Author’s Corner: By popular demand, we interrupt your regularly scheduled adventure for a father/daughter talk! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

After spending the night, and most of the next day with my wives, I decided that there was something I had to do. No, nothing dangerous, nothing reckless, nothing that would likely end up with me frying my brain. Is it bad that I have to reassure myself of all that?

Anyways, right now, I stood in front of one of the many metal doors of the ship, and pressed the button to page the room’s owner. I did not want to walk in on any embarrassing situations, considering who I was coming to meet. Thankfully, that situation did not occur, and the door opened a moment later.

Yo stood in the room, smiling at me. Her translucent green skin was still holding itself together exceptionally well, showing that she had a good control of herself. Not that that was ever really in question, I’m just distracting myself. Her hair was let down today, falling halfway down her back, and she wore a tight black t-shirt together with a black skirt.

“Hey, dad. What’s up?” She asked with a happy smile, stepping forward and giving me a warm hug.

“Ah… just wanted to talk.” I said, reaching a hand up and patting her back. “Is it alright if I come in?”

“Hmm?” She leaned back, tilting her head to the side curiously, but nodded. “Yup, I don’t have anyone over right now, so it’s fine.” Saying so, she bounced back into the room, linking her hands behind her back as she watched me come in. “So, what’s on your mind? These visits are pretty rare, so I didn’t do something wrong, right?”

“Huh?” The comment caught me off-guard slightly, but I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. I just wanted to ask you about some things.”

Yo brought one finger up to her chin, tapping it thoughtfully before her eyes widened. “Ah! Is it about the whole harem thing? I figured that you’d probably come by for that eventually.”

I smiled bitterly as she guessed my reason for showing up. “Am I that easy to read?”

The slime girl simply shook her head, walking to a nearby chair and sitting down. “Nah, I just figured you’d show up when you noticed. No offense, dad, but you can take a while to see things like that.” She then showed me a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not upset or anything. You’ve been really busy with this war situation, and being the Qu’Lopti ambassador. You haven’t even had much time to spend with Tokemi, let alone me.”

“Ah… sorry. So, what can you tell me? Please… be vague where it’s needed.” I neither needed nor wanted my daughter to tell me about her night time activities with her harem.

She nodded her head in acceptance at that. “Hmm, where to begin. Well, it started back on Qu’Lesh.” She gave another nod to confirm her own thoughts. “Priscilla, one of Sharon’s top animal companions, came to me asking if she could harvest some of my slime for alchemy research. I didn’t really see a reason to refuse, so I let her.”

Yo shivered slightly at her next comment, though it did not seem to be from anything unpleasant. “The experience was… different than I thought it would be. It made me feel really strange, and I kinda liked it. But, I didn’t want to be unfaithful to Kismet or anything like that, so I went to tell him about it. Honestly, the feeling wasn’t that different than when Kismet and I were together, so I definitely had to let him know it happened, right?” She looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded my head.

“Anyways, after that the two of us consulted one of our friends, Jaresh Blackbone. When he heard about our situation, he seemed to understand what was going on perfectly. Apparently, harems are a common concept for the Qu’Lopti. He asked Kismet if he was alright with me ‘collecting’ women that I liked. I was worried he’d get mad and say no, but he was actually really accepting of it!” She grinned brightly at that part.

“He told me that as long as it made me happy, I could build a harem. Just so long as I still loved him. How can a girl not love a guy like that?” Yo brought her arms to her chest, hugging herself with a happy smile. “Anyways… after that, I went to talk to Priscilla about it. She was skeptical at first, but was willing to give it a trial run. It’s weird how that girl can get so logical about some things, but kind of cute too.”

“After trying a physical relationship for a couple of weeks, she seemed really into it. She started bringing me presents and asking me to go to nice places with her, basically started taking me out on dates. She knew I was still married to Kismet, but just like him she was fine as long as I still cared for her.”

