Vent
"You're an irredeemable beast..." muttered Tatsumaki, reclining against Vahn with her eyes closed in a cozy porcelain bath after he had given her body a thorough cleaning and careful rinse.
"Mmn...perhaps..." conceded Vahn, relaxing with his arms on the tub's rim as he stated, "But, if nothing else, it should have convinced you I have no qualms regarding your size or physique. Short and slender girls have their charms..."
"Oh? And what are my charms...?" asked Tatsumaki, opening her eyes ever so slightly and staring ahead, fully prepared to send Vahn flying or giving his testicles the same treatment as her would-be blackmailers if she didn't like his response.
"Your legs and thighs, for one...I can see why you go out of your way to emphasize them in your Hero ensemble..." remarked Vahn, removing his right hand from the bath's rounded rib and casually caressing the inside of Tatsumaki's right thigh. It wasn't especially plump, but the shape was immaculate, and it was soft to the touch and notably toned. Despite her stature, she possessed C-Rank Strength, B-Rank Dexterity, and A-Rank Constitution, so even if her thighs were placed into a mechanical vice, it would give before her muscles and bones did.
"Alright...and...?" asked Tatsumaki, her blush, which had never fully faded, deepening as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, content that Vahn hadn't made a crass and thoughtless remark regarding her tightness or handleability due to her size...
"There's the general shape of your face, the sharpness of your features, and your hair..." stated Vahn, sliding his hand up Tatsumaki's body, the tip of his middle finger caressing her central line before stopping at her neck. Then, while massaging her throat and vagus nerves, he stated, "Crimson red and emerald green happen to be my two favorite colors...though, due to my hair, skin tone, and eye color, I look best in black, grey, ivory white, and gold..."
"Mmn...I suppose those answers are acceptable..." muttered Tatsumaki, enjoying the feeling of Vahn's hand even though it should have bothered her to have someone grasp her throat. It frustrated at the start, but she was beginning to enjoy how attentive he was, not necessarily treating her as if she were delicate but constantly taking action to make her feel good or comfortable. His cumming inside her seventeen times had made it very clear he wasn't concerned with restraint so much as her comfort...
"When we leave this suite that the palace has prepared for me...mere minutes will have passed outside, right...?" asked Tatsumaki, pulling up her feet and spreading her legs, effectively mirroring Vahn's posture as she allowed the tension to leave her body.
Though Tatsumaki's actions suggested she wanted his hand to travel southward, Vahn continued massaging her neck as he affirmed, "That's right. If you're curious about the specifics, approximately 8.63 seconds have passed since we entered accelerated time. So, even if we just stay here for the duration of your lunch break, that gives us a little more than three months to play with..."
"What an absurdly convenient ability..." muttered Tatsumaki, speaking as if Vahn's power to accelerate the flow of time was a bad thing but readily thinking of how she could exploit it. Her duties as the No. 2 and presently most active Hero kept her extraordinarily busy, so being able to hop over to the palace to rest, recuperate, and relieve stress whenever she pleased was a tremendous and unexpected boon.
With the fingers of Vahn's right hand eventually finding their way to her pussy after she wiggled her knees a few times, Tatsumaki breathed a hot sigh from her nose and revealed, "I spoke with my fool of a sister...I'm not going to have her recant her status as a First-Grade Maid, but I prohibited her from sleeping with you to gain some undefined advantage or leverage over you. That girl is constantly trying to get ahead to prove a point, and it regularly gets her into messes that I have to clean up..."
'Looks like I now get to listen to both sisters complain about the other...' mused Vahn, not minding as he much enjoyed listening to people talk and unload their burdens. It also helped him learn more and better understand the person speaking, so with an abundance of time on their hands, he and Tatsumaki cohabitated for five straight days before she felt she needed to return to work...
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After parting ways with Tatsumaki, Vahn teleported to the first floor to enjoy a stroll and see how things were changing. Even with a residency fee and entry permits for accompanying guests, there were a whopping 6,319 visitors between the first and third floors, and due to the perennial night-time aesthetic, the first floor had the ambiance of an underground market or street festival.
"The Perverted Master is on the prowl notes Misaka, fearing for the heads of her and her Sisters..." remarked one of two patrolling Sisters, prompting Vahn to caress their respective heads and ask them if there had been any trouble before moving on. The encounter unfailingly caused other patrols to appear along his route, but Vahn didn't mind as he regarded the Sisters as children who sought their father's attention.
'Hmmm...?'
Drawn to the sound of a sudden cheer, Vahn meandered his way to and entered a tavern with a rather sizeable crowd gathered around one spot. Drawing closer revealed that something was Kazuma, clearly intoxicated with a red face and a mad cackle, as he triumphantly waved around a pair of black panties with white frills and a red ribbon. As for the victim of his prank, Vahn immediately recognized the petite, slim, red-faced, crimson-eyed brunette in a short-skirted red, yellow-trimmed tunic as Megumin, one of Kazuma's allies but very much underage according to the palace's statutes.
"Oh, shit..." muttered one of the people who looked over their shoulder in response to Vahn's approach, causing others to look back. Moments later, a clear path formed between Vahn and the center of the encirclement, the cheering, teasing, and playful catcalling immediately dying down.
