Chương 342: The Whimsical Duo

Gigi and Ophelie were the youngest of the bunch. Unlike the rest, who had clearly grown to become young women, they still remained young girls, and it was apparent in not just their appearance but also their behaviour and the way they occupied themselves.

The advantage was that they weren't the sort to overwork themselves with training, as they would inevitably lose focus and start playing a game–Well, Ophelie could get quite lost in plush-making, but that wasn't a problem when Gigi would always swing by to play tag or hide-and-seek. The little demoness was certainly quite energetic, despite one of her favourite games requiring her to be quiet and patient. She was indeed quite talented at hiding, and she could stay hidden for hours without budging.

I suppose it simply wasn't boring to her, since she was playing a game, after all. Her affection for these games was reflected in her abilities. She pretty much had three different powers. The first was the ability to cause someone to feel irrationally unsettled by simply staring at them. The built-up unsettlement remained even if line of sight was broken, allowing Gigi to move around and relocate without losing progress.

This married especially well with her second power, which was to emit a giggle that was basically guaranteed to push the people hearing it to be distracted and search for its source. The more unsettled the people hearing it, the more effective it would be on them. This, in turn, worked perfectly well with her third ability.

If someone catches sight of her but fails to immediately lock eyes onto her, she'll be granted the opportunity to pretty much teleport away, which works splendidly well to make people even more unsettled. They will either realise that they are dealing with a threat that is incredibly fast, or they will start to doubt their own eyes. Of course, it is important to note that none of these abilities holds the capability to kill. Gigi is also a small girl.

Even when she grows up, she probably won't be that much taller than she is now. As such, she's pretty much doomed to always stay in support. It worries me to think that one of my precious little sisters won't be capable of properly defending herself if alone, but Gigi made up for it by being impressively slippery. Also, Gigi was unlikely to ever be by herself, considering that she did pretty much everything with Ophelie.

These two had really hit it off when the latter had joined the group, probably due to the fact that they were of similar age. At any point of the day, it wasn't unexpected to spot these two skipping around, humming a song whilst holding hands and swinging their arms. I remember back when I was a human, and the ruler of Rootriska was still the father of the current king, it would have been hard to imagine a little demoness and a little human girl being friends like this.

The old man of Algo Irmandelt Rootriska had been a deeply unpleasant man, especially when he got older, and it started to become obvious that his strength wouldn't allow him to push back death much longer. He had never been that great to begin with, but I'm quite confident he was growing senile toward the end. A mad king is a recipe for disaster.

Normally, this would risk causing nearby countries to attack, but Rootriska had already been a great power at the time, and the people of Rootriska would rather die for their aged, now unfit king than be ruled by a foreign power. I died in that musty backroom before I got to experience the conclusion of it all myself, but from what I understand, the old king was dethroned as his son won over pretty much the entirety of the court, and even had the public opinion behind him.

I don't think the old king was executed, but he has probably died of old age by now. … I rambled in my own head again. All that to say that for someone like me, it is still quite recent when tensions between the nations that are now part of the Continental Alliance were strong. I reached out and patted Gigi's head. It always made her smile when I scratched between her little horns.

"Is everything alright here in the Mindscape, Gigi? Are you not getting bored with your Hide-And-Seek Forest?" The forest hadn't changed at all since it had first appeared, and Gigi didn't seem interested in switching things up. Nonetheless, I asked the question–Just in case Gigi had forgotten that she could rearrange how the forest was laid out.

"No, It's fine! I haven't found all… Hiding spots in it, yet!" I suppose one rule of playing hide-and-seek with her was that hiding spots couldn't be reused, and the forest was hiding quite large, so… I suppose the point is to add extra challenge and make everyone actually have to bother finding a new good way to hide. I ran my fingers against her blue horns. They were of a slightly darker shade than her body. Before her form became as lively as it is now, one of her horns had been shattered.

In fact, her entire face had been disfigured. She had still been adorable despite this fact, but now that no injury, rot, or anything of that nature remained, her cuteness was in full display. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Since she'll probably grow a head taller at most, she'll definitely remain adorable even as a young woman…

I am not too clear on what the typical man who prefers cuteness in a woman's looks is like, but no matter what, there are always undesirables. I'll just do some scouting to learn the terrain for her sake. I'll use my 'Gynoid Form' to be similar to the halfling form I had in that one final trial, and I should be able to quickly find out what my demonic girly pop should expect in the future–Better to know the enemy. I am not too certain whether the same will apply to Ophelie, though.

