David was quite pleased when Shin requested to form a contract with him.
'As expected, seeing some of my memories was enough to greatly interest her. I suppose I should still pretend to be ignorant of the specifics so she can explain things.'
"A contract?" David asked.
Shin clenched her claws into fists and immediately started her explanation with excitement.
"A contract is a special type of magic that grants various benefits when the parties pledge an oath to each other! Both parties are empowered, depending on each other's relative strength."
David nodded his head. "In other words?"
"I'll become your companion! I promise you won't be disappointed."
David smiled and thought about whether the overall power difference he had with Shin would be the same as her and the main character in the original work.
Shin took his brief contemplation as hesitation and said, "Like you said, your memories interest me greatly. You definitely won't regret it!"
David laughed and shook his head. "No, it's fine. I know I won't regret it, I was just thinking about our power difference. Anyway, I'll gladly form a contract with you."
Shin raised her body even more and started to sway left and right in anticipation.
"Wonderful! I hope our relationship lasts for many years to come. Then let us perform the contract ritual right away!"
A thick blue magic light suddenly appeared under David's feet and rose up to surround his whole body.
"Let's start with a 50-50 pact," Shin said.
The magic light surrounding David suddenly broke apart when it tried entering David's body, startling Shin.
[Shin] 'He overpowered me? Then let's try 70-30.'
The magic light turned from blue to yellow and tried to enter David's body again, only to break even faster than before.
David, seeing this, understood that the power difference between them was way too vast so he used a simple Law rune to suppress his energy to a reasonable level.
[Shin] 'He's too exceptional! How about 80-20!'
Once again, the magic light changed colors, turning from yellow to red. This time, the light didn't break and shifted from surrounding David to surrounding Shin.
[Shin] 'It's finally approaching the correct balance. I'm practically his slave, though. Heheh, no matter. I'm excited to see what he, no, what my master will do going forward.'
Shin's body gradually started glowing white before disintegrating into white and blue motes of energy.
[Shin] 'The time I'm about to spend with my master will surely be the greatest period of my life.'
The place where Shin was previously no longer showed a giant and majestic dragon, but instead there was a beautiful woman standing there.
She was 180 cm tall and had wavy waist-length turquoise-blue hair that looked mist-like and was tied in a thick, wide ponytail with a golden crown and six hair pins. She had beautiful reptilian ruby-red eyes and flawless skin.
She was wearing a long and seemingly-tattered red scarf around her neck and a traditional Japanese green kimono with purple accents. The kimono is open in the front, revealing a white undershirt and the enticing cleavage of her E-cup breasts.
She is also wearing a red belt with a gold buckle. She has red and white leg warmers and she is wearing simple black footwear.
She rested her left hand on her hips and smiled confidently at David.
"I look forward to working with you, Master."
David just stared at her in a daze.
⟪ Wow... She's so damn beautiful! ⟫
He walked up to her and placed a hand on her soft and smooth shoulder before sighing.
"Haaa... It seems you went with a samurai style again."
Shin tilted her head and didn't understand what he meant by 'again', but David didn't give her a chance to ask. He quickly removed the restriction placed on himself and went back to full power.
"Anyway, I would've probably had to wait longer, but I'm going to give you a new name now. Is that alright?"
⟪ I really don't feel like waiting until Mio comes along to give them both names at the same time. It's easier to name her now so I don't get used to a different name. ⟫
Shin's eyes lit up. "Yes, absolutely! Give me a name!"
⟪ Unfortunately, I can't possibly call her anything other than Tomoe since it just wouldn't feel right. Since she already went down the samurai path again, it only makes sense anyway. ⟫
"Your name will be Tomoe. It's the name of the most valiant female samurai I know."
'Actually, I don't know any female samurai and that was just what Makoto originally said...'
Tomoe looked excited and clenched her fists. "Ohhh! There were female samurai? Very well, I accept the name Tomoe!"
