hope that those sweet words you spoke to me before were not misdirections.” She spoke, her amused voice not hiding the undercurrent of danger hiding in her tone, “Speaking of courting me is not something to do lightly.”

“It wasn’t a joke… I am aware of the situation I am in. I will have to marry a monster if I wish to stay in this world.” I answered, sitting up from where I had collapsed.

“Hmm. How unromantic. Speaking in purely practical terms, as if this is a business arrangement.” She teased, walking over to me and offering a hand.

I took it and prepared to stand, only to be stopped by her arm on my shoulder, feeling like a steel bar preventing me from moving.

She stared seriously into my eyes, before asking an absurd question, “Lothar. Do you love me?”

“No.” I responded, watching as her slitted orbs narrowed, “But of all the Monster Girls I am aware of, you are the one I could imagine loving the most.”

She glared at me, gaze flicking across my expression, attempting to detect any falsehoods.

Apparently finding what she was looking for, she grinned and lifted me easily up to my feet, “Good answer. If you had attempted to lie, I would be highly displeased.”

“The only way I can survive from here on out is to be as brutally honest as possible.” I sighed, “Speaking of, what’s your plan now that you know Black Alice’s possible actions?”

“Possible actions?” She raised an eyebrow at me, “You are not convinced that it will happen as you have foreseen?”

“No. Even the brief time I was with Luka and Alice could have affected the future. The ending I saw was but one of many, but it was the worst one imaginable. If I could work to prevent it, I have to try.”

“Oh my, he is smart too.” She giggled, unfurling her fan, “Hmm, let me think… You know, I am actually jealous of the Monster Lords.”

Her non sequitur threw me, “Pardon?”

“Black Alice, this current one, a few of the others… They were able to gallivant around with a strapping young lad for months at a time, getting doted on all the time.” She looked at me demurely over the rim of her fan, “Don’t you think that sounds lovely?”

“I’m guessing this has something to do with your plan?” I sighed, causing her to whack me with her fan, faster than I could even register.

“It’s no fun if you are that serious.” She pouted.

I rubbed the back of my head, inwardly grumbling to myself but only saying aloud, “This a very serious matter.”

“As you said, it is in the future and only one of many possible ones.” She chided lightly, “You have information that could save this world, which you wish to use to save it. That is why you approached me and it speaks well to your character. However, Lothar, You don’t know anything about this world. Is it even worth saving?”

I furrowed my brow, “What are you talking about? Of course it-”

She placed a small finger over my lips in a shushing gesture, “You say that now, when you have only seen a little of it. Your opinion might change if you really understood it’s true nature, not merely intellectually through that detached way you foresaw, but through personal experience.”

She lifted the finger off, giving me a wide smile, “Stop worrying so much about things that are far away. Focus on the here and now, on what you can control.”

I let out a breath of air, “I’ll try.”

“Good.” She nodded, “Now, you said you do not know what the true marriage tradition of the Kitsune is. Would you like to learn?”

“Well I don’t want to get eaten, so I would appreciate the knowledge of how to avoid that.” I snarked, causing her to laugh lightly.

“Indeed, that would be a shame. Well, the standard Marriage as you know is for Kitsune to make a man climax three times, ensuring her claim upon him. However, for a man to stake his claim upon a Kitsune, he must make her happy three times instead.” She explained as she started to walk to the Japanese style buildings bordering the field, forcing me to follow.

“Make her happy?” I asked, confused, “In what way? What do you want me to do to make you happy? I assume that you will give out certain tasks I must accomplish.”

“That,” She grinned, “Is for me to know and for you to find out.”

---SESESE---

Izuna sighed. She had been so proud to reach the vaunted position of four tails, to have Lady Tamamo personally come to her for an assignment, but she wished dearly that it was something different from babysitting. Lady Tamamo had asked her to teach this man, this Lothar, to use the noble art of the blade.

To be fair, the man was a competent swordsman, but the style he was used to was a lot more direct and relentless, she could tell. The patience required for proper Kendo and Kenjutsu did not come to him naturally. His learning speed was something to be commended, in the past week he had stopped attempting to crudely hack with the bokken, instead letting the sword guide his strikes.

He still fell into bad habits occasionally, though, causing her to have to whack him with her own practice blade as he practised the kata.

