Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-493

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The night was covered in countless stars, and the moon shined brightly above the dark sky.

A clear night lacking any clouds, which was even more illuminated by the artificial lights that covered all of the Empire's cities.

Large lamps that ran by using Magic Technology devices that used Magic Cores and Spirit Stones as batteries illuminated the large, paved streets and every house was empty, as the citizens decided to join in the feasts ran by the Empire itself.

Countless stalls prepared delicious plates of food, grilled meat seasoned with countless sauces, crusty pies, candied fruits, a hot pot filled with many vegetables and meats, and other preparations one after another.

The streets were bursting with people of all shapes and sizes, giants covered in red skin and horns, beautiful demon ladies, fluffy dog beastmen, burly tiger beastmen, people covered in scales, lizardmen of all colors, desert lamias, half-scorpion women, the undead of all kinds, ghosts, Yokai, wolves, birds, large, sticky and blazing salamanders, dryads covered in dresses made out of plants and flowers, walking cactuses with only three orifices in their faces, green-skinned goblin and hobgoblin, burly trolls wearing only loincloths, monkeys of all colors and body types, Arachne, squirrel beastmen, ladies with azure white skin covered in an icy aura, harpies flapping their wings around, centaurs towering over three meters with burly upper halves and fluffy lower halves, and many other species.

The gods that protected this city of wonders glanced from above their Divine Realms, even to this day they would be surprised and baffled by the immense diversity of species that lived in harmony in the Dark Moon Empire, an Empire started by an otherworldly soul that reincarnated as a caterpillar.

And that is me.

After defeating Geggoron, I decided to celebrate with a big feast in the whole Empire. It was already a tradition that my people were accustomed to, so they were all celebrating alongside me in the illuminated streets of the night. People of all species celebrated together while feasting in the food, which was all free, of course.

The people of Moonfang and Sunclaw felt welcomed by the people and were baffled by how delicious the food was, even more after they were told that everything was free for tonight and that they could eat as much as they wanted.

After meeting with their founding gods inside Morpheus's dungeon, Maeralya and Marnet apologized to them for their irresponsibility and their powerlessness, and the people found faith in their promises of peace and prosperity once again.

My citizens were aware of these people and what they went through and helped them feel welcomed with great hospitality.

"Can I… really eat this? I don't have to pay?" asked an old dog beastmen.

"Of course, gramps! Don't worry!" laughed a monkey beastmen.

The old dog beastmen tasted the large chunk of grilled red meat, the juices ran through his old and dried mouth, refreshing him and filling him with wonders once again.

"Ooh! What is this?!"

"I think it's Lesser Fire Dragon meat, it's one of the most exquisite of meat in the whole Empire!" laughed the monkey beastmen as he ate a piece as well.

As the unlikely pair ate vigorously, red-colored slime distributed even more plates over the tables almost non-stop.

Because I wanted everyone to rest, I decided to create a few hundred Slime Clones specifically made to serve and cook the food.

Even the chefs were currently taking a break, no one needed to work today, it was a celebration to increase the morale of my people.

Meanwhile, I was grilling a large piece of steak over a phantasmagoric bonfire while seasoning it. Then, I put it on a plate alongside some mashed sweet potatoes and delicious gravy sauce.

"Here you have Ami-chan,"

Amiphossia who was waiting for her plate patiently waited for me. Because her surpassed four meters by now, she ate on a large plate, and the steak of meat was one meter long, the mashed potatoes that she ate could feed a whole family and more.

"Thanks, mommy!" said Amiphossia, as she went with Evan and her party eats together.

I moved my consciousness to another of my bodies in the party, which was preparing even more meat of all kinds for my family. After killing so many monstrosities, there was meat for years. Alongside this, the meat of the royal family of Sunclaw and the heroes was also being served. It was nice that they transformed into giant monsters, so they had more meat.

