Encroachment

I fell into a deep sleep and woke up at noon the next day.

Lucy-nuna was also sleeping next to me, hugging me.

As I stirred, Lucy-nuna opened her eyes.

“Kyle. Are you awake?”

“Nuna. If you’re tired, sleep more.”

“No, let’s wake up together. Hehe.”

“But what should we do? The bedsheets are completely covered in semen and vaginal fluids.”

“We can just wash them. I want to have the same kind of sex with Kyle again today~”

“Then, how about a morning kiss?”

Lucy-nuna’s lips met mine, and after exchanging saliva while intertwining our tongues, we parted.

Jjooeok jjooeok jjooeok

“Hehe. Kisses with Kyle are so sweet and good.”

Lucy-nuna and I got out of bed.

Lucy-nuna put the bedsheets in the laundry basket, then went to the kitchen and made a delicious stew with seasoned vegetables and meat.

“Kyle. Eat a lot~ Hehehe.”

“Looks delicious! Thanks, Nuna!”

It’s a new feeling to sit at the table and have lunch with the person I love.

It feels like a dream from Earth is coming true, and I would be so happy if I could live like this forever.

I decided to talk about my plans for the future.

I had acquired general knowledge about this continent and village through Lucy-nuna’s brain.

“Nuna. It’s just the two of us who are Tentacles, and everyone else is human. We’ll get caught someday, and we need to make a plan.”

“What does Kyle want to do?”

I thought carefully and answered.

“I want to make it so that no one on this continent can ignore the Tentacles. I have the ability to do that, and I have some confidence. Someday, when you and I have a child, I want to make the whole continent praise that child.”

Lucy-nuna looked at me with proud and respectful eyes, reached out, and stroked my hair.

“Kyle! You’re so cool. And, and I definitely want to make a baby with you too!”

“Of course. It’s not like we can raise a baby right now even if we had one. When I was a God-nim, I followed you around and looked around this village and made a plan, and I’ll tell you about it.”

“Okay!”

“First, we need to erase Elvin’s traces in the basement. No matter how much you used the teleport scroll, you are Elvin’s closest person and are a suspect.”

“That… I can handle it. I have a drug that can completely erase the corpse and blood. We can burn it with magic too.”

“Then that’s good. I can turn a female body into a hatchery, and I’m going to use this hatchery to give birth to brain-parasitic Tentacles. And I’m going to secretly parasitize these parasites into the villagers and slowly increase our numbers. The female body to use as a hatchery has to be someone no one looks for.”

“Wait! I don’t want Kyle to impregnate any woman other than me!”

“Ah. This isn’t my child. I’m just using it as a tool to create my soldiers. None of my semen will go in.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! I love you the most, why would I let another woman carry my child?”

“Kyle! I love you!”

Lucy-nuna suddenly hugged me tightly, so I stretched out my Tentacle legs, hugged her, and stroked her back.

I continued my explanation.

“But it’s meaningless to just increase the number of villagers who have parasites. That’s because there are strong people in this village. No matter how many ordinary people we make our allies, we can’t win with force if the strong people remain human. It’s not easy to parasitize the strong.”

“Hmm. I guess so.”

“Excellent strong people can even guess the food that contains poison or medicine by instinct. And it’s hard to subdue the strong with force by using ordinary people. It’s not like the strong people will just stand still and say, ‘Catch me’.”

“Then we need to make a plan. Do you have a plan?”

“First, the most important people in the village are Mayor Edgar, Guard Captain Winston, and Priestess Melissa. Edgar is weak in force, but he has the authority to run the village, and most of the villagers follow him. Winston said he used to be a knight, so he’s probably an Aura Master-level swordsman and has the best force in the village. Melissa runs the village church and is a powerful priestess. Paladin Zenos, who is close to Melissa, will also be strong.”

“Then we should target Edgar, who is the weakest in force, first.”

“That’s right! Our advantage is that no one knows about us yet. Who we are. What our purpose is. By the time the villagers notice, most of the villagers should already be on our side. In that sense, it’s best to make Edgar our ally as quickly as possible.”

“Am I smart?”

“Oh my. Did our Lucy-nuna want to be praised? Ujuju.”

I stroked Lucy-nuna’s head with my Tentacle leg.

“Hehehe. Kyle’s Tentacle leg is good.”

“First, I’ll tell you what you need to do. First, get rid of Elvin’s traces and stay quiet while the guard investigates Elvin’s disappearance. When things have calmed down a bit, find a woman to turn into a hatchery. This woman should be someone who is hard for people to notice even if she disappears. After creating a large number of brain-parasitic Tentacles with the hatchery, let’s infect our close friends first.”

