By the time he circled the hospital, the sky above Tokyo was dark.
Konrad's head still threatened to split from all the stuff he memorised at work.
But he didn't come to seek treatment. He was here for a visit.
"Ryu-san?" The receptionist greeted him as if she saw a ghost. She didn't. She saw an illusion he cast. The second one today. "I, uh—we tried to reach out to you, but you were abroad."
Yeah, according to the story, they have fed the cops.
The quickest excuse for why none of their parents were available.
Not 'cause they came from another world and didn't have any, of course. No, they were abroad.
"I was, but when my sweet little Kaede is—" his voice trailed off in his best attempt at playing the shaken parent. "Where is she? Is she safe? I need to see her at once."
There was only so much mana he could spend on that illusion after all.
When he tried to sneak in without it, the nurses turned him away.
"This way, Ryu-san. She is stable and in a good mood, but—see it for yourself," a nurse said, eyeing his belongings. "Y-you didn't bring that sake for her, right?"
Crap. He forgot to cover that with the illusion.
"A gift," Konrad improvised, raising the bottle. "I'd like to thank her doctor in person. But only after I saw my daughter. I didn't take an emergency flight home for the pleasantries."
In truth, he texted Kaede about where she was only when his shift ended.
He had to share his insane breakthrough with her, no matter what.
"But I'm not sure if the Sensei is still here. Should I forward—"
"It can wait," Konrad grunted, clutching that bottle as if his life depended on it. "Please hurry."
He didn't go through all that trouble buying one to lose it now, after all.
Two stories above, Kaede had the entire ward to herself.
It was lucky, since Konrad could drop the illusion the moment the nurse left them alone.
"Looking great, Daddy," the girl greeted her with a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. She pushed herself up on the bed, her movements careful and awkward. "I have such a youthful Oto-san."
As much as she tried to joke around, gauze and bandages covered her entire body.
"Are you hurt?" Konrad rushed to her side, dropping all pretenses.
"That's a stupid question, bossman," she winced, holding back a laugh. "Angels hit hard."
He put the bottle down, but couldn't help that awkward hover above her bed.
Should they hug? Kiss? They weren't exactly in that kind of relationship, harem or not.
But when she got hurt because of him—
"So, what's up?" Kaede urged. "You didn't come all the way to see how I—ouch—did."
From the sharp wince, she must have been in an even worse shape than he expected.
"Don't force yourself," Konrad scolded, settling with a light caress of her forehead. She was hot. Fever hot. He noticed an IV line attached to her arm, too. "Could you heal yourself with mana?"
"Sure, if I had any," she hissed, her eyes stumbling on the bottle he brought.
Her eyebrows shot up.
"Booze? That's what you call mana now?"
"Not quiet," he grunted, rolling his eyes. The explanation could wait. "But I had some leftover essence stored in my sword. So how much do you need? At the very least."
"If you have any to spare, use it on getting us home instead," she protested. "I'll heal in due time."
But Konrad had other plans.
He reached for her hand, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"No. I'll start the transfer, and you tell me when it's enough," he said, not taking no for an answer.
She pushed back, not with her body, but resisting his essence.
He didn't even know that was possible until now, but her weak pressure was easy to overcome.
The result was—well, he should have expected it at this point.
"Oh for the spirit's name, Daddy," Kaede moaned, her voice pitching up. "You can't barge into a hospital ward like this and make me lose my mind. Shit. Fuck. Stop. No, don't stop."
He was slow, careful not to make the pain worse, but—damn that perverted dragon.
"Calm down, I can't focus like this." Konrad increased the pressure, the girl's expression turning even more intense. Now, he was panting, too. "Why'd you have to make it so hard?"
No pun intended.
She acted as if she had reached an orgasm, and Konrad's pants felt tighter than before as well.
"Fuck, Daddy," Kaede yelped. "You're filling me up. It's so hot—"
"Wording," he grunted, forced to slow down again. "You and your dirty mind."
"Enough, enough, stop or I'll—I'll," the girl's pleading trailed off after about a hundred mana.
Konrad could no longer keep the flow under control, either.
He cut it off altogether, then turned away to adjust his clothes.
The effect she had on him, her moaning—
Damn it, he could only hope it didn't alert the nurses.
The girl panted for a while and kept her eyes closed, but she was no longer wincing.
"Holy shit, you went right for it," she mumbled. "Way to tickle my darkest fantasies."
"Why do you have to make it sound like I did something dirty?!" he complained, his face all red.
Meanwhile, her body emitted a faint green glow instead.
"Aah, nothing like healing magic after sex," she breathed, looking satisfied. And even if she had spoken like that to fluster him, she sounded actually relieved. "Okay, yeah, much better now."
Trying her arms and shoulders, she started to peel off her bandages.
She had nothing but her still-burned skin underneath.
"Stop," Konrad groaned, turning away again. "You'd better pretend to be hurting a little longer. We're already suspicious. And come on, have some decency, idiot."
"Whatever you say, Daddy," she giggled.
The rustling stopped, and he heard the bedsheets move. He hoped she would cover up at last.
"So, did you only come here to mess me up?" she chirped, pulling him closer. "Not that I'd complain. Even if that was a huge waste of mana. But I like it when you're a little forceful—"
"Wording." He yanked his hand away. "I found a way to recharge it anyway."
He only glanced at her to see those hazel eyes go wide.
"Recharge what? Your mana?!" Kaede yelled, jumping up. "How?"
"Stop yelling," Konrad choked out, expecting the nurses to rush in at any moment. "I've come here to tell you, but you're way too loud," he added in a whisper. "Calm down already."
But he could have pleaded all he wanted.
She wouldn't settle after an announcement like that.
"The sake?" she guessed, grabbing the bottle with curiosity. "Where did you even get it?"
He gave her a quick rundown of the events with the hyperactive emo girl and the ramen place. Then, about how he cast a minor illusion to make him look older and buy the booze.
"No freaking way," Kaede mumbled. "Like, you recovered all your mana from drinking this?"
"Well, not exactly," Konrad admitted, and the girl's eyes narrowed. "Not everything. Not yet."
"How much are we talking about?" she demanded, clutching the bottle to her chest.
"About two points so far," he whispered—after using a hundred on her healing.
The girl's eyes sparkled. He faced one hell of a storm.