Monstrosities were quite dangerous if they were not thoroughly cleaned before eating them. So, I had a few dozens of Slime Clones constantly cleaning the corpses from the dark-colored blood they had, which was venomous for common folk like my citizens.

"Mama, I want more!" said Belle at the side of one of my bodies. Since I ate Geggoron, multiplying my body into many that shared the same mind became even easier, so I had divided my body into five in the entire party and was cooking for everyone while also celebrating.

It might be taxing to the mind of most, but to my mind, it was an easy task to exist in many bodies by now.

"Belle, how much have you been eating? Your tummy will hurt if you eat too much before going to bed!" said Adelle, who was carrying Belle.

"But mama, I want more, I'm hungry!" protested Belle.

After a few days of being born, Belle was already capable of talking just as fluently as the rest of my daughters.

"Well, if she has my lineage and has inherited my abilities, it is to be expected that she has a large appetite, let her eat a few more kilograms of food… don't you see her belly? Even after eating a lot, it has not bulged at all. She most likely has a Belly-related skill." I said.

"I guess you're right… I always forget that Belle is not an ordinary mermaid… And after all, she worked hard today helping you," admitted Belle.

"Yeah! I helped a lot! I'm starving!" said Belle, as her crimson and aquamarine eyes shined brightly while glancing at the large piece of meat, her mouth drooling in anticipation.

"Alright, alright! Sorry about that, I need to be more thoughtful… this pregnancy had made me get a bit hysterical…" muttered Adelle.

Belle finally obtained the large piece of meat as she manipulated her Aura into arms to grab on it and began to voraciously devour it with her tiny mouth, which was filled with sharp fangs.

"Nom, nom, nom, nom!"

I comforted Adelle as she seemed a bit let down.

"Don't worry, I kind of understand how you feel, but you're not alone, if you have any problem, just tell it to me," I said.

"Well… There is not any particular problem… It just… I have been resting for a while now, I kind of want to adventure and level up…" she said.

I guess staying at home for so long stresses her a bit. Though she was a checky princess some time ago and was not into adventuring at all.

"I suppose you ended up liking exploring and hunting monsters, now that you've given birth to Belle and she had grown a bit, I think it is fine to explore around some more…, you don't even need to leave the castle for that, you could explore my Inner Realms and the dungeons inside. I am planning on creating even more dungeons" I said.

"Well… it does sound reasonable," said Adelle.

"Aside from this, I am planning on staying in the Empire to rest for a bit, then I am planning on exploring the surroundings, there are many tribes of beastmen that need to get reallocated inside the Empire by the task of the gods, so there is a lot to do. Doing this will also give us the incentive to explore more of the continent,"

"That sounds quite fun! I am in! I have to polish my rapier skills first though, so I will explore the dungeons in the Inner Realms… though, didn't Moonfang and Sunclaw had their own dungeons as well?" asked Adelle.

"Oh yeah, about that…"

As Belle ate and I talked with Adelle, I was resting with another of my bodies while being served with delicious food from my other wives.

"Masta, eat more pie, guu! Say 'aah'!" said Rimuru, her bright and colorful eyes glanced at me with innocence and love.

She moved her fork which had a piece of freshly baked pie, the jelly was made with her own slime alongside other fruits, which included Ambrosia.

The sweet and buttery crust mixed in my mouth as the flavors danced in my paladar.

"It is delicious my dear, but please-"

"Honey~ How about this juicy piece of freshly grilled Wolf King Meat? Say 'Aaah'~!"

"W-Well…"

I could not reject my wives adorably trying to get my attention, so I accepted Zehe's offering and ate the large piece of meat by extending my jaw a bit. The freshly grilled meat was tender and delicious… and it had a bit of a familiar flavor as my own flesh. This was because the Gray Wolf King was killed by being parasitized by my own Slime Clones.

So, when we divided the flesh slime into pieces, my slime clones had naturally merged into it. I called back the wills and small souls into them back to my body, so they would not have to be eaten alive.