“To make them our allies?”

“Put them to sleep with your drug and then insert the brain-parasitic Tentacle into the brain through the nose or ear. Once the brain-parasitic Tentacle enters, they will become our allies. If they become our allies, they will infect their friends and family, and someday there will be many. Oh, and I need to absorb the life force of living things to get stronger.”

“Okay. I’ll prepare humans or animals.”

“Let’s infect people and approach Edgar first.”

“Okay, okay! But Kyle!”

“Why?”

“You’re so sexy. I like Tentacles with sexy brains.”

“What. It’s nothing. Haha. If I’m at home, I might get caught during the guard’s search, so I’ll be underground during the day. Please take care of me, Nuna!”

“Okay! Trust me! I’ll do anything for Kyle!”

Lucy-nuna and I continued to talk happily.

Lucy-nuna decided to get rid of Elvin’s traces first and run the potion shop on the first floor as usual.

A tough fight in Bradon Village awaits us in the future.

It’s a fight of whether we infect everyone first or get discovered and dealt with early.

———————

Guard Captain Winston’s head ached again today.

When Elvin’s mother came a week ago and said that her son had suddenly disappeared, he lightly dismissed it, saying that the young man was probably drunk somewhere.

But Elvin hadn’t come home for three days and hadn’t shown his face at the guard station.

Even Elvin’s guard friends didn’t know where Elvin was.

Eventually, on the fourth day, Winston investigated Elvin’s house with the village guards.

The only clue he found was that Elvin had finished his night shift, met his mother, took a bath, went to the second floor, and then disappeared.

There were no signs of violence or resistance in Elvin’s room.

The window was not open, and there were no shoe marks on the window frame, so it didn’t seem like he had jumped out of the window.

The strange thing about this case was that the bed sheet was missing.

Why did the bed sheet disappear?

Winston could intuitively feel that this was a very important clue.

Guard Mark said to Winston with a puzzled expression.

“Guard Captain-nim. No matter how much I look, there are no traces. It doesn’t make sense unless Elvin disappeared outside the village.”

“Mark. If Elvin went outside the village, then all the guards should be punished for failing to guard.”

“Ah. My mouth said the wrong thing. Maybe he was attacked by something like a Specter? Or a monster we don’t know about.”

“If so, it wouldn’t be an ordinary monster. The bed sheet is gone. Maybe there were traces on the bed sheet, so it was completely removed. It has the intelligence to eliminate evidence.”

“That’s right.”

“And there are no signs of violence or resistance. Even when Elvin disappeared, his parents on the first floor were all asleep. The incident happened silently. Maybe it was someone Elvin could trust, or maybe he was too strong to even resist.”

“That seems to be the case.”

“I think this incident was not Elvin’s own will but caused by someone else. My gut is telling me.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Mark wasn’t very smart, so he just made affirmative expressions, but he trusted Winston’s words very much.

Winston had made a name for himself as a knight when he was young, so he was strong and smart.

The guards put people who were close to Elvin on the suspect list and conducted an investigation.

The first people on the suspect list were Elvin’s parents, but their alibi was too clear, and Elvin was not found even after searching every corner of the house, so the charges were dropped.

The next suspects were Elvin’s girlfriend, Lucy, and Elvin’s friends.

Lucy, Elvin’s girlfriend, was considered a strong suspect, but no clues came out.

Lucy and Elvin had a brief falling out when their pet Horned Rabbit died, but they had recently gotten back together.

Elvin was definitely not at Lucy’s house, and her alibi that she was at home at the time Elvin disappeared was perfect.

Lucy’s magic skills were not high enough to make Elvin disappear from afar.

When Lucy found out that Elvin had disappeared, she even cried and worried.

“Elvin disappeared? That can’t be… I haven’t seen him lately, so he disappeared… It’s my fault. Heuk heuk. I’ve been bothering Elvin lately, so. Heuk heuk heuk.”

“Miss. Calm down. First, I’ll search your house.”

“Yes. Heuk heuk heuk.”

As two weeks passed, the case became more and more mysterious.

Elvin’s parents took a leave of absence and ran around the village looking for Elvin’s traces.

Elvin’s father handed out missing person pamphlets to the villagers and hired mercenaries to walk around the forest outside the village himself.

Elvin’s mother cried and clung to the guards.

“Please save my son!”

“Mother! Don’t do this. Please calm down.”

“What about my son? Eong eong eong. Elvin, where are you! Elvin!”

“Hey rookie! Quickly support the mother!”

