The smell of blood was intense, and a strange silence came over the clearing in the middle of the vast forest.
The battle between Guild's and two mercenary groups' elites was fast and intense. They used everything they had as quickly as they could, and had it not been for Lucien's intervention, Red Lady would undoubtedly have won.
But now no one had really won. Except for Lucien, who had not only gained a great advantage with the death of so many elites from his "enemies," but also had "captured" two of Portgreen's most influential leaders.
Astrid dragged Klaus, still alive, to the center of the battlefield while Lucien also walks towards there. Scarlett didn't really know how to act, but she had to obey Lucien for now, so she followed him in silence.
Lucien looked at Jeanne on the ground, and couldn't help but be a little upset. He wants to be able to develop a friendly relationship with her, but they always seemed to be on opposite sides.
He didn't look at the others and focused on Maggie sitting on the ground. She was exhausted from using her magic for long the first time.
Lucien said nothing and simply opened his arms towards her. "You did very well, Maggie."
"Hubby..." Maggie didn't waste a second before accepting Lucien's offer. He picked up and hugged Maggie, who squeezed her lover tightly while wrapping her legs around his waist.
Astrid was covered by dust and blood from her enemies. Rose had killed more than 20 people a few minutes ago. Scarlett was a brutal mercenary leader... But the three women couldn't help but blush, seeing the hot scene between Lucien and Maggie.
Scarlett thought Lucien was trying to persuade her with another show, but Astrid and Rose knew he was just helping Maggie to recover. Of course, they not only wanted to regenerate energy but also kissing their lover was always good.
Rose was not ashamed to beg Lucien for affection and received kisses before she even asked. Lucien was pleased that the fight was successful and knew that the girls deserved help from his life mana and also a quick reward.
The life mana in Lucien's body was incredibly strong, which made L.u.s.t a little confused. Of course, he received a lot from Sophia, who had such intense feelings for him. Still, this life affinity should have already lost some power as Lucien had been without contact with Sophia for days.
But not only did it not lose power, but this life affinity seemed to get even better each time Lucien had more pleasure with the girls. The influence of L.u.s.t's powers also seemed to have more and more impact on the girls' improvement, making L.u.s.t much happier than confused.
One minute was enough for Lucien's kisses to regain some of Rose and Maggie's energy. They were also happy enough not to complain about Scarlett.
But Astrid was not at all pleased and sent a mental message to Lucien. 'Do you remember that this woman was one of the leaders in the offensive against Cassidy? I know she can be more useful alive, but I don't like you being so kind to her.'
Lucien released the two girls clinging to him like koalas and approached Astrid to hug her while communicating mentally so as not to give Scarlett any information.
'I understand that, but our focus is on conquering Portgreen. There will always be time for Cassidy to decide what will be done of her later. You don't have to worry about my actions when you know who the people really matter to me are, my sweet wifey.'
Astrid hated Red Lady for attacking Cassidy along with Ivan, so it was normal for her not to want Scarlett in her new family. She also did not want Lucien to have so many women, thus reducing the time she would have with him, but in the end, her lover had not only given her a lot of power but also made her heart beat faster with just a touch.
Any problems she had, no longer mattered as long as she could stay with Lucien. Astrid accepted his warm embrace and kissed Lucien, not to regain energy as she had plenty of energy left, but to demonstrate that she was in total agreement with anything he did.
The more incredible a person was, the easier it was for them to get partners. That was true for men and women, so it was normal for fantastic people to have more than one wife or husband.
However incredible as a man was, if he had an incredible woman as his wife, it would be difficult to have other women as good at the same time.
With that kind of common knowledge in mind, Scarlett thought the three women were in the same group as Lucien but not like that...
She saw Rose and Maggie near Olivia's squad knocked down, so it was easy to deduce that they had defeated Olivia. Scarlett also concluded that one of the girls was the earth mage, who not only did significant damage to the city but also defeated Cornelius and his mages.
If Rose and Maggie were not enough, Scarlett also saw Astrid in all her new glory, fighting with strength and speed at the top, if not higher, of the S-rank.
Scarlett was surprised by the power of Lucien's small group, but then she saw all the girls become docile in his arms like cute wives.
'How?!' Even though Scarlett understood that Lucien was incredibly powerful, it still seemed a little surreal that the three incredible women agreed to share him.
She was increasingly curious about Lucien and couldn't help but think that having them by her side would be the best way to control Portgreen. Of course, she didn't know about Cassidy or that Lucien wanted to be King with her.
Lucien hugged and kissed Astrid for a minute before squeezing her s.e.xy ass again and starting to discuss the next steps.
"Astrid and Maggie loot anything useful from the corpses. Rose and Oya, you watch the sleepers while Scarlett and I get my arrows back."
*Roar*
Oya understood her master's intention, so she showed her sharp teeth to Scarlett, who was once again surprised by Lucien. 'Damn!! Is even the tigress so obedient to him?!'
