~ Chapter 141: A small kitten of dreams ~

[Illsyore’s point of view]

When one thought of the ruler of Illsyorea, they saw this imposing Dungeon Lord with unmatched strength, capable of toppling mountains and challenging even the most powerful nations in the world. They saw a monster on the battlefield and man among men with five beautiful wives who always stood by his side with equal power.

What they did not see was a father running after his toddler around the room, trying to put his pajamas on.

“Bachus! Get back here!” I shouted as I ran after him.

“Papa can’t catch me! Papa can’t catch me!” he giggled and ran away from me.

While I stumbled on his scattered toys, I also had to be careful of his sister’s attacks. The little Dungeon girl was tossing blocks at me with her [Telekinezy] spell.

“Hahaha! Run, Bachus! Don’t let daddy catch you!” Anette called out to her little brother as I ducked and avoided a rather sharp block aimed at me.

Of course, such feeble attacks could not damage my Magic Armor, but as their father, I couldn’t go all Over Supreme on them, the children were simply playing. That was why I was running around at what could be called... normal speeds.

“HA! You missed!” I said pointing at her.

“Then feel the wrath of my Rain of Blocks!” she called out with a cute villainous laugh.

“Rain of what?” I furrowed my brow and then I saw over twenty blocks going up in the air and started spinning at high speeds, turning into flying drills.

“Uh-oh.” I said.

“Dodge this!” she shouted and let loose her ‘almighty’ attack.

I jumped to the left and avoided three blocks, which drilled themselves into the wall behind me.

“Oi! That’s dangerous!” I shouted at her while I avoided another four.

Because I stepped on one of their toy carriages, I slipped and got hit by a block right in my groin. Thank the gods I had nearly indestructible Magic Armor.

“Daddy! Here! Catch!” Bachus shouted and tossed something at me.

I caught it.

“Huh? What’s this?” I asked and took a better looked at the squishy thing in my hand.

“Natrasku’s used diaper.” Bachus replied and poked out his tongue.

The stench hit me at the same time as several of Anette’s blocks, and it was a complete defeat for me.

“These brats...” I grumbled as I laid on the ground.

The door opened and Zoreya entered while holding Natrasku in her arms. The little half-demon was snuggled up to her chest, sucking his own thumb. With her wearing casual clothes, she was the perfect image of an angelic mother. The only thing ruining the said image was the big metal shield she was carrying on her back. Although I knew that Melkuth was her patron god and more or less mine as well, it didn’t mean that there was a need to carry his preposterous artifact all over the place. It was starting to feel creepy, almost as if that no-good god was peeking at us through it.

[Somewhere up in the Realm of the Gods]

[The Holy God of Big Boobs’ point of view]

“ACHOO!” I sneezed.

Looking around, I did not see anyone, but for some strange reason I still felt someone’s presence here. This place was actually a very special pocket dimension created by me using my powerful divine power in order to peek at beautiful mortal women.

“Is someone talking about me?” I scratched the back of my head “Did Melkuth find out I’ve installed a little divine spell in his shield for the purpose of peeking at Zoreya’s Holy Mountains? Nah, then was it one of my wives? Did they find out about this room of mine? Oh! Maybe one of them is thinking about me? Yes! I should go pay their boobs a visit!” I rubbed my hands together and with a perverted look on my face, I teleported out of there.

[Back to Illsyore’s point of view]

“Illsy? What are you doing?” Zoreya asked me while raising an eyebrow at me.

“Ugh... I’m being pummeled by toy blocks... and diapers.” I replied as I strained myself to get up.

“Huh?” Zoreya did not understand and looked at Bachus for an explanation.

“Papa is playing with us before bed.” he replied with an innocent smile while hiding behind his back a toy cube.

“Yes, daddy volunteered to be our moving target for our long-range attacks practice!” Anette said with what I presumed was a gleaming smile.

While she was still in her Crystal Core body, her expressions as a floating orb of energy could only be guessed.

“I see...” Zoreya nodded. “Go to bed, you two, and Illsy?”

She looked at me, and I answered out of reflex “Yes?”

“If you’re fooling around wakes up Kormian or Natrasku, I’ll give Anette my shield to toss it at you instead of those silly blocks.” she narrowed her eyes at me.

Yup! That’s a threat! I can definitely see the shadow of a demon behind her! But she’s the Apostle of a god? Can she even do that? I thought and then gulped.

With a wry smile, I replied “As you wish, my dear.”

Zoreya nodded and then left the room.

“Daddy made mommy Zoreya mad.” Anette giggled.

I let out a groan.

