WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 50

It took half a month before the Nevarian Braves headquarters was repaired. I could have asked Empress Hilda to make it her first priority, but it didn’t feel right asking for her to help fix my sect’s base when so many buildings had been destroyed during the various battles that had taken place when we recaptured Nevaria. The first thing she did was allocate funds toward the repairs of those buildings. Only after everything else had been fixed did she repair mine.

Because it was impossible for a building to be completely remade the exact same way it had been before, the Nevarian Braves headquarters looked a little different than last time. It was still a four-story building that was longer than it was wide, and it was still shaped like Uruz, the rune that stood for physical strength and speed. However, it was about twice the size of the previous building. Empress Hilda had obviously decided to upgrade our headquarters as an apology.

Well, that was fine.

I stood within an empty room, one that was about fifty square meters large. No other room in this building was this big. I’d specifically requested they create this room while they were rebuilding, and I had done so for a very specific purpose.

I held out my hand and summoned a ring from my storage ring, and then from the storage ring I had just summoned, I summoned another object. It was massive. Towering over me by at least ten meters was an archway made of stone. Engraved upon the stone were numerous runes. The archway was sitting on a pedestal that stood a meter off the ground. To reach the archway, you had to walk up a set of stairs.

This was a Warp Gate, a device that could be used to transport people and objects from one location to another with the corresponding Warp Gate. I did not know how it worked. Not even Kari understood the mechanics behind it, though the reason was not because she didn’t want to know. Warp Gates were a closely guarded secret of the Runology Sect. Their method of construction was unknown. Even the runes they used was unknown because the runes shown on the surface was only a small part of a much larger array. In order to see the entire array and how they all connected, a person would need the schematics, which no one but the head and a few elite members of the Runology Sect were allowed to see.

“So this is yer human version of a Warp Gate?” Sterk asked with a slight frown. He placed his hands on his hips as he studied the gate. “Hmm… I suppose it’s not bad. Even we dweorgs have long forgotten how these things were built, so I can’t say ye did a terrible job in its construction, but it still seems shoddily constructed.”

“Didn’t you just contradict yourself?” I asked with a smile.

“If I knew how to build a Warp Gate, I can guarantee ye it would be a thousand times better than this,” Sterk said.

I shrugged. “Well, maybe someday you’ll get to see the schematics for these things and construct one yourself.”

“I think I’d enjoy that,” Sterk commented.

“Anyway, I’m about to head through. Stay here and make sure there aren’t any problems with the Warp Gate on this end. I’ve never used a Warp Gate to travel across such a vast distance before.”

Well, if you didn’t include traveling between two realms, but I didn’t tell that to Sterk.

“Aye. I’ll do that.”

With Sterk’s assurance, I walked up the steps and stood beside a pedestal that was about waist height, with a single black orb embedded into the center. I placed my hand on the orb and channeled my Spiritual Power into it. The orb lit up, glowing with a vibrant golden hue, and then the Warp Gate crackled to life. A loud thrumming sound echoed around the room as darkness gathered in the area around the arch.

As I watched the space distort, a thought occurred to me that this was actually a phenomenon of the Fifth State of Spiritualism. Warp Gates distorted space to allow for near instantaneous transportation from one point to another. Space was one of the higher level concepts, meaning this gate ran on a high level concept.

I wondered if I could somehow convince the Runology Sect to show me the runes used to manipulate space. If I could figure out how this Warp Gate worked, I might be able to reverse engineer a high level concept and become stronger. However, those were thoughts for another time.

Without a hint of hesitation, I stepped through the Warp Gate. The air around me became distorted. It felt like I was being squeezed through a tube, but it was only a momentary discomfort before I found myself standing in an empty room similar to the one I had just left. The differences were merely cosmetic.

Knowing that the travel had been a success, I became excited—not with the success, but with the fact that I could now see my wives and son.

I left the room and entered the hallway. It was empty just like it had been last time, but that was to be expected since we didn’t plan on hiring more people until we established a connection between Nevaria and Midgard. As I walked through the corridor, I took the familiar path that led to my room. However, just as I turned a corner, I stopped when I spotted a familiar dark-skinned figure with a snake tail traveling away from me.

“Lin!” I called out as I rushed over to her.

“Ah?!” Lin turned around. “Darling, you—wawawawa! Darling! What are you doing?!”

I didn’t answer Lin as I pulled her close and hugged her with everything I had. All the feelings I had been keeping inside of myself, all the emotions I hadn’t wanted to deal with… I wouldn’t say they were gone, but the burdens they represented felt lighter. It was like someone had lifted an anvil from my chest.

