Gardenia’s Heart

Crossing through a freshly conjured portal, Lily once again felt the icy chill of the mist brush against her skin.

“It’s been a while since I came here.”

Her words slipped out with her warm breath, her mismatched eyes shifting to the mountain standing directly ahead. Houses sprawled at its base, and thick walls surrounded everything, keeping the monsters outside at bay.

It was morning in Stardust Spring and, though no sun shone here, many townsfolk were already out on the streets, preparing for the day.

(Don’t forget—we didn’t pay the city’s entry fee.) A voice laced with laughter teased inside her mind.

“That’s right.” Startled, Lily covered her open mouth with one hand and glanced around quickly for any guards. Without wasting another second, she hurried on toward her goal.

(Relax, there aren’t any guards nearby, hihi~) Nia whispered, barely holding back her amusement at watching Lily nervously avoid people’s gazes a little longer.

“You naughty thing~”

Gripping one of the tentacles hidden beneath her cloak until a muffled moan escaped her mischievous wife, Lily finally reached the front of a familiar shop.

The moment she opened the door, the scent of iron, minerals, and oil greeted her. Swords and armor were neatly displayed along the walls, gleaming with care.

From behind the counter, a cheerful voice rang out.

“Lily, it’s so good to see you again!”

Though she stood only a meter and a half tall, her energy filled the room so strongly it was impossible to overlook. Her orange hair was tied into a bun, and her eyes lit up the instant she saw the girl approaching.

“Good morning, Miss Agatha.” A smile spread across Lily’s face as she greeted the middle-aged woman.

Stepping up to the counter, Lily set down a straw basket and removed the cloth covering it.

“It may not be much, but please accept this for all the help you’ve given me.”

A radiant collection of colors met Agatha’s eyes—fruits, vegetables, and drinks of all kinds, stacked generously inside the basket.

Her eyes went wide, and she had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping.

The freshness and quality were undeniable. These weren’t preserved or dried like she was used to—they had been freshly harvested. Such things were impossible to obtain within mist territory without paying a fortune. On top of that, there were so many items she had never even seen before that she could hardly process the overwhelming array of scents flooding her senses.

“B-But Lily, all of this...”

The woman, caught off guard by the sight, struggled to form words—until a gentle hand rested on hers.

“Please, accept it. Eating well is important.”

Lily reassured her once more, her voice carrying such quiet determination that Agatha knew refusal was impossible.

Lily held deep respect for the blacksmith. Not only was she the first person who had ever helped them, she was also the one who forged their weapons and taught them much about the mist. And beyond all that, even now that Lily no longer covered her red left eye, Agatha never once reacted with disgust. In fact, she had even sighed with wonder, as though she wanted to ask more with excitement but didn’t quite know how.

“You really are a girl full of surprises, did you know that?”

With a silly smile on her face, Agatha spoke, barely able to contain the warmth in her chest at receiving such goodwill from the girl. However, just as she set the basket of fruit aside and was about to start a conversation, Lily suddenly raised her voice again.

“Besides, I came to share some big news.” She then placed both hands over her belly. “I’m pregnant.”

The blacksmith’s eyebrows shot up, and she nearly jumped on the spot.

“Congratulations, Lily! That’s amazing!” Such news was radiant, and Agatha made no attempt to hide how genuinely happy she was for the girl. “My goodness, it’s been such a short time since I last saw you. I never imagined you would build a family so quickly.”

With both hands clasped in front of her chest, as if she couldn’t contain her joy, Agatha looked at Lily, who now had rosy cheeks.

“It’s because my beloved wife did her best to make sure I’d never go without her love.” With a smile on her lips, Lily subtly lifted her cloak, and there, clinging to her back with both arms, was a girl with purple hair and a flushed face, hiding timidly.

“H-hello...” Nia managed to say, her crimson eyes drifting toward the floor.

“Oh, Gardenia, I didn’t see you there.”

Replying with a small nod, Nia pressed herself even closer against her beloved. Even though she had imagined and prepared herself for this moment many times, she couldn’t handle the shyness of being praised by Lily so openly in front of others.

Even if her greeting wasn’t perfect, the silver-haired girl couldn’t hold back her emotions—it was time for a small reward.