After I finally managed to put them to bed, I went to see what my wives were doing. Zoreya was in Kormian’s room sleeping with Natrasku at her chest. Those two really got used to her. During the first week after Nanya left, it turned out to be quite difficult to get them to stop crying. There was one time when I even got a bit worried and seriously pondered about bringing my demoness wife back. Zoreya and Tamara stopped me from doing this and reassured me that everything was going to be alright. They both took turns to watch over the children. From time to time, Savannah also dropped by to act as the nanny while the other two went to take care of their day jobs.

I closed the door behind me and let them enjoy their peaceful dream.

From there, I went to check up on Tamara, she was sprawled on the couch, with one leg and one arm on the floor. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and pair of shorts. There was a book next to the couch and a half-eaten bowl of snacks.

She must have fallen asleep while reading. Hm, what is this? I wondered and read the title of the book The adventures of Sinbad the Bald Sailor? Someone wrote something like this?

The name strongly reminded me of an old story from Earth, but it did not mean that it was the same. First of all, this version of Sinbad was bald. Then again, I really had no idea how expansive the literature of this world was. Whatever I read was from Ayuseya’s personal library and most of it was in order to learn the language or various cultural aspects. Literature books were imported to Illsyorea, but I never thought of making a building that would act as a public library.

“Maybe I should, after all, there seem to be a lot of people who enjoy reading for fun.” I said as I placed the bowl and book on the nearby table.

It never occurred to me that it might be fun from time to time to spend my time idly reading a story or two. My whole life felt more like a story than it should be. If I didn’t know any better, I would even dare say that I often felt like a character in some book. Although, who would be so desperate and bored as to write about my life? If an author had the time to do that, it would be better if he or she wrote about a true fantasy hero, or a superhero in modern times, not my half-baked perverted Dungeon life. Nobody would be interesting in reading that.

“Ha! As if.” I shook my head to ignore these strange thoughts of mine and then picked up Tamara.

Her fluffy ears twitched cutely when she sensed me, and while half-asleep, she coiled her arms around my neck and her tail around my waist, pulling herself closer to me. It made me smile when I saw how affectionate she was. We all loved this side of hers, especially the children, who rather than a mother saw her more as a big older sister. It was lovely to see them play together.

Now, each one of my wives had their own room, which was decorated and designed in a way that they found it more welcoming for themselves. Thus, Zoreya had a small altar in there with a big shield stand. There was a big painting of a snowy mountain on one side of the room, and a simple writing desk under it. Her bed mattress was the hardest of them all, while Tamara’s was no different than a cozy puffy cloud. Ayuseya’s room was filled with all sorts of expensive-looking decorations, most of them made from gold. There were three big bookcases there. Her desk was the biggest of them all and covered with stacks of paper and bookmarked books. When you entered her room, you got the weird feeling that a princess’ bedroom had merged with a library. Because she had way too many spare clothes, they were all kept in big chests within her Storage Crystal, while the daily ones were kept in a big dresser on the other side of her king size bed.

Out of all of them, Nanya’s room was probably the simplest of them all, seeing how she never really used it besides the occasional nap. It had only a simple bed, an empty desk, two chairs, an empty dresser, and an empty bookcase. When I asked her one time why she did not decorate it at all, I remember her telling me that she never really bothered with making something special out of it. She believed that with enough given time, her room would also change to fit her personality more. For now, she was content with carrying all of her important items within her Inner Mind.

Shanteya’s room was also starting to change its shape according to her personality and interests, but I had to say that her choice of literature was a bit strange. All of the books were on poisons, assassination, and stories about manipulative characters. One corner of her room was reserved for her own special little flower garden that reeked of poison and other stuff. To my surprise, all of these were actually work-related stuff. Basically, she was studying these sorts of things in order to teach the children how it was best to defend themselves if there ever was the need to do so.

All of their rooms were located on the same corridor as mine. It was probably the most spacious out of them all because it hosted the largest bed I ever made. Except for that one piece of furniture, there was nothing else to be found here, as long as one didn’t destroy the left wall. Behind it, I had hidden a secret passage that was connected to a series of other well-hidden underground passages. Some of them were escape routes while others led to various research rooms hidden away from curious eyes. Because they were all on my Dungeon Territory, I could freely modify or even remove them as I pleased. My Magic Energy pool allowed me to do some ridiculous stuff when it came to building.

However, I was not taking Tamara to my room. She was indeed cute while she was sleeping but I was not one with such a fetish. I was taking her to her own room, which she had requested to be right next mine. It did not bother me nor anyone else, after all, these rooms were supposed to be their own personal refuge, so if it was closer to my room or not, it was all the same.

Since she started using this room, I did not get the chance to visit her. This was going to be the first time after I had built it. As far as I remembered, they were all made identical with one another and then adjusted according to their desires. Besides that comfy bed of hers, Tamara never asked me to add or change anything else, so I presumed that for the most part it remained the same, however, once I opened the door, I felt as if I had stepped into a different world.