“I am so glad to see you,” I whispered into Lin’s hair. “I missed you so much.”

Lin was obviously confused. I had just appeared out of nowhere and hugged her out of the blue. I was sure she was shocked. Even so, Lin quickly returned my hug, holding me close and burying her face into my chest as if she was tasting my scent.

“This princess missed you too,” she said in a muffled voice. “She missed you very much.”

I was not sure how long we remained like that, but it must have been awhile because Siv came walking down the corridor at some point. She was alone, which made me wonder what she’d been doing, but she paused upon seeing me.

“Eryk?!”

It was the loudest shout I had ever heard from Siv. I released my hold on Lin and, ignoring her pout, turned to receive Siv’s pounce. The dragoness didn’t laugh as she hugged herself to me, but the smile on her face and the joyful tears in her eyes told me what I needed to know. I wrapped her up just like I’d done with Lin seconds before and stroked her hair.

“When did you get back?” asked Lin, trying not to pout as she stared enviously at Siv. She wasn’t successful.

“Just now,” I explained.

“So the Warp Gate was successfully installed in Nevaria?” she asked.

“Yes. I installed and tested it just now.”

“Hmm…”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing.” Lin shook her head and furrowed her brow. “I was just wondering why it took so long. You said it wouldn’t take more than maybe thirteen days at most, but it took you almost a month to return.”

My mood quickly dropped at Lin’s question, my mind going right back to Sigrid, the woman who professed her love for me as she lay dying on my lap from an attack I had launched at her. I tried to banish the thought, the visions.

I was not successful.

“Darling? What is wrong?” asked Lin, now concerned.

“It should have taken less time, but there were some unexpected delays. That’s actually what I wanted to discuss with all of you,” I said. “Where are Fay and Kari?”

“Fay is out with Raul right now,” Siv answered. “As for Kari…”

“I am right here,” a voice said behind me.

I turned around to find a woman standing several meters away, dressed in a simple sundress like when we had first met in both this life and my previous one. I wondered why she was wearing that instead of her combat attire. However, I wouldn’t lie and say seeing her in that outfit didn’t make me tear up a bit. There were so many memories attached to that aesthetic.

“Kari…”

With a smile on her face, Kari walked up and wrapped her arms around my neck. I placed my hands on her waist out of instinct. Kari’s blue eyes were right in front of me, her expression vibrant as she stood on her tiptoes and tilted her head to kiss me. Our lips met, and it was an electric sensation. It really had been far too long since I’d been intimate with my wives.

“Welcome back,” Kari said before she leaned her head on my chest.

“It’s good to be back,” I whispered as I rested my chin on her head. Indeed, it was truly good to be home.

***

Because I wanted everyone to hear what I had to say and didn’t wish to repeat myself, we waited until Fay returned before speaking of what happened in Nevaria. I did feel a little bad for making my wives worry. The subject matter, however, was not something I wished to say more than once.

I think Kari, Lin, and Siv understood. Rather than pressing me for answers, they instead prepared a nice lunch that the four of us ate while we waited for Fay and Raul to return home. It was a simple meat stew. Yet Kari used some strange but impressive light elemental technique to thoroughly cook the meat without ridding it of the juices before adding them into the stew. This made the meat crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

As we ate, Kari, Lin, and Siv told me about what they had been doing during my absence.

“The first storage ring was auctioned and sold for one hundred million valis,” Kari said as she lightly dipped a slice of bread into her stew, soaking up the liquid and causing the bread to turn a reddish brown. “That’s about ten times more than what I originally predicted we would make. Because of how high the storage ring was auctioned for, I renegotiated the contract with the Merchant’s Guild. They’ll sell the storage rings for half the price of what it sold for at the auction, and I will get sixty percent of the proceeds.”

In other words, the storage rings would be sold for fifty million valis, and she would get thirty million valis for each one sold.

She took a bite out of her bread after she finished speaking, chewing with her mouth thankfully closed before swallowing. Kari didn’t have the best table manners when it was just us.

“So, basically, you’re about to make around three billion valis from this deal,” I said after running the numbers in my head.

“That’s about right,” Kari said with a bit of a smirk. “That’s almost twice as much as the Nevarian Braves made last year, if I’m not mistaken.”

“The Nevarian Braves made two billion valis last year,” Lin answered without hesitation. As one of the people involved in managing the sect, she knew more about our financial situation than anyone.

“So not quite twice the amount,” Kari amended.

“What are we going to do with three billion valis?” I wondered out loud.

“Invest it in the sect?” asked Kari with a shrug. “I’m only doing this because it would be strange for us to just give away something so valuable for free, and I honestly do not like the idea of someone else earning a profit off something I created.”

