"Yes, Benjamin! Yes, I will like to marry you!" She yelled back at me.

She completely misunderstood my invitation, or maybe she deliberately twisted it into something else.

What is wrong with this girl?

She seriously wants to destroy her "single" marital status as soon as possible.

"Just hold on a little bit, let me pack up my things before we leave!" She said excitedly, her voice echoing off the terrain.

Then she turned and ran into the large cave mouth that was located not far from where we had been talking and cuddling on the stone platform.

I followed her into the cave out of curiosity, wanting to see what kind of belongings a creature like Violette would consider worth packing for a journey.

And I was immediately struck by the sheer scale and opulence of what I found inside.

The "things" that she wanted to pack, her precious possessions, were shiny crystals and sparkling diamonds, with gleaming golden treasures all littering the massive cave floor in careless piles and scattered heaps.

It was as if someone had simply dumped them there without any regard for organization or preservation.

H... How typical of a fantasy dragon to hoard treasures. Of course she has a cave full of gold and gems.

"Uhm, what exactly is all of this?" I asked.

My eyes were half lidded with amusement and exasperation as I surveyed the enormous collection of wealth spread out before me, glittering under the faint magical light that permeated the cave.

"My friends! They are my companions and confidants!" She chirped happily.

Then started pointing at different crystals, gold pieces, and gemstones scattered around the cave, giving each one a name and personality as if they were living beings rather than objects.

She continued: "That one over there is Tōja. She is very shy when meeting people for the first time, so don’t be offended if she doesn’t say hello to you right away. And that one there, the big diamond in the corner, is Mickey; he is loud and dishonest, and will sometimes says mean things. But trust me, deep down he is kind and nice too, once you get to know him properly."

"..."

This girl... she was really crazy all along?

Talking to treasures as if they could hear her and respond, giving them names and personalities, treating lumps of carbon and compressed metal like they were living breathing beings with thoughts and feelings...

...How sad, to be so isolated and alone that you have to invent friends out of the rocks and gems surrounding you.

"Okay... that is... something," I nodded slowly, deciding to play along rather than question her mental state or her relationship with the possessions. "G-Good to meet all of you guys! I hope we can get along well in the future!"

"Same to you, stranger. It’s nice to finally have some new company in this dreary cave."

"Hello there! Welcome! Please feel free to admire my facets, I am quite proud of them!"

"Nice to meet you too, handsome! I like the cut of your jib, as the old sailors used to say! Haha!"

"Hmph, it’s not like it’s nice to meet you or anything, b-baka! Don’t you dare get the wrong idea!"

Ah, that last voice that might be Mickey the diamond. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He certainly sounds loud and dishonest, and kind of annoying, just as Violette described him.

But the voice sounded too feminine to be a "Mickey."

And is "baka" not Shishi-no-su for idiot?

Or was it Japanese? Wait, Japanese and Shishi-no-su are nearly clones...

"..."

Wait a minute...

Did those objects just speak?

These treasures that Violette was talking to, that I assumed were just inanimate objects she had anthropomorphized out of loneliness and isolation...?

"Uhm, Violette, I need you to tell me something important," I said, my voice trembling slightly with shock and confusion as I processed what I had just witnessed. "Those objects you’ve been pointing at and naming... they are... actually talking back to me."

"Hm? Yes, that’s what I told you from the beginning!" She pouted at me, crossing her arms under her massive boobs in a gesture of mild offense. "Did you think I was lying to you and making up stories? GASP! D... Did you think I was crazy and imagining things like a lonely old woman losing her mind in a cave?!"

"No, I did not think such a thing at all. I would never!" I defended myself quickly, trying to salvage the situation and avoid hurting her feelings. "I just... was not expecting the treasures to be literally alive and talking. That is not a common occurrence in most places I have visited. Sentient gems are new to me."

I also urged her not to take so many of the treasure friends with her, only picking a small handful rather than loading herself down with goods that could fill an entire cave to the ceiling. Because it was what she planned to do.

Three at most, I suggested, maybe four if she really insisted, but no more than that.

She whined and complained about the restriction, her lower lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout, but I managed to hold firm on my position.

I can’t have her walking about the world with enough treasure to fill a cave the size of an auditorium, attracting the wrong kind of attention

Where did she even want to put them?.

Practicality had to win out over sentimentality in this case.

And the items themselves were kind enough to support me in this idea, telling Violette that they would be fine waiting for her return, and that she didn’t need to carry all of them with her at once.

So instead of taking everything, she selected only three companions for the journey:

Mickey the talking diamond with the tsundere attitude, Tōja the golden bracelet who was shy around new people, and Silas the magic short sword who did not speak much during our time in the cave but magic sword was something I totally wanted to use one day, so he’s cool.

I enclosed the rest of the treasure friends in [Imaginary Barrier], a protective dome that would keep them safe from intruders and thieves.

No one could randomly come into the cave and take anything while Violette was away.

It was the least I could do for her, given how much she clearly cared about her unusual companions.

And so, with everything settled and secured, I teleported with a new character:

A five-thousand-year-old Brazilian NEET-turned-supreme-serpent-dragon named Violette, along with her three sentient treasure friends.

Now, back to Verdant Spire, where Lotus was waiting for me with varying degrees of patience and irritation.

I hope she won’t be too mad with me for leaving her waiting for too long, even after I had already returned to the Spire and then immediately left again without seeing her properly.

She’s going to give me an earful, I can already tell.

***

**

*

WHAT IF Heka had Died? Part One:

Near the stream, where Heka and Briar stood ready to hop in, Heka had discovered something major: Briar had no reproductive organs—and not even a butthole.

Concerned and sympathetic, Heka began prying at the supposed vaginal area with her finger, trying to see if Briar’s skin was sealing her vagina and butthole.

This quickly became a problem, as Briar started feeling something. Whether it was sexual or primal hunger was unknown.

However, in this "What If" arc... we know exactly what it was: primal hunger.

Briar’s eyes turned golden, her sclera pitch black.

She grabbed Heka’s head as the sensation of being stimulated surged through her petite body.

"Eh...?" Heka’s eyes went wide at the revelation.

The area where Briar’s vagina should have been had expanded, now lined with dripping dark fangs.

The opening grew big enough to cover Heka’s entire head...

CHOMP!

And it did.

It swiftly enclosed the confused and shocked Heka’s head in its maws and snipped it clean off her neck.

...Briar’s lower half began to act as a mouth, chewing and enjoying the taste of the head as Heka’s severed neck sprayed out blood, dripping and dotting the entire area.

Heka dropped slowly to the ground she had been kneeling on, more blood flowing out of the Amazon’s body.

"Shoooo ghood.... Shoooo ghoooood!" Briar muttered with tears in her eyes, her body distorting as she chewed and swallowed the dark-skinned woman’s head in sad glee.

***

Benjamin had just finished fighting with Renard in the Higher Realm and had reached an agreement with him.

But as the summit meeting continued, Benjamin received a sharp telepathic message:

[P... Papa... I’m sorry...]

It was Briar’s voice...

If you want to read the rest, it’s at the discord channel. Get it from my profile.

(⁠ ⁠ꈍ∆⁠ꈍ⁠)