God Of Crafting

Chapter 157: Untimely promise?

Waking up was a strange experience.

Not because Claire was missing from the bed - she was right there, well within my arms, silently breathing in and out in her peaceful, well-deserved slumber.

It wasn't because there was something wrong with the way I slept either, not when I woke up perfectly well-rested. I had such a good night of sleep, in fact, I could feel all of the exhaustion from the past few days vanishing into thin air, by now a mere unpleasant memory of how I was rather than something I still had to seriously cope with.

No, it was something else entirely.

It was the feeling of a long, extremely detailed, and somewhat emotionally important dream fading into the obscurity of the short-term memory getting reset.

'I wonder just what I was dreaming about to be like that right as I wake up?' Holding that thought, I stared blankly at the ceiling of the room, hoping, against all odds and reason, to somehow go back to the dream I was missing.

It was the feeling on the level of an itch that was just beyond the range of what I could scratch. And just like I wouldn't be able to scratch the unreachable itch, the domain of this influential dream was now beyond my reach too, forever to remain as a cautionary tale I simply couldn't recall.

"What's wrong?" Claire whispered, still asleep, most likely in response to sensing the slight change in how I moved and breathed.

"Nothing much," I softly replied, doing my best to give her the affirmation she sought while staying silent enough not to prompt her to wake up.

After all, how could I afford any distractions when I was so desperate to recall just what was so important for me to dream about for it to leave such a lasting impression, even if it was limited just to the emotional aspect of it, given how I forgot all about the actual content of my dream?

In the end, however, I squarely failed at everything, from recalling the dream to guessing the possible implications behind one so profoundly influencing me as much as it did. I also failed at my attempts to keep Claire sleeping for just a little longer.

"M-morning..." Claire muttered, slowly prompting herself up while still bearing the most lovely, sleepy look on her face.

There was something simply enchanting in her slightly messy bed hair, her unfocused stare, or the top of her pajamas riding down on one of her shoulders while curling up just far enough to slightly expose her stomach.

For me, this was the perfect picture I would assign to describe peaceful happiness. To wake up by the side of such a goddess, to be privy to such a gentle, heart-warming, and outright adorable show right as I woke up...

'I guess that's it for my attempts to recall that dream,' I thought, realizing just how easily Claire managed to, without the slightest intention of doing so, drag a hundred percent of my attention on herself.

Sadly, this moment lasted only for the short while it took her to grab her phone from the small stand by the bed and unlock it, taking just one more moment to first read, then process, and finally absorb the simple information conveyed by the digital clock on her screen.

"Shit!"

With this single curse, all signs of drowsiness vanished from the girl's aura as she jumped off the bed, only to stop, turn around, and then give me a shocked stare.

"Why are you still in bed?" she asked, as if my opting to laze around for a few minutes after waking up was not a crime, not a transgression... but the act of breaking the very taboo of her clan.

'Oh, she's still half-asleep,' I realized as I looked deeper into her eyes...

Only for Claire not to stand on ceremony and grab the warm blanket we covered ourselves with for the night... before pulling it off the bed in one, swift motion.

A wave of coldness quickly rushed to overwhelm my body, only to come to a stop when faced with the formidable defense established by the warm fluff of my own pajamas that I'd picked just because of how they shared the theme and color with the ones Claire was wearing.

"What was that for?!" I complained as I curled up in a bid to preserve what little heat I could still feel, as opposed to the wave of the refreshing, cold air from the nearby open window.

"That's what you get for marrying rich," Claire grinned, slowly becoming more and more awake as she merely glanced at the blanket down in her hands before forming a small smirk and rather than being shocked by her own actions, deciding to just play along with them.

"Ugh..." I groaned a little, pretending to now turn into a wimpy, whiny ball of complaints. "Is this your attempt at showing me how our life will be once we get married for real? Does this mean the honeymoon period is now over and I'm about to become just one of your tools?!"

If spoken normally, those words could be taken as a serious accusation.

But with how ridiculously much I've overplayed them, there wasn't a person alive on this planet who could miss the joke behind it.

And judging by the grin that appeared on Claire's lips in response to my act, she wasn't the sole exception that would fail to realize it.