She is actually a bit younger than Gigi, and she hasn't had her growth spurt yet, so how she'll grow up is entirely up to speculation–A bit sad to think that the little blonde wearing a nightgown all the time and holding her deer plush tightly might change completely, but that is simply part of growing up. In any case, I am not too worried either way for her. She might appear a bit meek and withdrawn at a glance, but she is actually quite cheeky, and her deer plush, Gille, is a powerful monster in disguise.

She'll definitely be able to handle herself. Especially since she'll probably have figured out how to make more plushes transform into monsters by the time she is old enough to be allowed to move around on her own. She has actually made quite some progress with her plush-making skills. Her abilities as a spirit had been different from the rest to begin with. Rather than have clear abilities or simple ghost-based powers, she had been granted a stake and a craftsmanship ability.

She couldn't even inflict basic fear like all of the others could, clearly making her quite special in this regard. Although the success rates were far from great at the moment, Ophelie had discovered that not only could her plushes have the potential to morph into dangerous monsters, but she could also create haunted plushes and imbue curses into plushes. That was without mentioning the fact that the structure her presence had manifested, the Animal Farm, also had an ability of its own.

All of the animal and beast spirits that were considered a part of the farm immediately received a boost to their strength and intellect, and as I had discovered with tests, these spirits that were a part of the farm were seemingly impossible to destroy. They would always come back to the farm and reform there as if nothing had happened.

Of course, it was limited in the sense that spirits that could become a part of the farm were limited to mostly regular animals without special abilities, and also animals that could reasonably be found on a farm. As such, few beasts could satisfy the conditions. Regardless, it was quite something. I went to check on Ophelie with Gigi held in one arm, only to find the little blonde grabbing a big hen off the ground into a hug.

"Big sis! Gigi! Want to hold the chicken, too?" Gigi was definitely willing to take her up on this offer. She leapt off, and the poor hen was soon squeezed in between the two of them. I watched on with a smile on my face. Ophelie would often be around the farm, taking care of the animals, even though they didn't need to be taken care of since they were spirits. They didn't need to eat or drink, but she would nonetheless pay close attention to them and very often pick them up.

She is small, but stronger than she seems. I've seen her pick up a goose several times with her little arms. The two girls ran around the farm for a while, but eventually came right back to me, both standing on their tiptoes in a doomed attempt to reach up to my height. I patted both of their heads, and Ophelie quickly grabbed my hand to lead me to where she stored all of the plushes she had made so far, excluding the plushes made in the likeness of my knightly form.

This place was overflowing with them, yet it somehow all managed to be orderly. Some plushes looked like animals, some were made to resemble her sisters, and some seemed to have appearances that Ophelie had simply come up with on the spot. I had grown used to the small plushes, so I wasn't expecting to find some that were even bigger than my 'Base Form', but they definitely looked quite cuddly.

Any child would be overjoyed to receive such a thing, even if it was unlikely that such big things would fit inside a room. Unless the child was a noble, and even then, it would take up quite a bit of space.

"Mmh… Are those…Costumes?"

"Yes! I remember the time you dressed up in a costume and played around with a night watcher in a restaurant, and I thought that I might as well try to make a plush that was hollow to create a costume!" One of them was clearly inspired by the very suit used in the story she just mentioned, but others seemed completely original, and it looked like they would indeed work very well as costumes. Ophelie certainly has a certain talent.

Plushes and costumes should be quite different, but she figured it out without much problem. I knelt beside her.

"Would you like your characters to actually be known? For these suits to actually be used by entertainment automatons?"

"Ooh… Yes, I would love it!"

"Then, we'll have to trouble Leou" I chuckled lightly. If Ophelie could imbue these costumes like she could imbue plushes… It could result in something quite glorious. After this, I spent some time watching Ophelie and Gigi play around. They were indeed full of energy, and the little demoness was quite pumped when the little blonde offered to play hide-and-seek inside the manor instead of the forest this time around. They are so cute. I hope they stay as close as they are right now when they grow up. Mmh…

I wonder what Nessa is up to, though. She isn't nearly as shy when it comes to family, but she still has a tendency to stay all alone. Not that it is a problem to enjoy one's own company, but I wish she would spend more time with her sisters. … Perhaps it could be good to have her spend some time with Xlown, too? Mmh… Maybe she could benefit from being around Mari and Leou more, as well… I'll go check on her myself for now.