With a perfectly calculated movement, Lily bent her knees. Just that—nothing more—was enough to make Nia’s whole body tremble as a powerful wave of pleasure overwhelmed her mind.

“Hyaaah!” Nia cried out, but before the sound could escape, she circled around Lily’s body and buried her face against her wife’s chest, muffling her voice.

She had just ejaculated, her trembling body kept from collapsing only because Lily was holding her.

“Good job~” Lily whispered into her ears, as the thick, abundant layer of her wife’s semen—released by her tentacle directly into her anus—sent waves of pleasure rippling through her entire body.

Since Nia had become increasingly mischievous, she always left one of her tentacles inside her beloved’s ass. At first, Lily wasn’t very experienced in dealing with it, but now she could stimulate the tentacle with simple movements, making her wife climax inside her without even raising an eyebrow on her face.

Holding Nia even tighter, her warm fingers traced along the inside of the girl’s thigh beneath her skirt. A dense layer of love juices had been released and soaked into her panties.

“Not even half an hour before we left, I used my throat to suck up all your thick, sticky love juice, but it seems it wasn’t enough~”

With hot breath escaping her lips, Lily gently nibbled on Nia’s ear with her teeth. Her moist tongue sent shivers racing down the already dazed girl’s body, but Lily showed no mercy—she planned to deliver the final blow.

“I’ll let you do whatever you want with me when we get back, so be a good girl and hold on a little longer, okay?”

Only pulling back from the girl’s face after more waves of pleasure rippled through her skin, Lily turned her eyes toward the blacksmith, who was distracted, staring at the interior of her home.

“Where are my manners? I can’t make a pregnant girl remain standing. Let’s go upstairs, I’ll prepare some tea.”

Opening the wooden door that separated the shop from the living quarters, Agatha prepared to guide the girls into her home.

“In fact, there’s another reason we came. We’re sorry, but we ended up damaging one of the swords you sold us, and we came to see if it could be repaired.”

Pushing past the orgasm still invading her mind, Nia held one of the black swords at her wife’s waist along with a cloth sack, presenting it to the blacksmith.

“Of course, but…”

Agatha had no problem repairing the weapons, however, she knew that the hot forge was not a place a pregnant girl should enter. Trapped in a dilemma, she didn’t have to think for long, for a timid voice broke in.

“I’ll handle this, you can go, Lily.”

Taking a brave step away from her wife’s warmth, Nia cleared the way for Agatha and Lily to head upstairs.

Although she wanted to ask if Nia was sure, seeing her wife so courageous in resolving the matter on her own, Lily had no choice but to smile and kiss her on the forehead before following Agatha upstairs.

Watching the two girls climb the stairs, chatting happily about pregnancy care, Nia leaned against the wall and hugged the cloth with her broken sword and the one still in its sheath.

“Lily is so happy about the baby too...”

Her mind radiated so much joy that she could barely handle the smile on her lips.

Placing her little hands against her face, Nia felt how hot her cheeks were, her eyes barely able to focus on anything.

However, doing her best to calm herself, she took a deep breath to focus. Now she had to be the responsible wife her beloved could rely on. For that, one of the first steps was to manage to repair the sword she herself had broken. So, standing up and regaining her determination, Nia headed to the back of the shop, reaching the forge.

Orange tones blended with the heat that could never naturally exist in the mist. Apparently, no one was there, but it wasn’t necessary to search with her mana-location—Nia remembered exactly where the man would be.

“Mister Borago.” She bowed her head slightly and raised her voice as much as her shyness allowed.

From the ceiling of the forge, in a hammock stretched between opposite walls, a man’s body swung rapidly in agitation.

“W-What?”

Awakening from his drowsiness, Borago quickly gripped the hammock, tumbling to the floor while scanning his surroundings in alarm.

After being constantly thrown out of his favorite napping spot by his wife, the blacksmith in his dark overalls had trained himself to wake at the faintest noise, avoiding hitting the ground every single time in the process.

“Ah, young lady, what can I do for you today?”

Finally focusing his confused mind on Nia, Borago scratched his short blue hair with an awkward expression. There weren’t many people invited into the forge, so he wouldn’t forget the girl—especially after seeing her so eager while watching him enchant weapons during her last visit.