Yo seemed to think for a bit at that, and I thought she might be done talking, but just before I could speak she continued. “Next was Celeste. Though, I guess you could say she’s only a half harem member?” Yo tilted her head to the side in thought, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, only half. We’re friends, but not really lovey-dovey or anything. Also, it’s totally your fault with this one, you know?”

She sent a look my way, and I was momentarily confused. “Every time you’re with your wives, who do you think is in the back of your head? She can ignore what you’re doing sometimes by blocking it out, but you have to know that there’s a limit to that, right? It’s like the difference between ignoring someone that’s talking across the room and trying to ignore someone blasting loud music directly in your ear.”

“Ah…” I had really not thought about it like that. If I had known that was an issue, would have made a ‘mute’ function or something equivalent.

“It’s alright, John. I’m not upset or anything.” Celeste’s voice came into my mind, comforting me. “Girl just needs to vent every now and then, right?”

Her thoughts seemed to mimic Yo’s. “Even though her body is mechanical, ever since she gained a soul she has been able to experience real emotions and pleasures. And with her feeling your pleasure all the time like that with no way to release it… She was practically going crazy by the time she came to me. Apparently, she had heard about my relationship with Priscilla, and wanted me to help with her ‘issue’. She even bought an upgrade for her body to give her a more realistic anatomy for that purpose.”

Yeah, I really didn’t need to think about that part. I sent a mental apology to Celeste about that, and made a note to put in a switch so she could stop monitoring when needed. She just sent back that she hadn’t wanted to worry me.

After that, Yo continued. “Next, was Aelsgwynn. She was actually a recommendation from Celeste. Poor girl had been so lonely at Qu’Lesh, with all of her friends and family in the Gerin system. I had wanted to just start out as friends, but eventually we became more than that. Especially after that horrible incident by the Empire, she cried on my shoulder all night. After that, I think she started seeing me more as a spiritual support.”

“Ah, finally, there’s Yang. I honestly thought that I made it pretty obvious to you when you caught us together that last time. Guess I wasn’t as blatant as I thought?” She stuck out her tongue playfully to me.

“In my defense, thinking about my daughter and my former animal companion being in a relationship is not exactly a typical thing.”

Yo giggled slightly at that. “True, true. Anyways, with her it really started after we left Qu’Lesh. I didn’t lie about any of that. After she lost control like that, I saw how hard she was taking it, so I approached her. I wanted to offer her someone to talk to, to help her get through it. I never actually intended to add her to the harem, because I always thought that she liked you.” To be fair, so did I. That’s one of the reasons I had been so surprised.

“Turns out, what she feels for you isn’t really a romantic love, it’s more of an idol worship. She practically deified you since before I was born, and that feeling stuck with her to a degree even after evolving. She did not want to be with you in a romantic sense like Yin did, she just wanted to always serve you, and repay you for what you did for her. And… that’s how she started liking me, really. Because I was one of your creations.”

Yo smiled awkwardly, scratching her chin with one finger as she averted her eyes. “It was awkward there for a while. I mean, she didn’t like me because I was nice or anything at first, just because you made me. Over the weeks, I started making her see me less as your creation-slash-daughter, and more as just myself. Thankfully, she still seemed to like me for me, so we were both happy to continue.”

I gave a slight sigh in relief, since she seemed to be finished listing her girlfriends. “And, they’re all fine that you are seeing so many other people?”

She nodded her head happily at that. “Yup! Aelsgwynn was a bit hesitant when I told her, but now she likes to hang out with the others and chat. They all get along really well.”

“That’s good. Anything else you haven’t told me?” I looked at her suspiciously, and she sank into thought again.

“Oh! I never showed you my custom ability, did I? Does that count?” She looked up proudly at me, and I could tell that she wanted to show off.

“No, no it doesn’t… but I want to see it anyways.” I chuckled lightly at the excited expression as she hopped to her feet, and stretched out her arm.