While Lin, Kari, and I were speaking, Siv was enjoying her food. She had already devoured what must have been ten times her body weight in stew. Kari had made a very large pot because she knew about how much Siv and Lin ate. The drakvar did not appear to have any interest in our conversation, but I knew she was listening.

“I suppose we could expand the sect even more,” I mused. “However, I don’t want to extend our reach too far. If we grow too big, too fast, we may end up stepping on the toes of the larger sects. Given what we’re going to face in a few years, I would much prefer we not get into any conflicts right now.”

Lin and Kari agreed with me, nodding their heads, and we further discussed what they had been up to. Lin and Siv hadn’t been doing much since I left. Unlike Kari, who periodically went to see the Merchants Guild, and Fay, who traveled to the Alchemist Association a lot, these two stayed within the branch office for the most part. Siv did speak with Meerand a lot. On another note, Kari did inform me that Meerand’s presence had become something of a tourist attraction. A lot of people had been showing up at the Nevarian Braves branch office just to see the dragon.

It was during this time that Fay and Raul walked in through the door. They were hand in hand and had smiles on their faces. However, the moment they saw me, mother and son froze.

“DADDY!”

Raul was the first to respond, letting go of his mom’s hand as he rushed forward. I slid off the crouch as he crashed into me, embracing my son, whom I had missed so much. You never realize how important your child is until you are separated from them. I learned that the hard way when Kayli was killed.

“Eryk,” Fay said as I stood up, holding Raul in one arm. “Welcome home.”

“It’s good to be home,” I said as I leaned down and kissed Fay on the lips.

“Mommy and daddy are kissing,” Raul said with an oddly smug voice that I didn’t really understand. What did he have to be smug about?

“Did something happen while you were in Nevaria?” asked Fay, frowning at me. “You seem to be depressed about something.”

“Nothing gets by any of you, does it?” I said with a tired smile. “A lot happened while I was in Nevaria. Sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”

We all sat down around the couch. Raul had taken his place on my knees and was beaming, not quite sure as to what we were talking about. He was still young, uncorrupted and untainted by the world, and therefore completely naive and clueless. Even if we spoke in front of him, he probably wouldn’t understand what I was about to tell everyone.

After taking a deep breath, I launched into an explanation to explain what happened in Nevaria, how I discovered the Drage Family had taken over when I arrived, how Empress Hilda and some of her allies had been driven out, and how the Nevarian Braves headquarters was destroyed. I left nothing out.

I even told my wives about what happened between me and Sigrid. There were some people in this world who, when doing something they felt guilty about, would hide it and try to pretend it never happened. This caused their guilty conscience to eat away at them. I had no intention of doing such a thing. If at all possible, I wanted to never hide anything from my wives.

The expressions on the women’s faces as I talked shifted through several emotions at various parts. Kari was the most expressive. I understood. Everything that happened affected her family the most. Her parents were deposed, her mother’s position usurped, and her family run out of Nevaria. Fortunately, the silver lining at the end of this story was the Drage Family’s demise.

“Most of Nevaria is already fixed, but there were a lot of traitors.” I began tugging on my bangs as I spoke. “About a third of the Nevarian Spiritualists were bribed or blackmailed into working for the Drage Family. It took a long time to sort that all out. I think Empress… Mother is still in the process of trying to determine which ones were bribed and which were blackmailed.”

There had been a few people who were obviously bribed like Captain Sterk, but not as many people were so obvious about it. That man had simply not been intelligent enough to hide the evidence. It was going to take a long time for Empress Hilda to sort through all those people and discover which ones presented the biggest problem.

“You ran into a lot more trouble on this trip than we imagined you would.” Kari frowned at the end of my story. Tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she shifted in her seat. “But it also sounds like maybe you arrived at a good time. Had you been any later… who knows what would have happened.”

It was true that there was a strong possibility Empress Hilda and the others would have died if I’d arrived any later. I was fortunate to arrive when I did.

At the same time, my mind kept going back to Sigrid and her words as she died in front of me. I didn’t say anything about my own feelings on the matter. It wasn’t because I wanted to keep this hidden, but because I didn’t know how to bring this up.

Since the Warp Gate had been installed, Kari and Fay both traveled through to the other side. They wanted to visit their parents. Raul went with Fay because she wished to introduce her father to our son. Raul had been just a baby when we left Nevaria, so he didn’t know any of his family besides us. I asked Kari to inform Empress Hilda about the sects in Midgard while she was visiting. Meanwhile, I would tell Alexis and the other members of the Great Six Sects about Nevaria. I was sure there would be a lot of diplomatic talks between the two nations.

However, that was all for later.