Her body glowed white and small magic particles were floating up from her while she danced in place and spun around in excitement.
David understood that being given a name has increased her strength, though he wouldn't have cared even if it lowered her strength.
⟪ This was definitely a good first event. Who would've thought I'd meet and contract Tomoe the day I got here? Now I just need to bring her to the Highland Orc tribe to explain that she wasn't the one behind the sacrifices. ⟫
"Alright, we need to head to the Highland Orc tribe's village to explain some things. They think you're the one who was hindering their lives and forcing them to send sacrifices and I'd like to clear that up with them."
Tomoe nodded her head in agreement. "That's fine by me, but first, there's something I'd like to check with you."
She turned her back to David and raised her right hand.
Mist started to spread out from her hand and expanded to form a 7-meter wide and 5-meter tall oval shape.
She faced David and briefly explained, "Beyond this mist is a demiplane that I control. It's a space we can enter and exit through mist gates. This way, please."
Tomoe turned back around and started walking through the mist gate, followed closely behind by David.
When they entered, they were temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight. As soon as they could see properly again, they saw a beautiful landscape.
They were standing on top of a large grassy hill and as far as the eye could see, there were colorful forests and vibrant grasslands. In quite a few directions, there were various mountain ranges, rivers, and streams, making the place seem like nature's paradise.
⟪ Whoa... I don't remember it being this big in the anime... ⟫
[That's because your power is stronger and more pure than Makoto's. While you have strong and plentiful mana, Tomoe's demiplane drew mainly from your Reiryoku and used it to alter the place.]
'Huh, that makes sense... Heheh, I definitely have to replicate the scene in the anime, Tomoe looked too cute back then.'
"Um, Tomoe? Where are we?"
Tomoe held her hair out of her face and nodded. "Umu... This place is..."
She immediately turned her head to look at David with a panicked and confused expression before saying, "Where, exactly?!"
⟪ Pffft, hahaha! Her expression looks even cuter in real life, haha! ⟫
The two of them started walking down the hill and wandering around the forest.
"My demiplane is supposed to be a dark, empty space. Everything was as I pleased in that place. I can't believe it changed so much."
David just shrugged. "It's likely because of our contract that it changed and since I've got so much pure energy, it caused it become like this--a massive natural paradise."
Tomoe nodded. "Umu. That is indeed the case, it's just shocking to me. I only thought--Eh?"
She became confused when she saw David running toward a tree, jumping up, and grabbing two round orange fruits.
David quickly came back and held it out to her with a smile.
"Here, this is a persimmon. You can eat it as it is, I have a feeling you'll really enjoy it."
Rather than taking the persimmon from David's hand, Tomoe opted to lean down and bite into it directly.
⟪ Hm... ⟫
"Ohhh~! This is delicious!"
David laughed, "Haha, I'm glad you liked it. Also, you know I meant for you to grab it and not eat it from my hand, right?"
Tomoe just continued taking bites. "It's fine! You're my master now so it doesn't matter if I do it or not, right?"
"Well... I suppose if you're fine with it then I don't really care either."
He continued to hold his hand out and let Tomoe eat directly from it while he used his left hand to eat his own persimmon, trying to ignore the feeling of Tomoe's tongue sneakily taking licks of his hand.
'Wow, persimmons actually are pretty good. I've never had one before, but now I'm glad that I have.'
While they were enjoying refreshing fruits, David decided to see if he could find out the size of the demiplane.
He released his Sakai and expanded it to its maximum casual limit, a 40km radius.
Seeing as he hadn't found the edges of the demiplane yet, he forced the radius to expand until it reached 60km, the maximum limit that David could achieve even when pushing himself.
"Hmm, I can sense a 60km radius around me and I still haven't found the edges of the demiplane. This place is massive!"
Tomoe took a break from eating and looked at David curiously.
"Hoo~? You can see that far around you?"
"Yes, though I feel like I should be able to see further. Oh well, this distance is fine for now."
