A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

After a few seconds of raging thundersnow storm with Erik and Naeku in its eye, all the Dhashur in their surroundings had been shredded to pieces. Neither first- nor second-ranked beast was spared as none could withstand Erik's third-rank skill.

Yet, impressively, none of the villagers caught up in it were harmed. They all looked down at their bodies in search of wounds, but found none. "A— Amazing…" some of them whispered as they stared at Erik's heroic, lightning-charged form.

Just outside the church steps where they found themselves, groups of Dhashur and Baqum stared at Erik with ferocious, yet scared expressions. The Dhashur uttered strange, lisping barks, while the Baqum clicked and chittered. Both creatures attempted to sound threatening, but none dared approach.

Erik glared at his surroundings, panning his gaze across the gathered monsters until they slowly started to back off. Some fights broke out between the monsters along the way, but Erik had already turned around to find Naeku talking to what appeared to be the village leader, a middle-aged human woman.

"P— Princess Naeku!" she cried out while performing an awkward bow. "I— I had never imagined it would be you who'd come, but… I only managed to make a request for aid twenty minutes ago. I can't believe you're already here!"

"It's mere coincidence, I'm afraid," Naeku answered, shaking her head with a frown. "We were merely in the area when we noticed the attack. You got lucky, Nara."

Although Naeku obviously couldn't divulge their real reason for being there, she also couldn't let this woman falsely believe they would always be able to show up this quickly.

"A-Ah…. that makes sense," Nara answered anxiously, wringing her hands, nervously glancing backwards.

Behind her, the other guards were surprisingly glaring at Nara angrily. "This is all on you, Nara!" one of them shouted and pointed at her. "They warned us about the third-ranked beasts, but you refused to listen! You said we'd be fine! That even if they came, we could all hide in the church's basement until reinforcements arrived, but you were wrong!"

"Yeah!" another joined in, now also berating the older woman, who looked increasingly miserable. "They overwhelmed us in seconds! We wouldn't have been able to hold this position for more than a few more minutes, and then what?! We and everyone inside would have joined the dead that already litter our village!"

"I— I just wanted to retain a piece of our past in a world that's already changed so much," Nara muttered sadly, her older form seeming to shrink significantly. Yet, she offered no other words in her own defence.

The two guards and their comrades scoffed angrily and wanted to retort, but Naeku quickly interrupted them. "Enough!" she growled sternly, revealing the leader inside her when they all immediately listened to her. "There's no point in assigning blame anymore. We will deal with the problem at hand, and then we'll escort you to the nearest city."

Naeku's leadership and commanding presence quickly caused the villagers to calm down significantly. They immediately looked to her for leadership. Meanwhile, the depressed Nara slinked back into the church with no one batting an eye.

"C— Can you and your companion help us find more survivors, princess…?" one guard asked her hesitantly, nervously glancing at the stern presence of Erik. It was obvious Erik was the powerhouse between them, but they weren't sure about his identity.

"My 'companion', as you call him, is our emperor, and you will treat him with due respect," Naeku answered sternly, arms crossed in front of her chest. Immediately, frantic whispered arose as many of the more than twenty guards started glancing at Erik with wide eyes.

They'd heard about this before but hadn't really thought about it until now. What did they care if their kingdom was now part of an empire? Did life change for them?

Meanwhile, a few hundred meters away, the two third-ranked beasts continued to clash and demolish the town. Water jets and sandstorms flew in every direction and created a massive ruckus.

The guard gulped and quickly nodded. "O— Of course, princess." Turning to Erik, he quickly gave a small bow. "Sir, I— T— Thank you for saving us."@@novelbin@@

Technically, he would have bowed for anyone at this point, so long as they'd save him and his fellow villagers, but… frankly, Erik's show of power and imposing visage had already generated quite a bit of awe.

Erik simply nodded calmly before going back to keeping an eye on their surroundings. He had no trouble letting Naeku handle this. These were still more her people than his, after all.

"Good," Naeku nodded before quickly losing her stern edge and looking at the man compassionately. "As for the rest of the town… There's no one else left." She put a transformed hand on the man's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry. You should inform the others while we deal with the remaining beasts."

Naturally, Naeku had already swept the town with her nature sense and, to her dismay, found nothing but warring beasts and dead villagers.

Instantly, their relief at being rescued was dampened significantly as some even sank to their knees and wailed in despair. Some of them still had loved ones out there.

Erik glanced back at Naeku, and she glanced back. Nodding slightly, they came to an understanding without words. Naeku immediately started consoling the villagers but also sternly led them inside the church.

At the same time, Erik stayed outside and waved his hand. Instantly, the air shimmered, and space rippled. Suddenly, two beautiful women appeared in front of him: Astrid and Emily.

"Hello, girls," he smiled at them. "Thanks for helping out."

"Hehe, of course, husband," Astrid chuckled. She wore the Viking-style armour Erik had designed for her, with both swords in her hands. Antsy for a fight, she hopped from foot to foot.

"What she said, Master," Emily grinned with her own excitement for some bloodshed. Despite recent events and her increasing submissiveness towards Erik, her bloodlust remained.

Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

She wore her gothic dress, of course, but to Erik's perverse enjoyment, she was actually wearing her cat ears, and even the butplug tail was peeking out from beneath her dress… She appeared to really enjoy that thing.

"Hehe, good," Erik chuckled with pride and love, before pointing at the two fighting third-ranked monsters. "Your targets are over there. Go show them the might of our family, alright? I'll need to stay here to keep the church safe."

"Yes!" they both answered enthusiastically before rushing off towards the town centre. Erik watched them go with a small grin. It was hard to deny he enjoyed having such wives…