"Mm." The girls were pleased after experiencing their new strength and receiving affection from Lucien, so everyone nodded while following Lucien's orders with a wide smile on their faces.
Rose and Oya stood in the center of the battlefield, watching Olivia, Jeanne, Mason, Klaus, and Glen. The lizardman was severely injured but still alive.
Scarlett tried to get some information from Rose, but the vampire didn't seem to talk as she stared at Lucien collecting the arrows with that silly smile on her face.
While Astrid and Maggie looted the mercenaries and adventurers, Lucien tried to collect all the black arrows he could. He didn't have many of them, and if he wanted to continue the travel to the Nunid Kingdom, he couldn't waste his precious arrows.
Some arrows were damaged when passing through targets and hitting stones on the ground, and others were lost when Lucien hit mages too far from the main group. After a few minutes, he managed to recover 80 of the 90 arrows he shot, leaving his current stock with 81 black arrows.
As Lucien put the last arrow in his storage ring, he remembered the blacksmith, Rebecca, who made the arrows. He paid her to make more arrows and equipment for his women, so he would have to find a way to meet her at some point.
Lucien also looted the targets of his arrows, then returned to the center of the group after helping Astrid and Maggie loot all the other corpses on the battleground.
'What are we going to do with them?' Astrid used mental communication with Lucien while looking at Olivia on the ground.
'Let's see.' Lucien could hear the slightly accelerated breathing of the five people, but incredibly one was asleep. The fat man who had already pissed off Lucien once looked like someone almost snoring in his sleep, but the others were just pretending to be knocked.
"Oya, you are allowed to bite anyone who doesn't get up in a second." Despite Lucien's words, Oya understood his intention and would not bite anyone, yet, but she would follow the performance as Lucien wanted.
*Roar*
"Wait, wait!! My nephew is really knocked out. Don't harm us, please." Jeanne was the first to stop pretending when she heard Oya's roar. She remembered what happened the last time the tigress bit someone, so she started to defend Mason immediately.
"We meet on opposite sides again, Lady Jeanne." Lucien currently had many talented women with whom he could strengthen himself and them, but he couldn't help but find Jeanne interesting. He only knew one other person with pink hair, who, like Jeanne, was a very stoic person.
As Olivia and Glen stood up in silence, Jeanne stood in front of Mason while questioning Lucien. She looked fine, but from her tone, it was possible to see that the brave knight was almost crying.
"I know we met in a strange situation, but I took you to our Guild and helped you to become an adventurer... You should be part of our family, but you attacked us!! why?"
Lucien could not blame Jeanne for not reacting well; after all, she just saw many comrades die. He wanted to be able to talk to her in a friendly way, but now he had to be quick and decisive.
He looked at Olivia and Glen, then at Scarlett and Klaus, who was unable to get up because of his injuries.
"I'll be direct. I have to go somewhere to find someone. So you can follow me and obey all my orders so that we can talk and decide how you will help me later, or..."
He stopped for a second before continuing in a cold tone, which made the four hold their breath as it was easy to understand what he would say next.
"I can kill you... Quickly or let Oya bite you slowly. It will depend on how you behave." Lucien managed to make his point clear. As he stroked Oya's head, everyone had the same thought about him: "The devil and his loyal companion, the fiend beast."
Of course, in the mind of Astrid, Rose, and Maggie had a "My" instead of "The."
"Do you think you can kidnap us and nobody will come after you? You don't know who you're dealing wi-" Olivia knew they were in no position to resist, but she still tried to threaten Lucien. Still, she was unable to end her threat before she saw the tip of the red katana just inches from her face.
Lucien was not in the mood to argue, which would lead to nothing. He should be going to rescue Lenna, so he had to be ruthless.
"You do not understand me. Not only do I have no problem killing you, but I would also enjoy it." Lucien moved the katana's blade forward just far enough to touch Olivia's neck. He would not like to kill her, but he had to appear cruel so that no one would cause problems to interrupt his plans.
Astrid knew that although Lucien had reasons to dislike Olivia, he didn't really want to kill her. Still, Astrid understood the situation and spoke to help Lucien persuade Olivia. "Olivia, don't be stupid. Just follow his orders and don't cause problems... For your own good."
Olivia was even more upset. She helped Astrid in a complicated situation and felt betrayed now. She was about to complain when Lucien moved his katana to Glen's neck. The elven archer said nothing and just stared at Lucien with a serious expression.
Lucien noticed that Olivia was quiet when he threatened Glen, so he aimed his katana at Klaus while speaking in a cold tone.
"I have to make you understand the consequences of your actions. I heard that these two are your famous S-rank adventurers... So you will choose one of them to continue traveling with us. The other... Well, you know. He won't have a headache anymore."
It was obvious what Lucien meant, and everyone understood. While Olivia was very nervous, Scarlett had more and more positive thoughts about Lucien.
'Ok, he's absolutely interesting.'