28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cody
It was over a century ago
When a demon lost his life
The one of freedom he held dear
When he found himself
Trapped inside a magic knife
-
But he forgot his name!
Somewhere along the way
He lived in so many brains!
There’s been so much pain!
And he’s been waiting for this day!
The day when Cody Hampshire
Asked him for his name!
-
He was plunged into the hearts of enemies
Trapped inside a world of violence and strife
Until he was matched with Cody of the Golden Heart
And then he finally met his puffball mushroom wife!
-
But he forgot his name!
Somewhere along the way
He lived in so many brains!
There’s been so much pain!
And he’s been waiting for this day!
The day when Cody Hampshire
Asked him for his name!
-
But the fateful day is finally here
Two good friends, sharing a moment
Both are shedding manly tears
Knife had been waiting so very long
It was the question he was waiting to hear
-
But he forgot his name…..
Somewhere along the way…..
And if Cody wanted to be a true friend…
He’d give him a brand new name today!
-
Cody was standing in the middle of the dirt road next to the field of cows, completely frozen as the song played out.
He saw glimpses of Knife’s past, the skirmishes he’d been in, the hearts he had been stabbed into.
Over a century of being thrown from one soul to the next, trapped inside so many minds, some of them evil, some of them utterly insane.
At some point, Cody must have pulled Knife from his Inventory, because he was holding him in his right hand.
I don’t know why it said that part about ‘manly tears’, Knife grumbled. I’m not crying. Are you crying? Because I’m definitely not crying.
Cody shrugged. He…had teared up a little. It was a lot to experience in the span of a three-minute Eighties pop ballad. And there was a lot of stuff he hadn’t known about Knife.
You forgot your name. It wasn’t a question.
Cody felt the hollow feeling of guilt in his chest, realizing Knife was right: Cody never even asked what his name was.
In his defense, the whole thing had been really fucking weird.
Being isekai’d, being stabbed, nearly dying, having a demon attached to his soul, and being in denial that any of it was actually real…
by the time he accepted his fate, he had already started thinking of Knife as Knife, and it just kind of stuck.
Fucking sucks, Knife said, clearly trying to brush off the emotional intensity of the moment.
So…do you actually want me to give you a new name? Cody asked.
I mean…I wouldn’t say no to that.
Cody remembered a previous conversation and felt he had the answer: Okay, how about Edouardo?
You remembered.
Yeah, I remembered.
But you clearly forgot the part where I said I was saving that name for my son.
Cody started walking again, heading home. Knife…who with, and how are you expecting to have a son?
Cody was met with silence. Maybe it was a touchy subject with Knife. Besides that one time he’d mentioned the name Edouardo, Knife had never mentioned wanting to have kids. It wasn’t exactly the kind of conversation you had with the demon sentient knife connected to your soul.
Finally Knife spoke: You don’t need to kick me while I’m already down, buddy.
I’m just being honest with you. I don’t think you can have kids, so maybe you use the name Edouardo for yourself.
I think Marigold would be a good mom, don’t you?
I don’t see how the awkward pet shop girl factors into any of this.
Um…just promise me that once you have a harem, you leave Marigold out of it?
Knife… Cody wasn’t even sure what to say to that.
Just promise me?
I can definitely promise that. I am not into Marigold and I am definitely not starting a harem. A beat of silence passed and then Cody tried to bring the conversation back to where it had started: So, are you sure you don’t want your name to be Edouardo?
Nah, it doesn’t feel right, Knife said. Maybe you can use the name Edouardo for your first-born son.
Um…I don’t know. I have a feeling Morgan might not be into that name.
What’s wrong with Edouardo? It’s an amazing name, Knife argued.
And if Morgan isn’t into it, knock up that eager little nekofae and name your first-born son with her Edouardo.
She’s so smitten with you, I’m pretty sure she’ll let you do whatever you want, including name your kid Edouardo.
