Chapter 155 – After the Doll Play (1/2)

Orphne, let's go.”

”But...!”

Now that the preliminary event was over and we had switched over to the main event, I walked over to Orphne as she still tried to goad her opponent into a rematch.

”You need to give everyone else a chance to play as well. You can have your rematch another day. And imagine. By letting others learn to play today, soon players who are good enough to challenge you will start to appear from amongst them.”

As it stood, Orphne was one of the best players at Goddess's Realm. The demon she faced off today was supposed to be the second best after her, but it looked like the rankings would have to be revised. Though with the huge influx of new players, that ranking didn't really mean much until they had time to reach a reasonable skill level first.

Orphne sulked for a bit longer, but eventually she caved in and followed me out.

Claret on the other hand, who's duty it was to make sure that all the magical tools that were being used were working without issue together with a few others, chased after us as we left the building.

”Good job Claret. Looks like everything went well on your end.”

”Thank you Master! There weren't any problems, so the others can probably handle the rest!”

Since all the technology used was quite new, there was only a limited amount of testing that was possible before being publicly used. But if Claret said that there wasn't any worries, then I had no reason to doubt her words.

With our business done for the day, I put on Alicia and Fate's hats. They were simple summer hats with only medium length brims and a string so it would stay put even if the two ran around wearing it. They not only blocked out the sun, but they were even enchanted to further protect them. As a final benefit, one of the enchantments even shaded their eyes so things wouldn't be too bright for them.

The way they cried the first time they were exposed to the harsh sunlight even when wearing protective clothes still rang harshly in my heart.

We stepped out of the building, only to be met by an even larger crowd that had arranged itself on one side of the structure.

They were all watching the large screen that had been attached to the side of the building. At the moment, it was showing a side view of each of the tables where people were playing Goddess's Realm for the first time.

The golems' movements were quite clumsy, but it didn't fail to elicit excited reactions out of the crowds.

(Looks like we're gonna have to make a lot more screens soon.)

If there was this many people watching here, there was plenty of space to expand as long we could find places to hang the screens. Maybe the Hunter's Guild might work? And maybe some of the pubs and eateries would let us place a screen or two at their places as well.

It would be amusing if we created the first sports bar this way, though making a screen wasn't a quick thing and the materials weren't cheap either, so we needed to prioritize properly.

Not only that, but we needed to make more golems and tables to play at. Looking at the reception today, it was clear that as long as we didn't mess up somewhere, this was going to be quite the popular form of entertainment in our little country.

Though maybe that had to do with the lack of entertainment in the first place?

At best, there was drinking, telling stories, music, and partying. There was also some rudimentary sports, but that was mostly on the level of kids games and make believe, with the older people doing what was at most casual level duels.

But now, for the first time, there was a sport where people could play at an equal level regardless of their personal stats, as well as a way to watch these matches in a completely safe way. Not only that, but even from a distance, even if at the moment it was simply from outside of the building the matches were being held at.

It was the beginning of both an organized sport on top of a broadcast system for that sport. It didn't take much thought to realize that it was going to become a huge hit.

And thus, the crowd that had gathered around the building despite its capacity having been maxed out already with no chance of any of these people being able to directly participate in playing Goddess's Realm this day.

Maybe because of that, quite a few groups spectating the crude matches between beginners had started their own entertainment: betting.

(I guess that'll happen in any society.)

I could only be relieved that they were at least being responsible enough to not let any kids get involved with the bets though.

But even with that said, any bets made at this point was a complete crap shoot as nobody here was familiar with the game beyond the most basics of the rules, which was effectively team death match. Not to mention that none of the players had any history with the game for the bets to be based on anything but pure luck. At most, the players' experience in real combat played a role, but that could only go so far when everyone was moving the golem bodies for the first time.

Advanced combat strategies didn't mean much when simply swinging a weapon was a challenge already.

But even still, people enjoyed watching the clumsy matches and cheered loudly.

All in the meantime, another group was specifically taking advantage of the situation.

The traditional merchant class who always had a keen ear on profits.

There were many amongst the crowds who, rather than watch the matches, concentrated on selling food and drink to those who had gathered here.

The drinks weren't much of a surprise, as they were various alcoholic beverages in cheap wooden tankards ranging from beer and ale to vodka. Of course, the people here were sensible enough to only give the younger audience members juice to drink.

Beyond the drinks, there was food as well. But this side wasn't quite what I had expected.

