Secret (4)

"Liliath sure picked herself a pretty good night clothes don't you think?"

"Yeah sure.. that's quite a suggestive remark you got there father," I spoke, sitting on the couch as I updated my Arthub profile.

Finally, there's some momentum in growth— I'm going to break into my first ten thousand.

I've been growing my account for almost a year now. I can't tell if I'm being impatient with this because I'm being corrupted by all other accounts that shot into 6-digit follower range in 3 months or something else— feels kinda meek. I should be happy about hitting my goal but.. rather.. I feel like this achievement no longer means anything anymore..

It doesn't matter how many followers I have, there's always another mountain to climb so might as well just enjoy it.

It's a conflicting feeling.. I know I shouldn't really be anxious about these things because it doesn't help one bit— at the same time, I feel the fear of falling complacent if I don't feel anxious about going further— urgghh..

"Oh, congratulations, very close to 10k, that's an incredible achievement."

"Yeah.." I don't know what I should be feeling.

"You don't seem all that happy?"

"If I feel happy about 10k then I'll feel sad that I'm not at 20k, or when I'm happy when I'm at 20k, I'll be unhappy because I haven't reached 50k.. it's an endless cycle.."

Hearing that, my father laughed, "Good to hear that you noticed. In fact, you should aim to build 'real' fans, not the following. Those who are truly interested in your work will definitely keep up with you, and that's where you should drop whatever value you can for these people."

"Makes sense.."

I've heard about this before. It's taking what I have and then trying to monetize it a little. Of course, based on logic, it'll take a long time before I can actually earn a living through this. It's like an investment.

I don't know how my father did it— rather, I do, he's got a cheat TALENT so go figure. But his TALENT didn't allow him to cheat his way through social media, the art industry or manga industry though..

Hard work, smart work, and perseverance— I guess? No. That is the answer.

"Oh yeah, you asked me about how I summoned Liliath?"

I picked up my phone— fingers all shaky.

"Before I show it to you, father, promise me that you won't laugh."

"Of course I'll definitely break that promise," my father grinned.

What a devil..

Letting loose a sigh to prepare my mind, I first showed him the gacha app— with that eerie diva face.

He shuddered for a second.

Then tapped the app— nothing happened.

To be expected.

"Huh?"

"That's just how it is, only Liliath and I can access the app for some reason," saying that, I casually brought up the main page of the app.

"That's some good security you got there."

"Ah, well, it's not like I intended it, it just is."

"Gacha— pffttt.."

And he laughed.

Liliath and the little devil, sitting on the table nearby, looked our way.

I waved my arm in response, gesturing it was nothing too serious— since there's really nothing too serious about someone laughing at a girly interface being displayed on my phone.

If anything, Novelle was doing a good job teaching Liliath about technology. I wonder what video they're watching. Hopefully not porn.. or that cartoon.. or Super Glue..

I don't know if my ears were playing tricks on me but I'm hearing some rather obscene sounds of mouthing. S

My mom was in father's office, working. And the only reason father was here with me was because he wanted to spend some time with us, since he just returned from Orlando.

Anyways.. back to the topic.

"So the shop is where you get the gacha tickets?"

"Yeah."

"These points— ah, so you get them from doing 'stuff' with Liliath right?"

"Basically."

"And quests?"

"Also a source of these points."

Ah crap.. I forgot to attend to some of these quests. I've actually set a target of 2 a day. Wait. Liliath and I did actually complete 2 quests, just that those quests were 'special' quests.

Hm..

The special quests don't add to the upgrade gauge it seems..

"PPFFT—- HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA"

Father.. please.. that's deafening. And it's 9 pm at night, what would the neighbours think if they heard us?

"MAKE LOVE? SERIOUSLY? AHAHAHAHAHA"

Ah yes.. it's worth 200 points, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, you're not going to have a grandchild so soon, sorry to disappoint you.

You know what, I'm going to trash it right this instant. And I'll also get rid of the 'finding Liliath's favourite food' because she might never come to a decision in the next few weeks.

"WAIT, no?! How can you?! That's 200 points! 200 points!" his voice mingled with laughter.

"Give it up already— you pervert."