Even though I don’t see how that would even be an issue, since it’s the coolest fucking name in existence.
Wow. No. Have you not been following along while giving me the silent treatment? I’m not hooking up with Nyrah.
But I’ve been reading your Grandpa Sam’s books along with you. You definitely have a potential harem situation here. You should embrace it.
Cody shook his head and sent Knife back into his inventory. That’s…no. I’m not doing that.
Ah! You considered it for like two seconds there! I saw it! You think the other two girls are hot!
Objectively… Cody began, but he lost his train of thought.
He arrived home and he could hear laughter out back.
He rounded the corner to the beach to see Nyrah and Yana splashing in knee-deep water, both wearing tiny pink bikinis.
Thankfully, they were wearing their necklaces, so they looked completely human.
But the bikinis…those were distracting. The thin material of the triangle-shaped cups of the bikini top Nyrah was wearing was not enough to cover her ample bosom.
Yana was more modest in that area, but still very, very…
distracting. Or maybe it was her abs he just noticed for the first time.
For a couch potato who ate more than a teenage boy, Yana was insanely toned. Cody figured it must be her elf-genes.
Yeah…you think they’re both hot, Knife said and Cody refrained from commenting.
Nyrah noticed him first and waved. “Cody Hampshire! We’re fishing!”
“She’s fishing,” Yana corrected. “I’m swimming.”
“I got her to stop watching the magic box!” Nyrah announced triumphantly.
Cody slowly walked closer, until he was standing at the edge of the water. “That’s, um…yeah, that’s great. It’s not good to watch TV all day. Fresh air and…stuff.” He noticed Nyrah did not have a fishing rod. “You said you’re fishing?”
Nyrah nodded eagerly. “Yeah! It’s more challenging without my claws, but I can still do it in this form.”
“She is very good at fishing,” Yana said.
Because she’s a cat? Knife mused. But wait, I thought cats didn’t like water.
Cody didn’t answer. Instead, he watched as Nyrah swam out into the deeper water. She dove under, disappearing below the waves, and popped up a few moments later with a good-sized sunfish gripped in her hand. The fish flapped its body, trying desperately to get away, and she promptly set it free.
We could use this, Knife said.
We definitely could. Cody knew exactly what Knife was suggesting.
“Hey, if I showed you a picture of a specific fish, do you think you could catch one for me?” Cody asked Nyrah. She swam back to the shallows and stood up, droplets of lake water rolling down the curves of her cleavage. Which he quickly looked away from, focusing intensely on her eyes instead.
“I can do anything for you, Cody Hampshire,” Nyrah said, in that way that was a little too suggestive for his liking.
“Drop the last name, remember?”
Nyrah was silent as Cody took his phone out of his pocket. He quickly used a search engine to bring up images of the fish he needed to catch for Bob’s Friendship Quest: a sunfish, a yellow perch, a catfish, a northern pike, and a largemouth bass.
Nyrah gave him a determined nod. “I will not leave this lake until I bring you those fish.”
“Well, I mean, if you don’t get them in the next hour or so, it’s fine,” Cody reassured her.
“Yes, it’s dinnertime soon,” Yana said. “I don’t want to miss dinner.”
“Can I ask why you need the fish, Cody Ham–” Nyrah bit down on her bottom lip, stopping herself from saying his last name.
“I need to catch them for my Friendship Levels with Bob,” Cody explained.
“But aren’t you supposed to catch the fish yourself?” Yana asked.
“I haven’t had much luck with fishing lately. Besides, I think I just need to send pictures of the fish to Bob.” Cody held up his phone. “See this? It’s a phone. It can take pictures and I send them to Bob.”
“But it feels like a lie if you have Nyrah catch them and you pretend that you did the work,” Yana said.
“It’s fine!” Nyrah hissed at her friend.
Yana looked over at Nyrah. “I thought you said he had a Golden Heart. Someone with a Golden Heart wouldn’t tell a lie.”
