In the morning, a letter from the capital reached Marissa's office. It was from Count Evesys, requesting the return of Rebecca and her companions to Evesys House. Marissa promptly called her new knights to discuss the situation.
"Rebecca, I've received a letter from Evesys House asking for your return, and they want your friends to accompany you. What do you think? Oh, and where's Nana?"
"Are you going to hand us over?" Cecile asked, concerned. "Nana's at home. I think she caught a cold. Does she have to come?"
It wasn't really a cold. Nana was utterly exhausted after Hiro's relentless play the entire night. She was so sensitive now that even walking made her moan. Hiro felt a bit guilty, but he was done with her using him as a fantasy tool for Alex.
"Not at all," Marissa reassured. "I've already registered you as my knights. I have no intention of handing you over to your house. I just wanted to clarify—none of you plan to return to House Evesys or the Kingdom of Latvin, correct?"
"Absolutely not," Rebecca said firmly. "Count Evesys wanted to kill us to take our symbiotes. I would like Kingdom Litmus to protect us."
"That's despicable," Marissa said with disgust. "Here in Litmus, stealing symbiotes is a crime of the highest order." She began writing a reply. "Well then, let's refuse them."
As Marissa wrote, Hiro slithered out from Rebecca and curled around Marissa's neck, curious about the letter. Marissa glanced at him briefly and returned to her writing before pointing to a nearby box. "Clarissa and Maroon defeated several pangolins and collected their scales. Could you turn them into ores?"
Without hesitation, Hiro extended his tentacles from Rebecca, opened the box himself, and absorbed the scales. After processing them, he handed 80% of the raw ore back to Marissa, keeping a portion for himself. He had plans to forge a sword for Cecile later.
"Come on, Hiro..." Rebecca complained, thinking Hiro was being rude. Marissa, however, just smiled.
"I wonder if a wild symbiote will ever come to me," Marissa mused. "It seems nice to have a lifelong partner, doesn't it? I didn't even know wild symbiotes existed."
"We're really fortunate. Without him, we'd either be dead or sold off by bandits," Rebecca said.
It was a harmless conversation, but Hiro, intrigued by Marissa's words, turned his tentacle toward her. Her casual remark sounded like implicit consent to let him parasitize her, too. He wanted to feel her—her soft, supple body—and wondered if his new skills could heal her legs. Lewd thoughts aside, he inched his tentacle closer to Marissa, appearing to leave Rebecca.
"Ara? Do you want to be with me?" Marissa patted Hiro's tentacle. He nodded eagerly and entwined himself around her. Then, activating his mitosis skill, he separated a tentacle from Rebecca and wrapped it around Marissa's neck. Before he slithered down toward her crotch, embedding himself there, Rebecca screamed.
"NOO! Give him back!" she yelled hysterically, lunging at Marissa. Clarissa and Maroon quickly stepped in to restrain her, while Cecile watched in a panic.
"Give him back! No! Give him back!"
"Eh? Um..." Marissa looked at Hiro, unsure of what to do. In Litmus culture, stealing symbiotes was forbidden, but symbiotes were also considered sentient beings. Hiro had willingly reached out to her. Deep down, Marissa understood Rebecca's distress, but she also secretly longed for a symbiote. With one, perhaps she could cure her paralysis. Rebecca was powerless. She could do nothing against Maroon and Clarissa. Seeing Hiro slithered out from her, she cried.
"Please! My family hates me. My stats are weak. Even though I can use magic, I failed at the magic academy. Even Nana and Cecile can use Hiro better than me! I'm worthless. Without Hiro, I'm nothing. Please! Return him!" Rebecca broke down, sobbing on her knees in front of Marissa, begging for Hiro to come back.
Hiro, taken aback by her desperation, hesitated as he realized how deeply Rebecca depended on him. She usually acted like a brat and seemed to have self-confidence. He never thought Rebecca would cry for him. Knowing someone else cared for him kind of filled him with a sense of happiness, a feeling he hadn't experienced on earth.
Hiro slithered out from Rebecca's crotch and moved up to pat Rebecca's head gently. He wondered if Rebecca's inability to feel anything during their alone time was due to the stress of feeling incompetent. If that was the case, there was nothing he could do but wait until she relaxed more.
"Eh? Why are there two tentacles?" Marissa tilted her head, confused.
"Hiro! Hiro!!" Rebecca hugged Hiro tightly, crying into him. Hiro felt the overwhelming relief flood through her as she broke down. Her motives were purely selfish, but Hiro didn't hate it. He felt a little guilty for teasing her by pretending to leave like that.
"Well, somehow, there are now two symbiotes inside Rebecca. Would you mind if I keep this one?" Marissa smiled gleefully.
"But, Milady, how could someone host two symbiotes?" Clarissa and Maroon asked in unison.
"I don't know. I've never heard of symbiotes living in forests either. I'll have to consult my uncle, the King of Litmus. He's a symbiote holder as well, so if anyone knows more about them, it's him. Prepare my carriage. We'll depart in three days. I will also discuss the rejection letter to Count Evesys there. Clarissa and Cecile, you will accompany me. Maroon, organize the village's defense with Rebecca and Nana."
"Yes, Ma'am," the knights responded.
"Thank goodness…" Rebecca clung tightly to Hiro as Cecile helped her outside.
When Hiro slithered inside Marissa, he found a thin membrane. He was about to break it but stopped himself as he realized what it was—her hymen. Deciding to wait, he nestled just outside of it. He wanted to savor her virginity when the time was right.