There were of course sandwiches in hand and and soups in wooden cups being served, but the most popular item seemed to be various types of meat pies. The crust extra thick so that the contents didn't spill while being eaten in hand. While there were a few that more closely resembled those Jamaican patties I was familiar with, most were of the more traditional pie shape, but simply sized as a single portion.

(Huh. Never though of that being treated as street food.)

When I thought about it for a moment, it made sense that it could be eaten in this way, but the thought of eating a pie with a fork was so ingrained in me that I hadn't even considered treating a pie in a similar vein to a burger or hot dog.

By the way, both burgers and hot dogs were being sold, but they were far less popular to the meat pies. It seemed like people had trouble eating the street food I was used to without spilling any, while the meat pies were much easier to consume for them.

It was a little sad that a food which I had introduced was being side-lined, but at the same time it was nice to see some native foods were capable of holding fast against the foreign invaders.

Though the most sad thing was that I couldn't try those meat pies myself. The most I could do was smell them, but it was a completely different thing from experiencing the food for myself.

Fate was probably pretty fortunate on that front, as she would have no memories of what it was like to consume food which was normal for the other races. Hopefully Alicia's memories of solid food would be weak enough that she wouldn't miss them either.

But that would require them to actually drink blood first.

While Alicia should have memories of drinking blood while she was inside of my body and sharing my senses, for some reason the two of them continued to refuse drinking any.

It wasn't exactly a big deal, but I did worry if maybe I was letting them continue on milk for too long.

Each race weaned off of milk at a different time, and since us vampires were one of the longest lived races, the argument that we took the longest to wean did make sense. Dokkalfar, elves, fairies, and imps all took longer to wean than the other races, while they also lived longer than any of them.

But at the same time, spirits didn't wean since they didn't drink milk in the first place. And frankly, Alicia and Fate were the only pure blooded baby vampires I was aware of. Elli and everyone else was in the same boat there. It was as if Alicia and Fate were the first ever baby vampires or something, as impossible as that sounded.

I simply didn't have any credible reference points to work off of.

But their teeth had started to come in now, so maybe it was a good idea to at least start get them to have some blood.

(Then again, their fangs hadn't even started to poke out yet.)

On the other hand, it wasn't like they actually needed teeth to drink blood in the first place. I still got the benefits of drinking blood even when I didn't suck it out using my fangs. Though it was more enjoyable that way.

The two had refused every attempt at giving them blood, but it wasn't like they weren't reacting to it. They definitely liked the smell, just that they weren't equating the smell to something to eat.

(Then again, the food of other races smells good, but tastes worse than sawdust to us.)

It could be that they were having problems associating the smell of food with something to consume, since they were always exposed to all sorts of nice scents, yet none of them were edible for us.

(Maybe I'll have to force it on them once so that they'll be able to make the mental connection?)

I didn't really like the idea of forcing them, but they would have to be weaned eventually one way or another. I couldn't be their only source of nutrition after all. Not only would it be really difficult after a while, but it would seriously stunt their skill acquisition.

My eyes drifted down to the two of them.

Both Alicia and Fate continued to chew on the limbs of the poor stuffed animal while they watched the loud crowd. They jumped a little in surprise when a loud cheer spread like a flash from something that happened on the screens. It seemed like they had gotten used to such outbursts as they didn't seem to get scared from such a surprise.

My cheeks rose up at the realization of the tangible proof that they were growing right there before my eyes.

It was such a little thing, something which was simply common sense and normal, and something that would be considered so normal that it wasn't worth mentioning if it was regarding an adult. But even still, because it was coming from my adorable little babies, it was something which brought pride into my heart.

After a little bit of time, Alicia turned her little head up and looked at me. Fate, almost like as some sort of mirrored instant replay, did the same and looked straight up at me.

”What's up you two?”

”I'm hungry.”

Alicia answered, and Fate nodded right after.

”Oh? In that case how about we try some...”

”Milk!”

”Yea, milk!”

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Alicia had purposely cut me off right then. Though Fate just innocently followed suit like she often did.

”Well, alright. Let me just find somewhere...”

(A little bit more private.)

”And so, you thought my office was more private?”

”It was originally my office, remember?”

Though I did give her my answer, my attention was almost wholly devoted to my babies as they suckled in my arms, their eyes barely open as they concentrated on their task.

”Past tense. And this is hardly private with me being here. Or is it supposed to be some sort of private show for me?”

The sound of a silver pen nub scratching on paper continued as she didn't even bother raising her head.

”Of course not. But it's far more private than doing it outside.”