Author's Notes: Sorry this took longer to get out, had to rewrite it at the last minute but hey, we made it. The road has been long and arduous, this chapter especially, but we got there in the end.
~O~
Ezraphel and Stanley exited the alley to continue the tour however things were off to a rather rocky start so to speak.
"..."
"..."
*Staaare~*
"-_-;"
"Staaare~"
"You don't have to vocalize Ez" came Stanley's words layered with exasperation.
"Only because you won't admit it."
"That's probably a sign that you should let it go."
"Never!"
"Then I guess we're at an impasse."
"No we're not, you're just being a dunderhead. Admit it Stanley, you enjoyed it."
"Of course I did, it was with you."
"Flattery will get you nowhere."
"That is patently false and you know it."
"Grr, will you just admit it!"
"Nope."
"I can sense your denial Stanley."
"Well if you can tell that much then I don't need to say shit."
"I refuse to let you lie to yourself like this Stanley."
"..."
"Also I want to hear you say it."
"Oh, well in that case no."
"Say it or else…"
"What can you possibly threaten me with?"
"The next time we do it I'll teleport us to the most populated area in Makailand."
He wanted to call her bluff but from the look in her eyes he could see that she was serious. Now the question was did he feel so strongly about his stance that he was willing to go through that bullshit just to prove a point?
'…dammit.'
Ezraphel could practically sense the moment of victory and gave a triumphant grin while puffing out her chest.
"Say the words Stanley."
With a look of displeasure Stanley spoke "I enjoyed having sex in that alley more than I thought I would."
"Oh my~"
'And speaking of public…'
Stanley glanced to the side where an older Lamia had a scandalized expression on her face. Her and the group of giggling Succubi almost got him to blush in embarrassment but he fought the urge and glared instead.
"See, now was that so hard?"
"I am going to get you back for this."
"So long as it's in public~" she winked.
"Oh my!"
"Get outta here Lamia Takei!" He snapped at the mamono Golem who slithered away with a titter.
"Okay so now that we got that out in the open can we get to the next part of this grand tour?" He spoke with frayed patience.
"Okay!" She then hugged him close.
"What are you-"
"Hold on tight!"
"Wait what?"
Ezraphel didn't answer as her wings flared out and with a sharp flap the two were launched upwards.
"Stay calm Stanley" Ezraphel half shouted through the rushing winds.
"I am" was his calm response, contrary to her expectations.
"Oh, okay" she responded and suddenly the wind was no longer battering his body as she put up a barrier.
Stanley rolled his eyes at her attempt to get a reaction out of him. Unfortunately for her he felt too inherently safe wrapped in her arms to be panicked by something like that. Despite her shenanigans and her most recent blunder that rocked the boat of their relationship Stanley would still trust her when it came to his physical safety. That said, he was confused as to why she chose to fly instead of teleport like normal. He was about to ask the question when he became aware of the sight below.
'Whoa.'
Stanley must have spent what felt like hours on tour so he knew Makailand was big, hell Ezraphel even said that she made it as large as a moderately sized town. Yet seeing it from an aerial view really put into perspective the scope of the place.
'She built this' he thought to himself with a bit of awe. 'Either Ez is a generational talent or Lilims are fucking broken.'
If it was the latter then the Chief God was delusional if she thought she had a snowball's chance in hell of eradicating mamono. If it was the former and Ezraphel was some kind of savant then…damn.
'Or maybe stuff like this isn't that impressive at a high level.'
Hard to believe but he had no context for what was and wasn't impressive specifically when it came to inherently powerful mamono races. MGE wasn't exactly a series where one could powerscale characters and Ezraphel was unreliable when it came to knowledge on these things. She brands herself as someone who picked up a lot of skills but didn't master them and would point to her sisters as being better overall because they achieved more impressive feats with their magic.
Stanley couldn't help but be skeptical about that. Makailand, both the physical place and its occupants, was just too impressive for him to believe that Ezraphel was mediocre by any metric. Even with his limited knowledge, to him there seemed to be more to being a capable mage, or sorceress in her case, than having a lot of mana or mastering spells. From what he observed, even beyond Makailand itself, a lot of Ezraphel's more impressive feats in magic involved a lot of creativity. In fact he could say that creativity has become ubiquitous with the Lilim.
The slice of cityscape below him was the latest showcase in a long list he had seen and recently become cognizant of.
"Isn't it beautiful Stanley?" Ezraphel asked, interrupting his thoughts.