“Good morning, Mister Borago. Forgive me for waking you from your sleep. I would like to request the repair of the weapon we purchased from you.”

Since he was the husband of her wife’s friend, Nia would never show disrespect to the old blacksmith. Choosing her words carefully, she handed him the bag along with the intact sword while offering the greeting she thought appropriate.

Surprised by her politeness, Borago accepted the bag—though puzzled—and placed it on his workbench, wondering what kind of repair this might be.

“This is... really complicated.”

But the moment his brown eyes fell on the many broken black fragments, his expression shifted from doubt to deep melancholy.

Forged by his wife and enchanted by him, the stardust sword was so shattered that even if all the pieces were lined up, it would barely resemble the blade it once had been.

“What kind of opponent left it in this state?”

Turning toward the girl with a subtly shaken expression, he asked what could possibly have destroyed such a powerful sword to this extent.

“I broke it while fighting... a dog.”

“A dog?”

Nia couldn’t exactly say she had broken it while fighting a fairy monster, so she gave the answer that best matched the mental image she had of Akasha.

“Is it possible to repair it? The cost isn’t an issue.”

After the battle in Caligo, the girls had obtained more than two hundred gold coins. But now that they had acquired the Labyrinth, they possessed a reliable source of income from the products harvested from the monsters born within, which could later be sold to the elves.

“My specialty is enchanting, so I can’t give you a definitive answer, since I won’t be able to do it alone. But... yes, since we still have the mold, along with the other sword of the set, my wife should be able to restore it to how it was before. All we need to do is mix this material with more stardust to make up for what was lost. For an ordinary blacksmith, it would be a problem to make another exactly the same—but we’re talking about one of the best here.”

Nia couldn’t help but celebrate in her mind.

All she needed to do was leave the sword with the blacksmiths along with a generous amount of money, and then she could leave with Lily and return later to pick up her weapon.

Her cheeks began to warm, as did the space between her legs. Tugging her dress forward slightly to hide her erection, Nia was just about to pull a pouch filled with gold coins from a portal when the man’s voice halted her movement.

“There’s only one problem.”

“Problem?”

Nia repeated so quickly it was almost instant, making the blacksmith jolt in surprise.

“A little over a month ago, all the stardust that had been mined—which should have replenished the city’s stock—was stolen.”

The words were spoken calmly, yet they struck the purple-haired girl so hard she staggered a few steps back.

“Stolen? How is that even possible?”

As though considering where to begin his explanation, Borago brought one hand to his chin, his unshaven stubble brushing against his fingers.

“Miss, do you know how Stardust Spring was founded?”

“A meteor made of highly mana-conductive rock crashed into this mountain,” Nia promptly answered, recalling Lily’s explanation when they first arrived in the city.

“Exactly. That meteor ended up scattering fragments across the entire mountain range in this region. Some of those fragments burrowed so deep into the ground that the entrance to this city’s labyrinth was discovered at one of the impact sites.”

Letting out a small sigh, he looked at the girl once again.

“But since most of the mining for meteor fragments is done high up in the mountains—outside the city—it’s the perfect setup for raiders to strike during transport.”

“There’s no escort?” Nia tilted her head.

“Economically speaking, stardust is an extremely valuable commodity for our country. Many noble families have already offered to take charge of the city, but if that ever happened, every resident here would be abandoned in favor of profit. Since the town hall insists on remaining independent, we have to fund our own protection through taxes. Until now, the guarding was handled by mercenaries from the guild and graduates from the Mage Academy, but it seems even they’ve been defeated.”

Walking toward one of the walls, Borago looked at a small box. Only a thin layer filled the bottom, tiny stones glowing in shades of white and blue, as if shards of the night sky itself had been set into them.

“Mining without proper knowledge and years of training is impossible, so they don’t go so far as to occupy the mines. But continuing to mine is pointless if everything gets stolen afterward. On top of that, we already lost a massive amount of ore in the last raid, which has severely damaged the city’s economy.”

Until the situation was resolved, there would be no more mining carried out by the city. That meant it was impossible for the local blacksmiths to forge new weapons.