“Ah.” He paused at the strike, shrugging it off admirably, “Sorry, Izuna-sensei. I am too used to using the strength of both arms to power the cut.”

Indeed, he tried to put far too much force into the slice, something she had been beating out of him. That may work for whatever weapon this barbarian had been used to wielding, but when it came to the Katana, all the strength for the strike came from the left hand squeezing the hilt. The right hand merely existed to guide the blade, not to contribute to the slice itself. Using the sword this way took full advantage of the leverage of the Katana’s long handle, flicking it forwards into the cut faster than most expected.

“It’s pitiful.” Gekka, one of the Elven Sword Women that guarded Yamantai scoffed from the sidelines, “The way you are used to fighting must lack all grace.”

“I wasn’t taught to fight with ‘grace’.” The man retorted, “I was taught how to fight to kill.”

“Fat lot of good it did you.” Gekka jeered, “I doubt you could even hit us, let alone kill us as you boast.”

“That sounds like a challenge.” Izuna spoke, interposing herself between the two, “Are you challenging him to a duel, Gekka-san? Lady Tamamo’s guest?”

Gekka faltered at the reminder of the man’s status, but forged ahead regardless, “You know what? Yes. This Man’s arrogance deserves to be crushed.”

Izuna raised an eyebrow at that, the Kitsune finding their guest actually rather well mannered and humble. In fact, if their Lady had not marked him, she would have given consideration to marrying him herself. She suspected that Gekka was merely frustrated and wanted to take it out on someone, no matter how poorly chosen the target.

“Very well, I will officiate the duel, provided Lothar-dono accepts?” Izuna asked, but she knew the pride of human males.

There was only really one answer.

“I don’t mind.” He responded, dropping out of his stance and starting to wipe down his sweaty arms with a cloth, “What will be the rules?”

“First to three hits.” Izuna decided, wanting to get this over with quickly, “And no permanent damage. Lady Tamamo would have our hides if you got hurt, and Gekka-san needs to protect the outskirts.”

“I’m fine with that, if you are, Gekka.” The man shrugged, finishing up his short break and getting into a stance opposite the Elf, who had fetched her own wooden sword.

“If it will teach you respect, I will be glad to fight by these rules.” The Elf grinned sadistically, looking forward to humbling the man.

“Very well then. On go.” Izuna walked to where she could observe them both, “Three, two, one, go!”

Lothar, who had closed his eyes as she was counting, snapped them open and shot forward in a burst of speed. Gekka’s eyes barely had time to widen before the first blow hit her shoulder. She raised her sword, two late to block the second blow that struck her on her other side, lightly tapping her head. Just as the sword was in the position that would have blocked the original strike, the last one came in the form of a thrust to her upper chest.

“That’s three!” Izuna called out, “Lothar wins!”

Gekka looked flabbergasted, still blinking in surprise at the insane speed that the human had showcased. Izuna herself had also been surprised, but thanks to using her newly gained tail as a scarf she could successfully hide her reaction.

She whirled on Lothar, whopping him with her bokken again, “The second attack was very sloppy, you lost control of the blade near the end there.”

“Sorry Izuna-sensei.” He didn’t argue or fight back, a commendable attitude, “I will practise harder.”

“See that you do.” She nodded.

Gekka, having recovered from her swift defeat, suddenly shouted an accusation, “Wait a minute, were you hiding your real strength? What was that?!”

“I am training my technique under Izuna-sensei.” The bearded man replied evenly, “Not my strength or my speed.”

Gekka, her pride unable to take any more abuse, merely threw her arms up and stormed out of the training fields. Izuna watched her depart before turning her gaze to the man who had removed his shirt and was falling back into the process of practising his katas, a diligence that was rather rare.

Originally, she had no clue why Lady Tamamo had told her to protect and instruct this human, as well as to not try to take him as her husband. However, what she had just seen had only confirmed that she should have trusted her lady’s intuition, even if she didn’t understand it. If it were her against Lothar, instead of Gekka, would she have been able to defend herself?

His technique was still full of holes, but that speed… She could follow it, but could she react in time? She didn’t know.

And that was a rather sobering thing to realise.

Just what kind of person had Lady Tamamo found?