He realized then that he'd been staring at Ezraphel this entire time who had been admiring her own creation below. At that moment Stanley couldn't help but answer with a deliberate "yeah."
She seemed to pick up the intention behind his answer and quirked an amused brow as she glanced down at him "are you referring to your gift?"
"I am talking about you, yes" he admitted easily.
Ezraphel giggled with bashful rosy cheeks "flatterer~"
"I call it how I see it" he shrugged before looking down at the town below "but yeah, this…this is something else Ez."
"I wish I had enough time to complete it."
Her words despite being spoken in a low whisper were clearly heard by Stanley who gave her a look of incredulity.
"Uh, excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hm? Oh it's nothing to worry about" she brushed off.
He doubted that but in hindsight it made sense that it wasn't finished so he decided not to dwell on it.
'If she wants to continue this as a pet project then I won't stop her.'
They stayed up there for a few minutes before moving on. For the next few hours they visited a few more areas, sampled a few of the cuisines and ended up having a few quickies in secluded spots. Yet even with these spicy encounters intermixed things gradually started winding down. As a consequence he started to become aware of a major problem with Makailand as it was. For all that it was a marvel of magical engineering and creativity, Makailand was technically in the beta stage. Granted, it was a well developed beta but just as she said, it wasn't finished.
Stanley didn't hold this against her of course, the scope of the place meant that it would always be a time sink. But with that in mind, while it wasn't surprising that the novelty of the place started to wear off he did feel kinda bad about it. Thankfully Ezraphel still maintained her enthusiasm which did a lot to distract him from the observable flaws in Makailand. It also helped that what she had to say was genuinely informative and Stanley gained a lot of knowledge on mamono customs and culture among other things that weren't mentioned in the MGE material. So even as the novelty of Makailand wore thin he was still engaged with the 'content' so to speak.
At the very least with added context Ezraphel provided he began to look at mamono culture as more than just an amalgamation of various hentai fetishes.
"And with that we come to the end of the tour" Ezraphel spoke as they appeared back where they started.
Stanley stretched as he groaned "finally, I think that's the most walking I've done in years."
"Mhm."
The noncommittal hum as a response had Stanley glancing at the Lilim. She wasn't actually paying attention to him. Her expression looked wistful and he could feel the emotions through their bond, it felt almost bittersweet. Both the sight and the feelings caused him to frown which might have alerted her to which she seemed to snap out of her trance.
"Ah, there is one more area that we should go to for your surprise~"
"Ez…"
His tone cut through the rather convincing veneer of cheer.
"Be honest with me, you're homesick right?"
For a moment Ezraphel stared, the cheer wiped off her expression though the smile remained albeit diminished as she regarded him.
"Ah, I suppose it was obvious."
'Yeah' he thought but didn't voice.
"I was hoping you wouldn't mention it until after today."
That was exactly what he planned to do but after letting the matter stew for the better part of a few hours he decided to bite the bullet since he couldn't really imagine how this topic would come up in their daily lives. Plus it didn't seem like something he should be procrastinating with anyway.
So he took a breath and met her gaze with a steady serious one "have you figured out a way back to your world yet?"
Ezraphel stiffened as the question genuinely caught her off guard causing her to stutter "ah, u-um…" she collected herself to finish with a more composed "no, I have not."
His brows furrowed in contemplation before he hesitantly asked "have you been trying?"
Her expression twisted a bit as she slowly shook her head "no, I have not made any attempts in truth."
Stanley internally winced because he knew why. It was a delicate situation that Stanley was willing to put off indefinitely and would have if he wasn't faced with a sad Ezraphel feeling very homesick.
"I think you should start working on that."
Naturally his words shocked her as she startled "S-Stanley?"
The man in question looked away from her before saying "I don't think I need to explain my stance on exposing the existence of Earth to Eos or vice versa. We already had that conversation a bunch of times and I'm assuming that's the reason why you haven't tried to find a way back" he paused to look over his shoulder with eyes narrowed in suspicion "unless you've already been doing that and kept it a secret from me."
'Like Ana' went unsaid.
Ezraphel shook her head "n-no! I have truly made no attempts to return to Eos."
He held her gaze for a moment, saw the truth in her eyes, heard the sincerity in her voice and felt both through their bond after which he nodded.
"Okay" turning around to face her he said "then you should get on that."
"...are you sure about this?"
"Yes," he gave a stiff nod. "Hell, I'll even help you do it."
That got a few owlish blinks from her "e-eh!? You will?"
His frown became more pronounced "of course. I wanna be there every step of the way."
