Chapter 72 : Dogsius's Gender

Dogsius's Gender

Returning to the real world and facing the awkward situation before her, Serea spoke up.

"Ce... Celia."

"Hmm?"

"Lend me some clothes."

Celia was stunned for a moment, then got up and walked over to a wardrobe.

"I advise you not to use that ability anymore, especially considering this is Her Highness's body."

"Mm."

Serea responded obediently. Celia took out her luggage from the wardrobe, searched for a while, then tossed some clothes to Serea and helped her put them on.

"Can we start now?"

"Mm."

Serea lay prone on the bed, and then Celia wet an elven cloth and wrung out most of the water.

She gently placed it on Serea's body over the clothes. Feeling a cool sensation on her back, Serea shivered.

"Hiss~"

"If it's cold, bear with it for a bit—it'll be over soon."

As Celia spoke, she gently wiped Serea's body for her. Once her skin adjusted to the temperature, Serea began to feel an unprecedented sense of comfort.

Feeling Celia's skillful hands, Serea suddenly thought of something.

"Dogsius!"

"Your subordinate is here."

"Are you the one controlling Celia's body?"

"Uh... No."

"Huh?"

Serea was a bit surprised.

"In addition to being Her Highness Serea's royal guard, I'm also Her Highness's chief maid. There's no need for Dogsius to instruct me on such things."

"A maid that can't cook, huh..."

Serea retorted, and upon hearing this, Celia gritted her teeth and pressed heavily on Serea's shoulder.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

With torn muscles, even Celia's gentle pressing made Serea feel a stabbing pain.

"It was just a joke..."

Serea said resentfully, but at this moment, she remembered something else.

"Wait, Dogsius, I have a question about your gender."

"Ah? My master wants to know about that?"

"Mm, it's rather important."

"Is that so..."

Dogsius was silent for a moment, and Celia stopped her movements, feeling her control over her own body being taken away. Celia sensed something bad was about to happen.

Suddenly, she struck a very 'idol-like' pose and flirtatiously winked at Serea.

"I am Celia-chan, you know!"

Seeing Celia being controlled by Dogsius to strike such an embarrassing pose, Serea was completely stunned.

After control was returned to Celia, Celia punched herself hard at her own chest.

Bang!

That punch seemed heavy, and it hit the precise spot where Dogsius was parasitizing her...

Then, still a bit peeved, Celia picked up the elven cloth and continued nursing Serea.

"Hehe, so, about your gender."

"Uh... Parasite demons have no gender. After parasitizing a living being, we gain all the memories of the host, and we take over their body as well, so strictly speaking, we become whoever we parasitize."

"So, you don't have a gender, or it's more like you're female for now?"

"Mm, mm, mm."

"I see."

Serea let out a breath of relief.

Even though she was in a female body now, she would have felt somewhat resistant if a person of the opposite sex had seen her like this.

"The back's all cleaned up."

"Huh?"

While Serea still looked confused, she was flipped onto her back...

Thirty minutes later, after Serea had been wiped down and her soaked clothes dried using Holy Light, Celia supported the limping Serea out of the wooden house.

As soon as they stepped out, they saw Lola approaching.

"My Queen, is your body all right?"

"I'm fine. Now I want to check on the progress of the Blood Well's construction—you can accompany me, Lola."

"Oh, yes, and I was just about to report on that. The Blood Well has already been completed—in fact, it's been over-completed."

"Over-completed?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, you'll see when you come with me."

"Let's go, then."

With Celia's help, Serea walked step by step to the back of the elven village, where the elven altar was being remodeled.

As soon as they arrived at the back of the village, Serea saw a huge round building guarded by many Skeleton Warriors.

But after glancing at the structure a few times, Serea was drawn to a strange skeleton.

"Hm? Handsome one, who are you?"

Looking at the tall undead draped in a black cloak and wearing a bone mask, Serea didn't immediately recognize Little Black.

"Replying to My Queen, your humble servant Little Black."

"Little Black!!!"

Serea screamed. After confirming the mental link, she verified that this undead in front of her was indeed Little Black. Taking another look at Little Black's stats, Serea exclaimed again.

"Whoa, what happened to you?!"

"Thanks to your blessing, my queen, I have evolved once more. I shall continue to serve you with this new power. From now on, Little Black will be your sharpest sword in the darkness."

Little Black knelt on one knee and spoke fluently, not stuttering at all—his intelligence was now no different from that of an ordinary person.

"Evolved?"

Serea spoke as she recalled that, while unconscious, she had vaguely heard something about 'evolution'.

"All right... With your evolution, Little Black, in terms of combat power, you're now only behind Celia."

That was Serea's assessment. As for Lola, her support profession made her a significant weak link in terms of combat.

"By the way, was the task to assassinate Niltos Terance completed?"

"Your subordinate has completed it."

"Were you discovered?"

"No."

"Excellent. Get up. You're much better than the old reckless-version. Good work!"

"... Thank you for Your Majesty's praise."

Little Black was silent for a while before replying. Serea then stopped paying attention to him.

Fixing her gaze on the massive, round stone building, Serea asked:

"System, can I unlock the Blood Well now?"

System: 'Blood Well' blueprint matches 94% with the constructed building. Unlocking is possible.

"Huh? Building compatibility?"

System: When unlocking building units, the more similar the host's building is to the blueprint, the higher the compatibility. Using rare materials also increases compatibility slightly. Compatibility affects the building's quality.

"What's a good target for compatibility?"

System: 50% or greater is sufficient for construction; above 80% is considered excellent.

"Then 94% is more than enough. Start unlocking!"

Author's Note:

Ahem, don't say this was filler—this daily life scene was added on the spot. I noticed a lot of you were curious about Dogsius's 'gender', so I laid the landmine for you.

(To be continued...)

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=