"Huh? Why's everyone so serious all of a sudden...?" asked Kazuma, a lighthearted laugh emanating from his throat before he finally noticed Vahn, causing his eyes to widen to their limits as he promptly froze like a deer in headlights.
"Ha! You're in for it now, Kazuma~!" exclaimed a female's voice, briefly drawing Vahn's attention to a beautiful and noticeably drunk woman with almost translucent blue hair and somewhat angular eyes reminiscent of the sea from the shoreline on a warm, clear day. The balance of her body was very nearly flawless, and her blue hair, which grew darker as it flowed past her waist and markedly lighter as it formed a loop near the top of her head, fixed in place by a spherical, water-blue hairclip, reminded Vahn of Tiamat.
Seeing Vahn look her way, the woman or, more accurately, the Goddess, Aqua, briefly startled before averting her eyes and failing to whistle as if she were trying to play off the fact she and Kazuma knew each other. At the same time, the men who had intentionally trying to get her hammered promptly moved away from her, afraid of being implicated if Vahn decided to start passing out judgments.
Shaking his head, Vahn approached Kazuma, making a show of placing a white glove onto his right hand as he calmly stated, "Henceforth, you will be prohibited from imbibing alcohol within the palace until the day of your twentieth birthday..."
Placing Megumin's panties into Vahn's extended hand, Kazuma nodded his head vigorously and responded, "Y-Yes, Sir! Understood, Sir...!" as if his life depended on the audibility of his response.
Exhaling faintly from his nose, Vahn shook his head a second time before approaching the wide-eyed Megumin, proferring forth the surprisingly mature pair of lace panties as he smiled and stated, "Feel free to take the glove as well. It changes size to fit the user and increases the potency of Explosion Magic..."
"Seriously!?" exclaimed Magumin, freed from her statuesque state as she practically snatched both her panties and the glove from Vahn's hand, her crimson eyes glistening as she prioritized donning the latter, finding it, for lack of a better phrase, fit like a glove. Then, as Vahn extended his wings to shield her from view, she returned her panties to where they belonged, ostensibly as an afterthought...
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"Hey, wait up. I need to talk to you," said the now familiar voice of Aqua, causing Vahn to stop and turn around shortly after entering the alleyway adjacent to the tavern.
"Aqua? What's up?" asked Vahn, briefly catching Aqua off guard with the casualness of his response.
"You're like some Transdimensional God above Gods, right?" asked Aqua, approaching closer in her sleeveless dark blue vest with white trimmings, a very short royal blue miniskirt with a gold-bordered hem, a translucent purple underskirt that gave the impression she was pantiless, a collar with a mint green ribbon with a matching gemstone, detached white sleeves with blue and gold trim, and thigh-high, dark blue heeled boots over white stockings with royal blue trim. She was, in fact, wearing a royal blue thong with white trim, but for one reason or another, it was invisible.
"Something like that..." confirmed Vahn, offering a curt nod before asking, "Is there something you need from me?"
Leaving Vahn a little taken aback, Aqua, who had been doing her best to appear regal by walking forward with crossed arms, abruptly closed the remaining distance between them, grasping his arms, squeezing, and shaking him as she loudly bawled, "I'm begging you! Please pull some strings to let me return to Heaven! I'm tired of living among humans and having to work my butt off just to make ends meet! I promise to take my job more seriously from now on!"
"Alright, calm down..." said Vahn, surprising both Aqua and himself as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, holding her head to his chest in an instinctive effort to console her. Aqua initially tensed at the unexpected embrace, but after several seconds of tense silence, she gripped the back of his yukata with her hands and started crying, staining his front with a fair amount of purified snot...
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After informing Kazuma that Aqua was with him for a consultation, Vahn took the aggrieved Goddess to a high-end lounge to hear her out and pay for her food and drinks. The life she described to him didn't sound all that bad, including living in a mansion and going on adventures, but compared to the leisure and excess she enjoyed before her forced descent, it was a literal difference of Heaven and Earth.
"And that Kazuma...always calling me useless even though he's a stupid Shut-in-NEET...I mean, it's not like I asked to be chosen by him, so where does he get off thinking I need to be useful to him? Stupid, inconsiderate idiot..." grumbled Aqua, slumped with her arms crossed and cheek resting atop her left wrist with a pouty and ruddy expression.
"You've been through a lot..." affirmed Vahn, offering a slight nod as he gave Aqua's back a soft pat and consoling rub. He knew most of the trials Aqua was forced to face were the direct consequence of her actions and selfishness during her time in Heaven, but after hearing her complain and thinking about it, he didn't feel it was fair that she was basically forced to accompany Kazuma merely because he requested her as a Reincarnation Perk. She wasn't even on the list of magical items and abilities he could choose from, but since she had made fun of him, he requested her out of spite, leading Heaven to unilaterally throw her under the bus to teach her a lesson...
Fortunately for Kazuma, Aqua seemingly just needed someone she could vent her frustrations to, as when Vahn asked if she would like to leave her world and become a resident of the palace, she mentioned that he would become even more useless without her to heal and resurrect him when he got himself killed. She did, however, accept a silver key and a bangle that would allow her to access the palace at her leisure and contact him if she needed to vent or wanted someone to drink with...
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