'If we're gonna go dimension hopping you best believe I'm gonna know the mechanics behind it just in case something goes wrong and I have to find a way back here!'
The idea of being stranded in another universe, worse a medieval fantasy one, was genuinely terrifying to Stanley.
It was such a serious thought that his real intentions actually bled into their bond with all the subtlety of a Minotaur in a red painted glass store. And while he was being serious about it Ezraphel couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
"S-Stanley even if you knew how to perform the spell you wouldn't be able to cast it" the Lilim spoke through giggles.
"Yeah, yeah I know. I'm too weak and/or I suck at magic in general yada yada" he dismissed with a scoff and wave "that sounds like a you issue."
Ezraphel lips curved at that and Stanley realized what he said and the look on her face meant.
"Hey…" he began but unfortunately it was too late.
"No Stanley,"
"Don't you dare."
"It is a skill issue on your part."
Stanley narrowed his eyes "no, it's a skill issue with your teaching methods."
"Agree to disagree."
"...whatever, the point is I want to be involved with the creation process, got it?"
In response Ezraphel enveloped him in a hug though unlike before she held his head above her chest rather than within it.
"Thank you" she murmured before pulling herself away. Looking down at him with adoring eyes she continued "but I am afraid I will have to decline your offer."
To his credit Stanley maintained his composure even through his confusion and simply said "come again?"
"Not the time Stanley."
Her answer/joke cracked some of that tension admittedly as he gritted his teeth but with a sharp exhale through his nose he collected himself.
"What do you mean you decline?"
At that she offered an apologetic smile "the truth is I have thought about it and I don't want to venture back home just yet."
"Okay…why?"
"You mean outside the reasons you've outlined already?"
He stared at her for a moment before nodding "yes, outside of those reasons."
Several seconds passed with her maintaining her silence Stanley's expression became concerned. He reached out to hold her hand and when he spoke his voice was much calmer "what's going on Ez?"
"If I were to show up before my family then I will have to explain where I have been and I am a notoriously terrible liar."
"That is incredibly self aware for you."
"Thank you, and if I am going to reveal the existence of Earth to my family without it resulting in a full on incursion I would need to do it from a position of power. Specifically I would need to be seen as the person who controls Earth as a 'territory' so to speak."
Stanley straightened "that wouldn't happen to involve you conquering the world would it?"
"Eh…" she made a so-so gesture with her hand "in a manner of speaking."
Stanley gave her a flat look to which she sighed. "Listen Stanley, the only way I can see mamono from Eos not making an aggressive attempt on Earth is if it's already been claimed. It's a standard code of conduct that none of my siblings infringe on each other's territories."
"You know I can see that working for a settlement or maybe even a country but Earth is a whole planet Ez."
"I know and to be honest not even I am brazen enough to claim dominion over an entire planet by myself. Though I am sure if I ask, mother and father would certainly help in backing my claim of Earth, or at least this corner of it, as the one who 'discovered' it and is taking up residence there."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes."
"You mean to tell me that if you go to your parents right now and reveal Earth then they'll respect your claim and abide by your rules."
"Yes."
"Does that also go for your siblings?"
"They would not dare disobey our parents."
"What about the ones outside your family?"
"Ah…" she gave a complicated expression.
'Thought so.'
Stanley had no problem believing that Ezraphel's parents would play ball and he could believe that her siblings would follow along at their behest but as for everyone else, once word got out, and it will, they were definitely going to try and carve out pieces of the world for themselves and their interests. Earth was a big fucking place after all.
"Well, there will always be someone attempting to undermine us" she admitted in an uncharacteristic bout of realism. "It is to be expected as I very much doubt there would have been a clean transition anyway" she lamented.
"That's unexpectedly unidealistic of you."
Ezraphel huffed "maybe once upon a time I could believe that but having spent as long as I have with a certain Mr. Grump" she pinched his cheek and ignoring the annoyed squawk continued "My idealism has been tempered."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or not."
"I still think we can make coexistence work without it devolving into open or cold war. Contrary to your paranoia we are very much open to diplomacy first. Even the radicals would prefer a peaceful first contact as opposed to combat. With how the country is now I can see mamono having a rough but overall not too difficult time entering human society."
"Yeah, but you forget that the Monster Girl Encyclopedia is a known quantity with a small but dedicated fan base and the moment mamono show themselves to the public everyone will know what's up."
"Oh right, I forgot about that," Ezraphel muttered.
"And the whole fictional world being real is gonna open up a whole other can of worms."
