Chapter 33: Chapter 33 — The Festival of the Hunt Part IV
Kirishima Satou. The name kept echoing in my mind, bouncing off the walls of my skull like a pebble thrown into an empty well.
Could that legendary hero have been a transmigrant like me?
The idea sent a strange shiver down my spine. If Kirishima Satou had been Japanese, if he had come from Earth just like I did, then I wasn’t the first person to be ripped from my world and thrown into this one. There had been others before me. Others who had lived, fought, loved, and died in this land long before the gacha system ever chose me.
And his story was incomplete. Again. God, this had already happened to me twice—first with Samira’s unfinished tale about the Valetri family and the Outer God, and now with the legend of a hero who might have been my predecessor. The curiosity was gnawing at me, an itch I couldn’t scratch.
Maybe I could investigate a little more about him through his oldest living descendant, Mrs. Kirishima Mara. If she was the village chief, she probably had access to records, journals, perhaps even personal artifacts passed down through the generations.
But that would have to wait.
Yesterday we had enjoyed the start of the festival—the food, the games, the laughter. Today, however, was completely different. Today I had to prove what I was made of.
The hunting festival wasn’t just a celebration; it was a trial. A challenge where men risked their lives to bring back proof of their courage and devotion. And I had two waifus waiting for me to show them exactly how far I was willing to go for them.
No pressure, right?
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The morning sun had barely crested the rooftops of Prusna when we gathered at the edge of the village. The air was crisp and cold, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth from the forest. My breath misted in front of my face as I adjusted the straps of my leather armor—the same outfit I’d bought during our shopping trip, now reinforced with a few light plates Samira had insisted on adding.
"Don’t be an idiot and come back in one piece," she’d said while tightening the buckles. "I refuse to raise Lia alone."
She was standing in front of me now, her violet eyes shimmering with a mixture of pride and worry. The morning light caught the curves of her face, making her look almost ethereal.
God, she was beautiful. Even when she was trying to act tough, even when her lips were pressed into that thin line of forced stoicism, she was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen.
I stepped forward, cupped her face in my hands, and kissed her.
Not a peck. Not a gentle brush of the lips. A real, deep, passionate kiss—the kind that makes the world fade away and leaves you breathless. Our tongues swirled together in a vortex of warmth and longing, and for a few glorious seconds, I forgot about the hunt, the monsters, and everything else.
When we finally pulled apart, a thin strand of saliva still connected our lips. Samira’s cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, and her eyes had gone slightly glassy.
"Don’t lose, love," she whispered, planting one last kiss on my cheek.
Before I could respond, a pair of enormous hands grabbed me by the waist and lifted me clean off the ground. I let out a very undignified yelp as Chimera spun me around like a ragdoll and crushed her lips against mine.
Her kiss was completely different from Samira’s. Where Samira was tender and warm, Chimera was fierce and possessive. Her sharp fangs grazed my lower lip with just enough pressure to remind me they were there, and her long tongue invaded my mouth with a hunger that bordered on primal.
The people around us stopped dead in their tracks to stare—some with their jaws hanging open, others with expressions of scandalized disbelief.
It was something I’d noticed since yesterday. After Chimera’s evolution, after her appearance had changed so drastically, people had been staring at her nonstop. Especially men.
Her new gothic aesthetic, her towering two-meter-forty height, her impossibly perfect curves barely contained by that black silk dress... She drew attention everywhere she went, like a dark goddess who had accidentally wandered into a village festival.
And now she was kissing me like she wanted to devour me whole in front of half the town.
"Don’t lose, Master," she purred against my lips before finally setting me down.
"I won’t lose, busty," I replied with a wink, doing my best to regain my composure.
Then I glanced down at Lia.
She was making a face. A very specific face. The kind of face a child makes when they’ve just witnessed their parents doing something deeply embarrassing and want the earth to swallow them whole. Her little nose was scrunched up, her lips were twisted into a grimace of pure disgust, and her big brown eyes were screaming "please stop."
Ah, shit. I really shouldn’t kiss my MILFs like that in front of the kid.
At least she stopped making that face the moment we stopped kissing. At her age, I used to pull the exact same expression whenever my parents got affectionate in public. Some things truly were universal across all worlds and dimensions.
I crouched down to her level and gently stroked her chestnut hair. She was clutching her bear plushie against her chest like a shield, her tiny fingers digging into the soft fabric.
"Alright, sweetheart," I said, keeping my voice soft and reassuring. "Daddy has to go fight some ugly monsters to prove his glory. Wish me luck, okay?"
She squeezed her plushie tighter and lowered her head, hiding her face behind the bear’s fuzzy ears. For a long moment, she didn’t say anything. Then, very slowly, she lifted her gaze to meet mine, and I saw the worry swimming in those big brown eyes.
"Daddy... you’re coming back, right?"
The question hit me like a punch to the gut. Her voice was so small, so fragile, trembling with a fear that no child her age should ever have to feel. She had already lost one family. She had already watched people she loved be torn away from her. And now she was terrified that I might not return either.
I reached out and pulled her into my arms, holding her tight against my chest.
"Of course, sweetheart. You know your dad is strong, right? It doesn’t matter how big or how powerful the monster is. Your father will defeat it and come back to you."
She buried her face in my shoulder, and I felt her small body tremble as the first sobs broke through. Her tears soaked into the fabric of my shirt, warm and heartbreaking.
"Don’t lose, Daddy," she whimpered.
I smiled—a real, genuine smile—and held her just a little tighter.
"I won’t. I promise."
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