His laughter only grew crazier.

30 seconds went by.

"Ahem," he faked a cough, citing that he had finished laughing his ass off.

"Can we continue?" I said in a slightly irritable tone.

"Please."

Since my father was unable to touch, let alone scroll through the app, I had to assist him in his quest to find the most exotic item in the Liliath specific shop.

"Huh?! You can buy these here?"

"..."

I'm just as surprised as my father. Is it just me or does the store change with time? I remembered seeing the rare-candy that increases the level of a 'creature' by one, but it had disappeared for some reason.

Oh, right, you were wondering what in the heck my father was surprised about right?

It's called:

An aphrodisiac.

Literally— an illegal item.

There's one in powder form, another in liquid form, not to mention one in gas form. And with scalable potency too. Now that's downright amazing…

It's as if the system wants me to do it. But no fucking way, I'm prioritizing my chastisy.

Like holy fuck… this is scary stuff. I hope Liliath doesn't get access to this app when she gets her own phone..

I'm raising a flag, aren't I?

I felt a shiver down my spine.

"Alright, alright, scroll on."

"Y-yeah.."

Passing through the fantasy metal section—

"Orichalcum? Ah.. the price though.. 10000 for ten grams? That's insane—"

"It is."

"— ly cheap."

That caught me off guard somewhat.

10000 points are equivalent to me catching Liliath naked 200 times. I wish my father knew the struggles I'm going through just to rack up these points.

"You know it's pretty hard to collect these points right?"

"Hm? Really? All you need to do is marry Liliath and you two can do everything possible thing you two want, I'm sure you'd be 100 times more efficient in points collection in that way don't you think?" he spoke as if whispering.

I had no words to retort. Sometimes I wonder what goes through my father's mind. How did my mom fall for such a guy again?

"I give you my blessings as your father, go for it," he pushed me a thumbs up.

Disgusting..

"Which kind of reminds me, Liliath is a princess right? And you said she was a slave before she arrived. Do you know about her situation? I'm not forcing you to tell me but I'm somewhat worried."

Huh?

"Hasn't mom told you the reason why Liliath became a slave in the first place?"

"She doesn't know anything about it though?"

So does this mean Liliath hasn't told mom yet? About her being a demon lord?

I glanced over in Liliath's direction. She and Novelle were still engrossed watching videos on a laptop.

Those two are close— so has Liliath told my sister about it?

"Well.. I'm thinking it's best if she told you about it herself.. I was told to not talk about it. She'll tell you when she's ready."

"Okay."

"I guess?"

It's been about a week, I guess it'll take more time for Liliath to open up. Which reminds me—

I returned my gaze to my phone.

"I-Is this.. a philosopher's stone?" my father stuttered.

"Oh, yeah it is."

5000 points. A single philosopher's stone. The description there says: core of a demon lord; evolution material.

"Can I assume Liliath came from a world of demons and dragons? Demon lord, specifically."

I felt a stare— it was Liliath. Looked like she heard— she probably paid attention to my conversation with m-my father?! She didn't hear anything weird like marrying me off to Liliath right?

"Yeah, your typical fantasy isekai, with demi-humans and such."

"OOooh, so there are dungeons too?"

"Not sure about that?" I might have to ask Liliath. There are many different kinds of isekai after all.

"Interesting.. evolution material huh?"

Hm.. now that he said it, it is weird how the description describes it as an evolution material. Aren't philosopher stones supposed to be a perpetual powersource?

Or…

"It's great how you don't even need to kill a demon lord to get this item, Noel, your TALENT is a cheat," my father turned to me and grinned.

"Uh.. yeah. Actually, I haven't tested what would happen if I lost my phone so.."

"Ah, you're right.. I guess it's a good idea to get you another device."

"Uh.." I wanted to say that he didn't need to go that far but.. for safety purposes, it would be better to go with his opinion, "Thanks"

"And one for Liliath too," he added. "Speaking of which, about Liliath's medical checkup, I'll bring you two to the hospital so get ready for tomorrow."

"Got it."

We left it at that.

Shitty stuff becomes the topic of a conversation but— it's to me, what it means to be a family.