Liya never expected the Hero to take the initiative and suggest “mana replenishment.”
…
It was truly rare.
She had thought he would remain an emotionless, desireless humanoid weapon for his entire life.
However, Liya could more or less guess why he made such a proposal.
He likely wanted to show his gratitude but didn’t know how else to express it.
Since “mana replenishment” was the only thing she had ever actively shown a strong desire for, he wanted to use this method to please her.
Liya grumbled quietly in her heart as she undressed.
Many emotions were intricately tangled together like marshmallows and willow catkins—faint yet abundant, piling up into a snowy mountain while remaining as ethereal as smoke.
After removing her dress, she stole a glance upward and saw the Hero staring, seemingly entranced.
A sudden, unprecedented sense of intense shame washed over her.
In a daze, she felt like a foolish girl in a cheap motel, stripping off her clothes for her boyfriend.
‘This is so strange… I didn’t feel any shame at all being naked before… Why… now…’
Her cheeks were burning hot, looking as if the snowy mountains were covered in peach blossoms.
Liya lay prostrate on Jon’s lap, her entire body flushed pink, looking like a puddle of soft, melted rouge.
“Hurry up then, give me mana replenishment~”
She spoke muffledly, her voice laced with intense shyness.
It sounded as though she were desperate for it to end quickly, yet also as if she hoped this moment would never conclude.
Jon didn’t speak.
Perhaps he was already captivated by the sight, or perhaps he was enjoying her shameful, embarrassed state.
Liya didn’t know, nor did she want to speculate, and she certainly didn’t want to look back.
A short moment later.
The man’s thick fingers slowly descended, pressing against Liya’s lower back.
Mana began to rise.
That scorching warm current surged through her tailbone, wandering everywhere within her gel-like body.
Her cherry-red mouth drifted open slightly as she immersed herself in a beautiful dream.
Her brain grew sluggish from the warmth, as if she were basking in the gentle sun.
“Fri—Friend~” Liya murmured indistinctly.
She was getting into the rhythm.
She seemed more adapted and more intoxicated than the last time.
Liya trembled slightly, feeling the mana being channeled from her lower back to her hips, then gradually down her legs.
Jon’s fingertips pressed against the arches of her feet, causing her five translucent, pale pink toes to curl tightly.
“My feet are so ticklish, ooh~”
Liya let out a soft, petulant moan and burst into an uncontrollable, light giggle.
She had completely forgotten who she was or where she was.
She felt her body gradually melting.
In fact, that was exactly what was happening—the compressed moisture was slowly precipitating from the surface of her magical skin.
“Lili, if you continue to evolve, will you get bigger?”
Jon asked, seemingly casually.
Perhaps because she was too comfortable, Liya let her guard down.
No wonder pleasure and wisdom had been incompatible since ancient times; indulging in enjoyment would most likely lead to the collapse of one’s governance.
“Mmm~ maybe~ maybe Lili will stay this size forever… or maybe… Lili can become even bigger… as big as a human~”
Liya’s eyes curved into crescents, narrowing into thin, blurred slits.
As usual, she gave an ambiguous answer that allowed for both offense and defense.
Staying small was an effective way to prevent the Hero from ravaging her.
But if growing larger would bring benefits one day, she wouldn’t stubbornly cling to this size either.
“I see.”
Jon looked thoughtful, a hint of joy appearing between his brows.
“In other words, Lili doesn’t dislike the idea of becoming as large as a human?”
“Well~ Lili is just a Pupu, and Pupus don’t really mind~ Lili will do whatever Friend likes~” Liya replied offhandedly.
“Good!”
Jon suddenly flicked Liya’s perky rear, another strange idea popping into his head.
“It’s decided then! Once we reach the Imperial Capital, I’ll look for an expert in monster rearing and ask how to help Lili become human-sized!”
“Eh, eh, eh—?!”
Liya snapped out of it, looking up in shock.
Her beautiful eyes gazed at Jon with a mix of timidity and daze.
‘No! Is this kid really planning to ravage me?! Ravaging a Pupu! That’s absolutely insane!’
However, the words had already left her mouth.