As Rebecca gradually calmed down, her breathing steadied. She had been on the verge of hyperventilation and nearly fainted from the shock, leaving Cecile confused. Her eyes remained distant as she held onto Hiro's tentacle tightly. Thankfully, the remote location of the village meant that few people had witnessed the scene.
When Cecile returned to the house with Rebecca, Rebecca immediately went to her room without saying anything. Meanwhile, Cecile was greeted by Nana, who sat with a blank stare. Her breathing was ragged, and her body convulsed from time to time. Cecile knew Nana had just climaxed, even though nothing appeared to have been done to her. Cecile didn't disturb her, knowing that they still had work to do defending the village from rats and iron pangolins. Besides, she didn't know how to handle Nana's current state. If simply sitting could make her climax, Cecile feared that Nana might already be broken.
A shiver of fear ran through Cecile as she observed Nana. She understood what had happened. Hiro had complete control over their sexual urges. Seeing Nana like this made her realize that Hiro could break her, too. Sex with Hiro had been the best she'd ever experienced, but she knew the potential for destruction. He could make her climax endlessly if he wanted. The nights they had spent together had proven that. Cecile couldn't resist the impending climax whenever Hiro caressed her. She always played right into his thumb. Cumming whenever he wanted.
Yesterday, Hiro had been gentle, letting her finish after just one climax. But what if he hadn't? What if he had kept going, making her faint over and over, or worse—what if he had kept her from finishing at all? The mere thought of it made Cecile's mind tremble with dread. It would surely drive her insane.
As she left the house, Cecile could only hope that Hiro would continue to be gentle with her. She promised herself to remain obedient and caring toward him. Her mind was already submissive to Hiro; all she wanted was for him to let her keep her sanity. She knew that if he desired, he could corrupt her until she was nothing but a hollow shell of her former self. He could turn her into a meat toilet whose only purpose was to beg Hiro for sex. The vivid image of her begging, swaying her hips in desperation, haunted her as she moved on to her task of protecting the village.
Meanwhile, in her room, Rebecca suddenly began to undress. Hiro was startled. Rebecca wasn't the type to sleep in the nude, and it was still the middle of the day.
"Hiro, come out. I will serve you," Rebecca said, her voice flat. Feeling pressured, Hiro complied, forming a bed of tentacles. As he enveloped her, Rebecca lay down and began to lick his tentacle. It felt ticklish to Hiro, and thinking she had finally opened up to him, he began to caress her. However, something felt off. Her body was covered in goosebumps, but there was no sense of arousal.
He continued massaging her, but Rebecca's behavior remained strange. She didn't resist like she used to; in fact, she seemed to invite him, moving her body against him as if trying to please him.
"Is it good?" Rebecca asked. "Don't leave me, okay?"
It finally clicked. Rebecca wasn't doing this out of desire or pleasure. She was only offering herself to keep Hiro from leaving her, just like what she did for Alex. Hiro sighed, understanding her actions weren't rooted in any genuine affection or lust. She was afraid and desperate. She now resorts to using her body as a last resort. He saw himself in her, reflecting on his past life before being reincarnated. He remembered how people scorned him, how he'd wanted to be accepted. Rebecca, weak and powerless, was in the same place now. She thought that by presenting herself, she could hold onto him.
"You can go inside. Use me as you wish," Rebecca whispered in an alluring tone, but Hiro was disgusted. He had never hated their sense-sharing bond as much as he did in that moment.
Instead of indulging her, Hiro sighed and gently refused. He enveloped Rebecca, cradling her as he stroked her head, trying to calm her. Rebecca began to sob.
"Please don't leave me..." she cried softly."I will do anything."
Hiro was dumbfounded. It had never been his intention to abandon her. A part of him would always stay in Rebecca's body, even if he used Mitosis. Yet, for some reason, Rebecca was convinced that he was going to leave her.
To be fair, everyone believed Hiro was just a symbiote, and symbiotes didn't replicate themselves like Hiro could. No one thought a human could host more than one symbiote, so Rebecca's fear that Hiro might leave her had some justification in her mind.
Rebecca soon fell asleep in Hiro's embrace, her earlier fears temporarily calmed. With that headache out of the way, Hiro turned his attention to Marissa. She was busy with paperwork, fulfilling her minor duties as the village chief. Her responsibilities were mostly limited to signing documents, but as she worked, Marissa couldn't help but feel the weight of her situation. The farmers remained poor, and the village stayed impoverished. Even with taxes already lower than in most other villages, the cost of imported goods—salt, fruit, spices, iron ore, pottery—ate up most of the villagers' meager earnings.
Yet now, for the first time, Marissa saw a glimmer of hope in the form of the symbiote residing within her. If this village could export iron ore, the income would drastically increase. She could even pay villagers to descale the pangolins. Unbeknownst to her, that hope would soon be betrayed, as Hiro had far more sinister intentions. Ever since he laid eyes on her, he had been mentally undressing her, licking her in his mind. Her full, curvaceous figure—with thick hips, a slender waist, and ample breasts—was everything Hiro had admired in the MILF archetypes of his favorite ero-doujins. And now, this feast of a body was within his reach. To him, it would be rude not to indulge.
And the fact that she was a virgin? That only heightened his excitement. Hiro could barely contain his twisted desire to see this elegant woman, a duke's daughter, writhe under his touch.
And so, his predatory attack on her pure body began.