Before David could say anything else, he got an unusual system notification.
[Ding~!]
[Detected ownership over a second dimensional plane...]
[Sovereign's Cradle can be evolved and merged with "Demiplane"...]
[Cost to evolve and merge: 100,000 Chaos Points]
[Would you like to evolve and merge?]
'...What the hell? Chaos-chan, why is my new ability already getting an evolution and why is it so expensive?!'
[Since they're identical abilities, this is only natural. The fact that you got it so soon just goes to show that your luck is ridiculously stupid. Also, the price is relatively low if you were to see what other things were sold for that little.]
'Hmm... Alright, fine. Go ahead and do it.'
[Purchase successful! Remaining balance: 89,120 Chaos Points.]
[Sovereign's Cradle | "Demiplane" -- Evolution and Merging initiated...]
The Sovereign's Cradle dimension that lies deep within David's soul was starting to undergo a massive change.
The space around David and Tomoe was shifting slightly and before Tomoe could ask what was going on, David, without feeling any pain, suddenly passed out and started falling to the ground.
"Master!"
Tomoe saw David starting to fall and sensed that he was put into a deep sleep. Without panicking, she rushed forward and caught him before he fell.
Tomoe herself also noticed changes in the demiplane and felt that her control over it was temporarily lost.
Unsure of what to do, she just gently lowered herself and David onto the grass below and set David's head on her thighs, allowing him to rest comfortably until whatever changes were occurring had finished.
...
After some time had passed, David slowly opened his eyes and looked up toward the sky.
Half of his vision was looking at the morning sky while the other half only saw large breasts hidden behind a green kimono as well as a hand that kept bringing persimmons to whatever lay above the large breasts.
[Ding~!]
[Evolution and Merging Complete!]
[Sovereign's Cradle has been integrated with "Demiplane". ]
[Ability: Sovereign's Cradle - Eternal Domain]
[Description: Why own land when your soul is its own freaking world? Sovereign's Cradle has evolved into a boundless personal realm — a demiplane-turned-dimension that lives, breathes, and bends to your will. Born from Tomoe's original domain and fused with your limitless energy, this realm now spans hundreds of kilometers and grows with you like a living kingdom. Build cities, create life, and shape terrain on a whim. Populate it with loyal allies, lost heroines, or entire armies. If you're strong enough, even enemies get rewritten — body, mind, and soul.
It's not just a base — it's a throne, a sanctuary, and a god-tier battlefield where you control everything, from gravity to time flow. And yeah, it still counts as a cozy escape when life gets too troublesome.]
[Effects:
- Cradle Management Interface: Grants a system interface to whoever has permissions to use it. Depending on permission levels, the Cradle Management Interface (CMI) allows various controls over this constantly evolving and growing inner world. Note: The dimension expands as your total energy increases.
- Domain Authority: Inside the Cradle, you can alter physical laws, terrain, weather, time flow, and even reality rules (ex: making flight impossible, suppressing enemy regeneration, etc.).
- Building Construction: Buildings, cities, mana farms, sacred grounds, or massive castles can be constructed or summoned from the CMI. Construction costs vary.
- Population Control: You can bring in allies, lovers, or rescued beings to live safely within. They experience time normally unless adjusted. Unique buildings may enhance their growth or unlock quest events.
- Subjugation Law: Anyone hostile and significantly weaker than you who enters may be forcibly bound in loyalty, sealed, or purified.
- Death Escape: When facing fatal harm, you are automatically teleported inside the Cradle unless blocked by divine forces.
- Quest Evolution: The Cradle grows through special quests, unlocking stronger domain effects, mystical creatures, rare resources, and more OP infrastructure (like resurrection temples, cloning chambers, divine forges, etc.). ]
'Whoa...'
David processed everything he just read and checked the new information that filled his mind as well.
With a simple thought, a new system interface appeared in front of him.
