Chapter 382: New Year and Candied Hawthorns

But unfortunately, no.

Lady Kali wasn't the endlessly demanding sort like Tally and Vivian—perhaps elves simply don't have strong desires.

Or perhaps it was her own principle of strict restraint.

In any case, an entire week passed and she never once called Rod over to "catch frogs."

Rod could only let out a cold laugh.

He got it.

Playing hard to get.

Trying to control me.

The elven Young Lady wanted to keep the initiative entirely in her own hands—"I want you, then come; I don't want you, don't you dare touch me."

No idea where she dug up this big-domme persona.

Rod couldn't be bothered to manage her.

Without you I'm hardly helpless—so many girls in the forest, I could throw a party every night.

And so a week passed.

December of this year finally drew to its end, arriving at a brand-new year.

January 1, Year 866 of Aibelung.

The new year—Death Desert seemed to sense the season's arrival too, sandstorms howling without pause.

Gravel pelted wood and glass with a constant clatter.

But this didn't dampen the spirits of Shi Ying Town's residents welcoming the new year at all.

With a big influx of outsiders this year, the Town Hall, to soothe things and show off how easily it had everything in hand, specially loosened restrictions on all sorts of event applications.

For example: the Radiant Blessing ceremony starting at dawn, closely watched by families with newborns;

The largest square near the Town Hall was transformed, with a magic market that had been set up a week early;

A three-day competition tournament—traditional archery, swordsmanship, and challenges specially prepared for adventurers;

Fireworks nights, balls, tavern drink discounts, little teahouse fireside storytelling sessions, and so on.

Rod had dropped by the Town Hall a couple of days ago; everyone was swamped.

Even the witch Dimia from Claw Valley had been dragged back to work.

Actually, things over there weren't as tense as at the start anymore.

The mushroom-man Binn, the mushroom-man Toru—one a seventh-tier boxing king, the other a long-distance-relationship mage—both stationed there, plus a Wendigo clan, were enough to keep the situation under control.

Rod simply called the banshee Chris and the ghoul Pan Ni back for a holiday.

But then again.

The girls in the forest didn't seem to have much sense of celebrating festivals, not considering it any meaningful holiday.

This had to do with the different races' outlooks.

For instance, the tree-spirit Vivian and the half-deer Miss Xiao Ke—these two spent long stretches in the forest and paid no attention to calendar dates at all.

Like the little horse-girl Little Little Bangde and the rat-girl Number Thirteen—they were entirely new species to begin with, so they understood even less.

The elf Lady Kali and the spider-sprite Una were both long-lived species; a festival that came only once a year held zero meaning for them.

Lady Kali even said she only paid attention to festivals held once every ten years or more—quite the proud one.

The ghoul Pan Ni, the jiangshi Selina, and the tiefling Saoirse were a bit better—they'd originally been human, after all, so they had some interest.

"New Year! I've always wanted to celebrate a New Year!"

Tally said so.

The morning sunlight couldn't pierce the sandstorm's veil, only a thin layer landing on skin.

The upgraded forest swiftly digested the invading wind and sand, feeling not the least bit stuffy—instead, fresh and natural.

Rod walked step by step through the spirit-rich woods, and almost every patch he passed brought in a fair amount of 【Growth Spirit】.

"Do succubi celebrate New Year too?"

"Of course! One month after New Year is the All Souls Memorial Festival, then a month and a half later is the Order Celebration, then three months after that is the Innovation Festival—I know every holiday on the continent inside out~"

Today's Tally persona was little brother.

She transformed into a 'boy' who resembled Rod but was far more delicate and slender, planning to introduce herself to outsiders as Rod's little brother.

Previously her shapeshifting had flaws and couldn't truly turn her into a man.

Now at seventh tier, with Rod's pouring in, shapeshifting had reached +8, naturally overcoming that flaw.

Only, Tally knew her master didn't like men, so she hadn't fully transformed—at most the outside looked the part; underneath the clothes still hid a thoroughly sultry girl's body.

"Didn't expect that—I thought you only had lewd knowledge."

Tally flicked her slicked-back hair and wagged a finger, smiling:

"My foolish brother, oh—this is lewd knowledge! Festivals mean crowds gathering, and crowds gathering is when we succubi run wild with charm magic. My relatives especially love seducing men wantonly in border towns like Shi Ying Town—if lucky, the essence gathered in a single day can match a whole month's!"

"."

If you put it that way, I'll have to contact Dimia and the others to be on alert that succubi might be prowling around Shi Ying Town.

As they spoke.

Rod had already reached the edge of the Willow Sands district, the small area of the cutting maze.

Almost the moment he approached, a soul-bodied dragon-horned girl in a white dress, with a thick dragon tail lazily sprawled beneath her skirt, leapt up, face alight with excitement.

"M-Master!"

"Naolin, long time no see."

Rod reached out and patted her little head out of thin air, making her so happy she clenched both fists and shook them.

Then he took out a large bunch of heads tied together with rope, dripping with blood, like oversized candied hawthorns on a stick.

Every face on the heads wore an expression of sheer terror and resentment, looking strangely terrifying.

Naurin's face lit up with delight; she hopped over and took the head skewer.

"A New Year gift."

"New New Year gift? What is New Year?"

Tally walked over, smiling: "It's the festival where lots of men and women get all tangled up together."

Naurin's face turned red.

Lowering her head, she swayed her waist and hips shyly: "So Master actually wants to get tangled up with Naurin."

"Of course. In fact, every night I imagine Tally's face is yours."

The succubus's smile froze.

The smile didn't vanish; it just transferred onto Rod's face.

"Hey! What do you mean, Master?!"

"Really?! Hehehe—Oh, Tally, don't be angry either. As my substitute, you should be happy too!"

"Go fuck your mother!"

Rod pushed away the furious Tally, who was about to jump into a fight, and smiled as he spoke to Naurin:

"Do you like the gift?"

"I love it!"

Then, right in front of Rod, she stomped every head one by one, crushing them like blood-filled balls.

Who knows what principle was at work, but blood and brain matter splattered all over Naurin's face and white dress, who existed as a soul form. Combined with her pure, joyful smile, Rod didn't know what to say.

There was nothing to be done.

As a Cursed Grudge Demon Dragon, resentment was simply the most delicious thing to her.

These few heads were also fine selections Rod had specially picked from the death-row prisoners in the underground prison.

It was making full use of the materials.

"Is the dragon body construction acceptable?"

Rod wrapped his palm in spiritual energy and wiped the liquid splattered from the bursting eyeball off the dragon-soul girl's face.

Naurin chuckled, enjoying the caress. After he finished, she wouldn't let him leave; she pressed her hands against his broad palm and rubbed her cheeks against it.

"Thanks to Master, the progress is excellent! The first dragon body material has been fully digested! And the location of the second dragon body material has already been found!"

(End of this chapter)