To continue playing the role of an “ignorant and innocent Pupu,” she naturally couldn’t take them back.
“What is it?”
Jon asked curiously.
“Noth—nothing~” Liya could only swallow this bitter pill in silence.
She lay back down, continuing to enjoy the Hero’s mana replenishment while thinking with a mix of laughter and tears: ‘Whatever, I’ll take it one step at a time.’
Regardless, the Hero was an honest man; he wouldn’t force himself on a girl.
As long as she didn’t fall for him herself, there shouldn’t be any major problems.
‘Yes… there probably won’t be any major problems.’
The clock ticked away, second by second.
—
After finishing the mana replenishment, Jon went back to commanding the Nagas, while Liya began re-planning the future of Pu Town.
Originally, Liya had intended for Pu Town to be a secret nest for the Pupus.
But plans change.
Now that the name “Pu Dodo” was famous and Pu Town was tightly bound to the “Lucky Pu Wheel,” they had accumulated a massive amount of prestige in the Thousand River Domain.
According to multi-step flow theory, once the disaster relief ended, the popularity of Pu Town would experience another explosive growth.
It would be a total waste of natural resources not to use this fame to build a tourist city and a commercial center.
Trading with humans was a great necessity.
From a modern perspective, although commerce didn’t directly produce goods, it played a massive role in promoting labor exchange and material prosperity.
For instance, some places were suitable for farming but not for growing cotton, and vice-versa.
Without commerce, both sides would have to grow both cotton and crops, which would deplete nearly half of their overall productivity.
Feudal states were limited by roads and communication technology, making it easy for them to overlook the positive role of trade in prosperity.
Liya, however, had no such limitations; she had always viewed commerce as a vital component of national tax revenue.
Through her previous efforts, Liya had already identified the best military factories in the Thousand River Domain.
Their metallurgical techniques were quite remarkable.
Next, she just needed to find a way to get her hands on the formula for Mana-Adaptive Metal.
Then, she could establish large-scale steel mills around Pu Town.
With steel mills, she could arm the Pupus, produce Pu-ships, assemble Pu-cars… she could do a whole host of things.
But before that, Liya needed to solve two problems.
The first was money; the second was food.
Currently, Liya wasn’t lacking in money or food because she had the righteous cause of “disaster relief,” relying on the supplies Jon had scavenged from the lords of the Thousand River Domain.
But going forward, she would clearly need to find another way.
Furthermore, by Liya’s estimates, it was still unknown whether the remaining food in the entire Thousand River Domain could support these refugees.
After all, the region had just endured a large-scale war.
Back when she was playing the scorched-earth strategy, she had burned down quite a few of the Thousand River Domain’s granaries herself…
It would be impossible to get the necessary supplies without transporting them from other regions.
But a feudal empire was not like a modern country.
Coordinating supplies across regions was a massive test of the empire’s grassroots control and the level of bureaucratic integrity.
Liya still felt like… it was a long shot.
‘Whatever. As long as my thinking doesn’t slip, there are always more solutions than problems. At worst, I’ll set up a couple of Abyss Gates and have demons raid the granaries of other territories. I can’t let my workers starve, regardless.’
‘I’m going to be a capitalist! Who will I exploit if they starve to death?’
A certain Demon King didn’t consider for a moment what she would do if the matter was exposed, enraging the empire and bringing about an encirclement campaign.
This was the confidence the Hero gave her.
That evening, Liya suddenly received a piece of absurd and ironic news.
Through a day and night of hard work, Io’s believers had finished building the holy platform, pooled their money to buy a holy coffin, and invited all the high-ranking figures of the Church of Light in the Thousand River Domain.
Io’s Canonization Ceremony was about to begin.
Holding the invitation, Liya couldn’t help but curl her lip.
“Heh. We are saving people while you are building a holy platform. We are serving porridge while you are singing hymns. And now you want to celebrate the success of the disaster relief… What does it have to do with you? Why are you celebrating?”
“Canonization? Canonize your grandmother! If I were that blue-haired girl, I would be so angry I’d come back to life just to spit a Great Flood at all of you!”
that poor girl….