A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

joy the soft warmth of their bodies. Bliss.

“The younglings, I can understand, but I was not expecting the three of you to emulate them,” said Lefi with a sigh.
“Your tail is giving you away, Lefi,” said Leila.
“It’s twitching in a way that makes it fairly obvious that you would like to join them.”
“T-that is most certainly not true!” denied the now blushing dragon.
“Lunch.
Now.
Please.”

Enne was the only one not having fun.
She continued to impatiently demand access to the meal she’d been awaiting for days. Sorry Enne.
You’ll get to eat soon.
I promise.

***

After saying grace, we picked up our chopsticks and went to town.

“Wow, this stew smells great.
I can’t wait to try it,” said Nell.
“Yuki and Lefi did their best together!” explained Illuna.
“I think Lefi beat up a really really really strong monster that no one else could beat, then Yuki cut it up and got us this super super tasty piece of meat.
That’s the piece we used to make this!”
“W-wow, uhm… wouldn’t that make this incredibly luxurious? Not even royals are able to get their hands on ingredients like that…” Nell seemed to have some trouble figuring out how she was supposed to react to the unexpected news flash.
“Try some of this, Nell!” Lyuu served the hero a piece of a Japanese-styled omelette.
“I promise it’s real good.
I spent a long time practicin’ how to make it!”

Nell reached for another piece as soon as she swallowed the first.

“Wow, Lyuu.
It is really good.”
“Is it?” I picked a piece up and tried some for myself.
“Huh.
Wow, it really is.”

The flavour was rich, but not so rich that it came off as too strong.
Both the sweet and savoury tastes were only enhanced by the dish’s incredible fluffiness.

“I’m real happy to hear it,” said Lyuu with a proud chuckle.
“Just you wait.
I’m gonna keep practicin’ all sorts o’ stuff, and one day, I’ll be as good as Leila!”
“Then I’ll have to drill all my techniques right into your head,” said the sheep demon.
“Cooking is a lot like magic.
It’s heavily based in theory, and understanding the science of flavour will allow you to easily produce any result you can imagine.
I’m confident that you’ll have it all memorized in just two short years.”
“…On second thought, I think I’ll be leavin’ all the real hard stuff to you after all.
Studyin’ ain’t for me.”
“That was a quick change of heart, if I’ve ever seen one.”

I laughed heartily, then tuned into a different conversation, namely one between the dungeon’s younger residents.

“Is that tasty, Enne?” asked Shii, as she watched Enne happily much on a piece of stewed meat.
“Mhm.
Very.
You should have some.”
“Okay! Having lots of tasty stuff makes me really happy,” said Shii.
“Me too! It makes me want to sing!” Illuna started rocking back and forth as she followed up on her proclamation.
“Happy, happy, I’m so happy! This is my happy happy happy song!”
“Illuna’s singing the song she only sings when she’s really really happy!” said Shii.
“Let’s join her!”

Enne agreed to the suggestion.
And soon, all three girls began singing along to the melody, which, while nice, seemed slightly off-tune.
The wraith girls stopped playing around in the trees and descended upon their three friends just to spin around them in time with their song. Ahh… Bliss.
Adorable, adorable bliss.

“That’s a nice song.
Did you come up with it yourself?” asked Nell.
“Yup yup! Yuki told me that I should tell people I’m happy when I’m happy so that everyone else can be happy, and I can be even happier! So I came up with a song about being happy!”
“That’s a great idea.
I guess I should be telling all of you how happy I am to be here today,” said Nell.
“Being with everyone always brightens me up.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I said, as I gave her a hug.
“I’m a bit jealous, but I ain’t gonna complain since Nell doesn’t get to be ‘round often,” said Lyuu.
“I’ll make up for it by huggin’ Lefi, since she smells real good!”
“Then I shall hug Leila.
Her body is both soft and pleasant,” said Lefi.
“Thank you, Lefi.
You’re quite huggable,” said Leila, who seemed to honestly appreciate the compliment.
“Happy, happy, I’m so happy! This is my happy happy happy song!” sung Illuna.
“It’s just the same words over and over, but it still makes me super happy!” said Shii.

The whole party broke out into laughter, unstuck ourselves from each other, and continued to enjoy the rare, springtime event.

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