The first thing to notice was the lack of windows. They had been sealed shut. Then there was a strange tree growing in the corner to the left as I entered. Its branches stretched all across the ceiling, but they didn’t damage it. The leaves were glowing with a fluorescent light, making me feel as though I was in some underground cave. The air felt different too. The strong scent of wood and the musk of the forest was everywhere.

In the place where the window was supposed to be, was a desk which was built from contorting wood that seemingly grew out of the floor. Speaking of which, it was entirely covered with a thick rug of grass. It spread from one corner of the room to the other.

From back right leg of the desk, a strange branch grew upwards shaped as a small cage. Within it was probably a small golden firefly that buzzed around. I say probably because I could not tell what it was exactly.

On top of the desk were a bunch of old parchments, new ones, but also modern paper, which I had no idea where she got. A white feather was used as a dipping pen and small bottle of ink was sitting right next to it.

The bookcase was on the opposite side of the room, and it was different form the one I placed here. It was made from growing wood just like the rest of the furniture. Branches grew out of the back and twisted forward, making shelves suitable for storing books. It was a living bookcase that embraced the remains of its fellow trees.

Next to the bookcase was a dresser that was made entirely out of glass. It was such a strange thing to see, but what was stranger was the fact that you could not see what it was inside. No doubt it must have been an awfully expensive thing to purchase, but so were maybe the rest of the things in here?

Maybe she used all of her money to decorate her room like this? I wondered as I walked up to the bed.

This big fluffy bed was the only thing in here that I recognized as having been made by me. She asked for it on the same day when I made her room.

Just like placing a fragile flower on the surface of the calm lake so that its gentle waves could pull it away, so did I place Tamara on top of her bed. Her tail uncoiled from my waist, and while still asleep, she made herself comfortable on the soft mattress.

She did not sleep with a blanket, so once she settled, I gave her a kiss on the forehead and stepped away from her.

A gentle smile formed on my lips when I looked at how cute she was while sleeping. Rather than a fragile flower, she was more of a powerful feline who was embraced by nature’s grace.

Before I left her room though, I noticed a golden parchment on her desk.

Strange... was this here before? I furrowed my brow and walked over to it.

When I picked up the parchment, there was nothing written on it, but in the very next moment, I heard a very ominous voice echoing in my mind. What was strange about it was that I felt as though I recognize it from somewhere. No, it was almost as if I was hearing myself speak, but an angrier and eviler version of myself.

Soon... the Light will challenge the Darkness, and all shall be lost when He who has all shall lose everything. It was foolish of you, Tamara, to try and save me, for soon my army shall lay waste to this feeble dream of yours.

With the last word spoken, a powerful sense of dread overwhelmed me, and I felt as though my very life was being sucked out. It hurt, and it happened so fast I did not even had time to call for help. As I slumped on the grass floor, I saw Tamara rushing towards me.

I blacked out.

[Tamara’s point of view]

I was asleep, dreaming of the endless Plains of Creation, where I was born as a small kitten of dreams, a small spark of life. I was alone, looking and searching for a meaning to my existence. Sometimes, I would wear a brown fur coat, while other times, I would be completely black or as white as the first snowflake. There was nothing to do there, nothing to chase, and no one to speak with, but then... something happened that change everything.

The seed of the tree of Yggdrasil bloomed, and with it, life in the Universe.

I dreamed once more of that place, of my loneliness and the lessons I learned by watching mortals grow and die.

I dreamed of how I took my first step into their world, a young child. Then I learned of pain and joy, of horror and sorrow, of happiness and playfulness, but it took a long time to learn of love.

Tamara... his voice echoed in my mind, sweet and putrid like death itself.

Feeling his dreadful energy, I woke up from that nostalgic dream, and the first thing I saw was Illsyore, my husband... killing himself.

I jumped out of my bed and rushed to his side. From the tip of my claws a sphere of white light was cast at the golden parchment, the source of this nasty attack. My energy countered his and released Illsyore from his grasp. I caught his limp body in my arms and immediately released healing energy meant to heal his damaged soul.

That was close... too close. Did he really try to kill Illsy? No, it was not serious, it was a prank, a childish attack meant to catch my attention. I thought and then looked at the golden parchment that was now burning in a golden flame.

“It’s not yet time... He is not ready, and YOU know it. If you try this again, then your challenge might end before it even begins.” I warned him.

“Muhahaha! Do not worry, I knew you were going to save him. After all, Tamara, you are not like these mortals.” his ominous voice echoed around me, scratching my sensitive ears.

In the next moment, he was gone, and so was any trace of his Divine Energy. When I looked down, I saw that Illsy was not in pain anymore, and let out a sigh of relief.

“Unfortunately, my love, this bad kitty will have to take this memory away from you, nya~” I said and then kissed him.

When he would wake up, he would not remember any of this happening.