“It’s a lie for the greater good,” Nyrah insisted. “Cody is attempting to defeat Temica’s trials so we can be rid of her. It is a noble cause, and he does have a Golden Heart.”
With that she turned away and dove under the water, swimming back out into the lake.
Cody kicked off his shoes and socks and sat on the beach, with his feet close enough that the waves washed over them.
Yana walked out of the water and grabbed one of the pink towels that were lying on the beach.
She wrapped it around herself before sitting next to him.
“I don’t think this is going to work,” Yana mumbled.
“We don’t know unless we try.”
“Nyrah said you think defeating the game will make Temica leave. How do you defeat this game?”
“I have to earn Friendship Levels with certain people in Cornerstone,” Cody explained.
“Including Nyrah,”
“Yes. And, also, you.”
“Oh…I didn’t know that. How many levels is Nyrah at? And myself?”
“Nyrah is at two, you’re at zero.”
“Oh. I see. And you do certain things to achieve these levels? You have to catch fish for Bob?”
“Yes.”
“What do you have to do for Nyrah? How is she already at two and I’m at zero?”
Cody rubbed the back of his neck, not really enjoying this line of questioning. “I think I have to be nice to Nyrah. That’s it.”
“And me? You have been nice to me, but it appears nothing has happened.”
“I don’t know what I have to do for your Friendship Levels. Any ideas?”
He was very purposely leaving out the fact that once he was done with Nyrah's Friendship Levels, she also had Romance Levels lying in wait. He realized there was a chance he could get through Morgan’s first and that would cancel out Nyrah’s before he even got to that point.
And Morgan seemed to level up every time she orgasmed.
He was going to need some more alone time with Morgan.
Plus, he desperately wanted more alone time with Morgan.
It was hard working around her Food Mart schedule, avoiding Doug, and how often she helped out with Gracie.
“I don’t have any ideas,” Yana said quietly.
What about you? Cody asked Knife. Anything?
Before Knife could answer, Nyrah came splashing out of the water, holding a largemouth bass with both hands.
It was about a foot long and green and flapping around vigorously.
Nyrah was beaming, strands of wet hair plastered to her face.
Her arms were outstretched, holding the fish out to Cody as she climbed out of the water and onto the beach.
“I did it! This is one you were looking for, yes?”
“Yes! Awesome!” Cody jumped to his feet and pulled out his phone.
[Congratulations! You have completed your third Friendship Level with Resident Nyrah Rose! Only two more to go until Romance is Unlocked!]
Cody ignored the notification and snapped a quick picture of the largemouth bass. Nyrah’s hands were in the picture…and her boobs. He hoped it was still okay for Bob’s fishing quest.
“You can put it back now,” Cody told Nyrah, and she gently set the fish back in the water.
He sent off the picture to Bob, and a second later he received a thumbs up in reply.
[Congratulations! You have completed your first Friendship Level with Resident Bob Gilbert! Only four more to go until Full Friendship Achieved!]
“It worked!” Cody told the girls.
“I can catch the other fish for you, too!” Nyrah jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Her bouncing boobs did things to Cody he was not proud of.
“That would be great,” Cody told her. And he was feeling pretty damn good about this new development when another notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have completed your fourth Friendship Level with Resident Nyrah Rose! Only one more to go until Romance is Unlocked!]
“Fuck…” Cody grumbled.
“What is it?” Nyrah asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He pocketed his phone and grabbed his shoes and socks. “No more fishing today. I’m going inside. Alone.”
“But Cody–”
“No!” Cody shouted and turned his back to her as he headed back to the cottage.
Cody Hampshire Player Stats
Friendship Moments: Gracie: 2/5, Nyrah: 4/5, Lexi: 1/5, Bob: 1/5
Full Romance: Doris, William
Romance Moments: Morgan: 7/10
Relationship Status: No harem? You sure? You sure about that?