"For real, though, we really need to hurry," she then stated again as she calmed herself down and even managed to rein her facial expression in, turning herself to be as serious as she could. "Last night I scheduled a safe call with Chihiro, so it's best if we don't miss it. And right now, we have like what..."

Claire hesitated for a minute before pulling out her phone and taking a look at its digital clock.

"We have three minutes left..." she muttered, her face suddenly turning from serious to grave serious.

"Wait, do you really need to schedule a call with your own father?" I asked, slightly freaked out by the very idea of something like this happening.

"What can I say, he is a busy man," Claire merely shook her shoulders, seeing normalcy where I saw the weirdness.

"And that call... is this about...?" I asked as I hurried to get myself somewhat dressed up, in case this call that Claire spoke off wasn't just based on voice alone.

All things considered, even if the disaster at the factory never happened and my career under Chihiro's protection was nothing but a string of successes... Getting on a video call with my father-in-law in nothing but shorts and a pajama top would generally be bad... No, a very bad idea.

"Just get over here! There's only a minute left!" Claire called, prompting me to hurry up and follow her to the adjacent room where she seated me by a massive table only to then place some modern-looking devices right in front of me before... Just going and disappearing.

A moment later, right on the time Claire adhered to, the devices on the desk flashed up before hundreds of small lasers suddenly erupted from a single protruding part of the main device, a thousand red lines that then moved down as if scanning not only me but the entirety of the room along with me.

Obviously, given its position, the only place where this strange kind of scanner failed to reach was below the table...

Which was exactly where I noticed Claire to be hiding right as the red lines of the laser vanished, only to be replaced with the picture of Chihiro sitting behind the same exact desk that kept Claire unnoticed by the device.

"Tim," Chihiro spoke, with his voice sounding as if he was right in front of me, as opposed to being on the other end of the call. "I'm glad to see that you've managed to recover some, but I've also got the word that there's something important but not exactly urgent that you need to consult me with."

I squinted my eyes a little, slightly startled by the strangely official air of this meeting, even if it was done all online.

"It's definitely important and in my opinion more than just urgent, but..." I hesitated for a moment... Or rather, played out a role of acting hesitant while desperately squeezing my knees together to stop Clarie from prying them open and reaching up to my crotch.

Yet, even with just a single look down, I could see just one sentence painted all over the mischievous look on her face. The same short sentence I could see her constantly mouth off on repeat.

'I've promised, didn't I?'

"Important and urgent?" Chihiro raised one of his eyebrows before leaning over the table a bit. "But?"

"Is this connection really safe?" I asked, finding all sorts of excuses to explain the weird expression on my face.

"Oh?" My question, even though it lacked any sort of real meaning, actually managed to only further stir Chihiro's interest. "Yes, it is secure... but now I can't help but wonder what made you question it in advance."

I took a deep breath before sneaking another glance down, below the desk's top, where Claire finally managed to pry my legs open and now moved closer, making it no longer possible to close them up thus leaving my crotch unguarded.

And judging by how her fingers were already creeping towards the zipper of the pants I'd put on mere moments ago...

Still, this call I couldn't just ignore. On the other hand, I could at least try to ignore Claire, even if only for a moment.

And so, rather than stalling any further, I breathed out before fixing my eyes on the projection of Claire's Dad's face while trying to ignore how she already started to jerk me off to get me ready for the promised soul-sucking experience.

"While it's only a guess..." I gritted my teeth, fighting off the wave of pleasure that rocked up my spine when Claire wrapped her sweet, full lips around the rim of my shroom before sucking on it so strongly, she even started to pull her head back, as if to pluck the shroom of my penis out.

"But Claire and I... We believe what happened back at the factory was well..." I looked away before raising my hand to gently scratch my cheek. "We believe that the energy we accidentally unleashed gave birth to the consciousness within the spirituality."

Chihiro... didn't respond.

He just sat there with his eyes affixed on what was likely my own projection.

A single bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead.

'I'm not sure if I got the message, so let's try again,' I foolishly thought before gulping my saliva, ignoring Claire's mischief and heaving a short sigh.

"We believe we gave birth to a god."