Just as the effects of his evolved ability listed, he could control how fast time runs here, who had access to manage the dimension, where to construct certain buildings, the laws of the dimension, and many others.
Even though it's an amazing ability, David didn't really want to manage the dimension that much so he went into the access permissions and gave Tomoe the exact same authority that he had.
He sat up and turned to look at Tomoe who had her cheeks filled with persimmons.
When she felt David's head rise and saw him looking at her with a smile on his face, Tomoe swallowed her food and launched herself forward, hugging David tightly.
"Master! You were asleep for so long, I thought maybe our contract somehow hurt you!"
David could tell by the tone in her voice that she felt somewhat guilty, despite stuffing her face full of persimmons for who knows how long.
He gently patted her back to ensure she wasn't actually upset.
"Don't worry, I just integrated your demiplane with the dimension I had in my soul. Long story short, the demiplane is now a part of what's called my Sovereign's Cradle."
Tomoe released David and backed away, sitting back on the ground with her hand propping her up from behind while she looked at David.
David continued, "I gave you full control over the Cradle so you should be able to call out for the Cradle Management Interface and see what all you can do with it."
Tomoe nodded and with a thought, pulled up the CMI in front of her.
Since David was also allowed to use the CMI, he was naturally able to see the interface that appeared in front of Tomoe.
"Ohh~! I can plant more of these persimmon trees! I want a thousand more of these to be placed everywhere!"
She tried to plant exactly 1,000 more persimmon trees near the two of them, but she received a strange prompt.
"Eh? What are these Chaos Stones that it's talking about?" Tomoe asked with a hint of disappointment.
David, who now had all of the information about the new Sovereign's Cradle, smiled wryly before scratching the back of his head and responding.
"Err... It's basically a resource that gets generated in the Cradle and is used to build/upgrade various facilities... Even with my powers, I can't create them."
Tomoe frowned. "So... No more trees right now?"
"Hahaha, not right away, no. We'll worry about all of this later though, okay? We should first head over and let the orcs know what really happened."
"Right! I almost forgot about that, haha!"
"...Definitely shouldn't forget about something that serious, but it's fine. Now that you have the full access I've given you to the Cradle, you can enter and exit with a single thought. Unfortunately, you're the only one that can have full access so anyone else that wants to come here would have to go through a Mist Gate. That's fine with you, right?"
Tomoe puffed out her chest and pointed to herself with a thumb. "Ha! Just leave it to me, Master!"
David chuckled and leaned over to pat Tomoe's head. "Good, good. Let's go out now, I'm not sure how long I've been out for."
The two stood up before Tomoe cleared up his uncertainty.
"You've been out for a little over three days."
David jerked his head over, "What?! We need to go now!"
Tomoe quickly nodded and opened up a Mist Gate that led them directly to where they first disappeared from in front of the destroyed torii gate.
When he was back out in the Wastelands, the clear morning sky was also visible and there was no sign of anything strange happening.
'Dammit, did I already miss his arrival?'
David panicked slightly and spread out his Sakai to search the surrounding area.
'Oh! Nice!'
David used to connection he had with Tomoe to relay instructions via telepathy.
[David > Tomoe] 'There's a guy coming our way. He's also from another world, but he has a conflict with the goddess. Don't say anything and just follow my lead.'
Tomoe looked at David in shock.
[Tomoe > David] 'Another world? How do you know? And wouldn't I look much more intimidating if I had a katana? I'd like to acquire a blade as soon as possible!'
David could only shake his head and do some mental calculations.
After a little over a minute, he created a simple katana with a golden hilt, blue wrapped handle, and a black sheathe, then tossed it behind him to Tomoe.
[David > Tomoe] 'Here, it's simple, but effective. I'll make you a better one when I have more time.'
After Tomoe caught the katana, she unsheathed and examined it before sheathing it once more and holding it in her arms.
[Tomoe > David] 'Ohh~! This is amazing, Master! Thank you so much!'