The rookie ran over and supported Elvin’s mother, comforting her with a pitiful face.

“Mother. I’m really curious about where Elvin-sunbae is, and the guards are trying their best to find him right now. Please go home. What if you get sick and collapse when Elvin comes back?”

“Our Elvin. Elvin. Eong eong eong.”

The guards, Elvin’s parents, Lucy, and Elvin’s friends were all mobilized to search for Elvin.

But even after three weeks, Elvin did not appear, and no traces could be found as if he had evaporated.

Eventually, Village Chief Edgar put out 100 gold from the village fund to find Elvin, and Elvin’s parents put out 400 gold, so a total of 500 gold Elvin bounty posters were posted on the village square bulletin board.

Now all the villagers were looking for Elvin’s traces with their eyes on fire, but no matter how hard they tried, Elvin was not there.

After a month passed, everyone gave up.

Lucy seemed to be greatly shocked by Elvin’s disappearance.

Elvin’s friends all comforted Lucy.

There was always a shadow on Lucy’s face.

Lucy spent more time in the potion shop without meeting people.

When her friends occasionally went to visit Lucy to comfort her, Lucy cried and regretted that she had made Elvin angry.

Her friends told her that Elvin’s disappearance was not Lucy’s fault.

Her friends were very sad that Elvin and Lucy had a brief period of ennui but overcame it and got back together, but such an unfortunate event happened.

Even in the second month, the Elvin bounty poster was still posted on the village square bulletin board, but Elvin faded from people’s minds.

Now, even if someone looked at the poster, they would just think, ‘I hope he’s found someday’ and just move on.

Elvin’s mother’s cancer recurred due to stress, and his father quit all his jobs and focused on nursing his wife.

Lucy occasionally packed food or gave pocket money to comfort Elvin’s parents.

Elvin’s father was very grateful.

“Father. It must be very hard for you, please eat some rice here. And here’s the hospital bill.”

“Oh my. Our daughter-in-law. Thank you. Thank you so much. Elvin needs to show up quickly… Where is our son who didn’t take such a good lady?”

Lucy gradually started going out and meeting people and living her life.

When Lucy met her friends, she didn’t laugh and chat as actively as she used to, but she smiled quietly with a slightly shaded smile and talked.

That’s how Elvin seemed to be forgotten.

———————

Marin is a 23-year-old cat beastkin living in Bradon Village.

Marin has short red hair, blue eyes, and cat ears sticking out above her head.

Marin has an innocent cat-like cute face.

Marin’s hands are like human hands, but there is red fur on the back of her hands, and her feet look like cat feet.

Marin is 163cm tall, has red fur all over her body like a beastkin, has C-cup breasts, a slender waist, and round hips, and has a red cat tail on her hips.

Many Bradon men wondered if Marin’s pubic hair was also red, but no one knew the truth.

The reason Marin came to Bradon Village was because of catnip.

Catnip has a drug-like effect on cat-type beastkins, so it is a strong prohibited item in cat-type beastkin villages.

Marin couldn’t quit catnip, so she came to Bradon Village to grow catnip.

Marin’s house was in a secluded part of the village.

Marin’s detached house had a stone wall that blocked the view of the house and yard from the outside.

Marin grew catnip and potatoes in one side of the yard and prepared a small pond to raise goldfish that she ate as snacks.

Marin was almost self-sufficient.

Marin was also an archer with excellent tracking and searching skills, so when she was short of money, she participated in monster hunting as a short-term part-time job.

Marin’s hobby was crouching in a box, basking in the warm sunlight, and smoking catnip.

“I’m happynya~~”

Marin surprisingly had no friends.

The reason was because she stupidly added ‘nya~’ to the end of her sentences.

Marin kept saying ‘nya~nya~’, so even the same cat beastkins avoided her.

Most women gossiped behind her back, saying that she was trying to seduce men with her concept or that her brain was damaged by catnip.

When Marin first came to Bradon Village, many men rushed to date a cat beastkin who said ‘nya~’.

But they had already given up on Marin’s iron wall defense.

Marin didn’t care much because she liked being alone.

Marin was always happy as long as she had catnip, a box, and something to eat.

Marin had only one friend in this village, and that was the kind and sociable Lucy.

Lucy just didn’t gossip behind her back and treated her without hurting her feelings, but Marin, who had no friends, thought of Lucy as a friend.

Lucy came to Marin’s house after a long time.

“Marin! Marin! Are you home?”

“It’s Lucy-da nya?!”

Marin opened the door in the stone wall and greeted Lucy happily.