First Demonic Dragon - Chapter 1071: Dowry for The Forgotten

Chapter 1071: Dowry for The Forgotten

Omodaru and Kashiko-ne were not the type of bleeding-hearted parents who would express a tremendous amount of concern for their daughter’s marital life.

So, when they suddenly asked about something they had never expressed concern about before, it understandably raised numerous concerns.

“I don’t know where you’re getting the desire to ask these sorts of questions from, but our Izanami is a wonderful wife and partner. Our family would not be complete without her.”

Kashiko-ne glanced towards the door for the third time that day. “And Abaddon feels the same way..?”

“O-Of course he does!” Izanami raised her voice for the first time without realizing it.

“He is not here.” Omodaru noted again.

“””HE’S BUSY!!!””” The girls yelled all at once.

They were worried enough after leaving Abaddon in the bathroom unconscious. Their in-laws persistently asking about him only stressed them out more.

Amaterasu was glad that, for once, no one was paying attention to her.

Her grandparents didn’t look like they were buying much of the wives’ excuses. Rather, they seemed to be growing more and more suspicious by the second.

“It is… quite urgent that we speak with him. If there is no issue with the marriage, the matter of the dowery must be discussed.”

“Dowery?” Sif curled her lip. “What dowery?”

“The one we never received…?” Kashiko-ne tilted her head as if she did not understand the confusion.

Ayaana tapped her claw on the table impatiently. “You came here… to ask our family for a dowry..?”

“It is customary in our culture for the groom to provide the bride’s family with a dowry of some sort. As a thank you for raising her.”

“But we don’t want money.” Omodaru hastily added, as if that would somehow make the conversation go smoother.

If one looked closely enough, they could see Ayaana and Sif’s patience dwindling further and further. Izanami, on the other hand, just looked hurt.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Abaddon was not yet here after all. Otherwise, the conversation would have seen a very dramatic shift.

“Raising her? You barely even know anything about her, yet you have the complete gall to come before us asking for a tribute?”

Kashiko-ne and Omodaru fell silent. It only made Ayaana even more irritated when they could not refute their shamelessness.

“…What do you even want?”

Izanami seemingly dropped all semblance of the table manners she had been so desperately clinging to before.

She removed the pins in her hair and let it fall freely in any direction. She placed her forearm on the table, holding her chin with a bored look that she certainly didn’t have a few minutes ago.

“You wouldn’t have called me so persistently if you didn’t already have something on your minds that you wanted. Just come out with it already.”

Ayaana and Sif noticed the shift in Izanami’s tone and demeanor, and wondered just what it meant for the meeting going forward.

If Omodaru and Kashiko-ne were surprised by her sudden change in posture, they certainly didn’t show it. Instead, Omodaru did as he was asked and revealed their entire goal for coming here.

“…We would like to be inducted.”

“Into what, the fucking NBA?” Sif snapped.

“…We don’t know what that is.”

“Christ.”

Kashiko-ne took her husband’s hand.

“What we would like is to be inducted into the Abyssal Pantheon. To become deities here.”

Out of everything that the trio thought they would ask, this was so far down the bottom of the list that they weren’t even sure how to approach it.

Shock was tantamount within them. They felt like they were watching a slow-motion car crash.

“…Are you joking?” Izanami asked rudely.

“No?” Her mother tilted her head.

“You must be.” Izanami covered her brow with her hand. “There’s no way you could honestly expect-”

Suddenly, everyone at the table looked behind themselves at once.

They had expected to find someone standing there, but all that greeted them was empty air.

“Forgive my tardiness. Seems like I’ve missed quite a bit.”

Izanami looked around hopefully. “Hon? Where are you? I can feel you, but I can’t see you…”

“Feels like you’re standing right behind me…” Sif muttered. “But I don’t feel you touching my butt, so I feel like that can’t be-oh, never mind.”

Amaterasu felt a weight suddenly land on her head and looked towards the cause.

There, she found a horned man standing above her, but he didn’t look quite like she had ever seen him before.

The only normalcies were the pitch black skin and long red hair. His bold tattoos had softened into a dull, whitish-gray color. Like ash freshly collected from an active volcano.