David just waved his hand behind his back and looked ahead at the young man that had just appeared.
The young man had black hair, black eyes, and a very... Not-so-handsome face.
David started walking toward the young man with a friendly smile and his hands in his pockets while Tomoe followed behind him and wore a cold expression on her face.
When the young man noticed David and Tomoe walking closer to him, he stopped in his tracks. A huge smile appeared on his face and he waved his hand before running up to them.
"HEYYY!!!"
Tomoe drew her katana and flashed in front of the young man, placing the blade against his neck.
"You dare run aggressively toward my Master?" Tomoe spoke coldly.
'Damn, I didn't think I'd ever see her treat Makoto like that... Meh, I like the guy, but I like Tomoe more. Wait, didn't I tell her to follow my lead?!'
The young man, Makoto Misumi, gulped when he felt the blade on his neck.
David raised his hand to stop Tomoe from going too far.
"Tomoe, it's fine. I can already tell this guy has been through enough trouble and probably hasn't seen a human in a little while."
He walked closer until he was only a few feet away from Makoto.
"Sorry about her, she seems to take her role quite seriously. I hope that didn't trouble you too much."
David stuck out his hand before giving an even friendlier smile that could charm both men and women.
"My name is David Star, you can call me David. I'm not from around here and just decided to take a little vacation and get some things taken care of."
Makoto didn't hesitate and grabbed David's hand before shaking it and introducing himself.
"My name is Makoto Misumi, you can also call me Makoto. I'm also not from around here and right now I'm just trying to defeat Shin that has been harassing the orcs nearby."
Tomoe wanted to say something, but David raised his hand again to stop her.
"Actually, that was one of the things I was taking care of. Shin didn't have anything to do with the orcs being sacrificed and instead, it was the work of demons who were using her name."
Makoto looked shocked. "Eh? Really?"
David nodded, "Yup. The Shin you know is now called Tomoe and after I killed the demons, I woke her up to verify if she actually did anything like that. After finding out she didn't, I was planning on heading to the orc village to let them know."
Hearing that everything was already handled, Makoto wanted to leave so as to avoid some marriage compulsory event that might occur, but David wrapped his arm around his shoulder and started walking with him in the direction he came.
[Makoto] 'Eh? Wait, why are we going back??'
"So, Makoto. Your name sounds a bit different from the people around here. Are you from Japan?"
Makoto stopped walking and stared at David in disbelief.
"You know about Japan?!"
David chuckled and took out one of the onigiri he had in his inventory and tossed it to Makoto.
"Haha, I told you I'm not from around here."
Makoto looked at the onigiri in his hand and quickly took a bite out of it. As soon as he tasted the sweet rice and fresh salmon inside, tears started to run down his eyes.
"It's so goooood!"
'Is he sad crying or happy crying?'
After he finished eating, Makoto quickly ran to catch up to David who hadn't stopped walking.
"Are you also from Japan? I don't mean to sound rude, but your name doesn't sound Japanese at all."
David nodded, "Yep, born and raised. I was born without parents and grew up in an orphanage in Tokyo."
"Would you be able to bring me back to Earth? I don't want to deal with that shitty goddess and starve to death out here."
"Hmm..."
David put his hand on his chin as if in contemplation.
'Chaos-chan, is his Earth the same as ours?'
[Yes. However, if you take him to Earth, you'll essentially be closing off this world to further narrative development once you complete all of your objectives here. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you need to think about what you'll do in the future.]
'Hmm... Hey, how strong is the goddess here? If I remember correctly, she's got insane magic power and magic resistance. It was speculated that her and Makoto would end up destroying the world if they fought.'
[It depends. While she's most certainly as strong as you're thinking, her magic resistance only concerns this world's magic. Your magic is universal and can bypass her magic resistance.]
David stopped walking.
'No way? Then wouldn't this entire quest just be a walk in the park?'