“Extreme Imperial Combinator: Slimeforge!” She called out in a serious voice, and I could feel various types of mana gathering in her hand. Slowly, her slime started to spread outwards, turning into a long staff. “I made this ability by taking my assimilation and reproducing power to the next level.” She spoke proudly. Furrowing her brows, the staff slowly seemed to become more tangible, its color switching from a translucent green to a solid black.

“With this, I can take the qualities of anything I have absorbed, then mix and match them however I want to make items. I can even make them real items if I absorb sufficient materials. For instance, this staff is made from obsidian gathered at Qu’Lesh. For magical properties, I took the soulflame breath of the cerberus.” Saying that much, she tossed the staff over to me. I reflexively reached up one hand to catch it, then half expected it to dissolve in my grip.

“If I reabsorb the items, I can recover the energy used to make them, but otherwise it takes quite a bit to make something tangible like that.” She said with a small smile, taking a deep breath. “One time, I actually put the cerberus’s mind into the item to make it an ego weapon. However, the cerberus didn’t want to listen, so I had to take it apart again.”

That is… actually, a really cool power. Almost on the same level as the one Celeste made. “That’s kind of awesome, Yo.” I handed the staff back to her, letting her reabsorb it into her body.

“Thanks, dad!” She beamed happily, running up and giving me a tight hug as soon as the staff was fully absorbed. “Haven’t really needed to use it in a fight, but it’s really cool to just be able to do it whenever I want. Now, let’s see… I think that’s all the big reveals from me? Unless you know someone else that needs a little ‘support’.” She wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully as she said the last word, and I shook my head with a bitter smile.

“No, sorry, I won’t be donating any girls to your harem. I can accept you having one, as long as everyone is happy in it, but you’ll have to work for them yourself.” I looked at her and grinned slightly. “Wouldn’t want it to be too easy, would you?”

Her eyes widened slightly, before she laughed happily, hugging me even more tightly. “No, definitely not. Half the fun is in the chase. Still, you’re the best, dad. I was worried that I’d get in trouble when you found out.”

Sighing, I reached up and patted her back. “Then why didn’t you just come out and tell me? That would have been easier than just waiting to see how long it’d take me to notice, right?”

It was her turn to look at me and smile bitterly. “You mean, why didn’t I walk up to my dad and say, ‘Hey dad, I found out I’m really into girls too, and I’m setting up my own harem of lovers.’? Come on, that’s not exactly the kind of thing you can just expect me to say. And besides, you have had a lot on your mind lately, and I didn’t want to be a distraction.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Sometimes, I need a good distraction. That being said, if anything big like that comes up, come tell me before it gets so… far along, okay?”

She nodded her head, accepting that. “Well, then maybe I should tell you right now? I’m thinking of having a kid!” She grins brightly as she says that. You remember how I said that I wasn’t doing anything that would fry my brain? Okay, I think I might have lied a bit. “Dad? Dad, are you okay?”

Bomb dropped! You have been inflicted with the Confused status ;)

Apparently, I had gone unresponsive for a little while after Yo had said that, because she had to shake me to get my attention. “Dad? Come on, I didn’t mean it like that! I’m not going to be knocking anyone up! Did you not know how slimes reproduce?”

I think I remember something like that, now that she mentioned it… still, though, it took me a minute to come back to my senses. “You… split off part of yourself to make a new core?”

Yo nodded in relief. “Right, that’s it. It’s really more like cloning, from your perspective, I guess. Just that the new slime person will have their own personality and everything. Is that okay? I wanted to have a kid that me, Kismet, and my girlfriends could all raise together. Give us all something extra to bond over, and maybe give Tokemi a new little sister figure.”

“Ah, that… makes much more sense. Alright, but you’ll have to be sure to take care of the kid. I don’t want to hear any complaints, alright?” I smiled down to her, and she nodded happily. Was I about to be a grandfather? I had mixed feelings about this….