Amaterasu recalled there being an eye in the center of his chest, but it had closed up, maybe permanently. In its place, there was a fist-sized red gem that lay at the center of all of his winding tattoos.

He had apparently lost some muscle mass in favor of a taller, slightly leaner physique. He clearly matched Straga’s height of 9’2, much to his third son’s eventual dismay.

His eyes were refreshingly nostalgic. One was a bright red, the other deep violet.

His facial features were what took her by the greatest surprise. Because they didn’t feel solid.

Not in an ethereal, ghostly sense. But in a manner that made Abaddonn seem unmoored in time.

She couldn’t tell how old he was anymore. Not that he ever really gave her a concrete answer before…

If she thought hard enough about it, he seemed like an older figure. Wrinkly-faced, and a jawline of grey stubble.

But if she changed her perspective, then it was easy to picture him as a young boy as well. One with unblemished, clear skin who was just reaching the cusp of manhood.

As Sif had alluded, Abaddon’s aura felt different as well.

The seductive and profound presence he carried wasn’t present anymore. It was actually easier for Amaterasu to think clearly around him. She no longer had to stuff down unbecoming thoughts every few seconds.

“….” He was still too handsome for his own good though. Amaterasu could see where all of his sons’ arrogance had come from.

But perhaps what lingered in her mind about Abaddon the most was the fact that she could still feel him standing behind her, even when he moved into his own seat.

This was different from feeling his aura when she first traveled to Tehom. It was like he was constantly breathing down her neck, waiting for her to fall into darkness. Or…

“It seems like I’m interrupting something…”

Abaddon swept his gaze over the table and noted the myriad of troubled expressions over the table and he felt a bit shy.

‘I knew my new face was weird…. They can’t get past it.’

There was no way to sugar-coat it. Abaddon looked like his age was all of them.

“Hey!”

“Ah!”

Izanami crashed into Abaddon’s lap and grabbed him by the face. “I-I’m a good wife, right?? Say it so my parents can hear you!”

Abaddon blinked away his surprise as Izanami continued to shake him by the shoulders.

For some reason, he thought he might play a little prank and smiled at her earnestly before looking away.

“Oh, I don’t know… There was that time you drank the last of my moonshine, and sometimes you can be a little possesi-”

Izanami grabbed a knife off the table and held it up to Abaddon’s neck. Her parents were horrified.

Abaddon smiled impossibly wide. His twin-colored pupils changed into hearts.

“I retract everything I said. You’re perfect.”

“Aww…”

Abaddon and Izanami nuzzled each other affectionately like two fated lovers.

She suddenly turned back and stared at her parents with a hateful glare.

“See? He loves me! We’re very happy together!”

“…Y-You held a knife to his throa-” Kashiko-ne began.

“Well if you’re happy together, that’s all the more reason to show some semblance of familial piety. You dishonor us otherwise.” Omodaru interrupted his wife before she could blow this for them.

Abaddon, who had just arrived, understood little about what was being inferred by his words. “Familial piety..?”

Ayaana finally tore her gaze from her husband’s face and made a mental note to more thoroughly check him later.

“It seems that our in-laws are here to follow tradition.” She sighed pointedly. “They want a dowry from us to commemorate the wonderful job they did in raising the woman we love.”

Abaddon wasn’t usually one to dismiss traditions and cultural practices; however, on this particular occasion, he was sufficiently rubbed the wrong way.

Neither Omodaru nor Kashiko-ne had ever really done anything for Izanami. They didn’t even make an attempt to save her when she was in prison.

And yet they had come here asking for a dowry? They should have counted themselves lucky that they were allowed through the front door.

“And just wait till you hear the most scandalous bit.” Sif added venomously. “They didn’t come here for magic or jewelry or weapons. They want to be invited into our pantheon as deities.”

For a moment, Abaddon’s face twitched.

With no prior warning or signal, the entire table disappeared like a ghost in the wind.

As the glassware and plates fell to the ground and shattered, Abaddon brought a hand to his head and let out a low exhale.

“Sorry… I’m having a harder time controlling myself than usual.”

Chat I gave a big announcement.

after much soul searching I have decided I can no longer be an Alabama fan. it’s just not the same.

I just don’t know how I’m ever going to move on. maybe it’s time for counseling.