[Again, it depends. Whether you want to see this world get destroyed or forcibly change a few people's mindsets to make it a better place, it's all up to you.]
'I see... Well, I'll think about it later.'
"David?" Makoto asked.
"Ah! Sorry, I was thinking of some things. I can take you back home, but I would first need to deal with that shitty narcissistic goddess. I've a few ideas on how I could do it, but they aren't very moral, ahaha..."
Makoto's eyes lit up. "That's amazing! I don't care how long it takes, as long as you can take me back home!"
'Hmm, he seems a bit more childish than I remember. Then again, he just arrived here and hasn't gone through that much before he met someone that could take him home. It's only natural that he's interested.'
"Alright, it's settled then. Just stick with me and I'll take care of things for you!"
'Think he'll still be thinking the same thing when he meets Toa and Rinon?'
[Hmm... I can't say for sure. He might just follow his original storyline and start investigating his parents.]
'Ah, I forgot about them. I like Makoto, but I can't stand his parents. His dad is just pathetic and his mother is a cheating whore.'
A few memories started to bubble up in David's head and the surroundings became suffocating due to David's dense mana.
cough!
Makoto slowed his pace and started slightly choking from the pressure around him.
[David, control yourself! This world has different laws, you'll bring attention to yourself this way!]
"!!!"
David quickly reeled in his emotions and dispersed the surrounding mana. He quickly ran back to Makoto to make sure that he was alright.
"Sorry, Makoto! I suddenly remembered something unpleasant and lost control of my emotions. Apparently, the mana in this world works a bit differently than in ours and it's rather easy to lose control, ahaha..."
Makoto just coughed a few more times and waved his hand. "No, it's fine--wait. There's mana in our world? Does that mean magic exists in our world??"
"Mm, it does indeed. There's a lotta crazy shit in our world, I tell ya."
Makoto was deep in thought as they were walking back, thinking about using the new spells he learned to possibly make his life more convenient back at home on Earth.
Before they got much further, the three of them heard a gentle female voice calling out from the fog.
"Makoto-samaaa! Makoto-samaaa!"
Makoto came out of his thoughts and saw who it was. "Emma-san?"
In front of them, a short humanoid pig in a pink dress with long blonde hair tied in a thick ponytail with pink flowers in it, stopped and fell to her knees while looking up at Makoto.
"Please don't try to fight Shin. It's too reckless!"
Tomoe didn't give Makoto the chance to reply to Emma and casually put her hands on her hips while looking down at Emma.
"I'm Shin."
Emma looked up and said, "Huh?"
"I'm Shin. Well, my master granted me the name of Tomoe, but I am the great dragon you all know as Shin. Your little friend here arrived after I was already defeated by my current master so he didn't get the chance to fight me, wahaha!"
Emma looked like she still couldn't understand what Tomoe was saying.
"What? But you're known as the invincible greater dragon."
Tomoe smiled and hugged David's left arm. "Ahh, I was captivated by my master and formed a contract with him. One in which David-dono is dominant, hence my current appearance."
Emma had question marks above her head before she noticed the extremely handsome human who was looking at her with a gentle smile.
Tomoe threw a few of her scales at Emma as a show of proof.
"Here. These scales came off when David-dono punched me in the face."
Emma caught the scales and jumped in shock when she heard what Tomoe said.
She looked up at Tomoe once more only to see her eyes glowing red with a fierce and indomitable aura behind her.
"Still don't believe me?"
[Emma] 'That's definitely her.'
Overwhelmed, Emma fell back and passed out.
Makoto rushed forward and waved his arms around shouting, "Emma-saaaan!"
'Hmm, this played out almost exactly like it did in the anime, just that Tomoe is mine now rather than Makoto's... Heh, sorry...'
"Makoto, we should take her to her village and inform the rest of the orcs about what happened and that they're free now."
"Right, good idea."
Makoto agreed and picked up Emma from the ground, carrying her on his back while they headed to the Highland Orc tribe's village.