Right now all I wanted to do was rest.

Even though sleep was not coming to me.

It was still late afternoon, and I found myself sitting on the windowsill in my study, which was just what I called the room I converted into an office space. It didn’t have much aside from a desk, a table, and some chairs. The room’s emptiness didn’t bother me though, since this place was supposed to be where I worked.

As I replayed what happened between Sigrid and myself for the thousandth time, the door to the office opened. I could see Lin in the reflection of the window as she slithered into the room and shut the door behind her.

“So this is where you have been,” she said.

“Hey.” I turned and offered the woman a faint smile. “Did you need something?”

“This princess does not need anything. You are the one who needs help.” I tilted my head as Lin closed the distance between us, coming to stand before me, hands on her hips, modest chest thrust forward. “Do not think this princess doesn’t know that you are feeling distressed over what happened between you and Sigrid. She knows you are tearing yourself apart with guilt.”

I flinched, but at the same time, a wry smile lit up my face. “Seems I really can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“But of course. This princess is your wife.”

“Right.” Tugging on my bangs, I replayed what happened between Sigrid and myself once more before opening my mouth. “I guess… I just can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I’d accepted Sigrid instead of kept her at arm’s length. Would things have been different? Could we have avoided all this trouble? Would I… not have to kill someone who loved me?”

I think it was the fact that Sigrid loved me that made me unreconciled over this issue. Killing did not cause me to flinch, but it was different when the person you killed had feelings for you. What kind of monster killed someone who loved them?

“This princess does not understand why you are letting this weigh you down so much,” Lin confessed. “Even if it is true that Sigrid loved you, she was still loyal to her family. You could not have changed that. Had you accepted her feelings, it would have just caused greater conflict later on down the road.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, though I still wondered what would have happened if I’d done things differently.

“You are also looking at this from the wrong angle,” Lin continued.

“I am?”

Lin nodded with a serious look on her face. “What happened between you and Sigrid is tragic, but it is also not something that can be changed. Rather than letting yourself wallow in guilt, you need to accept what happened and learn from it. Carve this lesson into your heart and never let something like this happen again. Don’t worry. This princess will be with you every step of the way, helping you.”

I was a little shocked to hear Lin speak with such wisdom, but I knew she could be insightful when the mood struck her.

Smiling, I reached out with my hand to cup her face.

“What would I do without you?” I asked.

Lin smiled as her tail thumbed against the floor. “You would be much more miserable without this princess by your side.”

“That goes without saying,” I agreed.

Drawing the lamia close, I leaned down and claimed Lin’s lips for myself, kissing her with enough passion that her tail rattled. A delicate sound, muffled by my mouth enclosed over hers, reverberated inside of me, making my body feel hot and my cock stiff.

“It’s been so long since you and I have had a moment alone together,” I whispered against her lips.

“We’re alone now,” Lin said, her voice a seductive hiss.

“Mmm. True. We’d better make the most of our time together.”

I wrapped my arms around Lin’s waist and kissed her some more, but this time I began kissing her neck. My actions were rough, showing my need, my wanton desire, but all Lin did was thread her fingers through my hair and sigh pleasantly as she tilted her head to grant me better access.

Before too much time had passed, I had already set Lin against the desk and removed the small top covering her breasts. Her modest chest was a little more than a handful. While they didn’t have Kari’s or Fay’s magnificent size, I thought they fit her body perfectly.

Lin released a loud moan as I leaned down and began to lick, kiss, and suck on them. The sound made my cock twitch against my pants.

Either Lin knew how I felt or she was feeling an itch herself, because the next thing I knew, my pants were being removed. I groaned around her breasts as a soft, delicate, and somewhat cold hand wrapped around my dick. Lin stroked my shaft, gently, lovingly. It felt like my cock was being embraced.

I didn’t want to be the only one experiencing this pleasure. That was why I slid my hand under her skirt and cupped her sex. Her skin was a little cold because she was cold-blooded, but it was quickly warming up as I stimulated her clit, which protruded from pussy lips like the bud of a small flower. My fingers became squished between her puffy lips as I rubbed her.

“Ha… ha… Darling… your hand… your hand is… making me feel sssssooo good…”

“That so? You like it when I do this?”

“Yes!”

Sweat formed on our skin. Lin’s dark skin was already flushed red and her breathing had become ragged, raspy, and wanton. Her chest heaved against my mouth as I licked her nipples, coating them in a layer of saliva. When I looked up, it was to see Lin staring down at me with lustful eyes and drool leaking from her mouth.