Ezraphel shook her head letting out a huff "ugh, I mean…we can mitigate that with a good first impression."
"Sabbath"
And just like that Ezraphel lost the wind in her sails "oh…"
"Yeah."
A pedo cult was not going to fly in this world no matter how they try to dress it up.
"In that case I will have to go with thatplan."
"And what is that plan?"
"Oh, you know" she moved her head to and fro "just some charm magic here and a bit of monsterization there on some important and powerful people."
"..." Stanley deadpanned.
"Hear me out."
"No."
"It's not brainwashing"
"Sure as fuck sounds like it."
"I just intend to make the people in charge more pliable to accepting mamono without any shenanigans."
'Shenanigans she says.'
Stanley couldn't help but massage between his brows.
Seeing this Ezraphel huffed "come on Stanley you have to admit that it would go a long way to ensuring a smooth transition if the people in charge were on board from the start."
"I'm not saying it's wrong just…" he trailed off in a sigh "
If Stanley were being honest for as much as his principles couldn't tolerate things like magical coercion/brainwashing it would be a lie to say that it extended to everyone and applied to every situation. When it came to people then frankly the further outside his sphere of influence it got the less he cared. In this case his concerns definitely wouldn't extend to the people in power. With all the shady reprehensible shit they did, are doing and will do in the future, why the hell should he care about them getting coerced into not being too difficult about accepting mamono into human society?
The issue was that such a change might end up affecting the things he actually cared about. If not the people then his hobbies and he didn't want Earth transformed into a hentai world.
'Maybe I'm being too dramatic.'
His thoughts were being affected by MGE fanfiction stories after all and while the worst case scenarios did see mamono doing a ludicrously easy hostile takeover of the world it more likely that things would end up going the route of Monster Musume. That was his ideal scenario, where even with the introduction of mamono, Earth would fundamentally be the same without the pornificafion.
That said "do you even need to do anything? What you're suggesting seems like something your people would do no matter what anyway."
"If I want to have my authority properly acknowledged and thereby have a say in how they go about dealing with the humans of Earth then I need to put in some work."
He didn't like that and his emotions told her that much even if his expression didn't.
"Also" she paused for a moment "I want to have a hand in properly securing our future."
As she emphasized the words 'our future' she gave him a meaningful look while placing a hand on her stomach. The gesture made his breath catch as another reality slammed into the one he was currently (if reluctantly) facing.
'Right, at some point we're going to start a proper family.'
It's not a matter of if but when and thinking about his future daughter lessened his reluctance significantly. Stanley could abide by his principles if he was the one dealing with it and he knew Ezraphel had the power, patience and affection for him to deal with it too. But a kid? His kid?
He inhaled through his nose and nodded "okay noted, um…yeah, shit okay" he shook his head running a hand through his hair. "I guess we're doing this then."
Ezraphel held her breath "so does that mean..."
"But" he interrupted, "before we commit to anything let's just figure out a way to Eos first."
If only because focusing on that would give him some breathing room to figure out the details of what they were going to do. He really didn't want to go along with Ez's idea, sure it sounded viable now but who knows if that's even really the case without properly exploring all other available options?
Ezraphel hugged him close and pecked him on the lips "okay!"
He sighed at her answer "this is not how I thought this day would go."
"It is rather peculiar isn't it?"
"You noticed too?"
"A bit hard not to. I was expecting a lot more love making if I'm being honest."
"The way this conversation went I'd rather do that."
Ezraphel hummed in thought "though I will admit this does make me feel better."
"Really?"
"Mhmm!" She nodded "it feels better to have this conversation now than to wait for something to happen that forces us to address it haphazardly."
"Huh, when you put it like that then…yeah, this is preferable."
They stayed like this for a while before Stanley broke the silence "didn't you mention we still have one more stop to make?"
"Indeed, now let us-"
Suddenly the Lilim froze and her eyes widened in disbelief before her head snapped in the direction behind them.
Seeing this, Stanley's heckles rose "Ez?"
*FLASH*
With a sudden explosion the area was bathed in dark purple light immediately catching the attention of not only Stanley but the nearby Golem residences. The light then settled into a swirling vortex after which a figure stepped through and two things became immediately clear to Stanley.
First, this woman was a mamono, specifically she was a Lilim which sent his heart rate skyrocketing.
And second..
"Ezrapheeelll!!"
…she looked pissed.
As for Ezraphel?
"Ah, crapbaskets."
~ End Of Volume 3 ~