“Aah...” Borago released another heavy sigh. “I’m sure the town hall has already requested aid from Caligo through the communication device, asking them to come deal with these bandits. Our relationship with that city is the closest thing we have to a beneficial alliance. In exchange for discounts on our products, they step in during times when our defenses aren’t enough. But I’ve heard things are complicated over there as well. Even with a good beacon route, it’ll still take several days before a capable team arrives to handle the situation.”

Hearing the blacksmith’s explanation made the metamorph sink deep into thought.

Nia knew that the students of Selene were not weak. For a moment, she wondered if it could be a noble family trying to steal the city’s wealth, but another, far stronger possibility came to her mind.

If such a capable group existed, she questioned whether they might be men of Velmont who had managed to escape capture after the fall of the two-star mage.

With Selene still being treated in Lampides, Nia doubted that Abelia—the one who would be in charge of the city in her sister’s absence—had the proper workforce to resolve this issue so quickly.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“What?”

Without a second of hesitation, Nia turned toward the forge’s exit, pulling her hood over her head.

“I’ll be right back.”

Throwing the short phrase to the blacksmith before leaving the room, the purple-haired girl dashed down the corridor and vaulted over the counter, reaching the exit in an instant.

(Lily, I’m going out for a bit.) Nia spoke directly into her wife’s mind. Receiving a whisper of confirmation from the girl in return, she quickly left the shop.

Even though it was still early in the morning, people were moving about the streets. Since there were no proper places to create portals without being seen within the city, Nia had no choice but to walk. Moving swiftly through the streets of Stardust Spring, her crimson eyes drifted down between her legs.

As she walked, thanks to the loose dress, her erection wasn’t noticeable, but if she wasn’t careful, the viscous love juices lubricating her vagina would drip onto the ground.

Nia was so excited by the possibility of getting home quickly that she allowed her imagination to take hold, and now she could no longer contain herself through willpower alone.

The sweet words Lily had whispered in her ear earlier still echoed in her mind. Nia needed to get home as fast as she could.

She knew Lily would come immediately if she asked, but Nia couldn’t bring herself to do that. The metamorph had promised she would behave. It was because Nia had broken her sword that they were here in the first place, and she refused to make her pregnant wife go through the effort of leaving once more just because she couldn’t control her libido.

Besides, she had an even stronger reason to deal with this without delay.

“If they really are the men who once served Velmont Sunshard, I can’t let Lily get involved...”

Her wife had endured dangers and hardships she could never even imagine because of that bastard. Though they had resolved the situation, there was always the chance that some unhappy memory could resurface if she heard about the theft—or worse, if she encountered one of the bandits.

Lily was pregnant. As her wife, it was her duty to protect her beloved and their child.

“I have to get rid of every last one of them and make sure not even a scrap of their bodies ever gets near civilization again.”

Still struggling with the throbbing member swinging uncontrollably under her skirt, Nia muttered her thoughts—something she usually never did—in an effort to calm herself. She was already close to her primary objective when an annoyance emerged.

“Why are you following me?”

Walking at the purple-haired girl’s side ever since she left the shop, the black wolf let out a bored yawn, its tail swaying lazily back and forth.

Not wanting to stay home alone, Akasha had followed their master. Listening to two women talk about motherhood wasn’t exactly of interest to them, so following their master’s wife to hunt down wrongdoers seemed far more entertaining.

One of their fundamental orders was to protect the metamorph, so Akasha wasn’t disobeying any rule by tagging along.

Nia, on the other hand, did not find the wolf’s company particularly pleasant. Being her wife’s familiar, the girl at least tried to maintain a neutral opinion of the creature, despite everything that had happened in the labyrinth.

Since they were in town and Nia still had full control of the part of her body inside Lily to keep her safe, the fairy’s presence to bolster the defenses wasn’t necessary. So, logically, there was no harm in bringing them along — not that Nia knew any way to convince the wolf otherwise, or had time to worry about it.

“Stay quiet and don’t do anything unless I tell you to.” With no better option than to sigh, Nia pulled her hood up tighter and quickened her pace.

The market district was starting to get busy, but the chatter died down as she reached the dark-brick municipal building. Marble pillars flanked the heavy gates, and a thick veil of mana from the city’s mages washed over them the moment she crossed the threshold.

As on her first visit, none of the mages in the hall bothered to hide their mana. This time, however, Nia had no intention of remaining unnoticed.