I pushed Lin onto the desk, kissing her as I lined myself up with her entrance and pushed my way inside. Lin’s tail wrapped around my left leg as her back arched off the desk. I grabbed her hips to keep her still. It was already difficult for me to have sex with Lin like this because she didn’t have legs. I had to spread my legs apart and stand on my tiptoes as I thrust myself inside of her.

“Dahling! Haaaa! Haaa! I feel your dick! It’s hitting my womb! It’s my hitting my—ahn! Ah! Haaaahn!!”

My thrusts were strong and vigorous. They had to be. Lin was so tight that I would never get anywhere if I didn’t use all my strength. The walls of her vagina pulsed and twitched around my dick, caressing, squeezing, and stimulating my nerves. It felt like electricity was racing through my cock and sending signals of overwhelming pleasure to my brain. I was fairly certain my mind went blank for a moment.

I almost didn’t realize when I came, but I snapped back to reality when Lin jolted upward to wrap her arms around my neck and kissed me hard. She moaned into my mouth as her body shuddered. At the same time, my dick twitched as I spurted my seed inside of her. Once she finished cumming, Lin pulled back and pressed her forehead against mine.

“Ha… ha… Dahling… more… it’s been so long… I want more…”

The mixture of lust and love in Lin’s eyes matched the feelings I felt perfectly. She wasn’t the only one who felt like it had been too long since we’d done anything.

“Turn around,” I said.

Lin’s eyes shone as she slid off the desk, turned her sinuous body, and leaned over. She stretched herself across the desk, her ass hanging off. The skirt was still on, but it was a complete mess, so I removed it to reveal Lin’s magnificent rear. I think it was because she was a lamia, but her hips were bigger than Kari’s or Fay’s despite having a smaller bust.

Grabbing her buttcheeks, I spread her ass apart, revealing her puckered hole. I leaned down and began licking her ass. Lin hissed and her tail thumped against the floor. I really hoped she wouldn’t punch a hole in the floor like she was prone to doing sometimes.

“Hurry up! Hurry up and stick it in!”

With Lin being so demanding, there was no way I couldn’t do as she requested. I stood back up, grabbed my shaft, and guided myself toward her asshole. I grunted as I pushed the tip of my dick inside. Her ass spread apart. However, it was even tighter than her pussy, which made going further hard. Taking a deep breath, I centered myself, then clenched my stomach muscles and thrust myself into her in one go.

“My ass! You’re filling… this princess’s ass! S-so good! Sssooo deep!”

“Are you tighter than before, or am I just imagining things?” I asked with a grunt. It was honestly a struggle to not cum right away.

“Who cares?!” Lin shouted as she wiggled her ass. “Hurry up! Hurry up and make this princess feel good!”

Lin’s enthusiasm made me smile, and so I didn’t waste time with words and instead began working a steady rhythm. It would have been impossible to thrust myself inside of Lin if I wasn’t already lubricated from a combination of our cum. The sound and sight of my dick sliding out of Lin’s ass as I rhythmically pounded her was something I could never grow tired of, and the view of Lin’s muscled, sweat-covered back, was also a sight for the ages.

I leaned over and began kissing between her shoulder blades. Lin didn’t say anything, but the volume of her cries increased as she squirmed and writhed beneath me. Reaching around her body, I quickly found her pussy. I pushed two fingers inside of her and pressed them against her walls. I could feel my dick rubbing against her back entrance through her vagina. At the same time, I rubbed her clit with my thumb.

The moment I began stimulating her like this, Lin came. Either it had been too long since we’d had sex or the stimulation was too much. I, however, did not intend to stop, and I kept thrusting my hips and fingering her. I didn’t stop until Lin came two more times. Only then did I release my own orgasm, flooding her ass with my seed.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

“Ga… ha…”

I pulled myself out. White sperm leaked from her ass and dribbled down her tail, which lay limp against the ground. Lin was also lying flat on the desk, her sightless eyes glazed over as she drooled all over the surface. Her tongue was lolling out of her mouth.

With a small grin, I turned the woman over. She was limp as a wet noodle. Pressing myself against her, I stroked her cheek and kissed her until her consciousness returned.

“Dahling… I feel so satisfied… ha…”

“Are you really satisfied with just that?” I asked. Lin blinked. “Weren’t you the one who once told me lamias have sex all night long?”

Lin’s eyes regained their luster as she stared at me. She slowly nodded her head once as a fanged smile appeared on her face.

“This princess did say that.”

“You did.” I smiled back. “So we’re not done yet, right?”

“Of course not. This princess was just resting for a moment. She’s not going to let you get any sleep tonight.”

“That is exactly what I want.”

For the rest of the day and well into the night, Lin and I had sex in every conceivable position inside of that office. Kari would complain about the smell the next morning.