If my Slime Clones or flesh were to be eaten cooked, it would not give as many abilities as if I fused them into people. So, it was mostly safe to eat without risking everyone becoming part slime in my city.

Though, my citizens had eaten so much of my flesh already… that it is still possible that most of them had gained some kind of slime property by now, as they share a part of my Devour, and can acquire skills by eating high graded food.

"Kireina, try this. I made it by myself" said Brontes on my back, giving me a mild smile. I was sitting in her muscular thighs.

She had begun to learn how to cook, so she prepared a delicious meatloaf filled with vegetables and covered in a sweet sauce. It was tender and flavorful, and the veggies went excellently with the meat.

"It's delicious, you have gotten good at cooking, Brontes," I said.

Brontes flushed for a bit.

"W-Well, I just want to act a bit more fittingly as a married wife…" she said.

"Ah, you're so cute when you get all flustered~," I said, kissing her on her cheek.

"A-Anyways, eat a bit more," said Brontes.

"Masta, I want a kiss as well!" protested Rimuru.

"Brontes just got a free kiss?! That is not fair, honey!" said Zehe.

I had to kiss all the girls until they calmed down… at the very least I can communicate and use many bodies now, so I won't feel as overwhelmed, and at the same time it is like being with them instead of just a Slime Clone with a will similar to mine. None of my bodies have an alter ego, they are all me… though sometimes I leave some of my split minds in them when it's time to do other tasks.

"Mommy I want kisses too!" said Vudia, flying alongside Ailine over us.

"I want it! I want kisses as well!" said Ailine.

"Well, I can't reject my little princesses!"

I hugged my two adorable daughters and held them tightly in my arms.

"Mommy, now that you ate that big bully, did you become a goddess of dreams?" asked Vudia.

"More or less… something similar, I suppose… now that I think about it, you didn't eat any part of Geggoron, Vudia?" I asked.

"No, I was inside mommy, but I couldn't eat the bully"

"Well, I should give you a piece of my soul containing some of the divinity, as it would help you develop your powers more… Here," I said, fragmenting a piece of my divinity to Vudia.

Like other gods, it was possible to do this without actually losing the entire divinity, like many gods in the pantheon that protects me had done.

It was just a bit of pain, and I lost some Soul Stats, but nothing else seemed to have been lowered. Unlike the gods, however, my soul was able to devour flesh and other things to regenerate, so it would fully heal in a few hours.

The piece of phantasmagoric soul flew towards Vudia as she slurped it like a drink.

"Hmm! It tasted like soy sauce," she said. The moment she ate the soul piece, her eyes turned crimson red, her hair dark-colored and her skin pale white, alongside her wings becoming crimson and black.

"I want some as well!" said Ailine.

"No, Ailine, you're not compatible with a Dream and Nightmares Divinity," I said.

"But… I want!" she said.

"Ailine-chan, mommy said no, so it's no! Okay, guu?" said Rimuru while convincing Ailine.

"Okay…"

"It is better to give divinities to those that have an affinity with them… well, I am kind of an exception, but all of you are more specialized than me, if you were to eat too much of a different divinity, your future growth might end up being haltered," I said.

"I see… I understand now, though I'm still hungry!" said Ailine.

"How about you eat some of mommy's pies?" offered Rimuru.

"Ah, Ailine-chan, want some meatloaf?" offered Brontes.

"No, she wants this grilled beef!" said Zehe.

Ailine was a bit overwhelmed by the offerings, but shapeshifted her slime body into three heads, and ate everything she was offered.

"Nom, nom, nom!"

Vudia slowly went back to her original appearance naturally.

"Haah, I feel kind of full… burp,"

"Vudia, little princesses don't burp!" said Ailine.

"No, it is fine! It means she liked the food!" said Brontes.

Meanwhile, in yet another body, I was with Nirah, Nephiana, and my seven harpy babies.