“Hhk...”

“Ah...”

The whole chamber seemed to shrink instinctively; everyone’s eyes fixed on the person who had just entered. Their teeth chattered as if their jaws were trying to cope with the bitter cold welling up from the core of their beings.

By instinct rather than fear, each person bowed their head.

Nia had already calculated that the aura spawned by her bloodlust alone was strong enough to freeze those with power comparable to a two-star mage. She couldn’t match the range of beings like Akasha — who could cover the entire forest if they wished — but in terms of sheer quality, she knew she could inspire the same kind of terror she’d felt when she first encountered the wolf in the labyrinth.

It was an ability to induce such a deep, paralyzing fear that the very idea of resisting became impossible, preventing any attempt to act.

Step by step, she walked through the municipal hall. She didn’t want anyone approaching her to talk.

For now, of course, she released only a fraction of her bloodlust. Nia knew that if she unleashed it fully, any non-mage civilians present would probably die. She was tempted to test exactly how much bloodlust was required to kill a human for future reference, but that was not something Lily would approve of — after all, these people weren’t evil.

Walking carefully so that no one would notice her penis throbbing with desire for her wife, the metamorph strode straight to the counter. Those in line politely made way for her.

Nia wanted to resolve the matter as quickly as possible; first she needed information.

“I’ve come from Caligo about the cargo thefts.” A small portal flickered open beneath her cloak; from it she took out a crest bearing a dragon and held it up to the receptionist with practiced ease.

Nia didn’t like to talk more than necessary to strangers, so she summarized the situation as efficiently and coherently as she could.

She imagined there might be some kind of official document or something similar to prove she was authorized to carry out the task, but the crest should be enough.

The receptionist’s expression shifted to surprise the moment the crest was placed in her hand.

“But… just you, miss?”

It wasn’t unusual for young mages to be capable, but the fact that Caligo had sent only a single girl to handle the situation didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

“Yes.”

Unsure how to respond in this specific situation, the woman sweating cold turned her head from side to side frantically. As expected, the other receptionists simply averted their gaze.

“Miss, please come this way. The mayor will give you all the information.”

Trying not to stammer, the woman attempted to guide Nia to the back of the municipal building, passing the responsibility up the chain of command.

“That won’t be necessary. You can summarize everything for me yourself. I’m leaving now.”

Her suggestion was immediately rejected.

“But you must be tired from the trip, right?”

She tried again.

“No need.”

And again, her offer was refused.

“But…”

“No need.”

Nia couldn’t understand why the woman simply wouldn’t tell her the information. She wanted to get started on the search immediately, and every extra second here kept her from returning quickly to her beloved.

“O-okay, just give me a moment,”

With her focus entirely on taking action, the receptionist quickly opened all the packages of important documents and expertly examined everything relevant.

Years of work and dedication to her profession proved useful: in less than a minute, she had gathered all the materials related in any way to the cargo theft. In record time, she organized everything into a single document and handed it to the girl in front of her.

“Miss, forgive the question, but… is that a monster?” The woman shrank back slightly as she delivered the papers, gesturing with her hand toward Nia’s side.

Silent as instructed, the black wolf — whom Nia had momentarily forgotten was there — had a bored expression, its blue eyes staring disinterestedly at the frightened mages.

“It’s a dog.”

Just as with the blacksmith, Nia gave the answer she judged most appropriate to describe Akasha.

“But miss…”

When her perfectly chosen response was questioned, she had no choice but to puff her cheeks.

“It’s a dog.”

Turning to the ‘dog,’ Nia extended her hand with the palm facing up.

“Shake.”

It took the fairy a moment to understand what the girl wanted, but without question, Akasha simply extended a paw toward the outstretched hand.

“Roll over.”

When the paw was released, Akasha watched as Nia gestured toward the ground beside her, curling her index finger. With no choice, the white blades on their back retracted, leaving only black fur, and they began rolling back and forth on the floor.

“See? A little puppy.”

Although not a fully sentient being, this didn’t mean the fairy couldn’t understand basic instructions.

As Akasha rolled on the floor with a frosty expression reminiscent of their master, they glanced at the purple-haired girl watching them with a subtle smile. They knew she was enjoying it.